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NEW SERIES. VOLUME XL 


JULY-DECEMBER, 1914 


NEW YORK 
THE SCIENCE PRESS 
1914 


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CONTENTS AND INDEX. 


NEW SERIES. VOL. XL.—JULY TO DECEMBER, 1914. 


The Names of Contributors are Printed in Small Capitals 


A., J. F., Cubist Science, 167 

ABBE, C., Lightning Flashes, 98; Atmosphere, 167 

Abel, O., Die Vorzeitlichen Saugeticre, R. 8. 
LULL, 787 

African, South, Assoc. for Ady. of Sci., 306 

Agricultural Colleges and Exper. Stations, A. C. 
TRUE, 757; H. L. Knieur, 864 

Agriculture, Appropriations for Department, 471 

ALEXANDER, H. B., Professor and Institution, 60 

ALLEMANN, A., Birth Rate of German Empire, 372 

Allen, H. §8., Photo-electricity, E. Merrirt, 597 

ALLEN, J. A., Birds of N. Y., E. H. Eaton, 677 

Allen’s Commercial Analysis, L. B. Mendel, 103 

American, Chem. Soc., C. L. Parsons, 34, 73, 110, 
307; Math. Soc., F. N. Conz, 455, 831; Associa- 
tion for the Advancement of Science, Section F, 
630; Philadelphia Meeting, 778, 807, 847; Con- 
vocation Week Meetings, 808, 868, 940; Com- 
mittee on Sci. Research, 846; Toronto Meeting, 
885; San Francisco Meeting, 928 

Ames, J. S., Matter, R. A. Minurkan, 485 

Anderegg, F., and E. D. Roe, Trigonometry, C. J. 
KEYSER, 561 

Anthropological Soe. of Wash., D. FouKmaR, 285; 
832 

ARCHIBALD, EH. H., Hlectrical Conductivity, H. 
Scudder, 29 : 

Armington, J. H. and H. J. Cox, Weather and 
Climate of Chicago, A. McAnpin, 525 

ARTHUR, J. C., Grove’s Rust Fungi, 934 

Atmosphere, Motions of, C. ABBE, 167 

Atmospheric Phenomena, C. F. TaLMAN, 745 

Atom, Constitution of, 265; A. S. Eve, 115; G. 
W. STEWART, 661 

Autti, W. B. and H. W. Barre, Cotton Anthrae- 
nose, 109 

Avalanche of Rocks, H. S. Morss, 241 

Azotobacter, W. P. HEADDEN, 379 


Bascock, H. L., Short-tailed Shrew, 526 

Bachelor’s Degree, W. L. JENNINGS, 57 

Bacon, R. F., Industry and Research, 871 

BAEKELAND, L. H., Industrial Chemistry, 179 

Baird, Professor, Statue to, R. W. SHUFELDT, 521 

Bancrorr, W. D., Chemistry, HE. A. Letts, 139 

Banta, A. M., Pipette Collecting, 98 

Barre, H. W. and W. B. Aut, Cotton Anthrac- 
nose, 109 

BarRELL, J., Stratigraphy, A. W. Grabau, 135; 
Polar Wanderings, 333 

Barton, 8. G., Uses for Mathematics, 697 

Barus, C., Mathematician in Modern Physics, 721 

Batreson, W., Address of President, British As- 
soc., 287; 319 

Bateson, W., Genetics, W. H. Castin, 241; He- 
redity, W. H. CastLE, 245; Presidential Ad- 
dress, W. H. Datu, 554 

Bauer, L. A., Magnetic Observations, 140 


Beatty, A., Wisconsin Acad. of Sci., 177 

BreckwirH, T. D. and G. D. Horton, Microorgan- 
isms in Hggs, 240 

BrepELL, F., Electrical Measurements, A. W. 
Smith, 820 

Bees, Queen, F. JaAGER and C. W. Howarp, 720 

Belgian Professors, H. B. Frost, 522 

Bett, L. and F. H. VERHOEFF, Ultra-Violet Radi- 
ation, 452 

Brssty, C. E., A Botanical Career, 48; Botanical 
Notes, 451, 678, 860, 937; Bacteria and Plant 
Diseases, E. F. Smith, 715 

Bessey, C. H., and EH. A., Botany, B. D. Hausrzp, 
749 

Brutner, R., Chemie, T. B. Robertson, 786 

BigELow, H. B., Cruise of the Grampus, 881 

Bird Genera, Types, W. Stone, 26 

Birth Rate, Decreasing, A. ALLEMANN, 372 

BLACKWELDER, H., Geology, Y. Ishii, 312 

BLAISDELL, F. E., Sr., Carl Fuchs, 91 

BuakeE, 8. A., Physics Text-books, 673 

BLAKESLEE, A. F., The Carnegie Foundation, 482 

BuisH, W. G., Cyanide as an Insecticide, 637 

Boston Museum of Natural History, 884 

Botanical, Notes, C. EH. BrssEy, 451, 678, 860, 937; 
Soc. of Wash., P. SPAULDING, 794 

Botanists of Cent. States, H. C. Cowzzs, 406 

Botany in the Agricultural College, E. B. Copsz- 
LAND, 401 

Boveri, T., Tumors, G. N. CALKINS, 857 

Bower, F. O., Address to the Bot. Sec. of the 
British Assoec., 357 

Braam, M., Tenterton Steeple, 893 

Brace, W. H., X-Rays Crystals, 795 


-Bripces, C. B., Drosophila, 107 


British Association, Address of President, W. 
Bateson, 287, 319; Bot. Sect., F. O. Bowzr, 
357; Vice-presidential Address, E. W. Brown, 
389; Geog. Sect., C. P. Lucas, 425; Math. and 
Physical Sci. Sect., F. T. Trouron, 457; Aus- 
tralian Meeting, 495 

Broad, C. D., Perception, Physics and Reality, L. 
T. Morn, 747 

Brooks, B. T., Tin Disease, 166 

Brooks, C. F., Notes on Meteorology, 29, 822 

Brown, E. W., Cosmical Physics, 389 

Browne, W. W., River Water and Bacillus coli, 
863; and D. SouErsKy, Semi-permeable Cap- 
sules, 176 

Bruce, A B., Golden Mean in Inheritance, 58 

Bure, J. C., University Registration Statistics, 919 

BURLINGAME, L., Hmbedding Trays, 355 

BUSHNELL, D. I., JR., Cahokia Mound, 782 


Cahokia, or Monk’s Mound, A. R. Croox, 312; 
D. I. BUSHNELL, JR., 782 


iv SCIENCE 


California, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, C. H. 
MERRIAM, 703 

CaLKINs, G. N., Animal Parasites, H. B. Fantham 
and A. Porter, 105, 814; Malignant Tumors, T. 
Boveri, 857 

Cannon, W. A., Algerian Sahara, T. H. Kearney, 
751 

CARMICHAEL, R. D., Outlook for Science, 833 

Carnegie Foundation, A. F. BLAKESLEE, 482 

CastLE, W. E., Gencties, W. Bateson, 241; He- 
redity, A. Weismann, 245; W. Bateson, 2455 
Research and the Universities, 447 

CaTTELL, J. McK., Research and Teaching, 628 

CaubEtn, A. N., Regeneration of Antenne, 352 

Chamberlin, iy G ‘and R. D. Salisbury, Geology, 
H. L. FAIRCHILD, 816: 

CHAMBERS, R., JR., The Cell Nucleus, 824 

Chemistry, Industrial, L. H. PAEKELAND, 179; E. 
Thorpe, W. R. WHIDNEY, 562; in the Agricul- 
tural College, C. A. PETERS, 674. 

CnarK, G. A., Russian versus American Sealing, 
736 

CuarK, H. L., Starfishes, A. E. Verrill, 523 

CLARKE, J. M., Newton Horace Winchell, 127; 
Fossil Botanical Garden, 884 

Coal, Production in 1913, 160 

Coss, J. N., Pacifie Fisheries Society, 306 

Coss, N. Ne Textile Fibers, 683 

CocKERELL, T. D. A., Sunflowers, 283; Cambridge 
Manuals, 381; ‘Sunflower Problems, 708; 
Teaching and Research, 891 

Cocks, R. S., New Orleans Acad. of Sci., 178; 
Philos. Soe., 831 

Corrry, G. N., Changes of Drainage in Obio, 607 

COLE, F. Ney Amer, Math, Soe., 455, 831 

College Curriculum, R. 8. WoopwortH, 315 

Collins, dis Viey Algebra, C. J. Kyser, 561 

Composition and “Thought, MIDDLE West, 344 

Conn, H. W., Bacteriology, H. S. Reed, 820 

Coox, O. F., Fiat Nomenclature, 272 

CopELAND, E. B., Botany in Agricultural College, 
401 

Cosmical Physics, E. W. Brown, 389 

Cotton, Anthracnose, H. W. BARRE, and W. B. 
AULL, 109; Worm Moth, H. T. FERNALD, 785; 
Fiber, B. 8. LEVINE, 906 

Couturat, L., Algebra, C. J. Keysir, 561 

Cowzs, H. oe “Botanists of the Central States, 
406; Vegetation of Sandhills, 788 

Cox, H. J., and J. H. Armington, Weather and 
Climate of Chicago, A. McoApIE, 525 

Cox, W. T., Melanism and Food, 99 

CROOK, A. R., Cahokia or Monk’s Mound, 312 

Crops, Statistics of, G. FE. WARREN, 121 

Cross, W., Tgneous Rocks, J. P. Iddings, 100 

Crowther, ‘i , Molecular Physics, R. A. MIbtI- 
KAN, 716 

Curtis, C. C., Plants, J. E. Kirkwoop, 678 


DauuereNn, U., Nerve Centers in Skates, 862 

Dau, W. ‘TEL, Henry Hemphill, 265; Middle Tri- 
assic Faunas, J. PB. Smith, 522; Antarctic Ex- 
pedition, C. T. Regan, 753; Dr. Bateson’s Pres- 
idential Address, 554 

Daly, R. A., Igneous Rocks, J. P. Ipprnes, 710 

Davis, D. ai Septic Sore Throat, 717 

DEMOREST, D. J., Chemistrv, J. W. Mellor, 314 


ConTENTS AND 
INDEX. 


DicKERSON, R. E., Ione Formation of Sierra Ne- 
vada Foothills, 67 

Dickson, L. H., Equations, G. A. Minurr, 410 

Discussion and Correspondence, 26, 56, 98, 134, 
166, 207, 239, 271, 311, 344, 379, 408, 447, 482, 
510, 554, 593, 636, 670, 708, 744, 782, 814, 851, 
891, 933 

Doctorates Conferred by Amer. Universities, 256 

Donaupson, H. H., Charles Sedgwick Minot, 926 

Drainage, Changes ‘of, G. N. Corrrey, 607 

Drosophila, Sex-linked Genes, C. B. Bripcus, 107 

Drude, O., Oekologie der Pflanzen, J. W. HarsH- 
BERGER, 314 


Harth’s Crust, T. H. Honnanp, 533; 
Field, S. BR. "WILLIAMS, 606 

EHaton, E. H., Birds of N. Y., J. A. ALLEN, 677 

Education, Vv. C. VAUGHAN, 685 

Educational Costs, L. M. PASSANO, 39 

Egg, Unfertilized, and Ultr--Violet Rays, J. 
LOEB, 680 

ELLs, M. ne Gregarine Cysts, 174 

Empopy, G. C., Biologie, P. O. Haempel, 277 

EMERSON, R. i Size Inheritance, 57 

EMMONS, Ww. H. ; Geology, H. Ries, and T. L. Wat- 
son, 898 

Emmons Memorial Fellowship, 927 

Encyclopaedia Britannica, B. F. Groat, 135 

Enriques, F., Problems of Science, C. J. Keyser, 
346 

Erythrocytes, Human, W. W. Ouiver, 645 

Eve, A. S., Constitution of the Atom, 115 


Magnetie 


Farircuitp, H. L., Geology, T. C. Chamberlin and 
R. D. Salisbury, 816 

Fantham, H. B., and A. Porter, Animal Parasites, 
G. N. CauKrys, 105, 814 

Farwewt, H. W., Third Order Rainbow, 595 

Faust, HE. C., Cladonema, 934 

FERNALD, H. Tt, Cotton Worm Moth, 785 

FERREE, 6. E. , Lighting and Efficiency of the Hye, $4 

FERRY, on C., National Conference Committee, 565 

FESTNER, J, ” Garbage Incineration, 903 

Firefly, Luminous Material of, K. N. Harvey, 33 

FiscHer, M. H., Spirit of a University, 464 

Flood Prevention, J. G. WALL, 44 

Forkmar, D., Anthrop. Soc. of Wash., 285, 832 

Food Supply, U. P. Heprick, 611 

Foot-and-Mouth Disease, 746 

Fores, E. B., Chemistry, J. A. Murray, 486 

Foreign Students and the United States, 406 

Fossil, Human Skeleton, G. G. MacOurpy, 19; 
Vertebrates, Cc. H. STERNBERG, 134; Botanical 
Garden, J. M. Cuarkn, 884 

FOWLER, . W., Hadropterus peliatus, 939 

FRANKLIN, E. C, Chemistry, H. C. Jones, 172 

Franklin Medal, "ATT 

Fraternities and Scholarships, A. R. Warnock, 542 

FREEMAN, A. W., Solar Halo, 595 

FROST, E. B., Belgian Professors, 522 

Fuchs, Carl, FE, BLAISDELL, SR., 91 

FULCHER, G. s., Stark-electrie Effect, 493 

Fungi, Soil- inhabiting, H.C. McLman, and G. W. 
Witson, 140 

Fur Seal Inquiry, R. C. OSBURN, 557 


Galileo, Dialogues, W. F. Macin, 637 


NEw Saal 
Vou. XL. 


Garrison, F. H., Royal Soc. Catalogue of Sci. 
Papers, 563; Walter Holbrook Gaskell, 802 

Gaskell on Evolution, F. H. Prkn, 805 

Geikie, J., Antiquity of Man, J. J. STEVENSON, 62 

Germplasm, H. T. REICHERT, 649 

Gifford, E., Natural Sines, G. A. Mruuer, 856 

Gilbert, L. M., Psychology of Management, H. L. 
HOLLINGWORTH, 64 

Gill, Theodore Nicholas, 547 

Golden Mean, in Size Inheritance, R. A. HMERSON, 
57; A. B. Bruce, 58 

Goopatz, H. D., Feminized Cockerel, 594 

Goong, J. P., Geography, J. R. Smith, 600 

Gossner, B., Crystallography, E. H. Kraus, 28 

Grabau, A. W., Stratigraphy, J. Barren, 135 

Grades, Standardization of, W. C. Ruspicur, G. N. 
Hennine and W. A. WILBuR, 642 . 

Grading of College Students, M. Mryzr, 530 

“« Grampus,’’ Cruise of, H. B. BicELow, 881 

Grizr, N. M., Cultures of Ameba, 520 

Groat, B. F., ‘‘Hydraulics’? im Encyclopedia 
Britannica, 135 

Grove’s Rust Fungi, J. C. ArrHur, 934 

Guperr, E. W., N. C. Acad. of Sci., 385; George 
Maregrave, 507 

Guinea-pigs, Intraperitoneal Injections in, P. G. 
Wooutry, D. CLharkK and A. DEMar, 789 


Hadropterus peltatus, H. W. FowuEr, 939 

Haempel, P. O., Biologie, G. C. EmsBopy, 277 

Hatz, G. E., National Academies and Research, 
907 

Haun, G. §., University Problems, 727 

Haustep, B. D., Botany, C. E. and EH. A. Bessey, 
749 

Hankin, E. H., Animal Flight, F. A. L., 278 

Hankinson, T. L., Whitefish, 239 

Hann, J., Meteorologie, R. DEC. Warp, 785 

Harris, F. §., Soil Conditions and Maize, 215 

Harris, J. A., Pearson’s Tables, 598 

Harris, J. E., Soil Acidity, 491 

Harris, R. A., Deflection of the Vertical, 681 

Harrison, R. G., Science and Practise, 571 

HARSHBERGER, J. W., Oekologie der Pflanzen, O. 
Drude, 314 

Harvey, E. N., Luminous Material of Firefly, 33 

Hawkes, H. E., Algebra, C. J. Keyser, 560 

HEADDEN, W. P., Do Azotobacter Nitrify? 379 

Heap, F. D., Fungi, F. L. Stevens, 168 

Heprick, U. P., Future Food Supply, 611 

Helyar, J. P., Didymiuwm Xanthopus, 791 

Hemphill, Henry, W. H. Daun, 265 

Henderson, L. J., Die Umwelt des Lebens, R. S. L., 
899 

Henn, A., Indiana Univ. Expeditions, 602 

Hennine, G. N., W. C. Rurpicer, and W. A. 
Wisour, Standardization of Grades, 642 

Heredity, and Mental Traits, J. Jastrow, 555; 
and Environment, H. LerrMann, 593 

Huss, C. L. v., ‘‘Multiple Unit’’ System, 566 

Heterodera radicicola, L. H. MELCHERS, 241 

Hotuanp, T. H., The Earth’s Crust, 533 

Holland, W. J., and O. A. Peterson, Osteology, 
R. 8. Lunn, 209 

Hoiuinewortu, H. L., Psychology of Manage- 
ment, L. M. Gilbert, 64 

Houtmes, S. J., Culture Medium for Tissues of 
Amphibiana, 32; Larval Muscle Cells, 271 


SCIENCE Vv 


Honorary Degrees, A. HE. SHIPLEY, 674 

Hopkins, L. A., and A. Ziwet, Geometry and 
Algebra, C. J. KrysEr, 560 

Horton, G. D., and T. D. BeckwirH, Microorgan- 
isms in Higgs, 240 

Hoskins, L. M., Mechanics, E. R. Maurer, 818 

Howagrp, A. D., Metamorphosis in Unionidae, 353 

Howarp, C. W., and F. JAGER, Queen Bees, 720 

Howe, J. L., Jones’s ‘‘A New Era in Chemistry,’’ 
483; Chemistry, A. W. Stewart, 639 

Hughes, A. L., Photo-electricity, E. Mrrrirr, 597 

Human Remains at Rancho La Brea, J. C. Mur- 
RIAM, 198 


Ippines, J. P., Igneous Rocks, R. A. Daly, 710 

Iddings, J. P., Igneous Rocks, W. Cross, 100 

Incomes of College Graduates, H. A. Minurr, 484 

Indiana Univ. Expeditions, A. Henn, 602 

Individual Differences, E. LL. THORNDIKE, 753 

Ingold, L., and A. M. Kenyon, Trigonometry, C. 
J. Keyser, 561 

Inheritance, Non-Mendelian, C. C. Lirrnn, 904 

Interglacial Man, G. G. MacCurpy, 766 

International, Chemical Institute, W. OsTWwALp, 
147; Oceanographic Expedition, 883 

Iowa Acad. of Sci., J. H. Lens, 142 

Ishii, Y., Geology, E. BLACKWELDER, 312 


JAGER, F., and C. W. Howarp, Queen Bees, 720 

Jastrow, J., Heredity and Mental Traits, 555 

JENNINGS, W. L., Bachelor’s Degree, 57 

Jesup, Mrs. Morris K., Bequests, 21 

John Scott Medal, 664 

JOHNSON, D. 8., Montane Rain Forest, F. Shreve, 
897 

Jones, H. C., Chemistry, E. C. FRANKLIN, 172; 
J. L. Hows, 483 

JONES, J. C., Geology of Lake Lahontan, 827 

Jones, W., Nucleic Acids, P. A. LEVENE, 640 


K., M. Albert Lacroix, 49 

KarPINSKI, L. C., Japanese Mathematics, D. E. 
Smith, and Y. Mikami, 675; Roger Bacon, 
Essays, 894 

Katmai Eruption, G. B. Riga, 509 

Kaye, G. W. C., X-Rays, H. A. Wimson, 351 

Kearney, T. H., Algerian Sahara, W. A. Cannon, 
751 

Kemp, J. F., Geology, J. Park, 859 

KENNELLY, A. E., Telegraphy, W. H. Preece, and 
J. Sivewright, 674 

Kentucky Acad. of Sci., G. RyLanp, 178 

Kenyon, A. M., and L. Ingold, Trigonometry, C. 
J. Keyser, 561 

KeEpPEL, F. P., American College, C. F. Thwing, 
383 

Keyes, C., University Attendance, 556; 
nental Denudation, 933 

Keyser, C. J., Problems of Science, F. Enriques, 
346; Memorabilia Mathematica, R. E. Moritz, 
559; Geometry and Algebra, V. Snyder, and C. 
H. Sisam, A. Ziwet, and A. L. Hopkins, Algebra, 
H. E. Hawkes, Industrial Mathematics, H. W., 
and A. G. F. Marsh, 560; Trigonometry, A. M. 
Kenyon, and L. Ingold, F. Anderegg, and E. D. 
Roe, Algebra, J. V. Collins, L. Couturat, Japa- 
nese Mathematics, D. E. Smith, and Y. Mikami, 
561 


Conti- 


vi SCIENCE 


Kirkwoop, J. H., Plants, C. C. Curtis, 678 

Knicut, H. L., Assoc. Agric. Colleges and Exper. 
Stations, 864 

Korow, C. A., Die Strudelwiirmer, P. Steinmann, 
and E. Bresslau, 64; Sepia and Octopus, W. T. 
Meyer, 65; Parasiten, R. O. Neumann, and M. 
Mayer, 210 

Kraus, H. H., Crystallography, B. Gossner, 28 

Kroeber, A. L., Chontal, Seri and Yuman, 448 

Kronecker, Professor Hugo, 8. J. Meurzmr, 441 


L., F. A., Animal Flight, E. H. Hankin, 278 

L., R. S., Die Umwelt des Lebens, L. J. Hender- 
son, 899 

L., W., Copper Handbook, W. H. Weed, 65 

Lacroix, M. Albert, K., 49 

Lake Lahontan, Geology of, J. C. JONES, 827 

Larval Muscle Cells, 8. J. Houmus, 271 

Lassen Hruption, 49 

Less, J. H., Iowa Acad. of Sci., 142 

LrrrMaNnn, H., Heredity and Environment, 593 

Lehmer, D. N., Prime Numbers, G. A. MILLER, 
855 

Lewy, J., Jr., Morphology of the Bacteria, 302 

Letts, HE. A., Chemistry, W. D. BANcrorT, 139 

LEVENE, P. A., Nucleic Acids, W. Jones, 640 

LevrEret?, F., Ice Age, W. B. Wright, 274 

Levine, B. S., Cotton Fiber, 906 

Lippy, W., The History of Science, 670 

Lighting and Efficiency of the Eye, C. HE. FERRER, 
84 

Lightning, Flashes, C. Appr, 98; C. D. PERRINE, 
513 


Littiz, F. R., Marine Biological Laboratory, 229 

Linuig, R. S., Vitalism versus Mechanism, 840 

Little, A. G., Roger Bacon’s Essays, L. C. 
KARPINSKEI, 894 

Lirtnr, C. C., Non-Mendelian Inheritance, 904 

Luoyp, F. E., Rubber, R. H. Lock, 411 

Lors, J., Spermatozoon and Egg, 316; The Un- 
fertilized Egg and Ultra-Violet Rays, 680 

Lovesoy, A. O., Assoc. of Univ. Professors, 744 

Lucas, C. P., Address of President to Geog. Sect. 
British Assoe., 425 

Lut, R. S., Osteology, W. J. Holland, and O. A. 
Peterson, 209; Die Vorzeitlichen Saugetiere, O. 
Abel, 787 

Luiz, O., Jatropha wrens, 609 


M., J. H., Stanley’s Wireless Telegraphy, 936 

McApir, A., Weather and Climate of Chicago, H. 
J. Cox and J. H. Armington, 525 

McCienpon, J. F., Permeability of Egg, 70, 214 

MacCurpy, G. G., Fossil Human Skeleton, 19; 
Man of Piltdown, 158; Essays and Studies pre- 
sented to William Ridgeway, EH. C. Quiggin, 450; 
Interglacial Man, 766 

McLean, H. C., and G. W. WisoN, Soil-inhabiting 
Fungi, 140 

Maciz, W. F., Dialogues, Galileo Galilei, 637 

Magnetic Observations, L. A. Baurr, 140 

Major, D. R., Psychology, R. S. WoopwortH, 821 

Maregrave, George, EH. W. GupGEr, 507 

Marine Biol. Laboratory, F. R. Linuin, 229; H. M. 
SmirH, 230; Beaufort Biol. Sta., L. RADCLIFFE, 
413 

Marsh, H. W., and A. G. F. Marsh, Mathematics, 
C. J. Keyser, 560 


CoNTENTS AND 
INDEX. 


Martin, E. W., Birds of the Latin Poets, H. C. 
OBERHOLSER, 896 

Marauscen, I., Preparation of Spiders, 710 

Mathematical Soc., Amer., F. N. Comm, 831 

Mathematician in Modern Physics, C. Barus, 721 

Mathematics, Uses for, 8. G. Barton, 697 

MarTHEw, W. D., Time Ratios in Evolution, 232 

Maurer, EH. R., Mechanics, L. M. Hoskins, 818 

Mayer, M., and R. O. Neumann, Parasiten, C. A. 
Kororp, 210 

Measurement of Fecundity, R. PEARL, 383. 

Medical Schools, 8. J. Menrzrr, 620 

Medicine and Civilization, V. C. VaueHan, 1 

Melanism, and Food, W. T. Cox, 99 

Metcuers, L. E., Canada Thistle, 241 

Mellor, J. W., Chemistry, D. J. DeMorEsT, 314 

Me.rzrer, 8. J., Professor Hugo Kronecker, 441; 
Medical Schools, 620 

MenveL, L. B., Physiology, H. Winterstein, 28; 
Allen’s Commercial Analysis, 103 

Merriam, C. H., Cal. Museum of Vert. Zool., 703 

Merriam, J. C., Human Remains at Rancho La 
Brea, 198: Tertiary in Califorina, 643 

Merritt, H., Photo-electricity, H. 8. Allen, 597; 
A. L. Hughes, 597 

Metamorphosis, A. D. Howarp, 353; in Frog 
Larve, M. Morss, 793 

Metcaur, M. M., Mutation, 26 

Meteorology, Notes on, C. F. Brooks, 29, 822 

Meryrr, M., Grading, 530 

Meyer, W. T., Sepia and Octopus, C. A. Korot, 
65 

Microorganisms in Eggs, T. D. BeckwitH and G. 
D. Horton, 240 

MippLte West, Composition and Thought, 344 

Mikami, Y., and D. E. Smith, Japanese Mathe- 
matics, C. J. Keyser, 561; L. C. KARPINSKI, 675 

Minter, A. M., Evolution and Mutations, 636 

Mittrr, G. A., Trigonometry, E. J. Wilezynski, 
410; Equations, L. E. Dickson, 410; Prime 
Numbers, D. N. Lehmer, 855; Natural Sines, HE. 
Gifford, 856 

Mitirr, H. A., Incomes of College Graduates, 484 

Muiikan, R. A., Electricity, J. J. Thomson, 174; 
Matter, J. S. Ames, 485; Molecular Physics, J. 
A. Crowther, 716 

Minus, J., Gravity, 207 

Minot, Charles Sedgwick, H. H. Donatpson, 926 

Missouri Botanical Garden, 375 

Morg, L. T., Perception, Physics and Reality, C. 
D. Broad, 747 

Moritz, R. E., Memorabilia Mathematica, C. J. 
KEYSER, 559 

Morphology of the Bacteria, J. Lemy, JR., 302 

Morssz, E. §., Avalanche of Rocks, 241 

Morss, M., Metamorphosis in Frog Larve, 793 

Mors, D. C., Ascaris Suum in Sheep, 216 

“‘Multiple Unit’’ System, C. L. v. Hiss, 566 

Murray, J. A., Chemistry, E. B. Forbes, 486 

Mushroom Intoxication, A. E. VERRILL, 408 

Mutation, M. M. Mzrcanr, 26; H. de VRIES, 77; 
The Origin of, X. Y., 520 


National, Academy of Sciences, Proceedings, 664; 
Chicago Meeting, 768; Conference Committee, 
Standards of Colleges and Schools, F. C. Frrry, 
565; Education Assoc, J. F. WoopHuLL, 601; 
Academies and Research, G. E. HauE, 907 


New Saris. al 
Vou. XL. 


Neumann, R. O., and M. Mayer, Parasiten, C. A. 
Koro, 210 

New Orleans Acad. of Sci., R. S. Cocks, 178 

NicHots, J. T., Home Aquaria, R. C. Osburn, A218 

Nitrates, Cheap, W. W. Strone, 899 

Nomenclature, Chemical, H. B. Norre 59; 
Zoological, ©. W. SrinEs, 66; Fiat, O. F. Coox, 
272 

Norra, H. B., Chemical Nomenclature, 59 

North Carolina Acad. of Sci., HE. W. GupeErR, 385 

Noyes, H. A., Plant Growth, 792 

Noyss, W. A., Religious Training at a University, 
27 


0., G. B., Apparatus Repair, 892 

OBERHOLSER, H. C., Birds of the Latin Poets, H 
W. Martin, 896 

O’Gara, P. J., Alfalfa Crown Gall, 27 

Ouiver, W. W., Human Erythrocytes, 645 

OsBuRN, R. C., Fur Seal Inquiry, 557 

Osburn, R. C., Home Aquaria, J. T. NicHoLs, 278 

OstERHOUT, W. J. V., Vitality and Injury, 488 

OstwaLp, W., Internat. Chem. Inst., 147 


Pacific Fisheries Society, J. N. Cops, 306 

PALACHE, C., Crystallography, T. L. Walker, 599 

Panama Exposition, 477 

Park, J., Geology, J. F. Kemp, 859 

Parsons, C. L., Amer. Chem. Soc., 34, 73, 110 

Passano, L.. M., Educational Costs, 39 

Patent Medicines in Great Britain, 374 

PEARL, R., Measurement of Fecundity, 383 

Pearson’s Tables, J. A. Harris, 598 

Peck, Charles Horton, C. EH. Brssry, 48 

PrEeMBeER, F. R., Cut Rose Blooms, 248 

Permeability of Egg, J. F. McCLEenpon, 70, 214 

PERRINE, C. D., Effect of Lightning, 513 

Peters, C. A., Chemistry in the Agric. College, 
674 

Peterson, O. A., and W. J. Holland, Osteology, 
R. S. Lunn, 209 

PETERSON, W., Phosphate Deposits, 755 

Pixs, F. H., Gaskell on Evolution, 805 

Piltdown Man, G. G. MacCurpy, 158 

Plant Growth, H. A. Noyzs, 792 

Polar Wanderings, J. BARRELL, 333 

Population, Estimates of, 92 

Porter, A., and H. B. Fantham, Animal Parasites, 

G. N. CALKINS, 105, 814 

ee W. #., and J. Sivewright, Telegraphy, A. 
BE. KENNELLY, 674 

Primitive Character, E. im THURM, 495 

Professor and Institution, H. B. ALEXANDER, 60 

Prosser, C. 8., Aims and ‘Objects of Sigma Xi, 249 


Quiggin, HE. C., Essays and Studies presented to 
William Ridgeway, G. G. MacCurpy, 450 
Quotations, 208, 746, 853 


Rapcuirre, L., Beaufort Biological Station, 413 

Radiation, "Ultra- Violet, Dangers to the Eye, ¥. H. 
VERHOEFY and L. BELL, 452 

REAGAN, A. B., Northern Lights in Summer, 381 

Reed, H. 8., Bacteriology, H. W. Conn, 820 

Regan, C. T., Antarctic Expedition, W. H. Dat, 
uf 

REICHERT, H. T., The Germplasm as a Stereochemic 
System, 649 


SCIENCE Vii 


Research, Needs of, R. S. Woopwarp, 217; and the 
Universities, W. E. Castiz, 447; and Teaching, 
J. McK. Catrent, 628; T. D. A. COCKERELL, 
891; and Industry, R. F. Bacon, 871 

Resuscitation, Methods of, 663 

Ricu, J. L., Cumulus Clouds, 851 

Ries, H., and T. L. Watson, Geology, W. H. 
EMMONS, 898 

Riee, G. B., Katmai Eruption, 509 

River Water, W. W. Browne, 863 

Robertson, T. B., Chemie, R. BEUTNER, 786 

Rockefeller Institute, 20; 161 

Roe, E. D., and F. Anderegg, Trigonometry, C. J. 
Keyser, 561 

Royal Society Papers, F. H. Garrison, 563 

RurpiczR, W. C., G. N. HENNING, and W. A. 
WisburR, Standardization of Grades, 642 

RYLAND, G., Kentucky Acad. of Sci., 178 


S., C. C., Irritability, M. Verworn, 351 

Salisbury, R. D., and T. C. Chamberlin, Geology, 
H. LL. Famcuinp, 816 

SanrorpD, F., Killing Tree Scale, 519 

Sanitation in Vera Cruz, 405 

Saunders, William, F. T. SHurr, 700 

Savage, W. G., Bacteriology of Food and Water, 
C.-E. A. WiInsLow, 715 

Scuimpt, R. C., Animal Pigmentation, 279 

Science, and Practise, R. G. Harrison, 571; His- 
tory ‘of, W. Lipsy, 670; Outlook ‘for, 1B, 1D) 
CARMICHAEL, 833 

Scientific Notes and News, 21, 51, 94, 130, 162, 
204, 235, 266, 308, 340, 376, 407, 444, 478, 514, 
550, 588, 631, 6 5, 704, 739, 779, sll, 842, 886, 
928; Books, 28, 62, 100, 135, 168, 209, 241, 274, 
312, 346, 381, 410, 448, 522, 559, 596, 637, 674, 
710, 747, 785, 816, 855, g94: Workers Union of, 
208s Journals and ‘Articles, 383, 487, 821 

Scudder, H., Electrical Conductivity, E. H, Arcut- 
BALD, "29 

Sealing, Russian versus American, G. A. CLARK, 
736 

Septie Sore Throat, D. J. Davis, 717 

SHipuey, A. E., Honorary Degrees, 674 

Shreve, F. A., Montane Rain Forest, D. S. JoHN- 
SON, 897 

Shrew, Short-tailed, H. L. Bascock, 526 

SHUFELDT, R. W., Statue to Professor Baird, 521 

SHurr, F. T., William Saunders, 700 

Sierra Nevada Foothills, R. EH. DicKERSON, 67 

Sigma Xi, Aims of, C. S. Prosszr, 249 

Sisam, C. H., and V. Snyder, Geometry, C. J. 
KEYSER, 560 

Sivewright, J., and W. H. Preece, Telegraphy, A. 
E. KENNELLY, 674 

Skates, Nerve Centers in, U. DAHLGREN, 862 

Smith, A. W., Hlectrical Measurements, F. BEepELL, 
820 

Smith, D. H., and Y. Mikami, Japanese Mathe- 
matics, C. J. KEYSER, 561; L. C. KarpPrnsk1, 675 

Smith, E. F., Bacteria and Plant Diseases, C. HE. 
Bessey, 715 

SMITH, iL, I., Museum of Sounds, 273 

SmirH, 18h M., Marine Biological Laboratory, 230; 
A New Filefish, 815 

Smith, J. P., Middle Triassic Faunas, W. H. Dat, 
522 

Smith, J. R., Geography, J. P. Goopr, 600 


o~ 


viii 


Snow, L. M., Osmometer, 208 

Snyder, V., and C. H. Sisam, Geometry, C. J. 
KEYSER, 560 

Societies and Academies, 177, 285, 455, 831 

Soil, Conditions, and Maize, F. S. Harris, 215; 
Acidity, E. Truoe, 246; J. E. Harris, 491 

Sonersky, D., and W. W. BRrowNr, Semi-perme- 
able Capsules, 176 

Sounds, Museum of, H. I. Smiry, 273 

SPAULDING, P., Botan. Soc. of Wash., 794 

Special Articles, 32, 67, 107, 140, 174, 214, 246, 
283, 316, 353, 383, 417, 452, 488, 526, 566, 606, 
643, 680, 717, 753, 789, 824, 862, 904, 939 

Spermatozoon and Hgg, J. Lons, 316 

Spiders, Preparation of, I. MarauscH, 710 

Stanford Univ. Med. Sch., V. C. VAUGHAN, 126 

Stanley, R., Wireless Telegraphy, J. H. M., 936 

Stark-electrie Effect, G. S. FuncHEr, 493 

Steinmann, P., and EH. Bresslau, Die Strudel- 
wiirmer, C. A. Koro, 64 

STERNBERG, C. H., Fossil Vertebrates, 134 

Stevens, F. L., Fungi, F. D. Heap, 168 

STEVENSON, J. J., Antiquity of Man, J. Geikie, 62 

Stewart, A. W., Chemistry, J. L. Hows, 639 

STEWART, G. W., The Atom, 661 

Stites, C. W., Zoological Nomenclature, 66 

STONE, W., Bird Genera, Types, 26 

Strone, W. W., X-Ray Diffraction Patterns, 709; 
Oxidation of Nitrogen, 899 

Sunflower Problems, T. D. A. CocKERELL, 283, 708 

Surrace, H. A., Cyanide of Potassium in Trees, 
852 


TALMAN, C. F., Atmospheric Phenomena, 745 

Telescope, 72-inch, for Canada, 203 

Tenterton Steeple, M. Braam, 893 

Terrestrial Radiation, F. W. Vury, 417 

Tertiary in California, J. C. Merriam, 643 

Textile Fibers, N. A. Cops, 683 

Thomson, J. J., Electricity, R. A. Minian, 174 

THORNDIKE, EH. L., Individual Differences, 753 

Thorpe, E., Chemistry, W. R. WHITNEY, 562 

THuURM, E., IM., Primitive Character, 495 

Thwing, C. F., American College, F. P. KEPPEL, 
383 

Time Ratios in Evolution, W. D. Marrumw, 232 

Tin Disease and Polar Exploration, B. T. 
Brooks, 166 

TOWNSEND, C. H. T., Lizards and Verruga, 212 

TrouTon, F. T., Address of President to the Math. 
and Physical Sci. Sect. of the British Assoc., 457 

TruE, A. C., Address of President of Assoc. Amer. 
Agric, Colleges and Exp. Stations, 757 

TruoG, E., Soil Acidity, 246 

TWENHOFEL, W. H., Vertebrates, 26 


University, and Educational News, 25, 55, 97, 133, 
165, 207, 239, 279, 311, 343, 378, 408, 446, 481, 
518, 553, 592, 635, 669, 707, 743, 781, $13, 851, 
890, 932; Religious Training at, W. A. NovEs, 
27; The Spirit of, M. H. Frscuer, 464; Attend- 
ance, C, KrvES, 556; Problems, G. S. Hatt, 


SCIENCE 


CoNnTENTS AND 
INDEX. 


727; Professors, Assoc. of, A. O. Lovesoy, 744; 
Registration Statistics, J. C. Bure, 919 


VauGHAN, V. C., Medicine and Civilization, 1; 
Stanford Univ. Med. School, 126; Education, 
685 

Vegetation of Sand Hills, H. C. Cowuss, 788 

VERHOEFF, F. H., and L. BEL, Ultra-Violet Radia- 
tion, 452 

VERRILL, A. E., Mushroom Intoxication, 408 

Verrill, A. E., Starfishes, H. L. CLARK, 523 

Verruga, and Lizards, C. H. T. TowNsENp, 212 

Vertical, Lunar and Solar Deflection of the, R. A. 
Harris, 6381 

Verworn, M. Irritability, C. C. 8., 351 

Very, FE. W., Terrestrial Radiation, 417 

Vitalism versus Mechanism, R. 8. Linuin, 840 

Vitality and Injury, W. J. V. OstmRHouT, 488 

Vries, H. DE, Mutation, 77 


Walker, T. L., Crystallography, C. PALACHE, 599 
WALL, J. G., Flood Prevention, 44 
Warp, R. DEC., Meteorologic, J. Hann, 785 
WaRNocK, A. R., Fraternities and Scholarships, 542 
WARREN, G. F., Statistics of Ciops, 12] 
Watson, T. L., and H. Ries, Geology, W. H. 
EMMons, 898 
Weed, W. H., Copper Handbook, W. L., 65 
Weismann, A., Heredity, W. E. Casrium, 245 
Wuippie, G. C., Public Health Education, 581 
Whipple, G. C., Microscopy of Drinking Water, 
C.-E. A. WiInsLow, 448 
Watney, W. R., Chemistry, E. Thorpe, 562 
Witeur, W. A,, W. C. Ruepicrr, and G. N. Hen- 
NING, Standardization of Grades, 642 
Wilczynski, E. J., Trigonometry, G. A. Minumr, 410 
Wiis, S. R., Earth’s Magnetic Field, 606 
Witson, H. A., X-Rays, G. W. C. Kaye, 351 
Winchell, Newton Horace, J. M. CLARKE, 127 
Winstow, C.-E. A., Microscopy of Drinking 
Water, G. C. Whipple, 448; Bacteriology of 
Food and Water, W. G. Savage, 715 
Winterstein, H., Physiology, L. B. MENDEL, 28 
Winton, W. M., Sexes in Phrynosoma, 311; 
Horned Lizards, 784 
Wisconsin Acad. of Sci., A. Bearry, 177 
WoopHutt, J. F., Nat. Educ. Assoc., 601 
Woopwarp, R. S., Needs of Research, 217 
WoopwortH, R. S., Psychology, D. R. Major, 821; 
The College Curriculum, 315 
Woo.tey, P. G., D. CuarK and A. DeMar, Intra- 
peritoneal Injections in Guinea-pigs, 789 
Wright, W. B., Quaternary Ice Age, F. LEVERETT, 
274 


X-Rays, and Crystalline Structure, W. H. Brace, 
795; Diffraction Patterns of, W. W. STRONG, 709 
X. Y., The Origin of Mutation, 520 


Ziwet, A., and L. A. Hopkins, Geometiy and Alge- 
bra, C. J. Keyser, 560 


SCIENCE 


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CONTENTS 
The Service of Medicine to Civilization: Dr. 
WiICTOR (©) VAUGHAN 1.022.566 cece nee ene 1 


A Fossil Human Skeleton from German East 
Africa: PROFESSOR GEORGE GRANT Mac- 
CUD UAE Sox baS hap ooooTe et op SOME pBD OKO 19 


The Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research. 20 


Bequests of Mrs. Morris K. Jesup ........-. 21 
Scientific Notes and News ..............-. 21 
Uniwersity and Educational News .........- 25 


Discussion and Correspondence :— 
Types of Bird Genera Limnothlypis New 
Genus: DR, WITMER STONE. Mutation: PRo- 
FESSOR MAYNARD M. Mrtoaur. A New Lo- 
cality and Horizon for Pennsylvania V erte- 
brates: W. H, TwEenHorEeL. Crown Gall of 
Alfalfa: Dr. P. J. O’GaRA. Religious 
Training at a University: PRorEssor W. A. 
WOras  Goococspecunenouencagoebanuioc oS 26 


Scientific Books :— 
Winterstein’s Handbuch der V ergleichenden 
Physiologie: Proresson LAFAyETTE B. 
MENDEL.  Gossner’s Kristallberechnung : 
PROFESSOR EDWARD H. Kraus. Scudder on 
Electrical Conductivity and Ionization Con- 
stants: PRorEssoR EH. H. ARCHIBALD ...... 28 


Notes on Meteorology and Climatology :— 
The Rainfall of California; The Monthly 
Weather Review; Antarctic Meteorology ; 
Notes: CHARLES F’, BROOKS .............. 29 


Special Articles :— 
A Culture Medium for the Tissues of Am- 
phibians: Prormssor S. J. Honumes. On 
the Chemical Nature of the Luminous Ma- 
terial of the Firefly: PRoressor H. NEwTon 
TEU | Gogo dsassolbeddosaanvoooucobeouod 32 


The American Chemical Society: Dr. CHARLES 
L. PARsons ot 


MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended for 


review should be sent to Professor J. McKeen Cattell, Garrison- 
on-Hudson, N. Y 


THE SERVICE OF MEDICINE TO CIVILIZA- 
TION1 

Fellow Members of the American Medical 
Association: I wish to express my appre- 
ciation of the honor conferred on me in 
being called to officiate as your president at 
this time. I had been content to serve in 
the ranks, and I have regarded this posi- 
tion as too honorable to be sought, or to be 
lightly regarded when spontaneously be- 
stowed. During my term of office I will 
give you my most devoted service. 

In ancient times, civilization was born, 
grew for a few generations and fell into 
decay. In all instances it was local and 
covered only small areas. Its habitations 
were oases in the world-wide desert of 
ignorance and superstition, and after an 
ephemeral existence all were buried in the 
sand. Relatively small bodies of men 
occupying salubrious regions developed the 
elements of science and for a few centuries 
flourished. Their superior knowledge gave 
them dominion over their less fortunate 
neighbors, who were converted into slaves. 
Conquest brought disease and the local 
civilizations were obliterated by contagion. 
History is replete with instances in which 
triumphant heroes have brought to their 
rejoicing countries with their prisoners of 
war invisible and intangible agents of 
death, which have ultimately vanquished 
the victors. 

The Heyptians of the Pharaohs drained 
the land, built aqueducts, disposed of their 
dead hygienically, reared temples and 
cities, maintained law and order, developed 

1 President’s address before the American Med- 


ical Association, at the sixty-fifth annual session, 
Atlantie City, June, 1914. 


2 SCIENCE 


the elements of literature and science and 
devised and employed simple machinery. 
In speaking of the ancient Hegyptians, 
Diodorus says: 

The whole manner of life was so evenly ordered 
that it would appear as though it had been ar- 
ranged by a learned physician, rather than by a 
lawegiver. 

Herodotus declared ancient Heypt the 
healthiest of countries, but filled with 
physicians of whom 


one treats only the diseases of the eye, another 
those of the head, the teeth, the abdomen or the in- 
ternal organs. 


Writing of a later time, Gibbon said: 

Ethiopia and Egypt have been stigmatized in all 
ages as the original source and seminary of the 
plague. 

It is evident that in the time of its great 
civilization Egypt was salubrious; coinci- 
dent with the decline in the learning and 
wisdom of its people, it was visited and 
desolated by pestilence. That Egypt had 
lost its salubrity as early as the period of 
the exodus of the Israelites is shown by 
many passages in the Bible in which the 
chosen people are threatened with the dis- 
eases of Egypt if they neglect or violate 
the laws. Moses, ‘‘learned in all the wisdom 
of the Egyptians,’’ codified his sanitary 
rules and regulations in the form of religi- 
ous rites and ceremonies and thus secured 
their observance among the faithful even 
down to the present time.” 

The Greek developed the most glorious 


2 Neither the papyrus of Ebers nor that of 
Brugsch throws any light on the problems discussed 
in this article. Indeed the value of both these 
papyri was at first overestimated. They are now 
regarded as compilations and consist largely of 
lists of remedies and furnish no information con- 
cerning epidemics or their effects upon the people, 
except to indicate that hookworm or bilharzia in- 
fection, one or both, at that time (about 1500 B.c.) 
afflicted the Egyptians. These parasites may have 
contributed to the deterioration of the people; this 
is a suggestive possibility. 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1018 


civilization of antiquity because he was the 
most ardent student of science, but he was 
unable to,cope with malaria and bubonic 
plague, and his descendants have been in 
bondage to malaria for nearly twenty-four 
centuries. The medicine of Hippocrates, 
the wisdom of Socrates, the philosophy of 
Plato, the plays of Aristophanes, the laws 
of Pericles and the science of Aristotle 
could not save the Greek from the degrad- 
ing effects of disease, and under its wither- 
ing influence the civilization of this great 
people slowly but surely decayed. Its 


-matchless marbles were thrown into the 


waste, its magnificent temples were allowed 
to crumble, its altars were deserted, its 
literature became insipid, its philosophy 
lost its virility, its science was forgotten 
and the children of this blighted civiliza- 
tion were sold in the slave markets of Rome 
and in later generations paid tribute to the 
Slav and the Turk. There certainly were 
eminent Greek scientists and physicians for 
centuries after Hippocrates, but they were 
not produets of Greek soil. They developed 
in Asia Minor, Egypt, Italy and elsewhere. 
Tt is of interest to note in this connection 
that malaria, according to Jones, was intro- 
duced into Greece in the fifth century, B.¢., 
and the fourth century showed the decline 
of Hippocratic medicine. Neuburger says: 


The sons and grandsons of Hippocrates, as well 
as his immediate disciples, Apollonios and Dexip- 
pos, were at the head of that series of physicians 
who laid emphasis upon theoretical conjecture and 
gave to medicine in the fourth century B.C. its spec- 
ulative coloring. 


Taken with the fact that other depart- 
ments of learning showed similar retro- 
eression at the same time, this sequence 
between the introduction of malaria and 
the trend of medicine toward speculation 
is worthy of record. That pestilence aided 
the barbarians in the final desolation of 
Greece is indicated by the following quo- 
tation from Thumb: 


Juby 3, 1914] 


At a time when the German tribes began moving, 
that is to say, at the end of the third century A.D., 
a gradual immigration of Slavonic tribes into the 
Balkans began; their invasions became more and 
more frequent, since the Goths chose Western Hu- 
rope as the goal of their conquering expeditions 
and left to the Slavs an open passage into the Bal- 
kan countries. But a real Slavonization of some 
Greek territories took place only in the eighth cen- 
tury, and attained its highest point when a horrible 
plague in 746 depopulated the Greek territories. 

I am aware of the fact that some have 
objected to considering the present inhab- 
itants of Greece as descendants of ancient 
Greeks. The former have been designated 
as ‘‘so-called Greeks,’’ ‘“a bastard people,’’ 
“*a mosaic of Vlacks, Arnauts and Slavs.” 
Some years ago Fallmerayer made the very 
positive statement that ‘“‘no drop of ancient 
Greek blood flows in the veins of the 
modern Greek.’’ Thumb has shown the 
absurdity of these statements and declares 
that cranial measurements, local names, 
customs and religion show that while some 
admixture with the Slay has taken place, 
the modern Greek is a lineal, and on the 
whole a fairly pure descendant of those 
who established the greatest civilization of 
antiquity. Modern Greek Christianity is 
only a modification of ancient Greek pagan- 
ism, in which gods have been supplanted 
by saints. 

Charon the old ferry-man in the underworld is 
to-day the god of death; he conducts the souls in 
a dreary procession to his realm. As in antiquity, 
a copper coin is put into the mouth of a dead per- 
son as a fee for the ferry into the other world. 
The ancient Moirai or fates (to-day, Mires) still 
determine the fate of the new-born child, spin and 
eut the thread of life. The bride is conducted into 
her new home, the dead are buried with ceremonies 
which the Greeks used already two thousand years 
ago. A sick person seeks recovery by laying down 
to sleep in the church of a saint, like those persons 
who once made a pilgrimage to the temple of Ask- 
lepios in Epidaurus. The Greeks of to-day are de- 
scendants of the ancient Hellenes, not in the sense 
in which every modern Greek could trace his origin 
back to an ancient Athenian or Spartan, but in the 


SCIENCE 3 


sense that in the modern people ancient blood flows 
largely and in some districts almost purely, and 
still more in the higher sense that the modern race 
shows a development of the Greek population of 
the ancient world. 

The broken remnants of older civiliza- 
tions found refuge and asylum in the salu- 
brious climate of the Italian peninsula and 
soon its hillsides were covered with vines 
and olives while its plains and valleys bore 
abundant harvests. Rome was built and 
her empire promised to extend to the re- 
motest parts of the world, but the ancient 
Roman contributed but little to science, 
and we are told by the historian that 
a pestilence raged for fifteen years (251-265) and 
carried off one half of the inhabitants of the em- 
pire. 

The seat of civilization was moved to the 
shore of the Bosphorus, but the lamp of 
science was well-nigh extinguished and the 
clouds of the middle ages enveloped the 
world and shrouded its inhabitants for 
more than a thousand years. 

A fabulous and formless darkness overcame the 
fairest things of earth. 

If one reads the history of the decline of 
the Roman Hmpire, he can hardly fail to 
see that disease was an important factor in 
that retrograde movement, which involved 
the greater part of the then known world. 
Jones and Ross find the earliest reference 
to malaria among the Romans in the come- 
dian Plautus, who died 184 B.c., and they 
quote Terence, who died 159 B.c., and whose 
language is explicit in showing not only 
the prevalence of malaria, but also the 
recognition of the different forms. From 
that time on, reference to the wide preva- 
lence of malarial diseases, not only in the 
open country, but also in the city, is fre- 
quent and definite. Jones says: 

There is then, every reason for supposing that 


malaria was unknown in Italy in early times, was 
well known at the beginning of the second century 


4 SCIENCE 


B.c., and that it gradually became more common 
during the next two hundred years. If this be so, 
it is at least a plausible conjecture that it was in- 
troduced by Hannibal’s Carthaginian mercenaries. 
Africa seems to have been the original home of the 
disease, and it is probable that some of his troops 
were infected. The constantly repeated devasta- 
tion of Italy in the second Punic war should be sure 
to turn a large part of it into marshy land, thus 
affording a convenient breeding-place to the mos- 
quitoes which were infected by the malarial pa- 
tients among the Carthaginians. The similar con- 
dition of Attica during the closing years of the 
fifth century B.C. offers a striking parallel. This 
Opinion does not rest on mere conjecture. We are 
told by Livy that in the year 208 B.c. a severe epi- 
demic attacked Italy. It did not cause many 
deaths, but resulted in much lingering disease, that 
is, most probably, chronic malaria. 


Malaria, however, was not the only dis- 
ease which contributed to the degeneration 
of the Roman people. I have already re- 
ferred to the pestilence of the third cen- 
tury, which is said to have destroyed half 
the inhabitants of the vast empire within 
fifteen years. This certainly was not 
malaria. Moreover, this was not the first 
ereat pestilence which afflicted the Roman 
Empire. Neuburger says: 


The ‘‘plague,’’ so called by Galen or Antonine, 
was first introduced from Syria by the Roman army. 
... The extraordinary contagiousness of the epi- 
demic is emphasized in all contemporary reports. 
There appear to have been a variety of simultane- 
ous manifestations, the descriptions indicating 
afflictions chiefly resembling small-pox or dysentery, 
but adequate criteria on which to express an opin- 
ion are wanting. The ‘‘plague’’ commenced 165 
A.D., claimed innumerable victims and lasted at 
least fifteen years. 

Jerome writes: With peace, order and good gov- 
ernment a curious lethargy fell on the warrior state 
deepening into a coma in which it died so quietly 
that neither the contemporaries nor we moderns 
can fix the date of the disease. The fact, however, 
finally became apparent when the phenomena of 
decay were indubitable and the world, deprived of 
the master, fell back helplessly into a condition 
hardly more advanced than in the ages before its 
subjection, save that it had the imperishable mem- 
ory of Rome to give it hope, direction and courage. 


-who had gone with him. 


[N.S. Vou. XL. No. 1018 


In the fourth century the seat of govern- 
ment was removed to Byzantium. It is 
probable that this change was, in part at 
least, determined by the insalubrity of 
Italy. Early in the fifth century Rome 
was pillaged, but the real conquerors of 
Rome were not the Goth and Vandals, 
but malaria and the plague. Disease con- 
tinued to devastate Italy. Creighton says: 


About the year 668 the English archbishop-elect, 
Vighard, having come to Rome to get his election 
confirmed by the pope, Vitalanius, was soon after 
his arrival cut off by the pestilence with almost all 
Twelve years after, in 
680, there was another severe pestilence in the 
months of July, August and September, causing a 
great mortality at Rome and such a panic at Pavia 
that the inhabitants fled to the mountains. In 
746 a pestilence is said to have advanced from 
Sicily and Calabria and to have made such deyas- 
tation in Rome that there were houses without a 
single inhabitant left. 


From that time on the plague periodically 
spread over Italy until the seventeenth cen- 
tury, while malaria has been in continuous 
possession down to our own time. We are 
told that the epidemic of 1348 reduced the 
inhabitants of the Hternal City to 20,000. 

We are familiar with the graphic descrip- 
tion of the plague in Florence by Boccaccio, 
who wrote: 


Such was the cruelty of Heaven, and perhaps of 
men, that between March and July following, it ‘s 
supposed, and made pretty certain, that upwards 
of a hundred thousand souls perished in the city 
only, whereas, before that calamity, it was not 
supposed to have contained so many inhabitants. 
What magnificent dwellings, what noble palaces 
were then depopulated to the last person, what 
families extinct, what riches and vast possessions 
left, and no known heir to inherit, what numbers of 
both sexes in the prime and vigor of youth—whom 
in the morning neither Galen, Hippocrates nor 
Esculapius himself, but would have declared in 
perfect health—after dining heartily with their 
friends here, have supped with their departed 
friends in the other world. 


There are but few passages in literature 
so tragic as the short record of the plague 


JuLy 3, 1914] 


of the fourteenth century begun by the 
friar of Kilkenny, but soon interupted by 
his death: 


I friar, John Clyn, of the order of Friars Minor 
and of the convent of Kilkenny, wrote in this book 
those notable things which happened in my times, 
which I saw with my eyes, or which I learned 
from persons worthy of credit. And lest these 
things worthy of remembrance should perish with 
time and fall away from the memory of those who 
are to come after us, [, seeing these many evils, and 
the whole world lying, as it were in the wicked one, 
among the dead, awaiting death—as I have truly 
heard and examined, so have I reduced these 
things to writing; and lest the writing should 
perish with the writer, and the work fail altogether 
with the workman, I leave parchment for continu- 
ing the work, if haply, any man survive, and any 
of the race of Adam escape this pestilence and 
continue the work I have commenced. 


That the period of the Byzantine Empire 
(395-1453) was one of general degeneracy 
is shown on every page of the historian. 
It produced no literature of merit, and 
“‘the study of nature was regarded as the 
surest symptom of an unbelieving mind.’’ 
Neuburger says: 


The Byzantines merely followed the downward 
path. Surfeited with tradition, which made modes 
of thought appear inevitable, because customary, 
filled as a nation with overweening self-conceit, fed 
by the glories of the Greco-Roman past, they 
neither could nor would destroy the historie bridge 
nor replace the crumbling ruin with a new edifice. 
It lay outside the sphere of their interests to enter 
into that conscious emulation of antiquity which, 
emphasizing the growing contrast between past 
and present, and eliminating the obsolete and the 
inert, is the essence of mental cultivation. For- 
getting that it was the free development of the 
national spirit which constituted the greatness of 
the past, they went so far as to smother its liveliest 
expression by denying, in their rigid adherence to 
Attic speech, all part in literature to the language 
of the people. The more incapable did the Byzan- 
tines become of grasping the spirit, the more tena- 
ciously did they cling to the letter—a reflection of 
the mania for titles and ceremonies in political life 
—and thus they dragged the inanimate mechan- 
ism, the dry bones of antiquity through a thousand 
years, instead of erecting a new edifice on the 
foundations of antiquity. 


SCIENCE 5 


The physician and historian, Procopius, 
in his account of the great pestilence in the 
reign of Justinian “‘emulated the skill and 
diligence of Thucydides in the description 
of the plague at Athens.’’ Of this epi- 
demic Gibbon says: 


In time its first malignancy was abated and dis- 
persed; the disease alternately languished and re- 
vived; but it was not till the end of a calamitous 
period of fifty-two years, that mankind recovered 
their health, and the air resumed its pure and sa- 
lubrious quality. No facts have been preserved to 
sustain an account, or even a conjecture, of the 
numbers that perished in this extraordinary mor- 
tality. I only find that during three months, four 
and at length ten thousand persons died each day at 
Constantinople, that many cities of the east were 
left vacant, and that in several districts of Italy, 
the harvest and the vintage withered on the ground. 
The triple scourge of war, pestilence and famine 
afflicted the subjects of Justinian, and his reign /s 
disgraced by a visible decrease of the human spe- 
cies, which has never been replaced in some of the 
fairest countries of the globe. 


This epidemic spread over the whole of 
Europe and it took more than a century to 
reach Hngland, where “‘it fabled long after 
In prose and verse as the great plague of 
Cadwallader’s time.’’ Then for quite a 
thousand years it reaped its periodic har- 
vests as often as immunity was lost in new 
generations. 

The historian, as a rule, confines his 
descriptions to martial and political events 
and consequently gives a wholly erroneous 
idea of true conditions. Gibbon says: 

If a man were called upon to fix the period in 
the history of the world, during which the condi- 
tion of the human race was most happy and pros- 
perous, he would without hesitation, name that 
which elapsed from the death of Domitian to the 
accession of Commodus (from 96 to 180 A.D.). 

Noah Webster, in his work on epidemics 
and pestilence, quotes the preceding with 
the following just comment: 

It is certain that, at this time, the Roman Em- 


pire was in its glory, and governed by a series of 
able and virtuous princes, who made the happiness 


6 SCIENCE 


of their subjects their principal object. But the 
coloring given to the happiness of this period is 
far too brilliant. The success of armies and the 
extent of empire do not constitute exclusively the 
happiness of nations; and no historian has a title 
to the character of fidelity, who does not compre- 
hend, in his general description of the state of 
mankind, moral and physical, as well as political 
evils. 

Let us make brief inquiry into the dis- 
eases of this ‘‘most happy and prosperous’’ 
period. It was preceded by, it began in, 
continued in, and closed in pestilence. 
That the plague was endemic in Italy at 
that time and that it developed in epidemic 
form with each increase in susceptible mate- 
rial there can be no doubt. Of the epi- 
demic of 68 A.D. Tacitus says: 

Houses were filled with dead bodies and the 
streets with funerals; neither age nor sex was ex- 
empt; slaves and plebeians were suddenly taken off, 
amidst the lamentations of their wives and chil- 
dren, who, while they assisted the sick, or mourned 
the dead, were seized with the disease, and perish- 
ing, were burned on the same funeral pyre. To 
the knights and senators the disease was less 
mortal, though these also suffered in the common 
calamity. ‘ 


About this time the plague appears to 
have spread over the whole of Asia, north- 
ern Africa aud Hurope. According to 
Short, the deaths from this disease in Scot- 
land between 88 and 92 a.D. amounted to 
not less than 150,000. This was probably 
not less than one fourth, possibly one half, 
the population of Scotland at that time. 

In the year 80 A.D. the deaths from the 
plague in Rome at the height of the epi- 
demic numbered 10,000 a day. It is esti- 
mated that the population of Rome at that 
time was somewhat more than one million. 
Exacerbations of the disease in Rome are 
recorded for the years 102, 107 and 117 a.p. 
According to Short, 45,000 died of the 
plague in Wales in 114. The year 167 ap. 
is noted for an unusually severe outbreak 
of the plague at Rome, where it continued 


[N.S. Vou. XL. No. 1018 


for many years. In the year 173 a.D., the 
Roman army was threatened with extinc- 
tion by disease, and special epidemics, or 
rather exacerbations of the epidemic, pre- 
vailed in Rome in 175 and 178 a.v. That 
the ‘“‘happy and prosperous’’ period was 
followed by a continuation of the plague is 
shown by the following quotation from 
Herodian: 

A great pestilence raged throughout Italy at that 
time (about 187 A.D.), but with most violence in 
the city, by reason of the great concourse of peo- 
ple assembled from all parts of the earth. The 
mortality among men‘and cattle was great. The 
Emperor, by advice of physicians, retired to 
Laurentium, on account of the coolness of the 
place, which was shaded with laurels. It was sup- 
posed that the fragrance of the laurels acted as an 
antidote against the contagion. The people in the 
city also, by the advice of physicians, filled their 
noses and ears with sweet ointments and used per- 
fumes, ete. 

Under the spell of the historian we have 
been inclined to regard the period when 
the greater philosopher, Mareus Aurelius 
Antoninus, sat on the throne of the world, 
as the golden age. Let us therefore listen to 
a few words from his personal attendant, 
courtier and historian, who writes: 

Unless he, M. Antoninus, had been born at this 
juncture, the affairs of the empire would have 
fallen into speedy ruin; for there was no respite 
from military operations. War raged in the east, 
in Illyricum, in Italy and in Gaul. Earthquakes 
with the destruction of cities, inundations of rivers, 
frequent plagues, a species of locusts ravaging the 
fields; in short every calamity that can be con- 
ceived to afflict and torment man scourged the hu- 
man race during his administration. 

It is estimated that during the dark ages 
the average of human life was less than 
twenty years. A high birth-rate was neces- 
sary to keep the race alive, but notwith- 
standing this, Europe was sparsely inhab- 
ited. At the time of the Norman Conquest 
the inhabitants of England numbered be- 
tween two and two and one half million, 
probably nearer the former, for they had 


JuLY 3, 1914] 


not reached the greater number a hundred 
years later. Creighton says: 

It would be within the mark to say that less 
than one tenth of the population was urban in any 
distinctive sense of the term. After London, Nor- 
wick, York and Lincoln, there were probably no 
towns with five thousand inhabitants. 

Indeed, urban life, as we now know it, 
was quite impossible in this age of pesti- 
lence and would soon become so again were 
the ‘functions of preventive medicine 
relaxed. 

‘Most of the great epidemics of the middle 
ages were designated as pestilentia or 
magna mortalitas. In the most deadly 
visitations the bubonic plague is so accu- 
rately described that there can be no doubt 
about its identity, but it must not be sup- 
posed that the people enjoyed any high 
degree of health even in those periods when 
this contagion languished on account of 
exhaustion of susceptible victims. Ergot- 
ism, under the name of Saint Anthony’s 
fire, was endemic in France and adjacent 
territories; Normandy was filled with 
lepers, but Christ’s poor were not confined 
to that country. England was regarded 
as the special home of hunger, but abun- 
dance was a stranger to the masses in every 
land. The mysterious sweating sickness, 
apparently brought to Hngland with Henry 
Tudor in 1485, developed in five distinct epi- 
demics which were characterized by the fact 
that the mortality was greater among the 
rich than among the poor. Typhus, known as 
morbus pawperum, prevailed largely in the 
jails, on ships and among the squalid in- 
habitants of the cities. Even the discovery 
of America carried to Europe the scourge 
of syphilis, which was spread over Italy by 
the soldiers of Charles VIII., and within 
a few years reached the most distant parts 
of Europe. Smallpox appeared in Eng- 
land in the sixteenth century, having jour- 
neyed, according to the most reliable au- 


SCIENCE g 


thority, all the way from the Orient. That 
tuberculosis, diphtheria, dysentery and 
other diseases, still with us, prevailed dur- 
ing the middle ages is shown by the records, 
but they were overshadowed by the higher 
mortality of those mentioned above. Im- 
proved agriculture has extinguished the 
fire of St. Anthony, except in the most 
benighted provinces of Russia. The great 
fire in London in 1666 destroyed the in- 
fected rats and relieved England of the 
bubonic plague, which had been endemic 
in that country since 1349. Something 
more than one hundred years later the dis- 
covery of Jenner robbed smallpox of its 
horrors, wherever vaccination is properly 
enforced. The investigations of Howard 
improved the sanitation of jails and work- 
houses, and did much to eradicate typhus. 

The claim has been advanced that the 
infectious diseases have benefited the race 
by the destruction of the unfit. This idea 
I have combated most vigorously since our 
study of typhoid fever in the army in 1898. 
My colleagues and I found that out of 9,481 
soldiers who had previously been on the 
sick report and could not be regarded as 
possessing standard health, 648, or 6.8 per 
cent., contracted typhoid fever; whereas, 
out of 46,384 men who had no preceding 
illness, 7,197, or 15.3 per cent., developed 
typhoid fever. More than 90 per cent. of 
the men who developed typhoid had no 
preceding intestinal disorder. Under ordi- 
nary conditions the strong, busy man, espe- 
cially the one whose activities demand wide 
excursions from his home, is more likely to 
become infected than the one whose sphere 
of action is more limited on account of in- 
firmity. The reason for this is too obvious 
to need statement, and it follows that more 
men than women and more adults than 
children have typhoid fever. Moreover, 
the case mortality is greater among the 
strong, because death in the infectious dis- 


8 SCIENCE 


eases is often due to the rapidity with which 
the invading organism is broken up by the 
secretions of the body cells and the protein 
poison made effective. From this I have 
concluded that contagion, like war, destroys 
the very flower of the race. This view is 
sustained by the historians of the pesti- 
lences of former times. 

Thucydides in his description of the 
plague at Athens says: 

Moreover, no constitution, whether in respect of 
strength or weakness, was found able to cope with 
it; nay, it swept away all alike, even those at- 
tended to with the most careful management. 

Procopius in his account of the Justinian 
epidemic states that youth was the most 
perilous season, and females were less sus- 
ceptible than males. 

Cogan, in deseribing the outbreak of 
typhus at Oxford in 1577, writes: 

The same kind of ague raged in a manner over 
all England, and took away very many of the 
strongest sort, and in their lustiest age, and for 
the most part, men and not women and children, 


culling them out here and here, even as you would 
choose the best sheep out of a flock. 


In his account of the plague of 1665 in 
London, Boghurst makes the following 
statement : 

Of all the common hackney prostitutes of Luten- 
ers-lane, dog-yard, cross-lane, Baldwins-gardens, 
Hatton-gardens and other places, the common 
criers of oranges, oysters, fruits, etc., all the im- 
pudent drunken, drubbing bayles and fellows and 
many others of the rouge route, there is but few 
missing—verifying the testimony of Diemerbroech 
that the plague left the rotten bodies and took the 
sound. 


Like testimony comes from an account 
of the plague at Moscow: 

Drunkards and persons of feeble temperament 
were less subject to attack. 
' Davidson observed that typhus fever was 
more frequent among the robust than the 
weak. He states that out of 429 cases the 
spare and unhealthy taken together made 


[N.S. Vou. XL. No. 1018 


only about 17 per cent. He adds that the 
death-rate among the poor was one in 
twenty-three, while among the well-to-do 
it was one in four. The greater mortality 
of typhus among the higher classes has been 
noted by Barber and Cheyne and by 
Braken. 


Hurty, nearly a century ago, wrote: 


A fever which consigns thousands to the grave, 
consigns tens of thousands to a worse fate—to 
hopeless poverty, for fever spares the children and 
cuts off the parents, leaving the wretched offspring 
to fill the future ranks of prostitution, mendicancy 
and crime. 


Creighton says: 


The best illustrations of the greater severity 
and fatality of typhus among the well-to-do come 
from Ireland in times of famine, and will be found 
in another chapter. But it may be said here, so 
that this point in the natural history of typhus 
may not be suspected of exaggeration, that the 
enormously greater fatality of typhus (of course, 
in a smaller number of cases) among the richer 
classes of the Irish families, who had exposed 
themselves in the work of administration, of jus- 
tice, or of charity, rests on the unimpeachable au- 
thority of such men as Graves, and on the concur- 
rent evidence of many. 

A surgeon in the British navy at the time 
of William III and Anne tells how he was 
led to practise bleeding in fever as follows: 

I had observed on a ship of war, whose comple- 
ment was near 500, in a Mediterranean voyage in the 
year 1694, when we lost about 90 or 100 men, mostly 
by fever, that those who died were commonly the 
young, but almost always the strongest, lustiest, 
handsomest persons, and that two or three escaped 
by such natural hemorrhages, which were five or 
six pounds of blood. 

The middle ages were indeed dark phys- 
ically, intellectually and morally. Here 
and there, now and then, some man of 
genius towered above the general low level 
of his contemporaries and not infrequently 
he paid dearly for his audacity. For some 
centuries the Arab, especially in Spain, 
stood out alone as the torch-bearer of sci- 
ence, and he, when driven back into the 


Juuy 3, 1914] 


insalubrity of Northern Africa, lapsed into 
barbarism. Neuburger writes: 

Fortunately the fate of medieval medicine was 
not dependent on Byzantium alone. An admirable 
illustration of the doctrine of conservation of 
energy is afforded by the fact that, with the de- 
cline of intellectual energy at home, a contempo- 
taneous development of Greek medicine took place 
abroad, which, if at times misguided, was yet full 
of vitality, whilst the medical art of the newly 
arisen world of Islam reached a height unsur- 
passed during the middle ages. 

In the greater part of Europe, ignor- 
ance and disease held full sway. In the 
midst of great calamities ‘‘the will-o-the- 
wisp of superstition is an irresistible at- 
traction and offers the only ray of hope.”’ 
Strong men, neglectful of their earthly 
duties, betook themselves to secluded places 
and lost themselves in dreams of a heavenly 
paradise. Mysticism, fanaticism and super- 
stition dominated all conditions of men. 
Rulers, illiterate, immoral and even inces- 
tuous, occupied palaces while the masses 
died of starvation. The history of the time 
is a record of diseased, degenerated, de- 
mented man. There can be no doubt that 
disease has overthrown civilizations in the 
past, and there is no surety that it may not 
do so again. The recent outbreak of the 
plague in Manchuria and its more recent 
appearance in Cuba are not without their 
warnings. It remains to be seen if those 
who control our government have the intel- 
ligence necessary to protect our country 
against the invasion of pestilence. The 
failure to provide for camp sanitation in 
1898, the behavior of California officials on 
the finding of plague in San Francisco and 
the general indifference of national and 
state authorities toward the eradication of 
disease discourage the hope that intelligent 
patriotism is widely distributed among us. 
As a contemporary of Mr. Dowie and Mrs. 
Eddy and as a citizen of a country in which 
the osteopath and chiropractic flourish, I 


SCIENCE 9 


feel some embarrassment in speaking of 
the fanaticism and ignorance of the dark 
ages. 

The history of medicine is that of man: 
kind. Born in naked ignorance, bound in 
the swaddling-clothes of credulity and 
nursed on superstition, medicine has had 
its savants and its fakers, its triumphs and 
its failures, its honors and its disgraces. It 
has attracted and still attracts to its ranks 
men of the purest motives and those who 
are impelled by the basest desires. It can 
be said without fear of contradiction that 
medicine has done more for the growth of 
Science than any other profession, and its 
best representatives in all ages have been 
among the leaders in the advancement of 
knowledge, but the average medical man 
conforms in intellect and character to the 
community in which he lives. The food of 
the faker is ignorance and he thrives where 
this commodity is most abundant. The un- 
controlled fool moves to his own destruc- 
tion. This is the only way in which nature 
can eliminate him. A wise government pro- 
tects its incompetents from medical and 
other fakers, but such government can exist 
only where wisdom predominates. 

A study of epidemics shows that in the 
presence of widespread contagion mankind 
in the mass tends to revert to the barbaric 
state. This is the unvarying testimony of 
all authorities, medical and lay, secular 
and religious, who have made the records. 
The historian Niebuhr, in discussing the 
report on the plague in Athens by Thu- 
eydides says: 

Almost all great epochs of moral degradation 
are connected with great epidemics. 


F. A. Gasquet, abbot president of the 
English Benedictines, in his history of the 
black death, writes: 

The immediate effect on the people was a relig- 


ious paralysis. Instead of turning men to God, 
the scourge turned them to despair, and this not 


10 SCIENCE 


only in England, but in all parts of Europe. 
Writers of every nation describe the same dis- 
soluteness of manners consequent upon the epi- 
demie. 

A Venetian historian notes the general 
dissoluteness which followed the disease 
and its effects in lowering the standard of 
probity and morals. Covino of Montpellier 
bears testimony to the baneful effects of the 
scourge on the morals of those who escaped, 
and coneludes that such visitations exercise 
the most harmful influence on the general 
virtue of the world. William of Nangis, 
in his history of the plague in France in 
1348, concludes with the following: 

But alas! the world by this renovation is not 
changed for the better. For people were after- 
wards more avaricious and grasping, even when 
they possessed more of this world’s goods than 
before. They were more coyetous, vexing them- 
selves by contradictions, quarrels, strifes and law- 
suits. 

Many similar references could be given, 
but these suffice to show that disease breeds 
ignorance, immorality and strife. Our 
inquiries into the influence of disease on 
civilization, however, have brought out the 
fact that people living in comparative 
health have within a few generations made 
beginnings, at least, some, highly creditable, 
in government, literature and science. The 
Hellenic tribes of Greece built up their 
wondrous civilization within a few cen- 
turies. It is true that Rome was not built 
in a day, but the seven hills were covered 
with houses and temples, the great aque- 
ducts brought abundant supplies of pure 
water from the mountains and the wonder- 
ful sewers remain as evidence of sanitary 
skill, and all this was accomplished in a 
relatively short period measured in the 
history of the race. The world moved for- 
ward at a rapid pace with the dawn of sci- 
ence in the last century. It is not extrava- 
gant to prophesy that with ten centuries of 
freedom from disease, both inherited and 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1018 


acquired, the world would be regenerated 
and the superman be born. 

It is not necessary to turn to history for 
examples of the degrading effects of dis- 
ease on man. We see it to-day in the 
physical inferiority, intellectual weakness 
and moral irresponsibility of those peoples 
who are still under the domination of 
malaria and kindred diseases. My illus- 
trious predecessor in this office, Dr. Gorgas, 
has demonstrated what scientific medicine 
may accomplish in these pestilential regions, 
and it is within reason to look forward to 
the time when the tropics may supply 
choice locations for civilized man. In like 
manner the valleys of the Tigris and Hu- 
phrates are bemg reclaimed and Babylon 
and Nineveh may again become seats of 
learning and culture. The modern sani- 
tarian is quite competent to rebuild the 
home in which the cradle of civilization 
was rocked. 

After the last epidemic of the plague in 
London in 1665 the death-rate, so far as it 
ean be ascertained, fell to between 70 and 
80 per 1,000. During the next century it 
fell as low as 50, but fluctuated greatly with 
recurring epidemics of typhus and small- 
pox. In the nineteenth, it gradually and 
quite constantly decreased and is now about 
14. In 1879-80, the first year in which 
the mortality statistics of the United States 
possess sufficient accuracy to be of any 
value, the death-rate in the registered area 
was 19.8; in 1912 it was 13.9—a decrease of 
30 per cent. During the same time the 
mortality from typhoid fever has decreased 
50 per cent.; that from scarlet fever 89 per 
cent.; that from diphtheria 84 per cent.; 
that from tuberculosis 54 per cent. Hoff- 
man states that had the death-rate for 
tuberculosis in 1901 continued there would 
have been 200,000 more deaths from this 
cause from that date to 1911 than actually 
did occur, or the actual saving of lives from 


JuLyY 3, 1914] 


death by tuberculosis accomplished in that 
decennium averaged 20,000 per year. A 
battle in which 20,000 are slain stirs the 
world at the time and fills pages of history 
later. Preventive medicine measures its 
successes by the number of lives saved, and 
20,000 a year preserved from death from 
one disease is no small triumph. In the 
last century the average of human life has 
been increased fifteen years and this in- 
erease could be duplicated in the next 
twenty years if the facts we now possess 
were effectively employed. 

Hoffman further states that the addi- 
tion to the material wealth of this country 
secured by the reduction of deaths from 
tuberculosis within ten years amounts ap- 
proximately to 6,200,000 years of human 
life, covering its most productive period. 
Medicine discovered the facts which have 
made this great work possible and has 
directed their application. With evidence 
of this kind before them, will our law- 
makers listen to those who demand recog- 
nition as practitioners of medicine without 
proper qualification ? 

The further developments of medicine, 
both curative and preventive, depend on 
scientific investigations. The public is the 
beneficiary and should’ in every way en- 
courage medical research. By the appli- 
cation of discoveries already made, the 
burden of disease has been lightened, sick- 
ness has become less frequent and less pro- 
longed, a greater degree of health has been 
secured, the efficiency of the individual 
and of the nation has been increased and 
life has been prolonged and made more 
enjoyable. The federal government and 
the states should sustain and promote scien- 
tific research. That government is the best 
which secures for its citizens the greatest 
freedom from disease, the highest degree 
of health and the longest life, and that 
people which most fully secures the enjoy- 


SCIENCE 11 


ment of these blessings will dominate the 
world. 

Medicine consists of the application of 
scientific discovery to the prevention and 
cure of disease. All else which may go 
under the name of medicine is sham and 
fraud. Without advancement in the phys- 
ical, chemical and biologic sciences there 
can be no progressive movement in medi- 
cine. Scientific knowledge is gained only 
by observation and experiment. Before 
the time of Jenner, we are told by the his- 
torian, it was unusual to meet in London 
one whose face was not marked by small- 
pox. There was a popular belief that one 
who had cowpox was immune to smallpox. 
Jenner put this belief to a scientific test 
and the result was the discovery of vaccina- 
tion, and this secured the abolition of this 
disfigurement and a marked reduction in 
mortality. 

In 1849, a village doctor, with a crude 
microscope, studied the blood of animals 
sick with anthrax and compared it with 
that of healthy ones. He discovered the 
anthrax bacillus. This work was extended 
by Davaine, Pasteur, Koch and others, and 
from this the science of bacteriology has 
been developed. The particulate causes of 
many infectious diseases have been recog- 
nized, isolated and their effects on animals 
demonstrated. Many of the mysteries of 
contagion have been revealed and the con- 
ditions of the transmission of disease made 
known. The fundamental principles of 
preventive medicine have been developed 
ito a science which is to-day the most 
potent factor in the progress of civilization. 

Finlay suspected a certain mosquito to 
be the carrier of the virus of yellow fever. 
Reed and his co-workers demonstrated the 
truth of this theory and the work of Gorgas 
has freed Havana from the pestilence and 
the construction of the Panama Canal is an 
accomplished fact. 


12 


_ We are sorry for the Greek, whose bodily 
health, mental strength and moral sense 
were depressed by the invisible and insidi- 
ous organisms of malaria, and truly his 
memory deserves our sympathy. He had 
no microscope, and how could he detect or 
even suspect that the mosquitoes which had 
annoyed his ancestors for generations had 
armed their lancets with deadly poison 
brought from Africa? The Greek had 
never heard of quinin and the other cin- 
chona alkaloids. He did not know the land 
whose forests were even then elaborating 
those products, which, centuries later, were 
of greater value than gold to man, and 
proved to be an essential help in the uplift 
of mankind. [averan discovered the Plas- 
modium malarie. Ross studied its life his- 
tory and the fetters of this disease, which 
has so long retarded the progress of man, 
have been broken. Mitchell and Reichart 
investigated the poisonous properties of 
snake venom. Sewall immunized animals 
with it. Ehrlich studied the similar bodies, 
abrin, ricin and diphtheria toxin, and yon 
Behring and Roux gave the world anti- 
toxin, the magical curative value of which 
has greatly reduced the mortality from this 
disease. The experiments of Villemin 
demonstrated the contagious nature of 
tuberculosis, long suspected and frequently 
denied. The diligent research of Koch re- 
sulted in the recognition and isolation of 
the causative agent, and since this discoy- 
ery the mortality of the Great White Plague 
in Hurope and the United States has been 
diminished more than half, and it is within 
the range of sanity to look forward to the 
time, when the former ‘‘Captain of the 
hosts of death’’ will be known only by the 
fearful records he once made in the history 
of man’s struggle to be relieved from the 
heavy tribute paid to infection. 

We boast of a great civilization, but this 
is justified only within limits. Science 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1018 


more nearly dominates the world than at 
any time in the past. Learning permeates 
the masses more deeply, but credulity and 
ignorance are widely prevalent. In this 
country of nearly one hundred millions, 
there are thousands whose greed impedes 
the progress of the whole, tens of thousands 
whose ignorance retards their own growth, 
and other thousands who live by crime and 
procreate their kind to feed on generations 
to come. We have our schools, colleges and 
universities, while our almshouses, insane 
asylums and penal institutions are full. In 
our cities we see the palatial homes of the 
ultra rich, the splendid temples of trade 
and commerce, the slums of want and 
poverty and the homes, both rich and 
squalid, of vice and crime. No nation in 
this condition can be given a clean bill of 
health. Our hill-tops are illuminated by 
the light of knowledge, but our valleys are 
covered by the clouds of ignorance. We 
have not emerged from the shadows of 
the dark ages. The historian of the future 
will have no difficulty in convincing his 
readers that those who lived at the begin- 
ning of the twentieth century were but 
slightly removed from barbarism, as he 
will tell that the school, saloon and house 
of prostitution flourished in close proxim- 
ity; that the capitalist worked his employ- 
ees under conditions which precluded 
soundness of body; that the labor union 
man dynamited buildings; that whilst we 
sent missionaries to convert the Moslem 
and the Buddhist ten thousand murders 
were committed annually in our midst, and 
that a large percentage of our mortality 
was due to preventable disease. 

Evidently there is much to be done be- 
fore we pass out from the shadows of ig- 
norance into the full light of knowledge. 
In this great work for the betterment of 
the race the medical profession has impor- 
tant duties to perform. I do not mean to 


JuLy 3, 1914] 


imply that the uplift of mankind devolves 
wholly on the medical man. The burdens 
are too many and too diversified, the ascent 
too steep and the pathways too rough for 
one profession to hope to reach unaided 
the high plateau we seek. Moreover, other 
callings have no right, and should have no 
desire, to shirk the moral responsibilities, 
which rest alike on all. But in past ages, 
medical men have been the chief torch- 
bearers of science, the only light in which 
man can safely walk, and we must keep 
and transmit to our successors this trust 
and honor. I know of no scientific discov- 
ery, from the ignition of wood by friction 
to the demonstration of the causes of in- 
fection and the restriction of disease, which 
has not sooner or later assisted in the bet- 
terment of the race. It may be added that 
nothing else has so aided man in his slow 
and halting progress from the pestilential 
marshes of ignorance to the open uplands 
of intelligence. 

In so great a work as the eradication of 
preventable disease, all intelligent people 
must cooperate. The law must support by 
proper enactments, and these must be en- 
forced with justice and intelligence; it 
must recognize that the right to enjoy 
health is quite as sacred as that to possess 
property; that to poison men in factories 
and mines, to pollute drinking-water sup- 
plies, to adulterate foods and to drug with 
nostrums is manslaughter. Religion must 
teach the sanctity of the body as well as 
that of the soul, that ignorance is sin and 
knowledge virtue, that parenthood is the 
holiest function performed by man and 
that to transmit disease is an unpardonable 
sin. The teacher must know hygiene as 
well as mathematics. The capitalist must 
recognize that improvement in health and 
growth in intelligence increase the effi- 
ciency of labor. There never has been a 
time when scientific medicine has had so 


SCIENCE 13 


many and such efficient and appreciative 
helpers as it has to-day. Our sanitary laws 
are for the most part good, but their ad- 
ministration is weak, on account of igno- 
rance. The pulpits of the land are open, 
for the most part, to the sanitarian. The 
respectable newspapers are most effective 
in the crusade against quackery and disease. 
The philanthropist has learned that the 
advancement of science confers the great- 
est and most lasting benefits on man. 

There is a moral obligation to be intelli- 
gent. Ignorance is a vice and when it re- 
sults in injury to any one it becomes a 
crime, a moral, if not a statutory one. To 
infect another with disease, either directly 
or indirectly, as a result of ignoranee, is an 
immoral act. The purpose of government 
is to protect its citizens, and a government 
which fails to shelter its citizens against 
infection is neither intelligent nor moral. 
To transmit disease of body or mind to 
offspring is an unpardonable sin. In a 
reasonable sense it is worse than murder, 
because it projects suffering into the future 
indefinitely. 

That medicine has become a fundamen- 
tal social service must be evident. To re- 
turn one incapacitated by illness or injury 
to the condition of self-support benefits not 
only the individual, but the community, 
inasmuch as it imecreases its productive 
capacity. Infirmity is a direct burden on 
the individual and scarcely less direct on 
the community. Weakness in any part 
diminishes the strength of the whole. It is 
a fully established principle in social econ- 
omy that wide-spread intelligence and 
growth in knowledge are beneficial to the 
state. 

' It was in full recognition of this that the 
framers of the Ordinance of 1787 wrote 
into that immortal document: 


Religion, morality and knowledge being neces- 
sary to good government and the happiness of 


14 


mankind, schools and the means of education shall 
forever be encouraged. 

The Territory of the Northwest, the 
government of which was provided in this 
ordinanee, was at that time a vast waste of 
forest and prairie, furnishing a scant and 
precarious subsistence for savage tribes and 
attracting to its borders a few of the most 
hardy sons of civilization. The knowledge 
for whose growth and diffusion the wise 
provision was made, has drained the ma- 
larial marshes, converted wild prairie and 
tangled wood into fruitful orchards and 
fertile fields, dotted the whole area with 
neat villages, reared great cities, linked all 
parts with steam and electric roads, and 
provided comfortable homes and abundant 
food for millions. The men who wrote the 
Ordinance of 1787 left a great inheritance 
which is temporarily in our possession. 
Let us write into this great document: 

Every ill which can be relieved shall be re- 
moved, and every preventable disease shall be pre- 
vented. — 

The wisdom of our fathers has secured 
for us a greater measure of health and a 
longer term of life; let us do as well for 
those who are to possess this fair land in 
the next generation. Let us live not only 
for ourselves and the present, but for the 
greater and more intelligent life of the 
future. 

Not myself, but the truth that in life I have spoken 
Not myself, but the seed that in life I have sown 
Shall pass into ages—all about me forgotten, 


Save the truth I have spoken, the things I have 
done. 


All things are relative and health is no 
exception. With a greater degree of health 
among all, religion will become more effec- 
tive for good, morality will have a deeper 
significance and a wider application and 
knowledge will multiply and distribute its 
blessings more widely. 

In the further improvement of the phys- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XL. No. 1018 


ical, mental and moral conditions of the_ 
race, medicine should continue to be a 
leader. There is no other calling so essen- 
tial to this movement, and in order to more 
thoroughly fit itself for this important task 
the profession should first of all look to its 
own betterment. The medical man should 
possess intelligence of high order, manifest 
industry without stint and show the high- 
est integrity in all he does. That it is the 
aim of this association to attract to its 
colors men possessing these qualifications 
and to deny admission to others is shown 
by the advance in the standard of medical 
education, the enforcement of medical 
registration laws and the denunciation of 
every form of medical charlatanism. In all 
these directions the profession has the sup- 
port of the more intelligent men in other 
callings. The improvement in medical 
training secured within recent years in this 
country is without a parallel in the history 
of education. The requirements for admis- 
sion to the medical schools have been 
rapidly advanced and standardized; the 
number of medical schools has been reduced 
from 166 to 104 by obliteration and combi- 
nation, much to the improvement of all, 
and a far better class of matriculates has 
been secured. The courses of instruction 
have been lengthened and made more scien- 
tific. Hach good medical school is doing 
more or less of research which is not con- 
fined to laboratory investigators, but is 
fast finding its way into hospitals. In- 
deed, some of our clinical men are now 
making most valuable contributions. Hvery 
medical man should have much of the 
spirit of research. It is the pabulum on 
which medicine feeds and without it the 
profession trophies and starves. It is the 
glory and strength of the profession that 
it is not bound by dogma and pays no heed 
to ipse dixits. I have no sympathy with 
the idea that medical research should be 


JULY 3, 1914] 


largely relegated to special non-teaching 
institutions. These have their function 
and we rejoice in their foundation and sup- 
port and hope that they may multiply, but 
the man who is devoid of the spirit of scien- 
tific investigation has no place in medi- 
cine as student, practitioner or teacher, and 
the most elaborate medical training with- 
out opportunity for scientific observation 
is barren. Besides, opportunities for med- 
ical discovery should be widely distributed. 
Science makes no provision for an aristoc- 
racy. There can be no papal bulls issued 
in the domain of medicine. The workers 
must be many, all must be free to pursue 
knowledge in their own way, and all must 
be compelled to prove their claims, for 
“life is short, art is long, opportunity is 
fleeting, experiment fallacious and judg- 
ment difficult.’’ 

In this work of self-improvement the pro- 
fession has had the aid of the more intelli- 
gent law-makers and administrators. In 
carrying out these progressive changes 
there has been much sacrifice of money and 
personal pride by many members of the 
profession. Large schools have willingly 
submitted to marked reduction in the num- 
bers of their students and consequently in 
financial support. A medical education 
costs more in time and money than that 
demanded by any other profession, and the 
emoluments of the average practitioner 
have decreased as preventive medicine has 
become more effective. No other profession 
pays so heavily the great cost of eradicating 
the infectious diseases, but this is the func- 
tion of medicine and no sacrifice should be 
regarded as too great. While intelligent 
medical men have been leading the crusade 
against greed, ignorance and disease, our 
legislative halls have been crowded with 
the representatives of sects, cults and char- 
latans demanding legal recognition. If I 
mistake not, hereulean efforts will be made 


SCIENCE 15 


in the near future to lower the standards 
demanded of the medical practitioner. 
These endeavors have been promised aid 
from those who have heavy financial back- 
ing, but if we are worthy of the trust which 
we bear, we shall not yield. We must ap- 
peal to the good sense of the people for 
whose welfare we labor. We must show 
what scientific medicine has done for the 
public good and point out the greater 
things it may do with increased oppor- 
tunity. It must be admitted that in the 
erusade for the restriction of tuberculosis 
many physicians have manifested but little 
interest. This is shown by their slowness 
to employ methods of early diagnosis and 
consequently by their failure to recognize 
the disease in its curable stage, also by 
their unwillingness to comply with the laws 
of notification. It is an undeniable fact 
that there are many medical men who 
know less about hygienic measures than the 
more intelligent of the laity. With ad- 
vaneing knowledge among the masses these 
professional fossils will be correctly labeled 
and properly shelved in the local museums 
of antiquities. 

I believe that medicine is now attracting 
excellent young men. It should appeal to 
this class. It does not point the way to 
great financial reward, but it offers a serv- 
ice unsurpassed by any other calling. The 
historian tells us: 

For the Roman patriot the only worthy stage 
was the forum or the battlefield; every other pur- 
suit was left in the hands of slaves and could not 
free itself from the taint of servitude. 

Modern medicine offers a field in which 
the advancement of knowledge, the im- 
provement of health conditions and the sav- 
ing of lives are the measures of success. 

Preventive medicine, still in its youth, 
has accomplished great things. As I have 
stated, within the past thirty years in this 
country the mortality from tuberculosis 


16 SCIENCE 


has been reduced more than half and with 
scarlet fever and diphtheria the results have 
been more striking. Within the past ten 
years the average life has been increased 
four years. Great epidemics which once 
devastated continents are no longer known 
in the more intelligent parts of the world. 
In fact, it may be said that the death-rate 
is now an excellent measure of intelligence. 
In 1911 the death-rate in London was 15 
per one thousand, while that of Moscow 
was 27.3. Preventive medicine is the key- 
stone of the triumphal arch of modern 
civilization, and its displacement would 
precipitate mankind into relative barbar- 
ism. Should the health administrators of 
any great commercial center fail, for even 
a few months, to exercise the function of 
restricting disease, the history of the epi- 
demics of the middle ages might be re- 
peated. Great things have been done, but 
greater tasks lie before us, and their ac- 
complishment depends on the scientific wis- 
dom of our profession and the intelligence 
of the people. Without the harmonious ad- 
justment of these forces the greatest effi- 
ciency can not be secured. While the mor- 
tality from tuberculosis has been reduced 
half in the past thirty years, we must not 
assume that the total eradication of this 
disease will be accomplished in the same 
number of years. Only the more progres- 
sive members of the profession have taken 
the initiative, and only the more intelli- 
gent members of the community have re- 
sponded. Intelligence and the sense of 
moral responsibility must grow as the work 
proceeds. It remains for all who have the 
welfare of the race at heart to plan wisely 
and carry forward courageously the cam- 
paign against greed, ignorance and dis- 
ease. 

The sanitarians of this country seem to 
be in harmony in regard to the general 
procedures to be followed. These are em- 


[N. 8S. Vou. XL. No. 1018 


bodied in bills recently introduced in the 
legislative assemblies of a number of states. 
In New York an excellent bill was passed 
and its operation is now being inaugurated 
under the directorship of Dr. Biggs, whose 
long and effective service in the city of 
New York demonstrates the wisdom of his 
selection. I regard it as highly fortunate 
that the operation of this new and impor- 
tant law is to be directed by one so well 
qualified. 

My own ideas are embodied in the ‘‘ Am- 
berson bill’’ of the Michigan legislature of 
1913. Among the provisions of this bill the 
following may be mentioned : The state is to 
be divided into health districts. In each 
such district a health commissioner is to 
be appointed for a term of four years. The 
fitness of the commissioner is to be deter- 
mined by the State Board of Health after 
examination. The salary of the commis- 
sioner varies with the population of the dis- 
trict, but in most instances would run from 
three to six thousand dollars. There is to 
be an additional appropriation for labora- 
tory expenses and for carrying out the pur- 
poses of the act. 

It shall be the duty of the health commissioners 
to be vigilant in the work of disease prevention and 
the conservation of the public health, and to en- 
force all health laws of the state and health ordi- 
nances of their respective localities, together with 
all rules and orders of the state board of health; 
to collect and report to the state board of health 
morbidity statistics and to make a monthly report 
of the work done by them in narrative form to 
the state board of health and in such tabular form 
as may be prescribed by the state board of health. 
Copies of such reports shall be retained by each 
commissioner in permanent record books. They 
shall make such sanitary inspections and surveys of 
the district as may be required from time to time 
by the state board of health or by the city for 
which appointed, or by resolution of the board of 
supervisors of each county. They are hereby au- 
thorized and invested with the power to enter on 
and inspect private property at proper times in 
regard to the possible presence, sources or cause of 


Juuy 3, 1914] 


disease, to establish quarantine and in connection 
therewith to order whatever is reasonable and 
necessary for the prevention and suppression of 
diseases; to close schools, churches, theaters, or any 
place of public assemblage, to forbid public gath- 
erings in order to prevent or stay epidemics; to 
collect statistics concerning insanity, feeble- 
mindedness, tuberculosis and other infectious dis- 
eases; to inspect slaughter-houses and markets 
of all kinds where food is sold. They shall in- 
spect at least once each six months and make a 
sanitary survey of the publicly owned build- 
ings and institutions within their respective juris- 
diction and shall keep a report thereon as part 
of the records of their office. They may inspect 
any school buildings or grounds within their juris- 
diction as to sanitary conditions and shall have 
power to close any school when the sanitary condi- 
tions are such as to endanger or imperil the health 
or life of the pupils attending the same. They 
shall include all such sanitary inspections in their 
monthly reports to the state board of health. 
They shall at all times be subject to the orders of 
the state board of health in the execution of the 
health laws of this state and may perform any 
duty where required by the state board of health, 
or any member of said board acting for the entire 
board, which might be performed by said board of 
health or an officer thereof. 


Further duties of the health commission- 
ers are defined in the bill, and I have given 
only enough to show the purpose and scope 
of its provisions. 

The successful operation of such a law 
would require the highest class of sani- 
tarians. They must possess intelligence, 
industry and integrity. They must be de- 
voted to their work, remembering that the 
Father of Medicine said: 


Where love of mankind is, there also is love of 
art. 


With these qualifications I believe that 
such a law might be operated with great 
benefit to the people. Is the medical pro- 
fession of this country prepared to do this 
work? I believe that many of the recent 
graduates of our best schools are fitted for 
this highly important function. They may 
need special training in the courses in pub- 


SCIENCE 17 


lic health now being inaugurated. If I mis- 
take not, our profession will soon have wide 
opportunity to demonstrate its usefulness 
im this direction. If the public makes this 
demand, preventive medicine will have the 
opportunity to do a patriotic service which 
has never come to any profession at any 
time. With proper facilities and helpers, 
such commissioners might within a few 
years become acquainted with the condi- 
tions surrounding every permanent resi- 
dent within his jurisdiction, and with prop- 
erly qualified administrators of the law 
much might be done to abate disease, im- 
prove health, imerease efficiency, eradicate 
the venereal diseases, stamp out vagrancy, 
pauperism, prostitution, alcoholism and 
crime. Crime is a disease due to heredity 
or environment, one or both. We now per- 
mit it to breed and multiply in our midst. 
Its causes must be determined and elimi- 
nated and its habitations must be discoy- 
ered, disinfected or destroyed. We have 
heard too much about the rights of the in- 
dividual ; let us know more about his duties. 
Too much stress has been laid on the sac- 
redness of private property and too little on 
the duty of all to contribute to the welfare 
of the whole. Preventive medicine has 
demonstrated in a practical way the force 
of the biblical statements that no man 
liveth to himself alone, and that every man 
is his brother’s keeper. Preventive medi- 
cine is the most potent factor in the socialis- 
tie movement of the day with which every 
good man feels himself more or less in 
sympathy ; besides it is at the same time the 
most powerful weapon against the anarchy 
with which some would threaten us. 

If preventive medicine is to bestow on 
man its richest service, the time must come 
when every citizen will submit himself to a 
thorough medical examination once a year 
or oftener. The benefits which would result 
from such a service are so evident to medi- 


18 SCIENCE 


eal men that detail is not desirable. When 
recognized in their early stages most of the 
diseases which now prevail are amenable to 
treatment. The early recognition of tuber- 
culosis, cancer, diabetes, nephritis, heart 
disease, ete., with the elimination of the 
more acute infectious diseases would add 
something like fifteen years to the average 
life, besides saving much invalidism and 
suffermg. The ultimate goal of science is 
the domination of the forces of nature and 
their utilization in promoting the welfare of 
mankind. Science must discover the facts 
and medicine must make the application 
for either cure or prevention. 

The local health authorities for which 
the bills referred to make provision must be 
supervised by State Boards of Health or 
State Commissioners. Many of our State 
Boards of Health are already doing much, 
but this is little compared with what they 
might do. They should be absolutely free 
from party dictation, should be made up of 
men both qualified and interested and their 
executive officers should be distinguished 
for their knowledge of sanitation. Their 
appropriations should be greatly increased, 
for health is a purchasable commodity. 
Pure water, pure food and even pure air 
cost money, but they lead to health, which 
is worth more than gold to both the indi- 
vidual and the state. 

Our present national health service is do- 
ing most excellent work. It demonstrated 
its streneth in eradicating the plague in 
California and the suppression of yellow 
fever in New Orleans. It has charge of the 
administration of the laws affecting the ad- 
mission of immigrants, so far as their 
health is concerned, and it performs this 
service well. The Public Health Service is 
now investigating the pollution of certain 
rivers, studying trachoma in the mountains 
of Kentucky, pellagra in South Carolina 
and the spread of typhoid fever in certain 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1018 


districts. The Hygienic Laboratory at 
Washington has made valuable researches 
in addition to the routine work of the ex- 
aminations of vaccines and serums. This 
bureau should be developed into a depart- 
ment with a member in the cabinet. The 
study of contagion in our midst is quite as 
important as anything within the range of 
the activities of the Departments of the In- 
terior, Agriculture and Commerce and 
Labor. Our health relations with other na- 
tions concern us quite as much as our trade 
relations. The one thing above all others 
against which our doors should be shut is 
disease, whether it be of plant, animal or 
man, whether it be of body, mind or morals. 
The highest function of the state is not to 
make millionaires out of a few importers or 
to find profitable investments for its surplus 
wealth in foreign lands, but to advance to 
the highest degree the health, intelligence 
and morality of its citizens. 

In each state there should be a hygienic 
laboratory equipped with able men sup- 
plied with facilities for the study of sani- 
tary conditions and for the prosecution of 
scientifie research. The Hygienic Labora- 
tory at Washington should be developed 
into a great institution for research which 
would improve the conditions of life. The 
ereatest asset of any nation is the health of 
its citizens and the people who secure this 
in the highest degree will dominate the 
earth for the dominion of the superman, 
when he comes, will extend from pole to 
pole, not by force of arms, but by exampie 
and education. 

Younger members of the ideo teasioh One 
who is soon to be mustered out’ of service, on 
account of disability and old age, salutes 
you. An old soldier who has served in the 
ranks for nearly forty years steps from his 
decimated regiment, lifts his cap and cheers 
you, aS you pass by in your new dress and 
armed with weapons of greater efficiency 


JuLy 3, 1914] 


than were known when he enlisted. The 
cause is the liberation of the race from the 
bonds of superstition and ignorance and it 
is a glorious one. The contest began before 
the genus homo sapiens came into existence. 
Countless generations have served their 
time, some well, some ill, and have passed 
into oblivion, but their partial victories 
have made you stronger and placed on you 
a greater responsibility. Your intelligence 
is greater, your judgment is sounder and 
your effectiveness has been increased. 
Where the past has failed or only partially 
succeeded, your success will be greater. 
But the battlements of ignorance still 
bristle with heavy-fire guns. Only a few of 
the outposts of the enemy have been cap- 
tured. It is for you to do and then like all 
your predecessors to die. You stand to-day 
within the firing-line. Go on courageously 
and when eons of the future have become 
the past, the superman, born out of the 
struggles of his predecessors, will demolish 
the last citadel of ignorance and vice, and 
firmly plant on the highest peak of the 
mountain of knowledge the flag of human 
progress and when the silken banner shall 
unfold, there shall appear on it this legend: 


Pro gloria omnium nationum et hominum honore. 


Victor C. VAUGHAN 
DEPARTMENT OF MEDICINE, 
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN 


A FOSSIL HUMAN SKELETON FROM GER- 
MAN EAST AFRICA 

Av a meeting of the Gesellschaft naturfor- 
schender Freunde in Berlin on March 17, 1914, 
Dr. Hans Reck made a preliminary report on 
a discovery that is of special interest to 
anthropologists. Dr. Reck was attached to a 
geological expedition that had been sent out 
to survey a parallel running through the 
northern end of German Hast Africa, as well 
as to collect for the Geologic-Paleontologic 
Institute of the University of Berlin and the 
Paleontological Museum at Munich. 


SCIENCE 


19 


The discovery in question was made in 
Oldoway hollow or gorge on the eastern 
margin of the Serengeti steppe. The Oldoway 
gorge lays bare a series of tufaceous layers 
that had been deposited in a freshwater lake. 
Five deposits can be distinguished stratigraph- 
ically as well as paleontologically. In the 
lowest deposit fossil remains are rare, the chief 
specimen being a part of a rhinoceros skele- 
ton. The second deposit is rich in fossil 
mammalian remains, including the human 
skeleton. Remains of two types of fossil 
elephant, both different from the living 
Hlephas africanus, were especially abundant; 
the skull of a hippopotamus was also found in 
deposit number two. Bones of the antelope 
appear for the first time in the third deposit, 
which also contains bones of the elephant. 
Elephant remains are dominant in the fourth 
deposit; fish bones are also abundant. The 
fifth and latest of the deposits is the richest 
of all in fossils. It is characterized by an 
antelope and gazelle fauna similar to that 
now living on the Serengeti steppe. In this 
deposit Reck*found no elephant remains. 

The change in fauna represented by the 
series corresponds to a change in climate. 
The climate of the upper horizon was similar 
to that of to-day; while the elephant, rhino- 
ceros, hippopotamus, crocodile, and fish of the 
lower horizons bespeak a damp woodland cli- 
mate that was probably synchronous with the 
Wiirm glacial epoch in Europe. 

The human skeleton, as has been said, came 
from the next to the lowest horizon (No. 2). 
It is not only in a good state of preservation, 
but is likewise practically complete. The 
skeleton was found some three or four meters 
below the rim of the Oldoway gorge, which 
here is about fifty meters deep. The skeleton 
bore the same relation to the stratified bed as 
did the other mammalian remains and was 
dug out of the hard clay tuff with hammer 
and chisel just as these were. Im other words 
the conditions of the find were such as to ex- 
clude the possibility of an interment. The 
human bones are therefore as old as the 
deposit (No. 2). 

An attempt to determine the age of the 


20 


human skeleton with any degree of accuracy 
must of course wait upon a further study of 
the geologic and paleontologic data as well as 
on a more thoroughgoing somatologie study 
of the skeleton itself. Dr. Reck is, however, 
already convinced that it antedates the so- 
called alluvial or recent period. The thick- 
ness of the deposits indicates a considerable 
lapse of time, especially when one recalls that 
at least two of the superposed deposits were 
laid down before the faulting occurred, and 
with it the drying up of the lake. The change 
in fauna from rhinocerous, hippopotamus and 
two types of elephant both different from the 
living African elephant, to a gazelle and ante- 
lope fauna is likewise proof of considerable 
antiquity. Judging from the photograph of 
the skeleton still in situ, the man of Oldoway 
gorge did not belong to the Neandertal, but 
rather to the Aurignacian type of man. In 
the absence, however, of industrial remains 
and even photographs in detail, any pro- 
nouncement as to racial affinities with known 
European Quaternary human remains would 
be merely a guess. 
Grorce Grant MacCurpy 
YALE UNIVERSITY, 
NEw Haven, Conn. 


THE ROCKEFELLER INSTITUTE FOR MED- 
ICAL RESEARCH 


A STATEMENT has been given out from the 
Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research to 
the effect that in order that further oppor- 
tunities may be afforded for the more complete 
investigation of the nature and causes of 
human disease and methods of its prevention 
and treatment, Mr. John D. Rockefeller has 
just donated $2,550,000 to the Rockefeller In- 
stitute for Medical Research. 

Of the sum just donated a part will be 
utilized to purchase additional land in New 
York City so that the Institute will have ac- 
quired the entire tract where its buildings are 
now located, between Sixty-fourth and Sixty- 
seventh Streets on Avenue A, extending 
through to East River—about four acres. The 
remainder will be used to erect and equip 
additional laboratories, buildings, and plant, 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1018 


and to’ insure the proper maintenance and 
conduct of the extended work. 

This gift of $2,550,000 is in addition to a 
special fund of $1,000,000 which Mr. Rocke- 
feller has provided in order that the institute 
may establish a Department of Animal Pathol- 
ogy. Dr. Theobald Smith, now professor of 
comparative pathology in Harvard Medical 
School, is to become director of the new de- 
partment. 

It will be the purpose of this branch of the 
institute’s work to give special attention to 
the study of maladies such as hog cholera, foot 
and mouth disease, and diseases of poultry, 
which are of such immediate and practical 
concern to farmers, and the elimination of 
which is so important. This will be the first 
enterprise of this kind upon an adequate basis 
to be established in this country. The results 
of its work should eventually be of great value 
in improving the health of cattle and other 
farm animals. 

Mr. Rockefeller’s previous gifts to the insti- 
tute had amounted to practically $9,000,000, 
exclusive of real estate in New York City, so 
that the endowment of the institute will now 
approximate $12,500,000. 

The Rockefeller Institute will, with the new 
gift, now become the most amply endowed 
institution for medical research in the world. 
In 1902, when the institute was founded, there 
was not a single undertaking of the kind in 
this country. England had the Lister Insti- 
tute, Germany the Institute for Infectious 
Diseases, France the Pasteur Institute and 
Russia the Royal Military Institute at St. 
Petersburg. Since 1902 a number of other 
research laboratories have been established in 
this country, including several in Chicago. 

In addition to the laboratories there is con- 
nected with the institute a hospital with every 
improved facility for the treatment of patients 
afflicted with diseases at the time under special 
investigation. For the treatment and study of 
contagious diseases—a most important phase 
of the institute work—there is a separate 
building with isolated rooms. 

The aims of the Rockefeller Institute and 
the lines along which its future work—upon 


JuLy 3, 1914} 


an even more comprehensive basis—will be 
conducted, are indicated by some of its prac- 
tical achievements already accomplished, such 
as the serum treatment of epidemic meningitis; 
the discovery of the cause and mode of infec- 
tion of infantile paralysis, the surgery of 
blood vessels through which blood transfusion 
has become a daily life-saving expedient; the 
safer method of administering anesthetics by 
intratracheal imsufflation; the skin or luetic 
reaction and the cultivation of the parasite 
of rabies. 

The scope of the work of the institute will 
be indicated by a list of the several special 
scientific departments which it maintains. It 
includes pathology, bacteriology, protozoology, 
biological chemistry, physiology and pharma- 
cology, experimental biology, and animal pa- 
thology, besides the special hospital. 


BEQUESTS OF MRS. MORRIS K. JESUP 


Mrs. Morris K. Jesup, who died on June 17, 
bequeathed $5,000,000 to the American Mu- 
seum of Natural History and made other be- 
quests to public institutions amounting to 
$3,450,000. Im providing in her will for the 
American Museum of Natural History, Mrs. 
Jesup said: : 

I give and bequeath to the American Museum of 
Natural History of the city of New York four mil- 
lion dollars ($4,000,000) as a permanent fund to 
be known as ‘‘The Morris K. Jesup Fund,’’ the 
income, and only the income, to be used in the 
purchase of specimens and collections and the ex- 
penses incident to and incurred in assisting scien- 
tifie research and investigation and publication re- 
garding the same, which the trustees of the mu- 
seum shall regard as in its interests. 


In a codicil, added to her will three years after 
the will was drawn, an additional $1,000,000 
is given to the museum. Morris K. Jesup, who 
died on January 22, 1908, became president of 
the museum in 1882, and devoted a large part 
of his time and energy to its interests. In his 
lifetime Mr. Jesup gave more than $1,000,000 
to the museum, and under his will it inherited 
an additional $1,000,000. 

Other public bequests made by Mrs. Jesup 
include the following: 


SCIENCE 21 


Syrian Protestant College .............. $400,000 
Malle wWmniversitiygies<\ia3.4cpeiclsevlsrs ace eraee 300,000 
Union Theological Seminary ............ 300,000 
Young Men’s Christian Association ..... 250,000 
New York State Woman’s Hospital ..... 150,000 
Wallberene, Colles conciadbocouudounonsnac 150,000 
Metropolitan Museum of Art ........... 100,000 
Presbyterian Hospital ................. 100,000 
Eampionslmstituber a yeelseeiei ideas cle 50,000 
huskegeeminsiititey seer reeireetceci ser 50,000 
WeomianelGl SAO! ssoccaeccasasenoocceso 25,000 
Mount Hermon School ................ 25,000 
New York Zoological Society .......... 25,000 
New York Botanical Gardens .......... 25,000 
Memorial Hospital for Cancer .......... 10,000 
stp Lule Isl@sinuell “ons acioooonesocaace 10,000 
Glogjaee WIG, a oeooheouboHnensvouooass 10,000 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


Tue American Medical Association at its 
meeting at Atlantic City elected officers for 
the meeting to be held next year at San 
Francisco as follows: President, Dr. William 
L. Rodman, of Philadelphia; first vice-presi- 
dent, Dr. D. S. Fairchild, of Iowa; second vice- 
president, Dr. Wisner R. Townsend, of New 
York; third vice-president, Dr. Alice Hamil- 
ton, of Chicago; fourth vice-president, Dr. 
William Edgar Darnall, of Atlantic City; 
secretary, Dr. Alexander R. Craig, of Chicago, 
reelected; treasurer, Dr. William Allen Pusey, 
of Chicago. 

At the opening meeting of the American 
Medical Association, its gold medal was con- 
ferred on Surgeon General William Crawford 
Gorgas. 

Western Reserve University has conferred 
its doctorate of laws on Dr. Simon Flexner, 
director of the laboratories of the Rockefeller 
Institute for Medical Research. 


Amone the degrees conferred by Harvard 
University at its commencement exercises 
were the master of science on Dr. Milton J. 
Rosenau, professor of preyentive medicine in 
the Harvard Medical School, and the degree 
of doctor of science on Dr. W. C. Sabine, pro- 
fessor of physics and dean of the graduate 
school. 

Dr. Wintt1am L. Duptey, dean of the medi- 
eal department and director of the chemical 


22 


laboratories of Vanderbilt University, Nash- 
ville, Tenn., had conferred upon him the degree 
of LL.D., by the University of Cincinnati, 
at its recent commencement. 

Miss Exten CuHurcuint Semen, of Louis- 
ville, Ky., author of works on anthropogeog- 
raphy, has received the Cullom Medal of the 
American Geographical Society. 

Tur University of Paris has approved the 
nomination of Professor James Rowland 
Angell, head of the department of psychology, 
and dean of the faculties of arts, literature 
and science in the University of Chicago, as 
lecturer at the Sorbonne in 1915. 

A Martin Kenuoce fellowship in the Uni- 
versity of California has been awarded to 
Mr. C. E. Adams, government astronomer of 
New Zealand, who will carry on research work 

at the Lick Observatory. 

' Norman R. BratHerwick, Ph.D. (Yale), 
has been appointed assistant chemist at the 
Montefiore Home in New York City. 

Mr. C. M. Mrans, electrical engineer, Pitts- 
burgh, Pa., has been appointed consulting 
electrical engineer with the U. S. Bureau of 
Mines. 

Proressor H. HerGEsELL, of Strassburg, has 
been appointed director of the Royal Prussian 
Aeronautical Observatory at Lindenberg, near 
Berlin. 

Dr. Epwarp A. Spirzka has resigned as 
professor of anatomy at Jefferson Medical 
College. He plans to take up the practise in 
New York City of his father, the late Dr. 
Charles Edward Spitzka, who died last 
January. 

Proressor J. Minter THomson, F.R.S., is 
retiring at the end of this session from his 
position as vice-principal of King’s College, 
London, and head of the chemical department 
of the college, after a service of forty-three 
years. 

Tue Museum of Zoology, University of 
Michigan, will have a field party in the Davis 
Mountains, Texas, during July and August. 
The members of the party, Miss Crystal 
Thompson, of the museum, and Miss Myra M. 
Sampson, Smith College, will study the eco- 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XL. No. 1018 


logical distribution of the reptiles, amphibians 
and certain groups of invertebrates, principally 
the butterflies, molluscs and crustaceans. 


Dr. Frepertck W. True, assistant director 
of the Smithsonian Institution, known for his 
contributions to zoology, especially of the 
Cetacea, died on June 25 in Washington at 
the age of fifty-five years. 


Dr. Grorcr Dean, professor of pathology in 
the University of Aberdeen, died on May 30 
at the age of fifty years. 


Proressor Huco Kronecker, of Bern, dis- 
tinguished for his contributions to physiology, 
died on June 6, at the age of seventy-five years. 

Proressor ApoLtpH Lirsen, emeritus pro- 
fessor of general and pharmaceutical chemis- 
try in the University of Vienna, died on June 
6, aged seventy-eight years. 

Tue International Congress of Anatomy 
will hold its next meeting at Amsterdam in 
August, 1915. 


THE interest of Lady Huggins, the widow 
of the late Sir William Huggins, in the 
higher education of women in science as devel- 
oped in the United States has been shown by 
her gift to Whitin Observatory of Wellesley 
College of certain of her more personal astron- 
omical possessions. The gift includes two 
stained glass windows once in Tulse Hill 
Observatory House, a beautifully wrought 
Arabian astrolabe, pocket sun dials of the 
eighteenth century, several exquisite portable 
instruments especially made for Lady Hug- 
gins, and a grating ruled and presented to 
Sir William Huggins by Rutherford, of New 
York, and used in his earlier work. There are 
also interesting pictures, drawings and books. 
These are properly placed in the Whitin Ob- 
servatory to form a Huggins memorial collec- 
tion. The astronomers from Harvard College 
Observatory and the Astronomical Laboratory 
were present at the formal presentation and 
Professor E. OC. Pickering made an address. 

Tue Smith-Lever bill, an act to “provide 
for cooperative agricultural extension work 
between the agricultural colleges in the sev- 
eral states receiving the benefits of an Act of 
Congress approved July 2, 1862, and of acts 


Juty 3, 1914] 


supplementary thereto,” has been passed by 
Congress and approved by the President. The 
act makes available for the next nine fiscal 
years an aggregate sum of $23,120,000 of 
federal funds to be expended in instruction 
and practical demonstrations in agriculture 
and home economics. To obtain this total the 
states must appropriate for like purposes a 
total of $18,800,000. Thereafter the govern- 
ment is to appropriate $4,580,000 annually, 
and the states to take their full quota must 
appropriate $4,100,000 annually. The pur- 
poses for which the funds are to be expended 
are defined by the act as follows: “ That co- 
operative agricultural extension work shall 
consist of the giving of instruction and prac- 
tical demonstrations in agriculture and home 
economics to persons not attending or resident 
in said colleges in the several communities, 
and imparting to such persons information in 
such subjects through field demonstrations, 
publications and otherwise; and this work 
shall be carried on in such manner as may be 
mutually agreed upon by the Secretary of 
Agriculture and the state agricultural college 
or colleges receiving the benefits of this act.” 
Beginning with the year 1914-15 the act ap- 
propriates $10,000 to each state as a basic fund 
for each fiseal year. The act then appro- 
priates additional federal moneys to be dis- 
tributed among the states according to the per- 
centage that the rural population of each state 
bears to the total population of that state. To 
share in the additional funds the state must 
duplicate the money received from the govern- 
ment in appropriations for the same purpose. 
According to the Cornell Alumni News from 
which the above is taken the amounts avail- 
able to the College of Agriculture at Cornell, 
based on the percentage of rural population 
in New York State, will begin next year with 
the basic $10,000 granted each year, and will 
increase annually according to the following 
table: 1915-16, $33,443; 1916-17, $52,979; 
1917-18, $72,515; 1918-19, $92,051; 1919-20, 
$111,587; 1920-21, $181,123; 1991-99, $150,- 
659; 1922-23 and thereafter, $170,195. 

A SourHern Grocraruic Society has been 
established at Knoxville, Tenn., for the pur- 


SCIENCE 23 


pose of stimulating the interest of its mem- 
bers and of the public in the study and appre- 
ciation of the science of geography. It is 
planned to hold monthly meetings, on the 
second Friday evening, from October to May, 
inclusive, at which addresses or lectures will 
be given in which will be presented the results 
of studies, travels and researches pertaining to 
the science of geography, and related subjects. 
From time to time excursions will be con- 
dueted by the society for the study of features 
of geographic interest. One of the features in 
the plans of the society is that of a field 
school of geography and nature study, which 
it is proposed to conduct in connection with 
the Summer School of the South. Beginning 
with the summer of 1915 it is proposed to con- 
duct at a suitable place in the mountains for 
a period of four to six weeks, a camp school 
for the study of geography and related sub- 
jects, including plants, animals, physiography, 
geology, forestry, ete. From day to day excur- 
sions will be made under competent instruct- 
ors for the study of the flora, the fauna and 
the physical features of the region. 


Arter making investigations and collecting 
data for the last 12 years, the Ohio State 
Archeological and Historical Society has 
published an Archeological Atlas of Ohio 
which is the first book of this kind to be pub- 
lished by any state. Dr. William C. Mills, 
the curator of the museum of the society which 
is located on the campus of The Ohio State 
University, is the author of the book. A 
map of each county of the state, showing the 
mounds, village sites, rock shelters and other 
interesting archeological matter is the chief 
feature of the new book. Opposite each map 
is a description of the county. Other maps 
show the early Indian trails and towns, and 
the principal mounds and other earthworks 
of the entire state. The frontispiece is a photo. 
graph of the Serpent mound located in Adams 
county. Other photographs are included of 
the various forts, Indian trails and mounds 
which are described by the author. 


In a report on the Museum-Gates Expedi- 
tion which investigated the culture of the an- 
cient pueblos of the upper Gila River region 


24 


of New Mexico and Arizona, Dr. Walter 
Hough, of the U. S. National Museum, states 
that among thousands of interesting and valu- 
able objects pertaining to the lives of the early 
inhabitants, many dried vegetables, fruits, and 
other perishable articles were found, as well as 
a desiccated turkey. In a cave which formed 
the rear chamber of a row of ruined stone 
abodes, on the banks of the Tularosa River, a 
tributary of the San Francisco River, the ex- 
plorers found much material representative of 
the domestic life of the ancient dwellers. 
Upon excavation, this cave room yielded its 
treasures in sections as it were, different 
depths offering distinctly marked periods of 
occupation. Among the objects of importance 
was a brush made of grass stems bound in a 
round bundle, similar to those in use by the 
Pueblo Indians of to-day. During the habita- 
tion of this cave four burials had been made at 
different times, shown by the different levels 
from which the digging had been begun. In 
one corner near a rock mass some small bows 
and arrows, and other offerings were un- 
earthed, indicating the location of an ancient 
shrine. From the rubbish and débris the re- 
mains of seyeral mammals and birds were 
identified ; among them, deer, pronghorn, bison, 
woodchuck, mice, rats, muskrats, rabbits, lynx, 
fox, skunk, bear, a hawk, an adult turkey, 
chicks and eggs, and many feathers of other 
birds, all of which oceupied the cave at one 
time or another, or were killed and stored 
there by the early Indians. From early his- 
torical reports, it has been understood that the 
Pueblos raised turkeys, but the discovery of 
this desiccated adult and chicks proves con- 
clusively that turkeys were kept in captivity, 
probably for their feathers, which were used 
in the manufacture of native garments. Hars 
and scattered grains of corn of a smooth and 
short grain, in yellow corn, blue and carmine 
but much faded with aging, were also found, 
as well as the remains and seeds of gourds, 
squashes, beans, other vegetables and fruits 
and nuts. In the Tularosa cave there was pot- 
tery of a rude form, while from several large 
open-air pueblos examples of a very fine finish 
and ornamentation were collected. The de- 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1018 


signs on the bowls commonly consist of four 
elements based on the world quarters, the bot- 
tom usually being circular and blank. Other 
designs are of combined hatched and solid 
color, or of a checkered variety. Many small 
collections of pottery were found in caves and 
springs where they had been deposited as offer- 
ings. 


Accorpine to Ernest F. Burchard, of the 
U. S. Geological Survey, the total quantity of 
Portland, natural and puzzolan cement pro- 
duced in the United States last year was the 
greatest in the history of the cement industry, 
amounting to 92,949,102 barrels, valued at 
$93,001,169, compared with 83,351,191 barrels, 
valued at $67,461,513, in 1912. The total pro- 
duction of Portland cement in 1913 as re- 
ported to the Geological Survey was 92,097,131 
barrels, valued at $92,557,617; the production 
for 1912 was 82,438,096 barrels, valued at $67,- 
016,028. The quantity of Portland cement 
produced, 92,097,131 barrels, is equivalent to 
15,623,620 long tons. Compared with the pro- 
duction of pig iron for 1913, which was 30,966,- 
301 long tons, the Portland cement production 
is nearly 50.5 per cent. of the quantity of pig 
iron. Of the 113 producing plants in the 
United States in 1913, 28 were in the state of 
Pennsylvania, whose output was 28,701,845 
barrels of Portland cement, the largest quan- 
tity produced by any one state. The second 
greatest production came from Indiana, with 
10,872,574 barrels, and California was third, 
with 6,159,182 barrels. The natural cement 
produced in the United States in 1913 
amounted to 744,658 barrels of 265 pounds 
each, valued at $345,889, compared with an 
output of 821,231 barrels, valued at $367,222, 
in 1912, a decrease in 1913 of 76,573 barrels 
and of $21,333 in value. Puzzolan cement 
was manufactured in 1913 at three plants in 
the United States, in Alabama, Ohio and 
Pennsylvania. The output of puzzolan and 
Collos cements in 1918 was 107,313 barrels, 
valued at $97,663, compared with 91,864 bar- 
rels, valued at $77,363 in 1912, an increase in 
quantity of 15,449 barrels and in value of $20,- 
300. The United States has a comparatively 
small export trade in cement. Im 1913 the 


Juxy 3, 1914] 


total quantity exported was only 2,964,358 bar- 
rels, most of which was Portland cement, 
valued at $4,270,666, compared with 4,215,232 
barrels, valued at $6,160,341, in 1912. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 


THE gift of $400,000 to the Yale Medical 
School, recently announced, is from members 
of the Lauder family, of Pittsburgh, Pa., and 
Greenwich, Conn., to be known as the Anna 
M. R. Lauder Fund, in memory of the late 
Mrs. George Lauder. The chair of public 
health is to be endowed from the gift. 


Mr. RicHarp BraTty MeELion, of Pittsburgh, 
has endowed a fellowship in internal medicine 
in the school of medicine, University of Pitts- 
burgh. The fellow will be a resident of a 
Pittsburgh hospital and will work directly 
under the professor of medicine, Dr. James 
D. Heard. Im addition, Mr. Mellon has pro- 
vided funds for the purchase and maintenance 
of an electro-cardiograph apparatus. 


OUTLINES of a graduate course in aeronaut- 
ical engineering leading to the master of arts 
degree have been issued by the Massachusetts 
Institute of Technology. The aerodynamical 
laboratory on the new site has already been 
described. It contains a wind tunnel of six- 
teen square feet section which can be fur- 
nished with currents up to nearly forty miles 
an hour. Special forms of apparatus have 
been provided including an aerodynamic bal- 
ance, a duplicate of that in the National Phys- 
ical Laboratory at Teddington, England. A 
full battery of other needed instruments of 
precision has been installed in the laboratory. 
The courses will be under the general direc- 
tion of Professor Cecil H. Peabody, head of 
the department of naval architecture and ma- 
rine engineering, and will be conducted by As- 
sistant Naval Constructor, Jerome C. Hun- 
saker, U. S. N., who is detailed for the service 
by the secretary of the navy. Courses in dy- 
namics of rigid bodies and theoretical fluid 
dynamics will be given by Professor E. B. 
Wilson, Ph.D., professor of mathematics; in 
explosion motors by Joseph C. Riley, S.B., as- 
sociate professor of heat engineering; while 


SCIENCE 25 


special lecturers will deliver courses in wire- 
less telegraphy and meteorology. 


NEW appointments and promotions in the 
Johns Hopkins University are as follows: 
In the Philosophical Faculty—Alexander G. 
Christie, M.E., associate professor of mechan- 
ical Engineering; Joseph C. W. Frazer, Ph.D., 
now associate, to be associate professor of 
chemistry; E. Emmet Reid, Ph.D., associate 
professor of organic chemistry; William B. 
Rouwenhoven, Dr.-Ing., instructor in electrical 
engineering; Walter F. Shenton, Ph.D., in- 
structor in mathematics; Frank A. Ferguson, 
A.B., assistant in physics. In the Medical 
Faculty, in addition to the appointment of 
Theodore C. Janeway, M.D., professor of medi- 
cine, Herman O. Mosenthal, M.D., associate 
professor of medicine, Leonard G. Rowntree, 
M.D., now associate professor of experimental 
therapeutics, to be associate professor of medi- 
cine, Edwards A. Park, M.D., now associate, 
to be associate professor of pediatrics, Charles 
M. Campbell, M.D., now associate, to be as- 
sociate professor of psychiatry, Hans Lieb, 
M.D., lecturer in pharmacology, Eli K. Mar- 
shall, Jr., Ph.D., now associate in physiological 
chemistry, to be associate in pharmacology, 
Benjamin B. Turner, Ph.D., now assistant, to 
be associate in pharmacology, George J. 
Heuber, M.D., now assistant, to be associate in 
surgery, Karl M. Wilson, M.D., now instruc- 
tor, to be associate in clinical obstetrics, Roy 
D. McClure, M.D., now assistant, to be instruc- 
tor in surgery, David M. Davis, M.D., now as- 
sistant in pathology, to be instructor in 
urology. 


In the department of anatomy, school of 
medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Dr. Ralph 
Edward Sheldon, associate professor of anat- 
omy, for the last three years in charge of the 
department, has been made professor of anat- 
omy and head of the department. Dr. Daven- 
port Hooker, instructor in anatomy, Yale Med- 
ical School, has been appointed assistant pro- 
fessor of histology and neurology. 


Dr. WINIFRED J. ROBINSON, assistant pro- 
fessor of botany at Vassar College, has re- 
signed this position to accept that of dean of 


26 SCIENCE 


the Women’s Affiliated Colleges of Delaware, 
at Newark, Delaware. 

Apert G. Hogan, Ph.D. (Yale), has been 
appointed assistant in animal nutrition at the 
Kansas Agricultural Experiment station, 
Manhattan, Kansas. ; 

At the University of Indiana Dr. Kenneth 
P. Williams has been promoted from instruc- 
tor to assistant professor of mathematics. 

Miss Susan Rosr Brenepict, Ph.D. (Michi- 
gan), has been made associate professor of 
mathematics at Smith College. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 
TYPES OF BIRD GENERA LIMNOTHLYPIS NEW GENUS 


SOME years ago in discussing the fixing of 
types for the genera of North American Birds 
the writer called attention in these columns 
to the fact that certain names would have to 
be changed if the principal of “type by sub- 
sequent designation ” adopted by the Inter- 
national Zoological Congress were adopted. 
This view was opposed by Dr. J. A. Allen on 
the ground that in his interpretation of the 
Code a subsequent designation was not valid 
if the species designated was already the type 
of another genus. The point raised was one 
of such importance that it was placed before 
the International Commission for an opinion 
and this has just been rendered and the 
writer’s stand has been endorsed. As the 
matter is one upon which many systematic 
workers have been in doubt, it seems desirable 
to call special attention to the decision. 

Incidentally one genus of North American 
birds is left without a name by the operation 
of this ruling. 

Helinaia Audubon, 1839, contained origi- 
nally two species, the worm-eating warbler 
H. vermivora (Gm.) and Swainson’s warbler, 
H. swainsonw (Aud.). The name has been 
used universally for the latter but the first 
designation of a type by Gray fixed it upon the 
former, and in spite of the fact that this was 
already the type of Helmitheros it thereby be- 
comes the type of Helinaia, the latter name 
being thus a synonym of Helmitheros Rafin- 
esque. As no other generic name is available 


[N.S. Vou. XL. No. 1018 


for Swainson’s warbler I would propose Limno- 
thlypist with Sylvia swainsonii Audubon as 


its type. Witmer STonE 
ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES, 
PHILADELPHIA 


MUTATION 


In a recent number of Science Professor 
Edward C. Jeffrey! raises objections to the 
concept mutation upon the ground that the 
phenomena in @nothera lamarckiana, which 
de Vries described as mutation, are not mu- 
tation, this species being, as Bateson long ago 
suggested, a hybrid form. There seems to be 
about as much cogency in this argument as. 
there would be in the claim that metagenesis 
is not a true concept because in Salpa, the 
form in which de Chamisso? first discovered it, 
it does not exist.? 

The distinction between heritable variations 
(mutations, stable variations, “discontinuous”* 
variations) and non-heritable variations (fluc- 
tuating, unstable, “ continuous ”* variations) 
seems to be clearly established experimentally, 
and thé interpretation of the former as germi- 
nal and the latter as somatic in origin, seems 
to have much in its favor. 

Is not Professor Jeffrey’s objection some- 
what in the nature of a quibble? 

Maynarp M. Mrtcatr 


A NEW LOCALITY AND HORIZON FOR 
PENNSYLVANIAN VERTEBRATES 


Finns of Pennsylvania vertebrates are al- 
ways interesting and important and are doubly 


1)uury a marshy lake and OAvms an ancient bird 
name. 

1‘‘The Mutation Myth,’’? Screncr, XXXIX., 
No. 1005, April 3, 1914. 

2A de Chamisso, ‘‘De animalibus quibusdum e 
classe Vermium linneana in cirecumnavigatione 
terrae,’’? ete. Fasciculus primus, De Salpa. Ber- 
olini, 1891. 

3W. K. Brooks, ‘‘Chamisso and the Discovery 
of Alternation of Generations,’’ Zool. Anzeiger, 
Jahrg. 5, 1882. 

4A poor term, for their heredity, not their de- 
gree of divergence from the parent stock, is the 
salient point. 


JuLy 3, 1914] 


so when the remains are not uncommon and 
well preserved. One of the writer’s students, 
Mr. Carl Owen Dunbar, has recently dis- 
covered a new locality for vertebrates of this 
period. It is situated near the city of Law- 
rence and lies at the base of the Lawrence 
shales. The fossils occur in oblong or spher- 
ical siliceous nodules of which nearly one 
third contain bones and shells of value. Some 
are filled with small masses of many kinds of 
organic material and such are interpreted as 
coprolites, while others contain remains of 
fishes, crustacea, cephalopods and wood. 
There are no leaves and few invertebrates. 
The interesting and remarkable fact con- 
nected with the occurrence is the abundance of 
well-preserved vertebrate fossils. No less than 
eighteen partial or complete skulls have been 
collected and such have been found on the 
occasion of each visit. Three of the skulls 
show well-preserved casts of the brain. In 
addition there are many other complete bones, 
spines and scales. 

The description of the vertebrates has been 
entrusted to Dr. R. L. Moodie, while the in- 
vertebrate and stratigraphic phases will be 
elaborated by Mr. Dunbar and the writer. 


W. H. Twennoren 
UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS 


EXISTENCE OF CROWN GALL OF ALFALFA, CAUSED 
BY UROPHLYCTIS ALFALF#, IN THE SALT 
LAKE VALLEY, UTAH 


On May 38 of this year, the writer found 
several typical specimens of alfalfa crown 
gall, caused by Urophlyctis alfalfe (v. Lagerh.) 
P. Magnus, in the Salt Lake Valley, Utah. 
This disease, so far as the writer has noted, 
has been reported by Smith? in California, 
McCallum? in Arizona, and the writer? in 
Oregon. The presence of this disease in Utah 
may be of considerable importance in ex- 
plaining many difficulties which alfalfa grow- 

1Scrmncz, N. S., Vol. XXX., No. 763, August 
13, 1909. 

2 Haperiment Station Record, Vol. 23, No. 7, 
December, 1910. 

3 Scrmnce, N. S., Vol. XXXVI., No. 928, Oc- 
tober 11, 1912. 


SCIENCE 27 


ers have had in maintaining profitable stands. 
In looking over the literature I do not note any 
report of its occurrence in the state of Utah, 
and, therefore, this note is published in order 
to record the presence of the disease in an- 
other locality. It is not yet known to what 
extent the disease has been injurious to alfalfa 
in the Salt Lake Valley, as its distribution has 
not been investigated. 
P. J. O'Gara 
LABORATORY OF PLANT PATHOLOGY, 
AMERICAN SMELTING AND REFINING Co., 
SaLT LAKE City, Uran, 
May 14, 1914 


RELIGIOUS TRAINING AT A UNIVERSITY 

Tue article on this subject on page 722 of 
Science for May 15 ought not to pass without 
a protest. The primary function of religion, 
as most thoughtful men see it, is not worship 
but the development of right purposes and 
right ideals in the conduct of life—especially 
the development of the~ ideal of service. 
Nothing stands out more clearly in the teach- 
ings of Christ than the thought that worship 
and ritual are worse than useless unless they 
contribute to this end. 

The statement that “a few are interested in 
religion, but all of us in education ” is, to say 
the least, misleading. Educational men are 
apt to be very reticent about religious matters 
and superficial observers are liable to conclude 
that their opinions are colorless, but a little in- 
quiry will reveal the fact that a large propor- 
tion of both students and faculty are mem- 
bers of Christian churches. In the state uni- 
versity with which I am best acquainted 45 
per cent. of the students are members of such 
churches and 79 per cent. register as adher- 
ents of some church. A large majority of the 
faculty are adherents of churches. 

It is true that the fundamental virtues have 
been long known, as Buckle says, but many of 
us think that it is also true that there is great 
need of bringing these virtues forcibly to the 
attention of men and women at frequent inter- 
vals throughout their lives. As our civiliza- 
tion is now constituted the agency which per- 


28 


forms this service most effectively for the 
bulk of our people is the Christian church. 

Nearly all Americans will agree that the 
separation of church and state has been to the 
advantage of both and that it is not the func- 
tion of a state university to teach religion. 
At the same time the faculties of our state 
universities ought to be in the heartiest sym- 
pathy with those who are carrying on religious 
work among the students and as individuals 
they should take an active part in work of this 
character. 

W. A. Noyzs 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 


Handbuch der Vergleichenden Physiologie. 
Herausgegeben von ANS WINTERSTEIN. 
Jena, Gustay Fischer. 1910 et seq. Each 
part contains about 100 pp. Price unbound 
5 Marks. 

In Scrmence, August 12, 1910, p. 211, there 
appeared a notice of the publication of the 
earlier parts of Winterstein’s comprehensive 
“Handbuch,” begun in 1910. Since that time 
numerous parts have continued to be issued 
until at the present moment more than 42 are 
available. For reasons which are doubtless de- 
fensible on the part of the editor and publisher, 
but not obvious or convincing to the subscrib- 
ers, the text is being issued in fragments, pre- 
pared successively or simultaneously by dif- 
ferent authors on quite unrelated topics. In 
this way a great delay ensues until the indi- 
vidual monographs are completed; and still 
more time elapses before the volumes can 
finally be bound in the form intended for them. 
These are drawbacks which seriously impair 
the usefulness of any book of reference, espe- 
cially at a period when the literature of the 
natural sciences is growing with leaps and 
bounds. 

It would be futile for a reviewer to attempt 
any detailed reference to a cyclopedic work of 
this character, even if one individual com- 
petent to offer critical opinions upon so great 
a diversity of topics were available for the 
task. The best indication of the scope and 
importance of this scientific-literary under- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1018 


taking is afforded by the mention of the many 
well-known biologists and physiologists who 
are cooperating in it. The list of collabora- 
tors now includes the following: HK. Babak 
(Prag), S. Baglioni (Sassari), W. Bieder- 
mann (Jena), R. du Bois-Reymond (Berlin), 
F. Bottazzi (Naples), E. vy. Briicke (Leipzig), 
R. Burian (Naples), R. Ehrenberg (Got- 
tingen), L. Fredericq (Liege), R. F. Fuchs 
(Breslau), S. Garten (Giessen), E. Godlewski 
(Krakow), C. v. Hess (Munich), J. Loeb (New 
York), E. Mangold (Freiburg), A. Noll 
(Jena), H. Przibram (Vienna), J. Strohl 
(Ziirich-Naples), R. Tigerstedt (Helsingfors), 
EK. Weinland (Erlangen), ©. Weiss (Konigs- 
berg), H. Winterstein (Rostock). 

Among the completed volumes is one 
(III. 2) upon the metabolism of energy and 
the physiology of changes in form, in which 
chapters upon animal heat (Tigerstedt), the 
production of electricity (Garten), the pro- 
duction of light (Mangold), animal form (H. 
Przibram), and reproduction (Godlewski, Jr.) 
are included. Volume IV. deals with the phys- 
iology of irritability, conductivity, etc.—phe- 
nomena of the nervous system. For this a 
chapter on tropisms has been prepared by 
Jacques Loeb. The first half of Volume II. is 
devoted to the classic compilation of Bieder- 
mann upon the ingestion, alimentation and 
absorption of food by the invertebrates. This 
alone is a most extensive monograph, the ex- 
haustive character of which is represented in 
nearly a thousand pages, with 200 illustrations 
and about 1,200 references. Volume I. is 
to deal with the fluids and tissues, and with 
the comparative physiology of respiration. 

The foregoing comments give a very imper- 
fect idea of the contents of many hundreds of 
pages of illustrated text—an invaluable cyclo- 
pedia in a field which has hitherto not afforded 
any such elaborate systematic compilation. 


LaFayette B. MENDEL 
SHEFFIELD SCIENTIFIC SCHOOL, 
YALE UNIVERSITY 


und Kristallzeichnung. 
Leipzig und Berlin, Wil- 
1914. Pp. vili+ 198; 


Kristallberechnung 
By B. Gossner. 
helm Engelmann. 


JuLy 3, 1914] 


1 plate; 109 figures in text. Price, 8 Marks. 

During the last fifteen years the older rather 
tedious and somewhat intricate methods for 
the calculation and drawing of crystals have 
been greatly simplified by the contributions of 
Goldschmidt, Penfield, Wulff and Hutchinson 
especially. The purpose of the present text is 
to bring together these various methods in a 
clear and concise form in a single treatise. 
' The general part of the book comprises 
sixty-six pages and includes a discussion of 
the stereographic, gnomonie and linear pro- 
jections and the development of general for- 
mulas for the calculation of crystals. The 
use of the protractors of Hutchinson and Pen- 
field are described at length, as is also the 
stereographic net of Wulff. All possible cases 
of erystal-caleulation are then taken up fully 
in a discussion extending over twenty pages. 

The special part of the text, consisting of 
sixty-one pages, is devoted (a) to the applica- 
tion of the methods of erystal-calculation, 
examples being introduced for each system; 
and (0) to erystal-drawing. Here the methods 
for the drawing of crystals directly from ster- 
eographic and gnomonie projections are 
given first. These are followed by those in- 
volving the use of the axial cross for the pro- 
jection of simple and twinned crystals. 

The treatment throughout the book is con- 
eise but clear, and illustrated with 109 dia- 
grams. There is also a bibliography of the 
most important texts and papers on the subject. 
The book is a valuable contribution and all 
advanced students of geometrical crystallog- 
raphy should have access to it. 

Epwarp H. Kraus 

(MINERALOGICAL. LABORATORY, 

UNIVERSITY OF MIcHIGAN 


The Hlectrical Conductivity and Ionization 
Constants of Organic Compounds. By 
Heywarp Scuppzr, B.A., B.S., M.D. New 
York, D. Van Nostrand Co. 1914. Pp. 568. 
Price $3.00. 

In the words of the author, “the object of 
this book is to present as far as lies in my 
power a bibliography of all the measurements 


SCIENCE 


29 


of the ionization constants and the electrical 
conductivity literature between the years 1889 
and 1910 inclusive, together with the values of 
the ionization constants, and certain values 
of the electrical conductivity measurements. 
Qualitative work is also included. ... From 
1910 to the beginning of 1913, important cor- 
rections that have come to my notice have 
been inserted.” 

As to arrangement: “The book is divided 
into a set of tables arranged according to the 
names of the compounds, containing all the 
data that may be given with a bibliography 
of all references to each compound; a formula 
index to the compounds; a bibliography ar- 
ranged according to the names of authors; a 
subject index to certain subjects; and a journal 
list giving the names of all journals examined 
with the number and date of the last volume 
examined.” 

The first set of tables will show the values, 
if known, of the specific conductivity of the 
pure substance; the ionization constant; the 
conductivity in aqueous solution; the conduc- 
tivity in solvents other than water; the con- 
ductivity under various conditions as to tem- 
perature and pressure and in various mix- 
tures; the conductivity of the salts at many 
different temperatures and in many different 
solvents. 

The vast amount of labor that the author 
must have expended upon this compilation 
will be greatly appreciated by workers in this 
field of physical chemistry. As the variation 
in the expression for the dilution law lately 
suggested by Kraus and Bray is likely to 
awaken a new interest in conductivity values 
and ionization constants, the book should prove 
to be of much service. 

The list of errata is wonderfully small con- 
sidering the nature of the work. 

E. H. ARCHIBALD 


NOTES ON METEOROLOGY AND 
CLIMATOLOGY 
“THE Rainfall of California,” by Professor 
Alexander McAdie (Univ. Calif. Geogr. Pub., 
Vol. 1, No. 4, pp. 127-240, Pls. 21-28). This 


30 


recent publication is a thorough treatment of 
the complex rainfall conditions of California. 
The chief factors controlling rainfall: there 
are centers of action (“hyperbars and infra- 
bars”), prevailing surface drift, ocean effect, 
topography and ocean currents (including up- 
welling cold water1). The influence of the 
positions of the centers of action may be 
summed up in this general law: “ Typical wet 
winters on the California coast occur when the 
North Pacific low overlies the continent west 
of a line drawn from Calgary to San Francisco. 
Typical dry winters are associated with a west- 
ward extension of the continental high to the 
coast line and a retreat of the Aleutian low to 
the northwest.” The prevailing surface drift 
of the atmosphere is northwest in summer but 
southerly and westerly in winter. In winter, 
these winds from the Pacific Ocean supply 
ample moisture for rainfall where topography 
causes them to rise. The complexity of ocean 
currents and ocean temperatures on this coast 
may locally affect rainfall. 

The rainfall resulting from the combination 
of these factors is moderate to heavy (more 
than 2,000 mm.) on the west slopes of the 
coast ranges and Sierra Nevadas, but light on 
the east side. On the wést slopes of the Sierras 
from the floor of the Great Valley to an alti- 
tude of 1,500 meters, the rainfall increases on 
the average about 75 mm. per 100 meters of 
ascent. Above 1,500 meters, the rainfall seems 
to decrease slightly with altitude. The rate 
of decrease of rainfall with decreasing altitude 
down the east slope is variable, depending on 
the height and the rainfall of the mountain 
erest. On the line of the Central Pacific Rail- 
road, the rainfall decreases 147 mm. per 100 
meters of descent. In southern California, the 
zone of maximum rainfall is much higher, and 
the rate of increase with altitude is about 50 
mm. per 100 meters up to 2,500 m. The de- 

1 This upwelling is most marked in summer and 
is caused by the strong northwest winds of the 
great North Pacific high: G. F. McEwen, ‘‘ Pecu- 
liarities of the California Climate,’’ 1. W. R., 
January, 1914, pp. 14-28. See also, W. G. Reed, 
““The Japan Current and the Climate of Cali- 
fornia,’’ M. W. R., February, 1914, pp. 100-101. 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1018 


tails of California rainfall are shown in com- 
prehensive tables. 

Parts of California are subject to excessive 
rains. These rains are of the cloudburst type 
in the drier areas. In the wetter portions, the 
excessive rains are less intense but of greater 
duration. A large table of excessive precipi- 
tation is given. In the high mountains, snow- 
fall, so important for irrigation and water- 
power, is very heavy. Special attention is 
paid to the snowfall and melting of snow on 
the ground at Summit (alt. 2,138 m.). The 
average annual snowfall there is more than 
1,000 cm. Tamarack, a station at 2,438 m. 
altitude, has an even heavier snowfall. In 
the table, a snowfall of 2,260 em. is indicated 
in the winter of 1906-07. The record maxi- 
mum for any month was 998 em. in January, 
1911. The rainfall of San Francisco is treated 
in detail at the end of the memoir.? 


THE MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW 


THe Monthly Weather Review with the 
January, 1914, issue has reverted to the more 
or less popular form it had until July, 1909. 
The material is classified under the heads (1) 
Aerology, (2) General Meteorology, (3) Fore- 
easts and General Conditions of the Atmos- 
phere, (4) Rivers and Floods, (5) Bibliography, 
(6) Weather of the Month. Some of the 
articles in the January and February num- 
bers are briefly considered below. 

Lorin Blodget’s “ Climatology of the United 
States”: An Appreciation. By Robert DeO. 
Ward. (Pp. 23-27.) This great work, a pio- 
neer in its field, receives deserved praise and 
attention in this article. Professor Ward 
quotes many of the happy and vivid deserip- 
tions of the climate of the United States and 
its human effects which are as valuable to-day 
as ever. Evidently little has been added to 
our knowledge of the general conditions and 
controls of the climates of the United States 
in the last fifty years. The advance has been 
chiefly in the study of the details. 

“The Meteorological Aspect of the Smoke 

20f. also W. G. Reed, ‘‘ Variations in Rainfall 
in California,’’? MW. W. R., November, 1913, pp. 
1785-1790. 


JULY 3, 1914] 


Problem.” By H. H. Kimball. (Pp. 29-35.) 
On account of the usual smoke-blanket over 
cities, sunlight is diminished in intensity, and 
radiation is hindered. The effect is greatest 
in winter and in the early morning when the 
air circulation is slowest. The duration of 
fogs is inereased by the presence of smoke 
because of the protection against sunlight and 
because of the actual coating of the particles 
with oil, On account of smoke and fog, 
higher minima and lower maxima tempera- 
tures occur in cities than in the surrounding 
country. 

“The Effect of Weather upon the Yield of 
Corn.” By J. Warren Smith. (Pp. 78-93.) 
The rainfall at the time of flowering of the 
corn and shortly thereafter (generally, the 
four weeks beginning the middle of July), is 
a great factor in determining the success or 
failure of the crop. Im this period a few 
moderately heavy rains are most favorable. 
The rate of growth of the corn corresponds 
‘closely to the maximum temperatures. There 
are maps showing corn-acreage, dates of plant- 
ing and harvesting, and the periods between 
these dates.® 


ANTARCTIC METEOROLOGY 


Some of the meteorological results of Scott’s 
last expedition are reviewed by Dr. J. v. Hann 
in the Meteorologische Zeitschrift, February, 
1914 (pp. 62-67). Also a short review of an 
article by Prof. W. Meinardus is to be found 
in the Scientific American, April 25, 1914 
(p. 347). Cape Evans (77° 35’ S., 166° 32’ E.) 
at the foot of the Ross Barrier, Cape Adare 
(71° 18’ S., 170° 9’ EB.) on the west side of the 
Ross Sea, and Framheim (78° 88’ S., 195° 30’ 
E.) on the ice sheet not far southeast of the 
Ross Sea, are stations from which observations 
of some length are available. Winds of low 
velocity are most frequent for these three 
stations,—particularly for Framheim. The 
stillmess of the atmosphere at Framheim is 

3 Detailed studies of plant growth as related to 
soil and meteorological conditions are in the course 
of preparation for an extensive atlas of American 
‘agriculture, under the direction of Mr. O. H. 
Baker, of the Bureau of Plant Industry. 


SCIENCE 


31 


favorable to excessive cooling of the lower air. 
As a result, the annual temperature there 
was — 24.4° C. (10 mo. obs., 2 mo. interpolated). 
The summer temperature was —7.3° and the 
winter temperature — 37.8°. Cape Hvans near 
the base of the Ross Barrier is subject to west- 
wind blizzards in which the wind is extremely 
gusty. Simultaneously, Cape Adare, a short 
distance north, experiences light southwest 
winds. This anomaly is apparently the result 
of the convectional circulation due to a large 
difference in temperature between the air at 
the top of the Ross Barrier and that over the 
Ross Sea. The dense cold air, thus forced over 
the cliff, makes an air-fall of great velocity 
(this phenomenon is known as the “bora” 
in Europe). 

Atmospheric electricity is at a maximum in 
summer and at a minimum in winter, the re- 
verse of the rule in middle latitudes. Nitric 
acid in rain(snow)-water is about the same in 
amount as that found in Europe. This fact 
is opposed to the idea that thunderstorms are 
largely responsible for the nitric acid found 
in rain water. The carbon dioxide content of 
air samples was 0.0205 per cent.—a striking 
contrast to the usual 0.03 per cent. of other 
parts of the earth. The samples from which 
these determinations were made were collected 
by Mr, R. E. Godfrey, of the Charcot Expedi- 
tion, 1909-1910.4 


NOTES 


Dr. Hercrsent, head of the Meteorological 
Institute of Strassburg, has been appointed to 
succeed Dr. Assmann as director of the Aero- 
nautical Observatory at Lindenberg. 


On January 6, 1914, Dr. Nils Ekholm 
succeeded Dr. H. EK. Hamberg as director of 
the Swedish Statens Meteorologiska Cen- 
tralanstalt. 


OBSERVATIONS of Messrs. Okada, Fujiwhara 
and Maeda indicate that thunderstorms may 
produce seiches in lakes. The change of pres- 
sure, impulsive action of the wind and rain- 
fall seem to be the principal causes.° 


4 Scientific American, April 11, 1914, p. 304. 
5 Nature, April 30, 1914, p. 222. 


32 


THE meteorological service of India is begin- 
ning aerological work with balloons sondes. 


An extreme minimum temperature of 
— 91.9° C. was recorded with a ballon sonde 
on November 5, 1913, over Batavia, Java. 
Another ballon sonde brought down a record of 
—90.9° at 17 km. altitude on December 4. 
Above this the temperature rose to —57.1° at 
26 km. 


PyYRHELIOMETRIC observations obtained from 
ballons sondes in California last summer at 
altitudes of 10 to 13 km. indicate a lower 
solar constant of radiation than is obtained 
from observations at the earth’s surface after 
transmission corrections have been added. 
Although a maximum altitude of 33 km. was 
reached, no observations were secured above 
13 km, because of the freezing of the merecury.? 


THE unpublished papers of the International 
Meteorological Congress held at Chicago in 
1893 are now appearing in the Monthly 
Weather Review. 


A CONFERENCE of observers and students of 
meteorology and allied subjects will be held 
in Edinburgh, September 8 to 12, 1914.8 

CuHarLes F. Brooks 

HARVARD UNIVERSITY, 

May 18, 1914 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 


A CULTURE MEDIUM FOR THE TISSUES OF 
AMPHIBIANS 


In the course of some experiments on the 
culture in vitro of tissues from various amphi- 
bians, considerable difficulty was encountered 
in using blood plasma as a culture medium on 
account of its very rapid coagulation. When 
working with the tissues of the frog or of tad- 
poles it waS more convenient to use lymph 
taken directly from some of the subcutaneous 
lymph spaces. Preparations in lymph may 
frequently be made before coagulation occurs, 
but the lymph tends to become too watery for 


6 Nature, March 5, 1914, pp. 5-6. 

7C. G. Abbot, Scientific American, April 4, 1914, 
p. 278. 

8 See Nature, February 12, 1914, p. 667. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL, No. 1018 


use a short time after the frog is killed, so 
that only a small quantity is available from 
any one animal. In most urodeles the scarcity . 
of available lymph prohibits its employment, 
so that plasma was at first depended on almost 
entirely for a culture medium. 

There is little outwandering or outgrowth 
from the tissues of either the embryos or the 
adults of amphibians unless the surrounding 
medium is of more or less solid consistency. 
Amphibian tissue will live for weeks in blood 
serum or even in Ringer’s solution, but the 
cells do not often grow or wander away from 
the rest of the mass unless they come into 
contact with a substance that evokes a thigmo- 
tactic response. In searching for a convenient 
substitute for blood plasma the endeavor was 
therefore made to find a medium which would 
remain fluid while being used, but which 
would solidify to about the consistency of 
blood clot afterwards. After some experimen- 
tation it was found that a mixture of equal 
parts of blood serum and a two per cent. solu- 
tion of Griibler’s nutrient gelatine afforded 
a substitute that was very successful. 

The preparation of the mixture is easy. 
Blood drawn from the heart is stirred with a 
fine glass rod and the coagulum removed. 
The blood is then centrifuged to remove the 
corpuscles, and the clear serum mixed with an 
equal quantity of a two per cent. solution of 
gelatine. The gelatine solution is previously 
boiled and precautions are taken to prevent 
contamination of any of the ingredients of 
the medium with bacteria. I have used the 
mixture after it had been kept for several 
days, and found it to be practically as good a 
culture medium as when perfectly fresh. 

The mixture becomes fluid when warmed 
slightly and remains fluid for an hour or more 
after being cooled to ordinary room tempera- 
ture. I commonly keep it in small tubes of 
glass, and by rubbing the tubes briskly with 
the fingers sufficient heat may be generated to 
eause the gelatine to liquify. Should the 
supply of culture medium solidify while one 
is putting up preparations, it is only neces- 
sary to warm it slightly to keep it fluid for an 
hour or more longer. 


JuLy 3, 1914] 


Making preparations of tissues is greatly 
facilitated by the use of this medium, and the 
comparatively constant composition of the 
mixture renders the results obtained through 
its use more uniform than those secured by 
the employment of lymph or plasma. The im- 
planted cells get what very nearly corresponds 
to their natural food in the serum of the 
blood, and the gelatine, while apparently acting 
in no way injuriously to the cells, affords a 
means of appealing to their thigmotactie pro- 
clivities that is ordinarily supplied by the 
fibrin of clotted plasma. 

The outgrowth of epithelium in this medium 
is remarkable. In some cases it has been over 
twenty times the superficial area of the im- 
planted tissue. As a rule the tissues thrive 
better than in plasma or lymph. It is com- 
paratively easy to subculture the tissues, since 
the gelatine dissolves in Ringer’s solution, and 
by washing the preparations in this fluid they 
may be readily freed, and then transferred to 
a fresh culture medium. I have transferred 
pieces of epithelial tissue several times in suc- 
cession, and kept them thriving for three 
months. Cell divisions have been repeatedly 
seen in epithelial cells in this medium. In a 
piece of tissue put up on February 17 and 
changed to fresh culture fluid three times 
afterwards, I observed several mitotic figures 
in epithelial cells on April 8, fifty days after 
the preparation was made. The chromosomes 
could be seen with great distinctness in the 
living material. In one cell first seen in the 
prophases of division, the chromosomes were 
seen to align themselves in the equatorial 
plate, then to be drawn apart, and finally to 
become constituted into the two daughter 
nuclei; at the same time the constriction in 
two of the cell body could be distinctly fol- 
lowed. Over a dozen other mitotic figures in 
various stages were observed in the same piece. 
The preparation had been washed in Ringer’s 
solution and transferred to new culture medium 
a few days previously, after which it had 
taken on a new lease of life. The division 
figures were all seen in a transparent sheet of 
epithelium that had spread out in contact with 


SCIENCE 


33 


the cover slip supporting the hanging drop 


culture. S. J. Houmes 
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, 
BERKELEY, CALIF. 


ON THE CHEMICAL NATURE OF THE LUMINOUS 
MATERIAL OF THE FIREFLY 

Our knowledge of the chemistry of light 
production by organisms may be summed up 
in the statement that phosphorescence is due 
to the oxidation of some substance formed in 
the cells of the animal. As with other oxida- 
tions, both water and oxygen must be present. 
If either water or oxygen are absent the photo- 
genic substance will not be used up by oxida- 
tion. Luminous tissues if dried rapidly may 
be ground up and preserved indefinitely, and 
at any later time, 1f moistened in the presence 
of oxygen, will phosphoresce. This old and 
important discovery makes the investigation 
of the chemical nature of the luminous sub- 
stance relatively easy. The dried powder of 
the luminous organ may be extracted with: (1) 
Oxygen-free watery solvents, or (2) water-free 
solvents (as ether, chloroform, etc.) with or 
without oxygen. 

The earlier workers supposed the photogenic 
material to be phosphorus or phosphine. 
These views require no comment to-day. 
Later suggestions have been that the substance 
is a fat, an albumin, a lipoid (lecithin), a 
nucleoalbumin or a lecithoprotein (phos- 
phatid). It is obviously desirable to know 
whether the substance is fat-like or protein in 
nature. The fact that phosphorescence ceases 
as soon as the moist luminous material is 
heated to 100° proves nothing, for, like organic 
oxidation in general, an oxidizing ferment is 
probably involved, and it is this oxidase which 
may be destroyed on heating. 

I can state definitely that the “luciferin ” 
of the common fire-fly is not a true fat or any 
fat-like body such as lecithin. The dried 
material may be extracted with anhydrous 
ether and the ether extract evaporated to 
dryness. On adding water or a watery extract 
of luminous organ (to add an oxidizing 
enzyme) or potato juice (to add an oxidase) to 
the residue no phosphorescence took place; on 
adding water to the original ether extracted 


34 


material brilliant phosphorescence occurred. 
The same results were obtained with anhydrous 
chloroform, ethyl alcohol, acetone and carbon 
tetrachloride. The material is therefore in- 
soluble in fat solvents. 

It is most likely a protein but belongs 
among the proteins insoluble in water. By 
means of a specially constructed apparatus I 
was able to extract with oxygen-free distilled 
water and to filter the extract in an oxygen- 
free space. On admitting air the filtrate did 
not glow, but the filter paper showed innumer- 
able bright dots. The granules of luminous 
substance are therefore insoluble in water. A 
lack of material has prevented extraction with 
other protein solvents, salt solution, acids and 
alkalies. 

HK. Newton Harvey 

PRINCETON, N. J., 


THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY. II 
DIVISION OF FERTILIZER CHEMISTRY 
J. H. Breckenridge, Chairman 
F. B. Carpenter, Secretary 
Chairman’s Address: Chemistry an Important 


Factor im the Fertilizer Industry: J. HE. BREcK- 
ENRIDGE. 


The Preparation of Neutral Ammonium Citrate: 
ErMon D. EASTMAN AND JOEL H. HILDEBRAND. 
The proposed method depends on the prepara- 

tion of a standard sodium phosphate solution of 
known hydrogen ion concentration and the com- 
parison of the color produced by rosolic acid in 
this solution with that produced by the same indi- 
eator in the ammonium citrate solution to be 
tested. The normal ammonium citrate solution is 
shown by its hydrogen ion concentration to be 
slightly acid and the authors have therefore 
adopted the neutral rather than the normal solu- 
tion. 


A Comparison of Neutral Ammonium Citrate with 
Sodium Citrate and N/10 Citric Acid: Paun 
RUDNICK, W. B. DERBY AND W. L. LatsHAw. 
Sodium citrate proposed by Bosworth (2) can 

be used as a substitute for the official neutral am- 

Mmonium citrate, but N/10 citric acid obviates 

difficulties due to highly concentrated solutions, 

such as slowness in filtration, ete., and gives re- 
sults which are in excellent agreement with those 
obtained by the official neutral ammonium citrate. 


SCIENCE 


[N.S. Vou. XX XIX. No. 1018 


The Separation of Organic Nitrogen from Miaed 

Fertilizers: C, H. JONES. 

The method recommended depends on separation 
by gravity in carbon tetrachloride. Tables giving 
the behavior of various fertilizer ingredients and 
their availability by the alkaline permanganate 
method are included. 

Separation of Phosphoric Acid from Lime: F. K. 

‘CAMERON. 

A discussion of the solubility curves of potas- 
sium and ammonium phosphates and their appli- 
cations to practical problems. 

Separation of Potash from Kelp (lantern): F. K. 

CAMERON. 

An illustrated description of the kelp beds and 
the methods of harvesting so far developed. 


DIVISION OF PHARMACEUTICAL CHEMISTRY 
F. R. Eldred, chairman 
A. P. Sy, Secretary 


Methods of Analysis of the Forthcoming Pharma- 
copeia: H. W. WILEY. 

Seasonal Variation im the Composition of the 
Thyroid Gland: ATHERTON SEIDELL AND F'RED- 
ERIC FENGER. 

The experiments upon this subject embracing 
the period August, 1911, to August, 1912, have 
been continued for another one-year period be- 
ginning December 1, 1912. The evidence for the 
seasonal variation in iodine content of the thyroid 
gland has been confirmed, and additional data ob- 
tained, showing that a regular change of phos- 
phorus and ash, varying inversely with the iodine, 
occurs. In regard to the fresh weight of the 
glands, the results indicated a regular seasonal 
change in the case of the beef and sheep, but not 
with the hog. The results demonstrate the prac- 
ticability of a standard of 0.2 per cent. iodine in 
commercial desiccated thyroids. 

Some Peculiarities of Present Food and Drug 
Laws: FRANK O, TAYLOR. 


Notes on the Determination of Antipyrine: GEORGE 

D. BEAL AND DuANE T. ENGLIS. 

Antipyrine and caffeine can be easily extracted 
by chloroform from an aqueous solution three- 
fourths saturated with sodium chloride. If the 
liquid contains vegetable extractives, the extrac- 
tion ean be effected without emulsification by first 
precipitating the coloring matter, resins, ete., with 
lead acetate. The antipyrine may be titrated in 
the presence of caffeine by Bougault’s! method, 


1 Jour, Pharm. Chem., [6], 1, 161, 11, 97. 


JuxLy 3, 1914] 


using an alcoholic solution of iodine, and adding 
at the same time an alcoholic solution of mercuric 
chloride, to take up the liberated hydriodic acid. 
One gram of antipyrine—=1.351 grams of iodine. 
The authors find that as effective a method con- 
sists in the substitution of an ordinary N/10 
iodine solution for the alcoholic iodine solution, 
titrating in the presence of alcohol, and adding 
sufficient alcoholic mercuric chloride to combine 
with the hydriodie acid liberated and in addition 
enough to combine with the potassium iodide in 
the N/10 iodine solution. The results are accu- 
rate and the endpoint is distinct. 


Further Notes on Lloyd’s Reagent for Alkaloids: 

SIGMUND WALDBOTT. 

In precipitating quinine from aqueous solutions 
of quinine bisulphate by means of Lloyd’s reag- 
ent,2 the filtrate upon evaporation yields crystals 
of calcium sulphate, due to the calcium contents of 
the reagent. When the CaO is completely re- 
moved by hydrochloric acid, the modified acid-free 
Teagent, upon precipitating quinine from quinine 
bisulphate, yields free sulphurie acid in the fil- 
trate. This demonstrates that the affinity of the 
reagent for alkaloid is strong enough to tear 
asunder the quinine bisulphate molecule. 
Estimation of Phenacetin and Acetanilide in Ad- 

minature: W. O. HMERY. 

Estimation of Antipyrin: W. O. EMERY AND S. 

PALKIN. 

Estimation of Caffeine and Antipyrin in Admix- 
ture: W. O. EMERY AND S. PALKIN. 
Estimation of Phenacetin and Salol in Admiz- 

ture: W. O. HMeEry, C. C. LEFEVRE anp G. C. 

SPENCER. 

A Method for the Estimation of Podophyllum 

Resin: W. M. JENKINS. 

Commercial Papain and its Testing: 

ADAMS. 


H. M. 


Some Observations on the Leach Test for Cowma- 
rin: WILLIAM G. GAESSLER. 


Digitalis Ash: CHaRLES T. P. FENNEL. 

The recognized importance of mineral constitu- 
ents in plants, the elements of plant development 
—their equal importance to plant life—classifica- 
tion as air and soil groups—products of plant life 
—products of physiological processes not in the 
ash—foundation substances of the soil—the needs 
of proper soil to fit the plant for specific pur- 
poses—medicinal plants—history of the method of 
use—juices direct—watery extracts, alcoholic ex- 

2Cf. Jour. Amer. Chem. Soc., June, 1913. 


SCIENCE 


35 


tracts—isolation of so-called active constituents— 
variations in therapeutic action—the preexist- 
ence and the generation of active constituents by 
manipulation of processes of extraction—digitalis 
and other plants—the ash—constituents—peculi- 
arities—elementary decay—eka silicon—radioae- 
tive matter in rocks and soils—effect on plant 
life—experimentally. 

The Estimation of Morphine: H. M. Gorpin. 


The Estimation and Variability of Alcohol in 
Galenicals: Li. F. KEBLER. 

Results of the Examination of Some Medical 
Agents in the District of Columbia: L. F. 
KEBLER. 


Extraction of Morphine from Aqueous Solution: 
H. BUCHBINDER. 


DIVISION OF INDUSTRIAL CHEMISTS AND CHEMICAL 
ENGINEERS 
Geo. P. Adamson, Chairman 
S. H. Salisbury, Jr., Secretary 
Volumetric Determination of Sulphur in Iron Ore: 

L. SELMI. 

The method is based on the ignition of the ore 
in a current of hydrogen and in presence of zine 
(and animal charcoal if sulphates of lime and 
barium are present). The reduction is prolonged 
for about twenty minutes and the heat discontin- 
ued and the furnace cooled rapidly at room tem- 
perature while the hydrogen is kept going through 
the furnace. When room temperature is attained 
the reduced ore is transferred to an evolution flask 
and the H.S evolved as in the case of iron and 
steel. Accurate results have been obtained in less 
than one hour, and this method is especially 
adapted for the determination of low sulphur in 
iron ores. The apparatus required is a fused silica 
tube, heated either by electricity or gas, a Kipp 
hydrogen generator and three gas washing bottles. 
On a number of determinations by this method I 
obtained the followimg sulphur results on the 
Bureau of Standards magnetite ore (standard 
.025 per cent.): .025, .026, .025, .024, .027, .025. 
Pitot Tubes for the Measurement of Gas Veloci- 

ties: ANDREW M. FAIRLIE. 

Numerous instances are cited in which some 
method of accurately measuring gas velocities is 
needed. Errors appearing in recent publications 
on this subject are corrected. As a result of re- 
cent work, a type of Pitot tube is indicated, which 
chemical engineers may select and use, under cer- 
tain conditions, with confidence. Features requir- 
ing further investigation are pointed out. 


36 SCIENCE 


A Comparison of Various Modifications of the 
Kjeldahl and Dumas Methods for the Determina- 
tion of Nitrogen im Coal and Lignite: A. C. 
FIELDNER AND C. A. TAYLOR. 


The Mechanism of the Reaction between Phenolic 
Bodies and Active Methylenes: L. V. RepMaAn, 
A. J. WEITH AND EH. P. BROCK. 


Fluorescence of Petroleum Oils: BENJAMIN T. 

BROOKS. 

Engler and others consider that fluorescence of 
petroleum oils is’ due to colloid matter suspended 
or emulsified with the oil. Experiments of the 
author with the ultramicroscope showed that this 
can not be the case. Such fluorescent oils give no 
indication of electrophoresis. The fluorescent sub- 
stance or substances readily form sulphonie acids, 
which are soluble in water and may be separated 
from the acid sludge tar obtained on treating with 
concentrated sulphurie acid. In general oxidizing 
agents destroy the fluorescent substance, but the ac- 
tion of nitro compounds as ‘‘deblooming’’ agents 
is purely physical. If an oil is debloomed by nitro- 
benzol, for instance, removal of the latter by shak- 
ing out with alcohol restores the fluorescence. The 
nitro group apparently does not have to be intro- 
duced into the molecule of the fluorescent sub- 
stance itself in order to ‘‘ cover up’’ the fluorescence. 
Other compounds employed as solvents, such as 
amyl alcohol, carbon bisulphide, aniline benzol, 
ete., appear to affect the fluorescence of petroleum 
oils in much the same way as Kauffman found for 
terephthalic acid esters. Distillation of crude 
petroleum at atmospheric pressure yields more 
highly fluorescent distillate than the same oil dis- 
tilled in vacuo. ‘The fluorescent substances there- 
fore result from pyrogenic decomposition in much 
the same way as the fluorescent hydrocarbons ob- 
tained in the distillation of coal. 


The Manufacture of Gasoline from Heavy Pe- 
trolewm Oils (lantern): B. T. Brooks, R. F. 
Bacon anp C. W. CLARK. 


Some Economic Phases of the Gasoline Supply: 

BENJAMIN T. BROOKS. 

Curves are given showing the rate of increase 
in the consumption of gasoline and its production 
from crude petroleum. Production of gasoline or 
motor spirit may be increased by (1) cracking 
heavier hydrocarbons, (2) employing motor spirit 
of lower Beaume gravity than now customary, 
(8) casing head gasoline. It is shown that benzol 
is not and probably can not be manufactured in 
sufficient quantity to meet the growing demand for 
motor fuel. Alcohol may be used to some extent 
should the price of gasoline exceed 40 cents per 


[N.S. Vou. XL. No. 1018. 


gallon. Alcohol is not now used for this purpose 

in England, where gasoline has been selling for 

approximately 40 cents for the last two years. 

Absorption of Caustic Soda by Cellulose: W. D. 
BANCROFT. 


The Stability of Rosin at Slightly Elevated Tem- 
peratures—A Correction: CHAS. H. HeErtry 
AND H. L. Cox. 

The Chemists’ Club: WiLu1aM L. DUDLEY. 

The Chemist, a Growing Factor in Merchandizing: 
A. V. H. Mory. 

The old rule of trade, ‘‘ Let the buyer beware,’’ 
is rapidly giving way to the rule, ‘‘Let the seller 
beware.’’ The small consumer never has been 
able to more than roughly inspect the character 
of his purchases. The merchant has always been 
better able to afford a thorough inspection. Now 
that the law is placing the responsibility on him, 
the merchant is more and more under the neces- 
sity of turning to technical aid. There is also a 
natural law, making rigid inspection on the part 
of the merchant a good business investment, viz.: 
The satisfied customer is the basis for permanent 
merchandizing success, and satisfaction can come 
only through insuring quality and accuracy in 
description. A new field, therefore, which may be 
called laboratory inspection of merchandise, is 
rapidly growing, and is likely to receive great im- 
petus through the enactment of general commod- 
ity laws. 

The Method of Analysis of Gasoline: G. W. GRAY. 


The Method of Testing Illuminating Oils: G. W. 
GRAY. 


Coal Ash in Some Unusual Phases: S. W. PARR. 


A Thermoelectric Method of Determining the 
Purity of Platinum Ware: G. K. BURGESS AND 
P. D. SALE. 

As illustrated for crucibles, this method con- 
sists in measuring the H.M.F. across the crucible 
rim, one side being heated and the other not. A 
fine wire (0.2 mm.) of pure platinum is are-sol- 
dered to one side and a Pt, Pt-Rh junction to the 
other. The iridium content or platinum purity of 
the crucible may be very exactly determined by 
the E.M.F. developed between the Pt wires and 
the temperature as measured by the Pt, Pt-Rh 
thermocouple, using an ordinary pyrometer gal- 
vanometer. The Bureau of Standards is prepared 
to test the platinum purity of crucibles by this 
method. 

A Nevada Oil Shale: CHAS. BASKERVILLE. 


The Metallography of Malleable Iron: J. CULVER 
HARTZELL. 


JuLy 3, 1914] 


A brief survey of the field with special reference 
to the difficulties encountered in correlating the 
chemical and structural analyses of malleable cast 
iron in the hard and in the annealed states. 


The Pyrometer in the Assay Muffle: FREpERIC P. 

DEWEY. 

Standing alone, by itself, a pyrometer reading 
has absolutely no value as a control of assay 
Operations in a mufile or as a guide to the assayer 
in carrying on such operations. The reasons for 
this are varied and complex. In the first place, the 
temperature that controls the success of the oper- 
ation is that of the lead button undergoing oxida- 
tion. At present we have no means of learning 
this temperature under practical working condi- 
tions, so that some suitable place must be selected 
within the muffle for the location of a pyrometer. 
Unfortunately, however, and in the second place, 
there is absolutely no approach even to a fixed re- 
lation between the pyrometer reading at any given 
point available and the temperature of the oxidiz- 
ing button. The oxidation of the lead supplies 
much heat to the button, but its effect upon the 
pyrometer is negligible. One factor governing the 
amount of heat utilized by the button is the rate 
of oxidation of the lead, and this in turn is, within 
wide limits, largely influenced by the passage of 
the air over the button, so that to fully utilize and 
apply the pyrometer reading we must also know 
the height of the barometer and the effect of varia- 
tions in the barometer readings upon the draft of 
the particular muffle under consideration. Further 
and most important, from a practical standpoint, 
is the freedom of entrance for the air to the 
muffle. In other words, by manipulating the door 
or stopper of the muffle, widely varying differences 
between the button temperature and the pyrometer 
reading may be produced. The effect of the door 
condition is twofold. It affects the supply of air 
to the button and also the actual temperature of 
the bottom of the muffle on account of varying 
amounts of air that have to be heated there in 
passing through the furnace. Finally, the relation 
of the position of the button within the muffle to 
that of the pyrometer is vital. Therefore, to in- 
telligently utilize any stated pyrometer reading it 
is essential to have exact information upon a va- 
riety of other conditions surrounding the opera- 
tion. However, the pyrometer is a good general 
guide to temperature conditions, but the man who 
depends upon it entirely will not be a good cupeller. 


Note on a Cause of Spontaneous Combustion in 
Coal Mines: HoRACE G. PORTER. 


SCIENCE oT 


Graphical Studies of the Ultimate Analyses of 

Coals: OulvER C. RALSTON. 

Plotting the ultimate analyses of coals, in terms 
of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, on the ‘‘ ternary 
diagram’’ as modified to compensate the greater 
errors involved in the term ‘‘oxygen,’’ has given 
results of surprising concordance. Some thou- 
sands of analyses are plotted with different ob- 
jects in view. Classification into anthracite, semi- 
anthracite, semi-bituminous, bituminous, ete., is 
very easy, as each of these falls in a certain area 
of the diagram. The effects of oxidizing coals, 
heating them, fractionating them mechanically, 
chemically and physically, etc., are studied with 
the revelation of many interesting relations. 
Methods are given of judging with fair accuracy 
the calorific value, volatile and moisture of the 
coals in different parts of the diagram. All the 
analyses in Bull. 22 of the Bureau of Mines are 
plotted and constitute an interesting criticism on 
the accuracy of work done there and seem to fall 
within probable error, as near as such an error can 
be calculated on such a complex substance as coal. 
This paper will be published by the Bureau of 
Mines. 


Osage Orange, Its Value as a Commercial Dyestuff : 

F. W. KRESSMANN. 

It has long been known in the southwest that 
the wood of the Osage orange tree contains a dye- 
stuff that would give a more or less fast yellow 
color. 

An examination of the wood from Texas showed 
that it not only contains morie acid and morintan- 
nie acid, the same as fustic wood, but also that the 
dyeing principles are present in amount to be 
commercially valuable. A comparative series of 
dyeing experiments made with fustic and Osage 
orange wood and extracts showed the latter to be 
of equal value with fustic in regard to depth of 
colors produced, the amount of extract, the char- 
acter of the dyeing and fastness to light, weather, 
washing, ete. 


Some Preliminary Experiments on the Hydrolysis 
of White Spruce, etc.: EF. W. KRESSMANN. 

On hydrolyzing spruce with dilute sulphuric 
acid solutions it was found that the yields of 
sugar increased rapidly with increasing pressures 
of digestion up to a pressure of 73 atmospheres, 
above which point the decrease was quite rapid. 
The reaction is probably reversible, since the large 
decrease can not be accounted for entirely by 
sugar decomposition. 

About 70 per cent. of the total sugar produced 


38 SCIENCE 


is fermentable. Yields of 23 gallons of 95 per cent. 
alcohol per dry ton of wood have been obtained. 
Acetic and formic acids are also products of hy- 
drolysis, the yield of the former being constant 
(about 1.42 per cent.) over a wide range of cook- 
ing conditions. The yield of formic acid increases 
with increasing severity of cooking conditions. 
The acetic acid and part of the formic acid are 
probably due to hydrolysis of acetyl and formyl 
in the lignin complex, while part of the formic 
acid results from sugar decomposition. 


A Method for the Rapid Quantitative Analysis of 
Bronze and Brass, Pb, Cu, Sn, Sb, Fe and Zn: 
RicHAaRD EpwIN LEE, JOHN P. TRICKEY AND 
WALTER H. PEGELY. 

The authors of this paper have made a careful 
experimental survey of the majority of the better- 
known methods for the quantitative analysis of 
brass and bronze, but have failed to find a method 
which was both rapid and accurate. It is pointed 
out that such a method is needed for ‘‘control’’ 
work, as well as for routine work in testing lab- 
oratories. The authors have then formulated a 


scheme for the quantitative analysis of these alloys 


which is apparently very rapid and at the same 
time meets the usual requirements in regard to 
accuracy. It is claimed that the complete analysis 
of three different bronzes containing Pb, Cu, Sn 
and Zn can be completed inside of two hours. 
Each determination is made on a separate portion 
of the sample. The series of test experiments in- 
corporated in the paper indicates that the methods 
permit of a wide application. The maximum error 
of any determination in any series is .15 per cent.; 
the average error, however, is much less. 


A Method for the Rapid Quantitative Analysis of 
Babbitt Metals, Pb, Cu, Sn and Sb: RICHARD 
EpwIn LEE, JOHN P. TRICKEY AND WALTER H. 
FEGELY. 

This paper contains a report of a rapid and ac- 
curate method for the quantitative analysis of 
Babbitt metals. The chief objection urged by the 
authors against the majority of the methods that 
have been proposed is that they require too much 
time for their execution. In the method reported, 
each determination is made from a separate por- 
tion of the sample, with the exception of Sn, which 
is determined volumetrically in the same solution 
in which Sb is determined. The maximum error 
is .15 per cent.; the average error, however, is 
less. Demorest’s method has been articulated 
with the proposed method so that an alloy close to 
the limit of the specification may be checked by a 


[N.S. Vou. XL. No. 1018 


different although longer method. The methods 

have been tested in two large commercial labora- 

tories for several months and found satisfactory. 

The Composition and Testing of Printing Inks: 
J. B. TUTTLE AND W. H. SMITH. 

The Determination of Carbon in Iron and Steel by 
the Bariwm-Carbonate Titration Method: J. RB. 
Cain. 

The apparatus used for filtration, “difficulties 
and sources of error, with means of obviating 
these, are described, and details are given of a 
series of experiments showing the special appli- 
cation and the degree of accuracy of the barium 
carbonate titration method when applied in steel 
analysis. 

Determination of Ammonia in Illuminating Gas: 
J. D. EDwarps. 

This paper is a summary of the results of a 
brief investigation of the apparatus and methods 
employed for the commercial determination of 
ammonia in illuminating gas. The five forms of 
apparatus studied gave results, when properly 
operated, well within the limits of accuracy re- 
quired for this determination either for commer- 
cial control work or for the purpose of gas inspec- 
tion. Suitable indicators have been recommended 
and precautions to be observed in the operation 
of the different forms of apparatus have been 
pointed out. 

The Iodine Number of Linseed and Petroleum Oils: 
W. H. Smite anp J. B. Turns. 

The iodine values of raw, boiled and burnt lin- 
seed oils, and petroleum oils, were determined by 
the Hanus method, varying widely the amounts 
of oil and iodine used, and the time of absorption. 
A study of the effect of temperature on the iodine 
value was made. It is shown that in order to ob- 
tain concordant results, a prescribed procedure 
must be followed, and exact conditions stated. 
Chemical Jurisprudence: Louis HOoGRErE. 

Report of the Committee on Alum Specifications. 


SECTION OF INDIA RUBBER CHEMISTRY 
D. A. Cutler, Chairman 
Dorris Whipple, Secretary 
The Influence of Temperature in the Physical 
Testing of Rubber Goods: T. LL. WORMELEY 
AND J. B. TUTTLE. 
Review of Report of Joint Rubber Insulating Com- 
mittee: DORRIS WHIPPLE. 
CHARLES L, PARSONS, 
Secretary 
(Lo be continued) 


c 


F SCIENCE 


New SERIES 
VoL. XL. No. 1019 


Fripay, Jury 10, 1914 


SINGLE Copizs, 15 Crs. 
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Source, Chemistry and Use of 


Food Products 


By E. H. 8. Baruey, Ph. D., Professor of Chemistry 
and Director, Chemical Laboratories, Univer- 
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+517 Pages. Cloth $1.60 Postpaid. 


The general principles of food production, manu- 
facture and preparation are treated in such a way 
that the reader may have a practical knowledge as to 
what constitutes a good food and where it is ob- 
tained. 


The Theory of Heat Radiation 


By Dr. Max Puancx, Professor of Theoretical 
Physics, University of Berlin. Authorized 
Translation by Morron Masrus, M.A., Ph.D., 
Instructor in Physics in the Worcester Poly- 
technic Institute. With Illustrations. 12mo. 
Cloth $2.00 Postpaid. 


The profoundly original ideas of the author in the 
endeavor to reconcile the electromagnetic theory of 
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of the greatest importance in many parts of physics. 


Introduction to Organic Chemistry 


By Joun;P. Stopparp, Ph.D., Professor of Chem- 
istry in Smith College. Octavo. About 430 
Pages. Cloth $1.50 Postpaid. 


enone 


~ This book is for use in connection with lectures, 

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organic chemistry and its relation to General 
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Laboratory Studies in Mammalian 
Anatomy 


By Inez Wuirerptn Witper, A.M., Instructor, in 
Zoology, Smith College. Octavo. About 170 
Pages. Cloth $1.25 Postpaid. 


These outlines are the result of several years 
experience in an attempt to work out an elementary 
laboratory course in anatomy which might serve 
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By J. I. Hamaker, Ph.D., Professor of Biology, Randolph-Macon Woman’s College. 


Principles of Biology 


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267 Illustrations. 


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in the preface, the book has been prepared as a substitute for the lecture notes of the ordinary pupil and of 
its superiority over such sources of information, or misinformation, there can be no doubt. After a very 
brief introduction, there follows over a hundred pages on plant biology and over 300 on animals. Brief 
laboratory directions are included and a great variety of subjects are dealt with. A general review of plant 
physiology is followed by an account of the classes of plants and a consideration of their ecology. In a 
similar way the general physiology and morphology of animals is followed by a description of the classes of 
the animal kingdom. The whole account is concluded by an interesting section on general principles such 
as the structure of the cell, embryology, origin of species, adaptation, etc.” 


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SCIENCE 


Fray, Juuy 10, 1914 


Educational Costs: PRoFESSoR LEONARD M, 


PASIAN Oi paiete ie areuae siskclchensterloteycusielayeuelchavarel elafe 39 
Flood Prevention and its Relation to the Na- 
tion’s Food Supply: JuDSoN G. WALL ..... 44 
A Notable Botanical Career: PROFESSOR 
C@HARTNS) HE SBESSEY | felse sclera. ee c1celeie 48 
il, ANE IGHCKOTGE WS) oa eaes se onnnabooudoS 49 
The Lassen Eruption .........2.++2----0--s 49 
Scientific Notes and News ............++.+- 51 
Unwersity and Educational News .......... 57 


Discussion and Correspondence :— 


The Conferring of the Bachelor’s Degree 
upon Non-graduates: PRoFESsoR W. L. 
JENNINGS. Multiple Factors vs. “‘ Golden 
Mean’’ im Size Inheritance: PROFESSOR 
R. A. Emerson. The ‘‘ Golden Mean’’: A. 
B. Brucz. Disagreements im Chemical 
Nomenclature: Proressorn H. B. Nortu. 
The Professor and the Institution: Pro- 
Fessor H, B. ALEXANDER ............-... 57 


Scientific Books :— 
Getkie’s The Antiquity of Man in Europe: 
PROFESSOR JOHN J. STEVENSON. Gilbert on 
the Psychology of Management: PROFESSOR 
H. L. Howutrnewortsu. Monographien em- 
hevmischer Tiere: PROFESSOR CHARLES A. 
Korom. Weed’s The Copper Handbook: 
AVMs eden sdevepc ete) lai Caccl shure) A clay eees trap ch of evel shale 62 


The Official List of Zoological Names: Dr. C. 
AW APSDEE Sitatees hegefeeralsvanslavs AW Mitsvel ous alsle t)e}oile 66 


Special Articles :— 
The Ione Formation of the Sierra Nevada 
Foothills: Roy HE. DicKERSON. The Permea- 
bility of the Frog’s Egg: Dr. J. F. Mc- 
CHERDON Codohidenoososbenonbesooosepen 67 


The American Chemical Society: Dz. CHARLES 
L. Parsons 


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


EDUCATIONAL COSTS 
I 


IN the treatment of the educational insti- 
tion as an industrial organization several 
points of view may be taken. That one 
which looks upon the student as the prod- 
uct of the factory or plant will be here dis- 
missed without discussion as inherently 
false and as based upon very superficial 
analogies. In a second light the student 
may be regarded as the customer who buys 
the product instruction—possibly educa- 
tion—from the factory of which the work- 
men are the teachers. These theories, which 
the present writer has discussed at some 
length in another place,’ will be passed 
Over, in order that consideration may be 
given to a third viewpoint as follows. 

The product of the college considered as 
an industrial organization is instruction; 
instruction in Greek, in chemistry, in 
mathematics, in history, or in any other 
subject which is there taught. The work- 
men of the educational factory fall into 
two classes: the instructors constitute the 
class of paid workmen; the students the 
class of unpaid workmen who may be looked 
upon, in a way, as apprentices. The prod- 
uct, instruction, can not be made except by 
the cooperation of the two classes of work- 
men. The finished product is education, or 
an education. . 

The analogy between the industrial 
plant and the educational institution is by 
no means as close as is asserted by those who 
advocate the application of the principles 
of business management to the college. It 
may be doubted if there be any instance of 


1‘¢The College as a Commercial Factory,’’ Hdu- 
cational Review, December, 1913. 


; at sontan I Stites 


© 
JUl LO 1914 
. Tae 


40 


a factory which manufactures a product as 
intangible as the instruction of the edu- 
cational plant, even though we neglect all 
the higher connotations of the word edu- 
cation and confine our attention to its 
lower and more utilitarian characteristics. 
Moreover, there probably exists no case of 
an industrial plant in which one class of 
labor pays a premium for the privilege of 
working for a limited period—three to six 
years—with the avowed intention of leay- 
ing the factory at the expiration of the 
term of service. There is no industrial 
plant which willingly and knowingly con- 
ducts its business at a loss; no business in 
which the product is never sold. Finally, 
it is impossible to conceive of an industrial 
plant in which, no matter how much of the 
product be disposed of, there still remains 
as much of the product in the factory as 
before. 
Ir 


For the sake of investigation, however, 
these discrepancies, these failures of 
analogy, may be overlooked, and we may 
proceed to the determination of costs on the 
hypothesis of a product, instruction; a 
class of paid workmen, the teachers; and a 
class of unpaid apprentices, the students, 
who pay a premium to the plant. 

Adopting a usual classification of costs 
into (1) prime cost: workmen’s wages and 
cost of raw material; (11) works cost: prime 
cost plus the expense of shop production ; 
(iii) total cost: works cost plus the ex- 
penses of administration and management; 
we may note that in the educational plant 
the second item is eliminated, and that there 
is practically no raw material. 

Thus the items of cost fall into two 
classes: (1) Direct costs: salaries of the in- 
structing staff. (2) Indirect costs: all 
costs except item 1. 

But since the instructing staff is paid for 
both teaching and administration, item 1 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1019 


must be subdivided into (a@) Pay for in- 
struction; the only direct cost. (b) Pay 
for administration; an indirect cost, and 
again subdivided into departmental and 
general administration costs. 

Moreover, the various constituents of 
item 2 must be examined with care, in order 
that they may be properly allocated to dif- 
ferent departments. 

For purposes of illustration we shall as- 
sume a college of two departments, D, and 
D,, with the following data. Department 
D, has 10 professors, salary $3,000 each, 
serving 300 hours each per year; 10 associ- 
ates, salary $2,000 each, serving 400 hours 
each per year; 10 tutors, salary $1,000 
each, serving 500 hours each per year. 
Department D, has 5 professors, salary 
$4,000 each, serving 250 hours each per 
year; 10 associates, salary $2,000, serving 
400 hours; 5 tutors, salary $500, serving 
500 hours each per year. The analysis of 
the data is given in the following table :? 


TABLE I 

ewe ccas 

giz | 68/28 | 2. [88 | #H8 

= | esis | $2 |as | ees 

Grade of a S } of ae a és eS 
Workman 5 8 S ae Sas 3a Sine sae 
B/8| 28 | 25 [288] 2& | gos |ase 

alz| a= ma WAS 8s 8sA Bas 
Professor |D,/10/1,000|1, 000|1, 000/10, 000/10, 000}10, 000 
D,| 5|1,000) 50) 200)/16,000) 800; 3,200 
Associate |D,/10]3,000) 500} 500/15,000) 2,500} 2,500 
D,|10}3,000| 500} 500/15,000)} 2,500) 2,500 
Tutor...... D,|10/4,000} 500} 500) 8,000} 1,000} 1,000 
D,| 5/2,400 0} 100) 2,400 0} 100 
Totals..|D,| |8,000|2,000|2, 000|33, 000|16,800}13, 500 
D,| |6,400) 550! 800|33,400 5,800 


The general administration costs—salar- 
ies of the president and other general ad- 
ministrative officers—amount to $20,000 
per year. 

2 This table of data is taken from the article in 
the Educational Review to which reference has al- 
ready been made. The same article may be con- 
sulted for a tentative analysis of the several items 
of cost. 


JuLy 10, 1914] 


We shall assume that there are 200 stu- 
dents in department D, and 100 in depart- 
ment D,. The two groups of students need 
not be mutually exclusive. A student may 
be doing work in both departments, or in 
one department only. The further assump- 
tion will be made that in department D, a 
student works 25 hours per week, in de- 
partment D, 20 hours per week, in class- 
room and laboratory. In addition, in de- 
partment D, each student works 25 hours 
per week in preparation for class; in de- 
partment D,, 40 hours per week. The 
year consists of 30 weeks, so that there are, 
in department 
D,, 50 X 30 X 200 = 300,000 student hrs. per year. 
D;, 60 X 30 X 100 = 180,000 student hrs. per year. 

Finally, the tuition fee paid by each stu- 
dent will be assumed to be $150 per year. 
With these data we may proceed to the de- 
termination of costs per workman per hour. 

The writer does not know any equitable 
basis for the distribution of general admin- 
istration charges. They are certainly not 
necessarily allocable in proportion to the 
number of students in a department, nor 
in proportion to the number of student 
working hours, nor in proportion to the 
number of hours of teaching. A small de- 
partment may, from the nature of its work, 
require more administrative attention than 
a large one. On the whole it seems best, in 
the absence of exact information, to allo- 
eate the general administration costs 
equally to the several departments. 

The general administration costs of our 
hypothetical college are, therefore (see 
Table I.), $20,000 plus $16,800, or $36,800, 
of which $18,400 are chargeable to each 
department. From this and from Table I. 
we compute Table II., which summarizes all 
the data. 


3 No account is taken of home or preparation 
work done by the instructing staff. 


SCIENCE 


41 
TABLE II 

General administration costs ... $18,400 $18,400 

Departmental administration 
GUIS) soo cgoccesasconsnocane $13,500 $5,800 
Wages of instruction ......... $33,000 $33,400 
Working hours, teachers ...... 8,000 6,400 
Working hours, students ...... 300,000 180,000 
Total working hours ......... 308,000 186,400 
HUGE! GOS oGgG6 55a JoaS400d05 $64,900 $57,600 
Tuition fees ................ $30,000 $15,000 
INGin COREY gues OoOsesHEHaUnadT $34,900 $42,600 
Net cost per working hour .... $.113 $.229 


Tr 

Examination of the assumed data will 
disclose the fact that the D,D, college is a 
rather costly institution. Department D, 
pays $60,000 in salaries to 30 teachers, for 
8,000 hours’ instruction per year, for 200 
students (there are 4,000 administration 
hours in addition) so that the average num- 
ber of hours instruction per teacher per 
week is a little less than 9, and there are 
624 students to each instructor. In de- 
partment D,, 20 teachers receive $42,500 
for 6,400 hours to 100 students, or about 10 
hours per instructor per week, with 5 stu- 
dents to each instructor. 

That the cost per working hour is so low 
is due to the neglect of most of the items of 
overhead burden, such as rent, power, heat, 
ete. But as our object is to test what con- 
clusions may be logically drawn from costs 
computed on a correct theory of account- 
aney, and as we have no intention of at- 
tempting to apply our present results in 
practise, the omissions are unimportant. 

It will be noted that the cost per working 
hour is much greater in department D, 
than in department D,. If, however, we 
do not analyze the salaries paid to the in- 
structing staff into their components, and 
if, instead of dividing the administration 
costs equally between the two departments, 
we allot them in proportion to the number 
of working hours, the workman-hour costs 
of the two departments approach much 


42 


nearer to equality,* giving a net cost per 
working hour, department D,, of 13.8 cents; 
department D,, 18.8 cents; a difference of 
5 cents as compared: with 12 cents under 
the more careful ‘analysis. 

In other words, by neglecting the analy- 
sis of the elements of cost, and by failure 
to allocate the various items where they 
should be incident; that is, by dealing 
with ‘‘general averages’’ instead of with 
specific charges, the cost per working hour 
becomes more nearly uniform. Conse- 
quently, exact information as to actual de- 
partmental costs is lacking or disguised; 
a result in precise agreement with mana- 
gerial experience in general. To be of prac- 
tical value cost per workman per hour, in 
the educational factory, must be based 
upon exact and detailed analysis. 


IV 


Further consideration of one or two 
points in the above discussion is desirable. 
Objection may be made to the inclusion of 
time spent by the student-workman in 
study at home, outside of the factory. Un- 
less we limit the product (instruction) to 
the actual imparting of information in the 
class-room, a view altogether too narrow 
even on a strictly utilitarian basis, it must 
be granted that this home work is as essen- 
tial to the product as is the factory labor, 
the work in school. The fact of the work 
being done outside of the factory does not 
affect the actual overhead expense or wages 
of the plant. It is conceivable that the 
student-workman might spend his entire 

4Total working hours 494,400. Working hours, 
D,, 308,000, or 62.3 per cent.; D2, 186,400, or 37.7 
per cent, Whence, general administration costs, D,, 
62.3 per cent. of $20,000, or $12,460; D., 37.7 per 
cent. of $20,000, or $7,540. Therefore, net costs, 
D,, are $12,460 + $60,000 — $30,000 = $42,460; D,, 
$7,540 + $42,500 — $15,000 = $35,040. Whence 
the net cost per working hour is, D,, $42,460 — 
308,000 =.138; D,, $35,040 = 186,400 = .188, 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1019 


working time in the factory without change 
of results: That he spends 50 per cent. or 
more of his working time outside of the fac- 
tory amounts simply to his paying an addi- 
tional premium for his apprentice privi- 
leges in the saving to the factory of expense, 
heat, light, attendance, ete. ‘Theoretically 
each department should be credited with 
the amount of this salvage; practically the 
saving is il as the expense, with the excep- 
tion, perhaps, of light and attendanee, is 
continuous in any case. The weakness of 
the plan adopted consists not in the inclu- 
sion of the student-workman’s outside time, 
but in the exclusion of the outside time of 
the teacher-workman. If this latter were 
included there would be a further diminu- 
tion of the cost per working hour in every 
department. 

A real weakness of the plan under dis- 
cussion lies in the fact that the outside stu- 
dent work is unsupervised to some extent, 
and may not be up to standard. This weak- 
ness, however, is inherent in the whole work 
of the educational plant; but not more so, 
by and large, than in the industrial plant. 
If it could be assumed that the inside work 
were 100 per cent. efficient and that all ex- 
amination papers were perfect, then the 
percentage obtained on an examination 
would measure the quality and amount of a 
student’s outside work. If, still with per- 
fect examination papers, it could be as- 
sumed that all outside work were 100 per 
cent. efficient, the examination percentage 
would measure the efficiency of the com- 
bined student and instructor factory work, 
but would not differentiate between the two. 
If it could be assumed that all outside and 
inside work were 100 per cent. efficient, 
then the examination percentage would 
measure the efficiency of the work of pre- 
paring the examination paper. This might 
be called an equilateral triangle of unten- 
able hypotheses. 


Juuty 10, 1914] 


However, this weakness is by no means 
an insuperable objection to the present 
point of view of educational costs. It is 
sufficient, at least until the whole subject 
of cost accountancy shall have been put on 
a more scientifie basis, to do in the educa- 
tional what is done in the industrial plant: 
to compute costs on the basis of the work- 
man-hour, even if the efficiency of the work- 
man can not be accurately determined nor 
all the labor be adequately supervised. 


v 


When the management of an industrial 
plant investigates the question of costs it is 
for the purpose of determining the exact 
cost of each article produced, in order that 
the selling price may be fixed and a profit 
assured. 

The educational plant disclaims all in- 
tention of making a profit, and has no cus- 
tomer, nor any product which is sold. 
When the management of an educational 
plant investigates the question of costs 
what is its purpose? 

It has been said that it is well ‘‘to com- 
pare the cost of instruction per student 
hour’’—the cost per workman-hour—in one 
department with the cost in another, and 
that ‘‘hich cost will call for explanation and 
justification.’”’ The former assertion may 
be accepted as true without accepting the 
latter as a necessary consequence. It is 
quite as logical to say that low cost will call 
for explanation and justification. The 
analogy® between the industrial plant and 
the educational institution would seem to 
be an igmis fatwus destined to lead the in- 
vestigator wandering into the morass of 
logical inconsequence. 

5¢‘Analogy: a resemblance of relations; an 
agreement or likeness between things in some cir- 


cumstances or effects, when the things are other- 
wise entirely different.’’ 


SCIENCE 43 


an in- 
} plant makes 2 iat 
not to be sold 
gible } product { to be sold } t 
profit. In the industrial plant, the lower 
the cost the greater the profit. Therefore, 
ae { educational 
industrial 
the lowest cost possible. This would seem 
to be the argument. It may be allowed to 
stand on its own merits, 

In the second place, there can be no valid 
comparison of the costs of widely dissimilar 
products. If an industrial plant makes tin 
cups at a cost of 25 cents and silver cups at 
a cost of 25 dollars per working hour, surely 
the high cost of the silver cup, as compared 
with the tin cup, does not, call for explana- 
tion and justification. If in a factory, in a 
given number of hours, say one hundred, 
there are made 1,000 silver cups by 100 men 
at a cost of 25 dollars each, 100 silver fiag- 
ons by 50 men at a cost of 100 dollars each, 
and a single silver ewer by one man at a 
cost of 500 dollars, the costs per workman 
hour are $2.50, $2 and $5 respectively. 
Now it may be perfectly true, as has been 
said, that “‘the principle of efficiency’’—or 
the principle of economic common sense, 
for that matter—‘‘demands that the ex- . 
penditure be commensurate with the results 
produced.’’ But whether the results be 
commensurate or not can not be determined 
by comparing expenditures only. Cer- 
tainly it can not be said that expenditure 
and results are not commensurate in the 
case of the silyer ewer because the cost per 
ewer working hour is double the cost per 
eup working hour. The results may be, for 
the cups a ten per cent. profit, or $2,500; 
for the ewer a 500 per cent. profit, or $2,500. 
Even if the profit on the ewer were only ten 


educational 
ele { industrial 
tangible 


\ plant should produce at 


per cent., or $50, still the ewer might be a 


Cellinian masterpiece, which counts as ‘‘re- 
sults’? even in business. Mechanical engi- 


44 


neering may be costing 46 cents per work- 
ing hour, English 18.2 cents. Hither may 
be costing too much, or each too little. As 
for the results, the unfinished products, 
engineering instruction or English instruc- 
tion, or the finished product, education, they 
still await measurement. 


VI 


Doubtless it would be well for the college 
to know exactly how it is spending, how it is 
losing, its money. What must be guarded 
against especially is the misuse of state- 
ments of costs, as well as inaccurate state- 
ments of costs derived from insufficient data 
and unscientific investigation. A determi- 
nation of the cost per student hour, or per 
working hour, which does not separate sal- 
aries of the instructing staff into wages, 
general administration and departmental 
administration charges; which does not 
properly allocate to various departments 
costs of rent, power and other items; which 
makes no attempt ‘‘to apportion the over- 
head expense exactly, as would be done in a 
manufacturing business’’—such a determi- 
nation may, perhaps, be valuable and sug- 
gestive if applied to a hypothetical college, 
but is misleading and dangerous if applied 
to an actual institution for the purpose of 
deducing practical consequences and sug- 
gesting practical reforms. 

There is no consensus of opinion as to 
what education is—except, perhaps, the 
Widespread view that it is a failure—and 
no general agreement as to what it should 
be. It is, perhaps, unfortunate that so 
much attention is being given to the deter- 
mination of the costs of this unknown quan- 
tity; unfortunate that, obsessed by the 
slight analogy between industrial and edu- 
cational organizations, so many investiga- 
tors and writers fail utterly to see the in- 
numerable and insuperable differences 
between education and business. It is true 
that as yet but little harm has been done, 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1019 


but there are indications that if this tend- 
ency be not checked serious evil may follow. 
The executive and administrative 
branches of the educational business are 
coming to be looked upon as its trunk and 
its roots. The college is coming to be looked 
upon as an establishment in which educa- 
tion is administered, not as a seat of learn- 
ing, where knowledge is taught, scholarship 
fostered and wisdom diligently sought. 
The teacher is no longer looked upon as an 
essential part of education; he is no longer 
an individual, teaching in freedom and 
earnestness, but is simply one of a numer- 
ous class of underpaid workmen whose bet- 
terment is impossible and whose usefulness 
is doubtful. In investigating the costs of 
the educational institution it will be well to _ 
count these costs of education treated as a 
business, and to take heed lest academic lib- 
erty be sacrificed to executive demands; 
lest truth be sacrificed to expediency. 
Leonarp M. Passano 
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 


FLOOD PREVENTION AND ITS RELATION 
TO THE NATION’S FOOD SUPPLY 

THE problem of preventing the enormous 
losses from floods is one of the greatest before 
the American people. It is second only to 
that of increasing the nation’s food supply and 
thereby decreasing the cost of living. That 
the two problems are closely related will be 
seen from the following facts and figures 
taken from statements made by experts who 
have not been contradicted. 

These few facts, which have been culled 
from a mass of overwhelming evidence should 
convince every reasonable person— 

First: That the federal government’s pres- 
ent policy of river regulation is wrong. 

Second: That a better policy is possible and 
is now under consideration by Congress. 

Third: The necessity for the immediate 
adoption of the new policy. 

The present policy of building levees only 
is radically wrong because it ignores the neces- 
sity of preventing flood conditions, and is 


JuLy 10, 1914] 


confined to efforts to protect the banks of the 
river from overflow. In this the levees have 
failed. For although the government appro- 
priates millions of dollars for such work, we 
nevertheless continue to have floods, causing 
the loss of many lives and the destruction of 
property valued at more than 100 millions of 
dollars a year averaged over a ten-year period. 
This levee system has also been tried on the 
Hoang Ho in China for thousands of years, 
and has failed there. 

‘ In this country the damage done by floods 
has been appalling. You remember well what 
happened at Dayton, Ohio, this year. You 
remember the photographs showing the terrible 
conditions in that city. The same conditions 
have caused heavy damage in other years, at 
other places. Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Mem- 
phis, New Orleans, have all suffered. These 
cities are all in the Ohio and Mississippi 
River basin. Other rivers have overflowed 
and caused great damage without attracting 
s0 much attention. 

The government by allowing flood waters to 
accumulate and rush towards the sea during 
the season of freshets and melting snow per- 
mits the food-producing power of the country 
to be reduced. This reduction results from 
three different processes. 

‘First: The upland is robbed of moisture 
that is greatly needed by maturing crops. 

Second: An enormous amount of valuable 
top-soil is lost by erosion. 

Third: The lowlands are drowned. While 
the lowlands are much less in area than the 
uplands, their possible producing power is far 
greater per acre. In fact, they are the richest 
lands in the world. The loss from erosion 
is beyond computation. 

Under the present policy of building levees 
only it is admitted that the banks of the 
Mississippi between Cairo and Donaldsonville 
cave in each year to the extent of 9% acres a 
mile for a distance of nearly 1,000 miles. Each 
year, therefore, nearly 10,000 acres of the best 
land in the world is deliberately surrendered to 
the floods. Engineers when building the 
levees place them back as far from the edge 
of the river as they think will be necessary to 
Jast 15 or 20 years. Is that a business-like 


SCIENCE 


45 


proposition? It is estimated that 1,250,000,000 
tons of silt are deposited annually in the 
Mississippi River. . Of this amount 600 million 
tons flow out through the mouth of the river 
and 650 million tons remain to fill up the 
channel. This 650 million tons is 24 times the 
amount excavated in digging the Panama 
Canal. 

Tt should be borne in mind that this enor- 
mous damage by soil erosion applies not only 
to the farms that lie adjacent to our great 
rivers, but that a very larger percentage of 
the six million farms in the United States 
suffer great losses from soil erosion, and a 
consequent decrease in production. It should 
also be noted that under the present methods 
the navigation of the rivers in the upper 
reaches is almost impossible during the sea- 
sons of drouth. In fact, there are times when 
there is scarcely enough water for sanitary 
drainage. The storage reservoir system would 
assure navigation throughout the dry season. 

The facts and figures above quoted show 
how important it is to conserve all precipita- 
tion. That this can be done has been conclu- 
sively demonstrated in different sections of the 
country. Col. Freeman Thorpe, of the Min- 
nesota Horticulture Society, who owns a large 
experimental farm near the headwaters of the 
Mississippi River, has allowed no water to run 
off his farm for 17 years. His farm consists 
of cultivated land, pasture and forest. His 
methods are extremely simple and inexpensive, 
consisting chiefly of contouring and embank- 
ment work, the effect of which has been to 
double the annual growth of trees in his 
forest, more than double the capacity of the 
grazing land, and add largely to the produc- 
tivity of the cultivated land. 

Col. Thorpe declares that there are over 
800 million acres of land now idle on the 
great central plateau of the United States for 
the want of sufficient rainfall. This, he says, 
would be the best soil for scientific farming, 
if we compelled the filtration into the soil of 
all the limated precipitation. In other words, 
if the actual precipitation were conserved all 
this land would be available. Professor Waite, 
of the Department of Agriculture, owns a 
farm between Washington and Baltimore, 


46 


where he has worked along the same lines with 
results similar to those secured by Colonel 
Thorpe in Minnesota. 

Government officials report that the cultiva- 
ble land of the United States is capable of 
producing sufficient food to supply a billion 
people. If that is true why does the country 
actually suffer because of the scarcity and 
consequent high price of food. The main 
reason is a lack of water due to waste. 

T shall now outline the new policy for which 
there is an insistent demand from all parts 
of the country. This new policy is based upon 
the old and wise adage that an ounce of pre- 
vention is worth more than a pound of cure. 
The policy to which I refer is proposed by 
U. S. Senator Francis H. Newlands and is 
now before Congress as the Newlands Bill. 
Briefly stated the main object of this bill is to 
prevent the swelling of the rivers and the 
waste of water during the period of freshets, 
by the construction of reservoirs along the 
source streams and also diversion canals for 
irrigating purposes and for raising the under- 
ground water level. 

The details of the plan are to be in accord- 
ance with agreements between the federal and 
state governments and such corporations and 
individuals as may hold vested rights in the 
matter. The watershed of every river and 
stream will be protected. And it is proposed 
that the work shall be done by the engineers 
who have charge of the work at Panama. 

That the nation’s supply of water is of vital 
importance will be seen from the following 
figures. The amount of water required by the 
average soil for full productivity is 60 inches 
each year. How far short of this required 
amount the actual precipitation of rain and 
melted snow is, will be seen from the reports 
of the Weather Bureau. 

Weather Bureau experts divide the United 
States into three districts. That portion lying 
east of the states of Kansas and Nebraska is 
called the eastern or humid section. In this 
section the annual precipitation is about 48 
inches, or four fifths of the amount required. 
It is estimated that 30 per cent. of this 48-inch 
precipitation is allowed to go to waste. The 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1019 


soil, therefore, receives benefit from only a 
trifle more than half the amount needed. 

The next section comprises the states of 
North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, 
Oklahoma and Texas and is called the median 
or sub-humid section. In this all-important 
section the total average precipitation is only 
30 inches. This amount is supplemented, we 
are told, by natural sub-irrigation from the 
mountainous country farther west. This sub- 
irrigation does not average, however, more 
than 5 inches. It will therefore be seen at a 
glance that every drop of water falling in that 
seetion should be utilized if possible. 

The third section is that part of the coun- 
try lying west of the median states and is 
called the westward or semi-arid section. The 
rainfall here averages only about 12 inches, or 
one fifth of required amount. Comment con- 
cerning waste of water in this section is super- 
fluous. 

Let me now quote from another official re- 
port which clearly indicates the importance of 
water. This report issued by the government, 
after referring to the fact that growing plants 
require nearly 1,000 times their weight of 
water says: 

A pound of bread is the equivalent of two tons 
of water used by the growing grain; and a pound 
of beef the equivalent of 15 to 30 tons of water 
consumed by the animal, both directly and indi- 
rectly through feed. So that the adult person 
who eats 200 pounds each of bread and meat in 
the course of a year consumes something like one 
ton of water for drink, 400 tons for bread and 
4,000 tons for meat, making 4,401 tons of water 
in all. 

The question of conserving the water supply 
of the country is therefore second to none and 
the federal government could do an immense 
amount of good by publishing and conspicu- 
ously displaying in every post office, railroad 
station and schoolhouse in the United States, 
charts, and photographs showing and explain- 
ing the method of contouring and embank- 
ment employed by Colonel Thorpe and Pro- 
fessor Waite, and warning farmers, planters 
and other landowners to conserve all precipi- 
tation, 

The secretary of the National Reclamation 


JuLy 10, 1914] 


Association, Mr. Walter Parker, of New 
Orleans, declares that there are ten million 
acres of land in the upper Missouri River 
basin that could be sufficiently irrigated to 
yield a crop of hay worth more than one 
hundred million dollars each year. This land 
would require no seeding, only water. A kind 
Providence has furnished the soil and placed 
the seed in the soil and sends sufficient rain 
and snow to germinate the seed and support 
the growing plants. It only remains for man 
to utilize the precipitation, and receive the 
benefit. 

You are urged to consider the above figures 
in connection with the present high cost of 
food. This high cost of food is undoubtedly 
due to the fact that millions of acres of land 
are producing nothing, while hundreds of 
thousands of farms in all sections of the 
country are producing only a fraction of the 


possible productivity, owing to the lack of . 


water. It should also be noted that the con- 
struction of dams and reservoirs would also 
result in a large development of hydro-electric 
power. This increase of electric power should 
decrease the cost of production and should 
therefore be a contributing factor in decreas- 
ing the cost of living. The Newlands Bill 
recognizes the absolute necessity of conserving 
the food supply of the nation, which food 
supply is in such imminent danger from 
waste of water and from waste of soil by 
erosion. It would therefore seem that the 


bill is one that every person who is interested — 


in the cost of living should urge their repre- 
sentatives in Congress to support. 

We are told that the chief opposition to the 
Newlands Bill comes from the railroads. If 
this is true, the railroads have adopted a very 
unwise and short-sighted attitude. All fair- 
minded people realize and concede that the 
railroads are by far the most important in- 
dustry of the country. Personally, I believe 
that the federal sovernment should do all that 
it properly can to promote the safety, solvency 
and prosperity of the railroads. But the rail- 
roads would not suffer by the adoption of the 
Newlands plan, for the reason that they would 
gain through the increased productivity of the 


SCIENCE 47 


soil far more than they would lose through 
competition with water transportation. 

Among those who recognize the importance 
of a new policy that will prevent this enor- 
mous waste of water and soil are President 
Wilson, ex-Presidents Taft and Roosevelt. 
The Congress of Governors which met at the 
White House in 1908 also strongly endorsed 
the new policy, which is splendidly stated by a 
Philadelphia newspaper, from which I quote 
as follows: 


We must prevent floods. We can make use of 
the natural reservoirs which nature has provided 
for the absorption of rains, and we can create 
artificial reservoirs for the storage of flood waters, 
as we are now doing on the Panama Canal. The 
natural reservoirs are the forests and the agricul- 
tural lands which absorb the rainfall and the 
melting snows. Our aim should be everywhere to 
increase the porosity and absorbent properties of 
the soil and thus prevent run-offs, which swell our 
streams into great floods, which now aggregate a 
damage upon property of the stupendous sum of 
nearly 200 millions a year in the United States. 


We have land enough to produce food 
sufficient to supply a billion people. But we 
can supply nothing without water. Wasteful- 
ness is our national sin. Wastefulness of men, 
of time, of money, and of our great national 
resources, but I believe the figures I have 
quoted prove conclusively that we can not 
afford to continue to waste water. In con- 
clusion, attention is called to an old saying to 
the effect that if each before his own door 
would sweep, the village would be clean. Let 
me paraphrase this by saying that if each and 
every farmer, planter and landowner would 
prevent the wasteful run off of water from 
his land, there would be no more floods or 
danger from floods, and the land would be so 
benefited that its value would be enhanced to 
an amount many times greater than the cost 
of operation, and the entire nation would 
benefit to a degree beyond computation. 

Jupson G. WALL, 
Chairman of the Committee on Soil Erosion 
of the Social and Economic Section of the 

American Association for the Advancement 

of Science 

Note.—Since the above was written the United 


48 


States Department of Agriculture has decided to 
make a special study of the methods adopted by 
Colonel Thorpe. 


A NOTABLE BOTANICAL CAREER 


I wave before me the “ Report of the Botan- 
ist” to the Regents of the University of the 
State of New York, bearing date of January 
1, 1868, covering less than two pages, and 
signed by Charles H. Peck. There is internal 
evidence that his services began July 1, 1867, 
the writer reporting what he had accomplished 
in the half year since that date. A year later 
the “Report of the Botanist” covered about 
80 pages and included a short general state- 
ment followed by (A) List of Species of Which 
Specimens Have Been Mounted; (B) Plants 
Collected; (C) List of Species of Which Seeds 
Have Been Collected; (D) Specimens Obtained 
by Contribution and Exchange; (#) Edible 
Fungi; (Ff) Species Growing Spontaneously 
in the State and Not Before Reported. This 
general sequence of topics has been character- 
istic of the long line of annual reports that 
followed these made forty-six years ago. 

The latest report in this series was issued 
September 1, 1913, and was entitled the “ Re- 
port of the State Botanist for 1912.” Like its 
predecessors in recent years it contains an in- 
troductory general statement followed by (A) 
Plants Added to the Herbarium; (B) Con- 
tributors and Their Contributions; (C) Spe- 
cies not Before Reported; (D) Remarks and 
Observations; (#H) New Species of Extra- 
limital Fungi; (/) Edible Fungi; (G) Poison- 
ous Fungi; (H) Crataegus in New York. 
Four plates (of fungi) and an index complete 
the pamphlet of one hundred and thirty-seven 
octavo pages. 

As one looks back over this long series of 
reports, all from the hand of one man, Dr. 
Peck, he is powerfully impressed with the 
thought of what such a life of scientific activ- 
ity has meant for the development of one 
branch of knowledge in North America. I 
was a young teacher just entering upon the 
work of enumerating the plants of Iowa when 
these reports began to appear, and remember 
with gratitude the help they gave me, and the 
still more helpful correspondence which begin- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1019 


ning then has continued to the present. And 
this is not an individual experience, as may 
be seen by running over the lists of those who 
sent their difficult specimens to him for deter- 
mination, and reported by him under the 
heading of “Contributors and their Contri- 
butions.” The younger botanists of to-day 
have grown up with an abundance of books on 
the fungi, and with competent mycologists in 
so many of the colleges and universities that 
it has been as easy for them to learn the names 
of the fungi as of the flowering plants. They 
have not found it necessary to send their 
specimens to a far-away specialist for deter- 
mination. So we should not expect them to 
have the same feeling with regard to a career 
like Dr. Peck’s, as those of us have whose 
work began half a century ago. Yet for their 
sakes we may well pause here to enumerate 
some of the principal things in this man’s 
life. 

Charles Horton Peck was born March 30, 
1833, at Sand Lake, N. Y. He graduated 
from Union College in 1859, with the degree 
of bachelor of arts, and later he was given 
the degrees of A.M. and D.Se. by the same 
institution. For several years (1859 to 1867) 
he followed the teacher’s profession, first in 
the Sand Lake Collegiate Institute, and later 
the Albany Classical Institute. Then he began 
his real life work as botanist for the New 
York State Museum, at Albany, and this has 
continued until the present time. 

And now while we write the saddening word 
comes of such increasing physical infirmities 
due to advancing years as may well require 
him to rest from his long years of labor. 
There are to-day many botanists all over the 
country who will read this latest report with 
old-time interest, added to a personal regard 
for the veteran who has long occupied so 
prominent a place in the botanical field. It 
is given to few men to prepare such a report 
as this latest one at the age of four score 
years. It is the fortune of few to have 
erected so notable a monument as he has in 
the series everywhere known as “ Peck’s 
Reports.” 


CuHartes H. BEssEy 
THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA 


Juny 10, 1914] 


M. ALBERT LACROIX 


At the meeting of the Paris Academy of 
Sciences, held June 7, M. Albert Lacroix was 
elected perpetual secretary for the class of 
physical and natural sciences, by 37 votes 
against 22 cast for M. Ternier, his only oppo- 
nent. This merited honor will afford the 
greatest satisfaction to the many friends and 
admirers of Professor Lacroix. Still com- 
paratively young for a scientific man (he was 
born in 1863) M. Lacroix began his special 
career in the petrographic laboratory of the 
Collége de France, and soon published, in col- 
laboration with M. Michel-Leyy, a valuable 
study entitled: “Les mineraux des roches.” 
His great work “La Mineralogie de la France 
et des ses Colonies,” has just been completed, 
and ensures to the writer a foremost place 
among the mineralogists of the world. Spe- 
cial studies on the granites of the Pyrenees 
and their contact phenomena, as well as the 
invaluable records of his investigations when 
sent in 1902 by the French government as 
director of the mission to Martinique after 
the fearful disaster from the eruption of Mont 
Pelee, constitute additional titles to high con- 
sideration. Im the course of the Martinique 
expedition, M. Lacroix more than once ex- 
posed his life in the interests of science, 
notably on one occasion when, while in the 
flames of the death-dealing mountain, an 
emission of poisonous vapor passed within a 
hundred feet of where he was standing, 
destroying everything in its passage. Fear- 
lessly utilizing this terrifying spectacle in the 
interests of science, the undaunted explorer 
photographed the phenomena, thus preserving 
a unique record of the appearance. He has 
explained that this “burning cloud” was the 
result of a formidable explosion, that it might, 
indeed, be regarded as a sort of projectile 
hurled out by the mountain, half-solid, half- 
gaseous, of very high temperature, and 
which in contradistinction to most volcanic 
emissions of yapor, although thrown up ver- 
tically into the air, descends upon the slopes 
of the voleano, under the duplex influence 
of the initial explosion and of the force of 
gravity, and sweeps everything before it. Its 


SCIENCE 


49 


speed. often exceeds fifty meters a second, and 
its convolutions are so dense and closely 
bound together and its outlines so clearly 
defined that only a few meters separate the 
zene of total destruction from that in which 
nothing is harmed. 

The election of M. Lacroix as a member of 
the Academy of Sciences in 1904 was a 
fitting recognition of these and other labors in 
his special field. In 1906 he was entrusted 
with another mission for the study of voleanic 
phenomena, Vesuvius being this time the 
chosen locality. At present M. Lacroix has 
the professorship of mineralogy in the Mu- 
seum d’Histoire Naturelle, and his laboratory 
in that institution is a favorable resort for 
all French explorers who are investigating the 
mineral riches of France or her colonies. The 
unfailing courtesy and amiability of the dis- 
tinguished mineralogist contribute not a little 
to the advantages derived from a visit to the 
scene of his activity. 

K. 


THE LASSEN ERUPTION 


A report forwarded to the U. S. Geological 
Survey, Washington, by geologist J. S. Diller 
reads in part as follows: 

Mount Rainier and Mount Shasta, the 
beautiful cones so much in evidence to the 
traveler on the Pacific Coast north of San 
Francisco, are now finding an up-to-date rival 
in Lassen Peak, which is plainly in view from 
the railroad for many miles in the Sacramento 
Valley between Redding and Red Bluff. 
Lassen Peak is the southern end of the Cas- 
cade Range, and it stands between the Sierra 
Nevada on the southeast and the Klamath 
Mountains on the northwest. Its lavas 
erupted in past ages reach the Sacramento 
Valley on the one side and on the other form 
a part of the vast volcanic field, one of the 
greatest in the world that stretches far across 
California, Oregon, Washington and Idaho to 
the Yellowstone National Park. 

Of all portions of the Cascade Range Lassen 
Peak still retains the largest remnant of its 
once vigorous voleanic energy. Morgan and 
Suppan Hot Springs and Bumpass Hell on 


50 


the south as well as Hot Springs Valley and 
the boiling mud-lake Tartarus on the south- 
east have long attracted the attention not only 
of Californians but to some extent of the tour- 
ists, to whom the region is growing more acces- 
sible every year. If to these already estab- 
lished attractions be added a frequent occur- 
rence of the recent volcanic plays of Lassen 
Peak the region will take high rank among 
nature’s wonderlands. 

But what is the nature of this new activity 
of Lassen? Is it really voleanic? Will it 
soon dwindle and become wholly quiescent or 
on the other hand is it the precursor of a more 
profound eruption like that of Krakatoa? 
The excellent photographs that have been 
taken of the outburst, especially those by 
G. F. Milford and the series by B. F. Loomis, 
of Viola, taken from a point six miles northwest 
of Lassen Peak, leave little doubt in the mind 
of any one familiar with voleanic phenomena 
that the outburst is essentially volcanic. 
These photographs are strikingly similar to 
those taken by Johnston-Lavis showing the 
progress of an eruption in the Lipari Islands, 
whose voleanic character is well known. 

The eruptions of Lassen Peak began May 
80 at 5:30 p.M., with an outburst of steam 
which, according to Forest Supervisor W. J. 
Rushing, continued about 10 minutes. It 
formed a crater in the snow-covered summit 
of Lassen about 25 by 40 feet in extent and 
covered the encircling snow for a distance of 
300 feet with a mantle of dark wet dust. 
Harvey Abbey, a forest ranger, visited the 
scene and reported the facts. 

Qn the following day at 8 a.M., another 
eruption occurred and on June 8, a week 
later, the third and much larger outbreak 
took place. It lasted 30 minutes and the 
rolling column of dense black smoke rose to 
the height of 2,500 feet. Stones were hurled 
from the crater and the forest service outlook 
house, a quarter of a mile away on the tip-top 
of Lassen Peak, was broken by some of them. 
Blocks and smaller fragments accumulated 
about the crater to a depth of several feet. 
The dust and sulphurous gases carried south- 
ward by the wind were observed at Mineral, 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1019 


the forestry station, and the dust was noted 
5 miles beyond. Forest rangers who were in 
the neighborhood of the summit during the 
eruption heard the rushing steam and the fall- 
ing rocks but report no rumbling or subter- 
ranean noises, earth shocks, electrical phe- 
nomena or great heat beyond that of steam. 
The dust was practically cold when it fell. 
Considerable volumes of water were ejected 
probably wholly in the form of steam. The 
water condensing from this steam washed a 
gully in the snow to the adjacent lakelet which 
occupies what prior to this latest eruption had 
long been regarded as the youngest crater of 
the Lassen voleano. The new crater is not 
quite over the throat of the old but is a few 
hundred feet to the northwestward. 

In all there have been eleven eruptions up 
to the date of this report—June 21. The most 
violent was at 9 A.M., June 14, when several 
over-venturesome persons were injured by fall- 
ing or rolling stones. The eruption was vis- 
ible from the Sacramento Valley nearly 40 
miles away and created profound interest. 
The subsequent eruption on Friday, June 19, 
was of relatively small energy. Mr. Rush- 
ing reports that eruptions are generally, if not 
always, preceded by a complete cessation of 
escaping steam. 

With successive eruptions the new crater is 
enlarging. June 20, when Mr. B. F. Loomis 
and I visited it, it was 400 feet long and 100 
feet wide with a depth of not over 100 feet. It 
appears to follow a fissure running a little 
north of east and south of west. The escaping 
steam from the southwest end of the fissure is 
visible in the excellent photograph obtained by 
Mr. Loomis. 

The other hot holes about Lassen Peak as 
far as I can learn have not increased their ac- 
tivity unless it is Bumpass Hell which is al- 
ways fuming; but nothing like an eruption 
has been reported. 

No definite molten products have been found 
in connection with the recent eruptions of 
Lassen Peak. The ejected dust as far as can 
be judged from an examination with a small 
pocket lens is disintegrated or pulverized da- 


JuLy 10, 1914] 


cite, perhaps in part decomposed. The quartz 
and apparently also the glassy feldspar are 
bright but the hornblende, augite and mica are 
of course not so abundant in the dacite and 
are less evident. An examination with a 
petrographic microscope confirms the conclu- 
sion that the dust is the product of the pul- 
yerizing action of the explosive gases on the 
rocks through which they are escaping, and 
not the result of the explosive expansion of 
gases in a liquid lava. 

That heat has recently risen in the core of 
Lassen Peak is evident from the fact that 
whereas it was once cold now it is hot and 
steaming. When HE. KE. Hayden and I were on 
the mountain in July, 1883, and slid down the 
2,000-foot snow bank into Hat Creek on our 
way to Yellow Butte there was no sign of heat 
in the summit of Lassen Peak. The rocky 
summit of the peak, struck by many thunder- 
bolts during storms and superficially fused 
here and there by the lightning to fulgerite, is 
still as it was then and the little lake is there 
as in 1883; but the heat and the crater are 
new. Mr. Rushing tells me that these new 
features appeared with the first eruption. But 
the fact that the other hot places about the 
mountain are not yet perceptibly hotter indi- 
cates that the rise of temperature is local and 
does not at least as yet affect the mountain 
mass. Time alone ean tell what Lassen is 
going to do. The voleano may subside to its 
former quiescence. But we must not forget 
that it was only the top of the old Vesuvius 
that was blown off to make Monte Somma and 
the Vesuvius of to-day. Krakatoa blew up 
from the yery base with tremendous effect. 
There seems no good reason at present to fear 
a Krakatoan outbreak at Lassen Peak, but the 
part of wisdom dictates a close watch. 

Eruptions, as a rule, break out suddenly. 
Sight-seers will generally find the viewpoint 
from which Loomis’s photographs were taken 
close enough if the mountain is active, but if 
all is quiet and the seeker after knowledge 
must see the crater for himself he should be 
sure to ascend on the windward side, and ap- 
proach with caution. 


SCIENCE 51 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


Sim WiLuiam Oster, regius professor of 
medicine in the University of Oxford, has been 
elected a foreign associate of the French Acad- 
emy of Medicine. 

McMaster University, Toronto, has con- 
ferred the degree of doctor of laws on Mr. 
David Hooper, late economic botanist of the 
Botanical Survey of India. 


THE honorary degree of doctor in engineer- 
ing has been conferred by the Royal School of 
Mines, Freiberg, Saxony, on Edward Dyer 
Peters, Gordon McKay professor of metal- 
lurgy at Harvard University. The degree was 
conferred upon Professor Peters in recogni- 
tion of his academic and practical services and 
writings on the metallurgy of copper. 


Sir St. Cratr THomson has been elected an 
honorary fellow of the American Laryngolog- 
ical Association. There were only four living 
honorary fellows of the association—Pro- 
fessors Chiari, Massei, Moure and Sir Felix 
Semon. 


Tur Aeronautical Society of Great Britain 
has awarded its gold medal to Professor G. H. 
Bryan, of the University College of North 
Wales, for his work on aviation. The previous 
recipients: of the gold medal of the society, 
which is the highest award of British scientific 
aeronautics, are Wilbur and Orville. Wright 
(1909), and Octave Chanute (1910). 

A civit list pension of $600 has been granted 
Mrs. Annie Wallace, widow of Alfred Russel 
Wallace, in consideration of his eminent sery- 
ices to science and her inadequate means of 
support. 

From. the long list of honors conferred on 
King George’s birthday on June 22, Nature 
selects the following as having done work for 
science: Sir Leonard Lyell, Bart., a nephew of 
Sir Charles Lyell, and formerly a professor of 
natural science in the University College of 
Wales, has been made a peer. Colonel S. G. 
Burrard, F.R.S., surveyor-general in India, 
has been appointed a K.C.S.1., and Mr. R. A.S. 
Redmayne, ©.B., chief inspector of mines, has 
been promoted to the rank of K.C.B. The 
new knights include: Dr. J. G. Frazer, author 


52 


of “The Golden Bough”; Dr. W. P. Herring- 
ham, vice-chancellor of London University, 
physician to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital; Dr. 
W. H. St. John Hope, archeologist; Dr. W. 
Milligan, known by his investigation into the 
connection of human and animal anthrax; 
Lieut.-Colonel Leonard Rogers, Indian Med- 
ical Service, professor of pathology, Medical 
College, and bacteriologist to the government, 
Caleutta; Dr. T. Kirke Rose, chemist and as- 
sayer to the Royal Mint; Dr. S. J. Sharkey, 
lecturer on medicine at St. Thomas’s Hospital, 
and Mr. J. F. C. Snell, president-elect of the 
Institute of Electrical Engineers. The honor 
of knight bachelor has been conferred upon 
Dr. Douglas Mawson, the Antarctic explorer, 
and Professor T. P. Anderson Stuart, dean of 
the faculty of medicine at Sydney University, 
Mr. R. Meredith, director of telegraphs, India; 
Mr. A. Howard, imperial economic botanist at 
Pusa, Bengal; Major E. D. W. Greig, assist- 
ant director, Central Research Institute, 
Kasauli; Dr. T. Summers, late Bombay Public 
Works Department, and Mr. R. H. Tickell, 
chief engineer, Central Provinces, have re- 
ceived the honor of C.1.E. Dr. H. R. D. 
Spitta, bacteriologist to his Majesty’s house- 
hold, has been appointed M.V.O. (fourth 
class). 


Dr. Erwin Bavr, director of the Institut 
fiir Vererbungsforschung of the Ké6niglichen 
Landwirtschaftlichen Hochschule in Berlin, 
has been appointed Carl Schurz memorial 
professor in the University of Wisconsin for 
the first semester of 1914-15. Dr. Baur will 
take up his residence in the university about 
the first of November, and will remain until 
the end of the semester. 


Proressor F. BH. Austin, during the past six 
years head of the department of electrical 
engineering at Norwich University, has re- 
signed to engage in engineering education ex- 
tension work and the publication of several 
engineering books. During the present sum- 
mer Professor Austin has charge of special 
classes in electrical engineering at the Thayer 
School of Engineering, Dartmouth College. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1019 


Tue disastrous fire at Salem, Mass., spared 
the Peabody Museum and the Essex Institute. 
The house of Dr. E. S. Morse, with its valu- 
able papers, drawings, books and collections, 
also narrowly escaped. 


Smr Davip Git left the Royal Astronomical 
Society of London the sum of £250 to be em- 
ployed by the council of the society in aid 
of astronomical research in grateful remem- 
brance of the like sum paid out of the funds 
of the society in aid of his expedition to Ascen- 
sion in 1876. He expressed the wish that the 
sum be devoted to some expenditure of a simi- 
lar character, or to complete some work, such 
as the computation of new tables of the 
satellites of Jupiter. 


Sir James Key Cairp, of Dundee, has given 
$120,000 toward the expenses of the Shackle- 
ton Antarctic expedition. 


M. Ore Otsew has offered to place at the 
disposal of M. Knud Rasmussen, the Arctic 
explorer, sufficient funds (about $75,000) for 
the fitting out of a North Pole expedition, 
The expedition, which will take provisions for 
two years, will be provided with all modern 
appliances and will be accompanied by stafis 
of scientists. The base will be at Cape York, 
in Greenland. 


Tue Astronomical and Astrophysical Soci- 
ety will meet at Northwestern University, 
Evanston, Illinois, August 25-28. 


An International Congress of School Hy- 
giene will be held at Brussels in 1915, under 
the presidency of M. Corman, director-general 
of the ministry of public instruction, and Dr. 
Demoor, rector of the University of Brussels. 


ACCORDING to a resolution of the interna- 
tional executive committee chosen at the last 
congress in Paris, the Fifth International 
Congress of Genetics will be held in Berlin in 
1916. The committee consists of representa- 
tives of the various German agricultural and 
horticultural societies. Wirkl. Geheim. Dr, 
Thiel is chairman. The congress will convene 
during the first week in September, 1916. The 
address of the subcommittee in charge of pre- 
liminary arrangements, Professors von Riimker 


JuLy 10, 1914] 


and Baur, is Berlin N. 4, Invalidenstr. 42, 
Kel. Landwirtsch. Hochschule. 


Art a meeting of the American College of 
Surgeons held in Philadelphia under the presi- 
deney of Dr. J. M. T. Finney, of Baltimore, 
on June 22, attended by eight hundred mem- 
bers, over $100,000 was subscribed toward an 
endowment fund for the establishment in 
Washington, D. C., of a permanent home for 
the institution. One thousand one hundred 
fellowships were conferred, bringing the total 
membership up to over three thousand. 


THE advisory committee of the Tropical 
Diseases Research Fund (British Colonial 
Office) has granted £100 as a stipend for a 
helminthologist to conduct research work in 
the Quick Laboratory, University of Cam- 
bridge, and has contributed £300 with which 
to send Mr. E. Hindle, B.A., on an expedition 
to East Africa. Sir Dorabji J. Tata has con- 
tributed £250, and Mr. P. A. Molteno and 
Mrs. Molteno £400, towards the research work 
at the Quick Laboratory. 


A COOPERATIVE fire agreement which has 
been entered into between the U. S. Depart- 
ment of Agriculture and the state of Michi- 
gan provides for an expenditure by the gov- 
ernment of not to exceed $5,000 a year toward 
meeting the expenses of forest fire protection 
in Michigan. This form of cooperation be- 
tween the government and the state is made 
possible by a law which congress passed in 
1911, and which has already been taken ad- 
vantage of by the states of Maine, New Hamp- 
shire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, 
New York, New Jersey, Maryland, West Vir- 
ginia, Kentucky, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South 
Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Washington and 
Oregon. The law, besides providing for the 
purchase by the government of lands on the 
headwaters of navigable rivers for the purpose 
of ereating national forests to protect these 
rivers, appropriated $200,000 which the secre- 
tary of agriculture might expend to protect 
similar lands in state or private ownership 
from fire, in cooperation with the states. It 
was provided in the law that the federal ex- 
penditures in any state should not exceed the 


SCIENCE 


53 


amount spent by the state itself in the co- 
operative work. Provision for continuance of 
the work in the fiseal year which began July 1 
has been made by an appropriation of $100,- 
000 for the year. The original appropriation 
of $200,000 was available until expended, and 
with a supplementary $75,000 has carried the 
work to the present time. 


THE most notable progress yet recorded in 
the chemical treatment of timber to prevent, 
decay was made in 1913, according to a re- 
port recently issued by the American Wood 
Preservers’ Association in cooperation with the 
forest service of the department of agriculture. 
The report states that 93 wood-preserving 
plants in 1913 consumed over 108 million 
gallons of creosote oil, 26 million pounds of 
dry zine chloride, and nearly 4 million gallons 
of other liquid preservatives. With these the 
plants treated over 153 million cubic feet of 
timber, or about 23 per cent. more than in 
1912. The output from additional plants un- 
recorded would increase the totals given. 
Impregnation of wood with oils and chemicals 
to increase its resistance to decay and insect 
attack, the report goes on to say, is an indus- 
try which has become important in the United 
States only in recent years. In Great Britain 
and most of the European countries practi- 
cally every wooden cross-tie and telephone or 
telegraph pole receives preservative treatment. 
In the United States less than 30 per cent. 
of the 185 million cross-ties annually con- 
sumed are treated, and the proper treatment 
of an annual consumption of 4 million poles 
may be said to have scarcely commenced. 
Real progress in the United States dates from 
1832, when the Kyanizing process, using: 
bichlorides of mercury, was developed. In 
1837 two other processes were introduced, the 
Burnett process using zine chloride, and the 
Bethel process using coal tar creosote. These 
last processes are very largely in use to-day. 
The idea of timber preservation at first made 
very slow growth in this country, on account 
of the large supply of cheap and durable 
timbers and the general disregard shown to- 
ward economy in the use of natural resources. 
In 1885 there were only three pressure plants 


54 SCIENCE 


in the United States; and in 1895 only 15. 
Since then, however, the industry has grown 
rapidly; in 1913 there were 117 plants. 


Proressor CHarLes E. Porter, occupying 
the chair of general zoology and applied ento- 
mology and director of the recently estab- 
lished museum and laboratory of economic 
zoology at the National Agricultural Institute 
of Santiago, Chili, has undertaken the publi- 
cation of a new scientific journal under the 
title “Anales de Zoologia Aplicada.” This 
journal is to be especially devoted to original 
studies on species beneficial to and parasitic 
on man, domesticated animals and cultivated 
plants in America. The “ Revista Chilena de 
Historia Natural,” edited by Professor Porter, 
is being continued, but only for systematic 
papers. The “Anales de Zoologia Aplicada” 
will be published quarterly, illustrated with 
text figures and when necessary with plain or 
colored plates. Jt will accept original contri- 
butions on American parasites. 


“ Art and Archeology” is the title of a 
new non-technical illustrated magazine pub- 
lished by the Archeological Institute of Amer- 
ica, the first number of which bears the date 
of July, 1914. During the present year four 
numbers will be issued, but commencing with 
1915 the magazine will appear monthly. Its 
fifty pages are devoted to articles covering a 
considerable range, and to minor notes and 
brief book reviews. The editorial staff con- 
sists of : General Editor, David Moore Robin- 
son, Johns Hopkins University; Advisory Edi- 
tor, Allan Marquand, Princeton University; 
Art Editor, William H. Holmes, Smithsonian 
Institution; Associate Editor, Ralph Van De- 
man Magofiin, Johns Hopkins University; 
Contributing Editors, H. Rushton Fairclough, 
Stanford University, Charles H. Weller, Uni- 
versity of Iowa, Albert T. Clay, Yale Univer- 
sity, Frederick W. Hodge, Smithsonian Insti- 
tution, Charles T. Currelly, Royal Ontario 
Museum, George H. Edgell, Harvard Univer- 
sity; Managing Editor, Mitchell Carroll, Gen- 
eral Secretary, Archeological Institute of 
America, The Octagon, Washington, D. C. 


A GROUP representing a number of deep-sea 
luminous fishes has been completed in the 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1019 


American Museum of Natural History and 
opened to the public. It represents ten species 
of fishes found in the depths of the sea, half a 
mile or more from the surface. Some of the 
fishes are provided with rows of luminous or- 
gans or with headlights, while others have a 
light at the end of a tentacle with which to at- 
tract their prey. The group is illuminated by 
electricity in such a way that the fishes may 
be viewed first as synoptic specimens in a case 
and secondly, as if they were living fishes 
Swimming in the darkness of the deep sea, 
lighted by their own luminous or phosphores- 
cent organs. 


A LiTtLe more than 33,000 acres in the 
White Mountains have been approved for pur- 
chase by the government at a meeting of the 
national forest reservation commission. These 
areas are in two separate tracts, both in 
Grafton county, New Hampshire, the larger 
containing 31,100 acres on the watershed of the 
Pemigewasset River, a tributary to the Merri- 
mac. The tract comes within a mile of North 
Woodstock on the Boston and Maine railroad, 
and several good roads lead through it. The 
land is between 700 and:4,300 feet in elevation, 
and in the lower valleys are a number of 
abandoned farms now grown up to trees. Most 
of the conifers have been cut to make paper 
pulp, but there are good stands of beech, birch 
and maple of considerable value. With fire 
kept out there is said to be excellent promise 
of a new stand of spruce. The price agreed 
upon by the government is $4.62 an acre in- 
cluding both land and timber. The smaller 
purchase consists of several areas lying on 
the watersheds of Little River and Gale River, 
both tributaries of the Connecticut. These 
lands eover 2,000 acres and are contiguous %0 
lands already approved for purchase; hence 
they go far toward giving the government a 
solid body of land in this locality. The price 
for the 2,000 acres, land and timber, is $4.00 
an acre. The tract is in the locality of the 
noted Franconia Range and is readily acces- 
sible from two railroad stations, Bethlehem 
and Twin Mountain. The forest has been cut 
over and consists chiefly of the northern hard- 
woods, though some spruce remains from the 


JULY 10, 1914] 


original stand. At the same time that these 
White Mountain areas were approved, the com- 
mission also approved the purchase of the 
Pisgah Forest in North Carolina, from the 
George W. Vanderbilt estate. These tracts 
bring the total eastern forests up to 1,077,000 
acres. 


THE production of anthracite coal again 
broke the record in 1918, exceeding the highest 
previous output by nearly 1,000,000 tons, ac- 
cording to figures compiled by E. W. Parker, 
coal statistician of the United States Geolog- 
ical Survey. Including the coal recovered from 
old culm banks and a small quantity dredged 
from Susquehanna River, the production of 
anthracite for the year was 81,718,680 long 
tons, valued at $195,181,127, compared with 
75,822,855 tons valued at $177,622,626 for 
1912. This is an increase of over 6,000,000 
tons in quantity and more than $17,500,000 in 
value. The previous highest record was 80,- 
471,488 long tons, in 1910. Anthracite miners 
and operators are now working under an agree- 
ment extending over a period of four years 
from April 1, 1912; there were consequently 
no serious interruptions to mining operations 
by labor troubles in 1913 and industrial peace 
is assured in the anthracite region until 1916. 
As the use of anthracite coal as a manufactur- 
ing fuel has been practically eliminated, its 
production is not affected by trade conditions 
to the same extent as that of bituminous coal. 
The increase in the use of artificial gas and of 
coke for domestic purposes will, in Mr. 
Parker’s estimation, probably keep pace with 
the increase of population in the markets sup- 
plied by anthracite, and there is little prob- 
ability that anthracite production will show 
any marked increase in the future. Another 
record in addition to that of tonnage was estab- 
lished in the anthracite region in 1913. The 
average working time for men, 257 days, ex- 
ceeded anything in the history of the industry, 
the nearest approach being in 1911, when an 
average of 246 working days was recorded. In 
1912 the average was 231 working days. The 
average number of men employed in 1913 was 
175,745. Reports to the Bureau of Mines shuw 
that there were 618 fatal accidents. 


SCIENCE 


55 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 


THE East London College (University of 
London) has received from the Drapers’ Com- 
pany about $75,000 to defray the cost of the 
erection and equipment of the new chemical 
laboratories of the college. 


Dr. Hersert STANLEY BIRKETT, a specialist 
in diseases of the nosé, throat and ear, has 
been appointed dean of the medical school of 
McGill University. 


At Vassar College the following appoint- 
ments haye been made: Aaron L, Treadwell, 
title changed from professor of biology to pro- 
fessor of zoology; Cora J. Beckwith, Ph.D. 
(Columbia, 714), promoted from instructor to 
assistant professor of zoology; Emmeline 
Moore, Ph.D. (Cornell, 714), instructor in 
botany, vice Assistant Professor W. J. Robin- 
son, who becomes dean of the Women’s Afili- 
ated Colleges of Delaware; Elizabeth Cutter 
(Vassar, 711), Hazel Schmall (Colorado, ’13), 
and Celia Jordan (Vassar, 714), have been ap- 
pointed assistants in biology. 


Dr. H. E. Ewine, Ph.D. (Cornell, 711), and 
Assistant Professor V. I. Safro, B.S.A. and 
postgraduate (Cornell, 09), have resigned from 
the Oregon Agricultural College, department 
of entomology. The present organization of 
the department is as follows: H. F. Wilson, 
M.S. (Oregon Agr. Col., 13), entomologist; 
A. L. Lovett, B.S. (Okla. Agr. Col., 710) and 
G. F. Moznette, B.S. (Oregon Agr. Col., 714), 
assistant entomologists. 


Dr. F. R. Minter, of the department of 
physiology, McGill University, has been ap- 
pointed professor of physiology in the West- 
ern University, London, Canada. 


Mr. Tstson C. Dats, of the graduate col- 
lege of Princeton University, has been ap- 
pointed associate professor of geology at Ham- 
ilton College. 


FouLowine the retirément of Professor J. 
M. Thomson, Professor H. Jackson has been 


‘appointed head of the chemical department at 


King’s College, with the title of Daniel pro- 
fessor of chemistry in the University of Lon- 
don. 


56 


Proressor A. W. Crosstey has been ap- 
pointed +o a university chair of chemistry, 
tenable at King’s College. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 


THE CONFERRING OF THE BACHELOR’S DEGREE 
UPON NON-GRADUATES 

THE question of giving degrees to non- 
graduates who for various reasons have failed 
to obtain them while resident students is one 
that faculties of colleges and technical schools 
are frequently called upon to decide. Hvery 
year students leave college because of illness, 
financial embarrassment, lack of interest, 
defective scholarship and sometimes miscon- 
duct. 

Some of them enter other institutions or 
subsequently return to their own college, and, 
after fulfilling all requirements, receive their 
degrees. Others enter business or professions 
in which they become so occupied that they 
find it impossible to take the time necessary 
for the completion of their collegiate resi- 
dence and training. 

Such men often attain distinction in their 
professions or prominence in other ways, and 
apply for degrees, being urged thereto by some 
admiring former classmate, or at the solicita- 
tion of some member of the faculty, who is 
enthusiastically appreciative of their con- 
tinued interest, financial or otherwise, in the 
college. It is not easy to understand why one 
who has attained distinction in his profession 
should seek an undergraduate degree when 
such degree signifies nothing beyond the fact 
that the possessor, prior to his entering his 
profession, has completed a prescribed course 
of study in preparation therefor. 

The applying for and the granting of a 
degree on any other basis than its being 
earned puts an abnormal importance on the 
degree itself and stamps the recipient with 
a misleading trade-mark. 

Investigation shows a wide variation in this 
practise among prominent universities, col- 
leges and technical schools. Some grant no 
degrees except for the completion of a pre- 
scribed course in residence; others accept a 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Von. XL. No. 1019 


certificate for the performance at another 
institution of such part of the work or its 
equivalent as the candidate may lack; and 
then there are some which grant degrees on 
a minimum residence of two years with 
“fair”? standing, honorable dismissal and a 
“creditable” record varying from ten to 
twenty-five years subsequent to leaving 
college. 

During the past two years this question of 
granting degrees to non-graduates has been 
repeatedly brought to the attention of the 
faculty of the Worcester Polytechnic Insti- 
tute and a committee was appointed to inves- 
tigate the matter. In order to ascertain the 
practise in other institutions a circular letter 
asking for information was sent to all uni- 
versities, colleges and technical schools on the 
accredited list of the Carnegie Foundation. 
Also a letter was sent to most of the graduates 
of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute who 
have been or are now engaged in teaching, to 
ascertain their views on the question. This 
committee after careful consideration of all 
the information which had been assembled 
brought in a report which was unanimously 
adopted by the faculty. Since a number of 
institutions with which the committee corre- 
sponded expressed the desire to be informed 
as to the conclusions reached, it has seemed 
best to publish the whole report. 


REPORT SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE 
WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE 


The committee to which was referred the ques- 
tion of providing some means whereby degrees 
may be conferred upon non-graduate students sub- 
mits the following report: 

Ist. That the committee recommend that the 
degree of Bachelor of Science be conferred only 
on those who have completed one of the courses 
of study prescribed at this institute as leading to 
that degree. 

2d. That in the opinion of the committee it is 
not wise to grant any honorary degree to a non- 
graduate; but in the opinion of the committee the 
names of all former students should be printed in 
some official publication of the institute. 

The general reasons which have influenced the 


Juny 10, 1914] 


committee in making the recommendations are as 
follows: 

1. We have great respect for those who have 
left the institute without completing a course and 
have nevertheless been successful in their pro- 
fession; but we do not believe that, in general, 
such men feel the need of a degree or wish the in- 
stitute to lower its present high standing among 
engineering schools by granting unearned degrees. 

Replies to inquiries sent to all of our graduates, 
who are engaged in educational work and who are 
in a position to feel the responsibilities and ap- 
preciate the importance of maintaining collegiate 
standards, show that there is no general demand 
on the part of graduates that such degrees should 
be granted and! that many graduates are strongly 
opposed to the plan. 

2. A Bachelor’s degree as granted by an engi- 
neering school is essentially a certificate that the 
recipient has completed a course of study in prep- 
aration for the practise of engineering. Such a 
certificate can not honestly and honorably be 
granted to one who has not completed the work 
specified as necessary. 

3. It does not seem possible to devise any 
method of granting the Bachelor’s degree to one 
who has not completed a specified course of study, 
without lowering the value of the degree for the 
tegular student and for those who have fully 
earned the degree. 

_ 4. Tf the definite requirement of a completed 
course of study were once abandoned there would be 
no definite halting point in the process of reducing 
the arbitrary and fluctuating requirements that 
might from time to time be substituted. The re- 
sult would probably be an undignified struggle to 
modify the requirements so as to meet exceptional 
eases and in the process we should be likely to 
cause as much disappointment as satisfaction 
among our non-graduates. 

5. We have received information from 60 of 
the prominent universities, colleges and technical 
schools as regards their practise in the matter. 
Of these, 44 do not confer the Bachelor degree on 
any one who has failed to complete a prescribed 
course; 14 grant degrees with more or less regu- 
larity on the basis of subsequent merit, one has 
granted two such degrees and one has granted de- 
grees in two instances for a large amount of sub- 
sequent research. 


A study of the replies leads us to believe 
that in general the institutions which grant 
unearned Bachelor’s degrees find the system a 


SCIENCE 


57 


source of difficulty and dissatisfaction and 


some of the replies are decidedly apologetic 
and defensive. 

We believe the existence of such a system 
is a discredit to higher education in general 
and that the movement is away from it. One 
leading university has already abandoned it 
after long trial, and another is endeavoring to 
get rid of it. We think that it would be a 
serious mistake for the institute at the pres- 
ent time to adopt what we regard as a dis- 
credited and discreditable practise. 

W. L. Jennines 


MULTIPLE FACTORS vs. “ GOLDEN MEAN” IN 
SIZE INHERITANCE 

GrotH’s preliminary note on the “golden 
mean ” in the inheritance of sizes in SomENCE 
of April 17, 1914, pp. 581-584, deserves the 
attention of geneticists. Its publication is of 
such recent date that I need only call attention 
to one or two points that seem to me of par- 
ticular moment. 

In brief, Groth’s hypothesis is that the mode 
of inheritance in F, not only of surfaces and 
volumes, but also of linear dimensions is to be 
expressed by \V/ab rather than by a+ b/2 
where a and b are parent sizes. The hypoth- 
esis ig based upon measurements of a large 
number of tomato fruits of parental and F, 
plants. It will certainly be worth determining 
whether Groth’s expression fits size characters 
in other plants. A hurried examination of 
data, both published and unpublished, derived 
from my own studies of seed size in beans and 
maize, indicates that F, sizes are nearer the 
average than the geometric mean of the parent 
sizes. But my object now is not to lay stress 
upon any possible agreement or disagreement 
between my results and those of Groth. It is 
rather with the relation of Groth’s hypothesis 
to the idea of multiple factors that I am here 
concerned. 

That Groth’s hypothesis is essentially Men- 
delian is shown by the fact that his size 
factors are assumed to segregate in equal 
numbers in the gametes of F, plants, That 
he regards his hypothesis as entirely unlike 


58 SCIENCE 


the multiple factor hypothesis is indicated 
clearly by thése statements: 

We know that size characters do segregate in the 
F, but we admit that with them the simple Men- 
delian ratio of 1:2:1 is never realized, though in 
large populations the parental sizes may reappear. 
Mendelians commonly try to account for the com- 
plicated ratios by assuming the presence of mul- 
tiple factors; non-Mendelians point to the same 
ratios as quasi-evidence against Mendelian in- 
heritance. I offer a different explanation. 

By way of conclusion, Groth further re- 
marks: 

The finding in the F, or later generations of lines 
which breed true to size characters is thus not 
proof of the presence of multiple size factors in the 
original parents. 

It is evident, however, notwithstanding 
Groth’s disavowal, that his hypothesis is dis- 
tinctly a multiple factor one. His suggestions 
as'to how spherical fruited parent races, the 
dimensions of whose fruits are 4X 4 >< 4 and 
99> 9 respectively, might combine to pro- 
duce F, fruits of dimensions 6X66 is 
rightly regarded as having a bearing “beyond 
furnishing an explanation of partial domi- 
nance in F,.” I+ might seem at first that he 
regards volumes as the inherited units and 
that volume, together with a shape factor, con- 
trols linear dimensions. This is evidently not, 
however, his idea. In the cross noted above 
for illustration, a gamete bearing a length 
factor 9, a breadth factor 9 and a thickness 
factor 9 differs from a gamete bearing a length 
factor 9, a breadth factor 4, and a thickness 
factor 9 or 4 with respect to its effect not only 
upon the yolume of the resulting fruits but 
also upon the length of those fruits. The pos- 
tulated spherical shape factor, which is com- 
mon to all gametes, but which modifies the 
common length factor 9 only in case the 
breadth or thickness factors are other than 9 
and does not modify it in case these breadth 
and thickness factors are 9, is certainly some- 
what confusing. But to say that a length 
factor 9 produces an effect equal to 9 in 
length whén the breadth and thickness factors 
are also 9 and produces some other effect on 
length when the breadth and thickness factors 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1019 


are other than 9 is merely the equivalent of 
saying that the breadth and the thickness 
factors have an effect upon length and are 
thereby length factors. This makes three 
factors for length—a typical multiple-factor 
hypothesis. 

Again, if the presence of the somewhat 
fanciful shape factor be insisted upon, we are 
still dealing with multiple factors. In his 
illustration, Groth assumes two length factors, 
4 and 9 and a shape factor that modifies them 
under certain conditions. This makes three 
factors affecting length. We can not limit the 
length factors to the two, 4 and 9, and say 
that the third factor assumed to modify 
length is nevertheless not a real length factor 
merely because we have chosen to call it a 
shape factor. Genetic factors for any char- 
acter are the inherited units that have an 
effect upon the development of that character. 
The fact that some of them may also be con- 
cerned in the development of other characters, 
while really important, is immaterial in this 
connection. 

It was said above that a shape factor affect- 
ing length, plus the two length factors 4 and 
9, make a complex of three multiple factors 
for length. As a matter of fact there are more 
than three such factors, if we hold to the shape 
factor. The shape factor was shown to modify 
length only in certain cases, namely, when the 
breadth or the thickness factor is not of the 
same value as the length factor. In other 
words, the ability of a shape factor to modify 
length is influenced by the presence of 
breadth and thickness factors and the latter 
thereby become at least indirect length factors. 
But who, in the present state of our knowl- 
edge, can say that the assumed primary length 
factors 4 and 9 are less indirect in their effect 
than are the other factors influencing length? 

I do not wish to appear too critical of 
Groth’s suggestions. It is only by a careful 
analysis of such novel suggestions that we can 
hope to gain a better understanding of how 
genetic factors behave. My purpose is merely 
to aid in such an analysis. 

R. A. Emerson 

UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA 


Juny 10, 1914] 


THE GOLDEN MEAN 


To tHE Eprror or Science: With reference 
to the article on the “ Golden Mean” in your 
issue of April 17, may I recall the fact that 
in a letter which appeared in Vol. XXXII, 
p. 625, I showed that the mean of the F, off- 
spring of two families crossed at random is, 
on Gertain assumptions, the geometric mean 
of the parental averages. I confess that I can 
not bring Mr. Groth’s results for crossing indi- 
vidual plants into line with the theory pro- 
pounded in my letters, but, at any rate, it is 
suggestive that a theoretical reason for the 
appearance of geometric means in connection 
with inheritance can be given. 

A. B. Bruce 

LONDON, 

May 5, 1914 


DISAGREEMENTS IN CHEMICAL NOMENCLATURE 


THE number of ScrENcE for January 23 con- 
tains an article by Dr. F. W. Clarke which 
undoubtedly strikes a sympathetic chord in 
the majority of American chemists. That any 
chemical element should be given different 
names by two groups of chemists is indeed la- 
mentable, the more so that each of these 
gToups contains many scientists of enviable 
reputation who naturally would be expected to 
place themselves far above the petty jealousies 
which characterize many societies of less 
learned persons. 

That a scientist who contributes to the 
known knowledge of chemistry to the extent 
of discovering a new element should not be 
granted the privilege of naming that element 
is anything but just. The columbium-nio- 
bium controversy is an excellent example. 
The discoverer of the element named it co- 
lumbium; others later took it upon themselves 
to rechristen the element. The columbium- 
niobium controversy is not in the least a ques- 
tion of which is the better name—it is a ques- 
tion of bestowing any honor incident to the 
discovery upon the one to whom it belongs. 

But this is merely one of several cases of 
disagreement in names. In 1798 the French 
chemist Vauquelin discovered a new element 
while working with the mineral beryl. Unfor- 


SCIENCE 59 


tunately Vauquelin did not suggest a name 
for this new element but he did note that the 
oxide is characterized by a sweetish taste. On 
account of this property the editors of the 
Annales de Chimie, the journal in which 
Vauquelin described his discovery, at once 
suggested the name glucina for the new earth. 
The name was immediately adopted by the 
French. Later the German chemists adopted 
the name beryllium which they have retained 
ever since. At the present time the German 
and Spanish chemists use the name beryllium 
while the original name glucinum, given by 
the French, is used by the French, Russian 
and Italian chemists. Among English chem- 
ists as well as those of America, both names 
are in rather common use. In glancing 
through twelve chemical text-books in Eng- 
lish, all supposedly of college caliber, the 
author finds that seven make use of the name 
glucinum whereas only three give preference 
to the name beryllium. One apparently gives 
no preference and one does not mention the 
element except in the table of international 
atomic weights in which it appears as gluci- 
num. Im the publications of the United 
States Geological Survey the name glucinum 
is used, 

The index of the Journal of the American 
Chemical Society for the year 1904 contains 
references to articles on beryllium but none on 
glucinum. For the year 1905 the index like- 
wise contains references under the name of 
beryllium only, notwithstanding that one of 
the articles referred to is a note on the atomic 
weight of glucinum and does not mention the 
other name. The index for 1906 contains three 
beryllium references and one glucinum, while 
those for the years 1908 and 1909 contain 
beryllium only. In the Abstract Journal, 
four beryllium articles and one glucinum are 
indexed for the first year, 1907, while the in- 
dex for 1908 contains references to several 
beryllium articles and also to several on glu- 
cinum. In the volumes of the Abstract Jour- 
mal which have been issued since 1908, the 
name beryllium alone is used regardless of the 
name: which appeared in the various articles 
abstracted. 


60 SCIENCE 


The element tungsten is the subject of a still 
more exaggerated disagreement. Scheele was 
unquestionably the first to mention this ele- 
ment, stating that he had found, in the min- 
eral then known as tungsten but now called 
scheelite, a new acid to which he gave the 
name tungstic acid. Two years later, in 1783, 
it was noted by three Spanish chemists, the 
d@’Elbujar brothers, that the new acid is also 
present in the mineral wolframite. The Ger- 
man name wolfram was derived from the name 
of this mineral. At the present time the ele- 
ment is known as wolfram by the Russian and 
German chemists while the English, French, 
Spanish and American chemists employ the 
name tungsten. It is interesting to note that 
the English and American chemists, although 
clinging to the historically more correct name, 
unanimously use the symbol W for this ele- 
ment. On the other hand, the French not only 
employ the name tungsten but represent it by 
the symbol Tu. 

Still another interesting example. Ruther- 
ford and Priestley in 1772 independently 
demonstrated that after a time an enclosed 
volume of air no longer supports combustion 
or respiration. Lavoisier, however, was the 
first to recognize that this residual air, after 
removal of the carbon dioxide, is a simple 
body. On account of its inability to support 
life, he immediately named the gas azote, de- 
Tiving the name from a Greek expression 
meaning literally antagonistic to life. The 
name nitrogen which the element now com- 
monly bears was first suggested by Chaptal. 
At the present time the chemists of France 
and Russia still cling to the original name 
azote with the symbol Az, while to the chem- 
ists of most other nations the element is 
nitrogen. Nevertheless we still have in Eng- 
lish a few relics of the original name, as for 
example, the names hydrazoic acid, hydrazine, 
azine and azole. 

The adoption or use of a name other than 
the one originally given to an element by its 
rightful discoverer is by no means an indica- 
tion that the discovery is discredited. Al- 
though the German chemists unanimously em- 


[N. 8. Von. XL. No. 1019 


ploy the name wolfram, they nevertheless do 
not hesitate to attribute the discovery to 
Scheele. Again, these same chemists invari- 
ably concede Hatchett to be the discoverer of 
columbium, although they have substituted 
and use the name niobium erroneously given 
to the element by Rose some forty years later. 
In all probability the greatest argument which 
the chemists of certain nations can offer to- 
day for endorsing the name niobium is the 
common use which that name has had in their 
respective countries since the days of Hein- 
rich Rose. 

It is unfortunate indeed that there should 
be lack of unity amongst scientists as to the 
names and symbols for such fundamental bod- 
ies as the chemical elements, but it is still 
more unfortunate that the chemists of any 
one land should be divided in their selection 
of a name for an element as we Americans are 
with respect to glucinum. A solution of the 
entire question of names and symbols could 
be brought about by the appointment of an 
international committee definitely instructed 
to waive all petty jealousy and, in a spirit of 
all fairness, diligently to search the literature, 
consider all claims of priority and finally re- 
port on the original and therefore most proper 
name for each element. That the chemists of 
various nations would agree to the appoint- 
ment of a committee so instructed is entirely 
possible but very improbable. Furthermore, 
it is extremely doubtful if a report submitted 
by such a committee would be adopted by more 
than one third of the chemists of chemical 
societies to-day. It would, however, be a com- 
paratively simple matter for American chem- 
ists to intrust the settlement of this question 
to a carefully chosen committee in order that 
we Americans might use uniform names and 
symbols although unable to agree entirely with 
the chemists of other nations. 

H. B. Nort 

RUTGERS COLLEGE, 

New BRUNSWICK, N. J. 


THE PROFESSOR AND THE INSTITUTION 


In America, we have in name freedom of 
speech; in fact there are considerable areas of 


JuLY 10, 1914] 


matters vital to human welfare discussion of 
which is socially and publicly taboo. We have 
in name freedom of the press; in fact journal- 
istic intelligence is narrowed in its expression 
by public indifference and muzzled by the 
private interests of private owners. I suppose 
that the artist’s right to express his own soul 
is theoretically conceded; but I am confident 
that any artist who should attempt Gallic 
liberties in his self-portrayals would but plac- 
ard his name to distrust and put his genius in 
perpetual quarantine. The case of the teacher 
who happens to be also a thinker is better than 
these chiefly from the circumstance that his 
right to express his thought is a more present 
issue and is likelier to come to an early solu- 
tion. 

The issue of “academic freedom” is the 
problem of adapting institutionalism to per- 
sonalities. Education has become an involved 
affair, with elaborate “ plants,” ornate admin- 
istrations, and a distinguished sense of what 
the eloquent speech of Manhattan would call 
its “front.” Few, I imagine, doubt the utility 
of these perquisites; while none conceding 
this can question the importance of the insti- 
tution or the high sufficiency of its adminis- 
trative avatars. And yet if the institution of 
education becomes too gross of organization, 
it loses the end of education. Perfunction is 
the oil that smooths administration, but it 
clogs and dams personality; and education 
apart from personalities, in place of a Socratic 
mid-wifery to souls, becomes the deft art of 
- spiritual undertakers—the school is replaced 
by the morgue. Our danger is obviously lest 
the instrument kill the growth it was designed 
to foster. 

Putting the matter concretely, education, as 
it is nowadays conceived, has two require- 
ments different to the point of antagonism. 
On the one hand there is the need for elabo- 
rate material and financial equipment, and 
with it all the accompanying interplay of 
institution and public. This is a problem of 
ingenious government and politic adminis- 
tration, demanding for its success an essential 
solidarity. On the other hand, if the function 


SCIENCE 61 


of the institution is to be fulfilled, the right of 
the teacher to think and to speak his thought 
must be subject only to his own wisdom—at 
least within the province of his subject; and 
this spells essential individuality. Thus we 
are presented to a dilemma, with horns equally 
brazen. 

Doubtless the ideal solution would be the 
creation of a breed of teachers gifted with a 
military scorn of danger and a high indiffer- 
ence to economic death. There is, as the 
matter stands, a lingering suggestion of 
effeminacy about the professorial craft. Men 
generally suspect in the professor a deficient 
virility, and they look upon scholarship as a 
kind of spiritual cosmetic designed to con- 
ceal an enfeebled soul. It might habilitate 
the teacher’s profession in the general eye, and 
perhaps enhance the teacher’s own esteem of 
it, if the business were made perilous and 
publiely spiced with rash braveries of expres- 
sion. But the difficulty of this heroic road is 
that only the tame would be left to teach. 
Eventually—and in no long eventuality—it 
would destroy the schools. 

What is needed is clearly a compromise (and 
let not the term be regarded as a sign of fear; 
all practicalities are compromises, and lan- 
guage, the most practical of all is the most 
compromising of all, for every word is a com- 
promise of its meanings). The institution, in 
its essential solidarity, is necessary to the 
professor; the professor, in his essential indi- 
viduality, is necessary to the institution. 
This mutual necessity must surely yet mother 
a thrifty progeny. 

Hyery one interested in the situation has, 
I suppose, his scheme of melioration. I have 
mine. Let me briefly sketch it. I am speak- 
ing, be it understood, of colleges and uni- 
versities, 

Suppose that in each institution there were 
a clear legal distinction between the profes- 
soriate and the administrative body. In the 
hands of the latter should rest all problems of 
organization, publicity, expansion or contrac- 
tion of curricula, material control, and all 
appointments except to the professoriate; it 


62 


should have in its hands the essential conduct 
of the institution, as at present. Only one 
power which it now has it should not have: the 
direct power of appointing or of removing a 
“vrofessor.” For the professoriate should be 
composed just of the men bearing the. title 
“professor,” whose rights should be: (1) Ap- 
pointment only on election by the profes- 
soriate, according to its own rules of election. 
(2) Removal only after trial by the profes- 
soriate, according to its own rules. (3) Assur- 
ance of a certain minimum salary—determined 
by the custom of the institution—so long as 
the title of “professor” remain unrecalled; 
and (4) assurance of the right to teach the 
subject defined by his complete title, during the 
like period. 

Under such a division any administration 
could impeach any professor, demanding his 
trial by the professoriate, but it could not 
remove him until this trial had resulted in 
the revocation of his title. On the other hand, 
no professor would be allowed administrative 
control of any department or school except on 
appointment to such work by the administra- 
tion. Further, there should be allowed vari- 
ous titles, such as “ assistant” or “ associate 
professor,” to be given by the administration 
to mén to whom it wished to encharge work 
newly introduced as well as by the younger 
men who might be regarded as candidates for 
the rank and position of “ professor.” These 
men, in each institution, would be serving a 
probation, preliminary to their final election 
to the body of the professoriate. There should 
be nothing to prevent the administration from 
paying such men even higher salaries than the 
professorial minimum, and indeed nothing to 
prevent any advance in salary to a “ pro- 
fessor” above this minimum. Of course any 
“ professor ” should be eligible to any adminis- 
trative office without sacrificing his profes- 
sorial rank and rights. 

This scheme, viewed @ priori, ought to be 
easy to introduce and maintain. A charter 
body of professors should be selected from the 
staff already in service by the administration 
of each university and college, and contractu- 
ally endowed with the rights named. Presum- 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1019 


ably, the body so selected would represent the 
present sentiment and ideals of the institu- 
tion, while the natural conservatism of a self- 
perpetuating body would ensure a reasonable 
constancy in its character. Young men would 
be tried out before being elected to the body; 
while the administration would retain ample 
power to euide the general development of the 
institution. 

Our present plan, in which the head of the 
institution is, internally to it, the benevolent 
autocrat, and, externally to it, the responsible 
politician, is an ugly makeshift. The plan 
here proposed ought to lighten the cares of 
such a head by lessening his responsibilities, 
while at the same time it would relieve the pro- 
fessorial profession of the stigma of servility, 
and it would give the supporting public a less 
flickering consciousness of the fact that in 
calling a man to the thankless task of thinking 
they are incurring obligations as well as 
receiving benefits. 


H. B. ALEXANDER 


UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 
The Antiquity of Man in Europe, being the 

Munro Lectures, 1918. By JAMES GEIKIE, 

LL.D., F.R.S.’ Pp. xx -+ 328, 9 text illust., 

xxi pl. and 4 maps. 

This is a series of lectures upon a subject 
with which Professor Geikie’s name has been 
associated for more than a third of a century. 
His “Prehistoric Europe” appeared in 1881 and 
the matter received more than incidental con- 
sideration in the third edition of his “ Great 
Ice Age.” The work is an argument from the 
geologist’s: standpoint, the most important of 
all, since geology is the final court of appeal. 

The subject is outlined in the first lecture. 
The general features of Pleistocene climate 
and its extreme variations are shown in a dis- 
cussion of the several faunas and floras, which 
affords opportunity for comparison with pres- 
ent conditions in Asia and North America. 
He is led to believe that, while there is ample 
proof that man existed early in the Pleistocene, 
there is thus far no positive evidence of his 


JuLy 10, 1914] 


existence during the Tertiary. Having out- 
lined his plan, he examines the kinds of evi- 
dence. Two lectures are devoted to the testi- 
mony of caves, in which the investigations are 
summed up with critical notes upon the re- 
ported observations. He indicates clearly the 
gaps in the record, but he emphasizes the asso- 
ciation of paleolithie man with an extinct 
fauna and flora, the definite proof of successive 
extreme variations in the continental climate, 
the differing types of men during the several 
stages and their notable gradation in civiliza- 
tion as proving the great length of time which 
has elapsed since the first cave man appeared 
in Europe. The testimony of river drift de- 
posits, especially those of Great Britain and 
France, is the topic of another lecture. The 
complex problem involves the deepening of 
valleys by river-cutting, the deposition of 
gravels, the origin of loess. The difficulties 
here are conceded frankly, but the deficiencies 
in this record do not coincide with those in 
that of the caves; the two records are supple- 
mentary. 

The testimony of glaciers, as one would 
expect, is discussed in abundant detail. In 
this portion, composing nearly one half of the 
volume, the wholly new material derived from 
the author’s later studies in many regions is 
very great. The movements of glaciers, their 
scouring and eroding power, their extent, the 
nature and distribution of moraines, the trun- 
eated valleys of the Alps are discussed in the 
light of recent determinations by the author 
and others. All go to show the immensity of 
the period during which man has been on this 
globe. The comprehensive study of local and 
general features, which is presented in these 
four lectures, contains much that can not fail 
to interest American glacialists, for some of 
the phenomena cited from Great Britain and 
the Continent are familiar topics in our liter- 
ature. 

Haying laid his foundation, the author, in 
his closing lectures, sums up Pleistocene his- 
tory as relating to man. The terms for the 
epochs differ in several cases from those given 
in the Great Ice Age, some changes having 
been made in the interest of accuracy and 


SCIENCE 


63 


euphony. The epochs as defined in this volume 
are these: 

First Glacial epoch, the Scanian of northern 
Kurope, the Giinzian of the Alps; First Inter- 
glacial epoch, the Norfolkian; Second Glacial 
epoch, Saxonian of northern Europe, Mundel- 
ian of the Alps; Second Interglacial epoch, 
the Tyrolian (replacing Helvetian); Third 
Glacial epoch, Polonian (replacing Polandian) 
of northern Europe, Rissian of the Alps; 
Third Interglacial epoch, the Diirntenian (re- 
placing Neudeckian); Fourth Glacial epoch, 
Mecklenburgian of northern Europe, Wur- 
mian of the Alps; Fourth Interglacial epoch, 
the Lower Forestian; Fifth Glacial epoch, the 
Lower Turbarian; Fifth Interglacial epoch, 
the Upper Forestian; Sixth Glacial epoch, the 
Upper Turbarian. 

The oldest human remains are assigned to 
the first interglacial epoch; the Chellean and 
Acheulian stages to second; the Mousterian 
stage began during the third glacial and ended 
during the third interglacial; while the Aurig- 
nacian, the Solutréan and Magdalenian stages 
were within the fourth glacial. Paleolithic 
man’s disappearance was abrupt and with 
him the associated fauna passed away. Neo- 
lithic man’s. appearance seemed to be equally 
abrupt and the modern fauna accompanied 
him. A partial bridge over the gap is afforded 
by the Azilian stage of southern France and 
Germany, which belongs very near the Lower 
Forestian or fourth interglacial epoch; at that 
time, Neolithic man was in Scotland. 

Professor Geilkie’s work does not lend itself 
readily to review for it is a model of directness 
and compactness in statement. The discussion 
is judicial; facts are presented so skillfully 
that they appear to form a consistent argu- 
ment and when the conclusions are reached, 
they have been anticipated by the reader as 
the only ones possible. Among glacialists 
there are those who will continue to dissent 
from the author’s subdivision of the Pleisto- 
cene and from the extreme length of time 
which he assigns to that period; but all must 
agree with his final statement that when one 
considers that man has seen all those changes 
of climate, which caused repeated succession 


64 


of steppes, tundras and forests in the same 
region, he must recognize that the time has 
been very long—so long, that the few thousands 
of years since history began seem insignificant 
in comparison. 

JOHN J. STEVENSON 


The Psychology of Management. By L. M. 
Gitpert, M.L., New York, Sturgis and 
Walton. 1914. Pp. 344. $2.00 net. 

The gap between psychology and industry 
is being bridged both by psychologists, who 
write of industry, and by industrial engineers, 
who attempt to point out the psychological 
laws underlying the success of their practise. 
This book is of special interest since it is 
written by a woman worker in an industrial 
laboratory where the give and take of psychol- 
ogy and technology is being encouraged in 
many interesting ways. 

The book aims “ not so much to instruct as 
to arouse an interest in its subject and to point 
the way whence instruction comes.” In the 
mind of the reviewer, these aims are fully real- 
ized. The main theme is that modern form of 
management generally known as the “ Taylor 
system.” In this book the art of management 
attempts to become conscious and to develop 
or borrow a vocabulary. Management is de- 
fined as “the art of directing activity,” and by 
the psychology of management is meant “ the 
effect of the mind that is directing work upon 
that work which is directed, and the effect of 
undirected and directed work upon the mind 
of the worker.” Such topics as the following 
indicate the general scope of the various chap- 
ters: selection of individual workers; proper 
instructions; functionalization of tasks; defi- 
nition of duties and qualifications; motion 
studies and time measurements; analysis and 
standardization of task, tools, methods and 
materials; records, routing and work pro- 
grams; the réle of the various types of direct 
and indirect incentives (punishment, reward, 
prizes, bonus, profit sharing, etc.); welfare 
work; attitudes of employer and employee and 
their effect on work; methods and measurement 
of teaching; aids in learning; effective distri- 
bution of effort. Cooperation is urged in the 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1019 


accumulation of standardized industrial rec- 
ords for the purposes of psychological analysis. 

As might be expected, the psychology of man- 
agement, in its present state, shows several 
traits similar to those displayed by the science 
of education in its earlier days. In the present 
book, for instance, there is artificial systemati- 
zation and an occasional lapse into discursive 
generality. There is a somewhat labored at- 
tempt to suggest forward movement in the 
thought by means of divisions and paragraph 
headings in the text; many paragraphs consist 
of a single sentence. There is an apparent at- 
tempt to give text-book form to a subject that 
is not yet ready for it. 

In spite of these remediable features the 
book is a real contribution to applied psychol- 
ogy as well as to the work of the student of 
efficieney engineering. It well typifies the 
growing tendencies toward cooperation be- 
tween science and practise and suggests a 
stimulating program for future work. Ap- 
plied psychologists should not fail to make 
themselves acquainted with the Gilbreth lab- 
oratory. 


H. L. Houiieworte 
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 


Monographien einheimischer Tiere. Bd. 5, Die 
Strudelwiirmer (Turbellaria). Von Privat- 
DOZENT Dr. P. STEINMANN UND PRoressor Dr. 
EK. Bresstau. Pp. xi-+ 380, 2 pls., 156 figs. 
in text. Bd. 6, Tintenfische mit besonderer 
Beriicksichtigung von Sepia und Octopus. 
Von Dr. Werner Tu. Meyer. Pp. 148, 
1 pl., 81 figs. in text (Klinkhardt, Leipzig). 
The latest numbers in the admirable series 

of monographs prepared under the editorship 

of Professors H. E. Ziegler, of Stuttgart, and 

R. Woltereck, of Leipzig, both deal with ani- 

mals widely used in experimental or in mor- 

phological work in the biological laboratories 
of our universities and colleges, and both are 
particularly welcome. The yolume dealing 
with the turbellarians is doubly welcome, since 
no brief and comprehensive treatise has dealt 
with these easily obtained and widely utilized 
animals since Benham’s (1901) short account 
in Lankester’s “ Treatise on Zoology.” More- 


JuLy 10, 1914] 


over, we find in the volume in hand fuller 
treatment of four aspects omitted in Ben- 
ham’s, namely the ecological, the physiological, 
the experimental and the systematic, and these 
are as adequately done as are the morpholog- 
ical and embryological phases, indicative of 
the breadth and catholicity of current German 
biological scholarship. Under the head of 
“ Biologie,” for example, we find a discussion 
of such topics, among others, as locomotion, 
nutrition, food-taking, commensalism, para- 
sitism, hunger, excretion, sexual and asexual 
reproduction, autotomy, regeneration in differ- 
ent species, influence of external factors in 
accelerating and inhibiting regeneration, 
form regulation, heteromorphosis, duplication, 
natural malformation, sensory reactions, foes 
and parasites. Both triclads and rhabdocels 
are very fully treated. An abundance of 
simple diagrams truly illustrate the text, and 
a key to species, a glossary, and a bibliography 
contplete it. 

The work is exceptionally comprehensive in 
scope, though brief, and well-proportioned, as 
well as admirably conceived and worked out. 
If any criticism is to be passed upon it one 
might suggest that the illustrations are below 
the standard to be expected in German books, 
and that the experimental work of Morgan and 
his school, and the mine of information in 
Pearl’s monographiec treatise on the behavior 
of Planaria have been wholly overlooked, in 
fact, the sources as well as the “ Tiere ” appear 
to have been “ Kinheimischer.” 

The information pertaining to the Cephalo- 
pod type has been much more accessible, thanks 
to Brook’s chapter in his “ Invertebrate Zool- 
ogy,” to Bauer’s admirable “ Einftihrung ” 
(1909) in the Naples “ Mitteilungen” pre- 
pared especially for the assistance of experi- 
mentalists deficient in zoological training, to 
Isgroves (1909) monograph on Eledone and 
Williams (1909) on Loligo. Dr. Meyer’s book- 
let is supplementary to these in that it deals 
with Sepia and Octopus, forms equally desir- 
able as laboratory types. The work is very 
largely anatomical, a departure from the gen- 
eral scheme of the series, justifiable perhaps 
in view of Bauer’s paper and of the fact that 


SCIENCE 65 


the devil-fish is never seen in living condition 
by the biological student outside of the seaside 
laboratory with ample aquaria, for cephalo- 
pods do not long withstand removal from the 
normal habitat. One expects a fuller morpho- 
logical treatment of the kidney, the eye, the 
heetocotylus, the chromatophores and the phos- 
phorescent organs, than he finds here, and in 
fact the whole treatise might have been elabo- 
rated in greater detail on both genera to the 
advantage of the reader. The discussion is 
direct, lucid and well-adapted to serve the 
purpose of an elementary introduction to 
cephalopod morphology. 


Cuarites A. Koro 
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 


The Copper Handbook. By WautER HARVEY 
Weep. Published by the author; Houghton, 
Michigan, 1914. Vol. XI., 1912-13. Pp. 
1413. Price $5.00. 

The “Copper Handbook,” well-known to 
all those interested in copper mining, has 
been taken over by Mr. W. H. Weed, who has 
issued a new revised edition bearing the date 
of 1914. Since, its establishment by H. J. 
Stevens in 1900 this useful compendium of 
information about the copper mines of the 
world has gone through ten previous editions./ 
The reliable information and fearless criticism 
contained in it were greatly appreciated by 
mining men. Since the unexpected death of 


its founder in 1912 the work of preparing a 


much needed new edition has been under- 
taken by W. H. Weed, the well-known geolo- 
gist and mining engineer, formerly connected 
with the U. S. Geological Survey. Mr. Weed 
has reduced the former unwieldy volume of 
nearly 2,000 pages to about 1,400, largely by 
the elimimation of the introductory chapters 
on mineralogy, geology, mining and metal- 
lurgy, and by the segregation of the “dead” 
companies. The copper mines of North 
America are now described alphabetically in 
a first chapter which is followed by a much 
needed index by states and countries. The 
third section describes the mines of South 
America and other continents in alphabetic, 
non-geographic arrangement. Much new 


66 


information is given of copper mines in South 
America. The book is concluded with a résumé 
of statistical facts. A wealth of new informa- 
tion is given and much of the descriptive 
material is entirely rewritten, bringing the book 
up to date. The policy of frank criticism 
which has been such a valuable feature of the 
book in the past is evidently continued and it 
is safe to say that the “ Copper Handbook ” 
in this much-improved form will meet with 
the approval of those who seek information 
about the mining of this metal. 
W. L. 


EIGHTH LIST OF GENERIC NAMES (MAM-— 
MALS) UNDER CONSIDERATION IN 
CONNECTION WITH THE OFFICIAL 
LIST OF ZOOLOGICAL NAMES 

28. Notice is hereby given to the zoological 
profession that the following list of sixteen 
generic names in mammals has been submitted 
to the International Commission to be acted 
upon under the plenary power authority, 
granted by the Monaco Congress, to sus- 
pend the rules in the Code of Nomenclature. 
This list is published herewith without com- 
ment and all persons interested in the subject 
are cordially invited to communicate with the 
secretary of the International Commission and 
to give him any arguments bearing on the 
subject. 

29. In the following list the names are ar- 
ranged in the following order: (a) preserve; 
(b) for; (c) genotype; (d) instead of; (e) see 
explanatory notes that follow list. 

In accordance with the permission given to 
zoologists at the Monaco Congress to submit 
to the International Commission on Nomen- 
clature names which are recommended for 
fixation by fiat, we the undersigned mammalo- 
gists beg to present the following sixteen 
names which we recommend as nomina con- 
servanda in the class with which we are con- 
cerned. The general reasons for the presenta- 
tion of such names have been so often pub- 
lished that we do not need to repeat them here: 

(a) Anthropopithecus; (b) for chimpanzees; 
(c) type A. niger; (d) instead of Simza or 
Pan; (e) see note T. 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1019 


(a) Cercopithecus; (b) guenon monkeys of 
Africa; (c) Simia mona Schr.; (d) Lasiopyga; 
(e) T. 1. 

(a) Chiromys; (b) aye-aye; (c) Sciurus 
madagascariensis Gmel.; (d) Daubentonia; 
(e) 2. 

(a) Coelogenys; (6) paca; (c) Mus paca 
Linn.; (d) Agouti or Cuniculus; (e) 3. 

(a) Dasypus; (6) six-banded armadillo and 
allies; (c) D. sexcinctus Linn.; (d) Huphrac- 
tus; (e) T. 4. 

(a) Dicotyles; (b) pecearies; (c) Sus tajacu 
Linn.; (d) Tayassu; (e) 2. 

(a) Hchidna; (b) spiny anteater; (c) 
Myrmecophaga aculeata Shaw; (d) Tachy- 
glossus; (e) 5. 

(a) Galeopithecus; (b) Philippine colugo; 
(c) Lemur volans Linn.; (d) Cynocephalus; 
(e) T. 6. 

(a) Gazella; (b) gazelles in modern sense; 
(c) Capra dorcas Linn.; (e) T. 7. 

(a) Hapale; (b) marmosets; (ce) Simia 
jacchus Linn.; (d) Callithriz; (e) T. 8. 

(a) Hippotragus; (b) sable antelope and 
allies; (¢) Antilope leucophea; (d) Ozanna; 
(e) 9. 

(a) Lagidium; (6) mountain chinchilla; 
(c) Lagidium peruanum Meyen.; (d) Vizcac- 
cia; (e) 10. 

(a) Manatus; (b) manatees; (c) Trichechus 
manatus Linn.; (d) Trichechus; (e) T. 

(a) Nycteris; (6) the African bats usually 
so-called; (¢) Vespertilio hispidus Schr.; (d) 
Petalia; (e) T. 11. 

(a) Rhytina; (b) Steller’s sea-cow; (c) 
Manati gigas Zimm.; (d) Hydrodamalis; (e) 
12. 

(a) Simia; (b) orangs; (c) Sima satyrus, 
auct. nec Linn.; (d) Pongo; (e) T. 13. 

Cases marked with a T. involve, under the 
technical rules, the transfer of a name from 
one group to another. 

Every name here recommended for legali- 
zation by fiat is well known to systematists, 
and universally used by general writers. 

When a name is legalized by fiat, we con- 
sider that power may be assumed to fix the 
most classical form of the name, not neces- 
sarily that which was first used, e. g.: Rhytina, 


Juy 10, 1914] 


not Rytina; Chiromys, not Chieromys or 
Chetromys. 

Purely consequential recommendations (e. g., 
Tatu for the tatous, Lasiwrus for the Ameri- 
ean hairy-tailed bats), are not inserted in the 
list. 

Notes to the List 


1. Cercopithecus has been invariably used 
for the gueonons up to 1911, and its transfer 
to the tamarins only depends on Gronovius, a 
doubtfully binomial writer. 

9. Daubentonia is almost unknown to gen- 
eral writers, the use of Chiromys having been 
nearly universal. 

3. The names objected to are both known in 
connection with other animals, and the use of 
either of them for the paca is most confusing. 

4. Technically Dasypus ought to be trans- 
ferred to the tatous. 

5. Echidna has been used by all classes of 
writers. It would have to be withdrawn from 
ichthyology. 

6. The use of Cynocephalus involves a par- 
ticularly objectionable transfer. 

4. An early reference by Pallas in connec- 
tion with Oryx gazella makes it advisable to 
affix the name Gazella to the gazelles before 
it is attempted to be used for the gemsbucks. 

8. The transfer of the name Callithriz from 
the titi monkeys (Callicebus) to the marmo- 
sets is highly confusing. The name should be 
dropped altogether. 

9. Hippotragus has been widely used; 
Ozanna is practically unknown. 

10. The use for the mountain chinchillas of 
Vizcaccia, the vernacular name of Lagostomus, 
is most objectionable. 

11. By the technical rules Nycterts would 
have to be transferred to the American hairy- 
tailed bats (Lasiurus). 

12. Hydrodamalis is almost unknown to 
writers of any class. 

13. Specifie name (satyrus) to be fixed as 
well as generic, the original Szmza satyrus 
Linn. being a chimpanzee. 

Signed: Knup ANpEeRsoN, ANGEL CABRERA, 
Ervar Lonnperc, R. Lypekker, Paun Mart- 
SCHIE, OLDFIELD Tuomas, L. L. Trovurssart. 

C. W. Stites, 


Secretary International Commission 


SCIENCE 


67 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 


THE JONE FORMATION OF THE SIERRA NEVADA 
FOOTHILLS, A LOCAL FACIES OF THE 
UPPER TEJON-EOCENE 


ONE of the numerous problems of California 
geology is the correlation of the Tertiary (the 
superjacent series), of the Sierra Nevadas 
with the Tertiary of the Coast Ranges. Many 
geologists have written on the age of the aurif- 
erous gravels and their associated formations 
since the time of Whitney, but the age of these 
formations is still in question and their rela- 
tion to the marine deposits of the Coast 
Ranges is unproved. 

While collecting during the past two years 
for the department of paleontology, University 
of California, the writer has had opportunity 
for the study of the relationship of the Ione 
of the Sierra Nevadas with the marine Eocene 
of the Coast Ranges. His conclusions are 
based upon visits to four typical Ione local- 
ities, viz., Marysville Buttes, Sutter Co., Cal., 
vicinity of Oroville, South Table Mountain, 
Merced Falls, and the type locality near the 
town of Lone in the Jackson Quadrangle. 

The conclusion from this study is that the 
Tone, in part at least, is marine and of Tejon- 
Eocene age. Marine fossils have been found 
in the upper portion of the Ione formation at 
Marysville Buttes, Oroville, South Table 
Mountain, Merced Falls and Jone. Appar- 
ently the same faunal zone, the Siphonalia 
sutterensis zone,’ is represented. 

In the study of the Eocene of the Marys- 
ville Buttes the writer’s conclusion was that 
“the supposed marine Ione of Marysville 
Buttes is evidently Eocene.” In the “ Note 
on the Faunal Zones of the Tejon Group,” 
the strata beneath the Older Basalt of Oro- 
ville South Table Mountain which Lindgren 
mapped as Jone, were correlated with the 
Eocene of the Marysville Buttes. Several of 
the fossils obtained from the strata beneath 
the Older Basalt were identical with those of 

1 Dickerson, R. E., ‘‘Fauna of the Eocene at 
Marysville Buttes, California,’’? Univ. of Calif. 
Publ. Bull. Dept. Geol., Vol. 7, pp. 257-298, 1913. 
‘‘Note on the Faunal Zones of the Tejon Group,’’ 
Univ. Calif. Publ. Bull. Dept. Geol., Vol. 8, p. 23, 
1914, 


68 SCIENCE 


the Marysville Buttes. After visiting these 
two localities the writer was inclined to the 
belief that the Ione and Tejon had been con- 
fused in these places. Conclusive evidence has 
recently been obtained in the type locality of 
the Ione which demonstrates that this forma- 
tion at that place is also merely a local facies 
of the Tejon-EKocene. 

Turner? recognized three lithologic mem- 
bers in the Tone at its type locality: 

(1) The lower portion, a white clay, resting 
upon this; (2) a white or red sandstone, and 
(8), then a light gray, clay rock. He de- 
scribed it as follows: 


Along the western border of the metamorphic 
rocks is a series of nearly horizontally stratified, 
light-colored sediments, which were deposited in 
the waters that covered the Great Valley at the 
time the older auriferous gravels with interbedded 
pipe-clays accumulated in the river beds of the 
Sierra slope. This formation attains its maximum 
development in the area of the Jackson sheet. The 
lower portion of the series, composed largely of 
white clay, is well-exposed around Ione, whence 
the formation takes its name. Farther south the 
white clays are overlain by sandstone, above which 
is a fine-grained clay rock. The lower, white clay 
is in places quite free from grit and is used in 
making pottery. Other portions are sandy. The 
formation contains iron-ore and coal seams. The 
sandstone is used for building purposes. It is 
usually white, but at one quarry a brick-red va- 
riety, colored by finely disseminated hematite, is 
obtained. At other localities it is rusty and con- 
tains pebbles of white quartz, passing into a con- 
glomerate. A peculiar hydrous silicate of alumina 
occurs abundantly im the sandstone In the form of 
cream-colored, pearly scales. 

The clay rock occurring above the sandstone is 
light-gray, but usually more or less discolored. 
The fracture is, as a rule, irregular and the rock 
frequently containg minute, tubular passages. 
Under the microscope it is seen to be composed of 
fine particles of feldspar and fine discolored sedi- 
ment, with occasional quartz grains. Analyses of 
two specimens gave 59 and 72 per cent. of silica 
and 4.8 and 1.6 per cent. of alkali. 

The succession of white clay, sandstone and clay 
rock may not be constant throughout the entire 
area mapped as belonging to the Ione formation. 


2Turner, H. W., Jackson Folio, California, 
U. S. Geol. Surv., p. 2, 1894. 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1019 


It has been suggested that the white clay of the 
lower beds are formed from rhyolitic tuffs, in 
which case eruptions of rhyolite must have oc- 
curred at the beginning of the Ione epoch. 

The thickness of the Ione formation is known 
partly by natural exposures, partly by boring. In 
Jones Butte the strata, protected from erosion by a 
lava cap, are 200 feet thick above Coal Mine No. 
3. A boring at the mine is said to have pene- 
trated sandy clay to a depth of 800 feet below the 
coal seam, which is 60 to 70 feet below the surface. 
Thus the Ione beds appear to be more than 1,000 
feet thick at this point. : 

To the east of Buena Vista Peak the series has a 
visible thickness of 600 feet. The tableland south 
and southwest of Buena Vista is chiefly composed 
of the Ione formation, overlain by rhyolitic and 
andesitic tuff and Neocene shore gravels. The 
lower clay occurs at the east base of the table- 
land, and a patch of Ione sandstone caps Waters 
Peak, a little farther east, which has an elevation 
of about 900 feet. 

The relation of the sandstone to the elay rock is 
finely exposed on the south side of the Mokelumne 
River, by the bridge north of Camanche. Here the 
sandstone forms the lower part of the bank of the 
river. The upper surface of the sandstone has a 
gentle westerly dip, and a little west of the bridge 
reaches the level of the river, which at this point 
is about 175 feet above sea-level. Hast of the 
bridge it rises at an angle of about 1°, reaching 
an altitude of 1,000 feet on the flat ridge just 
north of Valley Springs Peak. Along the banks 
of the Mokelumne west of Lancha Plana this sand- 
stone attains a thickness of more than 100 feet. 


Turner in describing the Neocene shore 
gravels states their relationship to the Ione as 
follows: 


The most striking evidence of nonconformity, 
however, may be seen at the red sandstone quarry 
three miles southeast of Buena Vista. Here the 
Neocene shore gravels rest unconformably on the 
smooth, waterworn surface of the sandstone, which 
is red where quarried, but white at the northern 
end of the exposure. Waterworn bowlders of the 
white sandstone may be seen in the gravel. South- 
west of the quarry the ridge is capped for a dis- 
tance of more than a mile with the same gravel, 
which half a mile from the quarry contains a layer 
of andesitic detritus. At the extreme southwest- 
ern end of the ridge is a body of similar gravel, 
which also rests plainly on sandstone of the Ione 
formation. 


Juby 10, 1914] 


All the localities described by Turner have 
been visited. At the last-mentioned locality, 
“the red sandstone quarry three miles south- 
east of Buena Vista,” the writer obtained 
Venericardia planicosta new variety. Mere- 
trix horn Gabb, Psammobia cf. horn 
(Gabb), Glycimeris sp., Crassatellites sp., 
Turritella merriami Dickerson, Natica sp. and 
Clavella sp. The Venericardia planicosta 
found here is the variety with the obsolete 
ribs. All of these forms were collected from 
the sandstone five to ten feet beneath the 
Neocene shore gravels. While the fauna is 
limited in species, it is typical of the upper- 
most, the Siphonalia sutterensts, zone of the 
Tejon. The sandstone member in this vicin- 
ity, with a dip of only one degree toward the 
west, attains a thickness of 250 feet. It rests 
upon the clay, an altered rhyolitie tuff which 
is only fifty to one hundred feet in thickness. 
This in turn rests upon the steeply tilted 
eastern dipping Mariposa slates of the bed 
rock series. The same sandstone occurs on 
the hill east of Buena Vista Peak, and with 
about the same thickness. A half mile east 
of this hill the lower clay member becomes 
appreciably thinner and is only 25 to 50 feet 
thick. On Waters Peak one half mile further 
east, the clay member and a good part of the 
sandstone member are missing and only the 
massive upper fifty feet of the sandstone mem- 
ber is found resting upon the eroded surface 
of the Mariposa slates. 

The third member, the clay rock recognized 
by Turner, appears to the writer to be merely 
a decomposition product of a rhyolitic tuff. 
A rhyolitie tuff rests directly upon the sand- 
stone member in the vicinity of Buena Vista 
Peak. The writer’s opinion is confirmed by 
an examination of the strata as exposed in 
Jones’ Butte. A clay rock was found resting 
upon the sandstone member. In certain places 
this rock was found to be an unaltered rhyo- 
litie tuff. 

From the above description it is seen that 
this formation appears to have been deposited 
by a sea which transgressed from the west. 
Two or more of the three members of the Ione 


SCIENCE 


69 


are very persistent over the Jackson Quad- 
tangle, the Lodi Quadrangle, the Sacramento 
Quadrangle, the Sonora Quadrangle, and they 
can be recognized readily by their lithologice 
characters, low westerly dip, and stratigraphic 
position beneath the andesitic tuffs and upon 
the Mariposa slates or other members of the 
bed rock series. 

Until these three members were studied 
at the type locality, the relationship of 
the small area south of Merced Falls, 
which was mapped by Ransome and Turner 
as Tejon, to the adjoining Ione tufts and clays 
was obscure. The clays, sand and tuffs exposed 
one mile west of Merced are lithologically 
identical with those of the lowermost mem- 
ber, and the red sandstone mapped as Tejon, 
found here, is identical with that of the second 
or sandstone member of the Ione of the type 
locality. The same condition evidently pre- 
vailed here as in the area between Waters Peak 
and Buena Vista Peak, that is, a deposition 
along the shore line of a rapidly transgressing 
western sea. ‘In this sandstone, casts of 
Cardita planicosta, var. horni, with obsolete 
ribs were found near the top. The authors of 
the Sonora Folio, Messrs. Turner and Ran- 
some® describe this as follows: 


““Tejon formation—The only rocks referable 
to this period are a few isolated patches of light- 
colored sandstone which occur capping some low hills 
in the southwest corner of the quadrangle. South 
and southeast of Merced Falls are two level- 
topped buttes capped by this sandstone, which rests 
almost horizontally upon the nearly vertical edges of 
the Mariposa slates. The basal bed is crowded with 
angular fragments of the slate and with abundant 
pebbles of white vein quartz, while the upper beds 
are composed of a light-colored quartzose sandstone 
with frequent bands of small quartz pebbles. 
Marine fossils (Venericardia planicosta) are fairly 
abundant in the upper bed at the west end of the 
butte that lies one mile south of Merced Falls. 
These sandstones are overlain to the west by the 
light-colored sandstones of the Tone formation. 
The two series are probably not absolutely con- 
formable, as the Ione beds transgress onto the 
rocks of the Bed-rock series farther north.’’ 


3 Turner, H. W. and Ransome, F. L., Sonora 
Folio, U. S. Geological Survey, p. 2, 1897. 


10 


The above-mentioned sandstones, instead of 
“being overlain to the west by the light- 
colored sandstones of the Ione formation,” 
are in reality stratigraphically higher. ‘These 
sandstones have been worn away from most of 
this area and only a few residuals remain. 

After this great erosion, andesitic tuffs and 
tuff breccias covered all. During the Pleisto- 
cene and Recent time much of the andesitic 
material has been removed re-exposing the 
older rocks beneath. 

The Tone has been repeatedly correlated 
with the Auriferous gravels of the Sierras and 
the upper portion with the rhyolitic tuffs. It 
can no longer be doubted that the Ione is of 
the same age as the Rhyolitic tuff and the 
Auriferous gravels, and since the Ione is 
clearly Tejon-Eocene, the Auriferous gravels, 
their correlative, must be upper Eocene, at 
least in part and the land equivalent of the 
marine Tejon. 

Roy E. Dickerson 


THE INCREASE IN PERMEABILITY OF THE FROG’S 
EGG AT THE BEGINNING OF DEVELOPMENT 
AND THE PRESERVATION OF THE 
LIFE OF THE EGG + 


THREE years ago, it was observed that the 
unfertilized frog’s egg could be made partheno- 
genetic by a momentary electric shock, and 
reasons given for supposing that the electric 
shock (or the spermatozoon in normal fertili- 
zation) increased the permeability of the egg.? 
Recently, I proved this supposition to be cor- 
rect. The permeability of the unfertilized egg 
to NaCl was found to have increased on stimu- 
lating the egg with an electric shock (which 
caused it to begin normal development). 

Several methods were tried for the quanti- 
tative estimation of sodium ions, but the re- 
sults with such small quantities would not be 
considered trustworthy had they not tallied 
with the more certain results on the deter- 
mination of chlorine ions with the nephelom- 
eter, and only the latter will be described here. 
The technique was as follows: 

1 Preliminary note. 

2 McClendon, Sctmncz, N. S., Vol. 33, p. 629. 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1019 


A “pregnant” female of Rana pipiens was 
washed in alcohol and then in water, pithed 
and opened. The eggs were removed from the 
oviducts without mechanical injury or con- 
tamination with blood or lymph. These eggs 
were washed 10 minutes in a large volume of 
H,O? and divided into two exactly equal 
masses. Hach mass was placed in 30 ce. of 
H,O and allowed to remain for 30 minutes 
while the jelly swelled. The water that had 
not been taken up by the jelly was analyzed 
and the Na+ and Cl— found to be the 
same for both lots. Then lot 1 was stimulated 
by an electric shock from clean platinum elee- 
trodes* and lot 2 used as a control. 20 e.c. of 
H,O were added to each lot and at the end of 
one hour this water was analyzed. There was 
more Na-++ and Cl— in the water from the 
stimulated eggs than the control, the ratio of 
Cl— being 10 to 7. This is a very small 
difference, but it must be remembered that the 
salt in diffusing out of the egg is held for 
some time by the “ fertilization membrane ” 
and the thick jelly surrounding the egg. Con- 
sequently 30 c.c. of H,O were added to each 
lot and allowed to remain eight hours to give 
time for the salts to diffuse through the jelly. 
There was now found three times as much 
Cl— that had diffused out of the stimulated 
eggs as had diffused out of the control. 
Whether this increase in permeability is the 
cause of development has not been determined, 
but it is not restricted to the frog’s egg, since 
I found the same true of the sea urchins’ egg,5 
a fact which has been confirmed by Gray® at 
Plymouth. 

The unfertilized frog’s eg= placed in fresh 
or distilled water continues to swell until death 
ensues. This death is probably caused by the 
swelling, and the latter by the osmotic pres- 
sure of the soluble substances contained within 


3 H,O means water redistilled in quartz. 

4JIn about one minute all of the eggs had turned 
the black pole upward; 3 hours later the first 
cleavage began. 

5 McClendon, Amer. Jour. Physiol., 1910, Vol. 27, 
p. 240. 

6 Gray, Jour. Marine Biol. Assn. U. K., 1913, 
Vol. 10, p. 50. 


JuLy 10, 1914] 


the egg, The increased permeability allows the 
escape of NaCl and lowers the internal osmotic 
pressure, thus retarding the swelling and pre- 
serving the life of the egg. 

The decreased swelling of the developing 
ese ean easily be measured. Forty-six eggs 
were removed from the oviduct and 23 placed 
on the bottom of a dry glass dish and 23 in 
a similar one. They were covered with dis- 
tilled water and the first lot stimulated with an 
electric shock’? and the second lot used as a 
control. The longest and shortest diameter of 
each egg was measured and the mean of all of 
each lot determined. The mean diameter of 
the eggs of the first lot on an average of 30 
minutes after stimulation was 1.47 mm., 
whereas the mean diameter of the control was 
1.52 mm. This is in confirmation of the results 
of Biataszewiez and of Bachmann. Biatas- 
zewicz® says that the frog’s egg momentarily 
shrinks immediately after fertilization, due to 
fluid passing out of the egg into the perivitel- 
line space. This is probably due to the in- 
crease in permeability. The quantity of fluid 
in the perivitelline space immediately after 
fertilization is too small to be collected, but 
it accumulates during development due to 
absorption of water from the medium and 
finally can be removed with a very fine thin- 
walled capillary pipette. Bachmann thinks 
that the osmotic substances in this fluid are 
secreted by the suckers, but the fluid is more 
abundant in Amblystoma, which has no 
suckers. J found it to contain relatively large 
quantities of NaCl, considering the fact that 
the “fertilization membrane” is permeable to 
NaCl. In Amblystoma this fluid is in such 
abundance that one might hope to make a 
complete analysis. I found it to contain be- 
sides water and NaCl, an organic substance 
which greatly reduced the surface tension. A 
very slight Millon’s reaction was obtained 
after evaporating the solution down to dryness. 
Although the perivitelline space is larger in 
eggs in distilled water than in tap water, after 

™The first lot rotated normally and, 3 hours 
later, began the first cleavage. 


8 Bull. Acad, Sc. Cracow Math.-Nat., October, 
1908. 


SCIENCE 


71 


the space has once enlarged, it is not readily 
shrunken by salts in the medium. The diam- 
eter of the “fertilization membrane” of an 
egg taken from distilled water was 13 mm. It 
was placed in Ringer’s solution (for mam- 
mals) and in two days it had decreased only 
to 11.5 mm. 

Bachmann and Runnstrém® found that the 
osmotic pressure of the frog’s egg dropped 
enormously on fertilization and they do not 
believe that this ean be accounted for by loss 
of salt. They seem to consider the ege as a 
diphasie system in which the watery phase 
forms the main bulk of the egg. On the con- 
trary, the frog’s egg is a four-phase system in 
which the watery phase is a very small frac- 
tion of the total volume. The bulkiest phase 
consists of yolk platelets composed of lecith- 
albumin swollen with water. The oil droplets 
are small and pigment granules smaller. It 
seems probable that the watery phase, which I 
found to contain 85 per cent. water and which 
fills the imterstices between the other bodies, 
would freeze first in freezing point determina- 
tions, and we may assume that Bachmann and 
Runnstrom determined the A and calculated 
the osmotic pressure of this phase. Since the 
watery phase is but a small fraction of the 
volume of the entire egg, the loss of only a 
minute quantity of NaCl would be necessary 
in order to greatly lower the osmotic pressure. 
It should also be noted that Bachmann and 
Runnstrém did not remove all of the jelly from 
the eggs before crushing and freezing them 
and, consequently, the calculated osmotic pres- 
sure for the fertilized eggs is probably too low. 
The unfertilized eggs which they used were 
taken from the ovary and were not surrounded 
by jelly. 

Bachmann and Runnstrém suppose the re- 
duction of osmotic pressure of the frog’s egg 
on fertilization to be due to the adsorption of 
salts to the proteins, following a sort of 
“eoagulation ” of the proteins. If it is true 
that the salts are adsorbed after “ coagulation ” 
by fertilization, we might suppose that they 
would be adsorbed after coagulation by heat, 
which could be tested by experiment. 564 

9 Biochem. Zeitschr., 1909, Vol. 22, p. 390. 


72 


grams (about 50 ce.) of ripe ovarian eggs of 
Rana pipiens were boiled in absolute alcohol 
and extracted with absolute ether and dried 
at 135°. They were then powdered and boiled 
in 200 e.c. distilled water slightly acidulated 
with acetic acid (free from salts) to coagulate 
the proteins, and filtered. The filtrate was 
evaporated down and both filtrate and precipi- 
tate charred and extracted and titrated for 
chlorides. The filtrate required 1.55 c.ec. 1/10 
normal AgNO,, whereas the precipitate re- 
quired but .2 ¢.c., which might be due to the 
small amount of filtrate held in the precipitate. 
It thus appears that very little if any salt was 
adsorbed. If all this chloride is NaCl it would 
make a .00756 molecular solution of the same 
volume as the egg. However, the osmotic 
pressure of the ovarian egg corresponds to 
that of a .166 normal NaCl solution. If this 
osmotic pressure is due chiefly to NaCl it 
must be confined to the watery phase which 
must equal .0455 or about 1/20 of the volume 
of the egg. 

I found that frog’s eggs lose NaCl continu- 
ously during their development in distilled 
water, hence they must be permeable to NaCl 
for some time after fertilization. This is in 
harmony with the fact that pure NaCl solu- 
tions are not so toxie to the frog’s egg as to 
the eggs of many other animals. I found that 
those salt solutions which were toxic to fish 
eggs increased the permeability, but the fer- 
tilized frog’s egg is already permeable.?° 
Some of the older work on the effect of pure 
NaCl on the frog’s egg might be objected to on 
the ground that the NaCl solution became 
contaminated by Ca contaimed in the egg 
jelly. Therefore I made a series of experi- 
ments in which small numbers of frog’s eggs 
were washed for an hour in several liters 
of distilled water, and placed in several 
liters of pure NaNO, solution. Very dilute 
solutions were non-toxic. One tenth molecular 
solutions showed a toxic effect in 48 hours, 
but this may have been due to osmotic pres- 
sure, since the addition of 1.6 ¢.c. of a molec- 
ular CaCl, solution to the liter did not decrease 


10 Although it is more permeable to water than 
to salts, 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Von. XL. No. 1019 


the toxicity. The toxicity of all salts igs not 
due entirely to osmotic pressure, since I found 
lithium salts to be slightly more toxic than 
sodium salts of same osmotic pressure. 

All of the abnormalities in the lesser toxic 
salt solutions which I have observed or found 
in the literature, are characterized by a retar- 
dation or failure of the white pole to segment. 
This is also true of abnormalities produced by 
centrifugal force or other mechanical agents 
applied to the unsegmented egg. This unseg- 
mented white pole prevents or retards the 
downgrowth of the black cell layer, and in 
extreme cases leads to the so-called “ lithium 
larve.” These embryos may regenerate and 
become normal tadpoles. The more toxic solu- 
tions prevent segmentation of the white pole 
and cause swelling of serous cavities (peri- 
cardium) and a separation or loosening up of 
the black cells, accompanied by death of some 
of these cells (a condition called by Roux 
“framboisea”). This condition (also seen 
in fish embryos) occurs after the frog’s embryo 
has partially regained its semipermeability, 
and may be due to an abnormal increase in 
permeability by the salt solution. 

J. F. McCienpon 

PHYSIOLOGICAL LABORATORY, 

MEDICAL SCHOOL, 
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA, 
June 1, 1914 


THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY. III 


DIVISION OF PHYSICAL AND INORGANIC CHEMISTRY 


G. A. Hulett, Chairman 
R. C. Wells, Secretary 
Rapid Detection of Arsenic in Poison Cases by the 

Marsh Test: JAMES R. WITHROW. 

It seems to have been the experience for a long 
time that the number of cases where arsenic is the 
poison used exceeds that of all other poisons com- 
bined. Certain and rapid detection is therefore 
a matter of much moment. Any effort to make 
old methods more certain and to eliminate possi- 
bility of error by contamination or to abbreviate, 
thus reducing opportunity for loss, are desirable. 
The Berzelius-Liebig modification of the Marsh 
test (1836) has long enjoyed confidence as one of 
most satisfactory tests. It requires for universal 
certainty of results the elimination of organic 


JuLy 10, 1914] 


matter. This is slow, tedious and furnishes much 
opportunity for loss or contamination. The 
Reinsch test (1841) is rapid and simple, using the 
minimum of added reagents. In its present form 
its results are uncertain and seldom removed from 
the region of doubt. It does not require the pre- 
liminary removal of organie matter. The present 
work is believed to have made the detection of 
arsenie much more certain by eliminating entirely 
the destruction of organic matter. The arsenic is 
secured on copper strips as in the usual Reinsch 
procedure. These strips are introduced into a ‘‘ du- 
plex’’ Marsh apparatus which has been devised in 
this work. By the ‘‘duplex’’ feature (two hydro- 
gen generators) no arsenic is lost while displacing 
air from the generator containing the copper strips 
which possibly contain arsenic. The use of two gen- 
erators can be dispensed with by introducing an ex- 
tra reagent to dissolve the arsenic from the copper. 
Hither procedure greatly reduces the time neces- 
sary for the detection of arsenic with all the pre- 
cision of Marsh’s method. The new procedure 
has already been tried with thorough satisfaction 
in two poisoning cases where the presence of ar- 
senic was proven finally to be present by the older 
procedures. The new procedure consumes but an 
hour or two where the old ones consumed usually 
one or more days. 


The Decomposition Voltages of Salts in Liquid 
Ammonia. I. The Ammonium Salts: H. P. 
Capy AND C. A. Nasu. 


Adsorption and Stabilization: J. C. BLUCHER AND 

E. F. FaRNav. 

Further experimental facts are adduced to sub- 
stantiate Bancroft’s stabilization theory of dyeing. 
These include examples of adsorption of dyestuffs 
and inorganic compounds on colloidal hydrous 
aluminium-, copper- and cobalt-oxides. 


The Ideal Diffusion Coefficient and a New Funda- 
mental Law of Diffusion: G. McP. SMITH. 


Further Observations on the Preparation of Selenic 
Acid and Selenates: Pumie L, BLUMENTHAL. 


A Burette Calibrating Pipette: E. C. FounK. 


Preparation of a Standard Magnesium Salt Solu- 
tion: E. C. FoutK anp O. RB. SWEENEY. 


Concerning the Atomic Weights of Carbon and 
Sulphur: THEODORE W. RICHARDS AND C. R. 
HOOVER. 

In order to verify the silver-halogen standard of 
atomic weights by reference to a ratio entirely 
different, a precise quantitative comparison was 
made between sodium carbonate and silver. The 


SCIENCE 73 


purest sodium carbonate was fused in a stream of 
carbon dioxide. It was then with all possible care 
analyzed exactly with very pure hydrobromic acid, 
and the amount of silver needed to precipitate the 
bromine was determined as well as the weight of 
silver bromide. For every 10.59950 grams of 
sodium carbonate 21.5760 grams of silver were 
needed. Hence carbon according to the Interna- 
tional Standard of Atomic Weights became 12.005, 
sodium being 22.995. If silver is taken as 107.871, 
carbon became exactly 12. These results are com- 
pletely concordant with the usually accepted values 
concerning carbon and silver. The agreement is 
striking and affords a much-needed and very wel- 
come confirmation of the whole fabric of our 
table of atomic weights. The investigation was 
continued by converting weighed amounts of the 
purest sodium carbonate into sodium sulphate. 
The results were concordant among themselves, but 
pointed to a somewhat smaller atomic weight of 
sulphur than that usually recognized, namely, 
32.055, if silver is taken as 107.88. This research 
verifies in a striking way that published by one 
of the authors, twenty-four years ago. The tech- 
nique of this work will be of great value to any 
one desiring to make exact acidimetriec or alkali- 
metric analyses. 


The Critical Point and the Significance of the 
Quantity b m the Equation of van der Waals: 
THEODORE W. RICHARDS. 

In this paper many results (especially those of 
Kamerlingh-Onnes) were quoted to show that the 
apparent bulk of the molecules of gases must be 
supposed to change according to circumstances. 
It was pointed out that the magnitude and direc- 
tion of this change is such as would be expected 
if the molecules and atoms are compressible, but, 
if this is the case, the reasoning of yan der Waals, 
which infers that the bulk of the molecules is only 
one quarter of b, is no longer sound, for this 
reasoning assumes the incompressibility of the 
molecules. The present argument shows rather that 
the actual bulk of the molecules when uncom- 
pressed by collision or by the compressing effect of 
affinity must be much larger than has been sup- 
posed, indeed larger than the actual bulk of the 
liquid under ordinary conditions, and perhaps that 
assumed at the eritical point. It was pointed out 
that the continuity between the liquid and the 
gaseous states may be supposed to exist, if at all, 
only at the critical point, and that the application 
of the equation of van der Waals to liquids is of 
doubtful significance. The critical temperature is 
defined by supposing that it is the poimt where 


74 SCIENCE 


the kinetic vibrational energy of the molecules is 
just barely enough to separate them when the out- 
side pressure (added to their own affinity) is just 
sufficient to bring, on the average, the molecular 
surfaces into contact. In conclusion, it is clear 
that this interpretation of these facts is in com- 
plete accord with the theory of compressible 
atoms. Indeed, the various phenomena concerned 
seemed to be thus explained better than in any 
other way. 


The Present Status of the Absolute Standard of 

Pressure: THEODORE W. RICHARDS. 

The object of this paper was to point out the 
fact that the absolute or ©. G. S. standard of 
pressure is being more and more used by those 
actually having to do with the pressure-measure- 
ment. Various meteorologists, chemists, physicists 
and engineers are using it regularly; the United 
States Weather Bureau, the Blue Hill Observatory, 
and the Weather Office in Hngland are adopting it 
as their method of recording atmospheric pres- 
sures for scientific study. There is still some con- 
flict in nomenclature, but it is to be hoped that 
the proposal adopted by the International Con- 
gress of Physicists, at Paris, in 1900, and inde- 
pendently suggested by the writer, that the ‘‘ab- 
solute atmosphere’’ (or the pressure of a mega- 
dyne per square centimeter) should be called the 
‘“(megabar’’ or ‘‘megabarie,’’ will be generally 
adopted. This ‘‘absolute atmosphere’? is 1.3 per 
cent. less than the old atmosphere, and is the 
pressure exerted by a column of mereury 750.1 
centimeters high at 45° latitude and 0° Centigrade. 


A Method for Producing a Reproducible Contact 
Potential between Liquids: E. P. ScHocH. 


The Relation between the Concentrations and the 
Potential of the Ferrous-ferric Pole: E. P. 
ScHocH. (Lantern.) 


New Electro-analytical Methods for Lead, Tin, 
Copper and Antimony: H. P. ScHocH anpD D, J. 
Brown. (Lantern.) 


Contribution to the Knowledge of the Actinium 
Series: Hegpert N. McCoy anp Epwin D. LE- 
MAN. 


Solutions of Some Formates and of Hydrogen 
Chloride in Anhydrous Formic Acid-gases of Ap- 
parent Agreement of Strong Electrolytes with 
the Mass Law: H, I. SCHLESINGER AND A. W. 
MARTIN. 

When the degree of ionization of solutions of 
sodium, of phenyl-ammonium, of potassium and of 
ammonium formates in anhydrous formie acid is 


[N. 8S. Vou. XL. No. 1019 


calculated from the conductivities of these solu- 
tions, the values agree very closely with the equi- 
librium law up to concentrations, varying from 0.3 
to 0.55 molar in the several cases. These electro- 
lytes are highly ionized in this solvent, as shown by 
the ionization constants, which are 0.75, 0.74, 0.95, 
1.15 for the salts in the order in which they are 
named. Hydrogen chloride also agrees with the 
law; its constant is 0.04. When the conductivities 
are corrected for the viscosity of the solution the 
agreement with the law is not found. 


Vapor Tensions in Alcoholic Solutions: O. F. 

TOWER AND A. F. O, GERMANN. 

This is a continuation of the work published in 
the Journal of the society, 1908, p. 1219. Vapor 
pressures were measured exactly as described in 
that paper by means of the Morley gauge. The 
new feature is the preparation of the solutions en- 
tirely out of contact with air. Methyl and ethyl 
aleohols were used as solvents, and, after being 
purified and then fractionated in vacuo, were dis- 
tilled directly on to the solute. Potassium iodide, 
lithium chloride, benzil and tetramethylammonium 
iodide were the solutes employed. Curves drawn 
with the concentrations as abscissas and the low- 
ering, of the vapor tension as ordinates are fairly 
tegular, those of the salts rising more rapidly 
with the increase in concentration than those of 
the organic solutes. The molecular weights of the 
latter, as calculated, are approximately normal, 
while those of the salts are about one half the 
formula value and do not vary much with the con- 
centration. The work is being continued to see 
whether this last statement is confirmed by further 
experiments. 


Arsenious Oxide as a Starting Material in Acidi- 
metry: ALAN W. C. MENZIES AND EF. N. Mc- 
CARTHY. 


Equilibria in the Systems, Water, Acetone and In- 
organio Salts: GEO. B. FRANKFORTER AND LiL- 
LIAN COHEN. 

An inyestigation is made of the isotherms at 
20° of the systems, water, acetone salts. The salts 
used are KF, K,CO;, CaCl, and NaCl. The com- 
parative efficiency of these salts in ‘‘salting’’ out 
acetone from an aqueous solution is determined. 
KF is the most and NaCl is the least efficient. 
The amount of acetone present in an aqueous solu- 
tion can be determined by the formation of layers 
when the potassium fluoride is added to the solu- 
tion. Within certain limits methyl aleohol acts as 
if it were water and will not interfere in this de- 
termination. 


Juby 10, 1914] 


The Colorimetric Determination of Manganese by 
Means of Periodate: H. H. WiLaRD AND L. H. 
GREATHOUSE. 

The solution of manganese salt containing excess 
of nitric, sulfuric or phosphoric acid is boiled for 
a minute after addition of potassium periodate. 
The manganese is oxidized to permanganic acid, 
the periodic acid being reduced to iodie acid. 
Small amounts of hydrochlorie acid are without 
influence, being quickly oxidized to chlorine. The 
concentration of acid above a certain minimum 
may be varied within wide limits. In the presence 
of iron, sulfuric or phosphoric acid must be pres- 
ent to prevent the precipitation of ferric periodate. 
By means of a colorimeter, the solution is com- 
pared with a standard similarly prepared. 


Electromotive Behavior of Soluble Sulfides: R. C. 

WELLS. 

From a study of the potentials shown by various 
solutions of sulfides with a platinum electrode it 
was concluded that the electromotive behavior of 
the polysulfides depends on the relative propor- 
tions of the sulfides present, but that in acid solu- 
tions where free sulfur is apparently the only 
oxidation product of sulfide ions the potential of 
solutions which are very slightly oxidized can be 
expressed by the equation 


EH —=— 0.26 — 0.029 log[s-~], 


since the concentration of the free sulfur is con- 
stant and equal to its solubility in water. 


The Phase-rule Investigation of Addition Reac- 
tions: JAMES KENDALL. 

The freezing-point modes of the two-component 
system dimethylpyrone-acid have been examined for 
a large number of organic acids and phenole. The 
existence of thirty-seven addition compounds has 
been demonstrated. The results obtained are dis- 
cussed in their bearing on the constitution of 
dimethylpyrone and the quadrivalence of oxygen. 
The reaction is considered to be ionic, and the com- 
pounds formed to be true oxonium salts. The 
method is generally applicable to the study of or- 
ganic addition reactions. 

Peculiar Action of Iodine: CHarLEs T, P. FEn- 

NEL. 


Distribution of Caffeine and Antipyrin Between. 
Chloroform and Aqueous Solutions: W. O. 
EMERY AND C. D. WRIGHT. 

Reaction in Non-aqueous Solvents: O. LL. BARNEBEY. 

Separation of Potassium from Sodium by Extrac- 
tion of their Chlorplatinates with Acetone: O. L. 
BARNEBEY. 


SCIENCE 75 


Some Compounds Belonging to the Ammonia Sys- 
tem of Acids, Bases and Salts: B. C. FRANKLIN. 
(1) The Action of Potassiwm Amide on the 

Amides of Silver, Barium, Strontium, Calcium, 

Lithium and Sodium. By Edward ©. Franklin. 

It will be recalled that the writer and his col- 

laborators have prepared compounds of the for- 

mulas, 


Sn(NK)..4NH;, Zn(NHK),.2NH,, PbhNK.24NH, 
and 
N=Ti— NHE, 

to which, in view of the analogy existing between 
these compounds as derivatives of ammonia on 
the one hand, and the stannate, zincate, plumbite 
and titanate of potassium as derivatives of water 
on the other, have been given the respective names, 
potassium ammonostannate, potassium ammono- 
zineate, potassium ammonoplumbite and _ potas- 
sium ammonotitanate. Furthermore it will be re- 
membered that similar ammono salts containing 
thallium and magnesium have been prepared, an 
accomplishment which is noteworthy in view of 
the fact that the corresponding aquo salts are 
unknown. It now appears that not only are the 
above-mentioned salts formed in a manner similar 
to that used in the preparation of potassium am- 
monozineate but that also the amides of silver, 
barium, strontium, calcium and even lithium and 
sodium enter into reaction with potassium amide 
in solution in liquid ammonia to form sharply de- 
fined products of the respective formulas, 


AgNHK.NH,, BaNK.2NH,, SrNK.2NH,, 


CaNK.2NH,, LiNK,.2NH, and NaNK.-2NH;. 
If the compound, Zn(NHK),-2NH,, is properly 
designated as potassium ammonozincate, and it 
certainly is if the compound Zn(ONa). X H,0, is 
called potassium (aquo) zincate, then these new 
compounds must receive the respective names, 
monopotassium ammonoargentate, monopotassium 
ammonobarate, monopotassium ammonostrontiu- 
mate or strontianate, monopotassium ammonocal- 
ciumate or caleate, dipotassium ammonolithiumate 
(or possibly lithianate) and dipotassium ammonoso- 
diumate (or sodate or natronate). This procedure 
is of course pushing analogy to the limit and it 
may be that these products are not salts at all, but 
are molecular compounds as represented by the 
formulas 
AgNH,-KNH,, Ba(NH,).-2KNH.,, 
NaNH,..2KNH,, 


etc., whatever the significance of such formulas 


may be. The writer hopes, by transference meas- 


76 SCIENCE 


urements, to be fortunate enough to determine 
whether or not such a substance as NaNK,.2NH,, 
for example, in solution in liquid ammonia dis- 
sociates into NaN anions and K cations, though 
it may well turn out that such experiments will 
show no results because of ammonolytic decompo- 
sition of the salt, for certainly if acid at all 
sodium amide must be a very weak one. 

(2) The Action of Potassium Amide on Cad- 
mium, Nickel and Chromium Salts in Liquid Am- 
monia Solution. By EH. C. Franklin and George 
S. Bohart. Experience in this laboratory has 
shown that metallic amides, imides or nitrides are 
precipitated when a liquid ammonia solution of 
the ammono base, potassium amide, is added to 
similar solutions of the salts of heavy metals. It 
has also been found when the precipitant is added 
in excess that, in many cases, compounds are 
formed which are related to ammonia as the zin- 
cates and aluminates are related to water. (Cf. 
preceding abstract.) Following the procedure thus 
indicated the amides of cadmium and nickel, 
Cd(NH.). and Ni(NH.)2, have been prepared, 
both of which may be deammonated and thus con- 
verted into the corresponding nitrides, Cd,N, and 
Ni,N;. It has also been shown that compounds of 
the second class indicated above are formed when 
potassium amide is added in excess to solutions of 
the sulfocyanates of cadmium, nickel and chro- 
mium. The products obtained have the composi- 
tion represented by the empirical formulas, 
CdN,H,K,, Ni,N,H,,K, and Cr.N;H,,K;. Some 
light is thrown upon the nature of these com- 
pounds if they are formulated as follows: 

Cd(NHK),..2NH;, or Cd(NH.).-2KNH,, 


K,NNi—NK—NiNK.,.6NH, 


or 
2Ni(NH,)2-5KNH,, 
and : 
KN = Cr—NK—Cr = NK.5NH, 
or 


(NH,),Cr —NH—Cr(NH,) .3KNH,. 


They may receive the respective names; potassium 
ammonocadmiate (or cadmate), potassium am- 
mononickelate and potassium ammonochromate. 
When potassium nickel cyanide is treated with po- 
tassium amide one of the three complex com- 
pounds of the respective formulas, 


Ni,N,H.K,(CN),-8NH; 
(which loses ammonia to form Ni,N.H,K,(CN)6:.), 
NiNHK,(CN). and Ni,N,,H..K;(CN)2, is formed 
depending upon the relative quantities of the nickel 
salt and potassium amide used. We are unable to 


[N. 8. Von. XL. No. 1019 


assign rational -formulas to these compounds. 
Formulation as follows, however, furnishes some 
clue to their nature. 


(1) K,(CN),Ni—NH—Ni—NH—Ni(CN),; 


K,.8NH, 
or 
K,Ni(CN),-6NH,-2Ni(NH,).. 
(2) K(CN),NiNHK 
or 


K,Ni(CN),-Ni(NHK).. 
(3) (CN) Ni—NK—Ni—NK—Ni 
(CN) .5KNH,.4NH;. 


Number 1 is a mixed potassium nickel cyanide- 
nickel amide or imide. Number 2 is a mixed po- 
tassium nickel eyanide-potassium ammononickelate, 
as is also number 3. 


Gas Analyses by Liquefaction and Fractionatives 
and the Condition of Natural Gas in the Earth’s 
Strata: G. A. BURRELL AND FRANK M. SEIBERT. 
The exact composition of natural gas such as is 

used in Pittsburgh, Pa., Cincinnati, Ohio, and many 
other cities is shown for the first time. As a re- 
sult of this work it is shown that these gases are 
accumulated in their deposits in the gaseous con- 
dition, and not as liquids. If present therein as 
liquids it would be possible for single small sub- 
terranean reservoirs to hold much larger quanti- 
ties of gas than they now do. 


The Condition of Natural Gas in the EHarth’s 
Strata; G. A. BURRELL AND FRANK M. SEIBERT. 
(Lantern. ) 

Collisional and Diffusional Viscosities: HUGENE C. 
BINGHAM. 


Heat and Chemical Energy of Molecules, Atoms 
and Subatoms: J. E. SIEBEL. 
Electrostenolysis: Harry N. HouMEs. 

By electrostenolysis is meant the deposition of a 
metal or its oxide in very fine capillaries when the 
solution filling these capillaries is electrolyzed. 
Braun and Coehn experimented only with cracks 
in glass tubes. The author improved this method 
by the use of capillary membranes in the form of 
glass tubes packed with finely powdered sub- 
stances such as glass, sulfur and silica. This multi- 
plies greatly the capillary surfaces and permits the 
use of many different membranes. Working with 
tubes so prepared, the author added a number of 
examples of electrostenolysis to the list recorded 
by Braun. 

CHARLES L, PARSONS, 
Secretary 
(Zo be concluded) 


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SCIENCE 


Fray, Juuy 17, 1914 


CONTENTS 


The Principles of the Theory of Mutation: 
PROFESSOR HucGo DE VRIES 


The Problem of Lighting in its Relation to 
the Efficiency of the Hye: Dr. C. EH. FERREE. 84 


Carl Fuchs: FRANK E. BLAISDELL, SR. ...... 91 
Estimates of Population ............. soos GR) 
Scientific Notes and News ..........+..-+- 94 
University and Educational News .......... 97 


Discussion and Correspondence :— 


Lightning Flashes: Dr. CLEVELAND ABBE. 
A New Form of Collecting Pipette: ARTHUR 
M. Banta. Is Melanism due to Food? Wm. 
MN. CONS HERS Rs SRA Sota ase ries connor ee eae 98 


Scientific Books :— 


Iddings on Igneous Rocks: Dr. WHITMAN 
Cross. Allen’s Commercial Organic Analy- 
Sis: PROFESSOR LAFAYETTE B. MENDEL. 
Fantham and Porter on Minute Animal 


Parasites: PRoFESsoR Gary N. Ca.xins. 100 


Special Articles :— 
Direct Proof through Non-disjunction that 
the Sea-linked Genes of Drosophila are 
Borne by the X-chromosome: CALVIN B. 
Brinces. Hot-water Treatment for Cotton 
Anthracnose: H. W. Barre AND W. B. 


YAQUI oSic ee bol 6 CORE ERS RAE ee Bee 107 


The American Chemical Society. 
CHARLES L. Parsons 


IV: Dr. 


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


THE PRINCIPLES OF THE THEORY OF 
MUTATION1 


Unity of internal structure combined 
with a great diversity of external forms is 
the great principle of organic differentia- 
tion. Lamarck was the first to point this 
out and to explain it by his theory of com- 
mon descent. But the science of his time 
did not afford a sufficient body of facts in 
proof of his conception, and he failed to 
convince his contemporaries.” 


1 Address delivered at the University of Brussels, 
January 17, 1914. 

2‘<The Mutation Myth’’ is the title of a recent 
article in this journal, N. S., Vol. XXXIX., 
No. 1005, April 3, 1914, p. 488. Its author, Ed- 
ward ©. Jeffrey, starts from the conception that 
the mutation theory has been derived from 
my experiments with Wnothera Lamarckiana 
and allied species. This opinion is indeed, even 
yet, not unfrequently held by those who have not 
tread my books. It is obviously erroneous and 
therefore may well be called a myth. Logically 
and historically the desirability of those experi- 
ments has been derived from the theory, as will 
be seen in the text. Jeffrey bases his arguments 
upon the well-known researches of Geerts concern- 
ing the partial sterility of many of the members 
of the natural family of the Onagracew. Geerts 
found that in almost all the genera of this family, 
including all their species as far as investigated, 
the ovules are for one half in a rudimentary con- 
dition, which excludes the possibility of their beg 
fertilized, whilst about one half of the pollen 
grains is sterile. This double character has there- 
fore persisted during the pedigree-evolution of al- 
most this whole family. In contradiction with 
Geerts, Jeffrey considers it to be an indication of 
a hybrid condition. If this were true, almost the 
whole natural family of the Onagracee would 
have evolved in a hybrid condition and Gnothera 
Lamarckiana would follow the rule. It remains 
doubtful, however, how this hypothesis could ex- 
plain the high degree of mutability of O. Lamarck- 
wana, since the majority of the supposed hybrid 
species do not show signs of such a condition. 


agsmnian Insti 
iis “ty 


( 


{ Tat 


na pig me A el 


78 SCIENCE 


It has been the work of Darwin to accu- 
mulate a large number of facts and argu- 
ments, borrowed from the most diverse 
parts of the physical and biological sci- 
ences, and to combine the main results of 
the study of nature in general in order to 
find a conclusive proof of the idea of 
Lamarck. Common descent is now ac- 
knowledged as the natural cause of the 
unity of organization. Successive slow 
modifications have produced the great 
diversity of forms and the diverging lines 
of evolution which have gradually led to 
the highest degrees of differentiation. 

But his broad views and comprehensive 
considerations did not suffice to afford the 
desired proof. Comparative anatomy and 
systematical studies, the knowledge of the 
laws of the geographical distribution of 
animals and plants and of their gradual 
development during the geological epochs, 
could only outline the broad features of the 
theory. Evidently its basis must be sought 
in the study of the process by which one 
species is produced from another. Which 
is the nature and which are the causes of 
this process? Which are the elementary 
changes which, by numerous repetitions and 
combinations, have produced the main 
evolutionary lines of the animal and vege- 
table kingdom ? 

In order to answer these questions, 
Darwin studied the experience of the 
breeders. The improvement of domestic 
animals was well known at his time, the 
cultivated races of flowers and vegetables, 
of cereals and sugar-beets clearly and 
widely surpassed the same species in nature. 

The method of breeders is based on the 
principles laid down about the middle of the 
last century (1840) by P. P. A. Lévéque de 
Vilmorin, the father of the celebrated 
founder of the culture of sugar-beets. He 
had observed the high degree of variability 
of cultivated plants and discovered that by 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1020 


means of a choice of the best samples and 
by their isolation highly improved varieties 
may be produced. His son has applied this 
principle to the sugar-beets, one of the most 
variable of all cultivated forms, and suc- 
ceeded in increasing the amount of sugar 
from 7 to 14 per cent. This improvement 
soon became the basis of a large sugar- 
industry in many countries of Hurope. 
From that time isolation and selection have 
become the watchwords of a big new 
industry, which soon produced the most un- 
expected results in almost all parts of agri- 
cultural practise. 

Darwin transplanted this principle of 
practise into pure science. He studied the 
variability of species in the wild condition 
and found it as widely spread and as rich 
in its features as in cultivated forms. He 
saw that very many species are distributed 
in nature in such a way as to constitute 
numbers of isolated colonies, sufficiently dis- 
tant from one another to exclude the pos- 
sibility of intercrossing. He discovered the 
great factor which replaces artificial selec- 
tion in nature and ealled it by the name 
of natural selection. It is the unceasing 
struggle for existence and the victory of 
the most endowed individuals. In nature, 
every plant produces more seeds than can 
develop into new plants, owing to lack of 
space. Only those which are most fit for 
the surrounding conditions will survive, 
whilst the remainder are condemned to dis- 
appear. In this manner the struggle for 
life leads to a selection, which will be re- 
peated in every generation, and a whole 
colony may gradually change by this means 
until at the end the characters are suffi- 
ciently different from the original ones to 
constitute a new variety or even an ele- 
mentary species. 

Natural selection in the struggle for life 
has now become the main principle of 
organic evolution. Since species obey in 


JuLY 17, 1914] 


the wild condition the same laws as under 
cultivation, the principles of their improve- 
ment must be the same everywhere. 

Darwin applied this principle to geologi- 
eal evolution also. Lyell had shown that 
the laws of nature have always been the 
same from the very beginning. Therefore 
natural selection must have been active 
from the first time of the existence of life 
on earth and have produced the main lines 
of differentiation as well as the first traces 
of all those groups, which are now recog- 
nized as families and genera. It is my con- 
viction that the success of Darwin in this 
Ime of ideas has been as complete as pos- 
sible. He succeeded in convincing his con- 
temporaries of the essential analogy be- 
tween ‘artificial and natural selection. 

But, on the other hand, it must be con- 
ceded that the practise of breeders was not 
as simple as it seemed to be. No thorough 
study of the phenomena of variability had 
been made, and it was simply assumed that 
the diversity of forms within the cultivated 
races was due to one cause only. This was 
indicated by the well-known expression 
that no two individuals of a race are ex- 
actly alike. All specimens differ from one 
another in their industrial qualities as well 
as in their botanical characters. These 
qualities and characters are inheritable and 
the offspring of a selected individual will 
vary, according to Vilmorin, around 
an average lying between the type of the 
original species and that of the chosen 
individual. By this means the range of 
variability will be extended in the desired 
direction, and this may be repeated during 
a number of years, until the industrial 
value of the new race clearly surpasses that 
of the old one. 

Evidently, it was said, natural selection 
must work in the same way. But the ques- 
tion remains whether this will really lead 
to new species, or only to local and tem- 
porary adaptations. 


SCIENCE 79 


The answer to this question has been 
given by the newest discoveries of agri- 
cultural practise itself. Hyjalmar Nils- 
son, the director of the celebrated experi- 
mental station of Svalof in Sweden, dis- 
covered that variability among cultivated 
plants is not a single phenomenon, but con- 
tains at least two widely contrasted fea- 
tures. 

He found that, apart from fluctuating 
variability, every cultivated species is a 
mixture of elementary types. <A field of a 
cereal is only apparently uniform, and a 
closer investigation soon reveals numerous 
differences in the height of the stems, in 
the time of flowering, in the size and almost 
all other qualities of the ears, in resist- 
ance to diseases and especially in the in- 
dustrial value of the grains. Moreover, he 
found that all these qualities are strictly 
inheritable. Nilsson took the grains of a 
single ear and found that all the individ- 
uals issuing from them are strictly alike 
and carefully repeat the characters of their 
mother. From such a chosen ear one may 
derive by repeated sowings erain enough 
to sow a whole field, and this will show an 
almost complete and very striking uni- 
formity. Therefore our ordinary species 
and varieties of cultivated plants are in 
reality mixtures of a smaller or larger num- 
ber of different races, which grow together, 
but are, as a matter of fact, Independent of 
one another. These races themselves are 
almost invariable, but their mixture in the 
field produces upon us the impression of a 
ereat, variability. 

What is the significance of this discov- 
ery for the explanation of artificial selec- 
tion? Evidently this will tend to isolate 
the better races of the mixture and to ex- 
elude those of average or low value. Two 
methods may be followed. Hither the 
breeder collects a handful of ears chosen 
with the utmost care from all parts of his 
field and secures a lot of grains large 


80 


enough to sow a parcel of a moderate ex- 
tent. Or he limits his choice to one ear 
only, which will take him one year more to 
obtain the necessary quantity of grains. 
The first method is the one which is still 
commonly followed, the second was intro- 
duced some twenty years ago by Nilsson. 
The real nature of the first method may 
be explained by means of the careful 
studies of Rimpau, who applied it for the 
improvement of his rye. The group of ears 
of the first choice will evidently be itself a 
mixture, although of a lesser number of 
types. In choosing year after year a hand- 
ful of the best ears Rimpau must gradually 
have purified this mixture, until after 
twenty years he succeeded completely in 
isolating the very best one of them. 
From this time his race must have been 
pure and constant, no further selection 
being possible. Using the method of Nils- 
son the same result may be reached by a 
single choice, and therefore in one year. 
The new race is produced by a jump and 
not by the slow and gradual improvement 
by small and almost invisible steps, which 
Was assumed by Rimpau and Darwin. 
From these discoveries the question 
arises, whether natural selection also pro- 
ceeds by jumps and leaps, and not, as was 
commonly assumed, by imperceptible steps. 
The answer may be deduced from the ob- 
servations of Jordan and others on the 
existence of elementary species in nature. 
Almost every wild species consists of some 
of them, and in special cases their number 
imereases so as to embrace dozens or even 
hundreds of sharply distinguished types. 
Sometimes these are found in widely dis- 
tant stations; at other times, however, they 
are growing in mixtures. Natural selec- 
tion will, of course, under changed condi- 
tions, simply multiply one or two of the 
types to the exclusion of the others. As a 
whole, the species will make progress in 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1020 


the desired direction, but in reality there 
will be no change of forms. 

From all these and many other considera- 
tions it follows that the basis, which the 
practise of artificial selection seemed to 
afford to the theory of natural selection, is 
a fallacious one, and that the idea of evo- 
lution by means of slow and almost imper- 
ceptible steps must therefore be abandoned. 
But if this is conceded, how are species 
really produced in nature? 

The theory of mutations answers that 
species are produced by means of jumps 
and leaps, exactly in the same way as vari- 
eties in horticulture. Varieties are only 
beginning species, says Darwin, and the 
same laws must govern the origin of both 
of them. Now, in horticulture, it is well 
known that varieties usually arise at once. 
In a field of a species with blue or red 
flowers some day an individual with 
white flowers is seen. Ordinarily it is only 
one, and it is not surrounded by transi- 
tions or by flowers of intermediate colors. 
Sometimes there may be two or three, but 
then their flowers are of the same degree of 
whiteness. One seed of the species has been 
transformed into a variety, and this is its 
whole origin. A single season suffices to 
produce the effect, no slow and gradual 
improvement being required. Moreover, 
the seeds of the first individual, if fertilized 
and saved separately, will reproduce the 
variety wholly pure. The same rule pre- 
vails for large groups of other cases; every- 
where varieties arise by jumps, requiring 
only one year for their arrival. 

The same rule also holds good in nature. 
But in order to show this, direct experi- 
ments are required. For this object I have 
cultivated a large number of wild species 
in my experiment garden, trying to see them 
produce varieties and to be enabled there- 
by to study the laws of this process. Let 
me adduce two instances, the origin of the 


Juny 17, 1914] 


peloriated toadflax and that of the double 
variety of the corn marigold. These vari- 
eties appeared in my cultures all of a sud- 
den, after a number of years, the one in about 
half a dozen of individuals in successive 
generations, the other in a single instance. 
The ordinary toadflax has only one spur on 
its flowers and remained so in hundreds of 
individuals until a single specimen bore 
five spurs on every one of its flowers. The 
corn marigold had normal flower heads 
until 1899 when one individual produced 
some slight signs of duplication. Next year 
all its descendants bore double flowers and 
the race showed itself constant from the 
very beginning. 

Thus, the production of varieties by leaps 
and jumps may be considered as a well- 
proved fact in horticulture and in a state of 
nature. It is a firm basis for a new theory, 
and we have only to transport the prin- 
ciple from the varieties to the origin of 
elementary species. Recognized for species, 
the theory will obviously be true for genera 
and families also, and explain the evolu- 
tion of all organic beings in all the differ- 
ent lines of the genealogical tree. 

The idéa of the origin of species by leaps 
and jumps has the great advantage of an- 
swering in an unexpected and decisive way 
the numerous and in part very grave objec- 
tions which have been brought forward 
against the theory of Darwin. To my mind, 
this is one of the best arguments in its 
favor. It releases the theory of evolution 
from the serious difficulties which its ad- 
versaries have never ceased to urge against 
it. Therefore it seems useful to give a brief 
survey of them now. 

The oldest and most serious objection is 
based on the obvious uselessness of new 
characters during the first stages of their 
evolution, if this is supposed to be invisibly 
slow. Imperceptible odors can not guide 
insects in their visits to flowers and assure 


SCIENCE 


81 


to these a sufficient advantage in the 
struggle for life. Adaptations for the cap- 
turing of insects by plants would be of no 
value in a primary and imperfect condition 
and therefore can not be evolved by the 
action of natural selection. Imperfect in- 
stinets would be rather obnoxious, according 
to Wasmann, and thus would be liable to be 
destroyed instead of increased by this 
action. So itis in many other cases. Begin- 
ning characters would always be too insig- 
nificant to be of any value in the struggle 
for life. Hvidently the principle of leaps 
and jumps at once relieves us of the neces- 
sity of this hypothesis. It does not admit 
a gradual appearance of characters, but 
assumes these to appear at once in the full 
display of their development, and without 
the aid of natural selection. 

The same holds good for useless char- 
acters. The theory of Darwin can not 
explain them. According to him, every 
quality is developed exactly through its 
utility, and useless properties should be 
eliminated from the very beginning by the 
struggle for life. But it is now generally 
recognized that many beautiful differentia- 
tions are in reality no adaptations at all, 
and that their usefulness is at least very 
doubtful. This, for instance, is the case of 
heterostyly and of the likeness of the 
flowers of some orchids to insects. The 
theory of mutations has no difficulty with 
useless and even with slightly prejudicial 
characters. Arising by asudden jump, they 
may keep their place, provided only that 
they are not in such a degree hurtful as to 
prevent a normal development of the indi- 
viduals. 

A third objection has been derived from 
the studies of the celebrated anthropologist 
Quetelet, who discovered the general law 
of fluctuating variability. He introduced 
the principle of studying every quality for 
itself and of comparing the different 


82 


degrees of its development in a large num- 
ber of individuals. He found by this means 
that characters simply follow the laws of 
probability. They vary around an average 
condition in two directions, of increase 


and decrease, but precisely thereby this 


variability excludes the production of a 
new character. Darwin tried to derive the 
one from the other, whilst the theory of 
mutations recognizes the almost diametri- 
cally opposed nature of the two phenomena. 

A last objection has been brought for- 
ward by the study of the age of the earth. 
Physicists as well as astronomers have re- 
fused to accept the theory of slow evolu- 
tion as the time required by Darwin 
in connection with his ideas, seemed by far 
too long. A man’s life would not suffice 
to see the changes, which, after him, would 
be necessary to produce a single step in 
the line of evolution. The differentiation 
of a flower or of a seed would require 
millions of years if it went on so slowly, 
and the development of the whole organism 
of a plant, and still more so that of the 
higher animals, would obviously require a 
vastly larger amount of time. Darwin has 
calculated the necessary time for the evolu- 
tion of the whole animal and plant kingdom 
on the assumption of slow and almost im- 
perceptible changes, and estimated it to be 
at least equal to some thousands of millions 
of years. 

But our globe can not be as old as that. 
There is quite a large number of arguments 
which allow us to estimate the age of the 
earth with a sufficient degree of accuracy, 
and they all point, unanimously, to a period 
of only some twenty or forty millions of 
years. This number is evidently far too 
small for the explanation given by Darwin 
and in consequence thereof it has always 
been considered as one of the most decisive 
arguments against the theory of slow and 
gradual evolution. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1020 


In order to estimate the age of the earth 
different phenomena may be used. First 
the separation of the moon, secondly the 
solidification of the earth’s crust, then the 
condensation of the aqueous vapor and the 
formation of oceans. The quantity of salt 
dissolved in these oceans and the thickness 
of the geological layers, especially those of 
a caleareous nature, afford further argu- 
ments, 

According to George Darwin the moon 
was separated from our globe about 56 
millions of years ago. The age of the solid 
erust has been calculated by Lord Kelvin 
from the increase of the temperature in 
deep mines. In some regions the tempera- 
ture is seen to increase about one degree 
for every fifty meters; in others, however, 
one degree for a hundred meters. On the 
average the considerations of Lord Kelvin 
gave an age of twenty to forty millions of 
years for the solid crust of the earth, 

The quantity of salt obviously increases 
in the oceans on account of the salt added 
by the rivers and of the evaporation of the 
water. The total quantity of this salt has 
been calculated and the quantities of the 
yearly supply of water are known for all 
the larger streams, as well as their percen- 
tage of salt. From these data we may ecal- 
culate the annual increase of salt in the 
oceans and find how many years would be 
required for our present rivers to accumu- 
late all the salt now found in the seas. 
According to Joly, about ninety millions of 
years would be necessary. But obviously 
the rivers must exhaust the grounds which 
they drain, and formerly these must there- 
fore have been much richer in salts. This 
consideration must lead us to diminish the 
number of years required in a very sen- 
sible manner. 

The age of the geological strata has been 
deduced from their thickness and the 
velocity of the process of sedimentation. 


Juny 17, 1914] 


Sollas estimates the total thickness at about 
80 kilometers and the average rate of 
deposition of the layers at 30 cm. per 
century. From these numbers we may find 
an age of 26 millions of years for the 
collective deposition of all the geological 
layers. Calcareous rocks have been built 
by organisms and mainly by corals and 
molluscs. These have made use of the lime 
added to the sea by the rivers. Dubois 
has calculated on the one hand the whole 
thickness of these rocks and on the other 
the yearly supply of lime from the rivers. 
He concludes that 36-45 millions of years 
would be required to produce the whole of 
this system. ; 

All these data have been subjected to a 
criticism by Sollas and compared with one 
another. Obviously the highest estimates 
are only limits, and in considering this, 
Sollas arrives at the general average of 
about 20-40 millions of years. He points 
out that the epochs which have served as 
starting points are not very far distant 
from one another, considered in a geolog- 
ical way, and that therefore they may be 
taken together to delineate the duration 
of organic life on this earth. 

As we have seen, this duration is by far 
too short to allow the slow and gradual 
development of life supposed by Darwin. 
It necessitates a very substantial abbrevia- 
tion of this process and thus affords one of 
the best supports of the theory of mutations, 

Thus we see that this theory is based on 
almost all the branches of natural science. 
All of them join in the assertion that the 
hypothesis of slow and almost invisible 
changes is too improbable to be accepted 
and is even in open contradiction to some 
of the best results of other sciences. The 
theory of an evolution by leaps and jumps 
evades all these objections and thereby 
releases the theory of Darwin from its 
Separate position. 


SCIENCE 83 


But it is doing more than this. By 
rejecting the hypothesis of invisible 
changes it leads us to search for the 
visible alterations, which it assumes to be 
the leaps and jumps by which animal and 
vegetable species are being produced. If 
the transformation of one species into an- 
other is a visible process, it must evidently 
be sought for and be brought to light in 
order to study its laws, and to derive from 
this study an experimental proof for the 
theory of evolution. 

However, it is hardly probable that these 
jumps are numerous in nature as it now 
surrounds us. On the contrary, they must 
rather be rare, since nobody had seen them 
until now in the field. Therefore I have 
sought for a plant which would produce 
more of such mutations than other plants. 
I have studied over a hundred species, 
investigating their progeny, and among 
them one has answered my hopes. This is 
the evening primrose of Lamarck, which 
chances to bear the name of the founder of 
the theory of evolution which it is pre- 
pared to support. It is a species which 
grew wild in the territory of the United 
States, where it has been collected by the 
well-known traveler and botanist Michaux, 
and whence Lamarck derived the authentic 
specimen for his description. Since that 
time it has spread in Europe and is now 
found especially in England, Belgium and 
Holland in a number of localities, some of 
which consist of many thousands of indi- 
viduals. In more than one of these local- 
ities it has been observed to produce muta~- 
tions, especially in a field near Hilversum 
in Holland, whence I have obtained the 
individuals and seeds which have served 
as the starting points of my cultures. 

In these cultures the species is seen to be 
very pure and uniform in the large major- 
ity of its offspring, but to produce on an 
average one or two aberrant forms in every 


84 


hundred of its seedlings. The differences 
are easily seen even in young plants and 
are mostly large enough to constitute new 
races. The more common ones of these 
races are produced repeatedly, from the 
seed from the wild plants as well as in the 
pure lines of my cultures. It is obviously 
a constant and inheritable condition which 
is the cause of these numerous and repeated 
jumps. 

’ These jumps at once constitute constant 
and ordinarily uniform races, which differ 
from the original type either by regressive 
characters or in a progressive way. By 
means of isolation and artificial feeundation 
these races are easily kept pure during 
their succeeding generations. 

I shall not insist here upon their special 
characters. The most frequent form is 
that of the dwarfs, Hnothera nanella, and 
the rarest is the giant, or O. gigas, which 
has a double number of chromosomes in its 
nuclei (28 instead of 14) and by this mark 
and its behavior in crossing proves to be 
a progressive mutation. Other new types 
which are produced yearly are O. rubri- 
nervis, O. oblonga and O. albida. O. lata 
is a female form, producing only sterile 
pollen in its anthers and O. scintillans is in 
a splitting condition, returning every year 
in a greater or less number of individuals 
to the original type from which it started. 
Besides these there are a large number of 
mutations of minor importance, many of 
which have not even been described up to 
the present time. 

Thus we see that the experiments pro- 
vide us with a direct proof for the theory 
of evolution. They constitute an essential 
support of the views of Darwin, and more- 
over they relieve them of the many objec- 
tions we have quoted and bring them into 
harmony with the results of the other 
natural sciences. 

- But, besides this, they show us the way 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1020 


into a vast new domain of investigation and 
afford the material for a study of the in- 
ternal and external causes which determine 
the production of new species, at least in 
those cases in which, as in the primroses, 
mutations are relatively abundant. Erom 
these we may confidently hope to come 
some day to the study of those rarer muta- 
tions on which the differentiation of the 
main lines of organic evolution seem to 


have depended. Hueo DE VRIES 
UNIVERSITY OF AMSTERDAM 


THE PROBLEM OF LIGHTING IN ITS RE- 
LATION TO THE EFFICIENCY OF 
THE EYE 

Up to the present time the work on the prob- 
lem of lighting has been confined almost en- 
tirely to the source of light. The goal of the 
lighting engineer has been to get the maxi- 
mum output of light for a given expenditure 
of energy. Until recent years little attention 
has been given to the problem in its relation 
to the eye. It is the purpose of this paper to 
outline in a general way some of the more im- 
portant features of this phase of the subject, 
and to give some of the results of work that is 
now being done on the: problems that these 
features present. 

Confronting the problem of. the effect of 
lighting systems on the eye, it is obvious that 
the first step towards systematic work is to 
obtain some means of making a definite esti- 
mate of this effect. The prominent effects of 
bad lighting systems are loss of efficiency, 
temporary and progressive, and eye discom- 
fort. Three classes of effect may, however, 
be investigated: (1) the effect on the general 
level or scale of efficiency for the fresh eye; 
(2) loss of efficiency as the result of a period 
of work; and (38) the tendency to produce dis- 
eomfort. Of these three classes of effect the 
last two are obviously the more important, 
for the best lighting system is not the one 
that gives us the maximum acuity of vision 


1This paper, with some changes, was read be- 
fore the American Philosophical Society of Phila- 
delphia, April 4, 1913. 


Juuy 17, 1914] 


for the momentary judgment or the highest 
level of efficiency for the fresh eye. It is 
rather the one that gives us the least loss of 
efficiency for a period of work, and the maxi- 
mum of comfort. 

Im 1911 the American Medical Association 
appointed a committee to study the effect of 
different lighting systems on the eye. The 
writer was asked to share in the work of this 
committee. The problem presented to him 
was to furnish tests that would show the ef- 
fect of different lighting systems on the eye, 
and more especially to devise, if possible, a 
test that would show loss of efficiency as a re- 
sult of three or four hours of work under 
an unfavorable lighting system. In his work 
directed along these lines he has succeeded in 
getting methods of estimating effect which 
after eighteen months of trial seem sufficiently 
sensitive to differentiate between good and 
bad lighting systems with regard to these 
points. He has undertaken, therefore, to 
determine (1) the lighting conditions that 
give in general the highest level or scale of 
visual efficiency; (2) the conditions that give 
the least loss of efficiency for continued work; 
and (3) the conditions that cause the least 
discomfort. This plan of work, it is scarcely 
needful to remark, will involve a wide range 
of experimentation. The crux of the problem 
is, however, to secure reliable methods of esti- 
mating effect. Having these methods, the 
factors, whatever they may be, distribution, 
intensity, quality, position of the light rela- 
tive to the eye, ete., can be varied one at a 
time and the effects be determined. From these 
effects it should not be difficult to ascertain 
what lighting conditions are best for the eye, 
and what is the relative importance of the 
factors that go to make up these conditions. 
Further, it should be possible on the practical 
side to test out and perfect a lighting system 
before it is put on the market; also to deter- 
mine the best conditions of installation for a 
given lighting system; to investigate the effect 
of different kinds of type and paper on the 
eye; to study the effect of different kinds of 
desk lighting, ete. In short, it is obvious that 


SCIENCE 


85 


the usefulness of such tests is limited along 
these lines only by their sensitivity. 

A detailed description of the tests we are 
using has already appeared in print.2 Time 
can not be given to them here. A brief report 
only of some of the results of the work in 
which they have been employed is possible in 
the time placed at my disposal. 

In the study of the problems presented to 
us in this field it has been thought best to 
conduct the investigation at first along broad 
lines in order to determine in a general way 
the conditions that affect the efficiency and 
comfort of the eye. Later a more detailed 
examination will be made of the ways in 
which these conditions have been worked out 
in the various types of lighting systems in use 
at the present time. The following aspects of 
lighting sustain an important relation to the 
eye: the evenness of the illumination, the 
diffuseness of light, the angle at which the 
light falls on the object viewed, the evenness 
of surface brightness, intensity and quality. 
The first four of these aspects are very closely 
interrelated, and are apt to vary together in 
a concrete lighting situation, although not 
in ai:1 ratio. For the purposes of this paper 
these aspects will be grouped together and 
referred to as the distribution of light and 
surface brightness in the field of vision, or 
still more generally as distribution. The ideal 
condition with regard to distribution is to have 
the field of vision uniformly illuminated with 
light well diffused and no extremes of sur- 
face brightness. When this condition is 
attained, the illumination of the retina will 
shade off more or less gradually from center to 
periphery, which gradation is necessary for 
accurate and comfortable fixation and accom- 
modation. 

The factors we have grouped under the 
heading distribution can be most conveni- 
ently discussed perhaps with reference to four 
types of lighting systems in common use 

2‘‘MTests for the Efficiency of the Eye Under Dif- 
ferent Systems of Illumination and a Preliminary 
Study of the Causes of Discomfort,’’ Transactions 
of the Illuminating Engineering Society, 1913, 
VIII. pp. 40-60. 


86 
to-day: illumination by daylight, direct light- 
ing systems, indirect lighting systems and 
semi-direct systems. In the proper illumina- 
tion of a room by daylight, we have been able 
thus far to get the best conditions of distribu- 
tion. Before it reaches our windows or sky- 
lights daylight has been rendered widely dif- 
fuse by innumerable reflections; and the 
windows and skylights themselves, acting as 
sources, have a broad area and low intrinsic 
brilliancy, all of which features contribute 
towards giving the ideal condition of distri- 
bution stated above, namely, that the field of 
vision shall be uniformly illuminated with 
light well diffused and that there shall be no 
extremes of surface brightness. Of the sys- 
tems of artificial lighting the best distribu- 
tion effects, speaking in general terms, are 
given by the indirect systems. In this type of 
system the source is concealed from the eye 
‘and the light is thrown against the ceiling or 
some other diffusely reflecting surface, in such 
a way that it suffers one or more reflections 
before it reaches the eye. In some of the 
respects most important to the eye, this system 
pives the best approximation of the distri- 
bution effects characteristic of daylight of 
any that has yet been devised. The direct 
lighting systems are designed to send the 
light directly to the plane of work. There is 
in general in the use of these systems a 
tendency to concentrate the light on the work- 
ing plane or object viewed rather than to dif- 
fuse it, and, therefore, a tendency to emphasize 
brightness extremes rather than to level them 
down. Too often, too, the eye is not properly 
shielded from the light source and frequently 
no attempt at all is made to do this. The semi- 
indirect systems are intended to represent a 
compromise between the direct and indirect 
systems. A part of the light is transmitted 
directly to the eye through the translucent 
reflector placed beneath the source of light, and 
a part is reflected to the ceiling. Thus, de- 
pending upon the density of the reflector, this 
type of system may vary between the totally 
direct and the totally indirect as extremes and 
share in the relative merits and demerits of 
each in proportion to its place in the scale. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1020 


By giving better distribution this type of 
system is supposed also to be a concession to 
the welfare of the eye, but our tests show that 
the concession, at. least for the type of 
reflector we have used,® is not so great as it is 
supposed to be. In fact, installed at the inten- 
sity of illumination ordinarily used or at an 
intensity great enough for all kinds of work, 
little advantage is gained for the eye in this 
type of lighting with reflectors of low or 
medium densities; for with these intensities 
of light and densities of reflector, the bright- 
ness of the source has not been sufficiently 
reduced to give much relief to the suffering 
eye. Until this is done in home, office and 


3 The reflectors we used were supplied to us by a 
prominent lighting corporation, interested neither 
in the manufacture nor the sale of lighting fixtures, 
in response to a request for a representative semi- 
indirect lighting system. Obviously, however, final 
conclusions should be reserved until the tests are 
extended to other types of reflectors. 

4 The semi-indirect system used by us was but 
little better for the eye than the direct sys- 
tem. The direct system we employed was the one in 
general use throughout the building in which our 
tests were made. It was installed about six years 
ago and is, therefore, not of the most modern 
type. It seems to the writer safe to say, however, 
that it gives effects fully as good as most direct 
lighting in actual use in the country to-day. Fur- 
thermore, it is difficult to believe that any great 
injustice has been done to direct lighting, so far as 
this principle of lighting has been commercialized 
up to this time, by the selection of this system, be- 
cause of the fact that very little less loss of effi- 
ciency was obtained from the semi-indirect lighting 
system, which on account of its similarity to indi- 
rect lighting represents, we have good reason to be- 
lieve from our results, a greater modification of di- 
rect lighting for the welfare of the eye than any 
that is found within the class of direct systems. 
However, a final conclusion will be reserved until a 
more extensive investigation of the direct systems 
has been made. The writer further does not wish 
to be understood as contending that direct lighting 
can not be accomplished in a way that is not ex- 
cessively damaging to the eye. Doubtless great im- 
provement can be made in this type of lighting if 
proper attention is given to the fundamental prin- 
ciples governing the effect of light on the eye. It 
does not seem to the writer, however, that the prin- 


Juuy 17, 1914] 


public lighting we can not hope to get rid of 
eye-strain with its complex train of physical 
and mental disturbances. 

Tt is not our purpose, however, at this time 
to attempt a final rating of the merits of 
lighting systems. For that our work is still 
too young. Moreover, there are relatively 
good and bad systems of each type, and good 
and bad installations may be made of any 
system. What we hope to do is by making an 
appropriate selection and variation of condi- 
tions to find out what the factors are that 
are of importance to the eye, and from this 
knowledge as a starting point to work towards 
reconstruction. 

With regard to the effect of the distribu- 
tion of light and surface lightness on 
the eye a brief statement will be given here 
only of its effect on efficiency; and in the 
consideration of efficiency loss of efliciency 
will receive the major part of our attention. 
No attempt will be made, for example, to pre- 
sent the results of the study of the factors 
‘producing discomfort. The study of these 
factors has constituted for us an entirely 
separate and independent piece of work inves- 
tigated by separate and independent methods. 

Our tests for loss of efficiency® show that 


ciple of direct lighting offers as great possibilities 


in this direction as the indirect; still he permits 
this also to remain an open question in his mind. 
It is obvious that much can be accomplished for the 
welfare of the eye in cases both of the direct and 
Semi-indirect systems by using sources of large 
area and of low intrinsic brillianey, by removing 
them as much as possible from the field of vision, 
by employing better means of diffusing the light, 
ete. 

5 The tests were made in a room 30.5 feet long, 
22.3 feet wide, and 9 feet high. The artificial 
lighting was accomplished by means of two rows 
of fixtures of four fixtures each. Each row was 6 
feet from the side wall and the fixtures were 6 
feet apart. The reflectors were in the different 
cases 19—26 inches from the ceiling. Clear tungsten 
lamps were used as source. The voltage was kept 
constant by means of a voltmeter and a finely grad- 
uated wall rheostat placed in series with the light- 
ing cireuit. In case of the direct system two bulbs 
making an angle of 180° were used for each fixture 
and the distribution was obtained by means of white 


SCIENCE 


87 


when the intensity and quality of the light 
are equalized at the point of work, the eye 


slightly concayed porcelain reflectors 16 inches im 
diameter fastened directly above. In case of the in- 
direct system corrugated mirror reflectors, enclosed 
in brass bowls, were used. For the semi-indirect 
system the distribution was obtained by means of 
inverted alba reflectors 11 inches in diameter 
which threw a part of the light against the 
ceiling and transmitted the rest directly to 
the room, minus a rather large absorption quan- 
tity. The daylight illumination came from 
three windows all on one side of the room and 
Situated in a line parallel with the line of 
sight used when making the tests. These windows 
were so sheltered that it was never possible for 
them to receive light directly from the sun or 
from a brightly illuminated sky. Moreover, the 
light from one of them, the one nearest the ob- 
Server, was further diffused by passing through 
a diffusion sash made of double thick glass ground 
on one side. The intensity in foot-candles was 
made equal at the point of work for all the sys- 
tems employed. In making this equalization the 
light was photometered in five directions at the 
point of work: with the receiving surface of the 
photometer in the horizontal plane, at angles of 
45° and 90° pointing towards the observer, and at 
angles of 45° and 90° pointing in the opposite di- 
rection. In installing the lights in the different 
systems it was impossible to make the intensity 
equal in all of these directions. Care was taken to 
make it equal in the plane of the test card, 4 ¢.,, 
the vertical plane, and as nearly as possible equal 
in the other planes. The Sharpe-Millar portable 
photometer was used to make these measurements, 
also another method mentioned in a former paper 
(op. cit., p. 49) which is more sensitive to day- 
light illumination than is the Sharpe-Millar 
method. ‘The effect of varying distribution of 
light was thus tested under conditions in which 
quality and intensity were reduced as nearly to a 
constant as was possible with the systems em- 
ployed. ‘The intensity in the vertical plane was 
anade in each case 1.4 foot-candles or approximately 
so. Space can not be taken here for an engineer- 
ing specification of the installations used and the 
lighting effects produced. A full report of the 
work including detailed brightness and illumina- 
tion measurements, photographs showing the il- 
lumination effects obtained, descriptions of installa- 
tions, ete., will be published in the Transactions of 
the Illuminating Engineering Society. 


88 SCIENCE 


loses practically nothing in efficiency as the 
result of three to four hours of work under 
daylight. It loses enormously for the same 
period of work under the system of direct 
lighting selected for our work and almost as 
much under the system of semi-indirect 
lighting. Under the system of indirect 
lighting, however, the eye loses but little 
more than it loses in daylight. The results 
of these tests show also that acuity of vision 
as determined by the momentary judgment is 
higher for the same foot-candles of illumina- 
tion for the daylight system than for the 
systems of artificial lighting, and that for the 
latter systems, it is highest for the indirect 
system, next highest for the semi-indirect 
system, and lowest for the direct. It will thus 
be seen that for all purposes of clear seeing, 
whether the criterion be maximum acuity or 
the ability of the eye to hold its efficiency for 
a period of work, the best results are given in 
order by the systems that give the best dis- 
tribution of light and surface brightness. The 
effect of distribution is not so great, however, 
on the ability of the fresh eye to see clearly as 
it is on its power to hold its efficiency. 

The loss of efficiency found in the above 
work seems to be predominantly, if not en- 
tirely muscular, for the tests for the sensitiv- 
ity of the retina show practically no loss of 
sensitivity as the result of work under any of 
the lighting systems employed. The following 
reasons are suggested why the muscles of the 
eye giving both fixation and accommodation 
should have been subjected to a greater strain 
by the systems of direct or semi-direct light- 
ing, than by the system of indirect light- 
ing or daylight. (1) The bright images 
of the sources falling on the peripheral 
retina which is in a perpetual state of dark- 
ness-adaptation, aS compared with the cen- 
tral retina, and is, therefore, extremely sensi- 
tive in its reaction to such intensive stimuli, 
set up a reflex tendency for the eye to fixate 
them instead of, for example, the letters which 
the observer is required to read. (2) Like- 
wise, a strong reflex tendency to accommodate 
for these brilliant sources of light, all at 
different distances from each other and the 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1020 


lettered page, is set up. (8) These brilliant 
images falling on a part of the retina that 
is not adapted to them, causing as they do 
acute discomfort in a very short period of time, 
doubtless induce spasmodic contractions of the 
muscles which both disturb the clearness of 
vision and greatly accentuate the fatiguing 
of the muscles. The net result of all these 
causes is excessive strain, which shows itself 
in a loss of power to do work. In the illu- 
mination of a room by daylight, however, 
with a proper distribution of windows, the 
situation is quite different. The field of 
vision contains no bright sources of light to 
disturb fixation and accommodation and to 
cause spasmodic muscular disturbances due 
to the action of the intensive light sources on 
the dark-adapted and sensitive peripheral 
retina. As has already been pointed out, the 
light waves have suffered innumerable reflec- 
tions and the light has become diffuse. The 
field of vision is comparatively speaking uni- 
formly illuminated and there are no extremes 
of surface brightness. The illumination of 
the retina, therefore, falls off more or less 
gradually from center to periphery, as it should 
to permit of fixation and accommodation for a 
given object with a minimum amount of strain. 

It is not our purpose, however, to contend 
that distribution is the only factor of impor- 
tance in the illumination of a room. We have 
chosen to begin our work with types based on 
distribution, only because it has seemed to us, 
both from our own work and from a survey of 
the work done by others, that this is the most 
important factor with which we have yet to 
deal in our search for the conditions that give 
minimum loss of efficiency and maximum 
comfort in seeing. The quality of light and 
its intensity at the source are already pretty 
well taken care of, apparently better taken care 
of, at least in general practise relative to their 
importance to the eye, than is distribution. 
A systematic study of factors, however, can 
not stop with an investigation of the effect of 
distribution alone. The intensity and quality 
of light must also be taken into account. For 
example, one of the most persistent questions 
asked by the illuminating engineer is, “ How 


JuLy 17, 1914] 


much light should be uséd with a given 
lighting system to give the best results for 
seeing?” We have undertaken, therefore, to 
determine the most favorable range of inten- 
sity for the four types of distribution men- 
tioned above. Curves have been obtained 
showing the effect on the efficiency of the eye 
of three or four hours of work under different 
intensities of light, for the direct and semi- 
indirect systems; and rough comparisons have 
been made for the indirect system and for day- 
light. Detailed tests will be made for these 
latter two systems early next year. Our tests 
show, in general, the following results. A very 
wide range of intensity is permissible for day- 
light and the indirect system. For the semi- 
indirect system the eye falls off heavily in effi- 
ciency for all intensities with the exception of 
a narrow range on either side of 2.2 foot- 
candles, measured at the level of the eye at 
the point of work with the receiving surface 
of the photometer in the horizontal plane. 
For the direct system no intensity can be 
found for which the eye does not lose a very 
great deal in efficiency as the result of work. 
Thus it seems that distribution is funda- 
mental. That is, if the light is well distri- 
buted and there are no extremes of surface 
brightness as is the case for daylight and the 
indirect systems of artificial lighting, the 
ability of the eye to hold its efficiency is, 
within limits, independent of intensity. In 
short, the retina is itself highly accommoda- 
tive or adaptive to intensity, and if the proper 
distribution effects are obtained, the condi- 
tions are not present which cause strain and 
consequent loss of efficiency in the adjustment 
of the eye. 

Details of the conditions of installation and 
of the methods of working can not be given 
here. It will be sufficient to state that the 
work was done in the same room, with the 
same fixtures, and in general with the same 
conditions of installation and methods of 
working as were used in the tests for distri- 
bution. Nor can a full statement of results 
be made. Time will be taken, however, for a 
more detailed examination of the results ob- 
tained for the direct and semi-indirect sys- 


SCIENCE 89 


tems. For the semi-indirect systems, our test 
showed that the intensity most favorable to 
the eye was secured when the photometric 
reading with the receiving surface in the 
horizontal plane showed 2.2 foot-candles of 
light at the point of work, 1.52 foot-candles 
in the 45° position, and .58 foot-candle in 
the vertical position. At this intensity of 
illumination, the semi-indirect system, so far 
as its effect on the eye’s loss of efficiency is 
concerned, compares fairly well with the in- 
direct system at such ranges of intensity as 
we have employed. At intensities appreciably 
higher than this most favorable value, or lower, 
the loss of efficiency is very great. At the 
intensity commonly recommended in lighting 
practise, the semi-indirect system is almost, 
if not quite, as damaging to the eye as the 
direct system. The intensity recommended 
by the Illuminating Engineering Society, for 
example, in its primer issued in 1912, ranges 
from 2-3 to 7-10 foot-candles, depending upon 
the kind of work. Five foot-candles is taken 
as a medium value. This medium value, it 
will be noted, is more than double the amount 
we have found to give the least loss of effi- 
ciency for the type and installation of semi- 
indirect system we have used. The intensity 
we have’ found ‘to give the least loss of effi- 
ciency for this type of lighting, does not, 
however, give a maximum acuity of vision 
as determined by the momentary judgment. 
At an intensity that does give maximal acuity 
for the momentary judgment the eye runs 
down rapidly in efficiency. That is, in this 
type of lighting, one or the other of these 
features must be sacrificed. High acuity and 
little loss of efficiency ean not be had at the 
same intensity. They could both be had only 
under the indirect system and daylight. How- 
ever, the amount of light we find to give the 
least loss of efficiency seems to be sufficient for 
much of the work ordinarily done in the home 
or office. It is not enough, though, for draft- 
ing or work requiring great clearness of 
detail. 

In case of the direct system, we were able to 
improve the conditions, so far as loss of 
efficiency is concerned, by reducing the inten- 


90 


sity; but the system never proved so favorable 
in this regard as even the semi-indirect system. 
In the tests made under the direct system care 
was taken to have the fixtures in the 
same position in the room in every case as 
they were for the semi-indirect system. The 
most favorable intensity is secured by an in- 
stallation that gave 1.16 foot-candles in the 
horizontal, .85 in the 45° position and .45 
in. the vertical. At this intensity, however, 
the loss in the efficiency of the eye for three 
hours of work was almost four and one half 
times as great as for a wide range of inten- 
sities for either the indirect system or day- 
light. 

Two facts, then, may be emphasized at this 
point. (1) Of the lighting factors that influ- 
ence the welfare of the eye, those we have 
grouped under the heading distribution appar- 
ently are fundamental. They seem to be the 
most important we have yet to deal with in our 
search for the conditions that give us the mini- 
mum loss of efficiency and the maximum com- 
fort in seeing. If, for example, the light is 
well distributed in the field of vision and there 
are no extremes of surface brightness, our 
tests seem to indicate that the eye, so far 
as the problem of lighting is concerned, is 
when the proper distribution is present, inten- 
sities high enough to give the maximum dis- 
crimination of detail may be employed with- 
out causing appreciable damage or discomfort 
to the eye. (2) For the kind of distribution 
effects given by the majority of lighting 
systems in use at the present time, our results 
show that too much light is being employed 
for the welfare and comfort of the eye. 

The effect of quality of light on the eye has 
been the subject of much discussion and much 
misunderstanding. There seems to be a feel- 
ing even among lighting engineers and oph- 
thalmologists that colored light gives better 
results for seeing than white light. Some, for 
example, hold that the kerosene flame furnishes 
the ideal source of light and that its virtues 
are due largely to the yellow quality of the 
light it gives off. While the writer has not 
as yet begun a systematic study of the effect 
of quality of light, and while he is, therefore, 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1020 


not as yet willing to commit himself on this 
point, he will say that when intensity and dis- 
tribution are equalized, an installation of clear 
carbon lamps, which gives a light compara- 
tively rich in yellow and red, causes the eye 
to fall off more in efficiency as the result of 
38-4 hours of work than an installation of 
clear tungsten lamps, the light from which is 
more nearly white. In short, the question 
whether or not white or colored light is better 
for the eye can not be answered until definite 
tests are made-of this point alone under con- 
ditions in which all other factors are rendered 
constant. The effects of the kerosene flame, 
for example, as compared with other sources 
of illumination, must be tested under a system 
of installation that gives the same intensity 
at the source, and, as nearly as possible, the 
same distribution in the field of vision as is 
given by other illuminants. This has not been 
done at all. Our judgment of the compara- 
tive merits of the color quality of the light 
given by it have been based on the roughest 
kinds of impression, obtained under condi- 
tions of installation im which there has been 
no attempt at control of the other factors that 
influence the effect of light on the eye. The 
work that has been done up to this time on the 
relation of quality of light to seeing has been 
confined to visual acuity as determined by the 
momentary judgment, and even this work 
which alone can give no safe grounds at all 
for drawing general conclusions as to the 
effect of light on the welfare of the eye, shows, 
whenever the comparison has been made, that 
white light gives a greater acuity of seeing 
than light with a dominant color tone. If, as 
has been maintained by some on the grounds 
of their working experience, the kerosene flame 
is easier on the eye than the more modern 
sources of illumination, the writer would be 
inclined, more especially in view of his results 
on the effect of differences in intensity on the 
efficiency of the eye, to ascribe the benefit, 
whatever there may be, to the low intrinsic 
brillianey of the kerosene flame. For, as has 
already been stated, it may be safely said that 
for the kind of distribution effects we are 
getting from the large majority of our light- 


Juy 17; 1914] 


ing systems, too much light: is being used for 
the welfare and comfort of the eye. Added 
to this is the effect of. the. position of 
the light in. the field: of vision. The kero- 
sene lamp may be placed at the back or side 
of the person using it, and, if in the field of 
vision, it is usually at or near the level of 
the eye. In the two former cases the effect of 
concealed lighting is given, and in the latter 
ease the lamp occupies the most favorable posi- 
tion possible for an exposed source. That is, if 
the source of light is to be in the field of 
vision at all, it should be as nearly as possible 
at the level of the eye. This is because of the 
greater tendency of a light source to produce 
discomfort and loss of efficiency when its 
image falls on the upper and lower halves of 
the retina than when it falls in the horizontal 
meridian. These facts have been clearly 
brought out in our work on the effect of posi- 
tion of the light in the field of vision. 

In addition to studying the conditions that 
give us maximum efiiciency, it is important to 
determine the lighting conditions and eye 
factors that cause discomfort. In fact, it 
might well be said that our problem in light- 
ing at present is not so much how to see better 
as it is how to see with more comfort and with 
less damage to the general health on account 
of eye-strain. Any comparative study of the 
conditions producing discomfort necessitates 
a method of estimating discomfort. As stated 
earlier in the paper, our method of estimating 
discomfort is entirely distinct and separate 
from our method of studying efficiency. Time 
can not be taken here to go into details of 
either the method or of the results of this 
study. It will be sufficient to say that the 
effect of distribution of light and surface 
brightness, intensity, and quality are also being 
studied in their relation in the comfort as 
well as to the efficiency of the eye. 

In conclusion, the writer wishes to point 
out that no one of the factors he has men- 
tioned can be safely omitted in the search 
for the most favorable conditions of lighting. 
Nor can one be inyestigated and a correla- 
tion between it and the others be taken for 
granted. We have been content, heretofore, 


SCIENCE 91 


to base. our -conelusions with regard to the 
relation of a lighting system to seeing on the 
conventional visual acuity test. While this 
test may tell us something about the general 
level or scale of efficiency of the fresh eye, it 
ean tell us nothing of loss of efficiency, because 
the muscles of the eye, although they may have 
fallen off enormously in efficiency, can under 
the spur of the will be whipped up to their 
normal power long enough to make the judg- 
ment required by the test. Moreover, it tells 
us nothing of the conditions that produce dis- 
comfort. In short, the general level or scale 
of efficiency of the fresh eye, loss of efficiency 
as the result of work, and the tendency to pro- 
duce discomfort constitute three separably 
determinable moments, no one of which should 
be neglected in installing a lighting system. 
C. E. Ferree 
BRYN MAWks COLLEGE 


CARL FUCHS 


Mr. Cart Fucus, the well-known entomolo- 
gist, died on June 11, 1914, at his home in 
Alameda, California. He had attained the 
good age of 74 years, 6 months and 17 days, 
and was a native of Hanan, Frankfurt-am- 
Main, Germany, where he was born on No- 
vember 25, 1839. His remains were cremated. 
He was always active, energetic and punc- 
tual in business, and was noted for his en- 
thusiasm on all matters appertaining to his 
favorite study. His specialty was the Coleop- 
tera, and up to the time of the earthquake and 
fire of 1906, he had the largest collection on 
the Pacific Coast. The loss of this—his life’s 
work, with the exception of a few boxes which 
contained a genera collection—greatly de- 
pressed his spirit and ambition for a time. 
He rallied, however, and had by unceasing 
efforts up to the time of his death amassed 
another moderately large collection. 

Mr. Fuchs was one of the most hospitable, 
kind and lovable of men, ever ready to aid 
amateurs or his younger colleagues, both as 
regards advice and material. The news of his 
death will be a shock to his numerous friends 
both in the United States and abroad. 

His trade was that of a chaser and engraver, 


92 


at which he worked up to about three years 
ago. His work was always of the highest 
order. His neatness and exactness in the 
preparation of entomological material was 
unique and characteristic. It gained for him 
the appointment of assistant curator in the 
entomological department of the California 
Academy of Sciences, where he worked up to 
the time of his last illness. After the San 
Francisco disaster and while the academy was 
unsettled he received the appointment of pre- 
parateur and assistant in the entomological 
department of the University of California, 
where he was known by the students as Pro- 
fessor Fuchs. When the California Academy 
of Sciences was again ready for his services 
he returned to it. 

He leaves a widow, Maria Fuchs, who was a 
typical and devoted helpmate, and who could 
even excel her husband in the care and mount- 
ing of the coleopterous Pselaphide. 

In the death of Mr. Fuchs, one of the last 
of-a group of the older entomologists has 
passed away; to this group belonged Frederick 
Blanchard, Samuel H. Scudder, Henry Ulke 
and Phillip R. Uhler. The younger entomolo- 
gists of the Pacific Coast, many of whom were 
his intimate friends, have ever been stimu- 
lated and enthused by his earnestness and ex- 
ample. He was a member of the California 
Academy of Sciences, and also of the Deutsche 
Entomologische Gesellschaft of Berlin. It 
was he who organized the Pacifie Coast Ento- 
mological Society and was its first president, 
a position which he held for several years. In 
his earlier years he was similarly connected 
with the Brooklyn Entomological Society, and 
contributed short articles and notes to its Bul- 
letin. In 1882, he published a synopsis of the 
Lucanide of the United States. 


Frank E. BuLaisDELL, SR. 


ESTIMATES OF POPULATION 


THE United States is now a country of 109,- 
000,000 people, according to the bulletin con- 
taining the estimates of population for the 
years subsequent to the thirteenth census, soon 
to be published by Director William J. Harris, 
of the bureau of census, Department of Com- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1020 


merce. It was prepared under the supervision 
of C. S. Sloane, geographer. 

As stated, the estimated population of the 
United States for July 1, 1914, will be 109,- 
021,992. The population of the United States 
and its possessions in 1910 was 101,748,269; so 
theré will have been an estimated gain of over 
7,000,000 persons in a little more than four 
years. The corresponding estimated popula- 
tion of continental United States for July 1, 
1914, is 98,781,324, as compared with the pop- 
ulation of 91,972,266, as returned by enumera- 
tors, April 15, 1910. This bulletin also pre- 
sents the estimates of population in 1910, 
1911, 1912, 1913 and 1914, for the states and 
territories, and for cities which had 8,000 or 
more inhabitants in 1910. 

Estimates of population are required pri- 
marily for use in the census bureau in calcu- 
lating death-rates and per capita averages for 
years other than the census year. The so- 
called arithmetical method was adopted for 
computing these estimates. It is the simplest 
and it has been shown by experience to come 
nearer in accuracy in the majority of ‘cases 
than any other formula. It rests on the as- 
sumption that the increase in population each 
year since the enumeration is equal to the 
annual increase from 1900 to 1910. 

The bulletin presents in its several tables 
population data for the United States and its 
outlying possessions in 1910 and 1900, with 
estimates of the population July 1, 1914, 
1913, 1912, 1911 and 1910. Similar data are 
also presented for the different states in the 
union. There is also presented a statement of 
white and colored population on April 15, 
1910, together with estimates of the white and 
colored population as of July 1 for each of the 
years 1914, 1913, 1912, 1911 and 1910. These 
estimates, however, have been confined to the 
states haying a considerable proportion of 
eolored population, no estimate being pre- 
sented for any state that did not have 50,000 
or more colored inhabitants on April 15, 1910, 
or at least ten per cent. of its population col- 
ored. 

The estimates of population for July 1, 


JULY 17, 1914] 


SCIENCE 


1914, and the population April 15, 1910, for 


all states are as follows: 


Population 
Estimated: Census : 
_ State July 1, 1914 April 15, 1910 
ANE ERNE, AG 5 aod ae ooben 2,269,945 2,138,093 
ATITAME, sao 0coaKb ooo De0 239,053 204,354 
AGHENMIEFIS Fs 6 odnea0006 1,686,480 1,574,449 
California ............. 2,757,895 2,377,549 
Colorado ............. 909,537 799,024 
Connecticut ........... 1,202,688 1,114,756 
Delaware ............. 209,817 202,322 
District of Columbia ... 353,378 331,069 
2UIGHIAY so aaodooonopeS 848,111 752,619 
Geanpiage ciate. sc. 2,776,513 2,609,121 
IGANG. 5p ddseo dpaaoRED 395,407 325,594 
HAM OIS MH clare eye eke phe eisi= cise 5,986,781 5,638,591 
INGER Ho ooab ee ooeeHoe 2,779,467 2,700,876 
I@W2 cocdgebensouedeean 2,221,755 2,224,771 
ICAMISAS I Wsey etskerecey sVereseucteieis 1,784,897 1,690,949 
LEGHIINGs7 Golga soda seo oS 2,350,731 2,289,905 
IL@WiRENE Gagaaeee ones 1,773,482 1,656,388 
Maimeri icclebien od ee 762,787 742,371 
Maryland) 4):2 202i. 2% «es 1,341,075 1,295,346 
Massachusetts ......... 3,605,522 3,366,416 
Michigan 2.30.22... < 2,976,030 2,810,173 
Minnesota ............ 2,213,919 2,075,708 
Mississippi ........... 1,901,882 1,797,114 
IVERES OME) (ie!.ess cle re ales © sie 3,372,886 3,293,335 
Montana .............. 432,614 376,053 
Nebraska ......... .... 1,245,873 1,192,214 
NIGVEKE,, Son poppe onenooe 98,726 81,875 
New Hampshire ....... 438,662. 430,572 
New Jersey ..........- 2,815,663 2,537,167 
New Mexico .......... 383,551 327,301 
Wieny MOUS SoobobosGdn6 9,899,761 9,113,614 
North Carolina ........ 2,339,452 2,206,287 
North: Dakota ......... 686,966 577,056 
OHO codsdneaopaupooee 5,026,898 4,767,121 
Oklahoma .:.......... 2,026,534 1,657,155 
(ORR SodedcooonsaaDo 783,239 672,765 
Pennsylvania .......... 8,245,967 7,665,111 
Rhode Island .......... 591,215 542,610 
South Carolina ........ 1,590,015 1,515,400 
South Dakota ......... 661,583 583,888 
MGMESEEG posbabonqoous 2,254,754 2,184,789 
MOR AS pita ais sess els iorals 4,257,854 3,896,542 
WEIN, gos docogeugodesed 414,518 373,351 
WERMOMNG Goococescacade 361,205 355,956 
Waitt, Sooo gnogadowode 2,150,009 2,061,612 
Washington ........... 1,407,865 1,141,990 
West Virginia ......... 1,332,910 1,221,119 
RVASCONSING We eilotsloiveeiae 2,446,716 2,333,860 
Wyoming 2... 02.00.4. 168,736 145,965 


State 


ALABAMA....... 
CALIFORNIA..... 


CoLoRADO...... 
CONNECTICUT... 


Distr. or CoLtum- 


ILLINOIS.....-. 
INDIANA........ 
KENTUCKY..... 
LovIsIANA...... 


MASSACHUSETTS 


MICHIGAN...... 
MINNESOTA..... 


MIssoURI...... 


New JERSEY.... 


New YoORE..... 


OREGON........ 
PENNSYLVANIA. . 


RuHovE Isnanp. . 


City 


Birmingham... 
Los Angeles... 
Oakland...... 


Bridgeport. ... 
Hartford...... 
New Haven... 


Washington... 
Atlanta....... 
Chicago....... 
Indianapolis... 
Louisville. .... 
New Orleans. . 
Baltimore..... 
Boston....... 
Cambridge.... 
Fall River..... 


New Bedford. . 
Springfield. ... 


Grand Rapids. 
Minneapolis. . . 
Ship JA, Ss a ou 
Kansas City... 
St. Louis...... 


(including). . 
Bronx 
borough .. 
Brooklyn 
borough .. 
Manhattan 
borough .. 
Queens 
borough , . 
Richmond 
borough 
Rochester..... 
Syracuse...... 
Cincinnati... . 


Portland...... 
Philadelphia... 
Pittsburgh.... 
Reading...... 
Scranton...... 
Providence... . 


93 
Population 

Estimated : Census: 
July 1,1914) “Horo” 
166,154! 132,685 
438,914) 319,198 
183,002) 150,174 
448,502| 416,912 
245,523] 213,381 
115,289) 102,054 
107,038 98,915 
144,505) 133,605 
353,378] 331,069 
179,292) 154,839 
2,393,325 | 2,185,283 
259,413| 233,650 
235,114] 223,928 
361,221} 339,075 
579,590] 558,485 
733,802} 670,585 
110,357) 104,889 
125,443) 119,295 
111,004} 106,294 
111,230 96,652 
100,375 88,926 
157,732| 145,986 
537,650) 465,766 
123,227] 112,571 
343,466) 301,408 
236,766 | 214,744 
281,911] 248,381 
734,667 | 687,029 
133,274] 124,096 
102,465 94,538 
293,921) 267,779. 
389,106| 347,469 
134,305| 125,600 

. 106,831 96,815 
102,961 100,253 
454,112] 423,715 
5,333,537 | 4,766,883 
529,198} 430,980 
1,833,696 | 1,634,351, 
2,536,716 | 2,331,542 
339,886 | 284,041 
94,043 85,969 
241,518) 218,149 
149,353| 137,249 
402,175) 363,591 
639,431] 560,663 
204,567} 181,511 
123,794) 116,577 
184,126) 168,497 
260,601} 207,214 
1,657,810 | 1,549,008. 
564,878] 533,905 
103,361 96,071 
141,351| 129,867 
245,090} 224,326 


94 
Population 

State City Census: 

Estimated: s 

April 15 

July 1,1914 F910 ’ 
TENNESSEE. .,.. Memphis.,,..| 143,231] 131,105 
Nashville...,. '114,899| 110,364 
TEXAS....., eee Wallasmnier seine 111,986 92,104 
San Antonio...| 115,063 96,614 
ROPING: gla ae thee Salt Lake City.| 109,530 92,777 
VIRGINIA..,.... Richmond.....! 134,917) 127,628 
WASHINGTON ...|Seattle........ 313,029| 237,194 
Spokane...... 135,657] 104,402 
Tacoma...,.. 103,418 83,743 
WISCONSIN..... Milwaukee.,..| 417,054) 373,857 


The preceding list shows the estimates of 
population for July 1, 1914, and the popula- 
tion in 1910, for cities having an estimated 
population July 1, 1914, of at least 100,000. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


Dr. Davm Starr Jorpan, chancellor of 
Leland Stanford University, has been elected 
resident of the National Education Associa- 
tion. 

Dr. F. W. Dyson, astronomer royal of Great 
Britain, has been elected a correspondent of 
tthe Paris Academy of Sciences, in the section 
of astronomy. 

On May 13, the Daly medal for geographical 
research of the American Geographical Soci- 
ety, which had been awarded by the council 
to Dr. A. Penck, professor of geography, 
Berlin, was formally presented to him by the 
Hon. James W. Gerard, ambassador of the 
United States to Germany, at the embassy in 
Berlin. 

Tue trustees of the American Medicine Gold 
Medal Award announce that the medal for 
1914 has been conferred upon Dr. George W. 
Crile, of Cleveland, O., as the American physi- 
cian, who, in their judgment, has performed 
the most conspicuous and noteworthy service in 
the domain of medicine and surgery during the 
past year. 

THe London Mathematical Society has 
awarded its de Morgan medal to Sir Joseph 
Larmor of the University of Cambridge. 

Proressor W. F. Bruck has received the 
Askenasy prize of the Senckenberg Scientific 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1020 


Society of Frankfort for his botanical re- 
searches, 


’ Dennison Universiry has conferred the 
degree of LL.D. on Dr. Richard C. Maclaurin, 
president of the Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology; Dr. Ernest, F, Nichols, president 
of Dartmouth College; Dr. W. H. P. Faunce, 
president of Brown University, and Professor 
William EH. Castle, of Harvard University. 


On the occasion of the tercentenary of the 
founding of Groningen University the follow- 
ing honorary degrees have been conferred: 
Doctor of Medicine on Sir Edward Schaefer, 
Edinburgh, and Professor J. N. Langley, Cam- 
bridge; Doctor of Geology and Mineralogy on 
Dr. A. L. Day, of the Carnegie Institution; 
Doctor of Botany and Zoology on Professor 
8. J. Hickson, Manchester. 


Av its recent commencement the Birming- 
ham Medical College and Graduate School of 
Medicine of the University of Alabama con- 
ferred the honorary degree of doctor of medi- 
cine upon Dr. A. Richard Bliss, Jr., professor 
of chemistry and pharmacology in the univer- 
sity, 

‘THE University of Toronto has conferred the 
degree of doctor of science on Mr. Frank T. 
Shutt, Dominion chemist and assistant di- 
rector of experimental farms. 


Proressor JAMES GEIKIE, professor of geol- 
ogy in the University of Edinburgh since 
1882, when he succeeded his brother, Sir Archi- 
bald Geikie, is about to retire from the active 
duties of the chair. 

Proressor T. R. Lyuz, F.R.S., is shortly to 
resign the professorship of natural philosophy 
in the University of Melbourne. 


Dr. Atois Rieu, professor of philosophy at 
Berlin, has given the seventeen thousand 
marks presented to him on his seyentieth 
birthday for the establishment of Dozenten- 
haus, intended to be a hall of residence for 
lecturers at the university. 


At the request of many organizations 
throughout Louisiana the Treasury Depart- 
ment has ordered Surgeon-General Rupert 
Blue, of the Public Health Service, to take 


Jouy 17,1914] 


charge of the bubonic plague extermination 
measures at New Orleans. 


GxorGE CHANDLER WHIPPLE, Gordon McKay 
professor of sanitary engineering at Haryard 
University, has been appointed by the Board 
of Estimate and Apportionment of the City 
of New York a member of the committee on 
building districts and restrictions. 


Dr. Joun H. Fintey, New York state com- 
missioner of education, has sailed for Europe 
to represent the United States at the Inter- 
national Conference on Hducation to be held 
at The Hague. Dr. Finley will spend some 
time in Germany investigating educational 
administration in Berlin and other large cities. 


- Messrs. Auten, Brewster, Chapman, Dwight, 
Jos. Grinnell, Merriam, Nelson, Oberholser, 
Palmer, Richmond, Ridgway and Stone 
have been appointed a “committee on classi- 
fication and nomenclature of North American 
birds ” by the American Ornithologist’s Union, 


Mr. W. O. Repman Kine, lecturer in zool- 
ogy at the University of Leeds, has been ap- 
pointed Ray Lankester investigator at the 
Marine Biological Laboratory in Plymouth, 
in succession to Professor KE. L. Bouvier, of 
Paris. The investigator is required to under- 
take research work of his own choositig at the 
laboratory for a period of five months, the 
emolument being £70. 


Durie the third and fourth weeks of June 
Professor OC. J. Keyser, of Columbia Univer- 
sity, delivered a series of three lectures on 
science and religion at the University of Mon- 
tana. 


Dr. WauttTHER NeRNsT, professor of physical 
chemistry at the University of Berlin, has 
spent six weeks giving lectures at the Univer- 
sity of La Plata. Plans are being made for 
an exchange of professors between the Prus- 
sian and Argentine governments. 


In memory of their father, Sir W. Lawrence, 
F.R.S., and of their brother, Sir Trevor Law- 
rence, the Misses L. E. and M. W. Lawrence 
have presented £4,000 to the Royal Society in 
trust to devote the interest to the furtherance 
of research into the cause and cure of disease 


SCIENCE 


95 


in man and animals in such manner as the 
president and council may from time to time 
determine. 


Proressor SeTH EucENE Meek, assistant 
curator of zoology at the Field Museum of 
Natural History, Chicago, died on June 6 of 
illness brought on by exposure during an ex- 
pedition in Mexico, Professor Meek, who was 
fifty-five years of age, was an authority on 


fishes and reptiles, 


Mr. THomas THorp, of Manchester, known 
in connection with his transparent celluloid 
replicas of Rowland’s and other diffraction 
gratings, died on June 13. 


THE death is announced of Professor Karl 
Dammann, until recently president of the 
veterinary school of Hanover. 


THE archeologist, M. Georges Perrot, perma- 
nent secretary of the Paris Academy of In- 
scriptions and Belles Lettres, died on June 30. 


Tue U. S. Civil Service Commission an- 
nounces an open competitive examination for 
positions in the Children’s Bureau, Depart- 
ment of Labor, Washington, D. C., as follows: 
Expert on sanitation at a salary of $2,800; so- 
cial science expert at a salary of $2,000, and 
statistical expert at a salary of $2,000. These 
positions are open to both men and women. 


Tur New York Civil Service Commission 
announces an open competitive examination 
on July 28 for analytical chemist for the State 
Reservation Commission, Saratoga Springs, 
with a salary of $1,200, and an examination 
for an assistant chemist in the state depart- 
ment of agriculture at a salary of from $800 
to $1,200. 


THE laboratory for ship and tropical dis- 
eases at Hamburg, erected and equipped at a 
cost of about $600,000, of which Professor 
Nocht is director, was recently formally 
opened. 


AN institute for the history of medicine has 
been established at the University of Vienna. 
It has acquired within a year a library of 
3,000 volumes and a large collection of manu- 
scripts, letters and instruments. 


96 SCIENCE 


AMoNG recent additions to the Natural His- 
tory Branch of the British Museum, Nature 
notes the following specimens as of general 
public interest: The skeleton of the thorough- 
bred stallion, “St. Simon,” presented by the 
Duke of Portland, which is not yet on ex- 
hibition, but is, we understand, to be placed 
alongside the skeleton of his son, “Persim- 
mon,” presented by his late Majesty King Ed- 
ward VII. “St. Simon” was foaled in 1881, 
and was never beaten on the turf. Another 
interesting skeleton is that of the Egyptian 
Eocene two-horned ungulate, Arsinoétherium, 
which has just been set up in the fossil mam- 
mal gallery. This skeleton is a restoration in 
plaster, but as nearly all the elements have 
been modelled from actual bones, it is prac- 
tically as good as if original. As mounted, the 
skeleton is about 113 feet in length from the 
muzzle to the root of the tail, a striking fea- 
ture being the very wide interval between the 
limbs of opposite sides. The precise affinities 
of this strange beast are still unknown. In 
the upper mammals gallery the attention of 
the public has been riveted on a gigantic speci- 
men of the eastern race of the gorilla (Anthro- 
popithecus gorilla beringerz), from the neigh- 
borhood of Lake Tanganyika, recently pre- 
sented by the Rowland Ward trustees. In 
addition to its huge size, this race is charac- 
terized by the great development of long black 
hair on the head, shoulders and buttocks, and 
the restriction of the gray band on the back to 
the loins. On entering the museum the visitor 
should inspect a segment of the trunk of a 
fossil conifer from the Trias of Arizona, pre- 
sented by Mr. Arthur Pearson, and placed by 
one of the pillars on the right side of the hall. 
This specimen, which weighs about 2% tons, 
has an adventitious interest on account of the 
brilliant colors presented by the silicified wood, 
as is admirably shown in the polished upper 
surface. 


Deposits of cerusite or lead carbonate near 
Isle, in the northeastern part of Custer 
County, Colo., were examined last year by Mr. 
J. F. Hunter, geologist of the U. S. Geological 
Survey, and his report has just been published. 
The deposits extended in a narrow belt for 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1020 


several miles along the foot of the steep west- 
ern slopes of the Wet Mountains, where fault- 
ing and crushing have produced conditions 
favorable to ore deposition. The lead carbo- 
nate has been deposited in zones or shoots, fill- 
ing joint planes and cracks in crushed and 
altered granite. Investigations show that the 
carbonate ores have probably resulted from the 
oxidation of galena (lead sulphide), which 
should be found at greater depths than have 
yet been attained by mining or drilling. Only 
the upper portion of the ore deposits, known 
as the oxidized zone, has been opened. Two 
important ore zones, one at the Terrible mine 
and the other at Lead Hill, on the Wild Girl 
and High Kicker claims, were visited, and a 
trip was made over Lead Hill into Parker 
Gulch, revealing considerable cerusite strewn 
over the hills as float, so that the existence of 
additional bodies and zones of cerusite seems 
probable. The mines of this district have been 
worked intermittently since 1884 and have pro- 
duced nearly $1,000,000 worth of lead. It is 
reported that the ores averaged from 5 to 8 
per cent. of lead and were capable of being 
concentrated to a product running from 60 to 
70 per cent. The ores thus far mined con- 
tain a small amount of silver but no zine, ar- 
senic, antimony or sulphur. 


THE ancient vegetation which grew in South 
Carolina and Georgia during Upper Cretace- 
ous and Eocene time—or, as geologists state, 
at least several million years ago—has been 
made the subject of an exhaustive investiga- 
tion by Edward W. Berry, of the Johns Hop- 
kins University, a report on which has just 
been published by the U. S. Geological Survey 
as Professional Paper 84. The earlier of these 
fossil floras, that of the Upper Cretaceous, em- 
braces nearly one hundred species of wholly 
extinct plants, and as the majority of them 
are believed to have been trees or shrubs, it is 
interesting to compare them with the vegeta- 
tion now living in the same area. In addition 
to the sequoia or “big tree,” now confined to 
the Pacific coast, there were three kinds of 
araucarias or Norfolk Island pines, which at 
the present time live only in South America 
and Australia; a pine with the leaves in clus- 


= tee 


Juuy 17, 1914] 


ters of three as in the living pitch pine, and 
a number of cypress-like trees which were once 
widely spread over the world but are now ex- 
tinct. There was also a fan palm with very 
large leaves, which was perhaps the remote 
ancestor of the palmetto. Among the decidu- 
ous trees there were wax berries (Myrica) of 
two kinds, walnuts, many willows with long, 
narrow leaves, oaks of the type of the living 
black oak, fig trees of many kinds, and several 
magnolias. Among the smaller trees or shrubs 
there were soapberries (Sapindus), bittersweet, 
sumac, laurels and cinnamons nearest to forms 
now confined to the Old World, and three 
kinds of eucalyptus, the living representatives 
of which are now native to Australia. The 
remote ancestors of the persimmon were also 
present, as well as a number of other kinds 
that are without vernacular names. From the 
careful study of this ancient flora which has 
been preserved in fossil form in the rocks, it 
has been possible to draw certain tentative 
though apparently reasonable conclusions as 
to the conditions which prevailed in South 
Carolina and Georgia when it was growing. 
These indicate that shallow seas extended 
inland over 100 miles from the present Atlantic 
coast; that there was a considerable elevation 
and relief of the Piedmont area to the west; 
that the river gradients were high and the 
streams numerous and more or less torrential 
in character; and that there were swamps 
along the lower courses of the streams. The 
fossil plants indicate that there was a mild 
though not a strictly tropical climate, without 
marked seasonal changes—in fact, there is no 
evidence that frost occurred. The rainfall was 
abundant, as shown by the general character of 
the flora, as well as by certain features ob- 
served on some of the leaves and known as 
the “dripping points.” The later or Eocene 
flora has been found only in the state of 
Georgia and is relatively small, as it numbers 
only 17 species. All the species represent 
northward migrants along the Eocene seacoast 
from equatorial America. They include West 
Indian palms, plants of the wonderful man- 
grove swamps that skirt the tidal shores in the 
tropics of both hemispheres, and remains of 


SCIENCE 


97 


the golden fern whose present-day descendants 
lead @ gregarious existence in the coastal 
swamps of the torrid zone. All these Eocene 
plants are types of the Florida keys, Antillean 
islands and Central American shores and 
clearly indicate that in middle Eocene time 
the climate of Georgia was much warmer than 
it was either during the Upper Cretaceous 
epoch or at present. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 


ANNOUNCEMENT has been made by Yale Uni- 
versity that members of the Lauder family of 
Pittsburgh, Pa., and of Greenwich, Conn., 
were the donors of the $400,000 fund 
recently pledged to the Yale Medical School. 
It will be known as the “ Anna M. R. Lauder 
Fund,” in memory of the late Mrs. George 
Lauder. The donors make the stipulation that 
a memorial professorship in public health be 
established for the benefit of the state of 
Connecticut. 


A Girt of $13,750 has been made by Mr. D. 
D. Stewart, of St. Albans, to the University of 
Maine, to discharge the remaining indebted- 
ness on Stewart Hall, the College of Law build- 
ing in Bangor. 


THE merging of the Starling-Ohio Medical 
College with Ohio State University will be- 
come effective next September. Buildings and 
equipment valued at approximately $250,000 
will be added to the university. No state aid 
will be asked at present, it was announced, 
although it had been previously planned to 
ask the legislature for an appropriation of 
$25,000. Beginning with the session of 1914— 
15, the medical college will require for en- 
trance one year’s work of college standard, 
which must include instruction in chemistry, 
physics and biology. 


Herr Cazsar ScHOoLLER, of Zurich, has 
made an additional gift of 15,000 Marks to 
the Philogenetic Museum at Jena, to which 
he had previously given 115,000 Marks. 


Dr. B. L. ArMs has been appointed professor 
of preventive medicine in the medical depart- 
ment of the University of Texas. 


98 


In the department .of, geology of North- 
western University the following appointments 
have been made, to take effect on September 1, 
1914; Joseph E. Pogue, of the U. S. Geological 
Survey, to be associate professor of geology and 
mineralogy; William H. Haas, of the Univer- 
sity of Chicago, to be instructor in geology 
and geography; Henry R. Aldrich, of the Mas- 
sachusetts Institute of Technology, to be 
instructor in mining and metallurgy; John R. 
Ball, of Northwestern University, to be assist- 
ant in geology. 

Mr. F. E. E. Lamptouen, of Trinity Col- 
lege, has been appointed demonstrator of 
chemistry in the University of Cambridge. 

Mr. D, T, Gwynne-VAUGHAN, professor of 
botany in the Queen’s University, Belfast, has 
been appointed to the professorship of botany 
at University College, Reading, vacant by the 
resignation of Dr. Frederick Keeble, F.R.S., 
who has been appointed director of the Experi- 
ment Station and Gardens of the Royal Horti- 
cultural Society at Wisley. 

Dr. Niets Bour, of the University of Copen- 
hagen, has been appointed reader in mathe- 
matical physics in the University of Man- 
chester. 

Dr. August GuTzMER, professor of mathe- 
matics at Halle, has been elected rector of the 
university for the coming year. 

Dr. Eugene KorscHett, professor of zoology 
and comparative anatomy at Marburg, has 
been called to Leipzig, but has decided to re- 
main at Marburg. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 
LIGHTNING FLASHES 


To THE Epitor or Scrmnce; If often becomes 
necessary for me as editor to refer special 
questions that arise to those who are better 
versed in the knowledge of some special 
branch of physics. 

I should be glad if any one of your readers 
who has considered the question of the oscilla- 
tory character of lightning would give me a 
short report, from either a theoretical or an 
observational point of view, as to what is 
known on this subject, or his own experience 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No, 1020 


therein. An elaborate paper on this subject 
was published in the Meteorologische Zeit- 
schrift for September, 1913, by Professor Dr. 
Josef Mayer, of Freising, Bavaria, defending the 
conclusion that although the lightning flash is 
frequently oscillatory, yet it is also often of a 
complicated nature in which every variety of 
the discharge can occur, namely, both a pre- 
liminary, a principal, a partial and an after 
discharge; partial discharges of a simple na- 
ture as shown by Feddersen, or of a double 
nature as shown by Walter; moreover, the dis- 
charge of thunder-clouds may also, under cer- 
tain conditions, be continuous, but under 
others, oscillatory or again pulsatory. 

This subject is one that interests every scien- 
tist who is subject to danger from lightning. 
I hope to receive responses from electricians 
and physicists whose experiments and experi- 
ence tend to elucidate the subject. 

CLEVELAND ABBE 

U. S. WEATHER BUREAU 


A NEW FORM OF COLLECTING PIPETTE 


THE pipette described below has proved very 
useful to the writer. It is made from a 
calcium chloride tube about 200 mm. long and 
the ordinary 50 ¢.c. rubber bulb commonly 
used with the larger rubber-bulb pipettes, Both 
are stock articles and may be readily procured 
from laboratory supply houses. The calcium 
chloride tube used in the pipette figured con- 
sists of a glass bulb about 35 mm. in diameter 
blown in a glass tube of 16 mm. diameter and 
about 120 mm. long. This tube required to be 
heated over a flame and drawn out to the 
desired diameter for the pipette mouth. From 
the opposite end of the glass bulb there ex- 
tends a tube about 6 mm. in diameter suitable 
for attachment of the rubber bulb. 


Fie. 1. 


This form of pipette may be used in han- 
dling in water any small or delicate object 
up to six or eight mm. in diameter. (Not 


Juuy 17, 1914] 


quite so large a mouth could be utilized if the 
pipette were to be used in liquids lighter than 
water.) It is a most useful’ collecting con- 
venience. In places where a small net could 
not be used because of stones or other debris 
and in handling objects liable to injury in a 
net the writer has found it almost indispen- 
sible. The capacity of the rubber bulb and the 
large mouth of the pipette make it possible 
by means of a sudden suction to catch small 
animals too quick to be taken in a small gauze 
net. The glass bulb retains all the sucked-in 
water, enabling one to see what has been taken 
and obviating the difficulty of losing or mu- 
tilating a choice specimen by getting it into 
the rubber bulb. The pipette is not over- 
fragile and is short and convenient for slip- 
ping into the pocket or collecting case. It is 
also more convenient to use than the long 
pipette in common use. 

The calcium chloride tubes are made in vari- 
ous sizes. For a smaller pipette a rubber bulb 
of 25 ¢.c. capacity and a calcium chloride tube 
150 mm. long may be used. The cost of the 
pipette is slight. 

Artuur M. Banta — 

STATION FoR EXPERIMENTAL EVOLUTION 


IS MELANISM DUE TO FOOD? 


Tr is a well-known fact that occasional dark- 
colored individuals occur among wild animals 
of various kinds. Once in a while a pure black 
beaver is caught. Fur traders sometimes pick 
up skins of mink, otter, marten and other ani- 
mals which are coal black. These skins are 
especially valuable. Perhaps the best known 
instance of dark specimens occurring in a spe- 
cies ordinarily light in color is that of the 
silver or black fox, which may be one in a lit- 
ter of common red foxes. 

This occurrence of dark animals is called 
“melanism,” but so far science has failed to 
ascertain the cause. It is my purpose in this 
article to call attention to some facts which 
may or may not throw some light on the sub- 
ject, but which seem to me to be at least sug- 
gestive. 

Northern Minnesota has been a great fur- 
producing region ever since the Hudson Bay 


SCIENCE 


99 


Company established posts here at the head- 
waters of the St. Lawrence, the Mississippi and 
the Red River of the North. We should ex- 
pect, and the fur traders actually get choice 
furs from this cold, high, heavily wooded land 
of lakes. The high grade of furs obtained in 
northern Minnesota is well known to the trade; 
the value of the annual catch, over a million 
dollars, is something less widely known. 

It is commonly supposed that the relative 
proportion of different kinds of fur caught in 
the state runs along fairly constant year after 
year. This is not the case for two reasons. A 
series of years may be favorable for the increase 
of a species, resulting for a time in an abnor- 
mally heavy catch of that. animal. As an in- 
stance of this, we cite the Canadian lynx, 
which increases with the abundance of the 
snowshoe rabbit, and suffers or migrates at in- 
tervals when its food supply has been seriously 
reduced by the dying off of the rabbits from the 
so-called “rabbit plague.” Perhaps a better 
instance is that of the muskrat, which may in- 
erease because of several winters during which 
ice and water conditions are favorable to its 
“wintering over.” The other reason is that 
which gives rise to this article. A species like 
the red fox may suddenly show an unusually 
strong tendency to vary from its type. 

Ordinarily there are caught annually in 
northern Minnesota somewhere in the neigh- 
borhood of fifteen hundred red foxes. Of this 
number of skins, we venture to guess that, for 
the five years preceding the winters of 1911 and 
1912, not more than ten each year were sold 
as black or silver foxes, and not over forty as 
eross foxes. ‘The winter of 1911-12 saw a 
marked increase in the number of high-grade 
fox skins brought in to the posts, and there 
was a still further increase in 1912-13. In 
the Rainy River watershed, especially, it 
seemed as if about one fifth of the foxes 
caught last winter were either dark, silver or 
eross foxes. This winter, 1913-14, the per- 
centage of these high-grade color phases is 
even higher. 

During the past three years there has been 
an abundance, amounting almost to a plague, 
of mice (white-footed wood-mice) in the 


100 


woods of northern Minnesota, particularly in 
the Rainy River country. These have been 
years of abundance of the snowshoe rabbit 
also. The latter have been so numerous that 
they did great damage by girdling small trees, 
and the quantity of brush they ate off was 
simply amazing. As one of our rangers put 
it, “The rabbits in my district have eaten up 
the brush this winter, and if they increase any 
more they’ll probably start logging next year.” 
The rabbits are rapidly dying off in certain 
districts this year. 

Ordinarily the black fox is a larger and 
stronger individual than his red brother. This 
in itself may have significance. 

Is it unreasonable to assume, in view of the 
foregoing facts, that a plenteous supply of the 
food most palatable to the red fox has some 
influence at least in strengthening the tend- 
ency of this animal to produce dark-colored 
specimens, in other words to cause melanism ? 

It is true that some of the increase in the 
proportion of dark foxes may be due, and 
probably is due, to the coming in of dark 
specimens from more northern localities in 
Canada, following up the abundant mouse 
and rabbit crop. No locality, even in any of 
the adjoining portions of Canada, however, 
has a much higher relative proportion of sil- 
ver foxes than is ordinarily found along the 
Rainy River. 

In view of the farming experiments now 
under way with dark foxes, I should weleome 
a discussion of this point, which is coming to 
have economic importance. 

Wm. T. Cox 


STaTeE FORESTER OF MINNESOTA 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 


Igneous Rocks. By Josep P. Ippines. 
If., Description and Occurrence. New 
York, John Wiley & Sons. 1918. 8vo. Pp. 
xi-+ 685, 20 figures and maps. 

The first volume of Iddings’s treatise on ig- 
neous rocks, dealing in the abstract with their 
composition, texture, mode of occurrence, 
origin and classification, appeared in 1909 and 
was reviewed in Science, Vol. XXX., pp. 408- 
411, 1909. The work is now complete with this 


Vol. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1020 


second volume, which presents a systematic 
description of the rocks and a review of their 
known distribution and association in all parts 
of the world. This volume is of the greatest 
importance to petrographers, for in no other 
work in any language is there such an exten- 
sive and judicial analysis of the vast literature 


of petrography. Iddings has succeeded won- 


derfully in his difficult task, but it is clear that 
the time is rapidly approaching when each of 
the great subjects, systematic description, 
mode of occurrence and world distribution, of 
igneous rocks, must be fully treated by itself, 
unrestricted by the limitations of a general 
work. 

The markedly original features of Iddings’s 
book make it unusually desirable that the 
reader should familiarize himself with the au- 
thor’s purpose and plan which are outlined 
in the preface. From this statement it may 
be well to quote certain passages, as follows: 

“Since the fundamental need of petrology 
at this time is a correct understanding of the 
constitution or composition of igneous rocks 
it has been the purpose of this treatise to em- 
phasize the chemical and mineral character- 
istics in their description. For this reason 
chemical analyses of rocks, transformed into 
possible mineral compounds, have been made 
the foundation on which the systematic de- 
scription of igneous rocks has been con- 
structed; that is, they have been employed as 
a basis of definition and of correlation of 
rocks that differ in texture and to a greater or 
less extent in apparent or actual mineral com- 
position. Igneous rocks have been treated as 
though they were portions of continuous series 
of miztures of mineral compounds varying in 
numerous ways, and not as specific though 
somewhat ill-defined compounds possessing 
individual entities to be reckoned with in their 
grouping or classification” (page iii). 

“ The. purpose of the second part of the book 
has been to present a brief sketch of the dis- 
tribution of igneous rocks throughout the 
earth so far as now known, in order to lay the 
foundation for a study of possible. petro- 
graphical provinces in different regions, since 
much investigation of these rocks in all re- 


JULY 17, 1914] 


gions is needed before definite conclusions may 
be reached regarding the actual nature of such 
proyinees and their significance with respect 
to the dynamical history of the earth’ 
(page v). 

Part I. of the volume, devoted to the syste- 
matic description of igneous rocks, is intro- 
duced by an important review of their char- 
acters and the difficulties attending their 
systematic treatment. It is pointed out that 
the rock type “is subjective, inherent in the 
petrographer, not the rock.” Igneous rocks 
form a continuous series, hence their syste- 
matic treatment must be arbitrary as to di- 
visions, but it does not follow that all methods 
of classification are equally good or bad. 

One of the most important features of Id- 
dings’s work is the influence it seems destined 
to have on the development of systematic pe- 
trography. That the user of the book may 
fully appreciate this it seems desirable to sur- 
vey the present situation of the science, on 
lines not especially emphasized by the author. 
. The current system of petrography, called 
the qualitative system by Iddings, classifies 
igneous rocks chiefly by their important min- 
éral constituents. For granular rocks there is 
more and more effort to recognize the quanti- 
tative development of certain minerals, while 
nephelite, leucite and others are given great 
weight, almost regardless of their abundance. 
In porphyritic rocks, however, especially if 
micro-, erypto- or hypoecrystalline, the pheno- 
erysts alone are given classificatory value in 
many cases (Rosenbusch system). The 
groundmass is practically ignored by many 
petrographers in naming rocks. 

The fundamental importance of chemical 
composition of igneous rocks is universally. 
recognized. Mineral composition is an ex- 
pression of the chemical, though less directly 
than once supposed. The natural ambition of 
the petrographer to express chemical compo- 
sition in his mineralogical classification is 
frustrated by the fact that he can not ascer- 
tain the mineral composition of many rocks 
at all accurately and by the variable chemical 
composition of most rock-making minerals. 
Only the inherent and perhaps insuperable 


SCIENCE 


101 


difficulties of the problem have prevented the 
formulation, before now, of a satisfactory 
mineralogical classification, and it is equally 
certain that efforts to improve that system will 
go on with at least some measure of success. 

The quantitative system, of which Iddings 
is one of the authors, permits an accurate 
classification of igneous rocks, desirable for 
many purposes, wherever the chemical compo- 
sition can be ascertained. It is self-evident, 
however, that the data for the quantitative 
classification of the vast majority of rocks can 
not be obtained and that another system of 
general applicability must be used concur- 
rently with it. The most evident and familiar 
character-giving feature of igneous rocks is 
their mineral composition, and it seems clear 
that some improved form of the current sys- 
tem must always remain the one for general 
purposes. But to satisfy the natural demands 
of scientific men this system must be given 
much greater precision and consistency than it 
now possesses. The approach to a real system 
must come by introducing greater precision in 
definition, using quantitative mineral compo- 
sition as far as practicable and expressing in 
the most feasible manner a correlation be- 
tween chemical and mineral factors. The 
petrographic system of the future for gen- 
eral purposes will be an evolution from the 
unsatisfactory one now current through the 
trying out of many propositions and a selec- 
tion of the best. 

A quantitative factor is now being intro- 
duced into the mineralogical system in various 
ways. Monzonite, granodiorite and other 
major terms illustrate this, and a large num- 
ber of new rock names of lesser importance 
have been recently proposed in recognition of 
the abundance or prominence of certain min- 
erals. But this development is not controlled 
or guided by definite rules or principles, and 
until such haye been adopted increased con- 
fusion must be the result. 

Probably all petrographers are ready to wel- 
come a practical and logical proposition to 
modify or control the mineralogical classifica- 
tion by chemical data. But it is evident that 
the application of such a scheme implies chem- 


102 


ical analysis of a rock. which is to be classi- 
fied or else an ability on the part of the petrog- 
tapher to make a satisfactory comparison be- 
tween the rock in: hand and a similar type 
which has been analyzed. The proper use of 
such a system will be beyond the powers of 
many who now essay to name rocks. Prob- 
ably some petrographers will object to Iddings’s 
propositions as impossible of application by 
many who now endeavor to use the current 
system. But increasing precision in the sys- 
tem in any direction must have the same ef- 
fect in some degree, and the development of 
petrography can not long be held back for the 
sake of a simplicity which can be maintained 
only at the expense of aceuracy and efficiency. 
Chemical data can be logically applied to 
the development of the mineralogical system 
only on the basis of our knowledge of the re- 
lation between chemical and mineral com- 
position afforded by the several thousand rocks 
of which good analyses are now available. 
This relation has been studied by means of the 
significant molecular ratios between silica and 
bases or between various bases or groups. 
Osann’s work is preeminent in this direction. 
His ratios and triangular diagrams on which 
they may be plotted express clearly certain 
chemical characteristics of igneous rock 
groups. But the application of such data to 
the revision of systematic mineralogical classi- 
fication is a very complex problem the solution 
of which has not been attempted as yet. 
Another means of expressing relations be- 
tween chemical and mineral composition is 
the norm of the quantitative system, and Id- 
dings’s book will always be cited in the litera- 
ture of systematic petrography as notable for 
its well-thought-out and far-reaching plan to 
reconstruct the qualitative or mineralogical 
system on the same principles which underlie 
the quantitative classification. If it is prac- 
ticable to develop the mineralogical system on 
these principles, this is a first, long step for- 
ward in its evolution, to be followed by many 
other improvements suggested by experience. 
The reviewer’s opinion as to the success of this 
attempt is naturally subject to the charge of 
prejudice, hence he contents himself in point- 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8S. Vou. XL. No. 1026 


ing out the great importance of Iddings’s 
systematic propositions, whether they are 
finally adopted or not. They deserve the most 
careful, unbiased attention of petrographers 
in any case. If it proves to be practicable to 
develop the mineralogical system in the way 
proposed, it will then be brought into desirable 
harmonious relations with the quantitative 
system. ‘ 

In Volume I. of “Igneous Rocks” Iddings 
presented his modification of the “ Qualitative 
Mineralogical Olassification” in the usual. 
tabular form. A quantitative element is made 
prominent here by establishing five major divi- 
sions based on the dominance of I., quartz; IL., 
quartz and feldspar; III., feldspar; IV., feld- 
spar and lenads; V., lenads. The character of 
the dominant feldspar and the abundance or 
subordinate part of the ferromagnesian min- 
erals gave subdivisions of the larger ones. 
While the lines of this scheme were not made 
precise, they served to divide many rock groups 
or varieties of current usage. 

The underlying idea in this scheme is clear, 
but the detail with which it is worked out in 
Volume II. suggests an evolution in the au- 
thor’s mind. For instance, the ultra-basic 
rocks were not separated as a distinct group in 
Volume I., but now they appear as Division 6, 
and the way in which factors of the quantita- 
tive system are applied to give precision to the 
new scheme is illustrated by the statement that 
Division 6 embraces the rocks of Classes 1V. 
and V. of the quantitative system. Iddings’s 
first systematic division is actually by the 
amount of normative salic and femic mole- 
cules, into two groups, one corresponding to 
Classes I., IT. and III., and the other to 
Classes IV. and V., of the quantitative system. 

Divisions 1-5 are bounded by sharp lines 
determined by normative quartz, feldspar and 
lenads, the same relation by which orders are 
formed in Classes I., II. and III. in the quan- 
titative system. The relative amount of mafic 
(ferromagnesian) and felsic minerals is used 
to make two subdivisions in each of these five 
major divisions. 

The feldspathic rocks of divisions 2, 8 and 4 
are each divided into three groups by the rela- 


Juny 17, 1914] 


tive importance of -the alkali and lime-soda 
feldspars. For aphanitie and glassy rocks this 
is determined from the norms, from which the 
average composition of the lime-soda feldspar 
ean be calculated. Distinctions between potash 
and. soda-rocks are also made. 

The granular or phaneritic rocks are treated 
on the assumption that in most cases their min- 
eral composition can be approximately deter- 
mined. The aphanitic and glassy rocks which 
are chemical equivalents of the phanerites are 
classed with them, and their equivalence is de- 
termined through the norms. The limits of 
divisions in the quantitative system being 
vague, Iddings has assigned boundaries by 
quantitative factors which are the same as or 
similar to some of those used in the quantita- 
tive system. This involves restricting and 
redefining of many current terms, but where 
an old group name, such as andesite, is in 
question, Iddings has proposed new names for 
certain new divisions of the larger and older 
group. 

While most of the names in current use are 
retained, Iddings gives precision to many of 
them, and supplements them by many new 
ones. As he has been guided by definite prin- 
ciples, several of which are new in their appli- 
cation to mineralogical systems, Iddings has 
practically made a new petrographic system. 
The reviewer believes that a large proportion 
of the new propositions will be welcomed by 
most petrographers of wide acquaintance with 
igneous rocks as corresponding, at least ap- 
proximately, to changes in the old system 
which they have long regarded as necessary. 

The way in which Iddings has subdivided 
older groups and supplied new terms may be 
illustrated by a few examples. Three kinds of 
dacite are recognized, each characterized by its 
average or normative plagioclase. Oligoclase 
dacites are called wngazte; those with andesine 
are called shastacte, and those with labradorite, 
bandaite. Oligoclase andesite is distinguished 
from andesite proper as kohalaite, while ande- 
sine basalt is called hawazite, as distinct from 
basalts of labradorite feldspar. 

A very valuable feature of the book is the 
71 tables of chemical analyses of rocks (nearly 


SCIENCE 103 


1,100 in all) arranged to show the composition 
of the new systematic divisions. - The norm 
and quantitative classification of each rock 
are also given, and a general correlation of the 
mineralogical and quantitative systems is 
clearly expressed by the tables. Many dia- 
grams also serve to show the relations of the 
two systems. ‘ 

Part II. of this volume is a review of what 
is known concerning the occurrence and dis- 
tribution of igneous rocks. It is’ based on 
personal examination of the extensive litera- 
ture cited, and the magnitude of the task of 
preparation for this discussion will be ap- 
preciated only by those who have made some 
similar study of original sources. This is not 
a theoretical discussion of petrographical prov- 
inces, but an attempt to present the facts of 
our present very imperfect knowledge of the 
geographical distribution of igneous rocks. 
It is significant that Iddings, after this re- 
view, concludes that “it is too soon to attempt 
to define the area of any petrographical prov- 
ince. The data are insufficient for a complete 
definition or description of any one province 

2122 ((p. 85i)e 

The distribution of rocks is presented by 
means of maps of continental areas and a 
systematic review of the rocks described from 
various districts. 

The discussion begins with the rocks of 
North America as they occur in large prov- 
inces. Following the geographical treatment 
is a preliminary discussion of petrographic 
provinces suggested and a description of their 
individual characteristics, illustrated by dia- 
grams. 

The chemical composition of rocks of certain 
areas is shown by 65 tables containing 1,260 
analyses, giving norms, etec., as in tables of the 
systematic part. 

Warman Cross 


Allen's Commercial Organic Analysis. Vol. 
VIII. Fourth edition. Edited by W. A. 
Davis and SamMuet S. Saprier. Philadel- 
phia, P. Blakiston’s Son & Co. 1918. Pp. 
x-+ 696. Price, $5.00 net. 

Allen’s: “ Commercial Organic Analysis,” in 


104 


its successive editions, has enjoyed a widespread 
vogue in the United States, especially among 
chemists confronted with the necessity of ex- 
amining a great diversity of products regard- 
ing which they did not always possess first- 
hand information. Every analyst feels the 
need, at times, of suitable reference books and 
dependable descriptions of tested methods. 
Certain manuals like the Neubauer-Huppert 
“ Analyse des Harns” and the Hoppe-Seyler- 
Thierfelder “Handbuch” have received a 
hearty reception year after year because of the 
care and accuracy with which they were evi- 
dently compiled and because of the helpful 
guidance which they offered in the selection of 
suitable procedures. The chief criticism of 
many laboratory handbooks lies in the careless 
way in which they are edited, the lack of 
critique in the selection of methods of analy- 
sis; in fact, they frequently bear the earmarks 
of routine book-making by ambitious individ- 
uals who have little first-hand experience or 
broad acquaintance with the literature of the 
subject. 

Every essay in the special field of organic 
analysis covered by Allen’s Volume VIII. must 
to-day compete with a number of more pre- 
tentious reference works, such as Abderhal- 
den’s “ Arbeitsmethoden,” lLeach’s “Food 
Analysis,’ ete. These are supplemented by 
many smaller monographs. The only justifi- 
cation for a new competitor therefore lies in a 
high degree of excellence or in some unusual 
adaptation to hitherto uncovered domain. The 
problems of biochemical analysis in relation to 
“commercial” products are still far from a 
satisfactory solution in many respects. The 
conventional methods are in many cases some- 
what empirical rather than strictly scientific; 
and the results furnish at best helpful approxi- 
mations. Some of the names of the collabo- 
rators on the new Volume VIII. of Allen’s 
series at once justify the reader in expecting a 
useful book. Its subdivisions are provided for 
as follows: Enzymes, by E. Frankland Arm- 
strong; The Proteins and Albuminoid Sub- 
stances, by S. B. Schryver; Proteins of Plants, 
by EH. Frankland Armstrong; Proteins of Milk, 
by L. L. Van Slyke; Milk, by Henry Leff- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1020 


mann; Milk Products, by Cecil Revis and H. 
Richard Bolton; Meat and Meat Products, by 
W. D. Richardson; Digestion Products of the 
Proteins, by S. B. Schryver; Hemoglobin and 
Its Derivatives, by John Addyman Gardner 
and George Alfred Buckmaster; Albuminoids 
or Scleroproteins, by Jerome Alexander; Fi- 
broids, by W. P. Dreaper. 

To many it may seem like a trivial perform- 
ance on the part of a reviewer to refer to minor 
defects—omissions or errors—in a notice of 
this character. Every book has inevitable mis- 
takes, we are assured; and to point them out is 
often looked upon as a sort of gratuitous ef- 
fort that smacks of the mediocre. Perfunctory 
accounts of new books are easily prepared. 
However, it is only by a painstaking examina- 
tion that one can ordinarily form a satisfac- 
tory estimate of the value of descriptions 
which depend upon novelty and accuracy of 
detail for their superior usefulness. 

The new Allen, Volume VIII., presents a 
combination of historical and descriptive text 
with analytical directions for practical work. 
Much of it is well prepared, taking into cog- 
nizance the latest contributions of physiolog- 
ical chemistry. This applies, for example, to 
the various chapters on enzymes, proteins and 
their derivatives. Other portions can not be 
considered as equally up-to-date. Reiterations 
are abundant and there is little indication of a 
constructive editorial supervision. Old state- 
ments, handed down through a generation of 
text-books, are incorporated with the conven- 
tional reverence for outlived authority. The 
parts on meat products furnish illustrations 
of what is here meant. ‘They fail to reflect 
adequately the recent progress in the study of 
muscle extractives. So long as an attempt is 
made to expand the volume to include deserip- 
tive biochemistry as well as analytical proced- 
ures, it ought to be done as well as present-day 
knowledge permits. Yet the “ ptomaine” story 
is brought along in its original make-up, with 
well-defined muscle components like betaine 
classed along with the unknowns of putrefying 
tissues. It is unfortunate that an American 
editor should omit reference to the compre- 
hensive work of J. P. Street (1908) on the 


JuLy 17, 1914] 


composition of commercial meat extracts. 
This valuable investigation is not even cata- 
logued in the historical summary (p. 397) 
though less pretentious éarlier and later con- 
tributions are included. The heterogeneous 
character of some of the descriptive text is 
shown by the inclusion, in the chapter on meat 
products, of statements like the following: 
“Diastatic enzymes occur in the saliva, pan- 
creatic juice, blood, lymph and liver,” ete. 
Why figures of wasp’s muscle or fibers from 
the human vocal muscle or sketches of smooth 
muscle nuclei from the dog’s artery should be 
incorporated in the text descriptive of sero- 
logical identification of meats is not clear. 
The expression “xanthine bases” begins to 
have an antiquated look, now that the word 
“urine” has come into common use. 
Shortcomings might be pointed out in other 
chapters. The vegetable enzyme papain, which 
is a widely sold commercial product, is dis- 
missed with three lines taken from the British 
Pharmacopeia. The hemometer of v. Fleischl 
is pictured and described in the text, with mere 
footnote reference to its improved successors. 
Some of the parts, like that on mucin, should 
either have been brought up-to-date or 
omitted. The standard work of Gies and his 
collaborators, and other comparatively recent 
contributions and working directions are not 
even mentioned (cf. p. 628). This is in strik- 
ing contrast with the modernized chapters on 
proteins in other parts of the book. Elastin is 
described under fibroids and said in one para- 
graph to “contain no sulphur,” whereas in 
another the content of sulphur is summarized 
in tabular form (p. 631). The word “kera- 
toid” appears to be coined as a synonym for 
keratin. Typographical errors, particularly in 
the foreign proper names, are not missing. In 
some cases one is at a loss to know from the 
context whether the form presented is a mis- 
take or an intentional innovation; for example, 
protase (p. 290); glutenins (glutelins?) (p. 
34); spoilage (p. 309). The chapter on pro- 
teins of milk by L. L. Van Slyke, by way of 
contrast, is an illustration of how a very dif- 
fuse literature can be reviewed critically by 
an expert and presented in a brief yet com- 


SCIENCE 


105 


prehensive fashion in its theoretical and ap- 
plied aspects. LaFayette B. MENDEL 
SHEFFIELD SCIENTIFIC ScHooL, 
YALE UNIVERSITY 


Some Minute Animal Parasites or Unseen 
Foes in the Animal World. By H. B. 
FantHaM and ANNIE Porter. London, 
Methuen & Co., Ltd. 1914. Pp. xi+ 319. 
Frontispiece and 56 text-figures. 5s. net. 
This interesting and valuable addition to the 

general literature of protozoology will be wel- 
comed by those students of the protozoa who 
are chiefly interested in the practical or patho- 
genie side as opposed to the theoretical and 
speculative. It deals only with parasitic 
forms responsible for some diseases of man 
and animals and gives a full account, in 
simple words, of the known life history in 
each case and as it appears to the writers. 

Of the sixteen chapters the first and last 
two are more general, giving, in brief outline, 
the chief types of protozoa, and the more gen- 
eral aspects of the parasitic forms. Here the 
authors come dangerously near the theoretical 
or at least controversial grounds which they 
appear desirous to avoid. The second chapter 
is devoted to Trypanosoma gambiense and 
sleeping sickness, the third to other species of 
trypanosomes and to the allied genera Crithidia 
and Herpetomonas. The fourth chapter deals 
with the spirochetes in a manner “which 
shall be as non-controversial as possible, and 
which will consist of facts and not the specu- 
lations so fashionable nowadays” (p. 64). 
The authors adhere so consistently to this 
promise that the reader would never know 
from the text that thousands of others have 
worked with these organisms and that there 
is good ground for different points of view 
from those presented. He would also look in 
vain for a description of the spirochete of 
syphilis, probably the most important member 
of the group. In the fifth chapter there is a 
very good, although somewhat dramatic ac- 
count of the malarial organisms of man and 
birds, with excellent practical suggestions re- 
garding the breeding of mosquitoes and means 


106 


of exterminating them. The sixth chapter, 
dealing with coccidiosis, gives an excellent 
account of some common diseases of the poul- 
try yard, but omits even a reference to coccidi- 
osis in man. The seventh chapter is devoted 
to the organisms of amebic dysentery; the 
eighth to yellow fever, the authors being non- 
committal as to the nature of the organism 
producing it and confining themselves to the 
clinical aspects of the disease and to the 
mosquito which transmits it. The ninth 
chapter is devoted to species of the genus 
Babesia (Piroplasma) and the cattle diseases 
caused by them; the tenth to the organisms of 
kala azar and oriental sore. The eleventh 
chapter treats in a convincing manner of the 
microsporidian diseases of bees and silkworms, 
and the twelfth of myxosporidian diseases of 
fish. The thirteenth and fourteenth deal with 
parasitic ciliates, and with Sarcocystis, Rhino- 
sporidium and Neurosporidium. 

The book is written in simple style and 
with the untrained reader in mind. The re- 
sult is a perfectly clear and intelligible ac- 
count of the part played by different types of 
protozoan parasites and by their intermedi- 
ate hosts, while the life histories are sketched 
with sufficient detail to permit of effective 
prophylaxis by amateurs. To the scientific 
reader, however, the style is somewhat aggra- 
vating and the arrangement of material more 
so. He is told in the opening chapter that the 
Protozoa are distributed in five great groups: 
Sarcodina, Mycetozoa, Mastigophora, Sporo- 
zoa and Infusoria, but from this point on 
there is no effort at systematic treatment. 
Certain flagellates are first described in de- 
tail; next come a few members of the spiro- 
chete group which are regarded as lying “on 
the border line between animals and plants” 
(why not between flagellates and bacteria?). 
Then the reader jumps to the Hemosporidia 
to learn about malaria and mosquitoes, which 
the authors speak of sometimes as gnats, some- 
times as flies, correctly enough, to be sure, but 
somewhat colloquial. This is followed by an 
extended account of intestinal diseases of 
poultry due to certain species of Coccidium 
which the authors persistently call Himeria. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1020 


The next jump is to the parasitic amebe of 
man which are skilfully treated. The reader 
then skips back to the Hemosporidia to learn 
about piroplasmosis, and then back again to 
the flagellates to read about leishmaniosis, 
while another saltation brings him once more 
to the Sporozoa, where he finds an excellent 
treatment of microsporidiosis of bees and silk- 
worms and a less satisfactory account of 
myxosporidiosis of fish. To the mind of the 
reviewer the book would have been materially 
improved by more systematic treatment along 
the lines of either taxonomy or mode of in- 
fection, e. g., by contamination, by flies and 
other insects, by arachnids, leeches, etc. Why 
should Trypanosoma, Herpetomonas and 
Crithidia be widely separated from Leish- 
mania, to which they are closely related sys- 
tematically? Or why should Plasmodium be 
widely separated by intervening coccidia and 
thizopods from Babesia? Yellow fever also, 
in our ignorance of the causative agent, would 
have been better placed after malaria as a 
mosquito-borne disease. 

Editorially the work is prepared with care, 
and comparatively few slips have passed un- 
noticed. Some uncertainty exists in regard 
to the termination in words like leishmaniasis, 
microsporidios?s, myxosporidiasis, ete., but as 
both forms are in current use it can not be 
called an error. ‘“ Sex” is used in the sense 
of fertilization by union of two cells (p. 8). 
Inheritance of acquired characters is credited 
to some Protozoa (p. 287 and p. 297). A pe- 
culiar expression is found on p. 264: “ Multi- 
plication among Ciliates is abundant”; and 
another on p. 162: “It was then that the cases 
of yellow fever that have visited England were 
chiefly notified.” A mis-statement is made in 
connection with the nuclear reorganization of 
ex-conjugants, on p. 265; and another in which 
it is implied that all free-living ciliates bear 
trichocysts, on p. 264; and an oversight in 
proof-reading was responsible for the slip: 
“each of the two give rise” (p. 178). These, 
however, are small matters which take away 
nothing from the value of the book. On the 
other hand, its value might be enhanced by 
better arrangement of material and by a 


JuLy 17, 1914] °° 


critical treatment of their own and of others’ 
work, together with a more generous apprecia- 
tion of the possibility that some other investi- 
gators might also be gifted with the powers of 
correct observation. 

Gary N. Catkins 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 


DIRECT PROOF THROUGH NON-DISJUNCTION THAT 
THE SEX-LINKED GENES OF DROSOPHILA 
ARE BORNE BY THE X-CHROMOSOME 


_ In “ Non-disjunction of the Sex-chromosomes 
of Drosophila,’ Jour. Exp. Zool., November, 
1913, the following case was presented: 

1. In certain strains involving sex-linked 
characters, females arose which could not be 
explained upon the ordinary mechanism of 
sex-linked inheritance. These females were 
maternal in appearance, showing those sea- 
linked characters which the mother showed, 
but no influence of those borne by the father. 

2. Breeding results showed that genetically 
as well as somatically these exceptional fe- 
males were exact duplicates of their mother in 
that they carried no sex-linked genes intro- 
duced by the father. 

3. Such exceptionally produced females in- 
herit directly from their mother.the power of 
producing like exceptions; for these females, 
in turn, gave in F, when outcrossed to any 
male, five per cent. of daughters like them- 
selves somatically and genetically. The re- 
maining daughters are, in appearance, of the 
types expeeted on normal sex-linkage. 

4, Exceptionally produced females gave in 
F, a class of sons (five per cent.) complemen- 
tary to the matroclinous daughters in that 
these sons both somatically and genetically 
were purely paternal, having no sex-linked 
characters introduced by the mother. 

5. The entire set of sex-linked genes of the 
mother, or the entire set of sex-linked genes of 
the father, appeared without addition or loss 
in the matroclinous daughters or patroclinous 
sons, respectively. This result was independ- 
ent of the particular composition of the mother 
_or father and held when the mother was mated 
to any male. 

6. The exceptional F, males (patroclinous) 


SCIENCE 


107 


when outcrossed to unrelated females did not 
give rise to exceptions in F,. 

7. By breeding in each generation from the 
exceptional daughters a “ pseudo-parthenoge- 
netic ” line was maintained in which a given 
sex-linked constitution was handed down in- 
definitely from daughter to daughter. 

8. The exceptional daughters resulted from 
the fertilization of an egg of the mother by a 
normal sperm from the father, as was proved 
by the introduction into the exceptional 
daughters of non-sex-linked genes from the 
father. The inheritance was uniparental with 
respect to sex-linked genes, and biparental and 
quite regular with respect to non-sex-linked 
genes. 

9. The cytological work of Miss Stevens was 
referred to as showing that in Drosophila the 
female has two X-chromosomes and the male 


‘an unpaired X. (See, however, section 17.) 


The explanation advanced for this series of 
facts was that the sex-linked genes were borne 
by the X-chromosome, and that ten per cent. 
of the eggs of the exceptional females retained 
both X-chromosomes or, conversely, lost both to 
the polar body. 

It was suggested that the cause of the non- 
disjunction was itself a sex-linked gene. 

Work which has been carried out since the 
previous paper was published enables me to 
add the following points: 

10. Half of the expected class of daughters 
from a non-disjunctional female by any male, 
inherit directly from their mother the same 
power of producing five per cent. of matro- 
clinous daughters and patroclinous sons. For 
example, white non-disjunctional females 
mated to wild males gaye in F, the following: 

Expected classes. Exceptions. 
95% of both sexes. 5% of both sexes. 
Wild type 2; white ¢. White 9; wild type d. 

Half of the wild-type daughters (all were 
heterozygous for recessive white) when out- 
erossed to barred males (barred is a dominant 
sex-linked character) gave exceptions as fol- 
lows: 

Expected classes. Exceptions. 
95% of both sexes. 5% of both sexes. 
Barred @ (2); wild type Wild type 9; barred d. 
3 (1); white f (1). 


108 


11. Non-disjunctional females are diploid 
in constitution, for (see 10) they can be 
heterozygous in various sex-linked genes, and 
they then give all the expected classes in the 
normal proportions. 

12. Half of the expected class of sons (from 
any non-disjunctional female by any male) 
transmit the power of producing exceptions, al- 
though they themselves do not possess that 
power. Thus, half the white sons of a white 
non-disjunctional female outcrossed to wild fe- 
males give in F, only the expected classes of 
wild-type females and wild-type males. If 
these wild-type daughters are tested by out- 
crossing to barred males exceptions are found 
among their offspring. 

138. Those sons (half the expected class) 
which do transmit the power of producing ex- 
ceptions transmit it to only some of their 
daughters and not to all. Thus of the wild- 
type daughters tested (in 12) by barred males 
only approximately half showed exceptions, the 
others giving only expected classes. 

14. The patroclinous sons of a non-disjunc- 
tional female do not transmit non-disjunction 
to any of their offspring. 

15. Attempts to localize a gene for non-dis- 
junction in the series of sex-linked genes 
showed that no such definite locus in the series 
could be assigned to non-disjunction as has 
been assigned in the case of all sex-linked 
genes. Non-disjunction was found to assort 
freely from all sex-linked genes tried. 

16. Attempts to obtain pure stock of non- 
disjunction failed. Had there been an X- 
chromosome gene involved, the rigorous 
method used would not have failed to yield a 
stock pure for that gene. 

17. Recent cytological investigation has 
clearly shown that normally in Drosophila 
ampelophila the female bears two X-chromo- 
somes, and the male an unequal X—Y pair 
(see 9). 

This last fact requires us to substitute the 
term Y-bearing sperm for “no-X ” sperm and 
Y-ege for no-X egg in our explanation. 

The breeding work (especially 13, 15 and 16) 
showed that an X-chromosome gene could not 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1020 


be the cause of the phenomenon, and the ecyto- 
logical work (see 17) supplies us with an ade- 
quate cause in the supposed presence in the 
exceptional females of a Y-chromosome in ad- 
dition to the normal two X-chromosomes. 

The prediction was accordingly made that 
half the daughters of a non-disjunctional fe- 
male would be found to contain in addition to 
the two X-chromosomes a supernumerary 
chromosome which is a Y. 

18. Cytological investigation has shown that 
approximately one half of the daughters of a 
non-disjunctional female do in fact contain a 
supernumerary Y-chromosome, while the re- 
maining half contain only the normal two X- 
chromosomes. 

The sex-chromosomal constitution of a non- 
disjunctional female is XXY. In 90 per cent. 
of the maturations the sex-chromosomes must 
be placed in opposition to each other in such 
a way that an X and Y both pass to one pole, 
and a single X to the other. In ten per cent. of 
the maturations, however, the chromosomes 
must oppose each other in such a way that the 
Y passes to one pole by itself and the two X- 
chromosomes pass to the other pole together. 

The fertilization of these types of eggs by 
the spermatozoa of an unrelated male of the 
constitution XY explains the genetical results 
as follows: 

The XX eggs (5 per cent.) by the Y-sperm 
give females (XX =—female) having each a 
supernumerary Y-chromosome. These females 
will be exact duplicates of their mother with 
respect to their chromosomes, and the breed- 
ing work showed that they are exact duplicates 
with respect to all sex-linked genes (see 1, 2 
and 5). Thzs parallelism can only be explained 
by assuming that the X-ehromosomes do in 
reality bear the genes for the sea-linked char- 
acters. 

Furthermore, since these females received 
no A-chromosome from the father they can 
neither show nor transmit sex-linked charac- 
ters from the male (see 1 and 2). 

Since the composition of these females is 
XAXY, they will themselves have the power of 
producing exceptions as did their mother (see 


JuLy 17, 1914] 


3). The particular composition of the mother 
ean thus be handed on indefinitely from 
daughter to daughter (see 7). 

Only the sex-chromosomes are concerned in 
this unique maturation and breeding results 
show that only sex-linked characters are sub- 
ject to exception in these cases (see 8). 

The Y-eges (5 per cent.) by the X-sperm 
give males (XY) with no supernumerary 
chromosomes. These males have received their 
X-chromosomes from their father and the 
breeding results (see 4) show that in all sex- 
linked characters (see 5) they are exact dupli- 
eates of the father. 

These males will be able neither to produce 
exceptions (see 6) nor to transmit the power 
of producing exceptions (see 14) since their 
chromosome mechanism is that of any ordi- 
nary male (see 17). 

The XY-eggs (45 per cent.) by the X-sperm 
will give females (diploid with respect to X 
(see 11)) which will, to all appearances, be the 
type expected from the cross, since they will 
exhibit characters from either or both parents. 
But since they contain a supernumerary Y- 
chromosome they will themselves be able to 
produce exceptions, and breeding tests showed 
that half the expected females do in fact pro- 
duce such exceptions (see 10). 

19. Such non- -disjunctional females wien 
are heterozygous for recessive characters, when 
bred to any male, produce exceptional daugh- 
ters which are of one type only, namely, hetero- 
zygous dominants. This fact shows that the 
non-disjunction occurs at the reduction di- 
vision, for if at the reduction division the X- 
chromosomes separated the egg would receive 
either the dominant bearing chromosome or 
the recessive bearing chromosome. After the 
following equational division of the chromo- 
somes two like chromosomes would be pro- 
duced, both dominant or both recessive bear- 
ing. If non-disjunction occurred at this stage 
(2d polar body) exceptional daughters pure 
dominant or pure recessive would appear. 
Since females of this type do not appear, we 
must conclude that the non-disjunction occurs 
normally at the reduction division and not at 
the equation division. 


SCIENCE 


109 


The XY-eggs (45 per cent.) by Y-sperm give 
males (XY = male) with a supernumerary Y- 
chromosome. Since these males receive their 
Y-chromosomes from their mother they will 
be of the expected classes of sons (see 12). In 
the spermatogenesis of such males the extra Y 
may go either with X or with the other Y and 
these two cases seem to occur with equal fre- 
quency. The spermatozoa of such a male are 
then of four types: X Y—Y—X—YY. When 
mated to any female only expected offspring 
could appear (see 12). The types XY and X 
are female producing. Some of the daughters 
produced will thus have a supernumerary Y 
and will themselves produce exceptions (see 12 
and 13). 

Some of the sons of such a cross would pos- 
sess the power of transmitting non-disjunction 
as did their father of like composition (see 12 
and 13). Although the presence of the males 
having the composition XYY has béen proven 
genetically, their occurrence has not yet been 
studied eytologically. 

If in a non-disjunctional female Y went 
equally often with either X, then no linkage 
would be shown between non-disjunction and 
any sex-linked gene (see 15). 

Likewise the method which would unfail- 
ingly secure a pure’ stock of any sex-linked 
gene is utterly useless for a freely segregating 
Y-chromosome (see 16). 

- In econelusion, there can be no doubt that 
the complete parallelism between the unique 
behavior of the chromosomes and the behavior 
of sex-linked genes and sex'in this case means 
that the seau-linked genes are located in and 
borne by the X-chromosomes. 


Catvin B. Bripces 
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 


HOT WATER TREATMENT FOR COTTON ANTHRACNOSE 

Durine the past three months we have been 
making a study of the effect of hot water at 
different temperatures on the anthracnose 
fungus and cotton seed. The results are very 
interesting and seem to have an important 
bearing on the control of the disease. Cotton 
anthracnose is known to be carried in the 
seed. The fungus penetrates the seed coats 


110 


and the hyphe and spores have been found in 
the cotyledons on the inside of the seed while 
theeseeds were still in a dormant condition. So 
far, no treatment has been reported which 
will kill the fungus without killing the seed. 
Our hot water treatment studies were made 
with a view of determining whether or not the 
fungus could be killed by hot water without 
injuring the seed. Our results so far are 
very encouraging andi are considered to be of 
sufficient importance to warrant publication 
at this time of this preliminary statement. 

To begin with, we placed cotton seed in 
water at different temperatures and for differ- 
ent lengths of time and then germinated them 
between blotters in the ordinary way in incu- 
bators with a view of determining how high 
a temperature cotton seed would stand with- 
out injury, As a result of these tests we find 
that cotton seed can remain in water at 70° 
Centigrade for fifteen minutes without injur- 
ing the germination. 50 per cent. of the seed 
germinated that were allowed to stand in 
water at 75° Centigrade for fifteen minutes. 
In a few cases more than 50 per cent. of the 
seed germinated that had been treated five 
minutes at 80° Centigrade, but in the majority 
of cases a very small per cent. of the seed 
treated for five minutes or longer at 80° 
germinated. 

The fact that cotton seed which had been 
allowed to stand in water at 70° Centi- 
grade for fifteen minutes germinated as 
well as the untreated checks prompted us to 
germinate a large number of treated seed 
under sterile conditions and to examine the 
seedlings for anthracnose. We used for this 
purpose the method which has been in use in 
this laboratory for the past four years for 
testing seed for disease by germinating them 
in sterile test tubes.1 These tests seem to 
show conclusively that the fungous hyphze 
and spores in the seed are killed when cotton 
seed is allowed to remain in water at 70° 
Centigrade for fifteen minutes and the germi- 
nating power of the seed is not injured. An 
average of 22 per cent. of the seedlings in 

1 Twenty-fourth annual report of the South 
Carolina Experiment Station, page 43. 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL, No. 1020 


the checks from the same lot of seed and ger- 
minated under the same conditions were dis- 
eased. We now have two fields on the college 
farm planted with seed which were given this 
treatment and so far there is no indication 
of disease in the seedlings, while in the fields 
planted with the same lot of seed but not 
treated diseased seedlings are abundant. The 
field tests will, of course, not be complete until 
the end of the season when the plants are all 
mature. 

H. W. Barre, 

W. B. Autti 

CLEMSON COLLEGE, S. C. 


THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY. IV 
WATER, SEWAGE AND SANITATION SECTION 
Edward Barton, Chairman 
H. P. Corson, Secretary 
A Sanitary Survey of White Rwer: JoHN C. Dices. 

During the summer of 1913 a sanitary survey was 
conducted on the West Fork of White River, an 
Indiana stream 388 miles in length. A knowledge 
of the condition of this river is of great impor- 
tance because this stream is used as a public water 
supply and means of sewage disposal for cities 
whose population totals over 300,000. A great part 
of the work was conducted from a floating labora- 
tory, which served also as the living quarters of 
the members of the surveying party. Private and 
publie water supplies of cities bordering the river 
were also examined and sanitary surveys conducted 
in towns visited. 

Hypothetical Combinations in Reporting Water 

Analyses: RICHARD B. DOLE. 

Various common methods of making hypothetical 
combinations were illustrated in order to show the 
wide divergence of practise in America, and the 
combinations were interpreted in order to show 
the similarities and differences of opinion as to the 
quality of a given water. The author emphasized 
the advisability of distinguishing between the facts 
of analysis and the opinions expressed as hypo- 
thetical combinations. He also showed how the 
value of water may be deduced from the ionic 
statement without reference to hypothetical com- 
binations and quoted the opinions expressed by 
several authors and scientific associations as to the 
advisability of reporting water analyses in ionic 
form and omitting the report in hypothetical com- 
binations in order that analyses by different chem- 


Juny 17, 1914] 


ists may be compared and the error of analysis 
may not be concealed. As the order of making 
hypothetical combinations is purely conventional 
the author strongly urged that no scheme of ma- 
ling such combinations be included in the report 
of the Committee on Standard Methods of Water 
Analysis but that the data of the analysis be re- 
ported in ionic form, 


New Apparatus for the Determination of Hydro- 
gen Sulfide in Water: GEORGE B, FRANKFORTER. 


Sanitary Survey of the Ohio River by the U. S. 
Public Health Service: W. H. Frost anp H. W. 
STREETER. 


The Use of Liquid Chlorine in Treating the Water 
Supply of Indiana Harbor, Ind.: H. H. JoRDAN, 
The Adaptation to Water Analysis of the Determi- 
nation of Potassium as the Perchlorate: CuAR- 

ENCE SCHOLL. 

A detail comparison of the platinic chloride and 
perchlorate methods of determining potassium is 
given, The cost of the latter is about 0.7 per cent. 
of the former. The ease in manipulation is also 
much greater in the perchlorate method. The re- 
sults obtained are accurate. The perchlorate 
method is then given in detail. The sulphate and 
ammonium ions and all volatile acids must be re- 
moved. The residue is evaporated to dryness with 
perchlorate acid until all the salts are perchlorates. 
The perchlorate salts of all the common elements 
except potassium are soluble in 96 per cent. to 97 
per cent. alcohol containing 0.2 per cent. HCI1O,, 
The potassium perchlorate obtained is weighed in 
Gooch crucibles after drying one hour at 120°— 
130°. The method was used on many waters con- 
taining known amounts of potassium. The errors 
are small. The phosphate radicle has no effect on 
the determination. The perchloric acid is now 
available to every chemist. The method can be 
recommended for use in water analysis and prob- 
ably for all other analytical work where the con- 
tent of potassium is desired. 


The Preparation of Standards for the Determina- 
tion of Turbidity of Water: Francis D. WEST. 


Report of the Committee on Standard Methods of 
Water and Sewage Analysis. 


Chemical Studies of the Pollution of the Ohio 

River: HARLE B, PHELPS. 

The investigation of the Ohio River. now being 
conducted by the U. S. Public Health Service 
under the direction of Passed Assistant Surgeon 
Wade H. Frost has for its object the determina- 
tion of the extent and character of present pollu- 


SCIENCE 


111 


tion, the capacity of the stream to care for this 
and future pollution, and the effect, if any, upon 
the public health of riparian communities. It is 
hoped in addition to obtain data for a general dis- 
cussion of the principles of self-purification of 
streams. The capacity of a stream for re-aeration 
determines its capacity to dispose of pollution. 
The general laws of re-aeration are known but 
their application to a stream requires. the determi- 
nation of certain constants, characteristic of each 
stream type. 


Investigation Relating to the Use of Calciwm 
Hypochlorite as a Disinfectant for Water Sup- 
plies: W. G. Tick AnD C, H. BLANCHARD, 


Some Further Results of the Hypochlorite Disin- 
fection of the Baltimore City Water Supplies; 
A Comparison of the Reduction of the Different 
Members of the B. coli Group: J. BosiEy 
THOMAS AND Hpegar A, SANDMAN. 

The hypochlorite treatment of the Baltimore 
city water supplies was instituted in June, 1911, 
pending the erection of a filtration plant. In one 
supply the hypochlorite was added at the im- 
pounding reservoir; in the other supply, consti- 
tuting about three fourths of the consumption, it 
was found feasible to apply the disinfectant at 
the effluent of the first storage reservoir, after the 
water had received a preliminary treatment with 
aluminum sulfate. The treatment effected a re- 
duction of 99 per cent. of the organisms growing 
at 20° C. in the sedimented water of one supply, 
and 83 per cent. in the other supply, where no 
coagulant was added previous to the disinfectant. 
The reductions in the numbers of organisms grow- 
ing at 37° C. were 85 per cent. and 76 per cent. 
respectively. There was but little difference in the 
relative reductions of the members of the B. colt 
group, these reductions being between 97 and 99 
per cent., based upon about fifteen hundred iso- 
lations. The number of cases of typhoid fever 
occurring in Baltimore during 1913 was seventeen 
per cent. less than an average of the number of 
cases occurring during the five years from 1906 
to 1910 before the treatment was instituted. 


Filtration and Softening of the Cleveland Water 

Supply: Hippolyte GRUENER. 

The Cleveland water situation is marked by a 
comparatively high grade of raw water, both as 
respects its hardness and bacterial content. The 
increase of the typhoid rate resulted in 1911 in the 
use of bleaching powder. Popular objections to 
this combined with the conditions after the flood 
of 1913 led to the decision to filter, The rapid 


112 


sand method was adopted and a test filter put into 
operation at once. Lime and iron were used, par- 
ticularly with reference to softening. The dosage 
was determined in the end empirically. The re- 
sults have been absolutely satisfactory. Turbid- 
ity, zero. Bacterial count, low, with absence of 
gas formers. Hardness, reduced from 116 p. p. m. 
to 55. Laundry and boiler tests have also been 
made with satisfactory results. Further plans for 
the filter plant, as also for sewage treatment are 
nearly completed. 


The Relation between Aluminum Sulphate and 
Color im Mechanical Filtration: Frank EH. 
HALE. 

Filter alum and alkalinity combine at ordinary 
temperature to form monobasic carbonate of alum- 
inum, at 100° F. probably dibasic. 

Color in water is acid and combines with the 
hydroxide radicle of the alum precipitate. The 
direct aluminum compound is soluble (boiling re- 
action). Neutral color combines directly with 
alum to form probably A1R.(OH) and residual 
acid color. This has resulted in removing double 
amounts of color per same amount of alum, neu- 
tralizing excess alum by raw water. High alka- 
line waters form soluble aluminates and require 
more alum. Acidity of color shown by removal of 
expected acidity proportional to removal of color, 
by residual acidity not removed by aeration or 
boiling, by neutralization of acidity preventing 
alum reaction, by removal of color of different 
waters proportional to color acidity, by deepening 
of color by alkali, by prevention of alum reaction 
by combined iron, by removal of color by mag- 
nesium hydrate, and lastly definite chemical ac- 
tion is indicated by definite color removal by defi- 
nite amounts of alum. 


DIVISION OF ORGANIC CHEMISTRY 
F. B. Allan, Chairman 


C. G. Derick, Vice-chairman and Secretary 

The division of organic chemistry held its meet- 
ings Wednesday morning and all day Thursday, 
the 8th and 9th of April, respectively, with Chair- 
man EF. B. Allan presiding. Of the twenty-four 
papers listed in the program, nineteen were pre- 
sented. The symposium on ‘‘The Teaching of 
Organic Chemistry’’ was held according to the 
program. These meetings were marked by a very 
thorough discussion of each paper, with a very 
few exceptions, and all organic chemists present 
agreed that the division meetings were the most in- 
teresting that they had attended. The average 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1020 


attendance at each meeting was fifty. Dr. R. R. 
Renshaw was appointed by the division as a com- 
mittee to draft a questionnaire concerning the 
teaching of organic chemistry which should be 
submitted to the division at the Montreal meeting 
in September. 


The Chemistry of Enzymic Action: J. U. Ner. 
(One hour.) 

The Constitution of Acetylacetone-thiourea: W. J. 
HALE. 


A Contribution to the Study of the Constitution 
of Hydroxyazo Compounds: WM. McPHERSON 
AND GEORGE W. STRATTON. 

The authors discussed the methods used in at- 
tempting to isolate isomeric compounds of the 
general formulas 


OH 
and. IN 


ZA 
Yr 
odes \w = N_R. 


The Preparation and Properties of Some New 
Orthobenzoquinones: CrECIL BooRD AND WM. 
McPHEESON. 

B ethyl-, 8 n-propyl-, 8 t-butyl- and 6 t-amylortho- 
benzoquinones have been prepared. The method of 
Jackson and Koch, using anhydrous ether as a sol- 
yent, and also that of Willstiitter and Pharmensteil 
have been used in each ease. 

The two crystalline forms observed by Willstitter 
in the case of orthobenzoquinone itself, have been 
observed in each case. Also with an increase in the 
size of side chain the stability of each of the crys- 
talline forms is increased. 


The Oxidation cf Propylene Glycol: WM. Lioyy 

Evans, H. J. TITZEMANN AND P. R. COTTRINGER. 
A Study of the Mechanism of the Grignard Reac- 

tion: LAMBERT THORP AND OLIVER KAMM. 

Evidence is furnished leading to the conclusion 
that the Baeyer-Villiger oxonium structure for 
the Grignard compounds is to be preferred to 
the structure assigned by Grignard and Stanikoff. 
The authors do not, however, believe that an 
oxonium structure need be assumed in order to 
account for the behavior of the Grignard com- 
pounds. : 


The Structure of the Three Dihydro-B-naphthoic 

Acids: C. G. DrRicK anp O. Kamm. ‘ 

Two dihydro-B-naphthoic acids haying an un- 
saturated linking in the ring carrying the car- 
boxyl have previously been prepared and the 
structure of one of them demonstrated. In the 
present work the preparation of the third isomeric 
acid is described and a demonstration of the struc- 


JuLy 17, 1914] 


ture of all three isomers, based upon the reactions 
of their respective dibromides, is offered. 


The Rearrangement 
JAMES K, SENIOR. 
The rearrangement of triphenylmethyl azid 

(C,H;):—C—N; by the action of heat into phenyl- 

imidobeerzopherone was made extremely likely by 

the discovery of this rearrangement in the case of 
triphenylmethyl hydroxylamine under the influ- 
ence of dehydrating agents, and of triphenylmethyl 
halogen amines under the influence of alkalies. 

Experiment proved the correctness of the antici- 

pation. 


of Trioxylmethyl Azids: 


The Action of Triozymethylene on the Various 
Hydrocarbons in the Presence of Aluminium 
Chloride: GEO. B. ERANKFORTER AND V. R. 
KOKATNUR. 

This work was begun with the idea of extend- 
ing the use of anhydrous aluminium chloride as a 
dehydrating reagent, at the same time throwing 
light, if possible, on the constitution of trioxy- 
methylene. So far, little knowledge has been 
added to the molecular structure of the latter. 
However, the use of aluminium chloride as a de- 
hydrating agent has been extended. It has been 
shown, by treating benzene and trioxymethylene 
with aluminium chloride, that diphenylmethane 
and anthracene were obtained; with toluene, di- 
toluylmethane and dimethylanthracene; with xylene, 
dixylylmethane and tetramethylanthracene, and 
finally with mesitylene, dimesitylmethane, tetra- 
methylanthracene and durene. 


Studies on Organic Periodides. I. Periodides of 
Methacetin, Phenacetin and Triphenin: W. O. 
EMERY. 


Periodides of Antipyrin: W. O. EMmrRy ann S. 
PALKIN. 


Molecular Rearrangements of Hydrazines: JULIUS 
STIEGLITZ AND JAMES K, SENIOR. 
Rearrangements of hydrazines corresponding to 

the rearrangement of oximes (Beckmann) and 
of hydroxanic acids are not described in the liter- 
ature. Attempts are made by the authors on a 
number of hydrazones and hydrazines on account 
of the fundamental analogy between hydroxyl- 
amine derivatives and those of hydrazine, but 
until recently the attempts were unsuccessful. A 
source of the failure was thought to lie in the ex- 
istence of two possible electronic structures for 
hydrazines and hydrazones. To avoid this pos- 
sible difficulty the rearrangement of symmetric 
di-triphenylmethylhydrazine 


SCIENCE 


113 


(C.H;).C-M.+-.M.C (C.H;)s 


was tried and was found to proceed successfully 
under the influence of zine chloride. The results 
promise to throw light on these rearrangements and 
on the electronic structures of the compounds in- 
volved. 


The Phosphates of Destearin: R. R. RENSHAW 
AND R, R. STEVENS. 


Electromers and Stereomers with Positive and 
Negative Hydroxyl: L. W. JONES anp L. F. 
WERNER. 


Halogen Substituted Hydroxamic Acids: L. W. 
JONES AND L, F. WERNER. 


Formyl-B-benzylhydroxylamine: lu, W. JONES AND 
M. C. SNEED. 


The Addition Compounds of Dimethylpyrone with 

Organic Acids: JAMES KENDALL. 

The addition compounds of monobasic aliphatic 
and aromatic acids, and also of phenols, with di- 
methylpyrone have been investigated by the freez- 
ing-point method. Thirty-two substances were 
examined, and the existence of thirty-seven com- 
pounds, most of which have not previously been 
described, has been demonstrated. The com- 
pounds obtained were of three general types: 
C,H,0., Hx; 2C,H,O., 3Hx; and C,H,0., 2Hx. 
A consideration of the results leads to the view 
that the reaction is ionic, and that the compounds 
formed are true oxonium salts. The method is of 
general application for the study of organic addi- 
tion reactions. 


Errors in the Dumas Method for determining N1- 
trogen Due to Occluded Gases in Copper Oxide: 
CG. A. TaynLor AND A. C. FIELDNER. 


The Isomeric Octacetates of Lactose: C. S. Hup- 

SON AND JAMES M. JOHNSON. 

The octacetate of lactose already known was 
purified until a m. p. of 90° (uneorr.) and a 
specific rotation in chloroform of (ZL) 7,—=— 4.3° 
were obtained. By means of zine chloride in acetic 
acid at room temperature, this compound was re- 
arranged into a new isomeric octacetate which was 
obtained crystallime with a m. p. of 152° C. 
(uneorr.) and a specific rotation in chloroform of 
(L)?— + 538.1°. 
both isomers. 
Substitution in the Benzene Nucleus and in the 

Side Chain from the Standpoint of the LHlec- 

tronic Conception of Positive and Negative 

Valences: H. S. PRy. 


Lactose was regenerated from 


114 


The Salts of the Acridines: lL. H. Cons. 

Free radicals analogous to triphenylmethyl have 
been isolated from the salts of diphenylacridol and 
N-methylphenylacridol. These free radicals be- 
have in every way analogous to triphenylmethyl, 
yielding peroxides on exposure to air and adding 
on halogens, etc. From these facts the conclusion 
is drawn that in all probability the salts of the 
acridines are quinocarborium salts analogous to 
the quinonoid form of triphenylchloromethane 
from which triphenylmethyl comes, at least in 
part. This conclusion is at variance with the ac- 
cepted ammonium formulation of the salts of the 
acridines. 


The Action of Halogen on 4-Nitro-m-Cresol: L. 

CHAS. RAIFORD. 

The experiments of Kehrmann and Tichvinsky 
on the chlorination of 4-nitro-m-cresol have been 
repeated, and the experiments varied so as to use 
pure chlorine as well as mixtures with carbon di- 
oxide. Instead of 6-chlor-4-nitro-m-cresol only, as 
reported by K. and 1T., 75 per cent. of the product 
was found to 2-chlor-4-nitro-m-cresol, and but 5-10 
per cent. of the compound with chlorine para to 
methyl. Chlorination with mixtures furnishing 
so-called nascent chlorine, gave nothing but 2-6- 
dichlor-4-nitro-m-eresol. 


A Simple Method for the Determination of the 
Accuracy of the Conductance Data of Organic 
Hlectrolytes: C. G. DERICK. 

The use of the linear plotting functions to test 
the precision and presence of constant errors in 
conductance data has been found unsatisfactory 
in the hands of beginning research men. In the 
case of the weak and transition electrolytes, the 
calculation of the molar conductance at zero com- 
centration has been found to be a very satisfac- 
tory criterion for both precision and constant 
errors of the conductance data of organic electro- 
lytes. Its sensitiveness may be varied and no me- 
chanical skill is necessary in its application. Its 
application to existing measurements on the con- 
ductance data of weak electrolytes shows that these 
data are very inaccurate as a rule. 


The Ionization Constant of Pyroracemic Acids: ©. 
G. DERICK AND St. ELMo Brapy. } 
The unsatisfactoriness of the use of the ordi- 

nary criteria of purity of organic compounds is 

emphasized. Organic chemists are urged to use 
additional criteria such as the ionization con- 
stants. This statement was emphasized by the 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1020 


measurements of the conductance data on pyro- 
racemic acid. Also the application of its caleu- 
lated molar conductance at zero concentration as 
a criterion of the precision and constant errors in 
the measurements was illustrated. 


On Cyanoacetic Ester: JoHN C. HESSLER. 

The alkylation of cyanoacetie ester by means of 
sodium ethylate and alkyl haloids gives large 
amounts of di-alkyl cyanoacetie ester. Methyl 
iodide gives 12.3 per cent., ethyl iodide 30 per 
cent., ethyl bromide 28 per cent., normal propyl 
iodide 35 per cent., isoamyl iodide 28 per cent., of 
the di-alkyl cyanoacetic ester. The heating of 
these di-alkyl esters with concentrated hydro- 
chlorie acid in sealed tubes is an unsatisfactory 
method of saponification. Caustic potash in pure 
methyl alcohol reacts ideally in the cold, giving 
the di-alkyl cyanoacetic acids in theoretical quan- 
tity. The salts of these acids, and their acid 
chlorides, amides, anilides, etce., have been pre- 
pared. 

The Conrad-Limpoch reaction has also been 
carried out in methyl alcoholic solution. The 
yields are small, yet the alcohol is as anhydrous 
as it seems possible to make it. The products are 
methyl esters, not ethyl esters, owing to an ex- 
change with the methyl group of the alcohol. 
When benzyl chloride is used in place of the alkyl 
haloids a large amount of di-benzyl cyanoacetic 
methyl ester is obtained. This is a beautifully 
erystalline solid melting at 78°—79° C. 

The investigation is being continued with the 
use of propyl, isobutyl and isoamyl alcohols as sol- 
vents. 

On Thursday a symposium on the teaching of 
elementary organic chemistry was held with the 
following papers: 

I. Theory of Elementary Organic Chemistry: 

J. B. ALLAN, Chairman. 

‘“‘The Teaching of Elementary Organic 
Chemistry without the Use of Atomic 
and Molecular Hypotheses.’’ 

II. Theory of Organic Chemistry for Graduate 

Students: R. R. RENSHAW. 

“What shall be the Character of the Ad- 
vanced Instruction in Organic Chemis- 
try??? 

Ill. Laboratory Teaching of Organic Chemistry: 

L. W. JONES. 

‘‘The Teaching of Organic Chemistry in the 
Laboratory.’’ 

CHARLES L. Parsons, 
Secretary 


SCIENCE 


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SCIENCE “eu 


Fray, Juuy 24, 1914 


CONTENTS 

Modern Views on the Constitution of the 

Atom: Prorgessor A. S. EVE ............ 115 
Statistics of Crops: PRorEssor G. F. WARREN. 121 
Stanford Uniwersity Medical School: Dr. V. 

Oh WAGE Sh c5006gcenncondda oo duoodas 126 
Newton Horace Winchell: Dr. JoHN M. 

GONTRS  poodocdonlbcougopououanonogeoodd 127 
Scientific Notes and News .............+-. 130 
Unwersity and Educational News .........-. 133 
Discussion and Correspondence :-— 

Fossil Vertebrates of the Judith River and 

Cow Island Beds: CHartes H. STERNBERG. 

““Hydraulics’’ in the Encyclopedia Britan- 

MACE Sis. SEG ROAM yale ele ein we cues « siseise ee 134 
Scientific Books :-— 

Grabau’s Principles of Stratigraphy: Pro- 

FESSOR JOSEPH BarRELL. Letts’s Some 

Fundamental Problems in Chemistry: Pro- 

FESSOR WILDER D. BANCROFT ............ 135 
Magnetic Observations during the Total 

Eclipse: Dr. L. A. BAUER .............. 140 
Special Articles :— 

Ammonifying Power of  Soil-inhabiting 

Fungi: Harry C. McLean, Guy WEst 

AVARSOIN 354 Shood SAG OD EAR EG HOOT AE TARY 140 
The Iowa Academy of Science: James H. 

IDM ha OMe Oo acco e Sa OC ee ee 142 


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


MODERN VIEWS ON THE CONSTITUTION 
OF THE ATOM 

At a meeting of the Royal Society of 
Canada held at Montreal, May, 1914, the 
writer gave by request a summary of re- 
cent work and ideas on the nature of the 
atom. The object was to concentrate, as 
clearly as possible, but not exhaustively, 
the results and opinions scattered through 
many different publications. Few men 
have time or opportunity to collect and 
analyze for themselves the large output 
bearing on this fascinating subject. 

1. It may be well to call attention to the 
general bearing of the situation. Biologists 
are divided into three camps, vitalists, 
mechanists, and those who sit on the bound- 
ary fence. The mechanists believe that all 
phenomena relating to life are attributed 
to the action of physical and chemical 
processes only. The vitalists believe that 
life involves something beyond and behind 
these. Now those who investigate natural 
philosophy, or physics, are endeavoring 
with some fair initial success, to explain 
all physical and chemical processes in terms 
of positive electrons, negative electrons, 
and of the effects produced by these in the 
ether, or space devoid of matter. 

If both the mechanists are right, and also 
the physicists, then such phenomena as 
heredity and memory and intelligence, and 
our ideas of morality and religion, and all 
sorts of complicated affairs are explain- 
able in terms of positive and negative elec- 
trons and ether. All of these speculations 
are really outside the domain of science, 
at least at present. 

2. It has been remarked by Poinearé 
that each fresh discovery in physics adds 


116 


a new load on the atom. The conditions 
which the atoms have to explain may in- 
deed be written down, but to do so is 
merely to make a complete index for all 
books on physics and chemistry in the 
widest sense. 

3. In the early days of the kinetic theory 
of gases, now well established in its broad 
outlines, it was sufficient to regard the 
atom as a perfectly elastic sphere, and it is 
about a generation ago that leading sav- 
ants were triumphantly determining the 
effective radius as about 10° em. (a con- 
venient shorthand for the hundred mil- 
lionth of a centimeter). 

The discovery of electrons as the cathode 
rays of an electric discharge In an ex- 
hausted tube, and as the beta rays of 
radium, opened up new regions.? It ap- 
pears that negative electricity consists of 
electrons with their accompanying but un- 
explained effects in the ether. Electrons 
in motion produce magnetic fields. Their 
effective mass is. about one eighteen hun- 
dredth part of that of a hydrogen atom, 
and their effective radius one hundred 
thousandth. The greatest known speed of 
electrons nearly approaches that of light. 

The Zeeman effect, or separation of a 
single line in the spectrum by suitable 
magnetic fields, into two or more lines 
proved conclusively that the vibrations of 
negative electrons in the atom are the cause 
of the disturbances in the ether which we 
know as light. 

4. The first scheme of an electronic atom, 
propounded by Sir Joseph Thomson, was 
a sphere of positive electricity, of unde- 

1 Young proved this in 1805, but his work was 
forgotten, until Rayleigh called attention to it in 
1890 (Phil. Mag., XXX., 474). 

2Tt is remarkable how little the general public 
has shared in this advance. In Montreal there were 
eleven thousand people witnessing a wrestling 
match while few availed themselves of an invita- 


tion to meetings and discussions of the Royal So- 
ciety. 


SCIENCE 


LN. S. Vou. XL. No. 1021 


fined character within which revolved con- 
centric rings of electrons in the same plane. 
There necessarily followed the simplicity 
of circular motion under a force to the 
center, proportional to the distance between 
the electron and the center of the atom. 
5. Previous to this Lord Rayleigh had 
called attention to a serious anomaly. In 
a train of waves of a periodic character, 
the electric intensity H varies as the sine 
of nt, where ¢ is the time and 27/n is the 
period. As the equations involve the sec- 
ond differential of H, it appears inevitable 
that the square of » should appear in the 
law for spectral series. As a matter of 
fact there appears not the square of n, but 
n itself. It is desirable to be more explicit. 
If parallel light from a luminous source 
passes through a slit and a prism, together 
with suitable lenses, then the eye or photo- 
graphic plate can detect a number of 
bright lines forming the spectral images of 
the slit for different colors, provided that 
the light is from luminous mercury vapor 
or hydrogen, or some such source. Many 
of these lines have been found to belong to 
one or more series crowding together to- 
wards the violet end. Balmer and Rydberg 
have found that the general type of form- 
ula for their frequency n is 
(8): 
where N, is a universal constant called 
Rydberg’s number, the same in value for 
all electrons of all atoms; and a and b are 
whole numbers or integers. We shall refer 
later to the importance of Rydberg’s con- 
stant and of this magnificent generalization. 
The trouble to which Rayleigh referred 
was first faced by Ritz in a startling man- 
ner. He imagined that there were inside 
the atom, placed end to end, a number of 
small magnets with an electron constrained 
to move in a circular path around the line 
of magnets. With this hypothesis he was 


Suny 24, 1914] 


able to account correctly for the above law 
for series of lines in the spectrum. 

We may appreciate Poincaré’s criticism— 

On a quelque peine 4 accepter cette conception, 
qui a je ne sais quoi d’artificiel. 

Inasmuch as physicists endeavor to ex- 
plain magnetism in terms of revolving 
electrons, there is a lack of simplicity, and 
there is an inconsistency, in introducing 
elemental magnets inside the atom. Never- 
theless, it must be admitted that Weiss has 
found remarkable evidence for the concep- 
tion of magnetons or elemental unit magnets, 
producing intra-molecular fields reaching 
to millions of Gauss units, far transcending 
any produced by our most powerful electro- 
magnets, and difficult to explain by revolv- 
ing electrons. 

Again to quote Poincaré— 

Qu’ est-ce maintenant qu’un magnéton? Est-ce 
quelque chose de simple? Non, si 1’on ne veut pas 
renoncer 4 l’hypothése des courants particulaires 
d’Ampére; un magnéton est alors un tourbillon 
d’électrons, et voila notre atome qui complique de 
plus en plus. 

Perhaps the hypothesis of Bohr, ex- 
plained later, may overcome the difficulty, 
but for some time to come the more pru- 
dent will suspend judgment on the 
magneton. 

Recently there has been nothing short of 
a revolution in physics. In certain do- 
mains, the leading workers and thinkers 
have deliberately abandoned the classical 
dynamics and electro-dynamics, and made 
suppositions which are in direct opposition 
to these. This startling change may per- 
haps be justified by the fact that the 
famous laws and equations were based on 
large scale experiments, so that they do not 
necessarily apply to conditions within the 
atom. Those who put forward and make 
use of the new hypotheses, men like Planck 
and Lorentz, Poincaré and Jeans and 
others, appear to do so with reluctance, like 
a retiring army forced from one position to 


SCIENCE 


alrs 


another. Others, like Rayleigh and Larmer, 
appear to regard the whole movement with 
misgivings, and some endeavor, like Walker 
and Callendar, to find a way out. There is 
a young school who go joyfully forward, 
selecting and suggesting somewhat wild 
hypotheses, and yet attaining an unex- 
pected measure of success by their appar- 
ently reckless methods. 

The main phenomena to which the new 
mechanics have been applied are the radia- 
tion within an enclosure, and the distribu- 
tion of energy therein; the high speed of 
electrons ejected from matter by ultra- 
violet light, or by Réntgen rays, or by the 
gamma or penetrating rays from radio- 
active substances, or as I suggest that we 
call them, from radiants; the atomic heat 
of elements, so admirably handled by 
Debye; the residual energy at low tem- 
peratures; and the constitution of the atom. 

Space prevents us from considering 
more than the last of these. 

The first step towards the new method 
was taken by Planck when he saw the neces- 
sity of explaining why the energy of short 
wave radiation is some hundred millionth 
part of that demanded by classical dynam- 
ies. He made the supposition that energy 
is not indefinitely divisible, but he did not 
assume that it was atomic. He actually 
imagined that energy was emitted from 
oscillators in exact multiples of hn, where 
m is the frequency of the oscillation and h 
is a universal constant (Planck’s) with a 
value 6.5 X 107 erg second. The magni- 
tude of the energy quantum is thus pro- 
portional to the frequency. 

This quantum hypothesis has spread like 
fire during a drought. It pervades the 
scientific journals. No physicist has pre- 
tended to explain or understand it, for, as 
Jeans says, the lucky guess has not yet 
been made. Nevertheless, it appears that 
“R” has truth underlying it, and that it 


118 


has come to stay, for the applications of the 
quantum hypothesis have already achieved 
a great and unexpected measure of success. 
In the meantime it is necessary to proceed 
with caution, checking every theory by 
experiment, for there is no other criterion 
to guide the investigator, whether to hold 
to the old or try the new. 

7. The first steps towards the idea of the 
modern or Rutherfordian atom rest on an 
experimental basis, and are not, therefore, 
Open to suspicion. 

Rutherford and Geiger found that when 
the alpha particles from a radiant, such as 
radium or polonium, met a thin gold leaf, 
the bulk of the alpha particles passed 
through with slight deflection, but about 


one in eight thousand bounced back, or re-° 


turned towards the side of their source. 
Both large and small deviations of the 
alpha particles in passing through matter 
were Satisfactorily explained by ordinary 
or Newtonian dynamics, with the law of 
repulsion inversely as the square of the 
distance between similar electric charges. 
One charged particle was the alpha par- 
ticle with a positive charge twice as large, 
numerically, as that of an electron. The 
other charged particle was the nucleus of 
the atom of gold, and the magnitude of this 
charge was about $A where A is the atomic 
weight of gold. This view was subjected to 
a searching series of experimental tests and 
emerged triumphant. 

8. About this time C. T. R. Wilson skil- 
fully obtained photographs of the mist- 
ladened, charged air molecules, marking 
the track of a recent alpha particle, in an 
expansion chamber. Some of these photo- 
graphs showed where a collision had oc- 
curred between the alpha particle and one 
of the heavier molecules of air. It imme- 
diately occurred to Sir Ernest Rutherford 
that a collision between an alpha particle 
and a lighter atom, such as hydrogen, 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1021 


would result in the nucleus of the latter 
being projected beyond the known range of 
the alpha particle. The point was put to 
the test by Marsden, and a complete justi- 
fication of Rutherford’s nucleus resulted. 
The hydrogen nuclei were found to pro- 
duce scintillations on a zine sulphide 
screen at a range about four times as great 
as that of the alpha particles. Some mathe- 
matical investigations by G. C. Darwin 
indicated that the alpha particle or nucleus 
of helium, and the hydrogen nucleus must 
have approached so close that their centers 
were but 1.71078 cm. apart. This 
affords further evidence of the extreme 
minuteness of the nucleus compared with 
the size of an atom (10° em.). 

9. It may be well to recall at this point 
an interesting result of Barkla, obtained 
some years earlier, who showed from the 
scattering of Réntgen rays that the number 
of electrons in the atom must be about $4, 
where A is the atomic weight. In the case 
of an uncharged atom, the positive charge 
on the nucleus must evidently balance the 
negative charges on the electrons revolving 
in orbits around that nucleus. 

Thus we can form a clear mental picture 
of the general character of the atom. It is 
a miniature solar system. The sun is re- 
placed by the positively charged nucleus. 
The planets, perhaps confined to one or 
more definite orbits or rings, are replaced 
by negative electrons revolving rapidly 
around the nucleus. The gravitational 
force is replaced by the electrical attraction 
between the positive nucleus and negative 
electrons. 

10. A brilliant young Dane, Bohr, has 
gone a step farther and suggested the struc- 
ture of an atom capable of explaining the 
series of spectral lines. His work is re- 
markable as leading to excellent numerical 
verification. He assumes the Rutherfordian 
nucleus of electronic charge about half the 


Juuy 24, 1914] 


atomic weight; he assumes that for every 
revolving electron in every atom the 
angular momentum is constant. To be con- 
cise, he supposes that for each electron 
mass X velocity < radius==Planck’s con- 
stant /2r. 

He further supposes that in a steady 
stationary orbit even a single electron does 
not radiate away energy. This is entirely 
contrary to classical electrodynamics. Fur- 
thermore he imagines that in passing from 
one state of stationary orbit to the next 
possible, there is homogeneous radiation of 
amount hn, where 7 is the frequency. This 
is of course Planck’s assumption, and it is 
certainly unexplained, and probably not 
in accord with Hamilton’s equations as 
deduced from Newton’slaws. Nevertheless, 
any day we may learn why energy is 
emitted per saltum, and this mystery will 
vanish. 

Now if you permit these somewhat arbi- 
trary assumptions to Bohr, he can and does 
deduce, at least for the lighter atoms such 
as hydrogen and helium, the Rydberg 
formula for the spectral series.. He finds: 


2Qn*me* ( 1 1 
Nee CL 


where # is the frequency; m, e, mass and 
charge of an electron; h is Planck’s con- 
stant; a, 6, are integers. The quantity be- 
fore the bracket should equal the Rydberg 
number N,, of observed value 3.29 < 10%. 
Bohr’s calculated value is 3.26) 10%, 
showing a most satisfactory agreement. 
Bohr endeavors to account for the man- 
ner in which two hydrogen atoms form a 
molecule. Hach atom has a nucleus of 
positive charge and a simple electron re- 
volving around it. Their charges are equal 
and opposite. The nuclei of two such 
atoms repel each other. The revolving 
electrons of two atoms close together, if 
rotating in the same direction, constitute 
two parallel currents of electricity, and 


SCIENCE 


119 


these attract one another and arrive in the 
same plane. It is easy to make a model on 
a whirling table with the nuclei on an up- 
right rod, the electrons revolving like the 
governor balls of an engine. Bohr hag gone 
further, and conceived a similar model of 
a water molecule with the two nuclei of 
hydrogen and one nucleus of oxygen in a 
straight line, with 10 electrons revolving 
in their zones around them. No doubt 
these suggestive schemes are somewhat 
speculative, but it is refreshing to find a 
first approximation to a dynamical scheme 
replacing the old unsatisfactory electro- 
static atoms, which probably did not ap- 
proximate to the truth. Some of the 
formidable organic molecules must have a 
complexity which it may take generations 
of physicists to unravel. 

11. One of the triumphs of mathematical 
physics was the forecast of Laue that crys- 
tal bodies have their atoms so distributed 
that Rontgen rays must be diffracted by 
these atoms in the same manner that closely 
ruled crossed lines diffract visible light. 
This forecast and its rapid verification, en- 
able the two Brages, father and son, to 
measure with accuracy the wave-lengths of 
Rontgen rays. While the waves of visible 
light are of the order 10° em., those of 
Rontgen rays are of the order 10° cm., 
about one thousandth of the former. The 
electromagnetic theory recognizes no in- 
trinsic difference between the great waves 
of wireless telegraphy, several kilometers in 
length (10° cm.), short electric waves, long 
heat waves, visible light (10° em.), ultra- 
violet waves, and Rontgen rays (10-° em.). 

The method of reflecting Rontgen rays 
from a rock-salt or another crystal has been 
applied by Moseley with marked success 
to the determination of the nucleus charges 
of the atoms of most of the elements. He 
bombarded the. elements one after the 
other, by electrons as cathode rays, reflected 


120 


the resulting Rontgen rays from a crystal 
and measured the wave-lengths of one or 
other of the principal (K or Z, hard or 
soft) radiations. 

In this manner he found 


n= A(N—B)2, 


where n is the frequency of vibration, N 
the nucleus electronic charge, necessarily a 
whole number, and A and B are determined 
constants. In this manner he has found 
the atomic numbers N of all the known 


elements from aluminium 13 to gold 79. 


There appear to be but two or three ele- 
ments not yet found by the chemists. 
These experimental results bear out well a 
view first propounded by van den Broek, 
that each element has an atomic number, 
an integer representing its place in the 
periodic table (Hi 1, He 2, Li 3, Be 4, Bo 5, 
C 6, and so forth). The atomic weight is 
not an exact integer, nor of such funda- 
mental character as the atomic number. 
There will be further reference to this 
point later. 

12. Rutherford has extended Moseley’s 
method and results to the crystal reflection 
of the gamma rays from a radiant (Ra B), 
and determined the wave-lengths of many 
lines, in particular of the two strongest. 
He has bombarded lead with Ra B rays 
and found the wave-lengths of the radiation 
stimulated in the lead. He found that 


masnae | nore | apie | Aes 
Uranium 1 ......... a 92 238.5 
Uranium X1...... B 90 234.5 
Uranium X 2...... B 91 234.5 
Uranium 2 ......... a 92 234.5 
V@WIT So8aecsecoece a 90 230.5 
Radium ............- a 88 226.5 
Radium Hm. ...... a 86 222.5 
Radium A.......... 84 218.5 
Radium B..........- 82 214.5 
Radium @........... 83 214.5 
Radium D.......... 82 210.5 
Radium £... 83 210.5 
Radium Ff’... : 84 210.5 
Wead)cenecesuiseesue 82 206.5 (207.1) 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1021 


Radiwm B and lead gave the same spec- 
trum, indicating that they have the same 
atomic number, 82. Hence he deduced the 
atomic numbers of all the radiants in the 
uranium-radium family. His results are 
worth repeating. 

13. All of these results are in harmony 
with the wonderful advances in radio- 
chemistry due to Soddy, Fajans, Von 
Hevesy and others. It has been found that 
when a radiant emits an alpha particle or 
helium nucleus, the chemical properties 
of the newly formed radiant differ from the 
old. A fresh element is formed, a different 
valency results, and the new radiant, rela- 
tive to the old, is ¢wo columns to the left 
in the periodic table. The atomic number 
has decreased 2, and the atomic weight 
about 4. But when a radiant ejects a beta 
particle or electron, again there is a new 
radiant with different valency and chemical 
properties, but there is a move of one 
column to the right in the periodic table; 
a gain of one in the atomic number and no 
change in the atomic weight. 

A brief example of the whole scheme 
applicable to all radiants is given below: 


Column 
Iv. | W. VI. At. Wis. 
Urx1—> Ur X 2-—> Ur 2 234.5 
90, B 91, B 92, a 
el Url 230.5 
92, a 


In the case of these radiants Ur 1 ejects 
an qa particle and gives rise to UrX1. 
The latter and Ur X 2, respectively, emit a 
B particle. 

It should be added that the short-lived 
product UrX2 or “‘brevyium’’ was dis- 
covered by this theory, after it had been 
formulated from the known behavior of 
other radiants. 

It will be seen that Uranium 1 and 2 are 


Juuy 24, 1914] 


in the same column and have the same 
atomic number, but that their atomic 
weights differ by 4. Such substances have 
chemical properties so identical that they 
are called inseparables, or non-separables, 
or isotopes, for they occupy the same place 
in the periodic table. Thus the old trouble 
of finding places in the periodic table for 
the thirty or forty radiant elements has 
suddenly vanished. They may be super- 
posed even when their atomic weights differ, 
if their atomic numbers are the same. The 
nuclear charges of isotopes must be iden- 
tical, but the distribution of electrons may 
be different. Other examples of insepa- 
rables are: 

Lead, radium B, Radium D, all 82. 

Thorium and radiothorium. 

Radium and mesothorium. 
If these views are distasteful to chemists 
let them discover some means of the sepa- 
ration of the known isotopes. 

It must be further noted that the results 
of radiochemistry appear to require the 
presence of negative electrons in the nu- 
cleus itself. The expulsion of a @ particle, 
or one negative electron, from the nucleus 
is equivalent to the gain of one positive 
electron, and involves a unit increase in 
the atomic number. 

14. The last advance is the most impor- 
tant and far-reaching. There has been long 
search for the positive electron, and in vain; 
yet it seems likely that it has been under 
our eyes all the time. Since the hydrogen 
atom never loses more than a single elec- 
tron, is it not possible, suggests Rutherford, 
that the nucleus of the hydrogen atom may 
be the positive electron ? 

The electro-magnetic mass of an electron 
is : = where e is the charge and a the 
radius. If the mass of the hydrogen nu- 
eleus is wholly electro-magnetic, then its 
radius must be smaller than that of the 


SCIENCE 


121 


electron (negative) as 1:1800, for that is 
the ratio of their masses, while their 
charges are equal and opposite. Hence we 
have 


Mass Diameter 
JAH Bere SCO DUC OR CIELO 1 10-8 em. 
Negative electron .......... 1/1800 10-18 
Positive electron ........... 1 10-16 


Rutherford cautiously remarks that there 
is n0 experimental evidence against such a 
supposition. 

Those who wish to follow the matter 
deeper must refer to many articles in the 
Philosophical Magazine,? several letters to 
Nature, Soddy’s ‘‘Chemistry of the Radio- 
elements,’’ part II., and Perrin’s ‘‘Les 
Atomes.’? The chief writers have been 
Rutherford, W. H. Bragg, W. lL. Bragg, 
G. C. Darwin, Moseley, Broek, Bohr, 
Russell, Fajans, Soddy, Hevesy, Nicholson 
and Mardsen. 

Much has yet to be done, and much to be 
revised, but that the first great forward 
strides have been taken in the right direc- 
tion there can be little doubt. 

A. 8. Eve 


McGinL UNIVERSITY, 
May, 1914 


STATISTICS OF CROPS 


DEGREE OF ACCURACY OF THE REPORTS OF THE 
BUREAU OF STATISTICS OF THE UNITED STATES 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 


In the March 28, 1913, number of Screncz, 
Dr. C. G. Hopkins gives a discussion of this 
topic under the title of “Facts and Fiction 
about Crops.” The Department of Agricul- 
ture is accused of “condemnable inflation of 
erop statistics.” The writer does not believe 
that such a conclusion would be reached if the 
reports were more carefully studied. 

He shows the percentage of error to be very 
great when the Bureau of Statistics estimates 
of corn in the southern states are compared 
with the census report. If the error is due to 
wilful deception, we should expect to find the 


122 


same oyver-statement in the important corn 
states. 

The largest error is in the case of Louisiana, 
where the Bureau of Statistics report of corn 
is 97 per cent. above the census report for 
1909, being an error of 25 million bushels, 
but the crop of Iowa was underestimated by 
52 million bushels. The corn crop of the 
United States was overestimated by 9 per cent. 
But a careful study of the methods of 
enumeration makes this error less conclu- 
sive. By the census method of enumera- 
tion, corn grown for silage is unfortunately 
put with coarse forage crops. It ought to be 
enumerated separately. There were over four 
million acres of such crops, of which corn 
certainly made up the larger part. By the 
methods used by the Bureau of Statistics, much 
silage corn is doubtless included with other 
corn. It is probable that this would reduce 
the error to 5 or 6 per cent. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1021 


A study of Table I. shows that of the 
thirteen crops reported, the production was 
underestimated on six crops, overestimated on 
six crops and practically correct on one crop. 
Of the six most important American crops, 
three, hay, cotton and potatoes are underesti- 
mated, oats were correctly estimated, while 
only two, corn and wheat were overestimated. 
Certainly there is no indication of wilful 
exaggeration. The most serious error is in 
the underestimate of the hay crop. Census 
reports include salt-marsh hay and all wild 
hay. It is probable that many crop reporters 
do not consider any of this as hay except that 
portion that is used for stock food. But even 
making an allowance for this difference, it is 
certain that the Bureau of Statisties reports 
are too low. 

Careful study of Table I. and of the reports 
for individual states indicate that the errors 
in individual states may be very large, but 


TABLE I 
COMPARISON OF CENSUS AND YEAR-BOOK REPORTS OF CROPS IN TH® UNITED STATES IN 19091 


Yields of grain are given in bushels, hay in tons,cotton in bales, tobacco and hops in pounds. 


Acreage Production< Yield Per Acre 
Per Per Per 
Census Report | Yeer-Book | Cent. | Census Report Year-book Cent. | Census) Year-| Cent 
Error Error |Report;) book | rror 
Corn.......... 98,382,665 | 108,771,000 11 | 2,552,189,630 | 2,772,376,000 9 | 25.9 | 25.5 —2 
Wheat......... 44,262,592 46,723,000 6 683,379,259 | 737,189,000 8 | 15.4 | 15.8 '3 
Oats... ~<a. 35,159,441 33,204,000 | —6 | 1,007,142,980 | 1,007,353,000 0 | 28.6 | 30.3 16 
Barley......... 7,698,706 7,011,000 | —9 173,344,212 | 170,284,000) —2 | 22.5 | 24.3 8 
LNVEl oc occcecoe 2,195,561 2,006,000 | —9 29,520,457 32,239,000 9 | 13.4 | 16.1 20 
Buckwheat..... 878,048 834,000 | —5 14,849,332 17,438,000 17 | 16.9 | 20.9 24 
Potatoes....... 3,668,855 3,525,000 | —4 389,194,965 | 376,537,000} —3 |106.1 |106.8 1 
Hay and forage.| 72,280,776 — = 97,453,735 == —_ 1.35) — _— 
Hay......... ~..| 62,784,6632 | 45,744,000 | — 80,302,526? 64,938,000} — 1.28') 1.42} — 
Cotton........ 32,043,838 30,938,000 | —3 10,649,268 10,004,949! —6 | 0.33! 0.32! —3 
Tobacco....... 1,294,911 1,180,000 | —9 | 1,055,764,806 | 949,357,000 | —10 /815.3 |803.3 —1 
Flaxseed....... 2,083,142 2,742,000 32 19,512,765 25,856,000 33 | 9.4 9.4 0 
Rieesee iste: 610,175 720,000 18 21,838,580 24,368,000 12 | 35.8 |33.8 —6 
TOPE): sisleie= seri 44,693 — = 40,718,748 36,000,000 | —12 |911.1 — —_— 


1 Year-book reports are from the Year-book of 
the United States Department of Agriculture for 
1909 except the acreage of cotton, which is as re- 
ported in the 1910 Year-book. The production of 
cotton is the estimate as reported by the Bureau of 
the Census in the 1910 Year-book. 

2The Census report for grasses, clover and al- 
falfa, These figures may not be exactly compar- 
able with hay as reported by the Bureau of Sta- 
tistics. 


that the results for the United States are 
accurate enough to be very useful. 

The percentage error is most likely to be 
high in states that grow little of the crop. 
The same is true of census reports. The error 
is also likely to be large in regions that are 
making the largest change in the area or yield 
of the crop. 

The errors are the result of cumulative 


Juny 24, 1914] 


errors. It is unfortunate that the Bureau did 
not adjust its figures to the census basis in 
1899. This has been done since 1909 so that 
we may expect a much smaller error in the 
- future as the error will be corrected at each 
census year. 


SCIENCE 


123 


each year to be corrected so that the error 
from year to year would not be cumulative. 


ARE OUR CROP YIELDS DECREASING? 


In the same issue Dr. Hopkins discusses 
the question of crop yields. The conclusion 


an 

= aE Mn er eS a ET 

ee Se SO) ER ES eR SO OT neues 

Wane 1 Sie cs (See Ss 
Fig. 1. 


Comparative crop yields for the United States east of the Mississippi River. 


sidered as 100 per cent. 


The writer believes that the accuracy of the 
reports could be greatly increased if there 
were added to the present method of reporting 
a system of reports by farmers on actual areas 
grown and yields received. If the Bureau of 
the Census could send a large number of 
letters to farmers each winter asking for the 
area of the farms, area of each crop grown and 
total yield, these reports could be compared 
with reports from the same farms for previ- 
ous years. The changes in areas of farms, 
failures of some men to report and other 
problems involved, would not, in the writer’s 
opinion, be at all insurmountable. This in- 
formation would allow the final report for 


Yield of 1866 con- 


is reached that for the ten years 1899 to 1909, 
“An increase of 15.4 per cent. in farmed land 
with am increase of only 1.7 per cent. in pro- 
duction reveals the truth of reduced yield per 
acre.” 

This conclusion is based on serious errors 
in the use of statistics. The production used 
is the total bushels of cereals. The acreage 
used is the area of improved land in farms. 
This land is not all farmed, much less is it all 
planted to cereals. 

The census report states that 

Improved land includes all land regularly tilled 
or mowed, land pastured and cropped in rotation, 
land lying fallow, land in gardens, orchards, vine- 


124 


yards and nurseries, and land occupied by farm 
buildings. 
TABLE II 
States East of the Mississippi Rwer 


a i) pete 
S| a 8 .| 7 .| ame aa ls. 
B2| as|/ es\ es ad £4 £3 
of 8a ga &a Bee 3a ee 
< 
New 
England . .|1879|28.0|34.5|15.5/32.7|0.96 109 
1889]|29.7/38.6|19.1/30.7/1.09 |...... 85 
1899/34.5|39.4/18.0/35.9/1.13 |...... 130 
1909)36.2|/45.3/23.5/32.9]/1.23 |...... 177 
Middle 
Atlantic... .|1879)23.4.33.1)14.1/28.511.10 |...... 95 
1889]24.1|32.8/16.7/27.4.1.29 |...... 70 
1899|25.3/34.0|14.9/30.9)1.19 |...... 95 
1909|24.6/32.2)18.6)25.5/1.382 |...... 107 
East North 
Central. . ./1879|27.8/34.6|16.8|31.8)1.17 — 
1889/29.1/34.3|15.7/34.5)1.30 |...... 91 


1899/31.5|38.3)12.9/37.4)1.22 85 


1909|32.7/38.6]17.2/33.3/1.38 |...... 101 

South 
Atlantic... .|1879]11.8)13.3] 8.8] 9.9|0.84 |0.35 |— 
1889]12.5/13.7|10.3/10.8/1.09 |0.35 70 


1899)13.0)14.1} 9.5/11.7|/1.02 —|0.39 77 
1909]15.1]15.8/11.9|15.5/1.02 +|0.45 92 
East South 

Central. . ./1879}15.9|19.1} 7.7/10.3'0.82 
1889]18.1/20.7|10.6)12.1/1.06 
1899}16.1/18.4| 9.0)11.1)1.03 +-|0.39-++] 63 
1909]17.5)18.6/11.7)13.4/1.03 


States West of the Mississippi River 


West North | | | | 


Central. . .|1879]/26.8/37.4/10.6/28.9)1.32 |...... —_— 
1889/29.1/36.4/13.2/30.9|1.26 |...... 90 
1899/24.8/31.4/12.2/32.0/1.34 |...... 95 
1909|23.1/27.7|14.9|27.5/1.383 |...... 92 

West South 

Central. . ./1879|13.4/14.0] 6.6/17.0,0.82 |0.47 |— 
1889|20.0/20.9)10.6/20.2/1.35 |0.41 73 
1899/20.6|21.9]11.9|25.8/1.48 |0.39 67 
1909]15.9}15.7/11.0/21.4/1.03 {0.27 63 

Mountain. . .|1879/21.1/16.6)18.8)28.9)1.13 |...... — 
1889|21.3)14.4/20.0/27.8,1.36 |...... 69 
1899/22.4/16.5|19.2/30.4/1.59 |...... 113 
1909)26.5|15.8/23.1/34.9/1.73 |...... 143 

Pacific...... 1879]18.6|27.1}16.3|30.5/1.45 |...... —_ 
1889|17.3/30.2)15.0)/28.411.49 |...... 95 
1899/18.7/25.2|15.6/31.4/1.44 |...... 129 
1909|21.7|24.0|17.7|/35.3|1.73 |...... {131 

United States 
1879|22.7|28.1/13.0/25.3)1.15 |0.40 |— 
1889]25.1|29.4/13.9|/28.6/1.26 |0.37 84 
1899|24.0)28.1)12.5/31.9/1.28 |0.39 93 
1909]23.6/25.9/15.4|28.6/1.35 |0.33 |106 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1021 


If the area of cereals bore a constant ratio 
to all improved land, the final conclusion 
might have been correct in spite of the error 
in method used, but this is far from the ease. 
Other crops have increased much more rapidly 
than cereals. The area of cereals increased 3.5 
per cent., and other crops increased 22 per 
cent., in ten years. 

The truth is that the area of cereals har- 
vested increased 3.5 per cent. (mot 15.4 per 
cent.) while the bushels of cereals increased 
1.7 per cent. 

Another serious error involved is in the use 
of figures for the entire United States. A 
large amount of arid land in the Dakotas, 
Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas that 
was not farmed in 1899 is now planted to 
crops and lowers the average yields for the 
entire country. 

Nor is it safe to use total bushels of cereals 
as a measure of production. The normal yields 
of oats and wheat in bushels are not the same 
and the proportion of land planted to each is 
very far from constant. 

In order to study the question, we must deal 
with the individual crops grown in some par- 
ticular region. The accompanying table gives 
such a comparison with the states grouped by 
the method used in the last census. The pro- 
duction of cereals in bushels and averages for 
the United States are included for compari- 
son with the article by Hopkins, although the 
writer does not consider either of these figures 
safe ones to use, for reasons given above. The 
yield of hay and forage shows a decided in- 
crease, but again this is made up of a number 
of crops whose normal yields are different, so 
that a shift in kind of crop changes the yield. 

In the states east of the Mississippi River, 
comparatively little new land has been added 
to farms in the last twenty years. For this 
reason these states are the ones that give the 
best information as to changes in crop yields. 

The highest yield of cereals ever reported 
by the census for New England, the Kast North 
Central, and South Atlantic, states is the crop 
of 1909. In the Middle Atlantic states, the 
highest yield ever reported is for 1899 with 


Juxy 24, 1914] 
nee es 

1909 second. Im the East South Central states 

1889 is first with 1909 second. 

The Corn Crop—The highest yield per 
acre of corn reported by the census for 
Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, is for 1909. The total 
for all states east of the Mississippi River 
gives 1909 as the highest yield, but in some of 
the groups of states there have been better 
yields. The fact of a lower yield for the entire 
country in 1909 is not, therefore, as is com- 
monly stated, due to a decrease in yields in 
the older states. 

Wheat.—The highest yield of wheat re- 
ported in any census year is for the year 1909, 
with an average of 15.4 bushels. The nearest 
competition was the year 1889, when the yield 
was 14 bushels. The year 1909 is the best 
year ever reported in each of the groups of 
states except in the West South Central. 

Oats.—In the New England, Middle Atlan- 
tie and East North Central states, the best oat 
yield reported by the census is for 1899. For 
the southern states east of the Mississippi, the 
best year reported was 1909. 

Hay and Forage—The highest yield per 
acre of hay and forage ever reported is for the 
year 1909. As stated above, this figure should 
not be given too much weight, because shifts in 
acreage of the different kinds of crops in this 
collective group might affect the result. 

Potatoes —The highest yield per acre of 
potatoes ever reported by the census is the 
last report. This is true for each of the 
groups of states east of the Mississippi River. 
The only groups that show a decrease are the 
West North Central and West South Central. 

Cotton.—The old South Atlantic states re- 
ported by far their best cotton crop for the 
year 1909. The best report from the Kast South 
central states is for 1899. The cotton yield 
per acre for the entire United States was low- 
er in 1909 than in any other census year, 
but this is in spite of high yields in the old 
Atlantic states. The area of cotton in the 
United States increased nearly one third in 
the ten years. This increase was. mostly due 
to extending the crop on arid lands and on 
other lands that were considered too poor to 
farm ten years before. The West South Central 


SCIENCE 


125 


states, where most of the new arid land has 
been added, have shown a steady decrease in 
yield. Oklahoma increased its area by 190 
per cent., but production increased only 146 
per cent. Low yields in Oklahoma should not 
be charged to soil exhaustion in Georgia. The 
poor results in Texas and some of the other 
neighboring states are also partly due to the 
boll weevil as well as to season and soil. 

Considering the above five different regions 
east of the Mississippi River and the six im- 
portant crops, corn, wheat, oats, hay and 
forage, cotton and potatoes, we find the 
following: 

Number of imstances of first rank in crop 
yield: 

1879 1889 1899 1909 
0 3 5 19 


These figures show very strikingly the gen- 
eral increase in crops in later years in these 
older states. 

For the West North Central and West South 
Central groups, there is only one instance in 
which the 1909 yield is the best. In these 
states there appears to be a general decrease 
in production. This difference is primarily 
due to the bringing in of arid land that was 
not formerly used. The Mountain and Pacifie 
states show a general increase in yields. 


REPORTS BY THE BUREAU OF STATISTICS 


A better method of comparing crop yields 
is on the basis of the reports by the Bureau of 
Statisties because these yields are secured for 
every year. The amount of rainfall in any 
particular year makes the figure for a single 
year inconclusive. 

As has been previously shown, the Bureau 
of Statistics estimates the yields of the im- 
portant crops with a fair degree of accuracy. 
The yield per acre of corn for 1909 was esti- 
mated at 2 per cent. less than the census 
results. The yield per acre of wheat was 2 
per cent., oats were 6 per cent. and potatoes 
1 per cent. higher than census returns. 

Fig. 1 shows the comparative yields of corn, 
wheat, oats, barley, rye, buckwheat, potatoes 
and hay in states east of the Mississippi 


126 


River based on the 1866 yield as 100 per cent. 
The comparative yields of each crop, consid- 
ering the 1866 crop as 100 per cent., were 
calculated. These percentages were weighted 
according to the area planted to the crop in 
order to secure a percentage representing the 


yield of that year. G. F. WaRREN 
CORNELL UNIVERSITY 


STANFORD UNIVERSITY MEDICAL SCHOOL 


Dr. Victor O. VaucHan, dean of the de- 
partment of medicine and surgery of the Uni- 
versity of Michigan, has made, under date of 
June 9, 1914, the following report to Dr. J. C. 
Branner, president of Leland Stanford Junior 
University : 


In compliance with your telegraphic request I 
have visited Palo Alto and San Francisco and in- 
spected the libraries, laboratories and hospitals of 
Stanford University. The laboratories of chem- 
istry (general, physical, inorganic, organic and 
physiological), biology, histology, neurology and 
physiology are well housed, adequately equipped 
and exceptionally well manned. In all these, high 
grade work is being done. The laboratories of 
bacteriology and anatomy need better housing and 
I understand that this is to be provided in the near 
future. But in the buildings now occupied, most 
excellent work is being done. In fact each of the 
scientific departments at Stanford is under the di- 
rection of an eminent man supplied with able and 
enthusiastic assistants and with necessary equip- 
ment. There is abundant evidence even in a hasty 
inspection that the appropriations have been eco- 
nomically and wisely expended and that good 
work is being done both in instruction and in re- 
search. I wish to compliment the trustees and 
president upon the evident wisdom which they have 
displayed in the development of these departments 
of the university. What I have said of the scien- 
tific branches is equally true of the other depart- 
ments of Stanford University. Although one of the 
youngest of the higher institutions of learning in 
this country Stanford ranks as one of the best in 
all departments, both scientific and humanistic. 
In all branches it represents the highest aims and 
ideals. While I am not fitted to express anything 
more than a general opinion as to other than scien- 
tific education I wish to emphasize the fact that 
all learning is one and the same spirit should per- 
vade the whole. This I believe to be true at Stan- 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8S. Von. XL. No. 1021 


ford. It furnishes a wholesome atmosphere in 
which the student can grow whatever special line 
of training he may follow later. The greatest need 
of our country is the man whose fundamental 
knowledge is broad and comprehensive and whose 
Special training is exact. No man can have useful 
knowledge of a part unless he has general knowl- 
edge of the whole. The working of the part must 
be in harmony with the movements of the whole; 
otherwise disaster is the result. While I am espe- 
cially interested in medical education, I recognize 
the fact that it is futile to try to develop a good 
medical man out of one whose fundamental train- 
ing has not been sound. The young man who has 
learned to work with the right spirit, whether it be 
in Greek or biology, in philosophy or chemistry, 
will enter medicine, law or any profession in the 
tight frame of mind and will be likely to prove an 
honor in his chosen profession. In his preliminary 
college training the prospective medical student 
should not be confined to the physical or biological 
sciences. It is desirable that he know the classics, 
history and philosophy and it is most desirable 
that the training that he gets along these lines 
should be of the highest grade. I believe that 
Stanford University furnishes suitable conditions 
for the development of the young man who is going 
into medicine. Therefore I hope that the medical 
work done at Palo Alto may continue. If the med- 
ieal school should be closed, this would relieve 
Stanford of only one of the laboratories at Palo 
Alto. Physics, chemistry, biology, physiology, 
histology, embryology, neurology and bacteriology 
must be taught and research work in these branches 
must be done in a university of the high rank Stan- 
ford holds. Closing the medical school would give 
only trifling financial relief to the university. I 
therefore recommend that the premedical and med- 
ical work now done at Palo Alto be not only con- 
tinued but be developed as fast as the finances of 
the university permit. I make this recommenda- 
tion not only for the good of the medical school, 
but, as I believe, in the interest of the university as 
a whole. If the medical department should be dis- 
continued, anatomy is the only subject which could 
be dropped at Palo Alto and even then this should 
not be done. Anatomy is one of the great and 
fundamental biological sciences and even human 
anatomy should be taught in a great scientific uni- 
versity. Anatomy is no longer taught as 2 mere 
foundation for medicine and surgery. It includes 
the development of structure from the lowest to the 
highest forms of life. 


JULY 24, 1914] 


I went to San Francisco and made an inspection 
of the library, hospital and laboratories of the 
medical school. 

The Lane library is one of the best medical li- 
braries in the country. It is supplied with prac- 
tically all the best medical journals so arranged as 
to be most available to members of the faculty and 
students. Its location in regard to the hospital 
and laboratories is quite ideal. It is worth much 
to both the clinical and the research man to have at 
his hand the best contributions of the world. 
When a problem comes up for solution the first 
thing to learn is to ascertain what has already been 
done along this line. A medical school without a 
library is like a boat without a pilot and much 
time is likely to be lost in drifting. The medical 
department of Stanford is fortunate in the possess- 
ing of its library. 

While the present hospital building is somewhat 
out of date it is, so far as I can see, admirably 
managed both in caring for the sick and in the 
instruction of students. The out-patient depart- 
ment, systematized as it is, is both a great, broad 
and needful charity and at the same time a source 
of varied and comprehensive instruction to stu- 
dents. The addition soon to be made to the hos- 
pital will modernize the institution. It will bring 
More pay patients to the institution and thus fur- 
nish the funds with which the less fortunate can 
be cared for. I was greatly pleased with the man- 
agement of the hospital. The laboratories in the 
hospital are ably conducted and fairly well 
equipped. Some of them will probably have en- 
larged and improved quarters when the addition is 
made to the hospital. 

As I understand the total cost of the medical 
department is now about one hundred thousand 
dollars per year. This cost will slowly increase. 
Notwithstanding this fact I strongly urge that the 
medical school be not only continued but be de- 
veloped. In its development the quality of its 
work should be constantly held in mind. The num- 
ber of medical students should be kept small, 
Quality and not quantity should be the aim. I be- 
lieve that in the near future the medical depart- 
ment will be a source of strength to the university 
in many ways. First, in the importance of the re- 
search done and the benefits that such research 
will confer on the race. Within the past thirty 
years the average human life has been increased 
nearly fifteen years and the whole of life has been 
made more comfortable. This is a work to which 
& great university should contribute. The open- 


SCIENCE 


127 


ing of the Panama Canal will bring to the Pacific 
coast many health problems which can be best 
solved in such a school of instruction and research 
as I believe Stanford will develop. Second, I am 
firm in the belief that the medical school will at- 
tract large donations, both for research and the 
clinical work. Philanthropists will see that the 
best service they can render lies in the direction of 
improved health conditions. Third, medicine is 
now attracting to its ranks many of the best of 
our young men and this will be a source of 
strength to the university. 

Lastly, I come to the matter on account of 
which I was ealled to visit you. The time: may 
come when it may be wise to consolidate the two 
university medical schools of San Francisco, but I 
do not believe that this would be wise at present. 
Stanford, from what I can learn, can afford to de- 
velop its medical school without material hindrance 
in the growth of other branches and I believe that 
this is the wise thing to do. 

I am aware of the fact that a hasty visit, such 
as I have made, may give erroneous impressions 
and I would not have you attach any great im- 
portance to this report, but I have tried to look at 
matters from a broad viewpoint and to hold con- 
stantly in mind the good of Stanford University 
as a whole. I have considered it unnecessary to go 
into financial or other details with which you are 
much more familiar than I am. 

In conclusion I wish to thank you, . . . and Dr. 
Wilbur and other members of your faculty for the 
many courtesies shown me and to express the hope 
that the growth of Stanford University during the 
past quarter of a century, phenomenal as it has 
been, may be surpassed in its future developments. 

With great respect, I am 

Yours most respectfully, 


V. CO. VAUGHAN 


NEWTON HORACE WINCHELL 


THE tribute I can render to the late Pro- 
fessor Winchell must be such as would quite 
spontaneously come from any one who had 
watched, with appreciation and sympathy, the 
progress of geological science in America dur- 
ing the past generation. I can not speak of 
Professor Winchell from a close personal inti- 
macy, but I may, as one of many who highly 
regarded his very unusual achievements in one 
science and his broad, effective interest in sev- 


128 


eral others, express the esteem of his colleagues 
for the record he has left. 

The science of geology renders high service 
to her followers in return for services ren- 
dered to her; she carries them far afield and 
opens up to them the guiding influences of all 
activities which have to do with the earth. If 
“an undevout astronomer is mad,” even so is 
an uninspired or narrow-minded geologist. I 
am sure every geologist of long and loving con- 
tact with the earth feels that he is “the free- 
man,” the real proprietor of “the varied fields 
of nature”; “the mountains, and the valleys 
and the resplendent rivers ” are “ by an empha- 
sis of interest his.” They are a heritage into 
which the acolyte but gradually comes, for the 
devotees of this science must render first an 
implicit and exclusive service to her elemen- 
tary factors before they can venture far from 
her leading strings. They must first be 
“mere computers and measurers” to whom 
tthe science is no more than “ chemical analy- 
ses, calculations of times and distances, label- 
ing of species,” men who “are seeking scien- 
tific knowledge for its proximate values” until 
such time as they grow into “an increasing 
consciousness of its ultimate value in the 
transfiguration of things.” 

In looking over the accounts which have 
been given in tributes already rendered to 
Professor Winchell’s career, there stands out 
with perfect clarity the fact of his undivided 
devotion to geology through long years, when 
once he had found his measure, and the climax 
of this service was the execution from incep- 
tion to end of the Geological and Natural His- 
tory Survey of Minnesota; but even this finely 
rounded work was but a stepping stone to 
broader human relations. 

Professor Winchell, like his distinguished 
elder brother Alexander, Professor Orton, 
Major Powell, O. C. Marsh, Israel C. Russell, 
all geologists of great eminence, was a child 
of New York. ‘The venerable Geological Sur- 
vey of New York would like to feel that it had 
had some influence in giving direction to the 
notable careers of these men.. It may have 
been so in a measure, though perhaps least of 
all in Professor Winchell’s case, for the hard 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1021 


scrabble farm on the sadly confused rocks in 
the town of North East, Dutchess county, 
where he was born and passed his childhood, 
may hardly have developed such a tendency 
toward an after lifework, no matter how much 
the constraints of a sterile soil might contrib- 
ute to sturdy robustness of physique and 
character. 

It has been said that Professor Winchell’s 
performance in the execution of the Minnesota 
Survey has not been equalled in the history of 
American geology. The act providing for this 
comprehensive service was not drawn by him 
or enacted for him, but upon its passage in 
1872 he was called from Ann Arbor and put in 
charge of the work. The organization that 
began with him ended in him, and, in view of 
its scope, his record is unique. 

The plan of this undertaking, says Dr. Fol- 
well, who as president of the University of 
Minnesota drew the bill and secured its enact- 
ment, was to have the work carried on by the 
members of the university faculty and this was 
done for a while, Professor Winchell holding 
the double position at the head of the survey 
and of the department of geology, but the in- 
creasing duties of the former compelled an 
eventual divorce of the two. For twenty-eight 
years without interruption he carried forward 
this scientific survey of a commonwealth cov- 
ering eighty thousand square miles of territory 
and when the work was done or “the survey 
closed,” as it is rather unhappily said, the in- 
formation acquired and the problems discussed 
and the potentialities indicated had been pre- 
sented to the world in a series of twenty-four 
annual reports, ten bulletins and six imposing 
quartos. It is distinctly to the credit of 
Winchell that he was never really succeeded in 
office. His state regarded his duty discharged 
and his work well done; but it did not stand 
so much to the credit of Minnesota that it 
could regard a geological survey as ever 
“ closed.” 

The selection of Professor Winchell for a 
work of such importance to his state shows by 
its event, the wise insight of those who had 
the hopes of the organization in their keeping. 
There were still “geologists” in those days: 


JuLy 24, 1914] 


mone are left now. The “all round” man 
competent to advance with equal foot along 
the many divergent lines of this comprehensive 
science, exists no longer. The “State Geolo- 
gist ” now may know one route expertly, others 
less well and some not at all, but with a capa- 
eity for good generalship he can yet perform 
the functions of his office without a masque- 
rade. Professor Winchell was a sturdy, honest 
geologist with an extraordinary capacity for 
work and a reliable judgment in organization. 
He was more than that: his real interests in 
the science were very broad and he himself 
entered many fields. His first interest was in 
the chemistry of the rocks, their mineralogy 
and origin. He wrote on every phase of geo- 
logical industry, from mining to water supply 
and agriculture; on Archean geology with an 
extensive personal acquaintance; intimately 
on optical mineralogy and petrography ; some- 
what profusely on the succession and signifi- 
cance of glacial phenomena; the complicated 
and sadly mistreated Taconic question he dis- 
cussed with eminent fairness, and the sheaf of 
his reviews in the American Geologist indi- 
cates the still wider reach of his interests. 
That he desired to share in all departments of 
his organization is evinced by his titular co-au- 
thorship with Professor Schuchert in treatises 
on paleontology for his final reports, a field 
into which he would hardly have ventured 
alone. 

The exploitation of all these fields was the 
legitimate duty of his organization and he led 
the way into all. And in addition to these 
services he did not ignore the fact that he was 
carrying on a “ Natural History” as well as 
a Geological Survey, as several of its bulletins 
indicate. There will be no more such geolog- 
ical surveys in this country, into all of whose 
parts the chief can enter with skill and rea- 
sonable finality, and this fact makes the per- 
formance of Winchell one of which he was 
indisputably the author, and the great store- 
house of the data he assembled in the best 
years of his labor is a monument of distinction 
to him and to the state which authorized it. 

Professor Winchell’s later interest as state 
geologist had been among the events of the ice 


SCIENCE 


129 


age and the postglacial waters. These investi- 
gations, of high worth and broad concern, 
easily led him into a field with many pitfalls: 
primitive anthropology. He traversed this 
field with care and came out into much safer 
ground: the culture of the aborigines. This 
latter study absorbed the attention of the 
years after his survey had closed, and in 1911, 
under the auspices of the Minnesota Historical 
Society, he published a quarto of over 700 
pages on the “ Aborigines of Minnesota.” 

We can not attempt to analyze more closely 
here Professor Winchell’s publications. They 
were numerous and varied but they do not by 
any means show forth his full service to sci- 
ence. He was the promoter, founder and chief 
editor of the American Geologist, a monthly 
journal whose annual financial deficit in the 
service he personally bore for the eighteen 
years of its existence. It was a catholic and 
helpful exponent of the science and there are 
many who still regret the transmigration of its 
soul, 

At the last annual dinner of the Geological 
Society of America, Professor Winchell gave 
an explicit account of the organization of that 
society in which he played a prime part as pro- 
poser and founder, and his interest was ac- 
knowledged by his election to its presidency 
a few years after the organization was ef- 
fected. He was one of the founders of the 
Minnesota Academy of Science and thrice its 
president, and a member of a number of scien- 
tific, historical and archeological societies. 

It would be interesting to find the real clue 
to Professor Winchell’s intellectual inclina- 
tions and singleness of purpose. Looking both 
forward and back from his personality, there 
seems an almost obvious “continuity of the 
germ-plasm ” marked partly by his extraordi- 
nary presentation to his science of three dis- 
tinguished devotees: his sons, Dr. Horace V. 
Winchell, Professor Alexander N. Winchell, 
and his son-in-law, Dr. Ulysses 8. Grant. 
Some part of his impulses must have come 
from his tutelage and association with his 
brother, Alexander Winchell, at Ann Arbor, 
where he received his first sure direction into 
paths that led him for periods of service into 


130 


the geological surveys of Michigan and Ohio. 
It would indeed be worth while to know if the 
germs which impelled this noble pair of 
brothers into the same paths may really not 
have been picked up on the old home farm in 
Dutchess county, N. Y. Supervening all these 
early influences and regulating all their im- 
pulses, there was in the home, as is well known 
to many American geologists, a wise and 
gentle adviser in all the enterprises of his 
manhood, the unseen hand that kept the harp 
in tune. 
JoHN M. CLARKE 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


Dr. Ira Remsen, ex-president of the Johns 
Hopkins University; Dr. L. H. Bailey, form- 
erly director of the State College of Agricul- 
ture of Cornell University; Professor T. C. 
Chamberlin, of the University of Chicago; 
Professor Edwin G. Conklin, of Princeton 
University; Professor William M. Wheeler, of 
Harvard University, and Dr. Charles D. Daven- 
port, director of the station of experimental 
evolution of the Carnegie Institution, planned 
to sail from San Francisco on the steamer 
Tahiti on July 22, to attend the Australasian 
meeting of the British Association for the 
Advancement of Science as guests of the New 
Zealand government. 


Orricers of the American Ornithologists’ 
Union elected for the coming year are as 
follows: Albert K. Fisher, president; Henry 
W. Henshaw and Witmer Stone, vice-presi- 
dents; John H. Sage, secretary; Jonathan 
Dwight, Jr. treasurer; Ruthven Deane, 
William Dutcher, Frederic A. Lucas, Wilfred 
H. Osgood, Chas. W. Richmond, Thos. S. 
Roberts, and Joseph Grinnell, members of the 
council. 

Dr. Grorce H. WHIPPLE, associate professor 
of pathology in Johns Hopkins Medical School, 
has been appointed director of the Hooper 
Institute, San Francisco. 


Dr. Oscar Tracue, of the Cornell Univer- 
sity Medical School, has been appointed di- 
rector of the new bacteriological laboratory 
of New York City at Quarantine. 


SCLENCE 


[N. 8S. Vou. XL. No. 1021 


Tue trustees of the Albert Kahn Travelling 
Fellowships have appointed Mr. Alan G. 
Ogilvie, of the School of Geography, Oxford 
University, a fellow of the British Foundation 
for 1914-15. 


Captain J. EF’. Parry has been appointed to 
succeed Rear-Admiral Herbert EK. P. Cust, 
C.B., as hydrographer of the British navy. 


THE University of Liverpool has conferred 
on Dr. T. F. Wall, lecturer on electrical engi- 
neering at the University of Birmingham, the 
degree of doctor of engineering. 


Dr. Lemotne, professor of clinical medi- 
cine at Lille, on the occasion of the twenty- 
fifth anniversary of his teaching was presented 
with a picture of himself, painted by M. 
Pharaon dé Winter. 


Tue Mackinnon studentship of the Royal 
Society on the biological side has been awarded 
to Mr. G. Matthai, of Emmanuel College, 
Cambridge, for a research on the comparative 
anatomy of the Madreporaria. 


Tur Emile Chr. Hansen prize for 1914 has 
been awarded to Professor Jules Bordet, 
director of the Institut Pasteur of Brabant. 


THE committee has awarded the Alvarenga 
Prize of $180 to Dr. Herman B. Sheffield, of 
New York, for his essay entitled “ Idiocy and 
the Allied Mental Deficiencies in Infancy and 
Early Childhood.” 


The American Anthropologist states that 
the Cayuga County Historical Society of Au- 
burn, New York, conferred the “Cornplanter 
Medal for Iroquois Research” on Mr. J. N. B. 
Hewitt of the Bureau of American Ethnology, 
Washington, D. C., for his work in the field of 
Iroquois anthropological study. The Corn- 
planter medal was founded in 1901 largely 
through the efforts of Professor Frederick 
Starr, of the University of Chicago, and a 
number of his friends who aided in providing 
the necessary means. The administration of 
the Cornplanter medal for Iroquois Research 
was then undertaken by the Cayuga County 
Historical Society. Four classes of workers 
are eligible to receive it, namely: (a) Ethnol- 
ogists making worthy field-study or other inves- 


JuLy 24, 1914] 


tigations of the Iroquois; (b) Historians ma- 
king actual contributions to our knowledge of 
the Iroquois; (c) Artists worthily representing 
Iroquois life or types by brush or chisel; (d) 
Philanthropists whose efforts are based on ade- 
quate scientific study and appreciation of Iro- 
quois needs and conditions. Those who have 
previously received the award of the medal are, 
in their order, General John S. Clark, of 
Auburn, N. Y.; Rev. William M. Beauchamp, 
of Syracuse, N. Y.; Dr. David Boyle, of Tor- 
onto, Canada; Hon. William P. Letchworth, 
and Reuben Gold Thwaites. 

Mr. H. R. Scumirr, of the Carnegie Depart- 
ment of Terrestrial Magnetism, completed 
successfully, early in July, a magnetic explora- 
tory trip across Chile and Bolivia, from the 
Pacific coast to Corumba, Brazil. 

Dr. Lew Curr, Peking, is visitmg the 
United States, to inspect hospitals for imfor- 
mation to be used in the construction and 
management of a hospital to be built in Can- 
ton next year at a cost of $750,000. 


Faturr Cortiz is arranging an eclipse expe- 
dition to Herndsand. The party will consist 
of Father Cortie, Father O’Connor, Mr. J. J. 
Atkinson and Mr. G. J. Gibbs. 


Mr. C. Bonen Kioss is engaged in an expe- 
dition, with Mr. H. ©. Robinson, director of 
museums, Federated Malay States, to Mount 
Indrapura or Korinchi in Central Sumatra— 
a voleano 12,700 feet high and the highest 
summit in the island. The objects of the expe- 
dition are zoological and botanical, but it is 
hoped to ascend to the summit of the moun- 
tain and make observations of the crater and 
the present activity of the volcano. 

In noting the election of M. Lacroix to the 
permanent secretary of the Paris Academy of 
Sciences in the issue of Scmnce for July 10, 
his Christian name should have been given as 
Alfred. 

Tue tenth session of the Congrés Préhis- 
torique de France will be held at Aurillac 
(Cantal), from August 23 to 29, under the 
presidency of M. Pagés-Allary. 

Tue Canadian government has decided that 
the new observatory to contain the six-foot 


SCIENCE 


131 


reflecting telescope is to be situated on Little 
Saanich Mountain, near Victoria, British 
Columbia. 


A CONFERENCE of observers and students of 
meteorology and allied subjects is to be held 
in Edinburgh from September 8 to 12. 


THE non-magnetic yacht, Oarnegie, under 
the command of J. L. Ault, arrived at Ham- 
mertest, Norway, on July 3, twenty-five days 
out from Brooklyn. Magnetic and electric 
observations were secured on the entire trip. 
The results agree well with those obtained on 
the Carnegie in 1909. 


Tue Robert Koch Foundation offers a prize 
of $750 for the best article on “The Impor- 
tance of the Various Forms of Radiation 
(Sunlight, Roentgen Ray, Radium and 
Mesothorium) for the Diagnosis and Treat- 
ment of Tuberculosis.” The articles, which 
must be in German, must be in the hands of 
the secretary of the foundation, Professor 
Schwalbe, not later than July 1, 1915. 


Tue list of civil list pensions granted by the 
British government during the year ended 
March 31 last includes, according to Nature, 
the following grants for scientific services: 
Mr. A. J. M. Bell, in recognition of his valu- 
able contribution to geology and paleontology, 
£60; Mrs. Traquair, in consideration of the 
services to science of her husband, the late Dr. 
R. H. Traquair, F.R.S., and of her own artistic 
work, £50; Mrs. Gray, in recognition of the 
valuable contributions to the science of anthro- 
pology made by her husband, the late Mr. John 
Gray, £50; Mrs. Wallace, in consideration of 
the eminent services to science of her husband, 
the late Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace, O.M., 
F.R.S., £120; Mrs. Alcock, in recognition of 
the valuable contributions to the study of 
physiology made by her husband, the late Pro- 
fessor N. H. Alcock, £50; Mrs. Ward, in recog- 
nition of the eminent services of her husband, 
the late Professor Marshall Ward, F.R.S., to 
botanical science, £40; Dr. Oliver Heaviside, 
E.R.S., in recognition of the importance of 
his researches in the theory of high-speed 
telegraphy and long-distance telephony, in 
addition to his existing pension, £100; Miss 


132 


Hearder, in consideration of the contributions 
to electrical science and telegraphy of her late 
father, Dr. J. N. Hearder, £70; Miss Wil- 
loughby, in consideration of the services of 
her late father, Dr. KE. F. Willoughby, in con- 
nection with questions of public health, £30. 


Tue third biennial meeting of the New Eng- 
land Federation of Natural History Societies 
was held at the Glen House, White Mountains, 
during the first week in July. Delegates from 
a dozen of the federated societies Joined in a 
survey of the flora and fauna about timber line 
on the Presidential Range. Among those pres- 
ent were O. W. Johnson, curator of the Boston 
Society of Natural History (diptera), W. T. 
M: Forbes, of Worcester (lepidoptera); J. H. 
Emerton, secretary of the federation (arach- 
nid) ; John Ritchie, Jr., president (mollusea), 
and HK. B. Chamberlain, New York; Tracy 
Hazen, Barnard College; M. A. Chrysler, 
Orono, and others in the different groups of 
botany. Mr. Johnson reports the taking of 
much interesting material which serves to 
corroborate and define the work of the earliest 
botanists and W. S. Hunt, of Lynn, visited 
the station for Sibbaldia and reported on it. 


THE joint meeting of the Vermont Botanical 
Club and Vermont Bird Club was held during 
the second week in July at Fairhaven, Vt., the 
two presidents, Dr. Ezra Brainerd, of Middle- 
bury, and Professor G. H. Perkins, of Burling- 
ton, being in attendance. The former led the 
botanical trips and the latter cared for the 
other interests. About twenty-five were pres- 
ent, covering the length and breadth of the 
state. Collections were made in the cedar 
swamp at Fairhaven, which yielded a number 
of rare species of plants and on the cliffs over- 
looking the Poultney River in West Haven, 
places that have been little visited by botan- 
ists. President Brainerd announced that the 
check list of the plants of Vermont, prepared 
by the club, will shortly be published by the 
experiment station at Burlington. The com- 
pany received the courtesies of the board of 
trade of Fairhaven, which furnished transpor- 
tation to the distant portions of West Haven 
and thus greatly aided the collectors. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1021 


A REPORT by Edson S. Bastin on the produc- 
duction of graphite in 1913, just issued by the 
U. S. Geological Survey, describes the proper- 
ties, uses and origin of graphite, records the 
production and imports in 1913, and describes 
the mode of occurrence at most localities where 
it has been quarried in the United States and 
at foreign localities which contribute to our 
domestic consumption. The island of Ceylon 
is the world’s greatest graphite-producing cen- 
ter and the United States absorbs about one 
half of its product. Other countries that con- 
tribute graphite to our industries are Korea, 
Madagascar and northern Mexico. These 
large drafts on foreign sources, amounting in 
1918 to 28,879 short tons, valued at $2,109,791 
are in marked contrast to the small domestic 
production of natural graphite, which in 1913 
was only 4,775 tons, valued at $293,756. As it 
has been fully demonstrated that natural 
graphite occurs in our own country in prac- 
tically inexhaustible quantities, the question 
arises, Why should our industries be so de- 
pendent on foreign supplies? The reason lies 
in the mechanical diftiiculty in concentrating 
the American product. Most of the graphite 
found in this country occurs in small flakes in 
banded rocks known as schists. The graphite 
forms only 5 to 10 per cent. by weight of the 
rock, and the crushing of the rock and clean 
separation of the graphite flakes have proved 
commercially successful only in a few favored. 
places. A number of new methods are now 
being tried which it is hoped will prove more 
efficient—notably the electrostatic process that 
has been applied with so much success to the 
treatment of zine ores. The shortcomings of 
the United States in the production of natural 
graphite are in part atoned for by the large 
amounts of graphite produced in the electric 
furnaces at Niagara Falls. From its commer- 
cial inception in 1897 the industry of manu- 
facturing graphite has grown rapidly until in 
1913 the output was valued at nearly a million 
dollars. The various grades of manufactured 
graphite are adapted to practically all the uses 
to which graphite has been applied except 
crucible-making. 


Juxy 24, 1914] 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 


Aw additional gift of $60,000 for dormitories 
at Cornell University is announced from the 


anonymous donor who gave the original 
$100,000. 


Aw anonymous donor has made a gift of 
£10,000 to the general endowment of the Royal 
Technical College, Glasgow, on condition that 
another sum of £15,000 is promised within a 
year. 


Tur Johns Hopkins Hospital is preparing to 
celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of its 
opening next October. The celebration will 
begin on October 5, with a meeting at which 
Dr. William H. Welch will preside and Sir 
William Osler, of Oxford University, will 
speak. On October 7 the new Brady Urological 
Institute will be dedicated. 


Wir the registration for the summer ses- 
sion at Columbia University practically com- 
plete, there are 5,625 students; the largest num- 
ber, by more than a thousand. It is the thir- 
teenth year of the session, and with the excep- 
tion of the years 1903-06, when the number 
remained at about 1,000, the increase in num- 
bers has been by larger percentages each year. 
Last year the attendance was 4,530; the year 
before, 3,602; and 2,973 in 1911, while that of 
the first year, 1902, was 643. 


Tm trustees of the University of Pennsyl- 
yania have voted to admit women to the school 
of medicine of the university, beginning in the 
fall of 1914. 

Dr. Haronp PEnper, professor of electrical 
engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Tech- 
nology, and director of the research division 
of the department of electrical engineering, 
will become professor in charge of the depart- 
ment of electrical engineering at the Univer- 
sity of Pennsylvania next fall. 


Dr. Water Ray Butoor, of the medical 
school of Washington University, St. Louis, 
has been appointed assistant professor of 
biological chemistry in the Harvard Medical 
School. 

In the medical school of the University of 
Alabama Dr. William H. Clarke has been ap- 
pointed professor of anatomy and Dr. J. 
Howard Agnew, formerly first assistant in the 


SCIENCE 


133 


department of medicine of the University of 
Michigan, to a full-time professorship. 

In the medical department of the University 
of Louisville the following appointments are 
announced: Dr. Leon L. Solomon, professor of 
medicine and clinical medicine; Dr. David C. 
Morton, professor of clinical medicine; Dr. 
Sidney J. Meyers, professor of medicine and 
medical economics; Dr. Frank W. Fleisch- 
haker, professor of physical diagnosis, and Dr. 
F. Stuart Graves, Boston, professor of pathol- 
ogy and bacteriology, vice Dr. Leon K. 
Baldauf, resigned. 


Tue following changes and promotions in 
the faculty of the Maryland Agricultural Col- 
lege and Experimental Station are announced: 
The organization of the extension and demon- 
stration service, of which Professor T. B. 
Symons, of the School of Horticulture is ap- 
pointed director. To this service the follow- 
ing transfers from the college and experi- 
ment station staff are made: Nickolas Schmitz, 
agronomist; W. T. L. Taliaferro, in charge of 
farm surveys and management; G. EH. Wolcott, 
in charge of dairy extension; C. L. Opperman, 
poultryman, and Reuben Brigham. The Agri- 
cultural College is reorganized into divisions 
as follows: Division of agronomy and animal 
husbandry, W. T. L. Taliaferro, acting dean; 
division of applied science, H. B. McDonnell, 
dean; division of horticulture, T. B. Symons, 
dean; division of rural economics and sociol- 
ogy, F. B. Bomberger, dean, and division of 
engineering, T. H. Taliaferro, dean. Promo- 
tions in the faculty: R. N. Cory, associate 
professor of entomology to be professor of 
zoology; L. B. Broughton, associate professor 
in chemistry to be professor of analytical 
chemistry; Grover Kinzy, assistant professor 
of agronomy, to be associate professor of agron- 
omy and farm machinery. 


Av the University of Birmingham, accord- 
ing to Nature, Dr. J. S. Anderson has been 
appointed assistant lecturer and demonstrator 
in physics for one year in succession to Dr. 
Fournier d’Albe. Mr. W. Hulse has been ap- 
pointed demonstrator in mining in succession 
to Mr, Clubb. Mr. Gilbert Johnson has re- 
ceived a research position in the zoological 
department. 


134 . 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 


NOTES ON THE FOSSIL VERTEBRATES COLLECTED ON 
THE COPE EXPEDITION TO THE JUDITH RIVER 
AND COW ISLAND BEDS, MONTANA, 

IN 187612 

As I was Professor E. D. Cope’s assistant 
on the above expedition, and as such diverse 
opinions are held regarding the stratigraphy 
of this Montana district, I have thought it of 
interest to try and disentangle the muddle, and 
to show that the Montana beds are to be corre- 
lated with those of Red Deer River, Alberta, 
on the evidence of their vertebrate fossils. 

The following list gives the species collected 
by us in 1876, and described by Professor 
Cope, in camp on Dog Creek, four miles east 
of Judith River. I mention only the speci- 
mens J remembered positively, and collected 
(or handled), from the top of the “ bad-lands ” 
on Dog Creek. We were camped on the nar- 
row flood plain, and eyery morning at day- 
break we mounted our horses and climbed to 
the top of the strata, where our real work 
began. We passed over what Cope called the 
Pierre and Fox hills groups of Dr. Hayden, 
to the latter’s typical locality, from which he 
secured the material described by Dr. Leidy, 
viz., of Trachodon, Deinodon, Trionyz, etc. 
We secured many specimens of these types, 
and many Cope described as new to science. 
Among them are the following: Myledaphus 
bipartitus Cope, Hedronchus sternbergi Cope, 
Trionysz foveatus Leidy, Trionyx vagans Cope, 
Compsemys imbricarius Cope, Compsemys vic- 
tus Leidy, Compsemys obscurus Leidy, Deino- 
don horridus Leidy, Deinodon (Aublysodon) 
lateralis Cope, Deinodon hayzenianus Cope, 
Deinodon (Lelaps) incrassatus Cope, Paleo- 
scincus costatus Leidy, Dysganus encaustus 
Cope, Dysganus haydenianus Cope, Dysganus 
bicarinatus Cope, Dysganus peiganus Cope, 
Trachodon mirabilis Leidy, Diclonius penta- 
gonus Cope, Diclonius perangulatus Cope and 
Diclonius calamarius Cope. 

We then followed the prairie forty miles 
down to Cow Island, and went into camp three 


1 Published with the permission of the Director 
of the Canadian Geological Survey. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1021 


miles below the landing -on the opposite 
(south) side of the Missouri River. Here no 
teeth, fragments of bones nor turtle shells 
were found on the surface, as on Dog Creek. 

It was possible to locate the bones in one 
way only, viz., by noticing the color of the 
surface dust above the bones, which in all 
cases differed from that of the surrounding 
disintegrated rock, By digging beyond the 
action of the frost we found the following 
species of Cope—Monoclonius crassus, Mono- 
clonius spenocerus, Monoclonius recurvicornis 
and fissus. The Monoclonius crassus was 
found by Cope, at least the type; Mr. Isaac 
also got a crassus. Cope’s specimen was found 
on the south side of the river in the hills about 
three miles below Cow Island. My specimens 
of which I got recurvicornis and spenocerus 
came from the north side of the river about 
four miles below Cow Island Landing, and Mr. 
Isaac’s a mile farther down on the same side 
of the river, both near the flood plain. 

I had the pleasure last year, and the year 
before, of exploring the Edmonton and Belly 
River series of Red Deer River, Alberta, and 


to me the succession of the rocks appears to- 


be the same as in Montana, from the mouth 
of the Judith River to Cow Island. 

At Dog Creek are the typical Judith River 
beds of Hayden and Cope; followed below by 
the Fox-Hill-Pierre, which are in turn under- 
lain by the Cow Island beds, the Judith 
River beds correlating with the Edmonton, 
and the Cow Island with the Belly River 
series. i 

In descending Red Deer River last June 
from Drumheller to Berry Creek, a distance 
of eighty miles, the Pierre beds were seen ap- 
pearing from beneath the Edmonton, and the 
Belly River from beneath the Pierre, 

The evidence of the fossils corroborates the 
distinction between the Cow Island beds and 
the Judith River beds at Dog Creek. The 
trachodonts of the Belly River formation, for 
instance, are quite distinct from those of the 
Judith River and Edmonton. Take, for ex- 
ample, Gryposaurus notabilis Lambe, with its 
short heavy skull, high quadrate and elevated 
nasal. Again the resemblance of the Belly 


. 
e 


Juny 24, 1914] 


River Ceratopsia to those of the Cow Island 
beds is marked. Lambe’s Centrosawrus aper- 
tus is much like Cope’s Monoclonius crassus. 
The skull of the great spiked dinosaur Styra- 
cosaurus albertensis Lambe, the most unique 
of the horned dinosaurs, appears to be related 
to Cope’s Monoclonius sphenocerus. The Kd- 
monton Trachodon secured from Macheche 
Creek six miles above Drumheller, on the Red 
Deer River, Alberta, is closely related to 
Trachodon annectens from the Lance forma- 
tion. Cuartes H. STERNBERG 
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA 


“ HYDRAULICS ” IN THE ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA 


To tHe Epiror or Science: While examin- 
ing the article “Hydraulics” in the eleventh 
edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol. 
14, p. 35, I discovered three errors, one of 
which, at least, is worthy of note in SCIENCE, 
as it may cause some one to lose valuable time 
if the published figures are taken too seriously. 

, The first and most serious of these errors is 
‘the value of the coefficient of viscosity for 
water at 77° EF. which is stated to be 0.00000191 
‘in Ibs. per sq. ft. per unit velocity gradient in 
feet per second.t 
_ The correct equation for this value in C.G.S. 
units is ; 
Coefficient of viscosity = T+ Sa ae 


¢ being in centigrade degrees. 

If the numerator be multiplied by the num- 
ber of square centimeters in one foot and 
divided by the number of dynes in one 
pound while the value of ¢ is replaced by 
(¢— 32) X5—9, the expression for the 
coefficient of viscosity will become 
Coefficient of viscosity _ 0.0000372 

for water ~ 4700 4- .0144¢ + .000068%? 
the units being the foot, pound and Fahrenheit 
degree. 

If 77 be now substituted for ¢ the result will 
be the value of the coefficient for water at 
47° ¥., or, 0.0000188, which is nearly ten times 

the value given by the Encyclopedia Bri- 
tannica. 

1See p. 35, upper right-hand part. 

2See p. 536, Lamb’s ‘‘ Hydrodynamies,’’ 1906. 


SCIENCE 


135 


_ Another error occurs in the same article, 
p. 77, near the top, equation (4). The last 
sign in .the right-hand member should be a 
minus sign instead: of a plus sign. The cor- 
rect equation is 

H,=yV (2u;H, = 9 '+ +H.) — 4H. (4) 

In Fig. 168, p. 90, the curve marked “ Exper. 
TEL.” should be marked “ Exper. I.” and the 
curve marked “ Exper. J.” should be marked 
“ Bxper. III.,” the numerals evidently being 
transposed. 

The error in the coefficient of viscosity was 
earried forward from the ninth edition of the 
Encyclopedia Britannica and was noted by 
me in 1909 in a paper on backwater published 
in The Minnesota Engineer, University of 
Minnesota. B. F. Groat 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 


Principles of Stratigraphy. By AMapnus W. 
Grasau, 8.M., S.D., Professor of Paleontol- 
ogy in Columbia University. New York, 
A. G, Seiler and Co. 1913. Pp. xxxii-+- 
1185 +- index, with numerous illustrations. 
This is a monumental work, one which 

presents fully and systematically the newer 

viewpoints in the interpretation of the rocks 
as the record of geologic history. For this 
reason it will be of great value, especially to 
the younger generation of American geologists, 
in broadening their mental horizon and out- 
lining the problems which rise for solution in 
the twentieth century study of the rocks. It 
differs from other manuals in the English 
language to such a degree that it supplements 

but does not supplant them. It contains a 

notably large incorporation of material from 


’ German sources and makes full use of recent 


critical literature of both foreign and Ameri- 
can authors. Nearly all of the older geologic 
manuals, although valuable encyclopedias of 
geologic science, have stored up the proven 
knowledge of the past, but have not pointed 
out the fields for investigation. They have 
further emphasized facts and principles as 
explaining facts, rather than as criteria of 
interpretation. This work contains a wealth 
of facts, though differing quite largely from 
that assemblage which has been carried down 


136 


in English manuals; but it is in the presenta- 
tion of the facts as a basis for the interpreta- 
tion of the past that it shows a different point 
of view. 

The author has made large use of physio- 
graphic data. In fact, many chapters could be 
used without change in a work on physiog- 
raphy. This the reviewer regards as an ele- 
ment of great strength in the book. Physiog- 
raphy, a younger member of the family of 
geological sciences, rests upon a stratigraphic 
and structural foundation. The present can 
not be understood without a knowledge of the 
past. On the other hand, the past can not be 
interpreted without an understanding of the 
present, but stratigraphers and students of 
historical geology have not learned as yet to 
make full use of physiographic principles. It 
is the purpose of an investigation which should 
determine the classification of the field of 
science rather than the facts which are used. 
Defined by this standard, physiography is that 
division of geology whose purpose is to explain 
the present; the purpose of stratigraphy and 
historical geology is to explain the past. But 
as both involve an understanding of past and 
present, no man can work to advantage in 
either field without a knowledge of both. For 
these reasons Grabau rightly regards the work 
of W. M. Davis as of great importance for 
the principles of stratigraphy. 

The aim and scope of a volume are best 
shown by a statement of the conditions which 
developed its need and led to its production. 
Quotations from the author’s preface will best 
give this view. 


This book is written for the student and for the 
professional geologist. It aims to bring together 
those facts and principles which lie at the founda- 
tion of all our attempts to interpret the history of 
the earth from the records left in the rocks. Many 
of these facts have been the common heritage of 
the rising generation of geologists, but many more 
have been buried in the literature of the science, 
especially the works of foreign investigators, and 
so have generally escaped the attention of the stu- 
dent, though familiar to the specialist. Hereto- 
fore there has been no satisfactory comprehensive 
treatise on lithogenesis in the English language, 
and we have had to rely upon books in the foreign 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1021 


tongue for such summaries. It is the hope of the 
author that the present work may, in a measure, 
supply this need. 

The book was begun more than fifteen years ago, 
and the material here incorporated has been col- 
lected and sifted during this interval... . 

The ‘‘Winleitung in die Geologie als historische 
Wissenschaft’? had appeared only a few years 
before, and its influence in shaping geologic 
thought, especially among the younger men, was 
just beginning to be felt. The ‘‘Lithogenesis der 
Gegenwart’’ presented such a wealth of facts con- 
cerning the origin of sedimentary rocks, that at- 
tention began to be diverted from the problems 
of the igneous rocks which had heretofore almost 
exclusively occupied petrographers, and ‘‘Sedi- 
ment-Petrographie,’’ or the petrography of the 
sedimentary rocks, attracted more and more of the 
younger geologists, especially in Germany and 
France. . 

It was at this period, too, that the attention of 
geologists and especially stratigraphers was first 
seriously directed toward the desert regions of the 
world and the phenomena of extensive subaérial 
deposition. Here, again, Walther led the way in 
that classic, ‘‘ Die Denudation in der Wiiste,’’ fol- 
lowed in 1900 by his epoch-making book, ‘‘Das 
Gesetz der Wiistenbildung,’’ which, in its revised 
edition, appeared in 1912. It is, of course, true 
that important studies of the desert regions were 
made earlier, notably those of yon Zittel on the 
Libyan desert (1883), but the significance of the 
desert deposits in terms of stratigraphy was first 
fully appreciated within the last decade. That 
the importance of the desert as a geological factor 
has become widely recognized is shown by the nu- 
merous recent studies, especially those on the 
Kalahari by Passarge, and those on the Asiatic 
deserts, by Sven Hedin, Pumpelly, Huntington 
and others. 

It is during this decade that the sciences of 
glyptogenesis and geomorphology have come into 
being, notably through the labors of Davis in 
America, and of Suess and Penck in Europe. 
Suess’s ‘‘ Antlitz der Erde’’ began to appear, it is 
true, in 1883, but it is only in recent years that this 
work has been readily accessible to most American 
students, through the medium of the English 
translation by Sollas and Sollas (1904-1909). 
Penck’s ‘‘Morphologie der Erdoberfliche’’ ap- 
peared in 1894, but did not become well known in 
this country until much later. It was, however, 
Davis’s publications in this country, chiefly during 
the early nineties of the last century, which gave 


JuLy 24, 1914] 


the great impetus to the study of land forms, and 
especially of the influence of erosion on their pro- 
duction. The concept of the peneplain, of the 
eyele of erosion, of the sequential development of 
rivers and erosion forms on the coastal plain and 
on folded strata, and others chiefly due to him, 
have become of incalculable value to the stratig- 
tapher. The more recent development of the idea 
of desert planation by Passarge and Davis has 
opened further, promising fields to the stratig- 
rapher, who seeks to interpret the record in the 
strata by the aid of modern results achieved by 
universal processes. 

Im the field of correlative stratigraphy the past 
decade has likewise seen striking advances. The 
publication of the ‘‘Lethza’’ falls into this period, 
and so does Marr’s comprehensive little volume, 
‘‘The Principles of Stratigraphical Geology,’’ not 
to mention the elaborate recent texts of Haug, 
Kayser and others, or the numerous publications of 
government surveys, and of individual contribu- 
tors. That questions of correlation have reached 
an acute stage in American geology is manifested 
by such recent publications as the ‘‘ Outlines of 
Geological History’’ and Ulrich’s ‘‘Revision of 
the Paleozoic Systems,’’ and the numerous papers 
accompanying or called forth by these. Finally, 
paleogeography, as a science, is of very recent de- 
velopment, most of the works of importance hav- 
ing appeared in the last five years. In America 
Schuchert and Bailey Willis are the acknowledged 
leaders, while in Hurope many able minds have at- 
tacked the problems of paleogeography from all 
angles. 

It is thus seen that this book was conceived dur- 
ing the period of initial reconstruction of our 
attitude toward the problems of geology, and that 
its birth and growth to maturity fell into that 
tumultous epoch when new ideas crowded in so 
fast that the task of mastering them became one 
of increasing magnitude and, finally, of almost 
hopeless complexity. ‘To summarize and bring to- 
gether the ideas of the past decade, and focus 
them upon the point of view here essayed, is prob- 
ably beyond the power of one individual. Never- 
theless, the attempt to present the essentials of 
the new geology for the benefit of those who, 
grown up with it, have perhaps treated it with the 
lack of. consideration usually bestowed on a con- 
temporary, as well as for those who will carry on 
the work during the next decade or two, can not 
put serve a useful purpose. May this attempt be 
adjudged not unworthy of its predecessors, nor 
unfit to stand by the side of its contemporaries. 


SCIENCE 


137 


Having given the author’s point of view, 
there may be noted briefly the especial fea- 
tures of some of the chapters. 

In Chapter IT., on the atmosphere, in addi- 
tion to a review of meteorological principles, 
there is an extensive treatment of wind ero- 
sion and transportation. Space is given also 
to the indications and nature of rhythmic 
climatie changes. 

The hydrosphere is treated in the next three 
chapters. Under Morphology and Subdivi- 
sions of the Hydrosphere are considered the 
forms of oceans, lakes and rivers. ‘The most 
pertinent assemblage of material of this sec- 
tion is, however, in that chapter dealing with 
the movements of the hydrosphere and their 
geological effects, especially in the transpor- 
tation and shaping of material. 

There follows in Chapter VI. a classifica- 
tion of the rocks of the earth’s crust. 

The heart of the volume is found, however, 
in ten chapters, IX. to XVIIL., inclusive, 
which deal with the original structures and 
lithogenesis of the sedimentary rocks, and it 
is for this section of 417 pages, if the reviewer 
mistakes not, that the work will be regarded 
as most distinctively a contribution to geologic 
science. There is throughout an application 
from present sedimentation to ancient sedi- 
ments, more especially to those of the Paleo- 
zoic. If this section be compared with those 
dealing with the nature of sedimentary rocks 
in the standard manuals of geology in the 
English language, it will be seen that not only 
is it many times more comprehensive and 
extensive, but that traditional, over simple, 
and conventional interpretations are retested 
by the appeal to nature. This section leads to 
the conclusion that a much larger part than 
has been the custom should be ascribed in 
earlier ages to eolian and fluviatile sedimen- 
tation and their climatic implications. 

Chapters XIX. to XXIII., inclusive, give 
164 pages to metamorphism, earth sculpture, 
igneous activity and diastrophism. Parts of 
these chapters are better and more fully 
treated in other works and are not clearly 
within the proyince of the book, but other 


138 


parts, such, for example, as that on subaquatice 
gliding of sediments, are novel, are well 
treated, and valuable for their bearings on the 
origin of certain structures and relations of 
stratified rocks. 

The next section of 187 pages deals with 
the biosphere. There is given a classification 
of the organic kingdom and the relations of 
each group to its environment. The principles 
which control the geographic distribution of 
animals are also set forth. 

A final section deals with the principles of 
classification and correlation of geologic 
formations. 

One of the most valuable features of the 
volume consists of the bibliographies which 
are given at the end of each chapter and the 
frequent references to the more important 
papers on each subject. The work thus is a 
guide to the student for his independent 
navigation and exploration upon that ever- 
broadening and rising’ ocean of literature 
which threatens to drown research. 

From this statement of contents it is seen 
that the work .is a notable contribution. 
Every geologist dealing with stratigraphic or 
historical geology should give it a place in 
that elect reference shelf, the revolving book 
case within reach of his office chair. 

To prove that this eulogistic review is the 
result of a judicial study of the volume it is 
necessary, however, to supplement the previous 
statements by finding something for adverse 
comment, even if only of minor importance. 

A good deal of space has been given to the 
discussion of secondary structures—faults, 
folds, metamorphism, igneous intrusion, ete. 
This has added to the bulkiness and cost of 
the volume without adding proportionately to 
an increase in its value. This greater cost will 
tend to keep it on the reference shelves of li- 
braries instead of installing it in the private 
library of every student. The book is conse- 
quently likely to have less influence than if 
the detailed discussion of secondary structures 
had been ruled out or published as a separate 
yolume. The subject matter does not appear 
sufficiently essential for the principles of 
stratigraphy to require incorporation, and a 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1021 


comprehensive study of these fields requires 
furthermore the study of other treatises, such 
as those of J. Geikie, Van Hise and Leith. 

Classification is necessary in order to deal 
with the subject-matter of science, and classi- 
fication must grow with the growth of knowl- 
edge. One of the noteworthy features of the 
work is the development of systematic classifi- 
cation to cover the field of sedimentation and 
stratigraphy. Jt aids in a logical and precise 
treatment, but the reviewer thinks that the 
author may have partially hindered his pur- 
pose by an over-classification and the extensive 
coinage of unfamiliar Greek names. Such 
words as caustobioliths and sapropelcalcilyths 
are examples. The renaming of contact meta- 
morphism as #thoballism and dynamic meta- 
morphism as symphrattism seems unnecessary 
and is hardly likely to succeed. To discuss 
earthquakes under the division of the centro- 
sphere seems also quite inappropriate. “The 
littoral” in its original meaning and as used 
by a number of geologists has been restricted 
to the zone of shore between high and low tide. 
The stratigraphic characters are unique in 
that they receive the impress of alternate ex- 
posure to the air and sea. This dual relation 
must be recognized in order to avoid the in- 
herited confusion between continental and ma- 
rine deposits. The reviewer regards it as un- 
fortunate, therefore, to extend it as a general 
term as is here done to cover all that region 
from the high-tide line to the edge of the con- 
tinental shelf. This in some regions is more 
than 100 miles from the shore and in ancient 
times was often vastly farther. On the other 
hand, however, it should be noted that the re- 
finement of classification adds greatly to the 
analysis of the original structure and litho- 
genesis of the continental sediments, divided 
under the heads of atmoclastie, anemoclastic 
and hydroclastic rocks, assisting in a better 
presentation of these groups than has hereto- 
fore appeared. 

An enumeration and discussion of the mul- 
tiple hypotheses which may participate in com- 
plex processes is of great value to the advanced 
student, opening his mind to various possi- 
bilities and stimulating his imagination to 


JuLy 24, 1914] 


new research. Through most of the book this 
is very well done, but the causes of climatic 
change through geologic time do not find ade- 
quate treatment. There is, for instance, a 
tather extensive presentation and commenda- 
tion of the several hypotheses of a wandering 
pole, but almost no discussion of the influence 
of changing atmospheric composition and none 
of such factors as a possible reversal of the 
oceanic circulation or possible changes in solar 
radiation. The absence of a dynamic proof of 
polar wandering adequate to account for cli- 
matic change makes it seem to the reviewer 
the least supported of all the climatic hy- 
potheses. 

To sum up this volume in a sentence—it is 
in the broad and admirable treatment of the 
present processes of sedimentation and in the 
interpretations which they give to the older 
sedimentary rocks that the book will be found 
to have its unique value. 

JOSEPH BARRELL 


Some Fundamental Problems in Chemistry. 
_ By E. A. Lerrs. New York, D. Van Nos- 
trand Co. 1914. 15 22 cm. Pp. v-+ 2385. 

Price $2.50. 

In the preface the author says that one of 
his “ chief ideas was to contrast certain ancient 
views, such as those of atoms and a primordial 
element or primordial elements in the shape of 
air, earth, fire, and water, together with the 
possibility of transformations of these latter 
into each other, with the modern conception of 
electrons and the discovery of changes, such 
as those which the radioactive elements experi- 
“ence, which amount in fact to a change of one 
so-called chemical element into others. .. .” 
It is perhaps a question whether many readers 
will agree with the author that these two 
modern discoveries prove that even in science 
history may repeat itself; but fortunately one 
may like the book without accepting the 
author’s thesis. 

“The book consists of four chapters on the 
older chemistry and seven on the newer chem- 
istry. Under older chemistry the subheads 
are: ancient theories regarding the nature of 
matter and more recent theories as to the 


SCIENCE 


139 


nature of energy; the atomic theory and 
atomic weights; the periodic law. ‘There is 
nothing especially interesting or novel about 
this portion of the book and it might well have 
been omitted, thus giving the author an 
opportunity to amplify the portion on the 
newer chemistry, which is very interesting. 

The newer chemistry, as understood by the 
author, deals with the effects of electrical dis- 
charges on gases in high vacua, radioactivity, 
Lockyer’s theory of inorganic evolution, and 
Arrhenius’s views on the birth and death of 
worlds. This part is admirable though dis- 
tinetly not critical. The author apparently 
accepts, without much reservation, all the 
transmutations which Ramsay has described. 

With Pliicker tubes as a starting-point the 
author discusses the production of cathode 
rays when the degree of exhaustion is in- 
creased, and the properties of these rays. 
From cathode rays he passes to canal rays and 
thence to Réntgen rays. After that come Bec- 
querel rays and then the discovery of radium 
by the Curies. The properties of the a, 8, and 
y lays are discussed and then the decomposi- 
tion products of radium. The facts in regard 
to the production of helium are followed by an 
account of Ramsay’s experiments on the 
alleged formation of lithium, carbon and neon. 
The author does not point out, as he well 
might have done, that it would be in the in- 
terest of science for Ramsay either to accept 
Mme. Curie’s work on lithium or to repeat it 
and show wherein the discrepancy occurs. 
The present state of things is distinctly not 
creditable, and Ramsay’s unwillingness to 
meet the situation raised by Mme. Curie’s 
work on the alleged production of lithium has 
caused Ramsay’s work on the alleged produc- 
tion of carbon and neon to be received with 
much suspicion. The last chapter on radio- 
activity deals with J. J. Thomson’s discussion 
of the periodic law on the basis of the electron 
theory. 

The chapter on inorganic evolution may be 
summed up as follows: In the very hottest 
stars we find hydrogen, helium, asterium and 
doubtless other gases still unknown. At the 
next (lower) temperatures, we find these gases 


140 


becoming replaced by metals in the state in 
which they are observed in the laboratory, 
when the most powerful jar spark is em- 
ployed. At a lower temperature, the gases dis- 
appear almost entirely, and the metals occur 
in the state produced by the electric are. 
These changes are simply and sufficiently ex- 
plained on the hypothesis of dissociation. 

The final chapter on the birth and death 
of worlds is based on Arrhenius’s book en- 
titled “Worlds in the Making.” Arrhenius 
takes up the questions of the creation and of 
the eventual destruction of the stars and of 
worlds like our own, and gives reasons for 
believing that both operations are simultane- 
ously occurring in cosmos, or, so to speak, a 
“winding up” and a “running down” of the 
machinery of the universe; the two chief 
forces at work being the mechanical pressure 
of light, or simply the “radiation pressure,” 
on the one hand, and gravitation on the other. 

Wiper D. Bancrorr 


PROPOSED INTERNATIONAL MAGNETIC 
AND ALLIED OBSERVATIONS DUR- 
ING THE TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE 
OF AUGUST 21, 1914 (CIVIL 
DATE) 

In response to an appeal for simultaneous 
magnetic and allied observations during the 
coming total solar eclipse, cooperative work 
will be conducted at stations along the belt of 
totality in various countries and also at some 

outside stations. 

The general scheme of work proposed by 
the Carnegie Department of Terrestrial Mag- 
netism embraces the following: 

1. Simultaneous magnetic observations of 
any or all of the elements according to the in- 
struments at the observer’s disposal, every 
minute from August 21, 1914, 10" a.m. to 3" 
P.M. Greenwich civil mean time, or from Au- 
gust 20, 22" to August 21, 8" Greenwich astro- 
nomical mean time. 

(To imsure the highest degree of accuracy, 
the observer should begin work early enough 
to have everything in complete readiness in 
proper time. See precautions taken in previ- 
ous eclipse work as described in the journal 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1021 


Terrestrial Magnetism, Vol. V., page 146, and 
Vol. VIL., page 16. Past experience has shown 
ut to be essential that the same observer make 
the readings throughout the entire interval.) 

2. At magnetic observatories, all necessary 
precautions should be taken to insure that the 
self-recording instruments will be in good 
operation not only during the proposed inter- 
val but also for some time before and after, 
and eye-readings should be taken in addition 
wherever it is possible and convenient. (/é 7s 
recommended that, in general, the magneto- 
graph be run on the usual speed throughout 
the interval, and that, if a change im record- 
ing speed be made, every precaution possible be 
taken to guard against instrumental changes 
likely to affect the continuity of the base line.) 

3. Atmospheric-electric observations should 
be made to the extent possible with the ob- 
server’s equipment and personnel at his dis- 
posal. 

4. Meteorological observations in accordance 
with the observer’s equipment should be made 
at convenient periods (as short as possible) 
throughout the interval. It is suggested that, 
at least, temperature be read every fifth min- 
ute (directly after the magnetic reading for 
that minute). 

5. Observers in the belt of totality are re- 
quested to take the magnetic reading every 
thirty seconds during the interval, 10 minutes 
before and 10 minutes after the time of total- 
ity, and to read temperature also every thirty 
seconds, between the magnetic readings. 

It is hoped that full reports will be for- 
warded as soon as possible for publication in 
the journal of Terrestrial Magnetism and 
Atmospheric Electricity. 

L. A. BAvER 


WASHINGTON, 
June 23, 1914 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 
AMMONIFYING POWER OF SOIL-INHABITING FUNGI 
A COMPARATIVELY large amount of work has 
been done on the power of soil bacteria to pro- 
duce ammonia from the nitrogenous materials 


found in the soil, or from organic materials 
such as dried blood or cotton seed meal added 


Juuy 24, 1914] 


to the soil. A comparatively small amount of 
work has been done on the power of soil- 
inhabiting fungi to produce ammonia under 
like conditions. Mintz and Coudon demon- 
strated that the production of ammonia from 
the organic matter in soils is a property com- 
mon both to molds and to bacteria. It is 
interesting to note that they used both bouillon 
and one hundred gram portions of soil, with 
manure added as culture media. In their in- 
vestigations they used two pure cultures of 
molds, Mucor racemosus and Fusarium Mu- 
entzw. Later Marchal? confirmed their results. 

Im a series of investigations which were 
carried on for the purpose of determining the 
effect of acid phosphate on the ammonification 
of dried blood in soils, we observed that with 
varying percentages of acid phosphate the 
amount of ammonia accumulated in one partic- 
ular type of soil increased with the increase of 
acid phosphate from 0.25 per cent. to 2 per cent. 
There was but a slight decrease of ammonia 
in the soil receiving 5 per cent. of acid phos- 
phate. In fact, there was over one half more 
ammonia accumulated in the soil containing 5 
per cent. of acid phosphate than in the soil to 
which no acid phosphate had been added. It 
was also observed that there was a very heavy 
growth of molds on all soil portions receiving 
acid phosphate. Counts were made of bacteria 
in the soil portions, and it was found that 
there was a decrease from 240,000,000 bacteria 
per gram of soil in the portions containing 0.5 
per cent. of acid phosphate to 12,200,000 in the 
soil portions receiving 5 per cent. of acid 
phosphate. The opposite effect was noted in 
using certain other soils. There was no appre- 
ciable growth of molds in these soils, and the 
amount of ammonia accumulation decreased 
with increased quantities of acid phosphate. 
This was exactly the opposite of what was to be 
expected as several investigators have held that 
molds use ammonia for the development of 
their mycelium. From these results we were 
led to conclude that there was either a modi- 
fication in the character or number of ammo- 

1Compt. Rend. Acad. Sci., Paris, 116: 395. 


1893. . 
2 Bull. Acad. Roy. Belgique, I1l., 25: 727. 1893. 


SCIENCE 


141 


nifying bacteria present, or that it was due to 
the ammonifying power of the large number of 
fungi present in this soil and that this activity 
was stimulated by the addition of a large 
quantity of acid phosphate. 

Several plates which showed a considerable 
number of mold colonies were set aside to 
allow further development. Various fungi 
were separated into pure cultures. Of these 
the commonest were Zygorhynchus Vuillemini, 
Riuzopus migricans, and certain species of 
Penicillium. To guard against possible con- 
tamination of the plates by spores from the 
air, these fungi were reinoculated into the 
soil from which they were isolated. Their 
growth in this medium determines their status 
as soil-inhabiting fungi. The fungi so secured 
include, in addition to those already named, 
species of Alternaria, Aspergillus and Tricho- 
derma and several species of Mucor. One 
other species, Monilia sitophila, was isolated 
from soils, which had been heated to a high 
temperature in the autoclave. 

As the decomposition of the nitrogenous 
materials in soils is influenced to a certain 
extent by their chemical and physical composi- 
tion and by their reaction, two soil types were 
used; one of these was a gravelly loam acid 
soil, the other a red shale neutral soil. Identi- 
eal methods were used in the ammonification 
studies. One hundred gram quantities of 
sterile soil were used. The “beaker method ”? 
was employed. Dried blood and cotton seed 
meal were used as sources of nitrogen, amounts 
of these containing 155 mgs. of nitrogen were 
used in each case. The cultures were incu- 
bated at 20° C. for seven days, and the am- 
monia determined. 

There was found to be a considerable differ- 
ence in the power of the various soil fungi 
studied to ammonify dried blood and cotton 
seed meal in the soil; that is, in their ammoni- 
fying efficiency. A comparison of all of these 
fungi was made in the loam soil, using dried 
blood as a source of nitrogen. Im all cases 
but one the addition of two grams of acid 
phosphate increased the ammonifying effici- 


3N. J. Experiment. Station Report, 1908: 129. 


142 


ency. It is interesting to note that with a 
single exception there was an increased 
growth of mycelium, with increased ammonia 
accumulation. Im the case of Zygorhynchus, 
there was but a slight growth of mycelium, 
although a fairly large amount of ammonia 
was accumulated in the soil. Of the cultures 
studied, Trichoderma showed the largest 
ammonifying efficiency, which was 48.52 per 
cent. in soil not containing acid phosphate, 
and 58.39 per cent. in soil containing 2 per 
cent. of acid phosphate. On the other hand, 
Penicillium I. showed an ammonifying efiici- 
ency of 21.39 per cent. in soil containing no 
acid phosphate, and 16.45 per cent. in soil con- 
taining 2 per cent. of acid phosphate. Peni- 
cillium VI. showed a very low ammonifying 
efficiency, which was 10.75 per cent. without 
acid phosphate, and 12.15 per cent. with 2 
per cent. acid phosphate added. A comparison 
was made of the ammonifieation of dried blood 
and cotton-seed meal in the two different 
soils, inoculating them with Penicillium VII. 
and Rhizopus nigricans. More ammonia was 
accumulated in each soil from cotton-seed meal 
than from dried blood in the case of both 
fungi. 

The addition of calcium carbonate appeared 
to inhibit the ammonification of dried blood in 
the red shale soil with Rhizopus and Penicil- 
lium VII., but the addition of even small 
amounts of acid phosphate increased the am- 
monia accumulation. From some of the results 
obtained, it appears that the presence of solu- 
ble phosphates in the soil, rather than its 
reaction, determines the amount of ammonia 
accumulation. 

In comparing the ammonifying power of 
soil bacteria with that of soil fungi using dried 
blood in the loam soils, the highest amount of 
ammonia accumulated in the case of the bac- 
teria was with Bacillus subtilis, which showed 
54.13 milligrams of ammonia nitrogen in the 
portion not containing acid phosphate and 
17.55 milligrams in the portion containing 
2 per cent. acid phosphate. In the case of 
fungi, the highest amount of ammonia accu- 
mulated was by Trichoderma which showed 
45.20 milligrams ammonia nitrogen in the 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL, No. 1021 


portion not containing acid phosphate and 
90.50 milligrams of ammonia nitrogen in the 
portion containing acid phosphate. 

A more detailed account of these fungi and 
of the data accumulated by us concerning 
them will be published at an early date. 

Harry C. McLray, 
Guy West Witson 
N. J. AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION, 
NEw BRUNSWICK, N. J. 


THE IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 


THE meetings of the twenty-eighth annual ses- 
sion of the Iowa Academy of Science were held 
at Iowa State Teachers College, Cedar Falls, be- 
ginning Friday afternoon, April 24, and closing 
at noon Saturday, the 25th. The meeting was 
called to order at 1:30 P.M. by the president, Pro- 
fessor C. N. Kinney, of Drake University. After 
the preliminary business was transacted the acad- 
emy proceeded to the reading of papers. until ad- 
journment to meet at 9:00 a.M. Saturday. 

The evening address was given by Dr. N. H. 
Winchell, of the Minnesota Historical Society, on 
‘“‘The Antiquity of Man in North America in 
Comparison with Europe.’’ 

Following the reading of papers and the final 
business meeting a luncheon was served in the 
gymnasium at noon, Saturday. 

As officers for the ensuing year the following 
elections were made: 

President, H. S. Conard, Grinnell. 

First Vice-president, H. M. Kelly, Mount Vernon. 

Second Vice-president, L. S. Ross, Des Moines. 

Secretary, James H. Lees, Des Moines. 

Treasurer, A. O. Thomas, Lowa City. 

It was decided to try the plan at the next annual 
meeting, to be held at the State University of Iowa, 
Iowa City, of. carrying out the program in two 
divisions: a general session and sectional meetings. 

It was also recommended that the state legisla- 
ture be urged to appropriate additional funds to 
enable the Geological Survey to complete the 
topographic map of the state in the least possible 
time. 

Program 

(Abstracts by the authors.) 


Sulfofication in Soils: P. E. Brown anv HE. H. 
KELLOGG. 

The Des Moines Diphtheria Epidemio of 1912-13: 
CHas. A. WYLIE. 


/ 


JuLy 24, 1914] 


Bacterial Content of Desiccated Egg: L. 8. Ross. 

The results of about 550 examinations of liquid 
and of powdered egg are given. The problem of 
the effect of storage, both with reference to time 
and temperature of storage, is considered. Re- 
sults obtained in the experiment show a more rapid 
diminution of bacteria in storage at incubator tem- 
perature than at room temperature. The conclu- 
sion is drawn also that good eggs carelessly 
handled during process of manufacture may show 
a greater bacterial content than eggs of suspicious 
quality if carefully handled during the process of 
breaking and drying. It seems possible that 
‘<spots’? may be made into a desiccated product, 
which after storage for some time would give 
satisfactory results upon a quantitative bacterial 
examination. 


An Incubator Opening to the Outside of the Build- 
ing: L. S. Ross. 

An incubator was placed in the basement and 
from this a chute leads upwards and outwards to 
an opening in the wall of the building. The pur- 
pose of the device is to make it possible for physi- 
cians or officers of the city board of health to drop 
diphtheria culture tubes, submitted for diagnosis, 
into the incubator at any hour of the day or night. 


U. S. Kelp Investigations in Alaska: Rospert B. 
WYLIE. 


The Pollination of Vallisnaria: Ropert B. WYLIE. 


Comparison of Field and Forest Floras in Monona 

County, Iowa: D. H. Boot. 

A study made during 1909 and 1910 of the 
floras of typical areas in Monona county, Iowa, to 
determine the relationship between them. Studies 
made of undisturbed prairie, both exposed and 
sheltered, of cleared forest land and of both ex- 
posed and sheltered forest show gradual transition 
in plant life from the most xerophytic to the most 
hydrophytic types of habitat. No sudden breaks 
oceur as we go from one area to the next. Com- 
plete lists of flowering plants accompany the re- 
port. 


The Origin of the Cocklebur: Cuirrorp H. Farr. 


Notes on a Fossil Tree-fern of Iowa: Cuirrorp H. 
FARR. 


The Myxomycetes of Puget Sound: THomas H. 
MACBRIDE. 


Some Notes on the Hcology of Iowa Lichens: 
ZOE R. FRAZIER. 
The following conclusions are suggested by the 
work for this paper. 


SCIENCE 


143 


Lichens vary in adaptation to habitat; this ap- 
plies both to different species and to different in- 
dividuals of the same species. 

Variation in habitat is explained, at least in 
part, by structural adaptations. Lichens show a 
remarkable power of resistance to drouth. 


Preliminary Report on the Flora of Linn County: 
ELLIS D. VERINE. 

The Male Gametophyte of Arisema: Jamus E. 
Gow. 

Sunflecks: W. H. Davis. 


Some Observations on Sycamore Blight and ac- 
companying Fungi: J. P. ANDERSON. 
Introduced Plants of the Clear Creek Canon: L. 

H. PAMMEL. 

L. H. Pammel called attention to some of the 
introduced plants of the Clear Creek Valley, Colo- 
rado. The first botanist to visit the region was 
Dr. C. C. Parry, who collected in this region in 
1861. Comparatively few alien plants have been 
introduced; many of the introduced plants are 
those common to the plains or boreal species. 


Weed Survey of Story County, Iowa: L. H. Pam- 

MEL AND CHARLOTTE M, Kina. 

This paper gives a brief summary of the eco- 
logical distribution of weeds on tilled and un- 
tilled land in central Towa, using the quadrat 
method of giving the distribution, 


Variation in Evaporation in Limited Areas: D. H. 

Boor, 

Notes on Variation in Micranthes Texana: L. A. 

KENOYER. 

In southeastern Kansas there is a very small 
patch of a little saxifrage, Micranthes texana 
(Buckl.) Small. Saxifragacee are normally 2- 
carpellate, but in this patch the carpel number 
varies from two to six, fluctuating around three 
as an average. Of the 1,800 flowers examined, 83 
per cent. have three carpels each. A mutation 
Seems to haye occurred somewhere in the life his- 
tory of this rare and little-known species, giving 
rise to a group haying three as the normal num- 
ber of carpels. 


Barium in Tobacco and other Plants: NicHoLas 
KNIGHT, 
Colloidal Common Salt: NicHoLAs KNIGHT. 


The Sand of Sylvan Beach, New York: NicHouas 
KNIGHT. 


Unusual Dolomites: NicHOLAS KNIGHT, 


Electromotwe Forces and Electrode Potentials in 
Miazed Solvents: J. N. PEARCE AND W. H. Farr. 


144 


Equilibrium in the System—Mercuric Iodide-Ant- 
lin: J. N. PEARCE AND E. J. FRY. 

A complete curve representing the conditions of 
equilibrium between mercuric iodide and anilin has 
been plotted for temperatures between —11.48° 
and 199.9°. The region of stability of the three 
solids HgI,.20,N,;H, red mercuric iodide, and yel- 
low mercuric iodide have been established. Six- 
teen solubility measurements of mercurie iodide in 
anilin are given, all in duplicate and mostly in 
triplicate. A new compound corresponding to the 
formula C,H,N.HG,I. has been identified and de- 
seribed. The compound Hgl..20,H,N has been 
made by direct combination of mercuric iodide 
with anilin. A method for the determination of 
mercuric iodide as mercurie sulphide in the pres- 
ence of an easily oxidized organic solvent has been 
tested. 


The Electrical Conductivity of Solutions on Cer- 
tain Electrolytes in Organic Solvents: J. N. 
PEARCE. 


Earth Movements and Drainage Lines in Iowa: 

JAMES H. LEES. 

The paper aims to bring together existing knowl- 
edge concerning drainage conditions in northeast- 
ern Iowa and to show that the present system is 
the resultant of uplifts and warpings of the strata 
at different periods and from various centers. 
The fact that the streams are flowing far above 
the bottoms of their valleys is attributed to 
changes necessitated by glacial action and to low- 
ering of the land surface. 


Some Evidences of Recent Progress in Geology: 

GEORGE F. Kay. 

In this paper reference is made to some of the 
most important geological papers published dur- 
ing the last ten years and which indicate the lines 
along which the greatest progress has been and is 
being made. 


Siowan Mountains: An Iowan Triassic Episode: 

CHARLES KEYES. 

The true significance of the abrupt cutting off 
to the northward of the Iowa belted Paleozoics is 
obscured by the fact that Cretacie sediments over- 
lie points at which critical evidence might be ex- 
pected. Lately, deep-well records and other data 
have disclosed a substructure that is quite re- 
markable. It is now known that over the high arch 
extending from Lake Superior southwestward into 
South Dakota the Cambrie, Ordovicic, Siluric, De- 
vonie and Carbonic formations were spread out. 
The uprising appears to have taken place in Tri- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1021 


assic times; and in Comanchan time the entire 
mountainous ridge, 5,000 feet high, was planed off 
and completely base-leveled. Upon this pene- 
plained surface the Mid Cretacie sediments were 
laid down. This period of base-leveling also ap- 
pears to fix the date of peneplain forming the 
Lake Superior highlands. 


Serial Unit im Stratigraphic 

CHARLES KEYES. 

The recent movement to test the validity of each 
formational unit by criteria other than that of the 
contained fossils has led to important and rather 
unexpected advancements in stratigraphical classi- 
fication. The fact that this movement is also in 
the direction of simplicity argues for its still wider 
adoption. In Iowa, Illinois and Missouri the 
Early Carbonic succession is a good illustration of 
the point under consideration. By emphasizing 
the paleogeographical and diastrophie factors and 
adapting, so far as is possible, the nomenclature 
already in use the various terranes may be 
grouped into three grand divisions having serial 
rank. These groups are the Waverleyan series, the 
Mississippian series and the Tennesseean series. 
At divers times other names have been proposed, 
that might be used but for the fact that they are 
preoccupied. The division is essentially the same 
as that first suggested by Owen more than sixty 
years ago. 


Stratigraphic Position of Our Oldest Rocks: 

CHARLES KEYES. 

Although the Sioux quartzite, which crops out 
where the three states of Iowa, Minnesota and 
South Dakota meet, has been long known and re- 
peatedly described, little has ever been learned of 
its tectonic relationships or of its real position in 
the general geologic column. The Corson diabases, 
the Hull porphyries and the Tipton sandstones 
now appear to belong to the Keewenawan series 
of the Proterozoic era. The Split-Rock slates, the 
Sioux quartzite and the Jasper conglomerates are 
Animikean in age. The Archeozoiec is not repre- 
sented. The gneisses of Le Mars and the schists 
of Sioux City form a part of the Azoic complex. 


Classification : 


On Precious Stones in the Glacial Drift: GARRETT 
A. MUILENBURG. 


A New Section of the Railway Cut near Graf, 

Iowa: A. O. THOMAS. 

This artificial section exposed along the Chicago 
Great Western railway in Dubuque county has been 
made famous by the writings of James and of 
Calvin. It has recently been cut back for quite a 


JULY 24, 1914] 


distance while making some improvements in the 
road-bed. 

The fresh section affords an excellent opportu- 
nity for studying this phase of the Maquoketa 
shales. Several feet of interesting beds higher up 
than those described by the writers mentioned 
have been exposed. The new section is described 
and a revised list of the fossils is given. 


The Surface Clay of Adair County (Second 
Paper): JamMus E. Gow. 


Evidences of Sand Dune Formation in Cedar 
Rapids and Vicinity: WASHBURN D. SHIPTON. 


Pleistocene Exposures in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and 

Vicinity: WASHBURN D. SHIPTON. 

Preliminary Report of Geological Work in North- 
eastern Iowa: ARTHUR C. TROWBRIDGE. 

Field work is now being carried on in northeast- 
ern Jowa by students and faculty of the geology 
department of the State University of Iowa. 
Much new material is being found, along the lines 
of stratigraphic, structural, paleontologic, eco- 
nomic and physiographic geology. The region is 
particularly rich in physiographic problems, and a 
continuation of the work is expected to yield much 
additional knowledge of the Mesozoic and Ceno- 
zoic history of this part of North America. 


The Origin of Hskers: ARTHUR C. TROWBRIDGE. 
There are many difficulties with the generally 
accepted subglacial theory for the origin of eskers, 
which says that these interesting ridges are de- 
posited by streams flowing beneath continental 
glaciers. It seems more likely that they are 
formed by the slow recession of the edges of gla- 
ciers during the deposition of kames, and a result- 
ing drawing out of the kames into long lines. 


An Area of Wisconsin Drift farther South in 
Polk County, Iowa, Than Hitherto Recognized: 
JOHN L. TILTON. 

One mile south of the bridge over Raccoon 
River at Valley Junction there is a small area of 
Wisconsin drift about a third of a mile in diam- 
eter. 


Indian Pottery of the Oneota or Upper Iowa Val- 
ley in Northeastern Iowa: ELLISON ORR. 

The Oneota or Upper Iowa, a small river about 
eighty miles in length, flows through Winneshiek 
and Allamakee counties in Iowa close to their 
northern border, which is also the line between this 
state and Minnesota. It flows through a beautiful 
winding valley which has a width of half a mile, 
and is bounded by precipitous bluffs. The glacial 
terraces which extend up this valley for forty 


SCIENCE 


145 


miles to Decorah have afforded yery abundant evi- 
dences of a former considerable Indian population. 
Earth embankments, mounds and camp sites have 
yielded up a treasure of implements, weapons and 
ornaments. Notable among these are the large 
number of small earthen vessels found in burial 
places and the fewer large ones which seem to have 
been buried by themselves. The writer has been 
quite successful in finding or securing a number 
of well-preserved specimens of both classes, some 
of which he describes in detail. The material used 
in the manufacture was common clay tempered by 
pulverized clam shells. In shape this pottery is 
symmetrical but the attempts at ornamentation are 
erude. The vessels all have a rounded pot-like 
bottom and if upset, will at once resume an up- 
tight position. ‘‘In short, these prehistoric pot- 
ters, while they were able to produce very shapely 
ware, were unable to add to its beauty by elabo- 
rate, intricate or symmetrical designs.’’? The 
paper is illustrated by nine plates. 


Longitude by Wureless: D. W. MOREHOUSE. 


Illumination Power of Kerosenes Used in Iowa: 

WILLIAM KUNERTH. 

The results of this series of experiments can be 
summarized as follows: 

1. By the application of ordinary photometric 
methods great differences in the illuminating power 
of different samples of kerosene oils have been 
shown. 

2. Oils from the east have a lower density and 
are sold at a higher price than those from the 
west. 

3. Those oils which have a high illuminating 
power were found also to be high in density, in- 
dex of refraction, viscosity, surface tension, flash 
point and burn point. The length of wick charred 
was shorter and the fogging of the chimney was 
more marked than for the oils having low illumi- 
nating power. 

4. The oils which were retailed at lower cost 
gave more light. 

5. By putting coloring matter into an oil the 
illuminating power is decreased. 

6. By exposing oil to light, the illuminating 
power is decreased. 

7. Draft reduces the illuminating power. 

8. The denser the oil the greater is the intrin- 
sic brillianey of the flame. f 

9. Air in oil seems to decrease the illuminating 
power. 

10. For a given flux of light the cost of illumi- 
nation by kerosene oil lamps is about the same as 
that by tungsten lamps. 

11. The oils used in this state have practically 
the same burning quality. 

12. Kerosene oil lamps are not very desirable as 
standards of comparison. 

13. The quantity of oil received for a gallon is 
often very deficient. 


146 


14, The lighter the oil the more nearly white :s 
the flame. 

Certain Diffraction Experiments in Sound: HAROLD 

STILES AND G. W. STEWART. 

This paper describes three experiments in sound 
diffraction, viz., the shadow of a rigid sphere, the 
passage of sound through narrow slits and the 
sound through circular apertures. 

Previous theoretical investigations are verified 
to within a reasonable degree in all three experi- 
ments. ‘The paper is published in full in the 
Physical Review for April, 1914. 


The Variation of Sound Intensity with Distance 
from the Source; An Interesting Case of Devia- 
tion from the Inverse Square Law: G. W. StEW- 
ART, 

This paper shows that when a source of sound is 
located on a rigid sphere the intensity does not 
decrease inversely as the square of the distance 
from the source or from the center of the sphere. 
Data are given for the variation in intensity in 
different directions from the sphere, at different 
distances and with a variation of wave length. 


Notes on the Construction of Selenium Bridges: 
E. O. DIETERICE. 


The Adaptation of Selenium to Measurements of 
Energy Too Small to be Measured by Other 
Devices: L. P. Ste anp F. C. Brown. 


The Effect of Pressure on the Light-sensibility of 
Metallic Selentwwm Crystals: F. C. BROWN AND 
L. P. Size. 

Sex Linked Factors in the Inheritance of Rudimen- 
tary Mamme in Swine: EDwARD N. WENTWORTH. 


The Effect of Calcium and Protein Fed Pregnant 
Swine upon the Size, Vigor, Bone and Coat of 
the Resulting Offspring: JoHN M. Evvagp, 
‘AnTHUR W. Dox AND 8. G. GUERNSEY. 

To determine the relative effects of calcium and 
protein when added to a basal ration of corn when 
fed pregnant swine on the developing fetus many 
Separate experiments were conducted. It was 
clearly shown that the addition of protein to corn 
inereased the size, vigor, condition, coat quantity 
and coat covering of the offspring. Duroe Jersey 
swine were used; these are red in color. The addi- 
tion of calcium also increased the size, vigor, con- 


dition, coat quantity and coat color, but not so 


markedly as did the protein. However, the cal- 
cium did have more effect on the bone develop- 
ment and the condition or degree of fatness than 
did the protein. That the addition of protein had 
such influence upon the offspring is due in large 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1021 


measure to the fact that the corn protein is defi- 
cient in the amino acids, tryptophane, lysine and 
glycocoll. The source of the protein was black 
albumen, whereas the calcium was furnished in the 
form of both chloride and carbonate. The car- 
bonate was found to be more efficacious than the 
chloride, presumably because it did not induce 
acidosis as the chloride probably did. 


A Study of the Crow: FRANK C, PELLETT. 


Butterflies of Chance Occurrence m Cass County: 
FRANK C. PELLETT. 


Nature and Birds: FRED BERNINGHAUSEN. 
Color Vision in Animals: Masen C. WILLIAMS. 


Effect of Low Temperature on the Oyster-shelt 
Scale, Lepidosaphes Ulmi Linn: R. L. WEBSTER. 
The effect of the low temperatures of January, 

1912, on the eggs of the oyster-shell scale in Iowa. 

An account based on samples of scale sent in a 

year later. In most cases the eggs had been killed 

by the severe winter. 


A Catalogue of the Lepidoptera of Linn County: 
GEORGE H. BEREY. r 

Notes on Variation in Micranthes Texana: l. A. 
KENOYEER. 


Coleoptera of Henry County, Iowa: INEZ NAOMI 
Kine. : 
There are listed about 500 species of Coleop- 

tera representing those that are known to occur in 

Henry county, Lowa. Most of these species have 

been collected by the author during the years 1912, 

1913 and 1914. 

‘‘The Coleoptera of Indiana,’? by W. S&S. 
Blatchley, has been used for the larger part in 
naming the specimens taken, although some of the 
names have been determined through various 
sources. 


An Observation of Longitudinal Division of Hydra: 

L. S. Ross. 

An account of the observation of two specimens 
of the brown Hydra in the process of longitudinal 
division, one being divided through the length of 
the body to the foot, while the other had divided 
through the hypostome and only a short distance 
into the body. Also a brief account of the acci- 
dental injury of one of the tentacles resulting in 
the union of two tentacles into a loop that per- 
sisted a few days and then separated again into 
two distinct tentacles. 

A Convenient Table for Microscopic Drawing: L. 

S. Ross. 

JaMEs H, LEEs, 
Secretary 


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SCIENCE | 


Fripay, Juuy 31, 1914 


CONTENTS 


Memorial on the Foundation of an Interna- 
tional Chemical Institute: PROFESSOR WIL- 


HELM OSTWALD 147 


The Man of Pilidown: PROFESSOR GEORGE 


GRANT MacCurDy 158 


The Production of Coal in 1913 ............ 160 
The Rockefeller Institute for Medical Ke- 


search 161 


Scientific Notes and News 162 


Unwersity and Educational News .......... 165 
Discussion and Correspondence :— 
Tin Disease and Polar Exploration: B. T. 
Brooks. Cubist Science: J. EF. A. Mo- 
tions of the Atmosphere: PROFESSOR CLEVE- 


LAND ABBE 166 


Scientific Books :— 


Stevens on the Fungi which cause Plant 
Disease: Dr. F. D. Heatp. Jones’s The 
New Hra in Chemistry: PROFESSOR EDWARD 
C. FRANKLIN. Thomson on Rays of Positive 
Electricity and their Application to Chem- 


ical Analysis: PROFESSOR R. A. MILLIKAN. 168 


Special Articles :— 
Desiccation of Certain Gregarine Cysts: 
PROFESSOR Max M. Ettis. Semi-permeable 
Capsules: WILLIAM W. BROWNE AND DaAvip 
SLOWISINISN Se | bc 6h 65 din ed OS OO ISIS EER OnE 174 


Societies and Academies :— 
The Wisconusin Academy of Sciences, Arts 
and Letters: ARTHUR Brartry. The Ken- 
tucky Academy of Science: GARNETT Ry- 
LAND. New Orleans Academy of Science: 
DE: Rs |1S., COCKS) elem ey oct preyed ic hs 


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


MEMORIAL ON THE FOUNDATION OF AN 
INTERNATIONAL CHEMICAL 
INSTITUTE1 


GENERAL 


THE recent foundation with such excep- 
tional rapidity and unanimity of the Inter- 
national Association of Chemic Societies 
shows that chemistry, as a science, has ad- 
vanced to a position where unregulated in- 
dividual efforts are no longer sufficient and 
must be replaced by organizing the efforts 
of all chemists. 

The participants in that formative meet- 
ing held in Paris toward the end of April, 
1911, had not given the subject much previ- 
ous thought, nevertheless even in this pre- 
liminary discussion a large number of 
undertakings of general interest were men- 
tioned which showed how keenly the need 
of organizing all chemic activities is felt. 

Such possible and necessary underta- 
kings of general value discussed in the pro- 
ceedings are: 


1. The uniformity of nomenclature of chemic 
substances. 

2. The inclusion of the international committee 
of atomic weights in the Association of Chemie 
Societies. 

3. Uniformity im the nomenclature of physic 
and chemic constants. 

4, Conformity im the editing of tables of con- 
tents of chemic publications. 

5. A standardization of the writing of abstracts 
and other reviews of the new publications in chem- 
istry. 

6. The preparation of an international auxiliary 
language for publications of universal interest. 

7. Standardization of the size of publications. 

8. Arrangements for limiting the printing of an 
article in different publications. 

9. Preparation of a chemie thesaurus in which 


1 Translated by Adolf Law Voge. 


148 


the gist of all chemie knowledge will be presented 
in a clear and trustworthy manner. 

If one compares this abundance of new 
problems to which a little thought would 
add many more, with the means at the dis- 
posal of the International Association of 
Chemie Societies, one perceives the great 
disparity between them. 

Many of the undertakings suggested re- 
quire for their execution an institute at 
some fixed place, in which the requisite ac- 
cessories, primarily a permanent and ex- 
haustive library of chemical literature, are 
at hand; and where the methods of execu- 
ting these new and difficult tasks can re- 
ceive systematic test and improvement. 
Besides the organization of the scientifically 
trained chemists of the world, which has 
been practically accomplished by the Inter- 
national Association of Chemical Societies, 
it seems absolutely necessary to consider the 
creation of an establishment to perform the 
tasks set by this general body. 

Immediately after the adjournment of 
the Association in the first days of May, I 
undertook as a task logically resulting from 
the formation of the Association, to consider 
providing for that permanent work-place, 
and endeavored by means of a provisional 
plan of organization to discover whether 
and in what way this great new problem 
could be solved. Since I was almost im- 
mediately fortunate enough to discuss them 
at length with Ernest Solvay in Brussels, 
these plans gained greatly in clearness, and, 
I believe, in possibility for realization. 
This successful organizer at that time ex- 
pressed himself as ready, if the arrange- 
ments decided upon met with his approval, 
to contribute toward the founding of the 
Institute, a quarter million franes ($50,- 
000). Unfortunately because of the pres- 
sure of his various business interests he 
felt it necessary to decline the permanent 
directorship of such an institute, which at 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1022 


first there was a prospect of his assuming. 


AN INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CHEMISTRY 


I considered my plan further, and at- 
tempted by means of a number of different 
sketches for its organization to form a clear 
idea of the various possibilities. 

The proposal here presented is the result 
of those considerations; and is merely in- 
tended at present to show the feasibility of 
the new project! Naturally, all sorts of 
impracticabilities will become incorporated 
in such a new conception. These will be 
recognized and remedied as the institute ex- 
pands and evolves. However, even now we 
can form a general idea of the operation of 
such an international institute. Such an 
institute seems to me so appropriate and 
desirable, that I feel the time is come to 
transform thoughts into action. Chemie 
science should be provided as soon as pos- 
sible with the exceptionally versatile and 
far-reaching aid which would come from 
such an institution. 


TASKS OF THE INSTITUTE 


To guard at the very beginning against 
possible misunderstanding it should be 
emphasized that the proposed International 
Institute of Chemistry is to be in a certain 
sense a complement to the institutes for 
scientific investigation which were founded 
on the occasion of the centennial of the Uni- 
versity of Berlin. Not in the highest 
spheres of creative scientific work are to be 
the labors of the International Institute of 
Chemistry; on the contrary those tasks in 
the realm of chemical science which are 
ever recurring in the same form are to be 
carried out there once for all, and placed at 
the service of every one; especially the lit- 
erary reference work and everything con- 
nected with it; that is, the most trivial and 
routine labors which are necessary for the 
advancement of the science. Consequently 
in the future it should be a fundamental 


Juuy 31, 1914] 


principle in our science that no task of this 
kind once carried out need ever be repeated, 
for the finished work should be kept contin- 
ually and regularly at the disposal of those 
whom it concerns. 

In other words the International Insti- 
tute of Chemistry is to have a function sim- 
ilar to that exercised by the Reichsanstalt 
of Technology in the revision and correction 
of thermometers, voltmeters and other in- 
struments. Formerly the correction of a 
thermometer or other measuring instrument 
was the work of many weeks, now it is done 
by the Reichsanstalt in a very short time, 
and with far greater accuracy than is pos- 
sible to an isolated physicist. 

In chemistry to-day, likewise, there are 
a large number of tasks which must be done 
over and over again by the individual, be- 
cause what has once been performed is not 
always accessible to the public. Just as the 
Reichsanstalt of Technology can make the 
correction of thermometers much more cer- 
tainly and reliably than the average physi- 
cist could (without a disproportionate 
expenditure of energy) because this mechan- 
ical work is done regularly and systema- 
tically at the central bureau so these eter- 
nally recurring chemic tasks could be 
incomparably better and more accurately 
carried out at a central bureau than by the 
average inexperienced chemist. And if the 
regret is voiced, as it has been to me, that 
the useful art of making effective collections 
of literature would be entirely lost 
through the founding of an international 
institute of chemistry, the answer is that 
the loss of the art would mean no actual 
loss at all. For once the International In- 
stitute of Chemistry is founded it will fur- 
nish a permanent and perpetual organ of 
the whole science, which will perform its 
special functions far better than isolated 
chemists have performed them, and which 
will therefore make this sort of skill in the 
individual absolutely superfluous. 


SCIENCE 


149 


In a certain stage of its development the 
human embryo has gills, inherited from 
its aquatic ancestors. No one laments the 
fact that these gills never develop. For 
the conditions of man’s life have become 
such that those organs would never be 
used. So the existence of the International 
Institute of Chemistry will alter working 
conditions for the future chemist so that 
he will not need to acquire skill in the sort 
of work which can be done by the Institute 
far better, and it would be a waste of time 
and energy for him to try to acquire these 
obsolete functions. The more the individual 
chemist can be emancipated from such me- 
chanical tasks which give a disproportion- 
ate amount of trouble because of their in- 
frequency, the more time and energy he 
will have for the real investigation which 
depends on his special training. 


THE ORGANIZATION OF THE SCIENCE 

A process is going on in chemistry which 
we have often observed in other phases of 
civilization. A hundred years ago the 
housewife was obliged not only to make 
bread, but to dip candles and boil soap. 
To-day these duties have been taken from 
her by special manufactories, and she has 
leisure to devote herself with greater zeal 
and success to her duties in the domain of 
the rearing of children. In just the same 
way a division of labor is taking place in 
all other fields. Man is constantly becom- 
ing more and more a creature working only 
with his brains, who leaves mechanical or 
partially mechanical operations to ma- 
chinery. It need not be further empha- 
sized that by such systematic cooperation, 
by the development of highly developed 
organs, infinitely more can be accom- 
plished than under the earlier conditions 
of haphazard individual work. In the his- 
tory of chemistry we certainly can find in- 
stances where extremely difficult compila- 
tions were carried on at first by one man, 


150 


who with the growth of the work was ob- 
liged to surrender it for completion to a 
group of men. It is true that during the 
second half of his life Berzelius prepared 
the Jahresbericht; but in his later years 
it was clearly seen how impossible it was 
for a single investigator to retain the 
power of passing appropriate and unpreju- 
diced judgment on all contemporary works. 
The Jahresbericht in so far as it still ex- 
ists has long been the product of the co- 
operation of a specially trained group of 
men. 

In precisely the same way the Index of 
Organic Chemistry was created by the in- 
defatigable Beilstein, but to-day there is 
no scientist of equal caliber who can carry 
on this enormous work in the same spirit 
and with the same reliability. Here it has 
been necessary to intrust the continuation 
of the work of a single man to a whole 
staff. 

All these instances show most clearly the 
need of an international general organiza- 
tion of chemic undertakings of this kind. 
The work done, for example, by the com- 
mission in preparing the supplement to the 
Beilstein Index is of benefit not only to the 
German chemists but to the chemists of the 
whole world, and should therefore be done 
not by a German, but by an international 
institute. The same holds true of all other 
general undertakings in chemistry; for 
chemistry, like every other science, is en- 
tirely independent of national peculiarities. 


NEW FUNCTIONS AND ORGANS 

It must not be forgotten, either, that the 
capacities which enable a man to prepare 
an ideal abstract or an ideal review are not 
those which distinguish the investigator 
and discoverer. The maturity of an or- 
ganism is shown most clearly by its differ- 
entiation of function. This differentiation 
of function has no other purpose than the 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1022 


bringing about of greater efficiency through 
specially adapted organs. So too in the 
future International Institute of Chemis- 
try, a special technique of collecting and 
abstracting will be evolved which will 
bring about far greater speed, complete- 
ness and reliability than appears possible 
with our hitherto somewhat haphazard 
methods. 

We appreciate too, that this wearing and 
severe work of abstracting is almost always 
done by young men, who work only a few 
years, not with any idea of making it a 
profession—merely for the sake of eking 
out their incomes. As soon as the young 
man obtains a better position he renounces 
this work. Therefore proficiency in this 
work must continually be attained anew, 
so that no high degree of excellence is ever 
reached. But so soon as this kind of work 
is undertaken by specially fitted people as 
a life work, it will not only be incompar- 
ably better done, but there will be an ever 
higher standard of excellence in the indi- 
vidual production. Present-day abstracts, 
for example, leave a great deal to be de- 
sired, as every one knows who has been ob- 
liged to use them, because a scientific 
treatment of the question of what belongs 
in an abstract and what can be left out has 
actually never yet appeared. The individ- 
ual abstractor is thrown on his own sense 
of fitness and such instructions as are 
vouchsafed him by the director when his 
errors are too flagrant. In the case of life- 
long occupation with such problems, the 
technique of abstracting will be developed 
to a real science, and the workers whose 
scientific ambition is concentrated on this 
problem will be able to write abstracts 
which could actually supplant the original, 
because one could find in them with cer- 
tainty the essential points of the original 
article. Such a technique is the more neces- 
sary because it has long been impossible 


JULY 31, 1914] 


for the individual to keep pace with the 
progress of his science. He is dependent 
on abstracts, and moreover on their ap- 
pearing with great promptuess, if he would 
not lose his survey of the entire work of 
his field. So the work of abstracting to be 
organized in the International Institute of 
Chemistry will not only make the older 
literature specially accessible, but will 
satisfy this daily more pressing need in 
giving the investigator an exhaustive sur- 
vey of his special problems, a survey which 
can reach according to requirements from 
the earliest times to the present. Any one 
who for scientific or economic reasons 
wishes to follow the progress of any special 
problem can be assured if he makes use of 
the Institute, that nothing of importance 
will escape his notice; but at present it is 
physically and financially impossible for 
an individual to have instant recourse to 
the existing literature of a subject. 


NEW MEANS OF PUBLICATIONS 


Since the present means of publication, 
the periodicals, yearly reviews, the 
monthly or quarterly compilation, the 
Zentralblatt, have-shown themselves in- 
ereasingly insufficient to the increasingly 
complex and urgent demands of science 
and technology, the developing science 
must create new organs of interpretation 
to make itself effective and can not delay 
till these organs are provided for it from 
without. As always with such innovations 
the need is seen much sooner than the 
means of satisfying it. There is no other 
way except for those men who have seen 
the need and discovered the means of its 
satisfaction, to produce those means even at 
considerable personal sacrifice. When the 
organ has begun its regular activity and 
shown its usefulness and indispensability, 
it will no longer be so difficult to obtain 
the necessary money for its support. 


SCIENCE 


151 


THE INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF 
CHEMISTRY 


The first thing then for us to do is to 
bring the International Institute of Chem- 
istry so far into being that it can perform 
its real functions, and show clearly its ad- 
vantages. Let that go on uninterruptedly 
for five to ten years, and it can safely be 
assumed that such an institution will show 
its public and general usefulness so plainly 
that public and general funds will be pro- 
vided for its permanent maintenance. 

On the other hand if it were premature 
or impracticable, time would show that too. 

The benefits of such an institution would 
extend far beyond the circle of its own sci- 
ence, large as that circle is, thanks to the 
extraordinary development of chemistry in 
the last century. 

But something similar to the systemati- 
zation which is necessary in this special 
field is demanded by all other sciences and 
many other of the common interests of hu- 
manity. Because of the enormous facilita- 
tion of personal intercourse by trains and 
steamers and of intellectual intercourse by 
books, newspapers, letters, the telephone, the 
telegraph, the wireless telegraph, ete., man- 
kind is concentrated into a much smaller 
space than formerly. The isolated groups, 
the nations, which were formerly separated 
by great distances, and possessed few inter- 
ests in common, are suddenly forced into 
ereat interdependence, and the problem of 
organization, that is, the continual and 
regular connection of these groups of hu- 
manity is the most pressing problem of the 
time. Just as the science of chemistry will 
create in the International Institute its own 
organ for performance of tasks for the gen- 
eral good, so will similar organs be de- 
veloped in the most various enterprises, 
and we chemists who originated the Jahr- 
esbericht as the first of its kind, will have 
the honor of doing pioneer service in this 


152 


field also—the organization of a whole 
science. It is true that many kinds of in- 
ternational scientific organizations will 
have preceded the International Institute 
of Chemistry. I need only mention the In- 
ternational Bureau of Weights and Meas- 
ures in Sevres. But the work of inde- 
pendently organizing a whole science so 
that its mechanical functions will be com- 
pletely taken away from the general public, 
may be called entirely new, and to those 
who perceive the necessity and practicabil- 
ity of such an organization and do their 
part toward its realization, will remain 
the incontestable honor of having done 
Pioneer service in one of the most impor- 
tant departments of civilization of all hu- 
manity. 


LOCATION OF THE INSTITUTE 


We turn now to the question of the prac- 
tical organization of such an institute. 

It must be emphasized in the beginning 
that we are considering not a traveling, 
but a large permanent institute with nu- 
merous buildings, collections, laboratories, 
ete. The first question to be decided is that 
of the location. At first glance it seems a 
matter of indifference where it be placed, 
provided only certain general conditions 
be fulfilled. The institute must not be too 
far removed from some center of inter- 
course, that the necessary communication 
with the general public may be carried on 
without loss of time. We should agree that 
the institute must be located in Europe, be- 
cause the greatest spacial density of chem- 
ical activity is in Europe, and the inter- 
course between the individual chemists and 
the institute could be carried on with the 
least possible loss of time. To be sure we 
recognize that a second center of gravity 
of chemic science and technology is to be 
found on the other side of the Atlantic 
Ocean in North America, and that the for- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1022 


mation of a sister institution in America 
is essential. Such a sister institution 
would be specially advantageous because 
the work in common would be divided be- 
tween the two institutes, and together they 
could cover the literature of the past in 
half the time. Meanwhile, for the reasons 
already given, it is Hurope’s duty and also 
her right to undertake the founding of the 
first institute, and to do the pioneer work in 
the execution of this plan. As regards the 
more exact situation of the institute, I 
have considered the neighborhood of Brus- 
sels, in the hope that Ernest Solvay would 
place his great talents as an organizer at 
the service of the institute. Since this hope 
can no longer be realized, the question of 
the location of the institute for the present 
is relegated to the backeround. The de- 
cision will depend largely upon where and 
how the funds for the institute are ob- 
tained. 


DUTIES AND ARRANGEMENT OF THE INSTITUTE 

On a suitable piece of ground of at least 
five hektares, in the vicinity of a great 
city, the buildings of The International 
Institute of Chemistry will be erected. 
Each department will be housed in a sepa- 
rate building, specially arranged and fitted 
out, but these buildings are to be so con- 
nected that the assistants can go from one 
to another without loss of time, and danger 
from exposure. So I planned to have the 
main building long and wide, built through 
the length of the grounds. From this, on 
either side, at suitable distances, will open 
the wings in which the departments of the 
institute are to be housed. The easy mode 
of communication between the wing build- 
ings furnished by this corridor will be of 
primary importance in the operation of the 
institute. 

I have considered the following depart- 
ments, each of which will be housed in a 
separate wing. 


JuLy 31, 1914] 


CHEMICAL WORLD LIBRARY 


A Inbrary of the Entire Interature of 
Chemistry 

I offer as a foundation for this library 
my private library of some 7,000 volumes 
and 12,000 pamphlets (dissertations). It 
contains the most important chemie and 
physic journals in complete or nearly com- 
plete series, as well as several thousand 
single volumes covering all fields of chemic 
science. 

The expansion of this library which must 
have as its aim the possession of every book 
on any chemic subject, will take place 
partly through purchase, mainly through 
donations. Such gifts will often be made 
us by public-spirited chemists who many 
times are glad to get rid of duplicates, and 
books for which they have no use. Further, 
we anticipate that all chemists will give 
copies of their newly published work to the 
library, that publishers of periodicals, sci- 
entific societies and all other institutions, 
for the propagation of chemic literature, 
will place copies of their publications at 
the service of the institute free of cost. In 
this way the library can be maintained at 
a very slight cost.. The presence of a new 
book in the library of the institute, instead 
of hindering its sale to private parties, will 
prove the best possible advertisement for 
publishers. 


INDEX OF CHEMIC SUBSTANCES 


This library will furnish the working ma- 
terial for two or three other departments. 

First of all a card index of all chemicals 
will be prepared, according to the well- 
known principles of card-indexing, ‘This 
will contain citations to all the literature 
on these substances. It will form auto- 
matically the foundation for a complete 
history of the study of chemical substances. 
This will do away with the necessity of 
those historic introductions with which 


SCIENCE 


153 


chemic literature, particularly the disserta- 
tions, are so senselessly burdened, because 
every one will know that he ean obtain a 
complete historic survey from the ecard 
catalogue of the institute. This depart- 
ment will furnish compilations of the en- 
tire literature on any chemie substance to 
any member of the institute, or any in- 
quirer, for the cost of copying or gratis. 
How greatly this will facilitate scientific 
work will be appreciated by any one who 
has tried to collect the whole literature on 
some chemic subject. There is always the 
chance that something will be found of 
vital importance, which has been hitherto 
overlooked because there has been no syste- 
matic organization of all chemic literature. 


INDEX OF TERMS 


As a supplement to the card catalogue of 
chemic substances, there will be prepared a 
similar catalogue of all chemic terms. The 
terms, as well as the substances will first 
undergo a process of crystallization and 
purification. The history of the develop- 
ment of chemic terms is no less important 
than the history of the substances them- 
selves. 

INDEX OF PERSONS 

The third and final collection will be an 
index of all chemists, dead as well as living. 
An exhaustive compilation will be made of 
the entire literature of each investigator 
who has taken or is taking part in the de- 
velopment of chemic science. 

This will form automatically a directory 
of all chemists of the world who have pub- 
lished. Eventually it will be enlarged to 
embrace not only the chemists who have 
come in contact with printer’s ink, but all 
who have in any way been connected with 
chemistry, pure or applied. The lists of 
members of all chemie societies, as they ap- 
pear each year, will serve as foundation for 
this directory. So in the future it will be 


154 


possible for any chemist to communicate 
with any other chemist in the whole world. 


THE ABSTRACTING DEPARTMENT 


Chemists long ago realized how extremely 
uneconomically the abstracting of contempo- 
rary scientific literature is done. Not only 
is all chemic literature abstracted in Ger- 
man in the Zentralblatt, in English ab- 
stracted twice, once by the English and 
once by the American society, in French 
by the French societies, and in other 
languages, such as Italian and Russian, by 
their societies; there are in addition a large 
number of periodicals for special branches 
of chemistry which prepare quarterly, semi- 
annual or annual bibliographies in their 
own fields. It can be said without exag- 
geration, that every article is abstracted on 
the average from five to ten times, and this 
so necessary work is done with from five to 
ten times too great an expenditure of 
energy. And withal the individual ab- 
stracts, for the reasons already given, are 
always more or less incomplete. If carried 
on by a central bureau, with assistants all 
over the world, if necessary, this work 
would be done for a small fraction of the 
present expense and far more quickly and 
accurately. 

I realize that it will be some time before 
the centralization takes place, for the pres- 
ent institutions will not vanish at a word. 
But even those who cherish a prejudice 
against such centralization can not deny 
that with the rapid increase of chemic 
literature the old organizations will sooner 
or later prove inadequate, and a central 
organization become a necessity. It is 
always better to recognize such necessities 
as early as possible, because the changes 
can more easily be introduced when the 
material is not yet too overwhelming than 
when up to our necks in the water of 
chemie literature. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1022 


CHEMIC REFERENCE AND TEXT-BOOKS 


From the reference department will come 
eventually the material for the great ency- 
clopedia of all chemistry. In this book 
everything done and being done in the 
fields of chemie science and technology will 
be systematically compiled. Such a work 
would necessarily be of so enormous a 
scope that its complete publication could 
not be considered for the present. But it 
will exist in the form of the systematically 
arranged references in the International 
Institute of Chemistry. 

There will, of course, be a second copy 
in America. It will be possible for any one 
who has a special interest in any question 
to have compiled for him the entire refer- 
ence material on this subject. The Insti- 
tute will make special arrangements for the 
copying of single portions of the complete 
work, at nominal prices which need scarcely 
cover the actual cost, so that any chemist 
can have access to the part of this huge 
work covering his own field. 

It need scarcely be mentioned that 
smaller reference and text-books can be 
compiled from the same material. The 
preparation of. the literary structure of all 
chemic texts would be placed on a much 
higher scientific and technical basis than at 
present. Now each individual author must 
write work all over again which has been 
written many times before, or lay himself 
open to the charge of plagiarism. 


INTERNATIONAL AUXILIARY LANGUAGE 


There would also be various departments 
for the more complete utilization of the 
work done by the main institution. I would 
mention specially the bureau of translation 
which, if necessary, could be later devel- 
oped into the bureau of an international 
auxiliary language. The great variety of 
chemie literature which appears in differ- 
ent languages is very imperfectly utilized 


Juny 31, 1914] 


for the advancement of the science. What- 
ever is published in Russian or Roumanian 
or some other little-known language is read 
only by a comparatively small circle and 
a translation into some more familiar lan- 
guage is necessary to add such articles, 
sometimes of very great value, to our stores 
of knowledge. In a paper which appeared 
in January in the Zeitschrift fuer physika- 
lische Chemie? I worked out an international 
chemic nomenclature, founded on the world 
language Ido. I showed that a chemic 
nomenclature in a plastic, artificial lan- 
guage is better, more consistent and more 
comprehensible than in any natural lan- 
guage. With the comparatively limited 
range of terms and conceptions used in a 
special science like chemistry, the forma- 
tion of an artificial language is a compara- 
tively easy task. The attempts at the con- 
struction of some such universal means of 
communication, which have been made with 
increasing zeal during the last forty years 
have undoubtedly shown its practicability. 
Such an artificial language is far better 
suited to our purposes than any natural 
language. These facts are not so well 
known as they deserve to be. ‘They are 
none the less true and will be confirmed by 
well-known members of our science. 

So it is possible for us to make the intel- 
lectual treasures of our science equally 
accessible to all the chemists of the world 
through a common language. We need 
only choose one of the artificial systems 
already at hand. Because Ido is the only 
one in which a systematic chemic nomen- 
clature has been worked out, we should turn 
our attention first to that scientifically per- 
fected idiom. 


THE COLLECTION OF CHEMICALS 
The departments already described cover 
the literary side of science. Provision must 
2Vol. 76, p. 1-20. 


SCIENCE 


155 


also be made for the experimental practical 
side in such an international institute. 
Here the first essential is a complete col- 
lection of all existing chemicals of absolute 
purity and reliability. Such a collection 
would be made not only for systematic and 
didactic reasons. The chemist who happened 
in his experimenting to prepare a substance 
possibly never prepared by him before, 
could secure samples from the institute for 
comparison. Further, such samples would 
be of service when a determination of any 
physical properties of the substances was 
to be made. Hvery one who has done such 
work knows that the most arduous part is 
the preparation of the materials for the 
experiment while the actual determination 
of the properties is comparatively easy and 
rapid. Instead of preparing the same sub- 
stance in one laboratory for the determina- 
tion of the refraction coefficients, in an- 
other laboratory for the magnetic rotation 
of the plane of polarized light, and in 
a third for its absorption of ultra-violet or 
ultra-red light and so on, the collections 
of the International Institute could be used 
everywhere for the determination of all 
possible properties. The objection has been 
raised to this plan that there are numer- 
ous substances which can not be kept in- 
definitely without deterioration, and could 
not therefore be used satisfactorily for such 
purposes. The answer to this objection is 
that naturally a laboratory would be con- 
nected with this department where new 
substances could be prepared and where 
fresh materials could be produced and the 
purity of substances which were to serve in 
standardizing operations could be tested. 

It must again be emphasized that the 
aim is far less to undertake pioneer inves- 
tigations than to rationally support enter- 
prises already mentioned, with the means 
at the disposal of the institute. This is to 
be done according to the fundamental prin- 


156 


ciple that any sort of work which has once 
been satisfactorily performed is to be re- 
garded as definitely finished for the whole 
science, and that such work be ever at the 
disposal of the entire science. 


ROOMS FOR TRANSITORY WORKERS 

Finally a special division of the institute 
must be mentioned, the necessity for which 
must often have occurred to any one who 
has attentively followed these considera- 
tions. It is the building in which simple 
rooms for the accommodation of transitory 
workers in the institute will be provided. 
The incomparable services which the insti- 
tute would soon be in a position to render 
would not only offer opportunities to the 
regular assistants for pursuing their inves- 
tigations, but would attract voluntary 
workers who wished to make use of the 
aids offered by the institute for their par- 
ticular problems. The most liberal oppor- 
tunities should be afforded them, for the 
institute is to stand at the service of the 
public. 

Such people should be able to reside for 
a longer or a shorter time in the institute. 
The provision for them can be the simplest 
possible. A sufficiently large sleeping 
room with the necessary toilet arrange- 
ments is quite enough, for the work will be 
carried on in the different departments of 
the institute and the rooms need not be 
equipped for that purpose. Provision for 
serving meals should also be made so that 
the assistants can remain at the institute 
through the entire working day and obtain 
warm food when desired. This is an ar- 
rangement more advantageous to brain 
workers like those of the institute than it 
is to manual workers. 


ORGANIZATION OF CHEMIC SCIENCE 


Only the most important divisions have 
been mentioned, the development of which 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1022 


must be considered by the International 
Institute. 

When these first, more important depart- 
ments have become active, the other sides 
of the problem for the thorough organiza- 
tion of the institute must be taken up. 
Opportunity is afforded here for individual 
donors to endow parts of the work to which 
they are specially devoted. 

This holds especially for the numerous 
and versatile fields of applied chemistry, 
which have not been mentioned in this 
paper. From this it is by no means to be 
inferred that they would be excluded from 
the institute. They have been omitted from 
the paper because the purely scientific field, 
being fundamental, must precede; and be- 
cause the author is much less conversant 
with them than with pure science. 

In the directing bodies of the Interna- 
tional Institute (to be explained later) are 
to be representatives of applied chemistry 
and from their suggestions proper atten- 
tion will be paid to these subjects. 

In chemistry the pure and applied sci- 
ences are so happily affiliated that exem- 
plary arrangements can be attained to 
more easily than in most other fields of 
applied science. 


DIRECTION OF THE INSTITUTE 


Again emphasizing the fact that the fol- 
lowing is merely a suggestive plan evolved 
after long meditation and discussion, and 
is not at all to be regarded as a fixed un- 
changeable arrangement, I conceive of the 
International Chemical Institute being 
directed in the following way: 

The higher direction of the institute will 
be entrusted to a triple presidency, one 
member of which will direct the scientific, 
another the economic and financial activ- 
ities while the third will be the president 
of the International Association of Chemie 
Societies. The separation of the scientific 


Suny 31, 1914] 


from the economic activity is a necessity. 
A distinguished president in one of these 
activities would scarcely prove an excel- 
lent one in the other; yet it is evident that 
both phases of the work must be executed 
with equal excellence. The need of the 
third member of the presiding body scarcely 
demands an explanation. — 

It is naturally necessary that there should 
be a close and carefully defined connection 
between the International Chemical Insti- 
tute and the International Association of 
Chemical Societies. The International 
Chemical Institute is, so to speak, the 
executive for the widest needs of chemis- 
try in general, as represented by the Inter- 
national Association of Chemic Societies. 
Through this constant connection of the 
Institute with the Association, joined to the 
annual change in the representative of the 
Association, a vivifying factor will be intro- 
duced in the Institute, so easily neglected 
when the management remains always the 
same. 

To the president of scientific activities 
the directors of the different scientific de- 
partments will be subordinate. These di- 
rectors will have independent control of 
their own sections. These latter should all 
be lifelong positions for which the most 
capable and experienced occupants must be 
found. Each departmental director will 
be served by a larger or smaller group of 
assistants according to the type of work of 
the department. Hach of these depart- 
ments must be operated efficiently and ac- 
cording to the most recent progress in 
technique—which goes without saying in an 
institute founded on truly scientific prin- 
ciples. 

Further two more bodies could well be 
formed, standing in a freer relation to the 
institute. First, a scientific council which 
together with the president of the Inter- 
national Association of Chemie Societies 


SCIENCE 


157 


will provide the Institute with requisite 
new suggestions, demands and methods. 
This will be an independent body formed 
of leaders in scientific and technical chem- 
istry throughout the world. It will meet, 
say, annually for free discussion concern- 
ing the management and development of 
the Institute. Perhaps its function can be 
partly performed by the Council of the 
International Association of Chemie Soci- 
eties, 

A second similarly constituted body will 
be formed of those who have aided in found- 
ing and supporting the institute, through 
gifts of importance whether of money, 
materials, books, chemicals, ete. This body 
would support the president of finances as 
the other would the president of science 
and would act particularly when funds 
were to be secured, or the activity of the 
Institute expanded and new departments 
formed. 


MEMBERSHIP OF THE INSTITUTE 


Concerning the relation of the Institute 
to chemists the world over, I conceive of 
the following connection: 

The extraordinary simplification and 
help which every one can obtain from the 
Institute for work in our field justifies a 
certain pecuniary support from those so 
aided. On the other hand it must be borne 
in mind that the majority of our colleagues 
are not in brilliant pecuniary positions so 
that this fee must be made relatively small. 
Yearly dues of one to two dollars could be 
borne by all whose work would be furthered 
by use of the institute and would be large 
enough to aid materially. 

The membership of the chemie societies 
of the world is about 20,000; assuming that 
half of these became members of the Insti- 
tute an annual fee of one dollar would 
yield a yearly income of ten thousand 
dollars; a two dollar fee yield twice as 


158 


much. That is a sum almost sufficient for 
the salaries of the staff, at first. 

Unattainable in the first or second year, 
this membership should be reached in the 
fifth year of the Institute’s existence; and 
after the first decennium the benefits of 
the Institute will have been so incontest- 
ably proven, that no chemist, whatever his 
activity, will find it practicable to carry out 
his work without using it. ‘Then the an- 
nual membership fees would amount to 
much more than we have assumed. 


CONDITIONS FOR THE FOUNDATION 

The foundation of so great an institution 
is not possible on the uncertain basis. of 
membership fees. A realization of the en- 
tire plan can only be expected when a 
definite sum of money has been assured for 
the first outlay, and a yearly income guar- 
anteed for a number of years. 

After repeated calculation of the require- 
ments and conditions and with the feasible 
assumption that nothing need be allowed 
for the purchase of the land, I assume that 
with an endowment of $150,000 and an 
annuity of $12,000 for five or ten years, the 
Institute could be called into beg without 
subjecting ourselves to the stigma of finan- 
cial rashness. 

Neither sum can be obtained except 
through the willing participation of those 
persons and institutions who would derive 
personal or public benefit from the Interna- 
tional Chemical Institute or who wished to 
serve as public benefactors. 

Personal solicitations will be instituted 
to obtain this endowment for the establish- 
ment of the International Chemical Insti- 
tute. 

The liberality of one or another country 
will eventually decide where in Hurope the 
main institute is to be located. 

WILHELM OsTWALD 


SCIENCE 


[N. S: Vou. XL. No. 1022 


THE MAN OF PILTDOWN 


THE story of the Piltdown discovery is al- 
ready more or less familiar to readers of this 
journal.t But the recent gathering and pub- 
lishing of additional data? on the subject should 
not be allowed to pass unnoticed. This is 
especially true not only because of the far- 
reaching significance of the discovery, but 
also because British scientists have been 
known to be at odds concerning the reconstruc- 
tion of the skull in question. 

It will be recalled that Dr. Smith Woodward 
regarded the Piltdown specimen as the type 
of a new genus of the family Hominide, to 
which he gave the name Hoanthropus dawsoni, 
and which was defined primarily by the char- 
acters of the mandible. Of the mandible only 
the right ramus with first and second molar 
teeth im sitw was at first discovered. The con- 
dyle and symphysis were both lacking, but the 
fragment was of sufficient size to enable Dr. 
Smith Woodward to reconstruct the symphysis 
with a fair degree of accuracy. It was the 
reconstruction of the cranium about which 
differences of opinion arose between Dr. Smith 
Woodward and Professor Elliot Smith, on the 
one hand, and Professor Arthur Keith, on the 
other. 

Of the brain case nine fragments, parts of 
the frontal, parietal, occipital and temporal, 
were found. From these Dr. Smith Woodward 
reconstructed a skull with a capacity of about 
1,076 e.c. On the other hand, a reconstruction 
by Professor Keith gave to the skull a brain 
capacity of 1,500 c.c., in other words, that of 
a well-developed modern European skull. 
After further study Dr. Smith Woodward 
acknowledges a small error. He finds that the 
“longitudinal ridge along the outer face at 
the hinder end of the parietal region is not 
median, but one of a pair such as frequently 
occurs in the lower types of human crania.” 
In the published reconstruction there should 
thus be a slight readjustment of the occipital 


1 SCIENCE, January 17, 1913. 

2 Chas. Dawson and A. Smith Woodward, ‘‘Sup- 
plementary Note on the Discovery of a Paleolithic 
Human Skull and Mandible at Piltdown (Sus- 
sex),’’ Quar. Jour. Geol. Soc., UXX., April, 1914. 


JuLy 31, 1914] 


and right parietal bones, “but the result does 
not alter essentially any of the conclusions 
already reached.” 

With this opinion Professor Elliot Smith 
is in complete accord. From an examination 
of the original fragments, he was able to 
determine the location of the median line of 
the skull. The persistence of slight traces of 
the sagittal suture in the regions of the bregma 
and lambda made this possible. The true 
median plane in this particular case, however, 
passes a little to the left of the union of the 
coronal with the sagittal suture owing to a 
slight deflection of the latter. Since this de- 
flection is never more than a few millimeters 
(except where large bregmatie wormian bones 
are present and they are not present in this 
ease), the bregma and lambda are good guides 
in locating the median plane. In line with the 
median plane as thus determined, the endo- 
cranial aspect of the frontal bone presents a 
well-defined longitudinal ridge, corresponding 
to the “place where the two halves of the 
frontal bone originally came together at the 
metopic suture.” The cranial capacity then of 
the Piltdown skull is evidently not very much 
greater than the original estimate of 1,076 c.c. 

In addition to exhaustive laboratory studies 
on the parts above mentioned, a painstaking 
and systematic search was made at the Pilt- 
down site. The mandibular ramus had been 
found in situ, All the gravel in situ within a 
radius of five meters of this spot was “either 
washed with a sieve or strewn on specially 
prepared ground for the rain to wash it; after 
which the layer thus spread was mapped out 
in squares, and minutely examined section by 
section.” In this spread Father Teilhard de 
Chardin, assisting at the work for three days, 
found the right canine tooth in August, 1913. 
The two human nasal bones and the turbinated 
bone were not recovered from this spread, but 
from disturbed gravel within less than a meter 
of the spot where the mandible had been dis- 
covered. 

The nasal bones are said to “resemble those 
of existing Melanesian and African races, 
rather than those of the Hurasian type.” In 
thickness they correspond to the bones of the 


SCIENCE 


159 


skull previously found. The canine tooth not 
only corresponds in size to the mandible, but 
belongs to the same half (right) as that re- 
covered. It likewise agrees with the two 
molar teeth in the degree of wear due to mas- 
tication. The extreme apex is missing, but 
whether by wear or by accidental fracture is 
not determinable. The enamel on the inner 
face of the crown has been completely removed 
by wear against a single opposing tooth. The 
worn surface “ extends to the basal edge of the 
crown, as indicated by the clear ending of the 
cement along its lower margin.” 

This canine tooth is larger than any human 
canine hitherto found, and interlocked with 
the opposing upper canine. It rose above the 
level of the other teeth and was separated from 
the lower premolar by a diastema. On the 
other hand, there is no facet due to wear 
against the outer upper incisor, such as often 
occurs in the apes. 

If a comparative anatomist were fitting out 
Hoanthropus with a set of canines he could 
not ask for anything more suitable than the 
tooth in question. Jt conforms to a law in 
mammalian paleontology, “that the perma- 
nent teeth of an ancestral race agree more 
closely in pattern with the milk-teeth than 
with the permanent teeth of its modified de- 
scendants.” The canine of Hoanthropus, as 
might have been expected, resembles the milk 
canines of Homo sapiens, on the one hand, and 
Simia salyrus, on the other, than it does the 
permanent canines of either. It is pointed 
out that even in recent man if the base of the 
crown of the canine were raised in the gum 
to the same level as that of the adjacent teeth, 
its apex would frequently rise well above the 
rest of the dental series. 

The various elements that make up the 
gravel bed at Piltdown are better known to-day 
than when the first report was published; 
additional fossil animal remains have also been 
recovered. Four well-defined layers have been 
determined. At the top is a deposit of surface 
soil 35 em. thick, containing pottery and flint 
implements of various ages. The second bed 
consists of undisturbed gravel varying from 
a few centimeters to a meter in thickness. 


160 


The prevailing color is “ pale yellow with occa- 
sional darker patches.” A rude paleolith of the 
Chellean type was found in the middle of 
this layer, which likewise contained rolled iron- 
stained subangular flints. The third layer, 
some 50 em. thick, is easily distinguished be- 
cause of its dark ferruginous appearance. It 
contains rolled and subangular flints similar 
to those found in the layer above. All the 
fossils (with the exception of the remains of 
the deer) were either discovered in or have 
been traced to this third layer. So-called 
eoliths and at least one worked flint were like- 
wise found here. The Hoanthropus remains 
came from it and near the uneven floor form- 
ing the upper limit of the fourth stratum. 
The latter has a thickness of about 25 em., is 
non-fossiliferous, and “contains flints of a 
much larger size than any of those in the 
overlying strata.” Nothing that. could be 
ealled an implement or eolith has been re- 
ported from the fourth bed. Below are un- 
disturbed strata of the Tunbridge Wells Sand 
(Cretaceous). 

Our knowledge of the Piltdown fossil fauna 
has been supplemented by the finding of re- 
mains of one new form, a fragment of a 
tooth of Rhinoceros, in the same state of 
mineralization as the teeth of Stegodon and 
Mastodon previously described ; while the speci- 
men can not be determined with absolute cer- 
tainty, it belongs either to Rhinoceros merckt 
or R. etruscus, with the evidence rather favor- 
ing the latter. Additional remains of Stegodon 
(fragment of a molar) and Castor (fragment 
of mandible) were likewise recovered. Judged 
from its fossil content, the third stratum at 
Piltdown would be classed as Pliocene were 
it not for the presence of Hoanthropus and the 
beaver. In view of the fact that the remains 
of these, although softer, are not so rolled and 
worn as the other fossil remains, the third 
bed, although composed in the main of Plio- 
cene drift, was probably reconstructed in early 
Pleistocene times. 

Those who might once have objected to the 
use of the name Hoanthropus for the Piltdown 
skull can no longer deny its appropriateness 
when applied to the lower jaw, especially 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No, 1028 


since the finding of the canine tooth. While 
the probabilities are all in favor of the three 
parts belonging to one and the same indi- 
vidual, the case for Hoanthropus does not have 
to depend on producing positive proof to that 
effect. The only flint implement of Chellean 
type came from the layer above (No. 2), and. 
is of later date than the human remains. Did 
Hoanthropus make use of the eoliths found 
in tell-tale association with him? The future 
holds this secret, and if hard enough pressed, 
may some day reveal it. 
Grorce Grant MacCurpy 
YALE UNIVERSITY, 
NEw Haven, Conn. 


THE PRODUCTION OF COAL IN 1918 


THE production of coal in the United States 
has again broken all previous records, the out- 
put for 1913 being 570,048,125 short tons, 
which is considerably more than double the 
production of 1900 and more than eight times 
the production of 1880, according to a state- 
ment just issued by the United States Geo- 
logical Survey, from figures compiled by 
Edward W. Parker, coal statistician. The 
value of the coal mined in 1913 is given as 
$760,488,785. 

Compared with the previous year the out- 
put for 1918 shows an increase of 35,581,545 
tons, or nearly 7 per cent. The increased activ- 
ity indicated by these figures was well dis- 
tributed throughout the 29 coal-producing 
states, 23 of which showed increases and only 
6 decreased production, the decrease in one of 
these—Colorado—being due solely to labor 
trouble. Of those showing increase, 12 made 
record yields, and Pennsylvania, the leading 
coal state, broke records in both bituminous 
and anthracite production. The states which 
broke all former records in coal production 
were Alabama, Illinois, Kentucky, Montana, 
New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, 
Texas, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia. 
The largest increase in the production of 
bituminous coal was in Pennsylvania, where 
11,915,729 tons was added to the output of 
1912. West Virginia showed the second 
largest gain, 4,522,295 tons, and Kentucky the 


JuLY 31, 1914] 


third largest gain, 3,126,079 tons, which was 
also the largest percentage of increase, amount- 
ing to 19 per cent., of all the important coal- 
producing states. Indiana was fourth, [llinois 
fifth, Ohio sixth, and Alabama seventh. While 
the total increase was very large as figured in 
tons, the percentage is what may be considered 
normal and indicative of healthy industrial 
activity throughout the country. 

Coal mining, like all other industries in the 
Ohio Valley states, was seriously interfered 
with by the great floods during the spring of 
1913, and Mr. Parker estimates that from 5 to 
10 million tons of coal would have been added 
to the year’s output but for this disaster. With 
no violent fluctuations in the demand by the 
blast furnaces, steel works, and other manu- 
facturing industries, the demand for coal for 
those purposes shows only a normal increase. 
The continued decrease in the use of fuel oil 
in the Mid-Continent oil field and the strike 
in the Colorado coal mines resulted in an in- 
creased output of coal in the central and 
southwestern states. With a few exceptions, 
notably in Illinois, Indiana and Oklahoma, 
values ranged higher than in former normal 
years, so that from the producers’ standpoint 
the conditions in 1913 were fairly satisfactory. 

The development of our coal-mining indus- 
try with reference to population presents some 
interesting comparisons. In 1850 the coal 
output was 7,018,181 tons, or 0.3 ton for each 
of the 23,191,876 inhabitants; in 1880 the 
population had imereased to about 50,000,000 
and the production of coal to about 71,000,000 
tons; an average of 1.42 tons per capita. At 
the close of the nineteenth century the popu- 
lation was 76,303,387, an increase of a little 
over 50 per cent. as compared with 1880, while 
the production of coal had increased nearly 
400 per cent. in the same period and averaged 
3.53 tons for each person. In 1913 the per 
capita production was figured at 5.85 tons. 
In addition to this increase in the consumption 
of coal, the use in recent years of petroleum 
and natural gas should also be considered. 

The coal mines of the country gave employ- 
ment in 1913 to an army of nearly three 
quarters of a million men—747,644. The 


SCIENCE 


161 


average number of days worked by the bitu- 
minous miners in 1913 was 232, against 223 in 
1912, while the average time made in the 
anthracite mines in 1913 was the best on 
record—257 days for each man. The average 
production per miner in the bituminous mines 
increased from 820 tons in 1912 to 838 tons 
in 1913, both being record-breaking averages, 
while anthracite miners increased their ayer- 
age from 485 tons in 1912 to 532 tons in 1913. 


THE ROCKEFELLER INSTITUTE FOR 
MEDICAL RESEARCH 


THE board of scientific directors of the 
Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research 
announces the following appointments and 
promotions: 


Dr. Hideyo Noguchi, hitherto an associate mem- 
ber in the department of pathology and bacteriol- 
ogy, has been made a member of the institute. 

Dr. Alfred E. Cohn, hitherto an associate in 
medicine, has been made an associate member for 
the term of three years. 

Dr. Wade H. Brown, hitherto an associate in the 
department of pathology and bacteriology, has 
been made an associate member for the term of 
three years. 


The following assistants have been made 
associates: 


Harold Lindsay Amoss, M.D. (pathology and 
bacteriology). 

Arthur William Mickle Ellis, M.D (medicine). 

Thomas Stotesbury Githens, M.D. (physiology 
and pharmacology). 

Israel Simon Kleiner, M.D. 
pharmacology). 

Alphonse Raymond Dochez, M.D. (medicine). 
Dr. Dochez has also been appointed resident physi- 
cian in the hospital to succeed Dr. Swift. 


(physiology and 


The following fellows have been made 
assistants : 


Frederick Lamont Gates, M.D. (physiology and 
pharmacology). 

Louise Pearce, M.D. (pathology and bacteriol- 
ogy). 

The following new appointments are an- 
nounced : 


Chester Harmon Allen, M.S., fellow in chemis- 
try. 


162 


Alan M. Chesney, M.D., assistant resident physi- 
cian and assistant in medicine. 

Harold Kniest Faber, M.D., fellow in pathology. 

Ross Alexander Jamieson, M.D., assistant resi- 
dent physician and assistant in medicine. 

Benjamin Schénbrun Kline, M.D., fellow in 
physiology and pharmacology. 

John Jamieson Morton, Jr., M.D., fellow in 
pathology. 

James Kuhn Senior, M.A., fellow in chemistry. 

Joseph Richard Turner, M.D., fellow in pathol- 
ogy. 

Dr. Paul Franklin Clark, formerly asso- 
ciate in pathology and bacteriology has been 
appointed assistant professor of bacteriology 
in the University of Wisconsin. Dr. Homer 
F. Swift, formerly resident physician in the 
hospital and associate in medicine, has been 
appointed associate professor of Medicine at 
the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Co- 
lumbia University, and associate attending 
physician, Presbyterian Hospital. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


THE Society of Chemical Industry has 
awarded its medal to Sir Henry Roscoe, its 
first president, for his services to science. 


Mr. Doucias FRESHFIELD has been elected 
president of the Royal Geographical Society 
in succession to Lord Curzon. 


Tue technical school at Dantzig has con- 
ferred the honorary degree of doctor of engi- 
neering on Dr. Walther Nernst, professor of 
physical chemistry at the University of 
Berlin. 


In addition to the honorary degrees already 
noted in SCIENCE as conferred at the tercen- 
tenary celebration of Groningen University, 
there were conferred degrees in the sciences 
on two other Americans; on Professor Edward 
B. Van Vleck, professor of mathematics at the 
University of Wisconsin, and on Mr. Edward 
Phelps Allis, the zoologist, who resides at 
Mentone, France. 


Dr. Henry Winston Harper, professor of 
chemistry in the University of Texas, received 
the degree of doctor of laws, from Baylor 
University, at its recent commencement. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1022 


On the recommendation of the committee 
on awards of the scientific exhibit, of which 
Professor Richard M. Pearce of the Univer- 
sity of Pennsylvania was chairman, at the 
recent Atlantic City meeting of the American 
Medical Association, the first prize, the gold 
medal for the best scientific exhibit, was 
awarded to Miss Maude Slye of the Otho S. A. 
Sprague Memorial Institute of Chicago, for 
her exhibit of charts, diagrams, specimens and 
tables on the transmission of hereditary cancer 
and other diseases in mice. 


Dr. Cammio Goel, professor of pathology 
at Pavia, known especially for his investiga- 
tions on the minute structure of the brain, 
celebrated his seventieth birthday on July 7. 


Dr. Myzrs StanpisH, Williams professor of 
ophthalmology in the Harvard Medical School, 
has been appointed professor emeritus. 


A COMPLETE list of American scientific men 
who have accepted invitations to attend the 
Australasian meeting of the British Associa- 
tion as the guests of the New Zealand govern- 
ment, is as follows: 


Dr. L. H. Bailey, Ithaca, N. Y.; Mr. Lyman J. 
Briggs, Department of Agriculture, Washington, 
D. C.; Professor A. P. Coleman, Toronto Univer- 
sity, Toronto; Dr. Edwin G. Conklin, Princeton 
University, Princeton, N. J.; Dr. Charles B. 
Dayenport, Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island, 
N. Y.; Professor William M. Davis, Harvard Uni- 
versity, Cambridge, Mass.; Dr. George A. Dorsey, 
Curator of Anthropology, Field Museum, Chicago; 
President G. C. Creelman, Ontario Agricultural 
College, Guelph, Ontario; Professor R. T. Ely, 
Madison, Wisconsin; Professor E. C. Franklin, Le- 
land Stanford University, Palo Alto, Cal.; Pro- 
fessor P. H. Hanus, Harvard University, Cam- 
bridge, Mass.; President E. F. Nichols, Dartmouth 
College, Hanover, N. H.; Dr. Ira Remsen, Presi- 
dent, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore; Pro- 
fessor William M. Wheeler, Bussey Institution, 
Forest Hills, Boston. 


Prorussor F, P. Leavenwortu, of the Uni- 
versity of Minnesota, is spending the summer 
at the Yerkes Observatory in working with 
the micrometer and the forty-inch telescope. 

Proressor ©. H. EHicenmMann has been ap- 
pointed research professor of zoology in Indi- 


JuLy 31, 1914] 


ana University for the year 1915 and is ac- 
cordingly relieved from all teaching. He plans 
to devote all but three or four months in com- 
pleting his studies of the distribution of the 
fishes of western Ecuador and western Co- 
lombia and its bearing of this on the east and 
west slope fauna of Panama. He intends to 
spend the winter months in correlating the 
freshwater fauna of the lesser Antilles to that 
of South America. 


We learn from the Geographical Journal 
that the Amnauer Hansen, a small boat of 
about 50 tons, only some 75 feet long, started 
from Plymouth at the beginning of June for 
a two months’ scientifie cruise in the Atlantic. 
The scientific work will be under the direction 
of Professor Helland-Hansen, director of the 
Marine Biological Station at Bergen, and 
Professor Fridtjof Nansen and his son ac- 
company the party. The expenses of the 
eruise have been partly defrayed by the Nan- 
sen fund, and the program includes observa- 
tions of ocean temperatures, currents, salini- 
ties, light penetration and so forth. The ves- 
sel is constructed on the same principle as a 
Norwegian lifeboat, and is worked partly by 
motor and partly by sail. 


Dr. W. S. Bruce, of Edinburgh, has left the 
Tyne on an expedition in the waters of Spitz- 
bergen. It is his intention to proceed to 
Tromsé, where the expedition will be finally 
fitted out. A number of motor-boats will be 
used by the party. The expedition, which will 
last several months, will be occupied with a 
series of extensive soundings in the neighbor- 
hood of Spitzbergen and with the effort to 
chart a number of islands not at present on 
the maps of mariners. 

Proressor EuuswortH Huntineton, of Yale 
University, lectured before the students in 
geography and geology in the Columbia Uni- 
versity Summer Session on July 20, on “ Cli- 
matic Changes and their Geographic Effects.” 

Tuer scientific society Antonio Alzate, 
Mexico City, celebrated on July 6 the tercen- 
tenary of the discovery of logarithms by John 
Napier, when a commemorative address was 
made by Senior Don Joaquin de Mendizabel y 
Tamborrel. 


SCIENCE 


163 


Mrs. Poyntine has presented the scientific 
library of the late Professor J. H. Poynting 
to the physics department of the University of 
Birmingham. 

Dante, A. Carrion, a medical student in 
Lima, Peru, inoculated himself in 1885 with 
blood from a verruga tumor in an effort to 
throw light on the nature of the disease, and 
he died from it in less than two months. The 
sixth Pan-American Congress held at Lima 
last year started a fund for a monument to 
this young martyr to science, and subscrip- 
tions are now being received. The fund is in 
charge of the dean of the medical faculty, 
Professor’ E. Odriozola, Lima, Peru. 


Dr. Nicnonas Lequarré, formerly professor 
of the history of geography at Liittich, has 
died at the age of eighty-one years. 


Dr. Nico~as JEAN-BaptTiste DUGNET, vice- 
president of the Paris Academy of Medicine, 
died on July 4, at the age of seventy-seven 
years. 


Miss L. E. Lawrence and Miss M. W. 
Lawrence have presented £4,000 to the Royal 
Society to devote the interest to the further- 
ance of research into the cause and cure of 
disease in man and animals. The donors de- 
sire to associate the gift with the memory of 
their father, Sir W. Lawrence, F.R.S., and 
their brother, Sir Trevor Lawrence. 


Tur Ernst Haeckel foundation for monism 
has transferred to the University of Jena 
$75,000, for the Phyletische Archiv, a publica- 
tion of the Phyletische Museum established 
by Professor Haeckel. 


Tun Smithsonian Institution gave in the 
auditorium of the U. S. National Museum on 
July 16 an exhibition of motion pictures 
taken below the sea at the Bahama Islands, 
by the Submarine Film Corporation. 


Av the second Congress for Radioactivity 
and Hlectronies held in Brussels in the year 
1910, the following committee was appointed 
to make arrangements for the third congress: 
M. Curie, Paris, EK. Rutherford, Manchester, 
I. E. Verschaffelt, Uccle (Belgium), E. v. 
Aubel, Gent, A. Righi, Bologna, W. Wien, 
Wiirzburg, F. Exner, Vienna, B. B. Boltwood, 


164 


New Haven, P. de Heen, Sclessin (Belgium), 
and the following medical gentlemen: J. Dan- 
iel, Brussels, W. Deane Butcher, London, L. 
Bergonie, Bordeaux, ©. Lester, Philadelphia, 
E. Ludwig, Vienna, W. His, Berlin, A. Bayet, 
Brussels, L. Hauchamps, Brussels. It has 
been decided to hold the third congress in 
Vienna from June 27 until July 2, 1915, to 
be composed of two sections: I. Physical and 
Chemical Section; II. Biological and Medical 
Section. The following officers have been 
elected: President, Professor Sir Ernest 
Rutherford, Manchester; General Secretary, 
Professor Stefan Meyer, Vienna; Sectional 
Secretaries, I. The general secretary and D. 
V. Hess, Vienna; II. E. v. Knafil-Lenz, 
Vienna. The Scientific Committee are: Sec- 
tion I., M. Curie, Paris; F. Exner, Vienna; 
E. Rutherford, Manchester; W. Wien, Wtirz- 
burg. Section IJ., P. Degrais, Paris; W. His, 
Berlin; H. H. Meyer, Vienna; G. Riebl, 
Vienna; E. Williams, Boston. 


We learn from Nature that the common- 
wealth of Australia, in connection with the 
approaching visit of the British Association, 
has issued a “ Federal Handbook,” describing 
the continent in its scientific and historical 
aspects. This book contains in a compressed, 
but readable, form more information than is 
elsewhere accessible. Among the more im- 
portant articles may be noted that on history 
by Professor Ernest Scott; on physical and 
general geography by Mr. Griffith Taylor, and 
a very useful account of the culture and be- 
liefs of the aborigines by Professor Baldwin 
Spencer. The book is at present issued only 
in a limited edition, but it may be re-issued to 
meet the wants of a wider public. 


At the forty-fourth Fruit Growers’ conven- 
tion held at Davis, California, June 1-6, the 
plant pathologists of California and neighbor- 
ing states met and formed a local society to be 
known as the Western American Phytopatho- 
logical Society. The purpose of the society is 
to hold meetings annually or semi-annually 
for the discussion of plant disease problems, to 
bring together workers for mutual assistance 
and stimulation. The territory which the so- 


SCIENCE 


(N.S. Vou. XL. No. 1022 


ciety proposes to cover is in a general way that 
from the Rocky Mountains westward to the 
Pacifie coast of the United States, Canada and 
Mexico. The society is to consist of mem- 
bers of the American Phytopathological So- 
ciety located in the general region and associ- 
ate members chosen by the membership com- 
mittee. In addition to the practical plant dis- 
ease discussions presented to the fruit growers 
at Davis, several more technical papers were 
presented. R. HK. Smith, Berkeley, California, 
was elected president; H. S. Jackson, Corvallis, 
Oregon, vice-president, and Wm. T. Horne, 
Berkeley, California, secretary-treasurer. Pre- 
liminary arrangements were made for a meet- 
ing at Corvallis, Oregon, during next winter. 


Tue Paris correspondent of the Journal of 
the American Medical Association writes that 
there were 745,539 living infants born in 
France last year as contrasted with 750,651 in 
1912. No lower total has ever been registered, 
with the exception of the year 1911. In recall- 
ing the steady fall in the French birthrate, it 
will be enough to mention that the annual aver- 
age of living births was 945,000 during the period 
from 1872 to 1875; that, since 1907, the num- 
ber of births dropped below 800,000, and since 
1911, below 750,000. This means that in less 
than forty years the French births have dimin- 
ished by more than 200,000 a year. The pro- 
portion of living children to every ten thou- 
sand inhabitants was 188 in 1913, instead of 
190 in 1912, 187 in 1911, 196 in 1910, and 205 
in 1906. The decrease, therefore, is accentu- 
ated each year. It is true that the birthrate is 
falling in all the large countries of Europe, 
but the proportion is much less than in 
France; and, moreover, the excess of births 
over deaths is proportionately five or six times 
greater. Thus, for the year 1912, the excess of 
births over deaths for each ten thousand in- 
habitants was only 15 in France; in the same 
year it was 158 in Holland; 140 in Italy; 180 
in Hungary; 127 in Germany; 107 in Austria, 
and 105 in England. Last year showed an ex- 
cess of 41,901 births over deaths, or only.10 for 
each ten thousand. The excess in 1912 was 
57,911, or 15 per ten thousand. This diminu- 


JuLY 31, 1914] 


tion is due to a deficit of 5,112 births and an 
increase of 10,989 deaths. The departments in 
which the birthrate exceeds the deathrate are 
those of the north, Pas-de-Calais, Brittany, 
the frontier regions of the northeast, Limousin 
and Corsica. On the other hand, the valley of 
the Garonne, Normandy, the plateau region of 
Langres and Dauphiny continue to lose ground. 
The number of deaths (703,638) is greater by 
11,000 than that of 1912, which was lower than 
any recorded number since the opening of the 
nineteenth century. The proportion of deaths 
to the population is 178:10,000, as against 172 
in 1912, 196 in 1911 and 179 in 1910. The mor- 
tality has increased in 64 departments, and par- 
ticularly in Bouches-du-Rhéne, Dordogne, Var, 
Haute-Savoie, Corsica, Somme, Haute-Vienne, 
VAveyron and Tarn-et-Garonne. In 1913, 298,- 
460 marriages were recorded, or 18,169 less 
than in the preceding year. The proportion of 
the newly married for each ten thousand has 
dropped from 158 in 1912 to 151 in 1913. The 
number of divorces has increased by about 500; 
15,076 were recorded in place of 14,579 in 1912. 
The increase has therefore continued ; in 1900 
there were but 7,157 divorces; in thirteen 
years the number has more than doubled. 


Tue University of Chicago Press announces 
for fall publication the first two titles in the 
University of Chicago Science series. The 
size of the books will be 100 to 150 pages, 
duodecimo. The books that are ready for pub- 
lication are: “ The Origin of the Earth,” by 
Thomas ©. Chamberlin, head of the depart- 
ment of Geology in the University of Chi- 
cago; and “ Isolation and Measurement of the 
Electron,” by Robert A. Millikan, professor 
of physics in the University of Chicago. 


THE Smithsonian Institution has issued a 
treatise on “ Atmospheric Air and its Rela- 
tion to Tuberculosis,” by Dr. Guy Hinsdale, 
as one of the prize essays on that subject pre- 
sented in connection with the Washington 
Tuberculosis Congress. The book including 
136 pages of text and 93 plates of illustrations, 
forms publication 2,254 of the Smithsonian 
Miscellaneous Collections. It is not a public 
document and is distributed free only to li- 
braries and specialists. 


SCIENCE 


165 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 


Ir is proposed to establish a school of public 
health at the University of Minnesota, and a 
meeting was held to discuss plans for the 
school, July 13. The instruction is to be en- 
tirely by the present teaching staff, and will 
include the consideration of the subject from 
a medical as well as from a modern sanitary 
engineering standpoint. 


ScHoLarsHiIps have been awarded by the 
Educational Fund Commission, of which Dr. 
John A. Brashear is president, to the teachers 
of the public schools of Pittsburgh, for the 
summer session of various educational insti- 
tutions as follows: 


Commonwealth Art Colony, Boothbay Harbor. 4 


University of Michigan ................... 2 
North American Gymnastic Union, Indianapo- 

lls, ING! GoobooctbosadeosooDDaobadabudda 1 
Chautauqua Institution, Chautauqua, N. Y.... 10 
Wmiversity potas Chicao on trl -\alel<)~\scelol-let-leleyelstel> 11 
Columbia miversityaereialeleeileerricistel lel 21 
Comell University eit ieciciehsie 16 
IDEMHAO MN o4 Go Sooo KSSH HOONOMoNAobODdCOOEN 4 
lanvandm Uiniversibys tesla sieliele)eitelsisicie siete racic 14 
Zanerian College of Penmanship, Columbus 

Olina) oc hodoodasuesobeonanbycououseoouune 3 
Ocean City Summer School ................ 3 


University of Pennsylvania ................ 4 


Pennsylvania State College ................ 7 
Winthvensiiny Oi! Weimilorts Soocbsossocdoasacoos 4 
University of Pittsburgh .................. 4 


American Institute, Northwestern University. 1 


University of Wisconsin .................. 11 
University of Berlin, Germany ............ 1 
University of New York .................. 1 
N. Y. School of Fine and Applied Arts ...... 1 
Munich Trade School, Germany ............ 1 


Total number of teachers sent in 1914.... 124 


RecistraTion for the summer quarter at the 
University of Chicago has been announced, 
and an increase over the attendance of a year 
ago is shown. The total number of men regis- 
tered on July 3 in the graduate school of arts, 
literature and science was 726 and of women 
421, a total of 1,147; in the senior and junior 
collegés 1,249 men and 942 women, a total 
of 2,191; in the professional schools (divin- 


166 


ity, law, medicine and education) 577 men 
and 669 women, a total of 1,246; and exclu- 
ding duplications, the registration for the en- 
tire university amounts to 1,696 men and 
1,598 women—a grand total of 3,294. 


Dr. A. I. Rincer, instructor in physiological 
chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania, 
has been elected assistant professor in physio- 
logical chemistry in the University of Penn- 
sylvania School of Medicine. 

Dr. Eucen von Hiepet, of Halle, has been 
called to the chair of ophthalmology at Got- 
tingen, in succession to his father, Dr. Arthur 
von Hippel, who retires at the close of the 
present semester. 

Dr. Franz Kerrpen, of Freiburg, has been 
called to the chair of anatomy at Strassburg, 
as the successor of Professor G. A. Schwalbe. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 
TIN DISEASE AND POLAR EXPLORATION 


It will be recalled that the Scott and 
Amundsen Antarctic expeditions were greatly 
handicapped by losing their petrol. Amund- 
sen stated in one of his lectures in America 
that their petrol tins required frequent re- 
soldering. According to the diary left by Cap- 
tain Scott this “ mysterious loss of petrol ” was 
one of the chief contributory factors in their 
failure to return to safety. 

In Scott’s diary! of the return journey 
under date of February 24, 1912, he states: 


Found store in order except shortage oil—shall 


have to be very saving with fuel—. ... Wish 
we had more fuel. 

Again on February 26 he states: 

The fuel shortage still an anxiety. ... Fuel 


is woefully short. 
On March 2: 


We marched to the (Middle Barrier) depot fairly 
easily yesterday afternoon, and since that have suf- 
fered three distinct blows which have placed us in 
a bad position. First, we found a shortage of oil; 
with most rigid economy it can scarce carry us to 
the next depot on this surface (71 miles away). 


1‘*Seott’s Last Expedition,’’ Scott, Huxley 
and Markham, p. 398. 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Von. XL. No. 1022 


March 4: 


We can expect little from man now except the 
possibility of extra food at the next depot. It will 
be real bad if we get there and find the same 
shortage of oil. 


On March 7: 


If there is a shortage of oil again we can have 
little hope. 


In his message to the public Scott says: 


We should have got through in spite of the 
weather but for the sickening of a second com- 
panion, Captain Oates, and a shortage of fuel in 
our depots for which I can not account... . 


In Note 26 of the Appendix, the authors, 
Huxley and Markham, state: 


At this, the barrier stage of the return journey, 
the southern party were in want of more oil than 
they found at the depots. Owing partly to the 
Severe conditions, but still more to the delays im-. 
posed by their sick comrades, they reached the 
full limit of time allowed for between depots. 
The cold was unexpected, and at the same time 
the actual amount of oil found at the depots was 
less than they had counted on... . 

As to the cause of the shortage, the tins of oil 
at the depot had been exposed to extreme condi- 
tions of heat and cold. The oil was specially vola- 
tile, and in the warmth of the sun (for the tins 
were regularly set in an accessible place on the 
top of the cairns) tended to become vapor and 
escape through the stoppers even without damage 
to the tins. This process was much accelerated 
by the reason that the leather washers about the 
stoppers had perished in the great cold. Dr. At- 
kinson gives two striking examples of this. 

1. Hight one-gallon tins in a wooden case, in- 
tended for a depot at Cape Crozier, had been put 
out in September, 1911. They were snowed up; 
and when examined in December, 1912, showed 
three tins full, three empty, one a third full, and 
one two thirds full. 

2. When the search party reached One Ton 
Camp in November, 1912, they found that some of 
the food, stacked in a canvas ‘‘tank’’ at the foot 
of the cairn, was quite oily from the spontaneous 
leakage of the tins seven feet above it on the top 
of the cairn. 

The tins at the depots awaiting the southern 
party had of course been opened and the due 
amount to be taken measured out by the support- 
ing parties on their way back. However carefully 


JuLY 31, 1914] 


te-stoppered, they were still liable to the unex- 
pected evaporation and leakage already described. 
Hence, without any manner of doubt, the shortage 
which struck the southern party so hard. 

That the oil could have soaked the supplies 
placed seven feet below the oil tins by escap- 
ing through the stopper in the form of vapor, 
seems impossible. A possible and very plaus- 
ible explanation of this leakage of oil is the 
conversion of ordinary tin into the allotropic 
form, gray tin powder. This change to gray 
tin powder is known to take place at a maxi- 
mum rate at —48° C. and may take place 
more slowly at other temperatures below 18° 
C. Should this change occur along the sol- 
dered seams of the container, the mysterious 
leakage of oil might well be explained. This 
peculiar disintegration of tin is also shown by 
certain alloys of tin. Articles of pewter (tin 4 
parts, lead one part) have frequently been 
known to show such changes and this change 
las indeed been given the name “museum 
disease,” referring to pewter articles. Farup? 
claims that the admixture of other metals in- 
fluences the rate at which said change occurs 
and in the series zine, cadmium, copper, silver, 
lead, the accelerating influence increases in the 
order given, lead having the greatest acceler- 
ating effect. Since hard solder may contain 
65 per cent. tin and since pewter is known to 
show this property, it may also be expected in 
such a hard solder. If such is the case, it is a 
good indication of the extreme care which 
must be exercised to meet the severe and un- 
usual conditions surrounding polar explora- 
tion. 

B. T. Brooxs 

MELLON INSTITUTE OF INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH, 

UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH 


CUBIST SCIENCE 

THosp stanch defenders of the citadel of 
pure science, who have so long arrayed them- 
selves against the insidious invasion of meta- 
physics, must now arm themselves to repel a 
new foe. This is nothing less than that 
dernier crt of esthetic literature—cubism! 
Those who have come in contact with the 


2Cf. ‘‘Handbuch d. Anorganische Chemie,’? 
Abegg, ITI, pp. 550. 


SCIENCE 


167 


cubist literature of Gertrude Stein or her dis- 
ciples and imitators will recognize at once the 
diagnostic symptoms of infection in an article 
by P. C. van der Wolk in one of the most 
sober journals of genetics.. This paper is 
entitled “ New Researches into Some Statis- 
tics of Coffea.” Note the apparent innocence 
of the title. Here are some excerpts: 


In both of the former communications we saw 
how that generally the different curves, within the 
definite end curve, are present in a greater or 
smaller number of removings; the tops of the dif- 
ferent curves remove in all directions, whereby the 
erucial point is still that the place of those tops 
is not so arbitrary. . . . I thought in the begin- 
ning to have an instance in which all the curves 
exhibited precisely the same top as was the case 
with the first four curves. Suddenly however half- 
way up the tree, the top thrust out a large dis- 
tance to the right side, and to my astonishment 
the consequent curves as well as the definite end 
curve exhibited exactly the same top as curve 5. 
It is noteworthy that this top-removing happened 
suddenly, without transition. . . . Let us now refer 
back to both of the previous investigations. We 
then once more observe all those analyzed curves. 
Is there then a difference in principle between 
this newly recorded case and all the others? Is 
there a difference in principle in the question 
whether it is only once that a top-removing of the 
curves occurs within the end curve (as in our pres- 
ent case) or that several times top-removing takes 
place (as is the case in the two previous communi- 
cations). Certainly not. [Italics are the au- 
thor’s.] 


The scientific world will await with renewed 


‘interest this author’s fourth communication, 


which we understand is to be a statistical 
study of top-removing in Cannabis indica. 


J. F. A. 


MOTIONS OF ATMOSPHERE 


To THE Epitor or Science: Recent letters 
from mathematicians and physicists seem to 
show that there are very few students or pro- 
fessors in our universities who pay much at- 
tention to the difficult problems that refer to 
motions of the atmosphere on a large scale. 
But surely there must be some physicists who 

1 Zeitschrift fiir Induktive Abstammungs- und 
Vererbungslehre, 1914, XI., p. 355 ff. 


168 


are giving atmospherics close attention, even 
though the problems do seem too difficult for 
them to handle, either in printed memoirs or 
in lectures before their classes. I beg to utilize 
the columns of Sctence in an effort to ascer- 
tain the existence of such scholars and to 
solicit their cooperation with me in an en- 
deavor to stimulate the study of the motions 
of the atmosphere. 

The U. S. daily weather map of the northern 
hemisphere and The Monthly Weather Re- 
view will undoubtedly be useful to all earnest 
students. 

CLEVELAND ABBE 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 


The Fungi which Cause Plant Disease. By 
¥F, L. Stevens, Ph.D. New York, The Mac- 
milan Co. 1913. Pp. 754. Figs. 449. 
Price $4.00. 

Eighteen years ago the classic work on 
“Pilzparasitaren Krankheiten der Pflanzen,” 
by Frank, made its appearance, while the 
“Diseases of Plants Induced by Cryptogamic 
Parasites,” by von Tubeuf and Smith, was 
published a year later. Despite the fact that 
a number of efforts have been made within the 
last few years by American writers, patholo- 
gists in general have been still looking for a 
new work that would satisfactorily supplant 
these older volumes. Stevens has entered the 
field with another volume which is intended 
to supplement his earlier and less technical 
work on “ Diseases of Heconomic Plants.” In 
the words of the author, “ effort has been made 
to avoid duplication of matter contained in 
that volume.” It is to be regretted that but 
little of the mycological and pathological ac- 
tivities of the past three years will be found 
in this new work (1911 in part only). This 
is to be deplored, since plant pathology has 
been passing through a period of rapid prog- 
ress. It will perhaps be only fair, however, 
to overlook this shortcoming in passing judg- 
ment on the work in question. To what ex- 
tent these two volumes will meet the expecta- 
tions and needs of American students time 
alone will reveal. Perhaps we are expecting 
too much, but our mind has pictured the old 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1022 


classics as but stepping stones to the desired 
goal. 

This new volume includes keys to the 
orders, families and genera of Myxomycetes, 
Schizomycetes and Eumycetes containing 
parasitic species. According to the author’s 
statement, “ Nonparasitic groups closely re- 
lated to those that are parasitic have been 
introduced in the keys merely to give a larger 
perspective to the student.” Directing our at- 
tention to the Ascomycetes, we may note that 
the keys are in the main translations from 
“Die natiirlichen Pflanzenfamilien,” with 
omissions and abbreviations, and occasionally 
the introduction of new genera. Parallel 
choices are indicated by marginal indentation, 
the characters employed in the original being 
omitted. Turning to the Fungi Imperfecti, we 
find that after the key to the hyaline-spored 
Spheroidacez which follows Engler and 
Prantl quite closely, the keys appear for the 
most part to be transcriptions from Clements’s 
“Genera of Fungi” with only slight modifica- 
tions. The student who can steer his way 
through the key to the hyaline-spored Spheroi- 
daceze without becoming lost in a bewildering 
tangle of spores, pycnidia and stromata, 
would deserve early election to Sigma Xi. 

It is not possible to enter into a detailed 
discussion of the keys, but it seems that the 
author has relied too much on keys published 
some years ago, so that they are not always in 
harmony with our present knowledge. For 
example, “Conidia not in pycnidia, dark 
brown ” is used as the key character for Melan- 
conis (p. 279), although it is now known that 
certain species produce pyenidal (Musicoccum) 
and acervular (Coryneum) stages. 

According to the keys the vegetative body 
of the Schizomycetes is a “single-walled cell ”” 
(p. 8); Nemospora is placed under the divi- 
sion with muticate conidia (p. 538), probably 
correctly, but the text description says “ with 
a bristle at each end.” This genus is given 
under both the Hyalospore and the Scoleco- 
spore (pp. 538 and 562). 

The experienced mycologist makes little use 
of keys, but when he does care to use them 
he will certainly go to the original. The prin- 


Juuy 31, 1914] 


cipal advantage of the present volume is that 
it does make the keys available for students 
who have no knowledge of German or Latin, 
but such students are out of place in mycol- 
ogy or pathology. 

Speaking of the work as a whole one is im- 
pressed with the number of its typographical 
errors. It is not difficult to find pages with 
three to four each, and their character leads 
one to suspect that they are not entirely 
printer’s errors. Many are more striking 
than the use of a wrong letter in a word. The 
following serve to illustrate the type: host for 
bast; perithetical for perithecial; epitheliwm 
for epithecium (see also author abbreviations). 

There is an apparent tendency to exclude 
from consideration the species of fungi para- 
sitie only on wild hosts of no economic im- 
portance, although this practise has not been 
rigidly followed. Im genera containing many 
species these appear to be presented in kaleido- 
scopic succession—if there is any logical ar- 
rangement either alphabetical, host, phylo- 
genetic or according to importance we have 
not been able to detect it. The descriptions 
are especially full in those groups which have 
been monographed somewhat recently. 

Attention will be directed to a few of the 
remarkable statements which have attracted 
the writer’s attention. “Tubeuf ranks as 
hemi-parasites those organisms that usually 
are parasites, but may sometimes become 
saprophytic, and as hemi-saprophytes such as 
are usually parasitic, but may exceptionally 
become saprophytic.” It is fortunate that this 
definition is followed by the statement that 
“these distinctions are of little import” (p. 
2). Teachers of botany will probably be im- 
pressed by the rarity with which hypha is used 
in the text, and the apparent application of 
the term to spore-bearing branches only (pp. 60 
and 477). The statement that “the oogonium 
becomes free just before conjugation ” (p. 74) 
gives a mixture of isogamy and heterogamy 
in the terms employed, while the information 
that “sexual spores (zygotes) are produced 
through the union of the two like gametangia ” 
(p. 102) could have been presented in less ob- 
jectionable form. The description of Sclero- 


SCIENCE 


169 


tunia trifoliorwm Erik, is followed by the 
strange statement: 
(p. 143). 

In the face of the general consensus of opin- 
ion in America that the chestnut blight 
fungus belongs to Hndothia, it seems strange 
that the author accepts Rehm’s classification. 
According to the description of the blight 
fungus the perithecia are “deeply embedded 
in the inner bark,” the summer spores are 
“ale yellowish,” and “the perithecia appear 
in abundance upon or in cracks in the bark, 
extruding their spores in greenish to yellow 
threads” (p. 208). This is indeed quite a 
contrast to the true condition: perithecial 
stromata erumpent from beneath the peri- 
derm, ascospores forcibly expelled, and pycno- 
spores hyaline. 

The student’s conception of the morphology 
of the promycelium will be a little mixed 
when he reads: “In every species the my- 
celium eventually gives rise to teliospores, 
which produce in germination four basidia, 
either remaining within the spore-cell or 
borne in the air on a short promycelium, each 
basidium supporting a single-stalked or sessile 
basidiospore” (p. 824). “ Morphologically 
the promycelium is a basidium bearing its 
four sterigmata and four basidiospores” (p. 
326). Im various species of rusts the “ peridia 
are scattered over the whole of the foliage” 
(p. 856) or “in elongated patches” (p. 376). 

One may read that the hymenium of 
Hydnum is “beset with pointed spines” (p. 
414); that the young hyphe of Fomes fraai- 
nophilus “ are very fine and require an immer- 
sion lens for observation” (p. 434); also of 
the “Oospora forms of the Erysiphales” (p. 
474). 

The statement that “Phleospora moricola 
(Pass.) Sace. on Morus is a conidial form of 
Septogloeum mori,’ another imperfect fun- 
gus, is hardly in accord with mycological prac- 
tise. 

Considering the chaotic condition of my- 
cology, it is not surprising that some species 
are duplicated or listed under the wrong gen- 
era. We may note, for example, that Septoria 
cerasina Pk. (p. 520) is described without any 


“Unknown on clover” 


170 


intimation that it is synonymous with 
Cylindrosporium padi Karst. (p. 562). Phyl- 
lostica hortorum Speg. is given with no refer- 
ence to the European work which showed that 
this ege plant fungus is an Ascochyta (p. 
487). Strumella sacchari Oke. is listed as the 
only representative of the genus (p. 656), al- 
though it has been definitely shown that this 
fungus should be referred to Coniothyriwm. 

The author has very consistently followed 
the practise of decapitalization of specific 
names throughout the text, and for this he 
should be commended, although the rules of 
nomenclature dictate otherwise. It is difficult, 
however, to understand why species names be- 
came sufficiently important in the index to be 
uniformly capitalized! The very general bo- 
tanical practise of italicizing binomials has 
been completely ignored, and will probably 
meet with little approval. The misspelling of 
scientific names is altogether too frequent. 
These are well illustrated by “ Prthiacystis 
citriophora” (p. 77) and “D. wilkomi” (p. 
144). 

It is to be hoped that the accuracy of the 
author citations for the binomials is not indi- 
cated by the entire lack of any regular and 
consistent practise in their transcription and 
arrangement. Without regard to the length 
of the author’s name, it is abbreviated 
(Sh. = Shear) or written out in full (Miiller- 
Thurgau, p. 148). The same author’s name 
may be written in full or abbreviated in a va- 
riety of ways, and in many cases these ab- 
breviations are not in accord with mycological 
practise (e. g., D. By., DeB. = De Bary; E. & H., 
HK. & He., Er. & Hu.,—Eriksson and Hen- 
ning.) There are numerous cases of full 
names terminated by a period, indicating an 
abbreviation, and dozens of abbreviations 
without a period, indicating the full name of 
an author. Thus the amateur reader might 
wonder who Prill, West, Hohn, March, Plow, 
Rost, Berk, Karst, Heuff and others were, 
while for Frank., Brizi. and Petch., he might 
imagine the existence of such mycologists as 
Frankenstein, Brizioski and Petchnikoff. 
There are many errors in the spelling of au- 
thor abbreviations, and in some eases they 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1022 


bear little resemblance to the original (e. g., 
Farm. =F arneti; Hu. or Hem. = Henning; 
Fes.= Fries; Car. Carvara; Gus. Giissow; 
Ren. = Reinke; Heuff.—Heufler; Nebr.= 
Neuman.) 

The profusion of illustrations (Figs. 1449) 
certainly adds greatly to the value of the 
book. They are drawn quite extensively 
from American authors and are in the main 
well chosen. But in the Fungi Imperfecti 
many of the figures taken from Lindaw’s treat- 
ment in “ Die natiirlichen Pflanzenfamilien ” 
appear rather crude. The author’s effort to 
include “at least one illustration of each 
genus that is of importance in the United 
States” is a very commendable feature. 

The illustrations are reproduced with the 
original figures or letters used in their ex- 
planation, even though in some eases (Fig. 
288) they may be almost microscopic in size. 
The presence of numbers and varieties of fig- 
ures and letters not used in the legends (e. g., 
Figs. 9, 82, 88, 275,413, etc.) may not be of 
any harm but they give a scrap-book appear- 
ance. The explanations of figures are in many 
cases too short (Figs. 13, 20, 129, 145, ete.) or 
incomplete (Fig. 351). There is no uniform 
style of punctuation in the legends, great va- 
riety prevailing (e. g., Figs. 179, 198, 200, 
421). Apparently the author has not been 
able to entirely discard the old practise of 
calling a pycnidium a perithecium (Fig. 354, 
also p. 498). 

It would seem a little questionable to use a 
figure of a germinating teleutospore of Gym- 
nosporangium (Fig. 266) showing two promy- 
celia from a single cell in a work which 
should present the typical rather than the 
abnormal. 

Following the customary practise, the il- 
lustrations are credited to various writers. If 
the student should assume the authenticity of 
the acknowledgments, as he naturally would, 
he would get some wrong ideas of the photo- 
graphic activity of at least one author. | Fit- 
teen half-tones of basidiomycetes are pre- 
sumably “after Clements.” Five of these can 
be found in Freeman’s “ Minnesota Plant 
Diseases” as “ Originals,” one is from Lloyd, 


Suny 31, 1914] 


one from Hard and four are from Atkinson’s 
“ Mushrooms.” 

According to the preface, “abundant cita- 
tions to the more important papers are given, 
sufficient, it is believed, to put the student in 
touch with the literature of the subject.” 
These are distributed through the book as five 
separate bibliographies, one for each of the 
principal divisions or classes, with a list of 
“some of the most useful books,” at the end 
of the volume. It is difficult to detect any 
principle that has been followed in the selec- 
tion of references, since some very unimpor- 
tant work is cited while the student is left in 
the dark concerning the sources of informa- 
tion for some more important fungi. 

The citations in the five general bibliog- 
raphies are in neither alphabetical arrange- 
ment nor chronological order, but are listed 
in part in the order in which they are used. 
The climax is reached in the list of “some of 
the most useful books,” 1-29 being arranged 
alphabetically by authors, while 30-64 are ap- 
parently not arranged at all. From 1-46, the 
author’s initials, when used at all, stand first, 
while from 47 to the end the reverse order is 
followed. 

Referring to all the bibliographies, it can be 
very emphatically stated that clearness is 
sacrificed for brevity. There is much waste 
space on each page that might have been 
utilized to good advantage. At the beginning 
of the first bibliography a key is given to the 
abbreviations used for the U. S. Department 
of Agriculture and Experimental Station pub- 
lications, and a few of the more common seri- 
als, and this is followed by a statement that 
“other abbreviations are those usually em- 
ployed or readily understood.” This can 
hardly be true unless the book is used by stu- 
dents gifted with more than ordinary insight. 
It is extremely doubtful if such citations as 
the following would be clear to the average 
student: “O. E. S. B. 33: 308. 1896; Mo. 
Fruit B. 17: 1910; B. S. M. d.Fr 8: 22, 1892; 
Agr. Soc. 8: 292, 1894; N. S. R. Wales, 93; 
Unt. 9; F. B. 238: 14, 1907; Rept. Mic. Vio., 
N. S. Wales, 1909; Zeit. f. L. u. F. 408, 1910; 
Ruhland, Diss. 1903.” The bibliographies con- 


SCIENCE 


Weal 


tain numerous errors, typographical or other- 
wise, and there is at least one “Miss. Kew” 
(p. 111). The omission of the initials of au- 
thors in many cases is a confusing feature, 
and the errors of punctuation give some rather 
odd combinations (e. g., Farlow, W. G. B. 
Bussey, Inst., 415, 1876; Detmers, O., B4; 
1891). When a personal knowledge of an au- 
thor is necessary in order that one may cor- 
rectly interpret a citation, the beginner is 
certainly subjected to an unnecessary and an 
unjust handicap. 

In the literature citations the author in 
many cases does not even follow his own key. 
For example, C. Bak. is given as the abbrevi- 
ation for the Centralbl. f. Bakt. etc., II Abth., 
but this publication is listed also in four other 
ways. In the various bibliographies thirteen 
different combinations of abbreviations are 
used for the Berichte d. Deutsch. Bot. Gesell- 
schaft, but first place must be assigned to the 
Bulletin Trimestriel de la Société Mycologique 
de France with nineteen combinations rang- 
ing from the simple to the complex. 

The incompleteness of many of the refer- 
ences leads one to fear that many may be sec- 
ond-hand, and that they were never verified. 
The defects pointed out greatly impair the 
usefulness of the bibliographies. 

A glossary of mycological terms precedes 
the index. The value of such a feature can 
not be disputed, but in this case clearness has 
again been sacrificed to brevity and there are 
too many instances in which only half the 
truth has been told (e. g., stroma). Some ad- 
jectives are defined like nouns (e. g., autc- 
cious, cytolitic), while a noun may be defined 
as an adjective (e. g., endophyte). The ama- 
teur who relies on this glossary will expect to 
find catenulate spores “linked as in a chain.” 
or may be looking under leaves for parasites 
that are designated as hypophyllous. 

The use of a single index, rather than sepa- 
rate host and parasite indices is a commend- 
able feature. 

In conclusion the writer must express his 
surprise that any firm with the reputation of 
the publishers would permit a book contain- 
ing so many errors to pass through their 


172 


hands. They certainly owe to the author and 
American pathologists a speedy revision. 
FE, D. Heat 
ZooLocy BUILDING, 
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA, 
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. 


A New Era in Chemistry. By Harry C. 
Jones. New York, D. Van Nostrand and 
Company. 1913. Price $2.00. 

It is expected of a book written by a teacher 
and investigator so eminent as Professor Jones 
that it will be written in a clear, enthusiastic 
and readable style, and especially that it will 
be scientifically accurate and sound. That the 
book meets some of these expectations no one 
can doubt who reads Professor Howe’s very 
laudatory review in the December number of 
the American Chemical Journal. The present 
reviewer, however, while recognizing merit in 
the book, certainly believes that no author 
should be permitted to go uncriticized who 
is so careless of his statements as is the 
author of “ A New Era in Chemistry.” 

Among many other passages in the book 
which are open to criticism the following have 
been selected as representative. 

In discussing the formula for benzene on 
page 12 the author says: “The study of the 
substitution products led to the conclusion 
that three carbon atoms in benzene are differ- 
ent from the other three... .’ Whatever 
may be the final outcome of recent work in 
this field, it is certainly well known that the 
study of benzene and its substitution products 
led neither Kekulé nor any of his contempo- 
raries to any such conclusion. 

On pages 51-52 is given an inadequate, even 
quite erroneous, account of the stereochemis- 
try of tartaric acid. The author writes, 
“Tartaric acid is especially interesting, hav- 
ing the constitution. . . . We see that it 
contains not only one asymmetric carbon 
atom, but two. These would have the opposite 
effects upon a beam of polarized light; the 
one half of the molecule turning it in one 
direction, and the other half turning it by 
an exactly equal amount in the opposite 
direction. The result would be that the sub- 
stance would be racemic or optically inactive.” 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8S. Von. XL. No. 1022 


Certainly no one can get any clear conception 
of the stereochemistry of tartaric acid from 
such a description. 

Speaking, on page 63, of the one degree of 
freedom in the two-phase-one-component sys- 
tem, water and water vapor, the statement is 
made that “we can vary either the tempera- 
ture or pressure, but varying the one we fix 
the other.” And on the next page, in discuss- 
ing the triple point, the author writes: “ We 
can not move the point 7’ in any direction 
without destroying the equilibrium. .. .” 

These are very careless statements, both 
telling what does not take place. What the 
author intends to say with respect to the 
former is that a change either of the tempera- 
ture or the pressure brings about a concomi- 
tant change in the other. With respect to the 
latter it may be noted that 7’, the triple point, 
is a fixed point and therefore can not be 
moved. A change of temperature or pres- 
sure brings about the disappearance of one 
of the three phases, but does not move the 
point 7. 

On page 281 we read, “It [radium] is 
everywhere, also, in atmospheric air”; and 
on page 273 it is stated that the alpha par- 
ticle “carries one positive charge of electric- 
ity.” Radium apparently does occur nearly 
everywhere, but its presence in the atmosphere 
is yet to be demonstrated. The alpha particle 
carries two charges, not one. 

The following, taken from pages 273, 277 
and 287, are given as examples of careless 
statements. No objections are raised con- 
cerning what the author probably intended to 
say: “ Radium is naturally radioactive as it 
is called.” “A radioactive substance is one 
that gives off radiations....” “The best 
method used was the ice calorimeter.” “A 
gram of radium therefore liberates about 
eighty calories of heat every hour, during its 
whole life history.” “ The largest amount of 
radium emanation thus far obtained is only a 
fraction of a cubic millimeter; and, yet, this 
gives off three fourths of all the heat liberated 
by radium.” A gram of radium liberates 
heat at the rate of “about” eighty calories 
per hour so long only as it remains sensibly a 


JULY 31, 1914] 


gram. The expression “during its whole life 
history” has no meaning whatever in this 
connection. Concerning the last of the above 
statements it may be said that undoubtedly 
the equilibrium quantity of radium is meant, 
but it is not so stated. 

On page 287 it is said that “the radium 
emanation induces radioactivity on all objects 
on which it is deposited.” It is the disintegra- 
tion products of the emanation which are 
deposited, and not the emanation itself. The 
next sentence, which reads, “This induced 
radioactivity decays or disappears, as the 
emanation which causes it decays,” while per- 
haps not entirely wrong, certainly does not 
state the facts clearly. 

In discussing the disintegration of radio- 
active substances the author uses the expres- 
sion “life history” sometimes to mean the 
“half period” of Rutherford, as, for stance, 
on page 283, when he speaks of thorium ema- 
nation a8 having a much shorter “ life history ” 
than radium emanation; at other times, as on 
page 288, it is apparently synonymous with 
“mean life,” for he here speaks of 2,000 to 
3,000 years instead of 1,760 years; while in 
another place, pages 294-295, he uses the ex- 
pression with obviously still another meaning, 
for he here says that “the life history of 
radium is between two and three thousand 
years. This means that none of the radium 
now present existed more than twenty-five 
hundred years ago.” There may be a legiti- 
mate sense in which one may speak of the 
“life history ” of a radioactive substance, but 
certainly the expression should not be used in 
place of “mean life” or “half period.” It 
may be remarked that, quite contrary to the 
above statement of the author, a very consid- 
erable proportion of the radium now present 
in the earth’s crust was in existence twenty- 
five hundred years ago. 

In the judgment of the reviewer the author 
also indulges far too freely in sweeping, un- 
qualified statements. As an example of such 
a statement the following is quoted from the 
chapter on the “ Origin of Stereochemistry,” 
page 58. “ Kekulé had converted empiricism 
in the study of carbon into system. Van’t 


SCIENCE 


173 


Hoff had made possible the beginning of a 
science of organic chemistry.” Most organic 
chemists will probably say of this, that while 
there is possibly a difference in degree, there 
is hardly a difference in kind between the 
achievement of WVan’t Hoff and that of 
Kekulé. 

Another example is taken from page 137. 
“Tt (water) owes its existence to the fact that 
hydrogen and hydroxyl ions can not remain 
in the presence of one another uncombined.” 
This, of course, in a sense, is true. But then 
the following equally impressive statement is 
also true. Hydrogen chloride owes its exist- 
ence to the fact that, depending upon condi- 
tions, chlorine and hydrogen ions can or can 
not remain in the presence of each other un- 
combined, which is equivalent to saying that 
hydrogen chloride owes its existence to the 
fact that it is hydrogen chloride. Moreover, 
hydrogen and hydroxyl ions can and do exist 
together uncombined, and it is to this fact that 
the many important phenomena of hydrolysis 
are due. 

It is always of doubtful expediency to criti- 
cize an author’s English; nevertheless, the re- 
viewer ventures to quote the following from 
pages 117 and 268: 

“Take, for example, water. We would find 
most of the hydrogens united with oxygen to 
form molecules of water; but, in addition, we 
would have some free hydrogens and some free 
oxygens.” 

“Take a salt like potassium chloride. When 
it is thrown into water an electron passes from 
the potassium over to the chlorine. The 
chlorine having received an additional elec- 
tron thus becomes charged negatively, while 
the potassium having lost an electron becomes 
charged positively. ... Take, again, a salt 
like potassium sulphate. Each potassium loses 
one electron to the SO,, which thus acquires 
two negative charges, the potassium having 
each one positive charge.” If this sort of 
description is justified by its directness and 
dramatic effect, then perhaps the only criticism 
to be offered is that “potassium ” (four lines 
above) should read “potassiums.” 

One is disappointed after reading of the 


174 


dramatic manner in which Kenjira Ota arrived 
upon the scene of his labors, pages 148-150, to 
find him accomplishing nothing more remark- 
able than the measurement of the freezing 
points of certain solutions. 

In view of the fact that none of the author’s 
own investigations have been in the field of 
radioactivity, it seems rather remarkable that 
the references, pages 260, 261 and 296, to the 
author’s book on the “Electrical Nature of 
Matter and Radioactivity” are not supple- 
mented by the titles of well-known standard 
works on the subject. 

However, the reviewer does not wish to be 
understood as wholly condemning the book. 
Far from it. The idea of writing a book on a 
“New Era in Chemistry” is an excellent one, 
and the story, for the most part, is most inter- 
estingly told, but at the same time it is the 
revlewer’s conviction that no one who permits 
so many inaccurate, careless and exaggerated 
statements to creep into his work should go 
unrebuked. 

The book closes with an appendix in which 
are given some delightful personal reminis- 
cences of the great men who made possible the 
“New Era in Chemistry.” 


Epwarp ©. FRANKLIN 


Rays of Positive Electricity and their Applica- 
tion to Chemical Analysis. By Sir J. J. 
THomson. Longmans, Green & Co. 1913. 
Pp. vi+132. Price, $1.40. 

The day of the monograph in physics is ap- 
parently here, and it will be hailed with de- 
light not only by physicists, but also by work- 
ers in all of the neighboring sciences. For in 
a period like the present in which new material 
iS appearing very rapidly, and in which the 
“accumulation time” of new viewpoints is 
extraordinarily short, it is of the utmost im- 
portance that the results of recent research be 
got as quickly as possible in some form which 
is intermediate between the journal article, 
with its inaccessibility and incompleteness, 
and the general treatise with its rigidity and 
inertia. Monographs of the sort which Long- 
mans has announced, dealing with half a dozen 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Von. XL. No. 1022 


of the more recently developed departments of 
physics and written by men who have been 
prominently identified with their development, 
will appeal to a wide audience. 

And if the whole Longmans series is as 
good as the first number, the publishers, the 
authors, the editors and the public may all 
congratulate themselves. For Sir J. J. Thom- 
son has done his very best work, so it seems to 
the reviewer, on positive rays, and the present 
monograph is a fascinatingly simple and 
straightforward account of that work, intro- 
duced by a discussion of the preceding work of 
Goldstein and of Wien, and supplemented by 
a chapter on the Doppler effect with positive 
rays, discovered and investigated chiefly by 
Stark and his pupils. If any one has had 
doubt about the effectiveness of the positive- 
ray method as a means of discovering the sorts 
of atoms and molecules which constitute the 
residual gases in discharge tubes, and the 
values of the electrical charges carried by these 
atoms and molecules, he should take enough 
time to study carefully the five plates of actual 
photographs contained in this book. The par- 
abolas shown in these photographs are about 
as convincing evidence as could be desired. 


R. A. MiniiKkan 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 


DESICCATION OF CERTAIN GREGARINE CYSTS 


In connection with other studies on the 
cephaline gregarine Stylocephalus giganteus 
Ellis some data have been collected during the 
past fall concerning the viability of the cysts 
of this sporozoon and the effect of dryness on 
the formation of sporocysts. This gregarine 
is a common parasite in the alimentary canal 
of the Tenebrionid beetles of the genera Hleodes 
and Asida, so abundant in the semi-arid plains 
of eastern Colorado. 

The cysts of Stylocephalus giganteus are 
subspherical, about 450 microns in ‘diameter 
and opaque white when first discharged from 
the host. Unlike the cysts of many species 
of gregarines, they are not provided with thick, 
gelatinous envelopes, their walls on the con- 
trary, are quite thin, the gelatinous envelope 


Juny 31, 1914] 


if present at all being reduced to a thin film. 
Tf placed in water immediately after being 
discharged from the host, the cysts remain un- 
changed in external appearance for 4 days or 
more. After about 5 days the formation of 
sporocysts has progressed to such an extent 
that the cysts begin to turn gray, changing 
gradually to jet black in the next 2 or 3 days. 
Shortly after reaching the jet-black stage the 
eysts dehisce by simple rupture, discharging 
the long chains of ovoid sporocysts. Ten days 
usually elapsed between the time the cyst left 
the host and dehiscence, and no cyst examined 
dehisced in less than 8 days. 

By starving the hosts it was found that the 
cysts were discharged in numbers almost free 
from excrement, and that such fluid excrement 
as did accompany the cysts dried rapidly, 
leaving the naked cysts glued to the glass tubes 
in which the hosts were confined. On Septem- 
ber 23, 1913, several Hleodes sp. which had 
been starved for five days were placed in clean 
test tubes and over fifty cysts collected. The 
fluid excrement surrounding these dried in 
less than three hours, leaving the naked cysts 
adhering to the walls of the tubes. The beetles 
were removed and the tubes loosely plugged 
with cheese cloth. After plugging the tubes 
they were returned to the rack and allowed to 
remain undisturbed for 138 days. During 
this time they were in the light that came in 
through a north window, but not in direct 
sunlight, and were subjected to severe drying, 
as the room in which they were kept was 
heated with dry air, which together with the 
naturally dry air of Colorado dehydrated the 
eysts to such an extent that they shriveled and 
fell to the bottom of the tubes. On January 
23, 1914, such cysts as had fallen to the 
bottoms of the tubes were removed and exam- 
ined. All were still white, showing that the 
last stages of sporocyst formation had not 
been reached, and all were much shriveled and 
wrinkled, being reduced to half or less of their 
original volume. The dry cysts were then 
placed in water and after twenty-four hours’ 
soaking they resumed their original spherical 
shape, still remaining white. By the end of 
the second twenty-four hours in water they 


SCIENCE 


175 


had turned dark gray, and on the third day 
all were jet black, some having dehisced the 
long chains of ovoid sporocysts. From the 
time of discharge from the host to dehiscence 
these cysts were in fluid excrement for less 
than three hours, in dry air for 138 days and 
in water for less than three days. During 
the period of drying they did not lose their 
vitality and sporocyst formation was not com- 
pleted. That internal changes had taken place 
in spite of the dry air is suggested by the rapid 
completion of sporocyst formation when the 
eysts were placed in water, dehiscence taking 
place in three days as compared with matura- 
tion period of ten days required by cysts taken 
directly from fresh excrement and placed in 
water. 

This ability of the cysts of Stylocephalus 
giganteus to withstand a certain desiccation is 
perhaps an important factor in the distribu- 
tion of this parasite which is so generally 
successful in eastern Colorado. Two stages at 
least, the cyst and the sporocyst, and possibly 
a third, the sporozoite, must be considered as 
distributional stages, comparable to some ex- 
tent to those stages of many parasites which 
are passed in the secondary hosts. Each cyst 
of Stylocephalus giganteus produces an enor- 
mous number of sporocysts, which, as in most 
species of gregarines, are well protected by 
tough coats, and from the standpoint of species 
distribution both the number of sporocysts 
and their tough, protective coats are presum- 
ably positive factors in increasing the chances 
of this species being taken into the alimentary 
canal of many hosts. If the cyst be destroyed 
the type of sporocyst is of no importance, and 
eysts are produced in relatively small num- 
bers, since each represents a fusion of two 
adult gregarines. It is then essential to the 
gregarine species that the cyst be able to with- 
stand the unfavorable conditions of the en- 
vironment in the habitat of the host species 
until sporocysts may be formed. This is ac- 
complished in some species as Gregarina 
blattarum Siebold of the cockroach and Greg- 
arina rigida (Hall) of various species of 
grasshoppers, by the thick gelatinous envelope 
surrounding the cyst. This envelope when 


176 


dried forms a very tough coat for the cyst. In 
the case of Stylocephalus giganteus it seems 
that the physiological character which makes 
the cyst resistant to desiccation, even though 
dehydration proceed to the distortion of the 
cyst, is of value to this species in much the 
same way as the protective envelopes of the 
first two species. The host of Stylocephalus 
giganteus is active throughout the winter on 
warm days, so that this species does not have 
to overcome the loss of host during the winter 
months as does Gregarina rigida in the grass- 
hopper, and Hleodes sp. have been taken in 
December and January containing as many 
gregarines as beetles of the same species taken 
in August. These beetles are however dis- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1022 


SEMI-PERMEABLE CAPSULES 


Durie a series of experiments to determine 
the permanency of the fermentative reactions 
of intestinal bacteria in stored waters, it be- 
came necessary to use semi-permeable capsules. 
A review of the literature failed to show any 
method which was suitable for our purpose. 

As in McCrae’s work, gelatine capsules 
(size 00) are used as a basis for the colloidin 
capsule. A glass tube about 15 cm. in length 
is warmed in the gas flame and pressed into 
the closed end of the empty gelatine capsule. 
The gelatine plug which inevitably forms in 
the glass tube must be removed, at this point 
by means of a wire, otherwise ruptures are 


Glass Rod 


Gelatin Capsvle 


Capsule alfached 
%o glass rod. 


Celloidin 


Fic. 1. 


tributed through a semi-arid region and the 
favorite habitats of Hleodes spp., under stones 
or at the bases of shrubby plains plants, are 
quite dry for the greater part of the year, sub- 
jecting the cysts of Stylocephalus giganteus 
even though protected to some extent by the 
excrement of the host, to considerable drying. 
As shown by the cysts under observation 
moisture is essential to the completion of 
sporocyst formation, since the cysts kept in 
dry air did not reach the gray and black stages 
until after they were placed in water. By 
examination of the meteorological data for 
eastern Colorado it may be seen that the 
period of drying to which the cysts here con- 
‘sidered were subjected, over four months, 
exceeds the average droughts in this part of 
the plains where EHleodes spp. are so exten- 
sively parasitized. 
Max M. Etuis 


UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO’ 


liable to occur when the capsules are boiled 
later. 

The union of the capsule and the glass rod is 
made airtight by coating the union with a 
twenty per cent. solution of gelatine by means 
of a small brush. The layer of gelatine is ex- 
tended up the glass tube for a distance of 
about 4 cm. If the two halves of the capsule 
do not fit tightly, it is advisable to paint them 
also with the gelatine. 

After thoroughly drying, the capsule is 
dipped into the colloidin solution (colloidin 
1 part, ether 14 parts and alcohol 14) until a 
proper thickness is attained, which may be 
judged by holding the capsule before the light. 
Experience has shown that at least four dip- 
pings are necessary. Jt was found that the 
finished capsules were often weak at the point 
where the halves of the gelatine capsule meet. 
This point was strengthened by allowing addi- 
tional colloidin to collect at this place. The 


JuLy 31, 1914] 


dipped capsules are allowed to dry over night. 
Premature boiling causes the capsules to swell 
and burst due to the presence of ether and 
aleohol in the inner layers of the colloidin. 
They should not be boiled until they are odor- 
less. 

The colloidin capsules are removed from the 
glass rods by immersing them in boiling water 
for ten minutes using the glass rods to con- 
trol the capsules. Leaks may be detected by 
blowing through the glass rods. If no leaks 
are detected the capsules can be easily re- 
moved from the glass when the gelatin has 
melted. The capsules generally contain gela- 
tine which may be objectionable in some ex- 
periments. This may be removed by filling 
the capsules with water and boiling them 
briskly for one half hour. If any of the gela- 
tin remains, the process must be repeated until 
all has been removed. 5 

The finished capsules may be filled with 
bouillon, water or any liquid media and steril- 
ized by intermittent sterilization, after which 
they may be inoculated by platinum needle, 
pipette or hypodermic syringe. Sealing is ac- 
complished by placing a drop of thick colloidon 
in the neck of the capsule and allowing it to 
harden. Leaks may be detected by washing 
the capsule with sterilized water, after which 
it is dropped into a tube of sterilized broth and 
incubated twenty-four hours. 

Witttam W. Browne, 


Davi SoLeTsky 
THE COLLEGE OF THE City OF NEw YORK 


SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 


THE WISCONSIN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, ARTS AND 
LETTERS 


THE academy in conjunction with the Wisconsin 
‘Archeological Society, the Wisconsin Audubon So- 
ciety, the Madison Mycological Society, the Wis- 
eonsin Mycological Society and the Wisconsin 
Natural History Society, held its forty-fourth 
annual meeting at Milwaukee in the Public Mu- 
seum, when the following program was presented: 


First Session Thursday, April 9, at 9 o’clock 

“<Some Problems Involved in the Cultivation of 
Medicinal Plants,’’ by Edward Kremers. 

“‘The Garden City Movement in England and 
Germany,’’? by L. S. Smith. (Illustrated.) 


SCIENCE 


177 


“The Significance of Highway Maintenance in 
the United States,’’ by L. S. Smith. (By title.) 

“A New Indicator for Acids and Alkalis,’’ by 
A. F. Gilman. 

‘*Origin of the Republican Party,’’ by A. F. 
Gilman. 

“Some Variations Noted in Gall Stones,’? by 
G. A. Talbert. 

“*Geologie Occurrence of Radium Ores,’’ by 
Rufus Mather Bagg. (lllustrated.) 

‘‘The Relation of the Corpus Christi Procession 
to the Corpus Christi Play in England,’’ by Merle 
Pierson. 

“*Some Versions of English Ballads Collected in 
Milton,’? by Mabel Maxson. 

“‘William Gager and the Academie Drama at 
Oxford,’’ by Karl Young. (By title.) 

The second session was held on the evening of 
Thursday, April 9, at 7:30 o’clock, when Pro- 
fessor S. W. Williston, of the University of Chi- 
cago, delivered a lecture on ‘‘Harly Land Animals 
of North America.’’ This lecture was fully illus- 
trated by many restorations of early extinct ani- 
mals for the most part made by the lecturer. The 
lecture was well attended by the public, and was 


most interesting and valuable. 


Third Session, Friday, April 10, at 9:30 o’clock 


‘<The Climate of Madison, Wis. 1. A discussion 
of the observations of temperature, 1869 to 1913,’? 
by Eric BR. Miller. 

““The Approach to Popular Literature,’’ by 
Arthur Beatty. 

“A Method for Determining Approximate Meta- 
bolic Demands of Plants for Soil Water,’’ by H. 
EH. Pulling. (By title.) 

‘¢Physiological Changes Causing Black Heart 
in Potato Tubers,’’ by E. T. Bartholomew. (By 
title.) ; 

‘<Wurther Studies on Wisconsin Tremellinex,’’ 
by E. M. Gilbert. (By title.) 

**Successful Method for Growing Clitocybe 
illudens and Armillaria mellea,’’ by V. H. Young. 
(By title.) 

“The Effect of Lateral Pressure on the Forma- 
tion and Direction of Growth of Plant Organs,’’ 
by J. B. Overton. (By title.) 

“‘The Development of Botanical Microtech- 
nique,’’ by Gilbert M. Smith. (By title.) 

“<The Reaction of Pigment Cells in the Trout to 
Chemical Stimuli,’’? by John M. Loshinski. 

“¢Fertilization in the Parasitic Copepoda, Ler- 
neopoda Edwards Olsson,’’? by Nathan Fasten. 

“‘Mutation and Atavism in Plants,’’ by How- 
land Russell. 

‘“*Heat Budgets of Huropean and American 
Lakes,’’ by E. A. Birge. 

“*Physiological Age as Determined by Growth 
of Epiphasis of Wrist Bones,’’ by A. H. Yoder. 

“On Habits and Relationship of Some Muscoid 
Flies,’’ by Sigmund Graenicher. 

‘<Wield Record of the Wisconsin Mycological So- 
ciety for the Season of 1913,’ by Dr. Lewis Sher- 
man. : 


178 


‘Species of Clitocybe in the Region of the 
Great Lakes,’’? by Edward T. Harper. (By title.) 

“‘Notes on Parasitic Fungi in Wisconsin,’’ by 
J. J. Davis. (By title.) 

‘American Water-mites of the Genus Atrac- 
tides,’’ by Ruth Marshall. (By title.) 

“‘The Land Vertebrates of Ridgeway Bog, Wis- 
consin; their Ecological Succession and Source of 
Ingression,’’ by Hartley H. T. Jackson. (By 
title.) 


Fourth Session, Friday, April 10, at 2 o’clock 


“CA Wisconsin Collection of Native Copper Im- 
plements,’’ by H. F. Hamilton. 

“‘TIndian Harthworks and Sites 
County,’’ by H. H. Cole. 

““Archeological Researches in Western Wiscon- 
sin,’’ by George H. Squier. (By title.) 

“‘The Fond du Lac Cache of Copper Imple- 
ments,’’ by W. A. Titus. (Read by C. H. Brown.) 

““Cairmns and Garden Beds in Winnebago 
County,’’ by George R. Fox. 

““The Racial Characteristics of Wisconsin’s 
Population,’’ by Ellis B. Usher. 

“*Picture Writing by the Esquimaux,’’ by 
George A. West. 

““ Archeological Hvidences in Door County,’’ by 
J. P. Schumacher. (By title.) 

“«Tnvestigation of the Antiquities of Juneau 
County,’’ by Ira M. Buell. (By title.) 

““Archeological Researches in the Northwest 
Wisconsin Counties,’’? by Charles EH. Brown. (By 
title.) 

“Survey of the Antiquities of the Green Lake 
Region,’’ by Towne L. Miller. (By title.) 

““Hixtension of the Range of Indian Garden Beds 
and Corn Fields in Wisconsin,’’? by Charles E. 
Brown. 

“‘Some Problems in Bird Protection,’’ by Victor 
Kutchin. (By title.) 

‘“Vanishing Horse-sense,’’ by Victor Kutchia. 
(By title.) 

“The Struggle for Game Conservation and Game 
Breeding Foci,’’? by A. C. Burrill. 

“(Enforcement of the McLean Law for a Pro- 
tection of Migratory Birds, etc.,’’ by H. A. Cleasby. 
(By title.) 

Papers 42 and 43 were not read, as Mr. Victor 
Kutchin was prevented by illness from being pres- 
ent. 2 
Paper 45 was not presented, as Mr. H. A. 
Cleasby could not leave Iowa at this time because 
his presence was necessary to provide for the ade- 
quate protection of birds. In his absence, Mr. A. 
C. Burrill read a letter from Mr. Cleasby, gave an 
explanation of the present situation in Iowa, and 
presented in some detail the national work for the 
protection of birds which is being done by Mr. 
Cleasby. 

The academy then adjourned. Next year the 
annual meeting will be held at Madison, when 
officers will be elected for the succeeding three 


years. At that time, the forty-fifth anniversary 


in Adams 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Von. XL. No. 1022 


of the founding of the academy will be observed. 
The present officers are: 
President, Professor Dana C. Munro. 
Secretary and Treasurer, Professor 
Beatty. 
Librarian, Walter M. Smith. 
ARTHUR BEATTY, 
Secretary 


Arthur 


THE KENTUCKY ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 

THE Kentucky Academy of Science was organ- 
ized on May 8, 1914, at a meeting held at State 
University, Lexington, Ky. 

Sixty members were enrolled, and the following 
were elected as officers: President, J. H. Kastle; 
Vice-president, N. EF. Smith; Secretary, Garnett 
Ryland; Treasurer, W. N. Anderson. Papers and 
addresses were delivered as follows: 

““Some Features of the Ossification of Bones,’’ 
by J. W. Pryor. 

“Work of the U. S. Bureau of Mines,’’ by Van 
H. Manning, of Washington, D. C. 

“¢The Work of the Experiment Station and the 
Agricultural Prosperity of Kentucky,’’ by Jos. H. 
Kastle. 

“‘Science and the State,’’? by Stanley Coulter, 
of Purdue University. 

GARNETT RYLAND, 
Secretary 
June 30, 1914 


NEW ORLEANS ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 

THE regular monthly meeting of the New Or- 
leans Academy of Sciences was held in Stanley 
Thomas Hall, Tulane University, on Tuesday, May 
19. President W. B. Gregory presided with a 
large attendance of fellows and members. ‘The 
program of the evening was a paper by Dr. R. B. 
Bean on ‘‘The Time of Eruption and Extent of 
Decay of the Permanent Teeth in Relation to 
Race, Sex, Stature, Morphologic Form, School 
Grade and Development of the Individual.’’ The 
speaker called attention to the racial differences 
between Filipino, German and American children 
in these respects. There was considerable discus- 
sion of the paper by Dr. A. G. Friedrichs and 
other dentists and doctors. After the close of the 
discussion and adjournment refreshments were 
served to the fellows and members. The next 
meeting of the academy will not be held until Oc- 
tober. 

R. S. Cocks, 
Secretary 


oe NCE 


Fripay, Aucust 7, 1914 


NEw SERIES 
VoL. XL. No. 1023 


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SCIENCE 


Fray, Aueust 7, 1914 


Some Aspects of Industrial Chemistry: Dr. 


L. H, BAEKELAND 179 


Preliminary Report on the Discovery of Hu- 
man Remains in an Asphalt Deposit at 
Rancho la Brea: PROFESSOR JOHN C. 


MERRIAM 198 


The 72-inch Reflecting Telescope for Canada. 203 


Scientific Notes and News 204 


University and Educational News 207 


Discussion and Correspondence :-— 


The Problem of Gravity: Cou. JOHN MILs. 
A Simple Method for Filling an Osmometer: 


Lartit1a M. SNow 207 


Quotations :-— 


The Proposed Union of Scientific Workers. 208 


Scientific Books :— 


Holland and Peterson on The Osteology of 
the Chalicotheroidea: PROFESSOR RICHARD 
Swann Luby. Newmann and Mayer’s 
Atlas und Lehrbuch wichtiger tierischer 


Parasiten: PROFESSOR CHARLES A. Kororp. 209 


The Relation between Lizards and Phlebotomus 
verrucarum, as indicating the Reservoir of 
Verruga: Dr. CHARLES H. T. TOWNSEND. 212 


Special Articles :— 


The Permeability of Fish Eggs: Dr. J. F. 
McCuenDon. The Effect of Soil Conditions 
on the Tassels of Maize: FRANK S. Harris. 


Ascaris Suum in Sheep: Don €. More .... 214 


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


SOME ASPECTS OF INDUSTRIAL 
CHEMISTRY1 


Wuite I appreciate deeply the distinc- 
tion of speaking before you on the occasion 
of the fiftieth anniversary of the Colum- 
bia School of Mines, I realize, at the same 
time, that nobody here present could do 
better justice to the subject which has been 
chosen for this lecture, than the beloved 
master in whose honor the Charles Freder- 
ick Chandler Lectureship has been created. 

Dr. Chandler, in his long and eminently 
useful career as a professor and as a public 
servant, has assisted at the very beginning 
of some of the most interesting chapters of 
applied chemistry, here and abroad. 

Some of his pupils have become leaders 
in chemical industry; others have found in 
his teachings the very conception of new 
chemical processes which made their names 
known throughout the whole world. 

Industrial chemistry has been defined 
as ‘‘the chemistry of dollars and cents.’’ 

This rather cynical definition, in its nar- 
rower interpretation, seems to ignore en- 
tirely the far-reaching economic and civil- 
izing influences which have been brought to 
life through the applications of science; it 
fails to do justice to the fact that the whole 
fabric of modern civilization becomes each 
day more and ever more interwoven with 


‘the endless ramifications of applied chem- 


istry. 
The earlier effects of this influence do 


not date back much beyond one hundred 


and odd years. They became distinctly evi- 
dent during the first French Republic, in- 
1An address given at Columbia University to 


inaugurate the Charles F. Chandler lectureship. 
Copyrighted by the Columbia University Press. 


1380 


creased under Napoleon, gradually spread 
to neighboring countries, and then reaching 
out farther, their influence is now obvious 
throughout the whole world. 

France, during the revolution, scattered 
to the winds old traditions and convention- 
alities, in culture as well as in politics. 
Until then, she had mainly impressed the 
world by the barbaric, wasteful splendor of 
her opulent kings, at whose courts the 
devotees of science received scant attention 
in comparison to the more ornamental 
artists and belles-lettrists, who were petted 
and rewarded alongside of the all-impor- 
tant men of the sword. 

In fact, as far as the culture of science 
was concerned, the Netherlands, Germany 
and Italy, and more particularly, England, 
were head and shoulders above the France 
of ‘‘le Roi Soleil.”’ 

The struggles of the new régime put 
France in the awkward position of the 
legendary beaver which ‘‘had to climb a 
tree.’’ 

If for no other reason, she needed scien- 
tists to help her in her wars against the 
rulers of other Huropean nations. She 
needed them just as much for repairing 
her crippled finances and her badly dis- 
turbed industries which were dependent upon 
natural products imported until then, but 
of which the supply had suddenly been 
eut oft by the so-called Continental Block- 
ade. Money-prizes and other inducements 
had been offered for stimulating the devel- 
opment of chemical processes, and—what 
is More significant—patent laws were pro- 
mulgated so as to foster invention. 

Nicolas Leblanc’s method for the manu- 
facture of soda to replace the imported 
alkalis, Berthollet’s method for bleaching 
with chlorine, the beet-sugar industry, to 
replace cane sugar imported from the 
colonies, and several other processes, were 
proposed. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1023 


All these chemical processes found them- 
selves soon lifted from the hands of the 
secretive alchemist or the timid pharmacist 
to the rank of real manufacturing methods. 
Industrial chemistry had begun its lusty 
career, 

First successes stimulated new endeavors 
and small wonder is it that France, with 
these favorable conditions at hand, for a 
while at least, entered into the most glori- 
ous period of that part of her history 
which relates to the development of chem- 
istry, and the arts dependent thereon. 

It is difficult to imagine that, at that 
time, Germany, which now occupies such 
an enviable position in chemistry, was so 
far behind that even in 1822, when Liebig 
wanted to study chemistry at the best 
schools, he had to leave his own country, 
and turn to Gay-Lussac, Thénard and 
Dulong in Paris. 

But the British were not slow to avail 
themselves of the new opportunities in 
chemical manufacturing so clearly indi- 
cated by the first successes of the French. 
Their linen bleacheries in Scotland and 
England soon used an improved method for 
bleaching with chloride of lime, developed 
by Tennant, which brought along the manu- 
facture of other chemicals relating thereto, 
like sulphuric acid and soda. 

The chemical reactions involved in all 
these processes are relatively simple, and 
after they were once well understood, it 
required mainly resourceful engineering 
and good commercial abilities to build up 
successfully the industries based thereon. 

From this epoch on dates the beginning 
of the development of that important in- 
dustry of heavy chemicals in which the 
British led the world for almost a century. 

In the same way, England had become 
the leader in another important branch of 
chemical industry—the manufacture of 
coal-gas. 


Aucust 7, 1914] 


The Germans were soon to make up for 
lost time. Those same German universities 
which, when Liebig was a young man, were 
so poorly equipped for the study of chem- 
istry, were now enthusiastically at work on 
research along the newer developments of 
the physical sciences, and, before long, the 
former pupils of France, in their turn, be- 
came teachers of the world. 

Liebig had inaugurated for the chemical 
Students working under him his system of 
research laboratories; however modest these 
laboratories may have been at that time, 
they carried bodily the study of chemistry 
from pedagogic boresomeness into a capti- 
vating cross-examination of nature. 

And it seemed as if nature had been 
waiting impatiently to impart some of her 
secrets to the children of men, who for so 
many generations had tried to settle truth 
and knowledge by words and oratory and 
by brilliant displays of metaphysical con- 
troversies. 

Indeed, at that time, a few kitchen tables, 
some clumsy glass-ware, a charcoal furnace 
or two, some pots and pans, and a modest 
balance were all that was needed to make 
nature give her answers. 

These modest paraphernalia, eloquent 
by their very simplicity, brought forth 
rapidly succeeding’ discoveries. One of 
them was truly sensational: Liebig and 
Wohler succeeded in accomplishing the 
direct synthesis of urea; thinking men 
began to realize the far-reaching import of 
this revolutionary discovery whereby a 
purely organic substance had been created 
in the laboratory by starting exclusively 
from inorganic materials. This result up- 
set all respected doctrines that organic 
substances are of a special enigmatie con- 
stitution, altogether different from inor- 
ganic or mineral compounds, and that they 
only could be built up by the agency of 


SCIENCE 


181 


the so-called ‘‘vital force’’—whatever that 
might mean. 

Research in organic chemistry became 
more and more fascinating; all available 
organic substances were being investigated 
one after another by restless experi- 
mentalists. 

Coal-tar, heretofore a troublesome by- 
product of gas manufacture, notwithstand- 
ing its uninviting, ill-smelling, black sticky 
appearance, did not escape the general 
inquisitive tendency; some of its constitu- 
ents, like benzol or others, were isolated 
and studied. 

Under the brilliant leadership of Kékulé, 
a successful attempt was made to correlate 
the rapidly increasing new experimental 
observations in organic chemistry into a 
new theory which would try to explain all 
the numerous facts; a theory which became 
the sign-post to the roads of further 
achievements. 

The discovery of quickly succeeding 
processes for making from coal-tar deriv- | 
atives numerous artificial dyes, rivaling, if 
not surpassing, the most brilliant colors of 
nature, made the group of bold investi. 
gators still bolder. Research in organic 
chemistry began to find rapid rewards; 
entirely new and successful industries 
based on purely scientific data were spring- 
ing up in England and France, as well as 
in Germany. 

Some wide-awake leaders of these new 
enterprises, more particularly in Germany, 
soon learned that they were never ham- 
pered by too much knowledge, but: that, 
on the contrary, they were almost continu- 
ously handicapped in their impatient on- 
ward march by insufficient knowledge, or 
by misleading conceptions, if not by incor- 
rect published facts. 

This is precisely where the study of 
organic chemistry received its greatest 
stimulating influence and soon put Ger- 


182 


many in this branch of science, ahead of all 
other nations. 

Money and effort had to be spent freely 
for further research. The best scholars in 
chemistry were called into action. Some 
men, who were preparing themselves to 
become professors, were induced to take a 
leading part as directors in one or an- 
other of the new chemical enterprises. 
Others, who refused to forsake their 
teachers’ career, were retained as advisers 
or guides, and, in several instances, the 
honor of being the discoverers of new proc- 
esses, or a new dye, was made more sub- 
stantial by financial rewards. The modest 
German university professor, who hereto- 
fore had lived within a rather narrow 
academic sphere, went through a process 
of evolution, where the rapidly growing 
chemical industry made him realize his 
latent powers and greater importance, and 
broadened his influence far beyond the 
confines of his lecture-room. Even if he 
were altruistic enough to remain indiffer- 
ent to fame or money, he felt stimulated 
by the very thought that he was helping, 
in a direct manner, to build up the nation 
and the world through the immediate appli- 
cation of the principles of science. 

In the beginning, science did all the 
giving and chemical industry got most of 
the rewards; but soon the roles began to 
change to the point where frequently they 
became entirely inverted. The universities 
did not furnish knowledge fast enough to 
keep pace with the requirements of the 
rapidly developing new industries. Modern 
research laboratories were organized by 
some large chemical factories on a scale 
never conceived before, with a lavishness 
which made the best equipped university 
laboratory appear like a timid attempt. 
Germany, so long behind France and Eng- 
land, had become the recognized leader in 
organic manufacturing processes, and 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1023 


developed a new industrial chemistry based 
more on the thorough knowledge of organic 
chemistry than on engineering skill. 

Tn this relation, it is worth while to point 
out that the early organic industrial chem- 
istry, through which Germany was soon to 
become so important, at first counted its 
output not in tons, but in pounds—not in 
size nor in quantity, but in variety and 
quality. 

Now let us see how Germany won her 
spurs in chemical engineering as well: 

At the beginning, the manufacturing 
problems in organic chemistry involved 
few, if any, serious engineering difficulties, 
but required, most of all, a sound theoret- 
ical knowledge of the subject; this put a 
premium on the scientist, and could afford, 
for awhile at least, to ignore the engineer. 
But when growing developments began to 
claim the help of good engineers, there 
was no difficulty whatsoever in supplying 
them, nor in making them cooperate with 
the scientists. In fact, since then, Germany 
has solved, just as successfully, some of the 
most extraordinary chemical engineering 
problems ever undertaken, although the 
development of such processes was entered 
upon at first from the purely scientific side. 

In almost every case, it was only after 
the underlying scientific facts had been 
well established, that any attempt was 
made to develop them commercially. 

Healthy commercial development of new 
scientific processes does not build its hope 
of success upon the cooperation of that 
class of ‘‘promoters’’ which are always 
eager to find any available pretext for 
making ‘‘quick money,’’ and whose scien- 
tifie ignorance contributes conveniently to 
their comfort by not interfering too much 
with their self-assurance and their voluble 
assertions. The history of most of the suc- 
cessful recent chemical processes abounds 
in examples where, even after the under- 


Auecust 7, 1914]. 


lying principles were well established, long 
and costly preparatory team-work had to 
be undertaken; where foremost scientists, 
as well as engineers of great, ability, had to 
combine their knowledge, their skill, their 
perseverance, with the support of large 
chemical companies, who, in their turn, 
could rely on the financial backing of 
strong banking concerns, well advised by 
tried expert specialists. 

History does not record how many proc- 
esses thus submitted to careful study were 
rejected because, on close examination, they 
were found to possess some hopeless short- 
comings. In this way, numerous fruitless 
efforts and financial losses were averted, 
where less carefully accumulated knowl- 
edge might have induced less scrupulous 
promoters to secure money for plausible 
but ill-advised enterprises. 

In the history of the manufacture of 
artificial dyes, no chapter gives a more 
striking instances of long, assiduous and 
expensive preliminary work of the highest 
order than the development of the indus- 
trial synthesis of indigo. Here was a sub- 
stance of enormous consumption which, 
until then, had been obtained from the 
tropics as a natural product of agriculture. 

Professor yon Baeyer and his pupils, by 
long and marvelously clever laboratory 
' work, had succeeded in unraveling the 
chemical constitution of this indigo dye, 
and had finally indicated some possible 
methods of synthesis. Notwithstanding all 
this, it took the Badische Aniline & Soda 
Fabrik about twenty years of patient re- 
search work, carried out by a group of 
eminent chemists and engineers, before a 
satisfactory method was devised by which 
the artificial product could compete in 
price and in quality with natural indigo. 

Germany, with her vwell-administered 
and easily enforcible patent laws, has 
added, through this very agency, a most 


SCIENCE 


1383 


vital inducement for pioneer work in chem- 
ical industries. Who otherwise would dare 
to take the risk of all the expenses con- 
nected with this class of creative work? 
Moreover, who would be induced to pub- 
lish the result of his discoveries far and 
wide throughout the whole world in that 
steadily flowing stream of patent literature, 
which, much sooner than any text-books or 
periodicals, enables one worker to be bene- 
fited and to be inspired by the publication 
of the latest work of others? 

The development of some problems of 
industrial chemistry has enlisted the bril- 
liant collaboration of men of so many 
different nationalities that the final success 
could not, with any measure of justice, be 
ascribed exclusively to one single race or 
nation; this is best illustrated by the inven- 
tion of the different methods for the fixation 
of nitrogen from the air. 

This extraordinary achievement, although 
scarcely a few years old, seems already an 


ordinary link in the chain of common, cur- 


rent events of our busy life; and yet, the 
facts connected with this recent conquest 
reveal a modern tale of great deeds of the 
race—an epos of applied science. 

Its story began the day when chemistry 
taught us how indispensable are the nitrog- 
eneous substances for the growth of all liv- 
ing beings. 

Generally speaking, the most expensive 
food-stuffs are precisely those which con- 
tain most nitrogen; for the simple reason 
that there is, and always has been, at some 
time or another, a shortage of nitrogeneous 
foods in the world. Agriculture furnishes 
us these proteid- or nitrogen-containing 
bodies, whether we eat them directly as 
vegetable products, or indirectly as ani- 
mals which have assimilated the proteids 
from plants. It so happens, however, that 
by our ill-balanced methods of agriculture, 
we take nitrogen from the soil much faster 


184 


than it is supplied to the soil through 
natural agencies. We have tried to remedy 
this discrepancy by enriching the soil with 
manure or other fertilizers, but this has 
been found totally insufficient, especially 
with our methods of intensive culture—our 
fields want more nitrogen. So agriculture 
has been looking anxiously around to find 
new sources of nitrogen fertilizer. For a 
short time, an excellent supply was found 
in the guano deposits of Peru; but this 
material was used up so eagerly that the 
supply lasted only a very few years. In 
the meantime, the ammonium salts recoyv- 
ered from the by-products of the gas-works 
have come into steady use as nitrogen 
fertilizer. But, here again, the supply is 
entirely insufficient, and during the later 
period our main reliance has been placed on 
the natural beds of sodium nitrate, which 
are found in the desert regions of Chile. 
This has been, of late, our principal source 
of nitrogen for agriculture, as well as for 
the many industries which require salt- 
peter or nitric acid. 

In 1898, Sir William Crookes, in his 
memorable presidential address before the 
British Association for the Advancement 
of Science, called our attention to the 
threatening fact that, at the increasing rate 
of consumption, the nitrate beds of Chile 
would be exhausted before the middle of 
this century. Here was a warning—an 
alarm call—raised to the human race by 
one of the deepest scientific thinkers of our 
generation. It meant no more nor less than 
that before long our race would be con- 
fronted with nitrogen starvation. In a 
given country, all other conditions being 
equal, the abundance or the lack of nitrogen 
available for nutrition is a paramount 
factor in the degree of general welfare, or 
of physical decadence. The less nitrogen 
there is available as food-stuffs, the nearer 
the population is to starvation. The great 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1023. 


famines in such nitrogen-deficient countries 
as India and China and Russia are sad 
examples of nitrogen starvation. 

And yet, nitrogen, as such, is so abun- 
dant in nature that it constitutes four fifths 
of the air we breathe. Every square mile 
of our atmosphere contains nitrogen enough 
to satisfy our total present consumption 
for over half a century. However, this 
nitrogen is unavailable as long as we do 
not find means to make it enter into some 
suitable chemical combination. Moreover, 
nitrogen was generally considered inactive, 
and inert, because it does not enter readily 
in chemical combination. 

William Crookes’s disquieting message of 
rapidly approaching nitrogen starvation 
did not cause much worry to politicians— 
they seldom look so far ahead into the 
future. But, to the men of science, it rang 
like a reproach to the human race. Here, 
then, we were in possession of an imex- 
haustible store of nitrogen in the air, and 
yet, unless we found some practical means . 
for tying some of it into a suitable chem- 
ical combination, we should soon be in a 
position similar to that of a shipwrecked 
sailor, drifting around on an immense ocean 
of brine, and yet slowly dying for lack of 
drinking water. 

As a guiding beacon, there was, however, 
that simple experiment, carried out in a 
little glass tube, as far back as 1785, by 
both Cavendish and Priestley, which 
showed that if electric sparks were passed 
through air, the oxygen thereof was able 
to burn some of the nitrogen and to en- 
gender nitrous vapors. 

This seemingly unimportant laboratory 
curiosity, so long dormant in the text-books, 
was made a starting point by Charles S. 
Bradley and D. R. Lovejoy, in Niagara 
Falls, for creating the first industrial ap- 
paratus for converting the nitrogen of the 


Auveust 7, 1914] 


air into nitric acid by means of the electric 
are. 

As early as 1902, they published their 
results as well as the details of their appa- 
ratus. Although they operated only one 
full-sized unit, they demonstrated conclu- 
sively that nitric acid could thus be pro- 
duced from the air in unlimited quantities. 
We shall examine later the reasons why this 
pioneer enterprise did not prove a commer- 
cial success; but to these two American in- 
ventors belongs, undoubtedly, the credit of 
having furnished the first answer to the 
distress call of Sir William Crookes. 

In the meantime, many other investi- 
gators were at work at the same problem, 
and soon from Norway’s abundant water- 
falls came the news that Birkeland and 
Hyde had solved successfully, and on a 
commercial scale, the same problem by a 
differently constructed apparatus. The 
Germans, too, were working on the same 
subject, and we heard that Schoenherr, also 
Pauling, had evolved still other methods, 
all, however, based on the Cavendish- 
Priestley principle of oxidation of nitrogen. 
In Norway alone the artificial salpeter 
factories use now, day and night, over 200,- 
000 electrical horse-power, which will soon 
be doubled; while a further addition is 
contemplated which will bring the volume 
of electric current consumed to about 500,- 
000 horse-power. The capital invested at 
present in these works amounts to $27,- 
000,000. 

Frank and Caro, in Germany, succeeded 
in creating another profitable industrial 
process whereby nitrogen could be fixed by 
carbide of calcium, which converts it into 
calcium cyanamide, an excellent fertilizer 
by itself. By the action of steam on cya- 
namide, ammonia is produced, or it can be 
made the starting point of the manufacture 
of cyanides, so profusely used for the treat- 
ment of gold and silver ores. 


SCIENCE 


185 


Although the synthetic nitrates have 
found a field of their own, their utilization 
for fertilizers is smaller than that of the 
cyanamide; and the latter industry repre- 
sents, to-day, an investment of about $30,- 
000,000, with three factories in Germany, 
two in Norway, two in Sweden, one in 
France, one in Switzerland, two in Italy, 
one in Austria, one in Japan, one in Can- 
ada, but not any in the United States. The 
total output of cyanamide is valued at 
$15,000,000 yearly and employs 200,000 
horse-power, and preparations are made at 
almost every existing plant for further 
extensions. An English company is con- 
templating the application of 1,000,000 
horse-power to the production of cyanam- 
ide and its derivatives, 600,000 of which 
have been secured in Norway and 400,000 
in Iceland. 

But still other processes are being devel- 
oped, based on the fact that certain metals 
or metalloids can absorb nitrogen, and can 
thus be converted into nitrides; the latter 
ean either be used directly as fertilizers 
or they can be made to produce ammonia 
under suitable treatment. 

The most important of these nitride 
processes seems to be that of Serpek, who, 
in his experimental factory at Niedermor- 
schweiler, succeeded in obtaining alumi- 
num nitride in almost theoretical quan- 
tities, with the use of an amount of elec- 
trical energy eight times less than that 
needed for the Birkeland-Hyde process and 
one half less than for the cyanamide proc- 
ess, the results being calculated for equal 
weights of “‘fixed’’ nitrogen. 

A French company has taken up the 
commercial application of this process 
which can furnish, besides ammonia, pure 
alumina for the manufacture of aluminum 
metal. 

An exceptionally ingenious process for 
the direct synthesis of ammonia, by the 


186 


direct union of hydrogen with nitrogen, 
has been developed by Haber in conjunc- 
tion with the chemists and engineers of the 
Badische Aniline & Soda Fabrik. 

The process has the advantage that it is 
not, like the other nitrogen-fixation proc- 
esses, paramountly dependent upon cheap 
power; for this reason, if for no other, it 
seems to be destined to a more ready appli- 
cation. The fact that the group of the 
three German chemical companies which 
control the process have sold out their 
former holdings in the Norwegian enter- 
prises to a Norwegian-French group, and 
are now devoting their energies to the com- 
mercial installation of the Haber process, 
has quite some significance as to expecta- 
tion for the future. 

The question naturally arises: Will there 
be an over-production and will these differ- 
ent rival processes not kill each other in 
slaughtering prices beyond remunerative 
production ? 

Ag to over-production, we should bear 
in mind that nitrogen fertilizers are already 
used at the rate of about $200,000,000 worth 
a year, and that any decrease in price, and, 
more particularly, better education in farm- 
ing, will probably lead to an enormously 
increased consumption. It is worth men- 
tioning here’ that in 1825, the first ship- 
load of Chile saltpeter, which was sent to 
Europe, could find no buyer, and was 
finally thrown into the sea as useless 
material. 

Then again, processes for nitric acid and 
processes for ammonia, instead of inter- 
fering, are supplementary to each other, 
because the world needs ammonia and 
ammonium salts, as well as nitric acid or 
nitrates. 

It should be pointed out also, that, ulti- 
mately, the production of ammonium 
nitrate may prove the most desirable 
method so as to minimize freight; for this 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. KL. No. 1023 


salt contains much more nitrogen to the 
ton than is the case with the more bulky 
ealcium-salt, under which form synthetic 
nitrates are now put into the market. 

Before leaving this subject, let us exam- 
ine why Bradley and Lovejoy’s efforts 
came to a standstill where others succeeded. 

First of all, the cost of power at Niagara 
Falls is three to five times higher than in 
Norway, and although at the time this was 
not strictly prohibitive for the manufac- 
ture of nitric acid, it was entirely beyond 
hope for the production of fertilizers. The 
relatively high cost of power in our country 
is the reason why the cyanamide enter- 
prise had to locate on the Canadian side 
of Niagara Falls, and why, up till now, 
outside of an experimental plant in the 
South (a 4,000 horse-power installation in 
North Carolina, using the Pauling process), 
the whole United States has not a single 
syuthetic nitrogen fertilizer works. 

The yields of the Bradley-Lovejoy appa- 
ratus were rather good. They succeeded in 
converting as much as two and one half 
per cent. of the air, which is somewhat 
better than their successors are able to 
accomplish. 

But their units, 12 kilowatts, were very 
much smaller than the 1,000 to 3,000 kilo- 
watts now used in Norway; they were also 
more delicate to handle, all of which made 
installation and operation considerably 
more expensive. 

However this was the natural phase 
through which any pioneer industrial 
development has to go, and it is more than 
probable that in the natural order of events, 
these imperfections would have been 
eliminated. i 

But the killing stroke came when finan- 
cial support was suddenly withdrawn. 

In the successful solution of similar 
industrial problems, the originators in 
Europe were not only backed by scientif- 


Aucust 7, 1914] 


ically well-advised bankers, but they were 
helped to the rapid solution of all the side 
problems by a group of specially selected 
scientific collaborators, as well as by all the 
resourcefulness of well-established chem- 
ical enterprises. 

That such conditions are possible in the 
United States has been demonstrated by 
the splendid team-work which led to the 
development of the modern Tungsten lamp 
in the research laboratories of the General 
Electric Company, and to the development 
of the Tesla polyphase motor, by the group 
of engineers of the Westinghouse Company. 

True, there are endless subjects of re- 
search and development which can be 
brought to success by the efforts of single 
independent inventors, but there are some 
problems of applied science which are so 
vast, so much surrounded with ramifying 
difficulties, that no one man, nor two men, 
however exceptional, can either furnish 
the brains or the money necessary for lead- 
ing to success within a reasonable time. 
For such special problems, the rapid co- 
operation of numerous experts and the 
financial resources of large establishments 
are indispensable. 

All these examples of the struggle for 
efficiency and improvement demonstrate 
why, in industrial chemistry, the question 
of dollars and cents has to be taken very 
much into consideration. 

From this standpoint at least, the ‘‘dol- 
lars and cents’’ argument can be inter- 
preted as a symptom of industrial effi- 
ciency, and thus, the definition sounds 
no longer as a reproach. With some allow- 
able degree of accuracy, it formulates one 
of the economic aspects of any acceptable 
industrial chemical process. 

_ Indeed, barring special conditions, as, 
for instance, incompetent or reckless man- 
agement, unfair competition, monopolies, 
or other artificial privileges, the money 


SCIENCE 


187 


success of a chemical process is the cash 
plebiscite of approval of the consumers. 
It is bound, after a time at least, to weed 
out the inefficient methods. 

Some chemists, who have little or no 
experience with industrial enterprises, are 
too much over-inclined to judge a chemical 
process exclusively from the standpoint of 
the chemical reactions involved therein, 
without sufficient regard to engineering 
difficulties, financial requirements, labor 
problems, market and trade conditions, 
rapid development of the art involving fre- 
quent disturbing improvements in methods 
and expensive changes in equipment, ad- 
vantages or disadvantages of the location 
of the plant, and other conditions so numer- 
ous and variable that many of them can 
hardly be foreseen even by men of experi- 
ence. 

And yet, these seemingly secondary con- 
siderations most of the time become the 
deciding factor of success or failure of an 
otherwise well-conceived chemical process. 

The cost of transportation alone will, 
frequently, decide whether a certain chem- 
ical process is economically possible or not. 
For instance, the big Washoe Smelter, in 
Montana, wastes enough sulphuric-dioxide 
gas to make daily 1,800 tons of sulphuric 
acid, but that smelter is too far distant 
from any possible market for such a quan- 
tity of otherwise valuable material. 

Another example of the kind is found in 
the natural deposits of soda or soda lakes 
in California. One of these soda lakes con- 
tains from thirty to forty-two million tons 
of soda. Here is a natural source of supply 
which would be ample to satisfy the world’s 
demand for many years to come. Similar 
deposits exist in other parts of the world, 
but the cost of transportation to a suffi- 
ciently large and profitable market is so 
exorbitant that, in the meantime, it is 
cheaper to erect at more convenient points 


188 


expensive chemical works in which soda is 
made chemically and from where the mar- 
ket can be supplied more profitably. 

In addition, we can cite the artificial ni- 
trate processes in Norway, which, notwith- 
standing their low efficiency and expensive 
installation, can furnish nitrate in compe- 
tition with the natural nitrate beds of 
Chile, because the latter are hampered by 
the cost of extraction from the soil where 
fuel for crystallization is expensive, in addi- 
tion to the considerable cost of freight. 

But there is no better example illustra- 
ting the far-reaching effect of seemingly 
secondary conditions upon the success of a 
chemical process than the history of the 
Leblane soda process. 

This famous process was the forerunner 
of chemical industry. For almost a century 
it dominated the enormous group of indus- 
tries of heavy chemicals, so expressively 
ealled by the French ‘‘lia Grande Indus- 
trie Chimique,’’ and now we are witnesses 
of the lingering death agonies of this 
chemical colossus. Through the Leblane 
process, large fortunes have been made and 
lost; but even after its death, it will leave 
a treasure of information to science and 
chemical engineering, the value of which 
ean hardly be overestimated. 

Here, then, is a very well worked-out 
process, admirably studied in all its details, 
which, in its heroic struggle for existence, 
has drawn upon every conceivable resource 
of ingenuity furnished by the most learned 
chemists and the most skilful engineers, 
who succeeded in bringing it to an extra- 
ordinary degree of perfection, and which, 
nevertheless, has to succumb before inexor- 
able, although seemingly secondary, condi- 
tions. 

Strange to say, its competitor, the Solvay 
process, entered into the arena after a suc- 
cession of failures. When Solvay, as a 
young man, took up this process, he was, 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1023 


himself, totally ignorant of the fact that 
no less than about a dozen able chemists 
had invented and reinvented the very re- 
action on which he had pinned his faith; 
that, furthermore, some had tried it on a 
commercial scale, and had, in every in- 
stance, encountered failure. At that time, 
all this must, undoubtedly, have been to 
young Solvay a revelation sufficient to dis- 
hearten almost anybody. But he had one 
predominant thought to which he clung as 
a last hope of success, and which would prob- 
ably have escaped most chemists; he rea- 
soned that, in this process, he starts from 
two watery solutions, which, when brought 
together, precipitate a dry product, bicar- 
bonate of soda; in the Leblane process, the 
raw materials must be melted together, 
with the use of expensive fuel, after which 
the mass is dissolved in water, losing all 
these valuable heat units, while more heat 
has again to be applied to evaporate to 
dryness. 

After all, most of the weakness of the Le- 
blane process resides in the greater con- 
sumption of fuel. But the cost of fuel, 
here again, is determined by freight rates. 
This is so true that we find that the last 
few Leblane works which manage to keep 
alive are exactly those which are situated 
near unusually favorable shipping points, 
where they can obtain cheap fuel, as well 
as cheap raw materials, and whence they 
can most advantageously reach certain 
profitable markets. 

But another tremendous handicap of the 
Leblane process is that it gives as one of its 
by-products, hydrochloric acid.  Profita- 
ble use for this acid, as such, can be found 
only to a limited extent. It is true that 
hydrochloric acid could be used in much 
larger quantities for many purposes where 
sulphuric acid is used now, but it has, 
against sulphuric acid, a great freight dis- 
advantage. In its commercially available 


Auveust 7, 1914] 


condition, it is an aqueous solution, con- 
taining only about one third of real acid, 
so that the transportation of one ton of 
acid practically involves the extra cost of 
freight of about two tons of water. Fur- 
thermore, the transportation of hydro- 
ehlorie acid in anything but glass carboys 
involves very difficult problems in itself, 
so that the market for hydrochloric acid 
remains always within a relatively small 
zone from its point of production. How- 
ever, for awhile at least, an outlet for this 
hydrochloric acid was found by converting 
it into a dry material which can easily be 
transported; namely, chloride of lime or 
bleachine-powder. 

The amount of bleaching-powder con- 
sumed in the world practically dictated the 
limited extent to which the Leblane proc- 
ess could be profitably worked in competi- 
tion with the Solvay process. But even 
this outlet has been blocked during these 
later years by the advent of the electrolytic 
alkali processes, which have sprung up 
successfully in several countries, and which 
give as a cheap by-product, chlorine, which 
is directly converted into chloride of lime. 

To-day, any process which involves the 
production of large quantities of hydro- 
ehlorie acid, beyond what the market can 
absorb as such, or as derivatives thereof, 
becomes a positive detriment, and foretells 
failure of the process. Even if we could 
afford to lose all the acid, the disposal of 
large quantities thereof conflicts imme- 
diately with laws and ordinances relative 
to the pollution of the atmosphere or 
streams, or the rights of neighbors, and 
occasions expensive damage suits. 

Whatever is said about hydrochloric 
acid applies to some extent to chlorine, pro- 
duced in the electrolytic manufacture of 
caustic soda. Here again, the develop- 
ment of the latter industry is limited, 
primarily, by the amount of chlorine which 


SCIENCE 


189 


the market, as such, or as chlorinated 
products, can absorb. 

At any rate, chlorine can be produced 
so much cheaper by electrolytic caustic 
alkali processes than formerly, and in the 
meantime the market price of chloride of 
lime has already been cut about in half. 

In as far as the rather young electrolytic 
alkali industry has taken a considerable 
development in the United States, let us 
examine it somewhat nearer. 

At present, the world’s production of 
chloride of lime approximates about half 
a million tons. 

We used to import all our chloride of 
lime from Europe, until about fifteen years 
ago, when the first successful electrolytic 
alkali works were started at Niagara Falls. 
That ingenious mercury cell of Hamilton 
Y. Castner—a pupil of Professor Chandler 
and one of the illustrious sons of the 
Columbia School of Mines—was first used, 
and his process still furnishes a large part 
of all the electrolytic caustic soda and 
chlorine manufactured here and abroad. 

At present, about 30,000 electrical horse- 
power are employed uninterruptedly for 
the different processes used in the United 
States, and our home production has in- 
ereased to the point where, instead of im- 
porting chloride of lime, we shall soon be 
compelled to export our surplus production. 

It looks now as if, for the moment at 
least, any sudden considerable increase in 
the production of chloride of lime would 
lead to over-production until new channels 
of consumption of chloride of lime or other 
chlorine products can be found. 

However, new uses for chlorine are being 
found every day. The very fact that com- 
mercial hydrochloric acid of exceptional 
purity is now being manufactured in Niag- 
ara Falls by starting from chlorine, indi- 
cates clearly that conditions are being 
reversed; no longer than a few years ago, 


190 


when chlorine was manufactured exclu- 
sively by means of hydrochloric acid, this 
would have sounded like a paradox. 

The consumption of chlorine for the 
preparation of organic chlorination prod- 
ucts utilized in the dye-stuff industry, is 
also increasing continually, and its use for 
the manufacture of tetrachloride of carbon 
and so-called acetylen chlorination prod- 
ucts, has reached quite some importance. 

There is probably a much overlooked but 
wider opening for chlorinated solvents in 
the fact that ethylen-gas can be prepared 
now at considerably lower cost than ace- 
tylen, and that ethylen-chloride, or the old 
known ‘‘Dutch Liquid,’’ is an unusually 
good solvent. Jt has, furthermore, the 
great advantage that its specific gravity is 
not too high, and its boilimg point, too, is 
about the right temperature. It ought to 
be possible to make it at such a low price 
that it would find endless applications 
where the use of other chlorination solvents 
has thus far been impossible. 

The chlorination of ores for certain 
metallurgical processes may eventually 
open a still larger field of consumption 
for chlorine. 

In the meantime, liquified chlorine gas, 
obtained by great compression, or by in- 
tense refrigeration, has become an impor- 
tant article of commerce, which can be 
transported in strong steel cylinders. Its 
main utilization resides in the manufacture 
of tin chloride by the Goldschmidt process 
for reclaiming tin-scrap. It is finding, 
also, increased applications as a bleaching 
agent and for the purification of drinking 
water, as well as for the manufacture of 
various chlorination products. 

Its great handicap for rapid introduction 
is again the question of freight, where 
heavy and expensive containers become in- 
dispensable. 

In most cases the transportation prob- 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Von. KL. No. 1023 


lem of chlorine is solved more economically 
by handling it as chloride of lime, which, 
after all, represents chlorine or oxygen in 
solid form, easily transportable. 

Tt would seem as if the freight diffi- 
culty could easily be eliminated by produc- 
ing the chlorine right at the spot of con- 
sumption. But this is not always so simple 
as it may appear. To begin with, the cost 
of an efficient plant for any electrolytic 
operation is always unusually high as com- 
pared to other chemical equipments. Then, 
also, small electrolytic alkali plants are 
not profitable to operate. Furthermore, 
the conditions for producing cheap chlorine 
depend on many different factors, which 
all have to coordinate advantageously ; for 
instance, cheap power, cheap fuel and 
cheap raw materials are essential, while, 
at the same time, a profitable outlet must 
be found for the caustic soda. 

Lately, there has been a considerable 
reduction of the market price of caustic 
soda; all this may have for effect that the 
less efficient electrolytic processes will grad- 
ually be eliminated; although this may not 
necessarily be the case for smaller plants 
which do not compete in the open market, 
but consume their own output for some 
special purpose. 

Several distinct types of electrolytic cells 
are now in successful use, but experience 
seems to demonstrate that the so-called 
diaphragm cells are cheapest to construct 
and to operate, provided, however, no 
exception be taken to the fact that the 
caustic soda obtained from diaphragm 
cells always contains some sodium chloride, 
usually yarying from two to three per 
cent., which it is not practical to eliminate, 
but which for almost all purposes does not 
interfere in the least with its commercial 
use. 

Mercury cells give a much purer caustic 
soda, and this may, in some cases, compen- 


Auveust 7, 1914] 


sate for their more expensive equipment 
and operation. Moreover, there are some 
purposes where the initial caustic solution 
of rather high concentration, produced 
directly in these cells, can be used as it 
is without further treatment, thus obviat- 
ing further concentration and cost of fuel. 

The expenses for evaporation and elimi- 
nation of salt from the raw caustic solu- 
tions imcrease to an exaggerated extent 
with some types of diaphragm cells, which 
produce only very weak caustic liquors. This 
is also the case with the so-called ‘‘gravity 
cell,’’ sometimes called the ‘‘bell type,’’ or 
““Aussig type,’’ of cell. But these gravity 
cells have the merit of dispensing with 
the delicate and expensive problem of dia- 
phragms. On the other hand, their units 
are very small, and, on this account, they 
necessitate a rather complicated installa- 
tion, occupying an unusually large floor 
space and expensive buildings. 

The general tendency is now toward cells 
which can be used in very large units, 
which can be housed economically, and of 
which the general cost of maintenance and 
renewal is small; some of the modern 
types of diaphragm cells are now success- 
fully operating with 3,000 to 5,000 amperes 
per cell. 

As to the possible future improvements 
in electrolytic alkali cells, we should men- 
tion that in some types the current efficien- 
cies have practically reached their maxi- 
mum, and average ampere efficiencies as 
high as 95 to 97 per cent. have been ob- 
tained in continuous practise. The main 
difficulty is to reinforce these favorable 
results by the use of lower voltage, without 
making the units unnecessarily bulky, or 
expensive in construction, or in mainte- 
nance, all factors which soon outweigh any 
intended saving of electric current. 

Here, more than in any other branch of 
chemical engineering, it is easy enough to 


SCIENCE 


191 


determine how ‘‘good’’ a cell is on a 
limited trial, but it takes expensive, long 
continuous use on a full commercial scale, 
running uninterruptedly day and night 
for years, to find out how ‘‘bad’’ it is for 
real commercial practise. 

In relation to the electrolytic alkali in- 
dustry, a great mistake is frequently com- 
mitted by considering the question of 
power as paramount; true enough, cheap 
power is very important, almost essential, 
but certainly it is not everything. There 
have been cases where it was found much 
cheaper in the end to pay almost double for 
electric current in a certain locality, than 
im another site not far distant from the 
first, for the simple reason that the cheaper 
power supply was hampered by frequent. 
iaterruptions and expensive disturbances, 
which more than offset any possible saving 
in cost of power. 

In further corroboration, it is well known 
that some of the most successful electro- 
lytic soda manufacturers have found it 
to their advantage to sacrifice power by 
running their cells at decidedly higher 
voltage than is strictly necessary—which 
simply means consuming more power—and 
this in order to be able to use higher cur- 
rent densities, thereby increasing consid- 
erably the output of the same size units, 
and thus economizing on the general cost 
of plant operation. Here is one of the 
ever recurring instances in chemical manu- 
facturing where it becomes more advan- 
tageous to sacrifice apparent theoretical 
efficiency in favor of industrial expediency. 

All this does not diminish the fact that 
the larger electrochemical industries can 
only thrive where cheap power is available. 

Modern progress of electrical engineer- 
ing has given us the means to utilize so- 
called natural powers; until now, however, 
we have only availed ourselves of the 
water-power developed from rivers, lakes 


192 


and waterfalls. As far as large electric 
power generation is concerned, the use of 
the wind, or the tide, or the heat of the 
sun, represents, up till now, nothing much 
beyond a mere hope of future possibilities. 

In the meantime, it so happens, unfor- 
tunately, that many of the most abundant 
water-powers of the world are situated in 
places of difficult access, far removed from 
the zone of possible utilization. 

But, precisely on this account, it would 
appear, at first sight, as if the United 
States, with some of her big water-powers 
situated nearer to active centers of con- 
sumption, would be in an exceptionally 
favorable condition for the development of 
electrochemical industries. On closer ex- 
amination, we find, however, that the cost 
of water-power, as sold to manufacturers, 
is, in general, much higher than might be 
expected; at any rate, it is considerably 
more expensive than the cost of electric 
power utilized in the Norway nitrate enter- 
prises. 

This is principally due to the fact that 
in the United States, water-power, before 
it is utilized by the electrolytic manufac- 
turer, has already to pay one, two and 
sometimes three, profits, to as many inter- 
mediate interests, which act as so many 
middlemen between the original water- 
power and the consumer. Only in such 
instances as in Norway, where the electro- 
chemical enterprise and the development 
of the water-power are practically in the 
same hands, can electric current be caleu- 
lated at its real cheapest cost. 

Neither should the fact be overlooked 
that the best of our water-powers in the 
east are situated rather far inland. Al- 
though this does not matter much for the 
home market, it puts us at a decided dis- 
advantage for the exportation of manufac- 
tured goods, in comparison again with Nor- 
way, where the electrolytic plants are 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1023 


situated quite close to a good sea-harbor 
open in all seasons. 

Some electrochemical enterprises require 
cheap fuel just as much as cheap power; 
and, on this account, it has proved some- 
times more advantageous to dispense en- 
tirely with water-power by generating gas 
for fuel as well as for power from cheap 
coal or still cheaper peat. 

At present most of our ways of using 
coal are still cumbersome and wasteful, 
although several efficient methods have 
been developed which some day will prob- 
ably be used almost exclusively, principally 
in such places where lower grades of cheap 
coal are obtainable. 

I refer here particularly to the valuable 
pioneer work of that great industrial chem- 
ist, Mond, on cheap water-gas production, 
by the use of limited amount of air in con- 
junction with water vapor. 

More recently, this process has been ex- 
tended by Caro, Frank and others, to the 
direct conversion of undried peat into 
fuel-gas. 

By the use of these processes, peat or 
lower grades of coal, totally unsuitable for 
other purposes, containing, in some in- 
stances, as mueh as 60 to 70 per cent. of 
incombustible constituents, can be used to 
good advantage in the production of fuel 
for power generation. 

Whether Mond-gas will ever be found 
advantageous for distribution to long dis- 
tances, is questionable, because its heating 
value per cubic foot is rather less than that 
of ordinary water-gas, but this does not 
interfere with its efficient use in internal 
combustion engines. 

In general, our methods for producing 
or utilizing gas in our cities do scant jus- 
tice to the extended opportunities indicated 
by our newer knowledge. 

Good fuel-gas could be manufactured 
and distributed to the individual household 


AueusT 7, 1914] 


consumer at considerably cheaper rates, if 
it were not for antiquated municipal speci- 
fications, which keep on prescribing pho- 
tometric tests instead of insisting on stand- 
ards of fuel value, which makes the cost of 
production unnecessarily high, and dis- 
regards the fact that for lighting, the Wels- 
bach mantle has rendered obsolete the use 
of highly carbureted gas as a bare flame. 
But for those unfortunate specifications, 
cheap fuel-gas might be produced at some 
advantageous central point, where very 
cheap coal is available; such heating gas 
could be distributed to every house and 
every factory, where it could be used 
cleanly and advantageously, like natural 
gas, doing away at once with the black coal 
smoke nuisance, which now practically 
compels a city like New York to use nothing 
but the more expensive grades of anthracite 
coal. It would eliminate, at the same time, 
all the bother and expense caused through 
the clumsy and expensive methods of trans- 
portation and handling of coal and ashes; 
it would relieve us from many unnecessary 
middlemen which now exist between coal 
and its final consumer. 5 

The newer large-sized internal combus- 
tion engines are introducing increasing 
opportunities for new centers of power 
production where waste gas of blast-fur- 
naces or coke-ovens, or where deposits of 
inferior coal or peat, are available. 

If such centers are situated near tide- 
water, this may render them still more 
advantageous for some _ electrochemical 
industries, which, until now, were com- 
pelled to locate near some inland water- 
powers. 

Nor should we overlook the fact that the 
newer methods for the production of cheap 
fuel-gas offer excellent opportunities for 
an imcreased production of valuable tar 
by-products, and more particularly of am- 
monium salts; the latter would help to a 


SCIENCE 


193 


not inconsiderable extent in furnishing 
more nitrogen fertilizer. 

It is somewhat remarkable that a greater 
effort has already been made to start the 
industrial synthesis of nitrogen products 
than to economize all these hitherto wasted 
sources of ammonia. 

In fact, science indicates still other ways, 
somewhat of a more radical nature, for 
correcting the nitrogen deficiencies in rela- 
tion to our food supply. 

Indeed, if we will look at this matter from 
a much broader standpoint, we may find 
that, after all, the shortage of nitrogen in 
the world is attributable to a large extent to 
our rather one-sided system of agriculture. 
We do not sufficiently take advantage of 
the fact that certain plants, for instance 
those of the group of Leguminose, have 
the valuable property of easily assimilating 
nitrogen from the air, without the necessity 
of nitrogen fertilizers. In this way, the 
culture of certain Leguminose can insure 
enough nitrogen for the soil, so that, in 
rotation with nitrogen consuming crops, 
like wheat, we could dispense with the 
necessity of supplying any artificial nitro- 
gen fertilizers. 

The present nitrogen deficiency is influ- 
enced further by two other causes: 

The first cause is our unnecessary exag- 
gerated meat diet, in which we try to find 
our proteid requirements, and which com- 
pels us to raise so many cattle, while the 
amount of land which feeds one head of 
eattle could furnish, if properly cultivated, 
abundant vegetable food for a family of 
five. 

The second cause is our insufficient 
knowledge of the way to grow and prepare 
for human food just those vegetables which 
are richest in proteids. Unfortunately, it 
so happens that exactly such plants as, for 
instance, the soy-bean are not by any means 
easily rendered palatable and digestible; 


194 


while any savage can eat raw meat, or can 
readily cook, boil or roast it for consump- 
tion. 

On this subject, we can learn much from 
some Hastern people, like the Japanese, 
who have become experts in the art of pre- 
paring a variety of agreeable food products 
from that refractory soy-bean, which con- 
tains such an astonishingly large amount 
of nutritious proteids, and which, long ago, 
became for Japan a wholesome, staple 
article of diet. 

But, on this subject, the Western races 
have not yet progressed much beyond the 
point of preparing cattle-feed and paint 
oil from the soy-bean, although the more 
extended culture of this, or sumilar plants, 
might work about a revolution in our agri- 
cultural economics. 

Agriculture, after all, is nothing but a 
very important branch of industrial chem- 
istry, although most people seem to ignore 
the fact that the whole prosperity of agri- 
culture is based on the success of that 
photochemical reaction which, under the 
influence of the light of the sun, causes the 
carbon dioxide of the air to be assimilated 
by the chlorophyl of the plant. 

It is not impossible that photochemistry, 
which hitherto has busied itself almost ex- 
clusively within the narrow limits of the 
art of making photographic images, will, 
some day, attain a development of useful- 
ness: at least as important as all other 
branches of physical chemistry. In this 
broader sense, photochemistry seems an in- 
viting subject for the agricultural chemist. 
The possible rewards in store in this almost 
virein field may, in their turn, by that effect 
of superinduction between industry and 
science, bring about a rapid development 
similar to what we have witnessed in the 
advancement of electricity, as well as chem- 
istry, which both began to progress by 
bounds and leaps, way ahead of other sci- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1023 


ences, aS soon as their growing industrial 
applications put a high premium on further 
research. 

Photochemistry may allow us some day 
to obtain chemical effects hitherto un- 
dreamed of. In general, the action of 
light in chemical reactions seems incom- 
parably less brutal than all means used 
heretofore in chemistry. This ig the prob- 
able secret of the subtle chemical syntheses 
which happen in plant life. To try to 
duplicate these delicate reactions of nature 
by our present methods of high tempera- 
tures, electrolysis, strong chemicals and 
other similar torture-processes, seems like 
trying to imitate a masterpiece of Gounod 
by exploding a dynamite cartridge between 
the strings of a piano. 

But there are endless other directions for 
scientific research, relating to industrin! 
applications, which, until now, do not seem 
to have received sufficient attention. 

For instance, from a chemical stand- 
point, the richest chemical enterprise of the 
United States, the petroleum industry, has 
hitherto chiefly busied itself with a rather 
primitive treatment of this valuable raw 
material, and little or no attention has 
been paid to any methods for transforming 
at least a part of these hydrocarbons into 
more ennobled products of commerce than 
mere fuel or illuminants. 

A hint as to the enormous possibilities 
which may be in store in that direction is 
suggested by the recent work in Germany 
and England on synthetic rubber; the only 
factor which prevents extending the labo- 
ratory synthesis of rubber into an immense 
industrial undertaking is that we have not 
yet learned how to make cheaply the iso- 
prene or other similar non-saturated hydro- 
carbons which are the starting point in the 
process which changes their molecules, by 
polymerization, into rubber. 

Nor has our science begun to find the 


AvcGusT 7, 1914] 


best uses for such inexpensive and never 
exhaustible vegetable products as cellu- 
lose or starch. Quite true, several impor- 
tant manufactures, like that of paper nitro- 
cellulose, glucose, alcohol, vinegar and 
some others, have been built on it; but to 
the chemist at least, it seems as if a much 
greater development is possible in the 
cheaper and more extended production of 
artificial fiber. Although we have suc- 
ceeded in making so-called artificial silk, 
this article is still very expensive; further- 
more, we have not yet produced a cheap, 
good, artificial fiber of the quality of wool. 

If we have made ourselves independent 
of Chile for our nitrogen supply, we are 
still absolutely at the mercy of the Stass- 
furt mines in Germany for our require- 
ments of soluble potash-salts, which are 
just as necessary for agriculture. Shall 
Wwe succeed in utilizing some of the pro- 
posed methods for converting that abun- 
dant supply of feldspar, or other insoluble 
potash-bearine rocks, into soluble potash- 
salts by combining the expensive heat treat- 
ment with the production of another mate- 
rial like cement, which would render the 
cost of fuel less exorbitant? Or shall the 
problem be solved in setting free soluble 
potassium salts as a by-product in a reac- 
tion engendering other staple products con- 
sumed in large quantities? 

We have several astonishingly conflict- 
ing theories about the constitution of the 
center of the globe, but we have not yet 
developed the means to penetrate the 
world’s crust beyond some deep mines— 
merely an imperceptible faint scratch on 
the surface—and in the meantime, we keep 
on guessing, while to-day astronomers know 
already more about the surface of the 
planet Mars than we know about the inte- 
rior of the globe on which we live. 

Nor have we learned to develop or utilize 
the tremendous pressures under which most 


SCIENCE 


195 


minerals have been formed, and still less 
do we possess the means to try these pres- 
sures, in conjunction with intensely high 
temperatures. 

No end of work is in store for the re- 
search chemist, as well as for the chemical 
engineer, who can think by himself, with- 
out always following the beaten track. We 
are only at the beginning of our successes, 
and yet, when we stop to look back to see 
what has been accomplished during the last 
generations, that big jump from the rule- 
of-thumb to applied science is nothing 
short of marvelous. 

Whoever is acquainted with the condi- 
tion of human thought to-day must find it 
strange, after all, that scarcely seventy 
years ago, Mayer met with derision even 
amongst the scientists of the time, when 
he announced to the world that simple but 
fundamental principle of the conservation 
of energy. 

We can hardly conceive that just about 
the time the Columbia School of Mines 
was founded, Liebig was still ridiculing 
Pasteur’s ideas on the imtervention of 
micro-organisms in fermentation, which 
have proved so fecund in the most epoch- 
making applications in science, medicine, 
surgery and sanitation, as well as in many 
industries. 

Fortunately, true science, contrary to 
other human avocations, recognizes nobody 
as an ‘‘authority,’’ and is willing to change 
her beliefs as often as better studied facts 
warrant it; this difference has been the 
most vital cause of her never ceasing prog- 
ress. ; 

To the younger generation, surrounded 
with research laboratories everywhere, it 
may cause astonishment to learn that 
searcely fifty years ago, that great bene- 
factor of humanity, Pasteur, was still re- 
peating his pathetic pleadings with the 
French government to give him more suita- 


196 


ble quarters than a damp, poorly lighted 
basement, in which he was compelled to 
carry on his research; and this was, then, 
the condition of affairs of no less a place 
than Paris, the same Paris that was spend- 
ing, just at that time, endless millions for 
the building of her new Opera-Palace. 

Such facts should not be overlooked by 
those who might think that America has 
been too slow in fostering chemical research. 

If the United States has not participated 
as early as some Huropean countries in the 
development of industrial chemistry, this 
was chiefly because conditions here were so 
totally different from those of nations like 
Germany, England and France, that they 
did not warrant any such premature efforts. 

In a country so full of primary re- 
sources, agriculture, forests, mines and the 
more elementary industries directly con- 
nected therewith, as well as the problems 
of transportation, appealed more urgently 
to American intellectual men of enterprise. 

Why should anybody here have tried to 
introduce new, difficult or risky chemical 
industries, when on every side, more 
urgently important fields of enterprise were 
inviting all men of initiative? 

Chemical industries develop along the 
lines furnished by the most immediate 
needs of a country. Our sulphuric acid 
industry, which can boast to-day of a 
yearly production of about three million 
tons, had to begin in an exceedingly humble 
way, and the first small amounts of sul- 
phuric acid manufactured here found a 
very scant outlet. 

It required the growth of such fields of 
application as petroleum refining, super- 
phosphates, explosives and others, before 
the sulphuric acid industry could grow to 
what it is to-day. 

At present, similar influences are still 
dominating our chemical industries; they 
are generally directed to the mass produc- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1023 


tion of partly manufactured articles. This 
allows us to export, at present, to Germany, 
chemicals in crude form, but in greater 
value than the total sum of all the chemical 
products we are importing from her; al- 
though it can not be denied that a consid- 
erable part of our imports are products 
like alizarine, indigo, aniline dyes and 
similar synthetic products which require 
higher chemical manufacturing skill. 

In this connection, it may be pointed out 
that our exports of oleomargarine, to Ger- 
many alone, are about equivalent to our 
imports of aniline dyes. 

But all this does not alter the fact that 
im several important chemical industries, 
the United States has been a pioneer. Such 
flourishing enterprises as that of the arti- 
ficial abrasives, carborundum and alundum, 
calcium carbide, aluminum and many 
others, testify how soon we have learned 
to avail ourselves of some of our water- 
power. 

One of the most important chemical in- 
dustries of the world, the sulphite cellulose 
industry, of which the total annual produc- 
tion amounts to three and a half million 
tons, was originated and developed by a 
chemist in Philadelphia, B. C. Tilgman. 
But its further development was stopped 
for awhile on account of the same old 
trouble, lack of funds, after $40,000 were 
spent, until some years later, it was taken 
up again in Hurope and reintroduced in 
the United States, where it has developed 
to an annual production of over a million 
tons. 

What has been accomplished in America 
in chemical enterprises, and what is going 
on now in industrial research, has been 
brilliantly set forth by Mr. Arthur D. 
Little.? 

Nor at any time in the history of the 


2 Journal of Ind. and Eng. Chem., Vol. 5, No. 10, 
October, 1913. 


Avueust 7, 1914] 


United States was chemistry neglected in 
this country ; this has recently been brought 
to light in the most convincing manner by 
Professor Edgar F. Smith of Philadelphia.® 

The altruistic fervor of that little group 
of earlier American chemists, who, in 1792, 
founded the Chemical Society of Philadel- 
phia (probably the very first chemical 
society in the world), and in 1811, the Co- 
lumbia Chemical Society of Philadelphia, 
is best illustrated by an extract of one of 
the addresses read at their meeting in 1798: 

The only true basis on which the independence 
of our country can rest are agriculture and manu- 
factures. To the promotion of these nothing 
tends in a higher degree than chemistry. It is 
this science which teaches man how to correct the 
bad qualities of the land he cultivates by a proper 
application of the various species of manure, and 
if is by means of a knowledge of this science that 
he is enabled to pursue the metals through the 
various forms they put on in the earth, separate 
them from substances which render them useless, 
and at length manufacture them into the various 
forms for use and ornament in which we see them. 
If such are the effects of chemistry, how much 
should the wish for its promotion be excited in the 
breast of every American! It is to a general dif- 
fusion of knowledge of this science; next to the 
virtue of our countrymen, that we are to look for 
the firm establishment of our independence. And 
may your endeavors, gentlemen, in this cause, en- 
title you to the gratitude of your fellow-citizens. 


This early scientific spirit has been kept 
alive throughout the following century by 
such American chemists as Robert Hare, 
HK. N. Horsford, Wolcott Gibbs, Sterry 
Hunt, Lawrence Smith, Carey Lea, Josiah 
P. Cooke, John W. Draper, Willard Gibbs 
and many others still living. 

Present conditions in America can be 
measured by the fact that the American 
Chemical Society alone has over seven 
thousand members, and the Chemists’ Club 
of New York has more than a thousand 
members, without counting the more spe- 


3¢*Chemistry im America,’’ published by D. 
Appleton & Co. New York and London, 1914. 


SCIENCE 


197 


cialized chemical organizations, equally 
active, like the American Institute of Chem- 
ical Engineers, the American Hlectro- 
chemical Society and many others. 

During the later years, chemical research 
is going on with increasing vigor, more 
especially in relation to chemical problems 
presented by enterprises which at first sight 
seem rather remote from the so-called 
chemical industry. 

But the most striking symptom of newer 
times is that some wealthy men of America 
are rivaling each other in the endow- 
ment of scientific research on a scale never 
undertaken before, and that the scientific 
departments of our government are en- 
larging their scope of usefulness at a rapid 
rate. 

But we are merely at the threshold of 
that new era where we shall learn better to 
use exact knowledge and efficiency to bring 
ereater happiness and broader opportun- 
ities to all. 

However imposing may appear the insti- 
tutions founded by the Nobels, the Solvays, 
the Monds, the Carnegies, the Rockefellers 
and others, each of them is only a puny 
effort to what is bound to come when govern- 
ments will do their full share. Fancy that 
if, for instance, the Rockefeller Institute 
is spending to good advantage about half 
a million dollars per annum for medical 
research, the chewing-cum bill of the United 
States alone would easily support half a 
dozen Rockefeller Institutes; and what a 
mere insignificant little trickle all these 
research funds amount to, if we have the 
courage to compare them to that powerful 
cushine stream of money which yearly 
drains the war budget of all nations. 

In the meantime, the man of science is 
patient and continues his work steadily, if 
somewhat slowly, with the means hitherto 
at his disposal. His patience is inspired 
by the thought that he is not working for 


198 


to-day, but for to-morrow. He is well 
aware that he is still surrounded by too 
many ‘‘men of yesterday,’’ who feley the 
results of his work. 

Sometimes, however, he may feel dis- 
couraged that the very efficiency he has 
succeeded in reaching at the cost of so 
many painstaking efforts, in the economical 
production of such an article of endlessly 
possible uses, as Portland Cement, is hope- 
lessly lost many times over and over again, 
by the inefficiency, waste and graft of 
middlemen and political contractors, by the 
time it gets on our public roads, or in our 
public buildings. Sometimes the chaos of 
ignorant brutal waste which surrounds him 
everywhere may try his patience. Then 
again, he has a vision that he is planting 
a tree which will blossom for his children 
and will bear fruit for his grandchildren. 

In the meantime, industrial chemistry, 
like all other applications of science, has 
gradually called into the world an increas- 
ing number of men of newer tendencies, 
men who bear in mind the future rather 
than the past, who have acquired the habit 
of thinking by well-established facts, in- 
stead of by words, of aiming at efficiency 
instead of striking haphazard at ill-defined 
purposes. Our various engineering schools, 
our universities, are turning them out in 
ever increasing numbers, and better and 
better prepared for their work. Their very 
training has fitted them out to become the 
most broad-minded progressive citizens. 

However, their sphere of action, until 
now, seldom goes beyond that of private 
technical enterprises for private gain. And 
yet, there is not a chemist, not an engineer, 
worthy of the name, who would not prefer 
efficient, honorable public service, freed 
from party politics, to a mere money- 
making job. ; 

But most governments of the world have 
been run for so long almost exclusively by 


SCIENCE 


LN. S. Vou. XL. No. 1023 


lawyer-politicians, that we have come to 
consider this as an unavoidable evil, until 
sometimes a large experiment of govern- 
ment by engineers, like the Panama Canal, 
opens our eyes to the fact that, after all, 
successful government is—first and last— 
a matter of efficiency, according to the 
principles of applied science. 

Was it not one of our yery earliest 
American chemists, Benjamin Thompson, 
of Massachusetts, later knighted in Europe 
as Count Rumford, who put in shape the 
rather entangled administration of Bavaria 
by introducing scientific methods of govern- 
ment? 

Pasteur was right when one day exas- 
perated by the politicians who were run- 
ning his beloved France to ruin, he ex- 
claimed : 

In our century, science is the soul of the pros- 
perity of nations and the living source of all 
progress. Undoubtedly, the tiring daily discus- 
sions of politics seem to be our guide. Empty ap- 
pearances! What really leads us forward are a 
few scientific discoveries and their applications. 


PRELIMINARY REPORT ON THE DISCOV— 
ERY OF HUMAN REMAINS IN AN 
ASPHALT DEPOSIT AT 
RANCHO LA BREA1 
Introduction 


In January, 1914, the Museum of History, 
Science and Art of Los Angeles, being incon- 
venienced by heavy rains filling the pits al- 
ready in process of excavation in the asphalt 
deposits at Rancho La Brea, began work at 
a new locality, which was designated as pit 
number ten. Work was started at a point a 
short distance southwest of a large pit from 
which many remains of extinct animals had 
been obtained in previous years. The point at 
which excavation was initiated was marked by 
a seepage from which tar had poured out in 
comparatively recent time. The excavation of 
this locality showed the presence of two vents 


1 Read at the Museum of History, Science and 
Art, Los Angeles, California, June 11, 1914. 


Aveust 7, 1914] 


or chimneys filled with asphalt. The chim- 
neys were each about three feet in diameter 
and both had contributed to a hard asphaltic 
layer forming the surface of the ground at this 
point. At a depth of about eight feet the 
chimneys opened into a large dome-shaped 
asphaltic mass not less than eight feet in diam- 
eter and extending downward to an unknown 
depth. 

Remains of many kinds of animals were ob- 
tained in both chimneys, but the most interest- 
ing discovery was the finding on February 5 
of an upper jaw from a human skull, at a 
depth of a little more than six feet, in the 
northerly of the two chimneys. Careful in- 
vestigation of this vent disclosed later almost 
the entire skull with other portions of the 
skeleton. The remains evidently belonged to 
one individual. The bones were found rang- 
ing in depth down to a level of about nine feet 
below the surface, and reaching almost to the 
point at which the chimney connected with 
the dome-like reservoir below. 

Realizing that this find might prove of ex- 
ceptional scientific interest, unusual precau- 
tions were taken in the excavations following 
the discovery of the human remains. Under 
the direction of Mr. Frank S. Daggett, director 
of the Museum, and of Mr. L. E. Wyman, 
who had immediate charge of the work in the 
pits, the excavators obtained all possible in- 
formation as to the nature of the deposit in 
which the specimen was found, and every bone 
appearing in the deposit was saved. The final 
results of the work give us a complete map of 
the deposit, and full list of the animal re- 
mains from the two chimneys, with their situ- 
ation in the chimneys. 

Through the courtesy of Mr. Frank 8. Dag- 
gett, director of the Museum of History, Sci- 
ence and Art, it has been the writer’s privilege 
to follow closely the course of the excavations 
in the pit in which the human remains were 
found, and to make a study of this most in- 
teresting occurrence. Most efficient assistance 
has been given in every possible way by Mr. 
Daggett, by Mr. Wyman, and by every one 
connected with the work. The handling of the 
excavation by the museum stafi, and the care- 


SCIENCE 


199 


ful exercise of precautions necessary to insure 
the scientific accuracy of the work, are worthy 
of most favorable comment. 


Character of the Problem 


As a part of the general problem of the his- 
tory of the human family, involving questions 
of the origin and of the true nature of man, 
the history. of the human race in America 
has interested every thoughtful person. The 
occurrence of human remains at Rancho La 
Brea, appearing as it has in close relation to 
a marvelous representation of life from a past 
period, has justly demanded attention. 

The interest in the human skeleton from 
Rancho La Brea centers either on peculiarities 
in the character of the skeleton itself, or in evi- 
dences of its antiquity furnished by definite 
indications of the geologic age of the deposits 
in which it was found or through proof of age 
presented by the animals associated with the 
skeleton. 


Nature and Origin. of the Deposits Containing 
Human Remains 


Purely geologic evidences of age are often 
exceedingly difficult to obtain in asphalt de- 
posits, owing to the peculiar mode of accumu- 
lation, and the possibility of movement in the 
deposits after they are once formed. The 
asphalt is a residue from evaporation of oil. 
Tt accumulates either on the surface of the 
ground or in the midst of other strata into 
which it has soaked or poured. Even after the 
asphalt deposit has formed, the nature of the 
viscous material makes possible considerable 
movement in many directions within the mass, 
and consequent change of position of any ma- 
terials in it. 

The deposits in which fossil remains have 
been found at Rancho La Brea are evidently 
in part layers formed on the surface, and in 
part pipes, pockets and chimneys through 
which oil came up from deeply buried strata.. 
The source of the asphalt or oil is a deep-lying 
formation, which is considerably folded, and 
is covered by approximately horizontal layers 
of clayey and sandy strata washed in from 
higher land not far away. Oil and gas have 


200 


been seeping through the superficial horizontal 
deposit for a very long period, and have formed 
more or less definite channels or pipes along 
lines of least resistance. In some cases these 
pipes have evidently enlarged themselves 
locally to chimneys several feet in diameter. 

At pit number ten, in which the human re- 
mains were discovered, the asphalt deposit con- 
sists of two pipes or chimneys connecting with 
surface flows above. The chimneys arise be- 
low from a large dome-shaped asphaltic reser- 
voir. This dome may be an old surface pool 
now buried and forming a part of the passage- 
way for further upward movement of oil; or 
it may be an enlargement of a chimney that 
was originally very much smaller. 

The asphalt in the chimneys and in the 
dome in pit ten was largely a soft, viscous 
mass containing a high percentage of sand, 
and including in some regions many angular 
lumps of hard, weathered asphalt. The con- 
tents of the chimneys are entirely unlike the 
surrounding soil or rock. The material 
through which the chimneys pass is not homo- 
geneous, but is composed of approximately 
horizontal strata of clay, sand and gravel, with 
a small inclusion of asphaltic material in most 
places. The contact between the chimneys and 
the matrix through which they pass was every- 
where sharply marked. 

The sand content of the asphalt in the chim- 
meys and in the reservoir below is quite uni- 
form in grain and in distribution through the 
mass. The sand may have been mingled with 
the tar by entrance through the upper end of 
the chimneys or may have been carried up from 
below. The available evidence favors the view 
that it came from the sandy layers from which 
the oil is seeping upward, or through which 
the oil passes on the way. 

The lumps of hard asphalt embedded in the 
soft sandy matrix in one chimney are gener- 
ally of irregular form, and may be much oxi- 
dized or weathered. They were evidently de- 
rived from asphalt masses that were oxidized 
by exposure to the weather for a considerable 
time. They are not found in the dome below 
and evidently came into the chimney from 
above. 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1023 


The chimneys in pit ten may have origi- 
nated through gradual building up of the walls 
around open pipes connected with the oil- 
supply below. They may have developed as 
channels forced through deposits already 
formed. Regardless of the mode of origin, the 
chimneys have certainly been passage-ways 
through which asphaltic materials have moved 
sometimes up and sometimes down for a period 
of unknown extent. It is not improbable that 
at one time these pipes were longer than at pres- 
ent, the surface of the ground being at a rela- 
tively higher level. Erosion may have carried 
away many feet of deposits at this point, 
shortening the chimneys much below their 
length at an earlier time. If the history of 
these chimneys is like that of some now open 
in this region, they may have spilled their 
contents widely at times, and on other occa- 
sions, the tar may have receded, so as to leave 
long empty tubes or chambers. Jf such a 
period of recession lasted any great length of 
time, one would expect the tar around the 
opening above and adhering to the walls of the 
tube to be much weathered. 

In various ways, dry, oxidized pieces might 
be broken off around the vent and accumu- 
late as angular fragments below. A later 
rising of the tar would give a mixture of 
tar, sand and weathered lumps. If the whole 
chimney stagnated and oxidized for a time, a 
later outbreak of oil or asphalt following along 
the side of the old channel would give two 
parallel pipes filled with somewhat different 
materials. 

As nearly as one can judge from observa- 
tions available, the north chimney had a varied. 
history presenting stages like most of those 
discussed as possibilities. The south chimney, 
containing only soft, sandy asphalt, evidently 
had a more uniform history or a shorter 
history. 


Remains of Animals Found in the Put Con- 
‘ taining Human Remains 
Bones of birds and mammals were abundant 
in both chimneys. In the south chimney, 
which is wide above and narrows sharply be- 
low, large bones are found only above the nar- 


Aucust 7, 1914] 


rowing of the pipe. In the large reservoir be- 
low the chimneys only small bones appear, and 
these were found only in a limited space near 
the point of union of the lower reservoir and 
the two chimneys. The distribution of bones 
shows conclusively that they came from above, 
and were not carried up from the depths with 
ascending oil. 

The total number of specimens found in 
the chimneys was large, and will aggregate 
several thousand. These bones represent a 
considerable variety of mammals and birds. 
They include bear, coyote, a wolf of the timber- 
wolf type, skunk, weasel, horse, antelope, rab- 
bit, pocket-gophers, field-mice, eagles, owls, 
vultures, crows, and many other forms. 

The fauna from the two chimneys in pit ten 
is in general like that of California at the pres- 
ent time. It differs greatly from that of the 
pits in which the well-known Rancho La Brea 
fauna is found through the absence of the 
great wolf, saber-tooth, sloth, small antelope, 
eamel, and many other mammals and birds 
abundantly represented in the typical Rancho 
La Brea deposits. 

The only extinct form certainly recognized 
in the material from the two chimneys is Tera- | 
tornis, a gigantic condor-like bird, as yet 
known only from Rancho La Brea, and recog- 
nized by Dr. L. H. Miller in this collection. 
Bones of this bird were found in a narrow por- 
tion of the north chimney at a depth of about 
four feet, and considerably above some of the 
human remains. As nearly as one can judge 
from the evidence at hand, there seems a rea- 
sonable chance that the giant Teratornis was 
a contemporary of the human being whose re- 
mains appear in the north chimney of pit ten. 
The evidence does not present clear proof 
in favor of this view, but appears to balance 
in that direction. 

The extinet California peacock and two | 
other extinct species are doubtfully reported | 
from the north chimney, but there is doubt as 
to their having been introduced in the same 
manner as the other bones making up the 
fauna. 

A small collection found near the upper 
end of the north chimney contains a number 


SCIENCE 


201 


of birds, which, according to Dr. Miller, 
are quite different from those certainly known 
from the two chimneys. The matrix in 
which this small collection was found is also 
different from that in the chimneys. It seems 
probable that these specimens really represent 
an older fauna embedded in a relatively an- 
cient deposit through or near which the north 
chimney passed. 

A portion of the lower jaw of a young horse 
found at a depth of about five feet and near 
the Teratornis in the north chimney is more 
slender than any lower jaw of the common ex- 
tinct horse found in the typical Rancho La 
Brea fauna. The writer has not, however, 
compared it with fossil specimens of exactly 
the same individual stage of development. In 
slenderness it approaches more closely the jaw 
of the existing domestie horse. The space be- 
tween the back teeth and front teeth seems 
shorter than that in the domestic horse, 
and is of nearly the same length as in the ex- 
tinct species from Rancho La Brea. A more 
careful study of immature specimens from 
Rancho La Brea in comparison with very 
young modern horses will be necessary before 
one can speak authoritatively with reference 
to the specific determination of this specimen. 
Tt will be very interesting to know whether 
this is an extinct species which lived in Cali- 
fornia until a comparatively recent time and 
was contemporaneous with man, but became 
extinct before this country was visited by white 
men. The alternative hypothesis is that it 
represents the colt of a modern horse which 
fell into the pit within the last century and 
a half. 

The fact that the fauna from the two chim- 
neys is nearly or quite identical with that of 
the present day, while the typical Rancho La 
Brea fauna differs greatly and shows close re- 
semblance to the life of the earth at a remote 
time, makes it evident that the fauna repre- 
sented in the chimneys of pit ten pertains to 
a period much later than that in which the 
typical Rancho La Brea animals lived. The 
collection from the chimneys represents a time 
so close to the present that the types of life 
were nearly the same as those in the region at 


202 


the present day. The giant Teratornis, and 
possibly several other extinct forms in this 
fauna, may indicate that the asphalt in these 
chimneys was trapping animals at a time re- 
moved by some thousands of years from the 
present. On the other hand, it may be that 
these species were living here within historic 
time. A third possibility is that the bones of 
such extinct species as are found here have 
been removed in some way from an older de- 
posit, and found a resting place in the chim- 
neys in comparatively recent time. Still more 
remote is a fourth possibility that in Pleisto- 
cene time these chimneys connected with an 
open pool far above the present surface of the 
ground; that bones of a few animals trapped 
at that time sank to the position in which they 
were found in the excavations; and that after 
the removal of the upper deposits by erosion, 
the later or younger fauna was trapped and 
mingled with the few bones of earlier date. 


The Human Remains 

The human bones were all found in the 
north chimney, where the history of accumu- 
lation is more complicated than in the south 
vent. The pit containing the human remains 
also contains all of the presumably associated 
specimens representing extinct animals. 

The human remains were found rather 
widely scattered between a depth of about six 
feet and nine feet. The whole collection of 
human bones seems to represent one indivyid- 
ual. The bones are generally very much worn. 
The wear in some cases suggests movement 
within the pit in such a manner that sand in 
the tar, or resting against the wall of the chim- 
ney, has cut away the bone by long-continued 
rubbing. 

Enough of the human skeleton was found in 
the pit to give a fairly satisfactory idea as to 
the characteristics of the individual it repre- 
sents. The skull is that of a small person of 
middle age, possibly a woman. The brain case 
is relatively as large as that in some of the 
living native races of America. According to 
Dr. A. L. Kroeber the racial characteristics do 
not differ decidedly from those of people whose 
remains have been excavated in mounds on 
Santa Rosa Island off the coast of southern 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1023 


California. So far as the characteristics of 
the skeleton are concerned, it is not necessary 
to suppose that we have here an individual who 
lived at a remote time when the human fam- 
ily was in a relatively low stage of evolution. 
This skull is not comparable to those of an- 
cient races of the Neanderthal or earlier 
types. On the other hand, one must not for- 
get that people of a fairly advanced stage of 
brain development were already in existence 
at the beginning of the present or Recent geo- 
logical period. ( 

The characters of the human remains taken 
by themselves indicate that this person lived 
either within the present or Recent period, or 
at a time not earlier than the end of the 
Pleistocene period immediately preceding it. 


Conclusions 


A summary of available information re- 
garding the age of the human skeleton found 
in pit ten at Rancho La Brea is as follows: 

1. The evidence of geologic occurrence in 
the asphalt chimney taken by itself counts for 
relatively little owing to the peculiar condi- 
tions under which these deposits are formed. 
In so far as this is of value it suggests an age 
later than that of the tar pits containing the 
typical Rancho La Brea fauna. 

2. The fauna associated with the human re- 
mains in pit ten is quite different from the 
typical Pleistocene Rancho La Brea fauna, 
and must have inhabited this region at a dif- 
ferent period. The fauna in pit ten is closely 
related to that of the present or Recent period. 
It is distinctly later in age than the typical 
Rancho La Brea fauna. 

3. The characters of the human remains, 
taken by themselves, show a stage of develop- 
ment similar to that of man of the present day 
and not earlier than man of the latest Pleisto- 
cene time. 

4, The evidence as a whole indicates that 
the human skeleton from pit ten is of a period 
much later than that of the typical Rancho La 
Brea fauna, the time being either within the 
Recent period or not earlier than the very 
latest portion of Pleistocene time. The pos- 
sible association of the human remains with 


Avucust 7, 1914] 


extinct forms, such as the giant Teratornis, 
may indicate some antiquity for the human 
being, or may indicate comparatively late per- 
sistence of birds or mammals now extinct in 
this region. 

5. Measured in terms of years, it is not pos- 
sible to give a definite estimate of the age of 
the skeleton from pit ten. It may suffice to 
state that this person did not live in the period 
of the low-browed, Neanderthal, Pleistocene 
man of Europe. It belongs to the distinctly 
modern stage of evolution. Jt does not neces- 
sarily belong to the present historic period, but 
ean not be considered as having antedated it 
by many thousands of years. The age of this 
specimen may perhaps be measured in thou- 
sands of years, but probably not im tens of 
thousands. 

6. The study of the remains at pit ten is a 
problem similar to that presented by the oc- 
currence of an arrowhead found in a compara- 
tively recent asphalt deposit encountered in 
the University of California excavations of 
1912. The arrowhead was found embedded in 
a deposit somewhat similar to that in pit ten, 
and the fauna associated with it was in general 
of Recent aspect. 

7. The final summing up of all evidence 
relative to the antiquity of the Rancho La 
Brea skeleton will depend on a‘ very detailed 
and exhaustive study of the typical Pleisto- 
ecene Rancho La Brea fauna, of the fauna 
from the later tar deposits like that of pit ten, 
and of the existing fauna of California. No 
one of these three factors is, as yet, satisfac- 
torily known. Until they are all known, the 
last word on this subject can not be written. 
The significance of this statement may seem 
larger when reinforced by the remark that the 
skeletons of a large percentage of our living 
species have never yet been carefully studied 
in the way in which this work must be done 
for use in inyestigations such as those con- 
cerned in this problem. 

From whatever point of view this specimen 
is considered, it is well worth exhaustive sci- 
entific investigation. JouHN C. Merriam 

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, 

June 11, 1914 


SCIENCE 


203 


THE 72-INCH REFLECTING TELESCOPE 
FOR CANADA 


SoME eight months ago the Canadian goy- 
ernment entered into contracts for the con- 
struction of a 72-inch reflecting telescope, with 
the J. A. Brashear Company for the optical 
parts and the Warner and Swasey Company 
for the mounting. This telescope, which will 
be considerably larger than any in use, will be 
of the most modern type and will be used prin- 
cipally in the determination of stellar radial 
velocities. The progressive policy of the Ca- 
nadian government in the encouragement of 
scientific research, as evidenced by the order 
for this magnificent instrument has now been 
rendered doubly effective by authorizing at a 
very considerable additional expense, the total 
outlay being upward of $200,000, its installa- 
tion in the best astronomical location in the 
dominion. 

Investigations have been in progress for up- 
wards of a year at five places, representative 
of different climatic conditions in the coun- 
try. The region around Victoria, B. C., so 
much excelled all the others, including Ottawa, 
in the two most important particulars, the 
“seeing” or steadiness and quality of defini- 
tion, and the small daily temperature varia- 
tion, while being at least equal in other quali- 
fications, that it was strongly recommended to 
the government by the chief astronomer as the 
site for the telescope. The government of the 
province of British Columbia, on being ap- 
proached for help towards the additional cost 
of location away from Ottawa, generously con- 
tributed $10,000 for the purchase of the neces- 
sary land and agreed to build a road, which 
will cost about $20,000, to the chosen site which 
is at the summit of Saanich Hill, altitude 732 
feet, about eight miles north of Victoria. 

Immediately on the decision of the domin- 
icn government in favor of this site, fifty acres 
of land were purchased around the summit of 
the hill, and arrangements were concluded for 
the construction of the road this fall. This 
toad will be upwards of a mile and a half in 
length, leading from the main road and the 
electric railway at the foot of the hill by a 7 
per cent. grade to the summit. 


204 


Building operations will begin early in 1915 
and the dome should be ready for the telescope 
in the fall of that year. Word has been re- 
ceived that the 72-inch dise for the mirror has 
been successfully cast and annealed at St. 
Gobain, and work on its grinding and polish- 
ing will shortly be commenced. The design of 
the mounting, which has many new features, 
and will undoubtedly be better and more con- 
venient in operation than any hitherto made, 
is practically completed and construction work 
on the heavy steel castings required has been 
begun. It is hoped, therefore, that the tele- 
scope will be mounted and ready for operation 
by the end of next year. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


A REPLICA of the bust of Louis Pasteur by 
Dubois has been presented to- the American 
Museum of Natural History for installation in 
the hall of public health, through the generos- 
ity of Dr. Roux, director of the Pasteur Insti- 
tute in Paris and M. Vallery-Radot, son-in-law 
of M. Pasteur. 


Dr. Cuartes W. Exior, president emeritus of 
Harvard University, has been elected a corre- 
sponding fellow of the British Academy. 


Tue Canadian government has appointed 
Mr. James White to be assistant chairman of 
the Commission of Conservation, and Dr. C. 
Gordon Hewitt, dominion entomologist, to be 
Canadian representative on the permanent 
committee of the “ International Conference 
for the Global Protection of Nature.” 


Mr. James Barnes, of the Barnes-Kearton 
expedition, which crossed Central Africa under 
the auspices of the American Museum, has re- 
turned to New York, bringing with him a se- 
ries of motion-picture films. Mr. Barnes will 
give an exhibition of these films to the mem- 
bers of the museum in the fall. 


Tuer Royal Institute of Public Health, in 
pursuance of the terms of a trust which enables 
it to award annually a gold medal to a public 
health medical official, at home or abroad, in 
recognition of conspicuous services rendered to 
the cause of preventive medicine within the 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1023 


British empire, has conferred the medal for 
1914 upon Mr. James Niven, medical officer of 
health for Manchester. 


We learn from Nature that the honorary 
freedom of Newecastle-on-Tyne was conferred 
on Hon. Sir C. A. Parsons on July 10 in recog- 
nition of his achievements in science, particu- 
larly as the inventor of the steam turbine. It 
had been decided to confer a similar honor on 
Sir Joseph W. Swan, but he has since died. 
The symbols of the freedom—a scroll and 
casket—have, however, been presented to a rep- 
resentative of his family. 


Sm Joun Tweepy, formerly president of the 
Royal College of Surgeons of England, has 
been elected president of the Medical Defence 
Union, in the room of Dr. Edgar Barnes. 


V. I. Sarro (Cornell, 09), formerly of the 
U. S. Bureau of Entomology and the Oregon 
Agricultural College, has been appointed ento- 
mologist with the Kentucky Tobacco Product 
Company, of Louisville, Kentucky. 


Tue following list of members of the Im- 
perial Transantarctic Expedition is given in 
Nature: Weddell Sea Party—Sir Ernest H. 
Shackleton, leader of the expedition; Mr. 
Frank Wild, second in command; Mr. G. 
Marston, Mr. T. Crean, Captain Orde Lees, 
Lieutenant F. Dobbs, Lieutenant Courtney 
Brocklehurst, Mr. J. Wordie, geologist; Mr. 
R. W. James, physicist and magnetician; Mr. 
L. H. Hussey, assistant magnetician and. 
meteorologist; Mr. F. Hurley, photographer 
and kinematographer; Mr. V. Studd, geolo- 
gist; Lieutenant F. A. Worsley, in navigating 
command of the Hndurance on the voyage 
from London to Buenos Aires and the Wed- 
dell Sea, and afterwards to take part in the 
surveying and exploring of the coast; Mr. 
Jeffreys, Mr. Hudson and Mr. A. Cheetham. 
Ross Sea Party—Lieutenant Aeneas Mackin- 
tosh, leader and meteorologist; Mr. KE. Joyce, 
zoologist; Mr. H. Ninnis; Mr. H. Wild, and 
Dr. Macklin, surgeon. There only remain two 
vacancies, and these are to be filled by another 
doctor and a biologist. The arrangements for 
the Ross Sea ship Aurora are not yet quite 


Aveust 7, 1914] 


complete, but the Hndurance, with the Wed- 
dell Sea party, has now sailed. 


A BILL to extend the thanks of congress to 
the engineering members of the Isthmian 
Canal Commission has been reported to the 
House with a favorable recommendation by 
the Military Affairs Committee. The men 
who would receive this honor are Colonel 
George W. Goethals, General William C. 
Gorgas, Colonel H. F. Hodges, Lieutenant 
Colonel William IL. Sibert and Civil Engi- 
neer H. H. Rousseau. The bill authorizes 
the president to advance Colonel Goethals 
and General Gorgas to the rank of Major 
General, the former of the lina and the 
latter of the medical department. It is pro- 
vided also that the president may, upon the 
retirement of COolonel Hodges, Lieutenant 
Colonel Sibert and Civil Engineer Rousseau, 
advance each of these officers one grade on the 
retired list. 


Sm Ciements Markuam has unveiled at 
Cheltenham a statue of Dr. Edward Adrian 
Wilson, who was born in that town, and per- 
ished with Captain Scott on the great ice 
barrier in March, 1912. The statue was de- 
signed by Lady Scott. 


Proressor Francis HuMPHREYS STORRER, 
from 1865 to 1870 professor of chemistry in 
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 
and, from 1870 to his retirement as emeritus 
professor in 1907, professor of agricultural 
chemistry at Harvard University, has died at 
the age of eighty-two years. 


Tur Rey. Horace Carter Hovey, fellow of 
the Geological Society of America and of the 
American Association for the Advancement of 
Science, known especially for his publications 
on caverns and subterreanean fauna and flora, 
died at his home at Newburyport, Mass., on 
August 27, in his eighty-second year. 


Dr. Freperic Lawrence Korrricut, B.S. 
(Cornell, 790), Se.D. (Cornell, 795), instructor 
in chemistry at Cornell University from 1892 
to 1899, and subsequently assistant professor 
and professor at the University of West Vir- 
ginia, author of contributions on the rare 


SCIENCE 


205 


earths, citric acid, silica and other chemical 
subjects, died on July 13, at the age of forty- 
seven years. 


Proressor FRANKLIN WILLIAM Hooper, di- 
rector of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and 
Sciences, the author of contributions on algwe 
and glacial geology, died on August 1 at the 
age of sixty-three years. 


Tue Rey. Osmond Fisher, at one time tutor 
of Jesus College, Cambridge, known for his 
important contributions to geology, died on 
July 12, at the age of ninety-six years. 


Tue death is announced, in his sixty-sixth 
year, of Sir Christopher Nixon, ex-president of 
the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, 
and Vice-Chancellor of the National Univer- 
sity of Ireland. 


Proressor Paut Recuus, the distinguished 
Paris surgeon, died on July 29, in his sixty- 
eighth year. 


Tue U. S. Civil Service Commission an- 
nounces an examination for plant physiologist, 
experienced in plant metabolism, for men only, 
to fill a vacancy in the Bureau of Plant Indus- 
try, Department of Agriculture, at a salary of 
$3,000 a year. A Ph.D. or D.Sc. degree from a 
college or university of recognized standing, 
and at least five years’ experience in plant 
physiology since receiving the bachelor’s de- 
gree, are prerequisites for consideration for 
this position. Applicants must have reached 
their twenty-fifth but not their forty-fifth 
birthday on the date of examination. 


Tue Royal Agricultural Society of England 
is offering a medal for a monograph or essay, 
which has not been previously published, 
giving evidence of original research in any 
agricultural subject or any of the cognate 
agricultural sciences applicable to British 
farming. 


Tue German Paleontological Society is to 
hold its annual meeting this year in London 
at the British Museum of Natural History on 
September 2 to 5. On September 5 and 6 the 
members will visit Oxford, and on September 


206 


7, Cambridge. The society now has 210 
members, of whom 19 are Americans. 


THE eighty-second annual meeting of the 
British Medical Association was held at Aber- 
deen on July 28, 29, 30 and 31, under the presi- 
deney of Sir Alexander Ogston. The address 
in medicine was given by Dr. A. EH. Garrod, 
and that in surgery by Sir John Bland-Sutton. 
Professor J. Arthur Thomson delivered the 
popular lecture. Sixteen scientific sections 
were arranged as follows: Anatomy and physi- 
ology ; dermatology and syphilology ; diseases of 
children, including orthopsdics; electro-thera- 
peutics and radiology; gynxcology and obstet- 
tics; laryngology, rhinology and otology; 
medical sociology; medicine; naval and mili- 
tary medicine and surgery; neurology and 
psychological medicine; ophthalmology; pa- 
thology and bacteriology; pharmacology; thera- 
peutics and dietetics; state medicine and med- 
ical jurisprudence; surgery; tropical medicine. 


Tue selection committee for the Captain 
Scott Memorial in London has unanimously 
chosen the design submitted by Mr. Albert H. 
Hodge. The London Times gives the follow- 
ing description of the plan of the Antarctic 
Monument: “A granite pylon is surmounted 
by a bronze group representing Courage sus- 
tained by Patriotism, spurning Fear, Despair 
and Death, the figure Courage being crowned 
by Immortality. Below the group the words 
“For King,’ ‘For Country, ‘For Brotherly 
Love,’ and ‘For Knowledge’ are inscribed. 
The front of the pylon bears the names of the 
five heroes, whose portrait medallions in bronze 
occupy the most prominent position on the 
monument. The medallions are brought into 
relationship by a broad band of laurel leaves. 
On the back of the monument is placed a 
trophy composed of a pair of snow shoes, a 
replica of the cross erected on Observation 
Hill, and a wreath—relics of the journey. 
Beneath are Scott’s words: ‘Had we lived, I 
should have had a tale to tell of the hardihood, 
endurance and courage of my companions, 
which would have stirred the heart of every 
Englishman.’ Forming a base to the pylon is 
a podium, on the four sides of which are 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1023 


placed bronze relief panels depicting the Ex- 
pedition. The subjects for these panels are 
taken from the inscription at Observation 
Hill: ‘ To strive’ (showing the difficulties sur- 
mounted on the journey); ‘To seek’ (show- 
ing the start for the pole); ‘To find’ (show- 
ing the party at the pole) ; ‘ And not to yield’ 
(showing the tent covered with snow—the last 
resting-place of the heroes). The whole monu- 
ment is placed within a square raised upon 
steps, the total height being about 37 feet.” 


Tue Geological Survey has been issuing its 
final statistics of the 1913 mineral production 
which confirms in detail the preliminary esti- 
mates issued early in January for the prin- 
cipal minerals. In the large majority of 
cases these figures tell in one way or another 
the same story of industrial prosperity. In 
coal production the increase has been general, 
and it is this very fact that serves as an un- 
mistakable index of general health in the in- 
dustrial world. But as state after state is 
shown to have had its banner coal year—West 
Virginia, Illinois, Ohio, Kentucky, Alabama, 
Virginia, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Montana, 
Texas, Utah and Pennsylvania in both bitu- 
minous and anthracite, the record becomes 
spectacular. Ohio for instance had’ its floods, 
yet there was a substantial 6 per cent. in- 
crease in coal output, and the miners averaged 
more working days in 1913 than in 1912. 
Twelve other states showed increases varying 
from 8 per cent. in Iowa to 12 per cent. in 
Indiana and over 15 per cent. in Washington, 
and only Colorado, Maryland, North Dakota, 
Nevada, Idaho and Missouri show decreased 
output, the Colorado labor troubles explaining 
the only significant decrease. In a similar 
way, the figures of coke production give large 
increases, and coke, it may be noted, is a step 
nearer the metal industry. Petroleum produc- 
tion in 1913 exceeded all records, an increase 
of 25 million barrels and 72 million dollars 
over the 1912 returns. In metal mining, the 
iron and zine mines had a banner year, while 
gold, silver, lead and copper showed a decline 
in many of the largest producing states. 
Structural materials on the other hand exhibit 


Aveust 7, 1914] 


marked gains almost without exception. Thus 
1913 was the banner year for cement, which 
gains more than 11 per cent. over 1912, and 
record outputs are also shown for lime, build- 
ing sand and gravel, sand-lime brick and glass 
sand. Other mineral products for which 1913 
was a record-breaking year, are bauxite and 
aluminum, sulphuric acid, feldspar, mica, 
pottery, and tale and soapstone, while sub- 
stantial imereases are reported for gypsum, 
phosphate rock, abrasives, barytes, slate and 
salt. These production figures all express well- 
maintained activity in mines, smelter, furn- 
ace and mill, and prove that the American 
people are utilizing more of the nation’s great 
natural resources than ever before. A few 
weeks later when figures are at hand for all of 
the mineral products, it is expected that 1913 
will be found to have overtopped both 1912 
and 1907 which have hitherto held the record. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 


Mr. Asa G. Cuanpuer has given $1,000,000 
and citizens of Atlanta have guaranteed $500,- 
000 for the establishment of an Atlanta Uni- 
versity, under the auspices of the Methodist 
Church. It is said that a theological school 
will be the first to be opened. 


Bowpoin Counce has received a gift of $15,- 
000 from the estate of Dr. Frank Hartley, of 
New York, to establish a scholarship fund as a 
memorial to the testator’s father, John Fair- 
field Hartley, of the class of 1829. 


THE following changes take effect in the bo- 
tanical department of the Michigan Agricul- 
tural College, September 1: Mr. E. F. Wood- 
cock, of the botanical department of West 
Virginia University, has been appointed in- 
structor in botany to succeed Dr. R. F. Allen, 
who has recently accepted a similar position at 
Wellesley. Professor H. T. Darlington, of 
Washington State College, has been appointed 
assistant professor of botany and will have 
especial charge of the botanical garden and 
herbarium. An industrial fellowship in cu- 
cumber diseases has been established by the H. 
J. Heinz Pickle Company, and is filled by Mr. 


SCIENCE 


207 


S. P. Doolittle, who graduated from the insti- 
tution this year. 


In the law department of Tulane University 
of Louisiana, Mr. C. P. Fenner, professor of 
Louisiana practise and acting professor of civil 
law, has been appointed dean of the department 
to succeed Mr. D. O. McGovney, who has been 
called to the University of Missouri. 


Dr. Narwan Fasten, Ph.D. (Wisconsin), 
has been appointed instructor in zoology at the 
University of Washington, Seattle. 


Mr. Freperick Soppy, lecturer in physical 
chemistry in the University of Glasgow, has 
been appointed to the chair of chemistry at the 
University of Aberdeen, in succession to Pro- 
fessor F. R. Japp. 


Prorsessor J. S. Macponaud, professor of 
physiology in the University of Sheffield since 
1903, has been appointed Holt professor of 
physiology in the University of Liverpool, in 
succession to Professor C. S. Sherrington. 


Mr. G. N. Watson, M.A., fellow of Trinity 
College, Cambridge, has been appointed a 
member of the staff of the department of pure 
mathematics at University College, London, 
for the next year to fill the vacancy created by 
the resignation of Dr. A. N. Whitehead. 


Me. T. B. Jounston, M.B., lecturer on anat- 
omy in the University of Edinburgh, has been 
appointed to the newly-created office of lecturer 
and demonstrator in anatomy at University 
College, London. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 
THE PROBLEM OF GRAVITY 


To THE Eprror or Science: Some recent pub- 
lic utterances from sources that command at- 
tention and respect in the scientific world as 
well as among the general public illustrate 
rather forcibly the crude and confused state of 
thought on this subject that continues to pre- 
vail up to the present day. These also suggest 
that the ordinary and obscure thinker need 
not be deterred from attempting a contribu- 
tion that may possibly be helpful by the feel- 
ing of greatly superior attainments in this 


208 


direction by the recognized giants of science. 
It is axiomatic that a clear conception of what 
a problem really zs is a prerequisite to its suc- 
cessful solution. I ask to be permitted to offer 
the following enunciation: 

Neither a quest for an “ explanation ” of the 
cause or nature of gravity, on the one hand, 
nor a mere non-logical acceptance of the fact 
as a matter of belief or blind faith, on the 
other, but the evolutionary development in the 
minds of men of a scientific satisfaction not 
only with not knowing but with not ever 
being able to find out any rational and con- 
sistent theory or explanation for the attraction 
influence among all portions of matter which 
is called gravity and which is the essential, 
universal and unalterable attribute of all ma- 
terial things whatsoever. 

Obviously such a conception involves rather 
more of philosophy and psychology than of so- 
called physical science. 

JOHN Min.is 


A SIMPLE METHOD FOR FILLING AN OSMOMETER 

In setting up the type of apparatus ordi- 
narily used in elementary classes to demon- 
strate osmosis, the thistle-tube is filled with 
molasses or strong sugar solution. If this is 
done before the membrane is tied on, the appa- 
ratus becomes sticky and the difficulty in- 
creased. If, on the other hand, the tube is 
filled after the membrane is secure, it is very 
difficult to force the liquid down the narrow 
stem. 

For the last two years I have found the 
following to be a simple and effective method 
for filling the tube. Take a perfectly dry 
thistle-tube, fill it with dry granulated sugar 
to the flare at the top, and then tie on the wet 
membrane with a waxed thread. When the 
tube is inverted the sugar will fill the bulb. 
With the solution of the lowest layer of sugar 
in the water of the membrane, the osmotic 
action is started and the liquid rises in the 
tube. First observations may be taken when 
a saturated solution has been formed and no 
dry sugar remains. 


Laetitia M. Snow 
WELLESLEY COLLEGE 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1023 


QUOTATIONS 


THE PROPOSED UNION OF SCIENTIFIC WORKERS 

WE continue to receive replies to our notice 
regarding the emoluments of scientific work- 
ers; and they emphasize the opinions which 
have already been expressed in the leading 
article of the April number of this Quarterly. 
For example, one worker, a London graduate 
with first-class honors, who has published orig- 
inal research work and is now a demonstrator 
working two or three days a week, and who 
also gives two courses of post-graduate lectures 
with demonstrations, and does other work, re- 
ceives the generous salary of fifty pounds per 
annum—much less than most unskilled la- 
borers will work for. We hear that in one 
British university, out of two hundred mem- 
bers of the junior staff in all departments 
(that is all members of the teaching staff who 
are not full professors), not more than six re- 
ceive a stipend greater than two hundred and 
fifty pounds a year. There appears also to be 
some fear amongst junior staff workers that if 
they divulge particulars of their salaries they 
will lose their posts; and in one case we are 
informed that some highly specialized work- 
ers seem even to have lost the ambition ever to 
earn a reasonable wage. In addition to the 
poorness of the pay, complaints are made re- 
garding the entire absence of any provision 
for adequate pension and also regarding the 
state of serfdom in which men of science are 
kept under boards and committees composed 
of persons who frequently have no qualifica- 
tions for the exercise of such authority. The 
whole picture is a melancholy not to say a dis- 
graceful one for so wealthy a country, which 
also imagines that it possesses the hegemony 
of the world. On the other hand, much sym- 
pathy is expressed on behalf of any endeavors 
that may be made to remedy these evils, and 
men of science appear to be awakening to the 
fact that they should attempt some combined 
effort in this direction. We note especially an 
excellent article on the “ Income and Prospects 
of the Mathematical Specialist,” by Professor 
G. H. Bryan, F.R.S., in the April number of 
the Cornhill Magazine, and an admirable lec- 
ture on the “Place of Science in Modern 


a haere ts 


Aveust 7, 1914] 


Thought,” by George Idle, Esq., M.I.N.A., de- 
livered at the Royal College of Science, Dub- 
lin, on January 27, which suggests at least the 
position which scientifie work should hold in 
a modern state. Moreover, the lay press is be- 
ginning to consider the subject, entirely with 
sympathy for the scientific worker; and we 
should like to give special commendation to 
the efforts being made by the Morning Post 
in its series of articles and letters published 
during May and June. 

The question now arises as to what had best 
be done under the circumstances; and it has 
been suggested that those who wish to do so 
would be wise to form a union of some kind 
with a program specifically aimed at improv- 
ing the position of the workers themselves. 
At present there are numerous societies which 
are supposed, more or less indirectly, to at- 
tend to this very necessary work, but which 
certainly have not achieved much success in 
it. We should therefore like to receive any 
suggestions upon the subject, together with 
the names of those who may feel inclined to 
join such a movement if the program ulti- 
mately decided upon meets with their ap- 
proval.—Science Progress. 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 


The Osteology of the Chalicotheroidea, with 
special reference to a mounted skeleton of 
Moropus elatus Marsh, now installed in the 
Carnegie Museum. By W. J. Houuanp and 
©. A. Peterson. Memoirs of the Carnegie 
Museum, Vol. III., No. 2. Pittsburgh, De- 
ember, 1913, pp. i-xvi, 189-411, with 115 
text figures, and plates XLVIJI.-LXXVII. 
The Chalicotheroidea, a curious aberrant 

group of Perissodactyl ungulates wherein the 
hoof bones have departed widely from the 
normal type, becoming laterally compressed, 
deeply fissured and claw-like, form the sub- 
ject of this volume. The Carnegie Museum 
was fortunate in securing through the efforts 
of Messrs. O. A. Peterson and W. H. Utter- 
bach an almost complete skeleton of the re- 
markable Moropus elatuws Marsh, by means of 
which the entire osteology of a typical mem- 
ber of the group has been worked out. 


SCIENCE 209 


The locality of this specimen lay not far 
from that whence one of Professor Marsh’s 
collectors, H. C. Clifford, secured the some- 
what fragmental material which constitutes 
the type of the species elatus. Clifford’s dis- 
covery in the spring of 1875 was destined to 
be followed years later, in 1904, by the finding 
on the upper Niobrara River in western Ne- 
braska of one of the most remarkable bone 
deposits in the world, the Agate Spring 
quarry of Lower Miocene age; and it is this 
locality, which has been worked successively 
by the representatives of several institutions, 
Carnegie Museum, American Museum, Uni- 
versity of Nebraska, Amherst and Yale, which 
has produced a number of skulls and skele- 
tons of this type, among them the one form- 
ing the basis of this memoir. While Dr. Hol- 
land is the senior author of the memoir, Mr. 
Peterson is credited with the recovery of much 
of the material, its preparation for study and 
description and the partial preparation of 
those sections of the paper which relate to the 
appendicular skeleton, and to the skull and 
dentition. 

The introductory chapter gives a history of 
the excavations at the Agate Spring quarries 
and tells of the conditions of deposition as fol- 
lows (pp. 194-95) : 

“The ‘Agate Spring quarries’... are sit- 
uated in the Lower Harrison Beds (Miocene) 
and contain a vast quantity of the remains of 
extinct mammalia many of which, before the 
specimens were firmly embedded in the ma- 
trix, had suffered more or less displacement. 
It is rarely that the bones are found collo- 
eated in their true order, though in some in- 
stances a dozen or more vertebrae may occur 
in regular series, with the corresponding ribs 
attached to them, or the bones of an entire 
limb may be found in place. The region, at 
the time when the bones were deposited, was 
probably a great plain, traversed by a broad 
and shallow river, like the Platte, or the Mis- 
souri, subject at times to overflows. It was a 
region of flat alluvial lands, which may in the 
summers have been in part dried, leaving here 
and there pools of water to which the animals 


210 


of the region resorted, as in South Africa at 
the present time herds of ungulates resort to 
such places. . . . At these pools the beasts, 
which roamed over the wide plain, came to 
drink, and here they died, as the result of age, 
or as they fell under the teeth and claws of 
carnivora. It may also have been .. . that 
at this particular point there was a ford, or 
crossing. of the river, much resorted to by mi- 
grating herds of animals, and here many, 
especially younger animals, were mired in 
quicksands, and drowned.” 

Chapter I. defines the Chalicotheroidea, 
sketches briefly the literary history of the 
group, and names and defines the three sub- 
families, Schizotheriine, Moropodine and 
Macrotheriine; while Chapter II. character- 
izes the various genera included under each 
subfamily, both the American and Old World 
forms, as well as several genera formerly in- 
cluded under the Chalicotheroidea but now 
referred to other orders and suborders. 

In Chapter IIT. a résumé of the species is 
given, although, with the Old World types 
especially, a thorough revision other than of 
the genotypes was not practicable; at the same 
time the comprehensive list is of great value 
for future work. Chapter IV. treats very 
fully each species of the genus Moropus, dis- 
cussing each one under the several headings of 
name and synonyms, of what the type consists 
and its whereabouts, the geological horizon, 
and the specific characters. The last named 
includes not only the original description 
quoted in full, but an adequate supplemental 
description as well. 

Chapter V., embracing as it does 148 pages, 
is really the piece de résistance of the entire 
volume, and presents ‘an elaborate morpholog- 
ical study of Moropus, based very largely upon 
the skeleton of M. elatus already referred to, 
which has been mounted in the Carnegie Mu- 
seum. The assembled skeleton shows certain 
horse-, rhinoceros- and titanothere-like fea- 
tures, while the feet are so like those of the 
Edentata as to have been the cause of the in- 
clusion of Moropus in that order before the 
association with other anatomical features 
was known. The restoration of Moropus 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1023 


based upon the articulated skeleton is given 
in the form of a statuette prepared by Theo- 
dore A. Mills under the supervision of the au- 
thors, and presents a curious admixture of 
horse-like head, tapir-like body, and leonine 
feet. Of its probable habits and the meaning 
of the peculiar adaptive features the authors 
are perhaps wisely silent, though a host of 
questions {present themselyes upon viewing 
this grotesque re-creation. 

Chapter VI. gives an elaborately studied 
bibliography, in which the essential facts of 
each paper are analyzed, showing a very inti- 
mate knowledge of the literature of the sub- 
ject on the part of the authors. 

This work, on the whole, is entitled to the 
highest commendation as an elaborate, pains- 
taking piece of research which will prove of 
the greatest value to future students of the 
group, and the fine appearance of the volume 
is fully commensurate with its importance. 


RicHarp Swann LULL 
YALE UNIVERSITY 


Atlas und Lehrbuch wichtiger tierischer Para- 
siten und ihrer Uebertrager mit besonderer 
Beriicksichtigung der Tropenpathologie. By 
Pror. Dr. R. O. Neumann (Bonn) and Dr. 
Martin Maver (Hamburg). Lehmann’s 
Medizinische Atlanten. J. F. Lehmann’s 
Verlag in Miinchen. Bd. XI., vi-+ 580+ 
93 pp., 45 colored plates with 1,300 figures 
and 287 figs. in text, 1914. Geb. M. 40. 
The high standard of excellence established 

in the previous volumes of Lehmann’s series of 

atlases, which includes, among other well-known 
texts, Sobotta’s superb work on anatomy and 
histology, is well maintained in Neumann and 

Mayer’s recently published “ Atlas und Lehr- 

buch wichtiger tierischer Parasiten.’? The 

rapid growth of interest in tropical diseases, 
the recent expansion of the sciences of proto- 
zoology and parasitology, the increasing num- 
ber of institutions devoted to research in these 
fields, and the rapid rise of applied hygiene 
and preventive medicine, have created both the 
possibility and the need for such a work as 
this. One has but to glance through the group 


Aveust 7, 1914] 


of lesser texts which have been issued of late 
to meet the growing demand for a usable sum- 
mary for purposes of instruction, to see how 
large a use has been made in them of old fig- 
ures which have done duty for decades in 
older texts, and to be impressed with the wealth 
of unutilized materials when reference is 
made to original sources. The time and care 
needed in the preparation of new illustrations 
end publishers’ reluctance to risk the expense 
of new cliches and of colored plates is doubt- 
less responsible in part for this situation. 

The atlas in hand is far removed from any 
such criticism, for the thirteen hundred fig- 
ures on the forty-five colored lithographed 
plates are from original colored drawings by 
Professor Neumann, and the publisher has 
spared neither pains nor expense to insure 
adequate reproduction, more than twenty 
colors being employed in some of the plates to 
bring out satisfactory results. The extensive 
collections of the Institut fiir Schiffs- und 
Tropenkrankheiten at Hamburg have fur- 
nished much of the original material upon 
which the work is founded. Authors have also 
contributed their original preparations for the 
preparation of the illustrations. For example, 
Looss, of Cairo, has contributed hookworm and 
Schistosomum material, Manson filaria, Prow- 
azek trachoma, and Chagas his . Brazilian 
Schizotrypanum, the causative agent of the 
South American “sleeping sickness.” Japan, 
Ceylon, Cairo, Congo, Nigeria, Brazil, the 
Schools of Tropical Medicine in Hamburg, 
Liverpool and their outposts in the tropics 
have contributed richly to the resources util- 
ized in this work. 

It has been the aim of the authors to in- 
elude all forms of clinical importance and 
such other related forms as are of theoretical 
interest. The work was instituted in 1905, but 
the growth of the subject has been so rapid 
that its publication has been delayed, with the 
result that the work has been greatly en- 
riched by recent discoveries. Obviously no 
book of even the sumptuous form of this atlas 
could be expected to be encyclopedic. A vast 
deal of elimination of detail, of selection of 
material which has passed to the stage of rea- 


SCIENCE 211 


sonable certainty, and the omission of that of 
more problematical status has been essential. 
The authors have been very skilful in this re- 
spect, though one questions their inclusion of 
Prowazek’s figure of “conjugation” in Try- 
panosoma, for it would seem that the evidence 
for sexual reproduction in the trypanosomes 
is as yet inconclusive. 

The book unites the fields of zoology and 
medicine and has been written with both in 
view, though naturally many details of syste- 
matic, cytological and anatomical nature are 
eliminated, or presented only in condensed 
form. On the other hand, life-histories of the 
parasite and its carrier-host, and the patholog- 
ical conditions which it induces, are subject to 
both discussion and illustration. 

The structure of the elements of normal 
blood is very fully illustrated and the tech- 
nique of hematology is elaborated and methods 
of staining, preservation, culture, collecting 
and sending parasitological material are de- 
tailed, usually with figures illustrative of appa- 
ratus and method. References to literature 
are well chosen and ample. Considerably more 
than half of the work is given to the Protozoa 
and to their invertebrate hosts, the flies, mos- 
quitoes, bugs and ticks, five plates being de- 
voted to trypanosomes and no less than five to 
the malarial parasite. It is perhaps because 
of this wealth of protozoological illustration 
that one gets the impression that the parasites 
belonging to the higher phyla, the worms and 
arthopods, have received, relatively to their 
importance, less ample treatment. But to have 
done more would have inevitably necessitated 
a second yolume. It also seems that the para- 
sitic flagellates, other than trypanosomes, and 
ciliates call for fuller treatment than has been 
accorded them. 

While the emphasis is placed upon human 
parasites, the treatment is not restricted to 
them; the additions, however, are more by way 
of biological inclusiveness than for the pur- 
poses of comparative medicine. The work can 
hardly serve the purposes of the veterinarian, 
though indispensable in all fields of parasitol- 
ogy. 

The authoritative character of the work, the 


212 


accuracy, completeness and utility of the il- 
lustrations to the clinician and practitioner, 
the broad biological conception underlying the 
treatment, combine to characterize the work as 
the best iconography of parasitology as yet 
published. 
Cuartes A. Koro 
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 


THE RELATION BETWEEN LIZARDS AND 
PHLEBOTOMUS VERRUCARUM AS 
INDICATING THE RESERVOIR 
OF VERRUGA 


It affords the writer much satisfaction to 
record another confirmation of the intimate 
relation which exists between Phlebotomus 
and lizards or other reptiles the world over. 
Many cases of this relation have been recorded 
in the recent literature, and the same appears 
to hold good in Peru. 

Numerous blood smears made during the 
past two or three months from small rock liz- 
ards of several species collected at Verrugas 
Canyon, Surco, San Bartholomé and Chosica 
Canyon all show rod and granule bodies which 
exhibit the identical morphology of the bodies 
that have been named Bartonia bacilliformis. 
Their agreement with the latter in shapes, 
sizes, colors and apparent structure is so faith- 
ful as to defy distinction. The lizards con- 
cerned have been sent in for identification. 

It is to be noted that the first three localities 
above mentioned are well within the limits of 
the verruga zone of the Rimac Valley, while 
Chosica Canyon is just outside that zone. 
Lizard blood smears made in Chosica Canyon 
in June, 1913, and again recently all show 
these bodies, but the granules seem to predom- 
inate greatly in the blood of the lizards from 
outside the verruga zone and from points 
within the zone where the lizards are not ex- 
posed to the constant attacks of the Phlebo- 
tomus. 

In Verrugas Canyon there are, close to the 
house, many large walls built of loose rock 
wherein the Phlebotomus hide in swarms dur- 
ing the day, issuing in the evening to enter the 
house and bite the inmates. These rock walls 
are also inhabited by the small lizards in ques- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1023 


tion. Smears of blood made from lizards from 
these walls show a great predominance of the 
rods over the granules. These lizards are ex- 
posed to the constant attacks of the Phlebo- 
tomus every day in the year. 

The writer has found the same bodies in 
smears made from the Phlebotomus at Ver- 
rugas Canyon, which also show the nucleated 
red corpuscles of the lizards as well as mam- 
malian erythrocytes. The same rods and gran- 
ules have furthermore been found by the writer 
in microtome sections of human vyerruga 
papules, in similar sections of papules pro- 
duced in his laboratory animals by injections 
of the Phlebotomus, and in the blood of these 
animals prior to the eruption. 

Blood smears of a young guinea-pig taken 
63% hours, and later, after injection subcuta- 
neously with a very small quantity of citrated 
lizard blood from Chosiea Canyon have shown 
the typical granules and Bartonia rods in the 
disks of the erythrocytes. This pig died nine 
days after injection, after irregular rises of 
temperature, and its autopsy blood and femoral 
marrow showed a large increase of the bodies, 
principally granules but also short rods. 

Subcutaneous injection of a second young 
guinea-pig with a larger quantity of citrated 
lizard blood from Surco proved fatal within 
ten hours, liver smears showing the rods and 
granules, but blood, marrow and spleen smears 
proving practically negative. Further experi- 
ments of a similar nature are under way. The 
three-cornered connection, however, between 
lizards, Phlebotomus and verruga appears to 
be already well established by these data. 

It is seen from the results that this possible 
reservoir of verruga in the lizards is not con- 
fined to the verruga zones, which are limited 
by the occurrence of the Phlebotomus, but may 
exceed the latter in range. This explains how 
fluctuations in occurrence of the Phlebotomus 
may result in extensions or retractions of the 
verruga zones, the gnats finding the infection 
at hand on gaining a new locality. 

It also seems indicated by the above results 
that the verruga organism must exist in the 
infective stage in the lizard blood and does not 
apparently demand the medium of the Phlebo- 


AucGusT 7, 1914] 


tomus for its. development but only for its 
transfer to new hosts. Thus the Phlebotomus 
appears to be merely a mechanical transmitter 
of yerruga, and not a true secondary host of 
the organism. But it is probable that the gut 
of the Phlebotomus favors the free liberation 
of the infective stage of the organism, which 
either penetrates thence to the salivary glands 
or passes directly forward through the alimen- 
tary canal, by regurgitation or otherwise, to 
the pharynx and thus gains the proboscis. 

Ti seems demonstrated by the above findings 
that these small rock lizards constitute at least 
one reservoir of verruga. Whether snakes, 
man or other mammals constitute additional 
reservoirs of the disease remains to be deter- 
mined. The writer puts forth the tentative 
opinion, subject of course to future modifica- 
tion, that lizards and possibly snakes, in other 
words reptilian animals of cold blood, may yet 
be found to constitute the sole reservoir of 
verruga. It seems quite possible that Phlebo- 
tomus can not become infected with verruga 
from the blood of mammals, but this point 
needs careful investigation. 

As bearing on this view, it is to be noted 
that no one has yet succeeded in making cul- 
tures of the Bartonia bodies from human 
blood, and that injections of mammalian blood 
containing these bodies have given only nega- 
tive results thus far. The verruga organism 
might be looked upon as outside its natural 
environment in mammalian blood, but at home 
in reptilian hosts. Nevertheless it is quite 
possible that it has been overlooked in the ex- 
periments after making the injections of Bar- 
tonia containing blood referred to. 

The above rods and granules have also been 
found by the writer in the bone marrow, liver 
and spinal cord of the lizards, as shown by 
smears from these organs. In the blood of the 
lizards the rods and granules are often free in 
the plasma but frequently in or attached to 
the surface of the red corpuscles. They stain 
with Giemsa characteristically brownish, some- 
times bluish or reddish, exactly as do the Bar- 
tonia. Jf these organisms are not identical 
with the Bartonia, they are certainly very sim- 
ilar morphologically and evidently bear a con- 


SCIENCE 


213 


stant relation to verruga. It has not been pos- 
sible as yet to attempt cultures of these bodies 
with the view of demonstrating their nature, 
owing to lack of both time and facilities. 
They may easily turn out to be the bacillus 
paratyphoid B, in large part at least, but in 
any case they seem linked with Bartonia in 
some thus-far mysterious relation. 

There is quite a large possibility that the 
Bartonia may prove to be simply the lizard- 
blood bodies parasitized by the verruga organ- 
ism proper. From 1900 to 1902 Barton demon- 
strated the bacillus paratyphoid B in all his 
verruga cases, and with it he produced the 
fever and eruption in both dogs and mules. 
Since this bacillus is so constantly present in 
verruga cases it seems certain to the writer 
that it bears some important relation to the 
disease. As it has been cultivated with ease, 
while Bartonia has not, it may well be the case 
that the latter is simply an infected form of 
it which has lost its reproductive power. In 
such event the verruga organism does not 
reach the infective stage until the Bartonia 
containing it has broken up naturally and dis- 
appeared. Barton’s animal experiments seem 
strongly to indicate that the bacillus paraty- 
phoid B carries verruga infection. 

Similar cases of the constant attendance of 
certain bacilli upon diseases of obscure etiol- 
ogy, as yellow-fever, hog-cholera, ete., are well 
known. It may well be that such bacilli are 
infected with the respective ultramicroscopic 
organisms of these diseases and play an im- 
portant réle in their carriage. 

Whether the intracorpuscular bodies found 
by Laveran and Carini in the blood of lizards 
are of the same type as the present rods and 
granules remains to be seen. It would seem 
quite likely that the two may be closely re- 
lated. The present bodies, which are only ten- 
tatively assumed to be Bartonia or to meta- 
morphose abnormally into the latter, exhibit 
much resemblance to Theileria. The granule 
stage also approaches the marginal-point stage 
of Anaplasma, and is very similar to the 
stages figured by Anderson for the Rocky 
Mountain spotted-fever organism, which is 
probably not a Piroplasma. 


214 


Blood smears of a native rat, probably a 
species of Huneomys, caught at Verrugas 
Canyon, have shown nothing definite. Smears 
of the blood of dogs and burros, doves and 
ground-owls from the same locality have like- 
wise proved negative. The vizeachas, Viscac- 
cia spp., are contraindicated as a reservoir of 
verruga. It has not yet been practicable to se- 
cure vizcacha blood smears from the verruga 
zone, but these animals do not occur close to 
the house in Verrugas Canyon, where the 
Plebotomus is very abundant in the rock walls, 
which it evidently leaves only to enter the 
house or attack persons and animals close by. 
Therefore these particular gnats are precluded 
from deriving their infection from the vizca- 
cha, and they are well known to be infected at 
most times if not continuously. 

In conclusion it may be pointed out that, on 
@ priori grounds, the inference is logical that 
the lizards constitute a verruga reservoir. 
The Phlebotomus passes the daylight hours 
within the darkened recesses of the loose stone 
walls and piles of rock in order to escape wind 
and strong light. Lizards inhabit the same 
places, finding their food there and coming out 
only briefly at rare intervals to sun them- 
selves. The Phlebotomus is always ready to 
suck blood in the absence of light and wind, 
and has been found more prone to suck rep- 
tilian than mammalian blood. Nothing is more 
natural than that the Phlebotomus should 
suck the blood of the lizards to a large extent 
during the day, and this is what actually 
happens. If the Phlebotomus carries verruga, 
and this is already demonstrated to be the fact, 
it follows that the lizards must become in- 
fected therefrom even if they were not orig- 
inally so. That they are probably the original 
reservoir of the disease is indicated in general 
by the constant host relation which obtains 
between Phlebotomus and reptiles the world 
over and specifically by the mutual habitat of 
the two which has resulted in their being 
thrown continually together since their exist- 
ence began. 

Cuartes H, T. Townsenp 

CHOSICA, PERU, 

April 27, 1914 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1023 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 


ON THE ANTAGONISTIC ACTION OF SALTS AND 

ANESTHETICS IN INCREASING PERMEABILITY 

OF FISH EGGS (PRELIMINARY NOTE) 

In previous papers! it was shown that pure 
salt solutions and nicotine increased the per- 
meability of fish eggs and that these permeable 
eggs developed abnormally, giving rise to cy- 
clopia and other abnormalities common to fish 
embryos. During the present season I have 
observed a few cyclopic or one-eyed pike em- 
bryos in the hatching jars of the State Fish 
Hatchery, St. Paul, Minnesota. Eggs of the 
pike and muskalonge were found to live in 
water re-distilled in quartz and to be adaptable 
to permeability experiments. Pike eggs were 
used, and although they were not as imperme- 
able as Fundulus eggs, they were normally 
but very slightly permeable to salts. They 
were placed in distilled water and in solutions 
of anesthetics or of sodium nitrate, and the 
chlorides diffusing out of them estimated 
quantitatively with the nephelometer. Hx- 
cept for the use of the nephelometer, which 
admitted of a quantitative estimation of very 
minute quantities of chlorides, the technique 
was the same as given in the previous papers. 
Tf one or more eggs died in an experiment, it 
was repeated. Pike eggs will live in 3 per 
cent. aleohol for many days and in 6 per cent. 
aleohol. for a considerable length of time. 

Six per cent. alcohol, or 3 saturated (more 
than 1 per cent.) ether, or 70 molecular sodium 
nitrate increased the permeability of the eggs. 
This change was irreversible, but did not kill 
the eges—after the eggs were put back into 
distilled water they remained permeable. 

When a salt and an anesthetic were com- 
bined in the same solution, it was found that 
the anesthetic antagonized the action of the 
salt. This antagonism was not very marked, 
but seemed to be constant. The method of 
procedure is shown by the following example: 
A mass of pike eggs was divided into three 
exactly equal lots. Lot 1 was placed in 50 c.c. 
zo molecular NaNO,. Lot 2 in 50 c.c. vo mo- 
lecular NaNO, containing 3 per cent. alcohol. 

1 McClendon, Scrmncr, N. S., Vol. 38, p. 280; 
and Internat. Zettsch. f. Physik.-Chem. Biologie, 
1914, Vol. 1, p. 28. 


Aveust 7, 1914] 


Lot 8 in 50 cc. 2 molecular NaNO, contain- 
ing 4 per cent. ether. “At the end of eight 
hours, the water was removed from each lot, 
evaporated in quartz vessels to 8 c.c. and ex- 
amined with the nephelometer. The water 
from lot 2 contained 4, and that from lot 3 
contained # as much chlorides as that from 
lot 1. 

Two conclusions may be drawn from these 
experiments. 

1. Pure salt solutions or anesthetics, in con- 
centrations approaching the lethal dose, irre- 
versibly increase the permeability. 

9. Anesthetics in about 2 the above concen- 
tration (which is about the concentration for 
narcosis) antagonize the action of pure salt 
solutions, so that the combined action is less 
than the action of the salt alone in increasing 
permeability. 

It has been shown that the permeability of 
muscle is increased by stimulation.2 Anes- 
theties in certain concentrations tend to in- 
hibit the stimulation of muscle. Perhaps they 
do so by inhibiting the increase in permeabil- 
ity. This idea is not new, but new facts are 
brought in support of it. 

J. EF. McCienpon 

PHYSIOLOGICAL LABORATORY, 

UNIVERSITY OF MINN. MEDICAL SCHOOL, 
June 1, 1914 


THE EFFECT OF SOIL CONDITIONS ON THE TASSELS 
OF MAIZE 


CoNSIERABLE work has been done on the ef- 
fect of various factors of environment on the 
growth of the maize plant. Most of these 
studies have been confined to the pistillate 
flowers, or the ear, and comparatively little at- 
tention has been given to the tassel which pro- 
duces the pollen. 

Lazenby, on studying a number of varieties 
of corn, showed that the number of flowers 
upon a stalk varied widely even in the same 
variety. He also found a certain relation be- 
tween the number of pistillate and staminate 

1 Lazenby, W. R., ‘‘The Flowering and Pollina- 
tion of Indian Corn,’’ Proc. Soc. Prom. Agr. Sct. 
(1898), pp. 123-129. 

2McClendon, Am. Journal Physiology, Vol. 29, 
p. 302. 


SCIENCE 


215 


flowers produced by the corn. 
was not the same for all types. 

In work earried on at the Utah Experiment 
Station by the author and his associates on the 
effect of soil factors on plants, a study was 
made of the number of branches produced in 
the tassels of maize. 

The corn was raised at the Greenville experi- 
mental farm on a uniform soil that had re- 
ceived no manure for many years previous to 
beginning this experiment in 1911. There 
were 36 plats in all, 12 having no manure ap- 
plied, 12 receiving at the rate of 5 tons to the 
acre and 12 receiving 15 tons. The size of 
each plat was 7 x 24 feet. 

Fach manuring treatment contained six dif- 
ferent irrigation treatments of two plats each 
as follows: (1) no irrigation, (2) 5 inches, (3) 
10 inches, (4) 20 inches, (5) 80 inches and 
(6) 40 inches. The water was applied in irri- 
gations of five inches each. When the plants 
were a few inches high they were thinned so 
that each plat contained the same number of 
plants. 

Before harvesting a count was made of the 
number of branches in the tassel of each plant 
and averages made for the plats. A record of 
the number of ears produced on each plat was 


This relation 


also made. ‘The work has been carried on for 
three years. A summary of the results fol- 
lows: 


EFFECT OF MANURE ON THE NUMBER OF BRANCHES 
PER TASSEL OF MAIZE 


Number of Branches per Tassel 


Manure Number 

: Plats Each 
ANaatee! ‘Year | 1911 | 1912 | 1913 Shee 
None.........-. 12 15.45 | 12.85 | 13.65 | 13.98 
OMLOUS! cose ase 12 17.29 | 14.89 | 18.61 | 16.92 
SV tONSi.cessee 12 18.75 | 16.09 | 21.47 | 18.77 


The number of ears produced on each plat 
was as follows: 


Number of Ears per Plat 


Manure : 

Aynpbed 1911 1912 1913 Average 
None........ 70 © 59.25 49.3 59.52 
5 tons....... 75 T5AL 66.5 72.30 
15 tons...... 75 78.08 83.5 78.86 


216 


In order to compare the number of branches 
per tassel with the ears per plat, 100 was taken 
as the number on the plats with no manure 
in each case, and the others expressed in rela- 
tive numbers. 


RELATIVE NUMBER OF BRANCHES PER TASSEL AND 


EARS PER PLAT 


1911 1912 1913 Average 

ae 2D | w no |] ge 

Apphed | 32| Se | 22| 2g] 42| Be] 22) 2s 
ge | fa | se} ga] go | Ba | ae. | Bo 

Be)e [RelA [eels | ea 
None....| 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 
5 tons...| 112 | 107 | 109 | 127 | 129 | 127 | 121 | 121 
15 tons. | 115 | 107 | 125 | 132 | 157 | 160 | 127 | 132 


The effect of the irrigation water on the 
number of branches per tassel and the ears per 
plat is expressed in the following table, which 
is an average of the three years’ results. 


EFFECT OF SOIL MOISTURE ON THE NUMBER OF 
BRANCHES PER TASSEL AND EARS PER PLAT 


Num- Number Melertes 
Water et Branches umber Umber 
Ayastee Hach per icc Branches| Ears 
Year | Tassel per Tassel|per Plat 
None......... 6 | 16.25 69.28 100 100 
5 inches.....| 6 16.78 | 76.05 103 110 
10 inches...| 6 16.33 | 71.27 101 103 
20 inches...| 6 16.49 77.38 102 112 
30 inches... 6 17.15 73.28 106 106 
40 inches...| 6 16.56 75.28 102 ; 109 
These tables show that the number of 


branches per tassel is affected by the condition 
of the soil, and that there is a close relation- 
ship between the tassel branches and number of 
ears produced. 

It seems clear, therefore, that the staminate 
and the pistillate flowers of maize are affected 
by the same conditions. 

Frank 8. Harris 

UraH EXPERIMENT STATION, 

Logan, UTAH 


ASCARIS SUUM IN SHEEP 
An autopsy of an eight-months-old lamb 
upon which with others of the same age, a 
feeding experiment was being conducted re- 
vealed the presence of two female ascarids in 
the small intestine. By the aid of the key in 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1023 


Ransom! these were diagnosed as Ascaris 
ovis. These lambs, however, were being fed 
and kept in pens, previously occupied by hogs, 
known to be infested with ascarids. The pens 
had been thoroughly cleaned out before the 
lambs were placed in them. An examination 
of the ascarids in the light of this information 
emphasized their close similarity if not iden- 
ity to Ascaris suum. 

The mothers of these lambs were shipped up 
from the Carpenter Test Farm in the spring 
of 1912. No ascarids have ever been found 
in the sheep on this farm. The examination 
of the feces of the ewes from which these 
lambs were raised has never revealed the pres- 
ence of ascarids. It appears highly probable, 
therefore, that the lamb got its infestation 
from the pen in which it was kept and that 
the eggs from which the worms developed were 
deposited in the pen by the infested hogs 
which previously occupied it. 

The status of the different species of asca- 
rids affecting man, swine and sheep seems to 
be somewhat in question. It is considered 
questionable by some authors whether Ascaris 
ovis (sheep) represents a distinct species, or 
whether it is simply Ascaris lumbricoides 
(man) or Ascaris swum (pig) in an unusual 
host. Circumstantial evidence in the case here 
recorded strongly indicates that this state- 
ment may be true. It is also questioned by 
some whether Ascaris swum and Ascaris lum- 
bricoides represent distinct species. In fact, 
Neveu-Lemaire? does not consider the differ- 
ences between these worms marked enough 
to establish a separate species and reduces 
Ascaris suum Goeze, 1872, and Ascaris swilla 
Dujardin, 1845, to synonyms. He ealls the 
ascarids of these two different hosts Ascaris 
lumbricoides Linne, 1758. Feeding experi- 
ments may serve to clear up this confusion. 

Don C. Mote 

OHIO AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION, 

Wooster, O. 


1 Ransom, ‘‘The Nematodes Parasitic in the 
Alimentary Tract of Cattle, Sheep and other Ru- 
minants,’? 1911. 

2M. Neveu-Lemaire, ‘‘Parasitologie des Ani- 
maux Domestiques,’’ 1912. 


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SCIENCBR& = 


Froay, Aueust 14, 1914 


CONTENTS 


The Marine Biological Laboratory :-— 
The Needs of Research: Dr. R. 8. Woop- 


Addresses at the Dedication of the New 
Buildings: Dr. R. 8. Litt; Dr. Huew M. 
SIMU Ea yeepe pep cteycve/erevatota ev ters sVsicleie cAieiaid ic ahs ave 229 


Time Ratios in the Evolution of Mammalian 


Phyla: Dr. W. D. MATTHEW ............. 232 
Scientific Notes and News ................ 235 
Unwersity and Educational News .......... 239 


Discussion and Correspondence :— 

Young Whitefish in Lake Superior: T. L. 
The Poor Hatching of Nor- 
mal Eggs: T. D. BeckwitH, G. D. Horton. 
Heterodera radicicola attacking the Canada 
Thistle: L. E. Meucurrs. An Avalanche 
of Rocks: Dr. EDwarp 8. MorsSE......... 239 


HANKINSON. 


Scientific Books :— 
Bateson on Problems of Genetics, Weis- 
mann’s Vortrage tber Deszendenztheorie 
and Bateson’s Principles of Heredity: Pro- 
WESSOR) W. HE. CASTLE 25 ....-..0....-.- 241 


Special Articles :-— 

A New Method for the Determination of Soil 
Acidity: EH. TRuoe. Experimental Efforts to 
retain the Freshness in Cut Rose Blooms: 
F. R. PEMBER 


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


THE NEEDS OF RESEARCH1 

THE occasion which brings us together 
to-day is one of profound moment alike to 
biologists and to the devotees of other 
branches of science; for in the dedication 
of your new laboratory we make distinct 
and formal recognition at once of our ex- 
istence in a universe chiefly unknown to us 
and of the most effective method thus far 
devised for interpreting it. This universe 
is the complex of phenomena in which we 
find ourselves and of which we humans form 
a part, and this method is the method of 
research. The evolution of our race may 
be summed up under the two heads of 
man’s relations to and of his means of in- 
vestigating this complex of phenomena in 
which he plays the réle usually of a name- 
less supernumerary, but occasionally also 
the role of interpreter, or even manager, in 
an ephemeral presentation of some aspects 
of the larger drama of life. The event we 
celebrate, therefore, should stimulate our 
keenest philosophic interest and rouse our 
enthusiastic admiration for the favoring 
circumstances which have made it possible 
to secure this substantial adjunct to the 
rare opportunities which have long made 
Woods Hole a resort for students and in- 
vestigators in biological science. This event 
means progress; it marks a definite step in 
advance along lines of proved advantage 
to society at large; and it makes additional 
steps forward easier not only for your or- 
ganization, but for all similar organiza- 
tions. Moreover, the age in which we live 
is preeminently an age of restless, if not 

1 Address read on the occasion of the dedica- 


tion of the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods 
Hole, Massachusetts, July 10, 1914. 


218 


impetuous, enquiry, and the development 
of establishments through which research 
may be pursued patiently and systematic- 
ally to demonstrable conclusions is one of 
the most inspiring signs of our times as well 
as one of the most essential agencies for the 
conservation of the best interests of com- 
munity and national life. 

For without the aid of such establish- 
ments it is not evident how we may distin- 
guish what is fundamental and advantage- 
ous in our advancing evolution from what 
is accidental or inimical to it. Many emi- 
nent minds, indeed, are appalled at the 
temerity and the impatience of the more 
radical members of contemporary society 
in their manifestations of the prevailing 
spirit of inquiry. Traditions, customs, 
cherished beliefs and legal methods of pro- 
cedure are all being challenged. In an era 
of unparalleled enlightenment so far as 
available knowledge is concerned we are 
frequently startled by the fact that there 
are yet numerous localities where intellec- 
tual darkness, if not abysmal ignorance, 
prevails. In an era of unequaled philan- 
thropy and international amity there are 
nevertheless instances of wars whose atroc- 
ities beggar description, while national 
armaments which threaten national bank- 
ruptey go forward unimpeded. Although 
the administration of justice was never on 
the whole so equitable and so merciful as 
at present, we are becoming deeply con- 
scious that courts of law so often lead to 
injustice as to almost warrant the question- 
able extremes of the “‘referendum’’ and 
the ‘‘recall.’’ Thus, also, it is becoming 
painfully evident that while statesmen and 
publicists were never so well equipped for 
their work as at present, they are still 
pushing political and oratorical methods 
absurdly far in trying to settle by their 
aid such complicated questions, for ex- 
ample, as those of tariffs and the diminish- 
ing purchasing capacity of the world’s 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1024 


monetary standards. Although there never 
was a time when men of merit received 
more ready recognition, there are yet those 
who would seek to divide the earnings and 
the savings of the industrious: and the 
thrifty with the shiftless and the improvi- 
dent. And while there never was a time 
when the rights and the opportunities ac- 
corded to women were so numerous and so 
universal, there are yet members of their 
sex who, reckless alike of property and life, 
would destroy laws which society has 
slowly and laboriously built up through 
ages of tentative effort and experiment. 
This stupendous plexus of conflicting is- 
sues, this world-wide phantasm, one might 
say, of realizable and unrealizable ideas 
and ideals, may well be a source of despair 
to the enthusiastic philanthropist, to the 
hopeful humanist and to the pious relig- 
ionist; for unless they take into account 
the secular extent of the time element in- 
volved and hence the painful slowness of 
the processes of evolution, they will not 
only fail to understand the issues in ques- 
tion, but will fail also to anticipate and to 
appreciate the improvements to which 
these issues will lead when fully wrought 
out. No one unacquainted with the essen- 
tials of the Darwinian theory and no one 
not animated by a patient and painstaking 
spirit of research can expect to gain any- 
thing better than a superficial view of the 
activities, aims and aspirations of contem- 
porary life. The problems it presents are 
as much problems in biology, in anthropol- 
ogy and in all of the older branches of 
physical science, as they are problems in 
political economy and jurisprudence; al- 
though, strange as it may seem, we have 
hitherto held them to be, and may still ex- 
pect them to be long commonly considered, 
problems belonging solely to the provinces 
of politics and religion. Out of this mix- 
ture of wisdom and unwisdom, out of this 
conflict of opinions of the masses and the 


le 


AvuecustT 14, 1914] 


classes, and out of the hopes and the fears 
of a small minority of contemplative and 
constructive minds will come the advances 
to which a healthy optimism bids us look 
forward. But these advances may be ra- 
tionally expected to come only slowly and 
falterinely, with many setbacks, and with 
direct benefits chiefly for our successors 
rather than for us; for biological science 
has taught us that the social organism 
works in general with extreme deliberation 


and works for the individual only as a rela- . 


tively insignificant unit in his race. 

And in keeping with this broader view of 
our relations to the larger part of the uni- 
verse, the event we celebrate is especially 
noteworthy not so much by reason of its 
individuality as by reason of the type it 
represents and the trend of current 
thought it helps to express. For important 
as this center of research undoubtedly has 
been, and should long continue to be, to 
biological science in America, it is only one 
of numerous agencies for research now 
undergoing rejuvenation or now springing 
up in various parts of the world. The spirit 
of stolid conservatism and the spirit of 
reckless enquiry, alike inimical to the pub- 
lic welfare and to the progress of science, 
are being replaced in larger and larger de- 
gree by a spirit of patient investigation 
which seeks to substitute constructive for 
destructive work and to discover how the 
best interests of mankind may be secured 
under the inexorable restrictions imposed 
by that vastly larger part of the universe 
which we have hitherto so commonly and so 
blindly ignored. In this conscious effort 
to discover our relations to the environment 
in which we find ourselves and in this con- 
scious recognition of the limitations of hu- 
man existence and endeavor are to be found 
the most encouraging evidences of progress. 
We should guard carefully, however, 
against our instinctive tendencies to accept 
the widely popular fallacy that what we 


SCIENCE 


219 


eall research is either novel or of recent 
origin. Research, as we now understand 
the word, means simply a systematic appli- 
cation of the methods of science. These 
methods are as old, certainly, as written 
history, and they have undergone a tedious 
and painful development. We may no 
longer think rationally of the achieve- 
ments of men as appearing suddenly any 
more than we may think rationally of other 
phenomena occurring in violation of the 
principle of continuity. AJl such vagaries, 
though still too common, belong to the 
Homeric childhood: of our race. Neither 
are these methods the exclusive property 
or tools of any class or classes of men. 
What is new with regard to them is an in- 
ereasing assurance in their validity as a 
means of truthfully interpreting and hence 
controlling within determinable limits the 
conditions of existence on our planet. 

But in addition to these generally favor- 
able circumstances for the appreciation 
and for the promotion of research, cireum- 
stances far more propitious, probably, than 
at any earlier epoch in history, there are 
many collateral considerations which ob- 
viously demand our attention if we are to 
make good use of the enlarged opportuni- 
ties now becoming available to us in in- 
creasing measure. Along with the extraor- 
dinary advances of science and its benefi- 
cent applications in the nineteenth century 
there has come also an equally extraordi- 
nary development of private and public 
confidence in those advances and hence a 
desire for liberal endowment of research by 
individuals and by governments. This has 
been the case in our country especially. 
Captains of industry, philanthropists and 
legislators have manifested a spirit of al- 
truism and a degree of foresight quite with- 
out parallel in previous experience. An 
unprecedented amount of funds has re- 
cently become available for research, and 


220 


this amount appears destined to increase as 
time goes on. We are thus confronted, in 
America, at any rate, by a relatively new 
set of problems for men of science, prob- 
lems in finance, in administration and in 
adjustment of mutually helpful relations 
between novel research establishments and 
organizations already extant in the fields 
of education and other forms of altruistic 
effort. It is to some of the requirements 
which these problems demand of us as 
specialists in the domain of science that this 
address is more particularly devoted. What 
are the needs of the times, what are our per- 
sonal duties and responsibilities as workers 
in science, and how should we seek to 
forward the improvements essential to 
further the progress of our race? To these 
and to allied questions your attention is 
henceforth invited. 

It would appear quite unnecessary be- 
fore an audience of this kind to further de- 
fine the meaning of the word research. But 
it may be instructive to consider for a mo- 
ment how far the popular mind, and how 
far many disciplined minds, may depart 
from the meaning we attach to the term. 
We should never forget that the investi- 
gator lives usually in the presence of ma- 
jorities which do not understand him and 
that progress is largely conditioned by 
these majorities. Thus, to journalists and 
to their readers it would seem that research 
is akin to necromaney and that its results 
are produced chiefly by witches of the male 
sex, otherwise designated in the polite liter- 
ature of our day as wizards. Closely akin 
to this infantile fallacy is the more subtile 
error entertained by a majority, perhaps, 
of our highly educated contemporaries, that 
the more remarkable results of research 
are produced not by the better balanced 
minds, but by aberrant types of mind 
popularly designated by that word of 
ghostly, if not ghastly, implications, 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1024 


namely, ‘‘genius.’’ Out of these miscon- 
ceptions, which require only the briefest 
examination for their rejection, arise vol- 
umes of fruitless correspondence and many 
directly serious obstacles to progress. They 
are evidently part of the intellectual rub- 
bish we have inherited from the remote 
past; but unfortunately their obvious origin 
does not prevent well disposed inquirers 
from raising the questions whether research 
establishments will undertake investiga- 
tions which are not scientific and whether 
they should not give special attention to 
eccentric rather than to normal minds. A 
clarification of ideas which will lead to a 
dissipation of these vagaries is one of the 
greatest needs of the day. 

A similar clarification of ideas in the 
popular mind is essential to appreciate the 
distinction between the usual aims of the 
investigator and the usual aims of the in- 
ventor. Investigation and invention are so 
closely allied that they are often con- 
founded with one another. Indeed, the in- 
vestigator is often compelled to devise in- 
ventions to promote his researches and the 
inventor is often compelled to make investi- 
gations in order to perfect his inventions; 
while the secretiveness of the inventor has 
its correlative in the desire of the investi- 
gator to secure priority of publication, as 
in the naming of new species. But in gen- 
eral the objects of the investigator are 
mainly altruistic while those of the inventor 
are mainly egoistic; the one seeks to give 
freely to the world the results of his re- 
searches, the other seeks personal benefits 
by aid of letters-patent. It is plain, there- 
fore, that while there is now room for con- 
temporaneous and probably advantageous 
public altruistic and private egoistic organ- 
izations for the promotion of research, rela- 
tions of complete reciprocity can not obtain 
between them. Thus, for example, the U.S. 
Bureau of Standards is giving the results 


Auveust 14, 1914] 


of its admirable researches to a multitude of 
highly productive and praiseworthy com- 
mercial organizations; but whether the in- 
ventions so promoted and protected by pa- 
tent laws will result on the whole advan- 
tageously to society or to inventors is a 
question which remains to be determined. 
It is well known that as a rule inventors are 
a sadly disappointed class; and when we 
consider the great waste of effort and re- 
sources entailed by patent litigation, it ap- 
pears plain that the aggregate of rewards 
arising from the egoism of the inventor is 
much less than the aggregate of rewards 
arising from the altruism of the investi- 
gator. We may look forward, perhaps, to 
an epoch of more advanced social develop- 
ment when the functions of patent offices 
will be abolished except as they may serve 
to register important improvements and 
discoveries. In the meantime, altruistic re- 
search agencies may not be properly ex- 
pected to perfect inventions, to secure let- 
ters-patent for them, to defend inventors in 
suits at law or to exploit successful inven- 
tions.? 

Another popular illusion which every- 
where retards the evolution of research insti- 
tutions is more specious and hence more 
dangerous than those just referred to. It 
involves all of the fallacies which have thus 
far rendered the highly developed mathe- 
matical theory of probabilities of limited 
application in the ordinary affairs of life. 
It manifests itself in various forms, but 
most commonly finds expression in the no- 
tion that research establishments should 
solicit suggestions, or busy themselves in 

2 There is little doubt that an endowed organi- 
zation, and possibly a state organization, for the 
promotion of inventions, could now he established 
with great advantage alike to society and to in- 
ventors. There are plenty of able inventors who 
would be glad to work on salaries and to give as 


freely to society the results of their labors as in- 
vestigators do. 


SCIENCE 


221 


casting drag-nets in the wide world of 
thought, or in dredging, as biologists would 
Say, with the expectation that out of the 
vast slimy miscellanies thus collected there 
will be found by the aid of a corps of pa- 
tient examiners some precious sediments of 
truth. By this method it is assumed that 
the entire range of possibilities for dis- 
covery will be included; and it is likewise 
assumed that no idea of value can escape 
the superhuman intelligence attributed to 
the examiners. There is thus available at 
last, the argument runs, a comprehensive 
way to utilize for any given case even the 
small soul of truth contained in that an- 
cient and cautiously wise aphorism, ‘‘there 
may be something in it’’; and the doors 
are thus opened also to the hosts of ama- 
teurs, dilettanti and paradoxers who stand 
ready to waste the time and the resources 
of research establishments in the pursuit 
of the obvious, the futile and the demon- 
strably unattaimable.2 Two simple facts 
will suffice to dispel this illusion. The first 
of these is that important advances in 
knowledge are far more likely to issue from 
the expert than from the inexpert in re- 
search. Indeed, the probability of extend- 
ing knowledge by organizations conducted 
by disciplined investigators is so much 
greater than the probability of extending 
knowledge by the drag-net method that we 
not only may but should ignore the latter 
in comparison with the former. The second 
fact is that no competent examiner is will- 
ing to spend his energies in raking over the 


3 Along with the amateurs and the dilettanti, 
who are not without certain commendable charae- 
teristics, there are to be counted also in great 
mumbers cranks, quacks, charlatans, aliens and 
mountebanks, The paradoxers include especially 
are-trisectors, circle-squarers and perpetual-motion 
men and women. It is amazing how easy it is for 
an individual of any of these classes to get letters 
of introduction to research establishments from 
our otherwise highly esteemed contemporaries. 


222 


contents of the drag-net. No more fruit- 
less or thankless task could be assigned to 
an expert investigator than that of detect- 
ing the relatively microscopic quantity of 
truth to be found in the vast volume of 
error with which undisciplined minds 
would eagerly occupy his attention. 

But the need of clear ideas on the sub- 
ject of research is not limited to the 
majorities of our fellow men who are natu- 
rally preoccupied with other affairs. There 
are vexatious variations of opinion as to 
what research is, and great diversities of 
view as to how it may be effectively carried 
on, held even by its devotees and more 
especially by its nearest allies in the fields 
of education. Thus, adventure, explora- 
tion, the collection and naming of speci- 
mens and the tabulation of bibliographies, 
any or all of which may be incident to, are 
not infrequently mistaken for research by 
those engaged therein or seeking to con- 
tribute thereto. Similarly, it is often 
assumed that research is a harmless and a 
fruitless diversion in the business of edu- 
cation, and that it requires but a portion 
of the leisure time of those chiefly occupied 
with duties of instruction and administra- 
tion in colleges and universities. On the 
other hand, some eminent minds maintain 
that serious and fruitful research can be 
advantageously pursued only in connection 
with work of instruction, while a few 
enthusiasts go so far as to suggest that the 
mental and the bodily vigor of an investi- 
gator can be conserved only in the stimu- 
lating presence of immature minds, other- 
wise known as students or candidates for 
higher academic degrees. Such eminent 
minds and enthusiasts entertain grave 
doubts as to the propriety of the existence 
independently of colleges and universities 
of research establishments. It is darkly 
hinted, indeed, that the latter may work 
harm, if not ruin, to the former by enticing 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. KL. No. 1024 


the effective teacher away from his students 
and by checking the diffusion in order to 
promote the advancement of knowledge. 
Thus it has happened that sinister predic- 
tions and panicky sentiments have attended 
the development of a few research estab- 
lishments in our own country and abroad 
during the past decade. We seem to have 
undergone a sort of intellectual flutter 
similar in many respects to that more pro- 
found emotional disturbance which followed 
the publication of the ideas of Darwin, 
Wallace and Spencer, a half century ago, 
and presaged the extraordinary develop- 
ment of biological science as we know it 
to-day. 

Happily, the untoward features of this 
more recent agitation, features leading to 
numerous unrealizable ideals and to numer- 
ous necessary disappointments, are now 
subsiding; and the sense of humor and the 
sense of proportion so essential to the dis- 
sipation of mental aberrations are now 
regaining the ascendancy. Indeed, after 
a decade of wild conjecture and extrava- 
gant expectation on the part of many men 
of science and many educators, we may now 
venture, perhaps, to look squarely at the 
facts which confront us and to apply the 
rules of elementary arithmetic with some 
hope of adequately visualizing the relations 
which should exist between educational 
establishments, on the one hand, and re- 
search organization, on the other. 

Confining attention to our own country, 
some of the salient facts and figures we 
need to contrast and to contemplate are 
the following: 

The number of higher, or degree-giving, 
establishments in the United States is now 
upwards of six hundred; the aggregate 
annual income of these is upwards of one 
hundred millions of dollars; and the num- 
ber of officials connected with them is up- 
wards of thirty thousand. 


AuausT 14, 1914] 


On the other hand, the number of inde- 
pendent research organizations in the 
United States is less than half a dozen; 
their aggregate annual income is less than 
two million dollars; and the number of 
officials primarily connected with them is 
less than five hundred. 

The overwhelming disparity between 
these figures should assure us that there is 
no immediate and no prospective danger 
of the usurpation on the part of the more 
recent research organizations of the rights, 
privileges and immunities so long, and in 
the main so justly, enjoyed by educational 
establishments. But these arithmetical 
data go further and serve to dispel other 
illusions which have much hindered the 
progress of research during the past decade. 
They show at a glance why the combined 
incomes of a few research institutions could 
not meet the deficiencies even of their 
nearest allies, to say nothing of meeting the 
limitless wants of numerous other estab- 
lishments which have expected likewise to 
be supplied from the same source. It is 
probable, of course, that of the large aggre- 
gate income of our higher educational in- 
stitutions only a small fraction is available 
for the promotion of research. This must 
certainly be the case if the vast amount of 
expert testimony available is to be taken 
at its face value. But here again there 
appear some obscurities that need clearing 
up. For, as already indicated, it is claimed 
by many of our highly esteemed academic 
colleagues that colleges and universities 
are not only specially qualified and 
equipped for the conduct of investigation, 
but that they are the real ancestral homes 
of this high calling. They seem to possess 
all of the desiderata except funds. They 
are like the farmer who has an abundance 
of fertile land, but who remains inactive 
because he lacks capital for the production 
of crops. And just as we would esteem it 


SCIENCE 


223 


permissible to challenge any claim on the 
part of our farmer that he is an expert in 
husbandry and that his farm is a natural 
agricultural experiment station, so must we 
regard it permissible, if not highly desira- 
ble in the interests of progress, to question 
the claims of our academic colleagues. The 
simple truth seems to be that research has 
been and is still rarely regarded by the 
great majority of academic men and women 
as anything but an unimportant incident 
to the principal business of academic life. 
This principal business is the transmission 
from generation to generation of acquired 
learning; and it has been adhered to so 
generally and so rigorously in the past that 
until our own time educational institutions 
might be said, with only slight qualifica- 
tions, to have been depositories of station- 
ary thought. Moreover, in these days of 


‘decreasing pretensions and increasing ful- 


fillments it is incumbent especially on those 
claiming superior qualifications and facil- 
ities for research to bestir themselves in 
order that they may secure that degree 
of independence which is indispensable to 
the effective pursuit of fruitful investiga- 
tions. It is futile as well as incoherent to 
argue that the funds of the newer organiza- 
tions could be better applied by the older 
ones, since we have not heard of the latter 
proposing to divide their incomes with the 
financially embarrassed, but often highly 
commendable, smaller colleges of the 
country. But in addition to this patent 
Inconsistency on the part of the protestants 
there is an obvious and insuperable arith- 
metical obstacle in the way of an acceptable 
division of the incomes of a few research 
organizations amongst a multitude of edu- 
cational establishments, however worthy and 
however selected. 

All this leads up to a frank submission 
of the proposition that whatever may prove 
to be the working relations between research 


224 SCIENCE 


organizations and educational institutions, 
they must be relations of reciprocity. 
This is a proposition which should be of 
special interest to your organization, since 
sooner or later you will be compelled to 
consider it. Trustees of such organizations, 
it is safe to predict, will not be disposed 
to surrender their rights or to delegate 
their duties. In this respect they will 
doubtless be found to be just like trustees 
of educational institutions. Biologically 
the two groups belong to the same genus if 
not to the same species, and under like 
circumstances the reactions of either group 
will be the same as those of the other. 
And is it not plain that such relations of 
reciprocity are the only permanently satis- 
factory relations attainable? The widely 
spread, if not prevalent, assumption that 
research establishments are mere disbur- 
sing agencies, waiting for suggestions of 
appropriate ways in which to apply funds, 
is creditable neither to those who entertain 
it nor to establishments which accept it. 
This assumption entails too readily the 
futilities of amateurism, the dangers of 
favoritism and all of the inefficiencies due 
to division of responsibilities and to scatter- 
ing of resources. Thus, while it is quite 
true that a majority of the fundamental 
researches of the past have been accom- 
plished by individuals and that they will 
continue to be so accomplished in the 
future, it should nevertheless be the 
primary purpose of a research institu- 
tion to institute and to conduct re- 
search; to take up especially those larger 
problems not likely to be solved under 
other auspices, problems requiring a degree 
of organized effort and a continuity of pur- 
pose surpassing in general the scope and 
the span of life of any individual investi- 
gator. Such institutions, like colleges and 
universities, should expect to continue their 
work forever, or, at any rate, so long as 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1024 


they are able to add to the sum of that sort 
of knowledge which is verifiable and hence 
permanently useful to mankind. 

But ‘‘how,”’ it is often asked, and doubt- 
less some of our colleagues here are now 
raising the query, ‘‘are the requirements 
of the worthy individual investigators in 
colleges and universities to be supplied ?”’ 
To understand and to answer this question 
rationally we need first to learn how to 
distinguish endowments from incomes and 
then to appeal to our knowledge of mental 
arithmetic. An application of this much- 
neglected branch of an ancient science will 
quickly show that the income of no single 
research institution now extant, or likely 
to be founded, can come anywhere near 
meeting the wants of the great army of 
competent investigators now pressing for 
financial assistance to forward their re- 
searches. Indeed, neither in a single insti- 
tution nor in all of those now existing 
combined, nor in a score more of such, will 
there be found sufficient funds to supply 
the world-wide and rapidly growing demand 
for them. When we are ready to appre- 
ciate these salient numerical facts we shall 
be able to make the next step essential to 
relieve at once the straitened conditions 
under which hosts of worthy investigators 
are now chafing and to respond more 
quickly to the urgent demands of society 
for obviously attainable and desirable im- 
provements dependent on research. This 
next step should consist, first, in an appeal 
not solely to a few of the captains of indus- 
try and the philanthropists whose wisdom 
and benevolence have been so conspicu- 
ously manifest in our day, but to the entire 
class of such, whose aggregate number, as 
long since proved by the experience of 
charitable, educational and religious organ- 
izations, is legion. If a small fraction of 
the vast aggregate annual expenditures of 
such organizations were devoted to research 


Aveust 14, 1914] 


under competent guidance, it would go far 
towards an understanding and hence an 
amelioration of the adverse social condi- 
tions which have so long roused the sym- 
pathies but baffled the judgments of the 
majorities of our fellow men. And in re- 
spect to this appeal it is a most encourag- 
ing fact that there are in waiting, so to 
speak, everywhere in our country, at least, 
imereasing numbers of intelligent men and 
women ready to endow research as soon as 
they ean find trustees of research funds in 
whom confidence may be safely reposed. 
Secondly, this step in line towards relief 
should consist in the development of larger 
opportunities for research and in the col- 
lection of corresponding endowments there- 
for, by universities. They must lose their 
leadership in research if they are obliged 
in any considerable degree to depend on 
other organizations for financial support. 
They should recognize that the ends of re- 
search are not limited to the highly worthy 
object of fitting candidates for the doctor- 
ate degree; and they should recognize that 
there is the amplest room for the simultane- 
ous existence of educational institutions 
along with other organizations whose pri- 
mary purpose is not the diffusion but the 
enlargement of learning. And in the ad- 
justments now forming between these two 
classes of establishments there should arise 
the freest relations of reciprocity, especially 
as regards individual investigators. Much 
baseless fear has been expressed lest a few 
research organizations should rob academic 
staffs of their ablest men, as if those rela- 
tions at first slightly unilateral might be- 
come increasingly or wholly so. It is of su- 
preme importance to both classes of estab- 
lishments, and particularly to progress in 
the immediate future, that eminent men 
should be free to pass from one to another 
of these establishments without encounter- 
ing any administrative or other purely in- 


SCIENCE 


225 


stitutional obstacles, In fact, it should be 
esteemed one of the highest attainable ob- 
jects of any institution to assist in the 
production of investigators whom other in- 
stitutions are glad to offer desirable or 
superior opportunities. 

And thirdly, relief should come in large 
measure through increasing appropriations 
of public funds to forward all of those nu- 
merous researches essential to the public 
welfare. These fall mostly in the fields of 
applied science and are often erroneously 
assumed to produce only the so-called 
““practical results’’ directly aimed at. But 
every investigator knows that the by-prod- 
ucts of such researches are usually quite as 
important as, and often more important 
than, their anticipated products. A vast 
aggregate of such work is now earried on 
by the United States government, by states 
and by municipalities; and it should be ob- 
served that on the whole this work is well 
done, in spite of the contemptuous references 
one sees and hears occasionally to the conduct 
of scientific work under governmental aus- 
pices. In a republic destructive criticism 
of this sort has little weight, since it carries 
with it the illogical conclusion that our gov- 
ernors are, as a class, inferior to the citi- 
zens who elect them. What we much need 
in this, as in many allied governmental af- 
fairs, is less of destructive criticism founded 
on the shifting sands of partisan senti- 
ments and more of constructive criticism 
founded on adequate knowledge of biology 
and anthropology. As a matter of fact and 
of justice it must be admitted that the agere- 
gate of high-class work of research accom- 
plished by the bureaus of the United States 
government in recent decades compares 
very favorably with the corresponding 
ageregate accomplished by educational and 
other establishments of our country during 
the same period. We who labor in the lat- 
ter establishments, therefore, have no ade- 


226 


quate reason to suppose that our reputa- 
tions may be much improved by invidious 
reflections on the methods in science fol- 
lowed by men who happen to live ‘‘in 
Washington.’’ Here again it is useful to 
remember that we and they belong to the 
same species. 

But in order that any measures of relief 
and of response to the pressing demands of 
society may become adequately and pro- 
gressively effective, certain other require- 
ments of greater importance must be real- 
ized. These requirements must be supplied 
chiefly by men of science. To a far greater 
extent than ever before the methods and the 
applications of science are concerned with 
the daily affairs of domestic, national and 
international life. Ours is an era of un- 
equalled opportunities in science; but it 
remains in part, at least, to be demonstrated 
whether the types of men called scientists, 
whom it has taken many generations to 
evolve, are prepared to meet the respon- 
sibilities as well as the duties now falling 
upon them. It is an open secret that as a 
class doctors in science are on trial, and 
properly so, in so far as they may suggest 
remedies for the body politic. In the evo- 
lution of society they are a sort of ‘‘fourth 
estate’’ and the latest in the order of human 
development. It is not so long ago, quite 
within the recollection of some here pres- 
ent, when society was guided almost wholly 
by three other classes typified by the man 
in the saddle, by the man in the pulpit, 
and by the man on the bench. The réle of 
the man of science as manifested somewhat 
sensationally to the popular mind, for ex- 
ample, in the conduct of industries, in the 
control of epidemics and in the construction 
of the Panama Canal, has been recognized 
only recently as one of vital importance to 
communities and to states. It is especially 
incumbent on us, therefore, at this juncture, 
to put our scientific houses in order and to 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1024 


be ready to demonstrate the validity of 
whatever claims we may set up by the pro- 
duction of work which will stand on a basis 
of verifiable merit. It would be unscien- 
tific, and inimical to progress, to ask for 
easier conditions of entrance into the 
world’s affairs, from which as a class we 
may no longer advantageously either hold 
ourselves aloof or be debarred by other 
classes. 

Fortunately, there is now little danger 
that the prejudice and the ignorance which 
provoked so many wordy wars and so long 
contested the advent of the ‘‘fourth estate,” 
will exert anything like such sinister influ- 
ences in the future as they have exerted in 
the past. Science is ever ready and will- 
ing to settle matters in dispute by the arbi- 
trament of demonstration, and the conclu- 
siveness as well as the fairness of this pro- 
cedure is now nearly universally conceded. 
Indeed, the effectiveness of the methods of 
science is now not only generally recog- 
nized within each of the older ‘‘estates’’ 
just referred to, but even the more conser- 
vative members therein are making and 
projecting scientific researches with a 
degree of enthusiasm which compels our 
admiration. The dangers which beset us 
are rather dangers of popular over-confi- 
dence in our methods, of amateurism and 
dilettantism and of premature generali- 
zations. The prevailing optimism needs to 
be chastened by the reflection that the 
millennium is not in sight, that sound re- 
search means arduous enterprise and that 
advances in knowledge come, as a rule, 
only after prolonged and even painful 
effort. In the meantime, while guarding 
carefully against these dangers, it is the 
part of wisdom to take every legitimate 
advantage of the present highly favorable 
attitude of our contemporaries towards re- 
search. We of the ‘‘fourth estate’’ need 
especially to fraternize with our colleagues 


Aueusr 14, 1914] 


of the other three ‘‘estates’’ and likewise 
with the still larger and equally favorably 
disposed groups of our contemporaries in 
the world of trade, commerce and industry. 
It is well for us to study them lest we 
should misunderstand them. We need 
their aid now more than they need ours; 
and it should be borne in mind that when 
any proposition is to be voted upon they 
are overwhelmingly more numerous. 

Time does not permit more than passing 
reference to the important but as yet little 
studied subject of research publications, 
their proper distribution and their ade- 
quate popularization; nor to the more im- 
portant, though less debatable, subject of 
administration, including what are too 
often contemptuously regarded by men of 
science as unattractive if not unessential 
details of fiscal business; nor to the still 
more important and complex. but little 
understood subject of boards of trustees, 
the best methods of choosing them and their 
proper relations to research organizations.* 
It must suffice here to call attention to them, 
among many other subjects, as specially in 
need of patient investigation by men of 
science. They are subjects, however, whose 
elucidation may be deferred. An adequate 
understanding of them will come, appar- 
ently, only after the more elementary con- 
siderations already dwelt upon are visual- 
ized and appreciated. Passing these con- 
siderations rapidly in review, the salient 
needs of research and some of their numer- 
ous corollaries may be advantageously 


4 An important contribution to this subject has 
been made by President Eliot in his volume on 
University Administration (Houghton Mifflin 
Company, 1908). All such works, however, are 
generally held to be ‘‘too theoretical’’ by the aver- 
age man who prides himself on being ‘‘ practical.’’ 
In his assumed freedom from theory he often 
adopts the obviously erroneous theory that there 
is no room for progress or improvement in the 
conduct of such affairs. 


SCIENCE 


227 


summarized in paraphrase and in aphorism 
even at the risk of apparent dogmatism: 
We need first to recognize that in its in- 
clusive aspects research is in scope coex- 
tensive with the universe of which we form 
an insignificant part, but in which we are 
obliged to play the significant réle of inter- 
preters if we would make the best of our 
opportunities. The experience of our race 
has demonstrated that by study and hence 
by understanding of this universe the roads 
to progress may be found. The methods 
of research are the methods of science. 
They are not of recent origin. They have 
undergone an evolution extending far 
backwards towards the era of primitive 
man. What is new about them is a widely 
general and rapidly increasing recognition 
of them as the most trustworthy methods 
man has devised for the discovery of truth 
and for the eradication of error. Along 
with this recognition there has gone on, 
and is still going on, a gradual elimination 
of Homeric illusions and fallacies; so that 
male as well as female witches must be 
abandoned by all except the more atavistiec, 
while the appellation ‘‘genius’’ in the 
singular as well as in the plural is becom- 
ing one of doubtful compliment. We are 
coming to understand also that while there 
may occur flashes of wit, and even of 
wisdom, from abnormal types of mind, the 
more effective emanations of both wit and 
wisdom are to be expected from normal 
and patiently contemplative types. And 
thus the more:striking results of research, 
quite commonly in the past attributed to 
wizards and to genii, and still so attributed 
by a majority, probably, of contemporary 
writers for the popular press, are now 
understood by the thoughtful to be products 
rather of industry, sanity and prolonged 
labor than of any superhuman faculties. 
Out of this rational appreciation of the 
methods of science have arisen quite natu- 


228 


rally, but relatively suddenly, unprece- 
dented demands for research, on the one 
hand from communities and states, and on 
the other hand from academies, societies, 
institutes and universities. We should ob- 
serve, however, that this intellectual up- 
rising dates back at least a half century, to 
about the time when your science was 
emerging from the limbo of ‘‘natural his- 
tory’’ in which it had been left to slumber 
by Pliny the elder. It is part of the gen- 
eral uprising of the nineteenth century of 
which the multiplication and fruitful 
activity of scientific societies in America is 
another surprising and gratifying manifes- 
tation. Quite naturally, also, along with 
this greatly enlarged appreciation of the 
value and desirability of research there has 
come a corresponding demand for enlarged 
facilities and particularly for funds. This 
demand, like most unanticipated demands, 
is in the aggregate vastly greater than the 
present or possible supply, but not greater 
than can be met if pruned of its adven- 
titious appendages. Research and research 
organizations are somewhat in danger of 
being swamped by an excess of symbiosis. 

In these circumstances there is constant 
need of the caution and the deliberation 
which distinguish scientific investigation 
from impulsive and emotional mental con- 
duct. We should frequently recall that the 
characteristic defect even of deliberative 
bodies is lack of deliberation. We need 
constantly to apply our well-known methods 
of research to the questions confronting us. 
Instead of following precedent, we should 
in general avoid it. When, for example, 
a research fund is established we should 
not make haste in academic fashion to set 
up poor-boy scholarships and roving fel- 
lowships to be awarded to the amateur and 
to the tyro, but we should seek to originate 
and to conduct research under the auspices 
of competent and responsible investigators. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1024 


And as regards research in academic circles, 
we need to fix attention rather on the pro- 
fessors who are qualified to extend the 
boundaries of knowledge than on their 
pupils. These latter, if worthy of the name, 
will require little formal instruction in the 
presence of evolving discoveries and ad- 
vances; moreover, they must learn early to 
think with their own heads if they may 
hope to become either competent teachers 
or leaders in work of research. 

And finally, men of science, if they are 
to meet the requirements now demanded of 
them, need more of contact with, experience 
in and sympathy for, ordinary business life. 
We are as a class of too recent monastic 
descent to fit comfortably in our present 
social environment. ‘The man of affairs 
does not understand us, and hence often 
looks upon us with suspicion or even with 
contempt. He is generally sure that the 
man of science can know little of finance 
and of other affairs vaguely emphasized 
by the adjective ‘‘practical.’’ Argument 
concerning this matter is idle in the face of 
existing conditions which determine major- 
ities in boards of trustees and in legislative 
assemblies. Nor would it be the part of 
wisdom to change abruptly if we could the 
present course of evolution in affairs of 
administration. We need to accept the 
situation as we find it and to qualify for 
gradual entrance into, and participation in, 
the details of this ordinary life. It will 
not be taken for granted, for example, that 
we can keep accounts and live within in- 
come, but a positive demonstration will be 
accepted without protest. It may be easily 
shown to our satisfaction by @ priorz rea- 
soning that men of science are no more 
likely to wreck corporations than financiers, 
general managers or promoters, but proof 
by numerous concrete examples must be 
forthcoming from us. And in proving 
capacity for trustworthiness in these, to us, 


Aueust 14, 1914] 


new fields we should avoid the manifest 
errors of our business predecessors. Agree- 
ing with Dr. Johnson’s astronomer that 
“the memory of mischief is no desirable 
fame,’’ we should not seek, for example, to 
perform the academic feat of capitalizing 
deficits. Even if there were a body of 
alumni to which appeal might be made in 
distress, such a feat would be unworthy of 
a research organization. Above all, re- 
search organizations should embrace the 
great advantages that come from open 
audit and truthful publicity in all financial 
affairs. We should accept these and the 
other conditions and limitations of our en- 
vironment to which attention has been 
called, not in a spirit of unreflective meek- 
ess, nor in a spirit of impatient defiance, 
but in a spirit of philosophic equanimity, 
confident that the scientific methods of ob- 
servation, experiment, comparison, demon- 
stration, generalization and verification 
will ultimately work out adjustments to the 
permanent advantage of our successors, if 
not to the ephemeral advantage of our- 
selves. 
R. S. Woopwarp 


ADDRESSES AT THE DEDICATION OF THE 
NEW BUILDINGS OF THE MARINE 
BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY1 


THE subject of biology possesses immense 
significance for human thought and action. 
Tf the biology, the sociology, the philosophy 
and whole mode of thought of the twentieth 
century differ quite radically from those of the 
mid-nineteenth century, it is largely because 
the biological investigations of Lamarck, of 
Darwin and of many others founded the evo- 


1In addition to these shorter addresses and the 
address of Dr. R. 8. Woodward, printed above, an 
address was made by Professor Edwin G. Conklin, 
‘of Princeton University, who, on account of his ab- 
sence from the country, was unable to prepare it 
for publication. Mr. C. R. Crane, president of the 
board of trustees and donor of the building, pre- 
sided and presented the speakers. 


SCIENCE 


229 


lution theory, the future development of which 
is one of the main problems of biology. 

The cell-theory, another great generalization 
of biology, revolutionized the study of pathol- 
ogy, the basis of medicine, besides furnishing 
the indispensable foundation for all future bio- 
legical studies. The conception of the physico- 
chemical constitution of protoplasm, or living 
matter, is a third great contribution of biolog- 
ical science of inestimable significance for sci- 
ence and philosophy. 

Biology is related to the most practical af- 
fairs of life: to medicine, of which it forms 
the indispensable foundation, to hygiene and 
public health, to many problems of agriculture 
and animal industry, and to fisheries problems. 
Economic entomology, parasitology, protozool- 
ogy, etc., are practical branches of our great 
subject ; not to mention the fundamental prin- 
ciples of the mooted subject of eugenics. The 
advancement of biology is one of the most im- 
portant considerations of modern society. 

Kyen such an intentionally incomplete state- 
ment of the significance of biology may appear 
exaggerated. But nothing is more sure than 
that the acquisition of knowledge increases 
man’s control of nature, and that the science 
of biology, although still in an early stage of 
its development, promises control of those un- 
certainties of practical human life which are 
most perplexing and dangerous to the race. 

The significance of the present occasion is to 
be found only partly in such general considera- 
tions. This laboratory represents one of the 
forces that have to be reckoned with in this 
general situation. But it is to the special 
significance of this occasion that I would more 
particularly direct your attention. 

The sea-shore is undoubtedly the ideal situa- 
tion for a biological station, because marine 
life offers certain valuable opportunities for 
study that are unique. These are given in 
such a situation as ours, and we relinquish 
none of the opportunities of inland labora- 
tories. Louis Agassiz, in America, and Anton 
Dohrn, in Europe, were among the first to or- 
ganize seaside laboratories; about the same 
time, 1872, Agassiz founded his station on the 


230 


neighboring island of Penikese, and Dohrn his 
station in Naples. 

This laboratory is in a very real sense a lin- 
eal descendent of Agassiz’s station. Our im- 
mediate predecessor was the Annisquam Labo- 
ratory organized to serve the same ends as the 
Penikese school, and the forces there were sup- 
plemented and transferred to Woods Hole in 
1888. 

Tt is not sufficient that a laboratory should 
merely be established and equipped. Jt must be 
properly organized and manned. In some re- 
spects our laboratory has an unusual form of 
organization. As Mr. Crane has well said, 
freedom is its dominant character; the free- 
dom of a democracy of learning. Our cor- 
poration, numbering 300, extends into a large 
proportion of the institutions of learning of 
the country. Our board of trustees, chosen by 
the corporation, includes representatives of 
various branches of the biological sciences in 
many of our leading institutions. The labora- 
tory is owned and controlled by the people 
whom it serves; and this is the essence of a 
democratic organization, the only assurance of 
freedom of development. 

The laboratory thus organized stands for 
the advancement of the biological sciences by 
research and by teaching. We have not be- 
lieved it wise to divorce these two functions of 
learning. The research creates an atmosphere 
in which teaching is most vital, and the teach- 
ing humanizes the research by bringing it 
constantly in contact with the needs of stu- 
dents, besides serving the essential function of 
training future investigators. 

Freedom of organization is our one watch- 
word. Cooperation is our other. Both are vital, 
and they are interdependent. When people 
are free those of similar interests naturally 
cooperate, so long as they respect freedom. 
And so we have a union of forces of scientific 
men, and through them of institutions that 
they represent in order to create conditions as 
ideal as possible for the progress of science. 

The new building stands for a certain stage 
reached in the evolution of this democratic in- 
stitution ; it stands for recognition of a certain 
degree of demonstrated stability ; and for a cer- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1024 


tain amount of assurance of permanence. And 
SO we rejoice in the present occasion, and have 
asked many of our friends to join with us in 
dedicating this building to the ideals of re- 
search, of teaching and of cooperation in free- 
dom of spirit. 

This magnificent building which we dedi- 
cate to-day is the most efficient instrument of 
research in the hands of biologists. For its 
beauty and enduring strength we are indebted 
to the great architect, Charles Coolidge, who 
rendered his services freely; and for its con- 
venience, adaptability and sufficiency to Dr. 
Drew, with whom the perfection of every de- 
tail has been a labor of love. 

We must not forget on this occasion to honor 
the memory of our greatest leader, Professor 
Whitman. I would that he had lived to see 
this day; and, as he valued the things of the 
spirit so infinitely above the material, I hope 
that he would find that the spirit of the pres- 
ent stage of our institution matches its mate- 
rial equipment. 

R. S. Linu 


I APPRECIATE the courtesy that has been ex- 
tended to me by the invitation to attend these 
exercises. I have gladly accepted that invita- 
tion on behalf of the bureau I represent, be- 
cause I feel it to be a pleasure that may prop- 
erly be enjoyed and a duty that should not be 
neglected, to testify by my presence and words 
to the interest which the Bureau of Fisheries 
has in the opening of this new building and in 
the larger field of usefulness which is hereby 
presented to the Marine Biological Laboratory. 

From Secretary Redfield I bring a cordial 
message carrying hearty congratulations, ap- 
preciation of the spirit which has actuated the 
denation of this magnificent edifice, sympathy 
with the past and future work of this institu- 
tion, and the assurance of his desire to have 
the scientific activities of his department, here 
and elsewhere, in genuine cooperation with and 
in aid of biological research. 

My dominant thoughts on this occasion are 
of those who once labored here but are no 
longer with us. I have been thinking of the 
satisfaction with which they would have en- 


Aveust 14, 1914] 


tered into this day’s exercises. I need not 
name all of them, but I recall, as you will, 
Peck, Ryder, Montgomery, Gardiner, and espe- 
cially Whitman; and one other, the pioneer 
who really discovered the biological advantages 
of Woods Hole as early as 1869, and did as 
much as any one else to inaugurate the move- 
ment which has made this the most noteworthy 
American center for marine biological re- 
search. I refer, of course, to Spencer F. Baird. 

I have been asked to speak of the coopera- 
tion that should exist between the Bureau of 
Fisheries and the biologists and their institu- 
tions; but that is too large a subject to handle 
adequately in the few minutes that have been 
allotted to me. 

It is perhaps quite unnecessary for me to 
state that the Bureau of Fisheries is always 
ready to lend to biologists substantial aid and 
effective cooperation compatible with its func- 
tions and with the purposes for which it re- 
ceives support from congress. The various 
phases of this cooperation need not be men- 
tioned, but there may be cited, as an example, 
the scientific expeditions to which the Alba- 
tross was assigned, under Agassiz, Jordan and 
others, which have resulted in larger additions 
to knowledge of the life of the sea than have 
come from any other source, not even except- 
ing the Challenger. 

On the other hand, many of the leading biol- 
ogists of the country have rendered note- 
worthy service to the bureau in investigating 
fishery and cognate subjects. In the capacity 
of investigators for the bureau or as the recipi- 
ents of the courtesies at its laboratories, on its 
vessels, or in the field, a very large proportion 
of the prominent American biologists of the 
last quarter of a century have cooperated in the 
furtherance of science. At the present mo- 
ment we are favored by cooperative relations 
with the representatives of the biological de- 
partments of 10 state universities and of as 
many other front-rank universities, to say 
nothing of various other institutions of learn- 
ing. 

I will take this opportunity to call attention 
to the fact that, in addition to the two marine 
fisheries laboratories now maintained by the 


SCIENCE 


231 


Bureau at Woods Hole and Beaufort, it is ex- 
pected that during the next year work will be 
commenced on a third marine biological sta- 
tion, to be located at or near Key West, where 
the wonderful fauna of the Gulf Stream and 
of the abysses over which it flows, and of the 
coral reefs and the shoal waters back of them, 
will furnish unrivaled opportunities for re- 
search. Furthermore, if a bill now before con- 
gress should become a law, a fourth station will 
be established on a site which will render ac- 
cessible for study under government auspices 
one of the rich biological regions of the Pa- 
eifie coast. 

During the present summer there has been 
opened a fresh-water biological station, lo- 
eated on the Mississippi River at Fairport, 
Iowa. It has a large laboratory building, an 
abundant supply of crude and filtered river 
water, an extensive pond system and a general 
equipment that should render it an important 
factor in the study of the biology of the waters 
of the Mississippi Valley. 

All of these laboratories are, or will be, freely 
open to qualified men of science, under such 
restrictions only as are required by good ad- 
ministration. 

Here at Woods Hole, the friendly relations 
that already exist should be extended. The 
two laboratories have different functions and 
occupy different fields. There is no reason 
why any feeling of rivalry should exist. There 
is every reason why mutually helpful and close 
cooperation should prevail. Mention may be 
made of some of the ways in which the two in- 
stitutions may profitably work together: 

(a) Exchange of material where research is 
being conducted on a given subject at one lab- 
oratory and not at the other. For instance, 
the Bureau of Fisheries is now conducting at 
Beaufort, and will conduct next summer at 
Woods Hole, a comprehensive study of the 
post-embryonic development of economic fishes, 
a very important subject to which practically 
no attention has heretofore been given. Suit- 
able material obtained by the Marine Biolog- 
ical Laboratory in its towings and otherwise 
would be valuable and most acceptable. 


232 


(b) Exchange of information between the 
directors concerning the subjects under investi- 
gation at the respective laboratories, with the 
view to prevent duplication of work, but par- 
ticularly to advantageously supplement at one 
laboratory work which in some of its phases 
may be under way at the other. For instance, 
certain work at the Marine Biological Labora- 
tory may have economic connections which 
would not be given much consideration. Prob- 
ably an investigator at the Fisheries Labora- 
tory could be assigned to this side of the sub- 
ject to the mutual advantage of both workers, 
economy of material and effectiveness of ef- 
fort. Conversely, while the Fisheries Labora- 
tcry is concerned with investigations more di- 
rectly related to the fishing industry, there 
frequently arise in connection with them col- 
lateral, more abstract, problems which would 
perhaps appeal to investigators at the Marine 
Biological Laboratory. 

(c) Reciprocal access to daily collections. 
It frequently occurs that when no one at a 
laboratory has an interest in a certain organ- 
ism, or classes of organisms, the material col- 
lected is either thrown away or imperfectly 
cared for. If when the collections are brought 
in a competent person from the other labora- 
tory, and familiar with its needs, could be 
given an opportunity to examine the collec- 
tions, or at least the rejected material, much 
now wasted might be utilized. 

(d) The effectiveness of the collecting could 
probably be increased by such cooperation as 
would prevent duplication in the fields cov- 
ered. This could be arranged by an under- 
standing of mutual requirements and the co- 
operation of the collectors. 

I share the feeling entertained by many 
others that a new era in American biological 
science is now dawning; and that, under the 
inspiration and stimulus afforded by Mr. 
Crane’s noble gift, the day is not far distant 
when Woods Hole will come to be generally 
recognized abroad as well as at home as the 
world’s biological Mecca. 


Hues M. Suira 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1024 


TIME RATIOS IN THE EVOLUTION OF MAM- 
MALIAN PHYLA. A CONTRIBUTION . 
TO THE PROBLEM OF THE AGE 
OF THE EARTH 

CoNsSDERED as a historic science, geology has 
not yet solved its first problem. There is as 
yet no satisfactory way of estimating the age 
of the earth and the length of geologic periods. 
The various methods that have been devised to 
compute it are all subject to such large factors 
of uncertainty dependent upon questionable 
assumptions, that the most that can be claimed 
for them is that they indicate the order of 
figures which should be assigned as the anti- 
quity of geologic periods. The relative length 
of the periods one with another can usually 
be more definitely gauged. But the transla- 
tion into years is a matter of wide divergence 
of opinion and no real proof that any of the 
results are even approximately correct. 

Tt is quite true that various estimates have 
been made by geologists and physicists result- 
ing in figures which are of the same order of 
magnitude and in reasonably close agreement, 
although derived from independent sources. 
This might be taken as evidence that the age 
probably lies within these limits. But in fact 
it does not prove any such thing, for it rests 
in every case upon the assumption that the 
activities, whose accumulated results are the 
measure of the length of time that they have 
been in action, have proceeded in past times at 
the same pace as at present. This is not only 
unproved, there are strong reasons for be- 
lieving it widely different from the fact. 

There is no occasion to review these methods 
of computation or to point out other unprova- 
ble assumptions. Every competent discussion 
of the subject has sufficiently called attention 
to them. 

What I have to contribute is the suggestion 
of a possible measure derived not from in- 
organic, but from organic evolution. It is ap- 
proximate indeed, and relative, based like the 
others upon assumptions which can not be 
proven. But it is perhaps—I dare not say 
more—free or partially free from subjection to 
the varying intensity of inorganic activities 


Avueust 14, 1914] 


which yitiates in common all calculations 
based upon the assumption of their constancy. 

In working upon the numerous phyla of 
vertebrate animals, especially of mammals 
whose evolution is recorded in our Western 
Tertiaries, I have been impressed with the fact 
that they seem to have a fairly constant, maxi- 
mum rate of progressive evolution. The rate 
of alteration in structures that are being 
changed adaptively to some changing environ- 
ment or habit is fairly uniform, comparing 
one phylum with another. Where concen- 
trated upon one element of change or a few, 
it is more rapid; when distributed into a great 
number of alterations of a complex structure 
it is slow. Some structures are much slower to 
change than others—notably this is true of the 
teeth as compared with the bones of the skele- 
ton. - 

It is essentially a constant progressive 
change. Where we find sudden jumps of any 
considerable magnitude the explanation is 
always at hand, and usually obvious when the 
circumstances are studied judicially, that we 
are dealing with an imperfect record, and the 
breaks are due to migration or to unrecorded 
lapse of time. To prove this point—a disputed 
one, [ am well aware—would take me too far 
afield. I must rest on the assertion that 
twenty years study, in field and laboratory, of 
American fossil mammals, has brought me to 

the conclusion that the evolution of their phyla 
took place through the cumulation of minute 
increments of structural change, at a rate 
which, whether concentrated upon one feature 
or distributed over many, presents some ap- 
proach to a uniform maximum. 

I fully believe that the change is due to the 
pressure of the environment, acting through 
selection upon individual variations. Whether 
these be mendelian or fluctuative in their law 
of transmission is immaterial. The point is 
that they are minute, well within the limits of 
a species as conservative paleontologists draw 
those limits. j 

If they are accumulated through selective 
action of the. environment, how can they be 
said to be in any sense free from the varying 
rate of change of inorganic activities which 


SCIENCE 


233 


vitiate calculations based upon the constancy 
of their action. If the environment is chang- 
ing rapidly at one time, slowly at another, 
will not this be reflected in the rate of change 
of any phylum of living beings? Undeniably 
this is true. Yet there does appear to be a 
maximum rate of change as above outlined, 
and environmental change exceeding that 
limit results in migration and extinction, not 
in structural alteration. Moreover, a large 
part of the structural evolution which we can 
observe must be in reaction to the pressure of 
the biotic, not the physical environment. A 
large portion of the progressive structural 
change is advantageous to the animal under 
any circumstances, whether or not the physical 
environment changes. This is peculiarly true 
of increase in brain capacity; it is partly true 
of imerease in mechanical perfection of the 
structure leading to increased speed, better 
tooth mechanism as well as numerous changes 
not recorded in the skeleton. 

It would seem therefore that there is a 
maximum rate at which alterations in the 
structure can take place. I suppose this rate 
to be conditioned by two factors, individual 
variability in the organism, and selective proc- 
esses under the conditions obtaining in nature. 
At all events the fact stands as of record, 
proved and confirmed by innumerable in- 
stances, that the evolution of any direct phylum 
does take place through cumulation of minute 
changes, at a rate which, allowing for con- 
centration upon one element of change or dis- 
persal over many, does present a considerable 
degree of uniformity in corresponding parts, 
whether of the same phylum at different times 
or of different phyla at the same time. This 
rate may often not be attained, but I can find 
no convincing evidence that it can be exceeded. 

The amount, variety and fundamental char- 
acter of the differences thus accumulated are 
the practical measure of our systematic classi- 
fication. A difference or group of differences 
of small amount, yet distinctly beyond the 
limits of individual variation, is customarily 
regarded as specific. Differences of a decidedly 
larger order are considered generic, and so on. 
It would perhaps be a fair average estimate 


234 


to say that one genus differs from the next 
ten times as widely or fundamentally as one 
species from its next neighbor. There is no 
sort of exact rule in the matter, but this would 
perhaps represent the average opinion to which 
each systematist endeavors to conform in 
arranging the group upon which he is working. 

Now if the above conclusions are warranted 
we may find in the recorded evolution of vari- 
ous well-known phyla a rough measure of the 
relative length of the epochs covered by its 
evolution. In instance we may take the evolu- 
tion of the horse. This phylum as represented 
in the American Tertiaries I believe to be a 
direct phylum so far as the genera are con- 
cerned; the relation of the species to the 
direct line of descent are mostly immaterial to 
the present discussion. 


Relative 
Amount 
of Structural Dif- 
Equide ference from Geologic 
(Direct Phylum) Preceding Stage Epochs 
Equus caballus, ete. .... 1 Recent 
Equus scotti, ete. ....... 10 Pleistocene 
Hipparion ...........4.. 10 Pliocene 
Merychippus .......2.0.. 15 2 
Pirahiepus See atohttcKensrenste 5 Miocene 
Miohippus ............. 5 a 
Mesohippus ............ 15 Oligocene 
Epihippus ............. 10 
Orohippus ............- 10 Eocene 
Hohippus 
Paleocene 


It would be possible to verify these estimates 
of structural differences by comparative meas- 
urements. But it would be an enormous task. 
To select a few of the great number of struc- 
tural differences for measurement would be 
almost certainly misleading; to average them 
all would entail many thousands of measure- 
ments for each species or genus compared. 
The final result might be twice as much or 
half as much as the estimate I have given; it 
would certainly not be ten times or one tenth 
as great. The margin of error for each esti- 
mate here given is not to any great extent 
cumulative for the whole series. ‘The errors 
would therefore tend to balance to some extent, 
and the margin of error for the whole series 
would be less in proportion. For these rea- 
sons, and because of the doubt already ex- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1024 


pressed as to whether the maximum rate of 
evolution is really a constant, I have not 
thought it worth while to verify the estimates 
by measurements. 

From the beginning of the Pleistocene to 
the present time, the evolutionary change in 
the phylum is measured by the difference be- 
tween the modern species and the nearly allied 
species found in the Aftonian and other equiv- 
alent formations of early interglacial time. 
During the Pleistocene there has been a great 
deal of migration and shifting of faunas; the 
actual evolutionary change in this or any 
other mammalian phylum is notably small. It 
is perhaps one tenth the amount of structural 
change that separates Hquus from Hipparion 
of the late Miocene and early Pliocene. Hip- 
parion in turn differs about as much from 
Merychippus as it does from Hquus; the esti- 
mated structural difference between the earlier 
stages is represented by the remaining figures 
in the column. Adding up these figures, we 
find that the amount of structural change in 
the Hquus phylum during the Tertiary is 85 
times the amount of Pleistocene evolution. 
So far as this is a measure of geologic time, it 
means that the Tertiary from Suessonian up- 
ward was 85 times as long a period as the 
Pleistocene. To this should be added a con- 
siderable figure for the Paleocene, whose 
length based on the evolution of other phyla 
might be assumed at 10 or 15 times the length 
of the Pleistocene. Briefly then, on this basis 
we should assume that the entire Tertiary is 
about 100 times as long as the Pleistocene, 
dating the latter from the first great glacial 
advance. 

This is greatly in excess of the proportion 
usually assigned. But the Pleistocene was a 
time of extreme activity in sedimentation, de- 
nudation and other inorganic activities whose 
rate affords the basis of the various calcula- 
tions that have been made. The amount of 
Pleistocene denudation, the thickness of its 
sediments, would hence give a greatly exag- 
gerated measure of its length in time as com- 
pared with the whole of the Cenozoic. 

‘The various other phyla of mammals sup- 
port these proportions fairly closely. None are 


AvucusrT 14, 1914] 


quite so complete, direct and obvious in their 
structural change as the Equidz. But the re- 
sults obtained by a careful consideration of the 
phyla of Camelide, Rhinoceride, Tapiride, 
Canidz, etc., do not appear to me to differ 
materially. 

It is only in a very general and tentative 
way that we can apply these standards to the 
Mesozoic. A comparison of the amount of 
evolution in vertebrates between the end of the 
Permian and the end of the Cretaceous in 
comparison with the maximum change from 
the end of the Cretaceous to the present day, 
gives in turn the impression of a distinctly 
higher order and more fundamental quality of 
change. My impression would be that each of 
its four periods, Triassic, Jurassic, Comanchie, 
Cretacie witnessed structural changes in ver- 
tebrate phyla as extensive and profound as 
those that took place in the Mammalian phyla 
during the Tertiary. As to the Palszoic, I 
have no basis for an opinion. It should be re- 
membered that it is the maximum rate of 

change that is used as a measure. Many races, 
more often many characters in a race, changed 
slowly or not perceptibly. 

It will be obvious that, if these proportions 
hold true, an estimate of the length of the 
Pleistocene will afford a measure of the length 
of the Tertiary and older periods in years. But 
the estimates of Pleistocene time differ enor- 
mously. The lowest estimate is perhaps by G. 
F. Wright, who will not allow more than 25,- 
000 years. At the other extreme stand Penck 
and other authorities with estimates of 1,500,- 
000 years or more. The more moderate figures 
of 50,000 to 200,000 years generally adopted 
seem more probable than either extreme. Ac- 
cording to the proportions above estimated of 
Tertiary to Pleistocene time, we should have 


Pleistocene Tertiary Mezozoic 
25,500 years (Wright) 2%million 10 million 
100,000 years (Walcott) 10 million 40 million 


1,500,000 years (Penck) 150 million 600 million 


If the proportions usually assigned to the 
Paleozoic be correct, it was as long as or 
longer than Mesozoic and Tertiary combined. 
This would give twenty-five million years for 
the whole of the fossiliferous record upon the 


SCIENCE 


235 


extreme figures of Professor Wright; on Wal- 
cott’s estimate over 100 million, and on Penck’s 
over 1,500 million years. For various reasons 
I am disposed to believe that the relative 
length of the Paleozoic should be revised up- 
ward, but the estimate of ten million years for 
the Tertiary and forty for the Mesozoic does 
not seem unreasonable. 


W. D. Matruew 
AMERICAN MUSEUM OF 


NATURAL HISTORY 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


Amone the large numbers of American 
scientific men and university professors now 
detained on the continent and in England, 
probably the most serious inconvenience is 
suffered by the surgeons who attended the re- 
cent congress in London, some nine hundred 
of whom are said to be unable to obtain pas- 
sage home. The only serious difficulty so far 
reported is the arrest and imprisonment of 
Mr. and Mrs. Archer M. Huntington in 
Nuremburg, Bavaria. Mr. Huntington is 
president of the American Geographical So- 
ciety, and it is said was making a study of 


_ aeronautical routes. 


Proressor Hie METcHNIKOFF, assistant di- 
rector of the Institut Pasteur,will next year 
celebrate his seventieth birthday and the 
fiftieth anniversary of his doctorate. A com- 
mittee has been formed, under the presi- 
dency of Dr. Roux, director of the Institut 
Pasteur, for the celebration of the anniver- 
sary which will include the publication of a 
“ Festschrift.” 

Mr. Marconi has had the order of the Hon- 
ovary Grand Cross of the Victorian Order con- 
ferred upon him. 

Amone those upon whom the University of 
Aberdeen conferred honorary degrees at the 
recent meeting of the British Medical Associa- 
ation were Mr. W. T. Hayward, Mr. T. J. 
Verrall, Sir Victor Horsley, Dr. Archibald 
Garrod and Sir John Bland-Sutton. 

Tue first presentation of the Saville medal, 
established by the West End Hospital of Nery- 
ous Diseases, London, in memory of the late 


236 SCIENCE 


Dr. T. D. Saville, has been presented to Dr. 
Knowles Boney. 


Mr. A. T. BraDLer has been awarded the 
medal offered by the National Association of 
Cotton Manufacturers for investigations upon 
the effects of moisture in testing cotton yarns 
and fabrics. 

In addition to those already named in Sci- 
ENCE Dr. C. OC. Abbot, director of the astro- 
physical observatory of the Smithsonian Insti- 
tution, will attend the Australasian meeting 
of the British Association as the guest of the 
New Zealand government. 


THE foreign medical men who attended the 
Aberdeen meeting of the British Medical As- 
sociation included: Professor Stéphane Leduc 
of Nantes; Dr. E. Pontoppidan, professor of 
medical jurisprudence at Copenhagen; Dr. 
Clemens von Pirquet, professor of pediatrics 
at Vienna; Dr. Umberto Gabbi, professor of 
tropical medicine at the University of Rome; 
Dr. Karl Jung, professor of psychiatry at the 
University of Ziirich; Dr. Alban Bergonié, 
professor of biological physics at the Univer- 
sity of Bordeaux; Dr. H. Morestin, professor 
of surgery in the University of Paris; Dr. 
Rist, professor of clinical medicine in the 
same university; Dr. Fritz Frank, professor of 
midwifery at Colopne; Professor D. S. Deme- 
triades, of Athens; Professor Adolf Onodi, the 
laryngologist of Budapest, and Dr. J. R. Mac- 
leod, professor of physiology, Western Reserve 
University. 

Mr. Watson NicutincaLe, B.S. (Mass. Inst., 
714), has been sent by the Bureau of Fisheries 
to make a series of microscopic observations of 
plant and animal life on the Grand Banks off 
the coast of Labrador. 


Messrs. EF. E. Marrues and F. C. Calkins, 
of the U. S. Geological Survey, have returned 
to the Yosemite region, in California, to re- 
sume the geological and geographical studies 
they began last year. 

THE American Museum of Natural History 
has sent two expeditions from the department 
of vertebrate paleontology, the first in charge 
of Mr. Barnum Brown, to the Red Deer River 
of Alberta, Canada, to collect Cretaceous dino- 


[N. 8. Von. XL. No. 1024 


saurs, and the second, in charge of Mr. Albert 
Thomson to Agate, Nebraska, to secure addi- 
tional Moropus skeletons. 


Proressor J. C. Boss, of Calcutta, will de- 
liver a lecture before the Royal Society of 
Medicine, London, on October 30, on the modi- 
fication of response in plants under the action 
of drugs. 

THE biennial Huxley lecture will be deliv- 
ered by Sir Ronald Ross, K.C.B., F.R.S., at 
the Charing Cross Hospital Medical School on 
October 1. 


We learn from Nature that it was decided 
at a meeting of alpinists held at Zermatt on 
July 25 to commemorate the fiftieth anniver- 
sary of the first ascent of the Matterhorn 
(falling on July 14 next) by the erection of a 
marble statue of Mr. Edward Whymper at 
the age he was when he first climbed the 
Matterhorn. The pedestal is to be of granite 
taken from the Matterhorn and the monu- 
ment is to face the peak. The memorial will 
also commemorate Lord Francis Douglas, Mr. 
Hadow, the Rev. C. Hudson, and the guides, 
Michel Croz and the two Tangwalders. The 
cost will be borne by subscriptions. Mr. Justice 
Pickford, president of the Alpine Club, is to 
be invited to become the honorary president 
of the memorial committee. Dr. A. Seiler was 
appointed treasurer, and Mr. J. Grande, of 
Berne, honorary secretary. 


Tur death is announced of the Rev. Dr. 
Stephen D. Peet, editor of the American Antt- 
quarian and Oriental Journal, which he estab- 
lished in 1878 and conducted for thirty-two 
years. 

Dr. R. J. ANDERSON, professor of natural 
history and geology at University College, 
Galway, has died at the age of sixty-five years. 

Tue Russian government’s ice breaking 
steamer Taimyr arrived at Nome, Alaska, on 
August 4, and left the followimg day for 
Wrangell Island to take off the twenty-one 
men who found refuge there after the wreck- 
ing of the Stefansson exploring ship Karluk 
in the ice north of Herald Island last January. 
The United States revenue cutter Bear sailed 
for Wrangell Island via Point Barrow on 


Ave@ust 14, 1914] 


July 21. After she sailed news was received 
that the ice about Wrangell Island was un- 
usually firm, and the Russian government de- 
cided to send the powerful Taimyr, which can 
cut a way where the wooden Bear would be 
helpless. 


AccorDING to its program, the ninety-seventh 
annual meeting of the Swiss Scientific Asso- 
ciation will be held at Berne, on August 31 to 
September 3. The general addresses include: 
“The Influence of Natural Science on Modern 
Medicine,” by Professor H. Sahli, of Berne; 
“The Synthetic Dyes,” by Professor Noelting, 
of Mihlhausen, and “The Primates of the 
New World,” by Dr. H. Bluntschild, of Ziirich. 
The association meets in nine sections for the 
reading of special papers. 


We learn from the Journal of the Ameri- 
can Medical Association that an international 
school hygiene congress will be held in Brussels 
next year. The program takes up the follow- 
ing subjects: school buildings and equipment; 
medical inspection of urban and rural schools; 
prevention of contagious diseases in schools; 
the teaching of hygiene to teachers and pa- 
rents; school hygiene in its relation to physical 
education of children; methods, syllabuses and 
school equipment in their relation. to school 
hygiene; school hygiene in its relation to the 
children, and school hygiene in its relation 
to adolescents. ‘The congress is under the 
patronage of the King of Belgium, and under 
the auspices of the National Institute of 
Pediology and the Belgian Pedotechnic Insti- 
tute. The committee of organization is pre- 
sided over by M. J. Corman, director general 
department of sciences and art, and Dr. J. 
Demoor, director of the Free Institute in 
Brussels. 


AccoRDING to the Bulletin of the American 
Geographical Society a large relief model of 
the Yosemite Walley is being constructed at 
the Office of Public Roads in Washington for 
the government exhibit at the Panama-Pacifie 
Exposition. It is twelve feet long, six feet 
wide and carries relief to a height of 18 
inches. The vertical dimension is not exag- 
gerated, and as a consequence all features are 


SCIENCE 


237 


shown in their correct proportions. Indeed, 
So rugged is the topography of the Yosemite 
Valley, that any increase in the vertical scale 
would have resulted in a peculiar, distorted ap- 
pearance of the great cliffs, domes and spires. 
The model is being executed, with painstaking 
exactness, by an expert model maker, and is 
based upon the detailed topographic map of 
the Yosemite Valley, prepared in 1905-06 by 
Mr. F. E. Matthes, of the United States Geo- 
logical Survey. Portions of this map were en- 
larged photographically to five times the orig- 
inal scale, that is, to a scale of 440 feet to the 
inch. The contour lines then were used as 
patterns for the sawing out of thin wooden 
boards. These boards were built up in layers 
and the rough form thus obtained was plas- 
tered over with a special preparation of great 
durability that will bear transportation across 
the continent. Large numbers of photographs 
are being used for local details, and a special 
effort is being made to reproduce with fidelity 
the peculiar cliff sculpture which is so promi- 
nent a factor in the Yosemite landscape. In- 
asmuch as these sculptural forms are inti- 
mately associated with the lines of structure 
in the granites in which the valley lies hewn, 
the model promises to become an unusually 
fine medium for the study of these relations of 
form to structure. Students of geology and 
geography will therefore, in all likelihood, find 
it an object worthy of a special visit at the 
San Francisco Exposition. Explanatory leg- 
ends will be placed on the sides of the case at 
various places, directing attention to the most 
interesting features. Im order to heighten the 
sense of reality, small streams of water, blown 
to spray by atomizers, will represent the water- 
falls. 


THE committee appointed by the Paris Aca- 
demy of Sciences to allocate the amount placed 
at its disposal by Prince Bonaparte is reported 
by Nature to have made the following pro- 
posals for grants during 1914: 2,000 francs to 
Dr. Pierre Breteau, for the continuation of his 
researches on the use of palladium in analysis 
and organic chemistry; 2,000 francs to M. 
Chatton, to enable him to continue his re- 
searches on the parasite Peridinians; 3,000 


238 


francs to Dr. Fr. Croze, for the purchase of a 
concave diffraction grating and a 16 cm. ob- 
jective, to be used in work on the Zeeman phe- 
nomena in line and band spectra; 6,000 franes 
tc Dr. Hemsalech, for the purchase of a reson- 
ance transformer and battery of condensers, 
to be used in his spectroscopical researches ; 
9,000 franes to P. Lais, for assisting the publi- 
cation of the photographic star map; 2,000 
frances to M. Pellegrin, to assist him in pur- 
suing his researches and continuing his publi- 
cations concerning African fishes; 2,000 francs 
te Dr. Trousset, to assist him in his studies of 
the minor planets; 2,000 franes to M. Vigou- 
roux, to enable him to continue his researches 
on silicon and its different varieties; 3,000 
francs to M. Ailuaud, to assist the publication 
(with Dr. R. Jeannel) of the scientific results 
of three expeditions to eastern and central 
Africa; 9,000 franes divided equally between 
MM. Pitart, de Gironeourt and Lecointre, 
members of the Morocco expedition, for scien- 
tific study, organized by the Société de Géo- 
graphie; 2,000 francs to M. Vasseur, for the 
continuation of his geological excavations in 
a fossil-bearing stratum in Lot-et-Garonne; 
3,500 frances to Dr. Mauguin, for the continua- 
tion of his work on liquid erystals and the re- 
markable phenomena presented by these bod- 
ies when placed in a magnetic field; 2,000 
franes to Dr. Anthony, to defray the cost of 
his researches on the determinism of morpho- 
logical characters and the action of primary 
factors during evolution; 4,000 franes to M. 
Andoyer, to assist the publication of his new 
set of trigonometrical tables; 4,000 franes to 
M. Bénard, to enable him to continue, on a 
larger scale, his researches on experimental 
hydrodynamics; 2,000 franes to Dr. Chau- 
yenet, for the continuation of his researches 
on zirconium and the complex combinations of 
that element; 2,000 francs to Frangois Franck, 
for the chronographie study of the develop- 
ment of the embryo, with special examination 
of the rhythmic function of the heart; 2,000 
francs to M. Sauvageau, for the pursuit of his 
studies on the marine alge. The committee 
recommends these eighteen grants after con- 
sidering nearly sixty applications for assist- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1024 


ance. The amount allocated for the year is 
54,500 francs. 


Wine variation in the pay for the same or 
similar work is one of the most striking situa- 
tions revealed by the investigation of teachers’ 
salaries just completed by the U. S. Bureau of 
Edueation, under the direction of J. C. Boy- 
kin, editor of the Bureau. Public elementary 
school-teachers may receive $2,400 a year, as 
some do in New York City, or $45 a year, as in 
certain rural communities. Even in cities of 
the same class there are considerable differ- 
ences in the salaries paid teachers. On the 
administrative side there are county superin- 
tendents with pay ranging from $115 to $4,000 
per annum, and college presidents receiving 
salaries from $900 to $12,400. In city school 
systems salaries have increased steadily in re- 
cent years, particularly in the western states; 
and, in general, salaries in city school systems 
are fairly well standardized. The average sal- 
ary of the superintendent of schools in cities 
ef over 250,000 population is $7,178; the range 
is from $4,000 to $10,000. In the same group 
of cities high-school principals average $3,565 
and elementary teachers $1,018, Even in the 
smallest cities listed, those between 5,000 and 
10,000 population, salaries are fairly uniform. 
The maximum for superintendents in this 
group is $3,600 and the average $1,915; but 
elementary teachers show an annual average of 
$533, with salaries as high as $1,350 and as 
low as $104. It is in the colleges and univer- 
sities that the widest variation prevails. The 
salaries of men with the rank of “ professor” 
range from $450 to $7,500. “ Professors” in 
some institutions receive less than “ instruc- 
tors” or even “assistants” in others. Salar- 
ies of deans of these institutions vary from 
$500 to $5,000. University teachers of sub- 
jects for which there is direct commercial de- 
mand outside receive somewhat higher salaries 
than those in charge of the traditional aca- 
demic subjects, but the difference is less than 
might be expected. The highest average sal- 
aries for full professors are paid in law and 
civil engineering. Law claims the highest 
paid professorship in any subject, with one 
salary of $7,500; but there are professors of 


Avucust 14, 1914] 


physics, geology and Latin who receive $7,000. 
It is significant, however, that on the basis of 
the figures reported most college teaching, par- 
ticularly in the first two years, is done by men 
of instructor grade with salaries of $1,000 to 
$1,200, or by assistants who receive on the 
average about $500, usually for half-time 
services. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 


Dr. H. T. SumMMeERsGILL, superintendent of 
the New Haven Hospital, has been appointed 
superintendent of the University Hospital in 
San Francisco. Dr. Summersgill has arrived 
to take charge of the present hospital of the 
University of California Medical School, and 
to aid in completing the plans for the new 
teaching hospital buildings, to erect which 
$615,000 has been given by various friends of 
the university. Dr. Winford H. Smith, super- 
intendent of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, re- 
cently spent a month in San Francisco, com- 
ing to California as expert adviser for the 
plans for the new hospital. 


THE six-weeks’ summer session of the Uni- 
versity of California, for 1914, enrolled 3,101 
students. It is expected that next year’s sum- 
mer session, coming while the Panama-Pacific 
Exposition will be in progress in San Fran- 
cisco, will much exceed this year’s enrollment. 
The freshman class at the University of Cali- 
fornia this year, excluding special students, 
will number over 1,700. 


Tue first summer school of the George Pea- 
body College for Teachers has just come to a 
close. The total enrollment reached 1,006 
regular students and 99 part-time visitors, 
coming from 28 states, including all of the 
southern states. This is possibly the largest 
enrollment with which any summer school has 
started. Next year the summer school will 
continue for twelve weeks instead of six, thus 
becoming a very integral part of the year’s 
work which is to be divided into four quarters 
of twelve weeks each. 


Francis C. Linconn, associate professor in 
the mining department of the University of 


SCIENCE 


239 


TI]linois, has been madethe head of the Mackay 
School of Mines of the University of Nevada. 


Mr. J. KE. Rusu, of the University of Wis- 
consin, has been made assistant professor, in 
charge of the departments of biology and bac- 
teriology, at the Carnegie Technical Schools, 
Pittsburgh. 

THE governors of the Imperial College of 
Science and Technology, London, have ap- 
pointed Dr. A. N. Whitehead, F.R.S., to the 
newly constituted chair of applied mathe- 
matics, and Dr. C. G. Cullis to the professor- 
ship of economic mineralogy. 


Dr. T. J. Jeuu, lecturer on geology at the 
University of St. Andrews, has been appointed 
Murchison regius professor of geology and 
mineralogy in the University of Edinburgh, in 
succession to Professor James Geikie. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 
YOUNG WHITEFISH IN LAKE SUPERIOR 


THE literature on the two species of white- 
fish that are so important commercially in our 
Great Lakes (Coregonus albus and C. clupea- 
formis), as well as unpublished statements re- 
ceived by the writer from prominent ichthyol- 
ogists and fish culturists, makes it appear that 
little, if anything, is known concerning the very 
young: of these fish as they exist in these bodies 
of water. Where the young whitefish, both 
native and those that are planted, live and what 
they feed upon in their natural habitats, consti- 
tutes an important problem for ichthyologists 
and fish eculturists. Jordan and Eyermann 
(1902),1 writing of Coregonus clupeaformis, 
say: 

Nothing is definitely known regarding the gen- 
eral distribution and habits of the young, but they 
are supposed to remain chiefly in the deep waters 
of the lake. 


During August, 1913, the writer studied the 
fish-life of the Whitefish Point Region in 
Northern Michigan, as one of the investigators 
sent there by the University of Michigan, 
with funds given for the work by the Hon. 


1‘‘American Food and Game Fishes,’’ page 
128; published by Doubleday Page and Company. 


240 


George Shiras. While making some collec- 
tions from the shallow water of Lake Superior, 
not far from the Vermilion Life Saving Sta- 
tion near Whitefish Point, eighteen little white- 
fish were caught, which measured from 4.9 to 
9 centimeters in length, from the tip of the 
snout to the tip of the caudal fin. They 
answer very well to the description of Core- 
gonus clupeaformis (Mitchill), with certain 
departures undoubtedly due to their immature 
condition; but it is possible that some or all 
of them may be Lake Erie whitefish (Core- 
gonus albus Le Sueur) for fry of this species 
have been planted in Lake Superior, according 
to information obtained from B. W. Evermann 
of the Bureau of Fisheries at Washington and 
H. H. Marks, superintendent of the Sault 
Ste. Marie Fish Hatchery. It has been im- 
possible to distinguish the two species from 
a study of the structure of the small fish, for 
the adults are thought to differ from each 
other only in form and color, and no evi- 
dence can be obtained that the dark, lateral 
bands that are thought to be characteristic of 
the fry of clupeaformis, do not disappear 
shortly after that stage is passed. 

The food of eight of the fish examined was 
found to be principally entomostracans, of 
which the following appear to be the chief 
species, according to the examinations of three 
typical stomach contents, made by Mr. 
Chancey Juday, of Madison, Wisconsin: 
Bosmina longirostris O. F. Miller, Diaptomus 
ashlandi Marsh, and Cyclops viridus Jurine 
(probably var. parcus, Herrick). Fragments 
of midge larve and miscellaneous insects, in- 
eluding winged forms, and filaments of a green 
alga (Ulothrix zonata), were the other objects 
noted among the food. 

The eighteen specimens of young whitefish 
were taken in several hauls made with minnow 
seines, drawn over the sandy bottoms where 
the water was less than three feet deep and 
through the large schools of hundreds of small 
fish, that were chiefly young lake herring 
(Leucichthys sp.). These were similar in size 
to the young whitefish associated with them, 
which were relatively very few in number, and 
superficially so like the little herrings that 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1024 


they could be picked from a collection only 
after a very careful examination of it. 
Detailed descriptions of these young white- 
fish, their food, habitat and associates, will be 
given in the paper now being prepared on the 
fish-life of the Whitefish Pomt Region. 


T. L. Hanxinson 
STATE NORMAL SCHOOL, 
CHARLESTON, ILLINOIS 


IS THE POOR HATCHING OF NORMAL EGGS DUE TO 
THE PRESENCE OF MICROORGANISMS 
WITHIN THE EGGS? 


THE loss of young chicks due to the non- 
hatching of eggs is inestimable. Poultrymen 
have often said that “on an average a fifty 
per cent. hatch and a fifty per cent. raise was 


all that was generally obtained.” What be- 
comes of the other fifty per cent.? Wherein 
lies the cause of this heavy loss? Can it be 


due to the presence of microorganisms within 
the egg or rather to some inherent quality of 
the egg itself? We are aware of the fact that 
faulty incubation may be responsible in a 
large measure, but in this respect even the 
hen may have her troubles. 

During the spring hatch we have had occa- 
sion to examine some 350 eggs, taken from 
both incubator and from under the hen. The 
eggs were those tested out as “non-fertile” 
or “ dead in the shell.”” The incubation period 
ranged from ten days to twenty-two days. 
The eggs were from a flock of healthy birds 
and may be termed “normal” eggs. 

In only one egg of the 350 eggs examined 
were bacteria found. The organism isolated 
belonged to the coli-typhi group. 

From this, a preliminary report, we are of 
the opinion that the poor hatching quality of 
“normal” eggs is not directly due to the 
presence of microorganisms within the egg. 

This work may serve to verify to a certain 
extent the findings of Rettger.t 

T. D. Broxwitx, 
G. D. Horton 
DEPARTMENT OF BACTERIOLOGY, 
OREGON AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

1 Bulletin No. 75, Storrs Agricultural Experi- 

ment Station. 


Aueust 14, 1914] 


HETERODERA RADICICOLA ATTACKING THE CANADA 
THISTLE 

In addition to the large number of plants 
known to be attacked by Heterodera radicicola, 
the writer has recently had occasion to find it 
infesting a new host—the roots of the Canada 
thistle, Cirsium arvense. 

On December 10, 1913, the writer noticed 
the first indications of the root knot, occur- 
ting on tomato plants. This crop was being 
grown in one of the greenhouses belonging to 
the Department of Horticulture. On April 
98, 1914, the plants were removed on account 
of their unproductiveness. Many of the 
plants, at the time of removal, showed their 
entire root system infested and destroyed by 
this eel-worm. 

On April 4, 1914, Mr. J. B. Poole, of the 
department of botany, called the writer’s at- 
tention to nodules occurring on the roots of 
Cirsium arvense. These plants were growing 
in a separate greenhouse from the one in 
in which the tomato plants had been growing. 
The knots were very numerous, varying in 
diameter from two to ten mm. Their pres- 
ence on the thistle roots, however, did not 
seem to interfere with the growth of this weed 
to any appreciable extent. A microscopic 
examination showed that the roots were badly 
infested with a nematode, and it seemed appar- 
ently to be the same species which occurred on 
the tomato. Cross sections of nodules showed 
the egg-filled bodies of female nematodes 
scattered throughout the cortex of the root. 
Specimens were sent to the Bureau of Plant 
Industry, and the determination verified. 

The soil used in the various greenhouses 
was obtained from a nearby woodlot, and was 
probably badly infested with Heterodera radi- 
cicola at the time it was placed in the benches. 

The fact that this organism is capable of 
living in the roots of Cirstwm arvense should 
warrant the necessity of placing additional 
precautionary stress upon the eradication and 
destruction of this weed. Care should be 
exercised in treating soils before using, if the 
above weed should occur in any of the central 
or southern states, for the winters are prob- 


SCIENCE 


241 


ably not severe enough to kill the eel-worm by 


freezing. L, E. MrLcHers 
DEPARTMENT OF BOTANY, 


KANSAS STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, 
MANHATTAN, KANSAS 


AN AVALANCHE OF ROCKS 


Tue Cadillac Trail on Mount Desert is one 
of the most picturesque features of the island. 
It is near Otter Creek and one enters the trail 
from the shore road. The trail leads by a 
gentle ascent to an irregular line of massive 
rock fragments which have fallen from some 
preexisting precipice farther up the mountain 
side. The path runs through and under and 
over these titanic blocks, some of which must 
weigh hundreds if not thousands of tons. The 
blocks and fragments stand at all angles. I 
have had no opportunity to consult any book 
on the geology of the island, but a hasty 
examination of the region leads me to believe 
that this avalanche of rocks must have fallen 
from some precipice which had been undercut 
by the waves when the land was below sea 
level, as we know the whole New England 
coast has been elevated since the ice sheet 
retreated. The glacial clays with Arctic spe- 
cies of Mollusks, still livmg in Hudson Bay, 
are found from Danvers, Massachusetts, east 
to Lubec, Maine, and beyond, and indicate 
a former subsidence of the coast many feet 
below the level of the sea. Now if this event 
oceurred at the time of this depression the 
material buried beneath these rocks would be 
of very great interest. Jf some large frag- 
ment rested on the parent ledge it could be 
tilted sufficiently by hydraulic jacks to enable 
one to gather the stuff beneath, and it might 
reveal the shells, diatoms, foraminifera, etc., 
living at the time of this catastrophe, and pos- 
sibly the compressed vegetation might reveal 
important features also. The exploration 
could be made at a moderate expense and the 
conditions could be easily restored. 

Epwarp S. Morse 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 
Problems of Genetics. By WILLIAM BATESON. 
Yale University Press. 1913. Pp. ix+ 
255, illustrated. 


242 


The Silliman lectures delivered at Yale 
by Professor Bateson in 1907, revised and 
published in 1918 under; the title “Problems 
of Genetics,” form one of the most stimula- 
ting and suggestive books for students of Hvo- 
lution and Heredity which has appeared since 
the rediscovery of Mendel’s law. Mike other 
books by the same author, it is not designed 
for beginners but for actual workers in the 
field covered, and is no fit food for babes and 
sucklings. To the student familiar with cur- 
rent theories and lines of investigation con- 
cerning evolution the frank criticism of those 
theories and investigations will be especially 
valuable. Present knowledge is recognized to 
be imperfect and tentative, and while the au- 
thor expresses an emphatic preference for cer- 
tain views, he holds them without dogmatism 
or claim to finality, an attitude in scientific 
work which, with every advance, we need to 
remind ourselves of anew. 

In his introduction, Bateson addresses him- 
self to the old but unsolved question of the 
nature and origin of species, which he blames 
the discussion over natural selection for ob- 
scuring. He says: “In the enthusiasm with 
which evolutionary ideas were received the 
specificity of living things was almost for- 
gotten. The exactitude with which the mem- 
bers of a species so often conform in the diag- 
nostic, specific features passed out of account; 
and the scientific world by dwelling with a 
constant emphasis on the fact of variability, 
persuaded itself readily that species had after 
all been a mere figment of the human mind. 
Without presuming to declare what future 
research only can reveal, I anticipate that, 
when variation has been properly examined 
and the several kinds of variability have been 
successfully distinguished according to their 
respective natures, the result will render the 
natural definiteness of species increasingly 
apparent.” Bateson rejects natural selection 
as a sufficient explanation of the origin of 
Species, concluding that we are on safer 
ground “in regarding the fixity of our species 
2S a property inherent in its own, nature and 
constitution.” He says: “As soon as it is 
realized how largely the phenomena of varia- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1024 


tion and stability must be an index of the in- 
ternal constitution of organisms, and not 
mere consequences of their relations to the 
outer world, such phenomena acquire a new 
and more profound significance.” In Chap- 
ters IL-IV., Bateson attempts a classifica- 
tion of variations along lines indicated in his 
“Materials” (1896). This may haye been 
important historically in leading Bateson to 
his later views concerning the discontinuity 
of evolution, but to most readers will seem 
aside from the main discussion. Taking up 
in Chapter V. the mutation theory, he ex- 
presses the view that a new species originates 
in a changed “internal constitution of the 
organism,” which with DeVries he believes to 
arise discontinuously. But the discontinuity, 
according to Bateson, is of Mendelian unit- 
characters or factors only. He explicitly re- 
jects the DeVriesian idea of mutation in- 
volving a change in a whole group of char- 
ters simultaneously, and explains the peculiar 
genetic behavior of W@nothera Lamarckiana 
as due to hybridization. 

“The facts may, I think, fairly be sum- 
marized in the statement that species are, on 
the whole, distinct and not intergrading, and 
that the distinctions between them are usually 
such as might be caused by the presence, ab- 
sence or inter-combination of groups of Men- 
delian factors; but that they are so caused 
the evidence is not yet suflicient to prove in 
more than a very few instances. 

“The alternative, be it explicitly stated, is 
not to return to the view formerly so widely 
held, that the distinctions between species 
have arisen by the accumulation of minute or 
insensible differences. The further we pro- 
ceed with our analyses the more inadequate 
and untenable does that conception of evolu- 
tionary change become. If the differences be- 
tween species have not come about by the 
addition or loss of factors one at a time, then 
we must suppose that the changes have been 
effected by even larger steps, and variations, 
including: groups of characters, must be ‘in- 
yoked. 

“That changes of this latter order are 
really those by which species arise is the view 


AvausT 14, 1914] 


with which DeVries has now made us fa- 
miliar by his writings on the mutation theory. 
In so far as mutations may consist in meristic 
.changes of many kinds and in the loss of 
factors, it is unnecessary to repeat that we 
have abundant evidence of their frequent oc- 
currence. That they may also more rarely 
occur by the addition of a factor we are, I 
think, compelled to believe, though as yet the 
evidence is almost entirely circumstantial 
rather than direct. The evidence for the oc- 
eurrence of those mutations of higher order, 
by which new species characterized by several 
distinct features are created, is far less strong, 
and after the best study of the records which 
I have been able to make, I find myself un- 
convinced. The facts alleged appear capable 
of other interpretations. 

“DeVries found, as is well known, that 
@nothera Lamarckiana gives off plants un- 
like itself. These mutational forms are of 
seyeral distinct and recognizable types which 
‘recur, and several of them breed true from 
their first appearance. The obvious difficulty, 
which in my judgment should make us un- 
willing at present to accept these occurrences 
-as proof of the genesis of new species by mu- 
tation, is that we have as yet no certainty 
that the appearance of the new forms is not 
an effect of the recombination of factors, such 
as is to be seen in so many generations of 
plants derived from a cross involving many 
genetic elements.” 

The phenomenon of twin-hybrids he does 
not consider satisfactory evidence of group 
inheritance of characters, but to have its best 
explanation “in the well ascertained fact that 
the male and female germ-cells of the same 
individual may be quite different.” By this 
is meant that the pollen and ovules of the 
same plant may transmit different qualities 
respectively. 

In order to throw light on the question 
whether species originate discontinuously or 
not, Bateson discusses, in successive chapters, 
“WVariation and Locality,’ “ Overlapping 
Forms,” and “Climatic Varieties,’ bringing 
together a great amount of illustrative ma- 
terial partly of his own collecting, partly the 


SCIENCE 


243 


work of others. Special attention is given to 
the nearly related species of North Ameri- 
can flickers and of warblers, which are illus- 
trated by two beautiful colored plates. These 
eases have been selected because they seem to 
show specific differences consisting in Men- 
delizing unit characters. Even in these cases, 
however, the existence of such unit characters 
is inferential rather than demonstrated and 
actual experimental work on the crossing of 
wild species of birds, such as pheasants studied 
by Ghigi and Phillips, and pigeons studied by 
Whitman, though it reveals the frequent oc- 
currence of unit character differences between 
one domesticated variety and an original wild 
species, rarely shows the existence of such 
differences between one wild species and 
another. Even granting that unit character 
differences occasionally occur between one 
wild species and another (as I believe they 
do), it may well be that such differences, 
though striking, are not the most important 
or essential ones. As Bateson himself says 
in another connection (p. 184), “It seems in 
the highest degree unlikely that the outward 
and perceptible character or characters which 
we recognize as differentiating the race should 
be the actual features which contribute ef- 
fectively to that result.” If an extensive sur- 
vey were made of related wild species of birds 
or mammals, I suspect that it would be found 
that the discoverable differences in a majority 
of cases consist in quantitative differences in 
characters, rather than in presence and ab- 
senees of striking single characters. Con- 
sider for example the genus Mus. The black 
rat, M. rattus, as the experiments of Morgan 
and Bonhote have shown, is distinguished 
from M. alexandrinus by a single unit char- 
acter difference. The two cross freely and 
Mendelize on crossing, but without producing 
any new third form, so far as we know at 
present. The color difference between them 
is a very striking one, but it appears to be 
the only existing difference. The one might 
be described as a color variety of the other. 

Compare now M. alexandrinus with M. 
The two are very similar in ap- 
Only quantitative differences in 


norvegicus. 
pearance. 


244 


size and proportions of parts serve to distin- 
guish them. Yet they are so distinct genet- 
ically that they never cross naturally and all 
attempts to cross them artificially have thus 
far failed. No one would, I think, advocate 
the idea that one had arisen from the other 
by unit character variations, such as distin- 
guish M. rattus from M. alexandrinus or 
striking tame varieties of the Norway rat 
from the wild species. ‘The differences in 
these latter cases are unquestionable, and their 
genetic behavior clear, but if we call forms so 
distinguished species it is evident that we are 
applying the term on the basis of very; differ- 
ent phenomena from those which serve to dis- 
tinguish M. alexandrinus from M. norvegicus 
or M. musculus. In these cases the observ- 
able differences are quantitative and their 
genetic behavior unknown. There is small 
reason for considering them unit character 
differences. It is of course possible so to re- 
gard them if one conceives of unit characters 
or factors in such cases as very numerous and 
singly with small effect, in accordance with 
the principle of Nilsson-Ehle. But so to con- 
ceive of a unit character is to rob it entirely 
of that which the theory of discontinuity in 
the evolution of species requires and which 
Bateson seeks to establish. Multiple unit 
characters presenting an apparently continu- 
ous series would also have no selectional value 
superior to that of a truly continuous series 
of variations, the conception which Bateson 
combats. 

Bateson devotes one of the most valuable 
chapters of his book to the subject of adapta- 
tion, without either reaching or attempting to 
reach any explanation of it. Indeed he rather 
deplores the fact that-so much attention has been 
devoted to the adaptation of species before we 
have arrived at any clear notion as to what 
species are or how they arise. The chief value 
of Bateson’s discussion of this question lies in 
the destructive criticism which he offers of 
the attempted explanation of adaptation as a 
direct response of the organism perpetuated 
by heredity. He passes over the earlier dis- 
cussions concerning the inheritance of ac- 
quired characters, but deals with its recent 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1024 


vigorous renewal by Semon, who regards 
heredity as analogous with memory or habit. 
Bateson holds that an analogy with psychic 
phenomena is no explanation, among other 
reasons because the explanation is necessarily 
more complicated than the thing explained. 
The evidence on which Semon relies to estab- 
lish the inheritance of acquired characters, 
Bateson deals’ with at some length. He shows 
the inadequacy of the oft-cited temperature 
experiments with lepidoptera to show either an 
increased variability due to experiment or its 
inheritance. The case of Schubeler’s wheat 
adapting itself automatically to the shorter 
season of Norway is subjected to destructive 
criticism, as is also the case of Brown- 
Sequard’s guinea-pigs, so often brought for- 
ward, so often shown to be of no consequence. 
Special attention is given to the recent work 
of Kammerer at Vienna upon salamanders, on 
which Semon places great reliance. By keep- 
ing land salamanders in water and vice versa, 
Kammerer claims to have modified the struc- 
ture and habits of these animals permanently, 
the young inheriting the acquired modifica- 
tions of the parents even when restored to nor- 
mal conditions, and the inherited effect in- 
creasing from generation to generation upon 
continuation of the experimental conditions. 
Bateson shows that these extensive claims are 
based on wholly inadequate experiments, that 
the author is unable or unwilling to produce 
specimens of the modified structures which he 
claims to have obtained, and that unless his 
observations are independently confirmed it 
is “easier to believe that mistakes of observa- 
tion or of interpretation have been made than 
that any genuine transmission of acquired 
characters has been witnessed.” 

“Meanwhile there is no denying that the 
origin of adaptational features is a very 
grave difficulty. With the lapse of time since 
evolutionary conceptions have become a uni- 
versal subject of study that difficulty has, so 
far as I see, been in no wise diminished. But 
I find nothing in the evidence recently put 
forward which justifies departure from the 
agnostic position which most of us have felt 
obliged to assume.” 


AucusT 14, 1914] 


A chapter of especial interest to Americans 
discusses “The Causes of Genetic Variation,” 
for the work reviewed is to a considerable ex- 
tent that of American biologists, who have 
attempted to produce and claim to have suc- 
ceeded in producing heritable variations under 
controlled experimental conditions. The work 
of Woltereck in Germany has shown, accord- 
ing to Bateson, that the character of the food 
supplied to a parthenogenetic Daphnia affects 
the structure of her immediate offspring, but 
the effect does not persist further into subse- 
quent generations. Hence there is no perma- 
nent racial influence. Tower, however, in 
potato-beetles, and MacDougal in Raimannia 
claim to have brought about permanent racial 
changes, the one by altering the temperature 
and humidity at which the parent beetles are 
kept, the other by injecting certain salt solu- 
tions into the ovaries of the parent plants. 
Bateson points out that neither of these im- 
portant results has been independently con- 
firmed by experiment, though this has been 
attempted by Compton with negative results 
in the case of Raimannia. After reviewing 
Tower’s two principal papers and pointing out 
a number of inconsistencies, Bateson adds 

“The hesitation which I had come to feel 
respecting these two publications of Tower’s 
has been, I confess, increased by the appear- 
ance of a destructive criticism by Gortner who 
has examined the parts of Chapter III of 
Tower's book in which he discusses at some 
length the chemistry of the pigments in 
Leptinotarsa and other animals. As Gortner 
has shown, this discussion, though offered 
with every show of confidence, exhibits such 
elementary ignorance, both of the special sub- 
ject and of chemistry in general, that it can 
not be taken into serious consideration.” 

Regarding MacDougal’s work he says, em- 
phasizing the need of repeating the experiment 
with Raimannia: 

“He [MacDougal] adds that he is making 
similar experiments with some twenty genera; 
‘but what is more urgently needed is repeated 
confirmation of the original observation. 
When it has been shown that this mutation 


SCIENCE 


245 


ean be produced with any regularity from a 
plant which does not otherwise produce it on 
normal self-fertilization, the enquiry may be 
profitably extended to other plants.” 

The net result of Bateson’s discussion of 
the causes of genetic variation is negative. No 
means of controlling genetic variation has, 
he believes, yet been found. 

A chapter dealing with The Sterility of 
Hybrids presents many interesting questions 
without answering any of them satisfactorily. 
Interspecific sterility is shown to be important 
in keeping species distinct, and it is suggested 
that in some cases at least it is connected with 
unit character inheritance, but beyond this 
point all is uncertainty. 

In his concluding remarks, Bateson empha- 
sizes the present partial and incomplete state 
of our knowledge of genetic problems and in 
particular of what a species really is. He 
expresses the conviction that it is not a mere 
arbitrary group of organisms, though to the 
systematists it can hardly be anything else. 
“Their business,” says Bateson, “is purely 
that of the cataloguer, and beyond that they 
can not go. They will serve science best by 
giving names freely and by describing every- 
thing to which their successors may possibly 
want to refer, and generally by subdividing 
their material into as many species as they 
ean induce any responsible society or journal 
to publish. 

“As yet the genetic behavior of animals 
and plants has only been sampled. When the 
work has been done on a scale so large as to 
provide generalizations, we may be in a posi- 
tion to declare whether specific difference is or 
is not a physiological reality.” 


W. E. Caste 


Vortrage tiber Deszendenztheorie. Won Av- 
Gust WrisMann. Dritte umgearbeitete Au- 
flage. Jena, G. Fischer. 1913. Pp. xiv-+ 
354, 3 pls., 187 figs. in text. 

Mendel’s Principles of Heredity. By W. Batz- 
son. Cambridge, Eng., Univ. Press, and 
New York, G. P. Putnam’s Sons. 1913. 
3d Impression. Pp. xiv-+ 4138, illustr. 
These two books deal with the two most im- 


246 


portant advances which have been made in 
the study of evolution since the time of Dar- 
win, namely the theories of Weismann and 
Mendel. 

For whether one accepts or rejects these 
theories, no one will question their great value 
in stimulating research concerning evolution- 
ary problems, the productiveness of which has 
been enormous in the last thirty years. 

It was in the early eighties that Weismann 
in his essays on heredity challenged the gen- 
eral belief in the inheritance of acquired char- 
acters and pointed out the logical distinction 
between soma and germ-plasm, which despite 
numberless attacks still stands. Ten years 
later “The Germ-plasm” theory was pub- 
lished in its fully developed form, and after 
another decade of debate and study “The 
Evolution Theory” was published, in which 
Weismann attempted to make a comprehen- 
sive survey of the entire field of evolution as 
seen in the light of his germ-plasm theory. 
In the first sentence of his preface, as trans- 
lated by Thomson, he says: “ When a life of 
pleasant labor is drawing to a close, the wish 
naturally asserts itself to gather together the 
main results, and to combine them in a well- 
defined and harmonious picture which may 
be left as a legacy to succeeding generations.” 
Succeeding generations have reason to be 
grateful to Weismann that he undertook thus 
to present his mature views. Few books on 
evolution since the publication of Darwin’s 
“Origin of Species ” can be read with greater 
pleasure or profit than this, or are likely longer 
to survive. To English readers it is accessible 
in a faithful translation made by Professor 
and Mrs. J. A. Thomson in their usual clear 
and graceful style. 

The popularity of the original is shown by 
the fact that a second edition was called for 
within two years, the third and doubtless final 
edition being the one before us. In the second 
edition few changes were made, beyond the 
addition of a few notes, but by the time the 
third edition was issued (1913) Mendelism 
had so far developed as to call for extended 
review. Weismann welcomes Mendelism as a 
confirmation of the basic idea of his germ- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1024 


plasm theory, the doctrine of determiners. 
Mutation he rejects as inconsistent with the 
view that adaptations arise gradually through 
the action of natural selection. 

Bateson’s book, first published in 1909, may 
be regarded as the authoritative interpreta- 
tion of Mendelism. It contains a biography 
and three portraits of Mendel with a transla- 
tion of his original papers, and also a compre- 
hensive account of Mendelian principles as 
developed by the Bateson-Punnett group of 
workers at Cambridge University. The first 
edition of the book was exhausted within a few 
months of its publication and it was then re- 
printed without change. The present “third 
impression ” was taken advantage of to add 
“a series of brief appendices to acquaint the 
reader with the nature of the principal ad- 
vances made, while awaiting an opportunity 
of rewriting the book.” The “ appendices ” 
mentioned consist of brief notices of subse- - 
quent publications, which, however, fail to give 
an adequate notion of their content, or of the 
direction which the further development of 
Mendelism has taken since 1909. The book is 
rightly and honestly called a “third impres- 
sion,” not a new edition. It is essentially a 
portrait of the Mendelism of 1909, and seeks 
to combine the fundamental idea in the germ- 
plasm theory (that of determiners) with the 
fundamental idea in mutation (that of the 
sudden origin of characters). 


W. E. Caste 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 


A NEW METHOD FOR THE DETERMINATION OF 
SOIL ACIDITY + 


Som acidity problems are at the present 
time, perhaps, the most important of all soil 
problems confronting the farmers of Wiscon- 
sin and many other states. In studying these 
problems one of the most serious drawbacks 
has been the lack of suitable qualitative and 
quantitative methods for the determination of 
this acidity. The litmus-paper test when 
properly made is a fairly satisfactory qualita- 
tive test and has been our most reliable test. 


1 Publication authorized by the Director of the 
Wis. Expt. Station. 


Aveust 14, 1914] 


However, carbonic acid reacts acid to litmus, 
and, contrary to general belief, the reddening 
of litmus paper when put into carbonated 
water for several minutes is permanent even 
on drying. In testing fresh soil it is therefore 
necessary to keep all living plant roots away 
from the paper, as they may turn it red, due to 
the excretion of carbon dioxide. The soil 
water may be highly enough charged with 
carbon dioxide to affect the test. The moist 
hand must also not come in contact with the 
litmus paper, for that may redden the paper. 
When a soil is only slightly acid the litmus 
test. is not sharp and positive and thus often 
causes confusion. 

With a view of securing a more reliable test 
the writer has evolved the following zinc sul- 
fide method. It was found that acid soils when 
boiled with zine sulfide and water would liber- 
ate hydrogen sulfide, which, as is well known, 
ean be detected very easily and positively with 
lead acetate paper. With this as a basis, the 
following method was worked out: 

Ten grams of soil are placed in a 300 ec. 
Erlenmeyer flask and to this is added 1 gr. 
ealeium chloride, 0.1 gr. of zine sulfide, and 
100 ce. water. This is thoroughly shaken and 
then heated over a flame. After the contents 
have boiled one minute, a strip of moistened 
lead acetate paper is placed over the mouth 
of the flask and the boiling continued two 
minutes more, when the paper is removed. If 
the soil is acid the paper will be darkened on 
the under side in proportion to the degree of 
acidity. If it is non-acid, no darkening will 
occur if the test has been performed as just 
outlined. 

The calcium chloride is added to make the 
test more sensitive. Jt reacts with the com- 
paratively insoluble soil acids and forms a 
small amount of hydrochloric acid which 
readily liberates hydrogen sulfide from zinc 
sulfide. The mixture is boiled one minute 
before putting the test paper in place in order 
to expel most of the carbon dioxide and also 
to more nearly bring all tests to the same con- 
dition before applying the paper. ‘This test 
will positively detect smaller amounts of soil 
acids than the litmus test. The range of 


SCIENCE 


247 


colors, showing degree of acidity, is large, 
being from white to black. 

At first thought it seems possible that on 
boiling soils with water, some which had 
undergone anaerobie fermentation might give 
off appreciable amounts of hydrogen sulfide 
and thus confuse the test. On careful con- 
sideration this appears very improbable, for if 
the soil is alkaline any hydrogen sulfide formed 
in the process of fermentation will combine 
with the excess of bases present and is thus 
not given off in the test. Fresh peat and muck 
soils, some of which had lately been inundated, 
were tested and in no eases did the alkaline 
ones give a coloration to the test paper. The 
test has been applied to a considerable number 
of soils and also other materials of known 
reaction and as yet not a single objection to 
the test has arisen. 

As a quantitative method, an effort is being 
made to measure the degree of acidity by 
titrating with standard iodine solution the 
hydrogen sulfide which a soil will liberate. 
Whether this will work with all soils has as 
yet not been determined. By using this test 
for the end point in the Veitch lime water 
method for acidity or lime requirements, the 
present Veitch method is considerably short- 
ened and made far more accurate. 

The most important part of the test, how- 
ever, is the fact that it can be made approxi- 
mately quantitative, and still require only very 
simple apparatus—such as can be carried 
right into the field, and require no more than 
ten to fifteen minutes for the determination. 
This will make it of great value to the exten- 
sion man, field agent, ete. In fact, the farmer 
himself will be able to determine the lime re- 
quirements of his soil, by followimg very 
simple directions. The principle of this quan- 
titative method depends upon the fact that for 
any particular class of soils the degree of 
acidity is closely proportional to the intensity 
of color produced on the paper when the test 
is conducted as previously outlined. The color 
on the test paper needs only to be compared to 
a standard color scale and from an accompany- 
ing table the degree of acidity or lime require- 
ments is read off directly. This standard color 


248 


scale is now being prepared and checked up 
with standard soil acids made by new methods. 
E. Truoe 
DEPARTMENT OF SOILS, 
WISCONSIN HXPERIMENT STATION, 
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN 


EXPERIMENTAL EFFORTS TO RETAIN THE FRESH- 
NESS IN CUT ROSE BLOOMS! 


Durine the spring of 1908 the Rhode Island 
Station had a large surplus of rose blooms from 
its experimental beds, and at the suggestion 
of Dr. H. J. Wheeler, who was then director 
of the station, the writer carried on over one 
hundred and fifty tests with solutions of 
various kinds of chemicals and in various 
concentrations, to ascertain their effect in 
promoting the keeping qualities of the cut 
blooms, whereby the average housewife could 
with slight trouble and expense prolong ma- 
terially the period of freshness of the blooms; 
thus increasing largely the usefulness of the 
rose as a home decoration. 

Most of the tests were made in May, 1908, 
while the final tests were completed in July, 
1913. 

The varieties of rose blooms used in 1908 
were Brides and Bridesmaids, while the Mary- 
land was used in 1913. 

In most cases the blooms were taken im- 
mediately after being cut, and divided into 
uniform groups of six to eight. The stems 
were cut from 7 to 10 inches long, and placed 
in wide-mouthed flasks of 500 e¢.c. capacity. 
Ordinary water was used as the solvent in all 
of the tests, and a control flask was included 
with each lot of blooms, all of which were kept 
under laboratory conditions and in the orig- 
inal solutions for periods of from four to 
seven days. The number of tests of a given 
concentration of a chemical varied from one 
with the extremes to as high as three or four 
with some of the medium dilutions. 

In the following table the degrees of con- 
centration of the solutions are divided into 
the lowest used, the highest used which was 


1Contribution 205 from the Agricultural Hx- 
periment Station of the Rhode Island State Col- 
lege, Kingston. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1024 


not injurious, and those used which proved 
injurious. 
PARTS IN 10,000 


Small- 


Largest 
st No. of 

ine ori res Used that’ 

ber of Not In- REXOveR 

Used jurious peek 
Alcoholeccsus-cnesscseeseeaees — — 50-200 
Ammonium hydroxid.....| 50 100 | 700-1,000 
Bora ainipsccs sateceeeeee 1 5 20-250 
Bontcyacideaespececcseseeeeee 2 5 10 
Carbolic acid................ = — 2-100 
Htherst cai ecbtvchacdee _— 30 50-500 
Formalin — — 10-200 
Glycerine. se] — 50-100 
Iron, solid, powdered.....) — 10 = 
Magnesium sulfate......... _— 1 100 
Nutrient solution 2......... 5 10 — 
Potassium nitrate........... 1 10 25 
Potassium permanganate.) 0.2 2.5 10 
Sodium carbonate.......... — 5 20 
Sodium chlorid............. 1 10 100-250 
Sodium nitrate.............. 1 10 — 
Sodium sulfate.............. — — 2-5 
Sodium sulfite............... 2 5 10-50 
Sugarcane 10 | 1,000 = 
Sulfurie acid................. — 30 50-150 


A mixture of one part of carbolic acid and 
three parts ammonium hydroxid in 10,000 did 
not prove injurious, while two parts carbolic 
acid and 50 parts ammonium hydroxid did 
prove injurious. 

Of all the tests, a strong sugar solution, 
7-10 per cent., was the only one that caused 
any marked freshening in the appearance of 
the blooms. This effect was shown by a deep- 
ening of the color of the pink varieties within 
a few hours after the stems were placed in the 
sugar solution, whereas those in water faded 
much sooner. However, the breaking down of 
the blooms and the dropping of their petals oc- 
curred at the same time in the flasks contain- 
ing sugar as in those containing only water. 

When clean flasks were used, the changing 
of the water daily, or the cutting off of the 
end of the stems and changing the water daily 
did not prolong the keeping qualities of the 
blooms. ¥F. R. PemBer 

RHODE JSLAND HXPERIMENT STATION 


2Contained 20 ec. .1 N Ca(NOs)2, 10 ee. 
1 N NH,NO, 8 ee. .1 N KCl 8 ec. 1 NV 
CaH,(PO,)2, 16 ¢.c. .1 N MgSO, and 10 cc. .001 NV 
Fe,(NO;). per L. 


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SCIENCE 


US EEE EES 


—————————————————————— 


Fripay, Aucust 21, 1914 


CONTENTS 


The Awms and Objects of the Society of the 
Sigma Xi: PROFESSOR CHARLES S. PRossER. 249 


Doctorates Conferred by American Universi- 


WES.’ 6's SERLES BOBS BAAS OTS Roe ee aera 256 
The Constitution of Atoms ..............-- 265 
Henry Hemphill: Dr. W. H. Daun .......... 265 
Scientific Notes and News .......:........ 266 
Unwersity and Educational News .......... 270 
Discussion and Correspondence :— 

The Life of Isolated Larval Muscle Cells: 

Proressor 8. J. Houmes. Fiat Nomen- 

clature: Dr. O. FEF. Cook. Museums of 

Sounds: HARLAN I. SMITH .............. 271 
Scientific Books :— 

Wright’s The Quaternary Ice Age: FRANK 

LEVERETT. Haempel’s Biologie der Fische: 

ProFessor G. C. EmMpopy. Osburn’s The 

Care of Home Aquaria: JOHN TREADWELL 

NicHots. Hankin on Animal Flight: F. 

PATE eye ates Ch Mn Beet deter ore teicvol aisuanet el eh 274 
Recent Studies in Animal Pigmentation: R. 

CFS CHUMD DE Per sista Net HOar IM Wciatt baveialers 279 
Special Articles :— 

Suppression and Loss of Characters in Sun- 

flowers: Prorsessor T. D. A. CocKERELL .. 283 
Societies and Academies :— 

The Anthropological Society of Washing- 

ton: Dr. DANIEL FOLKMAR .............. 285 


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


THE AIMS AND OBJECTS OF THE SOCIETY 
OF THE SIGMA XI1 

Ir is provided in the constitution of the 
Society of the Sigma Xi that the president 
shall explain the aims and objects of the 
society to the members-elect. In the form 
of initiation prescribed in the constitution 
for all the chapters of this honorary scien- 
tifie society this part of the program pre- 
cedes the reading of the formal pledge, 
which is as follows: 

Do you hereby pledge yourself to uphold the 
principles of the Society of the Sigma Xi, and as- 
sume the responsibilities incumbent upon active 
membership therein? 

The Constitution states that: 


The object of this society shall be to encourage 
original investigation in science, pure and applied, 
by meeting for the discussion of scientific subjects; 
by the publication of such scientific matter as may 
be deemed desirable; by establishing fraternal re- 
lations among investigators in the scientific cen- 
ters; and by granting the privilege of membership 
to such students as have, during their college course, 
given special promise of future achievement. 


Its motto is 


Companions in zealous research. 


This pledge has been read, to which later 
you will be asked if you assent, and also 
the section from the constitution defining 
the object of this society, which later you 
will be asked to sign, in order that you may 
have both of them in mind during the 
following remarks. 

The constitution does not prescribe the 
form in which the ‘‘aims and objects of the 
Society’’ shall be explained to the members- 
elect, but leaves to the president creat lati- 
tude as regards these matters. What I 


1President’s address to the Omega Chapter 
(Ohio State University), May 21, 1914. 


250 


have to say this evening is not, therefore, to 
be accepted without question as the authori- 
tative policy of this society; but rather as 
my personal opinion based upon observa- 
tion during its entire history and a fairly 
intimate acquaintance with its foundation. 
Most of you are probably aware that it 
was organized at Cornell University and 
that chapter is known as the Alpha. At 
least as early as 1883 Professor Henry S. 
Williams, of Cornell, was thinking about 
the organization of a society which should 
recognize in some way the attainment of 
students in science as Phi Beta Kappa did 
in literary lines. During commencement 
week of June, 1886, there was organized 
the Society of Cornell University Geologists 
by Professor Williams; but its scope was 
not broad enough to satisfy him and later 
he drew up a preamble for a national scien- 
tifie organization which was named the 
Society of Modern Scientists. One para- 
graph of the preamble stated that 
Therefore we believe it is highly desirable to 
encourage high attainments among the future stu- 
dents of Cornell University and other kindred in- 
stitutions by recognizing by some mark of honor 
those who exhibit special ability in investigating, 
understanding and interpreting the facts of na- 
ture in the various branches of modern science. 
Independently, shortly before the Cornell 
Commencement of 1886 two engineers, 
William A. Day and Frank Van Vleck, 
planned the formation of an honorary 
scientific society. The following fall they 
associated with themselves seven other engi- 
neers and began work on the formal organi- 
zation of such a society, for which they 
selected the name Sigma Xi. The preamble 
of the first printed constitution stated that 
they were ‘‘ forming a brotherhood in Sci- 
ence and Engineering.’” The membership 
and its activities, however, supported the 
conclusion reached by many in contact 
with it that this was strictly an engineer- 
ing society. Some time that fall Professor 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1025 


Williams learned of this movement when 
he attempted to interest the engineers in 
the formation of a general society to select 
men in the same way for membership from 
those departments of applied science that 
he was advocating for the departments of 
pure science. Suffice it to say, without 
relating all the details, that the two move- 
ments joined forces, and the formal organi- 
zation of Sigma Xi was accepted as the 
working nucleus of a university honorary 
scientific society. The minutes of the 
second meeting of Sigma Xi state that the 
proposals of Professor Williams were ac- 
cepted, and at the fourth meeting he was 
nominated for a member of the society 
and unanimously elected. This was in the 
fall of 1886 and made the charter mem- 
bership of the society ten. At the next 
meeting four additional members of the 
faculty and five graduate students were 
elected to membership, so that twenty- 
seven years have passed since the first 
members, similar to those we have now 
met to initiate, were received into this soci- 
ety. During these years it has attained an 
honored position in the university world, 
as well as entrance to most of the institu- 
tions of learning in this country in which 
science is strong, so that there are now 
twenty-eight chapters with a total member- 
ship of 7,498, as recorded in the “‘ Quarter 
Century Record History of Sigma Xi.”’ 
So much for the history of this society 
to which you have been elected members. 
Its aims may be explained in part by 
some account of the spirit of the institu- 
tion in which it was born. In any list of 
the ultimate causes which led to the organi- 
zation of Sigma Xi should be ranked very 
high the influence of Andrew Dixon White, 
the first president of Cornell University. 
A scholar, an author of renown, a diplomat, 
statesman, university professor and presi- 
dent, he certainly ranks among the few 


Aucust 21, 1914] 


really great university presidents this coun- 
try has had. He was a member of the 
famous class of 753 of Yale, where he was 
elected a member of the honorary societies 
of Phi Beta Kappa and Skull and Bones, 
next a student at French and German uni- 
versities and attaché at the St. Petersburg 
legation, then returned to this country and 
served for six years as professor of history 
and Hneglish literature in the University 
of Michigan. For four years he was a 
member of the New York State Senate, 
where in association with another senator— 
Ezra Cornell—he drafted the law which 
was passed creating Cornell University. 
Nominated by Mr. Cornell for president of 
the new institution and unanimously elected 
against his wishes by the other members of 
the board of trustees, Mr. White came to 
the presidency of Cornell University in 
1867 at the age of thirty-five, familiar with 
the best in education both in this country 
and in Hurope. This position he held with 
honor until 1885, and it is to be noted that 
the following year the two movements look- 
ing toward an honorary scientific society 
took definite form. 

Three things stand out conspicuously in 
President White’s administration which in 
my judgment are largely responsible for 
the spirit at Cornell which led to the organ- 
ization of Sigma Xi. 

In the first place, although himself a 
graduate of a leading classical college, he 
organized a university in the Hast where 
the scientific departments, both pure and 
applied, had the same dignity and in all 
respects equal rank with the departments 
of the humanities. 

Secondly, he called fo this faculty in 
nearly every case men of ability who either 
then were or became distinguished in their 
several fields of learning. As the speaker 
looks back upon his student days at Cor- 
nell he realizes that, with one or two exeep- 


SCIENCE 


251 


tions, all his teachers were men who have 
attained positions of honorable distinction. 
They were men that measured up to the 
standard set by President Jordan when he 
wrote that 

it is true that no second-hand man ever was a great 
teacher. I very much doubt if any really great in- 
vestigator was ever a poor teacher. How could he 
be? ‘The very presence of Asa Gray was am in- 
spiration to students in botany for years after he 
had left the class room. Such a man leaves the 
stamp of his greatness on every student who comes 
within the range of his influence.? 

Sylvester, the great mathematician of 
Johns Hopkins University, in his Commem- 
oration Day address is reported to have 
made the following statements: 

I hesitate not to say that, in my opinion, the two 
functions of teaching and working in science 
should never be divorced. 

I believe that none are so well fitted to impart 
knowledge as those who are engaged in reviewing 
its methods and extending its boundaries.’ 

Thirdly, President White took a per- 
sonal interest in the development of the 
various departments and particularly in 
the research work of the faculty. I shall 
always remember his coming into the geo- 
logical laboratory one afternoon with 
President Gilman, of Johns Hopkins Uni- 
versity, to look at a collection of Trenton 
Trilobites which the university had recently 
purchased. Those two distinguished uni- 
versity presidents spent at least half an 
hour with Professor Henry S. Williams in 
looking at and discussing those fossils from 
the old Paleozoic rocks of New York. A 
scholar and distinguished investigator him- 
self in his chosen field, he kept up his re- 
search work during all those early strenu- 
ous years of the university’s life, and no 
one who was engaged in research work 
along any line received more cordial en- 

2Popular Science Monthly, Vol. LXIV., 1904, 
p. 313. 

3 ScrENCcE, N. S., Vol. I., February 22, 1895, p. 
206. 


252 


couragement and recognition from any one 
than from President White. He had 
selected the faculty with care, and although 
he might not fully understand an investi- 
gation, he had confidence that the professor 
would attain creditable results and he gave 
him and his work most cordial support. 
Neither did he wait before giving such en- 
couragement until the work had been pub- 
lished and favorably received; but not in- 
frequently a professor received a spoken or 
written word of encouragement when with- 
out such encouragement perhaps it would 
have been abandoned. It is true that in 
those days the number of instructors in 
Cornell University was small, and likewise 
the number of students; but, after all, there 
was more of a true university atmosphere 
in the institution than is to be found in 
some of the present day which have almost 
as many thousand students as Cornell had 
hundreds in those old days. 

In such an environment it was only 
natural after the organization of a chapter 
of Phi Beta Kappa in 1881, to which at 
that time in Cornell only those students 
who had training in at least one of the 
classical languages were eligible, that the 
scientific side of the university, which in 
every other way was on an equal footing 
with the literary side, should consider the 
formation of an honorary scientific society. 

One of the objects of the Sigma Xi Soci- 
ety, as they were enumerated in its first 
published constitution, was: 

To supplement the regular course of instruction 
in science by original investigation.* 

The speaker regrets that this sentence 
has been dropped from the constitution, 
which he believes reflected the spirit of 
Cornell University during the period of the 
conception and birth of this Society. 
Neither is it believed that this spirit has 
passed away, for in an address last fall by 


4 Sigma Xi [1887], p. 4. 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Von. XL. No. 1025 


oue of her distinguished linguistic scholars, 
Professor Schmidt, he said: 


Numbers alone do not make a great university. 
. .. Three indispensable factors in making a great 
university are: (1) competent investigators ca- 
pable of inereasing the world’s knowledge; (2) 
distinguished teachers able to impart the most ad- 
vanced knowledge, and (3) students eager for 
knowledge and passionately pursuing it.5 


Professor Ward, of the University of 
Illinois, and corresponding secretary of 
the Society of the Sigma Xi, has also 
spoken, in a recent address, very emphatic- 
ally concerning the importance of investi- 
gation for teachers. He said: 


Whatever private institutions may do, the state 
has no choice. The men who are its teachers must 
also be investigators and must contribute their 
share to the extension of knowledge.é 


No less certain, however, were the words 
of Dr. Mendenhall on this campus last 
summer—the most distinguished living 
member of this university’s early faculty— 
when he said: 


The university must also recognize, and im a 
generous way, its obligation to do its share in en- 
larging the boundaries of human knowledge... . 

During the last hundred years the relation of 
man to his environment has changed more than in 
all the past centuries of his history considered as 
one and this almost incredible material revolution 
is entirely the outcome of applied science. If 
there is to be no halt in this grand march there 
must be continued scientific discovery, the abso- 
lutely indispensable forerunner of the application 
of science. In original research, therefore, the 
‘¢ discovery of truth,’’ the university of the state 
must, in the future, assume leadership, and let us 
hope that our own institution may always be found 
in the front rank.7 


The principal object of this society is 
not, aS many suppose, to confer an honor 
upon students of marked ability. It is an 


5 Cornell Alumni News, Vol. XVI., November 27, 
1913, p. 106. 

6 Screnox, N. S., Vol. XXXVIII., December 12, 
1913, p. 838. 

7 Ohio State University Monthly, 
1913, p. 18. 


November, 


AveusT 21, 1914] 


honor, however, to be elected to member- 
ship in it, and one which the speaker would 
not attempt to minimize. In fact, he be- 
lieves it would be worthy of support in this 
commercial age if it did nothing further 
than recognize those students who by the 
excellence of their standing in science have 
demonstrated that throughout their college 
or university course they have devoted their 
time to the things for which our higher 
institutions of learning were founded in- 
stead of to the many and various outside in- 
terests that now hinder and at times appear 
seriously to handicap the efforts of our 
large universities to give thorough scholas- 
tic training. He believes it fully worth the 
while of Phi Beta Kappa to recognize 
publicly those students that stand first in 
scholarly rank in their class, even if it did 
nothing else. I¢ is said that this is undemo- 
cratic; but this democracy, as has often 
been pointed out by our European critics, 
is one of the dangers of American univer- 
sities. One of these friendly students of 
American tendencies is Professor Marcks, 
the historian and Leipzig University pro- 
fessor, who after a recent sojourn in this 
country is reported as follows concerning 
the democratic idealism present in the American 
university as well as in the general life of the 
country. Its achievements are unmistakable. But, 
he asks, is there not this danger: that its aim can 
not very well rise above a highly respectable medi- 
ocrity? Does this practical system provide for the 


development of the rare personality, of the un- 
usually gifted, of the intellectual aristocrat ?8 


_ There is no greater fallacy than the idea 
that all men are born equal, so far as 
mental ability is concerned. This fact ap- 
pears to have been frequently lost sight of 
during recent years in the efforts to secure 
large numbers of students by those respon- 
sible for the administration of our univer- 


8 Cornell Alumni News, Vol. XVI., October 30, 
1913, p. 59. 


SCIENCE 


253 


sities. Professor Ward, of our own society, 
in a recent address has made a vigorous 
protest against this tendency to deteriora- 
tion in our American universities. Among 
other things he says that: 

In the mad rush after students, all of our insti- 
tutions alike have added to their own weakness 
rather than to their own vigor, and have wasted 
the resources of the people insofar as they haye 
taken part in the struggle after mere bigness.? 

Or as Dr. Mendenhall said at the fortieth 
anniversary of our own university: 

The efficiency of many colleges and universities 
is greatly impaired by the presence of large num- 
bers of students quite unequal to the tasks they are 
supposed to perform.1° 

The real problem, as the speaker sees it, 
is whether the leaven of Sigma Xi and Phi 
Beta Kappa is sufficient to leaven the ever- 
increasing numbers of students that are 
entering our universities, a considerable 
proportion of whom are indifferent and 
poorly prepared. 

The speaker would say that the encour- 
agement of scientific scholarship is one of 
the objects of this society. The presi- 
dential address at the inauguration of the 
Alpha Chapter, on June 15, 1887, was en- 
titled ‘“The Ideal Modern Scholarship.’’ 
Near the conclusion of this address Pro- 
fessor Williams stated that 

I find, then, three essentials to the ideal modern 
scholar of America: 

In learning he must master the elements of the 
current knowledge of the day; this is contem- 
plated in the full scientific education of our uni- 
versities. 

In means of communication, he must have ac- 
quired a thorough familiarity with his own lan- 
guage as a vehicle of thought. ... Besides Hng- 
lish, he must be able to use German and French; 
with these he can reach the civilized world. 


Thirdly, he must be a specialist, which means 
that he must take his place among the workers of 


9 Science, N. §., Vol. XXXVITI., December 12, 
1913, p. 834. 

10 Ohio State University Monthly, Vol. 5, No- 
vember, 1913, p. 18. 


254 


the world, and fill that place. In his specialty he 
must think for himself, plan for himself, act for 
himself. Here he must rest on no one, but be him- 
self a support for others.11 


The question may be asked, what is 
scholarship? According to Professor F. C. 
Brown, of the State University of Iowa, 


the answer is: The discovering, the organizing and 
the explaining of new facts. Only the uninformed 
and unscholarly are in the habit of designating the 
mere diffusion of knowledge as scholarship.12 


Further on in this address on ‘‘The 
Predicament of Scholarship in America’’ 
Dr. Brown discusses its ‘‘situation in our 
universities’’ and states that 


they believe in general that productive scholarship 
is the most important function of a university and 
it is agreed that genuine scholars are of the most 
rare and difficult type to develop. But the diffi- 
culty with our universities is one that arises from 
mixed ideals, particularly in our state universities, 
The ideal of competition perhaps takes precedence 
of all other ideals in practise, and along with this 
is associated the ideal of efficiency in detail man- 
agement of students. Surely a university wants 
scholars, but it wants a large number of students 
first. It wants more students in order to convince 
the people of its greatness, so that it may get more 
money so that it may establish more departments 
and so get more students, and so on. It must do 
extension work so that the work of scholars may 
reach every citizen of the land within a few days 
after it has been accomplished. Energy and re- 
sources that might be directed toward scholarship 
are scattered in every direction that human imagi- 
nation ean conceive of. The ideal in practise is not 
how great scholarship, but how thin it ean be 
spread. In other words, there is in our scholar- 
ship a strong tendency toward democracy gone 
mad.138 


Or, as Professor George J. Pierce, of 
Stanford University, says: 


The wholesale business of the state universities 
limits if it does not prohibit that attention to the 
exceptional student which may result in training 
a leader of his generation, a seer who, divining the 


11 Professor Henry S. Williams, ‘‘The Ideal 
Modern Scholarship,’’ 1887, pp. 7, 8. 

12 Scrmnce, N. S., Vol. XXXIX., April 24, 1914, 
p. 587. 

13 [bid., p. 589. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1025 


future needs of the state, may begin to prepare to 
meet them, a man who, profiting by the recorded 


experience of the past, may mold as well as meet 
conditions.14 


The principal reason for your election 
to this society, as the speaker sees it, how- 
ever, is that you have either made some con- 
tribution to science or that you give prom- 
ise of being able to perform such service. 
This idea was so clearly expressed by Pro- 
fessor Titchener in his initiation address at 
Cornell some fourteen years ago that I can 
not refrain from quoting his remarks ad- 
dressed personally to the members-elect of 
that chapter. He said: 


Some of you are taken from the instructing staff 
of the university. You, Instructors, we welcome 
as proved men, tried servants of science, our com- 
mon mistress. Many of you are drawn from the 
tanks of the graduate students. You, Graduates, 
we welcome, because you have paused now, at the 
outset of your eareer, to do something for the 
furtherance of human knowledge; and—what I 
think is more important even than that—because 
you have paused to prepare yourselves to carry the 
message of science into all those various spheres of 
activity to which you shall presently be called. 
Many of you, again, are undergraduates. You, 
Undergraduates, we welcome—not because you have 
done good work in your courses; anybody can do 
good work in his courses—but because we think we 
discern in you some promise of ability to perform 
scientific work, and some promise of good will to 
realize that ability. Weigh that well, you who are 
to form the youngest generation of this society of 
the Sigma Xi; do not think lightly of it, or of the 
men whose opinion it now is... . Remember now 
that there is not one of us, by whose voice you are 
sitting here before me to-night, who has not worked 
hard and worked successfully to swell the total of 
human knowledge and of human achievement.15 


Therefore, young ladies and young 
gentlemen, you see that this chapter of 
Sigma Xi in electing you to its member- 
ship believes you have the ability and pur- 
pose to serve your generation in the dis- 

14 Ibid., p. 590. 

15 President’s address to the Cornell Chapter of 


the Society of the Sigma Xi, June 9, 1900, pp. 
14, 15. 


AuveusT 21, 1914] 


covery and advancement of scientific 
knowledge, and by accepting such member- 
ship you promise, so far as lies within your 
power, to carry out this purpose. You will 
note, therefore, that membership in this 
society, providing one lives up to the trust 
imposed on him, carries with it certain 
responsibilities which, like the marriage 
vows, are not to be lightly assumed. It 
means, perhaps, in the first place that you 
are not to make the getting of money the 
foremost object of your life work. Now 
this fact alone to an American in this com- 
mercial age is a matter of grave importance 
and one that eliminates from our member- 
ship most of those who are actively engaged 
in ‘‘business, with its self-seeking and 
bargaining’’ in contrast to those in ‘the 
world of science, with its self-renunciation 
and mutual confidence.’’ This is what 
Professor Titchener calls the ‘‘vow of 
honorable poverty’’ and the first one that 
a scientific man must take. The second 
vow is that of hard work, which is likewise 
not an easy one, since the natural inclina- 
tion of most men is not toward strenuous 
exertion when it is not called for by the 
necessities of life. There is no use in try- 
ing to ignore the fact that in almost all 
cases the discovery of new facts requires 
hard and exhausting work for which in 
general there is no pecuniary reward that 
ranks at all with what would be secured if 
the same amount of energy were put forth 
in the commercial or professional world. 
And this fact again eliminates from the 
ranks of the real scientific workers the large 


majority of even college and university. 


trained young men and women. Finally, 
Professor Titchener sets a third vow for the 
man of science, and that is isolation, which 
is perhaps after all, the most difficult one. 
As he said, 


The life of the man of science must be a lonely 
life. It is not only that we have, most of us, to do 


SCIENCE 255 


our scientific work, as Helmholtz said, in our spare 
time, so that we have little leisure for the amenities 
of the social life around us. That is something, 
truly; but there is more than that. If we are to 
carry science beyond her present bounds, in any 
field of work, we must specialize. And that means 
that we shall hardly find, away from university 
centers, even one or two of our acquaintances who 
are in intelligent sympathy with us; we must work 
alone. Even within a university, the number of 
men who thoroughly understand and appreciate 
their neighbor’s work must be very small.1¢ 

In these days of university distractions 
it is difficult for even the men of most abil- 
ity in the university circle to keep their 
leisure time for research instead of giving 
it to the multitudinous activities that beckon 
them away from such stern and severe 
work. 

You are thinking, undoubtedly, that few 
and perhaps none of the members of Sigma 
Xi come up to this standard. It is granted 
at once, for this difference between the 
claims and the realities of the society has 
long been recognized. It is, however, the 
ideal toward which the society aims, and 
few human organizations come up to the 
full measure of the vision of their leaders. 
It is very true that you can find plenty 
of members of this society who have not 
apparently justified their election; but it 
is really after all a tribute to its standing 
that they wish to become and remain mem- 
bers. Probably for one reason or another, 
some good and others not, not even all of 
you who are present to-night for the pur- 
pose of initiation will in any considerable 
degree attain to the ideals that have been 
formulated for this organization. This 
Mixed active and inactive membership of 
the society for a long time disturbed the 
speaker, as it has various others who are 
keenly interested in the high aims of Sigma 
Xi. In later years, however, he has come to 
consider that it is probably inevitable to a 

16 Tbid., pp. 10-13, for the remarks concerning 
the yows of a scientific man. ~ 


256 


considerable degree. If the active members 
of the chapters have a fairly clear appre- 
ciation of the meaning of the society and 
are conscientious in nomination and elec- 
tion of members, that is probably about all 
that can be expected. As the world in 
which we live to-day exists, the clever 
manipulator, the politician, or the man of 
unlimited assurance frequently fills the 
position of importance rather than the man 
of merit. Some will know the difference, 
but probably with the mass of people the 
man who has a big amount of assurance 
will very frequently be able to pass the 
counterfeit as the genuine. It is believed, 
however, that we ought not to be unduly 
discouraged by this fact, or that we should 
in any measure lower the standards and 
ideals of Sigma Xi. Even in the Church of 
‘God the saint and sinner, the genuine and 
the hypoerite, are associated. You will 
remember in the parable of the wheat and 
the tares that the householder commanded 
the servants not to attempt to separate the 
tares from the wheat ‘‘lest while ye gather 
up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with 
them.’’? So in our own society it is be- 
lieved that you are called to a great work, 
to help increase the sum of human knowl- 
edge, and one that calls for the best efforts 
that you can put forth. It is believed that 
this is a personal call to each one of you, 
so far as it may be possible to consecrate 
whatever God-given talent you possess to 
some earnest work toward the increase and 
dissemination of knowledge. It is also be- 
lieved that you need not be specially con- 
cerned whether at present you can see any 
practical results from such discovery or 
not. Find the new truth, and neither you 
nor perhaps any one can foresee what may 
be its importance in the future. So do not 
be overanxious as to whether your research 
has an immediate pecuniary reward in 
sight. Remember that Louis Agassiz, the 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1025 


greatest zoologist that America has had, 
said that he did not have time to make 
money. His regular efforts brought him, 
however, a comfortable living and a name 
that will last far longer than that of most 
of our American multimillionaires. So my 
counsel to you is that this is largely a per- 
sonal matter and that your main efforts 
are to be devoted to producing the best of 
which you are capable, rather than watch- 
ing and criticizing the efforts or non-efforts 
of others. If you earnestly and faithfully 
attempt to live up to the pledge of this 
society you will have a clear conscience 
yourself and in the final estimate of results 
it is believed you will be classed with the 
wheat and separated from the tares. 

Finally, it is my duty to read to you the 
pledge of the Society of the Sigma Xi, to 
which you are asked to assent as your names 
are called. There is perhaps an appro- 
priateness in the fact that one who was a 
member of the first list of novitiates of the 
Alpha Chapter is to put this pledge to you, 
the youngest members of the Omega 
Chapter. The pledge is, ‘‘Do you hereby 
pledge yourself to uphold the principles of 
the Society of the Sigma Xi, and assume 
the responsibilities incumbent upon active 
membership therein ?’’ 


CHARLES S. PROSSER 
OxHIo STATE UNIVERSITY 


DOCTORATES CONFERRED BY AMERICAN 
UNIVERSITIES 

THE tables here published for the seven- 
teenth year on the doctorates of philosophy 
conferred by American universities show 
that the number of degrees this year for the 
first time exceeded 500, being an increase 
of 31 over 1913, but of only 18 over 1912. 
Two hundred and forty-one of the 502 
degrees were in the natural and exact sci- 
ences, which is about the same proportion 
as for all the years covered by these sta- 


Aveust 21, 1914] 


TABLE I 
Doctorates Conferred 
fe ~ 
on~ mH 
288 op 
#5 (1908|1909]1910|1911}1912/1913|1914)a5 7 
£o8 ons 
adn isi) 
Columbia..... 32.2) 55) 59) 44) 75) 81) 66] 63) 765 
Chicago....... 35.6] 54) 38] 42) 55) 57) 46] 61) 709 
Harvard...... 33.8] 42) 38) 35) 42) 41) 52) 63) 651 
BYiaL eS le eile 31.8] 32) 44) 27) 31) 31] 39] 32) 554 
Johns Hopkins.| 30.5) 28) 27) 23} 28) 32) 32) 30} 505 
Pennsylvania...) 22.5] 32) 29) 26] 29) 34) 31! 18) 424 
Cornell....... 18.1] 22) 34) 35} 34) 33] 35) 47) 421 
Wisconsin..... 8.6} 17) 16] 18} 23] 27] 19] 31] 237 
Clarkes). <0: 8.7} 11} 9) 14; 16) 6] 16) 9} 168 
New York....| 6.7] 15} 13) 11} 17) 10} 16) 19} 168 
Michigan..... 6.9) 4/13) 7} 6) 11} 15) 7} 182 
Boston....... 4.4] 11) 13} 6] 13} 8] 9} 5) 109 
Tilinois........ 5| 5) 4] 12) 11] 20) 20] 22) 99 
Princeton..... 2.6} 6) 4] 8} 9] 12) 13] 21) 99 
California..... 3.3] 4/ 10} 6} 6) 15] 10) 14) 98 
Bryn Mawr...) 2.1 4) 2) 5] 5) 9) 3) 71! 56 
George Wash QWs sl 4 4h Sy) 2h. Bl SI 5s 
Virginia....... 2.8) 4) 1) 4) 2) 4) 4) 3] 50 
Brown........ 2.3} 2) 5| 1) 4) G6 Li 5) 47 
Minnesota. . eA rel ieten iil in || 0 21a 3) wos tae 
Stanford...... 1.4) 2) 3) 5) 4 4) 5) 5| 42 
Catholic...... PAO Al Bi SG SH al eat 
NOW dels o/c. 1.1; 2} O| 4; 3] 7 3] 4) 34 
Nebraska..... BAD) PAP A a OH ANSI) 35} 
Radcliffe...... COW 2 eel Ol 21) Cl Zia 23: 
Mass. Inst..... <3] 3] O}| 3] 2) 6) I} 2) 20 
Cincinnati... .. PSN Oleic) yyeoloe(tn eel pun, 
Indiana....... .0| 3] 3] O| 2| 4) 3) 4) 19 
Ohiog e254 Ss. 4) O; 2) O| 2) 5) I] 2 16 
Missouri...... 4| 3] O| 2; 2) 1) I) 2) 15 
Pittsburgh. ... 1} 4) O}; 2} dy QW 5 1 15 
Washington... Sih TN) CO Oa aU sy ah 155 
Vanderbilt. ... 6) 1) 1) 2) O| 1) 2] OF 13 
Georgetown...| 1.0} 0} O; Oj; O} O| O; IT} 11 
Colorado...... ay) ON AYO Oy) Oa ng 9 
N. Carolina... -5| O} 1); O;| O} O| OF 38 9 
Syracuse...... -2| O; 2) 1) 2) O| OF 2 9 
Kansas....... 3} O;} O; 3] 1) OF; OF O 7 
Northwestern. . Al O;} 1} O; 1} OF OF O 6 
RUGS A iirc EDOM MOM Ol nO Oli O, 6 
Wash. and Lee Al 1) O} O}| O;| OF OF O 5 
Lafayette..... 3} 0} O; O}| O}| OF OF O 3 
Dartmouth.... -l} 1} O} O} O;| OF OF O 2 
Lehigh....... 2} O} O; OF O}| O| OF O 2 
Tulane....... SOOO Ol Olut yO, 2 
hotaleeeeees 273.0|379|391/362/445/484/471|502|5,764 


tistics, during which 2,786 degrees have 
been conferred in the natural and exact 
sciences and 2,978 in the other university 
subjects. For several years the number of 
degrees in the sciences was increasing the 
more rapidly, but this does not hold for the 
past two years, the number of degrees in 
the sciences being about the same as in 


SCIENCE 


257 


1911, and considerably smaller than in 


1912. Harvard, Columbia and Chicago 
TABLE IT 
Doctorates Conferred in the Sciences 

ro aS Host! 4s 

oe Sea 8 

#5 ob [1908/1909]1910/1911]1912) 1913/1914 ee ‘) 

orn oO. &] H 

Zan B54 a 
Chicago...| 16.4) 37) 20) 24) 35) 37] 16) 28) 361] 51 
Columbia..} 13.4) 21) 23) 11) 29] 36] 27) 21] 302) 39 
John Hopk.| 16.8} 17} 20] 15} 19] 23} 21] 18} 301] 60 
Cornell....| 10.4) 15) 24) 27) 27) 28] 30} 36] 291] 69 
Harvard...| 14.1] 13} 14] 10) 20] 15} 22) 28] 263) 40 
Yale...... 12.4) 16] 27) 12] 15) 21} 19) 13] 247) 45 
Penna 9.0] 18) 13) 12) 10) 9] 9) 5) 166) 39 
Glarkeeei. 7.7| 11) 8) 14) 16) 6] 13) 7} 152) 90 
Wisconsin .| 2.8] 6] 4) 13] 13] 14) 5) 17) 100] 42 
California .| 2.4) 2) 6) 4] 5] 12) 9} 11 73) 74 
Illinois... . -3/ 0] 2! 9) 6 15] 11) 18) 64) 65 
Michigan..| 2.8) 1) 5] 1] 3] 8] 10! 5) 61) 46 
Princeton..| 1.1) 3] 3) 2) 5! 7] 7) 7| 45) 45 
Geo. Wash.| 1.7) 2] 2] 3] 4] 2] 1} 2) 33) 62 
Stanford ..} 1.1) 2) 2) 1) 4! 3] 5) 2) 30) 71 
IBrOWoe ei) dealier2| 2b Li Si alee) AI 2g Go 
Mass. Inst. .3| 3] O} 3] 2) 6} 1) 2! 20/100 
Minnesota A LI 2 a 2 22) Si 20/047 
Nebraska..| 1.3} 1] 2} 1} 0] O} 2| 1} 20) 61 
Warciniaeecs| se deli 221) OW Die os 2i). on 20! 40 
Bryn Mawr] 1.0} 1} O} 2} 1} 3] O| 2) 19) 34 
New York. fa, WY Sal} By a 19} 11 
Towa...... a) AO Be al Bi ea 17| 50 
Indiana... 0} 3! 3) OF 2} 4) 1) 2! 15) 79 
Wash. .... Sq AO A al Bat 15|100 
Ohio...... Al O} 2) O; 2) 5] O| O 13} 81 
Cincinnati. <1 0} 2) 2) 4) 6) 62) 2) 12) 68 
Missouri . . col 2 OF 22) 0} 1) Lt 7 
Catholic... 5/—] 2) O] 1) 1 O| O 9} 22 
Pittsburgh 0} O} O; 1) 2) 1} 5) 0 8) 53 
Kansas... . -3| 0] O} 3) I} oO} 0} O 7\100 
Vanderbilt EO Le LO Ole Li LO 7| 54 
Boston... . 210) LO} 20}, 1) 2) 0 SD 
N. Carolina 3; O] 1! O} OF; OF OF 1 5| 56 
Tufts. .... 5} O]| O} O} Of; O} O| O 5] 83 
Northwest. -2} QO] 1} O} 1} Oo} OF O 4| 67 
Wash. & 

Lee..... 3) 1) O} O} O}. O} OF O 4| 80 
Syracuse .. -1} O; Of 1) 1) O| OF O 3) S33 
Colorado. . -2| 0] O} O}] Of; O} O| O 2) 22 
Dartmouth -1/ 1) O} O}] OF O}| OF O 2/100 
Lehigh... . 2} O} O; O; OO} OO} O| O 2/100 
George- 

town.... 1), 0; O; OF OF O} OF O 1) 9 
Lafayette. . -1} O; O; O; OF OF OF O 1) 33 
Radcliffe. . 0} O; O; 1} O; O| OF O 1) 4 
Tulane... . 0} O} O; O} OF} OF 1} O 1} 50 

Total. . .|124.1]184/194/180)239/273|234|241/2,786| 48 


conferred this year about the same number 
of degrees and about twice as many as Yale 
and Johns Hopkins. These two latter uni- 


258 


versities are not maintaining the position 
they held from 1898 to 1907. Cornell, 
Wisconsin, Illinois and Princeton conferred 
this year more degrees than ever before, 


TABLE JIT 
Doctorates Distributed According to Subjects 
‘° ot 
Qee = 
Bsa 1908]1909|1910|1911}1912)1913/1914] 6 
2o8 S 
<4 mre 
Chemistry....| 32.3] 54) 43] 48] 68] 78] 68) 71! 753 
Physics....... 15.5| 22] 25) 25) 33} 30] 22) 23) 335 
Zoology....... 15.2} 25) 18! 25) 25} 20) 26} 25) 316 
Psychology. . 13.5} 23) 21) 20) 23) 29) 24) 12) 287 
Botany....... 12.6} 11] 16} 10) 20) 30) 28} 34! 275 
Mathematics. .|} 12.1) 23] 14) 23] 25) 22) 21) 25) 974 
Geology....... Testy) 5} 1183) a) 15) 23) 14) 13) 164 
Physiology....| 4.1} 7] 13) 4] 2) 12} 2! 8] g9 
Astronomy....| 3.4/ 1! 7| 3! 4) 2! 11! 2) 64 
Agriculture....}| 1.0] 2] 7] 4] 11] 11] 8] 9] 62 
Bacteriology... 1.4) 1] 5} 1] 4] 6) 3) 6| 40 
Anthropology..| 1.0} 4] 4! 2] 2] 0] 3] 2] 97 
Anatomy..... AS AO TH TU GaP ST 225 
Paleontology. .| 1.6) 1] 0} 2/ O} 0} O| 4} 23 
Pathology..... Sy) SM BMT AY BAP a a? 
Engineering... 8} 0; OF; 1] 2| 2 oO}; 4) 17 
Mineralogy... . 6; O; 3; O} 1] O| Of] OF 10 
Metallurgy.... 3} O; i; OF 1} OF O| O 5 
Geography.... 1} 1] 1) O} 1] OF 1} O 5 
Meteorology... 1; O} O} O} O}] OF oO}. O 1 
Total....... 124.1]184)194}180/239)273)234/241|2,786 
English........... 30) 28] 32) 35) 32] 42) 42) 241 
Estonye eee eee 32] 22] 25] 28) 20] 26] 36) 189 
Economics......... 17| 42) 7| 17) 26) 16} 27) 152 
Philosophy........ 25] 15] 20) 26] 15) 22) 19) 142 
Education......... 6} 9] 13) 23) 21) 25) 27) 124 
German........... 14) 14) 16} 8] 15) 23) 23) 113 
Matin\as. ener ce 13) 12} 16) 13) 17) 19} 16) 106 
Sociology.......... 6! 6) 14) 18) 12) 11] 22! g9 
Romance.......... 12] 16] 6] 12| 15| 9] 15| 85 
Greek.) 0 ails erers 13) 11) 5) 7| 5; 8) 10) 59 
Political Science.... 9} 4) 9) 6 9) 15) 7 59 
Orientalemec secs 9) 15; 11) 1) 10) 8] 2) 56 
‘DheologyAn sae a 2) 1 aa 6) 8) 88 
Philol. and Com. Lit.| 0} 1) 5) 1) 2) 4] 2) 15 
MGA Wee sichieisinicereen ty Oy} i) Seay a 8B} 9 
Classical Arch..... Oo} OF OF 1} 3) 1) 1 6 
Fine Arts......... 0; Oo} oO} OF 21} 1) 1 3 
IMNBSOs cco ooccoKd0 1; O; 1; 1; O}| O} O 3 
ARO talc ealetecc ctsceere 195!1971182!206!211'237!26111,489 


the advance of the last two institutions being 
remarkable. Princeton conferred this year 
nearly as many degrees as during the ten 
years from 1898 to 1907, and Illinois con- 
ferred over four times as many degrees as 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1025 


during that period. Clark and Michigan, 
like Yale and the Johns Hopkins, main- 
tained only about the place they held ten 
years ago. The number of degrees con- 
ferred by Harvard is larger than it has ever 
been, while there is a decrease at Columbia 
compared with the past three years. 

Turning to the table referring to the de- 
grees conferred in the sciences, we find 
that Chicago maintains its lead, though it 
was this year equalled by Harvard and 
surpassed by Cornell. Columbia takes the 
place of the Johns Hopkins University as 
the university having conferred the most 
degrees in the sciences next to Chicago, 
while Cornell follows very closely. In the 
separate sciences, chemistry, as always, is 
in the lead, with 71 degrees, followed by 
botany, with 34 degrees. The increase in 
the number of degrees in botany is note- 
worthy, it being nearly three times the 
average from 1898 to 1907. There were 
also conferred this year 9 degrees in agri- 
culture and 6 in bacteriology. In both 
zoology and in mathematics 25 degrees were 
conferred. In subjects other than the 
natural sciences, English and history lead, 
surpassing any of the sciences except 
chemistry. Next in order come economics 
and education, each with 27 degrees, fol- 
lowed by German with 23 degrees and 
sociology with 22 degrees. 

The institutions which conferred two or 
more degrees in a science are: chemistry, 
Harvard, 9; Cornell, 8; Columbia and Yale, 
7 each; Illinois, 6; Johns Hopkins and Wis- 
consin, 5 each; Chicago, 4; California and 
Clark, 3 each; Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology and Stanford, 2 each; in phys- 
ics, Cornell, 5; Johns Hopkins, 4; Wiscon- 
sin, 3; Chicago and Illinois, 2 each; in 
zoology, Cornell and Harvard, 4 each; 
California, Columbia, Illinois and Johns 
Hopkins, 3 each; in psychology, Chieago, 
4; Clark and Cornell, 2 each; in mathe- 


AueustT 21, 1914] 


matics, Johns Hopkins, 5; Chicago, 4; 
Princeton, 3; Cornell, Harvard and Illinois, 
2 each; in botany, Chicago, 10; Cornell, 7; 
Wisconsin, 6; Harvard, 3; Columbia and 
Illinois, 2 each; in geology, Harvard and 
Yale, 3 each; Chicago, Columbia and 
Princeton, 2 each; in physiology, Columbia, 
2; in agriculture, Cornell, 4; Wisconsin, 2; 
in bacterioloy, Brown, 3; in paleontology, 
California and Chicago, 2 each; in engi- 
neering, Illinois, 2. 

The names of those on whom the degree 
was conferred in the natural and exact 
sciences, with the subjects of their theses, 
are as follows: 


CORNELL UNIVERSITY 


Paul Johnson Anderson: The Morphology and 
Life History of the Chestnut Blight Fungus. 

Jacob A. Badertscher: The Morphogenesis and 
Histogenesis of the Thymus of the Pig (Sus 
scrofa). 

Harris Miller Benedict: Senile Changes in 
Leaves of Vitis Vulpina Li. and certain other 
Plants. 

Harl Whitney Benjamin: A Study of the Varia- 
tion and Inheritance of the Size, Shape and Color 
of Eggs. 

Charles Clarence Bidwell: A Comparison of Ac- 
tual and Black Body Temperatures. 

Forest Milo Blodgett: Perithecial Development 
of Spherotheca humuli. 

Hdwin Garrigues Boring: The Sensations of the 
Alimentary Canal. 

Thomas Roland Briggs: The 
Production of Colloidal Copper. 

Jean Broadhurst: A Study of the Habitats and 
the Morphological and Physiological Characters of 
Streptococci. 

Oliver Ellsworth Buckley: The Hall Effect and 
Allied Phenomena in Silicon. 

Robert Wilbur Burgess: The Uniform Motion 
of a Sphere through a Viscous Liquid. 

Wheeler Pedlar Davey: The Factors which De- 
termine the Quantity of Rontgen Radiation given 
off by an X-ray Tube. 

Jehiel Davidson: A Comparative Study of the 
Effect’ of Cumarin and Vanilin on Wheat Grown 
in Soil, Sand and Water Cultures. 

Roland Parker Davis: Foundations for Bridges 
and Buildings. 


Hlectrochemical 


SCIENCE 


259 


Albert Watson Davison: Electrolytic Deposition 
of Brass on a Rotating Cathode. 

John Frederic Howard Douglas: The Reluctance 
of Some Irregular Magnetic Fields. 

Gail J. Fink: The P, T, X Diagrams of the Sys- 
tems Ammonium Chloride-Ammonia, and Copper 
Sulphate-Ammonia. 

Howard Brett Frost: The Relation of Tempera- 
ture to Variation in Matthiola. 

Mabel Ensworth Goudge: On Certain Tactual 
Illusions. 

Charles Truman Gregory: The Downy Mildew 
Disease of Grapes. 

Edward Sewall Guthrie: The Metallic Flavor in 
Dairy Products. 

Lexemuel Ray Hesler: Black-rot, Leaf-spot and 
Canker of Pomaceous Fruits. 

Robert Andrew Jehle: Brown Rot of Orchard 
Fruits. 

Alfred Erwin Livingston: The Effect of Castra- 
tion on the Weight of the Pituitary Body and 
other Glands of Internal Secretion in the Rabbit. 

Edwin Charles Mayer: The Diffusion of Gases 
through the Walls of Glass and Quartz Tubes. 

Emmeline Moore: Potamogetons in relation to 
Pond Culture. 

Jay Arthur Myers: Studies on the Syrinx of 
Gallus domesticus. 

William Howard Rankin: Field Studies on the 
Endothia Canker of Chestnut in New York State. 

Fred Hoffmann Rhodes: The Fractional Crystal- 
lization of the Picrates of the Rare Earths of the 
Didymium Group. 

Frank Elmore Rice: 
Erepsin. 

Harold Haton Riegger: Hydronitrie Acid and 
Hydrazine Trinitride. 

Clarence McKinlay Sherwood: A Study of 
Stokes’ Neutral Red Reaction as Applied to the 
Sanitary Examination of Water. 

Lucy Wright Smith: Studies of North American 
Plecoptera (Pteronaricine and Perlodini). 

Ruby Green Smith: The Evolution of the Vena- 
tion in the Anal Area of the Wings of Insects. 

Anna Helen Tappan: Plane Sextic Curves In- 
yariant under Birational Transformations. 

Harry Boyer Weiser: Flame Reactions. 


Studies on the Action of 


UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO 


Edwina Eunice Abbott: On the Effect of Adap- 
tation on the Temperature Difference Limen. 

Winfred MeKenzie Atwood: A Physiological 
Study of the Germination of Avena fatua. 


260 


Eliot Blackwelder: Past-Cretaceous History of 
the Mountains of Central Western Wyoming. 

J. Harlen Bretz: The Glaciation of the Puget 
Sound Basin. 

George Smith Bryan: 
Sphagnum Subsecundum. 

George Damon Fuller: Evaporation and Soil 
Moisture in Relation to the Succession of Plant 
Association. 

Lachlan Gilchrist: An Absolute Determination 
of the Viscosity of Air. 

John William Edward Glattfeld: The Oxidation 
of d- Glucose in Alkaline Solution by Air as well 
as by Hydrogen Peroxide. 

Edward Maris Harvey: Some Effects of Hthy- 
lene on the Metabolism of Plants. 

John Benjamin Hill: The Anatomy of Six Epi- 
phytie Species of Lycopodium, 

Lee Irving Knight: A Study of Dormancy in 
Buds of Liriodendron tulipifera. 

William Charles Krathwohl: Modular Invariants 
of Two Pairs of Cogredient Variables, 

Paul Nicholas Leech: The Molecular Rearrange- 
ment of Tryaryl Methyl Hydroxylamines; a New 
Interpretation for the Rearrangement of Ketox- 
ines. 

Florence Anna McCormick: A Study of Sym- 
phyogyna Aspera. 

Arthur Wesley Martin: Studies on Solutions in 
Anhydrous Formic Acid. 

John Nathan Martin: Comparative Morphology 
of some Leguminose. 

Maurice Goldsmith Mehl: The Phytosauria of 
the Rocky Mountain Region. 

Wilson Lee Miser: On Linear Homogeneous Dif- 
ferential Equations with Elliptic Function Coefii- 
cients. 

Frank Marion Morrison: On the Relation be- 
tween some Important Notions of Projective and 
Metrical Differential Geometry. 

Elton James Moulton: On Figures of Equilib- 
rium of a Rotating Heterogeneous Fluid Body. 

Loren Clifford Petry: The Anatomy of Ophio- 
glossum pendulum. 

Norma Etta Pfeiffer: Morphology of Thismia 
(Bagnisia) americana n. sp. 

Ole Olufson Stoland: The Influence of Parathy- 
roid Tetany on the Liver and the Pancreas. 

Verne Frank Swaim: The Pressure Shift of 
Lines in the Spectrum of Zine. 

Charles Henry Swift: Origin and Harly History 
of the Primordial Germ Cells in the Chick. 

Ethel Mary Terry: The Velocity Coefficient of 
Saponification of Ethyl Acetate. 


The Archegonium of 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1025 


Lloyd Arthur Heber Warren: A Class of Asymp- 
totie Orbits in the Problem of Three Bodies. 

Herrick East Wilson: Evolutional Changes in 
the Monocyclie Crinoid Bases. 


HARVARD UNIVERSITY 


Edward Switzer Allen: Su aleuni Caratteri di 
una Serie Algebrica, e la Formola di de Jon- 
quiéres per Serie qualsiasi. 

Donald Clinton Barton: Arkose: Its Definition, 
Classification and Geologic Significance. 

Sydney Adams Beggs: Certain Derivatives of 
Tetrabromortho-benzoquinone. 

William T. Bovie: The Action of Ultra-Violet 
Light on Protoplasm. 

Charles Franklin Brooks: The Snowfall of the 
Hastern United States. 

Arthur Houston Chivers: The Fungus Genera 
Chetomium and Ascotricha. 

Harry Clark: Sub-Helmholtzian Vibrations of a 
Rubbed String. 

Farrington Daniels: An Electrochemical and 
Thermodynamical Investigation of Thallium Amal- 
gams. 

Harold Simmonds Davis: I. Contributions to the 
Determination of the Heats of Combustion of Or- 
ganic Substances. II. The Effect of Gravity on 
the Concentration of a Solute. ILI. The Conduc- 
tivity of Rosaniline Hydrochloride in Water and 
Certain Organie Solvents. 

Gustave Alexander Feingold: Recognition and 
Discrimination. 

Robert Chenault Givler: The Psycho-physiolog- 
ical Effects of the Speech Element in Poetry. 

Rudolf William Glaser: Caterpillar Diseases with 
Especial Reference to the Wilt of Gipsy Moth 
Caterpillars. 

Charles Merl Gruber: Neuro-muscular Fatigue. 

Winthrop Perrin Haynes: A Contribution to the 
Geology of the Region about Threa Forks, Mon- 
tana. 

Chester Elijah Kellogg; Alternation and Inter- 
ference of Feelings. 

Alfred Vincent Kidder: Southwestern Ceramics: 
their Value in reconstructing the History of the 
Ancient Cliff-dwelling and Pueblo Tribes. An Ex- 
position from the Point of View of Type Distribu- 
tion. 

Francis Bullard Kingsbury: I. A Contribution 
to the Réle of Bile in Fat Absorption. II. The 
Determination of Benzoic Acid in the Urines of 
the Rabbit and the Dog. 

Clarence Cook Little: Experimental Studies on 


Aveust 21, 1914] 


the Inheritance of Color in Mice and their Bearing 
on Certain Allied Problems in Genetics. 

Axel Leonard Melander: A Taxonomic Study of 
the Empidide, a Family of Dipterous Flies. 

William Buell Meldrum: I. A Possible Effect of 
an Alternating Current on Ionic Mobility. II. An 
Hlectrochemical Investigation of the Alkali Metals. 
III. A Contribution to the Study of Mixed Crys- 
tals. . 

Henry Thomas Moore: The Genetic Aspect of 
Consonance and Dissonance. 

James Lucien Morris: Protein Metabolism’ of 
the Rat, with Special Reference to Tumor Problems. 

Richard Harkness Patch: The Splitting of Aryl 
Carbinols under the Action of Substituting Agents. 

Bradley Merrill Patten: A Quantitative Determi- 
nation of the Orienting Reaction of the Blowfly 
Larva (Calliphora erythrocephala Meigen) to Light. 

Rainard Benton Robbins: The Calculus of Varia- 
tions as the Limit of a Problem in Minimizing an 
Algebraic Sum. i 

James Batcheller Sumner: 
Urea in the Animal Body. 

Walter Palmer Thompson: The Anatomy and 
Relationships of the Gnetales. I. The Genus 
Ephedra. 

Frank Clifford Whitmore: I. The Mechanism of 
the Reactions of Sodium Malonice Ester with Halo- 
genated Organic Compounds. IJ. Preliminary 
Studies of Certain Unsaturated Chlorides. 


The Formation of 


COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 


John Seaman Bates: Chemical Utilization of 
Southern Pine Waste. 

Cora Jepson Beckwith: The Genesis of the 
Plasma-structure in the Eff of Hydrachnia. 

Andrew Bender: The Preparation and Proper- 
ties of Some New Derivatives of Pseudocumidine. 

Laura E. W. Benedict: A Study of Bagobo 
Ceremonial, Magic and Myth. 

Sidney Born: The Chemical Constitution of In- 
vertase. 

Albert Clarence Boyle, Jr.: Ore Deposits and 
Geology of the Bully Hill Mine and Its Vicinity, 
Shasta Co., California. 

Robert P. Calvert: Dissociation Pressures of Am- 
monium and Tetramethyl Ammonium Halides and 
of Phosphonium Iodide and Phosphorus Penta- 
chloride. 

Dayton James Edwards: Compensatory Phenom- 
ena in the Distribution of the Blood during Stimu- 
lation of the Splanchnie Nerve. 

Charles Reinhard Fettke: The Manhattan Schist 
Formation of Southeastern New York. 


SCIENCE 


261 


Fred Denton Fromme: The Morphology and Cy- 
tology of the Aicidium-cup, 

Lyman Morse Kells: Complete Characterization 
of Dynamical Trajectories in n-space. 

Louis Otto Kunkel: Physical and Chemical Fac- 
tors Influencing Toxicity of Inorganic Salts to 
Manilia Sitophila Mont. Sace. 

Marguerite Thomson Lee: A Study of Modifica- 
tions of the Binnet Test. 

Victor Emanuel Levine: Biochemical Studies of 
Selenium. 

Wallace A. Manheimer: Studies on the Sanita- 
tion of Swimming Pools. 

Marion J. Mayo: The Relative Scholastic Abil- 
ity of White and Colored Pupils in the High 
Schools of the City of New York. 

Charles Packard: The Effect of Radium on the 
Development of Nereis. 

Walter Frank Rittman: Thermal Reactions in 
Carbureting Water Gas. 

Ernest Lyman Scott: The Content of Sugar in 
Blood under Common Laboratory Conditions. 

Willard Lesly Severinghaus: Multiple Reflection 
of Short Electrie Waves from Screens of Metallic 
Resonators. 

Alfred Henry Sturtevant: The Behavior of the 
Chromosomes as Studied through Linkage. 


UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 


Mikishi Abe: Statically Indeterminate Stresses 
in Rigidly Connected Structures of Reinforced 
Concrete. 

William Ernest Carroll: Effect of the Amount of 
Protein Consumed upon Digestion and Protein 
Metabolism in Lambs and upon the Composition of 
Their Flesh and Blood. 

William Walter Cort: Larval Trematodes from 
the North American Fresh-water Snails. 

Stanley Prince Farwell: The Corona produced 
by Continuous Potentials. 

Stanley Black Fracker: The Classification of 
Lepidopterous Larvee. 

John Harl Gutberlet: On the Development, Mor- 
phology and Economie Importance of Chicken Ces- 
todes. 

Harry Fielding Hadley: Phenol Extraction Meth- 
ods as Applied to Coal and a Study of the Result- 
ing Compounds. 

Edward Otto Heuse: The Vapor Pressures of 
Aqueous Solutions of Electrolytes. 

Edward August Theodore Kircher: Group Prop- 
erties of the Residue Classes of Certain Kronecker 
Modular Systems and Some Related Generalizations 
in Number Theory. 


262 SCIENCE 


Philip Augustus Lehenbauer: Growth in Rela- 
tion to Temperature. 

Harold Hossack McGregor: The Proteins of the 
Central Nervous System. 

Louis Clark Mathewson: Theorems on the 
Groups of Isomorphisms of Certain Groups. 

Harl Bowman Millard: The Hydration of Ions 
and the Influence of Viscosity on the Transference 
Number of Lithium Chloride. 

Hubert Leonard Olin: The Coking of Coal at 
Low Temperatures with Special Reference to the 
Properties and the Composition of the Products. 

George Wallace Sears: Atomic Weight of Tan- 
talum. 

Glenn Alfred Shook: A Determination of the 
Sun’s Temperature. 

Orrin Harold Smith: Retrograde Rays from the 
Cold Cathode. 

John Hamilton Whitten: The Effect of Kero- 
sene and other Petroleum Oils on the Viability 
and Growth of Zea mais. 


THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY 


Walter Fieldhouse Clarke: A Study of the Hy- 
drogen Electrode and of the Calomel Electrode. 

William Lee Dolley: Reactions to Light in Va- 
nessa Antiopa, with Special Reference to Circus 
Movements. 

Daniel Stanley Elliott: A Comparative Study of 
the Light Sensibility of Selenium and Stibnite at 
20° and — 190° C. 

Edwin Louis Frederick: The Osmotic Pressure 
of Mannite Solutions between 10° and 40°. 

Josiah Wesley Gain: Linear Combinants of Ter- 
nary Forms. 

William Stuart Gorton: The Effect of Frequency 
upon the Corona. 

Harry Clinton Gossard: On a Special Elliptic 
Ruled Surface of the Ninth Order. 

Enoch Karrer: A Method of Determining the 
Radiant Luminous Efficiency of a Light Source by 
Means of a Cell whose Transmission Curve is Iden- 
tical with the Luminosity Curve of the Average 
Eye. 

Karl Spencer Lashley: Inheritance in the Asex- 
ual Reproduction of Hydra. 

Herbert August Lubs: 1. The Action of Potas- 
sium Permanganate Upon 1-Phenyl-3-Thiourazole 
and 1-Phenyl-3-Thiomethylurazole. 2. The Tau- 
tomerism of 1-Phenyl-5-Oxy-4, 5-Dihydro-3-Tria- 
zolyl Methyl Sulphone. 3. The Tautomerism of the 
Amides. 

Elmer J. Lund: The Relations of Bursaria to 
Food: I. Selection in Feeding and in Extrusion. 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1025 


Donald MacKenzie: The Corona in Air at Con- 
tinuous Potentials and Pressures Lower than At- 
mospherie. 

Bessie Irving Miller: A New Canonical Form of 
the Elliptic Integral. 

Annabella Elliott Richards: The Partial Hnzy- 
motie Hydrolysis of Yeast Nucleic Acid. 

Henry Christian Schmeisser: Leukemia of the 
Fowl: Spontaneous and Experimental. 

Walter Francis Shenton: Linear Combinants of 
Systems of Binary Forms with the Syzygies of the 
Second Degree Connecting Them. 

William Anthony Taylor: 1. On the Reactions 
of Both the Ions and Molecules of Acids, Bases 
and Salts. On the Reaction of Sodium Hthylate 
and Methyl Iodide in Absolute Ethyl Alcohol at 
0°. 2 <A Re-interpretation of the Work of 
Hecht, Conrad and Bruckner on the Reaction of 
Alkyl Halides with Sodium Ethylate at Different 
Temperatures. 3. On the Configurations of a and 
8 Glucose and the Equilibrium between Mucic 
Acid and its Lactones. 

Mabel Minerva Young: Dupin’s Cyclide as a 
Self-dual Surface. 


UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN 

Ross Allen Baker: A Study of Certain Awrous 
Derivatives. 

Elbert T. Bartholomew: Physiological Changes 
causing Black Heart in Potatoes. 

Raymond Thayer Birge: A Detailed Study cf 
the Long Wave-length Region of the Nitrogen 
Band Spectrum. 

Ralph Howard Carr: A Study of the Non-pro- 
tein Form of Nitrogen in Alfalfa. 

Harry Alfred Curtis: A Quantitative Study of 
some Photochemical Reactions. 

Gerhard Dietrichson: A Study of the Effect of 
Concentration on the Replacement ef the Metals 
by One Another. 

Howard Austin Edson: Damping off and Root 
Decay of Sugar Beets. 

John Ironside Falconer: Agricultural Production 
in the United States from 1840 to 1860. 

Edward Martinius Gilbert: Cytological Studies 
on the Tremellinex. : 

Martin Perry Henderson: Studies on the Black 
Leg Disease of Cabbage. 

Aaron Guy Johnson: The Helminthosporinm 
Diseases of Barley. 

George Wannamaker Keitt: Peach ‘‘Scab’’ 
(Cladosporium carpophilum Thiim) and its Con- 
trol. 


Aveust 21, 1914] 


Orren Lloyd-Jones: An Analytical Study of 
Color in Pigeons in Relation to Inheritance. 

Clifford Cyrille Meloche: Hesaralent Cerium. 

Gilbert Morgan Smith: Organization of the Col- 
ony in Certain Form-celled Cenobic Alge. 

Chester Snow: Electron Theory of Magnetism. 

Otto Julius Zobel: Thermal Conduction and 
Radiation. 

YALE UNIVERSITY 

George Alfred Baitsell: Experiments on the 
Reproduction of the Hypotrichous Infusoria. 

Norman Robert Blatherwick: The Specific Role 
of Foods in Relation to the Composition of the 
Urine. 

Lewis Hill Chernoff: Pyrimidine Nucleosides. 

Ernest Woodward Dean: The Effect of Constitu- 
tion upon the Velocities of Hydrolysis of Esters of 
Substituted Monobasic Aliphatic Acids. 

Wilson Barton Emery: Geology of Carrizo 
Mountain, Arizona. 

Samuel Goldschmidt: The Metabolism of an Iso- 
mer of Xanthine and Some Isomers of the 
Methylxanthines. 

Albert Garland Hogan: Studies on the Paren- 
teral Utilization and the Metabolism of Sugars. 

Arséne Nishan Lucian: The Distribution of the 
Active Deposit of Actinium in Electric Fields. 

Leopold Reinecke: The Geology and Ore Deposits 
of the Beaverdell Map Area, British Columbia. 

Joel Andrew Sperry: A Biochemical Study of 
the Behavior of Bacteria towards Pure Unchanged 
Animal and Vegetable Proteins. 

William Mynn Thornton, Jr.: New Processes for 
the Analytical Separation of Titanium from Iron, 
Aluminum and Phosphoric Acid. 

Edward Leffingwell Troxell: 
Fossils of Rock Creek, Texas. 

David Wright Wilson: The Chemistry of the Ni- 
trogenous Extractives of Muscle Tissue. 


The Vertebrate 


UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 

Elliot Quiney Adams: The Color and Ionization 
of Crystal Violet. 

Benjamin Abram Bernstein: A Complete Set of 
Postulates for the Logic of Classes Expressed in 
Terms of the Operation ‘‘Exception,’?’ and a 
Proof of the Independence of a Set of Postulates 
due to Del Ré. 

Asa Crawford Chandler: The Morphology of 
Feathers with Special Reference to the Taxonomic 
Value of their Structures. 

Bruce Lawrence Clark: The Fauna of the San 


SCIENCE 


263 


Pablo Group of Middle California. 

Roy Elwood Clausen: On the Behavior of Emul- 
Sion in the Presence of Collodion. 

Roy Ernest Dickerson: Fauna of the Martinez 
Hocene of California. 

Daniel Walter Morehouse: On the Orbit of the 
Seventh Satellite of Jupiter. 

Inudwig Rosenstein: A Study of Indicators. 

Robert G. Sharp: Diplodinium ecaudatum with 
an Account of its Neuromotor Apparatus. 

Walter Penn Taylor: The Status of the Beay- 
ers of Western North America, with a Considera- 
tion of the Factors in their Speciation. 

Rosalind Wulzen: The Pituitary Gland in its 
Relationship to the Early Period of Growth in 
Birds. 

CLARK UNIVERSITY 


Marion Myrl Harrison: The Dynamics of the 
Formation and Decomposition of Tertiary Amyl 
Esters. 

Wallace Frank Powers: An Experimental Study 
of Transient Induced Currents in Cylindrical 
Cores. 

Lillian Rosanoff: Theory of the Catalysis of 
Sugar Inversion by Acids. 

John Frederic William Schulze: A Study of 
Fractional Distillation. 

James Atkins Bullard: On the Structure of 
Finite Continuous Groups. 

Ivy Gertrude Campbell: The Social as the Lead- 
ing Factor in Personality. 

Robert Sidney Ellis: The Attitude toward Death 
and the Types of Belief in Immortality. 


PRINCETON UNIVERSITY 


Ralph Dennison Beetle: Congruences Associated 
with a One-parameter Family of Curves. 

Julian Kalfus Dale: Studies of the Forms of 
Glucose and their Mutarotation. 

Nelson Clark Dale: The Cambrian Manganese 
Deposits of Conception and Trinity Bays, New- 
foundland. 

Haig Galajikian: A Type of Non-linear Integral 
Equations. 

Albert Orion Hayes: Geology of the Wabana 
Tron Ore of Newfoundland. 

John Minor Stetson: Conjugate Systems both of 
whose Laplace Transforms are Lines of Curvature. 

Vernon Andrew Suydam: Total Radiation from 
Metals. 

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN 


Suzan Rose Benedict: A Comparative Study of 
the Early Treatises Introducing into Hurope the 
Hindu Art of Reckoning. 


264 


Joseph Edgar DeCamp: A Study of Retroactive 
Inhibition. 

John Henry Ehlers: Winter Temperature of the 
Leaves of the Pine. 

George Allan Lindsay: A Study of the Longitu- 
dinal Vibrations of Wires. 

Anton Augustus Schlichte: The Changes which 
Take Place in Hides during the Unhairing Process. 


UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA 

Hzra Allen: The Cessation of Mitosis in the Cen- 
tral Nervous System of the Albino Rat. 

Charles Blizard Bazzoni: The Destruction of 
Bacteria through the Action of Light. 

Louise Stevens Bryant: School Feeding.—Its 
History and Practise at Home and Abroad. 

Edward Ellsworth Marbaker: The Separation of 
Tungsten from Molybdenum. 

Stanley Pulliman Shugert: Konig’s Resolvents 
and Other Types of Symmetric Functions. 


BROWN UNIVERSITY 


Robert Gamble Caswell: A Study of the Reduc- 
tion Products of Some Aromatic Compounds. 

Harold William Lyall: A Contribution to the 
Study of the Streptococci. 

George Henry Robinson: Isolation, Identification 
and Serum Reactions of Typhoid and Paratyphoid 
Baeilli. 

Lester Angell Round: Contributions to the Bac- 
teriology of the Oyster. 


UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA 


Harold Hiram Brown: Contribution to our 
Knowledge of the Chemistry of Wood; Douglas 
Fir and Its Resin. 

Harry Vaughn Harlan: Some Distinctions in Our 
Cultivated Barleys with Reference to their Use in 
Plant Breeding. 

Julius Valentine Hofmann: Natural Reproduc- 
tion of Coniferous Forests. 


BRYN MAWRE COLLEGE 
Louise Duffield Cummings: On a Method of Com- 
parison for Triple Systems. 
’ Vernette Lois Gibbons: The Potentials of Silver 
in Non-aqueous Solutions of Silver Nitrate. 


UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI 


Emma Lucy Braun: The Physiographie Ecology 
of the Cincinnati Region. 

Ralph Esward Oesper: Oximidocarbonie Esters 
and Related Compounds. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1025 


GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY 
Philander Betts: An Investigation of the Rates 
of the Wildwood Water Works Company. 
Hartley Harrad Thompson Jackson: The Biota 
of Ridgeway Bog, Wisconsin: A Study in Heol- 
ogy and Distribution. 


INDIANA UNIVERSITY 


Clarence Edmunds Edmondson: The Effects of 
Thyroid and Thymus Extract upon the Growth and 
Reproduction in Paramecium caudatum. 

Thomas Edward Mason: Character of the Solu- 
tions of Certain Functional Equations. 


UNIVERSITY OF IOWA 


Victor Josiah Hays: The Adrenals of Birds. 
Ralph Chase Huston: Some Derivations of Pure 
Xylene. 


MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 
George Howard Burrows: Equilibria and Free 
Energies of Organic Reactions. 
Wilford Joseph Winninghoff: The Ionie Theory. 


STANFORD UNIVERSITY 
George Shambaugh Bohart: Reactions between 
Potassium Amide and Certain Salts of Cadmium 
Nickel and Chromium in Liquid Ammonia Solution. 
John Dustin Clark: A Chemical Study of the En- 
richment of Copper Sulfide Ores. 


UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI 


William Henry Chandler: The Killing of Plant 
Tissue by Low Temperature. 


UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA 


Melvin Randolph Gilmore: On the Uses of Plants 
by the Indians of the Nebraska Region. 


NEW YORK UNIVERSITY 


John Daly McCarthy: The Influence of Certain 
Drugs on the Efficiency of Mental Work. 


UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA 

James Talmage Dobbins: The Action of Am- 
monia on Solutions of Arsenic Triiodide in Organic 
Solvents. 

UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA 

Sterling Henry Diggs: The Influence of the Con- 
centration of Potassium Iodide on the Rate of Dif- 
fusion of Iodine in Potassium Iodide Solution. 


WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY 


Jacquelin Smith Cooley: A Study of the Physio- 
logical Relations of Sclerotinia cinerea (Bon.). 


Aveust 21, 1914] 


THE CONSTITUTION OF ATOMS 


THE Physical Society of London visited 
Cambridge, and at a meeting in the Cavendish 
Laboratory, June 20, Sir J. J. Thomson, the 
president, gave information of the results of 
some important experiments he has been ma- 
king with regard to the production of very 
soft Rontgen radiation by the impact of posi- 
tive and slow cathode rays. According to the 
report in the London Times Professor Thom- 
son said he proposed to give them an account 
of some recent experiments whose object it was 
to fill up a gap in the kind of radiation that 
they had at their disposal upon investigation 
of the properties of the atom. The study of 
Réntgen radiation had enabled them to prove 
the existence of two separate rings of electrons, 
one inside the other; the one was responsible 
for what is known as the K kind of radiation, 


and the other had the L characteristic, but the’ 


L characteristic was so much softer than the 
K that if they were to consider what would be 
likely to be the properties of the radiation 
given out by a third ring, if the rate of in- 
crease in softness was anything like the same 
proportion the radiation from the third ring 
would come well within that region of radia- 
tion which at present had not been studied, 
and if they command a continuous series of 
radiations, extending from the visible light 
which affected the outer ring of electrons right 
up to the hardest region of radiation, they 
would be able to see how many separate vi- 
brating systems, how many rings of electrons 
there were inside the other, and, more than 
that, they would be able, by the study of that 
radiation, to gauge the number of electrons in 
each ring, so that this study promised to give 
them the means of determining the distribu- 
tion of electrons throughout the atom. In the 
experiments two methods had been employed. 
The first was the production of Réntgen radia- 
tion by the impact of positively charged atoms. 
By availing himself of the very remarkable 
sensitiveness of the Schuman photographic 
plate they had been enabled to get unmistak- 
able evidence that as the positive rays im- 
pinged against a surface they gave out a type 
of Réntgen radiation. Professor Thomson de- 


SCIENCE 


265 


scribed at length the apparatus he employed, 
which in this case was a Crookes tube, and the 
experiments he made. His second method was 
by the impact of cathode rays, and they ar- 
ranged the experiment so that they had the 
speed of the cathode rays very much under 
control. Im this experiment an ordinary 
Réntgen ray tube was employed. The photo- 
graphic method, Professor Thomson continued, 
was rather time wasting, and they had lately 
tried experimenting with a substitute for the 
photographic plate, and if they succeeded with 
those experiments they probably would be able 
to get on much more quickly. But even with 
the photographic plate they hoped to make a 
Series of experiments which would enable them 
to find how many rings of electrons there were 
in an atom. 


HENRY HEMPHILL 


WE have just received notice of the death, 
July 25, at Oakland, Cal., of Henry Hemphill, 
in his eighty-fifth year. 

Mr. Hemphill was born in Wilmington, 
Del., in 1830, but for many years had been a 
resident of the state of California. He was a 
mason by trade and took great pride in his 
proficiency. More than fifty years ago he be- 
came interested in the shells of the Pacific 
coast and formed one of a group of enthusi- 
astic collectors which included Kellogs the 
botanist, Harford, Voy, Stearns and others, of 
which he was the last survivor. His trade 
brought him in, at California union wages, 
such a good income that he could not only 
lay away a fair nest egg for his old age, but 
take long vacations. During these periods he 
visited Florida and all parts of the Pacific 
coast south of British Columbia, and be- 
came one of our most expert collectors of mol- 
lusks. The genus of slugs, Hemphillia, was 
named in his honor by the late W. G. Binney, 
and a host of species commemorate in like 
manner his success as a collector. 

He published but few papers himself, but 
was the cause indirectly of much publication 
by others. He had a keen eye for relation- 
ships and differences, and at times mounted 


‘on large tablets series of land shells with radi- 


266 SCIENCE 


ating lines of variation which were most in- 
structive, and which found a place in some of 
the most important museums. He had been 
long a widower, and, as age diminished his 
energies, he retired to Oakland, where for the 
last few years he made his home with an only 
daughter. His kindly ways and generosity to 
others will keep his memory green among 
those who knew him. He left what is doubt- 
less the best and most complete collection of 
Pacifie coast shells, up to the time of his re- 
tirement, that is to be found anywhere except 
in the National Museum. It is particularly 
zich in series showing variation, and in the 
land shells; also including much valuable 
exotic material received in exchange. It is to 
be hoped that this collection may be preserved 
intact in one of the public institutions of the 
Pacific coast, as at present a collection of 
shells worthy of the state of his adoption does 
not exist in any university or museum west of 
the Rockies. / 
Wm. H. Dati 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


On account of the international crisis, the 
meeting of the American Chemical Society, 
which was to have been held in Montreal in 
September, has been indefinitely postponed. 

Dr. Max Rupner has been appointed di- 
rector of the Kaiser Wilhelm Laboratory for 
Physiology to be erected in Berlin. 

Dr. Karu Runer, professor of applied mathe- 
matics at Gottingen and several years since 
visiting professor to Columbia University, has 
been elected Prorektor of the University of 
Gottingen. 

Dr. WILHELM WALDEYER, professor of anat- 
omy at Berlin, celebrated the fiftieth anniver- 
sary of his doctorate on July 20. 

Dr. Atexis Carrout, of the Rockefeller In- 
stitute for Medical Research, is reported to 
have gone to the front as a French army 
surgeon. ) 

Lorp Wetpy has been elected president of 
the Royal Statistical Society. 

Dr. SEVERANCE BurraAGE, professor of sani- 
tary science in Purdue University, has been 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1025 


elected president of the Indiana Academy of 
Sciences. 

Dr. Mazyck P. Ravenet, who recently re- 
signed the chair of bacteriology in the Univer- 
sity of Wisconsin to accept a similar chair in 
the University of Missouri, has been appointed 
a member of the advisory board of the hygienic 
laboratory of the United States Public Health 
Service, Washington. 

Masor THomas LL. Reopes has been trans- 
ferred to the Panama Canal service, and has 
been appointed superintendent of the Colon 
Hospital. 

Dr. Oscar Rippxe, of the Carnegie Institu- 
tion, delivered the annual address before the 
American Academy of Medicine at its At- 
lantic City meeting on the evening of June 
19. His subject was “The Determination of 
Sex and Its Experimental Control.” 


“PanaMA and the Canal” was the subject 
cf an illustrated lecture at the University of 
Chicago on August 17, by Mr. Frank A. 
Gause, superintendent of the schools of the 
Canal Zone. 


Proressor H. L. Fatrcuiup delivered a lec- 
ture on “ Ancient Sea Margins in the Hudson 
and Connecticut Valleys” before the students 
of geography and geology at the Columbia 
University summer session on August 12. ~ 


Tue name “Rio Theodoro” has been given 
by the Brazilian government, at the suggestion 
of Dr. Miiller, Brazilian secretary of state for 
foreign affairs, to the river recently explored 
by Mr. Roosevelt’s expedition, and heretofore 
known as the Rio da Duvida. 


We learn from Economic Geology that the 
Division of Mines of the Bureau of Science, 
Philippine government, has recently suffered 
the loss of Mr. Paul R. Fanning, metallurgist, 
who is now metallurgist for a zinc company, 
and Mr. Frank T. Eddingfield, mining engi- 
neer, who has reurned to Washington. Mr. 
Wallace E. Pratt, geologist, has returned from 
six weeks’ reconnaissance work in the Cara- 
moan Peninsula, southeastern Luzon, where 
there exists a very interesting area of schistose 
rocks. He also made an examination of an 
iron deposit on a small island in the mouth of 


AveusT 21, 1914] 


Mambule Bay, Ambos Camarines. Warren D, 
Smith, chief of the division, has returned from 
two months’ field work in northern Luzon in 
the territory of the Kalingas and Ifugaos. He 
secured a collection of fossil plants and also 
marine tertiary fossils. Mount Amuyo, the 
second highest peak in Luzon, was ascended 
and its elevation determined by hypsometer. 
The extension of the Benguet and Mancayan- 
Suyoe mineral belt was traced and new areas 
indicated for prospecting. 


Tue Royal Society of Arts has received 
from Mr. R. Le Neve Foster £100 to found a 
prize in memory of his father, the late Mr. 
Peter Le Neve Foster. 


A MovemeENT for the foundation of a Scott- 
ish Oceanographical Institute in Edinburgh, 
to be a memorial to the late Sir John Murray, 
has been inaugurated, a committee having been 
formed for the purpose of considering how 
such an institution may best be organized, with 
power to issue an appeal for funds. The mem- 
bers of the committee include Lord Stair, 
president of the Royal Scottish Geographical 
Society; Professor James Geikie, president of 
the Royal Society of Edinburgh; J. Y. Buch- 
anan, of the Challenger Expedition; Dr. W. S. 
Bruce and others. 

Dr. Apert SmitH Bickmore, superinten- 
dent of the American Museum of Natural His- 
tory from 1869 to 1904 and subsequently in 
charge of the department of public instruction 
until his retirement as professor emeritus in 
1904, died on August 13, at the age of seventy- 
five years. 

Tur death is announced of M. Fernand 
Foureau, the explorer of the Sahara and 
governor of the colony of Martinique, at the 
age of sixty-four years. 

Dr. Joser Hannack, a distinguished Aus- 
trian engineer, has died at the age of fifty- 
nine years. 


Proressor HrrmMann Kern, of Cologne, 
known for his contributions to astronomy and 
meteorology, has died at the age of seventy 
years. 

Tue U. S. Civil Service Commission an- 
nounces an examination for specialist in indus- 


SCIENCE 


267 


trial education to fill a vacancy in this posi- 
tion in the Bureau of Education, at a salary 
of $3,500 a year. The duties of this position 
will be performed at Washington, D. C., and 
elsewhere, and will include the study of voca- 
tional education, the collection and compila- 
tion of information relating thereto, and the 
giving of advice to education officers through- 
out the United States for the establishment of 
courses of study in vocational education. 


Dr. HrpuicKa, secretary of the Nineteenth 
International Congress of Americanists, writes 
that unless unfavorable conditions due to the 
war in Hurope make a change in date impera- 
tive, the congress will be held at Washington 
as announced, October 5 to 10. 


THE eighth meeting of the Italian Society 
for the Advancement of Science will be held 
at Bari on October 8-13, 1914, under the 
presideney of Professor Camillo Golgi. 


THE International Pharmaceutical Federa- 
tion planned to meet at Berne on August 7 
and 8 under the presidency of Professor L. 
van Itallie. 


Tue Swiss Naturforschende Gesellschaft 
offers prizes for the solution of the following 
problems: For June 1, 1915: “To Investigate 
Radioactivity and Electricity of the Atmo- 
sphere in the Alps, the Jura and Intermediate 
Regions.” For June 1, 1916: “The Phenom- 
enon of Twilight according to Former and 
New Observations in Switzerland.” 


Accorpinc to the Scientific American the 
South American expedition of the University 
of Pennsylvania Museum has completed a year 
of highly successful exploration in the region 
lying along the boundary between Brazil and 
the Guianas. Besides important geographical 
discoveries, the expedition has obtained ethno- 
logical information relative to twelve different 
tribes, half of which were hitherto entirely un- 
known, including vocabularies and other 
linguistic studies, anthropometric measure- 
ments, collections of myths and legends, and 
about 600 photographs. The next work of the 
expedition will probably be in the territory 
drained by the upper Rio Negro and the 
upper Orinoco, 


268 


THE Paris correspondent of the Jowrnal of 
the American Medical Association reports 
that the Société francaise d’eugénique, will 
organize, at the beginning of the school year, 
a series of lecture courses in eugenics at the 
Keole des hautes études sociales. M. Edmond 
Perier, director of the Muséum d’histoire 
naturelle, will show the relations which exist 
between eugenics and biology; Dr. Apert, 
physician at the Andral Hospital, will discuss 
the questions of heredity related to those of 
eugenics; Dr. Papillault, professor of sociology 
at the Ecole d’anthropologie, will show how, 
thanks to eugenics, a well-defined selection 
may be made; Dr. Pinard, former professor of 
clinical obstetrics at the Faculté de médecine 
de Paris, will study eugenics and child-culture; 
Dr. Weiss, professor at the Faculté de méde- 
cine de Paris, will discuss eugenics in its rela- 
tion to physical culture; Dr. Schreiber, head 
of the clinic affiliated with the Faculté de 
médecine de Paris, will show how one ought 
to understand eugenics from the point of view 
of marriage; Dr. Roussy, director of scien- 
tifie research at the Ecole des hautes études, 
will study eugenics and the perfecting of the 
human race. 


Tur U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey has 
published “ Results of Observations made at 
the Magnetic Observatory near Tucson, Ariz., 
in 1911 and 1912.” This publication contains 
hourly values of the magnetic declination, hori- 
zontal intensity and vertical intensity for the 
two years, based on the continuous photo- 
graphic record of the magnetograph. It fur- 
nishes the means of correcting field magnetic 
observations for the effect of the diurnal varia- 
tion and magnetic storms, and adds to the data 
available for a study of the causes of these and 
other fluctuations to which the earth’s magnet- 
ism is subject. It contains also a table giving 
the times at which earthquakes were recorded 
by the seismograph at the observatory. This 
publication is the second one of the Tucson 
series, the work of that observatory having 
been started in November, 1909, and may be 
Obtained free of charge by addressing the Divi- 
sion of Publications, Department of Commerce. 
Similar series of publications are available for 


SCIENCE 


IN. S. Von. XL. No. 1025 


the other magnetic observatories of the Coast 
and Geodetic Survey as follows: Cheltenham, 
Md., 1901-1912; Baldwin, Kans., 1901-1909; 
Honolulu, T. H., 1902-1912; Sitka, Alaska, 
1902-1912; Vieques, Porto Rico, 1903-1912. 


THE British Medical Journal states that the 
annual general meeting of the Lister Institute 
of Preventive Medicine was held at the insti- 
tute, Chelsea Gardens, on May 13. Sir John 
Rose Bradford, who last year succeeded Sir 
Henry Roscoe in the chairmanship of the goy- 
erning body, presided. The report pointed out 
that the institute had borne a share in several 
collective inquiries of importance. Dr. Led- 
ingham had continued to supervise the bac- 
teriological examination of material from cases 
diagnosed as typhoid fever or suspected ty- 
pkoid, and had drawn up a report—published 
in the annual report of the medical officer to 
the local government board—on the work done 
by him in conjunction with Dr. Theodore 
Thomson, of the local government board, in 
making bacteriological examinations of ty- 
phoid convalescents at intervals for several 
months after discharge from the hospitals of 
the metropolitan asylums board. An extensive 
inquiry into the bacteriological and chemical 
purity of dried milk, creams and foreign pas- 
teurized milks had been undertaken for the 
local government board by the bacteriological 
and biochemical departments of the institute, 
and over 3,000 samples of milk had been ex- 
amined for tubercle bacilli for the London 
county council and a large number for the 
health departments of various boroughs. The 
report also contained a reference to the eighth 
report of the investigations into plague, car- 
ried out under the auspices of the advisory 
committee, consisting of representatives of the 
institute, the India Office, and the Royal So- 
ciety. Inquiries during the year had been 
proceeding both in India and at the institute’s 
special isolated laboratories at Elstree. It is 
added that by arrangement with the metropol- 
itan asylums board the research pathologist of 
that authority, Dr. Mair, has accommodation 
at the institute. The accounts for the year 
ending December 31, 1913, show an excess of 
income over expenditure of £750 at Chelsea, 


Aveust 21, 1914] 


and £4,938 at Elstree. The report contained 
the following paragraph with reference to a 
matter which is now exciting a great deal of 
attention: “ In view of the new department of 
medical research now being established by 
H.M. government in accordance with the pro- 
vision in the National Insurance Act of 1911, 
the governing body has been considering 
whether it would not be in the interest of med- 
ical science in this country that they should 
recommend to the members of the institute to 
offer, under conditions, to the nation, the or- 
ganization and resources of the Lister Insti- 
tute, as the nucleus of the government scheme. 
At present, however, the governing body are 
not in a position to make any more definite 
statement or recommendation on the subject.” 
Sir Rickman Godlee made some inquiries with 
regard to the subject raised by this statement. 
He asked whether it was proposed to hand over 
the institute at Chelsea to the government, and 
to discontinue the department at Elstree, and 
the preparation of serums. The chairman said 
that the proposal to hand over the institute to 
the government had not gone beyond an inter- 
change of views with the medical research com- 
mittee presided over by Lord Moulton as to 
the conditions under which the institute might 
be presented to the nation; the conversations 
included the discussion of financial arrange- 
ment, but it was not possible to say more at 
the moment. In reply to Dr. Sidney Turner, 
who expressed some apprehension that the 
character of the work done at the institute 
might deteriorate if it passed under the con- 
trol of a government committee, the chairman 
and treasurer said that they were not in a posi- 
tion to make any further statement. The gov- 
erning body also reported that it had during 
the year received a munificent legacy, amount- 
ing with interest to £17,303, bequeathed by the 
late Lord Lister, and that it had been ar- 
ranged to utilize this bequest to give prac- 
tical effect to a scheme the governing body had 
for some time been desirous of setting up—to 
make provision for the superannuation of mem- 
bers both of the higher and the subordinate 
staffs of the institute on attaining the age of 
65 years, or in special cases that of 60 years. 


SCIENCE 


269 


Tt is proposed to allow the bequest to accumu- 
late at compound interest until such time as, 
some years hence, the pension claims begin to 
mature. To this fund the governing body will 
add £700 annually from the general income of 
the institute. 


Mempers of the British committee for the 
economic preservation of birds have issued a 
statement recommending the following six 
suggestions as a working basis: (1) Absolute 
protection during breeding season for all 
breeding wild birds of whatever kind. (2) 
Absolute protection for all birds found upon 
inquiry to be either verging upon extinction, 
highly localized, or of determined benefit in 
agricultural centers. These birds to be known 
as “ Birds of Class I.” (8) Regulations to be 
enforced by government or local authorities 
under government for species that have com- 
mercial value and are not in danger. These 
birds to be known as “Birds of Class II.” 
The government of the countries of origin to 
tax the sale of these species and thereby re- 
cover the cost of enforcing regulations. (4) 
The permanent maintenance of an interna- 
tional committee of scientific experts to deter- 
mine year by year which species belong of 
right to the respective classes. (5) An inter- 
national agreement to refuse importation to 
the world’s markets, museums and private col- 
lections of all species that are found to belong 
to “Class I.” (6) All species in “Class II.” 
to be exported under license. The committee 
would place at once in “ Class I.” the follow- 
ing birds: The family of chatterers, the cattle 
egret, the resplendent trogon, the lyre birds, 
the rifle bird of Australia, the regent bower 
bird, the flamingo, the spoonbills, the trogo- 
pans, the Impeyan (monal) pheasants, the red 
bird of paradise of the Waigu Island, the 
Prince Rudolf, Lawes’s, Prince Wilhelm’s, 
Rothschild’s, Princess Stephanie’s and Meyer’s 
bird of paradise. 


In connection with the development of the 
Langley Aerodynamical Laboratory of the 
Smithsonian Institution, which was reopened 
in May, 1913, by action of the regents of the 
institution, Dr. A. F. Zahm, the recorder of 


270 


the laboratory, recently made a trip abroad 
investigating the Kuropean aeronautical labo- 
ratories. His report forms publication 2,273 
of the Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, 
and is the third dealing with the interests and 
activities of the laboratory. It covers the 
equipment and scope of the principal European 
laboratories and shows what steps are being 
taken by them toward the perfection of the art 
of flying and the science of aeronautics. Ac- 
companied by Assistant Naval Constructor 
Jerome ©. Hunsaker, U. S, N., Dr. Zahm 
visited the principal aeronautical laboratories 
near London, Paris and Gottingen, to study, 
in the interest of the institution, the latest 
developments in instruments, methods and re- 
sources used and contemplated for the prose- 
cution of scientific aeronautical investigations. 
Incidentally they inspected many of the best 
aerodromes or flying fields, and air crafts fac- 
tories in the neighborhood of these cities, ma- 
king copious notes on their observations. 
Aeronautical libraries were also visited, and 
comprehensive lists of the best and latest pub- 
lieations on this subject prepared for the use 
of the laboratory library. The following labo- 
ratories were examined: Aeronautical research 
and test establishments of the British govern- 
ment near London; the Institut Aerotechnique 
de St. Cyr and the Laboratorie Aerodynamique 
Eiffel, near Paris; the Gottingen Modelver- 
suchsanstalt, in the city of that name, and 
the newly organized laboratory adjoining the 
flying field at Johannisthal, near Berlin, 
known as the Deutsche Versuchsanstalt fiir 
Luftfahrt zu Adlershof. All these establish- 
ments, the author states, are devoted both to 
theoretical and practical investigations, under 
the direction of highly trained men who not 
only serve as executives and initiate the re- 
searches, but lend their personal assistance in 
the various technical experiments. They differ 
as to endowment; those in England and Got- 
tingen being supported by governmental 
grants, the others by private capital. The 
laboratories near London, at St. Cyr and 
Adlershof, are broad in their scope, but the 
Eiffel and the Gottingen laboratories confine 
their activities mainly to wind-tunnel experi- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1025 


ments. The experimental procedure of each 
is noted, and the buildings and apparatus of 
the different plants are carefully described. 
The purpose of the Langley laboratory is pri- 
marily to plan and conduct such theoretical 
and experimental investigations, tests and re- 
ports as may serve to increase the safety and 
efficiency of aerial locomotion for commercial 
advance and national defense. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 


Mr. Daniet Baucu, the founder of the 
Baugh Institute of Anatomy, Jefferson Medi- 
eal College, Philadelphia, has purchased and 
added to his original gift, the premises 236 
and 238 Pine Street, as an addition to the 
school, and has given $5,000 for the improve- 
ment and equipment. 


THE new laboratory of medical sciences at 
the University of Chicago will be located on 
the west side of Ellis Avenue, and will have a 
frontage of approximately one hundred and 
eighty feet and a depth of about fifty feet, 
with wings at the north and south ends fifty 
feet in width and extending back eighty feet. 
The new building will consist of general and 
private laboratories, research laboratory rooms, 
class- and working-rooms, and also an assem- 
bly room in the rear, thirty by forty feet, to 
accommodate one hundred and fifty to two 
hundred students. The building, one story in 
height, will be of brick exterior. This new 
laboratory will be occupied by the department 
of hygiene and bacteriology and the depart- 
ment of pathology. The work is already under 
way, and it is expected that the building will 
be ready for occupancy at the opening of the 
autumn quarter on October 1. The cost of 
the building will be about $50,000. The uni- 
versity board of trustees has voted to give the 
name of Howard Taylor Ricketts to the new 
laboratory. Dr. Ricketts, who was connected 
with the department of pathology at the uni- 
versity for eight years, died in Mexico from 
typhus fever, which he contracted while inves- 
tigating the disease. 

Warp L. Ray, B.A. (Oregon), M.A. (Wis- 
consin), professor of chemistry and physics at 
William and Vashti College, has been elected 


Aveust 21, 1914] 


president of the institution. The college, 
which is at Aledo, Tll., has received an addition 
to its endowment of $25,000, a gift from Mr. 
Ed. Drury. 


Tue board of administrators of Tulane Uni- 
versity of Louisiana have elected Mr. Henry 
L. Freeman to be acting assistant professor of 
mechanical engineering for one year to supply 
the place of Mr. J. M. Robert, who has been 
granted leave for one year. Dr. Wallace Wood 
has been elected dean of the department of 
dentistry to succeed Dr. A. G. Friedrichs, re- 
signed. : 

Dr. Vinci H. Moon, of the Memorial Insti- 
tute for Infectious Diseases, Chicago, has been 
appointed head of the pathology department 
of the Indiana University Medical College at 
Indianapolis. 


Dr. James W. JoBine, formerly pathologist 
of the Michael Reese Hospital, has been ap- 
pointed professor of pathology in the Vander- 
bilt University, Nashville, Tenn. 


Dr. ARNOLD V. STUBENRAUCH, for some years 
past in charge of the pomological investiga- 
tions of the United States Department of 
Agriculture, has gone to California to become 
head of the new division of pomology in the 
University of California. 


Dr. Victor E. SHELFORD has been appointed 
assistant professor of zoology in the University 
of Illinois on part time and biologist in the 
Tilinois State Laboratory. He will apply the 
experimental methods which he has developed 
to the problems of the state laboratory. 


Mr. RatpuH McBurney, graduate of the Vir- 
ginia Polytechnic Institute and M.S. from 
Oklahoma Agricultural College, hag been ap- 
pointed instructor in the department of bac- 
teriology of the Oregon Agricultural College. 


Mr. Rocrr L. Morrison, highway engineer 
with the United Gas Improvement Company 
of Philadelphia, who received the degree of 
master of arts at Columbia University last 
June after having completed the graduate 
course in highway engineering, has been ap- 
pointed professor of highway engineering in 
the Agricultural and Mechanical College of 
Texas, 


SCIENCE 


271 


Mr. A, J. Marcetson, assistant professor at 
the City and Guilds (Engineering) College, 
Kensington, has been appointed to the pro- 
fessorship of civil and mechanical engineering 
at the Technical College, Finsbury, in the 
place of Professor H. G. Coker. 

Proressor Leon AsHer has been elected 
professor of physiology at Berne. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 


THE LIFE OF ISOLATED LARVAL MUSCLE CELLS 


In the course of some experiments on the 
culture of the cells of Diemyctylus larve out- 
side the body a few preparations were made of 
isolated larval muscle cells in the plasma of 
the adult animal. The usual hanging drop 
cultures were employed, and the slides were 
kept for a part of the time in an ice chest, 
and for a part of the time at ordinary room 
temperature. The muscular tissue was taken 
from the myotomes of the tail, and teased 
apart more or less so as to isolate some of the 
cells. The cells when isolated were not com- 
pletely differentiated. They were from two to 
three times as long as thick and only their 
outer portion was fibrillated, leaving an inner 
core of undifferentiated protoplasm contain- 
ing the single nucleus. 

The isolated cells were examined from time 
to time to see if they were undergoing further 
differentiation. During the eight months in 
which they were kept under observation they 
had not changed their form, nor had they 
undergone any marked changes in structure. 
To all appearances they were healthy; at 
least they showed no signs of deterioration 
such as dead or dying cells usually manifest. 
But were they really alive? 

This was tested by ascertaining if they 
would respond to a stimulus by contracting. 
A stimulus was applied by heating a needle 
and applying the point to the cover slip imme- 
diately over a particular cell. The muscle 
fibers so stimulated almost always responded 
by a vigorous twitch. Relaxation of the fiber 
followed almost immediately, and several con- 
tractions could often be evoked from the same 
cell. Muscle cells kept for eight months in 


272 SCIENCE 


vitro showed vigorous twitches, even in prep- 
arations in which the culture medium had not 
been changed. 

I have observed that threads of fibrin when 
affected by the local application of heat will 
also contract and quickly extend again. The 
muscular contractions observed are not de- 
pendent, however, on any contraction of the 
medium around the cell, since they occur as 
well in the fluid of blood serum as in the 
coagulum of plasma, and are much more 
decided and vigorous than the contractions 
similarly evoked in threads or sheets of fibrin. 
Similar experiments with muscle fibers iso- 
lated from adult amphibians gave negative 
results, even though the fibers were kept for 
only a few days in hanging drop cultures. 

While isolated larval muscle cells gave little 
evidence of further differentiation, it was 
found that in several larger pieces of the same 
larve, containmg a number of different 
tissues, muscle fibers became more elongated, 
and had differentiated im other respects much 
as in the course of normal development. In 
one set of experiments tails of Diemyctylus 
larvee were cut into several pieces which were 
kept in Ringer’s solution. These pieces were 
seen to undergo differentiation in many ways. 
Through the absorption of water they increased 
greatly in size. The muscle fibers of these 
pieces became not only more elongated, but 
more completely fibrillated. It is probable 
that tension is required to cause myoblasts to 
increase in length, and this tension was sup- 
plied, in the pieces observed, by the general 
increase in size. It is not improbable that 
other stimuli arising from the association of 
the myoblasts with other cells occasioned their 
further differentiation in structure. 

The persistence of larval muscle fibers in 
an active condition for eight months is a fact 
of interest in relation to the tendency of the 
muscles of the adult animal to atrophy when 
deprived of their nerve supply and hence of 
their usual stimuli to functional activity. The 
dependence of muscle upon nerve is a second- 
ary acquirement, for several experiments have 
shown that the early differentiation of myo- 
blasts proceeds in a normal way after the 


[N. 8. Von. XL. No. 1025 


removal or destruction of the nervous system. 
In the young larve from which the muscle 
cells were isolated in my experiments the mus- 
cular tissue had not come to depend, to any 


considerable extent, upon nervous stimulation. 


S. J. Honmers 


UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 


FIAT NOMENCLATURE 


In the “Eighth List of Generic Names 
(Mammals) under consideration in connec- 
tion with the Official List of Zoological 
Names,” published in Science for July 10, 
we get an enlarged view of what the Inter- 
national Commission is expected to do with 
its “plenary power authority.” Though only 
sixteen names are now presented for “ fixation 
by fiat,” large possibilities are revealed, since 
thousands of such cases could be developed. 

The orang, evidently the pet of the menag- 
erie, is allowed to steal the generic name that 
belongs to the Barbary ape, and the specific 
name that belongs to the chimpanzee. As the 
Barbary ape is the type of the genus Sima 
Linneus, the generic name used for the orang 
will need to be distinguished as Samia Fiat. 
The orang’s specific name must be Srmia 
satyrus Fiat, Simia satyrus Linneus being 
the original name of the chimpanzee. It 
would be interesting to know why the orang 
should discard his original Linnean specific 
name troglodytes. Fiat will easily become 
one of the most prolific authors, with such 
facilities for displacing clearly established 
names, including those of Linneus, 

It must be a fine thing to have this “ ple- 
nary power authority,” and feel able to cor- 
rect the errors and improprieties that are al- 
ways creeping into nomenclature. At last we 
are in the way to follow the golden counsel of 
Rafinesque, to keep on giving names until we 
find the most appropriate. Fiat, as we have 
seen, is to fix specific names as well as generic, 
and can also “fix the most classical form of 
the name, not necessarily that which was first 
used.” Anything that seems ‘‘ advisable” 
may be done. Thus: 

An early reference by Pallas in connection with 
Oryx gazella makes it advisable to affix the name 


Aveust 21, 1914] 


Gazella to the gazelles before it is attempted to be 
used for the gemsbucks. 

’ Of course the name Gazella would remain 
with the gazelles if Pallas applied it to them 
before it was applied to the gemsbucks, but if 
a suggestive passage in an older author 
makes it “advisable to affix the name” in ad- 
vance of any formal nomenclatorial applica- 
tion, why need we hesitate longer to restore 
the classical names from Pliny, Virgil, The- 
ophrastus, Aristotle, Homer, Solomon or 
‘Moses ? 

Such improvements may not appear to lie 
exactly in the direction of those that the In- 
ternational Commission was expected to 
supply, but why object to one good thing be- 
cause we do not get another? It is evident 
from these proposals for “fixation by fiat” 
that the results reached by the International 
Commission through the “Code of Nomen- 
clature” will not command the unqualified 
approval of the interested public. The under- 
lying reason may be that the Code is not 
based on consistent principles, but incorpo- 
rates certain imperfect ideas that happened 
to be current when the work was undertaken. 
The general substitution of the method of 
types for the method of concepts was then 
only beginning and the fundamental nature 
of this reform was not appreciated. In par- 
ticular, there was a failure to see that the 
custom of determining the application of 
generic names through elimination was in- 
consistent with the method of types.t 

As soon as we admit that a name must, re- 
late to a type, and agree to treat this rela- 
tion as inviolate, there are no problems to be 
solved by elimination. It is this that renders 
the method of types so superior to the method 
of concepts aS a means of securing perma- 
nence in nomenclature. The application of 
a@ generic name is fixed as soon as the type 
species is determined, and does not depend 
upon the action of later writers. The histor- 
ical names remain in their original places in- 
stead of being transferred to other groups, as 


1Cook, O. F., ‘‘Terms Relating to Generic 
Types,’’? The American Naturalist, 48: 308, May, 
1914, 


SCIEN CE 


273 


often results from elimination. The attempt 
to combine two methods that were essentially 
inconsistent developed so many complications 
that a court of experts seemed to be necessary, 
and the Commission was established. But 
now the “plenary power authority” relieves 
the Commission from the task of applying its 
own rules and allows names to be adopted or 
rejected as may appear “ advisable.” 

Another advantage conferred by the method 
of types is the right to exclude generic names 
that were not applied to binomial type spe- 
cies. In our specific nomenclature we con- 
fine ourselves to binomial species, and there 
is the same propriety in refusing to admit 
generic names that did not have binomial 
species as types. Many of the well-known 
names that now figure in lists of nomina con- 
servanda have been placed in jeopardy only 
by ill-considered revivals of obscure, abortive 
names that would have been left in oblivion 
if this simple requirement had been observed. 
With a code drawn in better accord with the 
method of types, which is now in use by 
nearly all systematists, there would be less 
need of “plenary power authority” and 
“ fixation by fiat.” 

O. F. Coox 


WASHINGTON 


MUSEUMS OF SOUNDS 


Ir museums of sights, why not museums of 
sounds? The curator of that hot bed of new 
and improved varieties of museum ideas, the 
Children’s Museum, in Brooklyn, New York, 
reminded me that a large number of the chil- 
dren who visited it were unable to get away 
from the crowded city during vacation, and 
stated that she thought a victor-victrola, in- 
stalled in the museum with samples of the best 
music would be appreciated by these children 
and do them good. Some museum authorities 
might think this quite improper, and not at 
all dignified; although as a matter of fact 
some of our leading scientific museums do 
have study collections of phonograph records 
of Indian music; but in the way of public 
exhibitions a children’s museum can freely do 
things which only a brave and radical scien- 


274 SCIENCE 


tifie museum or natural-history museum dare 
attempt, for a children’s museum is for chil- 
dren rather than for nature or art. 

Free organ recitals are given twice a week 
at the Museum of Science and Art in Glas- 
gow, and these recitals have had a direct 
effect in increasing the sale of good music in 
competition with poor music. The Bulletin 
of the John Herron Art Institute in Indian- 
apolis announces a musical program for Sun- 
day afternoons in January. There may be 
other museums of science or art that have 
undertaken something similar. 

There might be other kinds of museums 
than those in which people get benefit only 
through their eyes. Most of us have four 
other senses, hearing, feeling, tasting and 
smelling. I am not sure that I would as yet 
advocate a museum of odors, but a museum of 
sound might be not only interesting, but 
valuable. It might start with a victor-victrola. 
The records might imclude not only samples 
of the best music of the world by the world’s 
great artists, but samples of the music of 
various kinds of instruments, of various kinds 
of mankind, as for instance, of the Negro, the 
Eskimo and the Chinaman, and of great ora- 
tory. On the other hand, there might be 
records for the city dweller who has never had 
a chance to hear such things as the lowing 
kine, the rattle of the rattlesnake, the yelp of 
the coyote, the songs of birds, rare or other- 
wise, the hum of a swarm of bees, the roar of 
the waves, the jingle of the chains of a wagon 
freight train, and the creak of ox carts. Bird 
songs are probably of as much interest to 
museum visitors as bird skins. Such a mu- 
seum would probably be as attractive to the 
average citizen as a flower-garden or an art 
museum is to the Huropean immigrants, who 
throng our great museums on Sundays and 
holidays to the noticeable shame of the lack 
of appreciation of many of the American born, 
who prefer a different recreation. It would 
be a great boon to some humble lovers of 
music to have a chance to hear, free of charge, 
examples of classical and the best modern 
music. 

Harian I. Smira 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1025 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 


The Quaternary Ice Age. By W. B. Wricut, 
member of the Geological Survey of Ire- 
land. Illustrated. London and New York, 
Macmillan and Company. 1914. Pp. xxiv 
and 464. Price $5.00. 

The volume is opened by brief discussions 
(46 pp.) of glaciers and ice sheets and the 
glacial drift. Then follow in succession the 
glacial and associated features of the British 
Isles (56 pp.), the glaciation of the Alps 
(31 pp.), of northern Europe (25 pp.) and of 
North America (15 pp.), attention being given 
in each case to centers of ice dispersion and to 
general characteristics of the drift with more 
or less attention to relative amounts of 
weathering and erosion. The lakes of the 
great basin of the western United States are 
given a chapter of 23 pages. Then follow dis- 
cussions of the loess (24 pp.), of the Quater- 
nary Mammals (80 pp.), and of Quaternary 
Man (42 pp.). Two chapters, 33 pages, deal 
with theories of the Ice Age, and the insuffi- 
ciency of any and all is declared. Four 
chapters, 101 pages, are devoted to the late 
Quaternary oscillations of level (interpreted 
in the light of the isostatic theory) in Fenno- 
Seania, in the British Isles, and in North 
America. Following this and concluding the 
work are brief remarks on _ post-Glacial 
changes of climate in northwest Europe, on 
attempts at correlation of glacial drifts in 
the several fields, on the cause of loess deposi- 
tion, on coincidence of present and preglacial 
sea level, and on low sea level during the 
Glacial Period with its effect on the Medi- 
terranean and Straits of Gibraltar. The press 
work is good and the photographic illustra- 
tions excellent. 

The author states in the preface that this 
volume was written because there is no general 
work in English to guide the geologist to 
the glacial literature and give him a grasp 
of the leading features of the subject. Yet 
no bibliography of the literature is appended 
and in only a few cases is full reference made 
to other writers. The author has seen, as yet, 
insufficient evidence in his study of the drifts 


Aveust 21, 1914] 


in the narrow field of the British Isles to 
convinee him that there were distinct inter- 
glacial stages, and, unfortunately, he assumes 
that the evidence of such interglacial stages 
is inconclusive in any part of the world. In 
this and other matters he displays a distinctly 
sophomoric air. ‘Thus on page 124 he an- 
nounces : 

“The elaborate systems of the older inter- 
glacialists may all be set aside as unproved. 
The class of evidence on which they were 
founded will not stand critical examination. 
For instance, the superposition of different 
sheets of till may at the most mean change in 
the direction of ice movement. The occur- 
rence of interbedded gravels may merely mean 
local oscillations, or may be due to the natural 
formation of subglacial gravels between the 
ground moraine and englacial moraine. Fos- 
siliferous beds between beds of boulder clay, 
unless they are clearly proved to be’ still in 
the position in which they were deposited, may 
have been caught up from the preglacial floor. 
The. greater weathering of the older drift 
sheet may have been effected while the newer 
sheets were being deposited. It will thus be 
seen that it is a distinctly difficult thing to 
prove an interglacial period. We must, how- 
ever, as Mr. Lamplugh has long maintained 
(Presidential Address to the Geological Sec- 
tion of the British Association, 1906), get 
back to solid ground in this matter before it 
is possible to make any real advance. There 
have been altogether too many speculations 
and too many loose correlations from place to 
place in dealing with this problem. We are 
bound to take our stand on the comparatively 
simple monoglacial hypothesis until we can 
prove at least one interglacial period. It will 
then be time enough to proceed to consider 
further possibilities.” 

That there are glacialists in the world who 
have been carefully considering all these 
matters in a long experience in field studies, 
and have been properly evaluating the field 
evidence, seems not to have dawned upon the 
author of this volume. 

The contrasts in the amount of denudation 
displayed by the older and newer drifts of the 


SCIENCE 


275 


British Isles is clearly set forth by the author, 
but he takes the position that these contrasts 
can not be used as a time measure because 
climatic conditions have not been uniform. It 
is probable, however, that in the British Isles, 
as in other glaciated districts, a careful study 
of drainage features would serve to make 
clear whether a given valley had been formed 
rapidly by a larger stream than the present 
drainage line, and especially if it was in use 
as a line of glacial drainage. The work of 
streams which headed in the ice sheet may 
thus be compared with that of contemporary 
streams which had no contributions from the 
ice. Comparison may also be made between 
the work along a given drainage line accom- 
plished by glacial drainage, and that accom- 
plished after the ice had ceased to contribute 
water to it. To set aside as of no value 
studies of weathering and erosion of drift 
sheets, as is done in the quotation given below, 
seems a departure from the spirit of true 
scientific investigation. The following state- 
ments appear on pages 75-76: 

“The southern boulder clay plains are ex- 
tensively dissected by a system of valleys 
which have for the most part come into exist- 
ence since the abandonment of the district 
by the ice. These valleys frequently trench 
through into the underlying rocks, and the 
boulder clay thus comes to occupy the inter- 
stream areas. When, as for example in Not- 
tinghamshire, the underlying rocks are exceed- 
ingly soft and denudation has been especially 
severe, more extensive removal of the surface 
has resulted in the drift only remaining as a 
capping to more or less isolated hills. 

“This extensive denudation and maturity 
of drainage which characterizes the older drift 
is suggestive of a very considerable lapse of 
time since its exposure to subaerial erosion. 
Moreover, the denudation exhibited by the 
more northerly drift is trivial in comparison. 
We might draw from this the conclusion that 
the interval between the laying bare of the 
older and newer drift was immensely longer 
than post-glacial time were it not that we have 
to do with very different climatic conditions 
in the two periods. There is every reason to 


276 


believe that the climate of the districts fring- 
ing the ancient ice sheets was of exceptional 
severity, and that denudation must have pro- 
ceeded with much greater vigor during the 
later stages of the Ice Age than under the 
more temperate conditions of the post-glacial 
period. It would, in fact, be a great mistake 
to accept denudation as a measure of time, 
when we are dealing with such variable rela- 
tions of temperature and precipitation as ap- 
pear to characterize the Quaternary. 

“In the present state of our knowledge it is 
impossible to draw a definite line separating 
the older and newer drifts. Large areas can, 
however, be distinguished as belonging to one 
sheet or the other.” 

Notwithstanding these statements, a text fig- 
ure is introduced on the same page (p. 176) 
outlining the probable limits of the glaciation 
represented by the newer drift of the British 
Isles. Also on pages 78-81 an interglacial 
shell-bearing clay at Kirmington, in North 
Lincolnshire, is discussed in detail and shown 
to be both overlain and underlain by boulder 
clay. There is no question that the strati- 
graphic relations are primary and undis- 
turbed. The author, however, endeavors to 
guard the reader against making too much of 
this section, for he says, page 81: 

“The extent of this ‘interglacial’ retreat 
need not have been very great and we have very 
little evidence as to its duration. That it was, 
however, something more than a mere oscilla- 
tion of the retreating ice margin seems to be 
indicated by the marked difference in denuda- 
tion exhibited by the older and newer drifts.” 

The author appears to have been sufticiently 
impressed by the work of Penck and Briickner 
in the Alps to accept their interpretation that 
there was a fourfold repetition of the foreland 
glaciation. He even goes so far as to present 
the diagram (Fig. 48) by Penck, representing 
the supposed relative length of the postglacial 
and interglacial stages. Concerning “ Die 
Alpen im Hiszeitalter” by Penck and Briick- 
ner, he states that this marvelous work gives 
us a glimpse into what may possibly be ef- 
fected when its exact method and acute reason- 
ing come to be applied to other districts. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1025 


In the discussion of the glaciation of North 
America 15 pages are deemed sufficient to 
cover this most extensive of the fields of 
Pleistocene glaciation, in which the several 
drift sheets are more broadly exposed to view 
than in any other field, and in which the in- 
cisive methods instituted by Chamberlin have 
been actively carried on for over 30 years. No 
mention whatever is made of the oldest drift 
sheet, the pre-Kansan or Jerseyan, or of the 
mammalian remains found in the Aftonian 
beds which separate the pre-Kansan from the 
overlying Kansan drift, and which show 
clearly that conditions favorable for the exist- 
ance of large herbivorous mammals prevailed. 
The Kansan, Illinoian and Iowan drift sheets 
are thrown together as “ extramorainic,” while 
the Wisconsin drift is classed as “ intramo- 
rainie.” The fact that the Dlinoian drift is 
morainie at its border in southeastern Jowa 
and western Illinois, and that it embraces sey- 
eral recessional moraines, seems to have es- 
caped his attention. The loess he makes use 
of to mark the separation between the “ extra- 
morainic ” and the Wisconsin drift, the former 
drift being covered by loess, except a part of 
the Iowan, which he thinks should have been 
covered by it—in order, perhaps, to simplify 
matters for monoglacialistic interpretation. 

The conclusion is drawn on page 167 that 
the whole American classification is ready to 
go to pieces because certain American glacial- 
ists have expressed doubt concerning the Iowan 
drift. The “agnosticism” which a few Brit- 
ish glacialists haye come to feel on the inter- 
glacial question is interpreted, without justifi- 
cation, to have pervaded the entire rank of 
glacialists in Europe in their attitude toward 
the northern drifts, the following statement 
being made on page 167: 

“Tt is interesting to note that the apparent 
ease and definiteness with which the Ameri- 
cans have read the records of their glacial de- 
posits is gradually becoming reduced to a state 
of agnosticism very similar to that of the 
European glacialists toward their northern 
drifts.” 

The supercritical spirit displayed in refer- 


Aveusr 21, 1914] 


ence to the interpretations of interglacial 
stages both in Europe and America is laid 
aside when discussing the late glacial changes 
of level. In regard to these the author states 
that the Americans have carried out a series 
of researches on the shore lines around their 
lakes which rival in interest the magnificent 
results obtained by the Scandinavians. The 
author refers the uplift to the disappearance 
of the ice weight. He seems not to have 
reached the state of uncertainty on the ques- 
tion of the effect of the relief from ice weight- 
ing which certain Americans most closely con- 
nected with this investigation are experi- 
encing. 

The chapter on the Quaternary mammals is 
mainly descriptive, though they are listed as 
representing four classes, those characteristic 
of arctic tundras, of the steppes, of present- 
day southern distribution and extinct mam- 
mals. 

The chapter on Quaternary man brings out 
the several stages of culture in accordance 
with the results of European investigations, 
and seems favorable to the correlation of cer- 
tain stages of culture with late stages of the 
glacial epoch. 

FRANK LEVERETT 

ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN 


Biologie der Fische. Von Dr. Pum. OSKAR 
Harmpgn, Privatdozent an der k. k. Hoch- 
schule fur Bodenkulture in Wien. Mit 55 
Abbildungen im Text. Stuttgart, Verlag 
yon Ferdinand Enke, 1912. 

Attractively bound in true German style, 
this little volume appears as a separate from 
Dr. M. Hilzheimer’s work on the “ Biologie 
der Wirbeltiere.” The author disclaims com- 
pleteness, his object having been to put forth 
merely a guide or introduction to the biology 
of fishes. There is more information, how- 
ever, than he would have one believe; much 
more, in fact, than can be found in any single 
American work on the subject. 

_ The contents are grouped under three head- 

ings, namely: (1) A general review of the 

anatomy and physiology, (2) the dependence 
of fishes upon the chemico-physical conditions 


SCIENCE 


277 


of habitat, (8) life manifestations of fishes 
with respect to other organisms. 

The lateral line whose function is not well 
understood even at the present time has been 
studied and reported upon by at least one 
prominent American zoologist, but it has been 
considerably neglected by authors of general 
works. The adequate manner in which it is 
treated by the present writer is to be com- 
mended. 

Literature concerning the food, feeding and 
digestion in fishes is widely scattered and in 
many cases unavailable to the student of ani- 
mal ecology or of fish culture. Barring Dr. 
Forbes’s admirable papers on the food of fishes, 
it can be said, also, that much of the published 
data are erroneous or at least that they give 
but a hazy notion of this important subject. 
Dr. Haempel here presents a full and most in- 
teresting account which evidently is the re- 
sult of careful selection of those facts of prac- 
tical importance. 

The study of the breeding habits of fishes 
constitutes a large field of great diversity, one 
which has been surveyed but casually so far 
as American forms are concerned. And so, 
perhaps wisely, the author of the present work 
has confined his attention to the habits of 
European fresh-water forms and to the better 
known among marine fishes. His examples il- 
lustrating the various types of breeding are 
well chosen. 

When one learns that the author was a 
former student of the well-known authority 
on fish diseases, Dr. Bruno Hofer, and in fact 
to whom this book is dedicated, it is a little 
surprising that this phase of fish biology is 
not treated more fully. The criticism may be 
favorable, however, in view of the fact that 
the work is designed merely as a guide. 

It is unfortunate to find lancelets treated 
in a work on the biology of fishes, for they are 
not fishes and their inclusion necessitates 
many exceptions to the general statements. 

The author is a teacher of fish culture as 
well as an ichthyologist and he has kept prom- 
inently before the reader the practical appli- 
cation of ichthyologic data. This is empha- 
sized particularly in the sections dealing with 


278 


growth, development, physiology of respiration 
and digestion, his excellent summary of the 
principal investigations on the determination 
of age by means of the ootoliths, scales, oper- 
cular bones and vertebree, and lastly, in a few 
pages relating directly to fish culture. 

A summary of the important literature is 
given under each heading, emphasis being laid 
quite naturally upon European publications. 
This feature together with a full bibliography 
will be especially helpful to American stu- 
dents. The consideration of all recent ex- 
perimentation and the judicious application 
of the principles set forth is a most commend- 
able characteristic of the whole work. 


G. C. EmsBopy 


The Care of Home Aquaria. By RayMmonp C. 

OsBurn. 

This contribution of Professor Osburn’s, 
published by the New York Zoological So- 
ciety as a volume of the New York Aquarium 
Nature Series, on account of its small size 
and necessarily popular character, is too likely 
to be overlooked. The investigator of any 
form of aquatic life will find aquaria of the ut- 
most service, and will do well to refer to this 
simple presentation of the fundamental prin- 
eiples which govern their care. Under the cap- 
tions The Meaning of Balance, Temperature, 
Placing and Cleaning the Aquarium, Animals 
that Will Live Well Together, Feeding, Ma- 
rine Aquaria, The Care of Young Fishes, etc., 
a great deal of broad, practical information 
will be found arranged. Ample illustrations 
are attractive rather than instructive. A 
short appended bibliography will be found 
useful. 

The following paragraphs are quoted more 
or less at random: 

“The fact that animals require oxygen in 
respiration and that green plants give off 
oxygen in excess were discovered and pub- 
lished as early as 1778, but lovers of aquatic 
life were slow to apply this knowledge. In 
fact, it was not until 1850 that the first prop- 
erly balanced aquarium was described by Mr. 
Robert Warrington of Manchester, England.” 

“To supplement the surface absorption of 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1025 


oxygen, it- is necessary to grow plants in the 
aquarium.” 

“Tt is a common but very mistaken notion 
that an animal should have food at hand at 
all times to keep it in good condition. It is 
well known that various forms of domestic 
animals, as well as the wild species confined 
in zoologieal gardens, make the best growth 
and keep in the most satisfactory condition 
when supplied only with what food they will 
clean up at one feeding. This applies with 
equal force to the inhabitants of the aquarium, 
but besides there zs a real and grave danger 
of contaminating the water by supplying more 
food than will be readily consumed.” 

Hmphasis is placed on the great educational 
value of aquaria. The ordinary balanced 
aquarium is a little world apart, in which 
plants, fishes and microorganisms are mu- 
tually interdependent, and the art of aqua- 
rium-culture is to understand and control this 
balance. 

JoHN TREADWELL NICHOLS 


Animal Flight, A Record of Observation. By 
K. H. Hanzi. London, Tiffe and Sons, 
Ltd. 8vo. Pp. 413, 97 figures. 

Considering the many explanations we have 
had of soaring flight, it is somewhat surprising 
that we know so little about it and that still 
further explanations seem necessary. The au- 
thor of the book under consideration takes 
care to state in the preface that “the present 
book will be found to contain the facts in the 
ease, with no explanation at all,” a statement 
that seems at once/to claim too much and too 
little. 

Until he has watched and recorded the 
frigate bird and the albatross a large portion 
of the facts must be considered as lacking, 
while running through the record of the au- 
thor’s observations is an evident, though un- 
expressed, belief that some oecult influence is 
at the bottom of it all. 

The observations, for the most part, were 
made at Agra, India, and the majority of thena 
on the kite, or cheel, Wilvus govinda, though 
they include the adjutant and three species of 
vulture, all experts in soaring. 


Aueust 21, 1914] 


Special consideration is given to what the 
author terms the soarability of air, the condi- 
tion that enables it to furnish energy for soar- 
ing flight, and the state of the weather as to 
sun, shade, wind, heat or cold are carefully re- 
corded, as well as the time of day at which 
birds begin to soar. Soarability is believed to 
be brought about either by the sun or the wind, 
and sun soarability is stated to occur at a 
fairly definite time of day, varying naturally 
with the season. Here we are reminded of 
Mouillard’s observations on griffon vultures in 
Algeria and his similar statement that they do 
not begin to sail until the sun is well above 
the horizon. The author seems inclined to 
have at first considered that there was a direct 
connection between heat eddies, indicating 
rising currents of air, and soarability, but 
later decided that this was not the case. And 
yet the curve showing time of appearance of 
heat eddies for a month coincides absolutely 
with the time of sun soarability. 

Readers may recall, though Dr. Hankin 
does not mention it, the theory that soaring is 
effected by ascending currents of air imping- 
ing on the curved, though very minute, bar- 
bules of feathers. Wind soarability is believed 
to be due to some inherent property of the air 
and not to mere velocity, and throughout the 
book one notes the author’s evident feeling 
that birds, flying fishes and dragon flies obtain 
energy from the air in some occult, or at least 
unknown way. Occult it does seem, to any 
one who has watched an albatross gliding into 
the eye of the wind or tacking back and forth, 
perfectly at ease in a driving gale. Wonderful 
it certainly is in view of the infinitesimal ex- 
penditure of muscular energy, but, remember- 
ing Langley’s memoirs on the internal work 
of the wind and the strong and varied eddies 
that he showed might be present in an appar- 
ently steady breeze, one feels that birds with 
their thousands of years of experience and 
automatic adjustment to every air current can 
derive sailing energy from, to us, invisible 
sources. 

Great attention is paid to the use of the 
wings and tail, and careful records are given 
of their varied motions, positions and relative 


SCIENCE 


279 


angles to the. body in directing, accelera- 
ting or checking flight; all of which are most 
valuable. 

An extremely interesting chapter is devoted 
to the Flight of Flying Fishes, containing 
carefully-made and well-recorded observations 
of the character of their flight and the condi- 
tions under which it is made. The conclusion 
reached is the same as that of Colonel Durn- 
ford, that they do actually fly, and that initial 
impulse is utterly inadequate to account for 
the long distances covered, the sustained speed 
and ability to change direction when on the 
wing. 

We are introduced to a considerable number 
of new words, or new meanings, such as soar- 
ability, flex-gliding, tail-jolting, and while at 
first sight these seemed unnecessary, yet on 
further perusal one was forced to admit that 
they conduced to brevity and clarity of state- 
ment. Lexicographers will find these new words 
and terms carefully defined in a glossary and 
will duly thank Dr. Hankin for his thoughtful- 
ness and commend it to future coiners of 


words. F. A. L. 


RECENT STUDIES IN ANIMAL PIGMENTA- 
TION 


Mucw has been written on animal pigmen- 
tation from, both the biological and the chem- 
ical standpoint, but the views regarding the 
nature and origin of pigment are still at vari- 
ance. Perhaps the chemists haye made most 
progress in determining the chemical nature 
and composition of animal pigment, especially 
of that form known under the name of melanin, 
which occurs either normally or pathologically 
in the animal body, hair or feathers. Dr. 
Ross A. Gortner, of the Cold Spring Harbor 
Station for Experimental Evolution, who has 
devoted a number of years to this subject, 
states that the black humic substances, known 
as artificial melanin or “melanotic sub- 
stances,” resulting from the hydrolysis of 
proteins by strong mineral acids, or the dark 
products formed by the action of oxydases 
upon aromatic or heterocylic phenols may 
sometimes be shown to be related to the 
melanins, but until that relationship is demon- 


280 


strated, they should not be confused with the 
true animal pigment. He accepts the theory 
suggested by von Fiirth, that all pigments are 
formed by the action of an oxidase of the 
tyrosinase group on an oxidizable chromogen, 
and demonstrates his claim by experiments 
with meal worm and the cicada.1 In the 
former he finds that the normal coloration 
develops after the death of the larva, 7. e., 
after the secretion of the enzyme has ceased, 
while in the latter life is necessary to produce 
the normal coloration, although the enzyme 
once formed does not depend upon life proc- 
esses. Accordingly, the rise of the true 
melanins is closely bound up with the enzymes 
and demands a biological investigation as 
well as a chemical, if such distinction is still 
justifiable in the light of modern chemico- 
physical interpretations of life phenomena. 
During twenty years of experimentation I 
have found the oyster (Ostrea Virginiana) 
the most convenient and fruitful animal for 
the investigation of the nature and origin of 
pigments, because it can be easily handled and 
the conditions of light, temperature, food 
supply and pathological changes are readily 
controlled. My earlier experiments which 
were published from time to time in the Pro- 
ceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences 
of Philadelphia, 1893, in the Bulletin of the 
University of Pennsylvania, in the Annals and 
Magazine of Natural History of London and 
in the American Journal of Physiology, exclu- 
sively dealt with the influence of light on 
animal tissue under pathological conditions. 
My latest experiments, permitted through the 
courtesy of Dr. C. B. Davenport at the Cold 
Spring Harbor Experiment Station, took into 
consideration light, temperature, food supply 
and the absence of pathological influences. 
Several hundred oysters were opened without 
injury to the adductor muscle or any other 
part of the animal, except the shell, and 


1‘ Studies on Melanin,’’ I., Method of Isolation, 
Journal of Biol. Chem., 1910, II., The Pigmenta- 
tion of the Periodical Cicada, Journal of Biol. 
Chem., 1911, III., ‘‘ The Inhibitory Action of Cer- 
tain Phenolic Substances upon Tyrosinase,’’ Jowr- 
nal of Biol. Chem., 1911. 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1025 


placed on wire netting in a trough through 
which sea water flowed with varying degrees 
of velocity. Some of the oysters were placed 
within the fraction of an inch of the water 
surface, others at varying depths down to six 
inches or more from the surface. Enough of 
the left shell was removed to expose the 
greater part of the left mantle, the peri- 
cardium, the gills and the inner edge of the 
right mantle. The experiments were carried 
on from July 6 till August 15 at a time when 
the sun’s rays are most effective and in a 
place exposed to the full sunlight during at 
least eight hours of the day. Eighty per cent. 
of all the oysters died after a few days of 
exposure; the remainder gradually darkened 
all over the exposed surface turning first light 
brown and finally jet black, while the removed 
shell was slowly regenerating along the broken 
margin. The temperature of the water varied 
on different days between 50 and 70 degrees 
Fahrenheit, with slight variations of several 
degrees between the various depths. There 
was also a difference in the quantity of the 
excreta, being enormously large in the oysters 
placed nearest the surface, showing a difter- 
ence in the quantity of the food and in the 
oxydation process. The latter also blackened 
most rapidly, particularly along the gill bars 
and over the tentacles of the mantle. All the 
indications showed that the surviving oysters 
would fully regenerate their shells and con- 
tinue to live as though nothing abnormal had 
occurred. In his experiments with the cicada 
Dr. Gortner found that the insect just emerged 
from the pupal shell and exposed to the action 
of the air rapidly turned black without regard 
to light, for several colorless adults which he 
exposed to strong light, dim light, total dark- 
ness and light which had passed through blue 
glass, showed no apparent difference in the 
rapidity of coloration nor in the final depth 
of color. Nor did Victor Faussek observe even 
a trace of additional pigmentation when he 
exposed oysters for many weeks to the direct 
rays of the sun or a diminution of the normal 
pigment when he placed them for several 
weeks in darkness. In all my experiments the 
phenomena of pigmentation and depigmentas 


Auveust 21, 1914] 


tion under the influence of light were very 
marked and never failed as long as the animals 
remained alive, while dead tissue generally 
disintegrates without change in pigmentation, 
due to bacterial fermentation. Gortner has 
proved that, in the case of the cicada, the 
oxidase is secreted together with the new 
euticula, which ceases to be formed in the 
absence of life processes, for, when he washed 
and rubbed dead adults in a stream of water 
coloration took place only in spots, mostly in 
_ the folds of the abdomen, where the cuticula 
had not been completely removed, while other 
adults which had been as thoroughly washed 
but not killed, slowly darkened to the normal 
color. We may have a similar condition exist- 
ing in the living oyster in which the regenera- 
tion of the shell, the homologue of the cuticula, 
takes place. In the case of the oyster, however, 
light must play the chief réle, for when placed 
in darkness the depigmentation takes place in 
the epidermis of the oyster while the shell 
continues to grow, and, besides, pigmentation 
always takes place over the gills, the epidermal - 
cells of which do not form a shell. Faussek’s 
negative results with light can only be ex- 
plained on the basis of the additional factor 
of temperature and perhaps of food conditions. 
Tf the oysters were placed so far below the 
surface of the water that the refraction caused 
a decomposition of the light and a consequent 
lowering of temperature or maximum energy 
and with it a diminution in the food supply 
the conditions for pigmentation became un- 
favorable and the results negative. On the 
other hand, Gortner’s observations on the non- 
interference of light with process of pigmen- 
tation can be explained on the basis of the 
normal occurrence of maximum pigmentation 
in the cicada under any light condition as a 
hereditary factor, while in the oyster the 
epidermis of the mantle with the exception of 
the mantle edge is colorless when covered by 
the shell: the mantle edge is pigmented be- 
eause it is generally free from the shell and 
exposed to light. In the one case contact with 
the atmosphere through the cuticula is essen- 
tial, in the other light and temperature, for we 
find that oysters at certain depth or when 


SCIENCE 


281 


covered with mud are lacking the pigment 
even in the mantle edge. 

So much for the purely physico-chemical 
sources of pigmentation. Considering the 
biological side of pigmentation, a study of the 
structure of pigments and pigment cells is 
essential. There are different views on this 
subject. It is, however, generally agreed that 
pigments occur both as excretions and secre- 
tions either in a diffused or in a segregated 
form; in the one case they may be masses of 
colored granules represented by bilirubin, 
urochrome, melanin, etc., in the other they 
may be variously shaped cells, called chroma- 
tophores or melanoblasts. Keller distinguishes 
in the chameleon melanophores, leuco- 
phores, ochropores, xanthophores and erythro- 
phores, while Kromayer argues that pigment 
cells are not cells, but epithelial figures which, 
however, can not be isolated. Reinke again 
distinguishes between pigment carriers and 
pigment substance, the latter consisting of 
colorless prisms, scales, granules, ete. Ehr- 
mann holds that “melanin is intra-cellular, 
and in the situations where it is present it 
oceurs in the deeper layers of epidermal cells 
and in certain mesoblastic cells known as 
melanoblasts. The melanoblasts are special- 
ized connective tissue cells which are round, 
spindle-shaped, or branching, and are peculiar 
not only for containing melanin granules, but 
also for having larger nuclei which stain 
more faintly than those of ordinary cells. 
Melanoblasts occur in the upper layers of the 
corium, are especially noticeable around the 
blood vessels and are also present as peculiar 
structures in the interepithelial lymph-spaces 
of deeper portions of the epidermis. The sub- 
stance is a derivative of blood pigment, the 
material of which it is formed getting out of 
the blood vessels into the perivascular tissue 
spaces, where it is taken up by the melano- 
blasts and transformed into melanin. The 
epidermal cells do not elaborate melanin, but 
absorb it from the melanoblasts in the inter- 
epithelial lymphatics”? The most recent 
views on the nature and origin of pigment in 
the sebaceous glands of certain Cavicornians 
have been advanced by Weber, Beccari and 


282 


Brinkmann.2 Weber maintains that the black 
pigment granules of those organs are partly 
distributed like fine dust particles in the cells, 
partly united in small lumps, and the pigment 
is mixed with the secretion. He observed 
chromatophores which entwine the grandular 
acini, but emphasizes that the pigment is not 
derived from these acini, but from the sebace- 
ous cells themselves. Beccari and Brinkmann, 
on the other hand, have more recently and 
independently of each other made the obser- 
vation that the pigment is not formed in the 
glands themselves, but in the chromatophores 
mentioned by Weber and transported as 
finished products into the glands. Brinkmann 
describes the process as follows: 


The chromatophores, or more correctly the 
melanoblasts, as I call them, originate in the con- 
nective tissue, they are strongly anastomosing 
structures which, laden with melanin, migrate as far 
as the alveoli of the sebaceous glands. They are 
not only entwined by them, as Weber thinks, but 
the melanoblasts penetrate the connective tissue 
capsule of the gland and push themselves in be- 
tween the cells of the gland. According to Bece- 
cari’s investigations the amceboid process of the 
melanoblasts penetrate into the cells and deposit 
their pigment: this last phenomenon I could not 
confirm by direct observation, only the fact that 
they migrate into the cells. 


Another noteworthy view that may be cited 
from the vast literature on the subject is that 
of Jarisch, who holds that there is a definite 
relation between the nuclear chromatin and 
pigment; certain chromatin particles, the 
tingible or pyrogenous bodies, are formed and 
changed into pigment balls. Luckjanow and 
Steinhaus have actually observed pigment 
masses arising around the nucleus in sarcoma 
and Maurer and Fraisse confirm this observa- 
tion for the epithelial nucleus of Pleurodeles 
when it is the result of the degeneration of the 
nucleus being accompanied by the shrinking 
of the nucleus. This reminds us very vividly 


2N. Beceari, ‘‘Richerche intorno alle tasche ed 
ai corpi ghiandolari suborbitali in varie specie di 
Ruminanti,’’ Arch. ital. di Anatom e dt Embriol., 
Vol. 9, 1910. A. Brinkmann, ‘‘Bidrag til Kimis- 
haben om Drévtyggernes Hudkirtelorganer Vi- 
densk. Medd. fra nath. Foren,’’ Kébenhayn, 1911. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1025 


of Richard Hertwig’s doctrine of the chro- 
midial apparatus which involves the migration 
of chromatin particles from the nucleus into 
the cytoplasm. Goldschmidt very ingeniously 
enlarged this doctrine into the doctrine of the 
duality of the nucleus, according to which 
every animal cell is doubly nucleated, con- 
taining a somatic and a reproductive or genetic 
nucleus, the former performing the functions 
of metabolism and motion, the latter that of 
reproduction and transmission, the somatic 
nucleus representing Hertwig’s chromidial 
apparatus. J mention all these recent views 
on the possible origin and nature of pig- 
ment formations, because they throw some 
light on my own observations. The histo- 
logical knowledge of the mantle tissues of the 
oyster is still very inadequate, notwithstanding 
the classic investigations of Rawitz on “Der 
Mantelrand der Acephalen.” We know in a 
general way that the epidermis consists 
largely of cylindrical cells, many of which are 
goblet cells filled with mucus; others are 


ciliated pigmented and nonpigmented cells, 


especially along the mantle edge. There are 
also numerous small mucous glands active in 
the formation and growth of the shell; a rich 
nerve plexus enervates the mantle edge and a 
large blood vessel with numerous blood 
lacune supplies the necessary food while a 
series of muscle bundles controls the contrac- 
tion and expansion of the mantle. I made 
careful histological sections of the mantle of 
oysters not exposed to the direct rays of the 
sun, as well as of those that had been exposed 
various lengths of time. I also macerated 
blackened mantle tissue in- the fresh state. 
In the unexposed specimens the pigment was 
confined to cylindrical cells along the mantle 
edge. The pigment granules were evenly dis- 
tributed throughout the cytoplasm in most 
cases; in some there was a denser massing of 
granules along the outer margin of the cells, 
otherwise the mantle was free from pigment. 
Sections of the exposed mantle showed the 
presence of pigment granules in all the cells 
of the epidermis not only in the mantle but 
also in the gills and in the connective tissue 
cells of the pericardium. Macerated mantle 


Auveust 21, 1914] 


portions of specimens exposed more than four 
weeks to the direct rays of the sunlight proved 
most satisfactory. They exhibited all the 
stages of pigment formation suggested by the 
various theories, epidermal cells in which the 
pigment was densest around the nucleus with 
the nucleus in a shrinking condition, con- 
firming the theory of Jarisch and others; 
further intercellular pigment masses with 
ameboid processes situated between mucous 
cells and glands similar to the melanoblasts 
observed by Becarri and Brinkmann. Also 
pigmented masses along the blood vessels of 
the gills undoubtedly stimulated by the 
respiratory changes in the circulation of the 
blood, but the largest pigment mass consisted 
of innumerable spherical bodies of accumu- 
lated melanin granules which covered the 
epidermis of the mantle and were held by a 
layer of mucus exuded from the cells and 
forming the ultimate fate of the pigmentation 
process. In specimens that had been returned 
to the dark after several weeks most of the 
pigment had disappeared, and where present 
was confined to the original pigment cells of 
the epidermis, largely along the mantle edge, 
with scattered disintegration products of pig- 
ment granules throughout the epidermis. 
Though the work is still tentative, I have 
come to the conclusion that animal pigmenta- 
tion is probably a protein formation due to an 
enzyme which is circulating in the blood and 
present in the nucleoplasm of all secreting 
cells. This, of course, could only be proved 
by chemical analysis. Im some cases the 
leucocytes are transformed into specific chro- 
matophores or  melanoblasts, capable of 
amcboid motion; in others the deposition of 
pigment has become a hereditary factor, as, 
é. g., in the choroid coat of the eye or the ink- 
bag of the squid; in still other cases pigmenta- 
tion is stimulated imto action by internal 
metabolic processes as well as by external 
conditions of light, temperature and atmos- 
pherie gases. In the case of the oyster light 
is the chief factor in the stimulation of pig- 
ment, which is the result of protective reaction 
against abnormal conditions. But this re- 
action is in my Judgment not merely chemical, 


SCIENCE 


283 


it is preeminently biological and under the 
control of nuclear determinants. 


R. C. Sonmpr 
FRANKLIN AND MARSHALL COLLEGE, 
LANCASTER, Pa. 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 


SUPPRESSION AND LOSS OF CHARACTERS IN 
SUNFLOWERS 


Helianthus and Cnothera are very little 
related, yet in breeding and studying sun- 
flowers one is constantly reminded of phenom- 
ena previously recorded in connection with’ 
evening primroses. The parallelism in varia- 
tion is such that one is led to ask, what, pre- 
cisely, do we mean by a “new” variation? 
A “new variety ” can be easily defined as a 
distinguishable type arising in a species, and 
either “new” in the sense of being newly dis- 
covered, or (as we believe to have been true 
of the red sunflower) actually originating 
within the period of our knowledge. We have 
thought it highly satisfactory to be able to 
list! instances of newly occurring varieties or 
mutations, with some suggestions regarding 
their proximate causes, but it must not be for- 
gotten that in so doing we have gone only a 
little way below the surface. If many plants, 
of widely different families, produce entirely 
analogous variations, it must be true that there 
is something in the constitution of the whole 
series which makes the apparent accidents 
inevitable. One is reminded of the occasion 
when Whistler made an exceptionally good 
joke, and Oscar Wilde, who was present, re- 
marked, “I wish I had made that joke!” 
Whistler replied, “ My dear fellow, don’t worry, 
you will make it.’ So might the Gaillardia 
have said to the sunflower, five years ago, 
though without the sarcastic intent. 

The commonest of all variations results from 
the loss of a character, but this may be due to 
latency, or to the dropping out of a determiner. 
In sunflowers, the “primrose” varieties, with 
pale primrose-colored rays, offer a typical case; 
another, of which a single example occurred in 

1Gates, Quart. Jour. Micr. Science, Feb., 1914, 
pp. 562-563, gives an excellent tabulation of the 
principal types of mutation. 


284 


our cultures, is without rays. Both variations 
are fairly common among the Composite, and 
the characters may become specific, as in the 
rayless species Gazllardia suavis; or even 
generic, as in Hymenopappus, which has no 
rays.2 Messrs. Sutton & Sons, of Reading, 
England, inform me that they introduced the 
primrose-rayed variety of the common sun- 
flower in 1889; it had occurred as a sport from 
the ordinary form a few seasons before. We 
have shown by breeding that it is recessive to 
the orange-rayed (normal) form, and segre- 
gates in a normal Mendelian manner. On 
August 19, 1918, my wife and I found near 
Goodview, Colorado, a lot of wild sunflowers 
(H. annuus subsp. lenticularis) growing in 
-yery dry ground by the roadside, and conse- 
quently very small. In the midst of the nor- 
mally colored plants was a single example of a 
primrose-rayed variety,? which I dug up with 
great difficulty, owing to the very hard dry 
soil, and removed to the garden, to be used in 
crosses. Here, in this poor little starved plant, 


2Leucampyx newberryi Gray and Hymenopap- 
pus radiatus Rose are rayed Hymenopappus, 
though the Leucampysz retains the primitive char- 
acter of dise-bracts, while otherwise almost iden- 
tical with H. radiatus. Nelson states that Leu- 
campyx has no pappus, but this is an error; it has 
pappus-seales like those of Hymenopappus. 

3 Helianthus lenticularis var. primulinus, nov. 
Rays primrose color; dise-corollas very pale yel- 
lowish-green or greenish-yellow, the lobes faintly 
tipped with reddish; dise-bracts dark at end; stig- 
matic branches pink, dark at end, the general ef- 
fect to the naked eye pale lavender. Leaves very 
broad, thick, hoary. In the garden variety (an- 
muus var. primulinus), the plant compared being 
one extracted in the F, from primulinus X coro- 
natus, we find the stigmatic branches almost black, 
while the lobes of the dise-corollas have the apical 
part, and the margins below that, dark lake; even 
the pappus scales are deep lake. Hence the gen- 
eral effect of the dise is very black, very different 
from the normal form. We haye obtained, how- 
ever, another garden variety (H. annuus var. selene, 
noy.) with the dise pale greenish yellow; rays light 
primrose; stigmatic branches pale primrose. The 
plant is about 5 feet high; stem without purple; 
leaves large; involucral bracts long-pointed, lateral 
cilia short and not conspicuous. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1025 


we had what might have been the origin of a 
whole series of primrose-rayed varieties, greatly 


adding to the beauty and interest of gardens, 


had not Sutton obtained an analogous form 
years before. As it is, we hoped to see some 
interesting modifications through the introduc- 
tion of the wild strain into the cultivated 
group. 

On the same day that we found the wild 
primulinus, we also found a form* of H. aridus 
Rydberg with lemon-yellow rays, a shade inter- 
mediate between orange and primrose. This 
H. aridus is treated by Nelson as a synonym 
of H. petiolaris, but this is certainly an error. 
Its characters strongly suggest that it is a 
lenticularis X petiolaris hybrid. It is not 
merely lenticularis growing in dry ground, for 
that plant in the driest places does not become 
aridus. 

In the cases just cited, we seem to be con- 
cerned with the dropping out of a determiner, 
but we have other examples which will not bear 
this interpretation. Repeated experience in 
breeding has shown that the coronatus char- 
acter (red on the rays) is a typical Mendelian 
dominant, but its expression is very variable. 
We noted in the case of the original plant, 
that the last small heads of the season were 
almost entirely yellow rayed. We have also 
observed that heterozygous plants may have 
very richly colored rays. Mr. Tufnail, of the 

4 Helianthus aridus var. citrinus, nov. Rays 
lemon yellow. It does not follow, because there are 
at least three degrees of yellowness (corresponding 
approximately to Ridgway’s cadmium yellow, 
lemon chrome and picrice yellow) in sunflower rays, 
that there are three kinds of pigment. Rays of 
H. annuus yar. primulinus, which are picric yellow, 
on drying for the herbarium turn brilliant light 
lemon yellow. Hxamining rays of garden sunflow- 
ers under the microscope, it is seen that in the 
normal (cadmium yellow) and lemon (lemon 
chrome) forms the pigment nearly fills the cells, 
and is differently colored in the two. In the prim- 
rose variety, however, the pigment is much less 
abundant, as well as paler. It is perhaps prob- 
able that the pigment of the primrose variety is 
quite the same as that of the lemon one, appearing 
paler only because not massed; there are then two 
types with regard to its density or abundance, the 
combinations of these producing three varieties. 


AvGust 21, 1914] 


Sutton firm, tells me that in England the 
amount of red shown by the plants differs 
greatly according to the soil. Hven in the 
same head, however, we may find remarkable 
extremes. Sometimes the orange rays are irreg- 
ularly flecked with red, as if some one had been 
painting near by, and had accidentally touched 
them here and there. One plant (F, from cor- 
natus X primulinus) had orange rays, the 
basal half strongly suffused with red; dise he- 
fore flowering pale yellow (due to color of 
dise-bracts), except a small triangular section 
of rather light purple, its apex not quite reach- 
ing the center of the disc. A still more sing- 
ular head (coronatus X annuus), with a dark 
dise 44 mm. in diam., and rays 50 mm. long, 
had the 27 rays variously colored, in order, as 
follows: (R=deep chestnut red, rather 
streaky, on basal half or more; Y = orange- 
yellow, with practically no red; M = medium, 
between these extremes). YR RRM MM Y 
YYRRYYYYRRRRRRMYYY Y. 
Are we to suppose that in these cases irreg- 
ularities have arisen in the course of the 
somatic cell-divisions, the whole plant being 
in an unstable condition as regards the factor 
for red? Could cytological studies throw any 
light on this? 

A certain analozy may perhaps be found in 
the occurrence of fasciation in our lenticularis 
caronatus X annuus plants. A very fasciated 
plant, crossed with presumably normal ones 
through the agency of the bees, gave seven F, 
plants, of which two showed fasciated heads, 
but others exhibited variously split and divided 
rays. Here it seemed that a weakness existed, 
but in some eases only found expression in 
the most peripheral parts, and to a relatively 
slight degree. Another set of plants with a 
fasciated parent showed what looked like super- 
numerary rays, but they were actually extra 
elongated lobes borne on the ray florets. 

Davis and Salmon® have described etiolated 
or sterile dwarfs which arose in H/nothera and 
Huwmulus. We have obtained the same thing 
in sunflowers, from heterozygous coronatus. 


5B. M. Davis, American Naturalist, Aug., 1913, 
p. 453 et seq. E. S. Salmon, Jour. of Genetics, 
February, 1914, p. 195. 


SCIENCE 


285 


A family of thirteen plants had the third, fifth, 
seventh, ninth, eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth 
dwarf ana mostly etiolated, With the best 
care we could give them, all died but two, 
though the normal members of the series, grow- 
ing in the same row, showed no evidence of 
adverse conditions. The two survivors (Nos. 
12 and 13) finally’ flowered at a height of 30 
and 27 inches, respectively ;® one (12) had the 
dise orange; the rays, bright lemon suffused 
with orange, long and slender, curled. The 
other (18) had the dise dark; the rays very 
short, suffused with red at base. No. 12 pro- 
duced much pollen; but 13 had the anthers 
all aborted, shrivelled up within the corolla 
tube, producing only a very little pollen, pre- 
sumably not viable. The pistils of 13 were 
fully exserted and normal, but nothing could 
be seen of anthers or pollen except on dis- 
section. T. D. A. CocKERELL 
UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO 


SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 
THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 


AT a special meeting of the society held March 
24 at the National Museum, Dr. Albert Hale, of 
the Pan-American Union, addressed the society on 
“Modern Argentina,’’ illustrating his remarks 
with lantern slides. The ethnical elements of Ar- 
gentina may be best studied in immigration sta- 
tistics. Of the total number of immigrants arriv- 
ing in 1857-1912, 4,248,355, more than one half, 
or 2,133,508, were Italians. The Spaniards num- 
bered scarcely more than half as many as the 
Italians, or about 1,298,122. Other European 
races were represented by much smaller numbers 
than these. The French numbered only 206,912 
and the Russians, 136,659. Next to these came the 
Syrians, of western Asia, with 109,234; then the 
Austrians and Germans, with 80,736 and 55,068, 
respectively. The Britons numbered nearly as 
many as the Germans, or 51,660. The Swiss, Bel- 
gians and Portuguese, numbered about 20,000 or 
30,000 each; the Danes and Dutch, 7,000 each; 
the North Americans, 5,500; the Swedes, 1,700, and 
others 79,251. The relative proportions of Italians 
aud Spaniards arriving during 1912 were the same 


6 Certain species of perennial sunflowers (H. 
filiformis, ciliaris and cinereus) are normally as 
small as this. 


286 


as during the entire period, but the Russians and 
Syrians rose to the next two places in the list. 

AT a special meeting of the society held April 7, 
at the National Museum, Sefior F. A. Pezet, Min- 
ister of Peru, read a paper on ‘‘Contrasts in the 
Development of Nationality in Latin and Anglo- 
America.’’ These flow from differences in char- 
acter, born with the individual or developed 
through the environment. The Anglo-Americans 
had been persecuted by religious intolerance; the 
Latin Americans were adventurous soldiers of for- 
tune. The mixing of the Latin and Indian races 
was encouraged. The offspring became the ‘‘Mes- 
tizos.’’ Later the Creoles came into existence, the 
offspring of European parents born in America. 
Before 1800 a.D. the Mestizo population of Peru 
exceeded 250,000. There is now in Peru a large 
percentage of pure Indian and of Mestizo blood. 
For more than two centuries the Huropeans and 
the Creoles ruled the Mestizos and the Indians. The 
Mestizo is nearer the Caucasian than the Indian; 
physically and morally he is superior to the In- 
dian. Although of less active intelligence than the 
European or the Creole, he is more strong-willed 
and painstaking. The Mestizos were prevented 
from obtaining social position and education. 


AT a special meeting of the society held April 
14, Mr. S. M. Gronberger read a paper on ‘‘The 
Origin of the Goths.’’ The ancient home of the 
Goths was undoubtedly situated, he said, on both 
the northern and southern shores of the Baltic. 
About 300-200 B.C. another division of this race 
immigrated into the Scandinavian peninsula, prob- 
ably across the Danish isles. At the time of the 
earliest Gothic movement southward, about 215 
A.D., the immigrants were probably joined by their 
Seandinavian brethren, who emigrated from 
“¢Seandza.’? Names of regions and localities in 
Scandinavia testify to their association with the 
Goths, the Ostrogoths and the Visigoths. The two 
Taces are now merged together and constitute the 
modern Swedish nation. The Anglo-Saxon poem 
‘‘Beownlf,’’ furnishes powerful testimony as to 
the early home of the Goths in Scandinavia and 
the Danish isles. The Baltic island of Gotland 
received its name from the Goths, and great num- 
bers of Roman and Byzantine coins and other ob- 
jects which have been unearthed there afford 
further proof. Jordanes, Cresiodorus, Tacitus, 
Procopius and Paulus Diaconus, not to mention 
the earliest though doubtful evidence of Pytheas 
of Marseilles, and many other Greek and Roman 
historians, testify to the Scandinavian or Baltic 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1025 


origin of the Goths. The most ancient tradition 
telating to the Goths was that they had come 
originally from Asia. One of the most remarkable 
Tunic inscriptions in Scandinavia is that of the 
so-called Rok Stone, discovered in western Ostro- 
gothia, Sweden. It dates back to 830-840 a.D., or 
the time of the introduction of Christianity into 
Scandinavia, and contains an allusion to Theodoric 
the Great, who afterward ruled as king of Italy. 
It also refers to four kings of the Danish island 
of Zealand whose names can be identified with the 
names mentioned in Jordanes’s saga. 

The evidence of relationship between the Gothic 
and the modern Scandinavian and Germanic 
tongues is also of great importance. The most es- 
Sential point of resemblance between these lan- 
guages is the mutual retention in certain cases of 
““oo’? before ‘‘w’? and ‘‘j,’’ as in the genitive 
plural old English ‘‘tweza’’ (two), Danish 
“‘twaeggie,’’? Gothic ‘‘twaddje,’’ modern Swedish 
“<twegge.’? 


AT the 474th regular and 35th annual meeting of 
the society, held May 5, at the National Museum, 
Dr. Edgar J. Banks, field director of an expedition 
to Babylonia, read a paper, illustrated with lantern 
slides, on ‘‘Bismya; or, the Lost City of Adab.’’ 
Bismya flourished in central Babylonia from 4,000 
to 2,000 B.c. Inscriptions were found of Dungi, 
king of Ur, of about 2,200 B.c., and of Naram-Sin 
and Sargon, the first known Semitic kings, of about 
2,800 B.c. Lower were traces of the earlier civili- 
zation of the Sumerians, a cultured people who had 
occupied Mesopotamia for several thousand years. 
An important discovery was a large marble statue 
of a Sumerian king called Lugal Da-udu of about 
4,000 B.c. Large numbers of stone vase fragments 
were here found, some inscribed with the names of 
the kings of the fifth millenium before Christ. 
The lowest pottery fragments showed that perhaps 
15,000 years ago a people with considerable civiliza- 
tion occupied that spot. An ancient Sumerian 
crematory was found. The Semitic dead were 
buried. Many collections of clay tablets were 
found which contained the business documents of 
Bismya. This people was among the oldest which 
had a highly developed civilization. 

The following officers of the society were elected: 
President, Mr. James Mooney; Vice-president, Dr. 
John R. Swanton; Secretary, Dr. Daniel Folkmar; 
Treasurer, Mr. J. N. B. Hewitt; Councilors, Mr. 
Felix Neumann, Dr. I. M. Casanowiez and Mr. 
Francis LaFlesche. DANIEL FOLKMAR, 

Secretary 


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Claude Bernard. D. Wright Wilson. 

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The Psychology of Relaxation. Professor G. T. W. 
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The Need fora Salaried Medical Profession. Pro- 
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Is the Montessori Method a Fad? Professor Frank 
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The Cellular Basis of Heredity and Development. 
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Pleasure in Pictures. Rossiter Howard. 

Apiculture in the Time of Virgil. Georgia Willis 
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Available Food Supplies. Professor J. F. Lyman. 

The Small College and Its Faculty. One of the 
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The Geographical Distribution of American Genius 
Dr. Scott Nearing. 

The Réle of Sex in the Evolution of Mind. Pro- 
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The Struggle for Equality in the United States, 
fessor Charles F. Emerick. 
Genesis"and Revelations of the 
Harold French. 
Graphics of the American Whaling Industry. Dr. J. 
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The Bad Habit of Having Law Makers and Lawyers. 
John Cotton Dana. 
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An Expedition to the Coral Reefs of Torres Straits. 
Dr. Alfred Goldsborough Mayer. 

The Cellular Basis of Heredity and Development. 
Professor Edwin Grant Conklin. 

The Decreasing Population of France. 
James W. Garner. 

The Rise of a New Profession. 


Professor 


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The Picture and the Text. Professor Robert Mac- 
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Determining Educational Values. Professor M. V. 
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The Paradox of the East Wind. Professor Alexander 
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War and Peace. Andrew Carnegie, The late William 
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The Pacific Fisheries Society 
The American Chemical Society ............ 


Scientific Notes and News 308 


Uniwersity and Educational News .......... 311 


Discussion and Correspondence :— 


Distinction of the Sexes in Phrynosoma: 
W. M. Winton. Cahokia or Monks Mound 
Not of Artificial Origin: A. BR. CRooK .... 311 


Scientific Books :— 


Ishti on the Geology of the Yang-tze Val- 
ley: PROFESSOR ELIOT BLACKWELDER. Drude 
on the Ecology of Plants: PROFESSOR JOHN 
W. HARSHBERGER. Pearson’s Tables for 
Statisticians and Biometricians. Mellor’s 
Quantitative Inorganic Analysis: PROFESSOR 
D. J. DEMOREST 


The College Curriculum: Proressor BR. S. 


WooDWoRTH 315 


Be we ee ee ee ee ee ee we peer nee 


Special Articles :— 


On Some Non-specific Factors for the En- 
trance of the Spermatozoon into the Egg: 
PROFESSOR Dr. JACQUES LOEB 


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


ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE 
BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE 
ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE1 


THE outstanding feature of this meeting 
must be the fact that we are here—in 
Australia. It is the function of a presi- 
dent to tell the Association of advances in 
science, to speak of the universal rather 
than of the particular or the temporary. 
There will be other opportunities of ex- 
pressing the thoughts which this event 
must excite in the dullest heart, but it is 
right that my first words should take ac- 
count of those achievements of organiza- 
tion and those acts of national generosity 
by which it has come to pass that we are 
assembled in this country. Let us, too, on 
this occasion, remember that all the effort, 
and all the goodwill, that binds Australia 
to Britain would have been powerless to 
bring about such a result had it not been 
for those advances in science which have 
given man a control of the forces of nature. 
For we are here by virtue of the feats of 
genius of individual men of science, giant- 
variations from the common level of our 
species ; and since I am going soon to speak 
of the significance of individual variation, 
I can not introduce that subject better 
than by calling to remembrance the line of 
pioneers in chemistry, in physics, and in 
engineering, by the working of whose rare— 
or, if you will, abnormal—intellects a meet- 
ing of the British Association on this side 
of the globe has been made physically 
possible. 

I have next to refer to the loss within 


1 Delivered at Melbourne on August 14. The 
second part of the address, delivered at Sydney on 
August 20, will be printed next week. 


288 


the year of Sir David Gill, a former presi- 
dent of this association, himself one of the 
outstanding great. His greatness lay in 
the power of making big foundations. He 
built up the Cape Observatory; he organ- 
ized international geodesy; he conceived 
and carried through the plans for the 
photography of the whole sky, a work in 
which Australia is bearing a conspicuous 
part. Astronomical observation is now 
organized on an international scale, and of 
this great scheme Gill was the heart and 
soul. His labors have ensured a base from 
which others will proceed to discovery 
otherwise impossible. His name will be 
long remembered with veneration and 
gratitude. 

As the subject of the addresses which I 
am to deliver here and in Sydney I take 
Heredity. I shall attempt to give the 
essence of the discoveries made by Men- 
delian or analytical methods of study, and 
I shall ask you to contemplate the deduc- 
tions which these physiological facts sug- 
gest in application both to evolutionary 
theory at large and to the special case of 
the natural history of human society. 

Recognition of the significance of hered- 
ity is modern. The term itself in its scien- 
tifie sense is no older than Herbert Spencer. 
Animals and plants are formed as pieces 
of living material split from the body of 
the parent organisms. Their powers and 
faculties are fixed in their physiological 
origin, They are the consequence of a 
genetic process, and yet it is only lately 
that this genetic process has become the 
subject of systematic research and experi- 
ment. The curiosity of naturalists has of 
course always been attracted to such prob- 
lems; but that accurate knowledge of 
genetics is of paramount importance in 
any attempt to understand the nature of 
living things has only been realized quite 
lately even by naturalists, and with casual 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1026 


exceptions the laity still know nothing of 
the matter. Historians debate the past of 
the human species, and statesmen order its 
present or profess to guide its future as if 
the animal man, the unit of their caleula- 
tions, with his vast diversity of powers, 
were a homogeneous material, which can 
be multiphed like shot. 

The reason for this neglect lies in ignor- 
ance and misunderstanding of the nature 
of variation; for not until the fact of con- 
genital diversity is grasped, with all that 
it imports, does knowledge of the system 
of hereditary transmission stand out as a 
primary necessity in the construction of 
any theory of evolution, or any scheme of 
human polity. 

The first full perception of the signifi- 
cance of variation we owe to Darwin. The 
present generation of evolutionists realizes 
perhaps more fully than did the scientific 
world in the last century that the theory of 
evolution had occupied the thoughts of 
many and found acceptance with not a few 
before ever the ‘‘Origin’’ appeared. We 
have come also to the conviction that the 
principle of natural selection can not have 
been the chief factor in delimiting the 
species of animals and plants, such as we 
now with fuller knowledge see them actu- 
ally to be. We are even more sceptical as 
to the validity of that appeal to changes in 
the conditions of life as direct causes of 
modification, upon which latterly at all 
events Darwin laid much emphasis. But 
that he was the first to provide a body of 
fact demonstrating the variability of living 
things, whatever be its causation, can never 
be questioned. 

There are some older collections of evi- 
dence, chiefly the work of the French 
school, especially of Godron?—and I would 
mention also the almost forgotten essay of 


2‘‘TDe 1’Espéce et des Races dans les Etres Or- 
ganisés,’’ 1859. 


AuvcusT 28, 1914] 


Wollaston?—these however are only frag- 
ments in comparison. Darwin regarded 
variability as a property inherent in living 
things, and eventually we must consider 
whether this conception is well founded; 
but postponing that inquiry for the pres- 
ent, we may declare that with him began a 
general recognition of variation as a phe- 
nomenon widely occurring in nature. 

If a population consists of members 
which are not alike but differentiated, how 
will their characteristics be distributed 
among their offspring? This is the prob- 
lem which the modern student of heredity 
Sets out to investigate. Formerly it was 
hoped that by the simple inspection of 
embryological processes the modes of hered- 
ity might be ascertained, the actual mechan- 
ism by which the offspring is formed from 
the body of the parent. In that endeavor 
a noble pile of evidence has been accumu- 
lated. All that can be made visible by 
existing methods has been seen, but we 
come little if at all nearer to the central 
mystery. We see nothing that we can 
analyze further—nothing that can be 
translated ito terms less inscrutable than 
the physiological events themselves. Not 
only does embryology give no direct aid, 
but the failure of cytology is, so far as I 
can judge, equally complete. The chromo- 
somes of nearly related creatures may be 
utterly different both in number, size and 
form. Only one piece of evidence encour- 
ages the old hope that a connection might 
be traceable between the visible character- 
istics of the body and those of the chromo- 
somes. I refer of course to the accessory 
chromosome, which in many animals dis- 
tinguishes the spermatozoon about to form 
a female in fertilization. Even it however 
can not be claimed as the cause of sexual 
differentiation, for it may be paired in 
forms closely allied to those in which it is 


3°*On the Variation of Species,’’ 1856. 


SCIENCE 


289 


unpaired or accessory. The distinction 
may be present or wanting, like any other 
secondary sexual character. Indeed, so 
long as no one can show consistent distinc- 
tions between the cytological characters of 
somatic tissues in the same individual we 
can scarcely expect to perceive such dis- 
tinctions between the chromosomes of the 
various types. 

For these methods of attack we now sub- 
stitute another, less ambitious, perhaps, be- 
cause less comprehensive, but not less direct. 
If we can not see how a fowl by its egg and 
its sperm gives rise to a chicken or how 
a sweet pea from its ovule and its pollen 
erain produces another sweet pea, we at 
least can watch the system by which the 
differences between the various kinds of 
fowls or between the various kinds of sweet 
peas are distributed among the offspring. 
By thus breaking the main problem up into 
its parts we give ourselves fresh chances. 
This analytical study we call Mendelian 
because Mendel was the first to apply it. 
To be sure, he did not approach the prob- 
lem by any such line of reasoning as I have 
sketched. His object was to determine the 
genetic definiteness of species; but though 
in his writings he makes no mention of in- 
heritance it is clear that he had the exten- 
sion in view. By cross-breeding he com- 
bined the characters of varieties in mongrel 
individuals and set himself to see how these 
characters would be distributed among the 
individuals of subsequent generations. 
Until he began this analysis nothing but 
the vaguest answers to such a question had 
been attempted. The existence of any 


‘orderly system of descent was never even 


suspected. In their manifold complexity 
human characteristics seemed to follow no 
obvious system, and the fact was taken as 
a fair sample of the working of heredity. 
Misconception was especially brought in 
by describing descent in terms of ‘‘blood.”’ 


290 


The common speech uses expressions such 
as consanguinity, pure-blooded, half-blood, 
and the like, which call up a misleading 
picture to the mind. Blood is in some re- 
spects a fluid, and thus it is supposed that 
this fluid can be both quantitatively and 
qualitatively diluted with other bloods, just 
as treacle can be diluted with water. Blood 
in primitive physiology being the peculiar 
vehicle of life, at once its essence and its 
corporeal abode, these ideas of dilution and 
compounding of characters in the com- 
mingling of bloods inevitably suggest that 
the ingredients of the mixture once com- 
bined are inseparable, that they can be 
brought together in any relative amounts, 
and in short that in heredity we are con- 
zerned mainly with a quantitative problem. 
Truer notions of genetic physiology are 
given by the Hebrew expression “‘seed.’’ 
If we speak of a man as ‘‘of the blood- 
royal’’ we think at once of plebeian dilu- 
tion, and we wonder how much of the royal 
fluid is likely to be ‘‘in his veins’’; but if 
we say he is ‘‘of the seed of Abraham’’ we 
feel something of the permanence and in- 
destructibility of that germ which can be 
divided and seattered among all nations, 
but remains recognizable in type and char- 
acteristics after 4,000 years. 

I know a breeder who had a chest con- 
taining bottles of colored liquids by which 
he used to illustrate the relationships of 
his dogs, pouring from one to another and 
titrating them quantitatively to illustrate 
their pedigrees. Galton was beset by the 
same kind of mistake when he promulgated 
his ‘‘Law of Ancestral Heredity.’’ With 
modern research all this has been cleared 
away. The allotment of characteristics 
among offspring is not accomplished by the 
exudation of drops of a tincture represent- 
ing the sum of the characteristics of the 
parent organism, but by a process of cell- 
division, in which numbers of these char- 


SCIENCE 


LN. S. Von. XL. No. 1026 


acters, or rather the elements upon which 
they depend, are sorted out among the re- 
sulting germ-cells in an orderly fashion. 
What these elements, or factors as we call 
them, are we do not know. That they are 
in some way directly transmitted by the 
material of the ovum and of the sperma- 
tozoon is obvious, but it seems to me un- 
likely that they are in any simple or literal 
sense material particles. I suspect rather 
that their properties depend on some phe- 
nomenon of arrangement. However that 
may be, analytical breeding proves that it 
is according to the distribution of these 
genetic factors, to use a non-committal 
term, that the characters of the offspring 
are decided. The first business of experi- 
mental genetics is to determine their num- 
ber and interactions, and then to make an 
analysis of the various types of life. 

Now the ordinary genealogical trees, such 
as those which the stud-books provide in 
the case of the domestic animals, or the 
Heralds’ College provides in the case of 
man, tell nothing of all this. Such methods 
of depicting descent can not even show the 
one thing they are devised to show—purity 
of “‘blood.’’ For at last we know the 
physiological meaning of that expression. 
An organism is pure-bred when it has been 
formed by the union in fertilization of two 
germ-cells which are alike in the factors 
they bear; and since the factors for the 
several characteristics are independent of 
each other, this question of purity must be 
separately considered for each of them. 
A man, for example, may be pure-bred in 
respect of his musical ability and cross-bred 
in respect of the color of his eyes or the 
shape of his mouth. Though we know 
nothing of the essential nature of these 
factors, we know a good deal of their 
powers. They may confer height, color, 
shape, instincts, powers both of mind and 
body; indeed, so many of the attributes 


Aveust 28, 1914] 


which animals and plants possess that we 
feel justified in the expectation that with 
continued analysis they will be proved to be 
responsible for most if not all of the differ- 
ences by which the varying individuals of 
any species are distinguished from each 
other. I will not assert that the greater 
differences which characterize distinct spe- 
cies are due generally to such independent 
factors, but that is the conclusion to which 
the available evidence points. All this is 


now so well understood, and has been so - 


often demonstrated and expounded, that 
details of evidence are now superfluous. 
But for the benefit of those who are un- 
familiar with such» work let me briefly 
epitomize its main features and conse- 
quences. Since genetic factors are definite 
things, either present in or absent from any 
germ-cell, the imdividual may be either 
““pure-bred’’ for any particular factor or 
its absence, if he is constituted by the 
union of two germ-cells both possessing or 
both destitute of that factor. If the indi- 
vidual is thus pure, all his germ-cells will in 
that respect be identical, for they are simply 
bits of the similar germ-cells which united 
in fertilization to produce the parent organ- 
ism. We thus reach the essential principle, 
that an organism can not pass on to off- 
spring a factor which it did not itself re- 
ceive in fertilization. Parents, therefore, 
which are both destitute of a given factor 
can only produce offspring equally desti- 
tute of it; and, on the contrary, parents 
both pure-bred for the presence of a factor 
produce offspring equally pure-bred for its 
presence. Whereas the germ-cells of the 
pure-bred are all alike, those of the cross- 
bred, which results from the union of dis- 
similar germ-cells, are mixed in character. 
Hach positive factor segregates from its 
negative opposite, so that some germ-cells 
carry the factor and some do not. Once 
the factors have been identified by their 


SCIENCE 


291 


effects, the average composition of the sev- 
eral kinds of families formed from the vari- 
ous matings can be predicted. 

Only those who have themselves wit- 
nessed the fixed operations of these simple 
rules can feel their full significance. We 
come to look behind the simulacrum of the 
individual body and we endeavor to dis- 
integrate its features into the genetic ele- 
ments by whose union the body was formed. 
Set out in cold general phrases such dis- 
coveries may seem remote from ordinary 
life. Become familiar with them and you 
will find your outlook on the world has 
changed. Watch the effects of segrega- 
tion among the hving things with which 
you have to do—plants, fowls, dogs, horses, 
that mixed concourse of humanity we call 
the English race, your friends’ children, 
your own children, yourself—and however 
firmly imagination be restrained to the 
bounds of the known and the proved, you 
will feel something of that range of insight 
into nature which Mendelism has begun to 
give. The question is often asked whether 
there are not also in operation systems of 
descent quite other than those contem- 
plated by the Mendelian rules. I myself 
have expected such discoveries, but hitherto 
none have been plainly demonstrated. It 
is true we are often puzzled by the failure 
of a parental type to reappear in its com- 
pleteness after a cross—the merino sheep 
or the fantail pigeon, for example. These 
exceptions may still be plausibly ascribed 
to the interference of a multitude of factors, 
a suggestion not easy to disprove; though 
it seems to me equally likely that segrega- 
tion has been in reality imperfect. Of the 
descent of quantitative characters we still 
know practically nothing. These and hosts 
of difficult cases remain almost untouched. 
In particular the discovery of H. Baur, and 
the evidence of Winkler in regard to his 
‘‘oraft hybrids,’’ both showing that the 


292 


sub-epidermal layer of a plant—the layer 
from which the germ-cells are derived— 
may bear exclusively the characters of a 
part only of the soma, give hints of curious 
complications, and suggest that in plants 
at least the interrelations between soma and 
gamete may be far less simple than we 
have supposed. Nevertheless, speaking 
generally, we see nothing to indicate that 
qualitative characters descend, whether in 
plants or animals, according to systems 
which are incapable of factorial represen- 
tation. 

The body of evidence accumulated by 
this method of analysis is now very large, 
and is still growing fast by the labors of 
many workers. Progress is also beginning 
along many novel and curious lines. The 
details are too technical for inclusion here. 
Suffice it to say that not only have we proof 
that segregation affects a vast range of 
characteristics, but in the course of our 
analysis phenomena of most unexpected 
kinds have been encountered. Some of 
these things twenty years ago must have 
seemed inconceivable. For example, the 
two sets of sex organs, male and female, of 
the same plant may not be carrying the 
same characteristics; in some animals char- 
acteristics, quite independent of sex, may 
be distributed solely or predominantly to 
one sex; 1n certain species the male may be 
breeding true to its own type, while the 
female is permanently mongrel, throwing 
off eggs of a distinct variety in addition to 
those of its own type; characteristics, 
essentially independent, may be associated 
in special combinations which are largely 
retained in the next generation, so that 
among the grandchildren there is numerical 
preponderance of those combinations which 
existed in the grandparents—a discovery 
which introduces us to a new phenomenon 
of polarity in the organism. 

We are accustomed to the fact that the 


SCIENCE 


{N. 8. Von. XL. No. 1026 


fertilized ege has a polarity, a front and 
hind end for example; but we have now to 
recognize that it, or the primitive germinal 
cells formed from it, may have another 
polarity shown in the groupings of the 
parental elements. I am entirely sceptical 
as to the occurrence of segregation solely 
in the maturation of the germ-cells,* pre- 
ferring at present to regard it as a special 
case of that patch-work condition we see in 
so many plants. These mosaics may break 
up, emitting bud-sports at various cell- 
divisions, and I suspect that the great 
regularity seen in the F, ratios of the 
cereals, for example, is a consequence of 
very late segregation, whereas the excessive 
irregularity found in other cases may be 
taken to indicate that segregation can 
happen at earlier stages of differentiation. 

The paradoxical descent of color-blind- 
ness and other sex-limited conditions— 
formerly regarded as an inscrutable caprice 
of nature—has been represented with ap- 
proximate correctness, and we already know 
something as to the way, or perhaps I 
should say ways, in which the determina- 
tion of sex is accomplished in some of the 
forms of life—though, I hasten to add, we 
have no inkling as to any method by which 
that determination may be influenced or 
directed. It is obvious that such discov- 
eries have bearings on most of the prob- 
lems, whether theoretical or practical, in 
which animals and plants are concerned. 
Permanence or change of type, perfection 
of type, purity or mixture of race, ‘‘racial 
development,’’ the succession of forms, 
from being vague phrases expressing mat- 
ters of degree, are now seen to be capable of 
acquirine physiological meanings, already 
to some extent assigned with precision. For 

47The fact that in certain plants the male and 
female organs respectively carry distinct factors 
may be quoted as almost decisively negativing the 
suggestion that segregation is confined to the re- 
duction division. 


AvueusT 28, 1914] 


the naturalist—and it is to him that I am 
especially addressing myself to-day—these 
things are chiefly significant as relating 
to the history of organic beings—the theory 
of evolution, to use our modern name. 
They have, as I shall endeavor to show in 
my second address to be given in Sydney, 
an immediate reference to the conduct of 
human society. 

I suppose that every one is familiar in 
outline with the theory of the origin of spe- 
cies which Darwin promulgated. Through 
the last fifty years this theme of the natu- 
ral selection of favored races has been 
developed and expounded in writings in- 
numerable. Favored races certainly can 
replace others. The argument is sound, 
but we are doubtful of its value. For us 
that debate stands adjourned. We go to 
Darwin for his incomparable collection of 
facts. We would fain emulate his scholar- 
ship, his width and his power of exposition, 
but to us he speaks no more with philo- 
sophical authority. We read his scheme of 
evolution as we would those of Lucretius 
or of Lamarck, delighting in their simplic- 
ity and their courage. The practical and 
experimental study of variation and hered- 
ity has not merely opened a new field; it 
has given a new point of view and new 
standards of criticism. Naturalists may 
stil be found expounding teleological 
systems’ which would have delighted Dr. 


5T take the following from the abstract of a re- 
cent Croonian Lecture ‘‘On the Origin of Mam- 
mals’’ delivered to the Royal Society: ‘‘In Upper 
Triassic times the larger Cynodonts preyed upon 
the large Anomodont, Kannemeyeria, and carried 
ou their existence so long as these Anomodonts 
survived, but died out with them about the end of 
the Trias or in Rhetic times. The small Cyno- 
donts, having neither small Anomodonts nor small 
Cotylosaurs to feed on, were forced to hunt the 
yery active long-limbed Thecodonts. The greatly 
increased activity brought about that series of 
changes which formed the mammals—the flexible 
skin with hair, the four-chambered heart and 


SCIENCE 


293 


Pangloss himself, but at the present time 
few are misled. The student of genetics 
knows that the time for the development of 
theory is not yet. He would rather stick 
to the seed-pan and the incubator. 

In face of what we now know of the dis- 
tribution of variability in nature the scope 
claimed for natural selection in determin- 
ine the fixity of species must be greatly 
reduced. The doctrine of the survival of 
the fittest is undeniable so long as it is 
applied to the organism as a whole, but to 
attempt by this principle to find value in 
all definiteness of parts and functions, and 
im the name of science to see fitness every- 
where is mere eighteenth-century optimism. 
Yet it was in application to the parts, to 
the details of specific difference, to the 
spots on the peacock’s tail, to the coloring 
of an orchid flower, and hosts of such ex- 
amples, that the potency of natural selec- 
tion was urged with the strongest emphasis. 
Shorn of these pretensions the doctrine of 
the survival of favored races is a truism, 
helping scarcely at all to account for the 
diversity of species. Tolerance plays al- 
most as considerable a part. By these ad- 
missions almost the last shred of that teleo- 
logical fustian with which Victorian philos- 
ophy loved to clothe the theory of evolution 
is destroyed. Those who would proclaim 
that whatever is is right will be wise hence- 
forth to base this faith frankly on the 
impregnable rock of superstition and to 
abstain from direct appeals to natural fact. 

My predecessor said last year that in 
physies the age is one of rapid progress and 
profound scepticism. In at least as high 


warm blood, the loose jaw with teeth for mastica- 
tion, an increased development of tactile sensation 
and a great increase of cerebrum. Not improbably 
the attacks of the newly-evolved Cynodont or mam- 
malian type brought about a corresponding evolu- 
tion in the Pseudosuchian Thecodonts which ulti- 
mately resulted in the formation of Dinosaurs and 
Birds.’’? Broom, R., Proc. Roy. Soc. B., 87, p. 88. 


294 


a degree this is true of biology, and as a 
chief characteristic of modern evolutionary 
thought we must confess also to a deep but 
irksome humility in presence of great vital 
problems. Every theory of evolution must 
be such as to accord with the facts of physics 
and chemistry, a primary necessity to which 
our predecessors paid small heed. For 
them the unknown was a rich mine of pos- 
sibilities on which they could freely draw. 
For us it is rather an impenetrable moun- 
tain out of which the truth can be chipped 
in rare and isolated fragments. Of the 
physics and chemistry of life we know next 
to nothing. Somehow the characters of 
living things are bound up in properties of 
colloids, and are largely determined by the 
chemical powers of enzymes, but the study 
of these classes of matter has only just 
begun. Living things are found by a sim- 
ple experiment to have powers undreamed 
of, and who knows what may be behind? 
Naturally we turn aside from general- 
ities. It is no time to discuss the origin of 
the Mollusca or of Dicotyledons, while we 
are not even sure how it came to pass that 
Primula obconica has in twenty-five years 
produced its abundant new forms almost 
under our eyes. Knowledge of heredity 
has so reacted on our conceptions of varia- 
tion that very competent men are even 
denying that variation in the old sense is a 
genuine occurrence at all. Variation is 
postulated as the basis of all evolutionary 
change. Do we then as a matter of fact 
find in the world about us variations occur- 
ring of such a kind as to warrant faith in 
a contemporary progressive evolution? 
Till lately most of us would have said 
“‘ves’’ without misgiving. We should have 
pointed, as Darwin did, to the immense 
range of diversity seen in many wild spe- 
cies, so commonly that the difficulty is to 
define the types themselves. Still more con- 
elusive seemed the profusion of forms in 


SCIENCE 


LN. S. Vou. XL. No. 1026 


the various domesticated animals and 
plants, most of them incapable of existing 
even for a generation in the wild state, and 
therefore fixed unquestionably by human 
selection. These, at least, for certain, are 
new forms, often distinct enough to pass 
for species, which have arisen by variation. 
But when analysis is applied to this mass 
of variation the matter wears a different 
aspect. Closely examined, what is the 
“‘variability’’ of wild species? What is 
the natural fact which is denoted by the 
statement that a given species exhibits much 
variation? Generally one of two things: 
either that the individuals collected in one 
locality differ among themselves; or perhaps 
more often that samples from separate 
localities differ from each other. As direct 
evidence of variation it is clearly to the 
first of these phenomena that we must have ° 
recourse—the heterogeneity of a popula- 
tion breeding together in one area. This 
heterogeneity may be in any degree, rang- 
ing from slight differences that systematists 
would disregard, to a complex variability 
such as we find in some moths, where there 
is an abundance of varieties so distinct that 
many would be classified as specific forms 
but for the fact that all are freely breeding 
together. Naturalists formerly supposed 
that any of these varieties might be bred 
from any of the others. Just as the reader 
of novels is prepared to find that any kind 
of parents might have any kind of children 
in the course of the story, so was the evolu- 
tionist ready to believe that any pair of 
moths might produce any of the varieties 
included in the species. Genetic analysis 
has disposed of all these mistakes. We have 
no longer the smallest doubt that in all 
these examples the varieties stand in a regu- 
lar descending order, and that they are 
simply terms in a series of combinations of 
factors separately transmitted, of which 
each may be present or absent. 


AuausT 28, 1914] 


The appearance of contemporary vari- 
ability proves to be an illusion. Variation 
from step to step in the series must occur 
either by the addition or by the loss of a 
factor. Now, of the origin of new forms 
by loss there seems to me to be fairly clear 
evidence, but of the contemporary acquisi- 
tion of any new factor I see no satisfactory 
proof, though I admit there are rare ex- 
amples which may be so interpreted. We 
are left with a picture of variation utterly 
different from that which we saw at first. 
Variation now stands out as a definite 
physiological event. We have done with 
the notion that Darwin came latterly to 
favor, that large differences can arise by 
accumulation of small differences. Such 
small differences are often mere ephemeral 
effects of conditions of life, and as such 
are not transmissible; but even small differ- 
ences, when truly genetic, are factorial like 
the larger ones, and there is not the slight- 
est reason for supposing that they are 
capable of summation. As to the origin or 
source of these positive separable factors, 
we are without any indication or surmise. 
By their effects we know them to be definite, 
as definite, say, as the organisms which 
produce diseases; but how they arise and 
how they come to take part in the composi- 
tion of the living creature so that when 
present they are treated in cell-division as 
constituents of the germs, we can not con- 
jecture. 

It was a commonplace of evolutionary 
theory that at least the domestic animals 
have been developed from a few wild types. 
Their origin was supposed to present no 
difficulty. The various races of fowl, for 
instance, all came from Gallus bankiva, the 
Indian jungle-fowl. So we are taught; but 
try to reconstruct the steps in their evolu- 
tion and you realize your hopeless ignor- 
ance. To be sure there are breeds, such as 
Black-red Game and Brown Leghorns, 


SCIENCE 


295 


which have the colors of the jungle-fowl, 
though they differ in shape and other re- 
spects. As we know so little as yet of the 
genetics of shape, let us assume that those 
transitions could be got over. Suppose, 
further, as is probable, that the absence of 
the maternal instinct in the Leghorn is 
due to loss of one factor which the junele- 
fowl possesses. So far we are on fairly safe 
ground. But how about White Leghorns? 
Their origin may seem easy to imagine, 
since white varieties have often arisen in 
well-authenticated cases. But the white of 
White Leghorns is not, as white in nature 
often is, due to the loss of the color-ele- 
ments, but to the action of something which 
inhibits their expression. Whence did that 
something come? The same question may 
be asked respecting the heavy breeds, such 
as Malays or Indian Game. Hach of these 
is a separate introduction from the Hast. 
To suppose that these, with their peculiar 
combs and close feathering, could have been 
developed from preexisting Huropean 
breeds is very difficult. On the other hand, 
there is no wild species now living any more 
like them. We may, of course, postulate 
that there was once such a species, now lost. 
That is quite conceivable, though the sug- 
gestion is purely speculative. I might thus 
go through the list of domesticated animals 
and plants of ancient origin and again and 
again we should be driven to this sugges- 
tion, that many of their distinctive char- 
acters must have been derived from some 
wild original now lost. Indeed, to this un- 
satisfying conclusion almost every careful 
writer on such subjects is now reduced. 
If we turn to modern evidence the case 
looks even worse. The new breeds of do- 
mestic animals made in recent times are the 
carefully selected products of recombina- 
tion of preexisting breeds. Most of the new 
varieties of cultivated plants are the out- 
come of deliberate crossing. There is gen- 


296 


erally no doubt in the matter. We have 
pretty full histories of these crosses in 
gladiolus, orchids, cineraria, begonia, cal- 
ceolaria, pelargonium, ete. A very few 
certainly arise from a single origin. The 
sweet pea is the clearest case, and there are 
others which I should name with hesita- 
tion. The cyclamen is one of them, but 
we know that efforts to cross cyclamens 
were made early in the cultural history of 
the plant, and they may very well have 
been successful. Several plants for which 
single origins are alleged, such as the Chi- 
nese primrose, the dahlia and tobacco, came 
to us in an already domesticated state, and 
their origins remain altogether mysterious. 
Formerly single origins were generally pre- 
sumed, but at the present time numbers of 
the chief products of domestication, dogs, 
horses, cattle, sheep, poultry, wheat, oats, 
rice, plums, cherries, have in turn been 
accepted as “‘polyphyletic’’ or, in other 
words, derived from several distinct forms. 
The reason that has led to these judgments 
is that the distinctions between the chief 
varieties can be traced as far back as the 
evidence reaches, and that these distinc- 
tions are so great, so far transcending any- 
thing that we actually know variation capa- 
ble of effecting, that it seems pleasanter 
to postpone the difficulty, relegating the 
eritical differentiation to some misty anti- 
quity into which we shall not be asked to 
penetrate. For it need scarcely be said that 
this is mere procrastination. If the origin 
of a form under domestication is hard to 
imagine, it becomes no easier to conceive of 
such enormous deviations from type com- 
ing to pass in the wild state. Hxamine any 
two thoroughly distinct species which meet 
each other in their distribution, as, for in- 
stances, Lychnis diurna and vespertina do. 
In areas of overlap are many intermediate 
forms. These used to be taken to be tran- 
sitional steps, and the specific distinctness 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8S. Vou. XL. No. 1026 


of vespertina and diwrna was on that ac- 
count questioned. Once it is known that 
these supposed intergrades are merely mon- 
grels between the two species the transi- 
tion from one to the other is practically 
beyond our powers of imagination to con- 
ceive. If both these can survive, why has 
their common parent perished? Why when 
they cross do they not reconstruct it instead 
of producing partially sterile hybrids? I 
take this example to show how entirely the 
facts were formerly misinterpreted. 
When once the idea of a true-breeding— 
or, as we Say, homozygous—type is grasped, 
the problem of variation becomes an in- 
sistent oppression. What can make such a 
type vary? We know, of course, one way 
by which novelty can be introduced—by 
crossing. Cross two well-marked varieties 
—for instance, of Chinese primula—each 
breeding true, and in the second genera- 
tion by mere recombination of the various 
factors which the two parental types sever- 
ally introduced, there will be a profusion 
of forms, utterly unlike each other, distinct 
also from the original parents. Many of 
these can be bred true, and if found wild 
would certainly be described as good spe- 
cies. Confronted by the difficulty I have 
put before you, and contemplating such 
amazing polymorphism in the second gen- 
eration from a cross in Antirrhinum, Lotsy 
has lately with great courage suggested to 
us that all variation may be due to such 
crossing. I do not disguise my sympathy 
with this effort. After the blind compla- 
ceney of conventional evolutionists it is 
refreshing to meet so frank an acknowledg- 
ment of the hardness of the problem. 
Lotsy’s utterance will at least do something 
to expose the artificiality of systematic 
zoology and botany. Whatever might or 
might not be revealed by experimental 
breeding, it is certain that without such 
tests we are merely guessing when we pro- 


lens 


AvuGusT 28, 1914] 


fess to distinguish specific limits and to 
declare that this is a species and that a 
variety. The only definable unit in classi- 
fication is the homozygous form which 
breeds true. When we presume to say that 
such and such differences are trivial and 
such others valid, we are commonly em- 
barking on a course for which there is no 
physiological warrant. Who could have 
foreseen that the apple and the pear—so 
like each other that their botanical differ- 
ences are evasive—could not be crossed to- 
gether, though species of antirrhinum so 
totally unlike each other as majus and molle 
ean be hybridized, as Baur has shown, with- 
out a sign of impaired fertility? Jordan 
was perfectly right. The true-breeding 
forms which he distinguished in such multi- 
tudes are real entities, though the great 
systematists, dispensing with such labori- 
ous analysis, have pooled them into arbi- 
trary Linnean species, for the convenience 
of collectors and for the simplification of 
catalogues. Such pragmatical considera- 
tions may mean much in the museum, but 
with them the student of the physiology of 
variation has nothing to do. These “‘little 
species,’’ finely cut, true-breeding, and in- 
numerable mongrels between them, are 
what he finds when he examines any so- 
called variable type. On analysis the 
semblance of variability disappears, and 
the illusion is shown to be due to segrega- 
tion and recombination of series of factors 
on predetermined lines. As soon as the 
“little species’? are separated out they 
are found to be fixed. Im face of such a 
result we may well ask with Lotsy, is there 
such a thing as spontaneous variation any- 
where? His answer is that there is not. 
Abandoning the attempt to show that 
positive factors can be added to the original 
stock, we have further to confess that we 
ean not often actually prove variation by 
loss of factor to be a real phenomenon. 


SCIENCE 297 


Lotsy doubts whether even this phenom- 
enon occurs. The sole source of variation, 
in his view, is crossing. But here I think 
he is on unsafe ground. When a well- 
established variety like ‘‘Crimson King’’ 
primula, bred by Messrs. Sutton in thou- 
sands of individuals, gives off, as it did a 
few years since, a salmon-colored variety, 
“Coral King,’’ we might claim this as a 
genuine example of variation by loss. The 
new variety is a simple recessive. It differs 
from ‘‘Crimson King”’ only in one respect, 
the loss of a single color-factor, and, of 
course, bred true from its origin. To account 
for the appearance of such a new form by 
any process of crossing is exceedingly diffi- 
cult. From the nature of the case there can 
have been no cross since ‘‘Crimson King’’ 
was established, and hence the salmon must 
have been concealed as a recessive from the 
first origin of that variety, even when it 
was represented by very few individuals, 
probably only by a single one. Surely, if 
any of these had been heterozygous for 
salmon this recessive could hardly have 
failed to appear during the process of self- 
fertilization by which the stock would be 
multiplied, even though that selfing may 
not have been strictly carried out. Exam- 
ples like this seem to me practically con- 
elusive. They can be challenged, but not, 
I think, successfully. Then again in re- 
gard to those variations in number and 
division of parts which we call meristic, 
the reference of these to original cross- 
breeding is surely barred by the circum- 
stances in which they often occur. There 
remain also the rare examples mentioned 
already in which a single wild origin may 
with much confidence be assumed. In spite 
of repeated trials, no one has yet succeeded 
im crossing the sweet pea with any other 

6The numerous and most interesting ‘‘muta- 
tions’’ recorded by Professor T. H. Morgan and 


his colleagues in the fly, Drosophila, may also be 
cited as unexceptionable cases. 


298 


leguminous species. We know that early 
in its cultivated history it produced at 
least two marked varieties which I can only 
conceive of as spontaneously arising, 
though, no doubt, the profusion of forms 
we now have was made by the crossing of 
those original varieties. I mention the 
sweet pea thus prominently for another 
reason, that it introduces us to another 
though subsidiary form of variation, which 
may be described as a fractionation of 
factors. Some of my Mendelian colleagues 
have spoken of genetic factors as perma- 
nent and indestructible. Relative perma- 
nence in a sense they have, for they com- 
monly come out unchanged after segrega- 
tion. But I am satisfied that they may 
occasionally undergo a quantitative dis- 
integration, with the consequence that vari- 
eties are produced intermediate between 
the integral varieties from which they were 
derived. These disintegrated conditions I 
have spoken of as subtraction—or reduc- 
tion—stages. Hor example, the Picotee 
sweet pea, with its purple edges, can 
surely be nothing but a condition produced 
by the factor which ordinarily makes the 
fully purple flower, quantitatively dimin- 
ished. The pied animal, such as the Dutch 
rabbit, must similarly be regarded as the 
result of partial defect of the chromogen 
from which the pigment is formed, or con- 
ceivably of the factor which effects its oxi- 
dation. On such lines I think we may with 
ereat confidence interpret all those inter- 
erading forms which breed true and are 
not produced by factorial interference. 

It is to be inferred that these fractional 
degradations are the consequence of irreg- 
ularities in segregation. We constantly 
see irregularities in the ordinary meristic 
processes, and in the distribution of somatic 
differentiation. We are familiar with half 
segments, with imperfect twinning, with 
leaves partially petaloid, with petals 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1026 


partially sepaloid. All these are evidences 
of departures from the normal regularity 
in the rhythms of repetition, or in those 
waves of differentiation by which the 
qualities are sorted out among the parts of 
the body. Similarly, when in segregation 
the qualities are sorted out among the germ- 
cells in certain critical cell-divisions, we 
can not expect these differentiating divi- 
sions to be exempt from the imperfections 
and irregularities which are found in all 
the grosser divisions that we can observe. 
If I am right, we shall find evidence of 
these irregularities in the association of 
unconformable numbers with the appear- 
ance of the novelties which I have called 
fractional. In passing let us note how the 
history of the sweet pea belies those ideas 
of a continuous evolution with which we 
had formerly to contend. The big vari- 
eties came first. The little ones have arisen 
later, as I suggest by fractionation. Pre- 
sented with a collection of modern sweet 
peas how prettily would the devotees of 
continuity have arranged them in a gradu- 
ated series, showing how every intergrade 
could be found, passing from the full color 
of the wild Sicilian species in one direction 
to white, in the other to the deep purple of 
““Black Prinee,’’ though happily we know 
these two to be among the earliest to have 
appeared. 

Having in view these and other consid- 
erations which might be developed, I feel 
no reasonable doubt that though we may 
have to forego a claim to variations by addi- 
tion of factors, yet variation both by loss 
of factors and by fractionation of factors 
is a genuine phenomenon of contemporary 
nature. If then we have to dispense, as 
seems likely, with any addition from with- 
out we must begin seriously to consider 
whether the course of evolution can at all 
reasonably be represented as an unpacking 
of an original complex which contained 


AUGUST 28, 1914] 


within itself the whole range of diversity 
which living things present. I do not sug- 
gest that we should come to a judgment as 
to what is or is not probable in these re- 
spects. As I have said already, this is no 
time for devising theories of evolution, and 
I propound none. But as we have got to 
recognize that there has been an evolution, 
that somehow or other the forms of life 
have arisen from fewer forms, we may as 
well see whether we are limited to the old 
view that evolutionary progress is from the 
simple to the complex, and whether after 
all it is conceivable that the process was 
the other way about. When the facts of 
genetic discovery become familiarly known 
to biologists, and cease to be the preoccupa- 
tion of a few, as they still are, many and 
long discussions must inevitably arise on 
the question, and I offer these remarks to 
prepare the ground. I ask you simply to 
Open your minds to this possibility. It in- 
volves a certain effort. We have to reverse 
our habitual modes of thought. At first it 
may seem rank absurdity to suppose that 
the primordial form or forms of protoplasm 
could have contained complexity enough to 
produce the divers types of life. But is it 
easier to imagine that these powers could 
have been conveyed by extrinsic additions? 
Of what nature could these additions be? 
Additions of material can not surely be in 
question. We are told that salts of iron in 
the soil may turn a pink hydrangea blue. 
The iron can not be passed on to the next 
generation. How can the iron multiply 
itself? The power to assimilate the iron 
is all that can be transmitted. A disease- 
producing organism like the pebrine of silk- 
worms can in a very few cases be passed 
on through the germ-cells. Such an organ- 
ism can multiply and can produce its char- 
acteristic effects in the next generation. 
But it does not become part of the invaded 
host, and we can not conceive it taking part 


SCIENCE 


299 


in the geometrically ordered processes of 
segregation. These illustrations may seem 
too gross; but what refinement will meet 
the requirements of the problem, that the 
thing introduced must be, ag the living 
organism itself is, capable of multiplica- 
tion and of subordinating itself in a defi- 
nite system of segregation? That which 
is conferred in variation must rather itself 
be a change, not of material, but of arrange- 
ment, or of motion. The imvocation of 
additions extrinsic to the organism does not 
seriously help us to imagine how the power 
to change can be conferred, and if it proves 
that hope in that direction must be aban- 
doned, I think we lose very little. By the 
re-arrangement of a very moderate number 
of things we soon reach a number of possi- 
bilities practically infinite. 

That primordial life may have been of 
small dimensions need not disturb us. 
Quantity is of no account in these consid- 
erations. Shakespeare once existed as a 
speck of protoplasm not so big as a small 
pin’s head. To this nothing was added 
that would not equally well have served to 
build up a baboon or a rat. Let us con- 
sider how far we can get by the process of 
removal of what we call ‘‘epistatic’’ factors, 
in other words those that control, mask, or 
suppress underlying powers and faculties. 
I have spoken of the vast range of colors 
exhibited by modern sweet peas. There is 
no question that these have been derived 
from the one wild bi-color form by a proc- 
ess of successive removals. When the vast 
range of form, size and flavor to be found 
among the cultivated apples is considered 
it seems difficult to suppose that all this 
variety is hidden in the wild crab-apple. 
I can not positively assert that this is so, 
but I think all familiar with Mendelian 
analysis would agree with me that it is 
probable, and that the wild crab contains 
presumably inhibiting elements which the 


300 


cultivated kinds have lost. The legend that 
the seedlings of cultivated apples become 
crabs is often repeated. After many in- 
quiries among the raisers of apple seed- 
lings I have never found an authentic case 
—once only even an alleged case, and this 
on inquiry proved to be unfounded. I 
have confidence that the artistic gifts of 
mankind will prove to be due not to some- 
thing added to the make-up of an ordinary 
man, but to the absence of factors which in 
the normal person inhibit the development 
of these gifts. They are almost beyond 
doubt to be looked upon as releases of 
powers normally suppressed. The instru- 
ment is there, but it is ‘‘stopped down.’’ 
The scents of flowers or fruits, the finely 
repeated divisions that give its quality to 
the wool of the merino, or in an analogous 
case the multiplicity of quills to the tail of 
the fantail pigeon, are in all probability 
other examples of such releases. You may 
ask what guides us in the discrimination of 
the positive factors and how we can satisfy 
ourselves that the appearance of a quality 
is due to loss. It must be conceded that in 
these determinations we have as yet re- 
course only to the effects of dominance. 
When the tall pea is crossed with the 
dwarf, since the offspring is tall we say 
that the tall parent passed a factor into 
the ecross-bred which makes it tall. The 
pure tall parent had two doses of this 
factor; the dwarf had none; and since the 
eross-bred is tall we say that one dose of 
the dominant tallness is enough to give the 
full height. The reasonmg seems un- 
answerable. But the commoner result of 
crossing is the production of a form inter- 
mediate between the two pure parental 
types. In such examples we see clearly 
enough that the full parental characteristics 
can only appear when they are homozygous 
—formed from similar germ-cells, and that 
one dose is insufficient to produce either 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1026 


effect fully. When this is so we can never 
be sure which side is positive and which 
negative. Since, then, when dominance is 
incomplete we find ourselves in this diffi- 
culty, we perceive that the amount of the 
effect is our only criterion in distineuishing 
the positive from the negative, and when 
we return even to the example of the tall 
and dwarf peas the matter is not so certain 
as it seemed. Professor Cockerell lately 
found among thousands ‘of yellow sun- 
flowers one which was partly red. By 
breeding he raised from this a form wholly 
red. Hvidently the yellow and the wholly 
red are the pure forms, and the partially 
red is the heterozygote. We may then say 
that the yellow is YY with two doses of a 
positive factor which inhibits the develop- 
ment of pigment; the red is yy, with no 
dose of the inhibitor; and the partially red 
are Yy, with only one dose of it. But we 
might be tempted to think the red was a 
positive characteristic, and invert the ex- 
pressions, representing the red as RR, the 
partly red as Rr, and the yellow as rr. 
According as we adopt the one or the other 
system of expression we shall interpret the 
evolutionary change as one of loss or as one 
of addition. May we not interpret the 
other apparent new dominants in the same 
way? The white dominant in the fowl or 
in the Chinese primula can inhibit color. 
But may it not be that the original colored 
fowl or primula had two doses of a factor 
which inhibited this inhibitor? The pepper 
moth, Amphidasys betularia, produced in 
England about 1840 a black variety, then 
a novelty, now common in certain areas, 
which behaves as a full dominant. The 
pure blacks are no blacker than the cross- 
bred. Though at first sight it seems that 
the black must have been something added, 
we can without absurdity suggest that the 
normal is the term in which two doses of 


AvuGust 28, 1914] 


inhibitor are present, and that in the ab- 
sence of one of them the black appears. 

In spite of seeming perversity, therefore, 
we have to admit that there is no evolution- 
ary change which in the present state of 
our knowledge we can positively declare to 
be not due to loss. When this has been 
conceded it is natural to ask whether the 
removal of inhibiting factors may not be 
invoked in alleviation of the necessity 
which has driven students of the domestic 
breeds to refer their diversities to multiple 
origins. Something, no doubt, is to be 
hoped for in that direction, but not until 
much better and more extensive knowledge 
of what variation by loss may effect in the 
living body can we have any real assurance 
that this difficulty has been obviated. We 
should be greatly helped by some indication 
as to whether the origin of life has been single 
or multiple. Modern opinion is, perhaps, 
inclining to the multiple theory, but we 
have no real evidence. Indeed, the problem 
still stands outside the range of scientific in- 
vestigation, and when we hear the spon- 
taneous formation of formaldehyde men- 
tioned as a possible first step in the origin 
of life, we think of Harry Lauder in the 
character of a Glasgow schoolboy pulling 
out his treasures from his pocket—‘‘That’s 
a wassher—for makkin’ motor cars!’’ 

As the evidence stands at present all that 
can be safely added in amplification of the 
evolutionary creed may be summed up in 
the statement that variation occurs as a 
definite event often producing a sensibly 
discontinuous result; that the succession of 
varieties comes to pass by the elevation and 
establishment of sporadic groups of indi- 
viduals owing their origin to such isolated 
events ; and that the change which we see as 
a nascent variation is often, perhaps always, 
one of loss. Modern research lends not the 
smallest encouragement or sanction to the 
view that gradual evolution occurs by the 


SCIENCE 


301 


transformation of masses of individuals, 
though that fancy has fixed itself on popular 
imagination. The isolated events to which 
variation is due are evidently changes in the 
germinal tissues, probably in the manner in 
which they divide. It is likely that the oc- 
eurrence of these variations is wholly ir- 
regular, and as to their causation we are 
absolutely without surmise or even plaus- 
ible speculation. Distinct types once 
arisen, no doubt a profusion of the forms 
called species have been derived from them 
by simple crossing and subsequent recombi- 
nation. New species may be now in course 
of creation by this means, but the limits of 
the process are obviously narrow. On the 
other hand, we see no changes in progress 
around us in the contemporary world 
which we can imagine likely to culminate in 
the evolution of forms distinct in the larger 
sense. By intererossing dogs, jackals and 
wolves, new forms of these types can be 
made, some of which may be species, but I 
see no reason to think that from such ma- 
terial a fox could be bred in indefinite time, 
or that dogs could be bred from foxes. 

Whether science will hereafter discover 
that certain groups can by peculiarities in 
their genetic physiology be declared to have 
a prerogative quality justifying their recog- 
nition as species in the old sense, and that 
the differences of others are of such a sub- 
crdinate degree that they may in contrast 
be termed varieties, further genetic re- 
search alone can show. I myself anticipate 
that such a discovery will be made, but I 
ean not defend the opinion with positive 
conviction. 

Somewhat reluctantly, and rather from a 
sense of duty, I have devoted most of this 
address to the evolutionary aspects of ge- 
netic research. We can not keep these 
things out of our heads, though sometimes 
we wish we could. The outcome, as you will 
have seen, is negative, destroying much that 


302 


till lately passed for gospel. Destruction 
may be useful, but it is a low kind of work. 
We are just about where Boyle was in the 
seventeenth century. We can dispose of 
alchemy, but we can not make more than a 
quasi-chemistry. We are awaiting our 
Priestley and our Mendeléeff. In truth it 
is not these wider aspects of genetics that 
are at present our chief concern. They 
will come in their time. The great advances 
of science are made like those of evolution, 
not by imperceptible mass-improvement, 
but by the sporadic birth of penetrative 
genius. The journeymen follow after him, 
widening and clearing up, as we are doing 
along the track that Mendel found. 
WinuiamM BATESON 


MORPHOLOGY OF THE BACTERIA (VIBRIO 
AND SPIRILLUM), AN HARLY RE- 
SHARCH1—THE INTESTINAL 
FLORA 


Biotogy presents few more fascinating pic- 
tures than that which portrays the early 
development of microscopic research in rela- 
tion to what is now recognized as the science 
of bacteriology, and in our anxiety to pursue 
the utilitarian side of the subject it behooves 
us not to forget the work of the early pioneer 
naturalists who gave us the first glimpse of 
the foundation stones of what has come to be 
one of the most important departments of 
biological science. Did time permit, I should 
like to dwell in detail upon the early work of 
Leeuwenhoek,? Miuiller,2 Bory-de Saint Vin- 
cent, and later HKhrenberg* and Dujardin,® 


1 The research with which this paper deals came 
to light during a review of the work performed by 
various authors upon the intestinal flora of men 
and the lower orders of animals, and it is hoped 
that the subject will prove of sufficient interest to 
justify the writer in bringing it to the attention of 
the Society of American Bacteriologists. 

2 Transactions Royal Society, 1675-1683. 

8 ‘¢ Animalia Infusoria,’? 1773. 

4‘‘Die Infusionsthierchen als Valkom Organ- 
ism,’’ 1838; Verhandl. der Berl. Acad., 1839. 

5‘¢Fistorie Naturelle des Zoophytes,’’ 1841. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1026 


respectively, 1839-1841—the latter of whom 
were the first to attempt a systematic classifi- 
cation of the bacteria—made doubly difficult— 
for until this time and for some years later 
these microorganisms or animalcula, as they 
were then termed, were included among the 
Infusoria and were so classified. 

Authorities have credited Perty, 1852, and 
Robin, 1853, as the first observers to suggest a 
vegetal nature of these organisms. In a re- 
cent review of the scientific correspondence 
between Joseph Leidy and Spencer F. Baird, 
late secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 
in 1847-1849, a letter from Leidy to Baird in 
1847 attracted my attention. In it he ob- 
serves that he is in the midst of an investiga- 
tion upon the structure of the alimentary 
canal and the chemical processes of digestion, 
and desires a series of insects from the moun- 
tainous regions of Pennsylvania, where Baird 
then lived, upon which to pursue his investi- 
gation, the results of which he would commu- 
nicate later through a report to the Philadel- 
phia Academy of Natural Science. 

Curious to observe the character of this re- 
search, upon reference to the Academy’s Pro- 
ceedings, we find in October, 1849, Leidy pre- 
sented a paper with the following preamble: 

From the opinion so frequently expressed that 
contagious diseases and some others might have 
their origin and reproductive character through the 
agency of cryptogamic spores, which, from their 
minuteness and lightness, are so easily conveyed 
from place to place through the atmosphere, by 
means of the gentlest Zephyr, or even the evapora- 
tion continually taking place from the earth’s 
surface; and from the numerous facts already 
presented of the presence of eryptogamic vegeta- 
tion in many cutaneous diseases and upon other dis- 
eased surfaces, I was led to reflect upon the possi- 
bility of plants of this description existing in 
healthy animals, as a natural condition; or at least 
apparently so, as in the case of entozoa. Upon 
considering that the conditions essential to vege- 
table growth were the same as those indispensable 
to animal life, I felt convinced that entophyta 
would be found in healthy living animals, as well, 
and probably as frequently, as entozoa. The con- 
stant presence of mycodermatoid filaments grow- 
ing upon the human teeth, the teeth of the ox, 
sheep, pig, etc., favored this idea, and accordingly 


Aveust 28, 1914] 


I instituted a course of investigation, which led to 
the discovery of several well-characterized forms 
of vegetable growth, of which, at present, I will 
give but a short description, for the purpose of 
establishing priority, and propose giving a more 
detailed account of them, with figures, in the sec- 
ond volume of the journal. 


Then follows a description of various new 
genera and species of cryptogamic vegetation, 
growing upon the basement membrane of the 
small intestine of the myriapod Julus margi- 
natus (Say), and upon the exterior of the 
entozoa—A caris infecta, infesting this insect— 
another new genera of entophyta allied to the 
mycodermata. He further observes: 


Centipede, Millipede, Thousandleg 


The three genera of entophyta of which I have 
now spoken are all so constantly found in Julus 
marginatus that I look upon it as a natural con- 
dition, and should I hereafter meet with an in- 
dividual without them, I will consider it a rare ex- 
ception, because in one hundred and sixteen indi- 
viduals which I have examined during the past 
thirteen months, in all seasons, and at all ages and 
sizes of from one up to three inches of the animal, 
I have invariably found them. It can not be sup- 
posed that these are developed and grow after 
death, because I found them always immediately 
upon killing the animal. Whilst the legs of frag- 
ments of the animals were yet moving upon my 
table, or one half of the body even walking, I 
have frequently been examining the plants grow- 
ing upon part of the intestinal canal of the same 
individual. And upon the entozoa these ento- 
phyta will be frequently found growing, whilst the 
former are actively moving about. I found among 
others an ascaris three lines long, which had no less 
than twenty-three individuals of Hnterobrus (para- 
sitic), averaging a line in length, besides a quan- 
tity of the other two genera, growing upon it, and 
yet it moved about in so lively a manner that it 
did not appear the least incommoded by its load 
of vegetation. This specimen I have preserved in 
a glass cell in Goadby’s solution, and exhibit it to 
the academy. 

The genus Julus is an extensive one, and its 
species are found in all the great parts of the globe, 
and as their habits are the same, the conditions 
for the production of the entophyta will be the 
same, and I think I do not go too far when I say 
they will be constantly found throughout the genus 
in any part of the world, so that naturalists and 


SCIENCE 303 


other, may, upon examination, readily verify or 
contradict the statements which I have this eve- 
ning presented. 


Then follow to us these interesting obser- 
vations: 


From these facts we may perceive that we may 
have entophyta in luxurious growth within living 
animals without affecting their health, which is 
further supported by my having detected myco- 
dermatoid filaments in the cecum of six young and 
healthy rats, examined immediately after death, 
although they existed in no other part of the body. 
These filaments were minute, simple and inarticu- 
late, measuring from 1/5,000 to 1/1,428 inch in 
length by 1/16,000 of an inch in breadth. With 
them were also found two species of Vibrio. 

Even those moving filamentary bodies belonging 
to the genus Vibrio, are of the character of algous 
vegetation. Their movement is no objection to this 
opinion, for much higher conferve, as the Oscilla- 
torias, are endowed with inherent power of move- 
ment, not very unlike that of the Vibrio, and in- 
deed the movement of the latter appears to belong 
to one stage of its existence. Thus, in the toad 
(Bufo americanus), in the stomach and small in- 
testine, there exist simple, delicate, filamentary 
bodies, which are of three different kinds. One is 
exceedingly minute, forms a single spiral, is en- 
dowed with a power of rapid movement, and ap- 
pears to be the Spirillum undula of Ehrenberg; 
the second is an exceedingly minute, straight and 
short filament, with a movement actively molecular 
in character, and is probably the Vibrio lineola of 
the same author; the third consists of straight, 
motionless filaments, measuring 1/1,125 inch long 
by 1/15,000 broad; some were, however, twice or 
even thrice this length; but then I could always 
detect one or two articulations, and these, in all 
their characters, excepting want of movement, re- 
semble the Vibrio. In the rectum of the same ani- 
mal, the same filamentary bodies are found, with 
myriads of Bodo intestinalis; but the third species, 
or longest of the filamentary bodies, have increased 
immensely in numbers, and now possess the move- 
ment peculiar to the Vibrio lineola, which, how- 
ever, does not appear to be voluntary, but reaction- 
ary; they bend and pursue a straight course, until 
they meet with some obstacle, when they instantly 
move in the opposite direction, either extremity 
forward. 


These observations were published in 1849, 
and it is of interest to note that ten years — 


304 SCIENCE 


elapsed before M. Davaine in 1859 made the 
same observation in almost identical lanzuage 
suggesting the vegetal nature of the Vibrio— 
its alliance to the Algze and especially the 
Confervee. 


Leidy continues in the same number of the 
Proceedings: 


But it must not be understood that these facts 
militate against the hypothesis of the production 
of contagious diseases through the agency of 
eryptogamia. It is well established that there 
are microscopic ecryptogamia capable of pro- 
ducing and transmitting disease, as in the case 
of the Muscardine, ete., as that there are in- 
nocuous and poisonous fungi. In many instances 
it is diffieult to distinguish their character, 
whether as cause or effect, as upon diseased sur- 
faces, in Tinea capitis, apthous ulcers, ete. In a 
post-mortem examination, in which I assisted Dr. 
Horner,’ a few weeks since, 28 hours after death, 
in moderately cool weather, we found the stomach 
in a much softened condition. In the mucus of 
the stomach, I detected myriads of mycodermatoid 
filaments, resembling those growing upon the teeth; 
simple, floating, inarticulate and measuring from 
1/7,000 to 1/520 of an inch in length by 1/25,000 
of an inch in breadth. It is possible that they may 
have been the cause of the softened condition; but 
I would prefer thinking that swallowed mycoder- 
matoid filaments from the teeth, finding an excel- 
lent nidus in the softening stomach, rapidly grew 
and reproduced themselves. In the healthy human 
stomach these do not exist. 

In the stomach of a diabetic patient, I found so 
very few that they probably did not grow there, 
but were swallowed in the saliva. 


A note is appended to this report: 


Note:—Since the above went to press, Dr. 
Leidy announced to the academy that he had dis- 
covered two new species of the entophyte Hntero- 
brus; one of them, H. spiralis, growing in the 
small intestine Julus pusillus ; the other, H. attenu- 
atus, growing more or less profusely with a second 
species of Cladophytwm, C. clavatum, in the ven- 
triculus of the coleopterous insect, Passalus cor- 
nutus. Thus has been established the law ‘‘ that 
plants may grow in the interior of the healthy ani- 
mal as a normal condition,’’ and a new field has 


6 Rend. Comp., Paris, 1859, V., 58, 59; also 
“‘Traite des Entozoaries,’’ Paris, 1860. 

7 W. E. Horner, professor of anatomy, Univer- 
sity of Pennsylvania, 1849. 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1026 


been presented for the investigation of the Crypto- 
game-naturalist. (See forthcoming number of the 
Proceedings. )8§ 


Also in December, 1849, appears: 


Besides the foregoing I have found numerous 
free or floating entophyta in the contents, usually 
of the posterior part of the alimentary canal, in 
mammalia, aves, reptilia, pisces, mollusca, insecta, 
etc. These, at present, I do not feel at liberty to 
describe as new or peculiar, from my want of ac- 
quaintance with cryptogamic botany. A number 
of them, I have no doubt, if not peculiar, at least 
continue to grow luxuriantly in the intestinal 
canal; such are various Mycoderma, etc.; others 
very probably are swallowed with the food, and 
pass from the intestinal canal unchanged. WNu- 
merous drawings of these I exhibit to the Acad- 
emy, and purpose leaving them to future investi- 
gation, or to the consideration of cryptogamic bot- 
anists, being a field well worthy of their re- 
searches. I also have a number of others, the char- 
acter of which is peculiarly entophytic; but these 
I have not yet studied out nor figured, but hope to 
present descriptions of them to the academy in a 
very short time. 


These researches upon the morphology and 
vegetal nature of the Vibrio and Spirillum; 
the suggestion of polymorphism, much dilated 
upon by later observers; the enunciation of a 
new law of the general existence of a para- 
sitie intestinal flora of cryptogamic vegetation 
existing throughout the animal kingdom as a 
normal condition; the pathological signifi- 
cance of the presence of germs upon diseased 


. surfaces, as to cause or effect; the suggestion 


of the inherent resistance of healthy living 
tissues to certain forms of vegetal parasites, 
are of more than historic interest. 


As bearing upon the various types of micro- 
scopes then in use (1849). It is of interest to 
note in the last paper, he describes for the 
first time muscular striz in the posterior cell, 
and later the anterior cell, of a new species of 
gregarina, determining its animality® which 

8‘*A Flora and Fauna within Living Animals,’ 
Smithsonian Institution, 1851. 

9‘“Gregarina Dufox,’’ Proc. A. N. S., 1849 
See also ‘‘Collected Researches in Helminthology 
and Parasitology,’’ by Joseph Leidy, 1823-91, 
Smithsonian Institution, 1904. 


Avucust 28, 1914] 


had been previously denied by Creplin!® and 
von Seibold.11 

Leidy, in his monograph on the Gregarina, 
published this year, attributes the failure on 
the part of these investigators to note the pres- 
ence of muscular striz, to the inferiority of 
the microscopes used on the continent of 
Europe compared with those in use in England 
and America (1849). 

Finally in a third paper published February, 
1850, Philadelphia Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., 
Leidy writes it was now eighteen months since 
he had sought for Entophyta within living 
animals, having been previously impressed 
with the belief of their existence upon reflect- 
ing upon the essential conditions of life. 
Four months since he exhibited to the Acad- 
emy numerous drawings and specimens of 


' Entophyta obtained from living animals; he 


now exhibited others. 

The essential conditions of life are five in 
number, viz., a germ, nutritive matter, air, 
water and heat. The four latter undoubtedly 
exist in the interior of living animals, animal 
or entozoa germs also are well known to exist, 
and it was rendered extremely probable that 
vegetable germs would also exist, and with 
them all the conditions necessary to vegetable 
growth. Plants have been very frequently 
observed growing upon the exterior of ani- 
mals, and less frequently upon the interior, 
most usually upon diseased surfaces, but the 
growth of such parasites had not been pointed 
out as a normal and common condition as in 
the case of entozoa. : 

He next reviewed the theory of generation. 
He inclines to the opinion that sexual ele- 
ments are absolutely necessary for the per- 
petuation of germs. He considered the alter- 
nation of generation in certain animals no 
objection to the law, for after successive devel- 
opments an admixture of sexual elements is 
observed to be necessary. The reproduction 
among Cryptogamia may probably often ex- 
hibit phenomena analogous to the alternation 
of generation of animals, but universally he 
thinks it will be discovered that a true sexual 

10 Wiegmann’s Archiv, 1846, 1 Band, 8. 157. 

11 Wiegmann’s Archiv, 1838, 2 Band, S. 308. 


SCIENCE 305 


mixture takes place in every species of these 
plants at some period of their life. According 
to the observations of Schimper, it is necessary 
among the mosses. From an observation made 
by Klencke upon a fungus which grew upon a 
diseased surface, Dr. Leidy thinks that sexual 
admixture would be discovered to take place in 
the mycelium. In numerous instances. it had 
been observed among the Alge. He stated he 
thought he had noticed the process in Achyla 
prolifera, and gave a description of the phe- 
nomena. He finally considers that science is 
on the eve of demonstrating the existence of a 
law “that an admixture of sexual elements 
is necessary for the perpetuation of specific 
life germs.” 

He then exhibited numerous elaborate draw- 
ings of new entophyta observed growing in the 
ventriculus of Passalus cornutus, a remarkable 
one growing in a honey-like liquid in the pro- 
ventriculus of the larva of Arctia Isabella, 
another from Acheta abbreviata, ete. He re- 
marked that when such plants were found in 
animals they were usually very abundant. 

Dr. Leidy then stated that very slight modi- 
fications in the five essential conditions of 
life were sufficient to produce the vast variety 
of living beings wpon the globe. As an in- 
stance, he mentioned he had lying upon his 
table a saucer with a cork bottom, in which 
lay a partially dissected Passalus cornutus half 
immersed in water. Two days afterwards he 
noticed on the part of the insect above the 
water a quantity of Mucor mucedo growing, 
and from the part within the water numerous 
fine, stiff filaments, which upon examination 
proved to be Achyla prolifera; upon the cork 
around the insect grew a third genus, con- 
sisting of fine cottony filaments, which were 
articulated, of which he exhibited a drawing; 
and upon the insect at the surface of the 
water, but not within the latter, grew a fourth 
genus, of which he also exhibited a drawing. 

He also stated that he had had the good 
fortune of observing in a single morning all 
the stages of development of Achyla prolifera 
growing from some individuals of Ascarides 
which had been lying in a dish of water for a 
few days. 


306 


In reply to some remarks made by mem- 
bers, Dr. Leidy said he could not admit the 
doctrine of spontaneous generation,!2 but 
rather modifications in the essential conditions 
of life favorable to the development of differ- 
ent and always preexisting germs derived from 
a parent. 

It is but natural that these researches should 
lead to a discussion of the hypothesis of spon- 
taneous generation and the origin of species. 
On these further researches I should like to 
dwell, bearing, as they do, upon the germ 
theory, but I fear I have already taxed your 
patience, so I must forbear. 

From these published researches, in any his- 
torical review of the history of bacteriology, 
the usual accepted date of Davaine’s designa- 
tion of the vegetal nature of these organisms, 
Vibrio, Spirillum, 1859, should be moved back 
at least another decade to 1849. 


JOSEPH Lempy, Jr. 


SOUTH AFRICAN ASSOCIATION FOR TEE 
ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE! 


THE twelfth annual session of the South 
African Association for the Advancement of 
Science was held in Kimberley, Cape Province, 
during the week commencing Monday, July 6, 
under the presidency of Professor R. Marloth. 
There was the usual round of festivities and 
of visits to places of scientific or historic 
interest. The papers read numbered between 
forty and fifty. Dr. A. Ogg, professor of 
physics at Rhodes University College, Gra- 
hamstown, in his presidential address to Sec- 
tion A, dealt with some of the ideas in physical 
science which are under discussion at the pres- 
ent time in the light of recent research, and 
sought to bring under review some of our 
fundamental notions or principles, having re- 
gard to the fact that what mathematicians and 


12 For experiments in connection with the 
theory of spontaneous generation, see ‘‘Flora and 
Fauna within Living Animals,’’? Smithsonian In- 
stitution, 1851, e¢ al., published lectures before 
students of medical department, University of 
Pennsylvania, 1858 and 1859. 

1 Abridged from a report in Nature. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1026 


physicists have long considered well established 
is now being uprooted and replaced by non- 
Newtonian mechanics based on the principle 
of relativity. In Section B the presidential 
address was given by Professor G. H. Stanley, 
of the Transvaal School of Mines and Tech- 
nology, whose subject was “A Decade of 
Metallurgical Progress on the Witwatersrand.” 
The greatest advances during the last ten 
years, he said, were in improving methods of 
carrying out the various stages of the extrac- 
tion processes, the essentials remaining un- 
changed. In Section ©, comprising the bio- 
logical sciences and agriculture, the presiden- 
tial address of Professor George Potts, of Grey 
University College, Bloemfontein, dealt with 
rural education. An evening discourse was 
delivered im the Kimberley City Hall by 
Professor KE. H. L. Schwarz, on the Kimberley 
diamond pipes, the history of their discovery, 
and their relation to other South African 
voleanie vents. This lecture, like Professor 
Marloth’s address as president of the associa- 
tion was illustrated by many lantern slides. 
The numerous slides exhibited by Professor 
Marloth were all hand colored, and constituted 
the most excellent collection representative of 
South African indigenous flora ever exhibited. 
At the conclusion of the president’s address, 
Dr. Crawford, the association’s senior vice- 
president, handed to him the South Africa 
medal (instituted by the British Association 
in 1905 im commemoration of its visit to South 
Africa during that year) and grant of £50 
which had been conferred upon him in recog- 
nition of his eminent services to botanical 
science in South Africa during the last thirty 
years. 


PACIFIC FISHERIES SOCIETY 


On March 11 a meeting of those interested 
in the upbuilding and perpetuating of the 
great fisheries of the Pacific slope was held in 
Seattle, Wash., and it was decided to form a 
temporary organization of a society to be 
known as the Pacific Fisheries Society, and to 
hold a meeting later in the year for the pur- 


a ES te 


— 


Bos 


OSE NHS 


SSeS 


Aveust 28, 1914] 


pose of making the organization a permanent 
one. The following officers were elected: 
President, Carl Westerfeld, member Cali- 
fornia Fish and Game Commission, San Fran- 
eisco, Cal.; Vice-president, Henry O’Malley, 
Pacific Coast Supt. of Hatcheries for U. S. 
Bureau of Fisheries, Oregon City, Oregon; 
Vice-president, Professor Trevor Kincaid, head 
of Department of Zoology, University of 
Washington, Seattle, Wash.; Secretary, John 
N. Cobb, editor Pacific Fisherman, Seattle, 
Wash., and Treasurer, Russell Palmer, Seattle, 
Wash. 


The first annual meeting was held at the 
University of Washington, Seattle, on June 
10-12, when the following papers were read: 

Policy of the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries with 
respect to the Pacific Fisheries, by Dr. H. M. 
Smith, Commissioner of Fisheries. 

Establishment of a Fishery School at the Uni- 
versity of Washington, by Professor Trevor Kin- 
eaid. 

Some Neglected Fishery Resources of the Pa- 
cific Coast, by John N. Cobb. 

Angling and Netting; the Conservation of the 
Marine Fishes of Southern California, by Dr. 
Charles F. Holder. 

The Nanaimo, British Columbia, Biological Lab- 
oratory, by C. McLean Fraser, Director. 

Hybridization of Salmons, by Professor Victor 
EH, Smith. 

Rearing and Feeding Salmon Fry. Separate 
papers by Henry O’Malley, of the U. S. Bureau of 
Fisheries; W. H. Shebley, California Supt. of 
Hatcheries; R. EH. Clanton, Oregon Supt. of Hatch- 
eries; Stephen Butts, Supt. Willapa State Hatch- 
ery, Lebam, Wash., and L. M. Rice, Supt. Chehalis, 
Wash., Hatchery. 

The society decided to retain for another 
year the officers elected at the March meet- 
ing, and in addition the following to serve 
as an executive committee: Dr. Barton W. 
Eyermann, Director Museum California 
Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, Cal.; 
C. McLean Fraser, Director Biological Labo- 
ratory, Nanaimo, British Columbia; Dr. 
Charles F. Holder, Pasadena, California; 
Leslie H. Darwin, Washington Fish and Game 
Commissioner, Seattle, Wash.; M. J. Kinney, 
member Oregon Fish and Game Commission, 
Portland, Oregon; Ward T. Bower, Pacific 


SCIENCE 307 


Coast Agent U. S. Bureau of Fisheries, Seattle, 
Wash., and M. D. Baldwin, Esq., member 
Montana Fish and Game Commission, Kalis- 
pell, Montana. 

The next annual meeting will be held in 
San Francisco in 1916, the date to be fixed 
later. 

_ The society will publish its annual pro- 
ceedings. 
JoHn N. Coss, 
Secretary 


THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY 


As was announced in last week’s issue of 
Sctmncze the American Chemical Society is 
unable to hold the meeting which had been 
planned for Montreal in September. The 
conditions are explained in the following 
letter addressed to Dr. Charles L. Parsons, 
secretary of the society, by Professor R. F. 
Ruttan, chairman of the Montreal committee: 


The declaration of war between Germany and 
England found me at Metis Beach, 500 miles down 
the St. Lawrence, playing golf with a feeling of 
relief that our organization for the meeting was so 
complete. 

My first wire to you was mis-sent by a habitant 
operator, who did not think the order of initials 
was of any importance. I am sorry for the delay. 
I took the first train back to Montreal, arriving 
this morning, and wired you. 

We had a meeting of all the executive committee 
in town this afternoon, and with profound regret, 
fully realizing what it meant to you and the so- 
ciety, decided that the meeting could not be made 
to go in British territory this autumn. I wired you 
at once. 

“‘Canada is sending the first contingent of 20,- 
000 very soon and a second and third will follow. 

“‘Montrealers feel that we are at war with Ger- 
many and Austria, and are behaving as if the 
enemy were threatening us. 

‘‘The harbor, canals, ete., are under martial law. 
The excursions were off, as the company cancelled 
our contract, for the steamers for the rapids and 
harbor. 

‘‘No German member of the society would nat- 
urally come to British soil and all with German 
names would be questioned at the boundary. Many 
are even now turned back. We felt that the ex- 


308 


clusion of so many prominent members of the so- 
ciety was a high price to pay for a meeting here. 

‘“Any foreigners would be subjected to disagree- 
able formalities and conditions on coming here just 
now. 

“‘Tt would be impossible to attract to the conven- 
tion the slightest public interest in Montreal, out- 
side a few dozen chemists. No one would come to 
the conversazione or the garden parties we had ar- 
ranged, and while there would surely be the feeling 
of good fellowship among ourselves, it would be 
overshadowed by the tragic war we are in at pres- 
ent.”? 

It is sad to look over the wreck of our hopes of a 
big and successful meeting. 

Everything was organized and under way even to 
tehearsing for the smoker. The toastmaster and 
speakers for the banquet, the chemical and other 
scientific ‘‘stunts’’ for the conversazione were ar- 
ranged, the hall for the exhibits prepared, which, 
by the way, would have been of exceptional inter- 
est. We feel very sad about it all to-day I assure 
you. 

The principal, vice-principal and Sir Wm. Osler, 
who had promised to speak at the banquet, are in 
Hurope, as well as many of our staff. Their return 
is uncertain. Everything was against the meeting 
and only our desire to give you the hand of good 
fellowship and the advanced state of the prepara- 
tions made us hesitate at all about calling every- 
thing off. 

I hope you appreciate our situation and that we 
have your sympathy. 

I came up this morning feeling sure the meeting 
would go, but have been convinced it could not be 
made more than an apology for a convention, which 
it would be a waste of time to attend. 

When things settle down again we will once more 
extend you an invitation, and hope you will do us 
the honor of accepting it. 


On receipt of this letter, President Richards 
of course determined at once to eall off the 
meeting. The almost unanimous opinion of 
the officers of the society is that it will be im- 
possible to arrange for a successful meeting 
early in the fall and that business conditions 
throughout the country render it improbable 
that it would be advisable to have a meeting 
later in the year. The present outlook is that 
the next meeting of the American Chemical 
Society will be in New Orleans, April 1 to 3, 
1915. 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8S. Von. XL. No. 1026 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


Mr. Roosrvett has arranged to give to mem- 
bers of the American Museum of Natural His- 
tory in the fall the first presentation of the 
zoological results of his recent expedition +o 
South America. The zoological collections 
which, through the generosity of Mr. Roose- 
velt, the museum has received from the Roose- 
velt expedition to South America, amount to 
twenty-five hundred birds and four hundred 
and fifty mammals. 


Tue Bissett-Hawkins memorial medal of the 
Royal College of Physicians of London has 
been awarded to Sir Ronald Ross, for his work 
on malaria. 


AT a meeting of the Royal Society of Edin- 
burgh, held on July 7, Dr. W. S. Bruce was 
presented with the Neill Prize, in recognition 
of the scientific results of his Arctic and Ant- 
aretic explorations. 


Dr. ALEXANDER VON Britt, professor of 
mathematics at Tiibingen, has been given a 
doctorate of engineering by the Technological 
School at Munich, on the occasion of the 
fiftieth anniversary of his doctorate. 


Dr. Paut Kroeger, of Leipzig, has received 
a prize of 5,000 Marks from the Berlin Acad- 
emy of Sciences for his work on the theory of 
functions. 


Dr. Mairet, professor of mental and nervous 
diseases at Montpellier, has been elected a na- 
tional associate of the Paris Academy of Medi- 
cine. He has been national correspondent in 
the section of pathologic medicine since 1894. 

THE second annual meeting of the Indian 
Science Congress is to be held, under the aus- 
pices of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, in Mad- 
ras, on January 14-16 next, under the presi- 
dency of Surgeon-General Bannerman. 


Dr. Breverty T. Gattoway, lately assistant 
secretary of the Department of Agriculture, 
took up his duties as director of the New York 
State College of Agriculture, Cornell Univer- 
sity, on August first. 


Dr. Lewis A. Sexton, resident physician at 
Willard Parker Hospital, New York, has ac- 
cepted the position of superintendent of the 


" 


AuGusST 28, 1914] 


Johns Hopkins University Hospital, Balti- 
more. 


Dr. C. O. Townsenp, formerly in charge of 
sugar beet investigations for the U. S. De- 
partment of Agriculture but more recently in 
commercial sugar beet work at Garden City, 
Kansas, has returned to Washington and is 
again in charge of sugar beet investigation 
for the Federal Department of Agriculture. 


Mr. Harnan I. Surry, archeologist of the 
Geological Survey, Canada, is exploring in 
the shell-heaps of Merigomish, Nova Scotia. 
Mr. W. B. Nickerson is continuing explora- 
tions in the mounds, earthworks and village 
sites of southwestern Manitoba, and Mr. W. J. 
Wintemberg is exploring a section of country 
between Prescott and Peterborough, Ontario, 
for a site of a culture different from that of 
the Roebuck site which he excavated in 1912. 


Me. F. M. Anperson, curator, and Mr. 
Bruce Martin, assistant curator of the de- 
partment of invertebrate paleontology of the 
California Academy of Sciences, with two as- 
sistants, have recently left for South Amer- 


_ ica where they are engaged in making oil in- 


vestigations for an oil company. ‘Their field 
of investigation is in the United States of 
Colombia at Lorica which is midway between 
the Magdalena and Atrato rivers. They have 
already made extensive collections of inverte- 
brate fossils in the tertiary strata of that re- 
gion and they expect to make still larger col- 
lections incidental to their work during the 
next year. ‘These collections will come to the 
California Academy of Sciences. 


Dr. C. W. Hayus, who resigned the office of 
chief geologist in the United States Geolog- 


‘ical Survey in 1911 to take a position as vice- 


president and general manager of the Mexican 
Eagle Oil Company, with headquarters at 
Tampico, has left Mexico for England. He 
retains his connection with the company as first 
vice-president, but will no longer act as gen- 
eral manager. He will be occupied chiefly as 
geological adviser to S. Pearson & Son, Ltd., 
of which Lord Cowdray is the head, in connec- 
tion with the operations of that firm in vyari- 
ous parts of the world. 


SCIENCE 309 


Mr. Orr Otsen has offered to place at the 
disposal of Mr. Knud Rasmussen funds sutffi- 
cient for the fittmg out of a north polar 
pedition. Mr. Rasmussen has already traveled 
much in Greenland and has made studies. of 
the Eskimo. The proposed expedition would 
take provisions for two years and would in- 
clude a scientific staff. A base camp would be 
set up at Cape York, Greenland, and the ex- 
pedition would probably start in 1915. 


THE new session of the medical faculty of 
the University of Manchester will be opened 
on October 8 by an address by Professor EH. 8. 
Reynolds on the industrial diseases of Greater 
Manchester. 

Prorsssor ARTHUR CARLETON TROWBRIDGE, 
of the State University of Iowa, gave an illus- 
trated lecture at the University of Chicago on 
August 13 on “ Some Mountains of the United 
States and Their Inhabitants,” and Henry 
Oldys, formerly of the United States Biolog- 
ical Survey, lectured on August 20 and 21 on 
“Bird Protection and Bird Music” and 
“Birds at the National Capital.” 


A sratur of Captain Cook, by Sir Thomas 
Brock, R.A., has been erected by public sub- 
scription in London, on the Mall side of the 
Admiralty Arch, at the end of the Proces- 
sional Road, and was unveiled on July 7 by 
Prince Arthur of Connaught. 


Dr. Epouarp Reyer, professor of geology at 
Vienna, has died at the age of fifty-six years. 


It is reported that in future the distribu- 
tion of the Nobel prize will take place on 
June 1 instead of in December, as hitherto. 
The next distribution has been fixed for June 
1, 1915. 

ANNOUNCEMENT is made that the Interna- 
tional Ophthalmological Congress, which was 
to have been held at St. Petersburg in August, 
has been postponed, and the same course will 
doubtless be taken for all the international 
congresses which had planned to meet in 
Europe this year. 

Tr is stated in Nature that the whole of the 
new buildings of the University of Birming- 
ham at Edgbaston have been taken over by 
the war office, and now form the first southern 


310 


general hospital. Certain structural altera- 
tions are being carried out with a view of 
making the hospital as efficient as possible. 


Outset of Germany there is no known com- 
mercial supply of potash salts. If the Ger- 
man supplies are cut off during the Huropean 
war, the agricultural world must either go 
without potash salts after the meager supply 
now on hand is exhausted or bestir itself to 
find another adequate source of supply. Al- 
ready many inquiries regarding potash have 
been addressed to the United States Geological 
Survey, and the fertilizer journals report that 
small quantities of spot material are changing 
hands at sharp premiums. The situation is 
undoubtedly more acute than it was a few 
years ago, when national interest was first 
awakened to the fact that the United States is 
entirely dependent on Germany for this impor- 
tant class of fertilizer materials. Potash salts 
are employed in many industries other than 
the fertilizer industry. A large amount is 
used in glass and soap making and in the 
manufacture of a number of chemical products. 
These include potassium hydrate, or caustic 
potash, and the carbonate and bicarbonate of 
potash, used principally in glass and soap ma- 
king; the potash alums; cyanides, including 
potassium cyanide, potassium ferro-cyanide, 
and potassium ferri-cyanide; various potash 
bleaching chemicals, dye stuffs, explosives con- 
taining potash nitrate, and a long list of gen- 
eral chemicals. The imports of potash salts, 
listed as such in the reports of the Bureau of 
Foreign and Domestic Commerce, include the 
carbonate, cyanide, chloride, nitrate and sul- 
phate, caustic potash, and other potash com- 
pounds. The importation of the above salts in 
round numbers the last three years has aver- 
aged 635,000,000 pounds in quantity and $11,- 
000,000 in value. These figures, however, rep- 
resent only a part of the potash salts entering 
the United States as they do not include the 
imports of kainite and manure salts which are 
used in fertilizers. The quantity of this class 
of materials imported for consumption in the 
United States during the last three years has 
averaged about 700,000 tons valued at $4,300,- 
000 annually. Thus it is apparent that the 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8S. Von. XL. No. 1026 


annual importations of potash salts exceed 
$15,000,000. 


THE outbreak of the European war has 
caused the New York price of tin to rise to 65 
cents a pound, although in the latter part of 
July tin was sold as low as 30.5 cents a pound. 
None of the European countries make a pro- 
duction which would greatly affect market 
values, and the disturbance of price is due 
mostly to the imsecurity of ocean freights. 
The known American tin deposits are small, 
and production from them will probably not 
be much affected by the exceedingly high 
prices if these are temporary. However, the 
operators now working tin deposits may reap 
a profit if they can market their ores before 
the drop in prices that is sure to come. The 
benefit which it seems possible to get out of 
the present situation is in the establishment 
of a tin smelter in the United States in which 
to smelt Bolivian tin ores and such small lots 
of American ore as are produced. At present 
between 30,000 and 40,000 tons of tin concen- 
trates carrying more than 20,000 tons of 
metallic tin are shipped each year from Bo- 
livia to Europe for smelting. The United 
States would absorb the tin smelted from this 
ore easily, and it has been demonstrated that 
there are no difficulties in the smelting of the 
Bolivian ores that American metallurgists can 
not meet. Owing to the lack of European 
freighters, Bolivian ores will now be seeking 
a market, and, providing that ships can be 
found to carry the ore, this will be the oppor- 
tunity for Americans to begin purchasing the 
ores that have heretofore gone to Kurope. A 
few years ago a smelter was established at 
Bayonne, N. J., in which to smelt Malayan 
tin ores, but when it became known the Eng- 
lish government placed a high export duty on 
Malayan tin ores not going to some part of the 
British empire. Such a thing could not 
happen in Bolivia, and to some extent, at any 
rate, the smelting of Bolivian and other ores 
in this country would relieve American con- 
sumers from the speculative profits of the 
London market. 


ANTIMONY is ordinarily one of the cheaper 
metals, selling at one and a half times to twice 


SO EE I 


AveusT 28, 1914] 


the price of zinc, but since the outbreak of 
the European war it has reached more than 
20 cents a pound, a price higher than that of 
aluminum. During the six years from 1908 
to 1913, inclusive, the price of Cookson’s anti- 
mony ranged from 7.45 to 10.31 cents a pound, 
and the yearly averages ranged from 8.24 to 
8.58 cents a pound. Much of the time during 
the present year the price has been still lower, 
and toward the end of July it was quoted as 
4" to 7.10 cents. Other brands have ranged 
from 0.25 to 1.25 cents lower. As has been 
pointed out in the United States Geological 
Survey’s reports, at these prices antimony ores 
ean not be worked profitably under the high 
labor costs prevailing in the mining regions of 
the United States unless the deposits are very 
large and advantageously situated. No de- 
posits of antimony ores have been found in 
the United States which entirely fulfill these 
conditions, and as a result practically all the 


_ antimony metal used here is imported from 


European smelters, mostly from England. 
The ores for these smelters come largely from 
China, Mexico, France and Austria. So long 
as the war exists and especially so long as sea 
traffic is disturbed, the production will be cur- 
tailed and prices raised, for the use of anti- 
mony in type metals and especially in bearing 
metals is fixed and will continue. Other 
uses, such as the making of coffin trimmings, 
which consume a surprisingly large quantity 
of antimony and from which there is no secon- 
dary recovery, might conceivably turn to 
aluminum or other metals as substitutes. In 
the United States deposits of stibnite (anti- 
mony sulphide) near Gilham, Ark.; Battle 
Mountain, Loyelocks and Austin, Nev.; Burke 
and Kingston, Idaho; Tonasket, Okanogan 
County, Wash.; Graniteville and San Emigdio 
Canyon, Oal.; Antimony, Utah; Red Bridge, 
Ore., and other places are potentially produc- 
tive in times of prices as high as those now 
prevailing. A greater benefit than the tempo- 
rary operation of the mines would probably 
acerue to this country from the establishment 
of smelters which would import and smelt 
Chinese, South American, Canadian and Mex- 
ican antimony ores. At present the only reg- 


SCIENCE | 311 


ular antimony smelting in this country is done 
by a smelter which is said to be a branch of 
an English smelter. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 


Prorressor ALEXANDER Konic, of Bonn, has 
presented to the University at Bonn the zo- 
ological museum and laboratory which he has 
erected, to be called the Alexander Konig Mu- 
seum. The collections are valued at a million 
Marks. 

It may be noted that it was planned to open 
the new university at Frankfort-on-the-Main 
October 18 in the presence of the German em- 
peror. 

Tue Royal School of Mines in Freiburg, 
Saxony, said to be the oldest school of tech- 
nology, will celebrate the hundred and fiftieth 
anniversary of its foundation in July, 1915. 


At Syracuse University, college of medi- 
cine, a course in pathology was offered during 
the summer. The course opened on June 15, 
and continued for six weeks. It was open to 
both graduates and undergraduates in medi- 
cine. There were daily sessions covering the 
entire day. 

Prorsssor T. G. Rogers, of the New Mex- 
ico Normal School, of Silver City, has been 
elected professor of mathematics and assistant 
dean of the Normal University of New Mexico, 
at East Las Vegas. 

Dr. O. C. Gruner, assistant professor of 
pathology at McGill University, has resigned 
and returned to England. 

Dr. Lupwic Btrcuner, of Munich, has been 
called to the chair of geography at the Univer- 
sity of Athens. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 


A NOTE ON DISTINCTION OF THE SEXES IN 
PHRYNOSOMA 
A SURPRISINGLY small amount of knowledge 
concerning the embryology and development 
of the Iguanide has been collected. One rea- 
son for this is the fact that, for most forms, 
there is no reliable method of distinguishing 
the sexes by external characters. This is par- 


312 


ticularly true in the case of the familiar, but 
little studied, “horned toad,” Phrynosoma 
cornutum, and undoubtedly many “pairs” 
which have been shipped north by well mean- 
ing collectors have been of the same sex. 

In making a study of the stomach contents 
of Phrynosomas, I have had occasion to open 
some two hundred specimens, trying always to 
find some connection between external char- 
acters and sex. The problem very quickly was 
solved; and I can affirm, that for this region 
at least, and during the spring months, the 
crescent markings on the back of the female 
are much brighter yellow than those of the 
male. The difference is very marked, and little 
or no practise is required to enable one to dis- 
tinguish the sexes, even without comparison of 
specimens. 

W. M. Winton 

TEXAS CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY, 

Fort WORTH, TEXAS 


CAHOKIA OR MONKS MOUND NOT OF ARTIFICIAL 
ORIGIN 


A stubDy of the materials composing the so- 
called Monks or Cahokia Mound, in Madison 
county, Ill., establishes, beyond doubt, that it 
is not of artificial origin, as has been so gen- 
erally held but that it is a remnant remaining 
after the erosion of the alluvial deposits, which 
at one time filled the valley of the Mississippi, 
in the locality known as the “ Great American 
Bottoms.” 

A. R. Crook 


SPRINGFIELD, ILL. 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 


Geology of the Yang-tze Valley (China). By 
Yamagiro Isuu. Bulletin of the Imperial 
Geological Survey of Japan, Vol. 23, No. 2, 
Tokyo, 1913, pp. 19 + 157. 

There are but few inhabited and easily ac- 
cessible parts of the globe about which there is 
a smaller fund of geological knowledge than 
China. For that reason it is gratifying to note 
that papers on Chinese geology are appearing 
with increasing frequency. On the other hand, 
it is regrettable that some of these do not pos- 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Von. XL. No. 1026 


sess either the practical utility or the scien- 
tifie accuracy that is always needed. 

Since it is printed in the Japanese language 
and characters, Mr. Ishii’s paper on the Yang- 
tze Walley will be of little use to nearly all 
geologists outside of Japan and China. This 
applies not only to the text, but also to the 
titles of maps and diagrams. Although there 
may be some compelling reasons unknown to 
the reviewer, such as popular demands in 
Japan, it would be hard to defend on general 
grounds, the printing of technical scientific 
papers in any language which is not in more 
or less general use in the scientific world. 
Only a geologist can read a technical geologic 
paper with full understanding and apprecia- 
tion. Nearly all educated Japanese and 
Chinese read English, if not also French or 
German, so that even a paper intended largely 
for local use in Japan would be quite as in- 
telligible to its readers if presented in, one of 
the more important European languages and it 
would at the same time be available for for- 
eign students in general. A popular summary 
in Japanese might be appended for the edifica- 
tion of the few who read only the mother 
tongue. It is greatly to be hoped that the fu- 
ture tendency in Japan will be away from the 
practise exemplified in this bulletin. 

In the English summary of 19 pages at the 
beginning of the bulletin, there is an interest- 
ing account of the origin of the name Yang- 
tze-Kiang. This is followed by paragraphs on 
“ Hydrography,” and “ Mountains and Plains.” 
Under the heading of “Geology,” the follow- 
ing table of stratigraphic divisions is given: 
(a) Quaternary, (b) Red Sandstone forma- 
tion, (¢c) Coal-bearing Sandstone formation, 
(d) Great Limestone formation, (e) Sinie or 
Metamorphic formation, (f) Gneiss formation, 
(g) Plutonic rocks, (h) Voleanie rocks. The 
reviewer is obliged to agree with the author’s 
admission (on page 16) that “our classifiea- 
tion of the strata in Yang-tze Valley into the 
Quaternary, red-sandstone formation, coal- 
bearing formation, etc., as given above, is not 
the proper method of classification, because the 
geological age of each member is so indefinite 
that one formation may represent older Paleo- 


AUGUST 28, 1914] 


zoic and middle Mesozoic.” He would suggest 
that a much better classification could have 
been devised by a more careful study of the 
reports of earlier geological expeditions in 
China, which have evidently furnished a large 
proportion of the material embodied in Mr. 
Ishii’s paper. 

The author regards the well-known red beds 
of Sze-chwan as either Cretaceous or Tertiary 
and believes that they were deposited in a salt 
lake or inland sea. The “ Coal-bearing Sand- 
stone Formation appears to include rocks of 
widely different age, such as the Permo-Car- 
boniferous coal-bearing beds described by the 
Carnegie Expedition of 1903-04 and the 
Rhaetic-Lias of Richthofen and Loczy. There 
is probably little more than a lithologic re- 
semblance between these two series. In his de- 
seription of the Paleozoic limestones, the au- 
thor adds but little to that which is already 
known and, on the other hand, confuses much 
that has already been published. He refers to 
the Cambro-Ordovician limestones described 
by the Carnegie Institution as a “ metamorphic 
limestone” and implies that its thickness can 
not be measured. These are surprising errors 
in view of the reported fact that along the 
Yang-tze gorges the limestone is almost en- 
tirely unaltered, fossiliferous, and only gently 
folded; and the thickness was measured ten 
years ago as well as the very small amount of 
time devoted to the act would permit. The 
very fact that a generous collection of well- 
preserved fossils has already been taken from 
these rocks is sufficient evidence that the altera- 
tion of these strata is not everywhere severe. 
One finds no mention in these pages of the in- 
teresting change in metamorphism of the 
Paleozoic rocks from the Yang-tze River itself, 
where the beds are merely consolidated, north- 
ward into southern Shensi, where they are 
schistose. Nor are the Cambrian glacial beds 
of Nan-tou, which have attracted wide atten- 
tion among geologists, given even passing men- 
tion. Perhaps these points are discussed in 
that portion of the paper which is a sealed 
book to the occidental reader. 

The author’s interpretation of the geologic 
structure and history of central China will 


SCIENCE 313 


hardly commend itself to other students of 
the region. He apparently regards the Yang- 
tse basin as originally a great depression in 
a granitic foundation, enclosing a great lake 
or inland sea. This was gradually filled by 
successive layers of Paleozoic and Mesozoic 
rocks so that it dwindled in Cretaceous or 
Tertiary times to small remnants in the 
neighborhood of central Sze-chwan and the 
Tung-ting lake. Some time after the Paleo- 
zoic, the mountain ranges were produced by 
horizontal pressure which developed the folds 
and many minor basins. The author appears 
to hold the opinion that the last of the inland 
seas overflowed their rims and that these out- 
let rivers cut the magnificent gorges of the 
Yang-tze and its tributaries. Whether or not 
the author has given any consideration to the 
other published explanations of the phenom- 
ena must remain unknown to a reviewer who 
is unable to read the Japanese text. 

‘A perusal of the English summary suggests 
that the material for the bulletin has been de- 
rived largely from a somewhat hasty or ill- 
considered examination of the reports of for- 
eign geologists who have previously made ex- 
plorations in China, interpreted in the light 
of the author’s own field work. That the au- 
thor was adequately prepared for his impor- 
tent task by sound and thorough training in 
school and field under competent guidance is 
not indicated by the available results. One 
of the most commendable characteristics of 
the paper is, nevertheless, the distinction 
which is generally made between inferences 
and facts——a virtue which not a few occi- 
dental writers on geology might imitate to 
advantage. It is suggested that a more ap- 
propriate title for Mr. Ishii’s paper would be 
“ Preliminary Geologic Sketch of the Geol- 
egy of the Yang-tze Walley.” Before the 
geologic features of so great and complex an 
area will have been described with even com- 
parative thoroughness, the product will re- 
quire many large volumes rather than a small 
pamphlet. 

Eiot BuacKWELDER 

UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN 


314 


Die Oekologie der Pflanzen. By Dr. Oscar 
Drupe. Band 50, Die Wissenschaft Samm- 
lung von Eingeldarstellungen aus den Ge- 
bieten der WNaturwissenschaft und der 
von Friedr. Vieweg & Sohn. 1913. Pp. 
Technik. Braunschweig, Druck und Verlag 
vili + 308, with 80 figures in the text. 
Not since the publication of Warming’s 

“ Oecology of Plants” in English in 1909 has 
a general work on the ecology of plants ap- 
peared. Professor Drude comes well-equipped 
for the presentation of the subject by years of 
study and travel in Germany, Great Britain 
and the United States. A student of Grise- 
bach’s, one of the earliest and greatest of 
plant geographers, Dr. Drude has seen the 
rise and progress of plant geography and 
ecology, and his first chapter on physiognomic 
growth forms of plants in which a historic 
review of ecology is given is written from per- 
sonal acquaintance with the prime movers in 
the new department of botanic science. The 
first one hundred pages deal with the physio- 
gnomie life forms of plants. Beginning with 
page 31, a classification of these forms is 
given with numerous figures and reference to 
illustrative plants. Some of the groups con- 
sidered are Monocotyledonous Crown Trees, 
Tree Ferns and Oyeads, Dicotyledonous 
Woody Lianes, Grass Trees, Dicotyledonous 
Stem Succulents, Perennial Grasses, Dicotyle- 
donous Cushion Plants, Geophilous Bulbous 
Plants, Saprophytes and Parasites. Altogether 
Drude recognized 54 growth forms, grouped 
under the heads of Aérophytes, Aquatic Plants 
and Cellular Plants (mosses and thallophytes), 
ete. Following the general consideration of 
each group, notes are given for purposes of fur- 
ther study and cross reference and biblio- 
graphie details are cited. Ulumination illus- 
trations and additions end this instructive 
chapter. 

The second chapter deals with climatic in- 
fluences, periodicity of vegetation and leaf 
characters. The topics treated in this chapter 
describe the physiognomic effect and organi- 
zation of the leaf and the physiologic questions 
of plant nutrition. Here the author deals with 
the duration of the leaf, bud formation and 
protection, light and leaves, transpiration, 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8S. Vou. XL. No. 1026 


ete. Under climatic periodicity, the author 
gives a geographic division of the climatic 
zones, recognizing 18 climatic groups. Phe- 
nology and other problems of climatic influ- 
ence are considered in detail in this chapter. 

The third chapter is concerned with physio- 
graphic ecology. The ecologist must deal with 
the difficult problem of why species unite into 
certain communities and why they have the 
physiognomy which they possess? The author 
treats of the edaphic influences of soil, ground 
water, bacteriologic soil content and the influ- 
ence of lime and acids. He quotes Jaccarrd’s 
law on the distribution of species in the 
alpine meadows and pastures, and deals with 
the much discussed question of association and 
formation. The last section of this chapter 
deals with thirteen vegetation types, viz., 
hydrophytes, helophytes, oxylophytes, halo- 
phytes, lithophytes, psychrophytes, psammo- 
phytes, eremophytes, chersophytes, psilophytes, 
sclerophytes, conifers and mesophytes. 

The fourth chapter, and last one, is devoted 
to matters of evolutionary interest and is 
headed ecologic epharmony and phylogeny. In 
several sections, phylogeny and growth forms, 
eurychory and stenochory, correlation, ephar- 
mony, mutation and heredity are considered. 
Additional notes and a bibliography complete 
the volume. 

Altogether, ecologists, the world over, will 
be indebted to Professor Drude for a lucid 
exposition of the important principles of that 
department of botanic science denominated 
ecology. He has presented much that is en- 
tirely new, and he has made over into a differ- 
ent form much that is old. The whole book 
shows a thorough grasp of the entire subject 
of plant ecology, which the author has been 
able to digest and assimilate and present in 
an attractive and useful form to the student 
world. The figures are good and many of 
them new, representing typic species, some of 
them grown in the Dresden Botanic Garden. 

JoHN W. HarSHBERGER 

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA 


A Treatise on Quantitative Inorganic Analy- 
sis. By J. W. Mettor, D.Se. Philadelphia, 
J. B. Lippincott & Co. 


AvcusT 28, 1914] 


This excellent work is Volume 1 of a treatise 
in the ceramic and silicate industries by the 
same author. The processes used are those 
used in the testing department of the County 
Pottery Laboratory, Staffordshire, for the 
analysis of clay, bricks, glazes, enamels, re- 
fractories, and for the coloring materials and 
minerals used in ceramics. 

The book is divided into five parts with an 
historical introduction of ten pages. 

Part I., containing 140 pages, takes up 
rather exhaustively the following chapters: 
I. Weighing, 25 pages; IJ. The Measurement 
of Volumes, 17 pages; III. Volumetric Analy- 
sis, 37 pages; IV. Colorimetry and Turbidin- 
ity, 5 pages; V. Filtration and Washing, 23 
pages; VI. Heating and Drying, 10 pages; 
VII. Pulverization and Grinding, 7 pages; 
VIII. Sampling, 14 pages; IX. The Reagents, 
11 pages. 

Part IJ. containing 98 pages takes up care- 
fully and in detail the analyses of clays and 
other silicates. The accuracy, obtainable is 
illustrated by tables giving the results of 
actual analyses of silicates showing the varia- 
tions to be expected for each determination. 
The methods used are practically those used 
by the U. S. Geological Survey somewhat 
shortened. 

Part III., containing 121 pages, takes up 
the analysis of glass, glazes, enamels and 
colors, including the determination of arsenic, 
antimony, tin, lead, bismuth, mereury, copper, 
eachnium, zine, manganese, cobalt and nickel. 

Part IV., 128 pages, describes special meth- 
ods for the determination of the following: 
molybdenum, tungsten, niobium, tantalum, 
gold, selenium, aluminum, beryllum, iron, 
chromium, vanadium, uranium, zirconium, 
thorium, the rare earths, barium, strontium, 
ealcium, magnesium and the alkalies. 

Part V., containing 111 pages, describes 
special methods for the acids and non-metals, 
carbon, boron, oxide, water, phosphorus, sulfur, 
the halogens, and the rational analysis of 
clays. 

Finally the Appendix contains 55 pages of 
analytical tables, ete. 

This work is just what its title indicates, 
“ A Treatise on Quantitative Inorganic Analy- 


SCIENCE 


315 


sis,” written more especially with the needs of 
the ceramic chemist in view. It is profusely 
illustrated with photographs, drawings and 
graphs, and the bibliography given in the foot- 
notes is quite complete. 

The methods given are perhaps somewhat 
unnecessarily long for the technical chemist, 
but this is on the safe side and the chemist 
can shorten the methods to suit himself. Dr. 
Mellor has left out gas and fuel analyses on 
the ground that there are so many books 
specializing in these subjects. 

The book is a very helpful addition to the 
library of the analytical chemist, particularly 
because it keeps in view always the analysis 
of the kind of things the chemist has actually 
to analyze and not merely pure salts. It will 
be invaluable to the ceramic chemist. 

Dr. Mellor is to be congratulated on the 
completion of this work. 

D. J. DEMoREST 


THE COLLEGE CURRICULUM 


Preshent MrtkLEsouN, of Amherst College, 
in his recent annual report, makes some inter- 
esting contributions to the discussion of the 
college curriculum. In the first place, he 
shows it to be an unfounded rumor that Am- 
herst has become distinctly a “classical” 
school, to the neglect of the sciences. Dean 
Ferry’s statistics of student registration, pub- 
lished last year in Scmncr, give Amherst a 
median position among the New England col- 
leges, both in science and in the classics, as 
well as in English and other modern languages, 
and a low position only in the “ humanistic 
sciences,” including history, economics and 
philosophy. It is true that Amherst has 
abandoned the B.S. degree, but this was done 
partly because that degree attracted a lower 
grade of students and was regarded as infe- 
rior to the Arts degree and easier to obtain, 
and partly for the purpose of simplifying the 
mechanism of a prescribed curriculum, to 
which policy Amherst is now committed. For 
the last few years, its curriculum has been 
largely prescribed and has demanded much 
concentration upon “majors.” The plan has 
been found defective in one respect, since 


316 


the absence of the humanistic sciences from 
the freshman and sophomore years, along with 
the requirement of continuing courses, has 
operated to keep students out of these subjects. 
This defect has now been remedied by intro- 
ducing philosophy into the sophomore year, 
and a course on “social and economic insti- 
tutions” into the freshman year. 

The curriculum now adopted is to be re- 
garded as but a station on the road to a course 
almost wholly prescribed, and organized about 
one great central purpose, that, namely, of 
initiating the student into an understanding 
of human experience and the moral and intel- 
lectual problems of the times. President 
Meiklejohn offers a sketch of the ideal college 
course, as he sees it coming—merely a sketch, 
contfessedly, which will need correction as the 
result of abundant discussion. The plan cer- 
tainly is radical. Of the four-year course, 
66 per cent. is prescribed, and half of the 
remainder must be devoted to the senior 
“major,” which is itself to be a continuation 
of some junior study. The prescribed work is 
divided as follows: 15 per cent. (of the whole 
curriculum) to mathematics and natural sci- 
ence, 15 per cent. to literature and 36 per cent. 
to the humanistic sciences. Jn favor of this 
plan, there is this at least to be said, that it 
follows the trend of the times. While discus- 
sion has been raging over the relative values 
of natural science and the classics, the student 
body, where free, has attached itself to modern 
literature and especially to the humanistic sci- 
ences. At Harvard, according to Dean Ferry’s 
figures, 3 per cent. of student registration goes 
to the ancient languages, 25 per cent. to mathe- 
matics and science, 28 per cent. to modern 
literatures and 44 per cent. to “other sub- 
jects”; and Professor Hervey has found al- 
mosf exactly the same proportions among 
elective subjects in Columbia College. The 
emphasis on the “other subjects,” in Presi- 
dent Meiklejohn’s plan, may thus be taken as 
meeting a demand voiced by the students. 
The question may indeed be raised whether 
it is worth while, by faculty legislation, to re- 
quire all students to do what the majority do 
of their own choice. Another query is sug- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1026 


gested by President Meiklejohn’s objections to 
the elective system. 

Under the elective scheme, no subject is essential. 
Why study physics hard when other students are 
getting an education without it? ... The argu- 
ment is bad but none the less convincing. 


Under a required curriculum, the difficulty 
may be to keep the student in ignorance of 
the fact that the requirements are different at 
other colleges. It may also be difficult to ex- 
plain to him why he should specialize on some 
one subject to the extent of devoting most of 
his senior year to it, when his classmate is 
acquiring a liberal education, presumably just 
as good, without specialization in this par- 
ticular direction. If the student is genuinely 
in love with his subject, well and good—or if 
he sees a vocational value in it; but voca- 
tional values, we are assured, are to be left 
entirely aside from the curriculum of a 
liberal college. R. 8S. WoopwortH 

CoLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 
ON SOME NON-SPECIFIC FACTORS FOR THE EN- 
TRANCE OF THE SPERMATOZOON INTO 
THE EGG 


1. While formerly fertilization was consid- 
ered a single process which could be ade- 
quately described by the entrance of the 
spermatozoon into the egg or the fusion of the 
ege nucleus with the sperm nucleus, we know 
now, through the methods of experimental 
biology, that fertilization consists of at least 
three different groups of phenomena. These 
are, first, the transmission of paternal char- 
acters through the spermatozoon. This proc- 
ess is obviously a function of the chromosomes. 
Second, the causation of development of the 
egg, which is apparently independent of the 
chromosomes since the experiments on arti- 
ficial parthenogenesis have shown that it can 
be induced by certain non specific agencies. 
The causation of development is a complicated 
process since it requires at least two agencies, 
one inducing an alteration of the surface of 
the egg (which sets the chemical processes 
underlying development in action), and the 


AveusT 28, 1914] 


other a corrective agency which guarantees a 
normal development. 

The third group of factors involved in the 
process of fertilization is that determining the 
entrance of the spermatozoon into the egg. 
This note will deal with the latter problem. 

9. We can undertake the analysis of the con- 
ditions necessary for the entrance of the sper- 
matozoon into the egg from two different start- 
ing points, namely, by finding means for fer- 
tilizing the eggs with the sperm of distant 
species against which the egg is naturally im- 
mune; or by rendering the eggs immune 
against sperm of their own species. The 
former problem was solved for certain cases 
when the writer found that the eggs of the 
sea urchin (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus) 
which under normal conditions can not be fer- 
tilized by the sperm of the starfish or holothu- 
rians can be fertilized with such sperm if the 
sea-water is rendered more-alkaline. 

Last winter the writer found that an addi- 
tion of calcium chloride to sea-water acts in 
the same way. In this ease the above-men- 
tioned hybridization can be brought about if 
little or no alkali is added to the sea-water. 
This suggested the idea that the forces deter- 
mining the entrance of the spermatozoon into 
the egg depended upon the concentration of 
calcium and hydroxylions in the sea-water. 

3. If this idea was correct it was to be ex- 
pected that the elimination of these two sub- 
stances might render the eggs which are nat- 
urally fertilized in normal sea-water immune 
against sperm of their own species. This was 
found to be the case. If eggs and sperm of 
Arbacia or purpuratus are freed from sea- 
water and put into a neutral mixture of 
NaCl + KCl or NaCl + MgCl, or of 
NaCl-+- KC1-++ MgCl, (in the concentration 
and proportion in which these salts exist in 
the sea-water) no egg is fertilized. Yet it can 
be seen that sperm remains motile in these so- 
lutions for a long time (twenty-four hours or 
lenger) and it can also be shown that newly 
fertilized eggs are able to segment in these so- 
lutions. If calcium chloride is added to these 
solutions fertilization will take place at once. 
The same is true when a trace of a base is 


SCIENCE 


317 


added to the mixture of NaCl -+ MgCl, or of 
NaCl + KCl + MegCl,. 

On the other hand, these eggs can be fertil- 
ized by sperm of their own species in neutral 
solutions containing caleium, namely NaCl + 
CaCl, or NaCl-++ KCl-+ CaCl, or NaCl-+ 
CaCl,-++ MgCl,, or NaCl -+ KCl -+ MgCl, + 
CaCl,. Similar results were obtained in re- 
gard to the fertilization of the eggs of an 
annelid (Chetopterus) and a mollusk (Cum- 
ingia). It can, therefore, be stated that the en- 
trance of a spermatozoon into an egg of its 
own or foreign species is determined by forces 
which are influenced by the concentration of 
calcium and hydroxylions in the solution, the 
difference in both cases being only in the con- 
centration of these substances required. 

4, The question arises which forces in the 
egg or spermatozoon are influenced by these 
two agencies. Since it seems tolerably certain 
that neither the strong base nor the calcium 
salts enter into the egg or the spermatozoon, 
the forces acted upon by these substances must 
be located at the surface of the egg or sperma- 
tozoon. ‘There are only three kinds of forces 
that need be taken into consideration; namely, 
(1) surface tension, (2) adhesion between 
spermatozoon and egg surface, (3) cohesion or 
degree of fluidity of the surface of the ege. 
Experiments which the writer carried out last 
winter in Pacific Grove seem to indicate that 
the adhesion of the spermatozoon to other bod- 
ies is strongly influenced by both calcium and 
bases. The egg of the sea urchin is surrounded 
by a jelly which the spermatozoon must pene- 
trate before it reaches the egg. If it should 
stick to the inner surface of the jelly it might 
still come in contact with the egg and might 
be able to impart to the surface of the egg, the 
membrane-forming substance; but through its 
adhesion to the jelly it might be prevented 
from entering the egg. The egg should, in con- 
sequence, be in the same condition as one in 
which the membrane formation has been in- 
duced by butyric acid but which has not been 
treated with the second corrective factor. It 
should show a membrane formation and a be- 
ginning of development, but should then 
perish. 


318 


The writer had observed in his earlier ex- 
periments on heterogeneous hybridization that 
when 80 or 100 per cent. of the eggs of pur- 
puratus formed membranes upon fertilization 
with the sperm of starfish in hyperalkaline sea- 
water, often less than one per cent. of the eggs 
developed into larvee, while the rest behaved as 
if only artificial membrane formation had been 
induced. Last winter the writer and Dr. 
Gelarie made sure that (as was already indi- 
cated by observations of Dr. Elder) only those 
eggs developed into larve in which a sperm 
nucleus was found, while the eggs which 
formed membranes without developing did not 
contain a sperm nucleus. The writer found, 
also, that when the concentration of NaHO 
and CaCl, used was comparatively high a 
smaller proportion of the eggs with membranes 
developed than when the concentration was 
low. ‘This was easily understood on the as- 
sumption that the addition of NaHO as well 
as of CaCl, to the sea-water increased the ad- 
hesion of the starfish sperm to the jelly of the 
sea urchin egg, thus allowing the sperm to 
induce membrane formation, but preventing 
or rendering difficult its entrance into the egg. 

It occurred to the writer that if this as- 
sumption was correct sea urchin eggs which 
had been deprived of the surrounding jelly by 
a treatment with hydrochloric acid should all 
develop when fertilized with starfish sperm 
and that they should no longer show a mere 
membrane formation without development. 
This was found to be true. Sea urchin eggs 
(purpuratus) were deprived of their jelly and 
several hours or a day later fertilized with 
starfish sperm in sea-water. to which some 
CaCl, and NaHO had been added. Often as 
many as 50 per cent. of the eggs formed mem- 
branes and practically all developed into 
larve; while the eggs of the same female not 
deprived of jelly when fertilized under the 
same conditions would all form membranes, 
but with a very small percentage of eggs de- 
veloping into larve. This indicates that Ca 
and NaHO may increase the adhesion of the 
spermatozoa of the starfish to the egg jelly of 
the sea urchin. It does not prove, however, 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1026 


that this increase of adhesive power is the 
factor by which the CaCl, and NaHO influ- 
ence the entrance of the spermatozoon into the 
egg. It is possible that in addition these two 
substances also influence the surface condi- 
tion of the egg by increasing the fluidity of 
the surface of the egg, thus favoring the 
spreading of the fertilization cone of the egg 
around the spermatozoa. 

5. The question arises whether or not the 
addition of CaCl, and of bases favors the phe- 
nomenon of sperm agglutination! caused by 
the supernatant sea-water of the eggs of the 
same species, which F. Lillie has discovered. 
This is not very probable, since the addition 
of NaHO to sea-water shortens the duration 
of the agglutination? and therefore acts like 
an “antiagglutinin.” It is true that the addi- 
tion of CaCl, favors the agglutination, but so 
does the addition of MgCl,; yet the latter sub- 
stance without the presence of CaCl, or the 
addition of a base does not enable the sperma- 
tozoon to enter the egg. 

It is, however, possible, if not probable, that 
some specific substance in the surface of the 
egg or spermatozoon or of both may also aid 
in the entrance of the spermatozoon into an 
ege of its own species. If this be true, in cer- 
tain cases an excess of alkali or of CaCl, may 
compensate to some degree the lack of specific 
substances for the entrance of the spermato- 
zoon into the egg, e. g., in the fertilization of 
the egg of the sea urchin by the sperm of star- 
fish, brittle stars, holothurians and others. 

Jacqurs LOEB 

THE ROCKEFELLER INSTITUTE FOR 

MEDICAL RESEARCH 


1 On the basis of observations on the sperm of 
purpuratus the writer was doubtful whether the 
specific cluster formation of the sperm caused by 
the supernatant sea-water of the eggs of the same 
species was a phenomenon of agglutination or a 
tropistic reaction. In Arbacia the agglutination 
is much more pronounced than in the case of 
purpuratus. ~The surface tension phenomena 
which the writer described may therefore find their 
explanation on the assumption of an agglutination, 
at least in the case of Arbacia. 

2 The Journal of Experimental Zoology, Vol. 17, 
page 123, 1914. 


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SCIENCE 


Fray, SEPTEMBER 4, 1914 


CONTENTS 


Address of the President of the British Asso- 
ciation for the Advancement of Science: 


Dr. WILLIAM BATESON ..............+-2- 319 
The Status of Hypotheses of Polar Wander- 

ings: PROFESSOR JOSEPH BARRELL ........ 333 
Scientific Notes and News ................ 340 
Unwersity and Educational News .......... 343 


Discussion and Correspondence :— 
Composition and Thought: MippLE WeEstT.. 344 


Scientific Books :— 


Enriques’s Problems of Science: PROFESSOR 
C. J. Keyser. Kaye on X-Rays: PROFESSOR 
H. A. Winson. Verworn on Irritability: 
Ch Ch Rosie se 0S CoCo GO BO HOC re eae Creer 346 


Regeneration of Antenne: A. N, CAUDELL .... 352 


Special Articles :-— 


A Second Case of Metamorphosis without 
Parasitism in the Unionide: ArtHuR D. 
Howarb. Laboratory Notes: Lance Bur- 
LINGAME 


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


ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE 
BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE AD- 
VANCEMENT OF SCIENCE1 

AT Melbourne I spoke of the new knowl- 
edge of the properties of living things 
which Mendelian analysis has brought us. 
I indicated how these discoveries are aftect- 
ing our outlook on that old problem of 
natural history, the origin and nature of 
species, and the chief conclusion I drew 
was the negative one, that, though we must 
hold to our faith in the evolution of species, 
there is little evidence as to how it has 
come about, and no clear proof that the 
process is continuing in any considerable 
degree at the present time. The thought 
uppermost in our minds is that knowledge 
of the nature of life is altogether too slen- 
der to warrant speculation on these funda- 
mental subjects. Did we presume to offer 
such speculations they would have no more 
value than those which alchemists might 
have made as to the nature of the elements. 
But though in regard to these theoretical 
aspects we must confess to such deep igno- 
rance, enough has been learned of the gen- 
eral course of heredity within a single spe- 
cies to justify many practical conclusions 
which can not in the main be shaken. I 
propose now to develop some of these con- 
clusions in regard to our own species, man. 

In my former address I mentioned the 
condition of certain animals and plants 
which are what we call ‘‘polymorphiec.’’ 
Their populations consist of individuals of 
many types, though they breed freely to- 
gether with perfect fertility. In cases of 

1 Second part of the address delivered at Syd- 
ney on August 20. The first part of the address, 


delivered at Melbourne on August 14, was printed 
in the last issue of SCIENCE. 


320 


this kind which have been sufficiently in- 
vestigated it hag been found that these dis- 
tinctions—sometimes very great and aftect- 
ing most diverse features of organization— 
are due to the presence or absence of ele- 
ments, or factors, as we call them, which 
are treated in heredity as separate entities. 
These factors and their combinations pro- 
duce the characteristics which we perceive. 
No individual can acquire a particular 
characteristic unless the requisite factors 
entered into the composition of that indi- 
vidual at fertilization, being received either 
from the father or from the mother or from 
both, and consequently no individual can 
pass on to his offspring positive characters 
which he does not himself possess. Rules 
of this kind have already been traced in 
operation in the human species; and though 
I admit that an assumption of some magni- 
tude is involved when we extend the appli- 
cation of the same system to human char- 
acteristics in general, yet the assumption 
is one which I believe we are fully justified 
in making. With little hesitation we can 
now declare that the potentialities and apti- 
tudes, physical as well as mental, sex, 
colors, powers of work or invention, liabil- 
ity to diseases, possible duration of life, 
and the other features by which the mem- 
bers of a mixed population differ from each 
other, are determined from the moment of 
fertilization; and by all that we know of 
heredity in the forms of life with which we 
can experiment we are compelled to believe 
that these qualities are in the main dis- 
tributed on a factorial system. By changes 
in the outward conditions of life the ex- 
pression of some of these powers and fea- 
tures may be excited or restrained. For the 
development of some an external oppor- 
tunity is needed, and if that be withheld 
the character is never seen, any more than 
if the body be starved can the full height 
be attained; but such influences are super- 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1027 


ficial and do not alter the genetic consti- 
tution. 

The factors which the individual receives 
from his parents and no others are those 
which he can transmit to his offspring; and 
if a factor was received from one parent 
only, not more than half the offspring, on 
an average, will inherit it. What is it that 
has so long prevented mankind from dis- 
covering such simple facts? Primarily 
the circumstance that as man must have 
two parents it is not possible quite easily to 
detect the contributions of each. The indi- 
vidual body is a double structure, whereas 
the germ-cells are single. Two germ-cells 
unite to produce each individual body, and 
the ingredients they respectively contribute 
interact in ways that leave the ultimate 
product a medley in which it is difficult to 
identify the several ingredients. When, 
however, their effects are conspicuous the 
task is by no means impossible. In part 
also even physiologists have been blinded 
by the survival of ancient and obscurantist 
conceptions of the nature of man by which 
they were discouraged from the application 
of any rigorous analysis. Medical litera- 
ture still abounds with traces of these 
archaisms, and, indeed, it is only quite 
recently that prominent horse-breeders 
have come to see that the dam matters as 
much as the sire. For them, though vast 
pecuniary considerations were involved, 
the old ‘‘homunculus’’ theory was good 
enough. We were amazed at the notions of 
genetic physiology which Professor Bald- 
win Spencer encountered in his wonderful 
researches among the natives of Central 
Australia; but in truth, if we reflect that 
these problems have engaged the attention 
of civilized man for ages, the fact that he, 
with all his powers of recording and deduc- 
tion, failed to discover any part of the 
Mendelian system is almost as amazing. 
The popular notion that any parents can 


SEPTEMBER 4, 1914] 


have any kind of children within the racial 
limits is contrary to all experience, yet we 
have greatly entertained such ideas. As 
T have said elsewhere, the truth might have 
been found out at any period in the world’s 
history if only pedigrees had been drawn 
the right way up. If, instead of exhibiting 
the successive pairs of progenitors who have 
contributed to the making of an ultimate 
individual, some one had had the idea of 
setting out the posterity of a single ancestor 
who possessed a marked feature such as the 
Hapsbure lip, and showing the transmis- 
sion of this feature along some of the 
descending branches and the permanent 
loss of the feature in collaterals, the essen- 
tial truth that heredity can be expressed in 
terms of presence and absence must have 
at once become apparent. For the descend- 
ant is not, as he appears in the conven- 
tional pedigree, a sort of pool into which 
each tributary ancestral stream has poured 
something, but rather a conglomerate of 
ingredient-characters taken from his pro- 
genitors in such a way that some ingredi- 
ents are represented and others are omitted. 

Let me not, however, give the impression 
that the unraveling of such descents is 
easy. Hven with fairly full details, which 
in the case of man are very rarely to be 
had, many complications occur, often pre- 
venting us from obtaming more than a 
rough general indication of the system of 
descent. The nature of these complications 
we partly understand from our experience 
of animals and plants which are amenable 
to breeding under careful restrictions, and 
we know that they are mostly referable to 
various effects of interaction between 
factors by which the presence of some is 
masked. 

Necessarily the clearest evidence of regu- 
larity in the inheritance of human char- 
acteristics has been obtained in regard to 
the descent of marked abnormalities of 


SCIENCE 


321 


structure and congenital diseases. Of the 
descent of ordinary distinctions such as are 
met with in the normal healthy population 
we know little for certain. MHurst’s evi- 
dence, that two parents, both with light- 
colored eyes—in the strict sense, meaning 
that no pigment is present on the front of 
the iris—do not have dark-eyed children, 
still stands almost alone in this respect. 
With regard to the inheritance of other 
color-characteristics some advance has been 
made, but everything points to the infer- 
ence that the genetics of color and many 
other features in man will prove excep- 
tionally complex. There are, however, 
plenty of indications of system comparable 
with those which we trace in various ani- 
mals and plants, and we are assured that 
to extend and clarify such evidence is only 
a matter of careful analysis. For the 
present, in asserting almost any general 
rules for human descent, we do right to 
make large reservations for possible excep- 
tions. It is tantalizmg to have to wait, 
but of the ultimate result there can be no 
doubt. 

I spoke of complications. Two of these 
are worth illustrating here, for probably 
both of them play a great part in human 
genetics. It was discovered by Nilsson- 
Ehle, in the course of experiments with cer- 
tain wheats, that several factors having the 
same power may co-exist in the same indi- 
vidual. These cumulative factors do not 
necessarily produce a cumulative effect, 
for any one of them may suffice to give the 
full result. Just as the pure-bred tall pea 
with its two factors for tallness is no taller 
than the cross-bred with a single factor, so 
these wheats with three pairs of factors for 
red color are no redder than the ordinary 
reds of the same family. Similar observa- 
tions have been made by East and others. 
In some eases, as in the primulas studied by 
Gregory, the effect is cumulative. These 


322 


results have been used with plausibility by 
Davenport and the American workers to 
elucidate the curious case of the mulatto. 
If the descent of color in the cross between 
the negro and the white man followed the 
simplest rule, the offspring of two first- 
eross mulattoes would be, on an average, one 
black: two mulattoes: one white, but this is 
notoriously not so. Evidence of some se- 
gregation is fairly clear, and the deficiency 
of real whites may perhaps be accounted 
for on the hypothesis of cumulative factors, 
though by the nature of the case strict proof 
is not to be had. But at present I own to 
a preference for regarding such examples 
as instances of imperfect segregation. The 
series of germ-cells produced by the cross- 
bred consists of some with no black, some 
with full black, and others with interme- 
diate quantities of black. No statistical 
tests of the condition of the gametes in such 
cases exist, and it is likely that by choosing 
suitable crosses all sorts of conditions may 
be found, ranging from the simplest case 
of total segregation, in which there are only 
two forms of gametes, up to those in which 
there are all intermediates in various pro- 
portions. This at least is what general 
experience of hybrid products leads me to 
anticipate. Segregation is somehow effected 
by the rhythms of cell-division, if such an 
expression may be permitted. In some cases 
the whole factor is so easily separated that 
it is swept out at once; in others it is so 
intermixed that gametes of all degrees of 
purity may result. That is admittedly a 
' erude metaphor, but as yet we can not sub- 
stitute a better. Be all this as it may, there 
are many signs that in human heredity 
phenomena of this kind are common, 
whether they indicate a multiplicity of 
cumulative factors or imperfections in seg- 
regation. Such phenomena, however, in 
no way detract from the essential truth 
that segregation occurs, and that the or- 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vout. XL. No. 1027 


ganism can not pass on a factor which it 
has not itself received. 

In human heredity we have found some 
examples, and I believe that we shall find 
many more, in which the descent of factors 
is limited by sex. The classical instances 
are those of color-blindness and hemophilia. 
Both these conditions occur with much 
greater frequency in males than in females. 
Of color-blindness at least we know that 
the sons of the color-blind man do not in- 
herit it (unless the mother is a transmitter) 
and do not transmit it to their children of 
either sex. Some, probably all, of the 
daughters of the color-blind father inherit 
the character, and though not themselves 
color-blind, they transmit it to some 
(probably, on an average, half) of their 
offspring of both sexes. For since these 
normal-sighted women have only received 
the color-blindness from one side of their 
parentage, only half their offspring, on 
an average, can inherit it. The sons 
who inherit the color-blindness will be 
color-blind, and the inheriting daughters 
become themselves again transmitters. 
Males with normal color-vision, whatever 
their own parentage, do not have color- 
blind descendants, unless they marry 
transmitting women. There are points still 
doubtful in the interpretation, but the 
critical fact is clear, that the germ-cells of 
the color-blind man are of two kinds: (i) 
those which do not carry on the affection 
and are destined to take part in the forma- 
tion of sons; and (11) those which do carry 
on the color-blindness and are destined to 
form daughters. There is evidence that 
the ova also are similarly predestined to 
form one or other of the sexes, but to dis- 
cuss the whole question of sex-determina- 
tion is beyond my present scope. The de- 
scent of these sex-limited affections, never- 
theless, calls for mention here, because it is 
an admirable illustration of factorial pre- 


SEPTEMBER 4, 1914] 


destination. It, moreover, exemplifies that 
parental polarity of the zygote to which I 
alluded in my first address, a phenomenon 
which we suspect to be at the bottom of 
various anomalies of heredity, and sug- 
gests that there may be truth in the popular 
notion that in some respects sons resemble 
their mothers and daughters their fathers. 

Ag to the descent of hereditary diseases 
and malformations, however, we have 
abundant data for deciding that many are 
transmitted as dominants and a few as re- 
cessives. The most remarkable collection 
of these data is to be found in family his- 
tories of diseases of the eye. Neurology 
and dermatology have also contributed 
many very instructive pedigrees. In great 
measure the ophthalmological material was 
collected by Edward Nettleship, for whose 
death we so lately grieved. After retiring 
from practise as an oculist he devoted sev- 
eral years to this most laborious task. He 
was not content with hearsay evidence, 
but traveled incessantly, personally exam- 
ining all accessible members of the families 
concerned, working in such a way that his 
pedigrees are models of orderly observa- 
tion and recording. His zeal stimulated 
many younger men to take part in the 
work, and it will now go on, with the re- 
sult that the systems of descent of all the 
common hereditary diseases of the eye will 
soon be known with approximate accuracy. 

Give a little imagination to considering 
the chief deduction from this work. Tech- 
nical details apart, and granting that we 
ean not wholly interpret the numerical re- 
sults, sometimes noticeably more and some- 
times fewer descendants of these patients 
being affected than Mendelian formule 
would indicate, the expectation is that in 
the case of many diseases of the eye a large 
proportion of the children, grandchildren, 
and remoter descendants of the patients 
will be affected with the disease. Some- 


SCIENCE 


323 


times it is only defective sight that is 
transmitted; in other cases it is blindness, 
either from birth or coming on at some 
later age. The most striking example, per- 
haps, is that of a form of night-blindness 
still prevalent in a district near Montpel- 
lier, which has affected at least 130 persons, 
all descending from a single affected indi- 
vidual’? who came into the country in the 
seventeenth century. The transmission is 
in every case through an affected parent, 
and no normal has been known to pass on 
the condition. Such an example well 
serves to illustrate the fixity of the rules of 
descent. Similar instances might be re- 
cited relating to a great variety of other 
conditions, some trivial, others grave. 

At various times it has been declared that 
men are born equal, and that the inequality 
is brought about by unequal opportunities. 
Acquaintance with the pedigrees of dis- 
ease soon shows the fatuity of such fancies. 
The same conclusion, we may be sure, 
would result from the true representation 
of the descent of any human faculty. Never 
since Galton’s publications can the matter 
have been in any doubt. At the time he 
began to study family histories even the 
broad significance of heredity was fre- 
quently denied, and resemblances to par- 
ents or ancestors were looked on as inter- 
esting curiosities. Inveighing against 
hereditary political institutions, Tom Paine 
remarks that the idea is as absurd as that 
of an “‘hereditary wise man,’’ or an “‘hered- 
itary mathematician,’ and to this day I 
suppose many people are not aware that 

2The first human descent proved to follow Men- 
delian rules was that of a serious malformation of 
the hand studied by Farabee in America. Drink- 
water subsequently worked out pedigrees for the 
same malformation in England. After many at- 
tempts, he now tells me that he has succeeded in 
proving that the American family and one of his 
own had an abnormal ancestor in common, five 
generations ago. 


324 


he is saying anything more than commonly 
foolish. We, on the contrary, would feel it 
something of a puzzle if two parents, both 
mathematically gifted, had any children 
not mathematicians. Galton first demon- 
stated the overwhelming importance of 
these considerations, and had he not been 
misled, partly by the theory of pangenesis, 
but more by his mathematical instincts and 
training, which prompted him to apply 
statistical treatment rather than qualita- 
tive analysis, he might, not improbably, 
have discovered the essential facts of 
Mendelism. 

It happens rarely that science has any- 
thing to offer to the common stock of ideas 
at once so comprehensive and so simple 
that the courses of our thoughts are 
changed. Contributions to the material 
progress of mankind are comparatively 
frequent. They result at once in applica- 
tion. Transit is quickened; communica- 
tion is made easier; the food-supply is in- 
ereased and population multiplied. By 
direct application to the breeding of ani- 
mals and plants such results must even 
flow from Mendel’s work. But I imagine 
the greatest practical change likely to ensue 
from modern genetic discovery will be a 
quickening of interest in the true nature of 
man and in the biology of races. I have 
spoken cautiously as to the evidence for the 
operation of any simple Mendelian system 
in the descent of human faculty; yet the 
certainty that systems which differ from 
the simpler schemes only in degree of com- 
plexity are at work in the distribution of 
characters among the human population 
can not fail to influence our conceptions of 
life and of ethics, leading perhaps ulti- 
mately to modification of social usage. 
That change can not but be in the main 
one of simplification. The eighteenth cen- 
tury made great pretence of a return to 
nature, but it did not occur to those philos- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1027 


ophers first to inquire what nature is; and 
perhaps not even the patristic writings 
contain fantasies much further from 
physiological truth than those which the 
rationalists of the “‘Eneyclopedia’’ adopted 
as the basis of their social schemes. For 
men are so far from being born equal or 
similar that to the naturalist they stand as 
the very type of a polymorphic species. 
Even most of our local races consist of 
many distinct strains and individual types. 
From the population of any ordinary 
English town as many distinct human 
breeds could in a few generations be iso- 
lated as there are now breeds of dogs, and 
indeed such a population in its present 
state is much what the dogs of Europe 
would be in ten years’ time but for the 
interference of the fanciers. Even as at 
present constituted, owing to the isolating 
effects of instinct, fashion, occupation and 
social class, many incipient strains already 
exist. 

In one respect civilized man differs from 
all other species of animal or plant in that, 
having prodigious and ever-increasing 
power over nature, he invokes these powers 
for the preservation and maintenance of 
many of the inferior and all the defective 
members of his species. The inferior freely 
multiply, and the defective, if their defects 
be not so grave as to lead to their detention 
im prisons or asylums, multiply also with- 
out restraint. Heredity being strict in its 
action, the consequences are in civilized 
countries much what they would be in the 
kennels of the dog-breeder who continued 
to preserve all his puppies, good and bad: 
the proportion of defectives increases. The 
increase is so considerable that outside 
every great city there is a smaller town 
inhabited by defectives and those who wait 
on them. Round London we have a ring 
of such towns with some 30,000 inhabit- 
ants, of whom about 28,000 are defective, 


SEPTEMBER 4, 1914] 


largely, though of course by no means en- 
tirely, bred from previous generations of 
defectives. Now, it is not for us to con- 
sider practical measures. As men of sci- 
ence we observe natural events and deduce 
conclusions from them. I may perhaps be 
allowed to say that the remedies proposed 
in America, in so far as they aim at the 
eugenic regulation of marriage on a com- 
prehensive scale, strike me as devised 
without regard to the needs either of indi- 
viduals or of a modern state. Undoubtedly 
if they decide to breed their population of 
one uniform puritan gray, they can do it 
in a few generations; but I doubt if timid 
respectability will make a nation happy, 
and I am sure that qualities of a different 
sort are needed if it is to compete with 
more vigorous and more varied commu- 
nities. Hvery one must have a preliminary 
sympathy with the aims of eugenists both 
abroad and at home. Their efforts at the 
least are doing something to discover and 
spread truth as to the physiological struc- 
ture of society. The spirit of such organi- 
zations, however, almost of necessity suffers 
from a bias towards the accepted and the 
ordinary, and if they had power it would 
go hard with many ingredients of society 
that could be ill-spared. I notice an omin- 
ous passage in which even Galton, the 
founder of eugenics, feeling perhaps some 
twinge of his Quaker ancestry, remarks 
that ‘‘as the Bohemianism in the nature of 
our race is destined to perish, the sooner it 
goes, the happier for mankind.’’ It is not 
the eugenists who will give us what Plato 
has called divine releases from the common 
ways. If some fancier with the catholicity 
of Shakespeare would take us in hand, well 
and good; but I would not trust even 
Shakespeares meeting as a committee. Let 
us remember that Beethoven’s father was 
a habitual drunkard and that his mother 
died of consumption. From the genealogy 


SCIENCE 


325 


of the patriarchs also we learn—what may 
very well be the truth—that the fathers of 
such as dwell in tents, and of all such as 
handle the harp or organ, and the instructor 
of every artificer in brass and iron—the 
founders, that is to say, of the arts and the 
sciences—came in direct descent from Cain, 
and not in the posterity of the irreproach- 
able Seth, who is to us, as he probably was 
also in the narrow circle of his own con- 
temporaries, what naturalists call a nomen 
nudum. 

Genetic research will make it possible 
for a nation to elect by what sort of beings 
it will be represented not very many genera- 
tions hence, much as a farmer can decide 
whether his byres shall be full of short- 
horns or Herefords. It will be very sur- 
prising indeed if some nation does not make 
trial of this new power. They may make 
awful mistakes, but I think they will try. 

Whether we like it or not, extraordinary 
and far-reaching changes in public opinion 
are coming to pass. Man is just beginning 
to know himself for what he is—a rather 
long-lived animal, with great powers of 
enjoyment if he does not deliberately forego 
them. Hitherto superstition and mythical 
ideas of sin have predominantly controlled 
these powers. Mysticism will not die out: 
for those strange fancies knowledge is no 
eure; but their forms may change, and 
mysticism as a force for the suppression of 
joy is happily losing its hold on the modern 
world. As in the decay of earlier religions 
Ushabti dolls were substituted for human 
victims, so telepathy, neecromaney and other 
harmless toys take the place of escha- 
tology and the inculeation of a ferocious 
moral code. Among the civilized races of 
Europe we are witnessing an emancipation 
from traditional control in thought, in art, 
and in conduct which is likely to have pro- 
longed and wonderful influences. Return- 
ing to freer or, if you will, simpler con- 


326 


ceptions of life and death, the coming 
generations are determined to get more out 
of this world than their forefathers did. 
Is it then to be supposed that when science 
puts into their hand means for the allevia- 
tion of suffering immeasurable, and for 
making this world a happier place, that 
they will demur to using those powers? 
The intenser struggle between communities 
is only now beginning, and with the ap- 
proaching exhaustion of that capital of 
energy stored in the earth before man 
began it must soon become still more fierce. 
In England some of our great-grandchil- 
dren will see the end of the easily acces- 
sible coal, and, failing some miraculous dis- 
eovery of available energy, a wholesale 
weduction in population. There are races 
ywho have shown themselves able at a word 
tto throw off all tradition and take into their 
service every power that science has yet 
offered them. Can we expect that they, 
when they see how to rid themselves of the 
ever-increasing weight of a defective popu- 
lation, will hesitate? The time can not be 
far distant when both individuals and com- 
munities will begin to think in terms of 
biological fact, and it behooves those who 
lead scientific thought carefully to con- 
sider whither action should lead. At pres- 
ent I ask you merely to observe the facts. 
The powers of science to preserve the de- 
fective are now enormous. Hvery year 
these powers increase. This course of ac- 
tion must reach a limit. To the deliberate 
intervention of civilization for the preser- 
vation of inferior strains there must sooner 
or later come an end, and before long na- 
tions will realize the responsibility they 
have assumed in multiplying these ‘“cankers 
of a calm world and a long peace.”’ 

The definitely feeble-minded we may 
with propriety restrain, as we are begin- 
ning to do even in England, and we may 
safely prevent unions in which both parties 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8S. Vou. XL. No. 1027 


are defective, for the evidence shows that 
as a rule such marriages, though often 
prolific, commonly produce no normal 
children at all. The union of such social 
vermin we should no more permit than we 
would allow parasites to breed on our own 
bodies. Further than that in restraint of 
marriage we ought not to go, at least not 
yet. Something too may be done by a re- 
form of medical ethics. Medical students 
are taught that it is their duty to prolong 
life at whatever cost in suffering. This 
may have been right when diagnosis was 
uneertain and interference ‘usually of 
small effect; but deliberately to interfere 
now for the preservation of an infant so 
eravely diseased that it can never be happy 
or come to any good is very like wanton 
cruelty. In private few men defend such 
interference. Most who have seen these 
cases lingering on agree that the system is 
deplorable, but ask where can any line be 
drawn. The biologist would reply that in 
all ages such decisions have been made by 
civilized communities with fair success 
both in regard to crime and in the closely 
analogous case of lunacy. The real reason 
why these things are done is because the 
world collectively cherishes occult views of 
the nature of life, because the facts are 
realized by few, and because between the 
legal mind—to which society has become 
accustomed to defer—and the seeing eye, 
there is such physiological antithesis that 
hardly can they be combined in the same 
body. So soon as scientific knowledge be- 
comes common property, views more rea- 
sonable and, I may add, more humane, are 
likely to prevail. 

To all these great biological problems 
that modern society must sooner or later 
face there are many aspects besides the 
obvious ones. Infant mortality we are 
asked to lament without the slightest 
thought of what the world would be like if 


SEPTEMBER 4, 1914] 


the majority of these infants were to sur- 
vive. The decline in the birth-rate in 
countries already over-populated is often 
deplored, and we are told that a nation in 
which population is not rapidly increasing 
must be in a decline. ‘The slightest ac- 
quaintanee with biology, or even school- 
boy natural history, shows that this infer- 
ence may be entirely wrong, and that 
before such a question can be decided in 
one way or the other, hosts of considera- 
tions must be taken into account. In nor- 
mal stable conditions population is station- 
ary. The laity never appreciates, what is 
so clear to a biologist, that the last century 
and a quarter, corresponding with the great 
rise in population, has been an altogether 
exceptional period. To our species this 
period has been what its early years in 
Australia were to the rabbit. The exploita- 
tion of energy-capital of the earth in coal, 
development of the new countries, and the 
consequent pouring of food into Europe, 
the application of antiseptics, these are the 
things that have enabled the human popu- 
lation to increase. I do not doubt that if 
population were more evenly spread over 
the earth it might increase very much 
more; but the essential fact is that under 
any stable conditions a limit must be 
reached. A pair of wrens will bring off a 
dozen young every year, but each year you 
will find the same number of pairs in your 
garden. In England the limit beyond 
which under present conditions of distri- 
bution increase of population is a source 
of suffering rather than of happiness has 
been reached already. Younger commu- 
nities living in territories largely vacant 
are very probably right in desiring and 
encouraging more population. Increase 
may, for some temporary reason, be essen- 
tial to their prosperity. But those who 
live, as“ do, among thousands of creatures 
in a state of semi-starvation will realize 


SCIENCE 


327 


that too few is better than too many, and 
will acknowledge the wisdom of Eeclesi- 
asticus, who said, ‘‘Desire not a multitude 
of unprofitable children.’’ 

But at least it is often urged that the 
decline in the birth-rate of the intelligent 
and successful sections of the population— 
I am speaking of the older communities— 
is to be regretted. Hven this can not be 
granted without qualification. As the 
biologist knows, differentiation is indispen- 
sable to progress. If population were 
homogeneous civilization would stop. In 
every army the officers must be compara- 
tively few. Consequently, if the upper 
strata of the community produce more 
children than will recruit their numbers 
some must fall into the lower strata and 
increase the pressure there. Statisticians 
tell us that an average of four children 
under present conditions is sufficient to 
keep the number constant, and as the ex- 
pectation of life is steadily improving we 
may perhaps contemplate some diminution 
of that number without alarm. 

In the study of history biological treat- 
ment is only beginning to be applied. For 
us the causes of the success and failure of 
races are physiological events, and the 
progress of man has depended upon a 
chain of these events, like those which have 
resulted in the ‘‘improvement’’ of the 
domesticated animals and plants. It is 
obvious, for example, that had the cereals 
never been ‘domesticated cities could 
scarcely have existed. But we may go 
further, and say that in temperate coun- 
tries of the Old World (having neither rice 
nor maize) populations concentrated in 
large cities have been made possible by the 
appearance of a ‘‘thrashable’’ wheat. The 
ears of the wild wheats break easily to 
pieces, and the grain remains in the thick 
husk. Such wheat can be used for food, 
but not readily. Ages before written his- 


328 


tory began, in some unknown place, plants, 
or more likely a plant, of wheat lost the 
dominant factor to which this brittleness 
is due, and the recessive, thrashable wheat 
resulted. Some man noticed this wonder- 
ful novelty, and it has been disseminated 
over the earth. The original variation may 
well have occurred once only, in a single 
germ-cell. 

So must it have been with man. Trans- 
lated into terms of factors, how has that 
progress in control of nature which we call 
civilization been achieved? By the spo- 
radie appearance of variations, mostly, per- 
haps all, consisting in a loss of elements, 
which inhibit the free working of the mind. 
The members of civilized communities, 
when they think about such things at all, 
imagine the process a gradual one, and that 
they themselves are active agents in it. 
Few, however, contribute anything but 
their labor; and except in so far as they 
have freedom to adopt and imitate, their 
physiological composition is that of an 
earlier order of beings. Annul the work 
of a few hundreds—I might almost say 
scores—of men, and on what plane of 
civilization should we be? We should not 
have advanced beyond the medieval stage 
without printing, chemistry, steam, elec- 
tricity, or surgery worthy the name. These 
things are the contributions of a few ex- 
cessively rare minds. Galton reckoned 
those to whom the term ‘‘illustrious”’ 
might be applied as one in a million, but in 
that number he is, of course, reckoning 
men famous in ways which add nothing to 
universal progress. To improve by sub- 
ordinate invention, to discover details 
missed, even to apply knowledge never be- 
fore applied, all these things need genius 
in some degree, and are far beyond the 
powers of the average man of our race; 
but the true pioneer, the man whose pene- 
tration creates a new world, as did that of 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1027 


Newton and of Pasteur, is inconceivably 
rare. But for a few thousands of such men, 
we should perhaps be in the Paleolithic era, 
knowing neither metals, writing, arith: 
metic, weaving, nor pottery. 

In the history of art the same is true, but 
with this remarkable difference, that not 
only are gifts of artistic creation very rare, 
but even the faculty of artistic enjoyment, 
not to speak of higher powers of appre- 
ciation, is not attained without variation 
from the common type. I am speaking, of 
course, of the non-Semitice races of modern 
Hurope, among whom the power, whether 
of making or enjoying works of art, is con- 
fined to an insignificant number of indi- 
viduals. Appreciation can in some degree 
be simulated, but in our population there 
is no widespread physiological appetite for 
such things. When detached from the 
centers where they are made by others most 
of us pass our time in great contentment, 
making nothing that is beautiful, and quite 
unconscious of any deprivation. Musical 
taste is the most notable exception, for in 
certain races—for example, the Welsh and 
some of the Germans—it is almost univer- 
sal. Otherwise artistic faculty is still 
sporadic in its occurrence. The case of 
music well illustrates the application of 
genetic analysis to human faculty. No one 
disputes that musical ability is congenital. 
In its fuller manifestation it demands 
sense of rhythm, ear, and special nervous 
and muscular powers. Hach of these is 
separable and doubtless genetically distinct. 
Each is the consequence of a special de- 
parture from the common type. Teaching 
and external influences are powerless to 
evoke these faculties, though their develop- 
ment may be assisted. The only conceivable 
way in which the people of Hngland, for 
example, could become a musical nation 
would be by the gradual rise in the pro- 
portional numbers of a musical strain or 


SEPTEMBER 4, 1914] 


strains until the present type became so 
rare as to be negligible. It by no means 
follows that in any other respect the re- 
sulting population would be distinguishable 
from the present one. Difficulties of this 
kind beset the efforts of anthropologists to 
trace racial origins. It must continually 
be remembered that most characters are 
independently transmitted and capable of 
much recombination. In the light of Men- 
delian knowledge the discussion whether a 
race is pure or mixed loses almost all 
significance. A race is pure if it breeds 
pure, and not otherwise. Historically we 
may know that a race like our own was, as 
a matter of fact, of mixed origin. But a 
character may have been introduced by a 
single individual, though subsequently it 
becomes common to the race. This is 
merely a variant on the familiar paradox 
that in the course of time, if registration is 
accurate, we shall all have the same sur- 
mame. In the case of music, for instance, 
the gift, originally, perhaps, from a Welsh 
source, might permeate the nation, and the 
question would then arise whether the na- 
tion, so changed, was the English nation 
or not. 

Such a problem is raised in a striking 
form by the population of modern Greece, 
and especially of Athens. The racial char- 
acteristics of the Athenian of the fifth 
century B.C. are vividly described by 
Galton in ‘‘Hereditary Genius.’’ The fact 
that in that period a population, number- 
img many thousands, should have existed, 
eapable of following the great plays at a 
first hearing, reveling in subtleties of 
speech, and thrilling with passionate de- 
light in beautiful things, is physiologically 
a most singular phenomenon. On the basis 
of the number of illustrious men produced 
by that age Galton estimated the average 
intelligence as at least two of his degrees 
above our own, differing from us as much 


SCIENCE 


329 


as we do from the negro. A few genera- 
tions later the display was over. The origin 
of that constellation of human genius 
which then blazed out is as yet beyond all 
biological analysis, but I think we are not 
altogether without suspicion of the sequence 
of the biological events. If I visit a 
poultry-breeder who has a fine stock of 
thoroughbred game fowls breeding true, 
and ten years later—that is to say ten fowl- 
generations later—I go again and find 
scarcely a recognizable game-fowl on the 
place, I know exactly what has happened. 
One or two birds of some other or of no 
breed must have strayed in and their pro- 
geny been left undestroyed. Now in 
Athens we have many indications that up 
to the beginning of the fifth century, so 
long as the phratries and gentes were main- 
tained in their integrity, there was rather 
close endogamy, a condition giving the best 
chance of producing a homogeneous popu- 
lation. There was no lack of material from 
which intelligence and artistic power might 
be derived. Sporadically these qualities 
existed throughout the ancient Greek world 
from the dawn of history, and, for ex- 
ample, the vase-painters, the makers of the 
Tanagra figurines, and the gem-cutters 
were presumably pursuing family crafts, 
much as are the actor-families? of England 
or the professorial families of Germany at 
the present day. How the intellectual 
strains should have acquired predominance 
we can not tell, but in an inbreeding com- 
munity homogeneity at least is not sur- 
prising. At the end of the sixth century 
came the ‘‘reforms’’ of Cleisthenes (507 
B.C.), which sanctioned foreign marriages 
and admitted to citizenship a number not 
only of resident aliens, but also of manu- 
mitted slaves. As Aristotle says, Cleis- 
thenes legislated with the deliberate pur- 


3For tables of these families, see the Supple- 
ment to ‘‘Who’s Who in the Theater.’’ 


330 


pose of breaking up the phratries and 
gentes, in order that the various sections 
of the population might be mixed up as 
much as possible, and the old tribal asso- 
ciations abolished. The ‘‘reform’’ was 
probably a recognition and extension of a 
process already begun; but is it too much 
to suppose that we have here the effective 
beginning of a series of genetic changes 
which in a few generations so greatly 
altered the character of the people? Under 
Pericles the old law was restored (451 
B.C.), but losses in the great wars led to 
further laxity in practise, and though at 
the end of the fifth century the strict rule 
was re-enacted that a citizen must be of 
citizen-birth on both sides, the population 
by that time may well have become largely 
monegrelized. 

Let me not be construed as arguing that 
mixture of races is an evil: far from it. A 
population like our own, indeed, owes much 
of its strength to the extreme diversity of 
its components, for they contribute a eorre- 
sponding abundance of aptitudes. HEvery- 
thing turns on the nature of the ingredi- 
ents brought in, and I am concerned solely 
with the observation that these genetic dis- 
turbaneces lead ultimately to great and 
usually unforeseen changes in the nature of 
the population. 

Some experiments of this kind are going 
on at the present time, in the United States, 
for example, on a very large scale. Our 
grandchildren may live to see the charac- 
teristics of the American population en- 
tirely altered by the vast invasion of 
Italian and other South European elements. 
We may expect that the Eastern States, 
and especially New England, whose people 
still exhibit the fine Puritan qualities with 
their appropriate limitations, absorbing 
little of the alien elements, will before long 
be in feelings and aptitudes very notably 
differentiated from the rest. In Japan, 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1027 


also, with the abolition of the feudal system 
and the rise of commercialism, a change in 
population has begun which may be worthy 
of the attention of naturalists in: that 
country. Till the revolution the Samurai 
almost always married within their own 
class, with the result, as I am informed, 
that the caste had fairly recognizable fea- 
tures. The changes of 1868 and the con- 
sequent impoverishment of the Samurai 
have brought about a beginning of disin- 
tegration which may not improbably have 
perceptible effects. 

How many genetic vicissitudes has our 
own peerage undergone! Into the hard- 
fighting stock of medieval and Plantagenet 
times have successively been crossed the 
cunning shrewdness of Tudor statesmen 
and courtiers, the numerous contributions 
of Charles II. and his concubines, reinfore- 
ing peculiar and persistent attributes which 
popular imagination especially regards as 
the characteristic of peers, ultimately the 
heroes of finance and industrialism. Defi- 
nitely intellectual elements have been 
sporadically added, with rare exceptions, 
however, from the ranks of lawyers and 
politicians. To this aristocracy art, learn- 
ing and science have contributed sparse 
ingredients, but these mostly chosen for 
celibacy or childlessness. A remarkable 
body of men, nevertheless; with an aver- 
age ‘‘horse-power,’’ as Samuel Butler 
would have said, far exceeding that of any 
random sample of the middle-class. If only 
man could be reproduced by budding what 
a simplification it would be! In vegetative 
reproduction heredity is usually complete. 
The Washington plum can be divided to 
produce as many identical individuals as 
are required. If, say, Washington, the 
statesman, or preferably King Solomon, 
could similarly have been propagated, all 
the nations of the earth could have been 
supplied with ideal rulers. 


SEPTEMBER 4, 1914] 


Historians commonly ascribe such changes 
as occurred in Athens, and will almost cer- 
tainly come to pass in the United States, to 
conditions of life and especially to polit- 
ical institutions. These agencies, however, 
do little unless they are such as to change 
the breed. External changes may indeed 
give an opportunity to special strains, 
which then acquire ascendency. The in- 
dustrial developments which began at the 
end of the eighteenth century, for instance, 
gave a chance to straing till then sub- 
merged, and their success involved the de- 
eay of most of the old aristocratic families. 
But the demagogue who would argue from 
the rise of the one and the fall of the other 
that the original relative positions were not 
justifiable altogether mistakes the facts. 

Conditions give opportunities, but cause 
no variations. For example, in Athens, to 
which I just referred, the universality of 
cultivated discernment could never have 
come to pass but for the institution of 
slavery which provided the opportunity, 
but slavery was in no sense a cause of that 
development, for many other populations 
have lived on slaves and remained alto- 
gether inconspicuous. 

The long-standing controversy as to the 
relative importance of nature and nurture, 
to use Galton’s ‘‘convenient jingle of 
words,’’ is drawing to an end, and of the 
overwhelminely greater significance of 
nature there is no longer any possibility of 
doubt. It may be well briefly to recapitu- 
late the arguments on which naturalists 
rely in coming to this decision as regards 
both races and individuals. First, as re- 
gards human individuals, there is the com- 
mon experience that children of the same 
parents reared under conditions sensibly 
identical may develop quite differently, ex- 
hibiting in character and aptitudes a segre- 
gation just as great as in their colors or 


SCIENCE 


331 


aptitudes have at various times appeared 
and not rarely reached perfection in cir- 
cumstances the least favorable for their 
development. Next, appeal can be made to 
the universal experience of the breeder, 
whether of animals or plants, that strain is 
absolutely essential, that though bad con- 
ditions may easily enough spoil a good 
strain, yet that under the best conditions 
a bad strain will never give a fine result. 
It is faith, not evidence, which encour- 
ages educationists and economists to hope 
so greatly in the ameliorating effects of the 
conditions of life. Let us consider what 
they can do and what they can not. By 
reference to some sentences in a charming 
though pathetic book, ‘‘ What Is, and What 
Might Be,’’ by Mr: Edmond Holmes, which 
will be well known in the Educational Sec- 
tion, I may make the point of view of us 
naturalists clear. I take Mr. Holmes’s 
pronouncement partly because he is an 
enthusiastic believer in the efficacy of nur- 
ture as opposed to nature, and also because 
he illustrates his views by frequent appeals 
to biological analogies which help us to a 
common ground. Wheat badly cultivated 
will give a bad yield, though, as Mr. Holmes 
truly says, wheat of the same strain in 
similar soil well cultivated may give a good 
harvest. But, having witnessed the suc- 
cess of a great natural teacher in helping 
unpromising peasant children to develop 
their natural powers, he gives us another 
botanical parallel. Assuming that the wild 
bullace is the origin of domesticated plums, 
he tells us that by cultivation the bullace 
can no doubt be improved so far as to be- 
come a better bullace, but by no means can 
the bullace be made to bear plums. All this 
is sound biology; but, translating these facts 
into the human analogy, he declares that 
the work of the successful teacher shows 
that with man the facts are otherwise, and 


hair-forms. Conversely, all the more marked \ that the average rustic child, whose normal 


332 


ideal is ‘‘bullacehood,’’ can become the 
rare exception, developing to a stage corre- 
sponding with that of the plum. But the 
naturalist knows exactly where the paral- 
lel is at fault. For the wheat and the 
bullace are both breeding approximately 
true, whereas the human crop, like jute 
and various cottons, is in a state of poly- 
morphic mixture. The population of many 
English villages may be compared with the 
erop which would result from sowing a 
bushel of kernels gathered mostly from the 
hedges, with an occasional few from an 
orchard. If any one asks how it happens 
that there are any plum-kernels in the 
sample at all, he may find the answer per- 
haps in spontaneous variation, but more 
probably in the appearance of a long-hidden 
recessive. For the want of that genetic 
variation, consisting probably, as I have 
argued, in loss of inhibiting factors, by 
which the plum arose from the wild form, 
neither food, nor education, nor hygiene 
can in any way atone. Many wild plants 
are half-starved through competition, and, 
transferred to garden soil, they grow much 
bigger; so good conditions might certainly 
enable the bullace population to develop 
beyond the stunted physical and mental 
stature they commonly attain, but plums 
they can never be. Modern statesmanship 
‘aims rightly at helping those who have got 
sown as wildings to come into their proper 
class; but let not any one suppose such a 
policy democratic in its ultimate effects, for 
no course of action can be more effective in 
strenethening the upper classes whilst 
weakening the lower. 

In all practical schemes for social reform 
the congenital diversity, the essential poly- 
morphism of all civilized communities must 
be recognized as a fundamental fact, and 
reformers should rather direct their efforts 
to facilitating and rectifying class-distine- 
tions than to any futile attempt to abolish 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1027 


them. The teaching of biology is perfectly 
clear. We are what we are by virtue of 
our differentiation. The value of civiliza- 
tion has in all ages been doubted. Sinee, 
however, the first variations were not 
strangled in their birth, we are launched on 
that course of variability of which civiliza- 
tion is the consequence. We can not go 
back to homogeneity again, and differenti- 
ated we are likely to continue. For a 
period measures designed to create a spuri- 
ous homogeneity may be applied. Such 
attempts will, I anticipate, be made when 
the present unstable social state reaches a 
climax of instability, which may not be 
long hence. Their effects can be but 
evanescent. The instability is due not to 
inequality, which is inherent and con- 
genital, but rather to the fact that in 
periods of rapid change like the present, 
convection-currents are set up such that 
the elements of the strata get intermixed 
and the apparent stratification corresponds 
only roughly with the genetic. In a few 
generations under uniform conditions these 
elements settle in their true levels once 
more. 

In such equilibrium is content most 
surely to be expected. To the naturalist 
the broad jines of solution of the problems 
of social discontent are evident. They lie 
neither in vain dreams of a mystical and 
disintegrating equality, nor in the promo- 
tion of that malignant individualism which 
in older civilization has threatened morti- 
fication of the humbler organs, but rather 
in a physiological coordination of the con- 
stituent parts of the social organism. The 
rewards of commerce are grossly out of 
proportion to those attainable by intellect 
or industry. Even regarded as compensa- 
tion for a dull life, they far exceed the 
value of the services rendered to the com- 
munity. Such disparity as an incident of 
the abnormally rapid growth of popula- 


SEPTEMBER 4, 1914] 


tion is quite indefensible as a permanent 
social condition. Nevertheless, capital, dis- 
tinguished as a provision for offspring, is a 
eugenic institution; and unless human in- 
stinect undergoes some profound and im- 
probable variation, abolition of capital 
means the abolition of effort; but as in the 
body the power of independent growth of 
the parts is limited and subordinated to the 
whole, similarly in the community we may 
limit the powers of capital, preserving so 
much imequality of privilege as corresponds 
with physiological fact. 

At every turn the student of political sci- 
ence is confronted with problems that de- 
mand biological knowledge for their solu- 
tion. Most obviously is this true in regard 
to education, the criminal law, and all 
those numerous branches of policy and ad- 
ministration which are directly concerned 
with the physiological capacities of man- 
kind. Assumptions as to what can be done 
and what can not be done to modify indi- 
viduals and races have continually to be 
made, and the basis of fact on which such 
decisions are founded can be drawn only 
from biological study. 

A knowledge of the facts of nature is 
not yet deemed an essential part of the 
mental equipment of politicians; but as 
the priest, who began in other ages as medi- 
cine-man, has been obliged to abandon the 
medical parts of his practise, so will the 
future behold the schoolmaster, the magis- 
trate, the lawyer, and ultimately the states- 
man, compelled to share with the naturalist 
those functions which are concerned with 
the physiology of race. 

WILLIAM BATESON 


THE STATUS OF HYPOTHESES OF POLAR 
WANDERINGS 


For tke past century, hypotheses which pos- 
tulate a wandering of the earth’s axis of rota- 
tion within its body have been advocated by 
‘various geologists and biologists as an explana- 


SCIENCE 


333 


tion of past climatic and biotic changes. 
Astronomers, on the contrary, have in general 
been opposed to hypotheses of polar migration; 
for in their opinion, not only is there no 
astronomic evidence pointing toward such 
instability of axis, but extensive and progress- 
ive wanderings are regarded as mechanically 
impossible. Geologists and biologists may 
array facts which suggest such hypotheses, but 
the testing of their possibility is really a prob- 
lem of mathematics, as much as are the move- 
ments of precession, and orbital perturbations. 
Notwithstanding this, a number of hypotheses 
concerning polar migration have been ingeni- 
ously elaborated and widely promulgated with- 
out their authors submitting them to these 
final tests, or in most cases even perceiving 
that an accordance with the known laws of 
mechanics was necessary. Others, of more 
logical mind, recognizing the need of mathe- 
matical justification, have thought to find a 
qualified support in the work of Kelvin and 
G. H. Darwin. The chief point of this paper 
lies in showing that the work of Darwin, in- 
stead of permitting hypotheses of polar wander- 
ings, offers the most convincing proof which is 
available that migrations of the axis of the 
earth sufficiently extensive to be of geological 
importance have not occurred. Darwin, in his 
conelusion, granted the possibility that the 
pole may have worked its way in a devious 
course some 10° or 15° away from the geo- 


“graphic position which it held at the consolida- 


tion of the earth, and he states that it may as 
a maximum have been deflected from 1° to 3° 
in any one geological period. This extreme 
limit to migration was purposely based upon 
those assumptions which might be geologically 
possible and which would permit the greatest 
changes in the axis of rotation. A reexamina- 
tion of those assumptions in the light of forty 
added years of geologic progress suggests that 
the actual changes have been much less and 
are more likely to be limited to a fraction of 
the maximum limits set by Darwin. His 
paper seems to have checked further specula- 
tion upon this subject in England, but, appar- 
ently unaware of its strictures, a number of 
continental geologists and biologists have car- 


334 


ried forward these ideas of polar wandering 
to the present day. The hypotheses have 
grown, each creator selecting facts and build- 
ing up from his particular assortment a fanci- 
ful hypothesis of polar migration unrestrained 
even by the devious paths worked out by 
others. 

If these varied and contradictory hypotheses 
were kept merely as exhibits of those strange 
creations of the mind which are stored in the 
museum of pseudo-science, there would be 
little present need for a discussion of the 
subject; but such is not the case. Able workers 
in the fields of natural science, a number of 
them deservedly of the first rank, overlooking 
the fatal mathematical objections, impressed 
by the apparent authority of the originators of 
some of the hypotheses, and assuming that 
these authors had made a thorough investiga- 
tion, have, while treating the subject cau- 
tiously, still given it serious attention. This 
is especially true of that very elaborated 
scheme of a pendulating earth put forth by 
Reibisch and voluminously supported by Sim- 
roth. It has been brought to the attention of 
the American scientific public in a favorable 
review by R. E. Richardson in Sciencr,! and 
more lately by Grabau, who discusses this and 
other hypotheses of polar migrations on pages 
891-899 of his recent work on “ The Principles 
of Stratigraphy.” In this work in fact the 
only hypotheses of climatic change through 
geologic time which receive detailed treatment 
are those of polar migrations, while certain 
important hypotheses, such as those of possible 
changes in the deep oceanic circulation, or 
changes in solar radiation, receive no mention. 
Although Grabau states that the pendulation 
theory is still too new and too little tested to 
receive more than respectful attention, he 
nevertheless regards it as a working hypoth- 
esis which is likely to be of much value, and 
from the space he devotes to it clearly con- 
siders it of much importance. The writer’s 
high opinion of Grabau’s “Principles of 
Stratigraphy ” has been expressed recently in 
ScIENCE and it is because of his estimation of 
the importance of that work that this article 


1 Vol. XXVIIL., pp. 375-379, 1908. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1027 


is written. The wide degree to which the 
“Principles of Stratigraphy” will be studied 
in America during the next decade will spread 
equally widely these ideas of polar migrations. 
There is need in consequence that the lines 
of counter arguments should be definitely set 
forth. 

What then, briefly, are these hypotheses of 
polar wanderings and on what kind of evi- 
dence do they rest? 

Some seventy years ago the proofs were 
developed of recent continental glaciation, in 
middle latitudes. This was in striking con- 
trast with the floral evidence of the mid- 
Tertiary warm temperate climate which pre- 
yailed in Greenland and Spitzbergen. The 
recognition of these great climatic changes in 
late geologic times gave rise to the suggestion 
that a migration of the poles seemed the 
simplest means of accounting for them. Sir 
John Lubbock in 1848 communicated a paper 
to the Geological Society of London upon this 
subject and Sir Henry Delabeche discussed it 
in his presidential address in 1849. Mr. John 
Evans in his presidential address to the same 
Geological Society in 1876 recurred to it. 
Evans, after describing a system of geological 
upheaval and subsidence, evidently designed to 
produce a maximum effect in shifting the 
polar axis, asks: 

Would not such a modification of form bring the 
axis of figure about 15° or 20° south of the present, 
and on the meridian of Greenwich—that is to say, 
midway between Greenland and Spitzbergen, and 
would not, eventually, the axis of rotation corre- 
spond in position with the axis of figure? 


It was in answer to these questions that 
George H. Darwin wrote his conclusive paper. 

We may pass next to the far more extrava- 
gant demands of the hypotheses framed in 
later years and in disregard of Darwin’s work. 
The exact references are all given by Grabau. 

In 1901 Reibisch proposed a theory of 
polar pendulation, 2. ¢., a back and forth migra- 
tion of the poles along a certain well-defined 
path. An axis of oscillation he supposed 
to pass through Equador and Sumatra. These 
points have consequently never changed in 
latitude. The axis of rotation is supposed to 


SEPTEMBER 4, 1914] 


remain always at right angles to this oscilla- 
tion axis but to shift within the earth north 
and south along the meridian of 10° east of 
Greenwich. Thus the north pole is supposed 
in the Pleistocene to have lain north of 
Seandinavia and to be now advancing in the 
direction of Bering Sea. In the Jurassic and 
Cretaceous the continent of Europe is sup- 
posed to have been in tropic latitudes. An 
examination of the work of Reibisch shows no 
mention of the astronomic side of the problem 
nor any reference to the work of G. H. Darwin. 
His argument rests chiefly. on various facts in 
the distribution of animals and plants and 
also upon the submergence and emergence of 
certain regions. 

Kreichgauer in 1902 produced a map of the 
polar wanderings through geologic time as 
worked out by him, in which he shows the 
poles actually changing place, the north pole 
migrating from the Antarctic in the Pre- 
Cambrian northerly through the Pacifie Ocean, 
through Alaska and the Arctic Archipelago to 
Greenland, and thence to its present position. 

Jacobitti on the other hand prefers a differ- 
ent path, his north pole lying in the South 
Atlantic in Cambrian times, thence moving 
easterly across South Africa, India, Australia, 
the Pacific Ocean, Canada and Greenland to 
its present location. 

Dr. Heinrich Simroth, professor in the Uni- 
versity of Leipzig, elaborated the hypothesis 
of Reibisch, publishing in 1907 a book of 564 
pages on “ Die Pendulations Theorie.” 

These hypotheses rest chiefly upon facts and 
interpretations regarding the distribution of 
plants and animals. Support for them is 
also sought in the nature of crust movements 
and in the geologic evidences of past cli- 
matic changes. Much of the evidence is 
vague in delimitation and in significance, 
some of it is not clearly applicable, some of it 
could be offset by opposing evidence, and all 
of it can be given other interpretations which 
find a better geologic basis and do not con- 
travene the laws of mechanics. 

The writer has examined in some detail the 
hypothesis of Reibisch and Simroth, since this 
is the one which has been most commended 


SCIENCE 


335 


to geologists. Most of the following criti- 
cisms are directed toward their work, but in a 
general way they apply to the other hypoth- 
eses also. The kind of evidence upon which 
Reibisch founds a hypothesis involving a new 
earth motion of which he is the discoverer is 
seen in the following statements. He locates 
his oscillation poles in Hquador and Sumatra 
because of botanical writings which claim that 
the Tertiary floras of those regions were not 
modified by Pleistocene climatic changes. 
Archaic and related types of animals inhabit 
these two antipodal regions, preserved from 
extinction because of the constancy of climate 
surrounding these oscillation poles. The 
oscillation circle is at 90° to these poles, run- 
ning north and south through Europe and 
Africa. In the vicinity of this circle, climatic 
changes, owing to the poles moving back and 
forth on this meridian, are stated to have re- 
peatedly driven out the faunas and floras and. 
made this region that which has promoted the: 
greatest evolutionary progress. Any other 
possible mode of accounting for the evidence: 
these lands lie near his: north-south belts of 
greatest oscillatory climatic change and off- 
set the arguments drawn from Equador and 
Sumatra. The early Tertiary fauna pre- 
served in Madagascar needs especially some 
explanation since at that time this region ac- 
cording to Reibisch would have been near the 
south pole. However such objections can 
always be met and conquered by a sufficiently 
ingenious advocate. 

All hypotheses of polar migration require 
that there should be enormous changes of 
figure of the earth in order that the surface 
for every position of the axis should be in 
approximate equilibrium. These changes in 
the earth’s body are supposed to take place 
isostatically, with only a moderate lag. There 
would be involved however a considerable 
stretching of those parts of the crust advanc- 
ing toward the equator because of the greater 
equatorial circumference, compression in those 
parts approaching the poles. Several advo- 
cates have tried to read into the known crust 
movements an agreement with these require- 
ments. But as many conflicts as agreements 


336 


could be cited, and it is not evident how 
sharply differential movements like the raising 
of the east African plateaus and the sinking 
of the Red Sea and Mediterranean basins can 
in any respect be responses to such a general 
change of figure. 

The causes of the existence of Permian 
glaciation in low latitudes constitute one of 
the unsolved problems of geology, and the phe- 
nomena have been utilized by the various 
creators of hypotheses, but each hypothesis 
raises difficulties as great as those it is invoked 
to explain. Although the pole as located in 
the Permian by Kreichgauer would bring 
South Africa into the Antarctic circle, the 
Permian glaciation of Brazil and Australia 
would still be within the torrid zone. The 
Permo-Carboniferous axis as located by 
Jacobitti, while giving antipodal polar lati- 
tudes to northern South America and to 
Australia, would throw glacial South Africa 
into the torrid zone. The pendulation hypoth- 
esis of Reibisch, while permitting polar lati- 
tudes to invade Africa, would never give high 
latitudes to either India or South America. 

The advocates of polar wandering have come 
near to agreement upon one supposition,—that 
in the Pleistocene the pole was in Greenland, 
or to the east of it, giving higher latitudes at 
that time to the glaciated regions of north- 
eastern North America and northwestern 
Europe. This would imply a polar movement 
of as much as 15° since the latter part of the 
Pleistocene. Reibisch in his first papers cites 
the fact that during the glacial period the 
voleanoes of equatorial Africa were glaciated 
to elevations 800 to -1,000 meters below the 
present limits. He regards this as a proof of 
his pendulation theory on the meridian E. 10°, 
Africa then having a more northerly latitude. 
According to this, however, there should just 
as definitely have been no climatic change in 
the equatorial Andes, since these are adjacent 
to the oscillation pole. The fact that in Peru 
glaciation descended to altitudes below the 
present limits comparable to the descent on the 
equatorial mountains of Africa is, however, 
2 most embarrassing fact not cited by Reibisch. 
For those who would move the Pleistocene pole 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1027 


into Greenland, these facts of glacial advance 
in Peru beyond the present limits are even 
more disconcerting, since their position of the 
pole would bring Peru directly under the 
equator during the Pleistocene. Simroth, 
who goes far beyond Reibisch in his detailed 
discussion, does note and explain away these 
difficulties. He states (p. 533) that Reibisch 
had in a third, still unpublished work reached 
the important conclusion that a more northerly 
position of the Alps of only 3° or 34° was 
necessary. The resulting elevation above sea 
level would be sufficient to originate the gla- 
ciation. In regard to the glaciation of the 
tropical mountains which according to others 
indicate a general lowering of terrestrial tem- 
peratures during the Pleistocene, Simroth 
says (p. 531): 

Here it becomes our duty to go at least a little 
into argumentation. Kilimandjaro presents no 
difficulty. It lies so near the oscillation circle that 
pendulation could have easily carried it into other 
and cooler latitudes. During our Diluvium it must 
have lain well under the equator or somewhat north 
of it, but certainly not near either the north or 
south pole. One must, therefore, refer it back to 
the Tertiary in order that it should be permitted to 
wander to the south pole. There comes then the 
first thought in regard to those moraines; we do 
not know their age. 

The problem as to how these moraines could 
have been preserved from erosion since the 
middle Tertiary is not entered upon by the 
author. Space forbids further quotation, but 
Simroth suggests as another alternative ex- 
planation that the glaciers may only appear to 
be far above their terminal moraines because 
visited in the dry season, during which a rapid 
melting takes place. As the moraines in ques- 
tion are stated elsewhere to be at elevations 
800 to 1,000 meters below the present fronts 
of the glaciers, this would be a rapid seasonal 
melting indeed. His elimination of the diffi- 
culties connected with glaciation in the Andes 
is of a similar character. 

In view of these quotations from Simroth 
it should be said that the great part of his 
work consists of a presentation of biological 
evidence. In this he is at home and his maps 
and text bring out many significant facts re- 


SEPTEMBER 4, 1914] 


garding the distribution of animals although 
some errors could be pointed out. ‘The bio- 
logic evidence can, however, all be interpreted 
by other hypotheses than that of a polar pen- 
dulation. 

The previous discussion has been given to 
show the vague and warped evidence upon 
which a system of terrestrial mechanics has 
been raised. But this is really not the way 
to test the hypotheses. They must stand or 
fall by the astronomical and mathematical 
implications. What then is the astronomic 
evidence ? 

Euler long since pointed out that in a rigid 
spheroid, if the axis of rotation did not exactly 
coincide with the axis of figure, the former 
would revolve around the latter. For the 
earth, if absolutely rigid, this revolution of 
the pole would be completed in 305 days. In 
1890 Chandler showed that there was such a 
motion, but that the period was about 428 
days. In 1892 Newcomb showed that the dis- 
crepancy between the calculated and the ob- 
served period was owing to the fact that the 
earth was not absolutely rigid. The difference 
in the period implied an elasticity of the 
earth’s body comparable to steel, but did not 
show plasticity. The motions are confined 
within a circle about fifty feet in diameter. 
The actual path is not, however, a circle, and 
Chandler later showed that it was composed of 
two harmonic terms, the one about 430 days, 
the other 365 days. The former is the motion 
previously described, and is called the Eulerian 
nutation; the latter is regarded as due to sea- 
sonal changes in precipitation and in the sea- 
sonal shifting of atmospheric and oceanic 
currents. There is no suggestion of a third 
component of polar motion represented by a 
progressive shifting in one direction. Such a 
motion even if a fraction of a foot per year 
would have become evident owing to the length 
of the time over which refined latitude obser- 
vations have been made. How does this ob- 
served fixity of the axis compare with the de- 
mands of the hypotheses of polar migration ? 

A movement of as much as 10° since the 
late Pleistocene, would apparently be at a 
much faster rate than the previous migra- 


SCIENCE 


337 


tions. Overlooking, however, this anomaly of 
changing rate, suppose the time to be as long 
as 200,000 years. This great length of time 
would minimize the annual rate, giving a 
movement of 18 feet per year. If the move- 
ment of the pole is reduced to 3°, as suggested 
by Reibisch in a later work mentioned by Sim- 
roth, this would be at an annual rate of 5.5 
feet per year. The absence of even a small 
fraction of this motion within the period of 
precise astronomic observations would require 
the added supposition that progressive migra- 
tion for some unknown reason had greatly 
slowed down or that pendulation was at its 
turning point. The astronomic evidence lends, 
therefore, no support whatever to the doctrine 
of a wandering pole. 

Apparently Simroth thinks that the move- 
ment of precession involves a motion of the 
earth’s axis within its body in a circle of more 
than 20° radius (pp. 534-536). This, accord- 
ing to him, is combined with the pendulation 
movement, the result being that the path of 
the pole is like the projected thread of a screw 
of which the axis is the meridian 10° EK. In 
following out this idea under the title of the 
“Probable True Path of Pendulation” he 
naively says: 

Possibly there speaks already in favor of a mo- 
tion of the north pole in a screw line instead of a 
circle the uncertain statements of the handbooks. 
One reads now of 25,000, now of 28,000 years. I 
am not able to judge whence the different figures 
come. Do they not lie perhaps in the insecurity of 
the calculated elements which have been considered 
as circular ares while they are in truth part of a 
screw line? 


The final test of polar migration lies, how- 
ever, in the mathematical analysis of the ter- 
restrial motions. Mathematical astronomers 
have in general been opposed to the idea of a 
changing axis of rotation, the permanent fix- 
ity of the axis having been asserted by La- 
Place and many others since his day. ‘This 
problem has been investigated further by Lord 
Kelvin, but, as previously stated, more espe- 
cially by G. H. Darwin. The work of these 
men has been cited as offering no objection to 
a large or even indefinite wandering of the 


338 


pole. An examination of their original papers 
shows, however, that although they concede 
limited wandering to have possibly taken place 
under certain conditions, yet these conditions 
can not be admitted as existing throughout 
geologic time. Darwin’s paper? is most thor- 
ough and conclusive. In it he shows that the 
axis of rotation will follow the axis of figure. 
That is, if profound subsidence of miles should 
take place at some locality, say Boston, and 
also at its antipodal point, until the connect- 
ing line was the shortest diameter ot the earth 
and if there should simultaneously occur an 
upheaval around a great circle at ninety de- 
grees from this point until this circle should 
constitute an equatorial bulge, then, and only 
then, could Boston come to lie on the axis of 
the earth. 

Tf the change took place cataclysmically and 
the earth were sufficiently rigid, there would be 
set up a permanent Eulerian nutation, or cir- 
cular wobbling of the pole, but if the change 
was slow and intermittent the Eulerian nuta- 
tion would never be large. The lack of 
cumulative effect would be due to the vari- 
able positions of the instantaneous axis of 
rotation with respect to the principal axis of 
the earth at the times of successive impulses.® 
Thus, as a result of movements through the 
earth’s body, shiftings of the axis of rotation 
would take place, keeping it close to the axis of 
figure. The axis of rotation at any time is 
consequently stable. To change it there must 
be shiftings of matter in order to change the 
axis of figure. As the radii would have to 
change in length by many miles for an exten- 
sive migration, the mere gradational processes 
of erosion and sedimentation could not be of 
much effect. There would have to be internal 
changes of form far greater than the known 
amounts of uplift and depression. Any ex- 
planation as to what foree could cause the 

2“‘On the Influence of Geological Changes on 
the Earth’s Axis of Rotation,’’ Phil. Trans. Royal 
Soc. Part I., Vol. 167, 1877, pp. 271-312; Vol. 
III., Collected Works. 

3G. H. Darwin, ‘‘On Professor Haughton’s Esti- 
mate of Geological Time,’’ Proc. Royal Soc., 
XXVIL., pp. 179-183, 1878. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1027 


earth to expand in one direction and contract 
in another direction to these great amounts is 
absent. Apparently the earth would have to 
be granted an ameboid power, which Simroth 
as the sponsor of the pendulation theory and a 
biologist might be willing to confer. By as- 
suming a plastic earth and convective move- 
ments in its internal mass, energy could be 
supplied and a considerable polar wandering 
result, the process being analogous to a proto- 
plasmic streaming. Lord Kelvin granted the 
possibility of a considerable polar wandering 
curing the early plastic stage of the earth, but 
held that practical rigidity had prevailed 
throughout geologic history. These state- 
ments are sufficient to show the conflict be- 
tween the mechanics of a revolving solid globe 
and any hypothesis of unlimited wandering 
through geological time. 

But movements of elevation have gone for- 
ward in some places, of subsidence in others. 
What maximum polar shifting could be the re- 
sult of such continental and oceanic move- 
ments? Darwin has given a quantitative solu- 
tion to this question. Taking the areas as in 
the most favorable situation to affect the axis 
of rotation, he assumes that one area is ele- 
vated 10,000 feet and another equal area sub- 
sides 10,000 feet. A table shows the relation 
between the size of these areas and the result- 
ing deflection of the pole. A land mass as 
large as Africa thus favorably situated and 
undergoing reciprocal vertical movement with 
a section of oceanic bottom of like area, would 
result in a deflection of the pole amounting to 
about two degrees. If such changes were pro- 
gressive and in the right direction Darwin 
states that they might account for a change of 
10° to 15° since the consolidation of the earth. 


‘The kind of progressive changes which would 


account for this amount of shifting have not, 
kowever, been shown to have occurred through 
geologic history. 

To affect the position of the pole the most 
favorable situation is for uplift to occur at two 
antipodal regions in latitude 45°; for depres- 
sion to take place on the same meridian circle, 


4 Trans. Geol. Soc. Glasgow, Vol. XIV., p. 312, 
1874, 


SEPTEMBER 4, 1914] 


but in the opposite quadrants from the uplifts. 
This amounts to a shifting of matter from 
two antipodal regions to regions 90° from 
them, but on the same meridian circle. 

Erosion and sedimentation serve only to 
transfer sediment from the high parts of a 
continent to its low interior or its. borders. 
The limestones may be partly deposited in 
other regions of the earth, but they constitute 
not over ten per cent. of the sediments. Iso- 
static readjustments would tend to affect the 
regions unbalanced by erosion and sedimenta- 
tion. All of these actions have had but little 
tendency to shift matter from one octant of 
the earth’s surface to another octant. Such 
surface processes have consequently had but 
little effect in shifting the poles. 

The greater factor lies in the fragmentation 
of ancient continents, assuming that the possi- 
bility of this process be granted. But much 
of the Pacific must always have been a reser- 
voir for the ocean waters. The fragmentation 
of Laurentia, extending the North Atlantic 
ocean basin, would largely be balanced against 
the sinking of Gondwana to form the South 
Atlantic. Downsinkings in the Indian Ocean 
and in the tropical Pacific would have but 
little effect since they lie mostly within the tor- 
rid zone. These down-sinkings, furthermore, 
need not have caused to bulge up by just that 
much some particular continent or continents. 
The up-swelling to compensate for the down- 
sinking may more readily be conceived as 
affecting the whole earth. Fragmentation, 
therefore, has not been areally distributed in 
such a manner as to produce the maximum 
effects calculated by Darwin as possible from 
vertical changes of 10,000 feet. 

There is still another vital consideration, 
however. Darwin considers the case where 
elevation and subsidence is due to change of 
density, but not change of mass. Taking a 
superficial layer ten miles thick as not chang- 
ing, but a swelling to occur throughout a sec- 
tion of crust from ten to fifty miles in depth, 
the change in the position of the axis would 
be but .0126 of what it would be if the uplift 
were due to an addition of matter. The perti- 
nency of this is seen if it be noted that the 


SCIENCE 


339 


great plateau uplifts of the Tibetan region 
in Asia, of the Cordillera of North and South 
America, have been upraised with an approach 
to isostatic equilibrium from a state of low 
elevation and broad submergence in the early 
Tertiary. This is quite commonly viewed as 
the result of an intumescence in the crust be- 
neath, due perhaps to the irruption of magmas 
and their accompanying heat and to the heat 
of orogenic deformation. But Darwin’s figures 
show that uplifts due to this cause have a 
negligible effect upon the axis of rotation. 
Continental fragmentation and the sinking 
of Mediterranean basins, to such extent as 
they may have gone forward, may have been 
due to some contrary process of increasing 
density, the regional vertical movements thus 
conserving the isostatic principle. 

From these considerations it is seen that 
closer examination tends to cut down more 
and more even those moderate limits of polar 
migration set by Darwin. It would appear 
that the assumption of polar wandering as a 
cause of climatic change and organic migra- 
tions is aS gratuitous as an assumption of a 
changing earth orbit in defiance of the laws 
of celestial mechanics. Unless some wholly 
unsuspected forces are at work within the 
centrosphere, polar wandering has no more 
basis in science than Symmes imaginings of 
a hollow earth. From all that is known at 
present the doctrine must be regarded as a 
vagrant speculation, not as a working hypoth- 
esis. ve 

In closing this article it seems appropriate \ 
to indulge in a brief moralization. This paper : 
does not contribute any new facts, but was 
written to show the untenableness of certain 
hypotheses, emanating in this instance from 
Germany and in danger of spreading in 
America, by confronting them with observed 
facts and mathematical demonstrations, much 
of which, originating in England and Amer- 
ica, has been in the possession of science for 
more than a quarter of a century. Does not 
the history of this subject show the dangers of 
over-specialization within one division of sci- 
ence with the consequent putting forth of hy- 
potheses regardless of the verdict of related 


\ 
\ 


340 


sciences? It certainly shows admirably the 
defects of the advocating method of research— 
the dangers of the ruling hypothesis. Prob- 
ably also a more respectful reception has been 
given in this country to these hypotheses be- 
cause they were voluminously presented in 
German and backed by the prestige of a 
German professorship, than if they had origi- 
nated in this country. But if the writer is not 
mistaken, in Germany, preeminently the land 
of science, voluminous presentation is a 
fashion, and around the large body of high- 
grade work is a larger aureole of pseudo-science 
than is found in either England or America. 
We are sadly in need of knowing more German 
and in making larger use of foreign literature, 
but discrimination is necessary, and the writer 
is inclined to think that some Germans in turn 
might make larger use of scientific literature 
in the English language. 
JOSEPH BARRELL 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


Tur New Zealand meeting of the British 
Association has been abandoned. It will be 
remembered that a number of distinguished 
American men of science are on the way to 
attend the meeting as guests of the New Zeal- 
land government. 

Sm ApotpH Routuier has been elected 
president of the Royal Society of Canada in 
succession to Professor Frank D. Adams. 


THE commission authorized by the New 
York state legislature to undertake the scien- 
tifie study of the causes of bovine tuberculosis, 
its economic and health effects upon the state, 
has been appointed by Governor Glynn. The 
members of the commission include: Dr. Th. 
Smith, director of the division of animal 
pathology, Rockefeller Institute; Dr. Hermann 
M. Biggs, commissioner of health, New York; 
Dr. Linsly P. Williams, deputy commissioner 
of health, New York; Dr. Philip Van Ingen, 
of the New York Milk Commission; Dr. Henry 
L. K. Shaw, professor of children’s diseases, 
Albany Medical College; Seth Low, and Pro- 
fessor Veranus A. Moore, dean of the New 
York State Veterinary College, Cornell Uni- 
versity. 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Von. XL. No. 1027 


Tue Paris Academy of Sciences has awarded 
its La Caze prize of $2,000 to Dr. Gley, pro- 
fessor at the Collége de France, for his works 
on physiology. 


Tue Sir Gilbert Blane medal of the Royal 
College of Surgeons of England has been 
awarded to Surgeon G. F. Syms, R.N. 


Dr. ALEXIS CarREL, of the Rockefeller Insti- 
tute for Medical Research, has been made di- 
rector of the Military Hospital at Lyons, 
throughout the war. 


Iv is said that Dr. A. L. Skoog, professor of 
neurology in the University of Kansas, has 
been made temporary head of the La Petrie 
Hospital in Paris. Dr. Skoog was doing clin- 
ical work at the institution when the entire 
hospital staff was obliged to undertake mili- 
tary service. 


Dr. Avueust Lyprin, the author of impor- 
tant contributions to veterinary medicine and 
animal breeding in Germany, has celebrated 
his eightieth birthday. 


THE first of the short addresses at the dedi- 
cation of the new building of the Marine Bio- 
Icgieal Laboratory published in Science for 
August 14, should have been attributed to Pro- 
fessor Frank R. Lillie, director of the labora- 
tory. 


Mr. C. A. McLenpon, botanist and plant 
pathologist of the Georgia Experiment Sta- 
tion, has accepted a position with the South 
Carolina Experiment Station as field pathol- 
ogist. Mr. McLendon succeeds Mr. L. O. Wat- 
son who has gone to the Bureau of Plant In- 
dustry to take charge of the cotton wilt work 
in the south. 

Proressor CHARLES P. Berkey, of the de- 
partment of geology, Columbia University, ac- 
companied by Dr. Clarence N. Fenner, of the 
Geophysical Laboratory, Washington, sailed 
from New York on August 15 for Porto Rico 
to make a geological reconnaisance of the is- 
land. This party represents the New York 
Academy of Sciences, which has undertaken, 
in connection with the government of Porto 
Rico, a complete natural history survey of the 
island. It is hoped during the present season 


SEPTEMBER 4, 1914] 


to determine the fundamental geological for- 
mations with their larger structural relations, 
and reveal the problems that additional parties 
are to investigate in succeeding seasons. 


Miss Aticre Hastwoop, curator of the botan- 
ical department of the California Academy of 
Sciences, has recently returned from a collect- 
ing trip to Dawson, Yukon Territory, Canada. 
In order to be on hand for the earliest vegeta- 
tion, particularly the willows, Miss Eastwood 
left San Francisco on April 4. The journey 
from Whitehorse to Dawson, a distance of over 
three hundred miles, was made in an open 
stage on runners over the snow and the frozen 
rivers. Full material was obtained of all the 
willows from the winter stage in some species 
to the fruiting stage in all, with leaf specimens 
from the flowering bushes. Eleven species 
were found at Dawson within the town limits, 
and four were added from the higher moun- 
tains of the Yukon near Dawson. The return 
trip was made up the river to Whitehorse and 
every day opportunities for collecting were af- 
forded when the boat stopped to take on wood. 
Collections were made at Whitehorse, Atlin, 
Llewellyn Glacier, Lake Bennet, from Log 
Cabin to White Pass and Skagway. Small 
collections were also made on the way to 
Seattle when the boat stopped at Sitka, Wran- 
gell and Killisnoo. The trip was made at the 
instigation of Professor C. S. Sargent, head 
of the Arnold Arboretum and through the co- 
operation of that imstitution and the Cali- 
fornia Academy of Sciences. 

Mr. AtrreD JoHN JuUKES-Brown, F.R.S., 
lately of the English Geological Survey, died 
on August 14 at the age of sixty-three years. 

Mrs. Mary A. Aupertson died on August 
19, at the Nantucket Maria Mitchell Memorial, 
where she had been librarian and curator for 
ten years. To her much of the success of the 
memorial is due. While the astronomical work 
and the observatory received her faithful at- 
tention, she early organized a botanical de- 
partment. Having been associated with Pro- 
fessor Mitchell in earlier days she knew her 
great love for flowers and worked to collect 
a complete herbarium of Nantucket flora 
(native and introduced). It is gratifying to 


SCIENCE 


341 


report that she lived to see this nearly com- 
pleted. 


Tue U. S. Civil Service Commission an- 
nounces an examination for chief petroleum 
technologist to fill a vacancy in this position 
in the Bureau of Mines, for service in San 
Francisco, Cal., at a salary of $4,800 a year. 
The duties of this position will be to super- 
vise and participate in the technologic and 
other scientific and economic work of the 
Bureau of Mines in relation to petroleum and 
natural gas, as to production (which involves 
a consideration of the oil- and gas-bearing 
strata), storage, transportation and refining; 
the prevention of waste; the prevention of loss 
from underground water encroachment and 
other economic problems affecting the industry. 
Graduation with a bachelor’s degree from a 
college or university of recognized standing, 
special or graduate work in practical geology, 
and not less than five years’ responsible experi- 
ence in various practical petroleum opera- 
tions, such as would fit the candidate for the 
above enumerated duties, are prerequisites for 
consideration for this position. This exami- 
nation is open to all men who are citizens of 
the United States and who meet the require- 
ments. 


Notice is given by the organizing committee 
of the Nineteenth International Congress of 
Americanists that the session which was to be 
held in Washington from October 5 to 10 of 
this year has been postponed on account of 
the European war. An expression of opinion 
was asked of the membership, which has al- 
ready reached the exceptional number of 
three hundred, and the almost unanimous reply 
was to the effect that since the many Euro- 
pean members and governmental delegates 
could not attend, it would be impolitic to hold 
the meeting during the present season. A new 
date for the session will be decided upon as 
soon as conditions permit. It is suggested that 
by putting off the congress till the summer of 
1915 arrangements may be made to hold a 
joint meeting with the Pan-American Scien- 
tific Congress, which is to meet in Washing- 
ton next season. This would have the great 
advantage of enabling foreign members to 


342 


attend both congresses and at the same time 
to visit the two California Expositions. 

Tue British Iron and Steel Institute has 
been obliged to abandon the holding of its 
proposed autumn meeting in Paris. 

In consequence of the war, the publication 
of the British Pharmacopeia for 1914 has 
been postponed. 

Tux State Geological Survey under the di- 
rection of Professor Russell D. George has 
completed a series of contour and topographic 
maps of Colorado which have been placed in 
every library and school in the State. 

Messrs. WILLIAM WESLEY and Son, London, 
have in view of the Napier tercentenary 
issued a catalogue of astronomical, mathe- 
matical and other tables. This catalogue in- 
cludes upwards of 300 volumes, published from 
the middle of the fifteenth century to the 
present time. 

Tur European war has for the present, at 
least, totally closed the European market to 
American radium ores. As is well known, the 
uranium ores of Colorado and Utah are sold 
exclusively for their radium content, so little 
use being known for the uranium that the ores 
can not be sold for their content of that ele- 
ment. The closure of the European market 
leaves but one known buyer, so that while 
the war lasts and probably for some time after- 
wards the market will be restricted and with- 
out the benefit of competition. Had the bills 
introduced in Congress been passed, the 
United States government would probably also 
have been in the market as a buyer, and the 
miner might have had at least the choice be- 
tween two purchasers. 

Tue Bureau of Standards, Department of 
Commerce, has published a circular contain- 
ing suggestions as to location and equipment 
of gas testing laboratories, a description of 
some of the accepted forms of apparatus, 
directions for the making of the various tests, 
and recommendations as to the interpretation 
of experimental results. Jt does not discuss 
the testing work necessary for good works 
control; it, deals rather with methods which are 
intended for use in city or state official test- 
ing or in works laboratories which are checked 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL, No. 1027 


by city or state inspectors. No attempt is 
made to fix on a single method to be used in 
every case, for it is not believed that uniform- 
ity of method is always necessary in order that 
the results of tests be considered standard. In 
each case as much freedom in choice of method 
is allowed as seems permissible; but the 
simplest procedure or apparatus with which 
satisfactory results can be had is given pre- 
ference. Great advantage will result to com- 
panies and workmen alike by the general 
adoption by the several states of a single stand- 
ard set of safety rules, which can be revised 
in accordance with the progress of the art 
and the combined experience of all the com- 
panies and commissions of the country. Thus 
will every state and every company secure the 
advantage of the experience of all. What par- 
ticular rules do not apply their omission will 
of course cause no conflict in practise. Tf it is 
necessary for any state commission to adopt 
additional rules, that could be done at any 
time by special orders. ‘This would be easier 
and less confusing than to have a different set 
of rules for each separate state. Acknowledg- 
ment is made of the cooperation by national 
associations, state commissions, company offi- 
cials, and individuals. The conclusions reached 
by the Bureau of Standards from the com- 
bined experience of many of the most experi- 
enced companies and individual engineers and 
a thorough study of a large amount of litera- 
ture and statistics are now offered with the 
hope that they will constitute a substantial 
contribution to the widely evidenced public 
need for a standard set of safety rules. It is 
believed that a material reduction in present 
life hazards to electrical workers may be real- 
ized by the general adoption and use of these 
rules. The study of life and property hazards 
incident to the generation, distribution and use 
of electrical energy includes the consideration 
of both construction methods and operating 
practise. Analysis of the available data on 
electrical accidents demonstrates their pre- 
ventability in very large proportion by use of 
definite operating precautions. ‘This is espe- 
cially true with those accidents occurring to 
workmen engaged in electrical work. Rules 


SEPTEMBER 4, 1914] 


for construction, installation and wmainte- 
nance of electrical equipment to safeguard 
employees and the public are now under prep- 
aration by the Bureau of Standards, Depart- 
ment of Commerce. The rules for safety in 
the operation and handling of electrical lines 
and equipment, just published, proceed from 
a painstaking study by the engineers of the 
bureau of existing rules and practises. These 
are found to vary widely and to offer a very 
unsatisfactory basis for the formulation of 
mandatory codes by any state commission, un- 
less a very extended study is made and the 
combined experience of many companies and 
workmen utilized. Many existing sets of 
rules have been developed from insufficient data 
and experience, while the vast majority of 
companies have no rules whatever in effect. 
This lack of rules in force is partly due to 
inaction on the part of state authorities and 
partly to the difficulty and expense each com- 
pany encounters in preparing its own rules in 
any adequate form. The assistance of state 
commissions, operating companies and elec- 
trical workmen has been freely given to the 
bureau in this work, and the rules in their 
present form are offered to the public for 
criticism, discussion, and, so far as may be 
found desirable, for general adoption. The 
scope of the safety rules includes all opera- 
tion of and work on or about power and signal 
lines, and the electrical equipment of central 
stations, substations, mines and testing de- 
partments. The rules are divided into three 
parts. The first two parts consist of general 
rules which apply to the employer and to the 
employee, respectively, and the third part com- 
prises, under separate headings, those special 
rules which apply particularly to employees 
engaged in special classes of electrical work. 


Tur U.S. National Museum announces that 
it is exhibiting some designs in silk dress 
goods which use the designs and symbols left 
by the Aztecs and other early Indian peoples. 
Much material for designs pertaining to this 
early period of American history was avail- 
able; buildings, temples, monuments, pottery, 
basketry and blankets are covered with picture- 
writings which form artistic designs. Not 


SCIENCE 


343 


only the designs proper were adaptable but the 
colors as well, a fact which has materially as- 
sisted in the creation of these new American 
fashion designs. The textile division of the 
museum has installed a series of pure dye tafi- 
eta silks, contributed by the manufacturers, 
which show the reproductions of these ancient 
Mexican designs printed on soft clinging fab- 
ric. The designs comprise the Aztec moon in 
rainbow tones on blue and taupe; the Aztec 
armadillo and arrow pattern in colors on pea- 
cock-blue; Kortez—an Aztec hieroglyph—on 
dark green and satin-striped white taffeta; the 
Aztec coat-of-arms on navy blue, and an all- 
over design of Mexican feathers in shades of 
blue, green and brown. Other designs are re- 
minders of the Pueblo Indians, one consisting 
of a rattlesnake symbol printed on Indian red, 
while another resembles a Navajo rug in which 
zig-zag stripes and a diamond arrangement of 
figures appear. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 


Ir is announced that the British universi- 
ties will open as usual in the autumn. The 
Rhodes scholars from the United States and 
from the British colonies are expected to be 
in attendance at Oxford. 

Tue Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association 
is endeavoring to collect $12,000 to endow an 
astronomical fellowship at Harvard College 
Observatory. Upwards of a thousand dollars 
have been given for this purpose, and in addi- 
tion Dr. H. C. Pickering, the director of the 
observatory, and Mr. Charles S. Hinchman, 
of Philadelphia, have each subscribed $250 
for the inauguration of the fellowship. 


Dr. D. A. CamMpBett, of Halifax, has prom- 
ised $60,000 to endow a chair of anatomy at 
Dalhousie University, Halifax, m memory of 
his son, the late Dr. George Campbell. 


Grorcre PraBopy CoLLecEr for Teachers has 
now an endowment of $3,200,000 of which 
$2,000,000 is to be used as a permanent endow- 
ment. Part of the remaining $1,200,000 is be- 
ing spent on new buildings. The Household 
Arts building and the Industrial Arts build- 
ing have already been completed and this year 


344 


housed the summer school of a thousand stu- 
dents. In the basement of the tatter building 
is located the power plant for heating, light- 
ing and ventilating the buildings over the en- 
tire campus of 50 acres. Two other buildings 
are in process of erection. One is the Jesup 
Psychology Laboratory costing $75,000. The 
other is the Social Religious building, which 
is designed to play an important part in the 
life of students, both in a social way and as a 
preparation for real service in life. This 
building will be the most commodious on the 
campus and will probably cost about $300,000. 

Mr. Dorr SKEELS, of the U. S. Forest Serv- 
ice, has been elected dean of the new school of 
forestry that has been established at the Uni- 
versity of Montana. 

Dr. THEODORE C. Frye, professor of botany, 
has been named temporary dean of the college 
of science by the University of Washington 
regents to succeed Dr. Henry Landes, acting 
president of the university. 

Tur following promotions have been made 
at the University of Colorado: Ralph D. Craw- 
ford, Ph.D., to be professor of mineralogy and 
petrology; Max M. Ellis, Ph.D., to be assistant 
professor of biology; Frank S. Bauer, B.S., to 
be assistant professor of mechanical engineer- 
ing. The following new appointments for the 
coming year have been made: James L. Mer- 
rill, B.S., instructor in engineering drawing; 
Walter F. Mallory, B.S., instructor in mechan- 
ical engineering; Clarence L. Heckel, B.S., in- 
structor in civil engineering; Edward R. 
Muerage, M.D., instructor in pathology; Jay 
W. Woodrow, Oxford University Rhodes 
Scholar, 1910-12, Ph.D. (Yale, 713), instructor 
in physics; Esbon Y. Titus, B.A., instructor 
in chemistry. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 


COMPOSITION AND THOUGHT 
To THE Eprtor oF Science: In the February 
issue of Modern Language Notes appears from 
the hand of Professor French a rather unap- 
preciative review of a new type of rhetoric by 
Steeves and Ristine; the title of the work is 
“ Representative Essays in Modern Thought.” 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1027 


The review may go far to discourage the use 
of the book: And, since I doubt whether many 
of the readers of Scmmnce realize the impor- 
tance to them of this innovation in rhetorical 
fields, I beg indulgence to comment upon the 
method by which the new rhetoric has been 
used in a western university. 

“ Representative Hssays in Modern Thought ” 
is intended to serve a new purpose in the 
rhetorical kingdom; students already trained 
in the essentials of expression are here pre- 
sented with essays by Mull, Huxley, James, 
Maine, Clark and other writers famous not 
only for the clearness of their expression, but 
also for the solidity and pregnancy of their 
material. The student, having read any given 
essay, is asked each week to present his re- 
action upon that essay. Needing no discus- 
sion, surely, are the value of the analysis and 
outlining of these essays, and the mere advan- 
tage of the incidental knowledge gained. But 
two other points may well be emphasized: the 
awakening of the promising student to a 
genuine understanding of the timidity and 
slovenliness of his habits of thought; and the 
placing before him in the second semester of 
his freshman year at college of the sound prin- 
ciples of topics he hears everywhere discussed. 

In the second semester of his freshman year, 
I repeat. That is the point which needs de- 
fense against the avowed antagonism of more 
than one instructor of rhetoric. The students 
in our modern universities who most need to 
learn to write are not those who already love 
to write; rather, they are the students in sci- 
ence, engineering, law and other professional 
fields. Yet it is perfectly obvious that our 
crowded curricula seldom, if ever, allow these 
students to take advanced courses in composi- 
tion. Nor, be it predicated at once, would I 
tush the honest journeymen in such courses 
into the study of Steeves and Ristine. How 
much could be done for the mediocre student 
TI am rather uncertain; and I refrain from the 
speculation in futurities in which even my 
scientific friends are prone to indulge. Here, 
statements are limited to what can be done 
for second-semester freshmen who have 


. SEPTEMBER 4, 1914] 


finished the routine of the first semester with 
distinguished grades—at my particular uni- 
versity, grades of B-+ or above, on a scale of 
A, B, C, D, E. 

Such freshmen, then, are segregated in a 
special section, the purpose of which is care- 
fully explained to them beforehand, and for 
which, indeed, they have been encouraged to 
work from the time their ability was dis- 
covered; clever, “literary ” writers are design- 
edly eliminated, and pressure to enter the sec- 
tion is brought to bear upon students in sci- 
ence, engineering and law. Let me note in 
passing that few girls elect the course—at 
least, as yet. The weekly papers that are 
written are from three to six pages in length; 
their nature can best be indicated by present- 
ing some of the topics actually written upon. 
I doubt exceedingly whether either expert or 
laymen would question the value of the topics; 
the expert will rightly question, a priori, the 
ability of a mere rhetoric instructor to criti- 
eize the themes. 


Mill—‘‘On the Liberty of Thought and Discus- 
sion.’’ 

Would Mill Accept a Position on the Board of 
Censors for American Papers? 

Mill and the Suppression of the Cosmopolitan. 

Mill and the Study of Sex Hygiene in High 
School. 

What are Truth and Error? 

Are Christian Missionaries Perseeutors of Free- 
dom of Thought? 

Does Mathematical Truth Differ from Ethical? 

Mr. Roosevelt and Some of his Assumptions of 
Infallibility. 

Morley—‘‘On the Possible Utility of Error.’’ 

The Effect on Mankind of Sudden, Supreme, 
Universal Conviction that There Is No God of 
any Kind (Use method of classification). 

Should Children Read Fairy-tales? 

Were An Absolute Cure for Vicious Diseases {0 
be Discovered, Should the ‘‘Truth’’ be 
Spread? 

A Half-truth of Modern Science. 

Huxley—‘‘ Darwin on the Origin of Species.’’ 

The Evidence of Hybridization—Does it Support 
Darwin to-day? 

The Archeopteryz—its Relation to the Pterosaur 
and the Compsognothus as a Proof of Evo- 
lution—of Darwinism? 


SCIENCE 


345 


The Electric Fishes—How have the Neo-Darwin- 
ians Met the Problem? 

Is a Darwinian an Atheist? 

Is there a Fallacy in the Syllogism upon which 
the Discrimination of Species from Varieties 
Depends? 

Some Theoretical Objections to the Darwinian 
Explanation of Secondary Sexual Character- 
istics. 

“Ponderous topics for a rhetoric Ph.D. to 
pass judgment upon?” Yes, my dear scientist 
or political economist, I echo the satire—the 
more so because, in my own ease, I was reluc- 
tantly led to do much graduate work in vari- 
ous remote fields of literature. Still, though 
rhetoric instructors are poorly prepared to teach 
sensible courses in composition, the matter is 
not so bad as it appears on the surface. If the 
eaptious critic will examine the topics given, 
he will note that they fall into two distinct 
groups: one type of subject may be written 
upon without research; the other certainly re- 
quires special knowledge. Surely, in watching 
a student detect logical fallacies in Morley or 
Huxley, the rhetoric instructor is at home; 
he has long taught argumentation. The re- 
search topics the “canny” instructor can 
easily limit to his own immediate knowledge. 
E. g., from books and from colleagues one can 
gather information concerning the archzop- 
teryx, the eohippus or the amphioxus; and no 
rhetoric instructor need despair of grasping 
the essentials of the planetesimal hypothesis or 
the theory of mutations. For distinctly per- 
sonal reasons, I should not this year allow a 
student to write upon the effect the discovery 
of radium had upon any given detail of the 
atomic theory; next year I may even have 
apprehended a little on that subject. More- 
over, let it be instantly admitted, this course 
in modern thought is essentially a course in 
logie and composition; I am interested in 
using science or political economy only be- 
cause it affords resistant material to set the 
freshman’s teeth in. What he is to detect is 
that Darwinism proper is as free from athe- 


3 Particularly Planck’s Rectorial address in the 
current (July) number. 


346 


istic implications as the orthogenesists claim 
to be from neo-vitalistic stigmata; that 
Socialists of the type of Hillquit are not 
anarchists and that a very pretty fallacy 
underlies the assertion that in the So- 
cialistie state all incentive to invention will 
vanish; that one can scarcely be at the same 
time a neo-Kantian and a scientific ethicist. 
What is further aimed at is to teach the scien- 
tific or engineering freshman whom nature 
has endowed with brains the ability to express 
his inductions or deductions in readable 
terms—to, well, let me suggest, write upon 
Mendelism after the rhetorical method of 
Punnett, and not after that of —. The blank is 
not hard to fill. If scientists are ever to slay 
the religion which Huxley likened to Bour- 
bonism, they must be capable of approaching 
the public with other explanations of abstruse 
matter than such mathematical exposition as 
even Professor Bateson admits he “could not 
follow.” 

And at this point I verge on my final plea 
for the use by instructors of rhetoric of some 
such book as Steeves and Ristine. With all 
humility and yet all firmness, I contend that 
the proper teacher of such courses is not the 
ordinary composition instructor, aided by 
casual, if expert, colleagues from the other 
schools, nor, above all, the man with training 
narrowly limited to science, engineering, or 
law, but the rhetoric instructor who is wise 
enough to assign only such topics as he him- 
self has taken the trouble to master. Why not 
the ardent young scientist? Because the very 
reason for rhetoricians adopting the new text 
is that they may train the scientists of the 
next generation to learn to use the language 
that seemed adequate to Darwin and Huxley, 
Smith and Galton, Tyndall and Faraday. I 
rather suspect that a certain professor of 
physics was not entirely alone when he so 
surprisingly confessed in the preface to his 
well-known book that “he trusted he had 
made no more errors than he had hoped for.” 
There is, however, a further reason for the 
objection to turning: such courses over to 
scientists. Scientists love theories and even 
hypotheses: witness the pleasing manner in 


SCIENCE 


IN. S. Von. XL. No. 1027 


which Eimer flayed Nageli for approximating 
neo-vitalism—and then note how charmingly 
mystical is Eimer’s own analysis of ortho- 
genetic forces. The basic thing in these 
thought courses is that there be no adherent to 
this school or that supervising the course. 
For, whenever the mere imparting of informa- 
tion or speculation is allowed to take the place 
of the study of coherent arrangement of mate- 
rial and sharp criticism of independent 
thought, then the chief value of such courses 
is thoroughly vitiated. And yet, if rhetoric 
instructors do not awake, some time or other 
scientists, engineers and lawyers will some- 
how face the problem of themselves instilling 
the principles of unity and coherence into 
their promising students. 
Mippte West 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 


Problems of Science. By Frprrtco ENRIQUES. 
Authorized translation by KaTHARINE Royce, 
with an introductory note by JostaH Royez, 
Professor of History of Philosophy at Har- 
vard University. Chicago, The Open Court 
Publishing Company. 1914. Pp. xvi 392. 
Among mathematicians Enriques, who is 

professor of projective and descriptive geom- 

etry in the Unversity of Bologna, has long 
been favorably known for his contributions to 
geometry, especially for his admirable treatise 
on “ Projective Geometry ” and for his pene- 
trating essays on “ The Foundations of Geom- 
etry.” In the work before us the distinguished 
geometrician addresses a far wider circle of 
students and thinkers: not only mathemati- 
cians, but psychologists, logicians, philosophers, 
astronomers, mechanicians, physicists, chem- 
ists, biologists and others. For the discussion, 
which is as wide-ranging as the philosophic 
writings of Henri Poincaré or as that of John 

Theodore Merz in the first two volumes of his 

“ History of European Thought in the Nine- 

teenth Century,” deals with fundamental ques- 

tions drawn from every large department of 
modern science. 

The original text, “ Problemi della Scienza,” 
was published in 1906 and has since appeared 

in German and French translations. Many a 


SEPTEMBER 4, 1914] 


student will feel grateful to the translator and 
the publisher who have made the work acces- 
sible in good form to those whose reading is 
necessarily confined to the English language. 

The work is, in the best sense of the term, a 
philosophical work. Accordingly, one can not 
but wonder a little why the author did not 
choose to call it “ Philosophy of Science” in- 
stead of “Problems of Science.” Perhaps the 
decisive consideration was similar to that 
which led Messrs. Whitehead and Russell to 
entitle their great treatise “ Principia Mathe- 
matica” instead of “Principles of Mathe- 
matics”: they feared the warmer title might 
attract many readers incompetent to under- 
stand the work. Doubtless Professor Enriques 
desired his work to engage the attention of 
men of science, and he may have reflected that 
most of these gentlemen are rather repelled 
than attracted by titles in which the word phi- 
losophy occurs. Is our author himself a mem- 
ber of this majority? His evident great care 
not to be fooled by words or to be lost in nebu- 
lous generalities seems to indicate that he is. 
Confirmatory indicia are to be found in some 
passages of the work. It is essential “to elim- 
inate all transcendental processes of definition 
and of reasoning,” says Cesaro in the begin- 
ning of his lectures on the infinitesimal cal- 
culus. EHnriques quotes those words of his 
fellow-countryman and heartily approves them 
(p. 16) as designed to warn the student “to 
banish from his mind all metaphysical ideas” ! 
Again, p. 81: “ Metaphysics not only puts to- 
gether symbols without sense, but,” and so on. 
Again, p. 208: “ And precisely to ignorance of 
this subject (modern geometry) are due those 
strange conclusions over which some philos- 
ophers are still toiling.” Once more, p. 308: 
“But even if these objections were not mani- 
fest, of what use is it to confute a philosopher? 
Schopenhauer said nothing could be easier or 
more useless.” Just why the testimony of 
Schopenhauer is adduced is not quite evident 
unless it be on the principle that it takes a 
philosopher to catch a philosopher. One who 
has attended meetings of philosophic associa- 
tions and meetings of scientific associations 
ean scarcely have failed to notice this very 


SCIENCE 347 


significant difference: at a meeting of scien- 
tific men, when a paper is presented, the au- 
thor’s colleagues assume that the author has 
probably made a contributon of some value 
and that it is their privilege and duty to 
understand it and sooner or later to estimate 
it; at a meeting of philosophers, when a paper 
is presented, the author’s colleagues usually 
proceed at once to discuss it with the air of 
“of course the author’s contentions are erro- 
neous and it is our privilege and pleasure to 
show that they won’t bear criticism.” 

That Professor Enriques should not wish to 
pose as a philosopher as distinguished from 
the character of man of science is indeed en- 
tirely understandable. Yet his work is a very 
important contribution to the philosophy, the 
methodology, the epistemology of science, and, 
whether or not he would own it, he has shown 
himself to be a philosophic thinker of immense 
learning and of great power both critical and 
constructive. But what kind of philosopher is 
he? To what school does he belong? Is he a 
realist or an idealist or a rationalist or a prag- 
matist or an empiricist or a positivist or some 
other variety? The answer is that he is at 
once all and none of these things. He is too 
big to belong to any of the schools. His 
thought goes crashing into and through all of 
them, and, when he has passed along, the scho- 
lastie architectures look much as if they had 
been struck by a discourse of Henri Poincaré. 
One can not paste a label on Enriques and 
then inform people of his doctrine by pointing 
to the label. The only way to ascertain what 
his doctrine is is to read and ponder what he 
has said. But who can read it? Not many 
know enough to read it all, but there are many 
qualified to read it in part, some this part, 
some that, some another. Even historians 
(whose province includes the whole activity of 
man and nature) might try it; so might sociol- 
ogists, lawyers and men of letters. Should 
they fail to understand it—well, the conscious- 
ness of one’s limitations is not always un- 
wholesome, and if it become unbearable, one 
can take refuge in the soothing reflection that 
it was Leibnitz who was “the last of the uni- 
versals.” 


348 


The author’s aim is to contribute to the ad- 
vancement of epistemology. It is not, how- 
ever, epistemology in the Hegelian sense. For 
Enriques, epistemology has for its object “to 
explain the process by which the most advanced 
science is built up.” It is, he says, “of the 
first importance that epistemology should be 
conceived as an actual positive science”; a 
science in the making, he, of course, means, 
as is abundantly evident. Im a word, epistem- 
ology is to be conceived as the science of 
knowledge, and no one knows better than our 
author that to make a contribution to the sci- 
ence of knowledge demands knowledge of 
science. He would probably not deny that, as 
Thomas De Quincy so well said, every prob- 
lem of science ultimately roots in metaphysic. 
But he is convinced that it is not therefore 
necessary or profitable to be always burrowing 
like a mole in the black soil where the roots are 
hid. Bergson the book does not know, prob- 
ably because the Frenchman’s splendid star had 
not yet risen when the book was written. 
Doubtless he would agree with Bergson that 
after the method of science has said all it can 
of a given object there remains in it an un- 
touched residuum—something of which it is 
possible and desirable to gain that kind of 
knowledge that one means when, for example, 
one says of one’s self: I know how to move my 
arm. Perhaps the Italian would agree with 
the Frenchman that there is thus indicated a 
proper province and task for metaphysics, 
namely, the province and task of winning that 
residual kind of knowledge through a kind of 
“intellectual sympathy ” 
through a kind of fellow feeling with it. But 
the Italian’s epistemology is a different sort. 
It is “positive” epistemology. It has “a real 
object to explain.” This object is the upbuild- 
ing of what we call scientific knowledge and 
so it has “actual problems to solve.” These 
“ought not to depend upon the inconstant 
opinions of philosophers” nor “upon the so- 
cial interests that determine these opinions.” 
Epistemology becomes “ positive” only in so 
far as it is established “independently of 
metaphysics.” For Enriques the supreme 


SCIENCE 


with the object, 


[N. 8S. Vou. XL. No. 1027 


desideratum in this enterprise is “systema- 
tically to banish whatever pertains to the 
transcendental process of the reason.” 

What is this dread process? It shows itself 
in many guises, most commonly, perhaps al- 
ways in last analysis, as a subtle assumption 
that an infinite series has in some way a final 
term, or, if not a final term, at all events 
an actual limit. In this way all sorts of 
absolutes, absolute motion, absolute sub- 
stance, absolute time, absolute morality, and 
So on, come to figure in our thinking. Such 
absolutes may have emotional value and so 
constitute “a problem for the psychologist ” 
but as concepts for scientific use they are 
worse than worthless. We can not even show 
that an infinite sequence has a limit by merely 
showing that it neither diverges nor oscillates. 

One of the best sections of the introductory 
chapter is that in which is dicussed the ques- 
tion of “so-called insoluble problems.” It is 
contended that “in a broad sense there are no 
insoluble problems.” “There are only prob- 
lems not yet suitably stated.” Some one ought 
to write a work on the history of curiosity. 
Why have questions arisen in the order in 
which they have arisen instead of some other 
order among an infinite variety of thinkable 
orders? Why have questions seemed to be: 
questions when they have really not been ques- 
tions? Our author’s thesis respecting insol- 
uble problems is well illustrated by him in 
econnection with an admirable account of the 
famous so-called problems of squaring the cir- 
cle, perpetual motion and alchemy. This 
chapter is mainly concerned, however, with the 
distinction between subjective and objective 
in scientific knowledge. It is argued that both 
kinds of elements enter into all scientific 
knowledge, but as such knowledge advances 
the subjective component tends to disappear 
and the objective comes to be more and more. 
In fact, the two elements “are not two irre- 
ducible terms of knowledge, but they are 
rather two aspects” of it. The question is 
considered in relation to measurement and to 
scientific construction. This leads to a eri- 
tique. of positivism in relation to metaphysics, 
to physics, to biology, to psychology, to history 


SEPTEMBER 4, 1914] 


and to sociology. The entire critique, in 
which the doctrine of Comte is carefully ap- 
praised, hinges on the proposition that, 
“ Strictly speaking, a theory can not be called 
positive, unless it consists purely of verifiable 
hypotheses.” Those who hope that psycholog- 
ical problems will ultimately receive physio- 
Icgical solutions are not encouraged. The 
same may be said of those who seek an ex- 
elusively economic explanation of the facts of 
history. 

The second chapter (of nearly 50 pages), 
which deals with “facts and: theories,’ opens 
with a discussion of dreams and reality. What 
is reality? What is its criterion? To make 
& genuine contribution to the literature of 
that hoary question is something of an 
achievement. Enriques has made such a con- 
tribution. The conclusion is that “the true 
characteristic of reality is the correspondence 
of the sensations with the expectation.” Real- 
ity is thus defined as an invariant, a mathe- 
matical term that is gaining currency in vari- 
ous branches of natural science. “There are 
certain fixed groupings, independent of us, 
among our actual or supposed volitions on the 
one hand, and the sensations produced by 
them on the other. These groupings corre- 
spond to what we call the real.” The real thus 
is “an invariant in the correspondence be- 
tween volition and sensation.” The definition 
involves a hypothetical element: it is presup- 
posed that actual sensations would recur if 
their conditions were reproduced; but such re- 
production is frequently impossible. This 
conception of reality is examined in relation 
to the past, to psychology, to society, to biol- 
ogy, to physics, to astronomy and so on. 
What of hallucinations? The problem is 
frankly recognized but no pretense of a solu- 
tion is made. A valuable suggestion, however, 
is offered. It is that “the patients are unable 
to dowbt and so submit their false impressions 
to a critical proof directed by the will.” The 
object of an hallucination is unreal because 
the subject’s deception is real. How does 
knowledge pass from common facts to scien- 
tifie facts? The answer is: by passing from 
the subjective or individual view to the objec- 


SCIENCE 349 


tive or social view, from the personal to the 
impersonal view. A common fact is a fact 
viewed in relation to the beholder; a scientific 
fact is a fact viewed in relation to surround- 
ing facts. “If I strike a copper plate with a 
hammer, the plate grows hot,” is a common 
fact. “ Bodies are heated by percussion” is a 
scientific fact. Thus the conception of scien- 
tifie fact merges into that of law. What is 
the relation of hypothesis to scientific knowl- 
edge or knowledge of reality? “To make an 
hypothesis signifies: (1) to expect or to fore- 
see given sensations under certain future con- 
ditions; (2) to arrange among the groups of 
actual or controllable sensations, an inter- 
mediate grouping which shall serve to associ- 
ate them in a given order of prevision.” This 
view of the function of hypothesis is elabo- 
rated very instructively in connection with 
such topics as the value of scientific knowl- 
edge; knowledge by means of concepts, em- 
piricism and rationalism, the acquisition of 
knowledge, scientific theories, the theory of 
gravitation, the electrostatic theory of Pois- 
son, the theory of solutions and the economy 
and the psychological development of theories. 

This many-sided critique of the scientific 
role of hypothesis leads naturally to the ques- 
tion of the offices of induction and deduction 
in epistemology, and the third chapter (72 
pages) is accordingly devoted to problems of 
logic. To the oft-repeated stupid charge that 
formal reasoning can not lead to gain of 
knowledge, our author justly replies that such 
reasoning serves as an instrument of trans- 
formation which, though it does not alter the 
conceptual data of knowledge, but leaves their 
truth or falsity to be shown by other means, 
yet establishes a connection whereby the truth 
or falsity of certain data implies the truth or 
falsity of other data. For example, formal 
logic may show that an hypothesis H implies 
a consequence C’, and it often happens that we 
ean test C directly and thus test H indirectly. 
The work of induction and deduction is team’ 
work. Science can not dispense with either of 
them. The importance of modern develop- 
ments in symbolic logic is recognized. An 
exceedingly valuable discussion of the nature, 


350 


function and varieties of definition is given. 
Every college, and especially every university, 
ought to give a course of lectures on the sub- 
ject of definition. There is scarcely any other 
important scientific subject of universal inter- 
est respecting which educated people know so 
little, but they are not aware of it. How does 
abstract logic get applied to reality and what 
are the limits of such application? This very 
difficult question is examined under many as- 
pects and in many concrete connections: logical 
representation and the postulate of knowl- 
edge, substance (matter and energy), cause, 
actual value of logical principles, the value of 
logical principles, the objective reality of logic, 
the problem of verification, the verification 
of explicit hypotheses, the experience of a 
finite number of objects, experience of the con- 
tinuous, the postulate of continuity and the 
psychological representation of cause (why 
and how), the confirmation and verification of 
implicit hypotheses, the present crisis in po- 
litical economy, the vicious circle in science 
and the physiological aspect of logic. 

There follows a chapter (59 pages) devoted 
to geometry. Geometry is viewed, on the one 
hand, as a part of physics, and, on the other 
hand, as a purely abstract science. In the 
latter sense it is a prolongation of logic. Per- 
haps the most striking thesis in a thoroughly 
up-to-date discussion, rich in suggestions and 
insights, is found in that section which deals 
with the parallel between the historical de- 
velopment and the psycho-genetic development 
of the postulates of geometry. The thesis is: 
“The three groups of ideas that are connected 
with the concepts that serve as a basis for the 
theory of the continuum (Analysis situs), of 
metrical, and of projective geometry, may be 
connected, as to their psychological origin, 
with three groups of sensations: with the gen- 
eral tactile-muscular sensations, with those of 
special touch, and with those of sight, respec- 
tively.” There be psychologists, and some edu- 
eators, who think mathematics is so detached 
from reality as to be an inferior discipline. 
We should be much interested if these gentle- 
men would favor us with an expert opinion 
regarding that thesis of Professor Enriques. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1027 


A chapter of 64 pages on mechanics re- 
garded as an extension of geometry is followed 
by a final chapter of 88 pages on physics in 
which the leading question concerns the extent 
in which physics may be regarded as an ex- 
tension of mechanics. An admirable review 
and critique of the conceptions and principles 
of classical mechanics and classical physics in 
their relation to the new more or less specula- 
tive ideas lead to the general conclusion: 
“ Physics, instead of affording a more precise 
verification of the classic mechanics, leads 
rather to a correction of the latter science, 
taken apriort as rigid.” The wide range of the 
author’s interest and thought is specially indi- 
cated by the closing pages, which are devoted 
to the mechanical hypothesis and the phenom- 
ena of life. The conclusion is that, “in the 
actual state of our knowledge, the mechanical 
hypothesis does not appear to be incompatible 
with the phenomena of life, but it is unimpor- 
tant for the study of these phenomena.’ ‘The 
student will find it instructive to compare the 
conclusion and the temper of the related dis- 
cussion with the temper and conclusion in Dr. 
Crile’s “ A Mechanistic View of Psychology,” 
published in Science, August 29, 19138. In 
this connection one should consider an article 
by Professor W. B. Smith, entitled, “ Are Mo- 
tions Emotions?” published in the Tulane 
Graduates’ Magazine for January, 1914. An 
even more significant deliverance by the last- 
named author dealing with the claims and lim- 
itations of the mechanical hypothesis is an 
article bearing the title “ Push or Pull?” pub- 
lished in the Monist, January, 1913. 

In a review of moderate length it is not pos- 
sible to give an adequate account of Enriques’s 
book. We know of no other work that gives 
sc keen a sense of the unity of all branches of 
science. A final word as to its manner. The 
section headings are too numerous, breaking 
the continuity of the reader’s attention; and 
there are some obscure sentences and para- 
graphs. These are external faults and are 
trivial in relation to the inner excellencies of 
the work. 

CO. J. Kryser 

CoLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 


SEPTEMBER 4, 1914] 


X-Rays. An Introduction to the Study of 
Rontgen Rays. By G. W. C. Kays. Long- 
mans, Green & Co. 

Since 1895, when Réntgen made his epoch- 
making discovery of the X-rays, an immense 
amount of research work, experimental and 
theoretical, has been done on their properties. 
This work has produced a remarkable series of 
discoveries of high interest and fundamental 
importance. A connected account of the 
latest results in this branch of physics by one 
who has made several important contributions 
to it can not fail to be welcome. Dr. Kaye 
has succeeded in producing a very useful sum- 
mary of the latest results together with a brief 
account of the historical development of the 
subject and numerous practical details which 
should be useful to any one working with X- 
rays. The book contains a number of excel- 
lent illustrations. 

A few minor errors have crept in; for ex- 
ample, on page 148 it is stated that the total 
ionization produced by a beam of homogene- 
ous corpuscular rays is independent of the 
velocity of the corpuscles, which is obviously 
absurd. 

Chapter XII. contains a clear account of 
the recent work, initiated by Lane, on the dif- 
fraction and reflection of X-rays by crystals, 
which has established the theory that X-rays 
are merely light rays of very short wave 
length. 

Chapter XIII. contains a discussion of the 
various theories of X-rays which have been 
put forward. The problem which remains to 
be solved is the emission of high velocity elec- 
trons by matter when exposed to X-rays. 


H. A. Witson 


Irritability, a Physiological Analysis of the 
General Effect of Stimuli in Inving Sub- 
stance. By Max Verrworn, M.D., Ph.D. 
New Haven, Yale University Press, 1913. 
To the physiologist who wishes, for the clear- 

ing of his vision, to return from time to time 

to a consideration of the fundamentals of his 
science, no better opportunity can be offered 
than that contained in the published volume 
of lectures on irritability by Professor Max 


SCIENCE 351 


Verworn. The biologist, too, will find in its 
pages an unusually rich presentation of the 
facts of cell behavior, interwoven, correlated 
and interpreted, with meanings that separately 
they fail to convey. 

The book, a re-writing of the Silliman Lec- 
tures of 1911, is a philosophical treatment of 
the nature of irritability as one of the general 
manifestations of living material, followed by 
a study of the laws and effects of stimulation, 
undertaken for the light that such knowledge 
may throw on the nature of the vital processes 
of which irritability is a manifestation. Its 
facts are drawn from the results obtained dur- 
ing twenty years consistently devoted to the 
problem by Verworn and his pupils, and from 
the work of others in the same field. The im- 
portance of its conclusions may be estimated 
from the breadth of its experimental founda- 
tions. 

The opening chapter gives a careful review 
of the historical development of our modern 
ideas of the subject, from the first generaliza- 
tions of Glisson, with whom originated the 
“doctrine of irritability,” down to Virchow’s 
conclusion that nutritive, functional and for- 
mative reactions of cells are the basis alike of 
normal and pathological manifestations in cell 
activity. The importance of Virchow’s teach- 
ings in the modern interpretation of diseased 
conditions has perhaps overshadowed their 
equally great importance to general physiol- 
ogy: indeed, these, with inhibition (Weber) 
and narcosis (Claude Bernard), may be looked 
upon as the starting-point of Verworn’s phi- 
losophy. 

The second lecture, on the nature of stimu- 
lation, is perhaps the most striking, containing 
as it does clearer definitions of the meaning of 
the words stimulation and irritability than we 
have had heretofore, and leading to a better 
understanding of the scope of the unsolved 
problem of the nature of the vital processes. 
Beginning with a lucid presentation of the 
difficulty in differentiating between the 
“cause,” so-called, and the “conditions” of a 
biological, or indeed of any, process, it is 
pointed out that “all conditions for a state or 
process are of equal value for its existence, for 


352 


they are all necessary.” And though we are 
prone to consider the last determining condi- 
tion for a process as its cause, in reality “a 
state or process is solely determined by the 
sum total of its conditions.” Living material 
by virtue of its irritability adapts itself to 
changes in the conditions of its existence, by 
various manifestations with which we are fa- 
miliar. “Life is the entire sum of the vital 
conditions.” 

A stimulus is every alteration in the vital 
conditions, being a stimulus only when con- 
sidered in relation to the previously existing 
state. The alteration may be subliminal, min- 
imal, submaximal, or maximal; it may be 
harmless or injurious; short, long or the initia- 
tion of a new condition which is to persist. 
Since there are certain internal vital condi- 
tions that are always undergoing change, as in 
development, and external vital conditions that 
may exist unchanged, and independent of the 
vital process, a suggestion is made that for 
practical purposes stimulation be defined as 
“every alteration in the external vital condi- 
tions.” 

Having achieved the new viewpoint (and 
indeed the word “new” might be omitted, for 
most of us have none), the reader follows 
through equally lucid discussions of the char- 
acteristics and effects of stimuli, of the process 
of excitation, of conductivity, the refractory 
period, fatigue, interference and states of de- 
pression, meeting old facts in unexpected 
places, watching isolated observations falling 
into line, and finding new meanings in all that 
is placed before him. 

To suggest that the book be read for pleas- 
ure is perhaps apparently to belittle its impor- 
tance. If so the fault lies in the general no- 
tion of thé meaning of pleasure. But it is un- 
doubtedly true that the biological scientist has 
few such opportunities for simultaneously pur- 
suing happiness and acquiring merit. 

The reviewer had almost forgotten to refer 
to the excellence of the translation, for which 
the author makes gracious acknowledgment. 
The reader will find it very easy to forget that 
the book was not originally written in English. 

C. C.S. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1027 


REGENERATION OF ANTENNA 


Some interesting results have been achieved 
by experiments, made and reported by H. O. 
Schmit-Jensen,? on the regeneration of severed 
antenne of Phasmide. A rather large number 
of small and half-grown larve of Dixippus 
morosus had been insufficiently supplied with 
fresh vegetable food and thus cannibalism 
appeared among them, and a number were 
found with one or both antenne or some of 
their limbs missing. A single specimen at- 
tracted attention because of one of its attenne 
having regenerated like a little toot. After 
the following molt this organ had increased 
in size and became still more foot-like in form. 

This case of spontaneous homeosis caused 
the author to cut the antenne from fifty newly 
hatched and sixty half-grown Disxippus larve, 
all the larve being from unfertilized eggs. 
The antennz were severed between the first 
and second segments or between the second 
and third, sometimes the left antenne being 
cut and sometimes the right and in some cases 
both were amputated. When both were cut 
the specimens died. In some cases where the 
single antenna was severed there was no 
regeneration, only a knot developing. But 
often there was produced, not a small antenna, 
as one might expect, but a tarsus consisting of 
from one to the normal five segments com- 
plete with terminai claws with the ordi- 
nary arolium between them. In four cases 
a tibia was also developed. In young larve 
there seemed to be a distinct increasing 
development of the foot-like characters of the 
regenerated organ with each molt. After the 
first molt succeeding amputation there ap- 
peared only a short knob. The next molt pro- 
duced a segment with evident claws and the 
third molt brings the organ into more perfect 
tarsal formation. Some of the more perfect 
tarsus-like regenerations are, as shown by 
figures reproduced from photographs, almost 
indistinguishable from an actual foot, some, 
as stated above, even having the tibie present. 
In the older larve the place of severance 


1 Meddel. fra Dansk naturh. Foren., Vol. 65, pp. 
113-134, Figs. 1-7 (1913). 


SEPTEMBER 4, 1914] 


appears to have some effect, as when the an- 
tenn were cut between the first and second 
segments nothing but a knot developed but 
when the cut was made between the second and 
third segments a foot was regenerated. 

A. N. Caupreth 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 


A SECOND CASE OF METAMORPHOSIS WITHOUT 
PARASITISM IN THE UNIONIDA 1 


THE discovery? three years ago that the 
species Strophitus edentulus (Say) passes 
through its metamorphosis in the entire ab- 
sence of parasitism placed that species in a 
unique position among fresh-water mussels. 
Since Leydig in 1866 solved the mystery as 
to the post-embryonic development of the 
Unionide in the discovery that the glochidia 
are parasitic on fishes, the announcement by 
Lefevre and Curtis seems to have been the 
first reported exception. 

Lefevre and Curtis? in their investigations 
into methods of propagation of fresh-water 
mussels found that certain species of fish 
are more susceptible than others to infection 
by glochidia. In their operations a number of 
species of mussel were employed, but the com- 
mercially important species were chiefly con- 
fined to members of the subfamily Lampsilinz 
Ortmann. The fishes found adaptable to 
infection were the common game fish of the 
family Centrarchide. The fishes which did 
not take artificial infection were considered 
by them examples of specific immunity to 
infection by glochidia. 

Followmg the work of Lefevre and Curtis 
considerable effort was made to carry through 
artificial infections with mussels of the genus 
Quadrula (Rafinesque, 1820) Agassiz, a group 
economically important because of their heavy 
shells. These attempts, employing the 


1 Printed by permission of the Commissioner of 
Fisheries. ; 

2 Lefevre and Curtis, SCIENCE, Vol. 33, pp. 863- 
865, 1911. 

3 Bulletin of the Bureau of Fisheries, Vol. 
XXX., 1910 (issued 1912). 

4 Annals of the Carnegie Museum, Vol. VIII., 
No. 2, 1912. 


SCIENCE 353 


method of artificially infecting the common 
and readily obtainable game fish, met with 
little success. In 1912 I undertook the inyes- 
tigation of this problem. The previous nega- 
tive results seemed to indicate that suitable 
fishes were not being used. It seemed probable 
that the parasitic glochidia, like other para- 
sites, might be considerably restricted as to the 
species of host to which they were adapted. 
Working upon this theory I examined con- 
siderable numbers of fishes taken at large, with 
a view to finding those species that were 
carrying in nature the glochidia of Quadrula 
mussels. These studies supplemented by 
experimentation in artificial infection con- 
firmed the chief postulate of the theory, 
namely, that there does exist a decided restric- 
tion as to species of hosts for the glochidia 
of some mussels. In the case of the warty- 
back mussel, Quadrula pustulosa (Lea), for 
example, I found infection restricted almost 
exclusively to the Channel catfish, Ictalurus 
punctatus (Rafinesque).° The investigation 
of these natural infections which has been 
taken up quite extensively by Mr. T. Surber® 
in the mussel investigations by the U. S. 
Bureau of Fisheries, revealed other points of 
interest. Among these was noteworthy the 
entire absence of evidence of infection by some 
common species. Such observations for a 
given species of mussel obviously indicate 
something unusual in the life history. One 
of the mussels for which I found no natural 
infection and for which none haye been re- 
ported was Anodenta imbecillis (Say). 
During the first part of last November I 
succeeded in securing several specimens of 
this mussel. These were all gravid, as is usu- 
ally to be expected, since this species is herma- 
phroditic. Upon examining the contents of 
the marsupium of one individual I found that 
what at first glance I had supposed were 
mature glochidia were instead juvenile mussels 
with organs developed to the stage usually 
seen at the end of parasitism when the young 


5 Howard, A. D., Transactions American Fish- 
eries Society, 1912, pp. 65-70. 

6““Notes on the Natural Hosts of Freshwater 
Mussels,’’ Bull. Bureau of Fisheries, Vol. 22, 1912 
(issued June 28, 1913). 


354 


mussel escapes from its host. These young 
mussels lie crowded in the marsupial gill of 
the parent without apparently any matrix or 
conglutinate structure whatever. The outer 
gills as in other Anodontas are marsupial and 
these become well distended throughout their 
whole length when gravid. 

' In regard to the breeding of this species 
Ortmann’ says it is gravid from September to 
May. My observations, which are rather 
limited on this point, I give below: 


Place No. of In-| Stage of Gravidity 


and glochidia 


GY UB Juveniles 


dividuals 
Fairport, Iowa | Feb. 2 1 Early embryo 
as & May 13 1 Glochidia 
us ¢ | May 27 1 Glochidia 
r “| July 16 1 Glochidia 
Moline, Ill. Sept. 24 1 Not gravid 
of te Nov. 7 2 Early embryos 
nf a Noy. 7 1 Late embryos 
6 


In addition to these I have found numbers 
of free juveniles not sexually mature ranging 
in length from 5 to 30 millimeters. These 
stages are remarkable for the thinness of their 
shells and the flatness of the mussel as a 
whole. The term “floater,” of the mussel- 
fishermen, for this type of mussel is well ap- 
plied in its use for this immature stage. 

The presence of juveniles in the marsupia 
during November in a majority of the specimens 
examined seems to indicate that metamorphosis 
is probably completed in the fall. The time 
of discharge of the young mussels is yet to be 
determined but the appearance of glochidia 
again in early spring would seem to indicate 
that the juveniles escape in the fall or early 
winter. 

Among the six lots of marsupial juveniles 
that I collected the degree of development 
varied slightly as to amount of shell growth, 
otherwise there seemed to be little difference. 
This growth consists of a narrow rim only, 
around the edge of the glochidial shell. The 
hooks of the glochidium are still much in evi- 
dence but are much weaker than in parasitic 
forms. A noticeable feature is the large pro- 


7 Op. cit. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1027 


portion of gaping shells as compared with a 
similar lot of glochidia. It would seem that 
with the loss of the powerful single adductor 
muscle the action of closing is less vigorous. 
Between the gaping valves can be seen the 
ciliated foot, two adductor muscles, the mantle, 
on each side the gill papille, etc., indicating a 
development equal to that of other young 
Naiades at the end of parasitism. 

I have tested the reaction of the glochidia 
in the presence of fish and obtained strong 
evidence that they do not respond as other 
known parasitic forms. Mature glochidia 
taken in March were employed; in an ex- 
posure to fish for an hour they failed to give 
the usual infection. A few glochidia lodged 
in the mouths of the fish but no encystment 
could be detected. The fish showed no re- 
sponse. Following this test the fish were ex- 
posed for ten minutes to the glochidia of 
Symphynota complanata (Barnes). These 
rapidly became attached and the fish showed 
considerable uneasiness in marked contrast 
to their indifference in the presence of the 
other glochidia. 

From these observations I think we are war- 
ranted in concluding that this mussel passes 
through its metamorphosis in the entire ab- 
sence of parasitism. The period immediately 
succeeding this metamorphosis has not been 
followed but there seems to be little reason for 
suspecting any parasitism here. 

In Strophitus edentulus the mussel for 
which Lefevre and Curtis found a non-para- 
sitie metamorphosis the arrangement of the 
glochidia in the gills is very unusual as has 
been described by them and other authors. 
The glochidia at first and later the juveniles 
are imbedded in cords of a gelatinous semi- 
transparent substance which lie like crayons in 
a box packed in the water tubes of the mar- 
supium. Under natural conditions these are 
shed into the water from time to time. 
Sterki® called these cords placentze and Le- 
fevre and Curtis® have concluded that they 

8 “Some Observations on the Genital Organs of 
Unionide,’’ Nautilus, Vol. 12, pp. 18-21 and 
28-32. 

2 Op. cit. 


SEPTEMBER 4, 1914] 


have a nutritive function. The absence of a 
placenta or any matrix about the glochidia of 
Anodonta imbecillis is of interest since the 
non-existence of parasitism in this case is 
apparently under quite different conditions 
from those governing in Strophitus. I have 
mentioned above the extreme lightness of the 
juvenile shells in Anodonta imbecillis up to a 
considerable size. In the resulting buoyancy 
we have undoubtedly a device for distribution 
of the young and thus a compensatory provi- 
sion for the loss of the usual means of dis- 
tribution by fishes. 

At the U. S. Fisheries Station, Fairport, 
Towa, there are several ponds used for retain- 
ing fish seined from the Mississippi River. In 
these ponds have been found a great many 
young mussels of species known to be para- 
sitic on fish and evidently introduced into the 
ponds during the parasitic stage. A concrete 
reservoir was at first used to supply the water 
to the ponds. Upon examining the bottom 
of this reservoir in 1912 the presence of 
mussels (Unionide) was discovered. This at 
first seemed surprising as no fish had been put 
in the reservoir, but it was noteworthy that 
these mussels were all of one species, Anodonta 
imbecillis. The explanation given for their 
presence was that owing to the lightness of 
their shells in the juvenile stage they had 
been pumped through the intake pipe from the 
river. This explanation made without the 
knowledge of the non-parasitic metamorphosis 
was undoubtedly the correct one and I give 
the incident only as an illustration of the 
possibilities of their distribution in water 
currents. Jt is my opinion that the so-called 
“placenta” of Strophitus edentulus has a 
similar distributing function; the cords being 
buoyant may be readily carried by flowing 
water. In this case, however, the mechanism 
is quite different and thus we have in the two 
species different devices for accomplishing the 
same purpose. 

The question arises as to the nutrition of 
these non-parasitic glochidia during the period 
of metamorphosis. Both of these species un- 
doubtedly have come from parasitic ancestors 


SCIENCE 355 


which received at this stage nutriment from 
their hosts so that one would look for some 
provision for nutrition here. 

I have not as yet observed any such pro- 
vision in Anodonta imbecillis and I do not 
know that this has been demonstrated for 
Strophitus. Im the latter case to prove a 
nutritive function for the cords it would seem 
necessary to demonstrate an absorption of the 
substance of the cords by the young mussels. 
As the cords swell considerably upon leaving 
the gills such a determination is difficult. 

The discovery of so fundamental a change 
of habit, apparently derived independently by 
two lines, should give opportunity for many 
interesting comparisons; for Anodonta im- 
becillis already possessing the distinction of 
being an hermaphroditic species it adds an- 
other eccentricity to its reputation.1° 


ArtHur D. Howarp 


U. S. BroLocicaL LABORATORY, 
Fairport, [ows 


LABORATORY NOTES 


I. EMBEDDING TRAYS 

In the laboratories of this country and 
Europe a variety of receptacles are used to 
hold the melted paraffin in embedding. Doubt- 
less all of them have certain advantages and 
it is certain that most of them have annoying 
disadvantages. Paper trays are not stiff 
enough for large cakes and are very likely to 
stick. L-shaped bars of metal that can be 
adjusted to a variety of sizes are placed on 
glass plates. They are very likely to leak if 
the paraftine must be kept liquid any length of 


10 Since the above was written I have been able 
to secure infections and encystment on fishes with 
Ancdonta imbecillis as well as Strophitus edentulus. 
In the latter complete metamorphosis was observed. 
Thus for edentulus we have indicated facultative 
parasitism while in the other we have a persistence 
of the parasitic reaction at least when artificially 
brought in contact with a host. Metamorphosis on 
fishes was not secured in A. imbecillis. Abundant 
additional evidence is at hand that development in 
this (imbecillis) species normally proceeds without 
parasitism. 


356 


time to make the proper orientation of the ob- 
jects to be embedded. The paraffine fre- 
quently sticks to the glass unless considerable 
care is taken to keep it absolutely clean and 
to smear it carefully with glycerine or albu- 
men fixative. Metal and porcelain dishes have 
the same likelihood of sticking, but are other- 
wise excellent. 

The author owes to Dr. Hally D. M. Jolli- 
vette the suggestion that has led to our pres- 
ent laboratory practise. Her original sugges- 
tion was to make handmade trays of plaster of 
paris. This was tried with excellent results 
except that the trays break very easily. This 
led the author to seek for a substitute that 
would retain the advantages of plaster of paris 
but would be less fragile. After a number of 
experiments it was found that dishes made of 
the same sort of unglazed earthenware as 
flower pots answer all the requirements. 

The advantage of these earthenware dishes are 
that they can be dipped in water until thor- 
oughly saturated so as to be entirely impervi- 
ous to parafiine. Danger of sticking is thus 
entirely obviated unless one carelessly over- 
heats them. If the water is driven out by 
heating, the parafiine, of course, penetrates the 
porous clay and renders the dish useless until 
it has been dissolved and completely removed. 
I have found that the best results can be 
achieved in handling large quantities of mate- 
rials by keeping the dishes in a vessel of water 
a few degree warmer than the melted paraffine. 
When one is wanted, remove it from the warm 
water to a position on the warming stand that 
will prevent its cooling off too rapidly. The 
objects can then be oriented at one’s leisure. 
To cool the paraffine set the tray of melted 
paratiine in a dish of cold water until hard 
enough to immerse. As soon as the cake has 
hardened it will float out without any difficulty. 


Il. TURPENTINE AS A LABORATORY REAGENT 

THE waste of expensive laboratory reagents 
by elementary students, who do not know their 
value, is oftentimes a considerable annoyance 
to the instructor in histology or other subjects 
where students must be allowed more or less 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Von. XL. No. 1027 


ready access to the stock room. Aside from 
waste the economy of reagents is a matter of 
no inconsiderable importance to the directors 
of most laboratories. Such considerations as 
the above have influenced us in trying various 
experiments in substitution. 

Commercial turpentine, such as is sold by 
the hardware store to painters, has been found 
a valuable substitute for other much more 
costly reagents. In fact, for many purposes it 
is superior to the much more expensive article 
purchased from the chemical-supply house. 

Most laboratories use turpentine for dis- 
solving the parafiine after the ribbons have 
been fixed to the slide. While this usage is 
comparatively widespread the practise of using 
it in place of xylol, oil of bergamot, etc., for 
clearing preparatory to embedding in parafine 
appears to be less frequent. After much ex- 
perience with these various reagents the 
author is convinced that it is not only vastly 
cheaper, but that it is on the average quite the 
equal of any of the others. It penetrates 
freely and dissolves proportionally as much 
or more parafiine. The specimens of plant 
materials clear readily, infiltrate quickly, and 
eut as well as if embedded through other re- 
agents. 

I have found it actually superior to other 
reagents in clearing sections. It clears readily 
from 95 per cent. aleohol and so avoids the 
use of absolute alcohol. Both time and ex- 
pense are saved in this way. Slides and sec- 
tions should, however, be rinsed in xylol before 
being mounted in balsam. Some stains are 
soluble in turpentine and so slides must not 
be left overlong in it unless they are over- 
stained. It is valuable in reducing overstain- 
ing from analine blue and bismark brown. 

The ease and convenience of handling wood 
sections and celloidin sections in which it is 
desirable to retain the celloidin is an enor- 
mous convenience. Sections can be trans- 
ferred to turpentine from 95 per cent. alcohol. 
In the former one step in the process is saved 
and in the latter the danger of dissolving or 
softening the celloidin is avoided. 

Lance BuRLINGAME 

STANFORD UNIVERSITY, CAL. 


SCIENCE 


NEw SERIES 
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SCIENCE 


FRDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1914 


CONTENTS 


Address to the Botanical Section of the 
British Association for the Advancement 


of Science: Dr. KF, O. Bowmr. .......... 357 


The Decreasing Birth Rate of the German 


Empire: Dr. A. ALLEMANN .............. 372 
Patent Medicines in Great Britain .......... 374 
The Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the Mis- 

sowrt Botanical Garden ................+-- 375 
Scientific Notes and News ................ 376 
University and Educational News .......... 378 


Discussion and Correspondence :— 


Do Azotobacter Nitrify? Dr. WM. P. HEap- 
DEN. Northern Lights in Summer: ALBERT 


PESTA CHAIN tale urd Spal ersten saeiatis Sraterale oc als See 379 


Scientific Books :— 


The Cambridge Manuals of Science and 
Literature: PROFESSOR T. D. A. CoCKERELL. 


The American College: Dr. F. P. Kepren 381 


Scientific Journals and Articles 383 


Special Articles :— 


The Measurement of Changes in the Rate 
of Fecundity of the Individual Fowl: Dr. 


BEVAWYANE OND HEPAT 7504 o)2) yok fascia lei eselayelu.n iain ieee 383 
The North Carolina Academy of Science: Dr. 
1D}, Wis (Chomieniel Lo Ane Gbousedodeonadeucdbe 384 


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


ADDRESS TO THE BOTANICAL SECTION OF 
THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE 
ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE1 

To preside over the Botanical Section on 
the occasion of its first meeting in Australia 
is no slight honor, though it also imposes 
no small responsibility. We members from 
Great Britain have a deep sense of the ad- 
vantage which we derive from visiting 
these distant shores. I am doubtful 
whether any scientific profit we can confer 
by our coming here can balance that which 
Wwe receive; while over and above this is 
the personal kindliness of the Australian 
welcome, which on behalf of the visitors 
of this section from the old country I take 
this opportunity of gratefully acknowledg- 
ing. Of the members of the British Asso- 
ciation, those who pursue the national sci- 
ences may expect to gain most by their 
experiences here; and perhaps it is the 
botanists who stand to come off best of all. 
living as most of us do m a country of 
old cultivation, the vegetation of which has 
been controlled, transformed, and from the 
natural floristic point of view almost 
ruined by the hand of man, it is with 
delight and expectation that we visit a land 
not yet spoiled. ‘To those who study ecol- 
ogy, that branch of the science which re- 
gards vegetation collectively as the natural 
resultant of its external circumstances, the 
antithesis will come home with special 
strength, and the opportunity now before 
them of seeing nature in her pristine state 
will not, I am sure, be thrown away. 

I may be allowed here to express to the 
Australian members of the Section my 
regret that the presidency for this occasion 


1 Australia, 1914. 


358 


should not have fallen to one who could 
with unusual weight and knowledge have 
addressed them from the floristic and geo- 
graphical point of view. I mean, to Pro- 
fessor Bayley Balfour, of Edinburgh, who 
was actually invited by the council to pre- 
side. He could have handled the subject 
of your rich and peculiar flora with de- 
tailed knowledge; and, with the true 
Hookerian touch, he would have pictured 
to you in bold outlines its relation to pres- 
ent problems. Failing such equipment, I 
may at least claim to have made some of 
your rare and peculiar forms the subject of 
special study at intervals spread over thirty 
years: for it was in 1884 that I was sup- 
plied with living plants of Phylloglossum 
by Baron Ferdinand yon Miiller, while a 
paper to be published this year contains 
details of a number of ferns kindly sent to 
me by various collectors from New Zealand. 
I have been personally interested more 
especially in your rare Pteridophytes, iso- 
lated survivals as they surely are of very 
ancient vegetation. I propose to indicate 
later in this address some points of interest 
which they present. But first I shall offer 
some more general remarks on the history 
of the investigation of the Australian flora, 
as a reminder of the recent death of Sir 
Joseph Hooker, whose work helped so 
greatly to promote a philosophical knowl- 
edge of the flora of this quarter of the 
globe. 

Few, if any, of the large areas of the 
earth’s surface have developed their coat 
of vegetation under such interesting condi- 
tions as that which bears the Australasian 
flora. In its comparative isolation, and in 
its freedom from the disturbing influence 
of man, it may be held as unique. We may 
picture to ourselves the field as having 
been open to evolutionary tendencies, un- 
usually free from the incursion of competi- 
tive foreign types, and with its flora shaped 


SCIENCE 


[N. S., Von. XL, No. 1028 


and determined through long ages in the 
main by climatic influences. Naturally 
the controlling effect of animal life had 
been present throughout, as well as that 
of parasitic and fungal attack; but that 
potent artificial influence, the hand of man, 
was less effective here than in almost any 
other area. The aborigines were not tillers 
of the soil: in their digging for roots and 
such-like actions they might rank with the 
herbivorous animals, so far as they affected 
the vegetation. Probably the most power- 
ful influence they exercised was through 
fire. And so the conditions remained, the 
native flora being practically untouched, 
till the visit of Captain Cook in 1770: for 
little account need be taken of the handful 
of specimens collected by Dampier in the 
seventeenth century. 

Captain Cook shipped with him in the 
Endeavour a very remarkable man, viz., 
Joseph Banks, whom Dr. Maiden has de- 
scribed as ‘‘the Father of Australia.’’ He 
not only acted as the scientific director of 
the expedition, but he was also its financier. 
Edueated at Hton and Oxford, he found 
himself as a young man possessed of an 
ample fortune. Though devoted to field 
sports, he did not, like so many others, 
spend his life upon them. Following the 
dictates of a taste early awakened in him, 
he turned his attention to travel for scien- 
tific ends. His opportunity came when 
Cook was fitting out the Hndeavour for his 
first voyage to the southern seas. Banks 
asked leave of the Admiralty to join the 
expedition, which was granted, and he fur- 
nished all the scientific stores and a staff 
of nine persons at his own expense. 

The story of that great expedition of 
1768 to 1771 is given in ‘‘Cook’s Voy- 
ages,’’ compiled by Dr. Hawkesworth, a 
book that may be found in every library. 
Though it is evident throughout that Banks 
took a leading part in the observational 


SEPTEMBER 11, 1914] 


work of the expedition, it has not been 
generally known how deeply indebted 
Hawkesworth was to Banks for the scien- 
tifie content of his story. This became 
apparent only on the publication of Banks’s 
own journal 125 years after the comple- 
tion of the voyage. The circumstances of 
this have a local interest, so I may be 
excused for briefly relating them. 

Banks’s papers, including the MS. jour- 
nal, passed with his library and herbarium 
on his death to his librarian, Robert Brown. 
On the death of the latter they remained 
in the British Museum. But after lying 
there for a long period they were claimed 
and removed by a member of Banks’s 
family, and were put up for auction. The 
journal was sold for £7 2s. 6d., and the 
last that has been heard of it is that it 
came into the possession of a gentleman in 
Sydney. Perhaps it may be lying within 
a short distance of the spot where we are 
now met. This valuable record, fit to rank 
with Darwin’s ‘‘Voyage of the Beagle,’’ or 
Moseley’s account of the ‘‘Voyage of the 
Challenger,’ might thus have been wholly 
lost to the public had it not been for the 
care of Dawson-Turner, who had the ori- 
ginal transcribed by his daughters, helped 
by his grandson, Joseph Dalton Hooker. 
The boy was fascinated by it, and doubtless 
it helped to stimulate to like enterprises 
that botanist to whom Australia owes so 
much. The copy thus made remained in 
the British Museum. Finally, from it in 
1896 Sir Joseph Hooker himself edited the 
journal, in a slightly abridged form. It is 
now apparent how very large a share 
Banks actually took in the observation and 
recording, and how deeply indebted to him 
was the compiler of the account of the voy- 
age published more than a century earlier, 
not only for facts, but even for lengthy 
excerpts. 

The plants collected in Australia by this 


SCIENCE 


309 


expedition amounted to some 1,000 species, 
and with Banks’s herbarium they found, 
after his death, a home in the British 
Museum. Several minor collections were 
subsequently made in Australia, but the 
next expedition of prime importance was 
that of Flinders in 1801 to 1805. What 
made it botanically notable was the pres- 
ence of Robert Brown. Hooker speaks of 
this voyage as being, “‘as far as botany is 
concerned, the most important in its results 
ever taken.’’ The collections came from 
areas so widely apart as King George’s 
Sound, southern Tasmania, and the Gulf of 
Carpentaria. These, together with Banks’s 
plants and other minor collections, formed 
the foundation for Brown’s ‘‘ Prodromus 
Flore Nove Hollandz,’’ a work which was 
described in 1860 by Sir Joseph Hooker 
as being ‘‘though a fragment .. . the 
greatest botanical work that has ever ap- 
peared.’’ It was published in 1810. I 
must pass over without detailed remark 
the notable pioneer work of Allan Cun- 
ningham, and of some others. The next 
outstanding fact in the history of Austral- 
ian botany was the voyage of Ross, with 
the Hrebus and the Terror: for with him 
was Joseph Hooker, whose botanical work 
gave an added distinction to an otherwise 
remarkable expedition. 

The prime object of the voyage was a 
magnetic survey, and this determined its 
course. But in the intervals of sailing the 
Antarctic seas the two ships visited’ Ascen- 
sion Island, St. Helena, the Cape, New 
Zealand, Australia, Tasmania, Kerguelen 
Island, Tierra del Fuego, and the Falkland 
Islands. Thus Hooker had the oppor- 
tunity of collecting and observing upon all 
the great circumpolar areas of the southern 
hemisphere. He welded together the re- 
sults into his great work ‘‘The Antarctic 
Flora.’”? It was published in six large 
quarto volumes. In them about 3,000 


360 


species are described, while on 530 plates 
1,095 species are depicted, usually with 
detailed analytical drawings. But these 
magnificent volumes did not merely con- 
tain reports of explorations, or descriptions 
of the many new species collected. There 
was much more than this-in them. All the 
known facts that could be gathered were 
incorporated, so that they became system- 
atically elaborated and complete floras of 
the several countries. Moreover, in the 
last of them, the ‘‘Flora Tasmanie,’’ there 
is an introductory essay, in which the 
Australasian flora was for the first time 
treated as a whole, and its probable origin 
and its relation to other floras discussed. 
Further, questions of the mutability and 
origin of species were also raised in it. 
The air was full of such questions in 1859; 
the essay was completed in November of 
that year, less than twelve months after 
the joint communications of Darwin and 
Wallace had been made to the Linnean 
Society, and before the ‘‘Origin of 
Species’? was published. It was to this 
essay that Darwin referred when he wrote 
that ‘‘Hooker has come round, and will 
publish his belief soon.’’ But this pub- 
lication of his belief in the mutability of 
Species was not merely an echo of assent to 
Darwin’s own opinion. It was a reasoned 
statement, advanced upon the basis of his 
“‘own self-thought,’’ and his own wide 
systematic and geographical experience. 
From these sources he drew support for 
“the hypothesis that species are derivative 
and mutable.’’ He points out how the 
natural history of Australia seemed espe- 
cially suited to test such a theory, on ac- 
count of the comparative uniformity of 
the physical features being accompanied by 
a great variety in its flora, and the peculi- 
arity of both its fauna and flora, as com- 
pared with other countries. After the test 
had been made on the basis of the study 


SCIENCE 


[N. S., Vou. XL., No. 1028 


of some 8,000 species of plants, their char- 
acters, their spread, and their relations to 
those of other lands, Hooker concluded 
decisively in favor of mutability, and a 
doctrine of progression. After reading 
this essay, Darwin wrote that it was to 
his judgment ‘‘by far the grandest and 
most interesting essay on subjects of the 
nature discussed I have ever read.’’ 

But beyond its historical interest in re- 
lation to the ‘‘Origin of Species,’’ Hooker’s 
essay contained what was up to its time 
the most scientific treatment of a large area 
from the point of view of the plant- 
geographer. He found that the Antarctic, 
like the Arctic flora, is very uniform round 
the globe. The same species in many cases 
occur on every island, though thousands 
of miles of ocean may intervene. Many of 
these species reappear in the mountains of 
southern Chili, Australia, Tasmania, and 
New Zealand. The southern temperate 
floras, on the other hand, of South Amer- 
ica, South Africa, Australia, and New Zea- 
land differ more among themselves than do 
the floras of Europe, northern Asia, and 
North America. To explain these facts 
Hooker suggested the probable former 
existence, during a warmer period than the 
present, of a center of creation of new 
species in the Southern Ocean, in the form 
of either a continent or an archipelago, 
from which the Antarctic flora radiated. 
From the zoological side a similar difficulty 
arises, and the hypothesis of a land-connec- 
tion has been widely upheld, and that it 
existed as late as Mid-Tertiary times. The 
theory took a more definite form in the 
hands of Osborn (1900), who pictured 
relatively narrow strips of land connecting 
respectively South America on the one side 
and Tasmania and New Zealand on the 
other with the existing Antarctic land- 
area. This would accord well enough with 
the suggestion of Lothian Green, that the 


SEPTEMBER 11, 1914] 


plan of land-elevations on the earth is ap- 
proximately tetrahedral; and it is, I be- 
lieve, in line with the views of those who 
are best informed on antarctic geography 
and geology, as studied from the land 
itself. It may be hoped that further ant- 
arctic discovery may bring fresh facts to 
bear upon this question, for it is to the 
positive data acquired from study of the 
earth’s crust that we must look, rather than 
to the exigencies of botanists and zoolo- 
gists, for its final solution. 

But the hypothesis of an Antarctic land- 
connection has been held open to doubt in 
various quarters. Ag Sir Wm. Thiselton 
Dyer has recently pointed out, Darwin 
himself dissented, though regretfully, from 
the sinking of imaginary continents in a 
quite reckless manner, and from the con- 
struction of land-bridges in every conveni- 
ent direction. From the geological side 
Dana laid down the positive proposition 
that the continents and oceans had their 
general outline and form defined in earliest 
time. Sir John Murray, whose recent 
death we so deeply deplore, was an un- 
deniable authority as to the ocean-floor. 
He wrote quite recently with regard to 
Gondwana-land, that “‘the study of ocean- 
depths and ocean-deposits does not seem 
in any way to support the view that con- 
tinental land has disappeared beneath the 
floor of the ocean in the manner indi- 
cated.’? He suggested that the present 
distribution of organisms is better inter- 
preted by the North Polar theory of origin. 
The ‘‘continuous current of vegetation”’ 
southward at the present time was recog- 
nized by Hooker himself, and definite 
streams of northern forms have been traced 
by him extending even to Australia and 
Tasmania. This might account for much 
in present-day distribution; though it 
seems doubtful whether it would fully ex- 
plain the extraordinary distribution of Ant- 


SCIENCE 


361 


arctic plants. The problem must for the 
present remain an open one. 

This whole question, however, has a con- 
nection with the still wider difficulty of the 
existence within the polar area of ancient 
floras. In the north the fossils are even of 
sub-tropical character. Coal has been 
found in lands with a five months’ night. 
How did such plants fare if the seasonal 
conditions were at all like the present? 
To explain this it would be a physiological 
necessity to assume either an entirely dif- 
ferent climatal condition in those regions 
from that of the present time; or, as has 
been suggested, some shifting or creeping 
of the earth’s crust itself. These are, how- 
ever, questions which we can not under- 
take to discuss with effect in the Botanical 
Section. We must not do more than recog- 
nize that an unsolved difficulty exists. 

We pass now from Hooker’s great work 
to the last of the classical series, viz., the 
“Flora Australiensis’’ of Bentham and 
Baron Ferdinand von Miller. It is em- 
bodied im seven volumes, and was com- 
pleted in 1878. Bentham, while assenting 
in his ‘‘concluding preface’’ to the prin- 
ciples laid down by Hooker in the Tasman- 
ian flora, recognized as the chief com- 
ponent part of the present flora of 
Australia the indigenous genera and species, 
originated or differentiated in Australia, 
which never spread far out of it. Sec- 
ondly, an Indo-Australian flora showing an 
ancient connection between Australia and 
the lands lying to the north. It is repre- 
sented especially in tropical and sub- 
tropical east Queensland. Then there is 
the mountain flora common to New Zea- 
land, and extending generally to the south- 
ern extra-tropical and mountain regions, 
while other constituents are ubiquitous 
maritime plants, and those which have been 
introduced since the Huropean coloniza- 
tion. But the most remarkable, as they are 


362 


the least easily explained, are some few 
plants identical with species from North 
and West America, and from the Mediter- 
ranean. They are stated to be chiefly an- 
nuals, or herbaceous or shrubby plants; 
free-seeders; while their seeds long retain 
the power of germination. This may per- 
haps give the clue to this curious conun- 
drum of distribution. 

It has been fortunate that the duty of 
working out this remarkable flora should 
have fallen into the hands of such masters 
as Robert Brown, Sir Joseph Hooker, and 
Bentham. The foundations were thus 
surely laid. The further progress of 
knowledge has been carried on by the late 
Baron Ferdinand von Miller, and it may 
be confidently left in the hands of others 
who are still with us. The completion of 
the task of observing and recording may 
still be far ahead. But I may be pardoned 
if I utter a word of anticipatory warning. 
There is at the present time a risk that the 
mere work of tabulating and defining the 
species in a given country may be regarded 
as the only duty of a government botanist; 
that, whenever this is completed, his oc- 
cupation will be gone. Some such errone- 
ous idea, together with a short-sighted 
economy, is the probable explanation of the 
fact that certain positions hitherto held by 
professional botanists have recently been 
converted into positions to be held by agri- 
culturists. In the countries where this has 
happened (and I refer to no part of Aus- 
tralasia) the vegetation had been very ade- 
quately, though not yet exhaustively, 
worked, as regards the flowering plants 
and ferns. But who that knows anything 
about plants would imagine that the 
ascription to a genus or order, or the 
designation by a couple of Latin names 
with a brief specific description, exhausts 
what it is important to know about a 
species? In most cases it is after this has 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8., Vou. XL, No. 1028 


been done that the real importance of its 
study begins. Such possibilities as these 
do not appear to have been appreciated by 
those who advised or controlled these offi- 
cial changes. JI have no desire to under- 
value the agriculturist or the important 
work which he does. But he is engaged 
in the special application of various pure 
sciences, rather than in pure science itself. 
Advance in the prosperity of any country 
which has progressed beyond the initial 
stages of settlement follows on the advance 
of such knowledge as the devotee of pure 
science not only creates, but is also able to 
inculeate in his pupils. It is then impera- 
tive that, in any state which actively pro- 
eresses, provision shall be made for the 
pursuit of pure as well as of applied sci- 
ence. In my view an essential mistake has 
been made in changing the character of the 
appointments in question from that of 
botanists to that of agriculturists. For the 
change marks the abandonment of pure sci- 
ence in favor of its specialized and local 


application. 


The head of such an institution should 
always be a representative of pure science, 
thoroughly versed in the nascent develop- 
ments of his subject. He could then dele- 
gate to specialists the work of following 
out into detail such various lines of special 
application as agriculture, acclimatization, 
plant-breeding, forestry or economics. Or, 
if the organization were a large one, as we 
may anticipate that it would become in the 
capital of a great state, separate institutes 
might develop to serve the several applied 
branches, while to a central institute, in 
touch with them all, might be reserved the 
duty of advancing the pure science from 
which all should draw assistance and in- 
spiration. 

It matters little how this principle works 
out in detail, if only the principle itself be 
accepted, viz., that pure science is the fount 


SEPTEMBER 11, 1914] 


from which the practical applications 
spring. Sydney, as the capital of a great 
state, has already laid her course, as re- 
gards botanical science, in accordance with 
it. Her botanic garden and the recently 
developed botanical department in the 
university (which, I understand, may find 
its home ultimately in the botanic garden) 
will serve as centers of study of the pure 
science of botany. This will readily find 
its application to agriculture, to forestry, 
to economics, and in various other lines 
present and future. I am convinced that it 
is in the best interest of any state that can 
possibly afford to do so to encourage and 
liberally endow the central establishment 
where the pure science of botany is pur- 
sued, and to continue that encouragement 
and endowment, even though results of im- 
mediate practical use do not appear to be 
flowing from it at any given moment. For 
in these matters it is impossible to forecast 
what will and what will not be eventually 
of practical use. And in any ease as edu- 
cational centers the purely botanical estab- 
lishments will always retain their impor- 
tant function of supplying that exact in- 
struction, without which none can pursue 
with full effect a calling in the applied 
branches. 

We may now turn from generalities to 
certain special points of interest in your 
peculiar flora which happen to have en- 
gaged my personal attention. They center 
round a few rare and isolated plants hbe- 
longing to the Pteridophyta, a division of 
the vegetable kingdom which there is every 
reason to believe to have appeared early in 
the history of evolution. But though the 
type may be an ancient one it does not fol- 
low that every representative of it preserves 
the pristine features intact. Throughout 
the ages members of these early families 
may themselves have progressed. And so 
among them to-day we may expect to find 


SCIENCE 


363 


some which preserve the ancient characters 
more fully than others. The former have 
stood still, and may be found to compare 
with curious exactitude with fossils even 
of very early date. The latter have ad- 
vanced, and though still belonging to the 
ancient family, are by their modifications 
become essentially modern representatives 
of it. For instance, the fern Angiopteris 
has a sorus which very exactly matches sori 
from the Paleozoic period, and it may ae- 
cordingly be held to be a very ancient type 
of fern. On the other hand, the genera As- 
plenum, or Polypodium, include ferns of a 
type which has not been recognized from 
early fossil-bearing rocks, and they may be 
held to be essentially modern. But still all 
of them clearly belong to the family of the 
ferns. : 

In the Australian flora only three of the 
four divisions of the Pteridophyta are rep- 
resented. For, curiously enough, there 
does not appear to be any species on your 
continent of the widely spread genus 
Equisetum, the only living genus of that 
ereat phylum of the Equisetales, which fig- 
ured so largely in the Paleozoic period; and 
this notwithstanding that one species (£. 
debile) is present among the Polynesian Is- 
lands. But all the three other divisions of 
the Pteridophyta are included, and are rep- 
resented in each case by plants which show 
peculiar and, probably for the most part, 
archaic characters. I propose to sketch be- 
fore you very briefly the points of interest 
which the more notable of these archaic 
types present. Some justification may be 
found for my doing so because nearly all of 
them have been submitted to detailed study 
in my laboratory in Glasgow, and much of 
the work has been done upon material sup- 
plied to me by your own botanists. I take 
this opportunity of offering to them collec- 
tively my hearty thanks. 

The tenure by Dr. Treub of the office of 


364 


director of the botanic gardens of Buiten- 
zorg was rendered famous by his personal 
investigations, and chiefly by his classical 
researches on the Liycopods. ‘These were 
followed up by other workers, and notably 
by Bruchmann; so that we now possess a 
reasonable basis for comparison of the dif- 
ferent types of the family as regards the 
prothallus and embryology, as well as of 
the sporophyte plant; and all of these char- 
acters must be brought together as a basis 
for a sound conclusion as to their phyletic 
seriation. The most peculiar living Lyco- 
pods are certainly Isoétes and Phylloglos- 
swum, both of which are found in Australia. 
The former need not be specially discussed 
here, as it is a practically world-wide genus. 
It must suffice to say that it is probably the 
nearest living thing to the fossils Lepido- 
dendron and Sigillaria, and may be de- 
scribed as consisting of an abbreviated 
and partially differentiated Lepidostrobus 
seated upon a contracted stigmarian base. 

But Phylloglossum, which is peculiar to 
the Australasian region, naturally claims 
special attention. The plant is well known 
to botanists as regards its external features, 
its annual storage tuber, its leafy shoot with 
protophylls and roots, and its simple shaft 
bearing the short strobilus of characteristic 
Liycopod type. But its prothallus has never 
been properly delineated, though it was 
verbally described by Dr. A. P. W. Thomas 
in 1901.2 Perhaps the completed statement 
may have been reserved as a pleasant sur- 
prise for this meeting. But the description 
of thirteen years ago clearly shows its simi- 
larity to the type of Lycopodiwm cernuum. 
The sporophyte compares rather with L. 
inundatum. Both of these are species 
which, though probably not the most prim- 
itive of the genus, are far from being the 
most advanced. As all botanists know, the 
question of the position of Phylloglossum 

2 Proc. Roy. Soc., Vol. 69, p. 285. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S., Vou. XL., No. 1028 


chiefly turns upon the view we take of the 
annual tuber and its protophylls. Treub, 
finding similar conditions in certain em- 
bryos of Lycopods, called it a “‘protocorm,’’ 
and believed that he recognized in it an or- 
gan of archaic nature, which had played an 
important part in the early establishment 
of the sporophyte in the soil, physiologically 
independent of the prothallus. I must not 
trouble you here with the whole argument 
in regard to this view. Facts which pro- 
foundly affect the conclusion are those 
showing the inconstaney of occurrence of 
the organ. Mr. Holloway has recently de- 
seribed it as of unusual size in your native 
L. laterale, as it is also in L. cernuuwm. But 
it is virtually absent in those species which 
have a large intraprothallial foot, such as 
L. clavatum, as well as in the genus Sela- 
ginella and in Isoétes. In L. Selago, which 
on other grounds appears to be primitive, 
there is no ‘‘protocorm.’’ Such facts ap- 
pear to me to indicate caution. They sug- 
gest that the ‘‘protocorm”’ is an opportunist 
local swelling of inconstant occurrence, 
which, though biologically important im 
some cases, is not really primitive. 

If this is the comparative conclusion, 
then our view will be that Phylloglossum is 
a type of Lycopod which has assumed, per- 
haps relatively recently, a very practical 
mode of annual growth. Related, as it ap- 
pears to be on other points, with the L. 
inundatum group of species, it has bettered 
their mode of life. L. inundatum dies off 
each year to the very tip of its shoot, so that 
only the bud remains to the following sea- 
son. It is notable that Goebel has described 
long ago how the young adventitious buds 
of this species start with small “‘proto- 
corms,’’ quite like those of Phylloglossum 
itself, or like the embryo of ZL. cernwum. 
And so we may conclude that in Phyllo- 
glossum a tuberous development, contain- 
ing a store to start the plant in the spring, 


SEPTEMBER 11, 1914] 


has been added to what is already seen 
normally each year in L. inundatum. And 
this mode of life of Phylloglossum begins, 
as Thomas has shown, with its embryo. 
This appears to me to be a rational explana- 
tion of the ‘‘protocorm’’ of Phylloglossum; 
but it robs the plant of much of its theo- 
retical interest as an archaic form. 

The phylum of the Sphenophyllales was 
originally based on certain slender strag- 
gling plants of the genus Sphenophyllum 
found in the Paleozoic rocks; but appar- 
ently died out in the Permian period. 
Your native genera Tmesipteris and Psila- 
tum were ranked by earlier botanists with 
the Lycopods, but a better acquaintance 
with their details, and especially the exami- 
nation of numerous specimens on the spot, 
indicated a nearer affinity for them with 
the Sphenophyllales. It was Professor 
Thomas who, in 1902, first suggested that 
the Psilotacee might be included with the 
Sphenophylle in the phylum of the Spheno- 
phyllales, and I personally agree with him. 
Dr. Scott, however, dissents, on the ground 
that the leaves are persistently whorled in 
the sphenophylls, while they are alternate 
in the Psilotacee; and while the former 
branch monopodially the latter dichotomize. 
But since both of these characters are seen 
to be variable within the not far distant 
genus Lycopodium, the differences do not 
seem to me to be a sufficient ground for 
keeping them apart as the separate phyla of 
Sphenophyllales and Psilotales. Whatever 
degree of actual relation we trace, such 
plants as Tmesipteris and Psilotum are cer- 
tainly the nearest living representatives of 
the Sphenophyllex, a fact which gives them 
a special distinction. The Psilotacee also 
stand alone in the fact that they are the 
only family of the Pteridophytes in which 
the gametophyte is still unknown. They 
produce spores freely, but there the story 
stops. Any young Australian who hits 


SCIENCE 


365 


upon the way to induce these recalcitrant 
spores to germinate, and to produce proth- 
alli and embryos, or who found their proth- 
alli and embryos in the open, would have be- 
fore him a piece of work as sensational as 
anything that could be suggested. Further, 
I am told that Tmesipteris grows here on 
the matted stumps of Yodea barbara. I 
shall be alluding shortly to the fossil Os- 
mundacex. May we not venture to fancy 
the possibility of some fossil Osmunda be- 
ing found which has embalmed for us 
among its roots a Mesozoic or even a Ter- 
tiary Sphenophyll? And thus a link might 
be found between the Paleozoic types and 
the modern Psilotacex, not only in time, but 
even in character. 

We pass now to the last phylum of the 
Pteridophyta, the Filicales. I am bound to 
say that for me its interest far outweighs 
that of others, and for this reason: that it 
is represented by far the largest number of 
genera and species at the present day, while 
there is a sufficiently continuous and rich 
succession of fossil forms to serve as an effi- 
cient check upon our comparative conclu- 
sions. 

Since 1890 it has been generally accepted 
that the Eusporangiate ferns (those with 
more bulky sporangia) were phyletically 
the more primitive types, and the Lepto- 
sporangiate (those with more delicate 
sporangia) the derivative, and in point of 
time later. The fossil evidence clearly up- 
holds this conclusion. But, further, it has 
been shown that the character of the 
sporangium is merely an indicator of the 
general constitution of the plants in ques- 
tion. Where it is large and complex, as in 
the Eusporangiates, all the apical seementa- 
tions are, as a rule, complex, and the con- 
struction of the whole plant relatively bulky. 
Where the sporangium is delicate and rela- 
tively simple all the apical segmentations 
follow suit, and the construction of the 


366 


plant is on a less bulky model. On this 
basis we may range the ferns roughly as a 
sequence, starting from relatively bulky 
types of the distant past, and progressing 
to the more delicate types of the present 
day. The large majority of the living spe- 
cies belong naturally to the latter. But 
the former are still represented by a few 
genera and species which, like other sur- 
vivals from a distant past, are frequently 
of very restricted distribution. 

An interesting feature of the Austral- 
asian flora is that a considerable number of 
these relatively ancient forms are included 
in it. Thus the Marattiacee are repre- 
sented by one species of Marattia and one 
of Angiopteris. Though in themselves in- 
teresting, they will be passed over without 
special remark, as they are very widely 
spread tropical forms. 

All the three genera of Ophioglossacee 
are included, there being two species of 
Ophioglossum and two of Botrychiwm, 
while Helminthostachys is recorded from 
Rockingham Bay. This family is coming 
more than ever to the front in our compari- 
sons, owing to their similarity in various 
aspects to the ancient Botryopteridee. 
Though the Ophioglossacez have no secure 
or consecutive fossil history, still they may 
now be accepted as being very primitive 
but curiously specialized ferns. Perhaps 
the most interesting point recently detected 
in them is the suspensor found by Dr. 
Lyon in Botrychium obliquum, and by Dr. 
Lang in Helminthostachys. This provides 
a point for their comparison with the simi- 
lar embryonic condition in Danea, as dem- 
onstrated by Professor Campbell. The ex- 
istence of a filamentous initial stage of the 
embryo is thus shown for three of the most 
primitive of living ferns. Its existence in 
all of the Bryophytes, and in most of the 
Lycopods, as well as in the seed-plants, is 
a very significant fact. Dr. Lang suggests 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8., Vou. XL., No. 1028 


that ‘‘the suspensor represents the last 
trace of the filamentous juvenile stage in 
the development of the plant, and may have 
persisted in the seed-plants from their 
filicineous ancestry.’? Such a possibility 
would fit singularly well with the theory of 
encapsulation of the sporophyte in the 
venter of the archegonium. 

The representation of the ancient family 
of the Osmundacee in the Australasian 
flora is very fine, though limited to five liv- 
ing species, while Osmunda itself is absent. 
It is, however, interesting that the family 
dates back locally to early fossil times. It 
was upon two specimens of Osmundites 
from the Jurassic rocks in the Otago dis- 
trict of New Zealand that the series of re- 
markable papers on ‘‘The Fossil Osmun- 
dacee’’ by Kidston and Gwynne-Vaughan 
was initiated. It is no exaggeration to say 
that these papers have done more than any 
other recent researches to promote a true 
understanding not only of the Osmundacez 
themselves, but of fern-anatomy as a whole. 
They have placed the stellar theory in ferns 
for the first time upon a basis of compari- 
son, checked by reference to stratigraphical 
sequence. It would be leading us too far 
for me to attempt here to summarize the 
important results which have sprung from 
the study of those fossils, so generously 
placed by Mr. Dunlop in the hands of those 
exceptionally able to turn them to account. 
It must suffice to say that it is now pos- 
sible to trace as a fairly continuous story 
the steps leading from the protostelic state 
to the complex condition of the modern Os- 
munda. These facts and conclusions are to 
be put in relation with the anatomical data 
fast accumulating from the Ophioglossacez 
in the hands of Professor Lang and others. 
From such comparisons a rational explana- 
tion of the evolutionary steps leading to the 
complex stellar state in ferns at large be- 
gins to emerge. This is no mere tissue of 


SEPTEMBER 11, 1914] 


surmise, for the conclusions are based on 
detailed comparison of types occurring in 
lower horizons with those of the present 
day. 

I must pass over with merely nominal 
mention your interesting representation 
of the ancient families of Schizeacer, 
Gleicheniacee and Hymenophyllacerx, all 
of which touch the very foundations of 
any phyletic system of ferns. Also the 
magnificent array of MDicksoniee and 
Cyathee, and of the important genus Lind- 
saya—ferns which take a rather higher 
position in point of view of descent. But I 
am bound to devote a few moments to one 
of your most remarkable ferns, endemic in 
New Zealand—the monotypic Loxsoma. 

This species has peculiar characters 
which justify its being regarded systema- 
tically as the sole representative of a dis- 
tinct tribe. It is also restricted geograph- 
ically to the North Island of New Zealand. 
These facts at once suggest that it is an an- 
cient survival, a conclusion with which its 
solenostelic axis, its sorus and sporangium, 
and its prothallus readily accord. I have 
lately shown that the Leptosporangiate 
ferns fall into two distinct series, those in 
which the origin of the sorus is constantly 
superficial, and those in which it is as con- 
stantly marginal. Loxsoma is one of the 
“‘Marginales.’’ It shares this position with 
the Schizeacer, Thyrsopteridee, Hymeno- 
phyllacee and Dicksonier, and the deriva- 
tives Davaliex and Oleandree. Its nearest 
living relative is probably Thyrsopteris, 
which is again a monotypic species endemic 
in the island of Juan Fernandez. There is 
also a probable relation to the genus Lox- 
somopsis, represented by one species from 
Costa Rica, and a second lately discovered 
in Bolivia. Such a wide and isolated distri- 
bution of types, which by their characters 
are certainly archaic, suggests that we see 
in them the relics of a Filicineous state 


SCIENCE 


367 


once widely spread, which probably sprang 
from a Schizeaceous source, and with them 
represent the forerunners of the whole mar- 
ginal series. If we look for further en- 
lightenment from the fossils, it is to the sec- 
ondary rocks that we should turn. It is 
then specially interesting that Mr. Ham- 
shaw Thomas has lately described a new 
Jurassic fern, Stachypteris Halli, which has 
marginal sori, and is probably referable to 
a position like that of Lorsoma and Thyrso- 
pteris, between the Schizeacee and the 
Dicksonieew. In fact the gaps in the evolu- 
tionary series of the Marginales are filling 
up. We may await with confidence fresh 
evidence from the Jurassic period, upon 
which Professor Seward is directing an in- 
tensive interest. 

I should be ungrateful indeed if I did 
not mention your very full representation 
of Blechnoid ferns: for developmental ma- 
terial of several of these has been sent to me 
by Dr. Cockayne, and others from New 
Zealand. A wide comparative study of the 
genus has led me to somewhat unexpected 
results in regard to the plasticity of the 
sorus, its phyletic fusions and disruptions. 
The consequent derivative forms are seen 
in Woodwardia and Doodya, on the one 
hand, and on the other in Scolopendrium 
and Asplenium. These ferns together con- 
stitute a coherent phylum springing ulti- 
mately from a Cyatheoid source. The de- 
tails upon which this conclusion is based I 
hope to describe in a separate communica- 
tion to the section. 

And lastly, the Hydropteride deserve 
brief mention. Represented in your flora 
by two species of Azolla, and one each of 
Marsilea and Pilularia, they typify a condi- 
tion which must theoretically have existed 
among ferns in very early times, viz., the 
heterosporous state. But hitherto, notwith- 
standing the existence of our living Hydro- 
pterider, no fossil fern with microscopic 


368 


structure preserved had been detected from 
the primary rocks, showing this interme- 
diate condition between the homosporous 
type and that of the Pteridosperms. This 
unsatisfactory position has now been re- 
solved by Professor Lignier, who has re- 
cently described, under the name of Mit- 
tagia, a fossil from the Lower Westphalian, 
which bore sori of which the sporangia con- 
tained four megaspores, while the outer 
tissues of the sporangia resembled those of 
Lagenostoma. Pending the discovery of 
further specimens, these observations may 
be welcomed as filling with all probability 
a conspicuous gap in the evolutionary se- 
quence of known forms. 

From the rapid survey which I have been 
able to give you of some of the more notable 
Australasian ferns of relatively archaic 
type, it is clear that they have a very inter- 
esting and direct bearing upon the phylesis 
of ferns. The basis upon which conclusions 
as to phyletic sequence are arrived at is at 
root that of the natural system of classifica- 
tion generally—the recognition not of one 
character, or of two, but of as many as pos- 
sible, which shall collectively serve as cri- 
teria of comparison. In the case of the 
Filicales we may use the characters of :— 

(1) External form. 
(ii) Constitution, as shown by simple 
or complex segmentation. 
Dermal appendages, hairs or scales. 
Stellar structure, simple or com- 
plex. 
Leaf-trace, coherent or divided. 
Soral position. 
Soral construction. 
Indusial protections. 
Sporangial structure and mechan- 
ism of dehiscence. 
Spore-output. 
Spore-form and character of wall. 
Form of prothallus. 


(iii) 
(iv) 


(v) 
(vi) 
(vil) 
(viil) 
(ix) 
(x) 
(x1) 


(xii) 


SCIENCE 


[N. S., Vou. XL., No. 1028 


(xiii) Position of the sexual organs, 

sunken or superficial. 

(xiv) Number of spermatocytes and 

and method of dehiscence. 
(xv) Embryology. 

In respect of all these criteria progressions 
of character may be traced as illustrated 
by known ferns, and probably other eri- 
teria may emerge as study progresses. In 
each case, upon a footing of general com- 
parison, checked as opportunity offers by 
reference to the stratigraphical sequence of 
the fossils, it may be possible to distinguish 
with some degree of certainty what is rela- 
tively primitive from what is relatively 
advanced. Thus, the protostele is gen- 
erally admitted to be more primitive than 
the dictyostele, the simple hair than the 
flattened scale, and a high spore-output 
than a low one. 

Applying the conclusions thus arrived at 
in respect to the several criteria, it becomes 
possible upon the sum of them to lay out 
the species and genera of ferns themselves 
in series, from the primitive to the ad- 
vanced. In proportion as the progressions 
on the basis of the several criteria run 
parallel, we derive increased assurance of 
the rectitude of the phyletic sequences thus 
traced, which may finally be clinched, as 
opportunity offers, by reference to the 
stratigraphical occurrence of the corre- 
sponding fossils. This is in brief the 
phyletic method, as it may be applied to 
ferns. It may with suitable variation be 
applied to any large group of organisms, 
though it is seldom that the opportunities 
for such observation and argument are in 
any sense commensurate with the require- 
ments. Perhaps there is no group of 
plants in which the opportunities are at 
the moment so great as in the Filicales, and 
they are yielding highly probable results 
from its application. 

The greatest obstacle to success is found 


SEPTEMBER 11, 1914] 


in the prevalence of parallel development 
in phyla which are believed to have been 
of distinct origin. This is exemplified very 
freely in the ferns, and the systematist has 
frequently been taken in by the resem- 
blances which result from it. He has 
grouped the plants which show certain 
common characters together as members of 
a single genus. Sir William Hooker in 
doing this merged many genera of earlier 
writers. His avowed object was not so 
much to secure natural affinity in his sys- 
tem as readiness of identification: and con- 
sequently in the ‘‘Synopsis Filicum’’ there 
are nominal genera which are not genera 
in the phyletic sense at all. For instance, 
Polypodium and Acrostichum, as there de- 
fined, may be held from a phyletic point of 
view to be collective groupings of all such 
ferns as have attained a certain state of 
development of their sorus; and that they 
are not true genera in the sense of being 
associated by any kinship of descent: this 
is shown by the collective characters of the 
plants as a whole. Already at least four 
different phyletic sources of the Acrostic- 
hoid condition have been recognized, and 
probably the sources of the Polypodioid 
condition are no fewer. Such “‘genera’’ 
represent the results of a phyletic drift, 
which may have aftected similarly a plural- 
ity of lines of descent. It will be the 
provinee of the systematist who aims at a 
true grouping according to descent to comb 
out these aggregations of species into their 
true relationships. This is to be done by 
the use of wider, and it may be quite new 
criteria of comparison. Advances are be- 
ing made in this direction, but we are only 
as yet at the beginning of the construction 
of a true phyletic grouping of the Filicales. 
The more primitive lines are becoming 
clearer: but the difficulty will be greatest 
with the distal branches of the tree. For 
these represent essentially the modern 


SCIENCE 


369 


forms, they comprise the largest number 
of apparently similar species, and in them 
parallel development has been most preva- 
lent. 

If this difficulty be found in such a 
eroup as the Filicales, in which the earlier 
steps are so clearly indicated by the re- 
lated fossils, what are we to say for the 
Angiosperms? Our knowledge of their 
fossil progenitors is very fragmentary. 
But they are represented now by a multi- 
tude of forms, showing in most of their 
features an irritating sameness. For in- 
stance, vascular anatomy, that great re- 
source of phyletic study im the more primi- 
tive types, has sunk im the Angiosperms 
to something like a dead level of uni- 
formity. There is little variety found in 
the contents of embryo-sacs, in the details 
of fertilization, or in embryology. Even 
the ontogeny as shown in the seedling 
stages affords little consolation to the 
seeker after recapitulation. On the other 
hand, within what are clearly natural 
circles of affinity there is evidence of an 
extraordinary readiness of adaptability in 
form and structure. Such conditions sug- 
gest that we see on the one hand the far- 
reaching results of parallel development, 
and on the other the effects of great 
plasticity at the present day, or in rela- 
tively recent times. Both of these are 
points which prevent the ready tracing of 
phyletic lines. In the absence of reliable 
suggestions from paleontology, the natural 
consequence is the current state of uncer- 
tainty as to the phyletic relations of the 
Angiosperms. 

Various attempts have been or are being 
made to meet the difficulty. Some, on the 
basis of the recent observations of Wieland 
and others, are attempting along more or 
less definite monophyletic lines to con- 
struct, rather by forcible deduction than 
by any scientific method of induction, an 


370 


evolutionary story of the Angiosperms. I 
do not anticipate that any great measure 
ef success, beyond what is shown in a very 
polysyllabic terminology, and an appear- 
ance of knowing more than the facts can 
quite justify, will attend such efforts. It 
would seem to me to be more in accord 
with the dictates of true science to proceed 
in a different way, as indeed many workers 
have already been doing. To start not 
from preconceptions based upon limited 
paleontological data, but from an intensive 
study of the living plants themselves. To 
widen as far as possible the criteria of 
comparison, by making, for instance, every 
possible use of cellular, physiologico- 
chemical, and especially secretory detail, 
‘and of minor formal features, such as the 
dermal appendages, or by initiating a new 
developmental morphology of the flower 
from the point of view of its function as a 
whole; and with its physiological end 
elearly in sight, viz., the maturing, nourish- 
ing, and placing of new germs. To make 
on some such basis intraordinal, and in- 
trageneric comparisons with a view to the 
phyletic seriation of closely related forms; 
and so to construct probable short series, 
which may subsequently be associated into 
larger phyletic groupings. This should be 
checked wherever possible by physiological 
probability. A keen eye should be kept 
upon such information as geographical 
distribution and paleontology may afford, 
and especially upon the fossils of the 
Mesozoic Period. What is above all needed 
for success among the Angiosperms is new 
eriteria of comparison, to meet the far- 
reaching difficulties that follow from 
parallel development and recent adapta- 
tion. If some such methods be adopted, 
and strenuously pressed forward, the task 
should not appear hopeless, though it can 
not be anything else than an arduous one. 

I can not conclude without some remark 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8., Vou. XL., No. 1028 


on the bearing of parallel or convergent 
development, so fully exemplified in the 
Filicales, upon the question of the genesis 
of new forms. Any one who examines, 
from the point of view suggested in this 
address, the larger and well-represented 
divisions of the vegetable kingdom must 
be impressed with the extraordinary dead 
level of type to which their representatives 
have attained. In most of these divisions 
the phyletic history is obscured, partly by 
the absence of any consecutive paleonto- 
logical record, but chiefly by the want of 
recognized criteria for their comparison. 
This is very prominently the case for the 
mosses, and the Angiosperms. 

But it may be doubted whether these 
large groups differ in any essential point, 
in respect of the genesis of their multi- 
tudinous similar forms, from the Filicales, 
in which the lines of descent are becoming 
clearer through additional knowledge. 
Suppose that we knew of no fossil ferns; 
and that none of the early fern-types in- 
cluded under the term ‘‘Simplices’’ had 
survived in our living flora: and that the 
Filicales of our study consisted only of the 
2.500 living species of the old undivided 
genera of Polypodium, Asplenium, Aspi- 
dium and Acrostichum. Then the phyletie 
problem of the Filicales would appear as 
obscure as does that of the mosses, or of 
the Angiosperms of the present day. They 
would present, as these great groups now 
do, an apparent dead level of sameness in 
type, though the phyletic starting-points in 
each may have been several and distinct. 
There is every reason to suppose that in 
the phylesis of the mosses or the Angio- 
sperms also there has been a parallel, and 
even a convergent, development of the same 
nature as that which can be cogently 
traced in the Filicales: but that it is ob- 
secured by the obliteration of the early 
stages. Internal evidence from their com- 


SEPTEMBER 11, 1914] 


parative study fully justifies this conclu- 
sion. How, then, are we to regard this 
insistent problem of parallelism and con- 
vergence from the point of view of genetic 
study ? 

A belief in the ‘‘inheritance of acquired 
characters,’’ or, as it is sometimes ex- 
pressed, ‘‘somatic inheritance,’’ is at pres- 
ent out of fashion in some quarters. But 
though powerful voices may seem to have 
forced it for the moment into the back- 
ground, I would take leave to point out 
that such inheritance has not been dis- 
proved. All that has been done, so far as 
I understand the position, is to show that 
the evidence hitherto advanced in support 
of it is insufficient for a positive demon- 
stration. That is a very different thing 
from proving the negative. We hear of 
‘‘fuctuating variations’? as distinct from 
“‘mutations’’; and it is asserted that the 
former are somatic, and are not inherited, 
while the latter are inherited. This may 
be held as a useful terminological distinc- 
tion, in so far as it accentuates a difference 
in the heritable quality. But it leaves the 
question of the origin of these heritable 
“‘mutations’’ quite open. At the present 
moment I believe that actual knowledge on 
this point is very lke a complete blank. 
Further, it leaves indefinite the relative 
extent and proportion of the ‘‘mutations.’’ 
It is commonly held that mutations are 
considerble deviations from type. I am 
not aware that there is any sufficient 
ground for such a view. It may probably 
have originated from the fact that the 
largest are most readily observed and 
recognized as reappearing in the offspring. 
But this is no justification for ignoring the 
possibility of all grades of size or impor- 
tance of heritable deviations from type. 

On the other hand, adaptation, with its 
consequence of parallel or even convergent 
development in distinct stocks, is an in- 


SCIENCE 


371 


sistent problem. The real question is, 
What causes are at work to produce such 
results? They are usually set down to the 


‘selection of favorable divergences from 


type out of those produced at random. 
But the prevalence of parallelism and con- 
vergence suggests that those inheritable 
variations, which are now styled ‘‘muta- 
tions,’’ are not produced at random. The 
facts enforce the question whether or not 
they are promoted and actually determined 
in their direction, or their number, or 
their quality, in some way, by the external 
conditions. Parallelism and convergence 
in phyletic lines which are certainly dis- 
tinet impress the probability that they are. 
Until the contrary is proved it would, in 
my opinion, be wiser to entertain some such 
view as a working hypothesis than posi- 
tively to deny it. Such a working hypo- 
thesis as this is not exactly the same as a 
““mnemie theory,’ though it is closely akin 
to it. It may perhaps be regarded as the 
morphologist’s presentation, while the 
mnemic theory is rather that of the physi- 
ologist. But the underlying idea is the 
same, viz., that the impress of external cir- 
cumstance can not properly be ruled out in 
the genesis of inheritable characters, simply 
because up to the present date no definite 
case of inheritance of observable characters 
acquired in the individual lifetime has 
been demonstrated. Of course, I am 
aware that to many this is flat heresy. At 
this meeting of the association it amounts 
almost to high treason. I plead guilty to 
this heresy, which may by any sudden turn 
of observation be transformed into the true 
faith. I share it in whole or in part with 
many botanists, with men who have lived 
their lives in the atmosphere of experiment 
and observation found in large botanical 
gardens, and not least with a former presi- 
dent of the British Association—viz., Sir 
Francis Darwin. 


372 


It is noteworthy how large a number of 
botanists dissent from any absolute nega- 
tion of the influence of the environment 
upon the genesis of heritable characters. 
Partly this may be due to a sense of the 
want of cogency of the argument that the 
insufficiency of the positive evidence 
hitherto adduced justifies the full negative 
statement. But I think it finds its real 
origin in the fact that in plants the genera- 
tive cells are not segregated early from the 
somatic. In this respect they differ widely 
from that early segregation of germ-cells 
in the animal body, to which Weismann 
attached so much importance. The fact is 
that the constitution of the higher plants 
and of the higher animals is in this, as in 
many other points, radically different, and 
areuments from the one to the other are 
dangerous in the extreme. Those who in- 
terest themselves in evolutionary questions 
do not, I think, sufficiently realize that the 
utmost that can be claimed is analogy be- 
tween the higher terms of the two king- 
doms. Their phyletic separation cer- 
tainly dates from a period prior to that of 
which we have any knowledge from the 
fossil record. Let us give full weight to 
this fact, as important as it is indisputable. 
The early definition of germ-cells in the 
animal body will then count for nothing in 
the evolutionary problem of plants. More- 
over, we Shall realize that the plant, with 
its late segregation of germ-cells, will pre- 
sent the better field for the inquiry 
whether, and how far, the environment 
may influence or induce divergences from 
type. From this point of view the wide- 
spread opinion among botanists that the 
environment in some sense determines the 
origin and nature of divergences from type 
in plants should command a special in- 
terest and attention. 

I must now draw to a close. I have 
passed in review some of your more notable 


SCIENCE 


[N. S., Vou. XL., No. 1028 


plants, and pointed out how the Austral- 
sian flora, whether living or fossil, includes 
in unusual richness those evidences upon 
which the fabric of evolutionary history is 
being based. I have indicated how this 
history in certain groups is showing ever 
more and more evidence of parallel de- 
velopment, and that such development, or 
convergence, presses upon us the inquiry 
into the methods of evolutionary progress. 
The illustrations I have brought forward 
in this address clearly show how important 
is the positive knowledge derived from the 
fossils in checking or confirming our deci- 
sions. Paleophytology is to be prized not 
as a separate science, as, with an enthusi- 
astic view restricted between blinkers, a 
recent writer has endeavored to enforce. 
To treat it so would be to degrade it into a 
mere side alley of study, instead of hold- 
ing it to be the most positive line that we 
possess in the broad avenue of botanical 
phylesis. An appreciation of such direct 
historical evidence is no new idea. Some- 
thing of the same sort was felt by Shakes- 
peare three centuries ago, and it remains 
the same to-day. Nay more:—it may lead 
us even to forecast future possibilities. In 
following our evolutionary quest in this 
spirit we shall find that we are indeed— 

Figuring the nature of the times deceased, 

The which observed, a man may prophesy 

With a near aim, of the main chance of things 

As yet not come to life. 

(King Henry IV., Part II., Act iii, Scene i.) 

F. O. BowEr 


THE DECREASING BIRTH RATE OF THE 
GERMAN EMPIRE 

During the 30 years following the war with 
France the population of Germany increased 
enormously while the population of France 
remained almost stationary. But at the be- 
ginning of the new century the birth rate in 
Germany began to decline and is still declin- 
ing at a rapid rate. Im an article in No. 18 of 


SEPTEMBER 11, 1914] 


the Miinchener Medizinische Wochenschrift 
Dr. von Gruber gives some remarkable facts 
about the decreasing birth rate in Germany, 
which are the more interesting as the same 
causes are underlying a decreasing birth rate 
in certain classes and certain regions of the 
United States. 

Von Gruber shows that while the number 
of marriages in Germany remained about the 
same (80 per 10,000 inhabitants) the birth 
rate sank from 870 in 1900 to 310 in 1910. 
This decrease is especially marked in the 
cities and industrial regions. In Berlin the 
number of births per 10,000 inhabitants de- 
creased from 149 in 1876 to 93 in 1912. But 
not only the cities, the country districts, too, 
show a gradual decrease in the birth rate. 
Especially is this noticeable in the districts 
adjoining large cities. Im general this de- 
crease is more marked in regions with a pre- 
dominantly Protestant population, and with 
regard to politics, in those election districts 
which send regularly a socialist member to the 
Reichstag. 

Considering the causes of this general de- 
cline of the birth rate yon Gruber thinks that 
it is principally due to prevention of concep- 
tion. He recognizes the fact, however, that 
this decrease is to some extent unintentional. 
Many of the best families die out though chil- 
dren are ardently desired. The causes of this 
phenomenon are not fully known, but alcohol- 
ism and the venereal diseases are probably the 
principal underlying causes. 

Of special significance is the insufficient in- 
crease of the birth rate among the intellectual 
classes. For the safety, progress and prosper- 
ity of any nation a sufficient number of per- 
sons who are leaders of the people is necessary. 
Without her great statesmen and generals, her 
leaders in commerce and industry, in the arts 
and sciences, the enormous development of 
modern Germany would have been impossible. 
Both Greece and Rome perished from a stead- 
ily decreasing birth rate of the ruling race, and 
it is a remarkable fact that during the de- 
cline of the Roman Empire no great statesmen 
and generals, no great thinkers, artists and 
scientists, appeared. It was a period of com- 


SCIENCE 


373 


plete stagnation. The same is true of the de- 
clining periods of Greek history. 

In view of the more difficult living condi- 
tions of modern times von Gruber recognizes 
the right of the parents to limit the number of 
their children, but this limitation should not 
be carried so far as to endanger the safety of 
the state. The desire for wealth and luxury, 
the movement of woman’s emancipation, the 
disappearance of a deep religious sentiment 
are the most destructive agencies in modern 
society. The destructive effects of the aban- 
donment of old orthodox beliefs is shown by 
the fate of the Jewish race. Under the faith- 
ful observation of the Mosaic law the Jews 
maintained the strength and vigor of their 
race through thousands of years in the face of 
all opposition and persecution, but in modern 
times the Jews, at least so far as Germany is 
concerned, are threatened with extinction. 
They have abandoned their ancient faith, they 
hold the most advanced views on life, their 
writers are the most fanatic agitators for the 
overthrow of marriage and the established 
order of sexual relations. The chase after 
money, the thirst for power and pleasure, has 
blinded them to the fact that they are facing 
extinction through race suicide. These condi- 
tions are especially marked among the Jews 
of Berlin. From 1875 to 1910 the Jews of 
Berlin increased 100 per cent., but the num- 
ber of Jewish births decreased during the 
same period 11 per cent. Im 1905 the num- 
ber of births per 1,000 Jewish women in the 
child-bearing age was only 56.8. At present 
their natality is only 14 per 1,000. Still less is 
the natality among the Jews of Bohemia and 
Moravia, where, according to recent statistics, 
it sank to 12.9 per 1,000, the lowest birth rate 
known among any race. This enormous de- 
erease of births among the Jews shows that 
the phenomenon is not due to poverty and in- 
digence, for the Berlin Jews are among the 
best situated people of that city. 

A reasonable increase in population is abso- 
lutely necessary for any people to maintain its 
position among the nations. If the two-chil-: 
dren system should be carried out generally, 


374 


von Gruber finds that the descendants of one 
million people would after 100 years only 
amount to 347,000 souls. 

To counteract the modern tendency to race 
suicide von Gruber proposes (1) Improvement 
of the economic condition of families with 
many children by proper laws. (2) Limita- 
tion of the economic advantages of childless- 
ness. (3) Suppression of thosé agencies which, 
for pecuniary gains, spread the vice of race 
suicide. He takes an energetic stand against 
those modern “reformers” who would loosen 
the marriage ties. He considers the modern 
monogamous marriage the only basis of 
healthy sexual relations. Freedom in mar- 
riage would become “free love” and end in 
general sterility. He condemns the claim of 
the law committee of the Federation of Ger- 
man Women, who maintain that “as a free 
person woman is the mistress over her own 
body and may destroy a germ which, in its 
initial stage, is an inseparable part of her own 
body.” The ideal of woman’s emancipation 
has never been more nearly approached than in 
Imperial Rome, where sterility was a general 
phenomenon. 

It is nothing but just that the state bear a 
part of the expenses of parents with a numer- 
ous family. Parents who have three or more 
normal and healthy children under 14 years 
should be paid a monthly contribution, and if 
they have raised three or more children they 
should receive an old age pension when they 
have reached the age of 60 years. Besides 
these economic advantages von Gruber would 
give a father of three or more children a plural 
vote at all elections proportional to the number 
of his children. A large portion of the sums 
expended in the assistance of families with 
many children could be procured by a tax on 
the incomes of bachelors and parents with few 
or no children. Won Gruber proposes severe 
laws against the “propaganda for the two- 
children system,” as well as severe penalties on 
criminal abortion and on the advertisement 
and sale of drugs and other means for the pre- 
vention of conception. 

A, ALLEMANN 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8., Vou. XL., No. 1028 


PATENT MEDICINES IN GREAT BRITAIN 


Larcety through the efforts of the American 
Medical Association and through legislation 
by Congress some progress has been made in 
the United States in limiting the dangers from 
the sale and use of secret medicines. The 
conditions are now worse in Great Britain 
than in this country, and in 1912 the govern- 
ment appointed a select committee which has 
just issued an abstract of its report. It finds 
that there is a large and increasing sale of 
patent and proprietary remedies and appli- 
ances and of medicated wines; that this con- 
stitutes a grave and widespread public evil 
and that “an intolerable state of things,” 
requires new legislation to deal with it, rather 
than merely the amendment of existing laws. 
Legislation is recommended as follows: 


1. That every medicated wine and every propri- 
etary remedy containing more alcohol than that re- 
quired for pharmacological purposes, be required to 
state upon the label the proportion of alcohol con- 
tained in it. 

2. That the advertisement and sale (except the 
sale by a doctor’s order) of medicines purporting 
to cure the following diseases be prohibited: Can- 
cer, consumption, lupus, deafness, diabetes, paraly- 
sis, fits, epilepsy, locomotor ataxy, Bright’s dis- 
ease, rupture (without operation or appliance). 

3. That all advertisements of remedies for dis- 
eases arising from sexual intercourse or referring 
to sexual weakness be prohibited. 

4, That all advertisements likely to suggest that 
a medicine is an abortifacient be prohibited. 

5. That it be a breach of the law to change the 
composition of a remedy without informing the 
Department of the proposed change. 

6. That fancy names for recognized drugs he 
subject to regulation. 

7. That the period of validity of a name used 
as a trade mark for a drug be limited, as in the 
case of patents and copyrights. 

8. That it be a breach of the law to give a false 
trade description of any remedy, and that the fol- 
lowing be a definition of a false trade description: 
“CA statement, design, or device regarding any 
article or preparation, or the drugs or ingredients 
or substances contained therein, or the curative or 
therapeutic effect thereof, which is false or mis- 
leading in any particular.’’ And that the onus 
of proof that he had reasonable ground for be- 
lief in the truth of any statement by him regard- 


SEPTEMBER 11, 1914] 


ing a remedy, be placed upon the manufacturer or 
proprietor of such remedy. 

9. That it be a breach of the law: (a) To en- 
close with one remedy printed matter recommend- 
ing another remedy. (6) To invite sufferers from 
any ailment to correspond with the vendor of a 
remedy. (c) To make use of the name of a ficti- 
tious person in connection with a remedy. (But it 
should be within the power of the department to 
permit the exemption of an old-established remedy 
from this provision.) (d) To make use of ficti- 
tious testimonials. (¢) To publish a recommenda- 
tion of a secret remedy by a medical practitioner 
unless his or her full name, qualifications and ad- 
dress be given. (f) To promise to return money 
paid if a cure is not effected. 


THE TWENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF 
THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN 

Tue Missouri Botanical Garden has made 
arrangements to celebrate its twenty-fifth anni- 
versary on October 15 and 16. The war in 
Europe may interfere with the attendance of 
some of the foreign delegates, but it is known 
that all of those on the program will make 
every effort to come and, in ease this is im- 
possible, their papers will be sent in time to 
be read. The program is as follows: 


Thursday, October 15 


10:30 a.m. Automobile ride through the 
city for delegates and visiting scientists. 

1:00 p.m. Lunch at the garden. 

2:00 p.m. Graduate lecture room: 

Address of welcome: Director George T. 
Moore. 

The History and Functions of Botanical 
Gardens: Assistant Director Arthur W. Hill, 
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, England. 

The Phylogenetic Taxonomy of the Flower- 
ing Plants: Professor Charles E. Bessey, 
University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska. 

Development of the Norwegian Flora Since 
the Ice Age: Professor N. Wille, University 
of Christiania, Christiania, Norway. 

The Vegetation of Mona Island: Director in 
Chief, N. L. Britton, New York Botanical 
Garden, Bronx Park, N. Y. 

The Scientific Significance of the Imperial 
Botanic Garden of Peter the Great, with Spe- 


SCIENCE 


375 


cial Reference to the Flora of Asia: Dr. 
Wladimir I. Lipsky, Jardin Impérial Botani- 
que de Pierre le Grand, St. Petersburg, Russia. 

Comparative Carpology of Crucifere with 
Vesicular Fruits—Some General Biological 
and Systematic Conclusions: Director J. 
Briquet, Conservatoire et du Jardin Botaniques 
de la Ville Genéve, Geneva, Switzerland. 

The Origin of Monocotyledony: Professor 
John M. Coulter, University of Chicago, 
Chicago, Illinois. 

8:30-11:30 P.M. 
Residence. 


Reception. Director’s 


Friday, October 16 


10:30 a.m. Special personally conducted 
trip through the conservatories and grounds 
of the garden. Opportunity will be given 
during the morning for those who wish to 
spend time in the library or herbarium. 

12:30 p.m. Lunch at the Garden. 

1:30 p.m. Graduate lecture room: 

Recent Investigations on the Protoplasm of 
Plant Cells and Its Colloidal Properties: 
Professor Frederick Ozapek, Physiologisches 
Institut der K. K. Deutschen Universitat, 
Prag, Austria. 

Experimental Modification of the Germ 
Plasm: Director D. T. Macdougal, Depart- 
ment of Botanical Research, Carnegie Institu- 
tion of Washington, Tucson, Arizona. 

Hormone im Pflanzenreich: Director Hans 
Fitting, Botanisches Anstalten der Universitat 
Bonn, Bonn, Germany. 

The Law of Temperature Connected with 
the Distribution of Marine Alge: Professor 
William A. Setchell, University of California, 
Berkeley, California. 

Ueber Formbildung und MRhythmik der 
Pflanzen: Director George Klebs, Botanisches 
Institut Universitat Heidelberg, Heidelberg, 
Germany. 

Phylogeny and Relationships in the Ascomy- 
eetes: Professor George F. Atkinson, Cornell 
University, Ithaca, New York. 

The Organization of a Mushroom: Professor 
A. H. Reginald Buller, University of Mani- 
toba, Winnipeg, Canada. 

A Conspectus of Bacterial Diseases in 
Plants: Dr. Erwin F. Smith, Bureau of Plant 


376 


Industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture, 
Washington, D. OC. 

7:30 p.M. Trustees’ Banquet. 
Club. 


Liederkranz 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


Tue British government has appointed a 
committee to consider questions in relation to 
the supply of drugs as affected by the war. 
The members of the committee are: Dr. J. 
Smith Whitaker, Sir Thomas Barlow, Sir 
Lauder Brunton, Dr. A. Cox, Professor A. R. 
Cushny, Dr. E. Rowland Fothergill, Dr. B. A. 
Richmond, Dr. F. J. Smith, Dr. W. Hale 
White, with Dr. E. W. Adams as secretary. 


Dr. Wittiam H. Wetcu, of the Johns Hop- 
kins University, president of the National 
Academy of Sciences, is among the large 
number of American men of science detained 
on the continent by the war. 


Dr. Ewatp Herine, professor of physiology 
at Leipzig, celebrated on August fifth his 
eightieth birthday. 


THE Paris Academy of Sciences has awarded 
a prize of $600 to Dr. H. Vincent, for his 
work on typhoid fever. 


Dr. Joser Mrtan, professor of bridge build- 
ing at Prague, has been given an honorary 
doctorate of engineering by the Technical 
School at Brunn. 


Dr. Franz FiscHer has been appointed head 
of the newly established institute for fuel in- 
vestigation at Milheim. 


Dr. S. W. Patterson has been engaged by 
the government of Madras to undertake an in- 
vestigation into the causation, prevention and 
possible cure of diabetes. The sum of 50,000 
rupees has been given by the Raja of Pitha- 
puram for the purpose. 

Dr. G. ANGENHEISTER has been appointed 
director of the Geophysical Observatory at 
Apia, Samoa. 

Dr. Vircit H. Moon, of the Memorial Insti- 
tute for Infectious Diseases, Chicago, has been 
appointed head of the pathological department. 


THE convocation orator at the University of 
Chicago on August 28 was Dr. Roscoe Pound, 


SCIENCE 


[N. S., Von. XL., No. 1028 


professor of jurisprudence in Harvard Univer- 
sity and formerly professor of law in the Uni- 
versity of Chicago. The subject of his address 
was “Legalism.” Dr. Pound was for eleven 
years director of the Botanical Survey of the 
state of Nebraska. He is a fellow of the Amer- 
ican Association for the Advancement of Sci- 
ence and a member of the Botanical Society of 
America, 


Linutenant SEporr, who two years ago 
headed an Arctic expedition to Franz Josef 
Land, fell ill and died, it is said, in an effort to 
reach the North Pole. Survivors of the expe- 
dition have arrived at Archangel. 


Dr. Aurrep Hucar, formerly professor of 
medicine at Freiberg, has died at the age of 
eighty-five years. 


Sir AntTHoNy Homa, late surgeon-general in 
the British army, died on August 9, aged 
eighty-seven years. 


Pans have been made for the founding of 
an Australian Institute of Engineers. 


Next year’s conference of the British Phar- 
maceutical Society is to be held at Scarbor- 


ough under the presidency of Mr. Sayville 
Peck. 


THE International Seismological Congress, 
which was to have been held at St. Peters- 
burg, has been postponed, as has also the 
Meteorological Conference, which was to have 
taken place in Edinburgh in September. 


Dr. Kart Brnsincer, of Mannheim, has 
given 30,000 marks to the University of Frei- 
burg for the investigation of wireless teleg- 
raphy. 


THE Prussian Academy of Sciences has of- 
fered a prize of 5,000 marks for the best study 
of “ Experience as a Factor in Perception.” 
The articles may be in German, Latin, French, 
English or Italian and must reach the acad- 
emy by December 31, 1916. 


A sprEcIAL despatch from Philadelphia fur- 
nished by the American Osteopathic Associa- 
tion, begins with the remarkable statement: 
“ Announcement was made here to-day at the 
International Osteopathic convention that 


SEPTEMBER 11, 1914] 


osteopathy has been discovered to be a cure 
for all acute infectious diseases.” 

Tr is stated in Nature that at least two Eng- 
lish expeditions to observe the total solar 
eclipse of August 2, reached their destinations 
and observed the eclipse under most favorable 
weather conditions. The two parties were the 
observers from the Royal Observatory, Green- 
wich, consisting of Messrs. Jones and David- 
son, and the expedition sent out by the joint 
permanent eclipse committee of the Royal and 
Royal Astronomical Societies, composed of 
Fathers Cortie and O’Connor and Messrs. 
Atkinson and Gibbs. The Greenwich party, 
stationed at Minsk (Russia), observed the 
eclipse under good conditions in a clear 
sky, and photographs of both the corona and 
chromosphere were secured. It is stated that 
the form of the corona was of the intermedi- 
ate type, 2. ¢., of the square type, there being 
no larger equatorial streamers or streamers in 
the regions of the solar poles. The corona is 
also stated to have been very bright. The 
party under Father Cortie, S.J., took up their 
position at Hernoesand in Sweden, and his 
telegram to the Royal Astronomical Society 
says, “ Weather perfect. All operations suc- 
cessful. Intermediate corona.” 


THERE will be examinations on October 19 
for admission to the grade of assistant surgeon 
in the United States Public Health Service. 
Candidates must be between 23 and 32 years 
of age, graduates of a reputable medical col- 
lege, and of good moral standing. The exami- 
nations are: 1, physical; 2, oral; 3, written; 4 
clinical. Successful candidates will be num- 
bered according to their attainments on exami- 
nation, and commissioned in the same order. 
Assistant surgeons receive $2,000; passed as- 
sistant surgeons, $2,400; surgeons, $3,000; 
senior surgeons, $3,500, and assistant surgeon 
generals, $4,000 a year. For invitation to ap- 
pear before the board of examiners, application 
should be made to the “ Surgeon General, Pub- 
lic Service, Washington, D. C.” 

A BRIEF report by Edgar T. Wherry describ- 
ing a deposit of carnotite near Mauch Chunk, 
Pa., is published as Bulletin 580-H of the 
United States Geological Survey. Carnotite is 


SCIENCE 


317 


one of the radium-bearing metals and this de- 
posit is believed to have been formed by pre- 
cipitation from the ground water and can now 
be seen in process of formation where water 
trickles out through cracks in the rocks. The 
deposit is of interest, but the present knowl- 
edge regarding it is insufficient to warrant any 
statement as to its workability. So far as is 
now known the total area covered by the car- 
notite-bearing lenses is very small, the observed 
outcrops being confined to a strip but a few 
hundred feet in extent. 


Tue Berlin correspondent of the Journal of 
the American Medical Association reports that 
more than a year ago, under German initiative, 
an international health office was established 
in Jerusalem under the direction of Miihlens, 
the scientific assistant in the Hamburg Insti- 
tute for Marine and Tropical Diseases. Ac- 
cording to a recently published article of 
Nocht, director of the Institute for Marine 
and Tropical Diseases, the support of the in- 
stitute at Jerusalem at present is shared in 
common by the German Committee for the 
Campaign against Malaria in Jerusalem; by 
Nathan Strauss of New York, and by the 
Society of Jewish Physicians and Scientists 
for Sanitary Interests in Palestine. The Ger- 
man committee supports the general depart- 
ment for combating malaria, and its chairman 
is at the same time the director of the insti- 
tute. Nathan Strauss supports the hygienic 
and bacteriologic department of which the 
heads are Drs. Briinn and Goldberg. The 
Society of Jewish Physicians and Scientists 
has taken over the department for protection 
against rabies, originated by a German com- 
mittee, the director of which is Dr. Behan. 
An accessory department for the prevention 
of eye diseases (director, Dr. Feigenbaum) 
has b@gn added. 


Tur British War Office has issued to offi- 
cers of the royal army medical corps the fol- 
lowing memorandum on antityphoid inocula- 
tions: 

1, There is no need to remind officers of 
the Royal Army Medical Corps of the disas- 
trous effects of typhoid in recent campaigns. 

9. Tt can hardly be hoped that improved 


378 


sanitary precautions will succeed completely 
in safeguarding the force from infection, 
since it will certainly be exposed to three 
sources of infection, difficult or impossible to 
control, namely: (a) Men in the incubation 
stage of typhoid who have accompanied or 
joined the force. (b) Unsuspected typhoid 
carriers. (c) Contact with the inhabitants of 
the country in which typhoid may be present. 

3. The preventive value of antityphoid in- 
oculation is now universally recognized, and 
is well known to all who have served in India. 

4. As it was not found possible to inocu- 
late the force on mobilization, only a small 
percentage of the men will have been pro- 
tected, but it should be practicable, by seizing 
every opportunity, to raise the number of in- 
oculated very considerably. If a unit is likely 
to be stationary for a short time, advantage 
might be taken of this with the consent of 
the general staff, to inoculate a certain num- 
ber of men,—for example, a company or half 
a company, and in this way a whole regiment 
or other unit might be protected, without any 
serious interference with its duties. In the 
same way individual men temporarily disabled 
by minor ailments, or otherwise available, 
might be inoculated. It is strongly urged that 
medical officers lose no opportunity of intro- 
ducing and carrying through some such sys- 
tem. 

5. Antityphoid vaccine has been sent to the 
base depot of medical stores, and will be is- 
sued, as required, on requisition. 

THE value of the output of recoverable gold, 
silver, copper, lead and zine from mines in Cali- 
fornia in 1913, according to Charles G. Yale, 
of the United States Geological Survey, was 
$26,812,489, an increase of $428,543 over the 
1912 production. All the metals except zinc 
showed an increased yield, although the ore 
treated was less in quantity and there were 
fewer mines reporting a production than in 
1912. The total recoverable value of gold from 
California in 1918 was $20,406,958, of which 
the deep mines produced $11,570,781, or 56.7 
per cent. The total increase in the gold pro- 
duction was $693,480, of which $502,966 was in 
the yield from deep mines. The gold produc- 
tion was larger than in any other year except 


SCIENCE 


[N. S., Vou. XL., No. 1028 


one since 1864. This great output was due en- 
tirely to the operations of the dredging com- 
panies and the larger deep mines, as the num- 
ber of mines operated in 1913 was 245 less than 
in 1912. Of the gold recovered from placer 
mines the gold dredges reported $8,090,294, 
which was nearly 92 per cent. of the placer 
gold mined and nearly 40 per cent. of the total 
state yield in 1913. Since the commencement 
of gold dredging in California, 15 years ago, 
the gold recovered from this source has 
amounted to $63,505,485. Most of this large 
yield has been derived from ground which 
could not have been mined profitably under any 
of the old methods of gravel mining. The 410 
deep mines sold or treated 2,495,958 tons of ore, 
a decrease of 145,539 tons, compared with 1912. 
Most of the siliceous ore, which amounted to 
2,031,429 tons, was treated at gold and silver 
mills, yielding an average recovery of $5.61 a 
ton in gold and silver. The 448,439 tons of 
copper had a recoverable value of $1.84 a ton 
in gold and silver and $11.74 in copper. The 
14,267 tons of lead ore treated had a recover- 
able value of $11.24 in gold and silver and of 
$93.11 for all metals. The zine ore shipped in 
1913 amounted to 1,823 tons, which was con- 
siderably less than in 1912. The recoverable 
silver in 1913 amounted to 1,378,399 fine 
ounces, valued at $832,553, an increase of 78,- 
263 fine ounces in quantity and of $32,969 in 
value. The copper ores from Shasta county 
contained about 60 per cent. of the 1913 pro- 
duction of silver from California. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 


Dr. Wituiam J. Youne has given $25,000 to 
the Medical Department of the University of 
Georgia for the improvement of its library. 


Tur Company of Drapers of the City of 
London has made a grant of £500 a year for 
three years in aid of the work of the Depart- 
ment of Applied Statistics at University Col- 
lege, London, including the Galton Laboratory 
of Eugenics and the Drapers’ Biometric Labo- 
ratory. 


Dr. Freperick A. SAUNDERS has resigned the 
professorship of physics in Syracuse Univer- 


SEPTEMBER 11, 1914] 


sity to accept the corresponding position in 
Vassar College. 


Dr. Lawrence EH. Grirrin has been ap- 
pointed professor of zoology in the University 
of Pittsburgh. 


Dr. Ropert M. Ocpen, of the University of 
Tennessee, secretary of the American Psycho- 
logical Association, has accepted the chair of 
psychology at the University of Kansas. 


Dr. Frmenp HK. Cuark has resigned his posi- 
tion as professor of chemistry in Center Col- 
lege, Danville, Ky., to become professor of 
chemistry in West Virginia University. 


Samuet W. Geiser, B.S. (Upper Iowa, 712), 
has been appointed professor of biology at 
Guilford College, North Carolina. 


Dean A. Worcester, B.A. (Colorado, 711), 
has been appointed associate professor of 
psychology in the University of New Mexico. 


Dr. Harotp CHapmMan Brown, of Columbia 
University, has been appointed assistant pro- 
fessor of philosophy in Stanford University. 


Trent Hunt Davis, instructor in chemistry 
at the University of Washington, has been 
promoted to be assistant professor of chemis- 
try. 


Tue following have been recently appointed 
to positions in George Peabody College for 
Teachers: Mr. Charles ©. Colby, from the 
Minnesota State Normal School, as associate 
professor of geography; Miss Ada M. Field 
from Teachers College; Miss Blanche Evelyn 
Hyde from Newton, Mass., as assistant pro- 
fessors of home economies; Dr. William F. 
Russell, honorary fellow in Teachers College, 
as associate professor of secondary education. 
Dr. Leonidas C. Glenn, professor of geology, 
and Dr. John J. Luck, assistant professor of 
mathematics, of Vanderbilt University, have 
been secured to give special courses at the 
college. 


Dr. THEODORE SHENNAN, at present pathol- 
ogist to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, has 
been appointed regius professor of pathology 
(Sir Erasmus Wilson Chair) in the Univer- 
sity of Aberdeen, in the place of the late 
Professor George Dean. 


SCIENCE 


319 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 
DO AZOTOBACTER NITRIFY? 


Unper the caption of “ Fixation of Atmos- 
pherie Nitrogen” Mr. Dan. H. Jones, in the 
Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, 
Third Series, 1918, Vol. IIT., Sect. IV.,1 gives 
the results of certain experiments tending to 
show that the azotobacter form nitrates in 
their body tissues. He states: 

Cultures of each variety in Ashby’s solution 
when one month old gave the nitrate reaction with 
phenolsulphonie acid colorimetric test. As the 
cultures get older, up to several months, the reac- 
tion to the test gets slightly stronger. This nitrate 
is retained almost altogether in the bodies of the 
organisms. Cultures filtered through Berkefeld 
filter gave only a trace of nitrate in the filtrate 
and a strong reaction in the mass of organisms 
which did not pass through the filter. The filtrate 
plated out showed that some of the organisms had 
passed through the filter. But as it took about 
ten days to filter enough for a test it is possible 
that the organisms had grown through the filter 
in that time. Probably the presence of a small 
number of organisms in the filtrate was respon- 
sible for the trace of nitrate in the tests. Mass 
growths on Ashby’s agar, when mature, gave a 
strong nitrate reaction. 

The author does not state to what extent 
pigmentation had taken place, but as the ma- 
terial experimented with represented old cul- 
tures it is probable that a considerable degree 
of pigmentation was present. He says: 

As the cultures get older, up to several months, 
the reaction to the test gets slightly stronger. 

The present writer was deeply interested in 
this subject in connection with work which he 
was doing in 1910 and 1911 and stated in de- 
scribing some samples of soil used in studying 
the subject of fixation,” that 
a certain sample gave, at the beginning of the ex- 
periment, an unsatisfactory growth of azotobacter 
but thirteen days later another culture made from 
the same sample gave a heavy membrane in four 
days on which brown points developed on the 
eighth or ninth day. 

Again on page 93 of the same bulletin it is 
stated : 


1The title of the article is ‘‘A Morphological 
and Cultural Study of Some Ozotobacter.’’ 
2 Bull, 178, p. 87, Colo. Expt. Sta., 1911. 


380 


The question of whether the azotobacter both 
fix the atmospherie nitrogen and convert it into 
nitric acid, respectively nitrates, or whether this 
latter work is done wholly by another genus or 
other genera of bacteria is, perhaps, a question to 
be settled, but, be it settled as it may ... we 
have instances of the accumulation of very large 
quantities of nitrates in our soils always associ- 
ated with the brown color which we know to be 
caused by the azotobacter. I believe, and this be- 
lief is based upon tentative facts, that the azoto- 
bacter are at the same time nitrifiers, 7. e., that 
they possess a double function, which, I believe, 
has already been asserted, but not generally ac- 
cepted. 


This subject has not been referred to in later 
bulletins because I believe that my tentative 
facts were interpreted wrongly. 

The tentative facts referred to were, in the 
first place, that with pure cultures made on 
sand I obtained a decided color reaction with 
phenolsulfonie acid which might readily be 
taken for the reaction due to nitric acid, in 
the second place, the power of pigmentation 
in successive cultures of azotobacter weakens 
and finally disappears. The loss of this power 
of pigmentation is not permanent, for, as Pro- 
fessor Sackett has since shown, the addition 
of a very small amount of a nitrate to the cul- 
ture medium restores it. 

I interpreted the former fact, the reaction 
with phenolsulfonic acid, as rather strong 
proof of the presence of nitric acid and the 
latter fact as supporting this view. It seemed 
to me that the second fact given, 2. e., the 
weakening of the power of pigmentation, 
pointed to an ability of the azotobacter to 
nitrify in a limited measure and that this 
function was lessened in the succeeding gen- 
erations grown on mannite-agar until it finally 
vanished while the purely vegetative function 
was retained apparently unimpaired. With 
these facts and views in mind I wrote the sen- 
tences quoted from Bull. 178 of this station but 
I was very far from being satisfied with the 
tentative facts. At my request Professor Sack- 
ett kindly made other cultures from two of his 
stock cultures which had shown marked abil- 
ity to form pigments. These cultures were 


SCIENCE 


[N. S., Von. XL., No. 1028 


made on a much larger scale than those previ- 
ously made on sand and were allowed to incu- 
bate till the pigments were well developed. 
The membranes were removed from the agar 
and the agar washed with distilled water. The 
wash water was rendered alkaline by the addi- 
tion of sodic carbonate and evaporated to dry- 
ness. The membrane that had been removed 
was added to the residue and the whole was 
thoroughly mixed and dried. A portion of the 
dried mass was tested with phenolsulfonie acid 
and yielded a deep brown solution which, on 
sufficient dilution, gave a yellow color with a 
tinge of brown. A most excellent imitation 
of those unsatisfactory solutions sometimes ob- 
tained on applying this test to samples of soils. 
We tried such means as were at our command 
to remove the brown color or tinge which does 
not belong to the nitric acid reaction but with- 
out success. We rejected this phenolsulfonie 
acid test because the results were so doubtful 
that we considered them valueless in this par- 
ticular case. 

A larger portion, in fact all that we had left 
of the dried membrane, was treated with 
ferrous chlorid and hydrochloric acid with all 
of the precautions demanded by this method. 
The volume of gas evolved was only 2.3 e.c. 
which was transferred to an absorption burette 
and a freshly boiled, concentrated ferrous 
chlorid solution allowed to flow into the gas. 
No absorption took place and no brown color 
was produced on the margins of the slowly in- 
flowing stream of ferrous chlorid solution 
which constitutes an exceedingly delicate test 
for nitric acid. These results indicated that our 
previous caution was fully justified and that 
the color obtained with phenolsulfonie acid 
was due, not to nitrates but to the action of 
the reagents upon the substances in the mem- 
brane itself, most probably upon the pigments. 

We may add apropos to these pigments that 
while they are difficultly soluble or insoluble in 
the menstrua usually used, pure water, alcohol, 
ete., the presence of various salts in aqueous 
solution cause them to dissolve to a greater or 
less extent; one, which, in some cases, is suiti- 
cient to impart a yellowish-brown color to the 
solution. We have often met with this in ma- 


SEPTEMBER 11, 1914] 


king aqueous extracts of our brown soils. The 
phenolsulfonic acid test for nitric acid is not 
applicable to such soils due to the interference 
of these pigment reactions. We were not satis- 
fied with the results obtained in the experi- 
ments already given so we repeated them on a 
still larger scale, but with the same results 
which we consider as positively establishing 
the fact that the azotobacter do not nitrify but 
that the pigments which they form may give 
with phenolsulfonie acid, especially in very 
dilute solutions, a color reaction deceptively 
similar to that given by nitric acid and this 


reagent. Wm. P. Happen 
CoLORADO EXPERIMENT STATION, 
Fr. CoLuiys, Cono. 


NORTHERN LIGHTS IN SUMMER 


I live at Nett Lake, Minnesota, 140 miles 
northwest of Duluth and 88 miles south of 
Fort Frances, Ontario, Canada. On the night 
of July 4 there was a fine display of northern 
lights (aurora borealis). It was as fine a dis- 
play as is seen in this section even in the 
coldest months. There were spires and rolls 
of light and a bow of light which covered 
the whole northern sky and towards midnight 
reached nearly to the zenith. 


Apert B. REaGAN 
Nett Lake, MINN., 


July 6, 1914 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 


The Cambridge Manuals of Science and Intera- 
ture. Edited by P. Gites and A. C. Srwarp. 
New York, G. P. Putnam’s Sons. 

A review of the Cambridge Manuals ap- 
peared in Science of April 18, 1913; but since 
that date numerous additional volumes have 
come to hand, dealing with the most diverse 
topics. I give a list, with a few comments. 


The Flea. By Haroup RusSELt. 

When, some years ago, a member of the 
wealthy house of Rothschild took to collecting 
and describing fleas, there was a tendency to 
regard the circumstance in a humorous light, 
and perhaps even to enquire whether a man, 
to whom so many doors of opportunity were 
open, could not find something better to do. 


SCIENCE 


381 


To-day, the connection between fleas and the 
plague having been established, Rothschild 
finds himself the greatest living authority on 
a subject of the highest importance to medical 
men, and no well-informed person has any- 
thing but praise for his work. The oriental 
rat-flea, the one mainly concerned in the spread 
of bubonic plague, was first made known to 
science by Rothschild, and the development 
of psyllology is illustrated by the collection 
of about a hundred thousand specimens at 
Tring. 

Mr. Russell has had the advice of Mr. 
Charles Rothschild, and we may assume that 
his readable little book is up-to-date. It 
should be in the hands of medical men and 
the public generally, especially in regions 
where fleas are abundant. We would venture 
to suggest that if another edition appears the 
exceedingly crude text-figures should be re- 
placed by better ones; that on page 81, in par- 
ticular, is really scandalous. 


Bees and Wasps. By O. H. Latrer. 

This also is illustrated by very rough figures, 
without much pretence to accuracy in detail. 
The point of view is strictly British, but as 
many genera are common to Europe and 
America, the descriptions are more or less 
applicable to our species. The excellent ac- 
counts of the habits of English bees and wasps 
could scarcely at present be duplicated in this 
country, owing to the lack of observations. 
The work of the Peckhams on the solitary 
wasps, and that of various American observers 
on particular species of bees and wasps, is 
quite as good as anything done in Europe; 
but we still remain largely or wholly ignorant 
concerning the habits of many of our genera. 


The Life Story of Insects. By G. H. Car- 

PENTER. 

This book is well illustrated, and the author 
has not hesitated to borrow many of his figures 
from American sources. The treatment of the 
subject is broad, and although the work has 
only 134 pages, Professor Carpenter manages 
to convey a great deal of information in an 
interesting way. This is, I think, the best 
brief introduction to entomology yet published. 


382 


Natural Sources of Energy. By A. H. Grsson. 

Figure 7 is a map of the world showing 
“regions subject to intense solar heat and 
with slight annual rainfall,” including under 
this description nearly all of the western 
United States, even the Rocky Mountains of 
Colorado to their summits, and the coast of 
Oregon. Figure 8 is a similar map showing 
“regions suited for the maintenance of vege- 
table and plant life” (why vegetable and 
plant?). “Luxuriant vegetation shown in 
black;” a moderate amount in gray, and a 
minimum in white. The whole of the western 
United States, except tongue extending from 
the north through Montana, is pure white! 
We commend this especially to Californians, 
who have been under the delusion that their 
country supported some vegetation. Fig. 11 
shows, in black, the “ principal water powers of 
the world,” and includes, in a large black area, 
the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and north- 
ward. How does it happen that this intensely 
hot region, with very little rain, and conse- 
quently next to no vegetation, is one of the 
principal areas where water-power may be 
obtained ? 


Submerged Forests. By CLEMENT REID. 

Based on the brilliant original researches of 
the author, extending over many years, this 
discussion of the submerged forests on the 
coasts of the British Islands is equally fasci- 
nating to the botanist, geologist and anthro- 
pologist. It deals almost entirely with British 
work and phenomena, and has little to say 
about the labors of the Scandinavians and 
others in different parts of Europe. Thus, re- 
garded as a general presentation of the matter, 
it seems narrow; but we can well forgive this 
in our appreciation of the intimate knowledge 
which the author has of his field, permitting 
him to speak with more assurance than would 
have been possible had he discussed the sub- 
merged forests of all Europe. For us in Amer- 
ica the work carries many suggestions; thus 
we are surprised at the number of recognizable 
seeds obtainable from old peat deposits, per- 
mitting us to gain a fairly accurate knowledge 
of the herbaceous as well as woody flora of 
ancient times. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S., Von. XL., No. 1028 


The Beautiful. By Vernon LEs. 

An original treatment of the subject from a 
psychological point of view. This is, perhaps, 
a place where Bergson’s contention that the 
intellect is not able to understand life strikes 
one with special force; but the author has no 
such misgivings, and proceeds to a logical and 
detailed analysis. 


The Evolution of New Japan. 

LoNnGForD. 

The interpretation of Japan is so difficult 
for an occidental that all books of this sort fall 
under suspicion; but Professor Longford was 
British Consul at Nagasaki, is now professor 
of Japanese in King’s College, London, and is 
well known as a writer of works on Japan, so 
he has certainly won the right to be heard. 
The reviewer, having no critical knowledge of 
the subject whatever, read the little book with 
great pleasure, and can at least testify that it 
presents an exceedingly lucid account of the 
whole matter as the author understands it. 
There is here and there some evident incon- 
sistency. Thus on page 3 we read, without 
qualification, that “the first emperor was 
Jimmu Tenno, who founded the Empire and 
ascended the throne in the year 660 3B.c.”; but 
on pages 17 and 143 we learn that this Jimmu 
is a pure myth. On page 81, the British 
government of 1894 receives severe censure for 
“ sacrificing ” the interests of British residents 
in Japan, but on page 84 we learn that as the 
result of the treaty thus condemned, trade 
“more than doubled in its volume,” and the 
anticipated bad results did not occur. 


By H. Gapow. 


By J. H. 


The Wanderings of Animals. 
Pearls. By W. J. Daxin. 
The Harth. By J. H. Poyntine. 

The Fertility of the Soil. By E. J. Russet. 
The Atmosphere. By A. J. Burry. 

The Story of a Loaf of Bread. By T. B. Woop. 
The Physical Basis of Music. By A. Woop. 
The Peoples of India. By J. D. ANDERSON. 
The Modern Warship. By E. L. Arrwoop. 
Naval Warfare. By J. R. THURSFIELD. 

The Icelandic Sagas. By W. A. Craiam. 


SEPTEMBER 11, 1914] 


A Grammar of English Heraldry. By W. H. 

St. Joun Hope. 

One great merit of these books is that they 
frequently call attention to neglected subjects, 
or cut familiar subjects at unfamiliar angles. 
Thus they should be instrumental in releasing 
us from the tyranny of the conventional text- 
book. We ought to have a similar series in 
America, dealing with subjects of special in- 
terest to us, and using American examples in 
illustration. T. D. A. CockERELL 

UNIVERSITY OF CoLORADO 


The American College: What it is and What 
at may Become. By Cuartes F. THwine. 
New York, Platt & Peck Co. 1914. 
President Thwing’s “The American Col- 

lege” is a handsome book of 294 pages. Per- 
haps because the author had already published 
sixteen volumes in the same general field, the 
seventeenth gives the reader the impression 
of being thin in some spots and padded in 
others. The author must have either an ex- 
traordinary memory or an excellent biblio- 
graphical card index on academic subjects. 
At any rate, the quotations scattered through 
his book, if a little too numerous, are un- 
hackneyed and interesting. His academic 
experience has been great and his sympathies 
are keen. There is little or nothing in the 
book with which one would disagree, and some 
of the sections are particularly good, as, for ex- 
ample, the discussion of woman’s education 
and the frank confession of our present igno- 
rance as to the differences between men’s minds 
and women’s. The book, as a whole, however, 
suffers from a lack of definite “ attack ” on the 
part of the author. It seems addressed to no- 
body in particular—or rather to different peo- 
ple at different times, students, parents, trus- 
tees, millionaires. 

Possibly these matters have been discussed 
in some of the other books by the president of 
Western Reserve University, but so far as the 
present volume is concerned there is no men- 
tion of what seems to the reviewer to be really 
the most significant thing to-day—the rapid 
differentiation throughout the United States 
of the colleges that mean business from those 
that do not. There seems to be insufficient 


SCIENCE 


383 


emphasis, also, on the need of developing a 
sense of individual responsibility on the part 
of the student, and on that most acute prob- 
lem which faces every live college, that of dis- 
tributing the new wine of the present vintage 
of thought with as little damage as possible to 
the bottles provided by the previous genera- 
tion. F, P. Keppen 


SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES 

THE contents of the September Verrestrial 
Magnetism and Atmospheric Electricity are 
as follows: “The Local Magnetic Constant 
and Its Variations,” by L. A. Bauer; “ Mag- 
netic Declinations and Chart Corrections 
Observed on the Carnegie from Long Island 
Sound to Hammerfest, Norway, June to July, 
1913,” by L. A. Bauer and J. P. Ault; “ The 
Atmospheric-Electrie Observations made on 
the Second Cruise of the Carnegie,’ by CO. W. 
Hewlett; “On Certain New Atmospheric- 
Electric Instruments and Methods,” by W. F. 
G. Swann; Letters to Editor, Notes and 
Recent Publications. 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 


THE MEASUREMENT OF CHANGES IN THE RATE OF 
FECUNDITY OF THE INDIVIDUAL FOWL * 


1. Tue purpose of this preliminary note is 
to call attention to a method of measuring and 
representing graphically changes in the in- 
tensity of ovarian activity, as indicated by 
rate of ovulation in the domestic fowl. It 
has been fully established? that if one con- 
siders the egg production records from a 
group or flock of hens as a whole there are 
observable regular and distinct cycles in the 
production. Thus, we have distinguished in 
former publications between winter, spring and 
summer cycles of flock production. It has not 
hitherto been possible to observe precisely or 
to measure any such cyclical changes (either 


1 Papers from the Biological Laboratory of the 
Maine Agricultural Experiment Station, No. 70. 

2Cf. Pearl, R., and Surface, F. M., ‘‘A Bio- 
metrical Egg Production in the Domestic Fowl.’’ 
II. Seasonal Distribution of Egg Production. 
U. 8. Dept. Agr. Bur. Anim, Ind. Bulletin 110, 
Part II., pp. 81-170, 1911. 


384 


of long or short period) in the egg production 
of a single individual bird, owing to the fact 
that the production is in discrete units. 
Yet while the end products of ovarian 
activity are discrete units there are very 
strong reasons for supposing that physio- 
logically the elaboration—or production in the 
broad sense—of eggs by the ovary is a con- 
tinuous process. This matter has been rather 
fully discussed in a former paper from this 
laboratory. Evidence of another sort for the 
continuity (in the mathematical sense) of 
Ovarian activity has recently been given by 
Gerhartz* in a valuable paper on metabolism 
in the fowl. 

2. By a simple statistical expedient it is pos- 
sible to represent the changes in rate of 
fecundity in an individual bird as a continu- 
ous curve, of which the ordinates represent the 
rates of egg production on a percentage scale 
(0 to 100) at the time intervals plotted as 
abseisse. This is done by taking, as the rate 
of fecundity for any given day p,, the per- 
centage which the actual number of eggs laid 
by the bird during the 21 days of which p, is 
the central day, is of 21. Put as a formula, if 

Rp, = rate of fecundity (or ovarian activity 

as indicated by ovulation) on the 
day Pn, 
1=an egg produced, 
and 3 denotes summation between the indi- 
eated limits, we have 
_ 100 (es D 


Rp, a1 


The rates so caleulated for each successive 
day may be plotted as a curve. 

3. The reasons why 21 days are chosen as 
the basis of the calculation rather than some 
other odd number of days will be fully dis- 
cussed in the complete paper. Here it need 
only be said that there are good biological 
grounds for this choice. Gerhartz® has 
shown, for example, that this number repre- 

3 Cf. Pearl and Surface, loc. cit. 

4Gerhartz, H., ‘‘Ueber die zum Aufbau der 
Hizelle notwendige Energie (Transformationsen- 
ergie),’’ DPfliiger’s Arch., Bd. 156, pp. 1-224, 
1914, 

5 Loc. cit. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S., Vou. XL., No. 1028 


sents about the average number of oocytes to 
which any appreciable addition of yolk is 
being made at any given instant of time. 

4. Applying this method to records of one, 
two and three year old hens many interesting 
and novel points regarding ovarian activity, 
as expressed in ovulation, may be made out. 
The long period secular cycles of production 
appear much more clearly and precisely than 
in flock mass statistics. The steady diminu- 
tion in maximum rate of fecundity per unit 
of time after the first spring cycle in the bird’s 
life is very strikingly shown in the great 
majority of cases. 

This method of measuring fecundity opens 
the way to the attacking in the individual of 
a number of problems which hitherto have only 
been amenable to indirect, statistical treat- 
ment. Such, for example, are the questions 
of relation of size of egg to rate of fecundity, 
the relation between fertility (an the fowl 
readily measured by hatching quality of eggs) 
and fecundity. There are many other inter- 
esting biological problems relating to repro- 
duction in birds, the analysis of which will 
certainly be aided by the method here discussed. 

The complete paper describing the method 
and illustrating it fully by examples will 
shortly be published elsewhere. 

RayMonpD PEARL 


THE NORTH CAROLINA ACADEMY OF 
SCIENCE 


Tur North Carolina Academy of Science met in 
its thirteenth annual session at Trinity College, 
Durham, on Friday and Saturday, May 1 and 2, 
1914, with 28 members in attendance. The execu- 
tive committee held a meeting in the early after- 
noon of Friday, and this was followed by a gen- 
eral meeting for the reading of papers. At night, 
after Dean W. I. Cranford had welcomed the 
academy to Trinity College, President Franklin 
Sherman, Jr., of the academy, read his presiden- 
tial address, ‘‘The Animal Life of North Carolina 
with some Suggestion for a Biological Survey.’’ 
Following this, Professor A. H. Patterson gave a 
lecture on ‘‘The Gyroscope and its Modern Appli- 
cations’’ with demonstrations of some fine appa- 
tatus. Next Mr. Bert Cunningham gave a strik- 
ing demonstration of the new nitrogen tungsten 
lamp, comparing its light efficiency with that of 


SEPTEMBER 11, 1914] 


ordinary tungsten and carbon lamps consuming 
the same amount of current. At the conclusion of 
the session the faculty of Trinity College gave a 
smoker complimentary to the members of the 
academy. 

The annual business meeting was held at 9 A.M. 
on Saturday, May 2. Reports of the executive and 
other committees and of the secretary-treasurer 
were read. An invitation for the academy to meet 
at Wake Forest College in 1915 was accepted. A 
committee was appointed to formulate and pre- 
sent recommendations to the next legislature for 
a statute regulating the ventilation of public 
buildings in the state. A resolution was passed 
endorsing President Sherman’s suggestions con- 
cerning a biological survey of the state. Four new 
members were elected. These with present enroll- 
ment of 64 give a total of 68 members. 

The following officers were elected for the en- 
suing year: 

President—J. J. Wolfe, Trinity College, Dur- 
ham. 

Vice-president—A. H. Patterson, University of 
North Carolina, Chapel Hill. 

Secretary-Treasurer—E. W. Gudger, State Nor- 
mal College, Greensboro. 

Additional Members Execute Committee—W. 
N. Hutt, State Department of Agriculture, Ra- 
leigh; J. H. Pratt, State Geological Survey, 
Chapel Hill; W. A. Withers, North Carolina Agri- 
cultural Experiment Station, West Raleigh. 

At 9:45 the reading of papers was resumed 
and continued until 12:30 when the program was 
finished. The total attendance was 30 out of a 
membership of 68. The number of papers on the 
program was 30, of which only two were read by 
title. Marked features of the meeting were the 
considerable number of papers read and the dis- 
cussions participated in by a large number of 
those present. Including the presidential address, 
which was published in full in the May number of 
the Journal of the Elisha Mitchell Scientific So- 
ciety, the following papers were presented: 


Presidential address—Studies of the Animal Life 
of North Carolina with Suggestions for a Bio- 
logical Survey: F. SHERMAN, JR. 

The first questions asked when any animal or 
plant arouses interest have to do with its identity, 
distribution, seasonal activities and economic re- 
lations, hence the need of biologists supplying this 
information in some form available for reference. 
Very little accurate information on these points 
can be obtained from the public itself, it must be 


SCIENCE 


385 


threshed out by careful work on the part of the 
biologists. Many cases can be cited showing that 
forms formerly believed to be harmless are really 
important, as shown by discoveries in medical ento- 
mology, hence our studies should include all forms 
of life. Such studies should not only include the 
listing of species, but also the mapping out of their 
distribution, and the seasons of their occurrence 
and activities. 

In this work in North Carolina, considerable 
progress has been made in the study of the larger 
marine invertebrates, chiefly at the government 
Biological Laboratory at Beaufort. Land inverte- 
brates exclusive of insects have been little studied. 
In the insects, considerable progress has been made 
in many groups, especially the order Orthoptera, 
parts of the order Hemiptera, dragon-flies in the 
Neuroptera, butterflies and larger moths in the 
Lepidoptera, several families in the Diptera, a 
large number of records in Coleoptera though only 
a good start, and very little in the Hymenoptera. 

In the vertebrates, the fish fauna is already well 
presented in ‘‘Fishes of North Carolina,’’ much 
data has been accumulated regarding the batrach- 
ians and reptiles, a volume on the birds is now in 
course of preparation, and the mammals, on the 
whole, are fairly well known. 

What has thus far been accomplished, has been 
largely out of fondness for the subject, and quite 
incidental to other duties, the data has been gath- 
ered from publications and specimens collected by 
many persons both within the state and from out- 
side, and it is hoped that the biologists in the 
state will attempt to complete, compile and pub- 
lish these records in appropriate volumes until the 
fauna of the state shall be definitely placed on 
record. Botanists are urged to undertake the 
same for the flora. 

Such studies would supplement and strengthen 
the work of morphologists, and would aid the 
study of such directly economic problems as the 
life-histories of insects, spread of weeds and 
fungous diseases, efficiency of birds in control of 
pests, ete. 


Economic Geology of Chapel Hill, N. C. and Vi- 
cinity: JOHN E. SMITH. 


GENERALIZED SECTION OF MANTLE ROCK 
Thick- 
ness, Ft. 
1. Soil, ‘‘top soil,’’ red to gray or black... 1to3 
2. Subsoil, fine, somewhat compact, red to 
yoalllony Gey pnogescnouezccssbougcoKN 3 to 10 


386 


3. Clay, coarse and lumpy, with some sand. 5 to 20 
4, ‘‘Natural sand-clay,’’ feldspar, quartz, 


sand and clay ......... sonenosoasa0 10 to 20 
5, Fragmental rock, angular, decayed, size 

4G) 42 iD, b> oo sQ00dbaDSHODOSOUCUORC 10 to 20 
6. Fragmental rock, coarser and fresher 

Watnd Wien, win B) osoc55090hc00000n 900 5 to 15 
7. Granite, ‘‘bed rock,’? ‘‘country rock.’’ 


This region serves as a type for Piedmont areas 
in which granite is the underlying rock—about one 
third of the Piedmont Belt. 

Zone No. 1 is the surface soil of the upland and 
is used in agriculture and in road building. No. 2 
provides clay suitable for brick and tile. As the 
topography is mature and these zones have been 
removed by erosion from much of the area, the 
value of the land is low. The material of zone 4 
makes good sand-clay roads. This is approxi- 
mately horizontal and outcrops on the slopes where 
valleys have been cut below its depth. Stream sand 
is used in making mortar and in road construction. 

This mantle rock forms an excellent filter and 
most wells in it are free from contamination. Hx- 
cepting the mountain region, these are the most 
healthful areas in the south. 


An Achlya of Hybrid Origm: W. C. COKER. 

An Achlya was described from Chapel Hill, N. C., 
with peculiarities that suggest a hybrid origin. 
The tips of the hyphae often die and the growth is 
then extended as a side branch below the dead tip. 
The spores show a strong tendency to poor organi- 
zation, the protoplasm often segregating only im- 
perfectly, and producing irregular masses of vari- 
ous sizes. The same is true of the eggs, which are 
of any size and almost never become perfectly or- 
ganized, and die quickly. The plant seems most 
like Achlya polyandra Hildeband, but differs from 
it in the walls of the oogonia being pitted and in 
the abnormal behavior of the eggs. 

It is suggested that the plant may be a hybrid 
between A. DeBaryana Humphrey and A. apicu- 
lata DeBary. 


The Nurse Sharks of Boca Grande Cay, Florida: 

BE. W. GUDGER. 

Boca Grande Cay is an island of coral sand and 
mangroves lying about 20 miles west of Key West. 
Situated on a shallow submarine platform, about 
120° of its circumference is surrounded by sand 
flats inhabited largely by sting rays. Another 
120° of its circumference is bounded by a shallow, 
gently sloping, rock bottom on which the water a 
half mile from shore will not be over a man’s 


SCIENCE 


[N. S., Von. XL., No. 1028 


shoulders. On this rocky bottom, the nurse sharks, 
Ginglymostoma cirratum, come out to bask in the 
sun, to play, to breed, and possibly to feed. Here 
they are found in large numbers. A dozen can be 
seen at almost any time, and thirty-three have been 
counted in the sweep of the eye. . 

These sharks in looks and habits much remind 
one of well-fed pigs in a barnyard. They are much 
broader in the pectoral region than ordinary sharks, 
are sluggish in their movements, and are compara- 
tively unafraid of man. They frequently lie in 
water so shallow that their dorsals project above 
the surface, and a number of times they allowed 
the boat to drift down over them and strike their 
fins before they would move. 

They lie with heads on each others pectorals or 
tails, or one will have his snout elevated on 
another’s flank, or they will lie heads and tails to- 
gether or in a confused herd. Here again this 
similarity of habits to barnyard pigs is very no- 
ticeable. Further they often swim one after 
another to the number of three or four in an aim- 
less fashion, each one following the purposeless 
turnings of its leader. 

They are perfectly harmless. Their mouths are 
small and filled with small pointed teeth. They are 
omnivorous in feeding like most sharks, but their 
food seems chiefly to be crustacean, probably con- 
sisting of the large spiny ‘‘crawfish’’ common on 
the reef and on rocky bottom of any kind. 

Under the circumstances noted above, there is, 
of course, no difficulty in killing these sharks. 
Ordinarily shark fishing is good sport, but killing 
nurse sharks is no more exciting than sticking pigs 
in a barnyard. Indeed the Key West fishermen 
contemptuously speak of them as ‘‘ Nurses,’’ and 
of the other sharks as ‘‘sharks.’’ 

Work on the habits and embryology of this 
shark is being carried on under the auspices of the 
Marine Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution of 
Washington situated at Tortugas and will be con- 
tinued this summer. 


Flowers and Seed Development of Specularia per- 
foliata: H. R. Totten anp J. A. McKay. 
There are two kinds of flowers, conspicuous open 

ones with normal corollas and small bud-like flow- 

ers that never open. The last or cleistogamic flow- 
ers were described carefully by von Mohl, as long 

ago as 1863. 

It is the object of this paper to give the develop- 
ment of the seeds in the cleistogamic flowers. The 
seeds are of the same size and appearance as those 
borne in the open flowers. Four megaspores are 


SzpreMBER 11, 1914] 


formed and the embryo-sac develops from the lower 
one. It is surrounded by a single nucellar layer 
and one thick integument. The endosperm nucleus 
forms a cellular endosperm from the first division. 
The young endosperm sends out a knob-like haus- 
torium of one or two cells at each end. The sus- 
penusor of the embryo grows up into the micropylar 
haustorium, to some extent, forming a small en- 
larged knob there. As the seed grows the haus- 
toria are encroached upon and destroyed. 


Studies in the Tomicity of Cottonseed Meal: W. A. 
WITHERS, R. 8, CURTIS AND G. A. ROBERTS. 
About one hundred and seventy-five hogs were 

fed upon cottonseed meal or some fraction of it. 

The swine died in every case after eating the meal 

for periods ranging on average from 59 to 96 days. 

Twenty-two rabbits fed on cottonseed meal died on 

average of 13 days. 

With different solvents used, the extract was 
usually non-toxic and the residue usually toxic. 

Green feed, liberal exercise and ashes seemed to 
be of some aid to pigs in overcoming the toxic ef- 
fect of cottonseed meal. Treatment of the meal 
with an alcoholic alkali rendered the meal non- 
toxic to rabbits. 

Citrate of iron and ammonia was effective with 
rabbits and ferrous sulphate was effective with 
Swine as an antidote to the toxicity of cottonseed 
meal. 


The Locust Tree Carpenter Moth, a Formidable 

Parasite of the Oak: J. J. WOLFE. 

In February, 1911, a white oak about fourteen 
inches in diameter, on the campus of Trinity Col- 
lege was seen to be severely injured as a result of 
the boring habits of what proved to be the larve of 
Pryonoxystus robinie, commonly known as the 
locust tree carpenter moth. The tree was cut and 
sections of the trunk split into two pieces. Nu- 
merous winding tunnels were found throughout the 
heart and sap wood of the trunk and larger limbs. 
From these were collected fourteen larve of three 
distinct sizes—a fact supporting the view that the 
insect requires three years for its development. A 
portion of the trunk near the ground was riddled 
with holes—points of exit—in which wood-destroy- 
ing fungi had established themselves and threat- 
ened the destruction of the tree. 

The insect attacks several trees of the street, 
park and forest. Its habits render it a formidable 
pest. Means for its control on any large scale are 
at present wanting, but sporadic occurrences in trees 
of streets and parks might possibly be held in 
cheek by injecting into these tunnels a volatile 


SCIENCE 


387 


poison and then plugging them with some waxy 
substance. 


The Pecan Twig Girdler: C. Ll. Mrrcar, 

A detailed account of the egg-laying habits of 
Oncideres cingulata Say; the preliminary and 
Supplementary maneuvers habitually performed 
(which result in the severing of numerous twigs 
from the tree in which the eggs are laid); with a 
brief account of the life-history, economie impor- 
tance and methods of control of the pest in com- 
mercial pecan orchards. 


Some Rare Plants and Singular Distributions in 

North Carolina: W. C. CoxkEr. 

Announcement was made of the addition of a 
new tree to the flora of North Carolina. The pin 
oak (Quercus palustris DuRoi) was found near 
Chapel Hill by Mr. J. 8S. Holmes, state forester, in 
the fall of 1913. 

Ehododendron catawbiense Michx., supposed to 
be confined in this state to the tops of the highest 
mountains, was reported as growing at Chapel Hill, 
Hillsboro, and other places in Orange county, and 
stranger still at Cary (near Raleigh), and even at 
Selma which is well into the coastal plain. 

Venus’ fly trap (Dionea muscipula Ellis). Evi- 
dence as to distribution of this remarkable plant 
was reviewed and it was concluded that this spe- 
cies is distributed from Buckyille, 8. C., to New 
Bern, N. C., and westward along the Cape Fear 
River to Fayetteville. 

The tuberous variety of tall meadow oat grass 
(Arrhenatherum elatius (L.) Beauv., var. bul- 
bosum) was exhibited from Chapel Hill. This is a 
recent introduction from Europe where it is known 
as a troublesome weed. ‘Within the last three 
years the U. S. Department of Agriculture has re- 
ceived it occasionally from Virginia to Georgia. 

Blessed thistle (Cnicus benedictus L..) was shown 
to be a troublesome weed in Chapel Hill grain 
fields. 

Huonymus atropurpureus Jacq. This is found to 
be one of the rarest shrubs in North Carolina, and 
known with certainty only from Chapel Hill. 


The Lawn Problem in the South: W. C. COKER AND 

HB. O. RANDOLPH, 

This paper attempts to find some way of solving 
the hard problem of lawn-making in the South. 
Observations were made on many lawns, with vari- 
ous conditions of soil, exposure and care, to deter- 
mine the grasses and weeds actually present. 
About six of the most promising grasses were care- 
fully studied to determine their value and use as 
lawn cover. 


388 


Exhibits were made in trays of good sods 
formed by these six grasses, and also of some of 
the worst lawn weeds. 


A Rough Method of Recording Seasonal Distribu- 
tion: C. 8. BRIMLEY. 

The method I am about to describe is not meant 
to take the place of full records or complete data 
with regard to any group of living things in which 
one is particularly interested, but rather to pro- 
vide a convenient means of summarizing such rec- 
ords and also to record data concerning animals or 
plants in which one is less interested and therefore 
is not likely to take much trouble about. 

The method is briefly this: rule the left-hand pages 
of a blank book into 12 vertical columns, leaving 
enough space on the left for the names of the 
species to be recorded, and leaving the right-hand 
page blank for any additional data. At the head 
of these twelve columns write the abbreviations, 
Jan., Feb., Mar., Apl., May, Jun., Jly., Aug., Sep., 
Oct., Nov., Dec., and when you have a record to 
make of a species, record it by the appropriate 
letter of the month in the column for that month, 
J standing for early January, a for middle Jan- 
uary, n for late January and so on, early signify- 
ing from the first to 10th inclusive, middle for 
from 11th to 20th, late from 21st to end of month. 

I have used this method very largely for record- 
ing the seasonal range of insects and give some ex- 
amples below: 


SCIENCE 


[N. S., Vou. XL., No. 1028 


cality in which one spends the greater part of one’s 
time. 
E. W. GuDGER, 
Secretary 


No abstracts have been received for the follow- 
ing papers: 

““Movements of Plants,’’ by J. D. Ives. 

“*A Report on Local Protozoa,’’ by Z. P. Met- 
ealf. 

““By Raft and Portage: A Study in Early 
Transportation in North Carolina,’’ by Collier 
Cobb. 

“The Case of the Riparian Owner,’’ by RB. N. 
Wilson. 

“*Some Philippine Sponges,’’ by H. V. Wilson. 

“‘Hconomie Minerals in the Pegmatite Dikes of 
Western North Carolina,’’? by J. H. Pratt. 

“‘The Sclerotinia Disease of Clovers and Al- 
falfa,’’ by H. R. Fulton. 

““The Use of Home-made Models as an Aid in 
Teaching Embryology,’’ by W. C. George. 

‘*Hlectrical Conduction of Flowing Mercury,’’ 
by V. L. Chrisler, presented by A. H. Patterson. 

“¢Microscopic Demonstration of Protozoan 
Spores, Used as Proof of Contamination of Food 
with Human Hxcrement,’’ by C. W. Stiles. 

““Some Recent Developments in the Theory of 
X-rays,’’ by C. W. Edwards. 

““The Coggins Gold Mine,’’? by J. H. Pratt. 


Jan. | Feb. | Mar. Apl. May Jun. Jly. Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov Dec 
Syrphids: 
Eristalis tenaz........ EF. Mar. | Apl. | May | Jun. | Jly. Oct. | Nov. | Dec. 
Hristalis transversa.... r. | Apl. | May | Jun. | Jy. ep. | Oct. | Nov. | Dec. 
Milesia ornata........ Jun. ly. | Aug. e: Oct. | N. 
Hawk Moths: 
Protoparce sexta....... un. | Jly. | Aug. | Sep. 
Hemaris thysbe........ r. | Apl. | M un. | Jly. | Au. e. 
Ceratomia undulosa.. .. pl. | May | Jun. | Jly. 
Plant Bugs: 
Brochymena 4-pustulata| Jan. | Feb.| Mar. | Apl. | May | Jun. | Jly. e. Oct. | Nov. | Dec 
Murgantia histrionica. . Mar. | Apl. | May | Jun. |} Jly. | Aug. | Sep. | Oct. | Nov 
Huschistius servus..... Jan. Apl. | May | Jun. | Jly. | Aug. | Sep. | Oct. 
Huschistius tristigmus. . “Mar. | Apl. | May | Jun. | Jly. Oct. | Nov. 


I have hundreds of species of insects recorded 
in this way and records are both easy of access and 
very serviceable when one wishes to find at what 
period of the year any particular insect is likely to 
occur. Of course separate records could be kept for 
each year and should of course be kept for different 
localities, but as a matter of course such a system 
would necessarily come into use mainly for the lo- 


“‘The Gyroscope and its Modern Applications’’ 
(with a demonstration), by A. H. Patterson. 

“Geology in Relation to the Location of High- 
ways in North Carolina,’’ by Collier Cobb. 

“«The Corn Bill Bug,’’ by Z. P. Metcalf. 

‘CA Peculiar Case of Freezing,’’ by R. N. Wil- 
son. 

“The Nitrogen Tungsten Lamp,’’ by Bert Cun- 
ningham. 


sO 


NEW SERIES 0 SINGLE Corixs, 15 Cts. 
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il SCIENCE—ADVERTISEMENTS 


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Mayer, A. G.—The Relation between the Degree of 
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Jacoss, M. H.—Physiological Studies on Certain 
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SCIENCE 


——————————e 


Fray, SEPTEMBER 18, 1914 


CONTENTS 


The British Association :— 
Cosmical Physics: PROFESSOR ERNEST W. 


SES OMWINMENP fetegcos devs cle lest aclcon cuslexeasens: «260 Sini0) apse 389 
Botany in the Agricultural College: Dr. EH. B. 

(COREIGANID Memstrcd cr uersiayersira eieicio cis isisis sie sis 401 
Stpniainon wn Warn On sostoonassapeeeooe 405 
Foreign Students and the United States .... 406 
Botanists of the Central States ............ 406 
Scientific Notes and News ..............+. 407 
Unwersity and Educational News .......... 408 
Discussion and Correspondence :— 

A Recent Case of Mushroom Intoxication : 

IPROFESSOR) Al H WERRIDD) 2..5.-.....-.- 408 
Scientific Books :— 

Wilezynski’s Plane Trigonometry and Dick- 

son’s Theory of Equations: PROFESSOR G. 

A. Minuzr. Lock on Rubber and Rubber- 

planting: Prorrssor F. E. Luoyp........ 410 
The Work of the U. S. Fisheries Marine Bio- 

logical Station at Beaufort, N. C., during 

WGIGS Wins AWC MIN ooosncvcanaedoce 413 
Special Articles :-— 

The Transmission of Terrestrial Radiation 

by the Earth’s Atmosphere in Summer and 

im Winter: Dr. FRANK W. VERY ........ 417 


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


COSMICAL PHY SICS1 


To one who has spent many years over 
the solution of a problem which is some- 
what isolated from the more general ques- 
tions of his subject, it is a satisfaction to 
have this opportunity for presenting the 
problem as a whole instead of in the piece- 
meal fashion which is necessary when there 
are many separate features to be worked 
out. In doing so, I shall try to avoid the 
more technical details of my subject as well 
as the temptation to enter into closely 
reasoned arguments, confining myself 
mainly to the results which have been ob- 
tained and to the conclusions which may be 
drawn from them. 

In setting forth the present status of the 
problem, another side of it gives one a 
sense of pleasure. When a comparison be- 
tween the work of the lunar theorist and 
that of the observer has to be made, it is 
necessary to take into consideration the 
facts and results obtained by astronomers 
for purposes not directly connected with 
the moon: the motions of the earth and 
planets, the position of the observer, the 
accuracy of star catalogues, the errors of 
the instruments used for the measurement 
of the places of celestial objects, the per- 
sonality of the observers—all these have to 
be considered; in fact, almost every one of 
the departments of the astronomy of posi- 
tion must be drawn upon to furnish neces- 
sary data. The time has now arrived when 
it may perhaps be possible to repay in some 
measure the debt thus contracted by fur- 
nishing to the astronomer, and perhaps 

1 Address of the Vice-president of Section A, 


British Association for the Advancement of Sci- 
ence, Australasian meeting, 1914. 


390 


also to the student of geodesy and, if I may 
coin a word, of selenodesy, some results 
which can be deduced more accurately from 
a study of the moon’s motion than in any 
other way. A long-continued exploration 
with few companions which ultimately leads 
to territories where other workers have 
already blazed paths gives the impression 
of having emerged from the thick jungle 
into open country. The explorer can once 
more join forces with his brother astron- 
omers. He can judge his own results more 
justly and have them judged by others. 
If, then, an excuse be needed for over- 
stepping the limits which seem, by silent 
consent, to have been imposed on those who 
devote themselves to lunar problems, it con- 
sists Im a desire to show that these limits 
are not necessary and that a study of the 
motion of the moon can be of value and can 
contribute its share to the common funds 
of astronomy. 

The history of the motion of the moon 
has been for more than two centuries a 
struggle between the theorists and the ob- 
servers. Ever since the publication of the 
“Prinecipia’’? and the enunciation of the 
law of gravitation by Isaac Newton, a con- 
stant effort has been maintained to prove 
that the moon, like the other bodies of the 
solar system, obeyed this law to its farthest 
consequences. While the theory was being 
advanced, the observers were continually 
improving their instruments and their 
methods of observing, with the additional 
advantage that their efforts had a cumula- 
tive effect: the longer the time covered by 
their observations, the more exact was the 
knowledge obtained. The theorist lacked 
the latter advantage: if he started anew he 
could only use the better instruments for 
analysis provided by the mathematician. 
He was always trying to forge a plate of 
armor which the observer with a gun whose 
power was increasing with the time could 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8S. Von. XL. No. 1029 


not penetrate. In the struggle the victory 
rarely failed to rest with the observer. 
Within the last decade we theorists have 
made another attempt to forge a new plate 
out of the old materials; whether we have 
substantially gained the victory must rest 
partly on the evidence I have to place be- 
fore you to-day and partly on what the ob- 
server can produce in the near future. 

There are three well-defined periods in 
the history of the subject as far as a com- 
plete development of the moon’s motion is 
concerned. From the publication of the 
““Prineipia’’ in 1687, when Newton laid 
down the broad outlines, until the middle 
of the eighteenth century, but little prog- 
ress was made. It seems to have required 
over half a century for analysis by symbols 
to advance sufficiently far for extensive 
applications to the problems of celestial 
mechanics. Clairaut and d’Alembert both 
succeeded in rescuing the problem from the 
geometrical form into which Newton had 
cast it and in reducing it to analysis by the 
methods of the calculus. They were fol- 
lowed by Leonard Euler, who in my opinion 
is the greatest of all the successors of Isaac 
Newton as a lunar theorist. He initiated 
practically every method which has been 
used since his time, and his criticisms show 
that he had a good insight into their rela- 
tive advantages. A long roll of names fol- 
lows in this period. It was closed by the 
publication of the theories of Delaunay and 
Hansen and the tables of the latter, shortly 
after the middle of the nineteenth century. 
From then to the end of the century the 
published memoirs deal with special parts 
of the theory or with its more general 
aspects, but no complete development ap- 
peared which could supersede the results 
of Hansen. 

My own theory, which, was completed a 
few years ago, is rather the fulfilment to 
the utmost of the ideas of others than a 


SEPTEMBER 18, 1914] 


new mode of finding the moon’s motion. 
Its object was severely practical—to find 
in the most accurate way and by the short- 
est path the complete effect of the law of 
eravitation applied to the moon. It is a 
development of Hill’s classic memoir of 
1877. Hill in his turn was indebted to 
some extent to Huler. His indebtedness 
would have been greater had he been aware 
of a little-known paper of the latter, ‘‘Sur 
la Variation de la Lune,’’ in which the 
orbit, now called the variation orbit, is ob- 
tained, and its advantages set forth in the 
words: ‘‘Quelque chimérique cette question 
j’ose assurer que, si l’on réussissoit 4 en 
trouver une solution parfaite on ne trou- 
veroit presque plus de difficulté pour déter- 
miner le vrai mouvement de la Lune réelle. 
Cette question est done de la derniére im- 
portance et il sera toujours bon d’en appro- 
fondir toutes les difficultés, avant qu’on en 
puisse espérer une solution compleéte.’’ 

In the final results of my work the devel- 
opment aims to include the gravitational 
action of every particle of matter which 
can have a sensible effect on the moon’s 
motion, so that any differences which ap- 
pear between theory and observation may 
not be set down to want of accuracy in the 
completeness with which the theory is 
earried out. Every known force capable 
of calculation is meluded. 

So much for the theory. Gravitation, 
however, is only a law of force: we need 
the initial position, speed and direction of 
motion. To get this with sufficient accuracy 
no single set of observations will serve; the 
new theory must be compared with as great 
a number of these as possible. To do this 
directly from the theory is far too long a 
task and, moreover, it is not necessary. In 
the past every observation has been com- 
pared with the place shown in the ‘‘ Nautical 
Almanac’’ and the small differences be- 
tween them have been recorded from day 


SCIENCE 


391 


to day. By taking many of these differ- 
ences and reducing them so as to corre- 
spond with differences at one date, the 
position of the moon at that date can be 
found with far greater accuracy than could 
be obtained through any one observation. 
At the Greenwich Observatory the moon 
has been observed and recorded regularly 
since 1750. With some 120 observations a 
year, there are about 20,000 available for 
comparison, quite apart from shorter series 
at other observatories. Unfortunately 
these observations are compared with in- 
correct theories, and, in the early days, the 
observers were not able to find out, with the 
accuracy required to-day, the errors of their 
instruments or the places of the stars with 
which the moon was compared. But we 
have means of correcting the observations, 
so that they can be freed from many of the 
errors present in the results which were 
published at the time the observations were 
made. We ean also correct the older 
theories. They can be compared with the 
new theory and the differences calculated: 
these differences need not even be applied 
to the separate observations, but only to 
the observations combined into properly 
chosen groups. Thus the labor involved in 
making use of the earlier observations is 
much less than might appear at first sight. 

For the past eighteen months I have been 
engaged in this work of finding the differ- 
ences between the old theories and my own, 
as well as in correcting those observations 
which were made at times before the re- 
sources of the astronomer had reached 
their present stage of perfection. I have 
not dealt with the observations from the 
start: other workers, notably Airy in the 
last century and Cowell in this, have done 
the greater part of the labor. My share 
was mainly to carry theirs a stage further 
by adopting the latest theory and the best 
modern practise for the reduction of the 


392 


observations. In this way a much closer 
agreement between theory and observation 
has been obtained, and the initial position 
and velocity of the moon at a given date 
are now known with an accuracy compara- 
ble with that of the theory. I shall shortly 
return to this problem and exhibit this 
degree of accuracy by means of some dia- 
grams which will be thrown on the screen. 

I have spoken of the determination of 
these initial values as if it constituted a 
problem separate from the theory. Theo- 
retically it is so, but practically the two 
must go together. The increase in accuracy 
of the theory has gone on successively with 
increase in accuracy of the determination 
of these constants. We do not find, with a 
new theory, the new constants from the 
start, but corrections to the previously 
adopted values of these constants. In fact, 
all the problems of which I am talking are 
so much interrelated that it is only justi- 
fiable to separate them for the purposes of 
exposition. 

Let us suppose that the theory and these 
constants have been found in numerical 
form, so that the position of the moon is 
shown by means of expressions which con- 
tain nothing unknown but the time. To 
find the moon’s place at any date we have 
then only to imsert that date and to per- 
form the necessary numerical calculations. 
This is not done directly, on account of the 
labor involved. What are known as 
““Mables of the Moon’s Motion’’ are formed. 
These tables constitute an intermediate 
step between the theory and the positions 
of the moon which are printed in the ‘‘Nau- 
tical Almanae.’’ Their sole use and neces- 
sity is the abbreviation of the work of 
calculation required to predict the moon’s 
place from the theoretical values which 
have been found. For this reason, the 
problem of producing efficient tables is not 
properly scientific: it is mainly economic. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1029 


Nevertheless, I have found it as interest- 
ing and absorbing as any problem which 
involves masses of calculation is to those 
who are naturally fond of dealing with 
arithmetical work. My chief assistant, Mr. 
H. B. Hedrick, has employed his valuable 
experience in helping me to devise new 
ways of arranging the tables and making 
them simple for use. 

A table is mainly a device by which cal- 
culations which are continually recurring 
are performed once for all time, so that 
those who need to make such calculations 
can read off the results from the table. In 
the case of the moon, the tables go in pairs. 
Each term in the moon’s motion depends 
on an angle, and this angle depends on the 
date. One table gives the value of the 
angle at any date (a very little calculation 
enables the computer to find this), and the 
second table gives the value of the term for 
that angle. As the same angles are continu- 
ally recurring, the second table will serve 
for all time. 

We can, however, do better than con- 
struct one table for each term. The same 
angle can be made to serve for several terms 
and consequently one table may be con- 
structed so as to include all of them. In 
other words, instead of looking out five 
numbers for five separate terms, the com- 
puter looks out one number which gives 
him the sum of the five terms. The more 
terms we can put into a single table the 
less work for the astronomer who wants 
the place of the moon, and therefore the 
more efficient the tables. <A still better de- 
vice is a single table which depends on two 
angles, known as a double-entry table; 
many more terms can usually be included 
in this than in a single-entry table. The 
double interpolation on each such table is 
avoided by having one angle the same for 
many double-entry tables and interpolating 


SEPTEMBER 18, 1914] 


for that angle on the sum of the numbers 
extracted from the tables. 

The problem of fitting the terms into the 
smallest number of tables is a problem in 
combinations—something like a mixture of 
a game at chess and a picture-puzzle, but 
unlike the latter in the fact that the inten- 
tion is to produce ease and simplicity in- 
stead of difficulty. This work of arrange- 
ment is now completed and, in fact, about 
five sixths of the calculations necessary to 
form the tables are done; over one third of 
the copy is ready for the printer, but, 
owing to the large mass of the matter, it 
will take from two to three years to put 
it through the press. The cost of perform- 


ing the calculations and printing the work | 


has been met from a fund specially set 
aside for the purpose by Yale University. 

A few statistics will perhaps give an idea 
of our work. Hansen hag 300 terms in his 
three coordinates, and these are so grouped 
that about a hundred tables are used in 
finding a complete place of the moon. We 
have included over 1,000 terms in about 
120 tables, so that there are on the average 
about eight terms per table. In one of our 
tables we have been able to include no less 
than forty terms. Hach table is made as ex- 
tensive as possible in order that the interpo- 
lations—the bane of all such calculations— 
shall be easy. The great majority of them 
involve multiplications by numbers less 
than 100. There are less than ten tables 
which will involve multiplications by num- 
bers between 100 and 1,000 and none 
greater than the latter number. The com- 
puter who is set to work to find the longi- 
tude, latitude and parallax of the moon will 
not need a table of logarithms from the 
beginning to the end of his work. The rea- 
son for this is that all multiplications by 
three figures or less can be done by Crelle’s 
well-known tables or by a computing ma- 
chine. But Mr. Hedrick has devised a table 


SCIENCE 


398 


for interpolation to three places which is 
more rapid and easy than either of these 
aids. It is, of course, of use generally for 
all such calculations, and arrangements 
are now being made for the preparation 
and publication of his tables. The actual 
work of finding the place of the moon 
from the new lunar tables will, I believe, 
not take more time—perhaps less—than 
from Hansen’s tables, as soon as the coms 
puter has made himself familiar with them. 
Fortunately for him, it is not necessary to 
understand the details of their construc- 
tion: he need only know the rules for using 
them. 

I am now going to show by means of 
some diagrams the deviations of the moon 
from its theoretical orbit, in which, of 
course, errors of observation are included. 
The first two slides exhibit the average 
deviation of the moon from its computed 
place for the past century and a half in 
longitude.2 The averages are taken over 
periods of 414 days and each point of the 
continuous line shows one such average. 
The dots are the results obtained by New- 
comb from occultations; the averages for 
the first century are taken over periods of 
several years, and in the last sixty years 
over every year. In both cases the same 
theory and the same values of the constants 
have been used. Only one empirical term 
has been taken out—the long-period fluc- 
tuation found by Newcomb having a period 
of 270 years and a coefficient of 13”. I 
shall show the deviations with this term 
included, in a moment. 

The first point to which attention should 
be drawn is the agreement of the results 
deduced from the Greenwich meridian ob- 
servations and those deduced from occulta- 
tions gathered from observatories all over 
the world. There can be no doubt that the 
fluctuations are real and not due to errors 


2 Monthly Notices £.A.S., Vol. 73, plate 22. 


394 


of observation. A considerable difference 
appears about 1820, for which I have not 
been able to account, but I have reasons for 
thinking that the difference is mainly due to 
errors in the occultations rather than in the 
meridian values. In the last sixty years the 
differences become comparatively small, 
and the character of the deviation of the 
moon from its theoretical orbit is well 
marked. This deviation is obviously of a 
periodic character, but attempts to analyze 
it into one or two periodic terms have not 
met with success; the number of terms re- 
quired for the purpose is too great to allow 
one to feel that they have a real existence, 
and that they would combine to represent 
the motion in the future. The straight line 
character of the deviations is a rather 
marked peculiarity of the curves. 

The actual deviations on a smaller scale 
are shown in the next slide; the great em- 
pirical term has here been restored and is 
shown by a broken line. The continuous 
line represents the Greenwich meridian ob- 
servations; the dots are Neweomb’s results 
for the occultations before 1750, the date 
at which the meridian observations begin. 
With a very slight amount of smoothing, 
especially since 1850, this diagram may be 
considered to show the actual deviations of 
the moon from its theoretical orbit. 

The next slide shows the average values of 
the eccentricity and of the position of the 
perigee.? The deviations are those from the 
values which I have obtained. It is obvious 
at once that there is little or nothing syste- 
matic about them; they may be put down 
almost entirely to errors of observation. 
The diminishing magnitude of the devia- 
tions as time goes on is good evidence for 
this; the accuracy of the observations has 
‘steadily increased. The coefficient of the 

3 Tables II., III. of a paper on ‘‘The Perigee 


and Hecentricity of the Moon,’’? Monthly Notices 
R.A.S., Mareh, 1914. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1029 


term on which the eccentricity depends is 
found with a probable error of 0”.02, and 
the portion from 1750 to 1850 gives a value 
for it which agrees with that deduced from 
the portion 1850 to 1901 within 0”.01. 
The eccentricity is the constant which is 
now known with the highest degree of accu- 
racy of any of those in the moon’s motion. 
For the perigee there was a difference from 
the theoretical motion which would have 
caused the horizontal average in the curve 
to be tilted up one end over 2” above that 
at the other end. I have taken this out, 
ascribing it to a wrong value for the earth’s 
ellipticity ; the point will be again referred 
to later. The actual value obtained from 
the observations themselves has been used 
in the diagram, so that the deviations shown 
are deviations from the observed value. 

The next slide shows the deviations of 
the mean inclination and the motion of the 
node, as well as of the mean latitude from 
the values deduced from the observations.* 
In these cases the observations only run 
from 1847 to 1901. It did not seem worth 
while to extend them back to 1750 for it is 
evident that the errors are mainly acci- 
dental, and the mean results agreed so 
closely with those obtained by Newcomb 
from occultations that little would have been 
gained by the use of the much less accurate 
observations made before 1847. The theo- 
retical motion of the node differs from its 
observed value by a quantity which would 
have tilted up one end of the zero line about 
0”.5 above the other; the hypothesis 
adopted in the case of the perigee will ac- 
count for the difference. 

The mean latitude curve is interesting. 
It should represent the mean deviations of 
the moon’s center from the ecliptic; but 

4‘“The Mean Latitudes of the Sun and Moon,’’ 
Monthly Notices R.A.S., January, 1914; ‘‘The De- 
termination of the Constants of the Node, the In- 


clination, the Harth’s Ellipticity, and the Obliquity 
of the Ecliptic,’’ 7b., June, 1914. 


SEPTEMBER 18, 1914] 


it actually represents the deviations from a 
plane 0”.5 below the ecliptic. A similar 
deviation was found by Newcomb. Certain 
periodic terms have also been taken out. 
The explanation of these terms will be re- 
ferred to directly. 

The net result of this work is a deter- 
mination of the constants of eccentricity, 
inclination, and of the positions of the peri- 
gee and node with practical certainty. The 
motions of the perigee and node here agree 
with their theoretical values when the new 
value of the earth’s ellipticity is used. The 
only outstanding parts requiring explana- 
tion are the deviations in the mean longi- 
tude. If inquiry is made as to the degree 
of accuracy which the usual statement of 
the gravitation law involves, it may be 
said that the index which the inverse square 
law contains does not differ from 2 by a 
fraction greater than 1/400,000,000. This 
is deduced from the agreement between the 
Observed and theoretical motions of the 
perigee when we attribute the mean of the 
differences found for this motion and for 
that of the node to a defective value of the 
ellipticity of the earth. 

T have mentioned the mean deviation of 
the latitude of the moon from the ecliptic. 
There are also periodic terms with the mean 
longitude as argument occurring both in the 
latitude and the longitude. My explana- 
tion of these was anticipated by Professor 
Bakhuysen by a few weeks. The term in 
longitude had been found from two series 
of Greenwich observations, one of 28 and 
the other of 21 years, by van Steenwijk, 
and Professor Bakhuysen, putting this with 
the deviations of the mean latitude found 
by Hansen and himself, attributed them to 
systematic irregularities of the moon’s 
limbs. 

What I have done is to find (1) the devi- 
ation of the mean latitude for 64 years, (2) 
a periodic term in latitude from observa- 


SCIENCE 


395 


tions covering 55 years, and (3) a periodic 
term in longitude from observations cover- 
ing 150 years, the period being that of the 
mean longitude. Further, if to these be 
added Newcomb’s deviations of the mean 
latitude derived (a) from immersions and 
(b) from emersions, we have a series of five 
separate determinations—separate because 
the occultations are derived from parts of 
the limb not wholly the same as those used 
in meridian observations. Now all these 
give a consistent shape to the moon’s limb 
referred to its center of mass. This shape 
agrees qualitatively with that which may 
be deduced from Franz’s figure. 

I throw on the screen two diagrammatic 
representations’ of these irregularities ob- 
tamed by Dr. F, Hayn from a long series 
of actual measures of the heights and 
depths of the lunar formations. The next 
slide shows the systematic character more 
clearly. It is from a paper by Franz.® It 
does not show the character of the heights 
and depths at the limb, but we may judge 
of these from the general character of the 
high and low areas of the portions which 
have been measured and which extend near 
to the limbs. I think there ean be little 
doubt that this explanation of these small 
terms is correct, and if so it supplies a satis- 
factory cause for a number of puzzling in- 
equalities. 

The most interesting feature of this re- 
sult is the general shape of the moon’s limb 
relative to the center of mass and its rela- 
tion to the principle of isostasy. Here we 
see with some definiteness that the edge of 
the southern limb in general is further from 
the moon’s center of mass than the northern. 
Hence we must conclude that the density 
at least of the crust of the former is less 
than that of the latter, in accordance with 


5 Abh. der Math.-Phys. Kl. der Kén. Séchs. Ges. 
der Wiss., Vols. XXIX., XXX. 
6 Konigsberger Astr. Beob., Abth. 38. 


396 


the principle mentioned. The analogy to 
the figure of the earth with its marked land 
and sea hemispheres is perhaps worth 
pointing out, but the higher ground in the 
moon is mainly on the south of its equator, 
while that on the earth is north. Unfor- 
tunately we know nothing about the other 
face of the moon. Nevertheless it seems 
worth while to direct the attention of geol- 
ogists to facts which may ultimately have 
some cosmogoniec applications. The astron- 
omical difficulties are immediate: different 
corrections for meridian observations in 
latitude, in longitude, on Mosting A, for 
occultations and for the photographic 
method, will be required. 

I next turn to a question, the chief inter- 
est of which is geodetic rather than astron- 
omical. J have mentioned that a certain 
value of the earth’s ellipticity will make the 
observed motions of the perigee and node 
agree with their theoretical values. This 
value is 1/293.7+.3. Now Helmert’s 
value obtained from gravity determinations 
is 1/298.3. The conference of ‘‘Nautical 
Almanae’’ Directors in 1911 adopted 1/297. 
There is thus a considerable discrepancy. 
Other evidence, however, can be brought 
forward. Not long ago a series of simul- 
taneous observations at the Cape and Green- 
wich Observatories was made in order to 
obtain a new value of the moon’s parallax. 
After five years’ work a hundred simulta- 
neous pairs were obtained, the discussion of 
which give evidence of their excellence. 
Mr. Crommelin, of the Greenwich Obsery- 
atory, who undertook this discussion, deter- 
mined the ellipticity of the earth by a 
comparison between the theoretical and ob- 
‘served values of the parallax. He found 
an ellipticity 1/2944 -+1.5 closely agree- 
ing with that which I have obtained. 
Finally, Col. Clarke’s value obtained from 
geodetic measures was 1/293.5. We have 
thus three quite different determinations 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1029 


ranging round 1/294 to set against a fourth 
determination of 1/298. The term in the 
latitude of the moon which has often been 
used for this purpose is of little value on 
account of the coefficient being also depend- 
ent on the value of the obliquity of the 
ecliptic; such evidence as it presents is 
rather in favor of the larger value. I omit 
Hill’s value, obtained from gravity deter- 
minations, because it is obviously too large. 
Here, then, is a definite issue. To satisfy 
the observations of the moon in at least 
three different parts, a value near 1/294 
must be used; while the value most care- 
fully found from gravity determinations 
is 1/298. As far as astronomy is concerned, 
the moon is the only body for which a cor- 
rect value of this constant is important, and 
it would seem inadvisable to use a value 
which will cause a disagreement between 
theory and observation in at least three 
different ways. It is a question whether 
the conference value should not be changed 
with the advent of the new lunar tables. 
In looking forward to future determina- 
tions of this constant, it seems to be quite 
possible that direct observations of the 
moon’s parallax are likely to furnish at 
least as accurate a value of the earth’s 
shape as any other method. This can be 
done, I believe, much better by the Har- 
vard photographie method than by merid- 
jan observations. Two identical instru- 
ments are advisable for the best results, one 
placed in the northern and the other in the 
southern hemisphere from 60° to 90° apart 
in latitude and as nearly as possible on the 
same meridian. On nights which are fine 
at both stations, from fifteen to twenty 
pairs of plates could be obtained. In a few 
months it is probable that some 400 pairs 
might be obtamed. These should furnish 
a value for the parallax with a probable 
error of about 0”.02 and a value for the 
ellipticity within half a unit of the denom- 


SEPTEMBER 18, 1914] 


inator 294. It would be still more inter- 
esting if the two instruments could be set 
up on meridians in different parts of the 
earth. The Cape and a northern observa- 
tory, Upsala for example, would furnish 
one arc; Harvard and Arequipa or Santi- 
ago another. If it were possible to connect 
by triangulation Australia with the Asiatic 
continent, a third could be obtained near 
the meridian of Brisbane. Or, accepting 
the observed parallax and the earth’s ellip- 
ticity, we could find by observation the 
lengths of long arcs on the earth’s surface 
with high accuracy. 

In any ease, I believe that the time must 
shortly come when the photographic method 
of finding the moon’s place should be taken 
up more extensively, whether it be used for 
the determination of the moon’s parallax 
and the earth’s ellipticity or not. The 
Greenwich meridian observations have 
been and continue to be a wonderful store- 
house for long series of observations of the 
positions of the sun, moon, planets and 
stars. In the United States, Harvard Ob- 
servatory has adopted the plan of securing 
continuous photographic records of the sky 
with particular reference to photometric 
work. Under Professor Pickering it will 
also continue the photographie record of 
the moon’s position as long as arrange- 
ments can be made to measure the plates 
and compute the moon’s position from them. 

In spite of the fact that Harvard Ob- 
servatory has undertaken to continue for 
the present the work of photographing the 
moon’s position, I believe that this method 
should find a permanent home in a national 
observatory. It has already shown itself 
capable of producing the accuracy which 
the best modern observations of Greenwich 
ean furnish, and no higher praise need be 
given. If this home could be found in the 
southern hemisphere, and more particularly 
in Australia, other advantages would 
accrue. 


SCIENCE 


397 


But we should look for more than this. 
In an observatory whose first duty might 
be the securing of the best daily records of 
the sky, the positions of the sun, stars, 
planets, a couple of plates of the moon on 
every night when she is visible would be a 
small matter. What is needed is an organ- 
ization so constructed as to be out of the 
reach of changing governmental policy with 
a permanent appropriation and a staff of 
the highest character removed from all 
political influences. It could render im- 
mense service to astronomers, not only in 
the Empire but all over the world. The 
pride which every Englishman feels who 
has to work with the records of the past 
furnished by Greenwich would in course of 
time arise from the work of a similar estab- 
lishment elsewhere. Those of us who live 
in a community which, reckoning by the 
age of nations, is new, know that, in order 
to achieve objects which are not material, 
sacrifices must be made; but we also know 
that such sacrifices are beneficial, not only 
in themselves, but as exerting an indirect 
influence in promoting the cause of higher 
education and of scientific progress in every 
direction. In saying this I am not advo- 
cating the cause of the few, but of the 
majority; the least practical investigations 
of yesterday are continually becoming of 
the greatest practical value to-day. 

No address before this section is complete 
without some speculation and a glance to- 
wards the future. I shall indulge in both 
to some small extent before closing. I have 
shown you what the outstanding residuals 
in the moon’s motion are: they consist 
mainly of long-period fluctuations in the 
mean longitude. I have not mentioned the 
secular changes because the evidence for 
them does not rest on modern observations 
but on ancient eclipses, and these are 
matters too debatable to discuss in the 
limited time allotted to me for this address. 
It may be said, however, that the only 


398 


secular motion which is capable of being 
determined from the modern observations 
and is not affected by the discussion of 
ancient eclipses—namely, the secular mo- 
tion of the perigee—agrees with its theo- 
retical value well within the probable error. 
With this remark I pass to the empirical 
terms. 

These unexplained differences between 
theory and observation may be separated 
into two parts. First, Newecomb’s term of 
period between 250 and 300 years and co- 
efficient 13”, and, second, the fluctuations 
which appear to have an approximate 
period of 60 to 70 years. The former ap- 
pears to be more important than the latter, 
but from the investigator’s point of view 
it is less so. The force depends on the 
degree of inclination of the curve to the 
zero line or on the curvature, according to 
the hypothesis made. In either case the 
shorter period term is much more striking, 
and, as I have pointed out on several occa- 
sions, it is much more likely to lead to the 
sources of these terms than the longer 
period. It is also, at least for the last sixty 
years, much better determined from obser- 
vation, and is not likely to be confounded 
with unknown secular changes. 

Various hypotheses have been advanced 
within the last few years to account for 
these terms. Some of them postulate 
matter not directly observed or matter with 
unknown constants; others, deviations of 
the Newtonian law from its exact expres- 
sion; still others, non-gravitational forces. 
M. St. Blaneat’ examines a variety of cases 
of intramercurial planets and arrives at the 
conclusion that such matter, if it exists, 
must have a mass comparable with that of 
Mercury. Some time ago I examined the 
same hypothesis and arrived at similar re- 
sults. The smallest planet with density 


7 Annales de la Faculté des Sciences de Toulouse, 
1907. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1029 


four times that of water, which would pro- 
duce the long inequality, must have a dise 
of nearly 2” in its transit across the sun 
and a still larger planet would be neces- 
sary to produce the shorter period terms. 
But observational attempts, particularly 
those made by Perrine and Campbell, have 
always failed to detect any such planet, and 
Professor Campbell is of the opinion that a 
body with so large a dise could hardly have 
been overlooked. If we fall back on a 
swarm instead of a single body, we replace 
one difficulty by two. The light from such 
a swarm would be greater than that from a 
single body, and would therefore make 
detection more likely. If the swarm were 
more diffused we encounter the difficulty 
that it would not be held together by its 
own attraction, and would therefore soon 
scatter into a ring; such a ring can not give 
periodic changes of the kind required. 

The shading of gravitation by inter- 
posing matter, e. g., at the time of eclipses, 
has been examined by Bottlinger.® For 
one reason alone, I believe this is very 
doubtful. It is difficult to see how new 
periodicities can be produced; the periods 
should be combinations of those already 
present in the moon’s motion. The sixty to 
seventy years’ fluctuation stands out in this 
respect because its period is not anywhere 
near any period present in the moon’s mo- 
tion or any probable combination of the 
moon’s periods. Indeed Dr. Bottlinger’s 
curve shows this: there is no trace of the 
fluctuation. 

Some four years ago I examined® a num- 
ber of hypotheses. The motions of the 
magnetic field of the earth and of postu- 
lated fields on the moon had to be rejected, 
mainly because they caused impossible in- 
creases in the mean motion of the perigee. 
An equatorial ellipticity of the sun’s mass, 


8 Diss., Freiburg i. Br., 1912. 
9 Amer. Jour. Sc., Vol. 29. 


SEPTEMBER 18, 1914] 


combined with a rotation period very nearly 
one month in length, appeared to be the 
best of these hypotheses. The obvious ob- 
jections to it are, first, that such an ellip- 
ticity, small as it can be (about 1/20,000), 
is difficult to understand on physical 
grounds, and, second, that the rotation 
period of the nucleus which might be sup- 
posed to possess this elliptic shape in the 
sun’s equator is a quantity which is so 
doubtful that it furnishes no help from ob- 
servation, although the observed periods 
are well within the required limits. Dr. 
Hale’s discovery of the magnetic field of 
the sun is of interest in this connection. 
Such a field, of non-uniform strength, and 
rotating with the sun, is mathematically 
exactly equivalent to an equatorial ellip- 
ticity of the sun’s mass, so that the hypoth- 
esis might stand from the mathematical 
point of view, the expression of the symbols 
in words being alone different. 

The last-published hypothesis is that of 
Professor Turner,?° who assumes that the 
Leonids have finite mass and that a big 
swarm of them periodically disturbs the 
moon as the orbits of the earth and the 
swarm intersect. I had examined this my- 
self last summer, but rejected it because, 
although it explained the straight line ap- 
pearance of the curve of fluctuations, one 
of the most important of the changes of 
direction in this curve was not accounted 
for. We have the further difficulty that 
continual encounters with the earth will 
spread the swarm along its orbit, so that 
the swarm with this idea should be a late 
arrival and its periodic effect on the moon’s 
motion of diminishing amplitude; with re- 
spect to the latter, the observed amplitude 
seems rather to have increased. 

The main objection to all these ideas con- 
sists in the fact that they stand alone: 
there is as yet little or no collateral evi- 


10 Monthly Notices, December, 1913. 


SCIENCE 


399 


dence from other sources. The difficulty, 
in fact, is not that of finding a hypothesis 
to fit the facts, but of selecting one out of 
many. The last hypothesis which I shall 
mention is one which is less definite than 
the others, but which does appear to have 
some other evidence in its favor. 

The magnetic forces, mentioned above, 
were changes in the directions of assumed 
magnetic fields. If we assume changes in 
the intensities of the fields themselves, we 
avoid the difficulties of altering portions of 
the moon’s motion other than that of the 
mean motion. We know that the earth’s 
magnetic field varies and that the sun has 
such a field, and there is no inherent im- 
probability in attributing similar fields to 
the moon and the planets. If we assume 
that variations in the strength of these 
fields arise in the sun and are communi- 
cated to the other bodies of the solar sys- 
tem, we should expect fluctuations having 
the same period and of the same or oppo- 
site phase but differing in magnitude. It 
therefore becomes of interest to search for 
fluctuations in the motions of the planets 
similar to that found in the moon’s orbit. 
The material in available form for this pur- 
pose is rather scanty; it needs fo be a long 
series of observations reduced on a uniform 
plan. The best I know is in Newcomb’s 
“¢ Astronomical Constants.’’? He gives there 
the material for the earth arranged in 
groups of a few years at a time. The re- 
sults for Mereury, given for another pur- 
pose, can also be extracted from the same 
place. For Venus and Mars, Neweomb un- 
fortunately only printed the normal equa- 
tions from which he deduces the constants 
of the orbit. 

On the screen is shown a slide which ex- 
hibits the results for the earth and Mer- 
cury compared with those for the moon. 
In the uppermost curve are reproduced the 
minor fluctuations of the moon shown 


400 


earlier; the second curve contains those of 
the earth’s longitude; the third, those of 
Mercury’s longitude. [By accident the 
mean motion correction has been left in the 
earth curve; the zero line is therefore in- 
clined instead of being horizontal.] It 
will be noticed that the scales are different 
and that the earth curve is reversed. In 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1029 


satellites the same way but to different de- 
grees. 

The lowest curve is an old friend, that of 
Wolf’s sunspot frequency, put there, not 
for that reason, but because the known con- 
nection for the last sixty years between 
sunspot frequency and prevalence of mag- 
netic disturbance enables us with fair prob- 


spite of the fact that the probable errors of 
the results in the second and third curves 
are not much less than their divergencies 
from a straight line, I think that the cor- 
relation exhibited is of some significance. 
If it is, we have here a force whose period, 
if period in the strict sense it has, is the 
same as that of the effect: the latter is not 
then a resonance from combination with 
another period. We must therefore look 
for some kind of a surge spreading through 
the solar system and affecting planets and 


ability to extend the latter back to 1750. 
With some change of phase the periods of 
high and low maxima correspond nearly 
with the fluctuations above. The eleven- 
year oscillation is naturally eliminated 
from the group results for the earth and 
Mercury. One might expect it to be pres- 
ent in the lunar curve, but owing to its 
shorter period we should probably not ob- 
tain a coefficient of over half a second. 
Notwithstanding this fact, it is a valid ob- 
jection to the hypothesis that there is no evi- 


SEPTEMBER 18, 1914] 


dence of it in the moon’s motion. Reasons 
may exist for this: but until the mechanism 
of the action can be made more definite it is 
hardly worth while to belabor the point. 
The hypothesis presents many difficulties: 
Hven if one is disposed to admit provision- 
ally a correlation between the four curves 
—and this is open to considerable doubt— 
it is difficult to understand how, under the 
electron theory of magnetic storms, the mo- 
tions of moon and planets can be sensibly 
affected. I am perhaps catching at straws 
in attempting to relate two such different 
phenomena with one another, but when we 
are in the presence of anomalies which 
show points of resemblance and which lack 
the property of analysis into strict periodic 
sequences some latitude may be permissible. 
In conclusion, what, it may well be asked, 
is the future of the lunar theory now that 
the gravitational effects appear to have 
been considered in such detail that further 
numerical work in the theory is not likely 
te advance our knowledge very materially ? 
What good purpose is to be served by con- 
tinuous observation of the moon and com- 
parison with the theory? I believe that the 
answer lies mainly in the investigation of 
the fluctuations already mentioned. I have 
not referred to other pericdic terms which 
have been found because the observational 
evidence for their real existence rests on 
foundations much less secure. These need 
to be examined more carefully, and this ex- 
amination must, I think, depend mainly on 
future observations rather than on the rec- 
ords of the past. Only by the greatest care 
‘in making the observations and in elimi- 
nating systematic and other errors from 
them can these matters be fully eluci- 
dated. If this can be achieved and if the 
new theory and tables serve, as they should, 
to eliminate all the known effects of gravita- 
tion, we shall be in a position to investigate 
with some confidence the other forces which 


SCIENCE 


401 


seem to be at work in the solar system and 
at which we can now only guess. Assist- 
ance should be afforded by observations of 
the sun and planets, but the moon is near- 
est to us and is, chiefly on that account, the 
best instrument for their detection. Doubt- 
less other investigations will arise in the fu- 
ture. But the solution of the known prob- 
lems is still to be sought, and the laying of 
the coping stone on the edifice reared 
through the last two centuries can not be a 
simple matter. Hven our abler successors 
will hardly exclaim, with Hotspur, 

By heaven, methinks, it were an easy leap 

To pluck bright honor from the pale-faced moon. 


They, like us and our predecessors, must go 
through long and careful investigations to 
find out the new truths before they have 
solved our difficulties, and in their turn 
they will discover new problems to solve 
for those who follow them: 

‘‘Wor the fortune of us, that are the moon’s men, 


doth ebb and flow like the sea, being governed, as 
the sea is, by the moon.’’ 


H. W. Brown 


BOTANY IN THE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

Five years ago, there was, I believe, no col- 
lege in the United States which required that 
plant physiology be studied by any student of 
agriculture. There were a very few col- 
leges in which it was possible for students. 
of agriculture to take as much as one year’s. 
work in this subject, but the number of such 
places was exceedingly limited and remains. 
so. The college of agriculture of the Univer- 
sity of the Philippines was founded at that 
time; and having a free hand in planning its 
course of study, I provided that every student 
not only could but must take one full year of 
plant physiology, and that students taking the 
course regularly must have this year of physi- 
ology before being admitted to the study of 
agriculture itself. 

There were several reasons for taking this 
rather radical step. Decidedly the strongest 


402 


of these was the obvious fact that the raising 
of crops is essentially nothing more or less 
than applied botany. The botany which is 
useful in plant industry is not a study of the 
names of cultivated plants and weeds, and not 
primarily the cataloguing of plant products 
and plant diseases, but is the phase of botany 
which treats of the responses of plants to the 
conditions under which they grow. This is 
plant physiology. It is a phase of botany 
which can not be taught to students who have 
not some previous general knowledge of 
plants. It is here taught to students who have 
had one year of general botany, but who have 
not yet any chemistry. Some have had phys- 
ics and some haye not. It would be impos- 
sible to give to our students the sort of a 
quasi-cultural subject which is usually pre- 
sented where plant physiology is taught at all 
in the United States. But a considerable 
part of the American course which could not 
be given to our students would likewise be 
useless to them. Our course in plant physiol- 
ogy is planned specifically to give students 
such an understanding of the behavior of 
plants as should serve as a guide in the treat- 
ment of crops. 

This course was put in operation here with- 
out any advertising; while I felt perfectly 
sure that the proposition that the best scien- 
tifie foundation for plant industry is a knowl- 
edge of plant physiology, is a sound one, I 
felt also that the general respect for a widely 
adopted system would be so strong that a rad- 
ical experiment of this kind would be sure to 
receive very little favorable attention until it 
had been well tested in practise. Five years’ 
experience should be enough to put a plan, 
which may have looked like an experiment at 
its first trial, on a different basis. During 
these ‘five years, the same plan in greater 
dilution has been applied in some places in the 
United States. The example of Wisconsin in 
requiring half a year of plant physiology of 
students in some agricultural courses may have 
more weight in commending the subject than 
does our local experience with a full year. 
The desirable thing is that the value of the 
subject be recognized, and it is to be hoped 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1029 


that Wisconsin’s example will be followed by 
other institutions as fast as is in their power. 

It has already been stated that our course 
in physiology is fitted directly to the practical 
purpose it is to serve. For this purpose, 
growth receives particularly careful study. 
The student is drilled in growth measure- 
ments until he regards them as a matter of 
course, rather than as experiments. The num- 
ber of such measurements required of each 
student is approximately 3,000. Aside from 
giving a thorough first-hand idea of the growth 
of a variety of plants and of different parts of 
plants under various treatment, this extensive 
drill has the practical result that the student 
acquires speed and accuracy in such work, 
such that if he is afterward called upon to de- 
termine how fast the plants in a corn field or 
coconut or coffee plantation are growing, he 
goes at it with skill and confidence. I have 
asked a number of graduates of American 
agricultural colleges how fast corn should 
grow at different ages; not one could give 
anything better than a relative and altogether 
indefinite answer. Not one of them knew 
anything about it from personal observation 
of a single plant. Not one had, so far as he 
remembered, even been given a figure on the 
subject; let alone being called upon to fix it 
in his mind by finding out for himself. Not 
one had any standard by which he could state 
that a plant or a field of corn was growing as it 
should, or doing better or worse. It seems to 
me that the graduate of an agricultural college 
should know a good deal more about the be- 
havior of corn than any of these graduates do 
know. It would amaze our students if they 
were made to realize that a student could grad- 
uate from a famous agricultural college in a 
state where corn is a leading crop, without 
ever following through the growth of a single 
corn plant. Corn has received a careful study 
of just this kind in the United States, and is, 
so far as I know, the only American crop 
which has received a really careful study of 
this kind. 

Next after growth in the attention it re- 
ceives is transpiration. Next in order is di- 
rect study of the mineral food of plants, and 


SEPTEMBER 18, 1914] 


nitrogen. Transpiration receives more careful 
study because it is of importance in a number 
of aspects. Without water in which plants 
can absorb it, mineral food is as useless in the 
soil as it is in a warehouse. Mineral food is 
studied in water culture, in pot culture, and 
in beds on the farm. In water culture, the 
work is made as exact as it possibly can be, 
using chemically pure salts, distilled water, 
and the most insoluble containers. In the 
field the work is made as practical as it can be, 
using ordinary garden crops on ordinary farm 
soil, with the fertilizers which are regarded as 
generally available. As a matter of interest, 
manure, ashes and commercial fertilizers used 
in this experiment are analyzed on the 
grounds, and the results of the analysis given 
to the students. But the experiment is in- 
tended and understood to show the students 
what results they can obtain at home by meth- 
ods of procedure which are practicable there. 
Work on such a scale as these fertilizer ex- 
periments must be done by groups instead of 
by individual students, else the course will de- 
mand more time than can be found in a single 
year. 

Other phases of plant physiology receive less 
attention. There are a reasonable number of 
experiments on photosynthesis. But, impor- 
tant as it is, this phase of plant activity is 
relatively not subject to direct human control; 
a thorough familiarity with it is accordingly of 
much less practical utility. The study of res- 
piration is still briefer. Such subjects as geo- 
tropism, and the others sometimes grouped 
under the head of “Irritability,” are treated 
briefly in lectures, and passed over with an 
easy experiment or two, not requiring more 
than a day each in the laboratory. 

Practically in the place of this, the student 
in the American college of agriculture is 
taught chemistry. Chemistry is of course a 
necessary part of agricultural education. Our 
students study it for two years. But the plant 
physiology and not the chemistry is the basis 
on which their agriculture rests. 

The difference in the scientific foundation 
makes the instruction in plant industry itself 
different. Our courses in agronomy are full of 


SCIENCE 


403 


plant physiology. In these cases, the special 
plant physiology of the particular crops has 
thorough study. Thus, the students of the 
coconut measure the growth of leaf, root, 
flowering branch and fruit. The growth of 
the leaf is the easiest index to the general ac- 
tivity of the tree, and accordingly receives 
most attention. This work has now been car- 
ried on so long, and such a mass of data has 
been accumulated that it is possible to estab- 
lish a figure which represents satisfactory ac- 
tivity, and to determine approximately how 
much this varies with the change in weather 
from day to day. With this information, the 
student can go into a coconut plantation and 
determine with a high measure of probability 
the average production from the groye two 
years and a half hence; and he can do this 
after 24 hours’ observation. The estimate he 
makes is a very much more reliable one than 
can be made from a three months’ study of the 
present rate of production. We expect to es- 
tablish standards of this kind for all of our 
principal crops. But to do so, and get figures 
which can be relied upon, is no small task. On 
the coconut we have more than 100,000 single 
measurements of rate of growth. Standards 
of this kind are certainly worth having. I do 
not think it admits of question that the abil- 
ity to use, and if need be to make them, is a 
valuable part of a student’s education. 

The student also measures the absorption 
of water by the roots of the coconut and its 
transpiration from the leaves, and the absorp- 
tion of mineral food by the roots. He learns 
how much water the plant needs, and how it 
responds to differences in the water supply: 
When he gets done, he knows enough about 
the physiology of the coconut to realize that 
soil analysis, or even the decidedly more use- 
ful analysis of the parts of the plant, will not, 
by itself, give him any idea of whether or not 
it is worth while to apply fertilizers. He 
knows that if his trees are getting less mineral 
food than they should, it may be impossible to 
remedy the deficiency by buying fertilizers, 
and that the difficulty frequently can be 
remedied, and remedied more cheaply, by the 
use of water. Im short, he understands the 


404 


behavior and the wants of the plants he is 
growing, and can accordingly treat them with 
a degree of intelligence which can not be 
hoped for from those who have not become 
familiar with the practical phases of plant 
physiology. 

The object of agricultural education is to 
produce farmers who will do their work in- 
telligently. Speaking for plant industry alone, 
the most essential part of such a training is 
the acquisition on the student’s part of the 
kind of understanding of plants, and particu- 
larly of the plants which he will raise, which 
he can get from the study of their physiology, 
and inno other way. Thename of the study is 
of course of no importance. If it be chemis- 
try of the kind represented by Adolf Mayer’s 
“Aoricultural Chemistry,” or physics of the 
type of Wollny’s “ Agricultural Physics,” the 
aim is reached. Both of these are plant physi- 
ology under other names which do not hurt 
them. But I do not believe that a student 
‘ever came out of an American college of 
agriculture, trained in physics or chemistry of 
this kind. 

Although there has not been time for so 
much experience on this point, I believe that 
the advantage in our method of training goes 
well beyond the preparation for farming. By 
giving the student a more intelligent under- 
standing of the behavior of his crops, we must 
give him a more intelligent interest in the 
problems of the farm. Up to this time, every 
one of our graduates is still a student or is en- 
gaged in agricultural work. Some are farm- 
ing, some are employed by the Insular Bureau 
of Agriculture, and some are teaching agri- 
culture. It is of course not to be expected 
that all of our graduates will always stick to 
the profession. But I am very confident that 
a larger proportion of them will do so than 
would if their training had been of the usual 
American kind. I had a chance two years ago 
to question a number of students about to 
graduate in agriculture at one of the foremost 
eolleges in the United States. To the first 
questions, they all answered alike, that they 
study agriculture in college for the purpose of 
learning to farm scientifically; that the scien- 
tific basis of agriculture, as they had learned 


SCIENCE 


IN. S. Von. XL. No. 1029 


it, was chemistry; and that the chemistry 
they had been taught was something they 
would be unable to put into individual prac- 
tise as farmers. As to whether, if the chance 
had been given, they could have made better 
use of plant physiology as a basis of agricul- 
ture, some thought they could, and others had 
not come sufficiently into touch with the sub- 
ject to have an opinion. They all agreed that 
their education had failed to give them such 
an understanding of the problems of plant 
production, that they would be able, as indi- 
vidual farmers, to tackle its problems com- 
petently. In my opinion, the four years’ in- 
struction which had been given to them had 
failed essentially. Conscious inability to 
wrestle with problems is incompatible with an 
active interest in them. 

The cities of the United States are growing 
at the expense of the country. It is univer- 
sally agreed that the movement from country 
to city is a national calamity. The reason for 
this movement is not that the city offers 
greater prospect of material advance, for it 
does not do so. That life has been more com- 
fortable and easier in the city has had some- 
thing to do with this movement, but only a 
very minor part. Those who could live most 
comfortably on the farm, because of their 
means, have, on the whole, been most likely to 
move to the city. The essential cause of mi- 
gration is that city life is interesting in a 
way which farm life is not. Neither bodily 
comfort, nor the certainty of such future suc- 
cess as will answer his needs, will keep the 
man who has the means to move to the city in 
a place where his mind is not interested. An 
agricultural education should of course 
qualify a man to farm with greater profit be- 
cause of his education. But if it does not do 
more than this, if it does not give him a keen, 
intelligent interest in the problems he will 
encounter on the farm, it ought still to be 
counted a failure. To be really successful in 
their work, the agricultural colleges must send 
their graduates out so trained that the farm 
will present the fullest field for the activities 
of their minds. The successful agricultural 
college must train its students in such a way 


SEPTEMBER 18, 1914] 


that the city, and not the country, is too in- 
tolerably dull for a permanent residence. 
The American college of agriculture does not 
do this, and the main cause of its failure is 
that the kind of agricultural problems which 
are presented, discussed and worked with in 
its classes, are not the kind which it is prac- 
ticable for a farmer to work with after he 
graduates. The graduate is not equipped to 
find employment for his intellect on the farm. 

The theses in all this writing are: 

First: the American college course in agri- 
culture is basically wrong. Plant industry as 
a science must rest on an understanding of 
plants. 

Second: the mistake of not giving this 
understanding results not merely in the waste 
of considerable time, and in making poorer 
farmers than might be produced, but results 
also in the failure of the college to check. as 
it should be expected to do, the movement, 
from the farm to the city, of the country’s 
best blood. E. B. CopELanp 


SANITATION IN VERA CRUZ 


THE Vera Cruz correspondent of the Journal 
of the American Medical Association writes 
that the hot season, which is also the rainy 
season, begins in Vera Cruz in May or June 
and lasts until the end of September, and as 
the season advances the tendency is for the 
death and morbidity rate for all diseases to 
increase, due to the heat itself, and the rapid 
increase in the amount of malaria; yet thanks 
to the effective work of our sanatoriums, this 
year is an exception, in that the civil death- 
rate for July is practically no greater than for 
June, in which month it was lower than the 
average. The civil death-rates per thousand 
of population, per annum, for the months of 
June and July for the past five years for the 
city of Vera Cruz are given below; the im- 
provement for July of this year is too great 
to be accidental or due to anything but im- 
proved sanitation. 


June July 
UO NON ss se ayeueacaca tals 36.86 46.86 
TOT ar arate rs ajopeess 38.29 46.86 
Che bpia ciara 44.86 49.72 
HOMME eeivara cetera tee 36.86 41.15 
MQM AS) ine ociele ave leiels 32.00 32.58 


SCIENCE 


405 


A comparative statement of the civil deaths 
from communicable diseases for June and 
July of this year is as follows: 


June July 
My phOdh fever, ay fe. cess) sicvsinemeie secs e 1 0 
Mialariaimyaly tel tctrey sis skayeisro na ceete ole ciao 8 2 
Small poxseiayeraeisvepelslereietetette tharsiels eicbereieve 4 1 
DV SENET YA aya) fer sheseiey sists, sueisia sigipmyercneniein. 12 4 
INTIDERC ISM, Go bo oo so uoeodoueoebooN GS 19 26 
Diarrhea and enteritis, under 2 years ... 19 a4: 
Diarrhea and enteritis, 2 years and over. 28 23 


The increase of deaths from tuberculosis is not 
unusual during the hot weather; the smallpox 
epidemic is over and there are now no cases 
in the city; between May 18 and July 31, 
66,432 persons were vaccinated; revaccinations 
are now being made when indicated but gen- 
eral vaccination ceased with the end of July. 
The principal gain is due to the fall in the 
death-rates for malarial and intestinal dis- 
eases and this improvement is directly due to 
our preventive measures. 

The antimalarial measures which affect the 
civil population are three: the suppression of 
mosquito breeding, the use of the army labo- 
ratory in establishing the correct diagnosis, 
and the following up and treatment of all 
proved carriers of gametes in the blood. 
Mosquito-breeding has been largely suppressed 
by the extensive and intricate system of ditches 
in the environs of the city, totaling about 25 
miles in length; miles of vacant lots and 
hundreds of acres of swamp at the bases of the 
gigantic sand-dunes behind the city have been 
drained by the Health Department, and it is 
now possible to sleep comfortably in almost all 
parts of the city without the use of mosquito- 
bars, something heretofore unknown at the 
height of the rainy season. 

Malaria has been made a reportable disease 
by the Health Department and demonstration 
of the parasite in the blood is insisted on as 
far as possible. All houses where proved cases 
of malaria have occurred have been visited by 
inspectors trained in mosquito extermination, 
and secondary cases have been so far prac- 
tically unknown. As a result of a partial 
malarial survey of the city, it has been found 
that the disease is principally localized along 
the railroad and the railroad yards. Further 
investigations along this line are now under 


406 


way. The work has advanced far enough to 
demonstrate that there is very much less ma- 
laria now than is usual at this time of the 
year; the Mexican physicians are unanimous 
in stating that the amount of paludismo is now 
very small. 

The other group of diseases which have been 
brought under control are the dysenteries and 
diarrhoeas, and the preventive measures which 
seem to be directly responsible for the im- 
provement are the following: the suppression 
of flies and the protection of foodstuffs in the 
markets by screening; the improvement in the 
milk-supply, and disinfection and isolation of 
dysenteric cases. The number of milk-venders 
in the city is approximately 150, and 200 
samples of milk have been examined for dirt, 
adulteration and the percentage of fat. The 
milk examinations are made at irregular inter- 
vals on unannounced dates, each vender’s milk 
being examined at least quarterly. The meas- 
ure, however, which seems most directly re- 
sponsible for the diminution in the number of 
cases and deaths from intestinal diseases is 
the antifly campaign. The city water has been 
frequently examined in the laboratory and 
found uniformly good. No cases of yellow 
fever have originated in Vera Oruz or been 
brought to the port. 


FOREIGN STUDENTS AND THE UNITED 
STATES 

Dr. P. P. CLaxton, United States commis- 
sioner of education, has authorized the prep- 
. aration and publication of a special bulletin 
describing, for the use of foreign students, the 
facilities for professional and collegiate study 
in higher institutions of learning in this 
country. The bulletin will be printed in sey- 
eral languages. “This is America’s oppor- 
tunity,” writes Commissioner Claxton. ‘“ Thou- 
sands of students who have been attending 
universities in Europe will be obliged to look 
elsewhere for higher education, not only this 
year, but perhaps for years to come. Many 
foreign students are already coming to us, 
many more will come as the result, direct and 
indirect, of present events. We haye now a 
supreme opportunity to demonstrate our capac- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. KL. No. 1029 


ity for intellectual leadership. Whether the 
war continues three months or three years, our 
opportunities and obligations to take the lead 
in education and civilization will be the same, 
and America should respond by offering the 
best opportunity in the world for her own stu- 
dents and for those who may come from other 
countries. In the case of South America this 
student migration will be facilitated by the 
opportune opening of the Panama Canal. 
Students from the western coast of South 
America will find it alluringly convenient to 
go via Canal to educational centers in the 
United States. Within the last two decades the 
imerease in opportunity for graduate study 
and research, and for professional and tech- 
nical education has been very remarkable, much 
greater than most people even in America 
realize. The recent raising of standards and 
the better equipment of medical schools, the 
large endowments and appropriations for all 
forms of engineering, the marvelous growth 
of our colleges of agriculture, the development 
of colleges and schools of education, and the 
rapid increase in income of all the better 
colleges make it possible for this country to 
take the lead in education in a way that would 
have been impossible even at the beginning of 
the century.” 


BOTANISTS OF THE CENTRAL STATES 


In accordance with a vote taken at the 
Cleveland meeting of the American Association 
for the Advancement of Science, it is deter- 
mined to reorganize the Botanists of the 
Central States. A very large majority of the 
members of the organization, either by letter 
or by personal statement at the Cleveland 
meeting, have expressed their desire for a 
resumption of the meetings of the organiza- 
tion, especially in years in which the Botanical 
Society of America meets outside of the states 
which comprise our territory. Since the last 
meeting of the Botanical Society of America 
was at Atlanta, and the next meeting is to be 
at Philadelphia, the present year seems espe- 
cially favorable for a meeting of the Botanists 
of the Central States. I am able to announce 
that we have a very cordial invitation to hold 


SEPTEMBER 18, 1914] 


our next meeting at the Missouri Botanical 
Garden, in connection with the twenty-fifth 
anniversary celebration of the Garden. This 
celebration will be held Thursday, October 15, 
and Friday, October 16. It is planned to 
have a meeting of the Botanists of the Central 
States for the reading of papers and the trans- 
action of business on Saturday, October 17. 
Tt is believed that this meeting, combined as 
it is with the very important celebration of 
the Botanical Garden, will be one of the most 
important meetings of American botanists 
within recent years. 

Members desirous of presenting papers at 
this session should send to the undersigned as 
soon as possible the titles of such papers, indi- 
cating also the time and facilities needed for 
their presentation. Such titles must be in the 
hands of the undersigned by October 1, since 
it is the intention to mail the final program 
of the meeting by October 5. 

Through the courtesy of the director, Dr. 
George T. Moore, it is learned that the Botan- 
ists of the Central States are to be the guests 
of the Missouri Botanical Garden at luncheon 
on Saturday, October 17. 

Henry CO. Cowes, 


Secretary 
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO, 
September 10, 1914 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


Dr. FRIEDERICH voN Miitupr, professor of 
medicine at Munich, has been elected rector 
of the university for the year 1914-15. 

Dr. Gustav A. SCHWALBE, professor of anat- 
omy at Strassburg, celebrated on August 1, 
his seventieth birthday. 

THE sixth session of the Macbride Lakeside 
Taboratory has closed after a successful sum- 
mer’s work. The teaching staff this year was 
as follows: In botany, Professor Thomas H. 
Macbride, acting director, James E. Gow, of 
Coe College, and A. F. Ewers, of McKinley 
High School, St. Louis; in geology, J. E. 
Carman, University of Cincinnati; in zoology, 
T. ©. Stephens, Morningside College, and 
Wayne Hagan, Clinton High School. L. H. 
Pammel, of Ames, and B. H. Bailey, of Coe 
College, gave special courses of lectures. 


SCIENCE 407 


Tue American Fisheries Society will hold 
its forty-fourth annual meeting in Washing- 
ton, D. C., from September 30 to October 3, at 
the new National Museum building. The 
program includes papers on aquatic biology, 
parasites and diseases of fishes, utilization of 
fisheries products, fish culture and commer- 
cial fisheries. The society numbers over 700 
members. Professor Henry B. Ward, of the 
University of Illinois, is president, and Pro- 
fessor Raymond C. Osburn, of Columbia Uni- 
versity, secretary. 


Tue British Board of Agriculture and Fish- 
eries has awarded research scholarships in 
agricultural and veterinary science of the an- 
nual value of £150, tenable for three years, as 
follows: Agricultural science, J. Li. Evans 
(Wales), S. M. Wadham (Cantab.), J. W. 
Munro (Edinburgh). Veterinary Science, R. 
Daubney, A. H. Adams. The board has also 
awarded Mr. KE. W. Jeffreys (Wales) an agri- 
cultural scholarship tenable for two years to 
fill a vacancy. 


TuE president of the British Board of Trade 
has appointed a committee to consider and ad- 
vise as to the best means of obtaining for the 
use of British industry sufficient supplies of 
chemical products, colors and dyestuffs of kinds 
hitherto largely imported from countries from 
which they can not now be obtained. The 
Lord Chancellor will be chairman of the com- 
mittee, and the following is a list of the other 
members: Dr. George T. Beilby, F.R.S., Dr. J. 
J. Dobbie, F.R.S., Mr. David Howard, Mr. Ivan 
Levinstein, Professor Raphael Meldola, D.Sc., 
F.R.S., Mr. Max Muspratt, Professor W. H. 
Perkin, Ph.D., D.Se, F.R.S., Mr. Milton 
Sharp, Sir Arthur J. Tedder, Mr. Joseph 
Turner, Mr. T. Tyrer, together with Mr. John 
Anderson, of the National Health Insurance 
Commission, and a representative of the Board 
of Trade. The secretary of the committee is 
Mr. F. Gossling of the Patent Office. 


Dr. H. Fiournoy, resident psychiatrist at 
the Henry Phipps Psychiatrie Clinic of Johns 
Hopkins Hospital and a member of the med- 
ical reserves of the Swiss army, has left Balti- 
more to return to Switzerland, in answer to 
the call for reservists. 


408 


Harry A. Curtis, assistant professor of 
chemistry at the University of Colorado, has 
returned after a year’s leave of absence, dur- 
ing which time he took graduate work in chem- 
istry at the University of Wisconsin, receiving 
the degree of doctor of philosophy. 


Mr. Grorce H. Cuapman has resumed his 
duties as assistant botanist at the Massachu- 
setts Agricultural Experiment Station after a 
year spent at the University of Prague with 
Dr. F. Czapek. 


Dr. Witt1aM J. Minne, president of the New 
York State College of Teachers in Albany 
and author of mathematical text-books, died 
on September 4, at the age of seventy-one years. 


Dr. Bata Haier, associate professor of 
zoology at Heidelberg, has died at the age of 
fifty-six years. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 


SEVERAL citizens of Toronto have agreed to 
contribute $15,000 for five years to enable 
the University of Toronto to increase its re- 
search work. 


Tum will of Mrs. Josephine A. Binney gives 
$10,000 to the Women’s College of Brown 
University. 


Tur Henry S. Denison Memorial Building, 
for Medical Research at the University of 
Colorado, has now been made ready for use. 
It contains laboratories for research in bac- 
teriology, pathology, physiology, chemistry 
and clinical methods. 


Iv is believed that in Oxford and Cam- 
bridge the number of undergraduates in resi- 
dence next term will be reduced by one half. 


Dr. R. M. Srrone, of the department of 
zoology of the University of Chicago, has ac- 
cepted the chair of anatomy at the University 
of Mississippi. 

In the department of physiological chemis- 
try of the Jefferson Medical College, Ray- 
mond H. Miller, B.S. (Pennsylvania State), 
and J. O. Halverson, M.S. (Missouri), have 
been appointed instructors. Martein EK. Reh- 
fuss, M.D. (Pennsylvania), after spending 
three years in study abroad, has been ap- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1029 


pointed research associate, and Olaf Bergheim 
has been promoted to be a demonstrator. 


Maxwett Sizuman, M.S., formerly instruc- 
tor in physiological chemistry in Jefferson 
Medical College, has been appointed instruc- 
tor in chemistry in the medical school of Bay- 
lor University, at Dallas, Texas. 


AMONG appointments at the University of 
Montana are the following: L. S. Hill, assist- 
ant professor of mathematics and astronomy; 
Dr. Fred. H. Rhodes, of Cornell Univer- 
sity, instructor in chemistry, and A. W. L. 
Bray, a graduate of Cambridge and London, 
instructor in biology. 


Dr. H. C. StTEvENs, associate professor of 
psychology in the University of Washington, 
has been appointed associate professor of edu- 
cation in the University of Chicago. 


A. VINCENT OsSMUN, assistant professor in 
the department of botany of the Massachu- 
setts Agricultural College, has been made as- 
sociate professor, and F. A. McLaughlin, of 
the same department, has been promoted to 
the rank of imstructor. 


Dr. W. P. Gownann, of the University of 
Liverpool, has been appointed to the chair of 


anatomy at the University of Otago, Dunedin, 
New Zealand. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 


A RECENT CASE OF MUSHROOM INTOXICATION 


AutHoucH it has been stated, in standard 
works on fungi, that a common and other- 
wise edible species (Panwolus papilionaceus) 
sometimes has intoxicating properties, it seems 
desirable to record the recent experience of two 
persons who ate considerable numbers of this 
species, unmixed with other kinds. 

They were familiar with this species and 
various others, and had on several occasions 
eaten it in small numbers, mixed with other 
kinds, without noticeable effects. This is a 
small, rather delicate, umbrella-shaped mush- 
room, which is common on cultivated land, 
planted to farm crops. 

Mr. W., whose narrative is here given, is a 
middle-aged, vigorous man, strictly temperate 
in his habits. He is a good botanist, and has 
made a special study of fungi. The account 


SEPTEMBER 18, 1914] 


of his experience was dictated to me by him 
about a week after the event, while fresh in 
his memory, 

The lady referred to as Mrs. Y., who also 
ate the mushrooms, is his niece by marriage. 
Her husband (Mr. Y.) was present, but ate 
no mushrooms, He could observe some things 
not noticed by the victims, both of whom ex- 
perienced nearly the same effects. Mrs. Y. 
also gave the writer a personal account of 
some of her symptoms, essentially the same as 
those here narrated. This article in its pres- 
ent form has been read by Mr. W. and ap- 
proved by him. 

The parties are natives of Oxford County, 
Maine, where the event occurred. Their real 
names are withheld, by request. The effects 
experienced are in some respects similar to 
those caused by hashish; others are like those 
experienced by some opium! smokers, espe- 
cially the multiplication of objects and their 
bright colors. The appearance of vivid colors 
recalls the symptoms described by Dr. Weir 
Mitchell, when he took Mexican mescal pills, 
as an experiment. The loss of the power of 
estimating time and distance, as in some 
dreams, is interesting, as existing when other 
faculties were active. 


Narrative of Mr. W. 


On July 10, 1914, I gathered a good mess 
of the mushrooms (Paneolus papilionaceus) 
and had them cooked for dinner. There may 
have been about a pound of them as gathered, 
but when fried in butter they made no great 
quantity, owing to their softness and deli- 
cate structure. 

They were all eaten by Mrs. Y. and myself. 
Peculiar symptoms were perceived in a very 
short time. Noticed first that I could not 
collect my thoughts easily, when addressed, 
nor answer readily. Could not will to arise 
promptly. Walked a short distance; the time 
was short, but seemed long drawn out; could 
walk straight but seemed drowsy; had no dis- 
agreeable stomach sensations, effects seemed 
entirely mental; remember little about the 
walk. Mrs. Y. was in about the same condi- 
tion, according to Mr. Y. My mind very soon 


SCIENCE 


409 


appeared to clear up somewhat, and things 
began to seem funny, and rather like intoxica- 
tion. Walked with Mr. Y. A little later ob- 
jects took on peculiar bright colors. A field 
of redtop grass seemed to be in horizontal 
stripes of bright red and green, and a pecu- 
liar green haze spread itself over all the land- 
scape. At this time Mrs. Y. saw nearly every- 
thing green, but the sky was blue; her white 
handkerchief appeared green to her; and the 
tips of her fingers seemed to be like the heads 
of snakes. 

Next, say about half an hour after eating, 
both of us had an irresistible impulse to run 
and jump, which we did freely. I did not 
stagger, but all my motions seemed to be 
mechanical or automatic, and my muscles did 
not properly nor fully obey my will. Soon 
both of us became very hilarious, with an 
irresistible impulse to laugh and joke immod- 
erately, and almost hysterically at times. The 
laughing could be controlled only with great 
difficulty; at the same time we were indulging 
extravagantly in joking and what seemed to 
us funny or witty remarks. Mr, Y., who was 
with us, said that some of the jokes were 
successful; others not so, but I can not re- 
member what they were about. 

Mr. Y. says that at this time the pupils of 
our eyes were very much dilated, and that 
Mrs. Y. at times rolled up her eyes and had 
some facial contortions, and slight frothing 
of saliva at the mouth. Later we returned to 
the house, about one quarter of a mile. At 
this time I had no distinct comprehension of 
time; a very short time seemed long drawn 
out, and a longer time seemed very short; the 
same as to distances walked; though not so 
when estimated by the eye. The hilarious con- 
dition continued, but no visual illusions 
occurred at this time. 

After entering the house, I noticed that the 
irregular figures on the wall-paper seemed to 
have creepy and crawling motions, contracting 
and expanding continually, though not chang- 
ing their forms; finally they began to project 
from the wall and grew out toward me from it 
with uncanny motions. 

About this time I noticed a bouquet of large 


410 


red roses, all of one kind, on the table and an- 
other on the secretary; then at once the room 
seemed to become filled with roses of various 
red colors and of all sizes, in great bunches, 
wreaths and chains, and with regular banks of 
them, all around me, but mixed with some 
green foliage, as in the real bouquets. This 
beautiful illusion lasted only a short time. 
About this time I had a decided rush of blood 
to my head, with marked congestion, which 
caused me to lie down. I then had a very 
disagreeable illusion. Innumerable human 
faces, of all sorts and sizes, but all hideous, 
seemed to fill the room and to extend off in 
multitudes to interminable distances, while 
many were close to me on all sides. They were 
all grimacing rapidly and horribly and under- 
going contortions, all the time growing more 
and more hideous. Some were upside down. 

The faces appeared in all sorts of bright 
and even intense colors—so intense that I 
could only liken them to flames of fire, in red, 
purple, green and yellow colors, like fireworks. 

At this time I began to become alarmed and 
sent for the doctor, but he did nothing, for the 
effects were wearing off when he came. Real 
objects at this time appeared in their true 
forms, but if colored they assumed far more 
intense or vivid colors than natural; dull red 
becoming brilliant red, ete. A little later, 
when standing up, I had the unpleasant sensa- 
tion of having my body elongate upward to the 
ceiling, which receding, I grew far up, like 
Jack’s bean-stalk, but retained my natural 
thickness. Collapsed suddenly to my natural 
height. 

At this time I noticed the parlor organ and 
tried to play on it, to see the effect, but could 
not concentrate my mind nor manage my 
fingers. About this time my mind became 
confused and my remembrance of what hap- 
pened next is dim and chaotic. Probably there 
was a partial and brief loss of consciousness. 
Laid down to wait for the doctor. Looking at 
my hands, they seemed to become small, ema- 
ciated, shrunken and bony, like those of a 
mummy. Mrs. Y. says that at this time her 
hands and arms seemed to grow unnaturally 
large. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1029 


When JI attempted to scratch a spot on my 
neck, it felt like scratching a rough cloth 
meal-bag full of meal, and it seemed as large 
as a barrel, and the scratching seemed quite 
impersonal. Later I imagined I was able, by 
a sort of clairvoyance, to tell the thoughts of 
those around me. Soon after this our condi- 
tions rapidly assumed the very hilarious phase, 
similar to that of the early stages, with much 
involuntary laughing and joking. This con- 
dition gradually diminished after three 
o’clock, until our mental conditions became 
perfectly normal, at about six o’clock P.M. 
The entire experience lasted about six hours. 
No ill effects followed. There was no head- 
ache, nor any disturbance of the digestion. 


A. EK. VERRILL 
YALE UNIVERSITY 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 


Plane Trigonometry and Applications. By 
E. J. Witczynsxt, Ph.D., University of Chi- 
cago. Edited by H. E. Siaucut, Ph.D., 
University of Chicago. Boston, New York 


and Chicago, Allyn and Bacon. 1914. Pp. 
xi-t 265. 
Elementary Theory of Equations. By L. E. 


Dickson, Ph.D., University of Chicago. 
New York, John Wiley & Sons. 1914. Pp. 
v-+ 184. 

Among the prominent features of the former 
of these two elementary text-books is the ful- 
ness of its explanations of fundamental proc- 
esses. In fact, it might at first appear that 
nothing was left for the teacher to explain, 
but the numerous illustrative examples and 
problems should serve to awaken discussion 
and to enliven the recitation periods. The 
clearness with which the fundamental ideas 
are developed tends to make the book un- 
usually easy for the student. 

The book is divided into two nearly equal 
parts. The first part is devoted to the solution 
of triangles, and is published separately for 
the use of secondary schools. In this part 
practical applications to surveying are empha- 
sized, and the use of the slide rule and the 
logarithmic tables are clearly exhibited. The 


SEPTEMBER 18, 1914] 


author’s extensive experience as a practical 
computer, combined with his keen mathe- 
matical insight, have enabled him to provide 
against the usual difficulties and pitfalls which 
beset the path of the beginner in this field. 

The second part treats the more advanced 
parts of elementary trigonometry together 
with applications to simple harmonic curves, 
simple harmonic and wave motion, and har- 
monic analysis. The two parts are intended 
to cover the work in plane trigonometry usu- 
ally given during the freshman course in the 
colleges. Notwithstanding the unusually large 
number of trigonometries which are now on 
the market, this book seems to have important 
characteristic properties. 

From the standpoint of pure mathematics 
plane trigonometry may be of comparatively 
little importance, but it occupies a strategic 
point in the mathematical training of most 
students who take freshman mathematics in 
our colleges and universities. The numerous 
direct applications of this subject and the 
training which it provides for a wise use of 
approximate results combine to make it espe- 
cially important, that the student should have 
clear views at this point in order that mathe- 
matical thinking may become natural to him. 
Professor Wilezynski’s book seems to guard 
to an unusual degree against vague or incor- 
rect impressions. 

Professor Dickson’s Hlementary Theory of 
Equations relates to a subject where both text- 
books and students are much less numerous 
than in the subject considered above. The 
classic work by Burnside and Panton, in two 
volumes, is too extensive for the available 
time in many institutions. Moreover, it omits 
the important subject of systems of linear 
equations. Some of the more recent works 
aim to lead up to modern theories too rapidly 
to give enough room to the classic funda- 
mental theories. 

In the present book the author has provided 
for two courses by marking with a dagger 
many of the more difficult sections which 
could be omitted without breaking the con- 
tinuity of the course. The aggregate of the 
sections thus marked is more than fifty pages, 


SCIENCE 


411 


and the rest constitutes a very brief course in 
this subject. A large number of illustrative 
problems are solved in the text, and about 
five hundred graded exercises are distributed 
through the various chapters. To the re- 
viewer the book appears to excel all others ex- 
tant for a first course in this subject. 

As might be expected, the author has paid 
especial attention to rigor and conciseness 
in presentation, and has made a wise selection 
from the vast amount of material relating to 
the subject in hand. His masterful skill in 
reaching the essential points by the most direct 
means is everywhere apparent. In addition 
to a treatment of the rational integral func- 
tion in one unknown, the book contains a good 
introduction to the theory of determinants 
and the solution of a system of simultaneous 
linear equations. 

For the sake of simplicity very few modern 
concepts are introduced. The Galois theory is 
entirely omitted and the subject of invariants 
is only illustrated by a few examples. The 
concept of rank of a determinant is intro- 
duced but the closely related concepts of ma- 
trix and rank of a matrix are not developed. 
The introduction of these concepts would 
have enabled the author to state more con- 
cisely some results relating to a system of 


linear equations. 
G. A. Minter 


Rubber and Rubber Planting. By R. H. Locr, 
Se.D. London, Cambridge University 
Press; New York, G. P. Putnam’s Sons. 
1913. Pp. 13 and 245. 5 by 7 inches. 

The purpose of the author of this book has 
been to present an introductory outline of the 
subject, as stated in the title, to meet the needs 
of as wide a circle of readers as possible. 
One can not but feel that the result would 
have been more satisfying if the limitation of 
the size of the volume had not prevented the 
author from doing what he really wished to do. 
A better end could perhaps have been gained 
by confining the treatment to the most im- 
portant rubber plant, economically regarded, 
Hevea Braziliensis. Had this been done, the 
least satisfactory chapters (II., X. and XI), 


412 


scarcely more than summarily encyclopedic 
in their character, would have been omitted 
with little damage to the whole, and would 
have been more than compensated for by a 
still fuller treatment of the behavior of the 
Hevea tree under cultural conditions, a sub- 
ject with which the author is familiar because 
of residence in Ceylon and intimate study of 
its plantations. Indeed, a complete presenta- 
tion of his studies of latex flow and methods 
of tapping, bringing the whole of his work in 
one volume, would have been distinctly valu- 
able to the planter and as much of the book 
is occupied by details which, in spite of the 
purpose of its author, are beyond the scope of, 
or insufticient for, the general reader, the only 
disadvantage would be found in a perhaps 
smaller market. The prospective planter, and, 
still more so, the person who still entertains 
the notion that rubber planting is a road to 
immediate wealth, will find plenty of material 
for an introductory study of the situation as re- 
gards rubber planting in the east; and if he has 
actually started on the venture, plenty of sug- 
gestion, of great value from the practical point 
of view. So that, while the reviewer thinks 
that the interests of a wide circle of readers 
have been misapprehended, and ill met, the 
book is most decidedly a good general intro- 
duction to the study of the problem of Hevea 
cultural methods in the far east, and would 
have been still more useful had the subject 
been extended and a fuller bibliography ap- 
pended. 

It would also have added not a little to the 
text in point of value to the intelligent stu- 
dent to have given specifie citations of au- 
thorities on which the author frequently and 
properly depends, while a little further consul- 
tation of these would have obviated some 
minor insufficiencies and errors, as, for example, 
that made when it is stated that the methods 
of preparing guayule rubber are kept secret. 

Plantation rubber has received its apotheo- 
sis, and it is with us to stay. The doom of 
wild para, to say nothing of the inferior kinds, 
is as sure to sound as has that of guayule. No 
two economic plants have histories more full 
of romance than these, but, as those of early 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1029 


history in general, exploration, adventure and 
exploitation of wild rubber fields must give 
way to plain, work-a-day methods. Civilized 
man does not hunt for his acorns and roots; 
he grows them. No more ean he afford to hunt 
for his rubber; this also must he raise inten- 
sively and systematically, reducing costs and 
perfecting the product by the help of every 
scientific method at his command. Jn reading 
anew the history given by Mr. Lock of the at- 
tempt, now happily completely successful, to 
introduce the Hevea into the east, one’s ad- 
miration of the pluck and faith displayed by 
the British, to whom everlasting credit must 
be rendered for their service, is again awak- 
ened. If Kew had done nothing more for 
civilization than this, the rubber producers of 
the far east could well take the support of that 
institution on their own shoulders for all time, 
and still never repay the debt. Botanical sci- 
ence needs the support of the business man 
more than he is willing at present to render. 
It is not inappropriate to say this at this 
moment when the big rubber companies are 
occupying the field. There are still new 
sources of wealth for science to search for, 
but science must work in its own way. We 
should like to see the man of business willing 
to take the long chance in the interests of sci- 
ence with the same sang froid as in the in- 
terests of business. He will be the gainer in 
the end. 

Mr. Lock’s account of the physiology of 
latex flow is valuable, but, at the same time, it 
shows us how far we are yet from having more 
than a very meager understanding of the 
whole subject. In this, the way to an accurate 
scientific study of the physiology of rubber se- 
cretion has been blazed out by the more im- 
mediately necessary practical tests so that the 
planter might have real guidance in handling 
the tree. The nature of the “wound re- 
sponse” characteristic of Hevea, is still to be 
closely studied. Here it may be remarked that 
the relation of yield to water-supply appears also. 
to be antithetic to that observed in Castilloa 
and the Guayule (Parthenium argentatum), 
since the total yield and highest percentage of 
rubber in Hevea varies directly with the water 


SEPTEMBER 18, 1914] 


available (at least within the limits observed), 
according to our author, while the reverse is 
true in the other species just mentioned. Mr. 
Long might profitably have referred to Dr. 
Spence’s experiments on Hevea in connection 
with his discussion of the functions of latex, 
about which we are indeed, as he states, very 
much in the dark. 

No less important practically is the ques- 
tion of the nature of coagulation, and here 
also from now on careful scientific methods 
must be employed if further material progress 
is to be made. 

Mr. Long’s book indicates these and numer- 
ous other problems which await the attention 
of both planter and scientist, and because of 
this and because it contains a summary of 
practical results in plantation methods and 
management thus far obtained stated by an 
evidently careful student of practical meth- 
ods, it will be worth study by every one in- 
terested. ‘Tables of approximate costs and of 
data derived from tapping experiments based 
upon his actual experience in the east are 
given and the value of these is beyond ques- 
tion as offering guidance to those concerned. 

F. E. Lioyp 

McGILL UNIVERSITY 


THE WORK OF THE U. S. FISHERIES MA- 
RINE BIOLOGICAL STATION AT 
BEAUFORT, N. C., DURING 
1913 

THE laboratory of the Bureau of Fisheries at 
Beaufort, North Carolina, was opened to in- 
vestigators engaged in the scientific and eco- 
nomie problems of the Bureau and to indepen- 
dent workers on June 9, and closed about the 
middle of September. The number assigned to 
the laboratory taxed its capacity and not all 
applicants could be accommodated. Following 
is a brief summary of the summer’s work and 
ot the various activities of the station during 
the year. 

The equipment of the station was enhanced 
by the addition of beam trawls, a small fish 
trawl, stow-net, new pound-net, three new row- 
beats, a photomicrographiec outfit, and numer- 
ous other articles needed in the laboratory, 


SCIENCE 


413 


power house and mess house. The most im- 
portant addition was that of a 33-foot motor 
boat equipped with a 24 horse power 4-cycle 
4-eylinder Lamb engine. This boat has a 10- 
foot saloon with suitable accommodations for 
extended trips and a large after deck, conveni- 
ent for landing the beam trawls, boat dredges 
and fish trawls used at the station. It is a one- 
man control boat and is especially adapted to 
the needs of the laboratory. A new dark room 
for photographie work was built in one end of 
the laboratory. This replaced the one on the 
museum floor and added greatly to the con- 
veniences of the laboratory. 

The success attendent on the propagation of 
the diamond-back terrapin at this station has 
attracted considerable attention and a number 
of persons are contemplating engaging in this 
industry. Early in the year a company was 
formed at Beaufort and plans were perfected 
for growing terrapin for market on a large 
scale. The company has a well-equipped estab- 
lishment with over 3,000 terrapin purchased for 
breeding purposes. The adaptability of this 
form to artificial conditions was shown by the 
fact that terrapin purchased during the laying 
season continued their activities in captivity 
and before the close of the season over 700 
young terrapin had been added to the com- 
pany’s stock. 

The 1913 brood of the laboratory numbered 
1,424 on November 10. This is an increase of 
198 over the brood of the preceding year. The 
average number of eggs per terrapin has stead- 
ily increased with longer periods of confine- 
ment. Those purchased in the early stages of 
the experiment, this year averaged over 13 
eggs apiece. It was also quite evident from 
the number of eggs per nest that the terrapin 
in this pound laid twice during the season. In 
October, 554 terrapin belonging to the broods 
of 1911 and 1912 were planted in suitable lo- 
calities in Lynnhaven Bay, Va., and 200 of 
the 1912 brood were sent to Chase, Florida, for 
experimental purposes. A brief account of the 
cultural experiments with this species by W. 
P. Hay and H. D. Aller is contained in Kco- 
nomic Circular No. 5 of the Bureau of Fisher- 
jes issued June 24, 1913, and entitled “ Arti- 


414 


ficial Propagation of the Diamond-back Terra- 
pin.” 

Following the plan outlined in 1912, spe- 
cial emphasis was laid on the collection of data 
en the fishes of the region. The date of 
spawning of the southern flounder (Paralich- 
thys lethostigmus) was determined. As the 
flounder fishery is an important one and as the 
various edible species are less abundant than 
formerly, steps are being taken to engage in 
their propagation at this station. The oppor- 
tunities for engaging in propagation work 
have been advanced by the addition of the 
position of fish-culturist, and Mr. Charles 
Hatsel, who showed a great deal of natural 
ability in carrying out the cultural experi- 
ments with the diamond-back terrapin, fills 
this position. 

For the purpose of determining the loca- 
tion, extent and resources of the off-shore fish- 
ing grounds and to encourage their develop- 
ment, the Fisheries Steamer Mish Hawk was 
detailed to the laboratory for a period of two 
months, and on September 6 began a brief 
survey. A number of grounds where black- 
fish or sea bass (Centropristes striatus) were 
abundant were surveyed and charted, and rep- 
resentative collections of the local fauna were 
made. The success attendant on line fishing 
by members of the Mish Hawk’s crew and of 
fishermen visiting these grounds are encourag- 
ing, and more than 15,000 pounds of this fish 
were taken. A brief summary of the results 
of this work is contained in Economic Circu- 
lar No. 8, of the Bureau of Fisheries, issued 
February 25, 1914, and entitled “ The Offshore 
Fishing Grounds of North Carolina.” 

The following species taken in the Beaufort 
region during the year are believed to be new 
records for the coast of North Carolina: 
Anchovia argyrophana (Cuvier & Valencien- 

nes), 

Anchovia perfasciata (Poey), 

Aprionodon isodon (Miiller & Henle), 

Blennius stearnsi Jordan & Gilbert (?), 

Calamus calamus (Cuvier & Valenciennes), 

Callionymus calliurus Eigenmann & Eigen- 
mann, 

Congermurena balearica (De la Roche), 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. KL. No. 1029 


Clupea hanengus Linnzus, 

Hemicaranz amblyrhynchus (Cuvier & Valen- 
ciennes), 

Toglossus calliurus Bean, 

Letharchus velifer Goode & Bean, 

Ogcocephalus radiatus (Mitchell), 

Pagrus pagrus (Linnzus), 

Parexocewtus mesogaster (Bloch), 

Platophrys ocellatus (Agassiz), 

Rhomboplites aurorubens (Cuvier & Valen- 
ciennes), 

Rypticus bistrispinus (Mitchill), 

Syacium micrurum Ranzani, 

Vulpecula marina Valmont. 

A report on the sharks and rays of the Beau- 
fort region, in which special stress is laid on 
the character of the teeth and dermal denticles 
as an aid to identification, is being prepared 
by the director. 

The scientific workers at the laboratory have 
furnished the data on which the following 
brief summary of their work is based: 

Dr. C. H. Edmondson, of Washburn Col- 
lege, devoted six weeks to a survey of the ma- 
rine protozoan fauna in the vicinity of Beau- 
fort. This work was conducted along three 
more or less closely connected lines, as follows: 

1. Study of pelagic forms obtained by means 
of tow nets and the stow net. The latter was 
used to good advantage in collecting the free- 
swimming surface forms. 

2. Dredgings taken in the vicinity of the 
sea-buoy on a bottom of thick black mud in 5 
or 6 fathoms of water. This proved to be very 
rich in Foraminifera. 

3. Examination of the contents of the stom- 
achs of a number of species of fishes with a 
view of determining whether or not certain 
marine protozoa might be considered as con- 
stituting a portion of the food of these fishes. 

The similarity of the protozoan fauna of the 
Beaufort region in many of its features to that 
found in such widely separated localities as 
Woods Hole, Mass., the Dry Tortugas, the Pa- 
cific Ocean off the coast of southern California 
and even in the Puget Sound region, was 
striking. 

Of the fishes examined for their stomach 
contents, only three species showed evidences 


SEPTEMBER 18, 1914] 


of having ingested protozoa. Many species of 
protozoa were always found in the stomachs of 
the hairy-back or thread herring (Opisthonema 
oglinum) and the menhaden (Brevoortia ty- 
rannus). Dznoflagellates were commonly 
present in the stomachs of these species, and 
several species of Ceratiwm and Peridiniwm 
were always present, while Dinophysis was 
nearly as constant. 

Tintinnopsis, a ciliate, represented by at 
least three species, was always present in the 
menhaden, frequently in myriads. The pin- 
fish (Lagodon rhomboides), also a surface 
feeder, ingests masses of algz and probably 
protozoa, but only rarely were evidences of the 
letter found. Broken fragments of Ceratiwm 
were occasionally present in its stomach. The 
coarse gill-rakers of this fish probably permit 
the minute organisms to escape. 

Tunicates were also examined and the cil- 
jate, Tintinnopsis, was almost universally 
found in the digestive cavities and may be 
considered one of the items of food of these 
forms. 

A more extensive study of this phase of the 
problem would undoubtedly verify the belief 
that the protozoa are of very high economic 
value as food, either directly or indirectly, for 
many fishes as well as other marine forms. 

Mr. W. C. George, of the University of 
North Carolina, an independent worker, de- 
yoted considerable time to a general study of 
the local fauna and in studying early stages in 
the embryology of Chetopterus and the reduc- 
tion phenomena exhibited in the meduse of 
Pennaria. 

Professor W. P. Hay, of Washington, D. C., 
continued the investigation of the diamond- 
back terrapin and gathered additional data for 
a final report in which, it is hoped, a complete 
account of the life history of this animal can 
be given. Observations were made on the rate 
of growth of the loggerhead turtle. Two of 
the young ones hatched at the laboratory in 
September, 1912, survived the winter and at- 
tained the age of one year in captivity. Dur- 
ing this time these increased in length from 
about 77.38 mm. to 200 and 218 mm. respect- 
ively. 


SCIENCE 


415 


Rather late in the season an investigation of 
the blue crab was begun, to determine rate of 
growth and interval between moults. From 
the results obtained it appears that the species 
easts its shell with fair regularity about every 
two weeks and increases in measurement about 
one quarter to two fifths at each moult up to 
maturity. After sexual maturity has been at- 
tained moulting probably ceases and the ani- 
mals, especially the females, fall easy victims 
to various parasites. It was not possible to 
secure positive evidence that the females lay 
a second lot of eggs, though it is probable that 
those which survive the winter do so. 

Aside from the experimental lines of work 
considerable time was devoted to collecting, 
identifying and describing the decapod crus- 
taceans of the region. A paper embodying the 
results of this work is being prepared. 

Mr. Selig Hecht, of the College of the City 
of New York, who was assigned to the director 
for duty, accompanied certain of the collecting 
trips and engaged in (1) a preliminary study 
of the rate of growth of the menhaden; (2) 
the relation of form, weight, length and other 
body measurements for the following species: 
Anchovia brownii, Anchovia mitchilli, Bre- 
voortia tyrannus, Leiostomus xanthurus, Pe- 
prilus alepidotus and Orthopristis chrysop- 
terus. In all cases there was a clear correlation 
Letween weight and length, so that weight was 
shown to be a cubic function of length. The 
interrelationships of the various parts of the 
body and total length were established for each 
species. It was found for each that the form 
of the fish remained constant throughout the 
life of the individual, and correlated with this 
that the volume of the fish was a function of 
the product of the length, width and depth, 
as well as a function of the weight. These 
combined relationships mean that weight in 
these species is equal to the product of length, 
width and depth times a constant which differs 
for each species. 

The relative growth of various parts of the 
fish was studied, and the results show that al- 
though apparently the various parts of the fish 
grow at different constant rates relative to the 


416 


total length, their absolute rates of growth are 
the same. This apparent rate of growth of 
each part relative to the total length is a func- 
tion of the ratio of the length of the part to 
the total length of the fish. (8) Study of the 
puffing mechanism of Spheroides maculatus. 
Anatomically the mechanism is composed of 
two parts: a diverticular bag from the ventral 
wall of the esophagus, and several sphincter 
muscles. In inflation with water, the liquid is 
drawn in as in a normal inspiration. During 
the expiration, however, all openings to the ex- 
terior are shut and the muscle controlling the 
epening into the esophagus, and eventually 
into the diverticular bag is released and the 
water is forced into the diverticulum or “ puff- 
bag.” This occurs several times before infla- 
tion is complete. Inflation with air differs 
from that of water in that during inspiration 
the air is drawn into the oral cavity largely 
through the opercular openings and not 
through the mouth. 

Dr. Albert Kuntz, of the University of Iowa, 
continued the investigation of pelagic fish eggs 
and Jarve. This work was undertaken for the 
purpose of securing a record as complete as 
possible of the time of spawning and of the 
embryological and larval development of fishes 
with pelagic eggs breeding in these waters 
during the summer, one of the primary objects 
being to afford a ready means of identifying 
either eggs or larval fishes at any time during 
* embryological and larval life. 

Pelagic eggs and larve of not less than eight 
species were taken during the summer. Com- 
plete records of the embryological and larval 
development of two species, viz. Bairdiella 
chrysura (Lacépéde) and Anchovia mitchilli 
(Cuvier & Valenciennes) were secured. Ob- 
servations on the eggs and larve of the re- 
maining species as yet remain incomplete. 

Dr. S. O. Mast, of Johns Hopkins Univer- 
sity, devoted his time to a study of the changes 
in pattern and color in fishes, especially the 
flounders. The flounders lie on the bottom 
most of the time and the skin assumes a color 
and pattern so nearly like that of the environ- 
ment that it is frequently very difficult to see 
them. On a black bottom they become black; 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Von. XL. No. 1029 


on a white bottom, white; on a yellow bottom, 
yellow; on a blue bottom, bluish; on a red bot- 
tom, reddish, ete. All of these changes in the 
skin are regulated through the eye. This indi- 
cates color vision. If the bottom is finely 
mottled, the pattern on the skin assumes a fine 
grain; if coarsely mottled, it assumes a coarse 
grain; but there is no evidence indicating an 
actual reproduction of the configuration of the 
background. 

If, after the skin has become adapted to a 
given bottom, the fish are removed to a dif- 
ferent bottom, they tend to return to the orig- 
inal, 2. e., they tend to select a bottom which 
harmonizes with their skin. A large number 
of photographs and autochromes were made to 
facilitate this study and to serve in illustrating 
the report. 

Mr. L. F. Shackell, of St. Louis University 
school of medicine, continued work begun in 
the summer of 1912 on the protection of wood 
against the attacks of marine borers. The 
test employed on the pieces of wood treated at 
that time—submersion in the water of Beau- 
fort Harbor for ten months—eliminated many 
forms of treatment. The work of the past 
summer, therefore, consisted of detailed ex- 
perimental work involving a very few materials 
found to be effective over a relatively short 
period. The cost of treatment was also con- 
sidered in the later work. It is not expected 
that definite results of any economic impor- 
tance will be obtained in less than three years’ 
time, during which the present series of treated 
pine poles will be continually submerged under 
sea water. : 

Mr. H. F. Taylor, of Trinity College, con- 
tinued his investigations of the scales of fishes, 
(1) concluding as far as possible the investi- 
gations of the squeteague scales and (2) veri- 
fying and amplifying the results thus attained 
by similar work on other species. 

On account of its adaptability to artificial 
conditions the pig-fish (Orthopristis chrysop- 
terus) was used. Scales of over 80 specimens 
were examined and the growth rate calculated 
as for the squeteague. Evidences thus found 
point to the first year as that of sexual ma- 
turity. 


SEPTEMBER 18, 1914] 


‘While the scales of the pig-fish are much 
more regular in their features than those of 
the squeteague, observations of the radii cor- 
roborate the evidence obtained in 1912 that the 
radii are merely fissures to permit greater free- 
dom of body movement. 

Dr. H. V. Wilson, of the University of North 
Carolina, spent the summer in an examination 
of the collection of Philippine sponges. The 
collection embraces all the great groups of 
sponges: Calcarea, Hexactinellids, Tetractinel- 
lids including Jithistida, Monaxonida and 
Keratosa. Sixty-odd packages were examined. 
These were found to represent twenty-five 
Species, the majority of which are new forms. 

Dr. James J. Wolfe, of Trinity College, de- 
voted his investigations primarily to an exami- 
mation of the Diatomacere of Beaufort. Ex- 
tensive tow-net collections were made at vari- 
cus localities under a variety of conditions. 
These are to be contiued at monthly intervals 
for one year. By this means it is hoped a 
thoroughly representative collection will be se- 
eured. Mounts have been made of about 200 
sspecies and considerable progress has been 

made in their identification. 

~The culture of Padina sporelings was again 
earried on—now with special reference to 
parthenogenesis. Cultures demonstrably par- 
thenogenetic, started in the laboratory, as in 
the earlier work, were transferred to the sea. 
Unfortunately these were destroyed by the se- 
vere storm of September 3-4, necessitating 
their repetition before this work can be re- 
ported in full. 

Mr. Raymond B. Beckwith, of Olivet Col- 
lege, and Mr. Francis Harper, of Cornell Uni- 
versity, who were assigned to the director for 
duty, accompanied the various collecting trips 
and kept complete records of their observa- 
tions, devoting special attention to the habits 
of the fishes of the region. 

In addition to his other duties, Mr. Beck- 
with accompanied the Fish Hawk on the vari- 
ous collecting trips and assisted the director 
on the survey of the off-shore fishing grounds. 

In addition to his regular work Mr. Harper 
took a large series of photographs and a num- 
ber of autochromes of live flounders to be used 


SCIENCE 


417 


in illustrating Dr. Mast?s report. He also 
made numerous observations on the birds of 
the region. In addition to the incidental ob- 
servations on field trips for fishes, a few holi- 
days and Sundays were devoted to this work 
and a list of 87 species recorded. ‘Ten birds 
were tagged with leg-bands furnished by the 
American Bird Banding Association. A 
breeding colony of herons on an island in the 
vicinity of the laboratory was found on Au- 
gust 9 to contain approximately 350 little blue 
herons (Florida cerulea), 150 Louisiana 
herons (Hydranassa tricolor ruficollis), 8 black- 
crowned night herons (Nycticorax nycticorax 
nevius) and 6 American egrets (Herodias 
egretta). The little blue heron is not recorded 
as a breeding bird of North Carolina in the 
American Ornithologist’s Union List, and this 
is the first time the American egret is known 
to have nested in the vicinity since 1899. Ten- 
tative arrangements have been made for the 
protection of the colony next year by a warden 
of the National Association of Audubon So- 
cieties. A number of species of shore birds 
were studied and photographed during the lat- 
ter part of the summer. 

An artist, Mrs. E. Bennett Decker, of Wash- 
ington, D. C., was engaged in making the 
drawings to illustrate the embryological papers 
of Dr. Kuntz, and a series of drawings of the 
dermal denticles and teeth of the sharks of the 
region to accompany the report of the director 
on this subject. 

Lewis RADCLIFFE 

BUREAU OF FISHERIES, 

WASHINGTON, D. C., 
March 13, 1914 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 


THE TRANSMISSION OF TERRESTRIAL RADIATION BY 
THE EARTH’S ATMOSPHERE IN SUMMER 
AND IN WINTER 
AN indirect measurement of the transmis- 
sion through the earth’s atmosphere of those 
radiations which are emitted by the earth’s 
solid surface may be made by comparing the 
actual radiation of a surface at the terrestrial 
temperature toward the sky, with that toward 
a black body at absolute zero. The latter can 


418 


not be directly observed, but may be obtained 
by measuring the radiation toward a black 
surface of cavernous shape at known tempera- 
tures, using Stefan’s law. This method has 
been used in the present research. If no 
radiation from the earth’s surface can pene- 
trate the atmosphere, as in the case when the 
sky is obscured by thick clouds, then the sky 
has the same effective temperature as the 
ground; but according as more or less surface 
radiation escapes to space through the air, 
the effective or apparent temperature of the 
sky diminishes, although never reaching abso- 
lute zero, for that would mean complete ab- 
sence of absorption. 

The radiation to the sky, measured either 
by a bolometer or a thermopile, falls off very 
slightly as the pointing of the instrument de- 
parts from the zenith, but more rapidly near 
the horizon where, if the blue is of inferior 
purity, the whitish sky has an effective tem- 
perature almost identical with that of the 
earth’s surface. The dulling of the blue of 
the sky near the horizon is due to the dust and 
haze of the lower atmosphere. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1029 


its purity much better and a larger transmis- 
sion, such as that indicated by the upper curve 
of Fig. 1 (which, however, is meant for a 
winter curve at sea level) may be given for 
terrestrial radiation emanating at inclina- 
tions with the horizon which are taken as 
abscisse, the ordinates being the transmission. 
In cold winter weather when the ground is 
covered with snow, atmospheric dust is 
greatly diminished, and the conditions at sea 
level approximate to those on mountains. 
These transmission curves for variously in- 
clined rays have been obtained by dividing the 
observed sky radiation by the unobstructed 
radiation to space appropriate to the observed 
temperature, assuming that space is at the 
absolute zero of temperature. The lower curve 
is founded on excellent observations, but the 
upper one is not so reliable and its shape is 
partly inferred. The maximum ordinate, how- 
ever, is sometimes exceeded with the purest 
skies of winter, and at this season these uni- 
form and deep blue skies are not rare, the 
difficulty in observing them being usually an 
instrumental one arising from the necessity 


eit 


E et 


iti i 
HEE 


i 


a 


i 
fet 


aS sy i ee ee cee He cee 7 
OMNIGO2! 40" 507 COME FONTS OWN si 
. Fig. 1. 


The lower curve of Fig. 1 is derived from 
observations of sky radiation on a summer’s 
day of good blue sky near sea level. From 
mountain summits lifted above a large part of 
the atmospheric dust, the cerulean blue retains 


of working with exposed instruments. The 
adopted values of summer transmission, T's, 
and of winter transmission, 7',, from which 
the curves are drawn, are given in the next 
table: 


SEPTEMBER 18, 1914] 


Altitud i 
apaitiinde | 10° | 20° | 30° | 40° | 50° | 60° | 70° | 80° | 90° 
TC Renae .116].162|.190).208}.226).238 240). 258 .262 
Woe Ape .344].415|.459|.495|.525|.5431.560|.572|.581 


Ordinarily when we speak of the trans- 
missivity of the atmosphere without further 
specification, we mean the vertical transmis- 
sion through the entire atmosphere. This can 
be obtained from the zenithal sky radiation, 
which is all that needs to be considered in 
what follows. 

The transmission of terrestrial radiation by 
the atmosphere relates entirely to rays of long 
wave-length, and is effected by processes quite 
different from those which govern the trans- 
mission of solar radiation. Large variations 
may occur in the transmission of terrestrial 
radiation, and indeed quite suddenly, so that 
the eye scarcely appreciates the approach of 
new atmospheric conditions from any change 
in the appearance of the sky. It is only 
rarely that moderately smooth transmission 
curves can be obtained from the zenith to the 
horizon, because the conditions are apt to 
change before the observations can be finished. 

The transmission of soil radiation to space 
is continually fluctuating between zero and 
an upper limit which seldom exceeds 60 per 
cent. of the maximum theoretical value for 
unimpeded radiation. At night, the diurnal 
convection diminishes greatly, and on land 
the wind is apt to fall as the sun goes down. 
Hence on many nights the surface air is 
approximately calm, and a thin quiescent layer 
of air forms in contact with the soil, in which 
the temperature is apt to fall below the dew 
point as a result of nocturnal radiation. 
Such a layer of nearly saturated air close to 
the ground, though exceedingly shallow, 
develops an extraordinary absorptive power 
for infra-red radiation in broad diffuse bands 
as a result of the production of the hydrols, 
and these bands may eventually extend so 
widely as to produce practically complete ob- 
struction of terrestrial radiation. An ex- 
ample of this is given in my paper on “ Sky 
Radiation and the Isothermal Layer.”1 After 

1 American Journal of Science, Vol. XXXV., 
April, 1913, pp. 377 to 378 and 380 to 381. 


SCIENCE 


419 


some hours of cooling, further diminution of 
temperature is prevented in such cases by the 
obstruction offered by this very thin air layer; 
and if we compare the loss of radiation from 
the earth’s surface by night and by day, the 
former is much the smaller on such nights as 
are here considered. In spite of a phenom- 
enally clear sky, the temperature of the ground 
as morning approaches often remains almost 
stationary, partly from the giving up of latent 
heat of evaporation in the condensation of 
aqueous vapor, and partly from this increase 
in the absorptive power of moist air as satura- 
tion becomes imminent.? If, however, instead 
of observing the superficial radiation through 
this closely adherent air layer, we take the 
radiation from a surface surrounded by rela- 
tively dry air in the room of an observatory, 
and let this radiation pass out through an 
aperture either directly to the sky, or, as is 
more convenient, allow the rays to pass to the 
sky after reflection from a mirror, placed out- 
side the aperture, but far enough above the 
surface of the ground to be above the layer of 
adherent soil-chilled air, very little difference 
is to be found in the transmission of radiation 
from sources at terrestrial temperatures 
whether measured by night or by day, such 
differences as exist being those which may 
always be expected from changing cloudiness, 
or from variations in the general conditions 
as to moisture, etc. 

It is common for writers on terrestrial 
radiation to assume that the earth as a whole 
radiates at a mean temperature of about 


2Those who are much in the open air know that 
on frosty mornings in winter a much more com- 
fortable temperature is experienced on passing 
from the open into woods. The friction of moving 
air against the innumerable stems of the forest- 
cover helps to retain the absorbent layers of moist 
surface air in the woodland, and escape of radia- 
tion is impeded. Under exceptional circumstances 
the excess of temperature in the woodland may 
reach 20° or 30° C. See G. A. Pearson, ‘‘A 
Meteorological Study of Parks and Timbered 
Areas in the Western Yellow-pine Forests of Ari- 
zona and New Mexico,’’? Monthly Weather Review, 
October, 1913. Cf. especially Figs. 6 and 7 (pp. 
1620 and 1621). 


420 


+ 15° C., or 288° Abs., or if the temperature 
regions alone are considered,.a temperature 
of +10° C.=283° Abs. is thought to be 
better; and this is done by accepting the mean 
air temperatures observed by meteorologists as 
if they were those of the soil. Ordinarily, 
this does no harm for places where the sun 
shines at a low angle, or where the wind is 
strong enough to make air and surface tem- 
peratures coincide. But when the sun shines 
at a high angle above the horizon, or in desert 
regions with light airs, the astrophysicist must 
know the temperature of the actual radiating 
surface which becomes far hotter than the air 
temperature. Even in regions by no means 
of a desert character, surface layers of fairly 
dry soil in summer and in the middle of the 
day may be 20° or 30° ©. hotter than the 
shade temperature of the air as commonly 
observed; and surfaces of rock in sunshine and 
on calm days are still hotter. Even plant sur- 
faces in sunshine, though much cooled by evap- 
oration, are appreciably warmer than the air. 
Taking the currently adopted thermal equiva- 
ie gram cal. 

lent of radiation, c=7.9 X Le eo ean 
black body at 288° Abs. C. radiates 0.544, and 
one at 298° radiates 0.623 gram. cal./sq. cm. 
min. Hence an arid region whose surface is 
on the average 20° C. hotter than the assigned 
air temperature during the sunlight hours, 
will radiate 14.5 per cent. more than the 
ordinary supposition indicates. On the other 
hand, most surface material radiates less than 
a black body (for example, a silicate, such as 
glass, radiates 98 per cent. as well as lamp 
black which, in turn, radiates a little less than 
a truly black body); and since minute accu- 
racy is not attainable, the supposition that the 
earth agrees with an ideal black radiator may 
answer as a first approximation. 

In summer, the radiation from a black sur- 
face at + 25° ©. to the sky overhead, if the 
latter be of a deep blue, may be as if to an 
efficient radiator of the same quality at a tem- 
perature of 0° C. 

In winter, under similar cireumstances the 
black surface at —10° C. may radiate to a 
zenithal sky as if to a sereen at —50° C., or 
— 60° C. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1029 


A mean of three days of good blue sky in 
winter and of three more in summer follows: 
Winter surface temperature ... =263°.9 Abs. C.. 
Summer surface temperature ... —291°.3 Abs. C. 

Effective temperature of zenithal sky, 

Winter = 212°.2 Abs. C. 
Summer = 269°.9 Abs. C. 


By Stefan’s law: 
Winter Summer 


Terrestrial radiation (unabsorbed). .3819  .5685 
Radiation from observed zenithal sky. .1601  .4196 
Difference. .2218  .1489 


Transmission (winter) Tw— .2218/.3819 = .5806 
Transmission (Summer) Ts = .1489/.5685 = .2619: 
Transmission (mean of summer and winter) = .4213 

We may say that a round 40 per cent. is 
near enough for an approximate estimate of 
the average transmission of terrestrial radia- 
tion from land surfaces in mid latitudes. 

In a note in the Astrophysical Journal for 


September, 1913 (p. 198), Mr. Anders Ang- 
strém gives 0.15 gram ecal./em.? min. as an 
average value of the earth’s radiation. This 
agrees very well with the values which I have 
obtained in summer, but is smaller than the 
best winter measures, and to such an extent 


that one would not suppose that Mr. Ang- 
str6m had ever observed under conditions 
most favorable to large transmission. He also 
declares his “belief that the transmission for 
clear sky seldom is greater than 25 per cent. 
and seldom is less than about 5 per cent.” ® 
The stipulation that the sky must be “ clear ” 
rules out those imperfect skies affected by a 
thin cirro stratus veil, which, as will be evi- 
dent from my article in the American Journal 
of Science, April, 1913, are included within 
these limits. My observations, which have 
been made repeatedly, give a fundamentally 
different result for the best winter skies. 

In desert regions, or for hottest, midday 
and dry summer conditions, it may sometimes 
be necessary to increase the estimated sur- 
face temperatures considerably, as has been 
shown above; but this does not apply to more 
than a small part of the earth’s surface, and 
the principal differences between air and soil 
temperatures, where the soil is considerably 
hotter than the air, occur during only a part of 

3 Op. cit., p. 200. 


SEPTEMBER 18, 1914] 


the insolation in the middle of the day, and 
over water surfaces not at all. Taking the 
earth as a whole, therefore, the adopted esti- 
mate of mean surface temperature, as agree- 
ing with the mean local air temperature, can 
not be altered more than a fraction of a degree 
by considering the high temperatures of 
strongly insolated rock and arid soil, because 
the area occupied by such surfaces is small 
compared with the vast expanses of ocean, 
moist soil, and soil protected by vegetation, 
which are not thus affected. 


Mr. Angstrom thinks that, of the terrestrial 
radiation which escapes absorption by the 
lower layers of the atmosphere, “a consider- 
able part will be absorbed by the ozone in the 
higher and colder strata of the atmosphere,” 
and he assigns 20 per cent. of the total re- 
maining radiation as a probable value of this 
absorption. Now if we note that the ozone 
band covers not one tenth of the entire spec- 
trum, and that 20 per cent. would be a fair 
value for ozone absorption within the limits 
of the band (at least in summer), we may 
conclude that the absorption which it exerts 
is nearer to 2 than to 20 per cent. of the 
entire spectrum. An example will confirm 
this approximate statement: 

On several occasions of strong ozone ab- 
sorption, the energy in the solar spectrum of 
wave-length greater than great = (and for 
our present purpose it makes little difference 
whether a curve of solar radiation, or one of 
terrestrial radiation be taken in this part of 
the spectrum) had a mean value of 537 arbi- 
trary units, as measured on a plotting of the 
spectral energy-curve. On the same scale, the 
area covered by the ozone band was equal 
to 17.4 units, or the ozone absorption was 
3.24 per cent. of the spectrum lying beyond 
the center of the greatest of the bands of 
aqueous vapor. The following separate values 
show the variability of the band on days of 
strongest ozone absorption; (a) ozone ab- 
sorption in the band from 9.1 p» to 10.0 p as a 
percentage of the entire unabsorbed energy 
between 6p and 20, (6) ozone absorption 
of the original unabsorbed energy within the 
approximate and apparent limits of the band: 


SCIENCE 


421 
Ozone Absorption (a) (6) 
Per Cent. Per Cent. 
3.00 38.8 
3.33 36.9 
Winter measures .............. 3.72 50.0 
3.29 34.5 
3.50 33.3 
A single day in July .......... 2.59 21.0 
INCE Tiere ers ee 3.24 35.8 


The ozone absorption is considerably smaller 
in summer than in winter, and ozone probably 
has its greatest efficiency as a preserver of the 
earth’s heat in the polar regions. 

The conditions in my measures of sky radia- 
tion were such that the surface temperature 
could not have differed much from the adopted 
air temperature, because in winter the sun 
was low, and in summer the ground was moist; 
but possibly the values assigned for unob- 
structed radiation should be lowered to allow 
for the diminished value of the earth’s radia- 
tive quality below that of a perfect radiator. 
This, however, would increase the transmis- 
sion, since the instrument with which the sky 
radiation was measured was a complete 
radiator. The thermopile had its very small, 
blackened, absorbent surface at the center of 
a hemispherical mirror, 10 em. in diameter, 
gold-plated and burnished, the rays entering 
through a 1 ecm. circular, central aperture, 
entirely open to the outside air. Any rays re- 
flected from the front surface of the thermo- 
pile and falling on the mirror, were returned 
back repeatedly for absorption. Im spite of 
the protection afforded by the case (and by 
still another, but a wider aperture 2 m. in 
front of the measuring surface), it was diffi- 
cult to keep the instrument balanced during 
very cold or windy weather. Measures were 
taken in series of five readings. Unless clouds 
interfered, these readings commonly agreed 
to the extent indicated in the following ex- 
amples: 

(1) Feb. 2, 1909, 10520™ to 10°30™ a.m. 
External temperature, + 19.°0 F. Dew-point, 
--13.°5 F. Relative humidity 76.5 per cent. 
Wind, fresh W.S.W. Sky, milky blue. A few 
remnants of dissolving strato cumuli low in 
the east. 

(2) Feb. 3, 1909, 92307 to 9540™ a.m. 
Temperature of snow-covered ground (ther- 


422 


mometer bulb 4 cm. in snow) =+7.°0 F. 
External air several degrees warmer. In this 
case the snow temperature is adopted. Rela- 
tive humidity, 86 per cent. at 8" 58™, 74 per 
cent. at 10®48™,. Hoar frost early a.m. Calm. 
Good blue sky. Cirro stratus bands S.W. 
Thin mist in valley below. 

(3) Feb. 3, 1909. Evening, 8°25™ to 8535™ 
p.M. External temperature=+11.°9 F. 
Dew-point, +1.°7 F. Relative humidity, 65 


per cent. Little wind. Sky, quite clear. 

(1) Div. Div. Diy. 
—25.8 (2)| —42.5 (8)| —48.8 (4) 

—36.1 —53.0 —35.4 
: —28.5 51-5 —42.3 
Zenithal sky....... 31.9 48.0 37.9 
—38.9 —57.1 —44.9 
Meanie iris onesie 32.2 —50.4 —41.7 


Small corrections to the galvanometer read- 
ings are needed in order to reduce them to a 
standard time of vibration. 

In summer, the successive readings are apt 
to agree better, not so much on account of any 
improvement in the sky, but because the 
thermal and instrumental conditions are more 
conducive to accuracy. The following are 
examples for summer: 


July 5, 1909 (4) Harly am. (5) Noon 
72 30™ to 72 40™ 11°50™ to 12% 
External temperature -+ 66°.7 F. + 75°.0 F. 

Dew-point .......... + 57. + 61. 
Relative humidity ...... 72% 62% 

Div. Div. 

— 32.7 —30.7 

Little wind—Deep blue sky.....}] —33.0 — 29.4 

Amiel Gaz Sos 465cqeoc0000bns — 32.7 —37.1 

Galvanometer deflections ...... — 32.9 — 27.4 

— 30.9 — 32.0 

Mean 022 21a oer evry =A —F13) 


The loss of heat by radiation from oceanic 
areas is much smaller than from land, because 
of the great absorption of this radiation by 
the very moist air which constantly hangs over 
the water. The value of 40 per cent. trans- 
mission which I have adopted is for land con- 
ditions. In ascribing this value to me without 
any restriction in his “ Note on the Trans- 
mission of the Atmosphere for Earth Radia- 


tion,” Mr. Angstrom has overlooked a pas- 
sage in my paper which I will quote: 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1029 


In the very moist tropics, nocturnal cooling is 
only about half as great [as in temperate regions], 
while over the ocean the total diurnal change of 
temperature of the water is less than 4° C. 


A computation by Lowell’s method gave me 
for the transmission of terrestrial radiation 
in the tropics this result; that 


whereas about 60 per cent. of surface heat may be 
emitted as radiation from temperate regions, only 
one third as much heat escapes in this way in the 
tropics [over land surfaces]. It is possible that 
the low value of 10 per cent. ... may apply to 
saturated air over the tropical oceans, where the 
moisture is in an especially absorbent form. 


These illustrations will be sufficient to show 
the very great variability in the coefficient of ' 
transmission of terrestrial radiation. 


A further statement in Angstrém’s note, to 
the effect that 


only a very weak part of this radiation [namely, 
from the air at 3,000 m. altitude] reaches the 
earth’s surface, 


seems to imply that there is supposed to be 
some interchange of radiation between bodies 
of air thus widely separated, although actually 
an air layer only radiates efficiently from a 
depth of a few meters. The method employed 
by Mr. Angstrom consists in equating one 
half of the difference of radiation for black 
bodies at the temperatures found at top and 
bottom of an air layer 3,000 m. thick, to the 
absorption in this layer. The result obtained 
in this way in the lower air depends entirely 
upon the thickness assumed for the “ effective 
radiating layer.” But this layer, as I have 
shown elsewhere,® can not possibly be 3,000 m. 
deep, nor is it even 1/100 of that depth, as the 
investigations of Hutchins and Pearson abun- 
dantly prove,® and the depth of 3,000 meters 


4 Astrophysical Journal, Vol. XXXIV., p. 376, 
December, 1911. 

5 See ‘‘ Atmospheric Radiation,’’ Bulletin G, U. 
S. Weather Bureau, where the efficient radiating 
layer for carbon dioxide is given as 90 cm., and 
that for illuminating gas hardly exceeds 20 cm. 
(Op. cit., p. 62.) 

6 American Journal of Science (4), Vol. 18, 
pp. 277-286, October, 1904. For air “‘some 
60 per cent. of its own radiation is absorbed 
by a column as thin as 245 em.’’ (op. cit., 


SEPTEMBER 18, 1914] - 


appears to have been chosen to suit the hypoth- 
esis.’ In the isothermal layer, by the same 
principles, there should be negative absorp- 
tion! Further comment seems unnecessary. 
I hasten to add that interchange of radiation 
between neighboring air masses is an essential 
part of radiant progression through the atmos- 
phere. 
General Results 

I find that with good blue sky there is radi- 
ated from a land surface near the middle of 
the temperate zone something like a thermal 
equivalent of 0.15 gram cal./sq. cm. min. in 
summer, and 0.22 gram cal./sq. em. min. in 
winter; and these correspond, respectively, to 
transmissions of 26 and 58 per cent., the mean 
transmission being 42 per cent., when the sky 
is quite clear. : 

In spite of the higher temperature of land 
surfaces in summer, there is no greater direct 
outward radiation from these surfaces than in 
winter, but even a somewhat smaller one, be- 
cause the radiation has to pass through a more 
absorbent atmosphere. When the sky is over- 
cast with clouds, direct surface radiation to 
space ceases, because the seat of action has 
simply been transferred to the upper surface 
of the cloud, where a larger proportion of the 
incoming solar rays is directly reflected back to 
space, and that which is absorbed is largely 
transformed into latent heat to reappear else- 
where after complex atmospheric processes. 
The whole of the absorbed radiation which. is 
manifested as heat in either earth or air must 


p. 283). The agreement of the air transmis- 
sion of 40 per cent. found by these investigators 
in this laboratory experiment with the value which 
I have given for the entire atmosphere may be only 
a coincidence; but the fact remains that there are 
extensive regions of the spectrum which are not 
emitted freely by air, and which therefore are not 
much absorbed by the atmosphere and do not take 
part in its interchange of radiation. 

7 Certain layers in the atmosphere, which are 
celeud-laden and at various heights, stop all out- 
going radiation and appear as if at the same tem- 
perature as the surface, even though they may be 
20°, or more, colder, and the difference of tempera- 
ture bears no relation to the absorption by the 
intervening air. 


SCIENCE 


423 


ultimately return to space as radiation. There 
are many steps in this process, and the return 
is retarded in general, though variously re- 
tarded, or subject to alternate acceleration and 
retardation. 

There is room here for some obscurity, and 
perhaps difference of opinion, as to what shall 
be considered a direct return of terrestrial 
radiation to space. All of the processes of ab- 
sorption of solar radiation and its conversion 
into and emission as terrestrial radiation, in- 
volve a thermal mechanism and some delay. 
If it is insisted that the return must be in- 
stantaneous, the only “direct” radiation is 
that which is reflected back to space. But this 
is not at all what we mean by terrestrial radia- 
tion. If, then, we grant that there must be 
some delay in the return of radiation to space 
after transformation into long waves, the re- 
turn being so speedy that it may fairly be 
called direct, there is really no reason (since 
we permit a little delay in order that heat 
may be conducted between various por- 
tions of matter) why we may not include in 
the direct radiation some of that which is due 
to heat transferred from the surface to the 
air by convection, and thence, in turn, radi- 
ated from the air by the step-by-step process 
which alone exists in that medium. In fact, 
by an observer outside the earth in space, this 
secondarily radiated heat could not readily be 
distinguished from that emitted after all only 
a little more directly. When the problem is 
attacked by purely meteorological methods, we 
find that these methods increase the computed 
nocturnal radiation, making it as high as 58.5 
per cent. of the total loss of surface heat by 
radiation and convection combined, according 
to the method developed by Dr. Percival 
Lowell in his “ Temperature of Mars.” § 

Lowell’s equation for nocturnal cooling may 
be put in the form 

TP — ANI Nie = 4a) 

T—AT, Ny —be)’ 
where T is the average day temperature on the 
absolute scale, AJ, is the nocturnal cooling 
with clear sky, AT, is the same with cloudy 

8 Proc. American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 
Vol. XLII., No. 25, March, 1907, p. 660-661. 


424 


sky, y is the radiant energy received at the 
earth’s surface, e is the “relative emissivity,” 
or rather, it is the effective emissivity from 
the surface through the air, that is, the radi- 
ant emission as affected by atmospheric ab- 
sorption of rays of long wave-length, and 
which is governed by the fourth-power Stefan 
law, but it is distinguished from the convec- 
tive loss, except in-so-far as these two overlap 
according to the principle under discussion. 
The coefficients a and b are numbers derived 
from the observed transmission of instru- 
mental radiation to the sky applied to the 
meteorological data under clear, and cloudy, 
nocturnal conditions, respectively. 

The equation rests upon the observed fact 
that AT: AT,=5:2, which holds good for 
both tropical and temperate regions; also upon 
the fact that there is no difference between the 
mean temperature of clear and cloudy days; 
and the numerical coefficients are chosen on 
the assumption that the average air transmis- 
sion is the same for either day or night. This 
I find to be justified so far as the radiation of 
the measuring instrument to the sky is con- 
cerned, but it does not hold, in general, for the 
surface of the ground. MHence there arises a 
discrepancy. For example, if we let 7 =the 
mean day temperature, 292° Abs. C., and take 
the average transmission of instrumental radi- 
ation as 40 per cent. for clear sky, we have the 
effective transmission of a unit of energy with 
a cloudy sky=2/5 X 0.40=0.16, and the 
average transmission for day sky, assuming 
that there are as many clear days as cloudy, is 
0.28. The mean transmission for an average 
day and a clear night becomes 


a—43(0.28 + 0.40) = 0.34; 
and the mean effective transmission for an 
average day and a cloudy night is 
— (0.28 + 0.16) = 0.22. 


For mean temperate values, 
MINE. 8} = 10 


TaN = Oe 
1 — .64e _ gle 
Tae = (.9792) = 9196, 

5S Eee. 


But this is practically the effective transmis- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1029 


sion of the earth’s radiation, because the emis- 
sivity of the earth is nearly that of a black 
body. Nevertheless, e by the computation is 
nearly 50 per cent. larger than the transmis- 
sion of instrumental radiation with which we 
started, so that, in round numbers, the equa- 
tion as it stands raises the transmission from 
40 to .60, mean=.50, which is the value 
adopted by Lowell. The explanation of the 
discrepancy between the transmission obtained 
from measures of sky radiation, and that 
from nocturnal cooling, appears to lie in the 
reconversion of a part of the heat abstracted 
from the surface by convection currents, into 
radiation which is added to the radiation 
emitted as such from the ground; but the large 
part of the energy communicated to the air by 
convection remains in the circulation of the 
air so long that it does not affect the diurnal 
changes on which the equation is based. 

A similar computation for the tropics gave 
the result that e has only about one third of 
the value derived from measures in the tem- 
perate zone, while the discrepancy is very 
much smaller and has the opposite sign. This 
may mean that the excessive evaporation and 
precipitation of the tropics bring thermal 
losses and gains which still further complicate 
the relations between radiation and convec- 
tion. Evidently there may be some ambig- 
uity about the term “ terrestrial radiation,” 
unless we limit our definitions very carefully. 

As a check upon these measures I have used 
my determination of the transmission of the 
proper lunar radiation by the earth’s atmos- 
phere in which values as high as 48 per cent. 
were obtained in winter. The transmission 
of lunar radiation is relatively smaller than 
that for terrestrial radiation from a land sur- 
face by the same atmosphere, because, owing 
to the higher temperature of the lunar sur- 
face, its radiation invades regions of the spec- 
trum where the atmospheric absorption is 
especially large.® Frank W. VERY 

WESTWOOD ASTROPHYSICAL OBSERVATORY, 

December, 1913 


9 See F. W. Very, ‘‘Sky Radiation and the Iso- 
thermal Layer,’’ American Journal of Science, Vol. 
XXXV., p. 379, April, 1913. 


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Antiquity to 1800; The Efforts of Isolated Investigators. 
The Development of Laboratories for the Medical Sciences. 
Pasteur and the Era of Bacteriology. 
Present-day Methods and Problems. 
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Tu» INTERDEPENDENCE Or MEDICINE AND OTHER Sciences OF NaturRE. By WitL1am H. Watcu, M.D., LL.D., 
Professor of Pathology, The Johns Hopkins University. 
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Tun RELATION oF THE HospitaL TO MeEpicAL EpucATION AND ResHarcH. By Witi1am H. Wetcu, M.D. 
THe Mepican ScHoon as Part or Ton University. By W. H. Howitt, M,D., Pa.D., LL.D., Professor of 
Physiology, The Johns Hopkins University. 
Liperty IN Mupican Epucation. By Franxuin P. Maun, M.D., D.Sc., LL.D., Professor of Anatomy, The 
Johns Hopkins University. 
MEpIcINE AND THH UNIvERSITIES. By Lewetiys F. Barxsr, M.B., M.D., LL.D. The Johns Hopkins Univ. 
Somp TENDENCIES IN MepicaL EDUCATION IN THH UniTED States. By Lewettys F. Barker, M.D., LL.D. 
CrerTAINn IDEALS OF MeEpican Epucation. By CuHarues S. Minot, D.Sc., LL.D., James Stillman Professor 
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Tu» CAREER OF THE INVESTIGATOR. By W. B. Cannon, A.M., M.D., Harvard University. 
EXPERIENCES OF A Mepicat TrEacHerR. By W. T. Councrzuman, A.M., M.D., LL.D., Harvard University. 
Mepicat ResearcH: Its Puacn In THE UNiIvERSITY Merpican ScoHoou. By THEopaup Smiru, A.M., M.D., 
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SCIENCE 


FRripay, SEPTEMBER 25, 1914 


CONTENTS 
Address of the President to the Geographical 
Section of the British Association for the 
Advancement of Science: Str CHARLES P. 


ILIGAS op bon dc coos ne dbo ooloDaooaooOdG 425 
Professor Hugo Kronecker: Dr.S. J. Meurzer. 441 
Scientific Notes and News ................ 444 
University and Educational News .......... 446 
Discussion and Correspondence :— 

Research Establishments and the Universi- 

hes: PROFESSOR W. EH. Castir. Chontal, 

Seri and Yuman: Proressor A. L. Krompur. 447 
Scientific Books :— 

Whipple on the Microscony of Drinking 

Water: PRoressor C.-H. A. WINSLow. Es- 

says and Studies Presented to William 

Ridgeway: PROFESSOR GEORGE GRANT Mac- 

GOED GU dS Po Abiss dete ROMER Oe e SEES 448 
Botanical Notes :— 

A New Nature Book; A Study of Asters; 

Short Notes: PROFESSOR CHARLES H. Bessey. 451 
Special Articles :— 

The Alleged Dangers to the Eye from Ulira- 

violet Radiation: Drs. F. H. VERHOEFF 

Axwy IOUS Lindh) Soon asad eoeosobudanue 452 
Societies and Academies :-— 

The American Mathematical Society: Pro- 

BESSOR MEINEM C OLE psierstensictelvencrs cleyaieietes 455 


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


ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT TO THE 
GEOGEAPHICAL SECTION OF THE 
BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE 
ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE1 


MAN AS A GEOGRAPHICAL AGENCY 


IN an inaugural address to the Royal 
Scottish Geographical Society on Geog- 
raphy and Statecraft Lord Milner said: 
“Tf I have no right to call myself a geog- 
rapher, I am at least a firm believer in the 
value of geographical studies.’’ I wish to 
echo these words. I have no expert geo- 
graphical knowledge, and am wholly un- 
versed in science, but I am emboldened to 
try and say a few words because of my 
profound belief in the value of geograph- 
ical studies. I believe in their value partly 
on general grounds, and largely because 
a study of the British empire leads an Eng- 
lishman, whether born in England or in 
Australia, to the inevitable conclusion that 
statecraft in the past would have been bet- 
ter, if there had been more accurate knowl- 
edge of geography. This statement might 
be illustrated by various anecdotes, some 
true, not a few apocryphal; but anecdotes 
do not lend themselves to the advancement 
of science. I am encouraged, too, to speak 
because the field of geography is more 
open to the man in the street than are the 
sciences more strictly so-called. It is a 
graphy, not a logy. Geology is the science 
of the earth. Geography is a description 
of the face of the earth and of what is on 
or under it, a series of pictures with ap- 
propriate letterpress and with more or less 
appropriate morals to adorn the tale. The 
man in the street may talk affably and even 
intelligently about the face of the earth. 


1 Australia, 1914. 


426 


Taking the earth as it is, geographical 
discovery has well-nigh reached its limit. 
The truth, in the words of Addison’s 
hymn, is now “‘spread from Pole to Pole,’’ 
and recent exploration at the South Pole, 
with its tale of heroism, will have specially 
appealed to the citizens of this southern 
land. Coasts are in most cases accurately 
known. The age of Cook and Flinders is 
past. Interiors are more or less known. 
In Africa there is no more room for Liy- 
ingstones, Spekes, Burtons and Staunleys. 
In Australia Sir John Forrest is an hon- 
ored survival of the exploring age—the age 
of MecDouall Stuart and other heroes of 
Australian discovery. The old map-ma- 
kers, in Swift’s well-known lines, ‘‘o’er 
unhabitable downs placed elephants for 
want of towns.’’ Towns have now taken 
the place of elephants and of kangaroos. 
Much, no doubt, still remains to be done. 
The known will be made far better known; 
maps will be rectified; many great inland 
tracts in Australia and elsewhere will be, 
as they are now being, scientifically sur- 
veyed; corners of the earth only penetrated 
now will be swept and garnished. But as 
we stand to-day, broadly speaking, there 
are few more lands and seas to conquer. 
Discovery pure and simple is passing away. 

But meanwhile there is one side of geog- 
raphy which is coming more and more to 
the front, bringing it more than ever 
within the scope of the British Association 
for the Advancement of Science. ‘‘Man is 
the ultimate term in the geographical 
problem,”’ said Dr. Scott Keltie some years 
since at the meeting at Toronto. ‘‘Geog- 
raphy is a description of the earth as it is, 
in relation to man,’’ said Sir Clements 
Markham, long President of the Royal Geo- 
eraphical Society. Geography, I venture 
to think, is becoming more and more a de- 
seription of the earth as it is and as it will 
be under the working hand of man. It is 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1030 


becoming intensive rather than extensive. 
Geographers have to record, and will more 
and more have to record, how far man has 
changed and is changing the face of the 
earth, to try and predict how far he will 
change it in the coming centuries. ‘The 
face of the earth has been unveiled by 
man. Will the earth save her face in the 
years before us, and, if she saves her face, 
will it be taken at face value? How far, 
for instance, will lines of latitude and 
longitude continue to have any practical 
meaning ? 

Man includes the ordinary man, the 
settler, the agriculturalist; man includes, 
too, the extraordinary—the scientific man, 
the inventor, the engineer. ‘‘Man,’’ says 
a writer on the subject, ‘‘is truly a geo- 
graphical agency,’’ and I ask you to take 
account of this agency for a few minutes. 
I do so more especially ‘because one of the 
chief features of the present day is the rise 
of the south; and the rise of the south—no- 
tably of Australia—is the direct result of 
human agency, on the one hand transform- 
ing the surface of the land, on the other, 
eliminating distance. The old name of 
Australia, as we all know, was New Hol- 
land. The name was well chosen in view 
of later history, for while no two parts of 
the world could be more unlike one another 
than the little corner of Europe known as 
Holland, or the Netherlands, and the great 
Southern Continent, in the one and in the 
other man has been preeminently a geo- 
graphical agency. 

The writer who used this phrase, “‘Man 
is a geographical agency,’’ the American 
writer, Mr. G. P. Marsh, published his 
book, ‘‘Man and Nature,’’ in 1864, and a 
new edition, entitled, ‘‘The Harth as Modi- 
fied by Human Action,’”’ in 1874. He was 
mainly concerned with the destructiveness 
of man in the geographical and climatic 
changes which he has effected. ‘‘Hvery 


a ee 


SEPTEMBER 25, 1914] 


plant, every animal,’’ he writes, ‘‘is a geo- 
graphical agency, man a destructive, veg- 
etables and in some cases even wild beasts, 
restorative powers’’; and again: ‘‘It is in 
general true that the intervention of man 
has hitherto seemed to ensure the final ex- 
haustion, ruin and desolation of every 
province of nature which he has reduced to 
his dominion.’’ The more civilized man 
has become, he tells us, the more he has 
destroyed. ‘‘Purely untutored humanity 
interferes comparatively little with the ar- 
rangements of nature, and the destructive 
ageney of man becomes more and more 
energetic and unsparing as he advances in 
civilization.’’ In short, in his opinion, 
““hetter fifty years of Cathay than a cycle 
of Europe.’’ 

He took this gloomy view mainly on ac- 
count of the mischief done by cutting 
down forests. Man has wrought this de- 
struction not only with his own hand, but 
through domesticated animals more de- 
structive than wild beasts, sheep, goats, 
horned cattle, stunting or killing the 
young shoots of trees. Writing of Tunisia, 
Mr. Perkins, the principal of Roseworthy 
College, says: ‘‘In so far as young trees and 
shrubs are concerned, the passage of a flock 
of goats will do quite as much damage as a 
bush fire.’”’ Mr. Marsh seems to have met 
a fool in the forest, and it was man; and he 
found him to be more knave than fool, for 
man has been, in Mr. Marsh’s view, the 
revolutionary radical confiscating nature’s 
vested interests. ‘‘Man,’’ he says, ““has 
too long forgotten that the earth was given 
to him for usufruct alone, not for consump- 
tion, still less for profligate waste.’’ Trees, 
to his mind, are conservatives of the best 
kind. They stand in the way, it is true, 
but they stop excesses, they moderate the 
climate, they give shelter against the wind, 
they store the water, prevent inundations, 
preserve and enrich the soil. ‘‘The clear- 


SCIENCE | 427 


ing of the woods,’’ he says, ‘‘has in some 
cases produced within two or three genera- 
tions effects as blasting as those generally 
ascribed to geological convulsions, and 
has laid waste the face of the earth more 
hopelessly than if it had been buried by a 
current of lava or a shower of volcanic 
sand’’; and, once more, where forests have 
been destroyed, he says, ‘‘The face of the 
earth is no longer a sponge but a dust- 
heap.’’ 

The damage done by cutting down trees, 
and thereby letting loose torrents which 
wash away the soil, is or was very marked 
in the south of France, in Dauphiné, Provy- 
ence and the French Alps. .With the fell- 
ing of trees and the pasturing of sheep on 
the upper edge of the forest—for sheep 
break the soil and expose the roots—the 
higher ground has been laid bare. Rain- 
storms have in consequence swept off the 
soil, and the floods have devastated the 
valleys. The mountain-sides have become 
deserts, and the valleys have been turned 
into swamps. ‘““When they destroyed the 
forest,’’ wrote the great French geographer, 
Reclus, about thirty years ago, ‘‘they also 
destroyed the very ground on which it 
stood’’; and then he continues: ‘‘The 
devastating action of the streams in the 
French Alps is a very curious phenomenon 
in the historical point of view, for it ex- 
plams why so many of the districts of 
Syzia, Greece, Asia Minor, Africa, and 
Spain have been forsaken by their inhabi- 
tants. The men have disappeared along 
with the trees; the axe of the woodman, no 
less than the sword of the conqueror, have 
put an end to, or transplanted, entire pop- 
uwlations.’’ In the latter part of the South 
African war Sir William Willcocks, skilled 
in irrigation in Egypt, and now reclaim- 
ing Mesopotamia, was brought to South 
Africa to report upon the possibilities of 
irrigation there, and in his report dated 


428 


November, 1901, he wrote as follows: 
“Seeing in Basutoland the effect of about 
thirty years of cultivation and more or less 
intense habitation convinced me of the fact 
that another country with steep slopes 
and thin depth of soil, like Palestine, has 
been almost completely denuded by hun- 
dreds of years of cultivation and intense 
habits. The Palestine which Joshua con- 
quered and which the children of Israel in- 
habited was in all probability covered over 
great part of its area by sufficient earth 
to provide food for a population a hundred 
times as dense as that which can be sup- 
ported to-day.”? The Scotch geologist, 
Hugh Miller, again attributed the forma- 
tion of the Scotch mosses to the cutting 
down of timber by Roman soldiers. 
““What had been an overturned forest be- 
@ame in the course of years a deep morass.”’ 

In past times there have been voices 
raised in favor of the forests, but they have 
been voices crying in the desert which 
man has made. Here is one. The old 
chronicler Holinshed, who, lived in the 
reion of Queen Elizabeth, noted the 
amount of timber cut down for house 
building and in order to increase the area 
for pasturage. ‘‘Every small occasion in 
my time,’’ he writes, “‘is enough to cut 
down a great wood’’; and in another pas- 
sage either he himself or one of his collab- 
orators writes that he would wish to live to 
see four things reformed in England: 
“The want of discipline in the Church, 
the covetous dealing of most of our mer- 
chants in the preferment of commodities 
of other countries and hindrance of their 
own, the holding of fairs and markets upon 
the Sunday to be abolished and referred 
to the Wednesdays, and that every man 
in whatever part of the champaine soil en- 
joyeth forty acres of land and upwards 
after that rate, either by free deed, copy- 
hold or fee farm, might plant one acre of 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1030 


wood or sow the same with oke mast, 
hazell, beach and sufficient provision be 
made that it be cherished and kept.’’ 

Mr. Marsh seems to have thought that 
the Old World, and especially the coun- 
tries which formed the old Roman Empire, 
had been ruined almost past redemption; 
and for the beneficent action of man on 
nature he looked across the seas. ‘‘Aus- 
tralia and New Zealand,’’ he writes, ‘‘are 
perhaps the countries from which we have 
a right to expect the fullest elucidation of 
these difficult and disputable problems. 
Here exist greater facilities and stronger 
motives for the careful study of the topics 
in question than have ever been found 
combined in any other theater of European 
colonization. ’’ 

His book was first written half a century 
ago. He was a pessimist evidently, and 
pessimists exaggerate even more than op- 
timists, for there is nothing more exhila- 
rating and consoling to ourselves than to 
predict the worst possible consequences 
from our neighbor’s folly. Further, though 
it may be true that man became more de- 
structive as he became more civilized, it is 
also true that the destruction has been 
wrought directly rather by the unscien- 
tific than by the scientific man. If we 
have not grown less destructive since, at 
any rate we have shown some signs of 
penitence, and science has come to our aid 
in the work of reparation. Governments 
and associations have turned their atten- 
tion to protecting woodland and reafforest- 
ing tracts which have been laid bare. The 
Touring Club of France, for instance, I am 
told, has taken up the question of the 
damage done by destruction of trees by 
men and sheep in Haute Savoie, and it 
assists reclamation by guidance and by 
grants. In England, under the auspices of 
Birmingham University and under the 
presidency of Sir Oliver Lodge, the Mid- 


SEPTEMBER 25, 1914] 


lands Reafforestation Association is plant- 
ing the pit mounds and ash quarries of the 
Black Country with trees which will resist 
smoke and bad air, alders, willows, pop- 
lars, carrying out their work, a report says, 
under a combination of difficulties not to be 
found in any other country. Artificial 
lakes and reservoirs again, such as I shall 
refer to presently, are being made woodland 
centers. In most civilized countries nowa- 
days living creatures are to some extent 
protected, tree planting is encouraged by 
arbor days, and reserves are formed for 
forests, for beasts and birds, the survivors 
of the wild fauna of the earth. Some 
lands, such as Greece, as I gather from Mr. 
Perkins’s report, are still being denuded of 
trees, but as a general rule the human con- 
science is becoming more and more alive to 
the immorality and the impolicy of wast- 
ing the surface of the earth and what lives 
upon it, and is even beginning to take stock 
as to whether the minerals beneath the sur- 
face are inexhaustible. Therefore I ask 
you now to consider man as the lord of ere- 
ation in the nobler sense of the phrase, as 
transforming geography, but more as a cre- 
ative than as a destructive agency. 

How far has the agency of man altered, 
and how far is it likely to alter, the sur- 
face of the earth, the divisions and boun- 
daries assigned by nature, the climate and 
the production of the different parts of the 
globe; and, further, how far, when not ac- 
tually transforming nature, is human 
agency giving nature the go-by? It should 
be borne in mind that science has effected, 
and is effecting transformation, partly by 
applying to old processes far more power- 
ful machinery, partly by introducing new 
processes altogether; and that, as each new 
force is brought to light, lands and peoples 
are to a greater or less extent transformed. 
The world was laid out afresh by coal and 
steam. A new readjustment is taking place 


SCIENCE 


429 


with the development of water power and 
oil power. Lands with no coal, but with 
fine water power or access to oil, are as- 
serting themselves. Oil fuel is prolonging 
continuous voyages and making coaling 
stations superfluous. But of necessity it is 
the earth herself who gives the machinery 
for altering her own surface. The appli- 
cation of the machinery is contributed by 
the wit of man. 

The surface of the earth consists of land 
and water. How far has human agency 
converted water into land or land into 
water, and how far, without actually trans- 
forming land into water and water into 
land, is it for practical human purposes 
altering the meaning of land and water as 
the great geographical divisions? A writer 
on the Fens of South Lincolnshire has told 
us: ““The Romans, not content with ap- 
propriating land all over the world, added 
to their territory at home by draining lakes 
and reclaiming marshes.’’ We can in- 
stance another great race which, while ap- 
propriating land all over the world, has 
added to it by reclaiming land from water, 
fresh or salt. The traveler from Great 
Britain to the most distant of the great 
British possessions, New Zealand, will find 
on landing at Wellington a fine street, 
Lambton Quay, the foreshore of the old 
beach, seaward of which now rise many of 
the city’s finest buildings on land reclaimed 
from the sea; and instances of the kind 
might be indefinitely multipled. Now the 
amount of land taken from water by man 
has been taken more from fresh water than 
from sea, and, taken in all, the amount is 
infinitesimal as compared with the total 
area of land and water; but it has been 
very considerable in certain small areas of 
the earth’s surface, and from these small 
areas have come races of men who have 
profoundly modified the geography and 
history of the world. This may be illus- 


430 


trated from the 
Great Britain. 
Motley, at the beginning of ‘‘The Dutch 
Republic,’’ writes of the Netherlands: ‘‘A 
region, outcast of ocean and earth, wrested 
at last from both domains their richest 
treasures.’’ Napoleon was credited with 
saying that the Netherlands were a deposit 
of the Rhine, and the rightful property of 
him who controlled the sources; and an 
old writer pronounced that Holland was 
the gift of the ocean and of the rivers Rhine 
and Meuse, as Egypt is of the river Nile. 


Netherlands and from 


The crowning vision of Goethe’s Faust is 
8 : 


that of a free people on a free soil, won 
from the sea and kept for human habitation 
by the daily effort of man. Such has been 
the story of the Netherlands. The Nether- 
lands, as a home for civilized men, were, 
and are, the result of reclamation, of dykes 
and polders. The kingdom has a constantly 
changing area of between 12,000 and 13,- 
000 square miles. Mr. Marsh, in his book, 
set down the total amount gained to agri- 
culture at the time he wrote “‘by dyking 
out the sea and by draining shallow bays 
and lakes’’ at some 1,370 square miles, 
which, he says, was one tenth of the king- 
dom; at the same time, he estimated that 
much more had been lost to the sea—some- 
thing like 2,600 square miles. He writes 
that there were no important sea dykes be- 
fore the thirteenth century, and that drain- 
ing inland lakes did not begin till the fif- 
teenth, when windmills came into use for 
pumping. In the nineteenth century steam 
pumps took the place of windmills, science 
strengthenine an already existing process. 
Between 1815 and 1855, 172 square miles 
were reclaimed, and this included the 
Lake of Haarlem, some thirteen miles lone 
by six in breadth, with an area of about 
seventy-three square miles. This was re- 
claimed between 1840 and 1853. At the 
present time, we are told, about forty 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1030 


square miles are being reclaimed annually 
in Holland; and meanwhile the Dutch goy- 
ernment have in contemplation or in hand 
a great scheme for draining the Zuyder 
Zee, which amounts to recovering from the 
ocean land which was taken by it in historic 
times at the end of the fourteenth century. 
The scheme is to be carried out in thirty- 
three years and is to cost nearly sixteen 
million pounds. The reclamation is to be 
effected by an embankment across the 
mouth of this inland sea over eighteen miles 
long. The result will be to add 815 square 
miles of land to the kingdom of the Nether- 
lands, 750 square miles of which will be fer- 
tile land, and in addition to create a much- 
needed freshwater lake with an area of 557 
square miles; this lake is to be fed by one 
of the mouths of the Rhine. 

London is partly built on marsh. The 
part of London where I live, Pimlico, was 
largely built on piles. A little way north, 
in the center of fashion, is Belgrave Square, 
and here a lady whom I used to know had 
heard her grandfather say that he had shot 
snipe. Take the City of London in the 
strict and narrow sense. The names of 
Moorfields and Fensbury or Finsbury are 
familiar to those who know the city. Stow, 
in his survey of London, over three hun- 
dred years ago, wrote of “‘The Moorfield 
which lieth without the postern called Moor- 
gate. This field of old time was called the 
Moor. This fen or moor field stretching 
from the wall of the city betwixt Bishops- 
gate and the postern called Cripplegate to 
Fensbury and to Holywell continued a 
waste and unprofitable ground a long 
time.’’ By 1527, he tells us, it was drained 
““into the course of Walbrook, and so into 
the Thames, and by these degrees was this 
fen or moor at length made main and hard 
eround which before, being overgrown with 
flags, sedges and rushes, served to no use.”’ 
It is said that this fen or marsh had come 


SEPTEMBER 25, 1914] 


into being since Roman times. The recla- 
mation which has been carried out in the 
case of London is typical of what has been 
done in numerous other cases. As man has 
become more civilized, he has come down 
from his earlier home in the uplands, has 
drained the valley swamps, and on the firm 
land thus created has planted the streets 
and houses of great cities. 

The Romans had a hand in the draining 
of Romney Marsh in Sussex, and here na- 
ture cooperated with man, just as she has 
cooperated in the deltas of the great rivers, 
for the present state of the old Cinque 
Ports, Rye and Winchelsea, shows how 
much on this section of the English coast 
the sea has receded. But the largest recla- 
mation was in Hast Anglia, where the 
names of the Fens and the Isle of Hly tes- 
tify to what the surface once was. ‘‘For 
some of our fens,’’ writes Holinshed, ‘‘are 
well known to be either of ten, twelve, six- 
teen, twenty or thirty miles in length.... 
Wherein also Elie, the famous isle, stand- 
eth, which is seven miles every way, and 
Wwhereunto there is no access but by three 
causies.”’ 
““General View of the Agriculture of the 
County of Lincoln,’’ a copy of which he 
dedicated to that great friend of Australia, 
Sir Joseph Banks, who was a Lincolnshire 
landowner and a keen supporter of recla- 
mation, wrote of the draining which had 
been carried out in Lincolnshire. ‘‘The 
quantity of land thus added to the kingdom 
has been great; fens of water, mud, wild 
fowl, frogs and agues have been converted 
to rich pasture and arable worth from 20s. 
to 40s. an acre... without going back to 
very remote periods, there can not have 
been less than 150,000 acres drained and 
improved on an average from 5s. an acre 
to 25s.’’ 150,000 acres is about 234 square 
miles, but the amount reclaimed by drain- 
ing in Limeolnshire in the seventeenth, 


SCIENCE 


Arthur Young, in 1799, in his: 


431 


eighteenth and nineteenth centuries seems 
to have been well over 500 square miles. 
The Fenlands, as a whole, extended into 
six counties. They were seventy miles in 
length, from ten to thirty miles broad, 
and covered an area of from 800 to 1,000 
square miles. One estimate I have seen is 
as high as 1,200 square miles. Mr. 
Prothero, in his book on ‘‘English Farm- 
ing, Past and Present,’’ tells us that they 
were ‘“in the seventeenth century a wilder- 
ness of bogs, pools and reed shoals—a vast 
morass from which here and there emerged 
a few islands of solid earth.’’ In the sevy- 
enteenth century a Dutch engineer, Ver- 
muyden, was called in to advise, and the 
result of draining what was called after 
the peer who contracted for it the Bedford 
Level, together with subsequent reclama- 
tions, was to convert into ploughland and 
pasture large tracts which, in the words 
of an old writer, Dugdale, had been “‘a 
vast and deep fen, affording little benefit 
to the realm other than fish or fowl, with 
overmuch harbor to a rude and almost bar- 
barous sort of lazy and beggarly people.’’ 
In Lincolnshire there was a district called 
Holland, and in Norfolk one called Marsh- 
land, said to have been drained by, to 
quote Dugdale again, ‘“those active and in- 
dustrious people, the Romans.”’ 

The Dutch and the English, who thus 
added to their home lands by reclamation, 
went far and wide through the world, 
changing its face as they went. The 
Dutch, where they planted themselves, 
planted trees also; and when they came to 
land like their own Netherlands, again they 
reclaimed and empoldered. The foreshore 
of British Guiana, with its canals and sea 
defences, dating from Dutch times, is now 
the chief sugar-producing area in the Brit- 
ish West Indies. If agam in Australia 
man has been a geographical agency, he 


432 


learnt his trade when he was changing the 
face of his old home in the British Isles. 

Instances of reclaiming land from water 
might be indefinitely multiplied. We 
might compare the work done by different 
nations. In Norway, for instance, Reclus 
wrote that ““the agriculturists are now re- 
claiming every year forty square miles of 
the marshes and fiords.’’ Miss Semple, 
who, in the ‘“Influences of Geographic Hn- 
vironment,’’ writes that ‘‘between the Hlbe 
and Scheldt’’ (that is, including with the 
Netherlands some of North Germany) 
‘‘more than 2,000 square miles have been 
reclaimed from river and sea in the past 
300 years,’’ tells us also that ‘‘the most gi- 
gantic dyke system in the world is that of 
the Hoangho, by which a territory of the 
size of England is won from the water for 
eultivation.’’ Or we might take the dif- 
ferent objects which have impelled men 
here and there to dry up water and bank 
out sea. Agriculture has not been the only 
object, nor yet reclaiming for town sites. 
Thus, in order to work the hematite iron 
mines at Hodbarrow, in Cumberland, an 
area of 170 acres was, in the years 1900- 
1904, reclaimed from the sea by a barrier 
over 14 miles long, designed by the great 
firm of marine engineers, Coode and 
Matthews, who built the Colombo break- 
water. The reclaimed land, owing to the 
subsidence caused by the workings, is now 
much below the level of the sea. Here is 
an instance of reclamation not adding to 
agricultural or pastoral area, but giving 
mineral wealth, thereby attracting popu- 
lation and enriching a district. 

How far has land been drowned by the 
agency of man? Again the total area is a 
negligible quantity, but again, relatively 
to small areas, it has been appreciable, and 
the indirect effects have been great. The 
necessities of town life are responsible for 
new lakes and rivers. Such are the great 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Von. XL. No. 1030 


reservoirs and aqueducts by which water is 
being brought to New York from the Cats- 
kill Mountains, a work which the writer in 
the Times has described as ‘‘hardly sec- 
ond in magnitude and importance to the 
Panama Canal.’’ In Great Britain cities 
in search of water supply have ordered 
houses, churches, fields to be drowned, 
and small lakes to come into ‘existence. 
Liverpool created Lake Vyrnwy in Mont- 
gomeryshire, with a length of nearly five 
miles and an area of 1,121 acres. Birming- 
ham is the parent of a similar lake in a 
wild Radnorshire valley near my old home. 
The water is not carried for anything like 
the distance from Mundaring to Kalgoorlie, 
and on a much greater scale than these 
little lakes in Wales is the reservoir now 
being formed in New South Wales by the 
Burrinjuck dam, on the Murrumbidgee 
River, which, as I read, is, or will be, forty- 
one miles long, and cover an area of twenty 
square miles. If I understand right, in 
this case, by holding up the waters of a 
river, a long narrow lake has been or is be- 
ing called into existence. A still larger vol- 
ume of water is gathered by the great As- 
souan dam, which holds up the Nile at the 
head of the First Cataract, washing, and 
at times submerging, the old temples on 
the Island of Phile in midstream. First 
completed in 1902, the dam was enlarged 
and heightened by 1912; and the result of 
the dam is at the time of high Nile to cre- 
ate a lake of some 65 square miles in area, 
as well as to fill up the channel of the river 
for many miles up stream. Illustrations of 
artificial lakes might be multiplied from ir- 
rigation works in India. An official report 
on the state of Hyderabad, written some 
years ago, has the following reference to the 
tanks in the granitic country of that state: 
‘“«Mhere are no natural lakes, but from the 
earliest times advantage has been taken of 
the undulating character of the country to 


SEPTEMBER 25, 1914] 


dam up some low ground or gorge between 
two hills, above which the drainage of a 
large area is collected. Such artificial 
reservoirs are peculiar to the granitic coun- 
try, and wherever groups of granite hills 
occur tanks are sure to be found associated 
with them.’’ Take again the great ship 
canals. The Suez Canal runs for 100 miles 
from sea to sea, though for part of its 
course it runs through water, not through 
sand. It is constantly growing in depth 
and width. Its original depth was 26+ feet; 
it is now, for nine tenths of its length, over 
36 feet, and the canal is to be further deep- 
ened generally to over 39 feet. Its original 
width at the bottom was 72 feet; it is now, 
for most of its course, over 147 feet; in 
other words, the width has been more than 
doubled. A writer in the Zimes on the 
wonderful Panama Canal said: “‘The locks 
and the Gatun dam have entailed a far 
larger displacement of the earth’s surface 
than has ever been attempted by the hand 
of man in so limited a space.’’ Outside 
the locks the depth is 45 feet, and the min- 
imum bottom width 300 feet. The official 
handbook of the Panama Canal says: ‘‘It is 
a lake canal as well as a lock canal, its domi- 
nating feature being Gatun Lake, a great 
body of water covering about 164 square 
miles.’’ The canal is only fifty miles long 
from open sea to open sea, from shore line 
to shore line only forty. But in making it 
man, the geographical agency, has blocked 
the waters of a river, the Chagres, by build- 
ing up a ridge which connects the two lines 
of hills between which the river flows, this 
ridge being a dam 14 miles long, nearly 
half a mile wide at its base, and rising to 
105 feet above sea-level, with the result that 
a lake has come into existence which is three 
quarters of the size of the Lake of Geneva, 
and extends beyond the limits of the Canal 
zone. 

Mr. Marsh, in his book, referred to far 


SCIENCE 


433 


more colossal schemes for turning land into 
water, such as flooding the African Sahara 
or cutting a canal from the Mediterranean 
to the Jordan and this submerging the basin 
of the Dead Sea, which is below the level of 
the ocean. The effect of the latter scheme, 
he estimated, would be to add from 2,000 to 
3,000 square miles to the fluid surface of 
Syria. All that can be said is that the wild- 
eat schemes of one century often become 
the domesticated possibilities of the next 
and the accomplished facts of the third; 
that the more discovery of new lands passes 
out of sight the more men’s energies and 
imagination will be concentrated upon de- 
veloping and altering what is in their 
keeping; and that, judging from the past, 
no unscientific man can safely set any 
limit whatever to the future achievements 
of science. 

But now, given that the proportion of 
land to water and water to land has not 
been, and assuming that it will not be, ap- 
preciably altered, has water, for practical 
purposes, encroached on land, or land on 
water? In many cases water transport has 
encroached on land transport. The great 
isthmus canals are an obvious instance; 50 
are the great Canadian canals. The ton- 
nage passing through the locks of the Sault 
St. Marie is greater than that which is car- 
ried through the Suez Canal. Waterways 
are made where there was dry land, and 
more often existing inland waterways are 
converted into sea-going ways. Manchester 
has become a seaport through its ship 
canal. The Clyde, in Mr. Vernon Har- 
eourt’s words, written in 1895, has been 
“‘converted from an insignificant stream 
into a deep navigable river capable of giv- 
ing access to ocean-going vessels of large 
draught up to Glasgow.’’ In 1758 the 
Clyde at low water at Glasgow was only 
15 inches deep, and till 1818 no seagoing 
vessels came up to Glasgow. In 1895 the 


434 


depth at low water was from 17 to 20 feet, 
and steamers with a maximum draught of 
254 feet could go up to Glasgow. This was 
the result of dredging, deepening and 
widening the river, and increasing the tidal 
flow. The record of the Tyne has been sim- 
ilar. The effect of dredging the Tyne was 
that in 1895—I quote Mr. Harcourt again 
—‘‘Between Shields and Neweastle, where 
formerly steamers of only 3 to 4 feet 
draught used to ground for hours, there 
is now a depth of 20 feet throughout at the 
lowest tides.’’ It is because engineers have 
artificially improved nature’s work on the 
Clyde and the Tyne that these rivers have 
become homes of shipbuilding for the whole 
world. Building training walls on the 
Seine placed Rouen, seventy-eight miles up 
the river, high among the seaports of 
France. The Elbe and the Rhine, the giant 
rivers Mississippi and St. Lawrence, and 
many other rivers, have, as we all know, 
been wonderfully transformed by the hand 
of the engineer. 

But land in turn, in this matter of trans- 
port, has encroached upon sea. In old 
days, when roads were few and bad, when 
there were no railways, and when ships 
were small, it was all-important to bring 
goods by water at all parts as far inland as 
possible. In England there were numerous 
flourishing little ports in all the estuaries 
and up the rivers, which, under modern 
conditions, have decayed. No one now 
thinks of Canterbury and Winchester in 
connection with seaborne traffic; but Mr. 
Belloc, in ‘‘The Old Road,’’ a description 
of the historical Pilgrims’ Way from Win- 
chester to Canterbury, poimts out how 
these two old-world cathedral cities took 
their origin and derived their importance 
from the fact that each of them, Canter- 
bury in particular, was within easy reach 
of the coast, where a crossing from France 
would be made; each on a river—in the 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Von. XL. No. 1030 


case of Canterbury on the Stour just above 
the end of the tideway. In the days when 
the Island of Thanet was really an island, 
separated from the rest of Kent by an arm 
of the sea, and when the present insignifi- 
cant river Stour was, in the words of the 
historian J. R. Green, ‘‘a wide and nav- 
igable estuary,’’ Canterbury was a focus 
to which the merchandise of six Kentish 
seaports was brought, to pass on inland; 
it was in effect practically a seaport. Now 
merchandise, except purely local traffic, 
comes to a few large ports only, and is car- 
ried direct by rail to great distant inland 
centers. Reclus wrote that bays are con- 
stantly losing in comparative importance as 
the inland ways of rapid communication 
increase; that, in all countries intersected 
with railways, indentations in the coast- 
line have become rather an obstacle than 
an advantage; and that maritime com- 
merce tends more and more to take for its 
starting-place ports situated at the end 
of a peninsula. He argues, in short, that 
traffic goes on land as far out to sea as pos- 
sible instead of being brought by water as 
far inland as possible. He clearly over- 
stated the case, but my contention is that, 
for human purposes, the coast-line, though 
the same on the map, has practically been 
altered by human agency. Ports have been 
brought to men as much as men to ports. 
We see before our eyes the process going 
on of bridging India to Ceylon so as to 
carry goods and passengers as far by land 
as possible, and in Ceylon we see the great 
natural harbor of Trincomalee practically 
deserted and a wonderful artificial harbor 
created at the center of population, Co- 
lombo. 

But let us carry the argument a little 
further. Great Britain is an island. Un- 
less there is some great convulsion of na- 
ture, to all time the Strait of Dover will 
separate it from the continent of Hurope. 


SEPTEMBER 25, 1914] 


Yet we have at this moment a renewal of 
the scheme for a Channel tunnel, and at 
this moment men are flying from England 
to France and Franceto Hngland. Suppose 
the Channel tunnel to be made; suppose 
flying to be improved—and it is improving 
every day—what will become of the island? 
What will become of the sea? They will be 
there and will be shown on the map, but 
to all human intents and purposes the 
geography will be changed. The sea will 
no longer be a barrier, it will no longer be 
the only high-road from England to 
France. There will be going to and fro on 
or in dry land, and going to and fro neither 
on land nor on sea. Suppose this science 
of aviation to make great strides, and 
heavy loads to be carried in the air, what 
will become of the ports, and what will be- 
come of sea-going peoples? The ports will 
be there, appearing as now on the map, but 
Birmingham goods will be shipped at Bir- 
mingham for foreign parts, and Lithgow 
will export mineral direct, saying good-bye 
to the Blue Mountains and even to Sydney 
harbor. 

Now, in saying this I may well be told by 
my scientific colleagues that it is all very 
well as a pretty piece of fooling, but that it 
is not business. I say it as an unscientific 
man with a profound belief in the limitless 
possibilities of science. How long is it since 
it was an axiom that, as a lump of iron 
sinks in water, a ship made of iron could 
not possibly float? Is it fatuous to contem- 
plate that the conquest of the air, which is 
now beginning, will make it a highway for 
commercial purposes? We have aeroplanes 
already which settle on the water and rise 
again ; we are following on the track of the 
gulls which we wonder at far away in the 
limitless waste of ocean. A century and a 
half ago the great Edmund Burke ridiculed 
the idea of representatives of the old North 
American colonies sitting in the Imperial 


SCIENCE 


435 


Parliament; he spoke of any such scheme 
as fighting with nature and conquering the 
order of Providence; he took the distance, 
the time which would be involved—six 
weeks from the present United States to 
London. If any one had told him that what 
is happening now through the applied 
forces of science might happen, he would 
have called him a madman. Men think in 
years, or at most in lifetimes; they ought 
sometimes to think in centuries. I believe 
in Reclus’s words, ‘‘ All man has hitherto 
done is a trifle in comparison with what he 
will be able to effect in future.’’ Science is 
like a woman. She says no again and again, 
but means yes in the end. 

In dealing with land and water I have 
touched upon natural divisions and natural 
boundaries, which are one of the provinces 
of geography. Flying gives the go-by to all 
natural divisions and boundaries, even the 
sea; but let us come down to the earth. 
Isthmuses are natural divisions between 
seas; the ship canals cut them and link the 
seas—the canal through the Isthmus of Cor- 
inth, the canal which cuts the Isthmus of 
Perekop between the Crimea and the main- 
land of Russia, the Baltic Canal, the Suez 
Canal, the Panama Canal. The Suez Canal, 
it will be noted, though not such a wonder- 
ful feat as the Panama Canal, is more im- 
portant from a geographical point of view, 
in that an open cut has been made from sea 
to sea without necessity for locks, which 
surmount the land barrier but more or less 
leave it standing. Inland, what are natural 
divisions? Mountains, forests, deserts, and, 
to some extent, rivers. Take mountains. 
“High, massive mountain systems,’’ writes 
Miss Semple, “‘ present the most effective bar- 
riers which man meets on the land surface 
of the earth.’’ But are the Rocky Moun- 
tains, for instance, boundaries, dividing 
lines, to anything like the extent that they 
were now that railways go through and 


436 


over them, carrying hundreds of human 
beings back and fore day by day? On what 
terms did British Columbia join the Do- 
minion of Canada? That the natural bar- 
rier between them should be pierced by the 
railway. Take the Alps. The canton Tic- 
ino, running down to Lake Maggiore, is po- 
litically in Switzerland; it is wholly on the 
southern side of the Alps. Is not the posi- 
tion entirely changed by the St. Gothard 
tunnel, running from Swiss territory into 
Swiss territory on either side of the moun- 
tains? 

If, in the Bible language, it requires faith 
to remove mountains, it is not wholly so 
with other natural boundaries. Forests 
were, in old days, very real natural divid- 
ing lines. They were so in England, as in 
our own day they have been in Central 
Africa. Between forty and fifty years ago, 
in his ‘‘ Historical Maps of England,’’ Pro- 
fessor C. H. Pearson, whose name is well 
known and honored in Australia, laid down 
that England was settled from east and 
west, because over against Gaul were heavy 
woods, greater barriers than the sea. Kent 
was cut off from Central England by the 
Andred Weald, said to have been, in King 
Alfred’s time, 120 miles long and 30 broad. 
Here are Professor Pearson’s words: “‘The 
axe of the woodman clearing away the for- 
ests, the labor of nameless generations re- 
claiming the fringes of the fens or making 
their islands habitable, have gradually 
transformed England into one country, in- 
habited by one people. But the early influ- 
ences of the woods and fens are to isolate 
and divide.’’ Thus the cutting down of 
trees is sometimes a good, not an evil, and 
there are some natural boundaries which 
man can wholly obliterate. 

Can the same be said of deserts? They 
can certainly be pierced, like isthmuses and 
like mountains. The Australian desert is 
a natural division between western and 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1030 


south Australia. The desert will be there, 
at any rate for many a long day after the 
transcontinental railway has been finished, 
but will it be, in anything like the same 
sense as before, a barrier placed by nature 
and respected by man? Nor do railways 
end with simply giving continuous com- 
munication, except when they are in tun- 
nels. As we all know, if population is avail- 
able, they bring in their train development 
of the land through which they pass. Are 
these deserts of the earth always going to 
remain ‘‘deserts idle’’? Is man going to 
obliterate them? In the days to come, will 
the desert rejoice and blossom as the rose? 
What will dry farming and what will af- 
forestation have to say? In the evidence 
taken in Australia by the Dominions Royal 
Commission, the Commissioner for Irriga- 
tion in New South Wales tells us that “‘the 
dry farming areas are carried out westward 
into what are regarded as arid lands every 
year,’’ and that, in his opinion, ““we are 
merely on the fringe of dry farming’’ in 
Australia. A book has lately been pub- 
lished entitled ‘‘The Conquest of the Des- 
ert.’? The writer, Dr. Macdonald, deals 
with the Kalahari Desert in South Africa, 
which he knows well, and for the conquest 
of the desert he lays down that three things 
are essential—population, conservation and 
afforestation. He points out in words 
which might have been embodied in Mr. 
Marsh’s book, how the desert zone has ad- 
vanced through the reckless cutting of trees, 
and how it can be flung back again by tree 
barriers to the sand dunes. By conserva- 
tion he means the system of dry farming so 
successful in the United States of America, 
which preserves the moisture in the soil 
and makes the desert produce fine crops of 
durum wheat without a drop of rain falling 
upon it from seedtime to harvest, and he 
addresses his book ““to the million settlers 
of to-morrow upon the dry and desert lands 


SEPTEMBER 25, 1914] 


of South Africa.’’ If the settlers come, he 
holds that the agency of man, tree-plant- 
ing, ploughing and harrowing the soil, will 
drive back and kill out the desert. The ef- 
feet of tree-planting in arresting the sand 
dunes and reclaiming desert has been very 
marked in the Landes of Gascony. Here, 
I gather from Mr. Perkins’s report, are 
some 3,600 square miles of sandy waste, 
more than half of which had, as far back 
as 1882, been converted into forest land, 
planted mainly with maritime pines. 

What, again, will irrigation have to say 
to the deserts? Irrigation, whether from 
underground or from overground waters, 
has already changed the face of the earth, 
and as the years go on, as knowledge grows 
and wisdom, must inevitably change it 
more and more. I read of underground 
waters in the Kalahari. I read of them too 
in the Libyan Desert. In the Geograph- 
ical Journal for 1902 it is stated that at 
that date nearly 22,000 square miles in the 
Algerian Sahara had been reclaimed with 
water from artesian wells. What artesian 
and sub-artesian water has done for Aus- 
tralia you all know. If it is not so much 
available for agricultural purposes, it has 
enabled flocks and herds to live and thrive 
in what would be otherwise arid areas. 
Professor Gregory, Mr. Gibbons Cox, and 
others have written on this subject with ex- 
pert knowledge; evidence has been collected 
and published by the Dominions Royal 
Commission, but I must leave to more 
learned and more controversial men than I 
am to discuss whether the supplies are 
plutonic or meteoric, and how far in this 
matter you are living on your capital. 

If we turn to irrigation from overground 
waters, I hesitate to take illustrations from 
Australia, because my theme is the blotting 
out of the desert, and most of the Austral- 
jan lands which are being irrigated from 
rivers, and made scenes of closer settlement, 


SCIENCE 


437 


would be libeled if classed as desert. Mr. 
Elwood Mead told the Royal Commission 
that the state irrigation works in Victoria, 
already completed or in process of construc- 
tion, can irrigate over 600 square miles, 
and that, if the whole water supply of the 
state were utilized, more like 6,000 square 
miles might be irrigated. The Burrinjuck 
scheme in New South Wales will irrigate, 
in the first instance, not far short of 500 
square miles, but may eventually be made 
available for six times that area. If we 
turn to irrigation works in India, it appears 
from the second edition of Mr. Buckley’s 
work on the subject, published in 1905, that 
one canal system alone, that of the Chenab 
in the Punjab, had, to quote his words, 
turned ‘‘some two million acres of wilder- 
ness (over 3,000 square miles) into sheets 
of luxuriant ecrops.’’ ‘‘Before the con- 
struction of the canal,’’ he writes, ‘‘it was 
almost entirely waste, with an extremely 
small population, which was mostly nomad. 
Some portion of the country was wooded 
with jungle trees, some was covered with 
small scrub camel thorn, and large tracts 
were absolutely bare, producing only on 
oceasions a brilliant mirage of unbounded 
sheets of fictitious water.’’ The Chenab 
irrigation works have provided for more 
than a million of human beings; and, ta- 
king the whole of India, the Irrigation 
Commission of 1901-03 estimated that the 
amount of irrigated land at that date was 
68,750 square miles; in other words, a con- 
siderably larger area than England and 
Wales. Sir William Willcocks is now re- 
claiming the delta of the Huphrates and 
Tigris. The area is given as nearly 19,000 
square miles, and it is described as about 
two thirds desert and one third fresh- 
water swamp. Over 4,000 square miles 
of the Gezireh Plain, between the Blue 
and the White Nile, are about to be re- 
claimed, mainly for cotton cultivation, 


438 


by constructing a dam on the Blue Nile at 
Sennaar and cutting a canal 100 miles long 
which, if I understand right, will join the 
White Nile thirty miles south of Khartoum. 

With the advance of science, with the 
growing pressure of population on the sur- 
face of the earth, forcing on reclamation 
as a necessity for life, is it too much to con- 
template that human agency in the coming 
time will largely obliterate the deserts 
which now appear on our maps? It is for 
the young peoples of the British Empire 
to take a lead in—to quote a phrase from 
Lord Durham’s great report—‘‘the war 
with the wilderness,’’ and the great feat of 
carrying water for 350 miles to Kalgoor- 
lie, in the very heart of the wilderness, 
shows that Australians are second to none 
in the ranks of this war. 

It is a commonplace that rivers do not 
make good boundaries because they are 
easy to cross by boat or bridge. Pascal 
says of them that they are ‘‘des chemins 
qui marchent’’ (roads that move), and we 
have seen how these roads have been and 
are being improved by man. ‘‘Rivers 
unite,’’ says Miss Semple; and again, 
““Rivers may serve as political lines of 
demarcation, and therefore fix political 
frontiers, but they can never take the place 
of natural boundaries. All the same, in 
old times, at any rate, rivers were very ap- 
preciable dividing lines, and when you get 
back to something like barbarism, that is 
to say in time of war, it is realized how 
powerful a barrier is a river. Taking, 
then, rivers as in some sort natural boun- 
daries, or treating them only as political 
boundaries, the point which I wish to em- 
phasize is that they are becoming boun- 
daries which, with modern scientifie appli- 
ances, may be shifted at the will of man. 
In the days to come the diversion of rivers 
may become the diversion of a new race of 
despotic rulers with infinitely greater 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. VoL. XL. No. 1030 


power to carry out their will or their 
whim than the Pharaohs possessed when 
they built the Pyramids. You in Australia 
know how thorny a question is that of the 
control of the Murray and its tributaries. 
There are waterways conventions between 
Canada and the United States. Security 
for the headwaters of the Nile was, and is, 
a prime necessity for the Sudan and 
Hgypt. The Euphrates is being turned 
from one channel into another. What in- 
finite possibilities of political and geo- 
graphical complications does man’s gsrow- 
ing control over the flow of rivers present! 

Thus I have given you four kinds of bar- 
riers or divisions set by nature upon the 
face of the earth—mountains, forests, des- 
erts, rivers. The first, the mountains, man 
can not remove, but he can and he does go 
through them to save the trouble and diffi 
culty of going over them. The second, the 
forests, he has largely cleared away alto- 
gether. The third, the deserts, he is begin- 
ning to treat like the forests. The fourth, 
the rivers, he is beginning to shift when it 
suits his purpose and to regulate their flow 
at will. 

I turn to climate. Climates are hot or 
cold, wet or dry, healthy or unhealthy. 
Here our old friends the trees have much 
to say. Climates beyond dispute become 
at once hotter and colder when trees have 
been cut down and the face of the earth 
has been laid bare; they become dryer or 
moister according as trees are destroyed or 
trees are planted and hold the moisture; 
the cutting and planting of timber affects 
either one way or the other the health of a 
district. The tilling of the soil modifies the 
climate. This has been the case, according 
to general opinion, in the northwest of 
Canada, though I have not been able to se- 
eure any official statistics on the subject. 
In winter time broken or ploughed land 
does not hold the snow and ice to the same 


SEPTEMBER 25, 1914] 


extent as the unbroken surface of the 
prairie; on the other hand, it is more reten- 
tive at once of moisture and of the rays of 
the sun. The result is that the wheat zone 
has moved further north, and that the in- 
tervention of man has, at any rate for agri- 
cultural purposes, made the climate of the 
ereat Canadian northwest perceptibly 
more favorable than it was. In Lord 
Strathcona’s view, there was some change 
even before the settlers came in, as soon as 
the rails and telegraph lines of the Ca- 
nadian Pacific Railway were laid. He told 
me that in carrying the line across a desert 
belt it was found that, within measurable 
distance of the rail and the telegraph line, 
there was a distinct increase of dew and 
moisture. I must leave it to men of science 
to say whether this was the result of some 
electrical or other force, or whether what 
was observed was due simply to a wet cycle 
coinciding with the laying of the rails and 
the erection of the wires. I am told that it 
is probably a coincidence of this kind, 
which accounts for the fact that in the 
neighborhood of the Assouan dam there is 
at present a small annual rainfall, whereas 
in past years the locality was rainless. 
Reference has already been made to the ef- 
fect of cultivation in the Kalahari Desert 
in inereasine the storage of moisture im 
the soil. But it is when we come to the 
division between healthy and unhealthy 
climates that the effect of science upon cli- 
mate is most clearly seen. The great re- 
searches of Ross, Manson and many other 
men of science, British and foreign alike, 
who have traced malaria and yellow fever 
back to the mosquito, and assured the pre- 
vention and gradual extirpation of tropical 
diseases, bid fair to revolutionize climatic 
control. Note, however, that in our peni- 
tent desire to preserve the wild fauna of 
the earth we are also establishing pre- 
serves for mosquitoes, trypanosomes and 
the tsetse fly. 


SCIENCE 


439 


Nowhere have the triumphs of medical 
science been more conspicuous than where 
engineers have performed their greatest 
feats. De Lesseps decided that Ismailia 
should be the headquarters of the Suez 
Canal, but the prevalence of malaria made 
it necessary to transfer the headquarters to 
Port Said. In 1886 there were 2,300 cases 
of malaria at Ismailia; in 1900 almost ex- 
actly the same number. In 1901 Sir Ron- 
ald Ross was called in to advise; in 1906 
there were no fresh cases, and the malaria 
has been stampedout. De Lessep’s attempt 
to construct the Panama Canal was de- 
feated largely, if not mainly, by the fright- 
ful death-rate among the laborers; 50,000 
lives are said to have been lost, the result 
of malaria and yellow fever. When the 
Americans took up the enterprise they 
started with sending in doctors and sanitary 
experts, and the result of splendid medical 
skill and sanitary administration was that 
malaria and yellow fever were practically 
lulled out. The Panama Canal isa glorious 
ereation of medical as well as of engineer- 
ing science, and this change of climate has 
been mainly due to reclamation of pools 
and swamps, and to cutting down bush, for 
even the virtuous trees, under some condi- 
tions, conduce to malaria. Man is a geo- 
eraphical agency, and in no respect more 
than in the effect of his handiwork on cli- 
mate, for climate determines products, hu- 
man and others. Science is deciding that 
animal pests shall be extirpated in the 
tropics, and that there shall be no climates 
which shall be barred to white men on the 
ground of danger of infection from trop- 
ical diseases. 

If we turn to products, it is almost super- 
fluous to give illustrations of the changes 
wrought by man. As the incoming white 
man has in many places supplanted the 
colored aboriginal, so the plants and the 
living creatures brought in by the white 
man have in many cases, as you know well, 


440 


ousted the flora and fauna of the soil. 
Here is one well-known illustration of the 
immigration of plants. Charles Darwin, 
on the voyage of the Beagle, visited the is- 
land of St. Helena in the year 1836. He 
wrote ‘‘that the number of plants now 
found on the island is 746, and that out of 
these fifty-two alone are indigenous spe- 
cies.’”? The immigrants, he said, had been 
imported mainly from England, but some 
from Australia, and, he continued, ‘‘the 
many imported species must have de- 
stroyed some of the native kinds, and it is 
only on the highest and steepest ridges 
that the indigenous flora is now predomi- 
nant.”’ 

Set yourselves to write a geography of 
Australia as Australia was when first made 
known to Europe, and compare it with a 
geography now. Suppose Australia to 
have been fully discovered when Euro- 
peans first reached it, but consider the sur- 
face then and the surface now, and the liv- 
ing things upon the surface then and now. 
Will not man have been found to be a 
geographical agency? How much waste 
land, how many fringes of desert have been 
reclaimed? The wilderness has become pas- 
ture land, and pasture land, in turn, is be- 
ing converted into arable. The Blue Moun- 
tains, which barred the way to the interior, 
are now a health resort. Let us see what 
Sir Joseph Banks wrote after his visit to 
Australia on Captain Cook’s first voyage in 
1770. He has a chapter headed ‘“Some Ac- 
count of that part of New Holland now 
called New South Wales.’’ New Holland he 
thought ‘‘in every respect the most barren 
country I have seen’’; ‘‘the fertile soil bears 
no kind of proportion to that which seems by 
nature doomed to everlasting barrenness.’’ 
“‘In the whole length of coast which we 
sailed along there was a very unusual same- 
ness to be observed in the face of the coun- 
try. Barren it may justly be called, and 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1030 


in a very high degree, so far, at least, as we 
saw.’’ It is true that he only saw the land 
by the sea, but it was the richer eastern 
side of Australia, the outer edge of New 
South Wales and Queensland. What ani- 
mals did he find in Australia? He “‘saw 
an animal as large as a greyhound, of a 
mouse color, and very swift.’’ ‘‘He was 
not only like a greyhound in size and run- 
ning, but had a tail as long as any grey- 
hound’s. What to liken him to I could not 
tell.’”? Banks had a greyhound with him, 
which chased this animal. ‘‘ We observed, 
much to our surprise, that, instead of going 
upon all fours, this animal went only on 
two legs, making vast bounds.’’ He found 
out that the natives called it kangooroo, 
and it was ‘‘as large as a middling lamb.’’ 
He found ‘‘this immense tract of land,’’ 
which he said was considerably larger than 
all Europe, ‘‘thinly inhabited, even to ad- 
miration, at least that part of it that we 
saw.’’ He noted the Indians, as he called 
them, whom he thought ‘‘a very pusillani- 
mous people.’’ They ‘‘seemed to have no 
idea of traffic’’; they had “‘a wooden 
weapon made like a short scimitar.’’ Sup- 
pose a new Sir Joseph Banks came down 
from the planet Mars to visit Australia at 
this moment, what account would he give 
of it in a geographical handbook for the 
children of Mars? He would modify the 
views about barrenness, if he saw the corn- 
fields and flocks and herds; if he visited 
Adelaide, he would change his opinion as 
to scanty population, though not so, per- 
haps, if he went to the back blocks. He 
would record that the population was al- 
most entirely white, apparently akin to a 
certain race in the North Sea, from which, 
by tradition, they had come; that their 
worst enemies could not call them pusillani- 
mous; that they had some ideas of traffic, 
and used other weapons than a wooden 
scimitar; and he would probably give the 


SEPTEMBER 25, 1914] 


first place in animal life not to the animal 
like a greyhound on two legs; but to the 
middling lamb, or perhaps to the ubiqui- 
tous rabbit. Australia is the same island 
continent that it always was; there are the 
same indentations of coast, the same moun- 
tains and rivers, but the face of the land is 
different. In past years there was no town, 
and the country was wilderness; on the sur- 
face of the wilderness many of the living 
things were different; and from under the 
earth has come water and mineral, the ex- 
istence of which was not suspected. A cen- 
tury hence it will be different again, and I 
want to see sets of maps illustrating more 
clearly than is now the case the changes 
which successive generations of men have 
made and are making in the face of Aus- 
tralia and of the whole earth. 

More than half a century ago Buckle, in 
his ‘‘History of Civilization,’’ wrote: 
““Hormerly the richest countries were those 
in which nature was most bountiful; now 
the richest countries are those in which 
man is most active. For in our age of the 
world, if nature is parsimonious we know 
how to compensate her deficiencies. If a 
river is difficult to navigate, or a country 
difficult to traverse, an engineer can correct 
the error and remedy the evil. If we have 
no rivers we make canals; if we have no 
natural harbors we make artificial ones.’’ 
These words have a double force at the 
present day and in the present surround- 
ings, for nowhere has man been more active 
as a geographical agency than in Australia; 
and not inside Australia only, but also in 
regard to the relations of Australia to the 
outside world. 

An island continent Australia is still, and 
always will be, on the maps. It always will 
be the same number of miles distant from 
other lands; but will these maps represent 
practical everyday facts? What do miles 
mean when it takes a perpetually dimin- 


SCIENCE 


441 


ishing time to cover them? Is it not truer 
to facts to measure distances, as do Swiss 
guides, in Stunden (hours)? What, once 
more, will an island continent mean if the 
sea is to be overlooked and overflown? The 
tendeney is for the world to become one; 
and we know perfectly well that, as far as 
distance is concerned, for practical pur- 
poses the geographical position of Aus- 
tralia has changed through the agency of 
scientific man. If you come to think of it, 
what geography has been more concerned 
with than anything else, directly or indi- 
rectly, is distance. It is the knowledge of 
other places not at our actual door that we 
teach in geography, how to get there, what 
to find when we get there, and so forth. 
The greatest revolution that is being 
worked in human life is the elimination of 
distance, and this elimination is going on 
apace. It is entering into every phase of 
public and private life, and is changing it 
more and more. The most difficult and 
dangerous of all Imperial problems at this 
moment is the color problem, and this has 
been entirely created by human agency, sci- 
entific agency, bringing the lands of the 
colored and the white men closer together. 
Year after year, because distance is being 
diminished, coming and going of men and 
of products is multiplying; steadily and 
surely the world is becoming one continent. 
This is what I want geographers to note 
and the peoples to learn. Geographers 
have recorded what the world is according 
to nature. I want them to note and teach 
others to note how under an all-wise Provi- 
dence it is being subdued, replenished, 
recast and contracted by man. 


CHARLES P. Lucas 


PROFESSOR HUGO KRONECKER 
Hueco Kronecker, for the last thirty years 


professor of physiology at the University of 
Berne, Switzerland, died June 6. Although 


442 


seventy-five years old, death surprised him in 
the midst of scientific activity. He attended the 
last meeting of the German Congress of Physi- 
ologists at Berlin where, on the fifth of June, 
he demonstrated experiments which should 
support the neurogenic theory of the origin of 
the heart beat. On his way home he stopped 
at Nauheim, to inspect an apparatus which 
he installed there for the study and use in 
eardiae diseases. His death came there, sud- 
denly, like a flash—perhaps by means of the 
eardiae center which he discovered thirty years 
before. 

Kronecker was one of the last of a classical 
period in German physiology. He was pupil, 
assistant and intimate friend of the master 
minds of that period: Helmholtz, du Bois- 
Reymond and Carl Ludwig. At the same 
time, he was master and friend of many lead- 
ing physiologists of a later generation and of 
many countries; he was an international leader 
in his science. 

He was born in Liegnitz, Prussia, from a 
well-to-do family with scientific proclivities. 
The celebrated mathematician Leopold Kro- 
necker was his older brother. After finishing 
his general education at the Gymnasium in 
Liegnitz he studied medicine in Berlin, Heidel- 
bere and Pisa (Italy). In Heidelberg he 
came under the special influence of Helmholtz, 
who introduced Kronecker into the science of 
physiology. The problem of muscular fatigue 
which Kronecker studied first under Helmholtz 
and which he treated in his thesis became the 
source of many important investigations which 
he carried out at various times during his 
scientific career. In 1865 he became assistant 
to Traube. This celebrated clinician was the 
first man to employ experimental physiology 
for the study of medical problems. It was 
probably due to the early influence of Traube 
that Kronecker acquired the inclination to 
make results, obtained in physiological studies, 
available for clinical medicine. On account 
of a temporary pulmonary affection, Traube 
sent him to Italy where he stayed for some 
time, an incident which left a mark upon Kro- 
necker’s future activities. The acquisition of 
the knowledge and the use of the Italian lan- 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1030 


guage was unquestionably a factor in his fu- 
ture intimate relations with the Italian physi- 
ologists. He recovered his health and even 
served in the Prussian wars with Austria 
and France. In the Franco-Prussian war he 
received the iron cross for bravery. In 1868 
he entered Ludwig’s celebrated “ Physiologische 
Anstalt zu Leipzig,” where he remained until 
1876, becoming assistant in 1871, and professor 
extraordinarus in 1874. In 1877 he was called 
to Berlin to become the head of the division of 
experimental physiology in the Institute of 
Physiology which had been recently organized 
by du Bois-Reymond. In 1884 he was called 
to Berne, where he filled the chair of physiol- 
ogy until the last day of his life. 

Kronecker’s scientific activities extended 
over more than half a century; his thesis ap- 
peared 1863. But the investigation which 
raised him to the rank of a first-class physiol- 
ogist was his work on “fatigue and recovery 
of striated muscles” published from Ludwig’s 
laboratory in 1872. The careful planning of 
the experiments, the exactness and skill with 
which they were executed and the sharp analy- 
sis which permitted the derivation of general 
laws put a classical stamp upon this piece of 
work; its celebrated tracings were the start- 
ing point for many future ergographic studies. 
The later work during his Leipzig period was 
mainly devoted to the cardiac muscle; some of 
the results found a permanent place in physiol- 
ogy. I may mention here the development of 
the “all or none” law; the loss of irritability 
of the cardiac muscle during systole (refractory 
period, Marey); the importance of inorganic 
salts for the heart beat (with Merunowitz and 
others). Of his many investigations during 
his Berlin period I should mention the studies 
which led up to the use of transfusion as a 
life-saving means (present-day writers do not 
seem to know that Kronecker was the inventor 
of this method); the extensive studies (with 
his colaborers) on the physiology of degluti- 
tion; the discovery of a coordinating center in 
the heart. I wish to record here the fact that 
Kronecker had an essential share in the devel- 
opment of the clinically important methods of 
studying blood pressure in human beings. The 


SEPTEMBER 25, 1914] 


first human sphygmomanometric studies are 
usually ascribed to Von Basch; but Von Basch 
earried out these studies in Kronecker’s labo- 
ratory and under his direction and assistance. 
TI can testify to that as an eye-witness. 

During his long stay in Berne a great many 
physiological subjects were investigated in 
conjunction with advanced coworkers or stu- 
dents. The results were usually published 
under the name of the coworkers. Im the last 
years of his life he was intensely interested in 
experiments which could throw light upon the 
origin of the heart beat; he was a firm believer 
in the neurogenic theory. 

A subject in which he took a great interest 
in the last two decades of his life was the 
nature and origin of mountain disease. The 
Swiss government, before granting permission 
to build the now famous Jungfrau railroad, 
asked Kronecker to pass an opinion, whether 
going up a high mountain in a railway would 
be accompanied by mountain disease and other 
disturbances of health. This gave rise to 
numerous studies connected with this question. 
Kronecker organized a party of sixty, who 
ascended the Zermat Breithorn; some of the 
party were carried up, in order to eliminate 
muscular action. Circulation, respiration and 
other functions were then investigated. The 
problem was also studied in pneumatic 
chambers with lowered atmospheric pressure. 
Kronecker came to the conclusion that the 
syndrome of mountain disease was primarily 
due to mechanical causes, to a stasis in the in- 
trapulmonary veins, brought about by rarifica- 
tion of the air in higher altitudes. Kro- 
necker’s publications gave rise to many inter- 
national studies which caused the Italian 
physiologist Mosso, with the aid of Kronecker, 
to establish an international imstitute on 
Monte Rosa for the study of physiological 
phenomena in the mountains. 

Kronecker was a master in physiological 
methods; he invented many instruments which 
found a permanent place in the methods of 
experimental physiology, of which I shall men- 
tion here only his well-known induction coil, 
divided in units, the “perfusion canula” and 
the frog heart manometer. The perfusion 


SCIENCE 


443 


canula (or its modification) has been and still 
is extensively used in pharmacological studies 
upon the frog’s heart. 

In the seventies, during Kronecker’s stay at 
Leipzig, Ludwig’s physiological institute was 
an international center for physiology and 
physiologists. Many English, Italian, Ameri- 
can, Russian, Belgian, Scandinavian and 
French physiologists received there their train- 
mg in physiology. Kronecker, who spoke 
many languages fluently, has been of great 
assistance to them. With his very kind, unsel- 
fish nature he was always ready to help them 
with his rare experimental skill and in every 
other direction. Many who worked there dur- 
ing that period bear witness that Kronecker 
was the “soul” of the laboratory. Here he 
formed strong bonds of a lifelong friendship 
with men who became later international 
leaders in science. I need only mention here 
Bowditch and Minot of the United States; 
Lauder Brunton, Gaskell and Schafer of Eng- 
land; Alberto Mosso and Luciani of Italy; 
Paul Heger of Belgium and Holmgren of 
Sweden. Very few men had the happiness of 
haying so many true friends as Kronecker, 
and few could be a truer friend than he. He 
had the esteem and affection of all who had the 
good fortune to know him well. 

His international, cordial relations to so 
many physiologists of so many countries was 
not a small factor in the success of the Inter- 
national Congress of Physiologists, which was 
founded by Michael Foster and Kronecker. 
In his obituary of Sir Michael Foster, Gaskell 
states that “when the International Medical 
Congress met in London in 1881 he (Foster) 
and Kroneceker together drew up a scheme for 
a separate International Congress of Physiol- 
ogy to meet every three years and a committee 
was formed.” According to Heger the final 
decision, to call that Congress into being, was 
made by a group of physiologists who met 
September, 1888, in Kronecker’s house in 
Berne. The third International Congress met 
in Berne under Kronecker’s presidency. 

Kronecker was also the chief founder and 
for some time the president of the Institut 
Marey in Paris, an international institution 


444 


for the study of physiology by the newest and 
most approved methods. 

The Hallerianum, Kronecker’s magnificent 
physiological laboratory in Berne, has been 
for years an international center for physio- 
logical investigators. English, American, 
Italian and Russian students went there to 
learn methods and to be initiated in physio- 
logical research. Well-known physiologists 
often worked in this laboratory, for instance 
Cyon, Gamgey, Heger and others. At his 
attractive home, presided over gracefully by 
Mrs. Kronecker, a cultured lady and an accom- 
plished linguist, one often met celebrated 
scientists from all over the world. Kihne, 
Mosso, Bowditch, Schafer and Foster were 
often there. 

Kronecker was a foreign member of our 
National Academy of Sciences, of the Royal 
Society and of many European Academies. 
He had conferred upon him honorary degrees 
from a great many universities. In England 
alone he received the degree of LL.D. from the 
universities of Glasgow, Aberdeen, St. An- 
drews and Edinburgh, and the degree of D.Se. 
from Cambridge. 

He had pupils all over the world. Of 
American investigators who worked under 
Kronecker at one time or another I shall men- 
‘tion only the following: Mills, Stanley Hall, 
Cushing, Gies, H. C. Jackson, H. OC. Wood, 
Jr., Cutter, Carter, Busch, Mihlberg, Mays, 
McGuire, Arnold and Meltzer. 

Before concluding I wish to call attention 
to the following few incidents which bear wit- 
ness to the nobility of Kronecker’s character. 
The phenomenon of the “refractory period” 
which is generally ascribed to Marey, was 
observed and clearly described by Kronecker 
one year before Marey. Kronecker never 
made any effort for the recognition of his 
priority, and both physiologists remained 
intimate friends during their entire life. I 
have mentioned above that Kronecker had a 
share, at least equal to that of Von Basch, in 
being one of the first who introduced the era 
of studying blood pressure in human beings. 
But when Von Basch and others neglected to 
give him credit, we find Kronecker nowhere 
making an effort to obtain his rights. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1030 


Kronecker’s studies of the nature of moun- 
tain disease was a stimulus which gave rise 
to researches on that subject by many other 
investigators, among whom I shall mention 
Zuntz and Loewy and A. Mosso, who came to 
results differing from those of Kronecker. It 
was, however, in Kronecker’s laboratory that 
Loewy made the analyses of his results, and 
I have been a witness of the attractive scene 
when Mosso was introduced by Kronecker to 
his students to lecture on Mosso’s theory of 
acapnia as the cause of mountain disease, a 
theory entirely at variance with that of his 
own. 

Kronecker had many scientific disputes and 
was often energetic and perseverant in the 
defense of his views. But he never permitted 
a personal note to slip into his discussions. 

Physiology lost in Kronecker a master and 
a leader, and numerous physiologists all over 
the world lost in him a noble and kind-hearted 
friend. S. J. Mentzer 

ROCKEFELLER INSTITUTE 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


Dr. A. PENCE, professor of geography at 
Berlin; Dr. F. von Luschan, professor of 
anthropology in the same university, and Dr. 
J. Walther, professor of geology and paleontol- 
ogy at Halle, are among the German men of 
science who accepted invitations to attend the 
Australian meeting of the British Association. 
It is said that there is some anxiety as to how 
they shall return home. If press despatches 
are to be believed, several German astronomers, 
including Professors Kempff and Ludendorf, 
who had gone to the Crimea to observe the 
eclipse of the sun, have been taken prisoners 
and their scientific instruments confiscated. 


Tue Paris Academy of Sciences has placed 
itself at the disposal of the national defense. 
This resolution haying been communicated to 
the government, members have been placed on 
commissions on the subjects of wireless teleg- 
raphy, aviation, explosives, hygiene and medi- 
cine. The academy is said to be continuing 
its meetings. A paper was presented at the 
last meeting of which reports are at hand on 
the recent eclipse of the sun by Messrs. Bail- 
laud and Bigourdan, of the Paris Observatory. 


SEPTEMBER 25, 1914] 


Tur Paris Academy of Medicine has de- 
cided unanimously that all its members will 
place themselves at the disposal of the govern- 
ment for any purpose for which they may be 
useful to the country. It has asked to be 
given the necessary animals and apparatus for 
manufacturing and applying small-pox and 
antityphoid vaccines. 

Tue British pharmaceutical committee, 
which is advising the government on the ques- 
tion of the rise in price of various drugs, is 
said to be holding frequent meetings. It con- 
sists of Messrs. Edmund White, EK. T. Nether- 
coat, C. A. Hill, John C. Umney and W. J. U. 
Woolcock. Information is in the hands of the 
committee to the effect that the prices of cer- 
tain drugs are inflated by reason of the action 
of particular dealers. 


Dr. Ave. Agneur, formerly professor of 
medicine at Lyons, and recently minister of 
education in the French government, has be- 
come minister of marine. 


Mr. ApoteH RonLorr, director of the State 
Botanical Garden in Tiflis, Russia, is visiting 
the botanical gardens of the United States. 


An Institute of Oceanography has been 
established in Spain under the direction of 
Professor Odén de Buen. 


Tue Ohio State Board of Administration 
has established a psychological bureau to study 
and care for juvenile delinquents. In addi- 
tion to the chief of the bureau, whose salary 
is $3,500 a year, a staff of eight assistants is 
planned, including three psychologists, a diag- 
nostician and a bacteriologist. Dr. Thomas 
H. Haines, professor of psychology in the Ohio 
State University, has been appointed chief 
of the bureau. 


Tue Thirteenth Intercollegiate Geological 
Excursion will be held in the vicinity of 
Daltin on October 16 and 17, under the direc- 
tion of Professor B. K. Hmerson. A prelimin- 
ary meeting will be held at the Wendell in 
Pittsfield on October 16 at 7:30. 


Tue home of Mr. Wallace Craig, at Orono, 
Me., was ruined by fire on August 16. The 
pigeons whose social behavior was under in- 
vestigation were destroyed. However, the ex- 


SCIENCE 


445 


periments on these individual birds were prac- 
tically finished, and after rebuilding and buy- 
ing a new flock of pigeons for observation, 
Mr. Craig will write up the results of his 
investigation. 


Proressor Oxtver C. Lester, of the Univer- 
sity of Colorado, has been in charge of a geo- 
logical survey party studying the radium 
deposits in the southern part of the state. 


Dr. J. J. TAUBERHAUS, previously assistant 
pathologist of the Delaware College Agricul- 
tural Experiment Station, has been promoted 
to be associate research plant pathologist. 


Dr. Harotp CO. Bryant, assistant curator of 
birds in the University of California museum 
of vertebrate zoology, who for the past year 
has engaged in studying the game birds of 
California, has accepted a position with the 
California State Fish and Game Commission. 
Although research work on the game birds 
and mammals of the state will be carried on, 
his work will be largely educational, as the 
commission believes that the protection and 
preservation of game is more effectually fur- 
thered by an appreciation of the value of this 
resource than through the maintenance of a 
large police force. Dr. Bryant’s work on 
game birds in the museum of vertebrate zool- 
ogy will be assumed by Tracy I. Storer, M.S., 
of the department of zoology of the Univer- 
sity of California. 


Dr. Avotr RemeE.E, professor in the forest 
school at Eberswald, has celebrated his seventy- 
fifth birthday and the’fiftieth anniversary of 
his doctorate. 

Dr. Evcenr Korscuet, professor of zoology 
at Marburg, has been elected rector of the 
university for the coming year. 


Dr. August GARTNER, professor of hygiene 
at Jena, has retired from active service. 


“Tum Nature and Control of Hunger ” was 
the subject of two lectures at the University of 
Chicago on August 19 and 20, by Associate 
Professor Anton Julius Carlson, of the de- 
partment of physiology. On August 21 As- 
sociate Professor Henry Chandler Cowles, of 
the department of botany, concluded his series 


446 


of illustrated lectures on “ Botanical Rambles 
in the West,” the subject of this lecture being 
“Our Southwestern Desert.” 

Dr. Tuomas H. Gurenn, formerly in charge 
of the pathologic and bacteriologic labora- 
tories of the Northwestern University, Chi- 
cago, has been placed in charge of the clinical 
and Réntgen-ray laboratories now being in- 
stalled at Fort Dodge. 

Prorsssor Kr. BIRKELAND returned to Chris- 
tiania in July after a sojourn of seven months 
in Africa, where he continued his researches 
on the zodiacal light. He will return in Oc- 
tober and continue the observations for three 
years. 

A couRSE of twelve lectures on the theory 
and practise of radio-telezraphy will be de- 
livered by Professor J. A. Fleming at Uni- 
versity College, London, on Wednesdays at 
5 P.M., beginning on October 28. 


Dr. JAMES Enuis Gow, professor of botany 
in Coe College, the author of contributions on 
the embryology and morphology of plants, has 
died at the age of thirty-seven years. 

We have to record somewhat late the death 
of Overton Westfield Price, at one time asso- 
ciate forester of the U. S. Forest Service, for 
the internal administration of which he was 
largely responsible during the term of office 
of Mr. Pinchot. 

Sir JoHn Bengzamin Stone, for many years 
a member of the British parliament, known 
to scientific men for his photographs of scien- 
tifie places, objects and men, has died at the 
age of seventy-six years. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 


Tur Medical School of Western Reserve 
University receives by the will of Liberty E. 
Holden a bequest said to be nearly one million 
dollars. The fund is to be known as the 
Albert Fairchild Holden Foundation, in mem- 
ory of Mr. Holden’s son. 


Dr. Hermon Carty Bumeus, business man- 
ager of the University of Wisconsin, formerly 
director of the American Museum of Natural 
History, has been elected president of Tufts 
College. 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Von. XL. No. 1030 


Tue Journal of the American Medical Asso- 
ciation states that Dr. Daniel A. K. Steele has 
been appointed senior dean and head of the 
department of surgery in the college of medi- 
cine of the University of Tllionois; Dr. Charles 
Spencer Williamson, professor of medicine 
and head of the department; Dr. Charles 
Summer Bacon, professor of obstetrics and 
head of the department of obstetrics and 
gynecology; Dr. Julius Hays Hess, associate 
professor of pediatrics and head of the division 
of pediatrics; Dr. Norval Pierce, professor of 
otology; Dr. Joseph C. Beck, associate pro- 
fessor of laryngology and rhinology and head 
of the division; Dr. Oscar Eugene Nadeau, 
instructor in surgical pathology; Dr. A. O. 
Shoklee, associate professor of pharmacology; 
Dr. Roy L. Moodie, instructor in anatomy, and 
Dr. C. S. Smith, instructor in physiological 
chemistry. 

Proressor H. H. Lane, head of the depart- 
ment of zoology at the University of Okla- 
homa, has been granted a sabbatical leave of 
absence on half salary, to carry on research 
work at Princeton University. Dr. W. C. 
Allee, formerly imstructor in zoology in 
Williams College, will be acting head of the 
department, to which he will be permanently 
attached as assistant professor. 

Epwarp J. Kunze, of the Michigan Agri- 
cultural College, has been appointed professor 
of mechanical engineering in charge of the 
department of mechanical engineering at the 
Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical Col- 
lege. 

Dr. Ernest SAcHs, associate in surgery at 
Washington University Medical School, St. 
Louis, Mo., has been appointed associate pro- 
fesor of surgery at the same institution. 

F. L. Pickert, sometime instructor in 
botany at Indiana University, and for the past 
year research fellow at the same institution, 
has been appointed associate professor of plant 
physiology at Washington State Agricultural 
College. 

JAMES CLARENCE Dr Voss, M.A. (Colorado, 
12), has been appointed professor of psychol- 
ogy and education in the Kansas State Normal 
School at Emporia. 


SEPTEMBER 25, 1914] 


Dr. J. B. Leatues, F.R.S., professor of 
pathological chemistry in the University of 
Toronto, has been offered the chair of physiol- 
ogy at the University of Sheffield rendered 
vacant by the acceptance of Professor J. S. 
Macdonald of the chair of physiology in the 
University of Liverpool. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 


RESEARCH ESTABLISHMENTS AND THE UNIVERSITIES 


PRESIDENT WoopWwarb’s address! contains so 
much of concentrated wisdom on the subject of 
scientific research within and without uni- 
versities that no American scientist should 
fail to read it carefully. The part which im- 
presses me as especially timely deals with “ re- 
search in academic circles.” 
ward does not discuss the question whether 
research is a desirable agency in the disciplining 
of untrained minds, but I understand this to 
be the theory on which most university in- 
struction in science is now based. The so- 
ealled “inductive method” is simply the 
method of research. Our science courses aim 
only in a minor degree to impart information; 
their chief aim is frankly recognized to be 
training in methods of discovering truth. But 
is the training of students in methods of re- 
search itself research? This is a subsidiary 
question which President Woodward’s words 
suggest and concerning which I think we are 
apt to deceive ourselves. 

Our larger universities, and many of our 
smaller ones too, point with pride to the re- 
search work which they are accomplishing. 
But in not a few cases this work, if inspected 
earetully, is found to take final shape in dis- 
ertations for the doctorate, of doubtful value 
as contributions to knowledge, prepared pri- 
marily not because the author had something 
of value to record but because he had to record 
something in order to get the coveted degree. 

The chief energies of many professors en- 
tirely competent as investigators are wholly 
absorbed in laboriously dragging candidates 
through the academic mill up to the final 


1‘‘The Needs of Research,’’ SciENCE, August 
14, 1914. 


SCIENCE 


President Wood- 


447 


examination for the doctorate. Their success 
as research professors and the standing of their 
universities as centers of research is commonly 
estimated in numbers of doctorates conferred. 
See the publications of graduate schools, de- 
partmental pamphlets, and even Scmmncr (Aug. 
21, 1914) with its annual list of “Doctorates 
conferred by American Universities.” 

Now is this in any true sense research? 
To coach an ambitious but mediocre mind up 
to the point of making a fair showing for the 
doctorate is the more exhausting, the more 
mediocre the candidate. Whatever its educa- 
tional value, it certainly has little value as 
research. Yet this makes up a considerable 
part of the “research” activity of our best 
universities. Great sums of money are devoted 
to it in the form of fellowships, scholarships, 
buildings for laboratories and laboratory 
equipment for the use of advanced students. 
A small part of this investment devoted to 
research by the professors themselves unham- 
pered by a crowd of immature and incom- 
petent students would doubtless be much more 
effective in advancing knowledge. 

The attempt to combine teaching with re- 
search has another indirect but evil conse- 
quence. The periods which the professor can 
himself devote to research are intermittent 
and fragmentary. This affects disadvantage- 
ously the topics selected for investigation. 
They too must be minor and fragmentary. 
Great fundamental questions requiring long 
continued and uninterrupted investigation can 
not be attacked with any hope of success by 
one who has only an occasional day or a sum- 
mer vacation to devote to research. The neces- 
sity, too, of hunting up thesis subjects for stu- 
dents, small enough in scope to be handled 
successfully by a beginner in a limited time 
and yet novel enough to make a showing of 
originality reacts unfavorably on the professor’s 
own work. It loses both in breadth and depth. 
He who in the full maturity of his powers 
should be doing a day’s work, runs errands for 
boys, holds their coats and carries water. 
Imagine what the “ Origin of Species ” would 
have been like had it been brought forward 
vicariously as a series of theses for the doctor’s 


448 


degree, each aiming to present a different point 
of view or a novel method of attacking evolu- 
tionary problems. Darwin might in that case 
have lived to see his pupils holding numerous 
professorships in widely scattered schools to 
the glory and delight of his university; the 
grateful pupils might even have honored him 
with a Festschrift on forty different and wholly 
unrelated subjects—but the world would still 
hold the theory of special creation! 

Our universities need carefully to consider 
whether they are really fostering research in 
multiplying “research courses” in their grad- 
uate schools and making larger and larger 
bids for graduate students. In the interest of 
genuine research within the universities it is 
important that they with their estimated 
hundred millions annual income should not 
absorb the exclusively research institutions 
with their paltry two millions estimated annual 
income. Jt is important that the latter type of 
institution should persist, if only to point out 
the difference between giving all one’s time 
to research and giving all one’s time to train- 
ing for research those who either are incapable 
of it or are never going to have time for it 
themselves, but will only repeat the endless 
process of getting others ready for it. 

But it has been objected and will be objected 
again—If the university does not foster inci- 
pient research by training beginners, there will 
soon be no trained investigators. Is this true? 
Is it true, I wonder, in the case of astronomy, 
the oldest of sciences, the one which is almost 
never used as a stepping stone to the doctorate 
in a graduate school? Is there a dearth of 
workers there, of adequately trained and com- 
petent ones? Astronomy has certainly not 
ceased to advance in our time. 

Should the university then abandon re- 
search? By no means, but it should cease to 
deceive itself as to what research is. It is not 
offering “ Courses in Research” or conferring 
doctorates or publishing numerous papers or 
even building laboratories. 

Many of our universities already have at- 
tached to them genuine research establishments 
which are making important contributions to 
knowledge. As a rule they receive no students 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1030 


and confer no degrees. They are invariably 
endowed; otherwise they would sooner or later 
be dragged into the whirlpool of teaching and 
forced to offer courses and degrees as bait to 
prospective students and would thus be turned 
aside from intensive and effective investiga- 
tion. Some such establishments, however, 
have other functions which interfere more or 
less with investigation, such as exhibition and 
demonstration in museums and gardens. 

The university is an entirely suitable place, 
in many respects the best place, for a research 
establishment; but when such establishments 
are founded in connection with a university, 
their purpose for research should be made very 
clear and their administration should be kept 
very distinct from both teaching and the 
demonstration of discoveries to the public. 


W. EK. Caste 
August 25, 1914 


CHONTAL, SERI AND YUMAN 


A RECENT reexamination of the available 
evidence bearing on Brinton’s old but not 
generally accepted finding of a genetic rela- 
tionship between the Chontal (Tequistlatecan), 
Seri and Yuman Indian languages, confirms 
his judgment positively. Chontal and Seri 
being Yuman, are Hokan; and the Hokan 
family therefore now has a known extent of 
over 2,000 miles on the Pacific coast of 
America. So definite are the resemblances 
furnished by Chontal and Seri that they help 
to elucidate problems in the Hokan languages 
of northern California. The results of the 
study are now awaiting publication. 

A. L. KrorsBer 

September 8, 1914 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 
The Microscopy of Drinking Water. By 
GEORGE CHANDLER WHIPPLE, Gordon McKay 
Professor of Sanitary Engineering, Har- 
vard University and Massachusetts Institute 
of Technology. Third edition, rewritten 
and enlarged. New York, John Wiley & 
Sons. 1914. xxi 405. 
The scientific study of the microscopical or- 
ganisms in their relation to potable waters 


SEPTEMBER 25, 1914] 


(rather than as a source of fish food) is a sub- 
ject of American origin and development. It 
was born in the laboratories of the Massachu- 
setts Institute of Technology, nurtured by the 
Massachusetts State Board of Health and the 
Boston Water Board, and brought to full ma- 
turity in the Mt. Prospect Laboratory of the 
Water Department of Brooklyn. In Boston 
and in Brooklyn Professor Whipple was the 
leading spirit in the investigation of this sub- 
ject. 

His admirable book on the “ Microscopy of 
Drinking Water” was first published in 1899 
and has remained the standard text upon this 
subject. A third edition comprehensively re- 
written to include the experience of the last 
fifteen years is most welcome to all workers in 
this fascinating and practically important 
field. 

The main objects of the miscroscopical 
study of water are of course first to determine 
the causes of odors and turbidities in water 
and to control the remedial measures applied 
to them, and second, to work out the relation 
of the plankton to the life of fishes. It is also 
of value in certain cases as an index of sew- 
age contamination, as a measure of the proc- 
esses of self-purification of streams, as an ex- 
planation of the sanitary chemical analysis, 
and as a means of identifying water from par- 
ticular sources. Professor Whipple is doubt- 
less correct in his conviction that “the microl- 
ogy of water is going to play an increasingly 
important part in the science of sanitation.” 

The methods used for the microscopical ex- 
amination of water remain essentially as they 
were worked out by Professor W. T. Sedg- 
wick and Mr. George W. Rafter in 1889. 
Three important modifications are, however, 
described by Professor Whipple, the sling filter 
for examinations in the field, the use of a 
round cell for counting instead of the expen- 
sive and cumbrous oblong one and the use of 
the cotton dise filter which gives an admir- 
able general idea of the total amount of plank- 
ton in a given water. A new chapter on the 
microscope and its uses by Dr. J. W. M. 
Bunker is added to the discussion of the spe- 
cific methods used in water examination. 


SCIENCE 449 


Professor Whipple’s discussion of limnology 
is extended and amplified in many respects, 
particularly in regard to the estimation of dis- 
solved gases and their effect upon plankton 
growth. In general the effect of various en- 
vironmental conditions upon the multiplica- 
tion of water organisms is admirably dis- 
eussed. The diagram of plankton changes in 
the Genesee River is particularly striking, 
showing the rise first of bacteria, then of pro- 
tozoa, then of rotifers and crustacea, as each 
group preys upon the preceding one. The re- 
viewer must demur at one conclusion, drawn 
on page 215, to the effect that a curve show- 
ing seasonal variations of blue-green algz and 
bacteria in Baiseley’s Pond, indicates that the 
former are antagonistic to the latter. It is 
quite true that the bacteria increase in spring 
and fall and the cyanophytes in summer; but 
it seems more probable that the increase in 
bacteria is merely the usual fall and spring in- 
erease due to rains and thaws, which occurs in 
all surface waters, than that the cyanophytes 
bave anything to do with it. The season of 
the year has a great many effects upon a great 
many things and plotting two effects against 
each other as if they were related has led to 
many errors. 

The most important additions to Professor 
Whipple’s book relate to the practical control 
of the growths of microscopic organisms and 
the obnoxious odors and turbidities which they 
produce. This subject was in its infancy fif- 
teen years ago, but to-day there are three well 
recognized preventive or remedial procedures, 
stripping of the reservoir site, treatment with 
copper sulphate and aeration. Stripping of 
the reservoir of its organic soil to eliminate 
the food of the microorganisms has been ex- 
tensively used in Massachusetts, but the re- 
port of Messrs. Hazen and Fuller in connec- 
tion with the proposed application of this 
method to the New York water supply (from 
which Professor Whipple quotes extensively) 
leads to the conclusion that stripping can not 
by itself be expected to produce satisfactory 
results and in most cases involves a large ex- 
pense of doubtful value. The destruction of 
the microorganisms by treating reservoir 


450 


waters with copper sulphate, Professor 
Whipple rightly estimates as of great useful- 
ness, although usually as a palliative rather 
than a permanent remedy. Reliance must be 
placed in the last resort upon aeration, which 
changes the odoriferous essential oils produced 
by the microorganisms into inodorous com- 
pounds, combined with filtration for the re- 
moval of the organisms themselves. The value 
of this procedure has been clearly demon- 
strated both experimentally and on a practical 
seale, and Professor Whipple describes plants 
in operation at Rochester and Albany and 
New York City, and at Springfield, Mass., a 
view of the Springfield aerating fountain form- 
ing a very attractive frontispiece for the vol- 
ume. 

About a quarter of Professor Whipple’s book 
is devoted to a systematic description of the 
more important genera of water microorgan- 
isms. The plates of the first edition have been 
made much more valuable by being colored, and 
five new plates have been added, one showing 
the results of the cotton dise filter test and the 
other four being photomicrographs of impor- 
tant water organisms. C.-K. A. WINSLOW 

AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HisToRY, 

New YorE 


Essays and Studies Presented to William 
Ridgeway on his Siatieth Birthday. Edited 
by E. C. Quiccin. University Press, Cam- 
bridge, 1918. Pp. xxv-+ 656, 93 illustra- 
tions. 

Tf a commemoration volume is an index to 
the scope of the work done by the man it is 
intended to honor, the Ridgeway volume is 
indeed a monument to the versatility of the 
distinguished British scholar. The one draw- 
back about such a work is that only a Ridgeway 
could adequately review it. There are, for 
example, 25 papers dealing with classics and 
archeology—two large but related fields. Then 
under the head of “Medieval Literature and 
History ” come half a dozen or more impor- 
tant papers. 

About half the work is devoted to anthro- 
pology and comparative religion. Sample 
articles under this section include: “ The 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1030 


Weeping God,” by T. A. Joyce; “ The Serpent 
and the Tree of Life,” by J. G. Frazer; “ The 
Problem of the Galley Hill Skeleton,” by W. 
L. H. Duckworth; “ The Beginnings of Music,” 
by C. S. Myers; “Kite Fishing,” by Henry 
Balfour, and “ The Outrigger Canoes of Torres 
Straits and North Queensland,” by A. C. 
Haddon. 

Lack of space precludes the thought of re- 
viewing the various articles even in a summary 
fashion. Only two will be selected for this 
purpose: “The Contact of Peoples,” by W. 
H. R. Rivers, and “The Evolution of the 
Rock-cut Tomb and the Dolmen,” by G. Elliott 
Smith. As to the contact of peoples Rivers 
begins with the formulation of the principle 
that the extent of the influence of one people 
upon another depends on the difference in the 
level of their cultures. He tests the principle 
by applying it to a study of two complex 
ethnologic problems, viz.: Australian culture 
and Megalithic monuments. It is shown that 
Australian culture is not simple, but complex, 
this complexity being due to many elements 
derived from without. These elements are 
supposed to have been introduced at intervals 
by small bodies of immigrants whose culture 
seemed so wonderful to the lowly natives that 
they were able to wield a far-reaching influ- 
ence, one in fact which was carried by second- 
ary movements throughout the continent. 
After a time the culture of the immigrants 
would degenerate, leaving little that was per- 
manent. The traces of these successive influ- 
ences, however, would live in magical rites, 
religion, myth, and tradition. This would 
account for the highly complex social and 
magico-religious institutions of the Austra- 
lians, coupled with the extraordinary simplic- 
ity and crudeness of their material and even 
esthetic arts. 

The same principle is called into requisition 
to account for the presence of megalithic 
monuments in such widely separated parts of 
the earth. Megalithic culture is thus carried 
not by vast movements of a conquering: peo- 
ple, but by the migration of small bodies of 
men, the movement being one of culture 
rather than of race. Such a view is certainly 


SEPTEMBER 25, 1914] 


in keeping with the peculiar distribution of 
these monuments, their comparative nearness 
everywhere to the sea. 

In “The Evolution of the Rock-cut Tomb 
and the Dolmen,” Elliott Smith would derive 
the Egyptian mastaba from the neolithic 
grave. He cites Reisner to prove how from the 
simple trench grave of Predynastic times there 
was gradually developed a type of tomb con- 
sisting of (1) a multichambered subterranean 
grave, to which a stairway gave access; (2) a 
brick-work super-structure (mastaba) in the 
shape of four walls enclosing a mass of earth 
or rubble; and (8) an enclosure for offerings 
in front of the brick superstructure. During 
the period of the Pyramid-builders the mud- 
brick mastaba began to be imitated in stone. 
Within the masonry of the mastaba, but near 
the forecourt, is a narrow chamber, usually 
known by the Arabic name Serdab. Here is 
placed a statue of the deceased, sometimes also 
of other members of the family and servants. 
The statue represents the deceased and is in 
communication with the outside world through 
a hole connecting with the forecourt, or chapel. 
According to Elliott Smith the dolmens 
scattered over the world from Ireland to Japan 
are but crude, overgrown and degraded Egyp- 
tian mastabas, the one feature retained being 
the serdab, the dwelling of the spirit of the 
deceased. Grorce Grant MacCurpy 

YALE UNIVERSITY, 

NEw HavEN, Conn. 


BOTANICAL NOTES 
A NEW NATURE BOOK 


We have had many books on “ agriculture ” 
and still more on “ nature study,” all of which 
hhave been more or less helpful, while being at 
the same time more or less unsatisfactory and 
it has remained for Professor J. G. Needham 
to prepare a book which directs the attention 
of the pupil to both subjects in one view with 
what appears to be a maximum of helpfulness 
and a minimum of objectionable features. He 
ealls his book “The Natural History of the 
Farm” (Comstock Pub. Co., Ithaca, N. Y.) 
and tells in his preface that it deals with “the 
sources of agriculture,” meaning by this the 


(4 


SCIENCE 


451 


wild plants, wild animals, the virgin soil, the 
weather, ete., with which we deal. The idea 
underlying the treatment is good, and must 
commend itself to every scientific man. We 
apprehend that there will be some ultra 
“practical” critics who will demand more 
agriculture and less natural history, and yet 
it has been the writer’s observation that just 
such information as is here given, such sug- 
gestions as are here made will prove to be the 
most helpful to the boys and girls in the 
country schools. Agriculture is no more all 
cultivation of crops, than is classical culture 
simply the study of Greek and Latin roots. 
This book breathes of the farm and of country 
life, of the wild things, as well as those that 
we have brought into our fields and stables. 
It is an attempt to broaden and liberalize agri- 
culture and to bring it into relation with the 
things in nature. The topics of some of the 
chapters will show how this is done: Mother 
Earth, Wild Fruits of the Farm, Wild Nuts 
of the Farm, The Farm Stream, Pasture 
Plants, The Farm Wood-lot, The Wild Mam- 
mals of the Farm, The Domesticated Mammals, 
The Lay of the Land, Winter Activities of 
Wild Animals, Maple Sap and Sugar, What 
Goes On in the Apple Blossoms, The Clovers, 
Weeds of the Field, Some Insects at Work on 
Farm Crops, etc. Surely no boy or girl in the 
country could use this book without great 
pleasure and great profit. 


A STUDY OF ASTERS 


QuitE recently Charles E. Monroe has pub- 
lished in the Bulletin of the Wisconsin Na- 
tural History Society a paper on “The Wild 
Asters of Wisconsin,” which is of more than 
the usual interest of local lists, or local dis- 
cussions of groups of species. In his intro- 
duction the author makes some thoughtful 
suggestions as to “species” in general, and 
“species ” of asters in particular. Thus he says 

The old notion of a species, as something definite, 
fixed and stable, nowhere breaks down more com- 
pletely than when an attempt is made to apply it 
to the different forms of Aster as we find them in 
this country. Different species are so connected 
by intermediate forms that we often feel like ig- 
noring specific distinctions and grouping two or 


452 


more species together under one name. On the 
other hand, to one of a more analytical bent of 
mind, the difference between members of a single 
species may appear so marked that he will be 
under constant temptation to separate them into 
still smaller subdivisions and to give to each spe- 
cific rank. But, whichever course we follow, the 
different groups into which the genus, or a species, 
may be divided represent little more than particu- 
lar tendencies or directions of variation, and the 
members of each make up a series illustrating the 
different stages. The word ‘‘species,’’ as applied 
to our North American asters, can hardly be said 
to have any other significance than this. 


Tt will startle some old-fashioned taxonom- 
ists to read the next sentence: 
It does not seem a valid objection that under 


such a definition a single plant might be conceived 
as belonging to more than one species. 


Notes are made of ten previous lists of 
Wisconsin asters, and then follows a systematic 
and critical discussion of the species recog- 
nized by the author. This latter is so well 
done that one is tempted to wish that it might 
be used as a model by other local botanists. 


SHORT NOTES 


Important phytopathological papers by G. G. 
‘Hedgecock have appeared as follows: “ Notes 
on Some Western Uredineae which attack For- 
est Trees” (Phytopath., III.); “Notes on 
Some Diseases of Trees in our National 
Forests” (Phytopath., IIl.); “Injury by 
Smelter Smoke in Southeastern Tennessee” 
(Jour. Wash. Ac. Sct., IV.); “The Alternate 
Stage of Peridermium pyriforme” (privately 
printed June 12, 1914). In the latter the con- 
clusion is reached that the alternate stage 
occurs on Comandra umbellata. 

B. F. Lurman contributes an interesting 
paper on “The Pathological Anatomy of 
Potato Scab” accompanied with ten text 
figures, in which he concludes that “The scab 
is due to the hypertrophy of the cells of the 
cork cambium” (Phytopath., III.). The same 
author’s “Studies on Olub-root” (Bull. 175, 
Vt. Agr’] Expt. Sta.) will be suggestive to 
those who are interested in the organisms usu- 
ally known as slime molds (Myxomycetes). 
The one here under consideration is Plasmo- 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1030 


diophora brassicae, and it infests the root cells 
of cabbages and other cruciferous plants. It 
gains entrance either through the epidermis 
or the root-hairs, and produces cellular hyper- 
trophy, especially of the cortical tissues. 

Nuclear divisions in the plasmodium are of two 
types—vegetative and reduction. The vegetative 
divisions are peculiar in that a spireme is not 
formed. ... The reduction division is one of those 
preceding spore formation, probably the first. 

Six text figures and four plates (with 52 
figures) accompany the twenty-seven pages of 
text. 

A signiricant feature of the new edition of 
the “Genera of British Plants,” by H. G. 
Carter (Cambridge, 1913), is the adoption of 
Engler’s system. At the outset it must be 
remembered that the “plants” referred to in 
the title are the ferns and flowering plants. 
The little book (of 139 pages) 
is intended to familiarize students of British vaseu- 
lar plants with Engler’s system in its latest form, 
and thus to habituate British floristic students to 
the use of a more natural system than that to which 
they have been accustomed in the British floras that 
have hitherto appeared. 


In carrying out this plan the class, ordinal 
and family characters are clearly given, while 
the genera are briefly characterized by means 
of analytic keys. A similar book for North 
America would be very useful, However, we 
can not approve of the use of the terms 
“apopetalous” and “apochlamydeous” as 
defined by the author (petals, or perianth 
“absent by reduction”) even though sanc- 
tioned by Engler. Certainly “apetalous” and 
“ achlamydeous”’ are sufticiently definite for the 
conditions of no petals, and no perianth, 
leaving “ apopetalous,” and “ apochlamydeous ” 
for the conditions of separate petals, and 
separate perianth segments. 
CuartEs E. Brssey 
THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 
THE ALLEGED DANGERS TO THE EYE FROM 
ULTRA-VIOLET RADIATION 
During recent years there have been not a 
few sensational attacks upon modern illu- 


. SEPTEMBER 25, 1914] 


minants as dangerous by reason of injurious 
effects of the ultra-violet radiation delivered 
by them. The literature of the subject is 
large, but unhappily most of the investigations 
have entirely neglected any quantitative rela- 
tion between the radiation and its supposed 
pathological effects. One can not stigmatize 
an illuminant which emits ultra-violet as 
dangerous for this reason any more than one 
can declare a stove unfit for use because it is 
possible to burn the finger by deliberately 
touching it. The vital question is not whether 
a light source gives ultra-violet radiations, but 
whether it gives them of such kind, and in 
sufficient quantity, as to make any injury to 
the eye possible under practical conditions. A 
second point frequently neglected in the dis- 
cussion of this subject has been the action of 
the eye itself in focusing radiation falling upon 
it, with the resulting effects upon the intensity 
of the radiation in the media of the eye. 
Finally a great many errors have been made 
and unwarrantable conclusions reached owing 
to the fact that m the solar spectrum the 
maximum intensity of radiation is in the 
briliantly luminous part of the spectrum, 
where in addition the so-called actinic power 
is considerable, so that phenomena possibly 
having their origin in specific effects of radia- 
tion of particular wave-length become difficult 
to separate from those of purely thermic origin. 

During more than two years past the writers 
have spent a large amount of their time in an 
investigation from a quantitative standpoint 
of the effects of radiation on the various media 
of the eye from the corneal epithelium back 
to the retina, and have investigated with con- 
siderable care the maladies reputed by one 
writer or another to be due to the specific 
effects of radiation. Broadly we have found 
that no artificial source of light used for 
illuminating purposes contains enough ultra- 
violet radiation to involve the slightest danger 
to the eye from its effects under any readily 
coneeivable conditions of use, and that such 
pathological action as can be obtained experi- 
mentally from the ultra-violet is confined to 
a strictly limited region of the spectrum and 
obeys perfectly definite quantitative laws in 


SCIENCE 


453 


its action. Incidentally we have found most 
extraordinary resisting power of the eye as 
respects radiations outside this particular 
range, which is in fact the whole body of radia- 
tion present in any material quantity in the 
energy normally received from the sun at the 
surface of the earth. 

Our conclusions regarding these funda- 
mental matters and respecting the various 
alleged pathological effects which have been 
charged up against radiation are appended as 
preliminary to the more complete publica- 
tion of the methods and results of our inves- 
tigations. Most of the experiments were made 
upon the eyes of rabbits and monkeys. An 
especially noteworthy experiment, however, 
relating to the possibility of abiotic action on 
the retina, was made upon a human patient 
affected with cancer of the eye-lids, twenty- 
four hours before the eye was removed. A 
number of crucial experiments were also made 
upon our own eyes. It should be especially 
noted that while the abiotic effects of the ex- 
treme ultra-violet on the outer eye are well 
defined, they are limited to a particular region 
and their extent in case of exposure to any 
given radiant can be definitely predicted and 
effectively guarded against. 


Conclusions 

The liminal exposure capable of producing 
photophthalmia to the extent of conjunctivitis 
accompanied by stippling of the cornea, is in 
terms of energy 2 < 10° erg seconds per square 
em. of abiotic radiation of the character 
derived, for example, from the quartz lamp 
or the magnetite arc. About two and a half 
times this exposure, 2. ¢., 5 < 10° erg seconds 
per square cm., is required to produce loss of 
corneal epithelium. 

The abiotic action on the cornea and con- 
junctiva produced by any radiating source 
follows the law of inverse squares and is 
directly proportional to the total abiotic energy 
received. Jt can therefore be definitely pre- 
dicted from the physical properties of the 
source. 

After exposure of the eye to abiotic radiations 
there is a latent period before any effects, 


454 


clinical or histological, become perceptible. 
This period of latency in a general way varies 
inversely with the severity of the exposure, 
but a theoretical lateney of 24 hours or more 
corresponds to an exposure entirely subliminal. 

The combined effect of repeated exposures to 
abiotic radiations is equivalent to that of a 
continuous exposure of the same total length, 
provided the imtermissions are not long 
enough to establish reparative effects. Ap- 
proximately, the exposures are additive for in- 
termissions of somewhat less than 24 hours. 
Exposures of one third the liminal given daily 
begin to show perceptible effect only after 
about six exposures. Daily exposures of one 
sixth the liminal repeated over long periods 
produce no effect whatever, except to give the 
external eye a degree of immunity against 
severer exposures. Actual abiotic damage to 
the external eye renders it temporarily more 
sensitive to abiotic action. 

Abiotic action for living tissues is confined 
to wave-lengths shorter than 305 pp, at which 
length abiotic effects are evanescent, while for 
shorter wave-lengths they increase with con- 
siderable rapidity. 

For the quartz are and the magnetite arc 
the abiotic activity of the rays absorbed by 
the cornea is eighteen times greater than those 
which are transmitted by it. To effect the 
media back of the cornea requires, therefore, at 
least eighteen times the liminal exposure here- 
tofore mentioned. 

Even with exposures as great as one hundred 
and fifty times the liminal for photophthalmia 
the lens substance is affected to a depth of less 
than 20, and this superficial effect under- 
goes in the rabbit complete repair. Such 
enormously intensive exposures, which we ob- 
tain with the magnetite are and double quartz 
lens system may completely destroy the corneal 
epithelium, corpuscles and endothelium. The 
corneal stroma may be strongly affected by 
waves shorter than 295 py, which it completely 
absorbs, but is very slightly affected by the 
remaining abiotic radiation. 

The histological changes produced by abiotic 
radiation are radically different from those 
produced by heat, and the cell changes are best 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Von. XL. No. 1030 


seen in flat preparations of the lens capsule. 
The most characteristic change is the breaking 
up of the cytoplasm into eosinophilic and bas- 
ophilic granules. 

Changes in the lens epithelium like those 
following abiotic action, including the forma- 
tion of a “ wall” beneath the pupillary margin, 
are uot exclusively characteristic of abiotic 
action, but may be produced by ordinary 
chemical reagents. They are, therefore, char- 
acteristic not of abiotic action alone, but of 
chemical action in general. 

Abiotic radiations certainly do not directly 
stimulate, but, on the contrary apparently 
depress mitosis. Their action in this respect 
also is materially different from that of heat. 

The lens protects completely the retina of 
the normal eye even from the small proportion 
of feebly abiotic rays which can penetrate the 
cornea and vitreous. 

Experiments on rabbits, monkeys and the 
human subject prove that the retina may be 
flooded for an hour or more with light of 
extreme intensity (mot less than 50,000 Iux), 
without any sign of permanent injury. The 
resulting scotoma disappears within a few 
hours. Only when the concentration of light 
involves enough heat energy to produce defi- 
nite thermic lesions is the retina likely to be 
injured. 

The retina of the aphakic eye, owing to the 
specific and general absorption of abiotic 
radiations by the cornea and the vitreous body, 
is adequately protected from injury from any 
exposures possible under the ordinary condi- 
tions of life, even without the added protec- 
tion of the glasses necessary for aphakic pa- 
tients. 

To injure the cornea, iris, or lens, by the 
thermic effects of radiation, requires a con- 
centration of energy obtainable only under 
extreme experimental conditions. 

Infra-red rays have no specific action on the 
tissues analogous to that of abiotic rays. Any 
effect due to them is simply a matter of thermic 
action, and such rays are in the main absorbed 
by the media of the eye before reaching the 
retina. 

Actual experiments made on the human eye 


SEPTEMBER 25, 1914] 


show conclusively that no concentration of 
radiation on the retina from any artificial 
illuminant is sufficient to produce injury 
thereto under any practical conditions. 

Kelipse blindness, the only thermic effect on 
the retina of common occurrence clinically, is 
due to the action of the concentrated heat on 
the pigment epithelium and chorioid, this heat 
being almost wholly due to radiations of the 
visible spectrum, within which the maximum 
solar energy lies. 

The abiotic energy in the solar spectrum is 
a meager remnant between wave-lengths 
295 py and 305 py, aggregating hardly a 
quarter of one per cent. of the total. At high 
altitudes and in clear air it is sufficient to 
produce slight abiotic effects such as are noted 
in snow blindness and solar erythema, the 
former only occurring with long exposures 
under very favorable circumstances and the 
latter being in ordinary cases complicated by 
an erythema due to heat alone. The amount 
of abiotic energy required to produce a specific 
effect in solar erythema is substantially the 
same as that required for mild photophthalmia. 

Erythropsia is not in any way connected 
with the exposure of the eye to ultra-violet 
radiations, but is merely a special case of color 
fatigue temporary and without pathological 
significance. 

Vernal catarrh and senile cataract we can 
find no evidence for considering as due to 
radiations of any kind. 

Glass blowers’ cataract, often charged to 
specific radiation, ultra-violet or other, we 
regard as probably due to the overheating of 
the eye as a whole with consequent disturbed 
nutrition of the lens. 

Commercial illuaminants we find to be en- 
tirely free of danger under the ordinary condi- 
tions of their use. The abiotic radiations, 
furnished by even the most powerful of them, 
are too small in amount to produce danger of 
photophthalmia under ordinary working con- 
ditions even when accidentally used without 
their globes. The glass enclosing globes used 
with all practical commercial illuminants are 
amply sufficient to reduce any abiotic radia- 
tions very far below the danger point. 


SCIENCE 


455 


Under ordinary conditions no glasses of any 
kind are required as protection against abiotic 
radiations. The chief usefulness of protec- 
tive glasses lies not so much in their absorption 
of any specific radiations, as in their reducing 
the total amount of light to a point where it 
ceases to be psychologically disagreeable or to 
be inconveniently dazzling. Glasses which eut 
off both ends of the spectrum and transmit 
chiefly only rays of relatively high luminosity, 
give the maximum visibility with the minimum 
reception of energy. For protection against 
abiotic action in experimentation, or in the 
snow fields, ordinary colored glasses are quite 
sufficient. 

So far as direct destruction of bacteria 
within the cornea or any other tissues of the 
body is concerned, abiotic radiations possess 
no therapeutic value. This is due to the fact 
that abiotic radiations that are able to pene- 
trate the tissues are more destructive to the 
latter than to bacteria. 

F. H. VerHoerr, 
Louis Brin 


SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 
THE AMERICAN MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY 


By invitation of Brown University, the twenty- 
first summer meeting of the society was held at 
that institution on Tuesday and Wednesday, Sep- 
tember 8—9, in connection with the celebration of 
the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the 
founding of the university. Two sessions were 
held on Tuesday and a morning session on Wednes- 
day, the attendance including fifty-two members. 
President Van Vleck occupied the chair at the 
morning sessions, being relieved by Vice-president 
L. P. Hisenhart at the Tuesday afternoon session. 
New members were elected as follows: Mr. L. K. 
Adkins, University of Minnesota; Dr. Lennie P. 
Copeland, Wellesley College; Mr. J. W. Cromwell, 
Jr., Washington, D. C., High Schools; Professor 
Tsuruichi Hayashi, Tohoku Imperial University, 
Sendai, Japan; Professor C. I. Palmer, Armour In- 
stitute of Technology; Mr. G. A. Pfeiffer, Columbia 
University; Mr. P. R. Rider, Yale University; Dr. 
Alfred Rosenblatt, University of Cracow; Miss 
Caroline E. Seely, Columbia University. Eleven 
applications for membership were received. It was 
decided to hold the annual meeting about January 
1, the exact date to be so fixed that those who wish 


456 


may attend the winter meeting of the Chicago 
Section and the meeting of Section A of the Amer- 
ican Association, as well as the annual meeting. 
At the latter meeting, which will be held in New 
York, President Van Vleck will deliver his presi- 
dential address. 

A committee was appointed to arrange for hold- 
ing the summer meeting of 1915 at San Francisco. 
It was decided to issue only the List of Officers and 
Members next year, in place of the usual Annual 
Register. 

The authorities of Brown University extended a 
lavish hospitality to the society. The morning ses- 
sion on Tuesday opened with an address of wel- 
come by Chancellor A. B. Chace. Professor N. F. 
Davis entertained the members and ladies at tea in 
the John Carter Brown Library on Tuesday after- 
noon, and at luncheon in Rockefeller Hall on 
Wednesday. The university gave a dinner in honor 
of ‘the society at the University Club on Tuesday 
evening, the occasion concluding with a cordial ad- 
dress by President Faunce and an interesting ac- 
count by Professor Carl Barus of the ‘‘ Historical 
development of the modern theory of physics.’’? A 
vote of thanks was tendered to the university and 
its officers for their generous hospitality. Wednes- 
day afternoon was devoted to an excursion to 
Newport. 

The following papers were read at this meeting: 

F, M. Morgan: ‘‘A plane cubie Cremona trans- 
formation and its inverse.’’ 

L. P. Hisenhart: ‘‘Conjugate systems with equal 
tangential invariants and the transformation of 
Moutard.’? 

C. E. Love: ‘‘Singular integral equations of the 
Volterra type.’’ 

O. EH. Glenn: ‘‘ Modular invariant processes.’’ 

iL. H. Dickson: ‘‘ Invariants, seminvariants and 
covariants of the ternary and quaternary quadratic 
form modulo 2.’’ 

L. E. Dickson: ‘‘The points of inflection of a 
plane cubic curve.’ 

L, E. Dickson: ‘‘A fundamental set of modular 
invariants of the system of the binary cubic, quad- 
ratic and linear form.’’ 

L. HE. Dickson: ‘‘Invariants in the theory of 
numbers. ”” 

F. B. Wiley: ‘‘Proof of the finiteness of the 
modular covariants of a system of binary forms 
and cogredient points.’ 

E. V. Huntington: ‘‘The theorem of rotation in 
elementary dynamics.’’ 

R. D. Beetle: ‘‘Congruences associated with a 
one-parameter family of curves.’’ 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1030 


G. C. Evans: ‘‘The non-homogeneous parabolic 
differential equation. ’’ 

R. A. Johnson: ‘‘The conic as a space element.’ 

W. A. Hurwitz and L. L. Silverman: ‘‘On the 
consistency and equivalence of certain definitions of 
summability. ’’ 

Maxime Bocher: ‘‘The method of successive ap- 
proximations for linear differential systems.’’ 

Maxime Bocher: ‘‘The smallest characteristic 
numbers in a certain exceptional case.’’ 

B, H. Camp: ‘‘On the series obtained by term- 
wise integration. ’’ 

G. A. Miller: ‘‘On the ¢-subgroup of a group.’’ 

T. EK. Mason: ‘‘On functions transcendentally 
transcendental with respect to a given realm of 
rationality.’’ 

T. E. Mason: ‘‘Mechanical device for testing 
Mersenne numbers for primes.’’ 

H. 8. Vandiver: ‘‘On Bernoulli’s numbers, Fer- 
mat’s quotient and last theorem.’’ 

L. C. Karpinski: ‘‘ An early algorism.’’ 

H. 8. White: ‘‘Triple systems on 31 letters; a 
reconnoissance. ’”? 

L. D. Cummings: ‘‘The trains for 42 non-con- 
gruent triple-systems on 15 elements. ’? 

J. H. M. Wedderburn: ‘‘On matrices whose co- 
efficients are entire functions. ’’ 

EH. R. Smith: ‘‘A problem im the fitting of poly- 
nomial curves to certain kinds of data.’’ 

H. R. Kingston: ‘‘Metrie properties of nets of 
plane curves’’ 

G. D. Birkhoff: ‘‘ The iterated transformation of 
a plane into itself.’’” 

W. B. Fite: ‘‘ Prime power groups in which every 
commutator of prime order is invariant.’? 

Edward Kasner: ‘‘Transyersality for double in- 
tegrals in the caleulus of variations and for con- 
tact transformations. ’’ 

Edward Kasner: ‘‘The decomposition of con- 
formal transformations into factors of period 
two.’’ 

R. G. D. Richardson: ‘‘A new boundary value 
problem for linear hyperbolic differential equations 
of the second order.’’ 

Joseph Rosenbaum: ‘‘ Mixed linear integral equa- 
tions over a two-dimensional region.’ 

D. C. Gillespie: ‘‘Cauchy’s definition of a defi- 
nite integral.’’ 

The next regular meeting of the society will be 
held at Columbia University on October 31. The 
San Francisco Section will meet at the University 
on October 24. 

F. N. Couz, 
Secretary 


SCIENCE ~ 


Nuw SzRiEs 0 
Rr Ne oe FRIDAY, OcToBEr 2, 1914 


SINGLE Copizs, 15 Crs. 
ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION, $5.00 


Saunders’ New Books 


b) 
Kolmer’s Immunology and 
Serology 
This new work is complete. It takes 
up every side of serology, both prin- 
ciples and practice. Immunity, opso- 
nins, agglutinins, precipitins, etc., are 
all discussed in detail. The point 
about this book is this: It tells you 
how to apply this knowledge in your 
practice. Over 150 original illustra- 
tions aid in making clear the points in 
technic. 


Octavo of 500 pages, with 150 illustrations. By 
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SCIENCE 


Frmay, OctToBer 2, 1914 


— 


CONTENTS 


Address of the President to the Section of 
Mathematical and Physical Science of the 
British Association for the Advancement of 
Science: PRoFESSOR F'. T. TROUTON ...... 457 


The Spirit of a University: Dr. Martin H. 


IDTEGEEDT bin 6'6 6 0. Go dio Rae Dan Renoe mead om 464 
Appropriations for the Department of Agri- 

CLL CMP TTS a Lae eer ieee = ct aisd lejos sevel ater 471 
The Panama Exposition ................-. 477 
The Franklin Medal ...........-2+00.0005- 477 
Scientific Notes and News ...............- 478 
Uniwersity and Educational News .......... 481 
Discussion and Correspondence :— 

The Carnegie Foundation for Teachers: Dr. 

A. F, BLAKESLEE. Jones’s A New Era of 

Chemistry: PRoressor Jas. Lewis Howe. 

Incomes of College Graduates Ten anu Fif- 

teen Years after Graduation: PROFESSOR 

HeErpert ADOLPHUS MILLER. ............ 483, 
Scientific Books :— " 

Ames on The Constitution of Matter: PRo- 

Fessor R. A. MiILLIKAN. Murray on the 

Chemistry of Cattle-feeding and Dairying: 

BMS eR ORBES Saye re icra aia sieve eet stacaecsienelierata 485 
Scientific Journals and Articles ............ 487 
Special Articles :— 

Vitality and Injury as Quantitative Concep- 

tions: Proressor W. J. V. OSTERHOUT. 

Sotl Acidity and Methods for its Detection: 

J. E. Harris. The Stark-Electric Effect: 

Dr. GorDON §. FULCHER ................ 488 


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


ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT TO THE 
SECTION OF MATHEMATICAL AND 
PHYSICAL SCIENCE OF THE 
BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR 
THE ADVANCEMENT 
OF SCIENCE1 


WE have lost since the last meeting of 
the section several distinguished members 
who have in the past added so much to the 
usefulness of our discussions. These in- 
clude Sir Robert Ball, who was one of our 
oldest attendants, and was president of 
the section at the Manchester meeting in 
1886; Professor Poynting, who was Presi- 
dent of the Section at Dover in 1899, and 
Sir David Gill, who was President of the 
Association at Leicester in 1907. 

It seems appropriate at this meeting in 
the city of Melbourne to mention one who 
passed away from his scientific labors 
somewhat previous to the last meeting. I 
allude to W. Sutherland, of this city, 
whose writings have thrown so much light 
on molecular physics and whose scientific 
perspicacity was only equaled by his mod- 
esty. 

This meeting of the British Association 
will be a memorable one as being indica- 
tive, as it were, of the scientific coming of 
age of Australia. Not that the maturity 
of Australian science was unknown to 
those best able to judge, indeed the fact 
could not but be known abroad, for in 
England alone there are many workers in 
Science hailing from Australia and New 
Zealand, who have enhanced science with 
their investigations and who hold many 
important scientific posts in that country. 
In short, one finds it best nowadays to ask 
of any young investigator if he comes from 
the Antipodes. 


1Section A: Australia, 1914. 


458 


This speaks well for the universities and 
their staffs, who have so successfully set 
the example of scientific investigation to 
their pupils. 

Radioactivity and kindred phenomena 
seem to have attracted them most of late 
years, and it would perhaps have been ap- 
propriate to have shortly reviewed in this 
address our knowledge in these subjects, 
to which the sons of Australasia have so 
largely contributed. 

Twenty-five years ago FitzGerald and 
others were speculating on the possibility 
of unlocking and utilizing the internal 
energy of the atom. Then came the epoch- 
making discovery of Becquerel, to be fol- 
lowed by the brilliant work of Rutherford 
and others showing us that no key was re- 
quired to unlock this energy; the door lay 
open. 

We have still facing us the analogous 
case of a hitherto untapped source of 
energy arising from our motion through 
the ether. All attempts, it is true, to real- 
ize this have failed, but nevertheless he 
would be a brave prophet who would deny 
the possibility of tapping this energy de- 
spite the ingenious theories of relativity 
which have been put forward to explain 
matters away. There is no doubt but that 
up to the present nothing hopeful has been 
accomplished towards reaching this energy 
and there are grave difficulties in the way ; 
but ‘‘Relativity’’ is, as it were, merely try- 
ing to remove the lion in the path by lay- 
ing down the general proposition that the 
existence of lions is an impossibility. The 
readiness with which the fundamental 
hypotheses of ‘‘Relativity’’ were accepted 
by many is characteristic of present-day 
physics, or perhaps, more correctly speak- 
ing, is an exaggerated example of it. 

Such an acceptance as this could hardly 
be thought of as taking place half a cen- 
tury ago when a purely dynamical basis 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1031 


was expected for the full explanation of 
all phenomena, and when facts were only 
held to. be completely understood if amen- 
able to such treatment; while, if not so, 
they were put temporarily into a kind of 
suspense acount, waiting the time when 
the phenomenon would succumb to treat- 
ment based on dynamics. 

Many things, perhaps not the least 
among them radio-activity, have conspired 
to change all this and to produce an atti- 
tude of mind prepared to be content with 
a much less rigid basis than would have 
been required by the natural philosophers 
of a past generation. These were the 
sturdy protestants of science, to use an 
analogy, while we of the present day are 
much more catholic in our scientific be- 
liefs, and in fact it would seem that nowa- 
days to be used to anything is synonymous 
with understanding it. 

Leaving, however, these interesting ques- 
tions, I will confine my remarks to a rather 
neglected corner of physics, namely, to the 
phenomena of absorption and adsorption 
of solutions. The term adsorption was in- 
troduced to distinguish between absorption 
which takes place throughout the mass of 
the absorbing material and those cases in 
which it takes place only over its surface. 
If, for instance, glass, powdered so as to 
provide a large surface, is introduced into 
a solution of a salt in water, we have in 
general some of the salt leaving the body 
of the solution and adhering in one form 
or other to the surface of the glass. It is 
to this the term adsorption has been applied. 
Physicists have now begun to take up the 
question seriously, but it was to biologists 
and especially physiological chemists that 
most of our knowledge of the subject in the 
past was due, the phenomenon being par- 
ticularly attractive to them, seeing that so 
many of the processes they are interested 
in take place across surfaces. 


OcToBER 2, 1914] 


As far as investigations already made go, 
the laws of adsorption appear to be very 
complicated, and no doubt many of the 
conflicting experimental results which have 
been obtained, are in part due to this, 
workers under somewhat different condi- 
tions obtaming apparently contradictory 
effects. 

On the whole, however, it may be said 
that the amount adsorbed increases with 
the strength of solution according to a 
simple power law, and diminishes with rise 
of temperature; but there are many excep- 
tions to these simple rules. For instance, 
in the case of certain sulphates and ni- 
trates the amount adsorbed by the surface 
of, say, precipitated silica, only increases 
up to a certain critical point as the 
streneth of the solution is increased. 
Then further increase in the strength of 
the solution causes the surface to give up 
some of the salt it has already adsorbed or 
the amount adsorbed is actually less now 
than that adsorbed from weaker solutions. 
Beyond this stage for still greater concen- 
trations of the solutions the amount ad- 
sorbed goes on increasing as before the 
critical point was reached. 

There is some reason for thinking that 
there are two modes in which the salt is 
taken up or adsorbed by the solid surface. 
The first of them results from a simple 
strengthening of the solution in the sur- 
face layers; the second, which takes place 
with rather stronger concentrations, is a 
deposition in what is apparently analogous 
to the solid form. It would seem that the 
first reaches out from the solid surface to 
about 10-° em.—which is the order of the 
range of attraction of the particles of the 
solid substance. 

The cause of the diminution in the ad- 
sorption layer at a certain critical value of 
the concentration is difficult to understand. 
Something analogous has been observed by 


SCIENCE 


459 


Lord Rayleigh in the thickness of layers of 
oil floating on the surface of water. As oil 
is supplied the thickness goes on increas- 
ing up to a certain point, beyond this, on 
further addition of oil, the layer thins 
itself at some places and becomes much 
thicker at others, intermediate thicknesses 
to these being apparently unstable and un- 
able to exist. As helping towards an ex- 
planation of the diminution in the adsorp- 
tion layer we may suppose that as the 
strength of the solution is increased from 
zero, the adsorption is at first merely an 
imereased density of the solution in the 
surface layer. For some reason, after 
this has reached a certain limit, further 
addition of salt to the solution renders 
this mode of composition of the surface 
layers unstable, and there is a breaking up 
of the arrangement of the layer with a dim- 
inution in its amount. We may now sup- 
pose the second mode of deposition to be- 
gin to show its effect with a recovery in the 
amount of the surface layers and a 
further building up of the adsorption de- 
posits. 

On account of passing through this point 
of instability the process is irreversible, so 
that the application of thermo-dynamiecs to 
the phenomenon of adsorption is necessar- 
ily greatly restricted in its usefulness. 

A possible cause of the instability in the 
adsorption layer which occurs at the erit- 
ical point may be looked for in the alter- 
nations in the sign of the mutual forces be- 
tween attracting particles of the kind sug- 
gested by Lord Kelvin and others. Within 
a certain distance apart—the molecular 
range—the particles of matter mutually 
attract one another, while at very close 
distances they obviously must repel, for 
two particles refuse to occupy the same 
space. At some intermediate distances the 
force must pass through zero value. It has 
for various reasons been thought that, in 


460 


addition, the force has zero value at a 
second distance lying between the first zero 
and the molecular range, with accompany- 
ing alternations in the sign of the force. 
Thus, starting from zero distance apart of 
the particles, the sign of the force is nega- 
tive or repulsive; then, as the distance 
apart is supposed to increase, the force of 
repulsion diminishes, and after passing 
through zero value becomes positive or at- 
tractive; next, as the distance is increased 
the force diminishes again, and after 
passing through a second zero becomes 
negative for a second time; finally, the 
force on passing through a third zero be- 
comes positive, and is then in the stage 
dealt with in capillary and other ques- 
tions. 

As an instance, of where these alterna- 
tions of sign seem to be manifest, may be 
mentioned the case of certain crystals 
when split along cleavage planes. The 
split often runs along further than the 
position of the splitting instrument or in- 
serted wedge seems to warrant. This 
would occur if the particles on either side 
of the cleavage plane were situated at the 
distance apart where the force between 
them was in the first attractive condition, 
for then on increasing the distance be- 
tween the particles by means of the wedge 
the force changes sign and becomes repul- 
sive, thus helping the splitting to be prop- 
agated further out. 

Assuming that a repulsive force can 
supervene between the particles in the ad- 
sorption layer, through the particles be- 
coming so crowded in places as to reduce 
their mutual distances to the stage when re- 
pulsion sets in, we might expect that an 
instability would be set up. 

As already stated, a rise in temperature 
reduces in general the amount adsorbed, 
but below the eritical point the nitrates 
and sulphates are exceptional, for rise in 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1031 


temperature here increases the amount ad- 
sorbed from a given solution. This ob- 
viously necessitates that the isothermals 
eross one another at the critical point in 
an adsorption-concentration diagram. This 
may perhaps account for some observers 
finding that adsorption did not change 
with temperature. We have another ex- 
ception to the simple laws of adsorption in 
the case of the alkali chlorides; this excep- 
tion occurs under certain conditions of 
temperature and strength of solution. The 
normal condensation into the surface layer 
is reversed and the salt is repelled into the 
general solution instead of being attracted 
by the surface. In other words, it is the 
turn of the other constituent of the solu- 
tion, namely, the water, to be adsorbed. 

It is a very well known experiment in 
adsorption to run a solution such as that 
of permanganate of potash through a filter 
of sand, or, better, one of precipitated 
silica, so as to provide a very large sur- 
face. The first of the solution to come 
through the filter has practically lost all its 
salt, owing to having been adsorbed by the 
surface of the sand. 

I was interested in finding a few months 
ago that Defoe, the author of ‘“Robinson 
Crusoe,’’ in one of his other books, depicts 
a party of African travelers as being saved 
from thirst in a place where the water was 
charged with alkali by filtering the water 
through bags of sand. Whether this is a 
practical thing or not is doubtful, or even 
if it has ever been tried; for it is only the 
first part of the liquid to come through the 
filter which is purified, and very soon the 
surface has taken up all the salt it can ad- 
sorb, and after that, of course, the solution 
comes through intact. It is interesting, 
however, to know that so long ago as De- 
foe’s time the phenomenon of adsorption 
from salt solutions had been observed. It 
is not so well known that im the case of 


OoTOBER 2, 1914] 


some salts under the circumstances men- 
tioned above, the first of the solution to 
come through the sand filter is stronger in- 
stead of weaker. This, as already men- 
tioned, is because water, or at least a 
weaker solution, forms the adsorption 
layer. 

Most of the alkali chlorides as the tem- 
perature is raised show this anomalous ad- 
sorption, provided the strength of the so- 
lution is below a certain critical value 
differing for each temperature. For 
strengths of solution above these values the 
normal phenomenon takes place. 

No investigations seem to have been 
made on the effect of pressure on adsorp- 
tion. These data are much to be desired. 

The investigation of adsorption and ab- 
sorption should throw light on osmosis, as 
in the first place the phenomenon occurs 
aeross a surface necessarily covered with 
an adsorption layer, and in the second 
place, as we shall see, the final condition is 
an equilibrium between the absorption of 
water by the solution and that by the mem- 
brane. 

The study of the conditions of absorp- 
tion of water throughout the mass of the 
colloidal substance of which osmotic mem- 
branes are made is of much interest. Little 
work has been done on the subject as yet, 
but what little has been done is very prom- 
ising. 

It is convenient to call the material of 
which a semi-permeable membrane is made 
the semi-permeable medium. The ideal 
semi-permeable medium will not absorb 
any salt from the solution, but only water, 
but such perfection is probably seldom to 
be met with. If a semi-permeable medium 
such as parchment paper be immersed in a 
solution, say, of sugar, less water is taken 
up or absorbed than is the case when the 
immersion is in pure water. The diminu- 
tion in the amount absorbed is found to in- 


SCIENCE 


461 


crease with the strength of the solution. It 
is at the same time found that the absorp- 
tion or release of water by the semi-perme- 
able medium according as the solution is 
made weaker or stronger is accompanied by 
a swelling or shrinkage greater than can be 
accounted for by the water taken up or re- 
jected. 

The amount of water absorbed by a semi- 
permeable medium from a solution is found 
by experiment to depend upon the hydro- 
static pressure. If the pressure be in- 
creased the amount of water absorbed by 
the semi-permeable medium is increased. 
It is always thus possible by the applica- 
tion of pressure to force the semi-perme- 
able medium to take up from a given so- 
lution as much water as it takes up from 
pure water at atmospheric pressure. 

It is not possible for a mass of such a 
medium to be simultaneously in contact 
and in equilibrium with both pure water 
and with a solution all at one and the same 
pressure, seeing that the part of the me- 
dium in contact with the pure water would 
hold more water than that part in contact 
with the solution, and consequently diffu- 
sion would take place through the mass of 
the medium. 

If, however, the medium be arranged so 
as to separate the solution and the water 
and provided the medium is capable of 
standing the necessary strain, it is possible 
to increase the pressure of the solution 
without increasing the pressure of the 
water on the other side. Thus the part of 
the medium which is in contact with the 
solution is at a higher pressure than that 
part in contact with the pure solvent; con- 
sequently the medium can be in equilib- 
rium with both the solution and the sol- 
vent, for if the pressures are rightly ad- 
justed the moisture throughout the medium 
is everywhere the same. 

The ordinary arrangement for showing 


462 


osmotic pressure is a case such as we are 
considering, and equilibrium throughout 
the membrane is only obtained when the 
necessary difference in pressure exists be- 
tween the two sides of the membrane. 

This condition would eventually be 
reached no matter how thick the membrane 
was. It is sometimes helpful to think of 
the membrane as being very thick. It pre- 
cludes any temptation to view molecules as 
shooting across from one liquid’to the other 
through some kind of peepholes in the 
membrane. 

The advantage in a thin membrane in 
practise is simply that the necessary mois- 
ture is rapidly applied to the active sur- 
face, thus enabling the pressure on the side 
of the solution to rise quickly, but it has no 
effect on the ultimate equilibrium. 

As far as that goes, the semi-permeable 
Membrane or saturated medium might be 
infinitely thick, or, in other words, there 
need be no receptacle or place for holding 
the pure solvent outside the membrane at 
all. In fact, the function of the receptacle 
containing the pure solvent is only to keep 
the medium moist, and is no more or no less 
important than the vessel of water supplied 
to the gauze of the wet-bulb thermometer. 
It is merely to keep up the supply of water 
to the medium. 

The real field where the phenomenon of 
osmosis takes place is the surface of separa- 
tion between the saturated semi-perme- 
able medium and the solution. Imagine 
a large mass of colloidal substance satu- 
rated with water and having a cavity con- 
taining a solution. The pressure will now 
tend to rise in the cavity until it reaches 
the osmotic pressure—that is, until there is 
established an equilibrium of surface trans- 
fer of molecules from the solution into the 
medium and back from the medium into the 
solution. 

No doubt, the phenomenon as thus de- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1031 


seribed occurs often in nature. It is just 
possible that the high-pressure liquid cay- 
ities, which mineralogists find in certain 
rock erystals, have been formed in some 
such manner in the midst of a mass of semi- 
permeable medium; the pure solvent in this 
ease being carbon dioxide and the medium 
colloidal silica, which has since changed 
into quartz crystal. 

In considering equilibrium between a 
saturated semi-permeable medium and a 
solution there seems to me to be a point 
which should be carefully considered before 
being neglected in any complete theory. 
That is, the adsorption layer over the sur- 
face of the semi-permeable medium. We 
have seen that solutions are profoundly 
modified in the surface layers adjoining 
certain solids, through concentration or 
otherwise of the salts in the surface layer, 
so that the actual equilibrium of surface 
transfer of water molecules is not between 
the unmodified solution and the semi-per- 
meable medium, but between the altered 
solution in the absorption layer and the 
saturated medium. Actual determinations 
of the adsorption by colloids are much 
wanted, so as to be able to be quite sure of 
what this correction amounts to or even if 
it exists. It may turn out to be zero. If 
there is adsorption, however, it may pos- 
sibly help to account for part of the unex- 
pectedly high values of the osmotic pres- 
sure observed at high concentrations of the 
solution, the equilibrium being, as we have 
seen, between the saturated medium and a 
solution of greater concentration than the 
bulk of the liquid, namely, that of the ad- 
sorption layer. In addition, when above 
the eritical adsorption point, there may be 
a deposit in the solid state. This may pro- 
duce a kind of polarized equilibrium of 
surface transfer in which the molecules 
which discharge from the saturated medium 
remain unaltered in amount, but those 


OcroBeR 2, 1914] 


which move back from the adsorption layer 
are reduced owing to this deposit, thus 
necessitating an increase in pressure for 
equilibrium. If either or both of these 
effects really exist, it would seem to require 
that the pressure should be higher for equi- 
librium of the molecular surface transfer 
than if there were no adsorption layer and 
the unaltered solution were to touch the 
medium, but at the same time it should be 
‘remembered that there is a second surface 
where equilibrium must also exist—that is, 
the surface of separation of the adsorption 
layer and the solution itself. It is just 
possible that the two together cancel each 
other’s action. 

Quantitative determinations of adsorp- 
tion by solid media from solution are hard 
to carry out, but with a liquid medium it 
is not so difficult. Hther constitutes an 
excellent semi-permeable medium for use 
with sugar solution, because it takes up or 
dissolves only a small quantity of water and 
no sugar. A series of experiments using 
these for medium and solution has shown 
(1) that the absorption of water from a 
solution diminishes with the strength of 
the solution; and (2) that the absorption of 
water for any given strength of solution 
increases with the pressure. This increase 
with pressure is somewhat more rapid than 
if it were in proportion to the pressure. 
On the other hand, from pure water ether 
absorbs in excess of normal almost in pro- 
portion to the pressure. Certainly this is 
so up to 100 atmospheres. This would go 
to confirm the suggestion already made that 
the departure from proportionality in the 
osmotic pressure is attributable to absorp- 
tion. 

By applying pressure ether can be thus 
made to take up the same quantity of water 
from any given solution as it takes up from 
pure water at atmospheric pressure. It is 
found by experiment that this pressure is 


SCIENCE 


463 


the osmotic pressure proper to the solu- 
tion in question. 

Decidedly the most interesting fact con- 
nected with the whole question of osmotic 
pressure, the behavior of vapor pressures 
from solution, and the equilibrium of mo- 
lecular transfer of solutions with colloids, 
is that discovered by Van’t Hoff, that the 
hydrostatic pressure in question is equal 
to what would be produced by a gas haying 
the same number of particles as those of the 
introduced salt. Take the case of a mass of 
colloid or semi-permeable medium placed 
in a vessel of water; the colloid when in 
equilibrium at atmospheric pressure holds 
what we will call the normal moisture. By 
increasing the pressure this moisture can 
be increased to any desired amount. Now, 
on introducing salt the moisture in the col- 
loid can be reduced at will. The question 
is, What quantity of salt must be introduced 
just to bring back the amount of the mois- 
ture in the colloid to normal? Here we 
get a great insight into the internal mech- 
anism of the liquid state. The quantity of 
salt required turns out to be, approxi- 
mately at least, that amount which if in 
the gaseous state would produce the pres- 
sure. So that normality can be either di- 
rectly restored by removing the pressure or 
indirectly by introducing salt in quantity 
which just takes up the applied pressure. 
That this is so naturally suggested that the 
salt, although compelled to remain within 
the confines of the liquid, nevertheless pro- 
duces the same molecular bombardment as 
it would were it in the gaseous state, 
though of course the free path must be 
viewed as enormously restricted compared 
with that in the gaseous state. 

Many have felt a difficulty in accepting 
this view of a molecular bombardment oc- 


‘curring in the liquid state, but of recent 


years much light has been thrown on the 
subject of molecular movements in liquids, 


' 464 


especially by Perrin’s work, so that much 
of the basis of this difficulty may be fairly 
considered as now removed. 

Quite analogous to the reduction from 
the normal of the moisture held by a semi- 
permeable medium brought about by the 
addition of salt to the water, is the reduc- 
tion in the vapor pressure arising from the 
presence of a salt in the water. The vapor 
pressure is likewise increased by the appli- 
cation of hydrostatic pressure, which may 
be effected by means of an inert gas. In 
both cases the hydrostatic pressure which 
must be applied to bring back to normality 
is equal to that which the added salt would 
exert if it were in the state of vapor or, in 
other words, the osmotic pressure. 

The two cases are really very similar. 
In both there is equal molecular transfer 
backwards and forwards across the bound- 
ing surface. In the one a transfer from 
that solution to the semi-permeable medium 
and back from it into the solution. In the 
other a transfer from the solution into the 
superambient vapor and back from it into 
the solution. 

The processes are very similar, namely, 
equal molecular transfer to and fro across 
the respective surfaces of separation. 

Thus we may in the case of osmotic equi- 
librium attribute the phenomenon with 
Callender to evaporation, but not evapo- 
ration in its restricted sense, from a free 
surface of liquid, but as we have seen from 
a saturated colloidal surface into the so- 
lution. This process might perhaps be bet- 
ter referred to as molecular emigration, 
the term migration being already a fa- 
miliar one in connection with liquid phe- 
nomena. FF, T. Trouron 


THE SPIRIT OF A UNIVERSITY 


A DECADE ago in the United States of 
America, in a university rated among the 
first in numbers of students, the professor 


i SCIENCE 


[N. 8S. Vou. XL. No. 1031 


of astronomy was summoned before the 
president and the governing board and 
asked whether he believed the nebular hy- 
pothesis which he discussed in a text-book 
issued under his name. An answer in the 
affirmative was promised to cost him his 
teaching position. He answered in the 
negative, and to prove his sincerity as- 
sented to calling in his books and having 
them burned in public. A less number of 
years ago a university president whom we 
to-day honor as a first citizen found it well, 
or shall we say necessary, to step out of his 
chosen field of work because he held the 
minority view among his associates that the 
word democracy does not mean a political 
party only. Some months ago a professor 
of philosophy, teaching its principles as 
he saw them and under a freedom appar- 
ently guaranteed him by charter, alleges 
his resignation is requested because such 
teaching in the mind of his president is in- 
compatible with the doctrinal views of an 
avowedly religious organization operating 
in some state or states of our Union. 

Again, the members of a faculty wake to 
their accustomed labors and over the coftee 
and in the newspaper receive first word 
that their places have over night been de- 
clared vacant; a university president de- 
mands that his faculty vote Yes or No as 
an expression of their confidence in him; 
a faculty member backed by brains and 
fearlessness rises to condemn most of those 
time-sanctified institutions of boards of 
control and university presidents. 

It is well to emphasize that these illus- 
trations do not represent hand-picked rari- 
ties, but are typical of a class of problems 
which in greater or less degree arise peri- 
odically to clog the machinery of university 
education. Neither can it be said that a 
correct solution is not usually found for 
them. The only question of importance is 
why the delay in so doing and why so much 


OcTOBER 2, 1914] 


of heart burning in the process. The per- 
spective of time answers ever the same— 
some of those involved, and they may be 
trustees, presidents, faculty members, or 
the public at large, have never learned or 
have temporarily forgotten what consti- 
tutes a university. 

And what does constitute a university? 
Time again writes: It is a collection of men 
at work solving the problems that our unt- 
verse presents and standing ready to teach 
to others the methods of such analysis. 

This definition will doubtless strike many 
a reader as strangely incomplete. As a 
first omission will be felt the ignoring of its 
legal status which in our modern day plays 
so large a part in the constitution of the 
university. To understand properly the 
national, state or municipal aspects of a 
university we must go back to the original 
charters granted the original institutions, 
when we will see in them nothing but the 
sovereign guarantee of special protection 
to the workers which constitute the univer- 
sity. The reasons for the necessity of such 
special protection we shall discuss shortly; 
but here it is well to ponder for a moment 
the mere fact. It can hardly be said that 
such protection of the men of our faculties 
in America has ever made itself apparent. 
There are plenty of illustrations to the 
contrary. Would we find any virtue in the 
legalization of our privately or publicly 
controlled universities, we may say that 
this guarantees a certain protection to the 
tools with which our faculties work and 
legal supervision of the custodianship of 
such things of value which private citizens 
have at times given to the university to 
improve the tools of the faculty. 

Tt is well to understand of what such 
tools consist. They are the records of past 
workers and the material necessities of the 
present—among the first, books and such 
other evidences of its labors as a bygone 


SCIENCE 


465 


generation may have seen fit to leave be- 
hind; among the second, our buildings and 
their contents from penwipers and kitchen 
chairs to tubes of rare gases and janitors. 
It is entirely in keeping with America’s 
veneration of property rights that legal 
supervision of the university should be 
most evident in the protecting hand which 
it spreads over her material aspects. Some 
day perhaps our country will attain the 
standard of the middle ages and extend an 
equal protection to the men that constitute 
the university, for, after all, the carpenter’s 
chest is not the carpenter, and while the 
workman may make him new implements, 
the rarest tools need hands and minds to 
guide them. 

It is evident from these simple considera- 
tions that the sine qua non of a university 
ever has been and ever must be a group of 
clear thinking individuals possessed of ex- 
pert knowledge gotten at first hand. The 
wobbly logician is useless from the start. 
Neither does mere possession of much or 
even expert knowledge make the university 
type. Teachers in primary grades and the 
high school are supposed to have as much, 
and certainly the teaching staff of a tech- 
nical school. The university man is more 
than a mere animated manual of useful 
information in captivity. What we expect 
of him is not instruction in facts but in- 
struction in methods, and how can he teach 
others to analyze world problems who has 
not learned himself ? 

Let it not be assumed that this obvious 
point of view so glibly and generally as- 
sented to in spirit is as readily adopted in 
the specific university problem. There is 
ever a deal of ery for the ‘‘practical’’ man 
im university instruction who will give our 
sons and daughters the immediately appli- 
cable formule for curing headache, shoe- 
ing horses, freezing ice cream and raising 
hay. J am by no means opposed to such 


466 


things, only let us not forget what their 
real place is, and by over-emphasizing them 
as ends in themselves create in our univer- 
sities an atmosphere in which a thinking 
doctor, an engineer who knows principles, 
a real physiologist or a real agriculturalist 
can never be made. John M. Coulter has 
summed it up well: ‘‘We are interested in 
the practical application of knowledge 
rather than in practical work without 
knowledge.’’ 

Tt does no harm to try to visualize the 
university as we have defined it. Its begin- 
nings go back to before the days when the 
word was born. The shepherd who first 
distinguished the wanderers from the fixed 
among the stars breathed its spirit. Soc- 
rates and Galileo were good-sized univer- 
sities in themselves. The academies of the 
middle ages were the beginnings of the 
modern, more formal conception of the 
university. They were collections of men 
who thought for themselves of matters uni- 
versal, and taught others how to think. 
There are some universities in Germany. 
The name is no guide to them in America. 
A change in name hardly makes a college, 
a finishing school or a state-controlled 
chicken ranch into a university. No doubt 
degrees may be acquired, and the ambition 
‘‘to make friends that will be useful in 
after life,’’ to dress simply and yet expen- 
Sively, to gain the assurance necessary to 
live off father’s farm, may all be satisfied 
in many of these places, but is this a uni- 
versity education? With what mixed feel- 
ings one reads the autobiography of a 
Darwin! After two years in Edinburgh 
and after three in Cambridge he writes, 
wasted. Only his open holidays stand out 
when he walked the fields with Henslow 
and in him found the university. And 
what shall we say of the institutions usurp- 
ing the name which for a quarter century 
allowed Darwin to work at their doors, to 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1031 


achieve that which brought a new salvation, 
to attain universal recognition, before they 
themselves invited him in? Must every 
generation learn anew that a university is 
not a neat package of fixed ideas, but a 
place offering sanctuary to unshackled 
thinking ? 

A faculty does not, however, constitute 
the whole university in the minds of the 
average public. There are boards of trus- 
tees, presidents, and we might add, deans, 
to be considered. Few institutions in the 
flesh have given rise to bitterer discussion. 
To understand the why of this and the 
merits of such discussion we need but re- 
eall the history of their development and 
interpret their acts in the light of what 
constitutes the spirit of a university. 

The best universities, perhaps the only 
universities known, and the spirit of which 
every country is busy copying, have no 
boards of trustees whatsoever, and no 
presidents. The faculties in them elect 
each year a dean, and since there is but one 
of him he might be called a president. But 
he is not chosen because of his ability to 
get money for a hard-up institution, to eol- 
lect or dismiss a faculty, to meet the legis- 
lators in the lobby or the well-to-do in their 
homes, but as an acknowledgment on the 
part of his confréres of his contributions to 
the thought of his day. His influence over 
his faculty is the silent influence of leader- 
ship, not the noisy one of accidental 
power. For trustees in these universities 
there is no need, for auditing clerks are 
sufficient to visé bills, the amounts of which 
may not exceed appropriations originally 
settled upon when the professor assumed 
charge. A department is judged by results 
and not by the neatness of its correspon- 
dence files and signed bills. 

There was something of this same spirit 
in the original American universities. 
There were boards of trustees, but originally 


OcroBER 2, 1914] 


all, and even to a late date many members 
of such were members of the faculty. The 
boards had, in other words, delegated to 
them administrative powers and duties 
which they could do better than the 
faculty—clearly a step forward in the 
terms of efficiency. With time, however, 
faculty representation in the board became 
less conspicuous. Originally, the reasons 
for this were also not bad. A university is 
the embodiment of certain educational 
ideals, and it was, of course, to be expected 
that many not directly connected with a 
faculty, but interested in the progress of 
education, should seek opportunity to labor 
for it. And why should not such labor re- 
ceive acknowledgment in a position of 
administrative trust on a university board? 

There must have been much of mutual 
help in a meeting in which men of the out- 
side world brought to cloistered students 
their practical suggestions, while those 
within aided the outsiders to catch the 
ideals of the universities, all presided over 
by a president chosen for his first-hand 
knowledge of educational problems. Had 
things remained so it would have been well 
for all concerned. But exactly as the past 
decades found more to admire in the invest- 
ment banker than in the builder of the 
road, and more in the squirter of water 
than in the engineer, so the superintendents 
and employers of the faculty came to mean 
more than the output of the university 
itself. 

Excessive attention to the machinery of 
the university has served to blind us to the 
obvious fact that it is but a tool and that 
what we want is more product. There is a 
law of diminishing returns in the adminis- 
tration of universities as in other forms 
of activity. In too many spots in our 
country the administrative tail has wagged 
and wags the dog. I know the dominant 
member of a university board who habitu- 


SCIENCE 


467 


ally refers to the teaching staff as the hired 
help. It seems no accident that the strong 
men of this faculty have found more con- 
genial fields of labor elsewhere. Elven na- 
tional bodies dedicated to the advancement 
of university education get stung by the 
efficiency bee. A member of such once 
classified the engineering branches of our 
universities on the basis of money spent 
per student hour. Weaker than the report 
were the backs of many university attachés 
which bent under the weight of its fearful 
authority ; nor did stiffness flow back into 
them until President Maclaurin killed the 
hundred-and-thirty-page Goliath with a 
two-page pebble in which he pointed out, 
what might have been recognized before, 
that the efficiency of a university is not to 
be reported on in the same way as the effi- 
ciency of ‘‘a glue factory or soap works.’’ 

It has been urged in extenuation of the 
gradual acquisition of all administrative 
powers by trustees and president that such 
has been made necessary by the weakness 
of our faculties. Relatively speaking, they 
have hardly been weaker than many of the 
superimposed administrators, but in the 
absolute we have not been so strong as we 
might. And the reasons for this too are 
not far to seek. Being so largely ignorant 
of what really constitutes the spirit of a 
university, it is but natural that we should 
have pursued and still pursue a course 
which keeps a chronically weak-kneed 
faculty in professorial chairs. In express- 
ing to a friend one day the opinion that the 
Chinese would one day become a world 
power, he retorted that he did not think 
so, because for several hundred years they 
had not given birth to a new idea. This 
would, I confess, seal their fate in my eyes 
were it not for the fact that for these same 
centuries the Manchus holding sway over 
them have discouraged all original think- 
ing by the chopping off of heads. 


468 


There are a lot of Manchus in our Amer- 
ican universities. One of the worst of 
these is the insecurity of the teaching posi- 
tion held by the professor. It is a tremen- 
dous element in the development and su- 
premacy of the German university that her 
professors are appointed for life and are, 
to all intents and purposes, not removable 
for anything short of murder. Big men 
enlist for such prizes, but not for jobs 
which terminate automatically every aca- 
demic year or at the pleasure of a new presi- 
dent or new board of trustees. It will be 
answered to this that men inadequate for 
professorial positions must be gotten rid 
of for the benefit of the university. True, 
but the way out of the difficulty lies not in 
the dismissal of professors. The men con- 
cerned should never have been appointed 
to professorships, for assumption of their 
chairs could hardly be expected to change 
them much. 

But as certainly as our professors should 
not be subject to dismissal except under the 
most exceptional circumstances and then 
only when judged by their peers, equally 
certainly should there be a quiet burying- 
ground for the walking dead. The con- 
quest of our universe is the advance of an 
army, into which many have entered and 
all should be allowed to, but of which only 
the picked may live to take final command. 

The recruiting of our university facul- 
ties begins to-day in the positions for grad- 
uate students, fellows and assistants. They 
form good starting-points and should be as 
numerous as possible in order to give all 
those who are called or think themselves 
called, an opportunity. Of the numerous 
starters, merit should in due season bring re- 
ward to the better ones, and these be made 
instructors, assistant professors, or, if you 
please, associate professors. It is in this 
ascent of the hill that the weak should drop 
out and under. If properly supervised 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1031 


they might be pushed out and under. It 
should be understood at all times that a 
university is not a hospital for the infirm. 
Hastily viewed, our present system seems 
to offer just such opportunities, but in 
practise an almost opposite result is ob- 
tained. It can hardly be said that every one 
may enter the lists for a university career. 
On the other hand, once in, the purest bone 
with long life and robust health may at- 
tain a top place. Everything encourages 
this. If short in virility and long in servil- 
ity any one may mount in the course of sev- 
eral years from four hundred to a thousand 
or fifteen hundred. Non-objection to do- 
mestic service tempts him into matrimony, 
and pity for the young couple encourages 
the raise to eighteen hundred. The third 
reel tells the story of the rest of this uni- 
versity man’s life. He is acknowledged no 
good, he has not the desire or nerve to quit, 
and he is not pushed out because he is 
married. Our universities are full of such 
men. They are the food of caricaturists 
and satirists and yet our universities them- 
selves make them. Nor will they become of 
historical interest only until we stop filling 
up our teaching bodies with men whose first 
virtue is their cheapness. The day must 
come when we will frankly draw a mone- 
tary dead line at the point where a man 
can just live alone and bid him die there 
unless the character of his work is such 
that he is accepted into the fold of uni- 
versity-sized men and thereby at once as- 
sured decent compensation for a family and 
life tenure of office. There should be no 
stepping-stones across this gulf. How- 
ever agreeable to the chief the placid ac- 
ceptance of his ideas by the subordinate, 
however admirable length of service, such 
do not make the university professor, and 
university rewards should not be his. 
There should, however, be opportunity 
for the capable university man who has 


OctToBER 2, 1914] 


still to gain the coveted upper place, to 
work and teach without subserviency. It 
is unfortunately true that, being human, 
even great men find virtue in the merely 
faithful dog, and under the prevailing 
system of appointment in America, where 
to stand in with a powerful professor or to 
be the graduate of the right school means 
more than accomplishment, such can not 
help but prosper. And yet it is the less 
agreeable young worker who thinks inde- 
pendently and differently that we really 
wish to develop. The situation brings 
vividly to the front the necessity of lower 
pitched university positions for which any 
man may qualify and in which he may 
enjoy independence and opportunity for 
individual thinking while receiving as com- 
pensation a fixed salary from the university 
administration or from the students whom 
he attracts. A university is not alone a 
collection of clear and new thinking men, 
but a nursery for such. As one surveys our 
American institutions as now constituted 
one wonders how, should they appear, there 
would. fare in them a Voltaire writing 
“* Oedipe ’’’ at twenty-two, a Michelangelo 
carving the young St. John at twenty, a 
Galileo discovering the isochronism of the 
pendulum at nineteen. 

The American has been accused of being 
racially without individuality. All the 
men tighten or bag their clothes in the 
same season and all the women replace, if 
so able, felt with straw on Haster day. 
These things mean in toto a desire to stand 
with the majority, and it is but natural that 
to so stand should be considered right, for 
such view receives constant encouragement 
in a land where the voice of the many is the 
voice that rules. It is this view carried into 
our universities that has done so much to 
keep us well in the rear. Neglecting for 
the moment its mischievous consequences 
from the standpoint of material support 


SCIENCE 


469 


and development, for it is not easy to im- 
press the ideals of higher education on a 
grammar-school mind, this majority view 
has blinded trustees, presidents, faculty 
members, and the public at large to the real 
purposes of a university by demanding that 
they of it constantly exhale this. But to be 
of university size its men have very de- 
cidedly to voice a minority point of view. 
To believe in and teach the circulation of 
the blood in 1914 does not make or require 
a university man. The time for this passed 
about 1628. Nor will our universities reach 
a higher level before we have accustomed 
ourselves as a nation to expect heterodoxy 
in them and have learned to like it so well 
that we encourage it. Sovereigns, men of 
power and of wealth, governments even, 
have for centuries known this, and spread 
their protecting hands over the men of their 
universities to the point even of putting 
them above the law. It is the blighting 
influence of the majority demanding that 
its view be taught in all its schools which 
has so long made our state and muni- 
cipal universities lag behind the privately 
endowed. Democracy owes the latter an 
unpayable debt in the examples they have 
given of how to breed and develop that 
minority point of view which time makes a 
majority one. 

How to encourage this one thing for 
which our universities exist is well illus- 
trated by those of Germany. Our colleagues 
there enjoy complete freedom of teaching. 
It is not expected of them that each shall 
teach the same thing and in exactly the 
same way. With us there must be so many 
hours of this and so many hours of that, 
all neatly divided according to rules and 
regulations laid down by the latest college 
conference. Why not as many hours as 
possible of that which the man knows best 
and then another man or another insti- 
tution for another phase of the same or a 


470 


different subject? How can a new point of 
view come into being or be developed ex- 
cept as we let those whom we have assumed 
to be able to foster such alone, to spread 
the new belief with all the power in them? 
When this day comes men will again call 
themselves the products of men and not, as 
now, the products of teaching factories. 

But the undertow of interference with 
freedom of teaching actually goes deeper 
than this formalism. In Germany even a 
docent teaches as and what he pleases, and 
this in spite of all our notions regarding 
restriction of expression of opinion under 
European flags. With all our extravagant 
claims of free press and free speech, our 
universities are forever debating whether 
this or that may be discussed in a class 
room and this or that speaker may use our 
platforms. Presentation of any living issue, 
especially if it involves politics, religion or 
the social sciences, seems tabooed from the 
start. And yet if subjects with a little less 
perspective than that given by four hun- 
dred years are not the true raw material 
upon which our universities are to work, 
what are? Must we forever in practise 
admit the truth of the father’s view in 
Shaw’s play who sends Fannie to Cam- 
bridge because he knows that there, if any- 
where, will be found alive the atmosphere 
of the eighteenth century? 

We can not leave to anyone’s censorship 
the matter of who and what may or may 
not be heard in the forum of our univer- 
sities. We have learned to honor a Luther 
because he preached the bars down in 
matters religious; a Jefferson because he 
preached them down in matters political; 
a Humboldt because he preached them 
down in matters educational. The univer- 
sity preaches the bars down for the dis- 
cussion of all subjects. Those who visit her 
do not come to be taught a gospel but to 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1031 


use judgment in selecting the best from 
the gospels presented. 

It remains to justify this special protec- 
tion, this, to some, reckless use of material 
wealth in support of those who constitute a 
university. But what need we say of those 
who have proved themselves the greatest 
single force for the increase, distribution 
and maintenance of the one universally 
desired and valuable commodity—happi- 
ness? Can we express in comprehensible 
values the freedom given the mind by a 
Newton, a Herschel, a Laplace? Has the 
public ever paid too much for the blows to 
superstition of Vesalius, Servetus, Agassiz? 
Do we remember that for the dynamo and 
motor and their thousand delightful conse- 
quences England never paid Faraday more 
than twenty-two hundred dollars a year? 
Was a docent’s income too high a price 
for the Hertzian waves and wireless? Has 
any one counted up the hours of pain that 
ether and chloroform have forever abol- 
ished? Do we walk daily through pesti- 
lence and remember to bend the knee to 
Pasteur? Shall we detail the millions 
which a Liebig has added to agriculture? 
Have we gained anything when the desert 
brings forth fruits and the swamp some- 
thing besides death? Will Smith, Laveran, 
Ross and Reed be even thought of when the 
boats of a hundred nations push their way 
through the Panama ditch which the work 
of these men alone made possible? 

If we would further replace intolerance 
by tolerance, superstition by knowledge, 
hunger and famine by food, sickness by 
health and death by life, if we would see 
happiness where there are tears and blood, 
the way is clear. A university is not a 
luxury for the favored of fate. From her 
cup drink alike and are satisfied sovereigns 
by the grace of God, aristocrats, bour- 
geois and proletariat. If gratitude is a 


OctToBER 2, 1914] 


thing of the human heart all classes owe 
her allegiance. In her the rarest individ- 
ualist and the broadest communist find com- 
mon ground. Individuals have freed the 
many, which, would they remain so, must 
nourish the fields from which their liberty 
has sprung. When democracies forget, the 
individual may rise to do what the many 
should. <A Vilas, a Carnegie, a Rockefeller 
puts governments to shame. To discover 
among us the pioneers of thought and to set 
them at the world’s work is university 
business, and he who does this, be he phil- 
anthropist, trustee, president, or faculty 
member, is a university man. 

However uneven the progress of the uni- 
versity, however in innocence or by intent 
those momentarily im command may 
chasten her spirit, the need for her will 
keep her alive. The ever-new problems of 
an ever-changing universe guarantee this. 
In the history of our world that religion 
has always been best which has been new- 
est, because the newest takes greatest cog- 
nizance of and tries best to meet the prob- 
lems of the age in which it is born. Reli- 
gion invites defeat because it attempts to 
do more than this by prescribing for all the 
future which no age and no spokesman for 
an age can foresee. For the same reason 
political constitutions ultimately meet 
amendment or pass out entirely. Our fore- 
fathers could hardly draft laws to meet the 
problems of steam transportation, of tele- 
graphic monopoly, of meat trusts and the 
thousand other things that our own age has 
discovered. Only science, which on new 
evidence will change all her laws over 
night, is as secure to-morrow as she is 
to-day. Her spirit is the spirit of the uni- 
versity to which alone the strong will and 
the weak must forever bow. 


Martin H. FIscHEer 


SCIENCE 


471 


APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE DEPARTMENT 
OF AGRICULTURE1 


Wirt the continued enlargement and exten- 
sion of the functions of the United States De- 
partment of Agriculture, the annual appropri- 
ation act providing for its support has become 
more and more a measure of much public in- 
terest. The latest of these acts, signed by Presi- 
dent Wilson June 30, 1914, and carrying ap- 
propriations for the fiscal year commencing 
with the following day, is no exception in this 
respect, again establishing as it does the prin- 
ciple of federal aid to agriculture in the broad- 
est use of the term, providing for the mainte- 
nance and development of its manifold actiy- 
ities to a larger extent than ever before, and 
opening the way to an increased efficiency 
through a reorganization of its work. 

The total amount carried by the act is $19,- 
865,832. This is an increase of $1,878,887, or 
over 11 per cent. over the previous year, and 
of $804,500 over the estimates submitted by 
the department. The increased allotments are 
distributed throughout the entire department, 
and while many are designed to provide more 
adequately for its administrative and regula- 
tory functions, which now absorb nearly two 
thirds of the total appropriations, opportunity 
is also afforded for the extension of most of its 
lines of research, and especially for the devel- 
opment of its various forms of demonstration 
work. 

In its general make-up, the law conforms 
closely to its immediate predecessor, and in 
fact is somewhat more rigidly confined to the 
routine work of the department. There are, 
however, a number of items of new legislation. 
Thus, the Secretary of Agriculture is directed 
to prepare a plan for “reorganizing, redirect- 
ing and systematizing the work of the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture as the interests of econom- 
ical and efficient administration may require.” 
This plan is to be submitted to Congress with 
the estimates of expenditures for the fiscal year 
1915-16, these estimates being arranged on the 
basis of its provisions. A special object of the 
proposed reorganization is the elimination of 
the possibility of duplication, and the securing 


1 From the Hzperiment Station Record. 


472 


of close coordination of related lines of work. 

Another provision increases the maximum 
salary which may be paid to investigators or 
others engaged in scientific work from $4,000 
to $4,500. Under the previous limit, a number 
of the more experienced investigators have 
been drawn away from the department. 

By a clause inserted in the section dealing 
with the Office of Experiment Stations, funds 
are given the Secretary of Agriculture to 
carry out the provisions of the Smith-Lever 
Extension Act. An extension of the frank- 
ing privilege is also included under which all 
correspondence, bulletins and reports for the 
furtherance of the purposes of that act may be 
transmitted in the mails free of postage by 
the college officer or other person connected 
with the extension department of the college 
designated by the Secretary of Agriculture, 
under regulations to be prescribed by the Post- 
master General. 

Great interest was again manifested in the 
demonstration and extension activities con- 
ducted by the department itself, and some of 
the largest increases carried in the act are 
those for their further development. The 
sum of $400,000 is definitely allotted to farm- 
ers’ cooperative demonstration work outside 
the cotton belt, and $673,240 for similar dem- 
onstrations in the areas threatened by the boll 
weevil. In the case of the latter work, a 
proviso is inserted restricting the expenditures 
to the funds provided and such cooperative 
funds as may be voluntarily contributed by 
state, county and municipal agencies, associa- 
tions of farmers and individual farmers, uni- 
versities, colleges, boards of trade, chambers 
of commerce, other local associations of busi- 
ness men, business organizations, and indi- 
viduals within the state. The allotment for the 
campaign against the cattle tick is increased 
from $325,000 to $400,000, of which $50,000 
may be used for live stock demonstration work 
in areas freed of ticks. There is also an ap- 
propriation of $60,000 for experiments and 
demonstrations in cooperation with states or 
individuals in live stock production in the 
cane sugar and cotton districts, and one of 
$40,000 to aid in the agricultural development 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL, No. 1031 


of the government reclamation projects by 
assisting settlers through demonstrations, 
advice and in other ways. 

Most of the various regulatory or police 
functions assigned to the department receive 
increased support. The permanent appropria- 
tion of $3,000,000 for meat inspection is sup- 
plemented by a grant of $375,000, an increase 
of $175,000 over the previous year. This in- 
crease is mainly because of additional work 
through the inspection of imported meats, in 
accordance with the Tariff Act of 1913. The 
meat inspection is also extended to reindeer. 
The allotment for the enforcement of the 
Food and Drugs Act is increased by $25,641, 
largely to meet the additional duties imposed 
by the recent extension of the act to include 
meat and meat food products and the amend- 
ment requiring the declaration of the net 
weight in package and similar goods. An in- 
crease from $10,000 to $50,000 is provided for 
the protection of migratory game and insec- 
tivorous birds, and one from $75,000 to $100,- 
000 for the cooperative fire protection of the 
forested watersheds of navigable streams. The 
appropriation for the enforcement of the plant 
quarantine act is increased from $40,000 to 
$50,000, with $50,000 additional to enable co- 
operation with states quarantined against the 
interstate movement of Irish potatoes. 

As usual there is considerable new legisla- 
tion relating to forestry matters. The Ap- 
palachian Forest Reserve Act of 1911 is 
amended by increasing the proportion of the 
gross receipts from the National Forests ac- 
quired under its provisions which is returned 
to the respective states and counties, for the 
benefit of their public schools and roads, from 
five to twenty-five per cent. Provision is also 
made for the handling through the Treasury 
Department of funds contributed for coopera- 
tive work in the protection and improvement 
of the national forests, as well as for forest 
investigations, and a requirement is inserted 
whereby all such contributions must annually 
be reported to Congress. 

The appropriation for studies of the market- 
ing and distribution of farm products is in- 
ereased from $50,000 to $200,000. Authority 


OcrToBER 2, 1914] 


is also given the department for studies of 
cooperation among farmers in the United 
States in rural credits and other lines and to 
disseminate information on the subject, with 
an appropriation of $40,000 for the purpose. 

Other new projects for which definite appro- 
priations are made include $10,000 for the im~ 
portation of Corriedale and other sheep for 
breeding purposes; $5,000 for studying the 
grading, weighing, and handling of naval 
stores; $7,000 for the publication of reports 
and maps dealing with the location, extent, 
etc., of the kelp beds on the Pacific Coast; 
$10,000 for furnishing official cotton grades 
and samples to certain associations; $5,000 for 
the improvement of an additional game pre- 
serve; and $5,000 for agricultural extension 
work in Hawaii. Authority is also given for 
studies of seismology, a number of new in- 
sects and plant diseases, the handling of fish, 
oysters, and other foods and food products, 
and the utilization of agricultural products for 
clothing and other uses in the home. An 
exhibit by the department, illustrative of farm- 
ing in the subhumid regions, is provided for 
the International Dry Farming Congress to be 
held at Wichita, Kansas, October 7 to 17, 1914, 
with an appropriation of $20,000 for the pur- 
pose. 

Considering the appropriations definitely al- 
lotted to the several bureaus, that of the 
Weather Bureau aggregates $1,667,270. This 
is an apparent decrease of $40,340, but this is 
mainly because no new observatories are pro- 
vided except a building at Neah Bay, Wash- 
ington, to cost $3,000. The allotments of the 
bureau have been classified on a new basis, 
$327,270 being available for statutory sal- 
aries; $122,000 for carrying on investigations 
in meteorology, climatology, seismology, 
evaporation and aerology, and the dissemina- 
tion of meteorological, climatological and ma- 
rine information in the city of Washington; 
$1,189,000 for similar expenses outside of 
Washington, and $26,000 for the maintenance 
of a bureau printing office in Washington. 
The Secretary is also directed to report to 
Congress relative to the future disposition of 
the plant at Mount Weather, Virginia, from 


SCIENCE 


473 


which the extensive research work formerly 
carried on is being largely withdrawn. 

An increase of $288,830 is accorded the 
Bureau of Animal Industry, making its total 
$2,320,026. This is in addition to the perma- 
nent annual appropriation of $3,000,000 for 
meat inspection previously referred to and also 
to a special appropriation of $600,000, approved 
February 23, 1914, of which $50,000 was al- 
lotted to the inspection of virus, serums, etc., 
used in the treatment of animal diseases, $100,- 
000 for the investigation, treatment and eradi- 
cation of dourine, and the remainder for simi- 
lar work with hog cholera. Among the largest 
items of increase in the bureau’s appropriation 
are those supplementing the meat inspection 
funds and for the tick eradication campaign 
already mentioned, and for work in dairying 
which receives $256,490, an increase of $78,- 
590. The various items pertaining to animal 
husbandry are combined into a single group 
aggregating $182,840, of which $30,000 may be 
used for the horse breeding project, $24,500 for 
the poultry studies, including the ostrich in- 
dustry, and $10,000 for sheep importation. 
The appropriation for inspection and quaran- 
tine work is $625,520, and that for pathological 
investigations of animal diseases $77,360. 

The Bureau of Plant Industry receives $3,- 
616,045. This is an increase of $948,050, about 
two thirds of which is accounted for by the 
large additions to the funds for demonstration 
purposes previously mentioned, and the re- 
mainder chiefly by smaller increases appor- 
tioned among a large number of projects. The 
congressional seed distribution is continued on 
the usual basis and with an appropriation of 
$257,000, as for the previous year. The bureau 
also receives $166,500 for the testing and dis- 
tribution in quantities sufficient for practical 
field tests of new and rare seeds which from 
previous trials seem especially promising, 
and for the improvement of alfalfa, clover and 
other forage crops, $100,000 of this amount 
being available for the purchase and distribu- 
tion of these new and rare seeds. The 
amount of $74,600 is appropriated for the for- 
eign seed and plant introduction. 

Large appropriations are again made for the 


474 


prosecution of studies with specific crops. 
Thus, for cotton $91,000 is provided for an 
inquiry into ginning, grading, baling, and 
wrapping practises. This work is extended to 
include gin compressing and the distribution 
of the official grades of cotton samples, and the 
appropriation for testing the waste, tensile 
strength, and bleaching qualities of the vari- 
ous standard grades of cotton is increased from 
$10,000 to $60,000. For other fiber plant 
studies, especially with flax, $20,850 is again 
allotted, as well as $38,000 for acclimatization 
and adaptation work with cotton, corn and 
other crops introduced from tropical regions. 
The tobacco studies receive $25,000; the cereal 
investigations $135,405, of which $40,000 is 
for corn; the studies of grain handling and 
grading $76,320; those of drug plants 
$55,380; and those of sugar beets and the pro- 
duction of table sirup and the means of utiliz- 
ing cane by-products $41,495. For studies in 
fruit growing, handling and marketing $107,- 
500 is available, together with $56,320 for 
‘other horticultural work, and $26,690 for the 
maintenance of the various departmental green- 
thouses and the Arlington Experimental Farm. 

Another large division of the work has to 
do with plant diseases, $37,000 being available 
for the maintenance of the general patholog- 
ical laboratory and the herbarium of plant 
diseases, $52,675 for fruit diseases, $69,510 for 
those of forest trees and ornamentals, and 
$46,000 for cotton and truck crops. For plant 
physiology and plant breeding there is allotted 
$44,540, together with $22,280 for the breeding 
and physiological study of alkali and drought 
resistant crops. There is also $35,000 for soil 
bacteriology and plant nutrition studies, $25,- 
000 for biophysics, $24,000 for economic and 
systematic botany, $28,700 for studying and 
testing commercial seed, $5,000 for studies of 
methods of utilizing logged-off lands, and 
$230,380 for studies of crop production and 
land utilization under arid and semi-arid con- 
ditions. 

The Forest Service receives as usual the 
Jargest allotment of any bureau, its aggregate 
being $5,548,256 as compared with $5,399,679 
for the previous year. There are also avail- 


SCIENCE 


[N S. Vou. XL. No. 1031 


able the various appropriations under the 
Appalachian Forest Reserve Act already re- 
ferred to, certain unexpended balances from 
the previous year, and an appropriation of 
$100,000 for fighting and preventing forest 
fires in cases of extraordinary emergency, this 
being a reduction from $200,000. The bulk 
of the appropriation is, of course, to be de- 
voted to the protection and maintenance of the 
individual national forests, with $400,000 for 
the construction and maintenance of improve- 
ments, $165,640 for reforestation, $140,000 for 
studies of wood utilization and preservation, 
$150,000 for forest fire protection, $25,000 
for range studies, $83,728 for silvicultural 
and dendrological experiments, and $40,- 
160 for miscellaneous forest studies and the 
dissemination of results. The selection and 
segregation of lands within national forests 
that may be opened to entry under the home- 
stead laws is to be continued under an appro- 
priation of $100,000, with an additional allot- 
ment of $85,000 for the survey and listing of 
those lands chiefly valuable for agriculture. 

The appropriations of the Bureau of Chem- 
istry are increased from $1,058,140 to $1,077,- 
581. The allotment for the enforcement of the 
Food and Drugs Act is $634,301, with $4,280 
additional for the study and inspection of 
American food exports, $50,000 for studies of 
the handling and marketing of poultry and 
eggs, $20,000 for similar work with fish, oys- 
ters, etc., $10,000 for biological investigations 
of food and drug products and their constitu- 
ents, and $52,400 for general investigations. 
Because of a transfer to the Bureau of Stand- 
ards of the work of testing miscellaneous sup- 
plies purchased on contract for the various 
departments of the government, the appropri- 
ation for this purpose is reduced from $40,- 
000 to $14,000. 

The various lines of work of the Bureau of 
Soils, and the Bureau of Entomology are con- 
tinued much as at present, with small in- 
creases in a number of items. The Bureau of 
Soils receives $360,635, an increase of $26,- 
615, of which $11,500 is to extend the inquiry 
as to possible sources of natural fertilizers, 
particularly nitrogenous materials. The soil 


OcrToBER 2, 1914] 


survey work of the bureau is granted $169,800, 
with $20,000 additional for the examination 
and classification of agricultural lands in for- 
est reserves in cooperation with the Forest 
Service, 15,265 for studies in soil physics, 
$22,350 for chemical investigations, and $32,- 
700 for soil fertility work. The increase of 
$87,210 accorded the Bureau of Entomology 
is divided among its studies of several groups 
of insects, the largest single item of expendi- 
ture being as usual that for the gipsy and 
brown-tail moth campaign, for which $310,- 
000 is available. The total appropriation of 
the bureau is $829,420. 

The Bureau of Biological Survey is 
granted $281,290, an increase of $110,300. 
This appropriation is to be used principally 
for administrative and police purposes, $66,000 
being allotted for the enforcement of the 
Lacey and McLean laws for the regulation of 
imports and interstate movement of game, 
birds, ete., $21,000 for the maintenance of the 
various game preserves and transfer of game, 
and $5,000 for the improvement of an addi- 
tional preserve in Sullys Hill Park, North Da- 
kota. The appropriations for studies of the 
food habits of birds and mammals and for 
other biological investigations, however, are 
nearly doubled, $15,000 being granted for the 
destruction of ground squirrels on national 
forests, $5,000 for the study of a serious dis- 
ease of wild ducks in Utah, $95,000 for the 
destruction of wolves, prairie dogs and other 
injurious animals, the rearing of fur-bearmg 
animals, and similar work, and $26,500 for 
field studies of the distribution and migrations 
of water fowl and other birds and of the bird 
and mammal life of the public domain. 

The Bureau of Statistics is rechristened the 
Bureau of Crop Estimates, the new designa- 
tion representing more accurately, it is believed, 
the nature of its work and obviating confusion 
with results based on actual enumerations 
such as are made by the Bureau of the Census. 
Several changes are also made in the language 
prescribing the work of the bureau, and the 
appropriation at its disposal is increased from 
$243,680 to $275,580. It is expected that 
these changes will permit of enlarging the 


SCIENCE 


AT5 


scope and completeness of the data collected, 
notably as regards special crops and indus- 
tries. 

The various activities of the Office of Ex- 
periment Stations are continued and several 
of its functions are considerably extended. 
The total appropriation is $1,930,780, of 
which $1,440,000 is paid to the state experi- 
ment stations under the Hatch and Adams 
acts, and $50,500 (a net increase of $10,720) 
is for general expenses in connection with the 
enforcement of these acts and the Smith- 
Lever Act. The work of the Agricultural 
Edueation Service and of the Irrigation and 
Drainage Investigations is continued on the 
present basis with allotments of $23,000, $106,- 
400, and $96,280, respectively, and $68,840 is 
granted for statutory salaries. 

The total allotment for the insular experi- 
ment stations is $120,000, of which the Alaska 
stations receive $40,000 and those in Hawaii, 
Porto Rico and Guam, $35,000, $30,000 and 
$15,000, respectively. The act provides that of 
the allotment for the Hawaii Station $5,000 
may be used in agricultural extension work, 
the territory receiving no funds under the 
Smith-Lever Act. The annual leave privileges 
of employees of the department permanently 
assigned to Alaska, Hawaii, Porto Rico and 
Guam are extended to correspond to those now 
applying to employees in Washington. 

The appropriation for the nutrition investi- 
gations of the office is increased from $16,000 
to $25,760 and the authority hitherto granted 
to study means of utilizing agricultural prod- 
ucts for food is broadened to include clothing 
and household equipment. With the enlarged 
appropriation it is proposed to continue and 
extend the studies of food with reference to 
nutritive value and economical use in the 
home, studying both popular and technical 
problems, the latter including, among other 
things, the calorimetric study of changes 
which take place in fruits and vegetables dur- 
ing ripening and storage. In the case of 
clothing and household equipment, such ques- 
tions, considered from the standpoint of the 
expenditure of human energy, will be studied 
as the relative durability, economy, and effi- 


476 


ciency of comparable materials and articles 
for specific purposes, the protective power of 
clothing of different kinds, the relative value 
and efficiency of different materials and meth- 
ods with reference to household labor, the re- 
lation of the diet to body efficiency, and simi- 
lar questions. It is believed that the results 
of such investigations will be of much interest 
not only to the housekeeper but also to the 
general public since they will furnish definite 
information along lines hitherto very inade- 
quately studied but of great importance in the 
consideration of questions of rational and eco- 
nomical living. They should also be of direct 
benefit to the farmer since agricultural pro- 
duction is influenced to a very great extent 
by the demands of the home. 

The salary of the director of the Office of 
Public Roads is imcreased from $4,000 to 
$4,500, and the appropriations as a whole from 
$279,400 to $352,560. The principal increase 
is one of $40,000 for studies of road building 
and maintenance, making $145,000 available 
for the purpose, special emphasis to be directed 
to the ordinary sand-clay and dirt roads. In- 
ereases of $4,800 are also granted for road 
management studies, $6,260 for tests of road 
materials, and $15,000 for field trials of vari- 
ous materials, types of construction, and road 
equipment. 

The work of the remaining branches of the 
department is continued substantially as at 
present. The increasing administrative work 
is evidenced in the enlarged allotments for the 
office of the secretary, rent, and miscellaneous 
expenses for which $339,880, $108,329, and 
$110,000, respectively, are available. As a re- 
sult of recent legislation whereby the admin- 
istrative auditing of accounts is now carried 
on in the several bureaus, the appropriation 
for the Division of Accounts and Disburse- 
ments is reduced from $104,370 to $46,320. 
The Division of Publications receives $189,500 
and the Library $45,360. 

In connection with the appropriations in- 
cluded in the act itself, reference should also 
be made to the funds derived in other ways. 
For the fiscal year under discussion, perma- 
nent appropriations under the department 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1031 


aggregate, exclusive of those recently provided 
by the Smith-Lever Act, $5,999,200, the 
largest items being those of $3,000,000 for 
meat inspection and $2,000,000 for the acqui- 
sition of lands for the protection of water- 
sheds of navigable streams, and the remainder 
being almost wholly for forestry purposes. 
The appropriation act for sundry civil ex- 
penses carries an appropriation for the de- 
partment printing and binding of $500,000, an 
increase of $10,000, of which $137,500 is for 
farmers’ bulletins and $47,000 for the Weather 
Bureau. 

When it is recalled that large appropriations 
will also be available for agricultural educa- 
tion in the land-grant colleges under the Mor- 
rill and Nelson acts, for the rural education 
work of the Bureau of Education, demonstra- 
tion work in agriculture among the Indians, 
and the payment of the country’s quota toward 
the support of the International Institute of 
Agriculture, the wide extent to which the 
principle of federal assistance to agriculture is 
being carried into practise becomes apparent, 
and the aggregate expenditure from the fed- 
eral funds appears increasingly impressive. 
As was pointed out by Chairman Lever of the 
House Committee on Agriculture, however, 
the entire agricultural appropriation is still 
inconsequential as compared with the total 
federal appropriations, the magnitude of the 
agricultural interests of the country, or even 
of the annual losses to farm products sus- 
tained through insect pests and plant diseases. 

Moreover, the conviction is deepening that 
these appropriations are largely in the nature 
of a permanent investment for the benefit of 
the nation as a whole. In the words of Hon. 
C. G. Edwards of Georgia, 


In extending these various benefits and advantages 
to the farmers we are but doing a simple justice to 
the sinew and backbone of our great citizenship. 
In helping the farmers we are helping the whole 
country, for every class is dependent upon the 
farmer. ... We can do nothing that will make for 
the future welfare of our country more than to aid 
in this work, which means the establishing of farms 
and homes. ... In making appropriations to im- 
prove agricultural conditions we are ‘‘ casting bread 
upon the waters,’’ that will return not only to feed 


OcTOBER 2, 1914] 


the people of this country, but will mean a tre- 
mendous inerease in our annual farm productions, 
and will add to the country’s wealth, prosperity, 
happiness and greatness. 


THE PANAMA EXPOSITION 


Present CuartEs OC. Moore, of the Pan- 
ama-Pacifie International Exposition, to open 
in San Francisco on February 20, 1915, has 
issued the following statement: 


One month ago the decision of the Panama-Pa- 
cific International Exposition management not to 
postpone was first published. The development of 
events since then, in their relation to the exposi- 
tion, all tend to confirm the wisdom of that orig- 
inal decision. 

At the time the decision was made no word had 
been received from any foreign nation as to the 
effect on its plans caused by the European war, 
but it was hoped that at least those nations not 
fighting would go on with their plans. Later de- 
velopments have proven that hope well founded; 
in addition, we have definite assurances from 
France, from Italy, from Turkey and from Japan 
that their intentions are unchanged. Holland has 
added $300,000 to her original appropriation. 
Italy has ordered work on her building and ex- 
hibits rushed. Japan has asked for and received 
an increase of space. The Argentine Republic has 
increased its appropriation from $1,250,000 to 
$1,750,000. 

We shall undoubtedly lose some of the promised 
exhibits from Europe, but not by any means all of 
them and not by any means the most important of 
them. Both Germany and Great Britain will be 
represented by individual exhibitors or by associa- 
tions thereof. We shall undoubtedly lose some of 
the promised entries by European champions in the 
athletic events, but the international character of 
those events will not be lost. We may lose some 
of the art treasures promised us for the Fine Arts 
Building, but we shall gain others because of the 
war. 

Of compensating gains we have many. There is 
a very sharp demand for space from the manufac- 
tures of this country, of South America and of the 
European nations not at war. The Exposition 
suddenly becomes an important factor in an extra- 
ordinary economic situation. It is seen to be the 
one, great, easy, efficient way by which American- 
made goods can be brought to the direct attention 
of the distributors and consumers of South Amer- 
ica and the Orient. The latter are coming here in 


SCIENCE 


4T7 


force in 1915 to make new individual and com- 
mercial connections forced by the war. 

As regards attendance, every transportation ex- 
pert confirms the opinion that a continued Euro- 
pean war is likely rather to increase travel to Cali- 
fornia in 1915 than to reduce it. 

The Exposition is 92 per cent. ready to-day. It 
will open February 20, as planned—and it will be, 
as planned, the most beautiful and most interest- 
ing exposition ever seen. There is no reason to 
believe that the success of the exposition, in any 
phase, will be any less than that which was so cer- 
tain before the European war broke out and it is 
certain to be even more important commercially 
than was ever dreamed. 


THE FRANKLIN MEDAL 


Samuet Insutt, Esq., of Chicago, Illinois, 
writing under date of December 23, 1913, to 
the board of managers of the Franklin Insti- 
tute, Philadelphia, stated that he had been 
informed it would be a source of gratification 
to them if the institute had available, in addi- 
tion to such medals already in its gift, a medal 
to be known as the Franklin Medal, and to be 
awarded from time to time in recognition of 
the total contributions of individuals to sci- 
ence or to the applications of physical science 
to industry, rather than in recognition of any 
single invention or discovery, however impor- 
tant. He agreed to provide for the founding 
of this medal under the followimg general con- 
ditions: 

1. That an amount not exceeding one thou- 
sand dollars should be furnished by him for 
procuring appropriate designs and dies for the 
medal and diploma. 

9. That the medal should possess distinct 
artistic merit, and have on one side a medal- 
lion of Benjamin Franklin done from the 
Thomas Sully portrait in the possession of 
the institute. 

3. That the medal should be of gold and 
have an intrinsic value of about seventy-five 
dollars. 

4. That the sum of five thousand dollars 
should be provided by him to be held in trust 
in perpetuity to be a foundation for this 
medal, and to be known as the Franklin Medal 
Fund (founded January 1, 1914, by Samuel 
Insull, Esq.). 


478 


5. That the interest of this fund should be 
used from time to time in awarding the Frank- 
lin medal to those workers in physical science 
or technology, without regard to country, 
whose efforts have, in the judgment of the 
institute, done most to advance a knowledge of 
physical science or its applications. 

6. That any excess of income from this 
fund, beyond such average annual sum as 
might be deemed necessary by the institute for 
the number of medals it is considered best to 
award, might be used for premiums to accom- 
pany the medals. 

Mr. Insull said he understood that the insti- 
tute would be glad to award, on the average, 
two Franklin medals a year. Though this 
would leave little surplus, he inserted the sixth 
condition to prevent an undesirable accumula- 
tion of the fund. 

At the stated meeting of the board of man- 
agers, February 11, 1914, the above offer was 
accepted, and the medal has been designed by 
Dr. R. Tait McKenzie, of the University of 
Pennsylvania. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


Among the German scientific men who 
have affixed their names to a manifesto re- 
nouncing the honors conferred upon them by 
English universities and other learned insti- 
tutions are Professors Paul Ehrlich, Emil 
von Behring, Ernst Haeckel, August Weis- 
mann and Wilhelm Wundt. 


Dr. F. M. Urpan, professor of psychology 
in the University of Pennsylvania, is in Aus- 
tria, and is said to be with the Austrian army. 


Dr. Davm Topp, professor of astronomy at 
Amherst College and Mrs. Todd, about whom 
there has been some anxiety, have been re- 
ported to be in Petrograd. 


Mr. WENCESLAS KoTEHEKOW, assistant Rus- 
sian agricultural commissioner, and Mr. 
Wladimir Generasoff, secretary of the Rus- 
sian agricultural agency, have been in this 
country to study agricultural conditions. 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8S. Vou. XL. No. 1031 


Dr. Benzamin Mrape Botton, of the Bureau 
of Animal Industry, U. S. Department of Agri- 
culture, sailed from New York for Cuba on 
August 29, to conduct a campaign for the De- 
partment of Agriculture of Cuba against hog 
cholera. 


Drs. Warren A. Dennis, St. Paul; William 
J. Mayo, Rochester, and James E. Moore, Min- 
neapolis, the committee on cancer of the Min- 
nesota Public Health Association, have been 
invited to act as the Minnesota state committee 
on cancer for the American Society for the 
Prevention and Control of Cancer. 


Sik Ernest SHACKLETON has appointed Mr. 
Alexander Stevens, assistant in geography at 
Glasgow University, to be geologist and geog- 
rapher to the Weddell Sea party of his expedi- 
tion. 


James C. Topp, professor of pathology at the 
University of Colorado, has been granted leave 
of absence for the academic year. 


THE Philosophical Union of the University 
of California celebrated its twenty-fifth anni- 
versary on August 26, when Professor Josiah 
Royce gave an address on “ The Spirit of the 
Community.” 


Proressor Freperic §. Ler gave the address 
at the opening of the present session of the Col- 
lege of Physicians and Surgeons of Colum- 
bia University on September 23, 1914, taking 
as his subject the relation of the medical sci- 
ences to clinical medicine. 


THE Huxley Memorial Lecture at Charing 
Cross Hospital on recent advances in science 
and their bearing on medicine and surgery 
will be given by Sir Ronald Ross, on Novem- 
ber 2. 


Dr. Morris LonestretTH died on Septem- 
ber 19 at Barcelona, Spain. On August 29 
his wife died also at Barcelona. Dr. Long- 
streth was born in Philadelphia, in 1846. He 
was professor of pathological anatomy at Jef- 
ferson Medical College, a fellow in the Amer- 
ican Association for the Advancement of Sci- 
ence, a member of the American Philosophical 
Society and one of the founders of the Asso- 
ciation of American Physicians. 


OcTOBER 2, 1914] 


Proressor CHARLES Lapan ADAMs, professor 
of drawing and descriptive geometry in the 
“Massachusetts Institute of Technology, died 
at Antwerp, on September 16, following an 
operation for appendicitis. 


Dr. W. H. Gasket, F.R.S., university lec- 
turer in physiology at Cambridge University, 
has died at the age of sixty-six years. 


Nature records the death of Mr. H. M. 
Freear, chemical assistant at the Woburn Ex- 
perimental Farm and pot-culture station of 
the Royal Agricultural Society, and a lead- 
ing authority upon the relation of pot-culture 
experiments to practical agriculture and horti- 
culture. 


Prorsessor B. ALrreD BrErRTHEIM, member 
of the Georg Speyer Haus in Frankfort a M., 
being drawn to join his regiment, lost his life 
on August 17 at Berlin, in consequence of an 
accident, at the age of 35 years. The Chem- 
asche Zeitschrift relates that besides work in 
alkyl combinations of thallium (with Pro- 
fessor R. J. Meyer) and hydrates of molyb- 
die acid (with Professor Rosenhinn) he has 
published numerous articles, partly with Pro- 
fessor Ehrlich and Dr. Benda, on nitro- and 
aminophenyl arsenic acid and their deriva- 
tives, on p-aminophenolarsenie oxide, diam- 
ino arsenobenzyoles and their derivatives. 
Professor Ehrlich writes in the Frankfurter 
Zeitung, that to Bertheim belongs the distine- 
tion of having accomplished the synthesis of 
salvarsan. Lately there has appeared from 
his pen an exhaustive “Manual of Organic 
Arsenic-combinations.” 


THe London Times reports the death at 
Sedbergh, of Mr. William Erasmus Darwin, 
aged seventy-four. He was the oldest son 
of Charles Darwin, and to his birth may be 
attributed the origin of a notable department 
of his father’s researches. In his autobiog- 
raphy Charles Darwin says: “My first child 
was born on December 27, 1839, and I at once 
commenced to make notes on the first dawn 
of the various expressions which he exhibited, 
for I felt convinced, even at this early period, 
that the most complex and fine shades of ex- 
pression must all have had a gradual and nat- 


SCIENCE 


479 


ural origin.” These notes were intended to 
furnish a chapter of “The Descent of Man,” 
but the importance of the subject ultimately 
demanded a separate volume—“ Expressions 
of the Emotions in Man and Animals,” pub- 
lished m 1872. Four sons of Charles Darwin 
have attained scientific distinction. 


A cirt of £20,000 has been promised to Lon- 
don Hospital by Mrs. E. S. Paterson for 
cardiae research work. 


Business and finance in South America are 
so much affected by the war in Hurope that 
the Chilean minister at Washington has been 
officially notified that the Pan-American 
Congress of University Students will not be 
held at Santiago. It is said that several 
delegates from the United States are on their 
way to Chili. 


InstraD of inaugurating a department of 
health for Canada, it has been decided that the 
Canadian Conservation Commission shall look 
after all health matters in the Dominion. In 
August the first number of a bulletin was 
issued to doctors, teachers and others inter- 
ested in public health work, and will, there- 
after, continue to be issued each month. 


THE Comité des Forges de France has been 
obliged to cancel arrangements for an autumn 
meeting of the British Iron and Steel Insti- 
tute in France this year. Jn the circumstances, 
the council of the imstitute has decided that 
it would be advisable to postpone for the 
present any alternative arrangements for an 
autumn meeting for the reading and discus- 
sion of papers. 


THE meeting of the Fourth International 
Congress on Home Education and the eighth 
meeting of the American School Hygiene 
Association scheduled for Philadelphia during 
the last week in September were postponed. 
It was considered unwise to hold an inter- 
national congress at this time. This fact be- 
came evident at such a late date as to make 
it impossible for the American School Hygiene 
Association to plan an effective independent 
meeting in place of the joint meeting. The 
next meeting of the American School Hygiene 
Association will occur some time early in 1915. 


480 


Tue British Board of Trade has made rules 
under which a German or Austrian patent 
may be entirely suspended. 


ENCKE’S comet was rediscovered on Septem- 
ber 17 on photographs by Professor E. E. 
Barnard of the Yerkes Observatory. The 
comet’s position was right ascension 3h 48m 
40s, declination north 37 degrees, 46 minutes. 


Tue Royal Academy of Medicine of Turin 
offers its Niberi prize of $4,000 for scientific 
research in medicine. The conditions may be 
obtained from the secretary, 18 Vie Po, Turin. 


Tue Chadwick trustees announce their in- 
tention to award at the close of this year the 
Chadwick gold medal and £50 each to the 
naval and military medical officer, respectively, 
in the British service who shall have distin- 
guished himself most in promoting the health 
of the men in the navy and the army. 


THE commission of the Society of Russian 
Medical Men, founded in memory of N. L. 
Pirogov, for the study of malaria in Russia is 
completing the index of the Russian literature 
of malaria up to the end of 1913. In future 
the indexes will be issued yearly, together with 
short abstracts of the articles, including, if 
possible, all the literature of malaria for the 
preceding year. The commission will shortly 
edit works on leishmaniasis and other diseases 
due to protozoa and would therefore be grate- 
ful to authors of articles relating to this branch 
of medicine as well as veterinary medicine and 
phytopathology, if they would send printed 
copies of their works to the commission. 
Authors who send two copies of their works 
will receive the bibliographic index edited by 
the commission. All communications should 
be addressed to Dr. E, I. Marzinovsky, Hépital 
de ’Empereur Paul I, Moscow, Russia. 


Tuer Journal of the American Medical Asso- 
ciation says the campaign against hookworm 
in Jones County, Miss., was brought to a very 
successful conclusion toward the end of Au- 
gust, over 2,500 cases having been treated. 
Hookworm was found in over 60 per cent. of 
all cases examined, the largest percentage being 
found in children. The people showed much 
interest and cooperated in the work. Many 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8S. Vou. XL. No. 1031 


schools were found in which all the teachers 
and pupils were infected. Much infection in 
country schools is attributed to the ingestion 
of the eggs of the parasites in drinking-water 
obtained from springs near the schools. 


Mr. Bensamin F. Groat, hydraulic engineer 
of Pittsburgh, has secured an unusually high 
degree of accuracy: in discharge measurements 
on the tests of the large hydro-electric units 
at Massena, New York, by the use of chemicals 
introduced into the feed water. The use of 
chemicals was suggested by Schloesing in 
France (1863) and has since been employed 
in England by Stromeyer and in Europe by 
others in measuring small quantities of water. 
But by the chemical procedure devised and 
inaugurated by Groat, very large quantities 
of water may be measured with a margin of 
error well within one tenth per cent. Three 
hundred and sixty tons of common salt and 
one pound of silver nitrate were employed as 
reagents during the course of nearly one hun- 
dred tests. 


AccorpDine to the Hlectrical World, an elec- 
trical device which will indicate the approach 
of a thunderstorm several hours before any 
clouds appear is being used successfully by an 
electric-service company in New York City to 
give ample time to provide for increased illu- 
mination when the thunder clouds darken the 
sky. The storm-detector apparatus, which re- 
sembles wireless receiving equipment, is oper- 
ated by faint impulses from electrical dis- 
turbances in the vicinity. Receiving antennas 
intercept the impulses, which cause a relay to 
close an alarm-bell circuit. At first the signals 
are far apart, but as the electrical disturbance 
approaches the bell rings more frequently. 
From an hour to half an hour before the storm 
breaks, depending on the intensity thereof, 
the bell will ring continuously. In the mean- 
time steam may be raised to operate generators 
which are placed in readiness to supply addi- 
tional energy when the demand increases. 


Wits the cutting off of importations of 
many mineral products the United States 
Geological Survey’s list of mineral producers 
becomes an important source of public infor- 


OcTOBER 2, 1914] 


mation. In response to specific inquiries ad- 
dressed to the director of the survey at Wash- 
ington, concerning the location of mines of 
any kind tributary to any particular market, 
extracts can be furnished from this list. The 
list is not a published one, as it includes about 
90,000 names and addresses of producers and is 
constantly being revised, the changes each year 
amounting to 25 per cent. of the list. It can 
be largely utilized, however, in reply to in- 
quiries from consumers of mineral products. 


We learn from the report in Nature that 
the Museums Association celebrated the com- 
pletion of a quarter of a century’s existence 
at its recent meeting in Swansea. The at- 
tendance was large, and the papers dealt in a 
practical way with the preservation and resto- 
ration of works of art—a subject which has 
never previously received so much attention 
at an annual conference. Representatives 
were sent by forty provincial museums and 
art galleries, five national museums (the Brit- 
ish Museum, the British Museum of Natural 
History, the Victoria and Albert Museum, 
the National Museum of Wales, and the Mu- 
seum of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew), 
and the London County Council. The presi- 
dential chair was occupied by Mr. Charles 
Madeley, director of the Warrington Muni- 
cipal Museum, who in his address invited the 
conference to consider “What is the true 
theory of a municipal museum?” 


We learn from the New York Medical 
Journal that the U. S. Senate has passed the 
amended Harrison bill, under which every 
person who produces, imports, manufactures, 
combines, deals in, disposes of, sells, or gives 
away opium or coca leaves or any combination 
thereof, or salt or derivative thereof, is re- 
quired to register annually with the collector of 
internal revenue, paying a fee of one dollar 
for registration. This is the measure which 
had already been passed by the House of 
Representatives. It is believed that the House 
will agree to the amendments introduced by 
the Senate and in that case the measure will 
no doubt be promptly passed and soon become 
alaw. This bill is a modification of the meas- 
ure origimally drawn up by Dr. Hamilton 


SCIENCE 


481 


Wright, commissioner of the United States 
to the International Opium Congress. The 
underlying principle is that through the regis- 
tration of all who are legally entitled to handle 
these drugs, it will be possible to prevent 
illegal interstate traffic. This law will supple- 
ment the various local laws and through its 
operation the authorities of the several states 
expect to be able materially to curtail, if they 
ean not wholly do away with illegal traffic. 
The measure has been objected to on the 
ground that it requires the registration of 
physicians with the internal revenue depart- 
ment. A clause in the law unfortunately per- 
mits the sale without registration of domestic 
and proprietary remedies, containing so-called 
small quantities of opium and its derivatives. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 


Tur twenty-fifth anniversary of the opening 
of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, the twenty- 
first anniversary of the opening of the medical 
school, the second reunion of the alumni of 
the medical school and the first general re- 
union of the alumni of the training school for 
nurses, will be made the occasion of an elabo- 
rate celebration at the hospital, which will 
open October 5 and continue throughout the 
week. In connection with the celebration the 
annual Herter lectures will be given by Dr. 
Thomas Lewis of University College, London. 


Tuer following gifts to Oberlin College are 
announced: $50,000 from Dr. D. P. Allen and 
J. L. Severance, of Cleveland, for completing 
the new art building; $50,000 from Charles 
M. Hall, of Niagara Falls, for the improve- 
ment of the campus; an anonymous gift of 
$7,500 for furnishing the new administration 
building, erected at a cost of $69,500; $25,000 
for a new organ in Finney Memorial Chapel, 
the joint gift of Frederick N. Finney, of South 
Pasadena, California, and G. M. Hall, of 
Niagara Falls. The trustees have approved 
the budget appropriation for 1914-15, amount- 
ing to $356,900. Of this sum $194,125 will be 
received from the term bills of students, $99,300 
from endowments, and the balance from sun- 
dry sources. 


482 


Mr. Rosert Bropre Forman, of Liverpool, 
has bequeathed £10,000 to the University of 
Liverpool. 


Prorsessor R. pu Bots-RAyMoND, writing in 
the Berliner Tageblatt, as quoted in the N. Y. 
Hvening Post, says that from Berlin Univer- 
sity 236 lecturers, nearly half the total num- 
ber, are serving their country, either volun- 
tarily or in obedience to the law. The medical 
faculty furnishes 183 men, presumably for the 
medical service of the army. 


Oxrorp and Cambridge Universities are 
opening as usual, but at Cambridge a hospital 
for the care of wounded in war has been organ- 
ized on a large scale; Downing College is 
garrisoned by a hundred nurses, the Medical 
Schools are housing a contingent, and a wing 
of the Leys School, the Cloister Court of 
Trinity and Pembroke College are prepared 
for the reception of military patients. At 
Oxford 600 beds have been placed in the 
Examination Schools. 


A COMMITTEE connected with Oxford Uni- 
versity has been formed, with the approval of 
the Belgian Minister, for the purpose of offer- 
ing hospitality to professors of Louvain and 
their families. This committee is composed of 
the vice-chancellor, the principal of Brasenose 
College, Sir William Osler, Mrs. W. Max 
Muller and Miss Price. 


Dr. Wint1aM H. SremMann has been elected 
dean of the faculty of Tulane University 
School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and 
the following appointments to the faculty have 
been made: Dr. Abraham 1. Metz, professor of 
chemistry; Dr. Andrew G. Friedrichs, pro- 
fessor of oral hygiene; Dr. Isadore Dyer, pro- 
fessor of skin diseases; Dr. Edouard M. Dupa- 
quier, professor of tropical medicine and acute 
infectious diseases; Dr. Charles OC. Bass, pro- 
fessor of experimental medicine and director 
of the laboratories of clinical medicine, and 
Dr. Joseph D. Weis, professor of tropical 
medicine. 


Proressor Briston, of the department of 
bacteriology in the College of Medicine of 


SCIENCE 


LN. S. Vou. XL. No. 1031 


Syracuse University, has resigned and gone to 
North Dakota. In his place is Dr. Oliver 
Wendell Holmes Mitchell from the depart- 
ment of medicine of the University of Mis- 
sourl, and as his assistant Mr. Ralph R. 
Simmons, A.M., also from the University of 
Missouri. Dr. F. M. Meader, associate pro- 
fessor of preventive medicine, has accepted the 
position as director of the division of commu- 
nicable diseases in the New York State De- 
partment of Public Health. He has, however, 
retained his position as head of this depart- 
ment and there has been secured as his assist- 
ant Dr. Edward D. Clark, for the last three 
years connected with the health department 
of Buffalo. Dr. Howard L. Van Winkle, 
assistant in the Municipal Department of 
Public Health, has been made instructor in 
this department and will conduct the work in 
laboratory diagnosis in the municipal labo- 
ratories. 


Epwin Bourket Twirmyer, Ph.D., has been 
promoted from assistant professor to be pro- 
fessor of psychology at the University of Penn- 
sylvania. Professor Twitmyer is also assistant 
director of the laboratory of psychology. 
Other promotions in the same department are: 
Francis N. Maxfield, Ph.D., from instructor to 
assistant professor of psychology; Dr. David 
Mitchell and Mr. Frank H. Reiter, to be 
instructors in psychology. Assistant Professor 
Maxfield will continue, as last year, to be 
assistant director of the psychological clinic. 


Enisan Swirr, A.B. (Harvard), Ph.D. 
(Géttingen), of Princeton University, has been 
appointed Williams professor of mathematics 
at the University of Vermont. 


Hatsey J. Bacc, B.S. (Columbia, 714), has 


been appointed instructor in zoology in New 
York University. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 


THE CARNEGIE FOUNDATION FOR TEACHERS— 
A SUGGESTION 


CONSIDERABLE criticism has been raised in 
this journal in regard to the method of admin- 
istration of the pension system for teachers, 
established by Mr. Carnegie. The purpose 


OcroBER 2, 1914] 


seems to be that teaching only of the higher 
grade should be rewarded by the foundation. 
In judging the grade of teaching, however, the 
character of the institution where the teacher 
happens to be located, and not the work of the 
individual teacher himself, is used as the basis 
of selection. The present note is to suggest 
for discussion the desirability of changing the 
viewpoint, and using the work of the teacher, 
rather than the institution, as the unit of 
selection. 

Success of service in the teaching profession 
is properly recognized for two main reasons: 
First, as a reward for past service and, second, 
as a stimulus for attracting and developing 
higher grade men in the profession. The re- 
ward would be more just if apportioned ac- 
cording to the individual service rendered, and 
the stimulus would be greater upon such a 
basis. ‘The indifferent men in accepted insti- 
tutions may be less worthy of reward and 
more in need of stimulus than many in un- 
selected institutions. 

Undoubtedly one of the chief reasons for 
making the institution the unit of selection is 
the apparent relative ease of classifying insti- 
tutions and administrating the system upon 
this basis. The difficulties of classifying and 
administrating upon the individual basis, how- 
ever, are not insurmountable. The best judge 
of the success of service in teaching is the 
opinion of teachers themselves. In “ American 
Men of Science,” 1,000 men from the entire 
body of scientists are listed as of preeminent 
rank, the number apportioned to each depart- 
ment being in proportion to the total number 
of scientists that it contains. The essential 
value of this starred list is the method of its 
selection. Those starred are thus ranked by 
the combined vote of the leading scientists 
in the particular department which they rep- 
resent. Such a method of selecting individuals 
could be extended to include all the depart- 
ments of teaching. The number that the 
foundation is able to directly benefit can be 
determined and the list of beneficiaries can 
then be prepared accordingly, but be selected 
by the teachers themselves. 

Under the present system the value of the 


SCIENCE 


483 


pension may seldom if ever be directly dis- 
counted from a teacher’s salary, but, to the 
writer’s knowledge, the fact of an institution 
being accepted by the foundation has been 
offered either as an excuse for a low scale of 
reward or as an inducement to change insti- 
tutions without rise in salary. Giving the 
pension through preferred institutions has 
little or no influence as encouragement to do 
better work for those already in these select 
institutions and, for individuals outside the 
fold, is of influence only as it causes them to 
attempt to get upon the preferred institutions 
even at a sacrifice. 

Objection may be raised to the selection of 
individuals that such a method gives undue 
prominence to research and publications. In 
the grade of institutions for which the Car- 
negie Foundation is intended, research and 
publication is considered as one of the neces- 
sary activities of a good teacher. Publication 
broadens the class room and increases the 
number of scholars, making the influence of 
the teacher international and not merely local. 
The good teacher further is known by his 
scholars and by his colleagues. It would be 
impossible, therefore, for the worthy teacher 
to escape recognition by a jury of his peers. 

It is not desirable to discuss here further 
the possibilities of the scheme suggested nor to 
point out the possible influence that a recog- 
nized list of teachers might exert upon a 
more direct adjustment of positions to merit 
than is at present in vogue in many American 
colleges and universities. What has been 
written is sufficient as a suggestion. 


A. EF. BDAKESLEE 


Conn. AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, 
STORRS, CoNN. 


JONES’s “A NEW ERA IN CHEMISTRY ” 


To tHE Epiror or Scrmnor: The reference 
to my review of Professor Harry C. Jones’s 
“ A New Era in Chemistry,” which Professor 
Franklin makes in his own criticism of the 
book in Scrence of July 31, may serve me as 
an excuse for a few words regarding this 
criticism. 

Of the exceptions taken by Professor Frank- 


484 


lin, the validity of some may be questioned, 
others are obvious errors which escaped the 
proofreader and will doubtless be corrected 
in the future editions the book is sure to de- 
mand, while the remainder depend upon the 
standpoint of the reviewer. It is the latter 
point to which I wish especially to refer. 

If “A New Era in Chemistry ” was written 
as a scientific text-book or as a contribution 
to scientific knowledge, then any departure 
from the utmost scientific accuracy of state- 
ment would be justly open to criticism, but 
such is evidently not the purpose of the book. 
It is rather a singularly successful attempt to 
give in sparingly technical language a résumé 
of the salient chemical developments of the 
last quarter of a century. As such it is of 
great value, not only to workers in other 
branches of science, but also to some of us 
whose work is in other departments of chem- 
istry. 

Of course it is desirable that every state- 
ment in such a book should be scientifically 
accurate, and this is a result somewhat diffi- 
eult of accomplishment, unless the writer 
takes all the “juice” out of his style by con- 
fining himself to a strictly scientific terminol- 
ogy. To take an example: Dr. Franklin is 
inclined to cavil at the following language: 
“Radium is naturally radio-active as it is 
ealled; ” “A radio-active substance is one that 
gives off radiations” (and then follows in the 
book a description of the different kinds of 
radiations). Granted that this language 
might be objected to in a text-book, it makes 
the author’s meaning clear to the reader, and is 
obviously permissible in a book of this char- 
acter. 

In other words, the author seeks to convey 
certain ideas of modern chemistry to readers, 
many of whom have but limited chemical 
knowledge, and he does it successfully, even 
if the language is not that of scientific preci- 
sion. 

Regarding the criticism that Ota “accom- 
plished nothing more remarkable than the 
measurement of the freezing points of solu- 
tions,” it is to be recalled that these measure- 
ments opened up the solvate theory. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou.-XL. No. 1031 


Nor do we think it remarkable that an 
author, in suggesting the consultation of some 
fuller work on radioactivity, should refer to 
his own book on the subject, where full refer- 
ences to the literature of radioactivity may be 
found. 

It is unfortunate that in the popularizing of 
chemistry as well as other sciences, so few who 
know, write, and so few who write, know; and 
one reason, I apprehend, why so few who 
have competent knowledge, translate that 
knowledge into language for the people, is 
because they know it is almost impossible so to 
do, without exposing themselyes to just such 
criticisms as that of Professor Franklin. 

“A New Era in Chemistry” gives evidence 
of being an enthusiastically written labor of 
love, and is remarkably successful in giving a 
living bird’s-eye view of the development of 
the chemistry of to-day. As such, I was glad 
to commend it—perhaps extravagantly—in my 
review in the American Chemical Journal. 
Had it been more slowly and painstakingly 
written, it might have presented fewer oppor- 
tunities for scientific criticism, but I am sure 
it would have been far less delightful reading. 


Jas. Lewis Howe 


DUNE COTTAGE, 
CUSHING, Mass. 


INCOMES OF COLLEGE GRADUATES TEN AND FIFTEEN 
YEARS AFTER GRADUATION 


Somnce for February 4, 1910, printed a 
statement of the incomes of sixty-seven of 
the hundred men in the Dartmouth class of 799 
the tenth year out of college. At the quin- 
decennial reunion last June the net incomes 
of fifty-six of the ninty-five now living were 
recorded. Practically all of the fifty-six were 
included in the group five years ago. Those 
from whom the facts were not secured un- 
doubtedly would lower the average for the 
class somewhat, but the two groups are directly 
comparable. The figures five years ago were 
used editorially in at least one metropolitan 
paper to prove the wasted expense of a college 
education when the earning capacity ten years 
after graduation was so small. The present 
figures show that there is a very rapid rise in 


OcroBER 2, 1914] 


this capacity after ten years. Five years ago 
there were nineteen men getting fifteen hun- 
dred or less, this year only four. Then only 
seventeen per cent. had more than three thou- 
sand dollars and last year a little over fifty 
per cent. were in this class. Five years ago 


12 000) 
11000 
10000 Hee 
Jooo init 
EEEEEEEEEEHEEE HEH ceicia 
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00 = HH He ie 4 
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Heed 
70b0 
Fry at 
G00 
S000 
ie 
4000 
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3000 
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the highest man had seven thousand dollars 
and this time the highest was twelve thousand 
with two tens. Five years ago the average was 
$2,097 and this time $3,729, with the men at 
present much more closely massed about the 
average. 

The plat shows the lower line exactly as 
published five years ago, and the upper line 
shows the present distribution of incomes. 


Hersert ApoLPHUS MILLER 
OBERLIN COLLEGE 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 


The Constitution of Matter. By JosrpH S. 
Ames. Houghton Mifflin Co., 1913. 8vo. 
Pp. x + 242. 

This volume represents the 1918 series of 
lectures, six in number, given at Northwestern 
University under the N. W. Harris foundation. 

The purpose of this foundation, as expressed 


SCIENCE 


485 


by the donor, “is to stimulate scientific re- 
search of the highest type, and to bring the 
results of such research before students and 
friends of Northwestern University and 
through them to the world.” It was therefore 
necessary for Professor Ames, with the above 
subject, to undertake the extremely difficult 
task of presenting a true picture of the present 
status of scientific thought upon the broadest 
and the most fundamental, though the most 
dimly discerned, of the fields of science, and 
at the same time to do it in such a way as to 
hold the attention of a general audience. 

That the lectures actually did command the 
interest of physicist and layman alike will be 
testified by all who heard them. Robbed how- 
ever of the compulsion of Professor Ames’s 
personality I suspect that the printed lectures 
will make their greatest appeal to the scientist 
rather than to that type of layman whose taste 
dictates the popular science of Harpers, Scrib- 
ners and the like. For a careful scientific anal- 
ysis, such as Professor Ames gives, of the con- 
cepts and phenomena which constitute the very 
foundations of physics, even though divorced, 
as it is here, from all attempt at mathematical 
formulation, is something more than the diver- 
sion of an idle hour. Indeed many a physicist 
will ponder long over some of these chapters, 
and read them more than once, and use them 
continually for reference as he attempts to put 
together the rapidly accumulating facts of 
molecular, atomic and electronic physics into 
a consistent theory of the constitution of 
matter. 

There are few if any other men whose grasp 
of both the facts and the theories of physics is 
sufficiently comprehensive to enable them to 
discuss with such freshness, thoroughness and 
insight so many of the problems raised by 
recent investigations. 

Perhaps the most charming feature of the 
lectures is the clearness and frankness with 
which Professor Ames reveals his own way 
of thinking about the problems of atomic and 
electronic physics and the definiteness of the 
physical pictures which he calls to his aid. 
There is no servile restatement of the most 
striking features of some other physicist’s 


486. 


point of view such as is so characteristic of 
most popular science writing, but imstead a 
clear presentation of current scientific opinion 
as it has been incorporated into Professor 
Ames’s own thinking. 

The first lecture lays the foundation for the 
remainder by an admirable and a very discern- 
ing historical discussion of the introduction 
into physics of the concepts of mass, force, 
the ether, energy, molecules, atoms and cor- 
puscles. Concerning this chapter I would 
make but two comments: It is a pity that all 
other writers have not shown as much discri- 
mination in the use of the terms corpuscle and 
electron. The latter term was introduced 
into physics in 1891 by G. Johnstone Storey 
to denote the “natural unit of electricity ” 
altogether without reference to the inertia 
which might be associated with it and it is 
surely desirable to-day to have some word to 
denote this idea. Hlectron is obviously the 
logical word for the purpose. A negative 
electron when associated with the smallest 
inertia which is ever found to accompany an 
electron, namely, 1/1830th that of the hydrogen 
atom, was called by Thomson a corpuscle, and 
Professor Ames wisely follows this usage. I can 
not myself be quite so enthusiastic about the 
statement that “a system has potential energy 
if it is in its natural condition” or indeed 
about the way in which the idea of potential 
energy is used throughout the first and second 
chapters, especially throughout the second, 
which deals primarily with the subject of elec- 
tromagnetic mass. There is a sentence in one 
of the later lectures which reads as follows: 
“There is no word, I think, in our language 
which is so much used to conceal ignorance as 
“heat,’? and no word about which there is so 
much confusion of ideas as ‘temperature.’ ” 
I should like to insert in each clause “ except 
the word energy.” The third lecture treats 
together the newest and the oldest of the 
departments of physics, namely, radioactivity 
and gravitation, the former quite briefly (ex- 
cellent judgment again), the latter quite at 
length but with a freshness and power which 
is born only of a very thorough and profound 
knowledge of original sources. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1031 


The fourth, fifth and sixth lectures are the 
finest and most stimulating of the course. 
They deal respectively with (4) the problems 
of radiation, (5) the electron theory of con- 
duction, thermoionics and magnetism, (6) 
models of atoms and fundamental concepts 
of nature. These chapters represent I think 
the best general discussion which has appeared 
in English of the big problems which the re- 
searches of the past two decades have pre- 
sented to modern physics. 

R. A. Minirkan 

RYERSON LABORATORY, 

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO 


The Chemistry of Cattle Feeding and Dairy- 
ing. By J. Autan Murray. London, Long- 
mans, Green and Co. 1914. Octavo. Pp. 
343. 


This book discusses briefly (1) the constitu- 
ents of plants and animals, (2) the nutritive 
requirements of animals, (8) feeding stuffs 
and (4) dairy chemistry. The treatment is, in 
the main, elementary in character. The dis- 
tinctive feature is an attempt to break away 
from the Wolff and the Kellner feeding stand- 
ards, especially in recognition of the fact that 
the nutritive requirements of animals do not 
vary directly as the live weight. The point of 
view is rational, and the tentative formule 
suggested for the separate computation of food 
requirements for maintenance, labor, milk 
production, growth and fattening constitute a 
notable step in a direction in which progress 
is much to be desired. The discussion of the 
chemistry of the subject is generally satisfac- 
tory. 

The author’s statements regarding the func- 
tions of the mineral elements, and regarding 
other matters of physiology and histology, are 
frequently lacking in discrimination. We 
quote a few such passages: 

Page 8: “ The ingredients of the ash are not 
‘mineral.’ They are just as much organic mat- 
ter as the fats or proteins.” 

Page 9: “It is probable, however, that the 
chlorides naturally present in the food of 
herbivora are sufficient to provide all the hy- 
drochloric acid required.” 


OcTOBER 2, 1914] 


Page 10: “ Potassium compounds appear to 
be of minor importance in the economy of ani- 
mals. They occur in the blood of all herbivora 
as a necessary consequence of their presence 
in the food.” 

“Potassium compounds ... form nearly 
one quarter of the ash of milk. ... A farmer 
producing milk, therefore, will find it profit- 
able to use potash manures unless his soil is 
naturally well stocked with that ingredient. 
Practically the whole of the potash in the food, 
except what is exported in the milk, is re- 
turned to the land in the droppings of the ani- 
mals.” 

Page 13: Referring to the ingredients of the 
ash the author says: “ From the point of view 
of the practical cattle feeder they are all un- 
important, inasmuch as they are always pres- 
ent in the natural food of the animals.” 

Page 15: “Carbohydrates are produced by 
animals only in insignificant quantities.” 

Page 46: “ Fats do not form part of the tis- 
sues of plants as they do in animals.” 

Page 93: “The composition and properties 
of lactochrome ... are quite unknown.” 

Page 99: “The collagen (of bones) acts as a 
kind of cement and holds the particles of min- 
eral matter together.” 

Page 104: “No means is known by which 
this difficulty (the presence of metabolic nitro- 
gen in the feces) can be overcome; but the 
amount of such ingredients is probably small 
and approximately constant. In practise it is 
ignored.” 

Page 109: In discussing the absorption of 
nutrients and their passage into the blood and 
to the heart, the liver is not mentioned. 

Page 132: “This amount (the maintenance 
requirement of digestible protein) may be esti- 
mated, as previously shown, from the amount 
of nitrogen in the urine which contains all of 
the nitrogenous products of metabolism.” 

Much of the matter relative to foods is of 
local significance and not applicable to the 
United States, thus (page 255), referring to 
the storage of ensilage in a silo, “the expense 
is greater than that involved in the waste of 
fodder when the silage is made in a stack.” 


SCIENCE 


487 


“When the expense of a built silo or the alter- 
native loss due to charring at the outside of a 
stack is added to the losses due to fermenta- 
tion, it is obvious that silage making is not a 
profitable method of preserving fodder; and is 
now rarely practised in this country.” 


E. B. Forges 
AGRICULTURAL HXPERIMENT STATION, 
WoOosTER, O. 


SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES 


Tue July number (Vol. 15, No. 3) of the 
Transactions of the American Mathematical 
Society contains the following papers: 

H. F. Blichfeldt: “A new principle in the 
geometry of numbers, with some applications.” 

F. R. Sharpe and C. F. Craig: “ An applica- 
tion of Severi’s theory of a basis to the Kum- 
mer and Weddle surfaces.” 

L. P. Eisenhart: “Transformations of sur- 
faces of Voss.” 

F. R. Sharpe and Virgil Snyder: “ Birational 
transformations of certain quartic surfaces.” 

G. M. Green: “ One-parameter families of 
curves in the plane.” 

G. A. Bliss and A. L. Underhill: “The 
minimum of a definite integral for unilateral 
variations in space.” 

L. D. Cummings: “On a method of com- 
parison for triple-systems.” 

W. R. Longley: “ An existence theorem for 
a certain differential equation of the nth 
order.” 


THE June number (Vol. 20, No. 9) of the 
Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society 
contains: Report of the spring meeting of the 
society at Chicago, by H. E. Slaught; “On 
ovals,” by Tsuruichi Hayashi; “On the class 
of doubly transitive groups,” by W. A. Man- 
ning; Review of Christoffel’s Gesammelte 
mathematische Abhandlungen, by L. P. Hisen- 
hart; Review of Vivanti’s Esercizi di Analisi 
infinitesimale and Dingeldey’s Sammlung von 
Aufgaben zur Anwendung der Ditferential- 
und Integralrechnung, by R. C. Archibald; 
“Shorter Notices;” Heiberg’s Archimedis 
Opera Omnia, volume II, Heath-Kliem’s 
Archimedes’ Werke, and Mzennchen’s Geheim- 


488 


nisse der Rechenkinstler, by D. E. Smith; 
Study’s Konforme Abbildung einfach-zusam- 
menhingender Bereiche, by Arnold Emch; 
“Notes; ” and “ New Publications.” 


Tue July number of the Bulletin contains: 
Report of the April meeting of the society in 
New York, by F. N. Cole; Report of the 
twenty-fifth regular meeting of the San 
Francisco section, by Thomas Buck; “The 
ratio of the are to the chord of an analytic 
curve need not approach unity,” by Edward 
Kasner; “A Mersenne prime,” by R. HE. 
Powers; Review of Osgood’s Lehrbuch der 
Funktionentheorie, by E. B. Van Vleck; 
“Notes; ” “ New Publications; ” Twenty-third 
annual list of published papers; and Index of 
Volume 20. 


Tue October number (Vol. 21, No. 1) of the 
Bulletin contains: “On a small variation 
which renders a linear differential system in- 
compatible,” by Maxime Bécher; “ The small- 
est characteristic numbers in a certain excep- 
tional case,” by Maxime Bécher; “ On approxi- 
mation by trigonometric sums,” by T. H. 
Gronwall; “Note on the roots of algebraic 
equations,” by R. D. Carmichael and T. E. 
Mason; “Remarks on functional equations,” 
by A. R. Schweitzer; “Shorter Notices; ” 
Hadamard’s Lecons sur le Calcul des Varia- 
tions, Tome premier, by E. R. Hedrick; Bou- 
troux’s Principes de |’Analyse mathématique, 
Tome premier, by J. B. Shaw; Blumenthal’s 
Principes de la Théorie des Fonctions entiéres 
d@Ordre infini, by G. D. Birkhoff; Riesz’s 
Systémes d’Equations linéaires 4 une Infinité 
d’Inconnues, Bowley’s General Course of Pure 
Mathematics from Indices to Solid Analytic 
Geometry, and Fabry’s Démonstration du 
Théoréme de Fermat, by R. D. Carmichael; 
Silberstein’s Vectorial Mechanics, by E. B. 
Wilson; “ Notes;” and “ New Publications.” 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 
VITALITY AND INJURY AS QUANTITATIVE 
CONCEPTIONS 


ALTHOUGH a fundamental conception of 
physiology, the idea of vitality has not been 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1031 


very precisely formulated. This is not only 
unfortunate from a theoretical standpoint, but 
it also has practical disadvantages. The phys- 
iologist often finds that the validity of his con- 
clusions depends on selecting material of 
normal validity for his experiments. When 
he examines organisms for this purpose he is 
too apt to find that all the tests of vitality 
which he employs are uncertain or that at 
best they lack the precision necessary for 
quantitative work. 

An accurate method of measuring vitality 
seems therefore to be needed not only for more 
precise formulation of the conception itself, 
but also for practical purposes. 

The investigations of the writer lead to the 
conclusion that the vitality of a tissue ig so 
dependent on the maintenance of its normal 
permeability that we may employ the permea- 
bility of protoplasm as a sensitive and reliable 
indicator of its vitality. We may therefore 
obtain an accurate measure of the vitality of 
a tissue by carefully measuring its perme- 
ability. 

This may be accomplished by determining 
the electrical resistance of living tissues. This 
method is rapid and convenient for practical 
use. It may be applied to pieces of detached 
tissue or to the intact organism. 

The writer began the use of this method by 
cutting disks from the fronds of the marine 
alga, Laminaria saccharina, and measuring 
their electrical resistance in a manner which 
has already been described. Subsequently it 
was found possible to measure the resistance 
of intact fronds both of Laminaria and of 
other plants by methods which will be de- 
seribed in detail in a future publication. 

As the result of his experience with this 
method the writer concludes that it is often 
very difficult to judge of the condition of an 
organism by its appearance. The tissues on 
which experiments have been made were found 
to be capable of losing much of their vitality 
without betraying it in any way by their ap- 
pearance. (This was particularly the case with 
eel grass, Zostera, which retained its normal 
green color and appearance for some days after 


1 Screncz, N. S., 35: 112, 1912. 


OcTOBER 2, 1914] 


electrical measurements showed it to be dead.) 
On the other hand, material of doubtful ap- 
pearance often turned out to be much better 
than that which looked to be in sound condi- 
tion. It seems quite possible that this will be 
found to be the case with other organisms when 
quantitative tests are applied. 

Material collected in a restricted locality 
and examined as soon as taken from the ocean 
gave a very uniform resistance. The same 
number of disks were used in each experi- 
ment, and as the disks were packed together like 
a roll of coins the length of the roll gave an 
accurate measure of the average thickness of 
the disks. To make the comparison as accu- 
rate as possible disks of the same average thick- 
ness were used in all the experiments. Under 
these circumstances the resistance at 18° C. 
did not vary much from 1,300 ohms. For ex- 
ample, in a series of determinations of ten 
different lots of tissue the highest reading 
was 1,320 ohms and the lowest 1,285 ohms. 
These lots of tissue were allowed to remain 
in the laboratory under different conditions. 
Some were placed in running salt water while 
others were allowed to stand in still salt water 
in pans of various sizes. Some of these were 
placed in direct sunlight (where the tempera- 
ture rose to an injurious point) while others 
were kept in a cool place and sheltered from 
direct sunlight. At the end of twenty-four 
hours there was no difference in the appear- 
ance of these lots, but their electrical resistance 
varied from 400 ohms to 1,320 ohms. All were 
then placed side by side in the same dish. 
Those with the lowest resistance were the first 
to die, as was shown by the fact that their 
resistance fell to the death point (about 330 
ohms) and became stationary. The others died 
in the order indicated by their electrical re- 
sistance. 

Determinations of the resistance made it 
evident that in no ease did visible signs of 
death make their appearance until twenty-four 
hours after death occurred, and subsequent 
experiments showed that in some cases (espe- 
cially at low temperatures and in the presence 
of certain reagents) they may not appear until 
several days after death. 


‘SCIENCE 


489 


It was found that material from one local- 
ity showed a low resistance and subsequent 
examination showed that it was contaminated 
by fresh-water sewage. The appearance of 
the plants was not such as to lead to their re- 
jection for experimental purposes. They did 
not survive as long in the laboratory as plants 
of normal resistance -taken from the other 
localities. 

It may be taken for granted that vitality, 
whatever else it may signify, means ability to 
resist unfavorable influences. When organisms 
which are of the same kind, and similar in age, 
size and general characters, are placed under 
the same unfavorable conditions, the one which 
lives longest may be said to have the greatest 
vitality ;2 the one which lives next longest 
may be rated second in this respect, and so on. 
Determination of the electrical resistance of 
these individuals enables us to predict at the 
outset which will live longest, which next 
longest, and so on through the entire group. 

Moreover, we find that all influences which 
impair vitality lower the electrical resistance. 
It is therefore obvious that determinations of 
electrical resistance afford a means of meas- 
uring vitality and in the course of an exten- 
sive series of experiments it has been found 
that this method may be relied upon to give 
accurate results.? 


21t might be expected that this individual would 
also excel in other respects. A discussion of these 
is unnecessary from our present standpoint: in so 
far as they can be quantitatively treated they 
form proper material for a supplementary in- 
vestigation. 

3Tt is evident that the most accurate compari- 
sons will be secured when the tissues or organisms 
are closely similar in structure, for variations in 
structure may cause variations in electrical re- 
sistance. To compare tissues or organisms which 
differ in structure (or which for any other reason 
differ in the absolute number of ohms which ex- 
presses their normal resistance) we may use the 
fall of electrical resistance in a given time 
under unfavorable conditions (expressed as per- 
centage of the normal net resistance, as suggested 
below in the discussion of injury) or we may use 
the speed of recovery from injury of a definite de- 
gree. The fall of resistance need not proceed be- 
yond the point at which complete recovery is pos- 


490 


The fact that determinations of electrical 
resistance afford an accurate measure of vital- 
ity enables us to attach the same sort of quan- 
titative significance to normal vitality as we 
attach to normal size or to normal weight. 
For this purpose we may construct a variation 
curve and determine the mode in the usual 
way. 

There is no reason to suppose that the vital- 
ity of an individual organism is constant any 
more than its weight is. There is probably 
some fluctuation which usually passes unper- 
ceived unless a quantitative method of detect- 
ing it exists. The writer finds that some 
substances which are normally produced in the 
organism alter its electrical resistance. Cer- 
tain reagents may produce marked alteration 
of resistance without permanent injury. For 
example, tissue of Laminaria having a resist- 
ance of 1,020 ohms was placed in NaCl .52 M, 
which had the same conductivity as the sea 
water; in the course of a few minutes the 
resistance fell to 890 ohms, but on being re- 
placed in sea water it rose in the course of a 
few minutes to the normal amount, where it 
remained. This was repeated on the same 
piece of tissue for several days without any 
sign of permanent injury.* 

It is therefore evident that considerable 
fluctuations in vitality may occur without leav- 
ing any permanent record. 

The determination of electrical resistance 
makes possible a quantitative treatment of 
injury. It is obvious that this is as impor- 
tant as a quantitative treatment of vitality. 
The degree of injury may be defined as the 
amount® by which the resistance falls below 
the normal net resistance. Temporary injury 
may be defined as that from which the organ- 


Sible and after recovery the material may be used 
for experimental purposes. In this way individ- 
uals of different species or unlike tissues of the 
same individual may be compared with respect to 
vitality. From a theoretical standpoint it may be 
desirable to use in place of the resistance its re- 
ciprocal, the conductance. 

4Scrmnce, N. S., 36, 350, 1912. 

5 This is best expressed as percentage of the 
normal net resistance; the net resistance is found 
by subtracting the resistance of the apparatus. 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1031 


ism fully recovers, while permanent injury 
may be defined as that which is not followed 
by complete restoration of the normal resist- 
ance.® 

From a theoretical standpoint it may be 
desirable to use in place of the resistance its 
reciprocal, the conductance. 

We may now turn our attention to the sig- 
nificance of this method of measuring vitality 
and injury. Since the conductivity of the 
tissue is a measure of the permeability of the 
protoplasm to ions it is evident that in this 
method the permeability of the protoplasm is 
used as an indicator of its vitality. This is 
in accord with the results of long experience. 
In doubtful cases it has been customary to 
determine whether a cell was alive or dead by 
its ability to contract in a plasmolyzing solu- 
tion or to resist staining by certain dyes. The 
diffusion of certain substances out of the 
cell has long been recognized as a sign of 
death. All of these are tests of permeability. 
These criteria have been successfully employed 
in eases where there was nothing in the ap- 
pearance of the cell to indicate whether it was 
alive or dead. 

The writer has found that the method of 
plasmolysis may be utilized to distinguish not 
only between living and dead cells, but also 
between cells of normal vitality and those in 
which vitality has been impaired by certain re- 
agents. In these experiments the reagent was 
not allowed to act long enough to produce 
permanent injury. 

Lack of space renders it impossible to go 
into the details of these investigations, but 
attention may be called to experiments already 
published which may be interpreted from this 
point of view.? These experiments show that 
cells recover more quickly from plasmolysis 
(and consequently have greater permeability) 
in solutions in which their vitality is im- 
paired. 

For example it was found that in sea water 
suitably diluted a cell of Spirogyra when 


6 The term injury as used by the writer in pre- 
vious papers is synonymous with the term perma- 
nent injury as here defined. 

7 Science, N. S., 34, 187, 1911. 


OctToBER 2, 1914] 


plasmolyzed to a moderate degree® recovered 
in about twenty-four hours. The Spirogyra 
lives and maintains its normal permeability 
indefinitely in such dilute sea water. 

When placed in a solution of pure NaCl 4 M 
the vitality of the cell is rapidly impaired and 
it dies in the course of two or three hours.® 
Tf such a cell be plasmolyzed by .4 M NaCl to 
a moderate degree® it recovers in the course of 
half an hour. Since the permeability is in- 
versely proportional to the time of recovery, it 
is evident that the NaQl impairs the vitality 
of the cell and at the same time increases its 
permeability.2° The two processes go hand in 
hand. The permeability continues to increase 
until death oceurs, when the cell becomes 
completely permeable. 

These experiments were repeated with a 
variety of reagents and were afterward con- 
firmed in every detail by the method of deter- 
mining electrical resistance. 

As the result of these and other experiments 
we may say that the permeability is greatly 
affected by changes in the composition of the 
salt solution in which the cell is placed. 
Normal permeability is best preserved in solu- 
tions in which the proportions of salts are 
approximately the same as in sea water and 
normal vitality is also maintained longest in 
these solutions. In general we find that vital- 
ity and permeability are affected in exactly 
the same way by various kinds of electrolytes. 

This principle may be applied much more 
generally. The writer finds that all substances 
(whether organic or inorganic) and all agents 
(such as excessive light, heat, electric shock, 
mechanical shock, partial drying, lack of 
oxygen, etc.) which alter the normal permea- 
bility of the protoplasm shorten the life of the 


8 This degree is a definite one. It was usually 
chosen as the condition in which the protoplast just 
touched the end walls. 

. 9 This applies only to the species of Spirogyra 
used in these experiments: some species may be 
more resistant while others are much more sensi- 
tive and are killed im less than ten minutes. 

10In other solutions in which vitality is more 
rapidly impaired the recovery from plasmolysis is 
also more rapid and we must conclude that the 
permeability is proportionately increased. 


SCIENCE 


491 


organism. This is equally true whether the 
alteration consists in an increase of permeabil- 
ity, or in a decrease of permeability (followed 
by an imecrease) as is the case when certain 
reagents (such as CaCl,) are applied. This 
is a very striking fact and its significance in 
the present connection seems to be clear and 
unmistakable. It shows in the most convincing 
manner that permeability is a delicate and 
accurate indicator of vitality. 

We are unable to say why there is such an 
intimate connection between vitality and per- 
meability. It is evident that permeability 
may control metabolism by regulating the 
osmosis of various substances, and conversely 
that metabolism may aftect permeability. 
What is needed is not more speculation in this 
direction, but a careful analysis of the factors 
which control permeability. Jf we are suc- 
eessful in determining what these factors are 
we may hope to arrive at a more satisfactory 
formulation, in physico-chemical terms, of our 
conception of vitality as well as of that of 
injury. 

W. J. V. OsterHout 

LABORATORY OF PLANT PHYSIOLOGY, 

HARVARD UNIVERSITY 


SOIL ACIDITY AND METHODS FOR ITS DETECTION 


TuE so-called “acid” soils are peculiar in 
that a solution obtained by shaking such soils 
with water will be found, except in rare cases, 
to be absolutely neutral toward litmus paper. 
However, if the test paper be brought into 
direct contact with the soil particles them- 
selves, a very sharp acid reaction will be ob- 
tained. These acid soils possess another pecu- 
liar property in that if shaken with a solution 
of some neutral salt such as sodium chloride, 
an appreciable amount of a soluble acid will 
be found to be set free. 

Two theories have been advanced to explain 
these properties. The older and perhaps still 
the most generally accepted theory is the 
humic acid theory. This theory assumes that 
there are present in the acid soils, as the result 
of the decomposition of animal and vegetable 
matter, some very insoluble organic acids called 
humic acids. These are supposed to be definite 


492 


compounds which react with litmus when the 
test paper is brought into direct contact with 
the solid particles and which enter into double 
decomposition with any salt with which they 
come in contact liberating the corresponding 
soluble acid. This latter assumption is rather 
absurd in the light of our modern ideas of 
chemistry. The law of mass action is prob- 
ably one of the most generally accepted laws 
of chemistry and if we are to accept this law, 
it is hard to conceive of any acids, as insoluble 
as these humic acids must be, entering into a 
double decomposition with a neutral salt such 
as sodium chloride and setting free such a 
strong acid as hydrochloric acid. Much ex- 
perimental work has been done on these humic 
acids, most of this work consisting of attempts 
to isolate the acids in a pure form. Experi- 
menters claim to have done this and have even 
gone so far as to assign definite chemical 
formule to some half dozen of these acids. 
However, no two experimenters seem able to 
agree on these formule. 

Since Van Bemmelen’s work on colloids and 
adsorption, a newer and certainly far more 
reasonable theory has been put forward to ex- 
plain the action of acid soils. It is well known 
that the coagulation of a colloid by a solution 
of a neutral salt is accompanied by the ad- 
sorption of one or other of the ions. If the 
colloid be electro-negative, it will adsorb the 
positively charged ion of the salt setting free 
a corresponding amount of acid. If it is 
electro-positive, it will adsorb the negatively 
charged ion setting free a corresponding 
amount of the base. In the ease of the soils, 
there is present much negatively charged col- 
loidal matter. If deficient in basic material, 
this colloidal matter is present in a defloccu- 
lated condition and is capable of adsorbing the 
base from any neutral salt with which it comes 
in contact. Thus if the soil particles are 
brought into contact with blue litmus, it ad- 
sorbs the base of the blue litmus salt leaving 
the red acid dye on the paper. When shaken 
with a solution of a neutral salt, the basic 
portion of the salt is adsorbed leaving a corre- 
sponding amount of acid in solution. If the 
salt used be sodium chloride, the sodium 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1031 


hydroxide is adsorbed and hydrochloric acid 
liberated. 

The acid soils may be divided into two 
types: first, those found im sandy upland 
regions, and second, those found in peat or 
muck lands. The first type has been thor- 
oughly investigated by the writer! in the 
chemical laboratory of the Michigan Agricul-: 
tural Experiment Station, and he has been 
able to show that not only is the peculiar be- 
havior of these soils not due to the presence of 
any true organic acids, but that it is not due 
to organic matter at all. It was found that 
soils in which all the organic matter had been 
destroyed, still retained their acid properties, 
these properties being due to the presence of 
colloidal substances, probably hydrated sili- 
cates of iron and aluminum. The second type 
of soils have been investigated by Baumann 
and Gully? who have shown that in the peat 
soils the acid properties are due to the colloidal 
matter of the cell covering of the hyalin 


‘ sphagnum eells. 


The remedy for soil acidity is well known. 
If a soil be treated with lime (either calcium 
carbonate or calcium hydroxide), the acid 
properties are destroyed and the soil restored 
to its former condition of fertility. Many 
methods have been devised for the determina- 
tion of the degree of acidity of the soil or, as 
it is often called, the “lime requirement” 
of the soil. Most of these methods are based 
on the old humic acid theory in spite of the 
fact that this theory has been so thoroughly 
diseredited of late. Such a method was re- 
cently described by E. Trugg.2 The method 
consists of treating the soil with calcium 
chloride, zine sulphide and water. The soil, 
if acid, reacts with the zine sulphide liberating 
hydrogen sulphide which can be detected by 
means of lead acetate paper. As to the use of 
the calcium chloride, we will quote from the 
article: 

The calcium chloride is added to make the test 
more sensitive. It reacts with the comparatively 
insoluble soil acids and forms a small amount of 

1 Jour. of Phys. Chem., 18, 355 (1914). 

2 Mittetlung der K. Boyr. Moorkulturanstalt, 
1910, 31-156. 

8 ScrENCE, 50, 246 (1914). 


OcTOBER 2, 1914] 


hydrochloric acid which readily liberates hydrogen 
sulphide from zine sulphide. 

This statement brings out very clearly the 
absurdity of the position of those who accept 
the humic acid theory. These humic acids 
are supposed to be strong enough and soluble 
enough to liberate hydrochloric acid from 
ealeium chloride, but not strong enough or 
soluble enough to liberate hydrogen sulphide 
from zine sulphide. It is also suggested 
that this method be made the basis for 
a quantitative determination of the lime 
requirement of the soil. The writer does not 
believe this possible because he has shown* 
that acid soils do not adsorb equivalent 
amounts of different ions. A determination 
of the amount of zinc adsorbed by the soil 
will not tell us the amount of lime to be ap- 
plied to the soil. Furthermore it is not pos- 
sible to use a factor to determine the amount 
of lime to be used from the quantity of 
hydrogen sulphide given off, because it has 
been found that the ratio of the amounts of 
two different ions adsorbed will vary with the 
character of the soil used. The ratio of the 
amount of zine adsorbed to that of calcium 
will vary with each different sample of soil 
depending upon the kind of colloidal matter 
present. The only sure way to determine the 
lime requirement of an acid soil is to use the 
same material in the test as is used in the 
field for correcting the acidity. This is done 
in the methods of Veitch and Stichting. 

As to the qualitative methods for the detec- 
tion of soil acidity, it has been found that 
all kinds of litmus paper are not suitable. 
In fact, in the chemical laboratory of the 
Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station, 
Kahlbaum’s litmus paper has been found to 
be the only one not so thoroughly saturated 
with alkali as to make it unsuitable for this 
purpose. This litmus paper is so sensitive that 
it is necessary to leave it in contact with the 
soil particles only for a moment or two. In 
this way it has been found that soils only 
very slightly acid give a distinct test. 

J. E, Harris 

DIVISION OF CHEMISTRY, 

MICHIGAN EXPERIMENT STATION 


4 Loe. cit. 


SCIENCE 


493 


A SUGGESTION IN CONNECTION WITH THE 
STARK-ELECTRIC EFFECT 


THE discovery last year of the separation of 
certain spectrum lines when emitted in an 
electric field has been followed by a remark- 
ably thorough investigation of the phenomenon 
by Stark and his co-workers.1 Hydrogen, 
helium, lithium, calcium, sodium, magnesium, 
aluminium, thallium and mercury lines have 
been examined; but only the diffuse, subordi- 
nate series lines of hydrogen, helium and 
lithium show a separation as great as an 
angstrom for a field intensity of 10,000 volts 
per em. The Stark-electric effect differs from 
the Zeeman effect in that the various lines of 
the same series are not equally affected, but, 
for the same field, the separation increases 
with the number of the term. Stark empha- 


Hydrogen ; oh as fin) 
o- perellel 


+- perpendicular 


Helium F; 4% as fin)” 
o- parallel 
+ - perpendicular: 


sizes the complexity of the effect, and gives no 
law for the relative separation of various lines 
of the same series, though he suggests that a 
relation should be sought between the relative 
change of frequency of the various lines and 
their term numbers.” 

1 Annalen der Physik, 43, 965-1047, 1914. 

21. ¢., p. 1033. 


494 


From an examination of the data it seems 
probable to me that the effect is simpler than 
Stark implies, and that such a relation as he 
suggests does exist. The relative change of 
frequency An/n is equal to A/X, the separa- 
tion. of corresponding, symmetrically placed 
components divided by the wave-length of the 
particular line. If we plot this AN/A as a 
function of the term number, smooth curves 
drawn through the points are found to agree 
closely in slope, ete., differing only in the 
number of the term at which they start. 
Figs. 1 and 2 show the results for hydrogen 
and helium I. The numerical data are given 
in the following table. The numbers in 
brackets are the term numbers. 


10° X AN/A FOR A FIELD OF 28,500 VOLTS PER CM. 


Compo-| Polarization H Hel Hell |Cale. 
nents 

Outer | Parallel (2) 1.00)(8) 0.93 |(3) 1.05/0.90 
Outer | Parallel (3) 1.68|(4) 1.91 |(4) 2.07)1.86 
Outer |Parallel (4) 2.98)(5) 2.96 — |2.94 
Outer |Parallel (5) 4.81)(6) 4.77(2?)} —  |4.20 
Outer |Perpendicular|(8) 0.90)(3) 0.83 |(3) 0.93}0.90 
Outer |Perpendicular|(4) 1.98|(4)1.77 |(4) 1.85)1.86 
Outer |Perpendicular|(5) 3.17|(5) 2.82 — /|2.94 
Inner | Parallel (4) 0.79](5) 1.00 — 10.90 
Inner |Parallel (5) 1.55|(6) 2.36 — {1.86 
Inner |Perpendicular|(5) 1.04/(5) 0.91 — /|0.90 


Hydrogen differs from the other elements in 
that the components polarized parallel to the 
field, and those polarized perpendicular to it 
lie on different curves. 

The smooth curves shown in the figures all 
correspond to the equation 


(1) = 10°=0.89 (n—p) + 0.01 (n—p)!, 


where p is the number of the term where the 
curve begins in each ease. 

These constants refer to a field of 28,500 
’ volts per cm. Assuming the separation to be 
proportional to the field, which Stark proved 
to be true for the hydrogen series, the equa- 
tion may be written 


An 
(2) xr X 10°= 38.1 (n—p) + 035 (n—p)}, 


where # is expressed in yolts per cm. 
The reduced separations, AN/A, of the Hel 
lines agree quite closely with this equation; 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1031 


the deviations in the case of the hydrogen 
lines are larger, but both positive and negative. 
Curves given by Stark for the variation of the 
separation with the field strength? seem to 
show a greater accuracy for his measurements 
than these deviations would imply. Yet a 
simple curve can not be drawn through the 
points representing the outer components of 
the hydrogen lines so as to fit them better 
than that corresponding to the above equation. 
And in the reproductions given of the original 
photographs, the lines are heavy and not paral- 
lel and do not seem capable of more accurate 
measurement. 

In the case of helium, the separations for 
lines polarized parallel to the field were con- 
sistently found to be greater than for the corre- 
sponding lines polarized perpendicularly. If 
the effect is real, as it seems to be, the con- 
stants of the equation would have to be slightly 
different for the two sets of components. 

In the case of lithium, the reduced separa- 
tions for 38,000 volts agree with the separa- 
tions for the corresponding lines of helium. 
When reduced to 28,500 volts they are a 
quarter less. The measurements are stated by 
Stark to be less accurate than for helium, so 
whether the difference is real remains to be 
proved. At least the relative separations of the 
different terms of the series are the same. 

It should be stated that as regards asymmetry 
of position and intensity, the corresponding 
lines of hydrogen and helium apparently do 
not behave alike. In fact, Stark reports differ- 
ences in the behavior of lines of the same 
series. As he suggests, the very complexity 
of the phenomenon makes it a most promising 
field in which to search for clues to a knowl- 
edge of atomic structure. Jt may be too soon 
to find regularities and the agreements noted 
above may be accidental. But I think not. 
If not, they suggest that there is something 
which is common to the atoms of hydrogen and 
helium, in addition to the presence of electrons 
in both. 

Gorpon S. FULCHER 

WISCONSIN UNIVERSITY, 

July 11, 1914 


8 ZL. ¢., p. 997. 


r 


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VoL. XL. No. 1032 


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SCIENCE 


FRIDAY, OcToBER 9, 1914 


CONTENTS 


A Study of Primitive Character: Str EVERARD 


IM THURN 495 


George Marecgrave: Dr. E. W. GupGER .... 507 


The Effects of the Katmai Eruption on Marine 
Vegetation: GrorGE B. Rice 


The Effect of Lightning on a Reinforced Con- 
crete and Steel Dome: Proressor C. D. 


PERRINE 513 


Scientific Notes and News 514 


Unwersity and Educational News 518 


Discussion and Correspondence :— 


An Experiment on Killing Tree Scale by 
Poisoning the Sap of the Tree: PROFESSOR 
FERNANDO SANFORD. Laboratory Cultures 
of Amoeba: N. M. Grizr. The Origin of 
Mutation: XY. Plea for a Statue in Wash- 
ington to Professor Spencer Fullerton 
Baird: Dr. R. W. SHurenpr. Belgian 
Professors and Scholars: PROFESSOR EDWIN 


B. Frost 519 


Scientific Books :— 
Smith on the Middle Triassic Marin2 In- 
vertebrate Faunas of North America: Dr. 
W. H. Daun. Verrill on the Shallow-water 
Starfishes of the.North Pacific Coast: DR. 
Hubert LyMAN CLARK. Cox and Arming- 
ton on the Weather and Climate of Chicago: 


PRoFressor ALEXANDER McApiE 522 


Special Articles :— 
The Food Habits of the Short-tailed Shrew: 
H. L. Bascock. The Limit of Uniformity 
in the Grading of College Students by Dif- 
ferent Teachers: DR. MAX MBYER ........ 


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


509 


ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT TO THE 
ANTHROPOLOGICAL SECTION OF THE 
BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE AD- 

VANCEMENT OF SCIENCE1 


A STUDY OF PRIMITIVE CHARACTER 


CIVILIZATION and ‘“‘savagery’’—for un- 
fortunately it seems now too late to substi- 
tute any term of less misleading sugges- 
tion for that word ‘‘savagery’’—are the 
labels which we civilized folk apply respec- 
tively to two forms of human culture ap- 
parently so unlike that it is hard to con- 
ceive that they had a common origin—our 
own culture and that other, the most 
primitive form of human culture, from 
which, at some unknown and distant period, 
our own diverged. But, assuming one 
common origin for the whole human race, 
we anthropologists can but assume that at 
an early stage in the history of that race 
some new idea was implanted in a part of 
these folk, that is in the ancestors of civil- 
ized folk which caused these thenceforth 
to advance continuously, doubtless by 
many again subsequently diverging and 
often intercrossing roads, some doubtless 
more rapidly than others, but all mainly 
towards that which is called civilization, 
while those others, those whom we eall 
““savages,’’ were left behind at that first 
parting of the ways, to stumble blindly, - 
advancing indeed after a fashion of their 
own, but comparatively slowly and in a 
quite different direction. 

It is easy enough for civilized folk, when 
after age-long separation they again come 
aeross the ‘‘savages,’’’ to discern the exist- 
ence of wide differences between the two, 
in physical and mental characteristics, and 


1 Australia, 1914. 


496 


in arts and crafts; it is not so easy, it may 
even be that it is impossible, to detect the 
exact nature of these differences, espe- 
cially in the matter of mental characters. 

As a rule the occupant of this presiden- 
tial chair is one who, whether he has seen 
much of ‘‘savages’’ at close quarters or 
not, has had much ampler opportunity 
than has fallen to my lot of comparative 
study of that great mass of anthropological 
observations which, gathered from almost 
every part of the world, has now been 
recorded at headquarters. I, on the other 
hand, happen to have spent the better part 
of my active life in two different parts of 
the world, remote from books and men of 
science, but in both of which folk of civil- 
ized and of savage culture have been more 
or less intermixed, but as yet very imper- 
feetly combined, and in both of which I 
have been brought into rather unusually 
close and sympathetic contact with folk 
who, whatever veneer of civilization may 
have been put upon them, are in the 
thoughts which lie at the back of their 
minds and in character still almost as 
when their ancestors were at the stage of 
savage culture. 

While trying to adjust the mutual rela- 
tions of wild folk and of folk of civilized 
stock, I have seen from close at hand the 
clash which is inevitable when the two meet 
—a, clash which is naturally all the greater 
when the meeting is sudden. Moreover, 
havine started with a strong taste for 
natural history, and especially for the 
natural history of man, and having had 
much guidance from many anthropological 
friends and from books, I have perhaps 
been especially fortunate in opportunity 
for studying the more natural human ani- 
mal at close quarters and in his natural 
surroundings. I have tried, from as ab- 
stract and unprejudiced a point of view as 
possible, to understand the character, the 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1032 


mental and moral attitude, of the natural 
““savage’’ as he must have been when ciyil- 
ized folk first found him and, at first with- 
out much effort to understand him, tried 
abruptly to impose an extremely different 
and alien form of culture on this almost 
new kind of man. 

I venture to claim, though with diffidence, 
that I may have begun to discern more 
clearly, even though only a little more 
clearly than usual, what the primitive man, 
the natural ‘“‘savage’’—or, as he might 
more accurately be described, the wild man 
—was like; and it seemed possible that an 
attempt to bring together a picture—it can 
hardly be more than a sketech—of the men- 
tality and character of some one group of 
people who had never passed out of the 
stage of “‘savagery’’’ might be interesting 
and practically useful, especially if it 
proves possible to disentangle the more 
primitive ideas of such people from those- 
which they subsequently absorbed by con- 
tact, at first with other wild, but less wild, 
folk, and later with civilized folk; and that 
a further study of the retention by these 
folk of some of their earlier habits of 
thought during later stages in their mental 
development might suggest a probable ex- 
planation of certain of their manners and 
customs for which it is otherwise hard to 
account. 

The attaimment of some such under- 
standing is, or should be, one of the chief 
objectives of the practical anthropologist, 
not merely for academic purposes, but also 
for the practical guidance of those who 
in so many parts of our Empire are brought 
into daily contact with so-called ‘‘savages.’’ 

Perhaps hardly anywhere else in the 
world would it be possible to find better 
opportunity and more suitable conditions 
for such a study as I now propose than in 
the tropical islands of the South Seas. The 
ancestors of these islanders, while still in 


OcTOBER 9, 1914] 


purely ‘‘savage’’ condition, must have 
drifted away from the rest of the human 
race, and entered into the utter seclusion of 
that largest of oceans, the Pacific, covering 
as it does more than a third of the surface 
of the globe, long before the first man of 
civilized race, Balboa, in 1513, from the 
Peak in Darien, set eyes on the edge of 
what he called ‘‘the Great South Sea,’’ be- 
fore Magellan, in 1520, forced his way into 
and across that same sea, which he called 
the Pacific, and certainly long before civil- 
ized men settled on ‘any part of the shore of 
that ocean, 2. e., in 1788, at the foundation 
of Australia. For when first studied at 
close quarters by civilized folk from Europe, 
which was not till after the last-named 
event, these South Sea “‘savages’’ had been 
in seclusion during a period sufficiently 
long—and certainly no short period would 
have sufficed for such an effect—not only 
for them all to have assumed characters, 
cultural and even physical, sufficient to dis- 
tineuish them from all other folk outside 
the Pacific, but also for them to have split up 
into many separate parties, probably some- 
times of but few individuals, many of 
which had drifted to some isolated island or 
island-group, and had there in the course 
of time taken on further well-marked sec- 
ondary differences. 

It will probably now never be discovered 
when, how often, and from what different 
places the ancestors of these folk reached 
the Pacific. It is quite possible that they 
entered again and again, and were carried 
by winds and currents, some from west to 
east and some in the reverse direction, 
many perishing in that waste of waters, 
but some reaching land and finding shelter 
on some of that great cloud of small islands 
which lie scattered on both sides of the 
equator and nearly across that otherwise 
landless ocean. 

Of the folk who in those old times thus 


SCIENCE 


497 


drifted about and across the Pacific, the 
most important, for the part which they 
played in the story which I am endeavoring 
to tell, were the two hordes of ‘‘savages’’ 
now known respectively as Melanesians and 
Polynesians. Without entering deeply into 
the difficult subject of the earlier migra- 
tions of these two hordes, it will suffice here 
to note that, towards the end of the eigh- 
teenth century, when European folk at last 
began to frequent the South Sea Islands, 
and when consequently something definite 
began to be known in Europe about the 


‘islanders, certam Melanesians, who had 


probably long previously drifted down 
from north-westward, were found to be, 
and probably had long been, in occupation 
of the exceptionally remote and isolated 
Fiji Islands; also that, long after this 
Melanesian occupation of these islands, and 
only shortly before Huropeans began to 
frequent them, several bodies of Polyne- 
sians, who had long been in occupation of 
the Friendly or Tongan Islands, lying away 
to the east of Fiji, had already forced or 
were forcing their way into the Fijian Is- 
lands. 

The meeting in Fiji of these two folk, 
both still in a state of ‘‘savagery,’’ but 
the Polynesians much further advanced in 
culture than the Melanesians, at a time be- 
fore European influence had begun to 
strengthen in those islands, affords an ex- 
ceptionally good opportunity for the study 
of successive stages in the development of 
primitive character, especially as the two 
sets of ‘‘savages’’ were not yet so closely 
intermingled as to be indistinguishable—at 
least in many parts of Fiji. It is unfor- 
tunate that the earliest European visitors 
to Fiji were not of the kind to observe and to 
leave proper records of their observations. 

The earlier, Melanesian, occupants of 
Fiji had to some extent given way, but by 
no means readily and completely, to the 


498 


Polynesian invaders. The former, not only 
in the mountain fastnesses difficult of ac- 
cess, but also in such of the islets as the 
local wind and weather conditions made 
difficult of access, retained their own dis- 
tinet and simpler culture, their own 
thoughts, habits and arts, long after the 
Polynesians had seized the more important 
places accessible to the sea, and had im- 
posed mueh of their own more elaborate 
(but still ‘‘savage’’) culture on such of the 
Melanesians’ communities as they had 
there subjugated and absorbed. 

The social organization throughout Fiji 
remained communistic; but in the purely 
Melanesian communities the system was 
purely democratic (?. e., without chiefs), 
while in the newer mixed Polynesian-Mela- 
nesian communities—as was natural when 
there had been intermingling of two un- 
equally cultured races—there had been 
developed a sort of oligarchic system, in 
which the Melanesian commoners worked 
contentedly, or at least with characteristic 
resignation, for their new Polynesian chiefs. 

Alike in all these communities custom 
enforced by club-law prevailed; but in the 
one case the administrative function rested 
with the community as a whole, while in 
the other it was usurped by the chiefs. 

Though we are here to consider mainly 
the ideas, the mentality, of these people, it 
will be useful to say a few preliminary 
words as to their arts and crafts. The 
Melanesians during their long undisturbed 
occupation of the islands had undoubtedly 
made great progress, on lines peculiar to 
them, especially in boat building, in which 
they excelled all other South Sea islanders, 
in the making of clubs and other weapons, 
and in otherwise using the timber, which 
grew more abundantly, and of better qual- 
ity, in their islands than elsewhere. Mean- 
while the Polynesians, in their earlier 
homes and long before they reached Fiji, 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1032 


had developed, in very high degree, corre- 
sponding but different and much more elab- 
orate arts (and ideas) of their own. But, 
as we know from Captain Cook, the Poly- 
nesians, despite their own higher culture, 
from their Tongan homes, greatly admired 
and appreciated the special craftsmanship 
of the Fijians, and it was indeed this ad- 
miration which attracted the former from 
Tonga to Fiji; and when the Polynesians 
had gained footing in the Fijis they—quite 
in accordance with human nature—were 
inclined, for a time at least, to foster the 
foreign Fijian arts—if not Fijian ideas— 
rather than replace these by their own 
arts; and before the struggle, both physical 
and cultural, between the two sets of ‘‘sav- 
ages’’ had gone far it was interrupted, and 
more or less definitely arrested, by the ar- 
rival and gradual settlement of the still — 
more powerful, because civilized, white folk 
from the western world. 

In turning to the earlier (Melanesian) 
occupants of Fiji, and especially to the less 
advanced of these, to find the traces of 
which we are in search of the more primi- 
tive habit of thought, it must not be for- 
gotten that even at the stage at which we 
begin to know about them they had made 
considerable advance, in their ideas as well 
as in their arts and crafts. They still used 
their most primitive form of club, but also 
made others of much more elaborated form; 
so, though the ideas which lay at the basis 
of their habit of thought were of very 
primitive kind, they had acquired others of 
more complex character. 

Before going further may I say—and I 
sincerely hope that the suggestion will not 
be misunderstood—that in the difficult task 
of forming a clear conception of the funda- 
mental stock of thought which must have 
guided the conduct of the more primitive 
folk we must constantly bear in mind the 
parallelism (I do not mean necessary iden- 


OcTOBER 9, 1914] 


tity of origin) between the thoughts of the 
earliest human folk and the corresponding 
instincts (as these are called) noticeable in 
the case of some of the higher animals? I 
am particularly anxious not to be misunder- 
stood; the suggestion is not that even the 
most primitive human folk were mentally 
merely on a par even with the higher ani- 
mals, but that many, perhaps most, of the 
ways of thought that guided the primitive 
man in his bearing towards the world out- 
side himself may be more easily understood 
if it is once realized, and afterwards re- 
membered, that the two mental habits, how- 
ever different in origin and in degree of 
development, were remarkably analogous 
in kind. 

A similar analogy, in respect not of 
thoughts but of arts, may well illustrate 
this correspondence between the elementary 
ideas of men and animals. The higher apes 
occasionally arm themselves by tearing a 
young tree up by the roots and using the 
“‘elub’’ thus provided as a weapon of 
offense and defense against their enemies. 
Some of the primitive South Sea islanders 
did—nay, do—exactly the same, or at any 
rate did so till very lately. The club—the 
so-called malumu—which the Fijian, then 
and up to the much later time when he 
ceased to use a club at all greatly pre- 
ferred to use for all serious fighting pur- 
poses was provided in exactly the same way. 
1. €., by dragging a young tree from the 
ground, and smoothing off the more rugged 
roots to form what the American might call 
the business end of the club. But though 
the Fijian, throughout the period during 
which he retained his own ways, used and 
even preferred this earliest form of club, 
he meanwhile employed his leisure (which 
was abundant), his fancy, and his ingenu- 
ity, In ornamenting this weapon, and also 
in gradually adapting it to more and more 
special purposes, some of the later of which 


SCIENCE 


499 


were not even warlike but were ceremonial 
purposes, till in course of time each iso- 
lated island or group of islands evolved 
elubs special to it in form, purpose and 
ornament, and the very numerous and 
puzzlingly varied series of elaborate and 
beautiful clubs and club-shaped imple- 
ments resulted. It seems to be in power of 
improvement and elaboration that lies the 
difference between men-folk and animal- 
folk. 

Something similar may be assumed to 
have brought about the evolution of the 
ideas of these islanders. Starting with a 
stock of thoughts similar in kind to the 
instincts of the more advanced animals, 
the human-folk—by virtue of some mysteri- 
ous potentiality—gradually adapted these 
to meet the special circumstances of their 
own surroundings, and in so doing orna- 
menting these primitive thoughts further 
in accordance with fancy. 

In the Fiji Islands this process of eul- 
tural development was probably slow dur- 
ing the long period while the Melanesians, 
with perhaps the occasional stimulus af- 
forded by the drifting in of a little human 
flotsam and jetsam from other still more 
primitive folk, were in sole occupation; 
yet it must have been during this period 
and by these folk that the distinctively 
Fijian form of culture was evolved. But 
the process must have been greatly accele- 
rated, and at the same time more or less 
changed in direction, by the incoming of 
the distinct and higher Polynesian culture, 
at a time certainly before, but perhaps not 
very long before, the encroachment of 
Kuropeans. 

In order to realize as vividly as possible 
what were the earlier, most elementary, 
thoughts on which the whole detail of his 
subsequent ‘‘savage’’ mentality was gradu- 
ally imposed, it is essential for the time 
being to discard practically all the ideas 


500 


which, since the road to civilization parted 
from that on which savagery was left to 
linger, have built up the mentality of civil- 
ized folk; it is essential to try to see as the 
most primitive Fijian saw and to conceive 
what these islanders thought as to them- 
selves and as to the world in which they 
found themselves. 

It seems safe to assume that the primi- 
tive man, absolutely self-centered, had 
hardly begun to puzzle out any explanation 
even of his own nature, still less of the real 
nature of all the other beings of which he 
must have been vaguely conscious in the 
world outside himself. To put it bluntly, 
he took things very much as they came, and 
had hardly begun to ask questions. 

He was—he could not but be, as the 
lower animals are—in some vague way con- 
scious of himself, and from that one en- 
tirely self-centered position he could not 
but perceive from time to time that other 
beings, more or less like himself, were 
about him, and came more or less in con- 
tact with him. 

The place in which he was conscious of 
being appeared to him limitless. He did 
not realize that he could move about only 
in the islet which was his home, or perhaps 
even only in a part of a somewhat larger, 
but according to our ideas still small, 
island; if other islets were in sight from 
that on which he lived, these also would be 
part of his world, especially if—though 
such incidents must have been rare—he had 
erossed to, or been visited by strangers 
from, those islands—islands which lay be- 
tween his own home and that which he 
spoke of as wai-langi-lala (water-sky-empti- 
ness) and we speak of as the horizon. To 
him the world was not limited by any line, 
even the furthest which his sight disclosed 
to him. Rarely, but still sometimes, 
strangers had come from beyond that line. 
Perhaps too he had some time heard that 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1032 


his ancestors had come from the somewhere 
which seemed beyond. Again his ancestors 
of whom he had heard, and even some of 
the contemporaries whom he had seen, 
though no longer with him except occa- 
sionally during his dreams in bodily form, 
were somewhere, somewhere beyond that 
line of sight. Even he himself (in what 
were his dreams, as we say, but to him were 
part of his real life) habitually went be- 
yond the line, and, as far as his experience 
had gone, returned each time to the island 
home. 

Moreover, he did not doubt that this 
limitless region in which it vaguely seemed 
to him that he, and innumerable other 
beings, moved, extended not merely alone 
what we speak of as the surface of the 
globe, but also, and equally without any 
intervening obstacle, up into the infinite 
space above and beyond the sky. In short, 
to this primitive man the world, though 
the part of it to which he had actual access 
was so small, was limitless. 

The thoughts of the dweller in this vague 
world, as to himself and as to the other 
beings of which from time to time he be- 
came conscious, must have been corre- 
spondinegly indefinite. 

He was, to a degree almost if not quite 
beyond our power of conception, a spiritu- 
alist rather than a materialist; and it is 
essential to get some idea of the extent and 
manner of his recognition of spiritual 
beings—and his corresponding non-recog- 
nition of things material. 

In passing I here disclaim, for myself at 
least, the use of the misleading word ‘“be- 
lief’? in speaking of the ideas of really 
primitive man—as, for instance, in the 
phrase the ‘‘belief in immortality.’’ Pos- 
sibly primitive men of somewhat more ad- 
vanced thought, though not yet beyond the 
stage of ‘‘savagery,’’ may have ‘‘believed’’ 
in spirits, in immortality, and so on; but it 


OcToBER 9, 1914] 


seems to me that at the earlier stage there 
ean hardly have been more than recogni- 
tion (admittedly very strong recognition) 
of spiritual beings, and non-recognition of, 
any beginning or ending of these spirits. 

To return from this digression, Sir H. B. 
Tylor long since gave currency to the very 
useful word ‘‘animism’’ as meaning ‘‘the 
belief in spiritual beings,’’ and this has 
been taken to mean that animism was the 
initial stage, or at any rate the earliest dis- 
coverable stage, of all religion. The primi- 
tive Fijian was certainly a thorough-going 
animist, if his extraordinarily strong but 
vague recognition of spiritual beings 
suffices to make him that; but I do not 
think that the ideas of that kind of the 
primitive ‘‘savage’’—or, say, of the most 
primitive Fijian—before his ideas had 
been worked up into somewhat higher 
thought, during the lone period while he 
was secluded in his remote islands and be- 
fore the advent of the Polynesians, had 
developed far enough to constitute any- 
thine which could be called ‘‘religion,’’ 
though doubtless they were the sort of stuff 
which, had these folk been left to them- 
selves, might, probably did, form the basis 
of the ‘‘religion’’ towards which they were 
tending. 

Practically all human beines—savage and 
civilized alike—and, though in lower de- 
gree, even animal-folk, have in some degree 
recognized the existence of some sort of 
spiritual bemgs. The point then seems to 
be to discover what was the nature of the 
spiritual beings which the primitive Fijian 
recognized but without understanding. 

Anthropologists have recently defined, 
or at least described, several kinds of spir- 
itual beings as recognized (even here I will 
not use the word “‘believed’’) by more or 
less primitive folk. There is, first, the soul, 
or the separable personality of the living 
man or other being; secondly, the ghost, or 


SCIENCE 


501 


the same thing after death; thirdly, the 
spirit, which is said to be a soul-like being 


which has never been associated with a 


human or animal body; and, fourthly, there 
is, it appears, to be taken into considera- 
tion yet another kind of spiritual being (or 
something of that nature) which is the life 
of personality, not amountine to a separa- 
ble or apparitional soul, which, it has been 
supposed, some primitive folk have attrib- 
uted to what we call ‘‘inanimate things.’” 

It seems, though I say this with all due 
deference, that this identification and nam- 
ing of various kinds of spiritual beings, 
though it may hold good of animism at a 
higher stage, does not fit the case of the 
more primitive animist (say, that of the 
Melanesian in the very backward state in 
which, as far as we know, he first reached 
Fiji), for presumably he had not as yet 
recognized nor differentiated between the 
various kinds just enumerated. He recog- 
nized something which may be called the 
“soul,’’ which was the separable personal- 
ity of the living man or other being. But 
he did not recognize—perhaps it would be 
better to say that he had not yet attained 
to recognition of—the ghost, or the same 
thing after death; for he had not even 
recognized any real break, involving 
change, at death. Nor, as I think, did he 
recognize a spirit, 7. €., a soul-like being 
which had never been associated with a 
human or animal body; for he had no idea 
of any spiritual being which did not, or 
could not, on occasion associate itself with 
a human, animal or other material body, 
nor seemingly had he reached the stage, 
labelled animatism, in which he would have 
attributed life and personality to things 
(which I take to mean things which are 
to us inanimate). 

All that the most primitive man would 
recognize would be that he himgelf—the 
essential part of him—was a being (for 


502 


convenience and for want of a better name 
it may be called ‘“‘soul’’) temporarily 
separable at any time from the material 
body in which it happened to be, and un- 
\trammeled—except to some extent by the 
clog of the body—by any such conditions 
as time and space; he had found no rea- 
son to think that in these respects the 
many other beings of which from time to 
time he became aware (whether these were 
what we should class as men, other ani- 
mals, or the things which we speak of as 
inanimate, such as stocks and stones, or 
bodiless natural phenomena, such as winds) 
differed from himself only in the compara- 
tively unimportant matter of bodily form; 
moreover, it seemed to him that, as he him- 
self could to some extent do all these, the 
other beings, and some perhaps even more 
easily, were able to pass from one body to 
another. 

He felt that these ‘‘souls’’ were only 
temporarily and more or less loosely at- 
tached to the particular material forms in 
which they happened to manifest them- 
selves at any moment, and that the mate- 
rial form in which the soul (and notice- 
ably this held good even of his own soul) 
happened at any moment to be embodied 
was of little or no real importance to that 
soul, which could continue to exist just as 
well without as with that body. 

Another point which it is important to 
note is the egoism of the savage man as 
distinguished from the altruism of the civil- 
ized man; for it was perhaps the beginning 
of the idea of altruism, of duty to one’s 
neighbor, that gave the start to civiliza- 
tion, and it was because the ancestors of 
the savage had never got hold of this funda- 
mental principle of altruism that they were 
left behind. 

The uncivilized man, complete egoist as 
he was, thought and acted only for his own 
personal interests. It is true that he was 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1032 


to a certain extent kind (as we might call 
it) to the people of his own small commu- 
nity and possibly still more kind to such 
of the community as seemed to him more 
immediately of his own kindred. But 
this kindness was little more than instine- 
tive—little more than a way of attract- 
ing further service. It is also true that 
on the occasions, which must have been 
very rare till a late period in the Mela- 
nesian occupation of Fiji, when strangers 
—1. €., persons of whom he had not 
even dreamed—came, so surprisingly, into 
his purview, he was sometimes civil or 
even hospitable to those strangers (it should 
not be forgotten that to him these were 
souls embodied by separable accident in 
material forms) ; but this would have been 
only on occasions on which he knew, or sus- 
pected, that these visitors were stronger 
than himself and able to injure or benefit 
him. 

Another point of great significance in 
the character of this primitive man was 
that he had no conception of ownership of 
property. To him all that we should class 
as goods and chattels, his land, or even 
his own body, was his only so long as he 
could retain it. He might if he could and 
would take any such property from 
another entirely without impropriety; nor 
would he resist, or even wish to resist, the 
taking from himself of any such property 
by any one who could and would take it. 

Again, the primitive man must have 
been far less sensitive to pain, and far less 
subject to fear, than the normal civilized 
man. I do not mean that the primitive 
Fijian was without the ordinary animal 
shrinking from physical pain, but that he 
can not have been nearly as sensitive even 
to physical pain as is the more sophisti- 
cated man; nor had he the same mental 
pain, the same anticipation and fear of 
pain, that the civilized man has. 


OctToBER 9, 1914] 


Having thus dealt with some of the more 
important points in the character of the 
primitive Fijian, I propose next to con- 
sider how far these suffice to account for 
some of the more ‘‘savage’’ conditions 
under which these islanders when first seen 
were living. 

Cannibalism claims the first mention, 
in that, though the practice has been re- 
corded from many other parts of the world, 
it is commonly supposed to have been ear- 
ried further in Fiji than elsewhere. 

Here, however, it is at once necessary to 
point out that the outbreak of cannibalism 
in Fiji im the first half of the last century 
was not due to any innate and depraved 
taste on the part of the Fijians, and that 
the practise to the degree and after the 
fashion of which the story-books tell was 
not natural to the Fijian, whether of Mela- 
nesian or Polynesian stock. 

It is probable, even perhaps certain, 
that all the Fiji islanders occasionally ate 
human flesh before the coming of white 
men to the islands; but it was only after 
the arrival of the new-comers that this 
practise, formerly only occasional and 
hardly more than ceremonial, developed 
into the abominable orgies of the first 
half of the last century. The first Euro- 
peans to set foot—about 1800—and to re- 
main in the islands for any time were the 
so-called ‘‘beachcombers.’’ At first at 
least, these renegades from civilization, to 
secure their own precarious position and 
safety, contrived to put themselves under 
the patronage of some one or other of the 
great native chiefs, who would be Poly- 
nesians, and assisted and egged on these 
chiefs in their then main occupation of 
fighting other great rival chiefs, also Poly- 
nesians, and raiding the less advanced 
Melanesians of the surrounding districts. 
The guns and ammunition which the 
beachcombers, in some cases at least, 


SCIENCE 


503 


brought with them or managed to procure, 
and the superior craft which they had im- 
bibed from civilization, greatly assisted 
them in this immoral purpose. Conse- 
quently a habit of cruelty, new to the 
Fijian, was implanted and developed, espe- 
cially in the Polynesian chiefs. It became 
more and more a fashion for the greatest 
native warriors, thus egged on, to vie with 
each other in the number of their victims 
and in the reckless cruelty with which 
these were killed. Doubtless at first the 
victims were opponents killed in fight, 
sometimes great rival chiefs and sometimes 
mere hoi pollot who had been led out to 
fight, probably not very reluctantly, for 
their chiefs. Incidentally more and more 
people were killed; and the bodies of the 
slain were conveniently disposed of in the 
ovens. A taste for this food was thus de- 
veloped in the chiefs—though this seems, 
for a time at least, to have been confined to 
the great chiefs, most of those of lower 
status, and all women, refusing to partake, 
at any rate till a later period. Before long, 
when the number of the killed ran short, 
the deficiency was made up by clubbing 
more and more even of their own people, 
till eventually the great native warrior 
took pride in the mere number of those he 
had killed and eaten. 

It seems probable that even the coming 
of the missionaries, who first reached Fiji 
thirty or forty years after the earliest 
beachcombers, and at once began almost 
heroic efforts to stop cannibalism, thereby 
to some extent temporarily even aggravated 
the evil. For the chiefs, in their charac- 
teristic temper of gasconade, killed and ate 
more and more unrestrainedly, in mockery 
of the missionaries and to show what fine 
fellows they thought themselves to be. 

To return from this digression into a 
somewhat distasteful subject, cannibalism 
as practised by the Fijians before the com- 


504 


ing of white men was very different, and, 
from the Fijian point of view—if I may 
say so without fear of being misunderstood 
—not altogether indefensible. It must be 
remembered that there was, as it were, no 
lulling in our sense of the word involved, 
merely a setting free from the non-essen- 
tial body of the essential soul, which soul 
survived just as well without the body as 
with it. 

Note that the soul must have been con- 
sidered as in some way and for a time still 
associated with its late body if, as is com- 
monly and perhaps rightly held, the slayer 
sometimes ate some part of the body of the 
slain in order to acquire some of the qual- 
ities of the slain. 

Again, there can be little doubt that men 
were sometimes killed for sacrificial pur- 
poses, the material bodies of the victims 
being placed at some spot (perhaps the 
tomb) considered to be frequented by the 
disembodied spirit of some ancestor for 
whom it was desired to provide a spirit at- 
tendant. It may be noted that this sacrifi- 
cial use of the body might be combined with 
an eating of the same body when once it 
had served its first purpose of attributing 
the spirit which had been in it to the serv- 
ice of the honored ancestor. 

It has been laid to the charge of the 
Fijians (as to that of many other folk of 
savage and even of civilized culture) that 
they habitually killed strangers, especially 
such as had been washed or drifted to the 
islands by the sea—who, in early times at 
least, must have been almost the only 
strangers to arrive. The charge, like that 
of cannibalism, has been exaggerated, and 
the facts—as far as there were any—on 
which this charge was founded have been 
misunderstood. 

Here, again, the attitude of the Fijian in 
this respect was hardly different from that 
of the lower animals under similar cireum- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1032 


stances. The Fijian knew of no reason to 
be glad of the arrival of strangers, unless 
these could, in one way or another, be 
useful to him; and, as has already been 
explained, he knew of no reason why he 
should not make the best use possible of 
the stranger, of his body or his spirit, sep- 
arately or together. 

While, as must have been the case in earlier 
times, the new-comers were dark-skinned 
men like himself, the Fijian might with- 
out the slightest prick of conscience sepa- 
rate their bodies from their spirits, and 
dispose of the body or the spirit separately ; 
or without effecting this separation, he 
might simply enslave the new-comers; or, 
again, if he suspected that the new-comers 
were too strong for him, he might yield 
himself to them as a slave. 

And later, when Europeans began to ar- 
rive, sometimes as refugees from passing 
ships and sometimes as survivors from 
ships wrecked on the surrounding reefs, 
the bearing of the Fijian towards this new 
kind of stranger would have been on the 
same principles, only that in this case the 
new-comers, being of far less readily 
understood kind, would be regarded with 
more suspicion and also more respect. I 
believe that very seldom, if ever, was an 
inoffensive white man, wrecked sailor or 
other, killed, or treated with anything but 
kindliness and courtesy, even though the 
wrecked man’s property might naturally 
be appropriated by the natives. It was 
only when white-skinned strangers became 
commoner, and frequently more offensive, 
and when familiarity had bred contempt, 
that they were killed, as nuisances, and, 
especially during the great outbreak of 
cannibalism, were eaten. 

This point in the bearing of the islanders 
to white men might be further illustrated 
by a circumstance which, to my surprise, I 
have never found mentioned, 7. ¢., that 


OcToBER 9, 1914] 


during the whole period while the mission- 
aries were, with a rashness only justified 
by the circumstances, testifyimg against 
the natives of Fiji not one of these was 
killed, till at a much later period, when 
European influence was all but predom- 
inant in Fiji, Baker was killed and eaten 
under very special circumstances. 

If it were possible to ascertain in each 
ease the facts as to the reception by ‘‘sav- 
ages’’ of the first white men they saw, it 
would almost certainly be found that the 
reception was apparently kindly, though 
this kindness may really have been due to 
fear and not to charity. It was, however, 
quite probable that at any moment the sav- 
age might find that his dread of the white 
man was unfounded, and in that case he 
might kill him (7. ¢., separate his soul from 
his body) without hesitation, and after 
doing this his fear—he probably never had 
any affection for him—of the disembodied 
spirit of the white man might be as great, 
or even greater, than before. 

Incidentally it may here be noted, as a 
further curious point, that a Fijian who thus 
quite remorselessly set free the soul of a 
stranger from his body would probably not 
often and not for long in his dreams be 
revisited by his victim, if a native; and 
perhaps not even if the victim were a white 
man, unless very remarkable. In other 
words, the victim survives only just so long 
as he is remembered. Captain Cook, we 
know, survived for very long, perhaps 
does so still; few, if any, of such beach- 
combers as were later killed in Fiji sur- 
vived for any length of time; and the in- 
numerable natives who were drifted or 
washed to one or other of the islands must 
for the most part have passed from mem- 
ory soon after they were killed. 

It has been suggested that the killing of 
strangers may have been for the purpose 
of preventing the introduction of disease; 


SCIENCE 


505 


and it is certain that, perhaps even before 
the coming of white men, the islanders 
recognized that the advent of strangers 
was curiously often and most disastrously 
followed by the introduction of new dis- 
eases, either real diseases or at least some 
queer, unexplained influence which has 
so often made life not worth living for 
savages where white strangers have been. 

The Fijians were hardly more notorious 
for cannibalism than for theft—and al- 
most as undeservedly. There is hardly an 
account of the visit of a European ship in 
early times to any of the islands which 
does not mention that the islanders who 
came aboard took whatever they fancied, 
either quite openly or if furtively then 
without evineing anything like shame when 
discovered. This habit, which the explor- 
ers naturally called theft, was but the 
manifestation of a South Sea custom, due 
to the entire absence of any idea of per- 
sonal property, which in Fiji is called 
keri-keri. To keri-keri was to take what- 
ever you wanted and could take without 
the previous holder of the property pre- 
venting you. In old days no Fijian 
doubted his own absolute right to keri- 
keri, nor did he feel the very slightest 
shame in thus (as we should say) ‘‘de- 
priving another of his property’’ or 
“*stealine’’; and even to this day the 
Fijian, provided that he is not really 
Europeanized, will keri-keri without 
shame. In short the idea of ownership and 
individual property never occurred to the 
natural Fijian. He took what he wanted, 
and was strong enough to take. But, on 
the other hand, he yielded up, practically 
without reluctance, whatever another 
stronger or cleverer than himself wanted 
and was able to take from him. 

Of the many other charges of ‘‘say- 
agery’’ made against Fijians, I can, in the 
time at my disposal, deal with but one 


506 


more, that as to their strange and grue- 
some habit of celebrating great occasions 
by killing their own folk. When a Fijian 
chief died, as we should say, or, as it 
seemed to the surviving natives when his 
soul left the body which it had for a time 
used, his widows, and other of his kindred 
and dependents, unwilling to be left be- 
hind, were strangled, often indeed helped 
to strangle themselves, that their bodies 
might be put into the graves, while their 
souls went gladly with that of the chief 
whom they had been accustomed to follow. 

Again, when a chief built a house, some 
of his dependents, whom the great man 
told off for the purpose, willingly stepped 
down into the holes which had been dug 
for the house-posts, and remained there 
while the earth was filled in on to them, 
and continued thereafter as permanent 
supporters of the house. 

Again, there is a tradition, which at 
least was not incredible to the natives, that 
a great chief one day went a-fishing, and 
caught many fish. Two brothers of humb- 
ler rank who happened to have come down 
to the same waterside, also to fish, were less 
successful. The chief, in a characteristic 
freak of generosity, presented his best fish 
to the elder of the two brothers, who, 
strictly according to Fijian custom, ac- 
cepted the gift, but felt bound to make an 
immediate return, but he had nothing to 
give. Thereupon the younger brother, at 
his own suggestion, was clubbed by the 
elder, and his body presented to the chief 
in token that his soul would thereafter 
serve that chief. 

It is even said that when yams and other 
vegetables were brought in as food for the 
chiefs by the dependents who had grown 
them for that purpose, the food-bearers, if 
there was a scarcity of fish or other suitable 
accompaniment for the vegetable diet, 
were themselves clubbed and their bodies 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1032 


eaten. This particular atrocity probably 
happened only after the habit of canni- 
balism: had, as already explained, been 
unnaturally intensified. But the story is 
noteworthy in that the food-bearers are not 
represented as in any way dreading or 
shirking the use to which their bodies were 
put. 

In all these and similar cases it is to be 
noted that the victims (as we are naturally 
inclined to call them) were more or less 
indifferent, if indeed they were not eagerly 
consenting parties, to the use (cruel as it 
seems to us) made of their material bodies. 
Thus the widows were eager to be stran- 
gled, and often even helped to do the deed, 
in order that they—all.that was essential 
of them, 7. ¢., their souls—should rejoin the 
deceased. Similarly those others who were 
killed on the occasion of the funeral were 
quite willing to give their bodies, which 
seemed of comparatively little importance, 
as “‘grass’’ to be added to the cut fern and 
other soft material on which the body of 
the deceased chief was couched in the grave; 
and quite willingly the men told off for 
that purpose stepped down into the holes 
in which the house-posts were grounded, 
that they, or rather their bodies, might 
thereafter hold up the house, while their 
souls enjoyed life much as before but with- 
out the encumbrance of the body. Others 
again contentedly grew taro for the chiefs 
to eat, and carried it in when ripe, think- 
ing it of little importance that their mere 
bodies might be eaten with the taro. 

In conelusion, having endeavored to real- 
ize for myself, and to show you a glimpse, 
of the enormous, hardly conceivable ditfer- 
ence in habit of thought, and consequently 
in character, which separates the savage 
from the civilized man, I will offer a sug- 
gestion which seems to me possibly the 
most important outcome of my personal 
experience, now closed, as an anthropolog- 


OcTOBER 9, 1914] 


ical administrator in tropical places where 
Hastern and Western folk have met, and 
where the inevitable clash between the two 
has occurred. 

In such places and circumstances the re- 
sult has too often been that sooner or later 
the weaker folk—those whose ancestors 
have been age-long “‘savages’’—have died 
out in the presence of those whose ancestors 
long ago turned from ‘‘savagery’’ to civ- 
ilization. This dying out of the weaker 
folk has happened even when the stronger 
people have done their best to avoid this 
extirpation. 

The real ultimate cause of ‘‘the decrease 
of natives’’ when in contact with civilized 
folk lies, perhaps, in the difference in hered- 
itary mentality—in the incapacity of the 
“savage’’ to take on civilization quickly 
enough. However sedulously the mission- 
ary, the government official, and others 
who take a real interest in so doing, may 
teach civilized precepts to the essential 
savage, the subject of this sedulous case— 
however advanced a savage culture he may 
have attained—will, at least for many 
generations, remain a savage, 7. é., for just 
so long as he is under infiuence of the 
civilized teacher he may act on the utterly 
strange precepts taught him, but away 
from that influence he will act on his own 
hereditary instincts. 

The manner in which the native dies out— 
even when well looked after—varies. He 
may be killed out by some disease, perhaps 
trifling but new to him, with which he does 
not know how to cope, and with which—if 
he can avoid so doing—he simply will not 
cope in the ways which the civilized man 
would teach him; or he may be killed out 
by the well-meant but injudicious enforce- 
ment on him of some system of unaccus- 
tomed labor; or, again, he may die out be- 
cause deprived of his former occupations 
[e. g., fighting and the gathering of just so 


SCIENCE 


507 


much food as sufficed for him] and thus 
restricted to a merely vegetative existence; 
or in many other more or less similar forms 
his extermination may come about. 

But all such effective causes are reducible 
to one, which is that he is not allowed to 
act on his own hereditary instincts, that he 
can not at all times have, and often would 
not use, judicious and disinterested guid- 
ance from civilized folk, and that conse- 
quently he, the ‘‘savage,’’ can not and too 
often does not care to keep alive when in 
the presence of civilized folk. 

EIVERARD IM THURN 


GEORGE MARCGRAVE, A POSTSCRIPT 


In the Popular Science Monthly for Septem- 
ber, 1912, I published a biographical sketch of - 
“George Marcgrave, the First Student of 
American Natural History.” A copy of this 
paper was sent to Dr. Alfredo de Carvalho, 
Pernambuco, Brazil, president of the Instituto 
Archeologico e Geographico of that city, and 
a profound student of the history of his coun- 
try and especially of that period during which 
the Dutch occupied Pernambuco and the ad- 
jJacent parts of Brazil. He wrote me of his 
study of Maregrave, who did his natural his- 
tory work at and around Pernambuco, or Recife 
as it is called by the Brazilians, and sent 
me a copy of his article—‘Um Natura- 
lista do Seeulo XVII, Georg Markeraf, 1610— 
1644 ”—in Revista do Instituto Archeologico e 
Geographico Pernambucano, Vol. XIII., pp. 
212-22, 1908. I greatly regret that this paper 
was not included in my bibliography of George 
Marcgrave. 

In speaking of Marecgrave’s death it was 
stated in my sketch that this occurred on the 
Gold Coast of Africa, by which term was 
meant all that pestilential region around the 
Gulf of Guinea. However, the Gold Coast 
proper is a section of the coast lying west of 
the Bight of Benin, and there is good reason 
to believe that Marcgrave died in Angola at 
or near San Paulo de Loanda, some distance 
south of the mouth of the Congo. 

In my paper all the intimate and personal 


508 


data concerning Marcgrave’s boyhood, his 11 
years of preparation for his life work, and his 
64 years of exploration and study in Brazil, 
were taken directly from a sketch found in 
Manget’s “Bibliotheca Seriptorum Medi- 
corum” (1731), and from authors who had 
gotten their data from this article. At the 
time the paper above referred to was written 
I had not had an opportunity of examining 
Manget’s huge folio, and as the three gentle- 
men who had looked it over for me found nothing 
to indicate who was the author of the sketch 
of Marcgrave therein contained, I was at first 
inclined to think Manget himself the writer. 
However, the sketch was written in the first 
person by a man who personally knew Marc- 
grave, Count Moritz, Piso, and all the other 
principals in the Dutch expedition to Brazil of 
1637-88, and as Manget was not born until 
some years after Marcgrave’s death, I had to 
eontent myself with referring to “the un- 
known writer in Manget.” 

During the Christmas holidays, 1912, while 
at work in the libraries at Washington, I went 
to the Surgeon General’s Library and per- 
sonally looked over the sketch of George Mare- 
grave contained on pages 262-264 of Manget’s 
volume II., but found absolutely nothing to 
indicate who was the writer. However, on 
the adjoining pages were a number of short 
sketches of various Marggrafs (the German 
spelling of the name), all of which were 
worked over. Presently I came to Christian 
Margegraf (1612-1687) who, it was stated, 
published “Prodromus Medicine Practice” in 
1674, “Materia Medica Contracta” in 1674, 
and in 1715 “Opera Medica Duobus Libris 
Comprehensa.” Following the last title came 
this highly interesting statement: 


In hae libro anteponitur vita fratris ejus natu 
majoris Georgii Maregravii quam infra subjectam 
videas. (In this book there is placed at the front 
the life of his older brother, George Marcgrave, 
which you may see appended below.) 


Search was immediately made through the 
catalog of the Surgeon General’s Library, and 
the Prodromus and the Materia Medica were 
both found, but the Opera Medica was lacking. 
This search was extended to a number of the 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1032 


large libraries throughout the east, but none 
of them contained the Opera. However, Mr. 
Charles Perry Fisher, Librarian of the College 
of Physicians, Philadelphia, kindly informed 
me that the “Opera Medica” simply consists 
of the “Prodromus” and the “ Materia 
Medica” united and republished under the 
new title “ Opera Medica” in 1715. Since the 
book could not be found in America, an effort 
was made to locate it in Europe, and a copy 
in perfect condition was reported in the 
Library of the Faculty of Medicine in Paris. 
This book was wanted that it might be ascer- 
tained whether Manget had published every- 
thing that Christian Marggraf had written 
about his brother George. About this time 
a letter was received from Dr. Perlbach of the 
Royal Library of Berlin, which effectually 
cleared up the whole matter. (I had previ- 
ously written Dr. Perlbach, who had supplied 
me with much valuable data for the original 
paper on George Marcgrave.) 

He stated that the Royal Library of Berlin 
does not contain “Christian Margegravius: 
Opera Medica Duobus Libris -Comprehensa, 
Amstelodami apud Franciscum van der Plaats, 
1715, 4°”; but that it does have his “ Pro- 
dromus Medicine Practice, Lugduni Bata- 
vorum, ex officium Arnoldi Doude, 1673, and 
1674, 4°” (it seems probable that the print- 
ing began late in 1673 and ran over into the 
next year); also it has the same “ Editio 2 
auctior Lugduni Batavorum apud Cornelium 
Bontestyn, 1685, 4°.” Further the Royal 
Library also has “ Materia Medica Contracta, 
Lugduni Batavorum apud Arnoldum Doude 
1674, 4°,” and the same “Editio 2 aucta 
Amstelodami apud MHenricum Wetstenitum 
1682, 4°.” 

Touching the matter particularly in hand, 
Dr. Perlbach then concluded: 


In the second edition of the Prodromus (1685) 
there are found (following the preface [dated at] 
Lugduni Batavorum, Calendis Februarii, 1685), 
four unpaged leaves containing the life of George 
Maregrave, which Manget, Bibliotheca Scriptorum 
Medicorum II., pp. 262-64, prints word for word 
with the edition of the author. I have compared 
the two texts, and with the exception of some 


OcTOBER 9, 1914] 


typographical errors and a line omitted by Manget 
they agree word for word. 

The line referred to merely tells us that 
Count Moritz had added Marcgrave to his ex- 
pedition as his friend and associate. 

There is internal evidence in the sketch in 
Manget which now clearly corroborates the 
above, for in the last paragraph the writer 
refers to “this man of most delightful memory 
standing to me as an older brother.” Now 
also is made clear the dislike, amounting al- 
most to hatred, of this writer for Piso, who 
is charged with doing everything in his power 
to enhance his reputation at the expense of 
Maregrave’s, calling Marcgrave “my domes- 
tic,” minimizing his importance as a member 
of the expedition, his work as a collector and 
observer of natural objects, and his standing 
as a scientific man. 

Exceedingly unfortunate is it that Christian 
was never able to carry out his purpose ex- 
pressed in these words: 

His [George’s] Brazilian itinerary, if God will 
so permit, I shall publish, because it contains an 
exact description of his voyage to Brazil, together 
with notes on winds, rains and calms. It will not 
lack accounts of fishing and hunting with the bar- 
barians, and geographical descriptions and notices 
of places. 

By this is probably meant a publication of 
George Marcgrave’s journals, of which notice 
is made in the body of Christian’s sketch and 
concerning which all the known facts are given 
on page 254 of my paper (1912). This, how- 
ever, he unfortunately never lived to do, for 
the sketch was dated February, 1685, and he 
died two years later in hig seventy-fifth year. 

Of Christian Maregrave I am able to give 
only this small but interesting bit of infor- 
mation. In my copy of the “ Historia Natur- 
alis Brasilie” by William Piso and George 
Maregrave (Leyden and Amsterdam, 1648), 
which bears as a book-plate a coat of arms and 
underneath the word LAETVAERENNYDT and the 
name of the maker of the plate, there are on 
the fly leaf opposite the engraved title page 
two short handwritten sketches in French, one 
of Piso, the other of Maregrave. At the close 
of that on Maregrave is found this interesting 
statement : 


SCIENCE 


509 


His brother Christian, born at Liebstadt in 
Meissen, was made a doctor by the Faculty of 
Medicine at Franeker in 1659, and occupied the 
chair of pathology at Leyden until death overtook 
him in 1687. We learn that his two books printed 
Separately were afterwards united and published 
under the title ‘‘Opera Medica Duobus Libris 
Comprehensa,’” Amsterdam, 1715, in quarto. 


Lower on the same page is found, in the 
same handwriting as the above, this sentence: 


Cet ouvrage a été vendu 32 frances a la vente des 
livres de M* ]’heritier. 


Franeker is a town in Friesland whose uni- 
versity, founded in 1585, was abolished by 
Napoleon in 1811. “Cet ouvrage” of course 
refers to the “ Historia Naturalis Brasiliz.” 
There is nothing whatever to indicate who 
this “monsieur the heir” was, whether heir 
of the man of the book plate or of an earlier 
or later owner. 

One more point may be added. In a recent 
catalogue of Dulau and Oo., of London, there 
appeared im an advertisement of Piso and 
Maregrave’s work the statement that the 
figures were engraved by de Bray. No infor- 
mation has been obtainable as to who de Bray 
was or why he was chosen to engrave these 
figures. That the work was very poorly done 
an inspection of the “ Historia Naturalis 
Brasiliz ” shows. E. W. Gupcrr 

State NorMAL COLLEGE, 

GREENSBORO, N. C. 


THE PFFECTS OF THE KATMAI ERUPTION 
ON MARINE VEGETATION 


Unpbrr an appointment as scientist in kelp 
investigation in the United States Bureau 
of Soils? the writer visited the coast of south- 
western Alaska in the summer of 1913. Dur- 
ing June and July the coast of much of the 
region aftected by the eruption of Katmai 
voleano in June, 1912, was visited. The events 
attending this eruption have been described 


1This expedition was a part of the general in- 
vestigation of the fertilizer resources of the 
United States carried om under the direction of 
Dr. Frank K. Cameron, of the U. S. Bureau of 
Soils. 


510 


by Perry;? the effects of the eruption as seen 
in June and July, 1912, by Martin; the com- 
position of the ash that fell at Kodiak by Fry ;* 
and the effects of the eruption on land vegeta- 
tion by Griggs.® 

The eruption was a violent one and proved 
fatal to a considerable amount of life both 
plant and animal. It also modified, at least 
temporarily, the conditions of plant life on 
the eastern portion of the Alaskan Peninsula 
and on Kodiak, Afognak and Shuyak Islands 
and the neighboring smaller islands. 

Katmai voleano is situated toward the 
eastern end of the Alaskan Peninsula. It is 
about 24 km. north of the nearest point of 
Shelikof Strait and about 104 km. southwest 
of Cape Douglas. The wind was westerly at 
the time of the eruption so that the regions 
principally affected were those situated imme- 
diately to the eastward. 

Of the effects of this eruption on marine 
vegetation as seen in the two months follow- 
ing its occurrence, Martin says: 


Marine life was affected to a larger degree than 
would perhaps be expected. .. . Kelp is apparently 
dead as far as the eastern end of Afognak Island. 


Such injury to marine vegetation as was 
still apparent when the writer visited this 
region, over a year after the eruption, had evi- 
dently resulted from one or more of the fol- 
lowing causes: (1) the grinding effect of the 
floating pumice, (2) actual burial of plants 
by the deposit of ash, (3) the burial by the 
ash of rocks which had furnished anchorage 
for marine alge, (4) the effect of poisonous 
gases on plants growing in the littoral zone 
or whose distal portions are kept at the sur- 
face of the water by floats. 


2 Perry, Captain K. W. (U.S. R. C. S.), extract 
from report, The National Geographic Magazine, 
23, 824-832, 1912. 

3 Martin, George C., ‘‘The Recent Eruption of 
Katmai Volcano in Alaska,’’ The National Geo- 
graphic Magazine, 24: 131-181, 1913. 

4¥Fry, William H., ‘‘The Mineral Content of 
Voleanie Ashes from Kodiak,’’ SCIENCE, N. S8., 36: 
682, 1912. 

5 Griggs, Robert F., ‘‘The Effects of the Kat- 
mai Eruption on Land Vegetation.’’ 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1032 


Of the masses of floating pumice, as seen in 
August, 1912, Martin says: 


The pumice is being washed into the sea by the 
combined action of streams, waves and tides, 
There it forms great floating fields which migrate 
with the winds and tides and greatly impede the 
navigation of small eraft such as ours. An im- 
mense field of pumice . . . visited our anchorage at 
Takli Island... . This visitor came and went under 
the influence of tidal currents and winds, and 
constituted a menace which led us to seek a more 
sheltered nook for our boat. Eyen this was in- 
vaded by the floating rock, which jammed tight 
around and carried our boat with it when it 
moved, in spite two anchors and two pieces of pig 
iron down, and forced us to make fast to a pro- 
jecting cliff. The floating pumice was twelve 
inches thick alongside the boat and possibly was 
much thicker in the center of a large field. Fish- 
ermen reported a pumice field dense enough to 
support a man in Shelikof Strait. 


In July, 1913, the schooner from which we 
were conducting the kelp investigation passed 
through fields of floating pumice more than 
941 km. west of Mount Katmai. Some of 
these fields were as much as 213 m. long and 
15 m. wide. In several places the fields were 
so dense that we scooped up quantities of 
pumice with a dip net as our schooner passed 
through them. Drifts of pumice 20 cm. or 
more in depth were found in August over 
considerable areas on the beach of a lagoon 
opening from Popof Strait in the Shumagin 
Islands. In the region principally affected by 
the yoleanic eruption we found considerable 
quantities of pumice drifted up on the beaches 
but did not encounter any floating fields of it. 
Reports from residents agree, however, that 
there were extensive fields in Shelikof Strait, 
Kupreanof Strait and other waters of the 
region in 1912. 

Undoubtedly the grinding effect of the con- 
tinued movement by tides and waves of the 
rough pieces of pumice composing these float- 
ing fields must have caused considerable injury 
to beds of Nereocystis luetkeana and Alaria 
fistulosa, both of which species are anchored to 
the bottom and are provided with floats that 
keep the distal portion of the plant at the 
surface of the water. 


OcTOBER 9, 1914] 


There are some reasons for believing that 
the grinding effects of these huge masses of 
rough pumice would be more destructive to 
Nereocystis than to Alaria. The growing 
region of Nereocystis is at the bulb, which 
floats on the water. It is from this growing 
region that the stipe elongates at its distal 
portion and the fronds elongate at their base. 
Serious bruising of this would undoubtedly 
kill the plant. Alaria, on the other hand, has 
its growing region near the base and the distal 
end of the frond is usually more or less frayed 
and ragged as a result of the action of tides 
and waves. This kelp has continuous regen- 
eration of the frond from this growing region 
which is so far below the surface of the water 
as to be safe from any direct injury by float- 
ing materials of any kind, and it is possible 
that individuals might be still living although 
portions at the surface of the water looked 
worn and dead. We found considerable beds 
of Alaria at many places on the south shore 
of Shelikof Strait and at a few places on the 
north shore. A bed was found at Cape 
Atushagvik only about 88 km. from the 
voleano. 

At the time of our visit Alaria was much 
more abundant in the region affected than 
Nereocystis. There were many beds of pure 
Alaria, but there were very few of pure 
Nereocystis. There were only a few cases in 
which the two species were mixed throughout 
the bed. These facts can not, however, be 
taken as indicating that the injury was greater 
to Nereocystis than to Alaria, for they were 
true outside of the region affected by the 
voleano as well as in it. 

A good deal of injury to Fucus and other 
plants growing in the littoral zone may also 
lave been done by the grinding effect of this 
pumice. It is of course well known that Fucus 
has restorative regeneration of its fronds,® but 
we could not detect that this was any more 
common in the regions affected by this erup- 
tion than it was in other portions of Alaska 
or of Puget Sound. On several exposed rocks 


6See Setchell, W. A., ‘‘Regeneration Among 
Kelps,’’ Univ. of Calif. Pub. Botany, 2: 139-168, 
1905, and the literature there cited. 


SCIHNCE 511 


at Russian Anchorage (35 km. from the 
voleano) we found that practically all of the 
growing Fucus was young, much of it not yet 
producing spores. Among these young plants 
were found the harder basal portions of old 
fronds. 

It seems quite possible that the softer por- 
tions of these plants had been killed by the 
grinding of the pumice. On other rocks close 
by, the growth of Fucus was abundant, and 
the plants were vigorous and in fruit. In 
addition to Fucus twelve genera of Alge were 
found in the littoral zone at this point. These 
were all fairly abundant and were in good con- 
dition except that many of the red alge were 
considerably faded. This, however, the writer 
has found to be the ease locally at several 
points in Alaska and in Puget Sound. The 
genera that we found in the littoral and upper 
sublittoral zones at Russian Anchorage are 
Ulwa, Laminaria, Alaria, Agarum, Halosaccion, 
Callophylis, Huildenbrantia, Corallina, Por- 
phyra, Gloropeltes. 

The maximum fall of ash resulting from 
this eruption approximated 189 em. Some 
portions of the northern shore of Shelikof 
Strait received as much as 76 em. The south- 
ern shore of this strait received 51 cm. in some 
portions, and Kupreanof Strait received from 
the latter amount down to 18 cm. Wherever 
this deposit was heavy the result was that the 
Algz in the flatter portions of the littoral zone 
were completely buried. In Kupreanof Strait 
and in the south shore of Shelikof Strait we 
saw but little effect of the ash on littoral sea- 
weeds. At Russian Anchorage near Cape 
Atushagvik on the northern shore the results 
of the ash were more evident. On a flat beach 
at that place the covering of ash had resisted 
the action of waves and tides and occasional 
bunches of Fucus on rocks large enough to 
reach the surface of this layer of ash was all 
that was left of the littoral vegetation. Not 
only had the 1912 crop of Fucus been buried 
here but the 1913 crop had been seriously inter- 
fered with by the covering of the stones that 
would have served for anchorage. 

It seems probable that in some places suffi- 
cient material has been deposited on the bottom 


512 


to cover the rocks and stones and thus destroy 
all opportunity for anchorage for kelps. When 
we lifted the anchor (from a depth of 8 
fathoms). at Russian Anchorage it was well 
covered with voleanic ash. 

Fry states that glass predominates in the 
three samples of ash from Kodiak examined 
by him. He found also feldspars, muscovite, 
apatite, hornblende, biotite and “ undetermina- 
ble particles of what appear to be a ferro- 
magnesium mineral.” These three samples 
represented the three falls of ash that occurred 
in the few days following the first eruption on 
June 6, 1912. He says that there “glasses 
would probably react with the soil water” and 
that “no substances deleterious to plant 
growth were revealed by the examination.” 

The injury to marine plants by gas was 
probably less than from the causes cited above. 
The presence of sulphurous fumes in the 
‘atmosphere was not confined to the time of the 
eruption but was noted as late as August 16 
at a distance of 350 miles north of the volcano. 
On August 15 at the mouth of Katmai River 
Martin notes that during a rain “ the drops of 
water striking the eyes produced sharp pain, 
and brass and silver were tarnished by the 
drops.” On July 27 sulphurous fumes were 
evident on board the U. S. revenue cutter 
Manning 193 km. east of the voleano. Vege- 
tation on the volcano itself was annihilated. 
Martin says that the death line “came prac- 
tically down to the sea 24 km. from the crater ” 
and suggests a hot blast as the cause of the 
death of vegetation. It seems improbable that 
a hot blast or poisonous gases caused any great 
damage to marine plants. 

Human interest in the effect of this voleanic 
eruption on marine yegetation centers chiefly 
around the two large kelps—Nereocystis luet- 
keana and Alaria fistulosa. These kelps, as 
Martin has noted, are an important aid to 
navigation. They are a warning to navigators 
of shallow water, and in a region where there 
are practically no aids to navigation except 
such as nature has provided, these kelps are 
really important. These two kelps (principally 
Alaria) are universally used by the natives of 
Kodiak Island and the neighboring islands as 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1032 


fertilizer for their potato gardens, and are in 
this way of considerable economic importance. 
The 1912 crop of beach grass and other grasses 
which are ordinarily used as pasturage and 
hay for the cows kept in this region was prac- 
tically all destroyed by the voleano. During 
the winter that followed the few cattle that 
were still kept in the region are reported to 
have lived largely on what kelp was to be had 
on the beach. To these reasons for local inter- 
est in these kelps must also be added the fact 
that they are now to be considered as a pos- 
sible source of potash fertilizer.* 

Information obtained by personal inter- 
views with residents of the region indicates 
that there was large injury to the 1912 crop 
of kelp, and that even the 1913 crop was far 
short of that of the years preceding 1912. It 
seems that the beds became much thicker later 
in the season than they were at the time of 
our visit. A reliable informant reports that 
in December, 1913, the kelp was practically 
continuous from Afognak village to Little 
Afognak village. There were only scattering 
beds at that place when we visited it in June 
and July. 

The fact that there was, previous to 1913, 
practically no information as to the relative 
amount of Nereocystis and Alaria in the region 
makes it impossible to say which of these 
suffered more damage as a result of the erup- 
tion. It seems probable that both of these 
species mature from spores in a single year,® 
so that where there were enough individuals 
left for “seed” the crop would soon become 


7Cameron, F. K., et al., Sen. Doc. 190, Sixty- 
second Cong., second session, 1911; ‘‘ Possible 
Sources of Potash in the United States,’’ Year- 
book U. S. Dept. Agr., 523-536, 1912; ‘‘Kelp and 
Other Sources of Potash,’’ Jour. Frank. Inst., 176: 
347-383, 1913. 

8 On the duration of Nereocystis luetkeana, see 
Frye, T. C., ‘‘Nereocystis lwetkeana,’’ Bot. Gaz., 
42: 143, 1906; Setchell, W. A., ‘‘Nereocystis and 
Pelagophycus,’’ Bot. Gaz., 45: 125, 1908; Rigs, 
G. B., ‘‘ Ecological and Heonomie Notes on Puget 
Sound Kelps,’’ Sen. Doe. 190, Sixty-second Cong., 
second session, 179-193, 1911; ‘‘Notes on the 
Ecology and Heonomic Importance of Nereocystis 
luetkeana,’’ Plant World, 15: 83-92, 1912. 


ae 8 


SS a ee 


OcroBER 9, 1914] 


normal again unless the environment had been 
essentially changed. 

In the main, the effects of this eruption on 
marine vegetation were temporary. The burial 
of rock that had served for anchorage will no 
doubt interfere permanently in some places 
with alge in the littoral zone. It is possible 
that this same cause may also lessen the pro- 
duction of the two large kelps, Nereocystis 
luetkeana and Alaria fistulosa, but the evi- 
dence now at hand indicates that these kelps 
are well on their way toward recovery. 


Gzorce B. Rice 
STATE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON 


EFFECT OF LIGHTNING ON A REINFORCED 
CONCRETE AND STEEL DOME 

Owine to the increased use of reinforced 
concrete for buildings I have thought that an 
account of the effects of lightning on a metal 
dome surmounting walls of this construction 
may be of some general interest and of par- 
ticular interest to astronomers. 

On the afternoon of January 2 last occurred 
the heaviest thunderstorm in the immediate 
vicinity of the observatory since I came to 
Cérdoba. The conditions were well marked— 
the weather had been very hot and sultry for 
several days, the barometer had been falling 
steadily and waslow. The center of the storm, 
judging from the clouds and their motions, was 
not over a mile south by southeast of the ob- 
servatory. In an area between one and two 
miles in diameter the clouds were very dark 
and low and masses of dark scud moved about 
underneath them. 

In nearly all the storms which I had seen 
here previously the discharges were nearly all 
between clouds. (Perhaps because most of 
them occur at night?) In this storm nearly 
all of the discharges were between the clouds 
and earth. 

Very heavy single flashes of lightning began 
about 2" 20" p.m. Odrdoba time—apparently 
under the blackest part of the clouds and not 
over a half mile away. All of these which I 
saw were discharges between the clouds and 
earth, as also with only one exception, were all 
which discharged within a half mile of the ob- 
servatory. 


SCIENCE 518 


The direction of motion of this storm, as is 
usually the case, was from south to north. 
After some half dozen discharges close to the 
south there was a heavy one to the northwest 
about three hundred meters away—then 
another to the northeast about the same dis- 
tance. 

On account of this being a heavy storm and 
apparently passing directly over us, I was in- 
terested to see what the effect would be on our 
two new reinforced concrete walls and steel 
domes sheathed with galvanized iron, and was 
outside among the central group of buildings 
and not over 100 feet from the dome in ques- 
tion, one of them in full sight. 

A minute or two after the flash to the north- 
east, mentioned above, there was a general il- 
lumination close by, followed almost instantly 
by the ripping sound of a very close stroke. 
The interval between the flash and the sound 
was certainly not over 7o second. To me the 
sound appeared to be made up of three or four 
separate discharges blended into one—not con- 
secutive. 

I was standing within a few feet of the ma- 
chine shops in easy hearing of the noise of the 
machinery. This noise stopped instantly after 
the flash. The main fuse on the light circuit 
had been blown twice before the flash, probably 
by induced currents. It was also blown again 
at the time of the flash. 

Mr. Mulvey was in the underground optical 
shop at the time and thought there had been an 
explosion in the shop. He saw a flash and im- 
mediately afterward the lights went out. It 
was later ascertained that one lamp had burned 
out, which probably caused the flash which he 
saw in the shop. No other damage was done 
there. The circuits and machines were care- 
fully examined but aside from the fuses being 
blown at the pump motor, on the 220-volt alter- 
nating current no sign of a spark was found. 

The power and light currents were cut off 
until about 6 P.M., when it was found that 
fuses had been blown on our lines (which were 
special ones) just outside the step-down-sta- 
tion, some 400 meters away. No other effects 
of the storm were noticed in or near this sta- 
tion. 


514 


The dome which had just been completed 
was barely out of sight from where I stood and 
no one at the observatory seems to have seen 
the actual flash. A peon however in the 
grounds of the Meteorological office about 100 
meters away had a full view of both domes and 
buildings, was facing them and saw the flash 
just over and about the new dome. This ac- 
cords well with the direction and distance from 
my point of observation. 

After hearing of this observation I made a 
careful examination of the dome and in par- 
ticular the connection of the copper cable with 
the track upon which the dome revolves, which 
forms the connection between the metal dome 
and one of the vertical I beams imbedded in 
the conerete for grounding the circuit. The 
lightning-rod proper extends about a meter 
above the highest part of the dome and termi- 
nates in a brush of heavy wire. No signs what- 
ever of any discharge have been found at any 
point about the dome. 

Close to the dome stands the wooden derrick 
which was used in its construction, the top of 
which is about two feet higher above the 
ground than the lightning-rod. Three wire 
cable guys lead off to trees, two of which actu- 
ally touch the ground—but scarcely so—and a 
fourth to a brick building. The cable used for 
lifting did not touch the ground. Careful ex- 
amination of all of these points failed also to 
disclose the slightest sign of a spark. 

The three wires of the alternating power 
circuit pass close to both dome and derrick. 

About 70 or 80 meters east and west are, re- 
spectively, three lightning rods on the direc- 
tor’s residence, and one on the assistants’ 
house. To the south some 100 and 150 meters, 
respectively, are the metallic tower for the 
windmill and water tank, about 50 feet high 
and the first astronomer’s residence with two 
lightning points. 

I have been particular in referring to these 
various conductors, for it seems probable that 
so many must have been instrumental in re- 
ducing the difference of potential somewhat. 

The bolt which struck the dome was un- 
doubtedly not a light one for it frightened 
badly a number of persons in the residences 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1032 


near by and was described by several as a very 
bright flash. I do not think, however, that it 
was an especially heavy one, possibly not so 
heavy as most of the others which struck in 
the vicinity. 

The peon who saw it from the neighboring 
quinta, was seated at the time under a shed and 
watching the dome. He says the flash ap- 
peared to descend as a single ray, striking the 
lightning rod and then the whole surface of 
the metallic dome appeared to be covered with 
sparks or flashes, 

At the time the bolt struck there was a peon 
inside the closed dome, cleaning the running- 
gear. When questioned he said he had felt 
nothing nor had he noticed anything unusual 
beyond the heavy noise. 

It seems certain, therefore, that the dome 
was actually the principal point of discharge 
for a fairly heavy flash of lightning. (It is 
uncertain how much of the discharge was 
taken by the derrick, but it would appear to 
lave been relatively small.) That the in- 
duced currents in the light and power lines 
were sufficiently heavy to blow the fuses in 
both. 

This experience seems to be a fairly severe 
test for such a construction—a metallic dome 
surmounting concrete walls which are heavily 
reinforced with iron—the metal in the walls 
having a good ground connection and being 
connected also with the dome. 

From the effects in this case one concludes 
that after the resistance of the air was broken 
down, the dome and metal in the walls were 
ample to carry off the discharge without the 
slightest apparent damage to either the struc- 
ture or the man who was inside at the time. 

C. D. PErrine 


OBSERVATORIO NACIONAL ARGENTINO, 
CORDOBA 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


AN international committee has been 
formed to establish a foundation in memory 
of Henry Poincaré. A medal will be struck 
in his honor, and a fund will be established 
under the Paris Academy of Sciences to en- 


rl I rt i 


OcToBER 9, 1914] 


courage or reward young scholars engaged in 
work in the directions in which Poincaré led, 
namely, mathematical analysis, celestial me- 
chanics, mathematical physics and scientific 
philosophy. The members of the executive 
committee are Messrs. Appell, Lamy and 
Daboux, and there is a large and distinguished 
international committee. Copies of the medal 
will be sent to subscribers, who should send 
their, subscriptions to M. Ernest Lebon, Rue 
des Ecoles 4, Paris. 


Dr. Erwin Baur, of Berlin, who was to 
have been the Carl Schurz memorial professor 
at the University of Wisconsin during the 
first semester this year, was stopped by the 
English on his way to Java and was held for 
a time at Port Said. He managed, however, 
to get away and, after many difficulties, to 
return to Berlin, where he is now stationed in 
the Marine Office. Jt will be impossible for 
him to come to America before the end of the 
war. 


Dr. WoubdEMAR VOIGT, professor of mathe- 
matical physics at Gottingen, exchange pro- 
fessor from Germany, will probably not be 
able to give his courses at Harvard Univer- 
sity during the second half-year, although it 
is still hoped that the war may not interfere 
with the arrangements between Harvard and 
the French and German universities. 


Proressor Pierre Bourroux, of the depart- 
ment of mathematics of Princeton University, 
has remained in France in the service of the 
French government. 


The British Medical Journal states that Dr. 
Noyons, professor of physiology, at Louvain, 
has recently distinguished himself by his 
heroic conduct in remaining with his wife 
among the ruins of Louvain ministering to 
the wounded—Germans as well as Belgians. 
When the population of the city was in- 
formed that every inhabitant of the town 
must leave immediately, in order that the 
town might be razed to the ground by ar- 
tillery, Dr. Noyons and his wife decided to 
remain in order to protect the 150 wounded 
who could not be removed in time. 


SCIENCE 515 


Dr. WitHELM Foerster, professor of as- 
tronomy at Berlin, who holds a doctor’s de- 
gree from Oxford, takes objection to the 
movement to renounce English degrees in a 
letter to the Berliner Tageblatt, quoted in the 
London Times, on the ground that it is un- 
wise to proclaim a divorce from the “ learned 
world” of England because of England’s 
“~wicked policy.” 

Dr. Evucrn pds CHoLNoKy, professor of 
geography at the University of Kolozsvar, 
Hungary, has been elected president of the 
Royal Hungarian Geographical Society, 
Budapest, for the term expiring in 1917. The 
former president, Professor Louis de Léczy, 
director of the Royal Hungarian Geological 
Survey and the well-known China explorer, 
became honorary president. 


Dr. Orro Finscu, the well-known ethnog- 
rapher and geographer of Brunswick, cele- 
brated on August 8 his seventy-fifth birth- 
day. 

Dr. Maynarp M. Metcatr, professor of 
zoology at Oberlin College, has retired from 
the faculty and is devoting his entire time to 
research in a private laboratory recently 
erected on his own grounds. 


Sik ErNEsT SHACKLETON and the members 
of his Transantarctic Expedition left Lon- 
don on September 18 for the South Polar re- 
gions. The explorers departed in two sec- 
tions, the portion for the Ross Sea or New 
Zealand side of the Antarctic leaving in the 
morning va Tilbury for Tasmania, and the 
Weddell Sea section, including Sir Ernest 
Shackleton, leaving for South America later 
in the day. The Hndurance, the ship of the 
Weddell Sea party, left Plymouth on August 
8. The Ross Sea ship Aurora is to leave some 
Australian port about the beginning of De- 
cember. 

Dr. W. S. Bruces, of the Scottish Spitz- 
bergen Expedition, accompanied by Mr. J. 
V. Burn-Murdock, Mr. R. M. Craig and Mr. 
John H. Keoppern, arrived in the Tyne from 
Bergen on September 18. The party left 
Newcastle on July 9 for scientific explora- 
tion in Spitzbergen. 


516 


Proressor R. H. Wuirreseck, of the de- 
partment of geology and geography of the 
University of Wisconsin, has been granted a 
leave of absence for the present semester and 
will spend the time in research work with the 
Carnegie Institution at Washington. 


Dr. Lemurn Bouton Banes, a prominent 
surgeon of New York City, professor in the 
University and Belleyue Hospital School, 
died, on October 4, at the age of seventy-two 
years. 


THE death in announced at the age of 
eighty-three years of Mr. Edward Riley, who 
was early associated with the production of 
Bessemer steel. 


Sir Henry G. Howse, at one time senior 
surgeon to Guy’s Hospital, and president of 
the Royal College of Surgeons, England, has 
died at the age of seventy-three years. 


Dr. Evcen von Boum-Bawerk, professor 
of economics in the University of Vienna, 
member of the Austrian upper house and 
formerly minister of finance, president of the 
Vienna Academy of Sciences, died on Au- 
gust 27, at the age of sixty-three years. 


Dr. H. J. Jounston-Lavis, professor of 
vulecanology in the University of Naples, was 
killed in a motor accident last month. 


The British Medical Journal calls attention 
to the fact that Louvain was in old times, as 
it is still, chiefly celebrated as a school of 
theology, but for anatomists it is associated 
with the great name of Andreas Vesalius. 
The reformer of anatomy was a student in the 
pedagogium castri and also in the Collegium 
Buslidianum, where he gained that knowledge 
of the ancient tongues which was to prove of 
such service to him in the scientific contro- 
versies of his later life. It was when he was 
at Louvain that Vesalius secured a human 
skeleton by climbing the gallows outside the 
town. He had to convey the bones home se- 
eretly, reentering the town by a different 
gate from that by which he had gone out, and 
articulating his stolen treasures in his rooms. 
He was afterwards spared the work of “ resur- 
rection ” by the liberality of the burgomaster, 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1032 


who placed abundance of material for dissec- 
tion and demonstration at his disposal. In 
1536 or 1537 he dissected and lectured pub- 
licly. He seems, however, not to have been 
altogether comfortable in the theological at- 
mosphere at Louvain, and some remarks which 
he made on the seat of the soul excited the 
suspicions of the heresy hunters. 


In 1902 Dr. and Mrs. Christian A. Herter, 
of New York, gave to the Johns Hopkins 
University the sum of $25,000 “for the for- 
mation of a memorial lectureship designed to 
promote a more intimate knowledge of the 
researches of foreign investigators in the realm 
of medical science.” According to the terms 
of the gift, some eminent worker in physiol- 
ogy or pathology is to be asked each year to 
deliver lectures at the Johns Hopkins Univer- 
sity upon a subject with which he has been 
identified. The selection of the lecturer is to 
be left to a committee representing the de- 
partments of pathology, physiological chemis- 
try and clinical medicine, and if “in the judg- 
ment of the committee it should ultimately 
appear desirable to open the proposed lecture- 
ship to leaders in medical research in this 
country there should be no bar to so doing.” 
The committee named for this purpose consists 
of Drs. Welch, Abel and Barker. The eighth 
course of lectures on the Herter foundation 
will be given by Thomas Lewis, M.D., lec- 
turer on diseases of the heart, University Col- 
lege Hospital Medical School, London. The 
lectures are being given in the auditorium of 
the Physiological building, at 4:30 P.M., as 
follows: 

I. Octeber 6—‘‘ Observations Exemplifying Elee- 
trocardiography.’’ 

II. October 8—‘‘ The Relation of Auricular Sys- 
tole to Heart Sounds and Murmurs.’’ 

III. October 9.—‘ ‘Observations upon Dyspnea, 
with Especial Reference to Acidosis.’ 


AN examination for a food chemist at a 
salary of $100 to $150 a month under the civil 
service of the State of Illinois will be held on 
November 7. Further information ean be ob- 
tained from the Illinois State Civil Service 
Commission, Springfield, Illinois. 


EES OLE et 


ate agers 


ih ele Sea 


OcTOBER 9, 1914] 


THE Fuertes Observatory, of Cornell Uni- 
versity, is to be torn down and rebuilt on a 
site north of Fall Creek Gorge, northeast of 
the campus. It will stand on a slight knoll 
at the southwest corner of the Hasbrouck 
farm, near the upper end of Beebe Lake. 


Tur Royal Zoological Society of New 
South Wales has begun the publication of 
The Australian Zoologist, the first number of 
which contains the annual report of the coun- 
ceil of the society and of the zoological gardens 
that it conducts. The publication also con- 
tains a number of articles concerned with 
zoology in Australia. 


Last year the imports of mineral products, 
both crude and manufactured, exceeded 
$270,000,000. Of this total probably $200,- 
000,000 represents raw materials and crude 
metals, the value of these imports being about 
8 per cent. of that of the domestic output. 
In this list of imports the larger items 
named in the order of value are unmanufac- 
tured copper, precious stones, nitrate of soda, 
copper ore and matte, nickel, tin, iron ore, 
pig iron and steel, petroleum products, man- 
ganese ores and alloys, platinum, aluminum, 
pyrite, graphite, stone, potash and magnesite. 
This country has an abundant supply of 
most of these mineral products that are now 
imported in large amounts, and as to them it 
can be independent of foreign countries. The 
only essential minerals of the first rank of 
which the United States has no known sup- 
ply at all commensurate with its needs are 
nitrates, potash salts, tin, nickel and plati- 
num, the list thus comprising two essential 
mineral fertilizers and three very useful 
metals. There was a decrease in the output 
of magnesite in the United States from 10,- 
512 short tons, valued at $84,096, in 1912, to 
9,632 tons, valued at $77,056, in 1913. The 
only production in this country was in Cali- 
fornia, as heretofore. With the cutting off of 
the foreign supplies, due to the European 
war, however, the demand for the domestic 
product ought to increase greatly, especially 
in view of the new and shorter water route 
by way of the Panama Canal to the eastern 
United States. It is to be hoped that the sud- 


SCIENCE 517 


den stimulus thus given to the domestic min- 
ing industry will build up a trade that will 
withstand the competition that must undoubt- 
edly ensue when normal trade conditions are 
again established. The demand for the do- 
mestic product is restricted to the Pacific 
coast and Rocky Mountain region, as it has 
been impossible at the present railroad freight 
rates to ship to the points of largest consump- 
tion in the East. In answer to inquiries ad- 
dressed to them by the Geological Survey, 
many owners of idle magnesite properties in 
the far West express the belief that with the 
opening of the Panama Canal they would be 
able to ship magnesite by sea to the east at 
a profit. Magnesite is used principally in the 
manutacture of refractory substances, such 
as brick, furnace hearths, crucibles, etc.; as 
magnesium sulphite, for digesting and 
whitening wood-pulp paper; in the crude 
form for making carbon dioxide; calcined 
and ground for the manufacture of oxy- 
chloride cement; and for miscellaneous ap- 
plications in crude form or as refined mag- 
nesium salts. In the toilet and bath rooms of 
the rest rooms of the Panama-Pacific Exposi- 
tion at San Francisco, magnesite flooring has 
been laid, about 5,000 square feet having been 
put down in each of the main buildings. The 
domestic product is used in this work. A copy 
of the advance chapter from “Mineral Re- 
sources for 1913” on the production of mag- 
nesite in 1913, just issued by the U. S. Geo- 
logical Survey, may be obtained upon appli- 
cation to the director. 


Tuer United States Bureau of Mines, in co- 
operation with the United States Geological 
Survey, has undertaken additional and more 
comprehensive investigations pertaining to the 
problem of mine caves and surface support. 
The immediate work of the mining engineers 
and geologists will comprise detailed studies 
of the extensive open-cut and underground 
mining operations in southwestern New 
Mexico. The field investigations will be con- 
ducted with special reference to earth pres- 
sures and surface subsidence in relation to 
the geological formation and mining condi- 
tions, and the equipment and efficiency of the 


518 


large mechanical installations in operation 
there. The Bureau of Mines, it will be re- 
membered, has already done a large amount of 
work in the problem of mine caves. Director 
Holmes and several mining engineers served 
in an advisory capacity on the board of the 
Scranton Mine-Cave Commission. Mining 
engineers of the bureau gave the subject spe- 
cial attention in their studies of Huropean 
mining methods and conditions. A mining 
engineer of the bureau served as a member 
and represented the cooperation of the bureau 
on the Pennsylvania State Anthracite Mine- 
Cave Commission, and in the investigations 
conducted in connection therewith extensive 
tests of mine-roof supporting materials were 
made at the Pittsburgh Experimental Station. 
The mining engineers and geologists of the 
bureau cooperated with the Scranton City 
Council, the Bureau of Mine Inspection and 
Surface Support, consulting engineers, and 
the Surface Protective Association in studies 
and reports for the development of practicable 
solutions of the serious mine caves occurring 
during recent years. Charles Enzian, mining 
engineer of the anthracite region, under the 
direction of Chief Mining Engineer George S. 
Rice, will represent the Bureau of Mines in 
this cooperative investigation. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 


THE new buildings and grounds of Rich- 
mond College were occupied at the begin- 
ning of the academic year. After eighty-two 
years on the site in the heart of the city of 
Richmond, the college opens the session of 
1914-15 in new buildings on a campus of 150 
acres in the western suburbs of the city. The 
opening of Westhampton College, the new co- 
ordinate college for women, occurred on the 
same day. The new grounds and buildings of 
Richmond College for men have a valuation of 
$850,000 and those of Westhampton College 
for women of $400,000. The buildings are of 
collegiate Gothic architecture and were de- 
signed by Messrs. Cram and Ferguson of 
Boston and New York. 


Captain THomas J. Situ, of Champaign, 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vor. XL. No. 1032 


Tll., has given land, valued at more than two 
hundred thousand dollars, to the University of 
Illinois, to make possible the erection of a 
building to house the department of music. 


At the opening of the Boston University 
School of Medicine, Dean Sutherland an- 
nounced that a gift of $100,000 had been re- 
ceived for the establishment of a maternity 
hospital. 


WE learn from the London Times that the 
Belgian minister in London has received a 
letter from the council of the senate of the 
University of Cambridge offering to professors, 
teachers and students of the University of 
Louvain such facilities in the way of access 
to libraries, laboratories and: lectures, together 
with the use of lecture-rooms, as may secure 
the continuity of the work of that university 
during the present crisis. While the Univer- 
sity of Cambridge is not in a position in its 
corporate capacity to offer direct financial 
assistance for the support of members of the 
University of Louvain, efforts are being made 
in Cambridge to provide such help privately. 
Mgr. Barnes, Roman Catholic chaplain of the 
University of Cambridge, has explained 
that the university had invited the University 
of Louvain to migrate to.Cambridge, and 
there to continue its own separate studies, 
granting its own degrees and generally con- 
tinuing its activities as at its own foundation, 
Cambridge supplying the facilities necessary 
for the technical carrying out of the work. 
Hospitality in the way of living accommoda- 
tion and so forth would probably be offered by 
the individual colleges and by private resi- 
dents. Through the American Legation at 
The Hague the professors of the University of 
Oxford have offered a home for the winter to 
the young children of the professors of the 
ruined University of Louvain. Dr. van Dyke 
has sent the message by two messengers over 
two different routes, hoping that one or the 
other may carry it through. The academic 
staff of University of London, University Col- 
lege, are prepared to offer hospitality to about 
40 members of French and Belgian univer- 
sities, whether professors, teachers, or students, 
men or women, who may find it necessary to 


ee Pes eB ka thine 


a 


Re 


a a mu 


OcToBER 9, 1914] 


take refuge in England. Special arrangements 
will be made as far as possible to meet the 
needs of French and Belgian students who 
desire to continue their studies in London. 


Proressor FraNK H. Constant, formerly of 
the University of Minnesota, becomes head of 
the department of civil engineering at Prince- 
ton University, succeeding Professor Charles 
McMillan, who has retired and been elected 
professor emeritus. 


JoHN E. Bucuer, associate professor of 
chemistry at Brown University, has been pro- 
moted to be head of the chemistry department 
to fill the vacancy caused by the retirement of 
Professor John H. Appleton. Dr. Harold 
Bigelow, of Mount Alliston University, is 
added to the faculty as assistant professor of 
chemistry. 


Dr. Cuartes ALTON Eis, formerly of the 
University of Michigan, and recently engaged 
as a practising engineer, has been appointed 
assistant professor of civil engineering in the 
University of TIlinois. 


Dr. E. Haynes, of the Lick Observatory, 
has been made associate professor of astron- 
omy at Beloit College and director of the 
Smith Observatory. 


J. Crospy CHapmMan, B.A. (Cambridge), 
D.Se. (London), Ph.D. (Columbia), has been 
elected assistant professor of experimental 
education of Western Reserve University. 


Amone the new faculty appointments at 
Oberlin College the more important are the 
following: Dr. H. N. Holmes as professor of 
chemistry and head of the department. Dr. 
Holmes received his A.B. from Westminster 
College in 1899 and the doctorate from Johns 
Hopkins in 1907. He comes to Oberlin from 
Earlham to succeed Professor Allen W. C. 
Menzies who goes to Princeton. Dr. H. A. 
Miller has been made professor of sociology 
and head of the department. Dr. Miller re- 
ceived his A.B. from Dartmouth in 1899 and 
his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1905. He comes 
from Olivet College. Dr. George R. Wells is 
promoted to be associate professor of psychol- 
ogy and Dr. E. M. Kitch enters the depart- 
ment of philosophy as associate professor after 


SCIENCE 519 


two years of study in the University of Chi- 
cago. 

Cuances in the scientific staff of the Uni- 
versity of Idaho have been made as follows: 
Dr. Chester Snow, associate professor of 
mathematics; Dr. John J. Putnam, associate 
professor of bacteriology, in charge of the de- 
partment; Associate Professor C. W. Hick- 
man, department of animal husbandry; Mr. 
Newell S. Robb, in charge of the department 
of agronomy; Assistant Professor O. W. 
Holmes, department of dairying; Professor 
C. E. Coolidge, mechanical engineering; Pro- 
fessor A. M. Winslow, civil engineering, and 
Mr. L. W. Currier, metallurgy and geology 
department. 


Mr. Stantey F. Brown and Dr. Wm. M. 
Thornton, Jr., have been appointed tutors in 


the department of chemistry, College of the 
City of New York. 


Dr. J. E. Rows, of Dartmouth College, has 
been appointed assistant professor of mathe- 
matics in the Pennsylvania State College. 


Prorsessor R. H. Yapp has been appointed 
professor of botany in the Queen’s University, 
Belfast. 


Mr. L. J. Gonpswortuy has been appointed 
professor of chemistry at the Victoria College 
of Science, Nagpur. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 


AN EXPERIMENT ON KILLING TREE SCALE BY 
POISONING THE SAP OF THE TREE 

I HAVE in my grounds a plant of Spanish 
broom about a dozen years old and with a 
trunk about four inches in diameter which has 
for several years been seriously infested by 
eottony cushion scale (Icerya purchasz). I 
have tried various sprays, have put scale-eating 
beetles on the tree and at one time cut all 
the branches off and sprayed the trunk several 
times in the attempt to get permanently rid of 
this scale, but up to last winter it seemed that 
all attempts were in vain. In February of 
this year, when the broom was very thickly 
covered with the scale I bored a 3 in. hole in 
the trunk to a depth of about three inches, 
filled the hole nearly full of crystals of potassic 


520 


cyanide and plugged it up. In two days the 
scale began to fall from the tree and in a few 
days all appeared dead. Others hatched and 
attacked the tree, but lasted only a short time, 
and the tree has since been free from scale and 
very vigorous. 

At the same time I bored a similar hole in 
an old peach tree which seemed to have passed 
its usefulness and put a like charge of potassic 
cyanide in it. The tree has since seemed more 
vigorous than before, and raised a fair crop 
of peaches. After feeding some of them to 
chickens and a rabbit with no apparent ill 
result, I ate some of the peaches, and could 
find nothing wrong with them. I have since 
put a similar charge of the cyanide in an 
orange tree with no apparent bad effect. 

It would seem from this experiment that it 
is possible in some kinds of trees, at least, to 
poison scale and sap-eating insects without 
injury to the tree. The method would seem 
to be especially adapted to killing various 
kinds of borers and insects which, like the 
pine beetles, burrow beneath the bark. 


FERNANDO SANFORD 
STANFORD UNIVERSITY, CAL., 
September 3, 1914 


LABORATORY CULTURES OF AMGBA 


To THE Eprror or Science: While Ameba 
may appear in hay infusions within five days, 
even when in sufficient quantity, it is often not 
desirable for laboratory study on account of 
its extremely small size. Again standard text- 
books of general biology give tolerably certain 
methods for obtaining the organism, within, 
however, a much longer time—in some cases 
from 5 to 6 weeks. The writer hopes that 
certain notes on this part of the laboratory 
routine may be of help. 

In preparing laboratory cultures of Ameba 
during the past three years, he has been led 
to collect material for his infusions from a 
number of different types of environment— 
stagnant and freshwater ponds, swamps, sew- 
age polluted streams, etc., and to make com- 
posite cultures of the material obtained. Such 
cultures, if not infertile, in the writer’s ex- 
perience rapidly attain the peculiar balance 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1032 


necessary for the flourishing growth of the 
organism, and yield in a comparatively short 
time, in one case as early as six days, a type of 
Ameba, which, if not always large, presents 
considerable advantage over that inhabiting 
the hay infusion. Such cultures have been 
available for study as lone as eight days. Very 
frequently, too, there are produced an abun- 
dance of Spirille, ete., which the Amebe 
obligingly ingest, while the whole microcosm 
seems to be one superior to that obtained in 
the infusion as ordinarily made. A number 
of control cultures made at the University of 
Pittsburgh and the Osborn Zoological Labora- 
tory, Yale University, showed that Ameba 
eventually appeared in one or more of the com- 
ponents of the composite culture, but in every 
ease later. Without any attempt at explana- 
tion, it seems to the writer, that there may 
be some parallelism between the condition of 
environment obtained in such a composite 
culture and that in the “varied environment 
medium ” as described by Woodruff.1 In con- 
clusion, it is noted that the results of the ex- 
periments have always remained fairly uni- 
form, although widely separated geographical 
localities have been involved. 


N. M. Grime 
BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY, 
UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH 


THE ORIGIN OF MUTATION 


THE word mutation appears to have sud- 
denly arisen in 1650, according to Lock. It 
appeared again independently two hundred 
and nineteen years later. This recent advent 
(1869) has been termed the “ Mutations of 
Waagen” (1912). Darwin at times spoke of 
species as “mutable,” and de Vries (1901) has 
made the word famous. 

Since in the pages of this journal and else- 
where in the States there has been an attempt 
to show that the word was preoccupied in 2 
sense different from that in which de Vries 
used it, the following quotation from Lock, 
“ Recent Progress in the Study of Variation, 
Heredity and Evolution,”2 may be interesting. 


1 American Naturalist, XLII. 
2 Third edition, 1911, p. 124. 


OcToBER 9, 1914] 


Perhaps the earliest use of the actual word 
“‘mutation’’ in this sense is to be found in 
“*Pseudodoxia Epidemica,’’ by Dr. Thomas Browne. 
I quote from Book VI., Chapter X., ‘‘Of the 
Blackness of Negroes’’:2 ‘‘We may say that men 
became black in the same manner that some Foxes, 
Squirrels, Lions, first turned of this complection, 
whereof there are a constant sort in diverse Coun- 
tries; that some Chaughes came to have red legges 
and bills, that Crows became pyed; All which mu- 
tations, however they began, depend upon durable 
foundations, and such as may continue for ever.*’ 


XY 


PLEA FOR A STATUE IN WASHINGTON TO PROFESSOR 
SPENCER FULLERTON BAIRD 

To THE Eprror or Science: In Lafayette 
Square, opposite the White House in Wash- 
ington, there are five statutes in bronze, all 
of heroic proportions. They are of military 
characters, only one of them being that of an 
American. Each commemorates deeds of war 
and bloodshed, and their accessories consist 
of the implements and munitions of warfare. 
In the various parts of this city, within and 
without the majority of the federal and muni- 
cipal buildings, and in the museums, there 
are a great many statues—some in stone, some 
in metal—which have been erected to promi- 
nent characters in American history. A few 
of these are of foreigners, while the majority 
of them are of our own countrymen. Im some 
instances, the same person had two or more 
such statues erected in his honor, while Gen- 
eral Washington has apparently been favored 
with a half dozen or more. 

Again, these duplications invariably have 
military men as their subjects; and the greater 
their exploits were in the way of leading men 
in battle, in which thousands of their enemies 
were slain, the more likely are we to find them 
thus distinguished. It is safe to say that at 
least eighty-five per cent. of all such statues 
to be found in the city of Washington are of 
military men; and it is truly discouraging, 
as well as disgraceful, to note how very few 
there are which have been erected to writers 
or to men of science in any of its many 
departments. 


2 Second edition, 1650. 


SCIENCE 


521 


On the Smithsonian grounds there is one to 
Professor Joseph Henry, and Doctor Samuel 
D. Gross has been similarly honored in a fine 
statue which appears on the grounds of the 
Army Medical Museum. A very few others are 
to be seen about the city or in the public 
buildings, not half a dozen altogether thus 
commemorating the works of any of our great 
astronomers, chemists, biologists, surgeons, 
artists, inventors and others who have long 
ago passed away, while their works and dis- 
eoveries still redound to this nation’s credit, 
advantage and welfare, and that with ever- 
increasing force and volume. 

In line with the city’s improvements, there 
has recently been formed a small, park-like, 
subtriangular square, at a point where, in the 
near future, there will be a grand entrance to 
the National Zoological Gardens. This is 
situated at the intersections of Sixteenth 
Street, Columbia Road and Mount Pleasant 
Street, in a section which promises some day 
to be one of the most attractive parts of the 
northwest part of the city. 

There could be no better locality than this 
one, anywhere in the nation’s capital, upon 
which to erect a statue to Professor Baird, 
nor could any one be selected, from among 
those who have gone before in science, to 
more appropriately occupy this spot than he. 

Not only was Professor Baird largely re- 
sponsible for the establishment of the National 
Zoological Gardens and Park; but, as every 
scientist is fully aware, from one end of the 
world to the other, he, of all others, did more 
during his lifetime to augment and build up 
American zoological science, to start and en- 
courage the younger members of the pro- 
fession, and withal to very materially add to 
the literature of biology as a whole, as he was 
the author and co-author of several formal 
volumes on natural history and of over a 
thousand papers on allied subjects. The estab- 
lishment of the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries is 
almost wholly due to his energy and foresight; 
while as secretary of the Smithsonian Insti- 
tution he has left a record which, for scien- 
tifie achievement, enterprise and actual accom- 
plishment, has never been in any way ap- 


522 


proached, and it will remain unique for many 
generations to come. 

I am sure that the great body of scientific 
people of this country will be in full sympathy 
with the proposition here made, and it should 
not be a difficult matter to select and appoint 
a committee to carry it out successfully. The 
sanction of Congress can doubtless be readily 
secured, and the necessary means for the pur- 
pose easily obtained through subscriptions 
from American scientists and scientific insti- 
tutions. R. W. SHUFELDT 

WASHINGTON, D. C. 


BELGIAN PROFESSORS AND SCHOLARS 


To tHe Epriror or Scimnce: It would seem 
to me that the present time is a particularly 
appropriate one for our university adminis- 
trators and other organizations having to do 
with educational exchanges with Europe to 
give a special consideration to professors in 
Belgium. It is well known that in the uni- 
versities of that country there are many men 
eminent in the different departments of learn- 
ing, and in the present necessarily deranged 
conditions in their own country, an oppor- 
tunity to teach, or work in laboratories, in 
America might be particularly welcome. There 
could naturally be no thought of a comple- 
tion of the exchange by sending Americans 
to Belgium at this time. 

Tt might also be a useful thing if some of 
the generous benefactors of American insti- 
tutions could establish at least temporary fel- 
lowships or scholarships in appropriate Amer- 
ican institutions, carrying with them a stipend 
fully sufficient for academic, traveling and 
living expenses, for the benefit of young 
Belgians whose studies are interrupted by the 
war and who are not called to take arms in 
behalf of their country. Epwin B. Frost 

YERKES OBSERVATORY, 

September 30 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 


The Middle Triassic 
Faunas of North 
Perrin Smiru. 


Marine Invertebrate 
America. By JAMES 
U. S. Geological Survey, 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1032 


Professional Paper No. 83. 
Government Printing Office, 
Pp. 254, pl. I-XCIX. 

Many years ago the author of this paper 
planned, with Professor Alpheus Hyatt, a 
monographie treatment of the Triassic inver- 
tebrate faunas of America. As time went on 
it became evident that Professor Hyatt’s other 
engagements would prevent the carrying out 
of this plan. With his advice and assistance 
Professor Smith prepared a synoptic intro- 
duction to the Cephalopod fauna, issued as 
U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 
No. 40. 

As the work went on it became evident that 
the material would be too bulky for a single 
volume, so the Upper, Middle and Lower 
Triassic were planned to occupy each a single 
volume. 

That the Middle Triassic part is now first 
published follows from the fact that the 
manuscript was nearer completion than the 
others and contains more new material. The 
classification is that of the synoptic intro- 
duction above cited and is not repeated in 
detail in the present volume. 

The Middle Triassic fauna consists in the 
main, as here shown, of Cephalopoda, with a 
few bivalves, brachiopods and echinoderms, 
but not a single gastropod. 

Marine fossils of the Middle Triassic, ac- 
eording to Professor Smith, are known in 
North America, only from California, cen- 
tral Nevada and British Columbia. The 
Triassic of the eastern states is all non- 
marine. The continental deposits of Western 
America appear to have resulted from arid 
conditions, but the fossils of the marine sedi- 
ments were laid down in an arm of the ocean 
and not in a closed basin like the Caspian Sea. 
This is indicated by their close relation, 
faunally, to those of the other Pacific borders 
and to the ancient sea which in Mesozoic time 
covered a large part of southern Asia. The 
Middle Triassic of Western America is 
divided into two zones, the lower having a 
mixture of boreal and Hast Indian types and 
called after its zone-fossil, Parapopanoceras; 
the upper, with a Mediterranean fauna, plus 


Washington, 
1914. 4°. 


OcToBER 9, 1914] 


some Hast Indian types and taking its desig- 
nation from the bivalve Daonella dubia. 

A certain kinship still exists between the 
Middle Triassic faunas of western America 
and Asia, due perhaps to common descent as 
much as to migration. The relationship with 
the Eurasian Mediterranean or “ Tethys” 
fauna begins to be strong, especially among 
the Ceratitide. In the west Humboldt range 
of Nevada about twenty-five per cent. of the 
species are either identical with, or closely 
related to forms of the same age in the Medi- 
terranean region. The faunas of the latter 
and of America are more closely related to 
each other than either is to the boreal or to 
the East Indian fauna. These propositions 
are exhaustively illustrated by tabulation of 
the species. A full bibliography of the sub- 
ject is given, followed by descriptive matter 
which contains comparative data of great 
value, the more welcome because so seldom 
furnished by authors. The plates are admira- 
ble and the typography such as usually comes 
from the Government printing office. It may 
save some student time to know that “ Plate 
one” on pages 144 and 145, should read 
“Plate fifty.” W. H. Dati 


Monograph of the Shallow-water Starfishes of 
the North Pactfic Coast from the Arctic 
Ocean to California. By Appison EMERY 
VerRRILL. Harriman Alaska Series, Volume 
XIV. City of Washington. Published by 
the Smithsonian Institution. 1914. Large 
octayo, 2 vols., text (xii+408 pp.) and 
plates (110). 

For many years the remarkable starfish 
fauna of the west coast of America has occu- 
pied a large part of Professor Verrill’s time 
and attention, and these two fine volumes are 
the result of his study. The short preface 
recounts the varied sources of his material, 
which was very extensive and included nearly 
all of the important collections on the Amer- 
ican continent. The original material on 
which Dr. William Stimpson based his species 
is fortunately still extant and the reproduction 
of photographs of many of his types is one of 
the notable features of Professor Verrill’s book. 


SCIENCE 


523 


A large part of the material incorporated in 
the “ Introduction” (pp. 1-19) has been pub- 
lished by the author previously in articles in 
scientific periodicals, but considerable new 
matter is also included. The whole makes up 
a very interesting, though somewhat frag- 
mentary account of habits, senses, variability 
and other characteristics of starfishes in gen- 
eral and of the west coast starfishes in partic- 
ular. The general morphology of the Asteri- 
oidea is then taken up (pp. 20-94) and 
naturally, the classification of the group is 
next discussed (pp. 24296). The family 
Asteriide, which occupies more than two- 
fifths of the entire volume, is then treated in 
considerable detail; the morphology requires 
more than ten pages (27-39) ; the classification 
and the discussion of various genera and sub- 
genera, many new, occupy pages 40-56; and 
a very detailed but useful key to west coast 
species of Asteriid fills pages 57-67. 

There then follows (pp. 67-202) the full and 
often elaborate account of these species, begin- 
ning with the well-known Pisaster ochraceus 
(Brandt). It is interesting to note that Ver- 
rill makes the families Stichasteride and 
Heliasteride, as recognized by most former 
workers, subfamilies of the Asteriide, a change 
which is almost certainly in the right direc- 
tion. The old, familiar genus Astertas, which 
others have sought to subdivide but generally 
on trivial grounds and with poor success, Ver- 
rill boldly transforms into the subfamily 
Asteriine, and divides, on more or less impor- 
tant morphological grounds, into more than 
twenty genera. It is greatly to be regretted 
that nowhere does Verrill bring his proposed 
genera together in an analytical table or key, 
for it is by no means easy to determine what 
the interrelationships of his groups are. There 
ean be little doubt that many of these groups 
are valid genera, but it is hard to believe that 
all are. The difficulty of comprehending Ver- 
rill’s opinions regarding the groups is com- 
plicated by the use of “subgenera » and 
“sections,” which certainly seem superfluous, 
when one old, long-recognized genus is split 
into more than twenty! 

In his treatment of species, too, Professor 


524 


Verrill must plead guilty to being a “ splitter.” 
He himself says that he has added “thirty 
additional species” of Asterias, in the old, 
broad sense, to “over twenty” previously 
known from the Northwest Coast, “besides 
twenty well-marked new varietal forms, or a 
total of about seventy.” In fact, the free use 
of both subspecies and varieties has led to a 
regrettable complexity of nomenclature, which 
is at times almost if not quite quadrinomial. 
Thus we have the starfish Leptasterias epi- 
chlora, with four subspecies, under one of 
which, alaskensis, two varieties are recognized 
carinella and siderea, and we must therefore 
speak of these starfishes by means of four 
names. There are further three varieties 
listed (p. 1389) regarding which we are not 
told of what they are varieties, so we do not 
know whether they are to be designated by 
three names or by four. The distinction be- 
tween subspecies and varieties is not clearly 
made. On page 17, we are told that sub- 
species are “bathymetrical or geographical 
races,” but on page 133 the range of Leptas- 
terias epichlora is given as from Vancouver 
to Yakutat and Dutch Harbor, while on page 
137, the range of the subspecies alaskensis is 
said to be practically the same. On page 138, 
miliaris is said to be a new subspecies, but 
throughout the description is referred to as a 
variety. Under the head of varieties, Ver- 
rill includes (p. 17) “local variations due to 
unfavorable environments, sports, freaks, or 
hybrids.” And to these he thinks it necessary 
or at least desirable to give distinctive names. 
Of course, these matters are largely governed 
by individual judgment, but it can not be 
denied that such splitting tremendously com- 
plicates the task of mastering the group in 
which it is done. The present reviewer con- 
siders it both unnecessary and undesirable. 
Including all of his new species, subspecies 
and varieties, Verrill publishes in this volume, 
some seventy new names. (Many have been 
previously printed in a couple of preliminary 
papers.) These names are as a rule well 
chosen, euphonious and distinctive, indicating 
some peculiarity of the form. Only nine are 
names of persons, but eleven are geographical. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1032 


There are also no fewer than seventeen new 
generic names proposed, all of which are 
worthy of commendation. 

The northwest coast starfishes, not Asteriids, 
are discussed very fully in the section pages 
202 to 336. Such difficult genera as Henricia 
and Solaster are treated with skill and good 
judgment and much light is thrown on the 
interrelationship of the species in each genus. 
The section also includes much important 
morphological material and the discussion of 
many nomenclatural questions. In his treat- 
ment of these questions, Professor Verrill re- 
veals not only a very extended knowledge of 
the subject, but a delightfully catholic and 
unprejudiced spirit. On nearly all important 
points Verrill finds himself in accord with the 
conclusions of Fisher, and even when he feels 
obliged to disagree with that writer, the dis- 
agreements are always most courteously ex- 
pressed. The spirit in which all controverted 
points are discussed is one of the most admira- 
ble features of the book. 

The section on geographical distribution 
(pp. 837-873) falls naturally into two parts. 
The first deals with the region extending from 
southern California to the Arctic Ocean. 
Four distinct, though more or less overlapping, 
faune are recognized, the species belonging to 
each being listed. The interrelationships of 
these faunz, as well as their relation to those 
of other regions, is fully discussed. The second 
part of the section deals with the starfishes of 
southern South America, and also includes a 
long list of other extralimital starfishes, which 
are partially “described, revised or figured” 
in the work. The account of South American 
species includes important changes in nomen- 
clature, descriptions of new genera and some 
discussion of the relationship of these genera 
to those of the north. A complete list of all 
the new genera proposed in the volume is, 
given on page 874, and following that is an 
extended bibliography (pp. 374-388). A very 
satisfactory index completes the volume (pp. 
389-408). 

Professor Verrill is certainly to be congrat- 
ulated upon the completion of this important 
work, which has occupied him for several 


— 


OcTOBER 9, 1914] 


years. It will long be a standard reference 
book for the region it covers, while many of the 
analytical tables and keys will be of use else- 
where. The illustrations, particularly the 
volume of plates, are very fine and of inestima- 
ble value. It is rare indeed that better photo- 
graphs of starfishes are seen. The Harriman 
Alaska Expedition did much to advance our 
knowledge of the zoology of the northwestern 
American coast, and the volumes containing 
its results are notable for contents and appear- 
ance alike. But among them all, none take a 
higher rank or make a better impression than 
do these volumes on the starfishes, by the 
Nestor of American systematists. 


Hupert Lyman Ciark 
MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY, 
CAMBRIDGE, MASs., 
June 17, 1914 


The Weather and Climate of Chicago. By 
H. J. Cox and J. H. Armineron. Bulletin 4. 
The Geographic Society of Chicago. 

The authors, for many years official fore- 
casters at Chicago, are to be congratu- 
lated upon the completion of a laborious 
piece of self-imposed work. The volume is 
essentially the station Means Book im extenso 
with stress laid upon unusual and extreme 
conditions. Reading between the lines, one is 
conscious of the effort to deduce definite laws 
bearing upon forecasting, but the hope is not 
realized and indeed we are told that “ careful 
examination fails to afford any clue by which 
the nature of a season or year may be foretold, 
from any of its predecessors.” 

The discussion of temperature occupies 148 
pages, with 44 tables and 30 figures. Nowhere 
is there given an equivalent value in Absolute 
or Centigrade degrees. The mean annual 
temperature determined from doubtful records 
dating back to 1830, is 282° A. (48° F.), 
which does not differ greatly from the mean 
obtained from the official records, 1871-1910. 
The latter, however, are of somewhat doubtful 
value since they were made at no less than 
seven different localities. The table of daily 
normal temperatures on page 33 leads us to 
infer that the normals used by the Weather 


SCIENCE 525 


Bureau cover a period of 32 years only, while 
data for 42 years are at hand. 

The highest temperature officially recorded 
is 312° A. (103° F.), and the lowest 249° A. 
(— 28° F.). The year 1911 was the warmest 
since the establishment of the office, if we 
aecept the Federal Building records without 
correction. On 22 days the temperature 
reached or exceeded 305° A. (90° F.). This 
record was equaled in 1913. The greatest 
daily range was 290°-261° A. (62°-10° F.) 
which actually occurred between the hours of 
eight A.M. and midnight. 

Im discussing the effect of winds from Lake 
Michigan it is stated “the specific heat of air 
being less than one quarter that of water, the 
interchange of heat will result in a larger 
change of air temperature than of water tem- 
perature.” 

The meaning is not quite clear, but it should 
be remembered that while the specific heat of 
air (at constant pressure?) is 0.24, the specific 
heat of water vapor is twice this, and it is 
water vapor rather than air or water which is 
the effective temperature control. The cooling 
effect is noticeable at times far inland, but in 
general decreases rapidly with distance, often 
disappearing within 15 or 20 miles. The wind 
records need not, however, be taken too seri- 
ously, since the type of instrument used by 
the Weather Bureau gives only eight points 
of the compass, 7. e., one direction covers 45 
degrees. A shift of 22 degrees could not be 
detected. Again, the elevations have been 
changed a number of times, making the 
velocities uncertain. Calculated on the basis 
of hourly frequency, northeast is the pre- 
vailing wind. The highest daily wind, 2,167 
kilometers (1,347 miles), occurred at the Audi- 
torium Tower, but the highest recorded at the 
present location is only 70 per cent. of this. 
The authors think that the present velocities 
should be increased 10 per cent. to be com- 
parable. 

The precipitation records likewise are open 
to criticism, owing to faulty exposures and 
frequent changes. The authors frankly state 
that the effect of the poor conditions at the 
Auditorium Tower can not be questioned. 


526 


Apparently Chicago receives the same preci- 
pitation as the surrounding prairie region. 
Unfortunately no hourly readings of relative 
humidity are available and the period of bi- 
hourly values shown in Table CXII. is much 
too short to establish with any degree of accu- 
racy values for the various hours. A table of 
average monthly and annual relative humid- 
ities for 15 cities in the United States is given, 
but no mention made of corresponding tem- 
peratures. As it stands, the table is without 
value for comparative purposes. 

The authors give generous credit to all who 
have helped in the work. The Geographic 
Society of Chicago has done well in making 
accessible data which otherwise might have re- 
mained buried in official files. The general 
make-up of the book is good. 


ALEXANDER McADIE 
BLuE Hitt OBSERVATORY 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 


SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE FOOD HABITS OF THE 
SHORT-TAILED SHREW (BLARINA BREVICAUDA) 


Or the six species of short-tailed shrews of 
the genus Blarina occurring in the United 
States, Blarina brevicauda, called the large 
blarina or mole-shrew, is the only one found 
north of the Austral region, and consequently 
is the only representative of the genus here in 
Massachusetts. It inhabits deciduous wood- 
lands and fields, where it makes shallow tun- 
nels that are often marked on the surface by 
little ridges. 

This shrew is described as follows on page 
11 of North American Fauna No. 10, U. S. 
Dept. of Agriculture :* 


General characters.—Size, largest of the sub- 
genus (total length about 125 mm.) ; skull largest 
and heaviest of the American Soricide; pelage 
glossy. Color.—Sooty-plumbeous above, becoming 
ashy-plumbeous below, varying with the light; 
paler in summer; glossy in fresh pelage. 


It has a stout body, nose rather long and 
tapering, external ears not visible, eyes very 

1U. 8S. Dept. Agriculture, North American 
Fauna Series No. 10, p. 4, 1895. ‘‘ Revision of the 
Shrews of the American Genera Blarina and 
Notiosorex,’’ by C. Hart Merriam. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1032 


small, front teeth chestnut colored at tips, and 
tail about one quarter the length of the head 
and body. It depends on the highly specialized 
senses of touch, hearing and smell for guid- 
ance in probing about and searching for food, 
the eyes being very slightly developed. 

General works on natural history speak of 
the diet of shrews as being chiefly worms, 
larvee of insects and small mollusks. 

Audubon and Bachman,? in speaking of the 
Carolina shrew (Blarina brevicauda caro- 
linensis), an animal somewhat smaller than 
the short-tailed shrew, say: 

In digging ditches and ploughing in moderately 
high grounds, small holes are frequently seen run- 
ning in all directions, in a line nearly parallel with 
the surface, and extending to a great distance, evi- 
dently made by this species. We observed on the 
sides of one of these galleries a small cavity con- 
taining a hoard of coleopterous insects, principally 
composed of a rare species (Scarabeus tityns) 
fully the size of the animal itself; some of them 
were nearly consumed, and the rest mutilated, al- 
though still living. 

Merriam® says that “it subsists upon beech- 
nuts, insects, earthworms, slugs, sow-bugs and 
mice.” He also speaks of its feeding on 
chrysoledes and the larve of imsects. He 
quotes Mr. John Morden, in the Canadian 
Sportsman and Naturalist, Vol. I1I., 1883, in 
which the latter describes the mouse-killing 
and eating propensities of the short-tailed 
shrew and draws these conclusions: 

According to my observations, the little mammal 
under consideration eats about twice or three times 
its own weight of food every twenty-four hours, 
and when we consider that their principal food 
consists of insects, it is quite bewildering to imag- 
ine the myriads one must destroy in a year. 

Merriam proceeds to tell of an encounter 
between a short-tailed shrew weighing 11.20 
grams and a deer mouse (Peromyscus leucopus) 
weighing 17 grams, in which the former was 
victorious, and after eating an ear, the brains, 
side of the head and part of the shoulder of the 
mouse, weighed 12 grams. He says: 


2 Audubon and Bachman, ‘‘The Quadrupeds of 
North America,’’ 1849. 

3 Merriam, ‘‘The Mammals of the Adirondack 
Region,’’ 1884. 


OcroBER 9, 1914] 


If left without food for a few hours he will eat 
corn from the cob, beginning at the outside of the 
kernel, but it is very clear that he does not relish 
his fare. He will also eat Indian meal and oats 
when other food is not at hand. Slugs and earth- 
worms he devours with avidity, always starting at 
one end, and manipulating them with his fore 
paws. But of the various kinds of food placed 
before him, he shows an unmistakable preference 
for mice—either dead or alive. 


Rhoads‘ writes: 


It is known that they (Blarina brevicauda) 
subsist to some extent on vegetable food, chiefly 
nuts, but they do only indirect damage to agricul- 
ture by disturbing the roots of plants. 


He also states that they eat “ salamanders, 
other batrachians, and reptiles which haunt 
their burrows.” 

Shull® found that this shrew eats house 
mice, May beetles (Lachnosterna) and their 
grubs, moth larve, other insects and pups, 
earthworms, snails of the genus Polygyra, 
sow-bugs and beef. “Carrots, crackers, roots 
of grasses and other plants,” he says, were 
never touched as food. 

Stone and Cram® relate the following ob- 
servation : 


One that I caught in a trap had already, when 
I found it, disposed of the raw meat which had 
served as bait, and when confined in a cage im- 
mediately seized upon whatever meat was offered 
it, whether raw or cooked, without discriminating 
between kinds. Beef, pork and cold chicken—all 
went the same way, while the fury of his appetite 
was being appeased. 


They also write: 


I believe that they get the greater part of their 
food at this season (winter) by burrowing about 
among the dead leaves beneath the snow in the 
forests, gathering the dormant insects that habitu- 
ally pass the winter in such places. 


Seton’ states that the diet of the short- 


4 Rhoads, ‘‘The Mammals of Pennsylvania and 
New Jersey,’’ 1903. 

5 Shull, ‘‘Habits of the Short-tailed Shrew, 
Blarina Brevicauda Say,’’ American Naturalist, 
Vol. XLI., No. 488, pp. 496-522, August, 1907. 

6 Stone and Cram, ‘‘American Animals,’’ 1905. 

T Seton, ‘‘ife Histories of Northern Animals,’’ 
1909. 


\ 


SCIENCE 527 


tailed shrew is chiefly insects and worms, but 
that it will eat “ any kind of living food it can 
find and master, preying largely, . . . on field 
mice, which equal or exceed it in weight.” 
He believes dormant insects form a large part 
of its sustenance in winter. He gives the 
following list of stomach contents findings 
from short-tailed shrews, taken at Oos Cob, 
Connecticut : 
No. 1. Earthworms, almost whole; membranous 
wings of beetle. 
No. 2. Connective tissue, cartilage and muscle. 
No, 3. Earthworm sete, parts of insects; some 
of its own hair, probably swallowed with food. 
No. 4. Harthworms. 
. 5. Harthworm set. 
No. 6. Insects. 
7. Insects. 
8. Legs of Isopod. 
No. 9. Muscles and sete of earthworms. 
10. Earthworms. 
11. Harthworms and insects. 
12. Isopod legs and insects. 
No. 13. Earthworms, insects, connective tissive 
and striated muscle, probably of some small rodent. 


Shull reports the findings of two stomach 
contents as follows: 

1. An insect larva. 

2. Meadow vole. 

In speaking of the short-tailed shrew, Corey 
quotes Dr. John T. Plummer? as follows: 


It was given flesh of all kinds, fish, coleopterous 
as well as other insects, corn, oats and other kinds 
of grain, all of which appeared to be acceptable 
food. ‘‘The corcle of the grains of maize was al- 
ways eaten out, as it is by rats and mice.’’?’ When 
water was put into the box the shrew ‘‘wet his 
tongue two or three times and went away; but 
when worms were dropped into the cup, he re- 
turned, waded about in the water, snatched up his 
victim, maimed it, stored it away, and returned 
repeatedly for more till all were secured.’’ A full- 
grown living mouse was put into the box, which 
was at once fiercely pursued by the shrew, attacked 
and killed. Another mouse met with the same fate. 


This habit of attacking mice is well known 
among those who have studied into the matter. 
Merriam and Morden have vividly described 

8 Corey, ‘‘The Mammals of Illinois and Wiscon- 
sin,’’? Publication 153, Zool. Ser., Vol. VI., Field 
Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Ill., 1912. 

9 Am. Jour. of Sci., Vol. XLVI., 1884. 


528 


such encounters, but Kennicott!® is the only 
writer who has described an encounter in 
which the shrew was attacked by the mouse. 
He says: “When attacked by a meadow 
mouse (Arvicola scalopsoides), etc. is 
Shull states, in speaking of short-tailed shrews 
kept in confinement, that house mice were 
captured when they entered the shrews’ bur- 
rows, while voles were pursued and cornered 
above ground, and that most of the killing was 
done at night. 

While the observations referred to above 
were regarding house mice (Mus musculus), 
meadow mice (Microtus pennsylvanicus) and 
white-footed or deer mice (Peromyscus leuco- 
pus), the writer found that red-backed mice 
(Hvotomys gappert) were no exception, for on 
two occasions a short-tailed shrew which the 
writer had under observation, overcame and 
killed a red-back without apparent injury to 
itself. Morden states that it took about ten 
minutes for a short-tailed shrew to overcome 
and kill a meadow mouse larger than itself, 
and Merriam found his 11.2 gram shrew was 
half an hour in tirmg and half an hour in 
killing a 17-gram deer mouse. In the en- 
counter witnessed by the writer, it required 
twelve minutes for the shrew to kill the mouse 
after getting its first hold. On another occa- 
sion the shrew, which weighed 15 grams, 
captured and killed during the night a red- 
backed mouse, weighing 29 grams and seemed 
uninjured after the encounter. 

It is difficult to conceive how a shrew, with 
its very limited vision (the eyes being prob- 
ably of service only in distinguishing light 
from darkness) can capture an uninjured 
mouse in the freedom of the woods (the box 
in which the shrew and mice were confined was 
18 in. X 20 in.) yet this shrew had a syste- 
matic method of attack, and always opened 
the skull of its victim in the same general loca- 
tion, which would seem to indicate that it had 
had experience in such encounters, or else 
had acquired the knowledge by heredity, which 
would also indicate a long series of such 


10 Kennicott, Report of the Commissioner of 
Patents for 1857. Agriculture, ‘‘The Quadrupeds 
of Illinois Injurious and Beneficial to the Farmer.’’ 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1032 


battles by its ancestors. An exception to its 
habitual method of opening the skull was ob- 
served one day when an adult Norway rat 
(EHpimys norvegicus) freshly killed, was 
placed in the box. Instead of entering the 
cranial cavity between the eye and ear, as 
usual, it opened the throat and worked into the 
brain through the base of the skull. 

An interesting habit which this shrew 
exhibited, and which may illustrate one method 
of capturing mice under natural conditions, 
was noted as follows: Whenever a live mouse 
was placed in the box with the shrew, the 
latter at once secreted itself under some small 
pile of leaves or moss. In the course of a few 
minutes the mouse, while exploring its new 
quarters, would jump on the pile under which 
the shrew was concealed, whereupon the 
shrew would spring up and try to get hold of 
the mouse. This was attempted on several 
occasions, always, however, without success. 

Animal food in any form seemed acceptable, 
while only a limited variety of vegetable matter 
was eaten. It ate grasshoppers (Melanoplus 
femoratus) and crickets (Gryllus Penn.) with 
avidity; raw beef sparingly, preferring the 
fat; and small amounts of American cheese. 
One morning when no other food was at hand, 
it devoured the abdominal contents of another 
shrew of the same species, freshly killed. As 
soon as other food was placed in the box, 
however, the remains of the dead shrew were 
at once and permanently deserted, which would 
indicate that this animal did not become 
cannibalistic except under stress of circum- 
stances. In-speaking of this habit it may be 
of interest to quote Merriam’s observations on 
the long-tailed shrew (Sorex personatus), a 
much smaller animal. He writes, 

I once confined three of them under an ordinary 
tumbler. Almost immediately they commenced 
fighting, and in a few minutes one was slaughtered 
and eaten by the other two. Before night one of 
these killed and ate its only surviving companion, 
and its abdomen was much distended by the meal. 
Hence, in less than eight hours one of these tiny 
wild beasts had attacked, overcome and ravenously 
consumed two of its own species, each as large and 
heavy as itself! 


Another shrew under observation devoured 


OcToBER 9, 1914] 


a small garden toad, but allowed a large one 
(40 grams est.) to remain in the box for five 
hours unmolested, at the end of which time 
the toad was removed. 

Professor Cope* writes of a Carolina shrew 
overcoming a water snake (T'ropidonotus sipe- 
don) two feet in length, in a night, which 
shows the courage and fighting qualities of 
this little beast. 

To test the keenness of the senses of this 
shrew, a skin of a meadow jumping mouse 
(Zapus hudsonius), dried some months previ- 
ously, was placed in the box. It was at once 
furiously attacked, but was removed as soon 
as torn about the head, because of the pres- 
ence of white arsenic inside. So vigorous was 
the attack that the mouse skin was repeatedly 
lifted from the floor with the shrew still cling- 
ing on, biting and tearing. It would have 
been interesting to see how long the ill- 
directed attack would have been continued. 

Moles and shrews have been often accused, 
by farmers especially, of being agents of de- 
struction about gardens and of subsisting on 
the vegetable food found there. Im all prob- 
ability the only damage committed, by this 
species of shrew at least, is done indirectly, as 
referred to above, by disturbing roots while 
burrowing about for insects or worms. The 
following experiment, which bears on this 
matter, was carried out with the same results 
on two different occasions. The box being 
cleared of all food, the following twenty-one 
varieties of common vegetable matter, most of 
it freshly gathered, were put in: cabbage, 
cauliflower, lettuce, potato, carrot, parsnip, 
string-bean, pole-bean, summer squash, turnip, 
beet, sweet corn, rhubarb, kohlrabi, tomato, 
cucumber, peach, pear, canteloupe, banana and 
olive. At the end of nine hours (first experi- 
ment), the shrew was found curled up in one 
corner of the box, weak and listless, while not 
one of the vegetables had been touched, with 
the exception of the olive, which had been 
nibbled. (This may have been eaten to get the 
salt, as the olive had been kept in brine.) 


11 Cope, ‘‘On a Habit of a Species of Blarina,’’ 
Am. Nat., Vol. VIL, No. 8, pp. 490-491, Aug., 
1873. 


SCIENCE 529 


When the experiment was tried the second 
time, the shrew remained eleven hours without 
food, and showed quite a marked constriction 
about his abdomen at the end of that time. 
These results seem to vindicate the short- 
tailed shrew from the charge of being a garden 
thief. 

An exception to its non-vegetarian habits, 
however, was found to be made in regard to 
rolled oats. These it ate at first sparingly and 
with little relish, but later lived on them ex- 
clusively for fifty-two hours and at the end of 
that time seemed as vigorous and contented 
as ever. Seton speaks of taking a female short- 
tailed shrew whose stomach was full of corn 
meal unmixed, and owing to the unusually 
slow process of putrefaction in the animal, he 
reasons that it had been on that diet for some 
time. Merriam writes of one he had in con- 
finement that was “very fond of beechnuts 
and thrived when fed exclusively on them for 
more than a week.” Judging from these find- 
ings, dry vegetable food seems to be preferred 
to succulent varieties. 

The writer’s shrews did not exhibit the 
ravenous appetite attributed to the species by 
some observers. They did not pursue their prey 
persistently, and having captured it, seemed 
satished, for the time being, with a small 
amount of food. Shull gives two thirds of a 
meadow vole or one house mouse as the aver- 
age daily diet. This is a higher average than 
that made by the shrews under observation, as 
two thirds of a house mouse, or its equivalent, 
was amply sufficient. They drank small quan- 
tities of water frequently. However, within 
the twelve hours immediately following an 
eleven-hour fast, one ate 16 grams of animal 
food (more than the equivalent of its own 
weight—15 grams), which fact demonstrates 
their latent capabilities in that direction. 
Quoting Seton again, he says: 

Numerous experiments and observations on cap- 
tive animals prove that the Blarina, like its smaller 
kin, has an enormous appetite which must be satis- 
fied, or in a very few hours the creature succumbs. 


The writer found an uninjured shrew of this 
species, dead in a cage trap seventeen hours 
after setting it, showing that death by starva- 


530 


tion took place in something less than that 
time. 

The favorite diet of the animals under ob- 
servation was, without question, freshly killed 
mice. Shull, estimating four of these shrews 
to the acre, figured that on a farm of one hun- 
dred acres, they would, in a year, devour 38,- 
400. Realizing the vast amount of damage 
these rodents are capable of producing in agri- 
culture and considering also the almost exclu- 
sively carnivorous habits of the Blarina bre- 
vicauda, one must admit a great economic 
value for this shrew. H. L. Bascook 

DEDHAM, Mass. 


THE LIMIT OF UNIFORMITY IN THE GRADING OF 
COLLEGE STUDENTS BY DIFFERENT TEACHERS? 
In the University of Missouri our grades 

have, since five years ago, been defined by the 
frequencies of their permitted occurrence: 
according to our definitions 25 per cent. are 
superior, 50 per cent. medium and 25 per cent. 
inferior grades.2_ We hoped thereby to dimin- 
ish or even exterminate the divergence of 
marking then existing. We actually reduced 
this divergence; but only two thirds. We 
failed to exterminate it. One third of the 
former lack of uniformity persists, as may be 
seen from my previous report in SCIENCE, and 
we ask the question: Why does it persist? 

It seems that the chief cause is the inability 
(eall it unwillingness, if you wish, but nothing 
is gained by any name) of the teachers to 
differentiate between the performances justly 
to be expected of a freshman and a senior. 
For simplicity’s sake I speak of two college 
classes only. Instead of recognizing the rela- 
tively superior work of certain freshmen 
among the freshmen, the teacher compares 
their work with the work of seniors, and then, 
of course, finds it to be but weak. And, in- 

1 Read before Section L—Education—American 
Association for the Advancement of Science, At- 
lanta, December, 1913. 

2Compare two former papers: ‘‘The Grading 
of Students,’’ ScIENCE, 28, pp. 243-250, 1908; 
‘* Hixperiences with the Grading System of the Uni- 
versity of Missouri,’’? ScIENCE, 33, pp. 661-667, 
1911, 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1032 


stead of recognizing that some of the seniors 
are much less accomplished than other seniors, 
the teacher compares the weaker senior’s ac- 
complishment with that of the freshman and 
finds it quite remarkable. ‘The result is a 
widely spread tendency of teachers to report 
an excess of inferior grades in freshman classes 
and an excess of superior grades in senior classes. 
This seems to explain that persistent fraction 
of the lack of uniformity which we could 
not eradicate. 

Here is the example of an individual teacher 
in history whose total distribution of grades 
is approximately that prescribed by the uni- 
versity: 


2548up.  50¢M. 25% Inf. 
= 
aE 864s «M «1 ay 
Underclassmen ....... 1 16 51 25 7 
Upperclassmen ....... 6 30 40 20 4 


Is there any remedy? Jt seems simple. Let 
the teacher differentiate more between the work 
of freshmen and that of seniors. Assign to 
the freshman such tasks as are appropriate to 
the condition of the student who has just left 
the high school, and to the senior tasks which 
approach in difficulty, in the requirement of 
initiative, of resourcefulness, the tasks which 
the research work of the graduate school keeps 
ready for the senior as soon as he has his 
diploma. 

But this remedy is not as simple and easy 
of application as it looks, for the average 
college teacher seems to be incapable of mak- 
ing the differentiation required. Instead of 
comparing, rather, freshmen with high-school 
pupils and seniors with graduate students, he 
compares freshmen with seniors in the per- 
formance of an identical task given to both. 
However, we must have patience with the 
teacher. His own task is not small. There 
are three influences from which he can not 
easily free himself. (1) Freshmen and seniors, 
after all, belong socially to one group, that of 
college students, and neither to the group of 
high school pupils nor to that of members of 
the graduate school. (2) He is in mental 
contact with both freshmen and seniors all 
the time, but usually no longer with high 
school pupils and not, probably, with graduate 


a ee ea ee ee 


¢ 
i 
bs 
wy 
y 


i ee, 


OcTOBER 9, 1914] 


students either. (3) He probably has, fre- 
quently, in the same class both freshmen and 
seniors taking together exactly the same course, 
and then he can hardly be blamed for com- 
paring their work, even though in the abstract 
he ought not to compare it. If we want to 
solve the problem, we have to free the teacher 
who, usually, is incapable of freeing himself, 
from these three influences. And that looks 
like an almost hopeless problem. But, mean- 
while, let us not forget that two thirds of the 
lack of uniformity in grading among teachers 
can be removed, and that this can be done 
easily and simply by proper definitions of the 
grades, for example, by those definitions which 
we have used in Missouri. 

I have now practically said what I wanted 


-to say. If I continue, it is for the illustration 


of special points rather than for the state- 
ment of any additional principle. Let me 
recall the remark that the tasks to be assigned 
to seniors, or to members of both upper classes, 
ought to approach in the requirement of ini- 
tiative, of resourcefulness, of originality the 
tasks which the research work of the graduate 
school places upon its students. I here wish 
to make it clear that the average college 
teacher may be expected to offer stubborn re- 
sistance to such a demand. For the illustra- 
tion of the fact that the work assigned to 
upper classmen generally approaches, in the 
lack of any requirement of resourcefulness, 
the work of the high school rather than that of 
the graduate school, let me refer to data which, 
at the first glance, seem to be unrelated to the 
question, but which nevertheless illustrate it 
well. I am thinking of the high marks ob- 
tained by the women students in coeducational 
institutions. In the University of Missouri we 
find for the first semester 1912/13 the follow- 
ing record: 


Grade Per Cent. | Per Cent. | Per Cent. 
Hours Superior Medium Inferior 

22,000 | Men 23 53 24 
7,000 | Women 29 55 16 


I suppose that the purpose of college train- 
ing is to prepare students to meet more pro- 
ficiently all the varied demands which society 


SCIENCE 5d 


later will make upon them,—as the common 
phrase is, to make better men and better 
women of them. According to the college 
records one should expect that women rather 
than men would be found to be the leaders of 
human society. As a matter of fact there are 
but few women among the leaders of mankind 
even in this decade of this century. I recog- 
nize, of course, that women are handicapped 
by three conditions, by legal discriminations, 
by the force of tradition, and especially by 
the obstacles resulting from motherhood. No 
one, however, would assert that, these obstacles 
being removed, the women would surpass the 
men in the leadership of society. There is, 
then, something wrong in such college records 
which bluntly state that college women are 
better prepared for leadership in human life 
than college men. What is wrong in these 
records is obviously the result of the teachers 
giving the wrong kind of a test. Instead of 
testing the initiative which the student should 
have been trained to put into action for the 
solution of a certain kind of problems, the 
teacher tests almost exclusively that kind of 
accomplishment which depends on the degree 
of faithfulness and regularity in the perform- 
ance of assigned tasks. We need not be 
astonished that the average teacher does not 
and really can not give the former kind of test, 
the test of “initiative put into action.” Edu- 
cational science is still so undeveloped that in 
many subjects the teacher himself does not 
know how to give such a test. And then— 
he who tests initiative has to employ initia- 
tive himself in the act of testing. That re- 
quires an immensely greater effort on the part 
of the teacher than to test, in the traditional 
way, how faithfully the students have done 
their assigned work, and so we ean hardly 
expect the teacher, already overworked, to put 
himself under the strain resulting from a more 
proper method of testing. 

The same conditions apply to the testing of 
freshmen and seniors. The seniors, being 
only one step removed from graduate students, 
ought to possess a comparative degree of 
initiative. But their-examinations are con- 
ceived more like those of college freshmen 


532 


than like those of beginners in graduate work. 
The teacher thus develops in himself the illu- 
sion that his average senior, however illogical 
this is, stands above the average of his own 
group, and that all the seniors deserve un- 
usually high marks, that is, in comparison 
with freshmen. But let these seniors enter 
the graduate school, and some of them will 
be found, by the different kind of test there 
employed, to be almost incapable of doing any 
graduate work at all, because they are deficient 
in originality, initiative, resourcefulness, what- 
ever you call it, in their chosen line. 

This tendency to compare freshmen and 
seniors is so deep-seated that there is no hope 
of eradicating it by simply calling attention 
to it. As in college, so you find it in the 
high school. My former colleague in Missouri, 
Professor C. Alexander, found in an (unpub- 
lished) imvestigation of the grading of high 
schools, that the freshmen are reported partly 
as average scholars, partly as superior, and 
partly as inferior; but the seniors, there, too, 
are reported mostly as high-grade scholars. 
The low-grade scholars are said to have been 
eliminated. Now some of these high-grade 
scholars, obviously not the worst, enter the 
state university. One should think, then, that 
our college teachers in the freshmen classes 
would find it a difficult task to separate from 
this whipping cream any more plain milk. 
But the contrary is true. Onr teachers com- 
plain constantly of the poor scholarship of 
these “selected” college freshmen. 

All this shows, by the way, how unfounded 
the statement is which we hear again and 
again that the normal, 7. e., symmetrical, curve 
of distribution is imapplicable to college stu- 
dents because they are supposed to be a 
selected group. Only then would the sym- 
metrical curve of distribution be inapplicable, 
if the college freshmen under consideration 
had been selected by freshmen tests from col- 
lege freshmen, or if the college seniors had 
been selected, by tests appropriate to seniors, 
from the entire group of seniors. There is no 
reason why the symmetrical curve should be 
inapplicable to the entire group of freshmen, 
or to the entire group of seniors, or to the en- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1032 


tire group of graduate students or to any group, 
provided only that the group is complete as a 
group. That the group came into existence by 
selection from a different group does not seem 
to matter when each new group is confronted 
with new kinds of tasks. There are those who 
say that it is easy to prove, by examination 
tests of the ordinary, traditional type, that 
college students must be regarded as a selected 
class? in the sense that their distribution is 
not represented by a symmetrical, but by a 
skewed curve. I have already, a few years ago, 
ealled attention to the fact* that such examina- 
tions are unreliable. Simply make the exam- 
ination difficult and set a time limit; the curve 
appears skewed one way, most of those tested 
crowding in the direction of low ability. 
Make the examination easy and abolish or 
greatly extend the time limit; the curve ap- 
pears skewed the other way. I offer to prove 
at will by an examination left to my choice 
that any group of students is distributed either 
way. Just tell me in advance which way you 
want the curve skewed. 

For the practical problems of college admin- 
istration this question as to the exact nature 
of the curve of distribution is really of minor 
importance. If, however, we just have to 
make an assumption, it is safest to assume the 
symmetrical normal distribution. We have 
assumed in Missouri that the distribution is 
either normal or very nearly so and experi- 
enced no inconvenience. We have reduced 
the lack of uniformity between teachers to 
one third of its former amount simply by 
the adoption of scientifically justifiable defi- 
nitions, and a reduction to that amount is 
worth while. But to eradicate the last third 
is a complex problem of the future, so com- 
plex that it may never be completely solved. 
As has been indicated, it seems to involve 
problems of our whole educational system and 
even of the broader social organization of the 
nation. 

Max MEYER 


3 Compare the two tendencies, conflicting with 
each other, according to Cattell, Popular Science 
Monthly, 1905, p. 372. 

4 ScIENCE, 33, p. 667, 1911. 


VoL. XL. No. 1033 


SCIENCE 


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Se a 


SCIENCE: 


Fray, Octoser 16, 1914 


CONTENTS 


The Earth’s Crust: SiR THomAs H. HouuaNnD. 533 


Fraternities and Scholarships at the Uniwer- 
sity of Illinois: ARTHUR Ray WARNOCK. 542 


Theodore Nicholas Gill. ................+-. 547 
Scientific Notes and News ................ 550 
University and Educational News .......... 553 


Discussion and Correspondence :— 


Dr. Bateson’s Presidential Address: Dr. 
Wm. H. Datu. Heredity and Mental 
Traits: PROFESSOR JOSEPH JASTROW. 
Quantity and Rank of University Attend- 
ance: Dr. CHARLES R. Keyes. The Fur- 
Seal Inquiry, the Congressional Committee 

_ and the Scientist: Dr. RaymMonp C. Os- 
UI cade chioct tind > OGbo Re Oy aoe mood HD 554 


Scientific Books :— 


Recent Books on Mathematics: PROFESSOR 
Cassius J. Krysrer. Thorpe’s Dictionary 
of Applied Chemistry: Dr. W. R. WHITNEY. 
The Royal Society’s Catalogue of Scien- 
tific Papers: Dr. F. H. GARRISON ........ 559 


The National Conference Committee: Pro- 
FESSOR FREDERICK C. FERRY ............ 565 


Special Articles :-— 
The ‘“Multiple Unit’? System as a Source 
of Electricity for Laboratories: Dr. C. L. 
Wits GEMEIS SHURA stelcncy opapateeyeke penis thet Gry. ei she le, cveuearetel 566 


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


THE HARTH’S CRUST1 


Tue idea of the greater inequalities of 
the globe being approximately static equi- 
librium has been recognized for many 
years: it was expressed by Babbage and 
Herschel; it was included in Archdeacon 
Pratt’s theory of compensation; and it 
was accepted by Fisher as one of the funda- 
mental facts on which his theory of moun- 
tain structure rested. But in 1889 Captain 
C. H. Dutton presented the idea ‘‘in a 


‘ modified form, in a new dress, and in 


greater detail’’; he gave the idea orthodox 
baptism and a name, which seems to be 
necessary for the respectable life of any 
scientific theory. ‘‘For the condition of 
equilibrium of figure, to which gravitation 
tends to reduce a planetary body, irespect- 
ive of whether it be homogeneous or not.’’ 
Dutton? proposed ‘‘the name isostasy.’’ 


‘The corresponding adjective would be iso- 


static—the state of balance between the ups 
and downs on the earth. 

For a long time geologists were forced 
to content themselves with the conclusion 
that the folding of strata is the result of 
the crust collapsmg on a cooling and 
shrinking core; but Fisher pointed out that 
the amount of radial shrinking could not 
account even for the present great surface 
inequalities of the lithosphere, without re- 


gard to the enormous lateral shortening in- 


dicated by the folds in great mountain 
regions, some of which, like the Himalayan 


1Concluding part of the address of the presi- 
dent of the Geological Section of the British As- 
sociation for the Advancement of Science, Aus- 
tralia, 1914. 

2 Dutton, ‘‘On Some of the Greater Problems of 
Physical Geology,’’ Bull. Phil. Soc. Wash., XL., 
53, 1889. 


534 


folds, were formed at a late date in the 
earth’s history, folds which in date and 
direction have no genetic relationship 
to G. H. Darwin’s primitive wrinkles. 
Then, besides the folding and plication of 
the crust in some areas, we have to account 
for the undoubted stretching which it has 
suffered in other places, stretching of a 
kind indicated by faults so common that 
they are generally known as normal faults. 
It has been estimated by Claypole that the 
folding of the Appalachian range resulted 
in a horizontal compression of the strata to 
a belt less than 65 per cent. of the original 
breadth. According to Heim the diameter 
of the northern zone of the central Alps is 
not more than half the original extension 
of the strata when they were laid down in 
horizontal sheets. De la Beche, in his 
memoir on Devon and Cornwall, which an- 
ticipated many problems of more than local 
interest, pointed out that, if the inclined 
and folded strata were flattened out again, 
they would cover far more ground than 
that to which they are now restricted on 
the geological map. Thus, according to 
Dutton, Fisher, and others, the mere con- 
traction of the cooling globe is insufficient 
to account for our great rock-folds, espe- 
cially great folds like those of the Alps and 
the Himalayas, which have been produced 
in quite late geological times. It is pos- 
sible that this conclusion is in the main 
true; but in coming to this conclusion we 
must give due value to the number of 
patches which have been let into the old 
crustal envelope—masses of igneous rock, 
mineral veins and hydrated products which 
have been formed in areas of temporary 
stretching, and have remained as perma- 
nent additions to the crust, increasing the 
Size and bagginess of the old coat, which, 
since the discovery of radium, is now re- 
garded as much older than was formerly 
imagined by non-geological members of the 
scientifie world. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1033 


The peculiar nature of rock-folds pre- 
sents also an obstacle no less formidable 
from a qualitative point of view. If the 
skin were merely collapsing on its shrink- 
ing core we should expect wrinkles in all 
directions; yet we find great folded areas 
like the Himalayas stretching continuously 
for 1,400 miles, with signs of a persistently 
directed overthrust from the north; or we 
have folded masses like the Appalachians 
of a similar order of magnitude stretching 
from Maine to Georgia, with an unmistak- 
able compression in a northwest to south- 
east direction. The simple hypothesis of a 
collapsing crust is thus ‘‘quantitatively in- 
sufficient,’? according to Dutton, though 
this is still doubtful, and it is “‘qualita- 
tively inapplicable,’’ which is highly prob- 
able. 

In addition to the facts that rock-folds 
are maintained over such great distances 
and that later folds are sometimes found 
to be superimposed on older ones, geologists 
have to account for the conditions which 
permit of the gradual accumulation of 
enormous thicknesses of strata without cor- 
responding rise of the surface of deposi- 
tion. 

On the other hand, too, in folded regions 
there are exposures of beds superimposed 
on one another with a total thickness of 
many miles more than the height of any 
known mountain, and one is driven again 
to conclude that uplift has proceeded pari 
passu with the removal of the load through 
the erosive work of atmospheric agents. 

It does not necessarily follow that these 
two processes are the direct result of load- 
ing in one case and of relief in the other; 
for slow subsidence gives rise to the condi- 
tions that favor deposition and the uplift- 
ing of a range results in the increased 
energy of eroding streams. 

Thus there was a natural desire to see if 
Dutton’s theory agreed with the variations 
of gravity. If the ups and downs are bal- 


a PES 


OcTOBER 16, 1914] 


aneed, the apparently large mass of a 
mountain-range ought to be compensated 
by lightness of material in and below it. 
Dutton was aware of the fact that this was 
approximately true regarding the great 
continental plateaus and oceanic depres- 
sions; but he imagined that the balance was 
delicate enough to show up in a small hill- 
range of 3,000 to 5,000 feet. 

The data required to test this theory, 
accumulated during the triangulation of the 
United States, have been made the subject 
of an elaborate analysis by J. F. Hayford 
and W. Bowie.* They find that, by adopt- 
ing the hypothesis of isostatic compensa- 
tion, the differences between the observed 
and computed deflections of the vertical 
caused by topographical inequalities are re- 
duced to less than one tenth of the mean 
values which they would have if no iso- 
static compensation existed. According to 
the hypothesis adopted, the inequalities of 
gravity are assumed to die out at some uni- 
form depth, called the depth of compensa- 
tion, below the mean sea-level. The 
columns of crust material standing above 
this horizon vary in length according to 
the topography, being relatively long in 
highlands and relatively short under the 
ocean. The shorter columns are supposed 
to be composed of denser material, so that 
the product of the length of each column 
by its mean density would be the same for 
all places. It was found that, by adopting 
122 kilometers as the depth of compensa- 
tion, the deflection anomalies were most 
effectually eliminated, but there still re- 


3 J. F. Hayford, ‘‘The Figure of the Earth and 
Isostasy,’? U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, 
Washington, 1909. ‘‘Supplementary Investiga- 
tion,’’ Washington, 1910. See also Science, New 
Series, Vol. XXXIIT., p. 199, 1911. J. F. Hay- 
ford and W. Bowie, ‘‘The Effect of Topography 
and Isostatic Compensation upon the Intensity of 
Gravity,’’ U. S. Coast and Geodetie Survey Spe- 
cial Publication No. 10, Washington, 1912. 


SCIENCE 535 


mained unexplained residuals or local an- 
omalies of gravity to be accounted for. 

Mr. G. K. Gilbert, who was one of the 
earliest geologists to turn to account Dut- 
ton’s theory of isostasy, has recently of- 
fered a plausible theory to account for 
these residual discrepancies between the 
observed deflections and those computed on 
the assumption of isostatic compensation to 
a depth of 122 kilometers. An attempt had 
already been made by Hayford and Bowie 
to correlate the distribution of anomalies 
with the main features of the geological 
map and with local changes in load that 
have occurred during comparatively recent 
geological times. For example, they con- 
sidered the possibility of an increased load 
in the lower Mississippi valley, where there 
has been in recent times a steady deposi- 
tion of sediment, and therefore possibly 
the accumulation of mass slightly in ad- 
vance of isostatic adjustment. One would 
expect in such a case that there would be 
locally shown a slight excess of gravity, 
but, on the contrary, there is a general 
prevalence of negative anomalies in this 
region. In the Appalachian region, on the 
other hand, where there has been during 
late geological times continuous erosion, 
with consequent unloading, one would ex- 
pect that the gravity values would be 
lower, as isostatic compensation would 
naturally lag behind the loss of overbur- 
den; this, however, is also not the ease, for 
over a greater part of the Appalachian 
region the anomalies are of the positive 
order. Similarly, in the north central 
region, where there has been since Pleisto- 
cene times a removal of a heavy ice-cap, 
there is still a general prevalence of posi- 
tive anomalies. 

These anomalies must, therefore, remain 

4‘¢Ynterpretation of Anomalies of Gravity,’’ 


U. S. Geol. Surv. Professional Paper 85-C, 1913, 
p. 29. 


536 


unexplained by any of the obvious phe- 
nomena at the command of the geologist. 
G. K. Gilbert now suggests that, while it 
may be true that the product of the length 
of the unit column by its mean density 
may be the same, the density variations 
within the column may be such as to give 
rise to different effects on the pendulum. 
If, for stance, one considers two columns 
of the same size and of exactly the same 
weight, with, in one case, the heavy ma- 
terial at a high level and in the other case 
with the heavy material at a low level, the 
center of gravity of the former column, be- 
ing nearer the surface, will manifest itself 
with a greater pull on the pendulum; these 
columns would be, however, in isostatic ad- 
justment.° 

Gilbert’s hypothesis thus differs slightly 
from the conception put forth by Hayford 
and Bowie; for Gilbert assumes that there 
is still appreciable heterogeneity in the 
more deep-seated parts of the earth, while 
Hayford and Bowiée’s hypothesis assumes 
that in the nuclear mass density anomalies 
have practically disappeared, and that 
there is below the depth of compensation 
an adjustment such as would exist in a 


5Tt is interesting to note that the idea sug- 
gested by G. K. Gilbert in 1913 was partly antici- 
pated by Major H. L. Crosthwait in 1912 (Survey 
of India, Professional Paper No. 13, p. 5). Major 
Crosthwait in discussing the similar gravity 
anomalies in India remarks parenthetically: ‘‘ As- 
suming the doctrine of isostasy to hold, is it not 
possible that in any two columns of matter ex- 
tending from the surface down to the depth of 
compensation there may be the same mass, and 
yet that the density may be very differently dis- 
tributed in the two columns? These two columns, 
though in isostatic equilibrium, would act. differ- 
ently on the plumb-line owing to the unequal dis- 
tribution of mass. 

‘«The drawback to treating this subject by hard 
and fast mathematical formule is that we are in- 
troducing into a discussion of the constitution of 
the earth’s crust a uniform method when, in real- 
ity, probably no uniformity exists.’ 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1033 


mass composed of homogeneous concentric 
shells. 

In order to make the Indian observa- 
tions comparable to those of the United 
States as a test of the theory of isostasy, 
Major H. L. Crosthwait® has adopted Hay- 
ford’s system of computation and has ap- 
plied it to 102 latitude stations and 18 
longitude stations in India. He finds that 
the unexplained residuals in India are far 
more pronounced than they are in the 
United States, or, in other words, it would 
appear that isostatic conditions are much 
more nearly realized in America than in 
India. 

The number of observations considered 
in India is still too small for the forma- 
tion of a detailed map of anomalies, but 
the country can be divided into broad 
areas which show that the mean anomalies 
are comparable to those of the United 
States only over the Indian peninsula, 
which, being a mass of rock practically 
undisturbed since early geological times, 
may be regarded safely as having ap- 
proached isostatic equilibrium. .To the 
north of the peninsula three districts form 
a wide band stretching west-north-west- 
wards from Calcutta, with mean residual 
anomalies of a positive kind, while to the 
north of this band lies the Himalayan belt, 
in which there is always a large negative 
residual. 

Colonel Burrard’ has considered the Him- 
alayan and Sub-Himalayan anomalies in a 
special memoir, and comes to the conclusion 
that the gravity deficiency is altogether too 
great to be due to a simple geosynclinal de- 
pression filled with light alluvium such as 
we generally regard the Gangetic trough 
to be. He suggests that the rapid change 

6 Survey of India, Professional Paper No. 13, 
1912. 


Survey of India, Professional Paper No. 12, 
1912. 


OcTOBER 16, 1914] 


in gravity values near the southern margin 
of the Himalayan mass can be explained 
only on the assumption of the existence of 
a deep and narrow rift in the sub-crust 
parallel to the general Himalayan axis of 
folding. A single large rift of the kind 
and size that Colonel Burrard postulates is 
a feature for which we have no exact par- 
allel; but one must be careful not to be 
misled by the use of a term which, while 
conveying a definite mental impression to 
a mathematician, appears to be incongruous 
with our geological experience. There may 
be no such thing as a single large rift filled 
with light alluvial material, but it is pos- 
sible that there may still be a series of deep- 
seated fissures that might afiterwards be- 
come filled with mineral matter. 

With this conception of a rift or a series 
of rifts, Colonel Burrard is led to reverse 
the ordinary mechanical conception of 
Himalayan folding. Instead now of look- 
ing upon the folds as due to an overthrust 
from the north, he regards the corrugations 
to be the result of an under-creep of the 
sub-erust towards the north. Thus, accord- 
ing to this view, the Himalaya, instead of 
being pushed over like a gigantic rock-wave 
breaking on to the Indian Horst is in 
reality being dragged away from the old 
peninsula, the depression between being 
filled up gradually by the Gangetic allu- 
vium. So far as the purely stratigraphical 
features are concerned, the effect would be 
approximately the same whether there is 
a superficial overthrust of the covering 
strata or whether there is a deep-seated 
withdrawal of the basement which is well 
below the level of observation. 

Since the Tibetan expedition of ten years 
ago we have been in possession of definite 
facts which show that to the north of the 
central erystalline axis of the Himalaya 
there lies a great basin of marine sediments 
forming a fairly complete record from 


SCIENCE 


537 


Paleozoic to Tertiary times, representing 
the sediments which were laid down in the 
great central Eurasian ocean to which 
Suess gave the name TJethys. We have 
thus so far been regarding the central 
erystalline axis of the Himalaya as ap- 
proximately coincident with the old north- 
ern coastline of Gondwanaland; but, if 
Colonel Burrard’s ideas be correct, the 
coast line must have been very much further 
to the south before the Himalayan folding 
began. 

Representing what the Geological Survey 
of India regards as the orthodox view, Mr. 
H. H. Hayden® has drawn attention to some 
conclusions which, from our present geo- 
logical knowledge, appear to be strange and 
improbable in Colonel Burrard’s conclu- 
sions, and he also offers alternative ex- 
planations for the admitted geodetic facts. 
Mr. Hayden suggests, for instance, that the 
depth of isostatic compensation may be 
quite different under the Himalayan belt 
from that under the regions to the south. 
His assumptions, however, in this respect 
are, aS pointed out by Colonel G. P. Lenox 
Conyngham,°® at variance with the whole 
theory of isostasy. Mr. Hayden then sug- 
gests that most of the excessive anomalies 
would disappear if we took into account the 
low specific gravity of the Sub-Himalayan 
sands and gravels of Upper Tertiary age as 
well as of the Pleistocene and recent ac- 
cumulations of similar material filling the 
Indo-Gangetic depression. It would not be 
at all inconsistent with our ideas derived 
from geology to regard the Gangetic trough 
as some three or four miles deep near its 
northern margin, thinning out gradually 
towards the undisturbed mass of the In- 
dian peninsula, and Mr. R. D. Oldham,” 

8 Rec. Geol. Surv. Ind., Vol. XLIII., Part 2, p. 
138, 1913. 


9 Records of the Survey of India, Vol. V., p. 1. 
10 Proc. Roy. Soc., Series A, Vol. 90, p. 32, 1914. 


538 


with this view, has also calculated the effect 
of such a wedge of alluvial material of low 
specific gravity, coming to the conclusion 
that the rapid change in deflection, on 
passing from the Lower Himalaya south- 
ward towards the peninsula, can mainly 
be explained by the deficiency of mass in 
the alluvium itself. 

It is obvious that, before seeking for any 
unusual cause for the gravity anomalies, 
we ought to take into account the effect of 
this large body of alluvium which lies along 
the southern foot of the range. It is, how- 
ever, by no means certain that a thick mass 
of alluvial material, accumulated slowly 
and saturated with water largely charged 
with carbonate of lime, would have a spe- 
cific gravity so appreciably lower than that 
of the rocks now exposed in the main mass 
of the Himalaya as to account for the resi- 
dual anomalies. Some of the apparent de- 
ficiency in gravity is due to this body of 
alluvium, but it will only be after critical 
examination of the data and more precise 
computation that we shall be in a position 
to say if there is still room to entertain 
Colonel Burrard’s very interesting hy- 
pothesis. 

By bringing together the geological and 
geodetic results we notice five roughly par- 
allel bands stretching across northern 
India. There is (1) a band of abnormal 
high gravity lying about 150 miles from 
the foot of the mountains, detected by the 
plumb-line and pendulum; (2) the great 
depression filled by the Gangetic alluvium; 
(3) the continuous band of Tertiary rock, 
forming the Sub-Himalaya, and separated 
by a great boundary overthrust from (4) 
the main mass of the Outer and Central 
Himalaya of old unfossiliferous rock, with 
the snow-covered crystalline peaks flanked 
on the north by the (5) the Tibetan basin 
of highly fossiliferous rocks formed in the 
great Eurasian Mediterranean ocean that 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1033 


persisted up to nearly the end of Mesozoic 
times. 

That these leading features in North 
India can hardly be without genetic rela- 
tionship one to another is indicated by the 
geological history of the area. Till nearly 
the end of the Mesozoic era the line of 
erystalline, snow-covered peaks now form- 
ing the Central Himalaya was not far from 
the shore-line between Gondwanaland, 
stretching away to the south, and Tethys, 
the great Eurasian ocean. Near the end of 
Mesozoic times there commenced the great 
outwelling of the Deccan Trap, the remains 
of which, after geological ages of erosion, 
still cover an area of 200,000 square miles, 
with a thickness in places of nearly 5,000 
feet. Immediately after the outflow of 
this body of basic lava, greater in mass 
than any known eruption of the kind, the 
ocean flowed into Northwest India and 
projected an arm eastwards to a little be- 
yond the point at which the Ganges now 
emerges from the hills. Then followed the 
folding movements that culminated in the 
present Himalayan range, the elevation de- 
veloping first on the Bengal side, and ex- 
tending rapidly to the northwest until the 
folds extended in a great are for some 
1,400 miles from southeast to northwest. 

New streams developed on the southern 
face of the now rising mass, and although 
the arm of the sea that existed in early 
Tertiary times became choked with silt, 
the process of subsidence continued, and 
the gradually subsiding depression at the 
foot of the hills as fast as it developed be- 
eame filled with silt, sand, gravel and 
boulders in increasing quantities as the 
hills became mountains and the range 
finally reached its present dimensions, sur- 
passing in size all other features of the kind 
on the face of the globe. 

Now, it is important to remember that 
for ages before the great outburst of Dec- 


Sa ae 


OcTOBER 16, 1914] 


can Trap occurred there was a continual 
unloading of Gondwanaland, and a con- 
tinual consequent overloading of the ocean 
bed immediately to the north; that this 
process went on with a gradual rise on one 
side and a gradual depression on the other; 
and that somewhere near and parallel to 
the boundary line the crust must have been 
undergoing stresses which resulted in 
strain, and, as I suggest, the development 
of those fissures that let loose the floods of 
Deccan Trap and .brought to an end the 
delicate isostatic balance. 

During the secular subsidence of the 
northern shore line of Gondwanaland, ac- 
companied by the slow accumulation of 
sediment near the shore and the gradual 
filing away of the land above sea-level, 
there must have been a gradual creep of 
the crust in a northerly direction. Near 
the west end of the Himalayan are this 
movement would be towards the northwest 
for a part of the time; at the east end the 
ereep would be towards the north-north- 
east and northeast. Thus there would be a 
tendency from well back in Paleozoic times 
up to the end of the Cretaceous period for 
normal faults—faults of tension—to de- 
velop on the land, with a trend varying 
from W.S.W.-E.N.E. to W.N.W.-E.S.E. 
across the northern part of Gondwanaland. 
We know nothing of the evidence now 
pigeon-holed below the great mantle of 
Gangetic alluvium, while the records of 
the Himalayan region have been masked 
or destroyed by later foldings. But in the 
stratified rocks lying just south of the 
southern margin of the great alluvial belt 
we find a common tendency for faults to 
strike in this way across the present penin- 
sula of India. These faults have, for in- 
stance, marked out the great belt of coal- 
fields stretching for some 200 miles from 
east to west in the Damuda valley. On 
this, the east side of India, the fractures 


SCIENCE 539 


of tension have a general trend of W.N.W.— 
E.S.E. We know that these faults are 
later than the Permian period, but some of 
them certainly were not much later. 

If now we go westwards across the Cen- 
tral Provinces and Central India and into 
the eastern part of the Bombay Presidency, 
we find records of this kind still more 
strikingly preserved; for where the Gond- 
wana rocks, ranging from Permo-Carbon- 
iferous to Liassic in age, rest on the much 
older Vindhyan series, we find three main 
series of these faults. One series was de- 
veloped before Permo-Carboniferous times ; 
another traverses the lower Gondwanas, 
which range up to about the end of Per- 
mian times; while the third set affects the 
younger and Upper Gondwanas of about 
Rheetie or Liassic age. Although the pres- 
ent topography of the country follows 
closely the outlines of the geological forma- 
tions, it is clear from the work of the Geo- 
logical Survey of India that these outlines 
were determined in Mesozoic times, and 
that the movements which formed the latest 
series of faults were but continuations of 
those which manifested themselves in Pale- 
ozoic times. According to Mr. J. G. Med- 
licott, the field data showed ‘‘that a tend- 
ency to yield in general east and west or 
more clearly northeast and southwest lines 
existed in this great area from the remote 
period of the Vindhyan fault.’ The 
author of the memoir and map on this 
area was certainly not suspicious of the 
ideas of which I am now unburdening my 
mind; on the contrary, he attempted and, 
with apologies, failed to reconcile his facts 
to views then being pushed by the weight 
of ‘‘authority’’ in Europe. This was not 
the last time that facts established in India 
were found (to use a field-geologist’s term) 
unconformably to lie on a basement of 


11 Mem. Geol. Surv. Ind., Vol. II., 1860, Part 
2, p. 256. 


540 


geological orthodoxy as determined by 
authority in Europe. It is important to 
notice that the series of faults referred to 
in the central parts of India are not mere 
local dislocations, but have a general trend 
for more than 250 miles. 

A fault must be younger, naturally, than 
the strata which it traverses, but how much 
younger can seldom be determined. In- 
trusive rocks of known age are thus often 
more useful in indicating the age of the 
fissures through which they have been in- 
jected, and consequently the dykes which 
were formed at the time of the eruption of 
the great Deccan Trap give another clue 
to the direction of stresses at this critical 
time, that is towards the end of the Cre- 
taceous period, when the northerly creep 
thad reached its maximum, just before 
Gondwanaland was broken up. If, now, 
we turn to the geological maps of the north- 
ern part of Central India, the Central 
Provinces, and Bengal, we find that the 
old Vindhyan rocks of the Narbada valley 
were injected with hundreds of trap-dykes 
which show a general W.S.W.—H.N.E. 
trend, and thus parallel to the normal ten- 
sion faults, which we know were formed 
during the periods preceding the outburst 
of the Deccan Trap. This general trend of 
faults and basic dykes is indicated on many 
of the published geological maps of India 
covering the northern part of the penin- 
sula, including Ball’s maps of the Ram- 
garh and Bokaro coalfields* and of the 
Hutar coalfield,? Hughes’s Rewa Gond- 
wana basin,!* Jones’s southern coalfields of 
the Satpura basin,® and Oldham’s general 
map of the Son valley. 

We see, then, that the development of 


12 [bid., Vol. VI., Part 2. 

13 [bid., Vol. XV. 

14 Tbid., Vol. XXI., Part 3. 
15 [bid., Vol. XXIV. 

16 Tbid., Vol. XXXI., Part 1. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1033 


fissures with a general east-west trend in 
the northern part of Gondwanaland cul- 
minated at the end of the Cretaceous 
period, when they extended down, prob- 
ably, to the basic magma lying below the 
erust either in a molten state, or in a state 
that would result in fluxion on the relief of 
pressure. That the molten material came 
to the surface in a superheated and liquid 
condition is shown by the way in which 
it has spread out in horizontal sheets over 
such enormous areas. Throughout this 
ereat expanse of lava there are no certain 
signs of volcanic centers, no conical slopes 
around voleanic necks; and one might 
travel for more than 400 miles from Poona 
to Nagpur over sheets of lava which are 
still practically horizontal. There is noth- 
ing exactly hke this to be seen elsewhere 
to-day. The nearest approach to it is among 
the Hawaiian calderas, where the highly 
mobile basic lavas also show the characters 
of superfusion, glowing, according to J. D. 
Dana," with a white heat, that is, at a tem- 
perature not less than about 1,300° C. 
Mellard Reade has pointed out that the 
earth’s crust is under conditions of stress 
analogous to those of a bent beam, with, at 
a certain depth, a “‘level of no strain.’’ 
Above this level there should be a shell of 
compression, and under it a thicker shell of 
tension. The idea has been treated mathe- 
matically by C. Davison, G. H. Darwin, O. 
Fisher, and M. P. Rudski, and need not be 
discussed at present. Professor R. A. Daly 
has taken advantage of this view concern- 
ing the distribution of stresses in the crust 
to explain the facility for the injection of 
dykes and batholiths from the liquid, or 
potentially liquid, gabbroid magma below 
into the shell of tension.1® He also shows 


17 ‘Characteristics of Voleanoes,’’ 1891, p. 200. 

1s R, A. Daly, ‘‘ Abyssal Igneous Injection as a 
Causal Condition and as an Effect of Mountain- 
building,’’ Amer. Jour. Sci., XXII., September, 
1906, p. 205. 


OcroBER 16, 1914] 


that the injection of large bodies of basic 
material into the shell of tension tends on 
purely mechanical grounds to the forma- 
tion of a depression, or geosyncline. If 
this be so, are we justified in assuming that 
the heavy band following the southern 
margin of the Gangetic geosyncline is a 
‘range’? of such batholiths? The idea is 
not entirely new; for O. Fisher made the 
suggestion more than twenty years ago that 
the abnormal gravity at Kalianpur was 
due to ‘‘some peculiar influence (perhaps 
of a voleanic neck of basalt).’’?° 

Daly’s suggestion, however, taken into 
account with the history of Gondwanaland, 
may explain the peculiar alignment of the 
heavy subterranean band, parallel to the 
Gangetic depression and parallel to the 
general trend of the peninsular tension- 
faults and fissures that followed the un- 
loading of Gondwanaland and the heavy 
loading of the adjoining ocean bed along a 
band roughly parallel to the present Hima- 
layan folds. 

R. S. Woodward objected that isostasy 
does not seem to meet the requirements of 
geological continuity, for it tends rapidly 
towards stable equilibrium, and the crust 
ought therefore to reach a stage of repose 
early in geologic time.2° If the process of 
denudation and rise, with adjoining de- 
position and subsidenee, occurred on a solid 
globe, this objection might hold good. But 
it seems to me that the break-up of Gond- 
wanaland and the tectonic revolutions that 
followed show how isostasy can defeat it- 
self in the presence of a sub-crustal magma 
actually molten or ready to liquefy on local 
relief of pressure. It is possible that the 


19‘‘Physiecs of the EHarth’s Crust,’’? 2d ed., 
1889, p. 216. 

20°“ Address to the Sect. of Mathematics and 
Astronomy of the Amer. Assoe.,’’ 1889, Smith- 
somian Report, 1890, p. 196. 


SCIENCE 


541 


protracted filing off of Gondwanaland 
brought nearer the surface what was once 
the local level of no-strain and its accom- 
panying shell of tension. 

The conditions existing in northern 
Gondwanaland before late Mesozoic times 
must have been similar to those in south- 
west Scotland before the occurrence of the 
Tertiary eruptions, for the crust in this 
region was also torn by stresses in the 
S.W.-N.H. direction with the formation of 
a remarkable series of N.W.—S.H. dykes 
which give the one-inch geological maps in 
this region a regularly striped appearance. 

There is no section of the earth’s sur- 
face which one can point to as being now 
subjected to exactly the same kind and 
magnitude of treatment as that to which 
Gondwanaland was exposed for long ages 
before the outburst of the Deccan Trap; 
but possibly the erosion of the Brazilian 
highlands and the deposition of the silt 
carried down by the Amazon, with its 
southern tributaries, and by the more east- 
ern Araguay and Tocantins, may result in 
similar stresses which, if continued, will 
develop strains, and open the way for the 
subjacent magma to approach the surface 
or even to become extravasated, adding 
another to the small family of so-called 
fissure-eruptions. 

The value of a generalization can be 
tested best by its reliability as a basis for 
prediction. Nothing shows up the short- 
comings of our knowledge about the state 
of affairs below the superficial crust so 
effectually as our inability to make any 
useful predictions about earthquakes or 
voleaniec eruptions. For many years to 
come in this department of science the only 
worker who will ever establish a claim to 
be called a prophet will be one in Cicero’s 
sense—‘‘he who guesses well.’’ 


THomas H. Ho~tuanp 


042 


FRATERNITIES AND SCHOLARSHIPS AT 
THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 

For the past five years the office of the Dean 
of Men of the University of Illinois has been 
keeping records of the scholarship averages of 
the chapters of national social fraternities 
represented in the university. For the first 
two years these averages were not published. 
In 1912 the figures were given to the Alumni 
Quarterly with the idea that their publication 
might be of interest to fraternity alumni. 
Immediately the active members of the frater- 
nities became interested in the scholarship 
ranking, and the next report was published in 
the Daily Illini. Now the semi-annual pub- 
lication of the averages is awaited with no 
little impatience by the fraternities; in fact, 
from the time of the semester examinations to 
the publication of the report, the office of the 
dean of men is crowded with inquiries con- 
cerning the progress of the report. 

The accompanying graph has been pre- 
pared from the scholarship averages in the 
university for the ten semesters beginning 
with the first semester of 1909-1910. It shows 
specifically a comparison of the general fra- 
ternity average with the general university 
average for men; the effect upon the frater- 
nity average of the publication of scholarship 
rankings and of the university regulation 
which provides that freshmen must obtain 
eleven hours of university credit before. they 
may be initiated into a fraternity; and a 
study of the ups and downs of the averages of 
certain chapters. The graph is based upon 
the averages of 700 fraternity men and 2,600 
fraternity and non-fraternity men. 

A glance at the graph will show that in the 
ten semesters the fraternity average has gained 
upon the general university average for men, 
although it is still a little below it. Also, in 
1909 the chapters were widely scattered up and 
down the scale, and in 1914 they are closely 
grouped around the fraternity average. This 
fact means undoubtedly that during the inter- 
val between these years the fraternities have 
intensified their attention to scholarship; the 
various chapters are so much alike generally 
that when they all enter upon the same pur- 
pose they are likely to end up closely grouped. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1033 


At two points the fraternity average jumps 
up quite suddenly. One point is the second 
semester after the introduction of the practise 
of publishing the averages, and the other is 
the semester in which was introduced the regu- 
lation controlling the initiation of freshmen. 
The experience of the office of dean of men, 
as well as the graph, records that with the 
publication of the averages for the first time 
there came a quite sudden awakening of the 
fraternities to scholarship matters. The office 
at that time was forced to provide a special 
system for satisfying the demands of frater- 
nity officers for periodical reports on the prog- 
ress of the members. 

The reasons why the fraternities reacted so 
strongly to this stimulus for higher averages 
are various. The chapters at the bottom have 
undoubtedly been literally shamed into trying 
to raise their rating. A member of one of the 
chapters near the bottom when the first report 
was published said to me, “ For years we have 
listened to lectures on scholarship from na- 
tional officers and alumni, but nothing ever 
waked us up like that report. Why, every- 
where we went we were ‘kidded’ and laughed 
at until, at last, in sheer desperation we took 
to studying.” The fraternities near the top 
have been spurred on, undoubtedly, by the 
very natural desire to be first. But the great 
majority of the chapters are in little danger 
of being last and in only a small probability 
of being first. These middle-rank chapters, 
however, show fully as much concern over 
holding their position or improving it as do 
the chapters at the top and the bottom. 

The reasonable explanation is, I think, that 
the acknowledged rivalry which has long 
existed in certain groups of fraternities has 
come to include scholarship. The fraternities 
may not have welcomed scholarship as a stand- 
ard of comparison, but since the condition has 
been forced on them they are making the 
most of it. A member of one chapter said to 
me recently, “ As soon as these averages are 
published the so-and-so chapter send in to 
their national officers both their average and 
ours.” These two fraternities are strong 
rivals nationally. Another man said, in speak- 
ing of a freshman rushee from a small town, 


OcTosER 16, 1914] SCIENCE 543 


IRST SECOND FIRST SECOND FIRST SECOND 
M.S EM.SEM.S EM S EMS EM. 
12 11-12 ‘12-15 bh ‘1S“14 ‘15-14: 


B-OM>> D 
eaete 


Dole 
a 


FRATERNITIES 
AND SCHOLAR: 
SHIP a¢ the 
UNIVERSITYo7 
ILLINOIS 


geo VOLTAGE 
forall men stuckents 
ecm LEOLETTIULY | 


544 


“He didn’t know a thing about national 
standing, but he knew exactly the scholastic 
reputation of every bunch which he was con- 
sidering.” JI do not suppose that good or bad 
scholarship in the abstract, unless it is very 
good or bad, enters largely into the reputa- 
tion of a chapter, but the fact that in the only 
definite scheme of ranking we have this or 
that chapter ranks high or low is taken as a 
presumption of its general merit. 

A rather interesting commentary on the 
prevailing attitude toward low averages is an 
ironical line which appeared in the funny 
column of the Daily Illini, apropos of the re- 
turn in the second semester of certain well- 
known fraternity men who had been dropped 
out a semester for poor scholarship: “ Now 
listen to the joyous celebration in the frater- 
nities upon the return of some exiled flunker, 
batting average 52.08.” 

Beginning with the first semester of 1912- 
1913 the university at the request of the fra- 
ternities put into effect a rule providing that 
no freshman could be initiated into a frater- 
nity until he had earned eleven hours of uni- 
versity credits. The immediate effect of this 
rule, as shown by the graph, was to give the 
general fraternity average a gain of one point 
over the general university average. (The 
actual gain of the fraternity average over the 
non-fraternity average was more, for the gen- 
eral university average includes the fraternity 
average.) 

The direct benefit of this rule is, of course, 
upon the freshmen. The effect, however, has 
been felt by the fraternities all through, due, 
perhaps, to the additional emphasis placed 
upon scholarship in fraternity welfare, and 
especially upon the need which the fraternities 
have found to make conditions for study as 
favorable as possible for the freshmen. The 
flunking freshman has long been the “ gold 
brick ” which every fraternity might buy un- 
wittingly. The erratic record of Kappa Sigma 
in 1909 and 1910, as shown by the graph, as 
well as the record of Sigma Nu in 1910-1911, 
is explained by the coming in and the going 
out of the freshman flunker. In these cases 
the average for the first semester is very low; 
in the second semester, after the freshman 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Von. XL. No. 1033 


flunkers have dropped out, the average unex- 
pectedly climbs. 

The rushing season at the university is very 
short and hurried, and only the most excep- 
tional care serves to guard the fraternities 
against the irresponsible and purposeless fresh- 
man who will turn out to be a loafer unless he 
finds a strong necessity to be otherwise. There 
are always many such freshmen who must in 
one way or another be held to study during 
that early period which comes before they have 
learned the need and value of study for study’s 
sake. This freshman rule furnishes to fra- 
ternity freshmen the necessity and incentive 
to do otherwise than loaf. 

The following table shows the effect of this 
rule upon fraternity freshmen: 


Average of fraternity freshmen 1st sem- 


Estee, WMO Gocoeaococdngosacboccacs 80.57 
Average of fraternity freshmen Ist sem- 
Csi WOME sd ooaoasbdeuedodoousoss 82.29 


During the present year the fraternity 
freshman has been in an enviable place so far 
as grades are concerned, for he ranks higher 
than non-fraternity freshmen, higher than fra- 
ternity upperclassmen, and higher than the 
general university average for men, as follows: 


Average of fraternity freshmen Ist semester 


JIB ECE Ane rod mit omg GoGo os ediadaldolod.: 82.29 
Average of non-fraternity freshmen Ist sem- 

Gsiycies ile bs Gasca doouoaoo os 500Sc0C 81.19 
Average of fraternity upperclassmen Ist 

semesier UME. . coaacaocaeognacc0cs 80.32 
General University average for men 1st 

Seman WOM ME Sasscoodaocadaancoade 81.95 


The ambition of the freshman to pass eleven 
hours so that he may be initiated is, of course, 
not alone responsible for this high average of 
fraternity freshmen. It is to the interest of the 
chapter and its reputation to initiate all of its 
pledges; and so most of the chapters have strict 
rules for the conduct of the freshmen during 
study hours and in other ways urge them to 
study. I think, however, that the prospect of 
initiation at the end of the first semester 
furnishes a stronger stimulus than would the 
prospect of initiation at the end of a year’s 
work. One is led to the conclusion that if the 
upperclassmen were as closely supervised as 


OcTOBER 16, 1914] 


the freshmen are the fraternity average would 
probably creep up a notch or two farther. But 
as it is, the gain for the upperclassman is con- 
siderable, for a good start in the freshman 
year is likely to stand him in good stead for 
the three years thereafter. For this reason the 
fraternity average ought to show the effect of 
the introduction of this rule by a rise for the 
next two years, or during the period while the 
first two classes to enter under the rule are be- 
coming juniors and seniors. 

An interesting sidelight on the new state of 
affairs is the fact that at the end of the first 
semester of 1913-1914 five freshmen were re- 
leased from their pledges to fraternities mainly 
because they had turned out to be hopelessly 
poor students. 

The gain shown in the fraternity average as 
a result of the working of these two factors 
is gratifying. It is, however, perhaps too 
much to expect that the gap between the two 
averages will be closed up entirely. The 
normal position in most universities for the 
fraternity average is slightly below the gen- 
eral average. The explanation usually given 
for this condition is that the fraternities har- 
bor the lowest average men in the university, 
and are thereby handicapped. Even the aver- 
age fraternity men will advance this explana- 
tion. The following table, based on grades 
made in the first semester of 1913-1914, how- 
ever, seems to indicate that such explanation 
is not the true one: 


TABLE TO SHOW A COMPARISON OF GRADES WITHIN 
SPECIFIED LIMITS 


Non-frater- Fraternity 

nity Averages, Averages, 

Per Cent. Per Cent. 
DONO OV ye els cecedate 9 7 
SOs akO ON Nat senederenatenr nels 58 54 
MO=V8 OF i. at threhm ts csaels 27 34 
OS MOR eH Orth saeeie ie i 6 5 


This comparison shows that although there 
is a larger percentage of non-fraternity aver- 
ages above 90 than fraternity averages, there 
is also a slightly larger percentage below pass- 
ing. Apparently, then, the high and low aver- 
age men are not responsible for the difference in 
the general averages. The middle average men 


SCIENCE 


545 


seem to have the responsibility instead. Fra- 
ternity men seem more likely to be content 
with grades between 70 and 80 than do non- 
fraternity men. 

It is perhaps true that in certain chapters 
two or three very low men are to blame for 
dragging down the chapter’s average, but it 
would seem to be true that the general fra- 
ternity average is dragged down by the men 
who could do 85 per cent. work, but are con- 
tent to do 80 per cent. or 75 per cent. work. 
Fraternity men are more generally represented 
in outside activities than non-fraternity men 
and it is barely possible that this fact explains 
their lower average. But it has been the ex- 
perience of this office that the men who are 
active within reasonable limits in outside 
activities are usually pretty good students. 
The loafer in the classroom is usually a loafer 
outside. Another explanation, which I think 
is somewhere near the true one, is that among 
fraternity men the desire for high grades 
usually gives way to a feeling of satisfaction 
with passing grades. Other rewards, not open 
to non-fraternity men, come to take the place 
of the delight in high grade work which very 
often is the most satisfying delight of the non- 
fraternity man’s college life. 

A vast amount of chapter history is involved 
in the record of the ups and downs of the 
various averages. Chapter conditions will 
almost always account for the variations from 
year to year. Any sudden rise or fall in any 
chapter’s record can usually be accounted for 
by the character of the men who were in con- 
trol in the chapter at the time. For instance 
the sudden decline of Delta Upsilon in 1912 
can be explained by an examination of the 
upperclassmen at that time. The quite phe- 
nomenal rise and fall of Theta Delta Chi in 
1913 is explained by the coming and going of 
a particularly forceful man in the chapter 
during the year. In most cases high averages 
or low averages are not dependent so much 
upon the presence in the chapter of a number 
of exceptionally high or low grade men as 
upon the presence or absence of a masterful 
leader. 

The curve of the average of Zeta Psi is 
interesting. For five semesters it is very 


546 


low; then in one semester it takes a sudden 
rise, and in the next semester assumes the top 
place, where it remains for a quite long period. 
The impetus to scholarship in this chapter was 
furnished by the planning and activity of one 
man during the years 1910-1911 and 1911- 
1912. He worked out an efficient system for 
improving the scholarship of the active mem- 
bers of the chapters and insisted upon a care- 
ful selection of freshmen pledges. He was a 
determined, energetic type of man and com- 
pletely and thoroughly ruled his chapter. The 
impetus which he had given the chapter when 
he graduated in 1912 enabled it to hold a high 
position for the four semesters succeeding. 
He successfully solved one of the two problems 
of fraternity scholarship, the problem of bring- 
ing up the average from a very low to a high 
place. 

The other problem, that of holding the aver- 
age to a high standard, seems to have been 
successfully solved by Phi Gamma Delta. 
During the ten semesters this chapter has held 
to a consistently high average, always holding 
one of the first seven places among the fra- 
ternities. In this ease chapter traditions have 
played an important part. The reputation of 
the Phi Gams as good students was generally 
known; both faculty and students expected any 
and every member of the chapter to be a 
“shark.” Working with this tradition it was 
not especially difficult for the strong upper- 
classmen to start the freshmen and sophomores 
on the high road. Only occasionally was hard 
driving necessary; the most effective factor 
was the good-natured, “ everybody-get-into-the- 
game” attitude which all of the members 
seemed to have. This chapter has usually had 
one or two of their faculty members living in 
the house with the active members. 

The sudden rise of Delta Tau Delta in 1913- 
1914, after this chapter had trailed most of 
the others for many semesters, was the result 
of cyclonic, plunging campaign, in which na- 
tional officers, faculty members, alumni, as 
well as every active member, had an energetic 
part. A dean in the faculty, coming upon the 
scene at a ripe moment, entered into the spirit 
of the fight and lent his wise advice, a junior 
was appointed to be a sort of bookkeeper, 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1033 


whose duty it was to keep account of all of the 
absences taken by the members and to record 
all of the scholarship reports forwarded; and 
a senior, a forceful, impulsive football player, 
forced the fighting. The interesting fact is 
that this high rank was attained by almost 
exactly the same type of men who for years 
had been holding the average down. An 
alumnus of the chapter stated to me that the 
reason for their improvement was that the 
chapter was lucky in getting rid of its flunkers, 
but I was able to point out to him in the 
present chapter men who under the old condi- 
tions would haye become the laziest of 
flunkers, filling in the places left by the out- 
going loafers. The improvement in scholar- 
ship in this chapter was not primarily due to 
any careful selection of members; it was due 
almost entirely to a change of conditions and 
management within the chapter. I think the 
experience of Delta Tau Delta offers the most 
helpful suggestions to chapter officers who 
have an ambition to seek higher standards of 
scholarship. 

Cyclonic campaigns of this kind, however, 
solve only one of the problems to be met 
by fraternity officers; it is even more difficult 
to keep the average consistently high than it 
is to raise it for a semester or two. The graph 
will show that many of the local chapters do 
their work by spurts, apparently lacking the 
ability to keep to any consistent high average. 
This is so certain that it is not especially diff- 
cult to read the signs in any specified chapter 
and predict that it will go up or down at the 
next change. 

From my observations of the experience of 
fraternities in matters of scholarship I have 
concluded that the one factor which stands 
out above others as being valuable and impor- 
tant is chapter management. A brief com- 
parison of four fraternities, Phi Gamma Delta, 
Alpha Tau Omega, Sigma Chi and Delta Tau 
Delta, points to this conclusion rather clearly. 
These four chapters have been in existence in 
the university longer than most of the others, 
and they are remarkably alike in many respects. 
The chapter living conditions are much the 
same; each owns a comfortable house of about 
the same valuation; the expenses of the mem- 


OcToBER 16, 1914] 


bers are very likely about the same in each 
ease. Their faculty and alumni connections 
are similar; their college activity has been 
about equal. Their members are drawn from 
about the same localities, that is, the majority 
of their members come from down state com- 
munities. Jf the freshmen pledged to these 
four chapters were lined up it would be highly 
dificult to point out to which chapter the 
different men were pledged. But in matters 
of scholarship there have been many big differ- 
ences during the ten semesters. The reason 
for these differences is without doubt in the 
difference in chapter management. Only in 
this way could one explain why freshmen so 
much alike on entering should make up chap- 
ters so different in scholarship. 

A member of Sigma Chi contends that their 
greatest handicap has been in the weakness of 
the junior and senior classes year in and year 
out. A comparison of these four chapters on 
this point shows the following results: 


Nuwber Number 

Initiated Graduated 

in Ten in Ten 

Semesters Semesters 
Phi Gamma Delta ... 53 32 
Alpha Tau Omega ... 55 29 
Soman Chiteaes cis -ole 59 20 
Delta Tau Delta .... 61 16 


In a chapter where the upper classes are 
weak the work is doubled; more freshmen must 
be initiated and trained to fill up the gaps, 
and at the same time there are fewer upper- 
elassmen available for developing the under- 
elassmen and for furnishing efficient leader- 
ship. Then, too, the presence around the 
house of a number of men who expect to 
drop out at the end of the semester without 
trying to complete their courses is very de- 
moralizing upon the work of all other members 
of the chapter. I have no doubt that many 
chapters could strengthen themselves very 
greatly by building up a tradition that the 
members of the chapter should feel an obliga- 
tion to stay in college until graduation. 

Another conclusion that must inevitably be 
drawn is that the fraternity upperclassmen 
are open to a charge that fraternity life en- 
genders in the members a spirit of content- 


SCIENCE 


547 


ment with a grade of work somewhat lower 
than that of which the men are capable. The 
freshmen seem to be holding up their end 
pretty well; but the upperclassmen fail to live 
up to the promises of the freshmen year. This 
charge is really serious, and the fraternities 
will have to meet it sooner or later. State 
universities are too expensively equipped to 
allow any of the students to do less than their 
best without damaging the interests of the 
citizens of the state. These universities, too, 
are so peculiarly prepared to give a kind of 
training that the students may get nowhere 
else that fraternity men may not say that they 
are justified in sacrificing a part of the benefit 
of this training in order to get other kinds of 
training which, in most cases, can be obtained 
elsewhere. By bringing their average up to 
that of the general university average for men 
the fraternities may show that they are not 
guilty of the charge that they tend to develop 
a happy mediocrity in their members toward 
matters of scholarship. 


ArtHurR Ray Warnock 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 


THEODORE NICHOLAS GILL 


Many scientific associates and friends of 
Dr. Theodore Nicholas Guill, who died in 
Washington City at noon on September 25, 
1914, met on the following day at the U. S. Na- 
tional Museum to do honor to the memory of 
their deceased colleague. Among those who 
spoke were Dr. Richard Rathbun, Acting 
Seeretary of the Smithsonian Institution, Mr. 
Leonhard Stejneger, Dr. L. O. Howard, Dr. 
Paul Bartsch, Dr. Frank Baker, and Mr. Paul 
Brockett of the Museum staff, as well as Dr. 
Hugh M. Smith, Commissioner of Fisheries. 
A tribute expressing the sorrow attendant on 
his death and the great loss to science in gen- 
eral and the Smithsonian Institution and 
National Museum in particular was adopted 
at the meeting. 

Dr. Theodore Gill, as he was best known, 
was the son of James Darrell and Elizabeth 
Vosburgh Gill, and was born in New York 
City on March 21, 1837. His early education 


548 


was received in private schools and from spe- 
cial tutors, and then he studied law, but was 
never admitted to the bar. As he grew to 
manhood he developed an interest in natural 
science and became especially interested in 
fishes, frequently visiting the markets along 
the river fronts in New York for the purpose 
of examining the uncommon varieties that 
were received there. During the winter of 
1857-58 he visited Barbados, Trinidad and 
other West Indian Islands for Mr. D. Jackson 
Stewart, for whom he collected shells and vari- 
ous specimens of natural history. The re- 
sults of his explorations were worked up 
mainly in the library of Mr. J. Carson Bre- 
yoort, and published in the Annals of the New 
York Lyceum of Natural History and in the 
Proceedings of the Philadelphia Academy of 
Natural Sciences. It was in this library (the 
best of its kind in the United States at that 
time) of this patron of science that he laid the 
foundations for that great knowledge of books 
and authorities which, combined with a splen- 
did memory, served him so well in his after 
years. In 1859 he visited Newfoundland and 
studied its fauna, and in 1860 prepared a 
report on the fishes of the northern boundary 
for the State Department of the United States. 

In 1861 he came to Washington and was 
given the teaching of zoology at Columbian, 
now George Washington, University, with 
which institution he remained connected until 
his death, although subsequent to 1910 he was 
emeritus professor of zoology. For much of 
the time during this long period he met his 
classes regularly, considering it a privilege to 
contribute his services to the university with- 
out compensation. Even after his retirement 
he continued his active interest in the depart- 
ment which he had organized and freely con- 
tributed aid and advice on all matters, de- 
voting special attention, however, to the post- 
graduate work. 

Almost immediately after settling in Wash- 
ington, Gill came under the influence of Pro- 
fessor Spencer F. Baird, who was quick to 
appreciate his ability, and who found con- 
genial work for him in the library of the 
Smithsonian Institution, of which he had 
charge from 1862 until 1866. When the li- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1033 


brary was transferred to the National collec- 
tions in the Capitol he continued in that 
service until 1874 and was for a time assistant 
librarian of the Library of Congress. He then 
severed his connection with the library and 
thereafter devoted his attention almost exclu- 
sively to studies in natural history, working 
largely in the libraries of the Smithsonian 
Institution and the U. S. National Museum, 
holding the honorable appointment of asso- 
ciate in zoology on the scientific staff of the 
museum subsequent to 1894. 

His activity as a zoologist was unceasing 
and his contribution to science included over 
five hundred separate papers, the greatest 
number of which have been on ichthyology. 
Of these many appear in the Proceedings of 
the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sci- 
ences, but since 1878 the Proceedings of the 
U.S. National Museum have been his favorite 
medium of publication. His work was chiefly 
on systematic ichthyology, especially in the ar- 
rangement of fishes in classes, orders and 
families, yielding a more natural and re- 
stricted distribution of genera which is now 
universally accepted in the United States, and 
largely so in Europe. While no monumental 
work is left to us from his pen, nevertheless 
in nearly every zoological work his name will 
be found in connection with the descriptions, 
nomenclature, or classification of the speci- 
mens under discussion. Among the more im- 
portant monographs prepared by him are the 
following: “Synopsis of Fresh-water Fishes ” 
(1861); “Arrangement of the Families of 
Mollusks” (1871); “Arrangement of the 
Families of Mammals” (1872); “ Arrange- 
ment of the Families of Fishes” (1872); 
“ Oatalogue of the Fishes of the East Coast 
of North America” (1861-73); “ Principles 
of Zoogeography” (1884); “Scientific and 
Popular Views of Nature Contrasted;” “ Ac- 
count of Progress in Zoology” (1879-84) ; 
“Parental Care among Fresh-water Fishes ” 
(1906) ; “ Contributions to the Life-histories of 
Fishes ” (1909). He wrote most of the volume 
on fishes and much of that on mammals in the 
“Standard Natural History” and was the 
author of numerous addresses and reviews that 
appeared in Nature, Sctmnce and other scien- 


OcTOBER 16, 1914] 


tifie journals. The zoological portion of 
Johnson’s Universal Cyclopedia and _ the 
zoological text of the Century and Standard 
Dictionaries were also prepared by him. 

George Washington University recognized 
his splendid services so freely given to that 
institution by the conferment of the honorary 
degrees of A.M. in 1865; M.D. in 1866; Ph.D. 
in 1870, and finally in 1895 bestowing upon 
him its highest doctorate, that of laws. His 
many contributions to science were gladly 
recognized by honorary elections to more than 
seventy-five scientific societies. In the United 
States he was a member of the American 
Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American 
Philosophical Society, and the National Acad- 
emy of Sciences. To the last of these he was 
elected in 1873, and at the time of his death 
his length of membership was exceeded by only 
five other members. He represented the acad- 
emy at the International Zoological Congress 
in 1898 and was its delegate and that of the 
Smithsonian Institution at the 450th anni- 
versary of the founding of the University of 
Glasgow in 1901. Jn 1868 he was elected to 
the American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science, and in 1897 succeeded to the 
presidency of that organization on the death 
of his friend and colleague, Edward D. Cope. 

It has been said that literature and science 
are not two things, but rather two aspects of 
the same thing—they both deal with knowl- 
edge, but the recorder of literature, the libra- 
rian, deals with knowledge in its secondary 
form, conclusions, which he files and reissues 
from time to time, while the scientist perhaps 
comes happily closer to nature itself through 
his personal investigations, the results of 
which he turns over to the recorder. Dr. 
Gill, it may be said, therefore possessed a re- 
markable dual ability, being both a librarian 
and a scientist, and, ably combining his tal- 
ents, he made researches, recorded them and 
was able whenever called upon to present the 
results. 

Having thus two distinct specialties, it may 
be readily understood that Dr. Guill, unlike 
many of our leading scholars, was not nar- 
rowed by a sole point of view, but possessed 
an exceptionally broad and generous mind, 


SCIENCE 


549 


which he readily lent to divers purposes for 
the advancement and diffusion of scientific 
learning. 

To establish a touch of fellowship and 
fraternalism among the men of the District 
of Columbia who had common interests in sci- 
ence, literature and the fine arts, he rendered 
much assistance during the organization of 
Washington’s unique club, The Cosmos, and 
was enrolled as one of the ten founders who 
incorporated December 13, 1878. As a token 
of the esteem and affection with which he was 
held by the many members thereof, he was 
given a banquet by more than a hundred mem- 
bers of the club, on the occasion of his 75th 
birthday, and the 56th year of his published 
contributions to knowledge. This dinner was: 
held on December 13, 1912, and was made the 
occasion for many valuable testimonials by 
some of the most learned scientific investi- 
gators and writers as well as numerous inti-- 
mate friends, to his long and faithful services: 
to science and literature. 

As mentioned above, Dr. Gill did not incor- 
porate his matchless store of knowledge in 
ponderous volumes of monumental dimensions, 
but as one of the speakers at the memorial 
meeting happily put it: “If you ask for his 
monument look around” in the minds and 
hearts of the scientific men who came into con- 
tact with him. To them he was an inexhaus- 
tible fountain both of inspiration and of infor- 
mation. Many a learned dissertation, many a 
brilliant combination or hypothesis, many a 
lucid and critical exposition, emanating from 
Washington biologists in almost every branch 
of the science, originated from discussions 
with Dr. Gill. They were in the habit of 
coming to him with their problems and their 
doubts and they seldom left him without re- 
ceiving both ideas and information, no matter 
what their specialty. His mind was a wonder- 
ful combination of characteristics rarely found 
together in one man. A keenly critical and 
analytical power was paired with an unusually 
fine synthetic tact, and an amazing memory of 
details combined with a discriminating faculty 
of seeing essentials. He also possessed the 
fortunate gift of divesting himself of precon- 
ceived notions. Finally, no selfish desire for 


550 


self-agerandizement obscured his judgment, 
which was guided solely by his desire for sci- 
entific honesty and truth. Small wonder that 
he became a progressive and a radical in sys- 
tematic zoology, so much so that when he first 
published his classificatory arrangement of 
fishes and other vertebrates he was almost a 
generation ahead of his time. True, his ideas 
were taken up and carried out by his pupils, 
the American ichthyologists with David Starr 
Jordan at their head, but it is only recently 
that he had the satisfaction of learning that 
the European fish specialists have finally ac- 
cepted his views, giving him unstinted praise 
for their originality and intrinsic worth. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


M. Pavn pe Saint Marceaux has completed 
the monument which is to be dedicated in 
memory of Pierre Berthelot, the great French 
chemist, in front of the Collége de France, 
Paris. 

‘On the occasion of the Australian meeting 
of the British Association, the University of 
Adelaide conferred the degree of doctor of 
science on Professor W. J. Sollas, Professor 
A. Penck, Professor T. W. Edgeworth David, 
Professor E. W. Brown, Sir Oliver Lodge, 
Professor H. Jungersen, Professor G. W. O. 
Howe, Dr. C. F. Juritz and Professor von 
Luschan. 


Dr. Evcen OBERHUMMER, professor of geog- 
raphy at the University of Vienna, was ap- 
pointed visiting Austrian professor to Co- 
lumbia University for the academic year. 
Despite the war Professor Oberhummer is ex- 
pected to be in residence during the second 
half-year. The visiting professors appointed 
from Russia and France, Professors Theodor 
Niemeyer and M. Paul Hazard, are said to 
have been called to military service. 


Dr. Antan J. McLaucuutn, of the U. S. 
Health Service, has been appointed health 
Commissioner for Massachusetts. 

Tue Quadrennial Fellowship of $1,000 of 


the Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association for 
the year June 15, 1915, to June 15, 1916, has 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1033 


been awarded to Miss Margaret Harwood, 
A.B., Radcliffe College, 1907, who has been 
for three years astronomical fellow of the as- 
sociation. Miss Harwood has elected to work 
at the University of California. The second 
fellowship of $500 has been awarded a year in 
advance, in order that the candidate may pre- 
pare herself for the special work undertaken 
by the Maria Mitchell Observatory. Miss 
Susan Raymond, A.B., Smith College, 1913, 
has received the appointment. 


Dr. JouHan Norpat FiscHer WILLE, professor 
of botany and director of the Botanical Gar- 
den of the University of Christiania, is visit- 
ing the botanical institutions of the United 
States. He is one of the foreign delegates to 
the celebration of the twenty-fifth anniver- 
sary of the Missouri Botanical Garden to be 
held at St. Louis on October 15 and 16. 


THE following members of the Western Re- 
serve University medical faculty have re- 


turned from abroad: T. N. Stewart, professor 


of experimental medicine; J. J. R. Macleod, 
professor of physiology; G. W. Todd, pro- 
fessor of anatomy and P. J. Hanzlik, instruc- 
tor in pharmacology. 


Tue first meeting of the new session of the 
Royal Geographical Society, London, will be 
held on November 9, when Mr. Belloe will 
lecture on “ The Geography of the War.” On 
November 23, Lord Bryce will deal with “ The 
Mental Training of a Traveler,” and on De- 
cember 7, Miss Lowthian Bell will give an 
account of her recent journey in Arabia. 


Tue death is recorded in Nature of George 
Gresswell, formerly lecturer in physical sci- 
ence, under the government of the Cape of 
Good Hope, at the Diocesan College, Ronde- 
bosch, and demonstrator of practical physiol- 
ogy and histology at Westminster Hospital. 


A MexrtiING of the Society for the Promotion 
of Industrial Education will be held at Rich- 
mond, Va., December 9-12. 


We learn from the Los Angeles Tribune of 
September 29, that the collection of Mr. Henry 
Hemphill, recently referred to in SCIENCE, was 


OcToBER 16, 1914] 


bequeathed to the California Academy of Sci- 
ences and is being prepared for exhibition at 
the Exposition by Mrs. T. S. Oldroyd, the well- 
known collector of California shells. 


A Girt of $15,000 a year for a period of five 
years has been made to the Egyptian Depart- 
ment of the Metropolitan Art Museum, by 
Mrs. Edward J. Tytus, as a memorial to her 
son, Robb de Peyster Tytus, who died last 
year. 


Tue British Board of Trade has arranged 
for a commission consisting of representatives 
of the Board of Trade, the Timber Trade 
Federation of the United Kingdom, and the 
Mining Association of Great Britain, to pro- 
ceed to Canada and Newfoundland in order to 
enquire into the possibility of opening up new 
sources of supplies of mining timber for use 
in the coal mines of Great Britain. 


AccorDING to a report which has just been 
issued by the United States Bureau of Mines, 
the number of men killed in and about 
quarries in 1913 was 183. The number of men 
employed in the quarry industry was 106,278, 
and the death rate per 1,000 employed was 
1.72, as compared with 1.88 during 1912. The 
number of men killed in 1912 was 213, the 
figures for 1913 showing a decrease of thirty 
deaths or 14 per cent. The figures show that 
the principal hazards of quarrying appear to 
be equally divided between explosives, falls of 
quarry material, and haulage. Accidents 
from these causes represent nearly two thirds 
of the fatalities. Albert H. Fay, engineer of 
the bureau, who compiled the statistics, makes 
the statement that in France the fatality rate 
for quarry accidents is seldom more than one 
in eyery 1,000 men employed, and in the year 
1912 was even less than one. In Great 
Britain, for the ten years 1895 to 1904, the 
rate was 1.09 for every 1,000 men employed. 


Minnesota far outranks all other states in 
the mining of iron ore, and during the last 
four years has contributed both in quantity 
and value considerably more than half the 
iron ore produced and marketed in the United 
States, according to the United States Geo- 
logical Survey. In 1913 the total marketed 


SCIENCE 


bol 


production of iron ore in this country was 
59,643,098 long tons, valued at $130,905,558, of 
which Minnesota contributed 36,603,331 tons, 
valued at $80,789,025. In 1912 Minnesota pro- 
duced 34,249,813 long tons of iron ore, valued 
at $61,805,017. Because of its great wealth in 
iron ores and of their extended development, 
Minnesota ranks ninth among all the states 
in the total value of its mineral production. 
The value of the iron ore produced in the 
state represents considerably more than 90 
per cent. of the total output. The value of 
the mineral products of Minnesota in 1913, 
exclusive of iron ore, was $5,025,508. These 
include the products of the stone quarries and 
the clay pits. 


Tue United States Bureau of Mines is 
planning a comprehensive exhibit at the Pan- 
ama-Pacific Exposition. In arranging the ex- 
hibit, the bureau has had in mind, not only 
the value of interesting those engaged in the 
yarious mining and metallurgical industries, 
but also the education of the general public 
to a better knowledge of the magnitude of 
these industries and to the efforts which are 
honestly being made by the miners and mine 
operators, with-the assistance of the Bureau 
of Mines, looking toward a more safe conduct 
of mining and a more efficient utilization of 
the products of the mines after they are won 
from the earth. The bureau’s exhibit is 
located in the Palace of Mines and Metallurgy. 
An automatic duplex projecting machine will 
continuously show lantern slides illustrative 
of the activities of the bureau and simultane- 
ously give descriptions of the lantern slides. 
Near by will be shown the lay-out of a model 
hospital, including a receiving room, ward 
room and operating room, fully equipped for 
demonstrations by the United States Marine 
Hospital Service; also a model of a change 
and wash house, another welfare feature which 
is being installed at modern mining and metal- 
lurgical operations. A plan of an ideal mining 
town will be shown. First-aid demonstrations 
will be given frequently. An air of reality 
will be lent to the demonstration by the xe- 
moval of apparently injured men from the 
exhibition mine beneath the building by hel- 


552 


met and rescue crews. A complete display of 
rescue apparatus and safety lamps will be 
given in a glass smoke-room. Tests of safety 
lamps will be made, showing their tendency, 
under unfavorable conditions, to ignite explo- 
sive gas, and also showing methods of testing 
for explosive gas by means of their caps. An 
exhibit of the physical and chemical char- 
acteristics and constituents of explosives is 
being arranged. Visitors going through the 
exhibition mine will regain the surface through 
the radium booth in which actual radium 
emanations will be shown. Surrounding this 
radium booth, there will be complete exhibits 
of the various radium ores and of radium 
products. The metallurgy of various products 
will be shown by a comprehensive exhibit. 
The opportunity for increased efficiency in 
the use of fuels will be demonstrated by a 
device showing the proportionate amounts of 
fuels which go to make up the various losses 
incident to consumption in comparison with 
that which ultimately goes to useful purposes. 
Typical analyses of coal from the various fields 
will be shown by models and samples, as will 
also the yield of coke and by-products obtained 
by various coking processes. It is expected to 
show smoke-preventing and smoke-producing 
methods of stoking by means of an ingenious 
motion-picture device. An officer of the bu- 
reau will give his whole attention to visitors. 
Copies of the bureau’s publications will be 
available for free distribution to visitors who 
may be particularly interested. This exhibit, 
in connection with the exhibition mine imme- 
diately beneath the bureau’s space, should be 
interesting and instructive to those engaged 
in the mining industry and to the general 
public. 


Mr. W. G. VietH has sent the Geographical 
Journal an account of a new island hitherto 
uncharted in the Kazan-retto group (Voleano 
Islands). Mr. Vieth left Yokohama in the 
yacht Tilikum II. on January 24, 1914, bound 
for Brisbane, Australia. Jt was while anchor- 
ing at Point Lloyd, Bonin Islands, that news 
was received that a Japanese resident on 
Naka-Iwojima (Sulphur Island), the middle 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1033 


one of the Kazan-retto group, had just arrived 
there reporting the phenomenon. It was at 
once decided to alter the course of the Tilikum 
II., in order to investigate the matter. When 
the yacht cleared Point Lloyd, a Japanese 
man-of-war had just arrived there with orders 
of a like nature, but as the latter stayed a few 
days at Point Lloyd, Mr. Vieth’s boat was the 
first to arrive at the scene. “ At about 9 A.M. 
on February 14,” he writes, “we sighted a 
cloud of thick blackish smoke rapidly shooting 
up from the sea in column shape. About noon 
we came quite close to the island, which is of 
circular form, about 1 mile in diameter, 600 
feet high, with a crater in the center, opening 
to the southeast. It is 3 miles distant in north- 
westerly direction from San Augustino, the 
southernmost of the Voleano group. All these 
measures are calculated only, as we did not 
attempt a landing, the violent eruptions at 
short intervals, sometimes accompanied by a 
rumbling noise, preventing our approaching 
nearer than, say, one third of a mile. Plenty 
of pumice-stone was floating in the sea in 
patches. The island itself shows the same 
yellowish-gray color, and seems to consist in 
bulk of the same light material. The neigh- 
boring San Augustino is of much greater 
height, clothed with vegetation, and rises 
steeply from the sea. It is uninhabited. The 
new island bears no sign of vegetation as yet.” 
It is asserted that a similar island had risen in 
the same spot about ten years ago, but soon 
disappeared again. 


THE European situation has called attention 
sharply to the dependence of this country upon 
Germany for its potash supply, some 12 or 
more million dollars’ worth of which is used 
annually in the United States for fertilizer. 
Another necessary mineral fertilizer for which 
the United States is entirely dependent upon 
a foreign country is sodium nitrate, over 21 
million dollars’ worth of which was imported 
from Chile last year. Deposits of sodium and 
potassium nitrate are known in Utah, Nevada, 
California, Oregon, Montana and New Mexico 
and have been described in publications of the 
Geological Survey and Bureau of Soils, but 
thus far no material of this kind has been 


OctToBER 16, 1914] 


found in sufficient quantity to promise com- 
mercial yalue. The latest report that has 
come to the Geological Survey relates to a 
deposit in Arizona. One important domestic 
source of combined nitrogen is the gas works 
and by-product coke ovens, which in 1912 re- 
ported a recovery of ammoniacal liquor, am- 
monia and ammonium sulphate valued at 
$9,519,268. This output of by-product am- 
monium sulphate increased in 10 years from 
17,643,507 pounds to 99,070,777 pounds, and as 
it is linked with the great coking industry fur- 
ther increases can be expected. Another do- 
mestic supply of nitrogen compounds lies in 
the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen by elec- 
tricity. Cheap hydroelectric development is 
necessary to establish this industry, which 
would make our large agricultural and indus- 
trial interests free from the uncertainties of 
the foreign supply. It is hoped that the water- 
power legislation now before the United States 
Senate may promote hydroelectric develop- 
ment in large units and thus utilize some of 
the great water powers in the West in obtain- 
ing nitrogen from the air. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 


Baker University, Baldwin, Kan., has com- 
pleted its $500,000 endowment fund, of which 
the general education board of New York gave 
$50,000. The rest was contributed by 10,000 
persons, the largest gift from any one of them 
being $25,000. The people of Baldwin, a town 
of 1,200 population, gave $45,000. 


On October 14, Central College, Fayette, 
Mo., completed a campaign to increase the 
productive endowment of the college by $300,- 
000. Of this amount the general educational 
board contributes $75,000. This fund in- 
creases the endowment of Central College to 
$500,000. The campus, buildings and equip- 
ment are valued at $300,000. 


On October 9 exercises in connection with 
the laying of the corner stone of the new 
chemical laboratory at the University of Illi- 
nois were held. Addresses were given by Pro- 
fessor William A. Noyes, director of the 
chemical laboratory and by William Hoskins 


SCIENCE 


553 


of Chicago. The exercises were presided over 
by the Hon. W. L. Abbott, president of the 
board of trustees and President Edmund J. 
James laid the corner stone. The entire labo- 
ratory when completed will be 231 feet long, 
202 feet wide and will contain 164,288 square 
feet of usable space. 


Aw addition is being built to the chemistry 
building of the University of California, cost- 
ing, with its equipment, $40,000. It will pro- 
vide laboratory accommodation for 250 stu- 
dents. 


Tur uncompleted University Hall of Colum- 
bia University, which contains the power 
house, the gymnasium and the commons, was 
seriously injured by fire on the night of 
October 9. 


A History of the University of Colorado is 
being compiled by Professor James F. Wil- 
lard and his assistants. It will probably be 
published within a year. 


THE medical school of the University of 
Pennsylvania admits women this year for the 
first time to the regular course. 


THE registration at Harvard University, 
with the figures for the last year given in 
parentheses, is as follows: Out of course, 50; 
seniors (3861), 425; juniors (487), 581; sopho- 
mores (741), 575; freshmen (622), 704; special 
(19), 12; unclassified (97), 115; totals (2,327), 
2,462; Graduate School of Applied Science 
(114), 111; Graduate School of Arts and 
Sciences (426), 467; Graduate School of 
Business Administration (104), 142; Divinity 
School (45), 42; Law School (647), 668; 
Medical School (290), 325; Dental School 
(185), 190; grand totals (4,138), 4,407. 


Tue following changes have been made in 
the faculty of the Case School of Applied 
Sciences: Professor R. H. Danforth, who has 
been professor of mechanical engineering at 
the United States Naval Academy, professor 
of mechanics and hydraulics; Mr. R. O. Jack- 
son, graduate of the University of Maine and 
for some time engaged in practical engineer- 
ing work, instructor in mechanical engineer- 
ing; Mr. B. ©. Boer, instructor in descrip- 


554 


tive geometry in Iowa State University, in- 
structor in drawing and descriptive geometry; 
Mr. M. G. Edwards, graduate student in the 
University of Wisconsin, instructor in geol- 
ogy and mineralogy; Mr. T. D. Bains, Jr., a 
practical mining operator in California, in- 
structor in mining engineering. The salaries 
of the full professors in Case School of Ap- 
plied Science have been raised to $3,500. 


Proressorn Prrry B. Prrxins has been 
called to the chair of mechanics at Brown 
University. 

Dr. M. O. Tripp has been appointed pro- 
fessor of mathematics at Olivet College. 


Dr. Joun B. Leatuss, professor of patho- 
logical chemistry in the University of To- 
ronto, leaves Toronto in December for Shef- 
field, England, where he has been appointed 
professor of physiology in the University of 
Sheffield. 


Dr. A. W. Stewart, lecturer in organic 
chemistry in the Queen’s University of Bel- 
fast, and formerly lecturer in stereochemistry 
at the University College, London, has been 
appointed lecturer in physical chemistry at 
the University of Glasgow, in succession to 
Professor Soddy, now of Aberdeen. 

Dr. D. WATERSTON, professor of anatomy in 
King’s College, London, has been appointed to 
succeed Professor J. Musgrove as Bute pro- 
fessor of anatomy in the University of St. 
Andrews. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 
DR. BATESON’S PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 


To tHe Eprror oF Science: If a more extra- 
ordinary example of the inverted pyramid in 
reasoning than is comprised in the two Aus- 
tralian addresses by Bateson, lately published 
in Science, has ever been offered to a scientific 
audience I have never seen it. Offered as 
these were chiefly to a lay audience they are 
incomprehensible as coming from a man who 
has reached the presidency of the British 
Association. 

We may admit the value of the Mendelian 
discovery in its relation to low and relatively 
simple organisms like plants, and also that in 
higher organisms Mendelian effects can some- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1033 


times be traced, but that unbridled hypothesis 
should be permitted to cover our colossal ig- 
norance is not what we expect from such a 
source. When the observed facts flatly con- 
tradict a hypothesis a truly scientific exposi- 
tor says “I can not account for it,” and does 
not cover up (to the lay mind) his ignorance 
by the phrase of “ an inhibiting factor.” What 
is an “inhibiting factor?” Nobody knows. 
When the Mendelian law proves to fail utterly, 
as in the notorious case of the mulatto, the 
assumption of “ excessive segregation ” means 
nothing but “I do not know.” 

Any case can be “ proved,” by such methods 
but they are not scientific. 

When a train is not on time it is doubtless 
due to “an inhibiting factor,” but that ex- 
planation will hardly satisfy an impatient 
man who is anxious to be off, nor a railway 
manager seeking efficiency in his railway 
work. 

If we assume the origin of life in a simple 
ameboid organism, without a soma, and the 
development of a rudimentary soma through 
natural selection, as a protection against the 
direct impact of the environment; and then 
the gradual complexity of the somatic envel- 
ope until it reaches its present grade in the 
higher vertebrates, what is the relation of the 
“ serm-plasm ” to the soma? 

We may tolerate the theory of the continuity 
of the germ-plasm because it seems to fit the 
known facts. Jf it had never acquired a so- 
matic envelope there would be nothing but 
ameboid organisms to this day. But to what 
does the germ-plasm as carried by the present 
generation of animal life owe its existence? 
Its potentiality of cell-division depends for 
continuity upon the nutrition furnished by 
the soma. Is it creditable that in hundreds 
of millions of evolving generations the con- 
stantly renewed germ-plasm should remain 
unmodified and that in an ameba there should 
exist unawakened the factors for hair, teeth, 
bones and hoofs? The idea seems to the 
writer preposterous. If the plasma has not 
changed its characters and potentialities since 
the ameboid epoch, why should there be any- 
thing now but amebas? If through the slow 


OcTOBER 16, 1914] 


modification of the soma the potentialities of 
the germ-plasm have been added to and modi- 
fied, then the dispute as to the inheritance of 
acquired characters is a futile logomachy. 
The original somatic envelope must have 
been derived from the original plasma. Why 
then should their mutual potentialities be 


denied ? Wm. H. Datn 
September 8, 1914 


HEREDITY AND MENTAL TRAITS 


To THE Eprror or Science: In the admirable 
address of Professor William Bateson! survey- 
ing the bearing of modern views of heredity 
upon psychological and social problems, one 
admires particularly the staunch presentation 
of a consistent scheme of inherited traits and 
the readiness to apply them to a biological 
view of the social forces in whose intimate 
workings we have acquired so minute an 
interest. The same applies to the qualities of 
mind, of which alone I shall speak. One char- 
acteristic utterance is the following: 

I have confidence that the artistic gifts of man- 
kind will prove to be due not to something added 
to the make-up of an ordinary man, but to the ab- 
sence of factors which in the normal person inhibit 
the development of these gifts. They are almost 
beyond doubt to be looked upon as releases of pow- 
ers normally suppressed. The instrument is there, 
but is ‘‘stopped down.’’ 


A very differently characteristic expression 
occurs in comment upon the opinion of Tom 
Paine inveighing against the notion of hered- 
itary political institutions, which he regards 
as equally absurd as a “ hereditary wise man” 
or a “hereditary mathematician.” 

We on the contrary would feel it something of a 
puzzle if two parents, both mathematically gifted, 
had any children not mathematicians. 

The point which I wish to raise interroga- 
tively rather than critically is this: How far 
have the holders of such views—for there are 
many similar expressions in the recent litera- 
+ure—considered the problem of the assumptive 
nature of the unit of mental expression which 
is involved in such concepts as “ artistic gift,” 
“mathematically gifted?” Take the last of 


1 ScIENCE, September 4, 1914. 


SCIENCE 


555 


the expressions, and put the matter in 
extreme form: Suppose both parents to have 
specialized on quaternions, would one ex- 
pect the children also to be quatern- 
ionists? Would it answer the biological re- 
quirement if the children showed ability in 
physics? in engineering? in science in general 
of any quantitative form? in a facility for 
abstract thought, say philosophical or econ- 
omic? in a taste for study and an intellectual 
type of mind? Where shall we stop in con- 
sidering that the trait in the child is of the 
same nature as the trait in the parents? We 
seemingly expect that the children of musicians 
will be musical and not the one a painter and 
the other a musician; on what is that expecta- 
tion based, biologically considered? In brief 
it seems impossible to discuss mental heredity 
without coming to some understanding of its 
evidences and the modes of its expression. 
The equation is defective without a specific 
reference to the meaning of both sets of terms. 
Quite probably the definition is beset with 
large uncertainties; but it seems to a psychol- 
ogist that the writers upon heredity, in apply- 
ing their principles to mental traits, are in 
duty bound to bring the conception of a mental 
trait within the scheme of their considerations. 

Similarly one asks in the same spirit of 
seeking information, why artistic gifts are in’ 
the nature of a release of powers which every- 
body has but few show, and why are mathe- 
matical gifts not of the same description? Is 
it the sensory dependence of the musical gift 
that places it in one category, which is a 
different category from that of the mathe- 
matical gift? And fundamentally is there 
such a thing as either? If so is there also a 
gift for steam-engineering? and why not? 
And what would have become of one of similar 
brain inheritance if he happened to be born 
before the days of steam? The reduction ad 
absurdum lies near at hand. The moral is 
simple. It enforces that the application of 
principles of heredity to mental traits can not 
go farther and go consistently until a reason- 
able understanding is reached of the probable 
nature of a unit of mental trait and of the 
equivalent forms of its possible expressions. 


556 


The question of the degrees and distributions 
of heredity awaits a proper mode of recogni- 
tion of the presence of the inherited traits. 
These are not as obvious as tallness or color 
in peas; they must in some reasonable way 
be made distinguishable and recognizable be- 
fore their evidence can support the principles 
which they doubtless embody. 


JOSEPH J ASTROW 
MADISON, WIs\, 
September 21 


QUANTITY AND RANK OF UNIVERSITY ATTENDANCE 


RecentLty published statistics on student 
attendance at our leading colleges are more 
notable because of certain necessary conclu- 
sions omitted than for inferences plainly in- 
tended to be drawn. The figures are over- 
whelmingly convincing when quantity alone 
is considered. When we attempt to evaluate 
university powers for administrating to the 
advancement of civilization—the primal pur- 
pose for which these institutions are estab- 
lished—naked quantity is the one factor of all 
which we should most wish to forget. Quality 
is the feature which ought to be most assidu- 
ously cultivated. It is not what goes into the 
mill, but what comes out of it, that counts. 

In this last conspectus of attendance, for 
‘example, thirty American universities are 
considered. From institutions having the 
highest number of students, where the figures 
reach nearly 10,000, there is graduated prece- 
dence down to the thirtieth and last worth 
mentioning school. This last listed school be- 
comes especially conspicuous because of the 
fact that its place is last. 

The attendance table mentioned might have 
placed even greater emphasis on the quantity 
feature. Only the two hundred odd graduate 
students of this thirtieth and last listed insti- 
tution might have been taken into account 
and this thirtieth school would then be made 
to assume the réle of the tail-ender among 400 
colleges of the land. But it is in this small 
body of students that lies the very essence of 
that quality of mental aptitude to which 
special attention is here directed, and which 
is entirely overlooked in the comparison. 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8S. Vou. XL. No. 1033 


Now it so happens that we have some very 
exact figures by which to express the quality 
of American intellectuality. They are far 
more reliable than any statistics which relate 
to mere numbers, because of the fact that they 
represent the mature and composite opinion 
of our most eminent scientific minds. It is 
well known how, by the one hundred author- 
ities in science, there were selected the names 
of 1,000 men most distinguished in the several 
branches of knowledge; and how this list was 
recently published by Prof. J. McKeen Cattell. 

Among the thousand American men of sci- 
ence who have become during their genera- 
tion especially distinguished, who have main- 
tained themselves as leading figures in advanced 
thought of the nation, and who have acquired 
something of an international reputation let us 
briefly trace the spell of the last and thirtieth 
school—the Johns Hopkins University. In 
the accompanying table is given the number 
out of the thousand of “starred” men who 
belong in each of the twelve principal branches 
of science. Then follows the number out of 
each group which has been directly associated 
with the Johns Hopkins University. In the 
third column are the percentages of Johns 
Hopkins men in each department. 


Department No. | J.H.U. | Per Cent. 
Pathology ............+ 60 18 380 
Chemistry ............... 175 30 20 
Astronomy... 50 5 10 
Zoology ...-.-.+- 150 35 23 
Anthropology........... 20 OQ. | 0 
Psychology......-.....-. 50 10 20 
Mathematics............ 80 20 25 
Geology........-2sse0ee0: 100 25 25 
Physics... 150 47 31 
Botany ....-.2se0eceeeeeees 100 8 8 
Physiology ............ 40 22 50 
Anatomy....... pode 25 15 60 

Motals eee 1,000 240 


During the next generation, in spite of loud 
prediction to the contrary, these percentages 
will probably increase rather than diminish. 
The first generation of Hopkins men is yet in 
its prime. In a remarkable way it is copi- 
ously and ereatively productive. Over all 
American competitors it has the start of 20 
years. Whether in the third generation there 


OctoBER 16, 1914] 


may be a falling off is a matter of conjecture. 
It depends upon several factors. The growth 
of the graduate school in the larger univer- 
sities and in the state universities is an essen- 
tial element, but not a disturbing one so long 
as college and university are reared side by 
side, and college spirit submerges and smothers 
university soul. 

Thus is one fourth of all the master minds 
in American science a direct product of Johns 
Hopkins influence. So is 25 per cent. of all 
American scientific thought impelled by the 
mainspring of Baltimore. It is not quantity 
of university influx but quality of university 
output that is telling and worth while. 


CuHarLEs Kryrs 


THE FUR SEAL INQUIRY, THE CONGRESSIONAL 
COMMITTEE AND THE SCIENTIST 


Some three years ago the “ Committee on 
Expenditures in the Department of Com- 
merce” of the House of Representatives, 
headed by Congressman Rothermel of Penn- 
sylvania, undertook the investigation of the 
work of the Bureau of Fisheries on the admin- 
istration of the fur seal fisheries, apparently 
with the definite purpose of discrediting, for 
political reasons, this branch of the govern- 
ment service. In February, 1909, there had 
been appointed an advisory board of the fur 
seal work, consisting of the following well- 
known zoologists, David Starr Jordan, C. Hart 
Merriam, Charles H. Townsend, Leonhard 
Stejneger and Frederic A. Lucas, to serve 
without pay in advising the government as to 
the best means of regulating the killing and 
the protection of the fur seals on the Pribilof 
Islands. 

To discredit the work of the administration 
of the seal fisheries it was necessary also to 
discredit these men. The fact that they 
served without pay was of course open to sus- 
picion to the machine type of politician, who 
naturally finds it difficult to conceive of any 
one doing any work for the government with 
no emolument attached thereto. Accordingly 
the majority of the committee proceeded to 
measure them according to their own stand- 
ard and took up charges which had been filed 


SCIENCE 


507 


against all and sundry by one Henry W. 
Elliott. This man Elliott, it may be men- 
tioned, is a disgruntled ex-employee of the 
government who was dismissed in 1891 because 
he had been “found guilty of grave impro- 
prieties.” For more than twenty years this 
man had persistently brought charges, not 
only against all the scientific men who opposed 
his propositions, but against seven secretaries 
of departments, besides senators and congress- 
men. These charges had been repeatedly dis- 
proved and their author discredited and off- 
cially branded as “a person unworthy of 
belief.” 

However, this repeated repudiation of the 
Elliott charges did not prevent the committee 
from taking them up again in the attempt to 
make political capital of them. Im the face 
of all the testimony submitted at the hearings 
and on the unsupported evidence of the man 
who preferred the charges, the majority of the 
committee found in favor of the charges. 

To their everlasting credit be it said that 
a minority of the members of this committee 
were so incensed at the findings of the major- 
ity in direct face of the evidence, that they 
insisted on presenting a minority report 
(Report 500, Pt. 2, 63rd Congress, 2d Session, 
Fur Seal Industry of Alaska, 22 pages, July 
947, 1914, signed by Congressmen McGuire and 
Patton). This report is a scathing arraign- 
ment of the methods of procedure and the 
findings of the majority and of Elliott who 
brought the charges. A few excerpts may not 
be amiss here. 


The charges preferred by Elliott are without 
foundation in fact,—the same charges have been 
preferred by him with regularity for over 20 years 
to various committees of Congress and executive 
departments, and in each case found to have been 
groundless. 

Elliott, the author of these charges and the sole 
witness in support of them, is a person unworthy 
of belief and one who has been consistently re- 
pudiated in the past. 

The committee had no justification for the re- 
opening of these hearings on the same charges. 

There is a total absence of evidence of any ir- 
regularities on their (the government’s representa- 
tives) part. 


558. 


Notwithstanding this well-known record, which 
demonstrated Elliott to be actuated by motives 
which rendered him wholly unreliable as a coun- 
selor in matters pertaining to this question, it is 
nevertheless the fact that this committee in 1911 
took up these old Elliott charges—now repeated 
with renewed vehemence, but with no more basis 
of fact—erected Elliott in its midst as prosecuting 
Witness and amicus curiz, accepted his mere un- 
supported assertions of fraud and illegality as 
proof thereof, endeavored by every means in its 
power to substantiate them, and strove by severe 
cross examination to nullify as far as possible the 
effect of testimony of witnesses appearing in 
their own defense to answer charges. The hear- 
ings have covered thousands of pages of printed 
testimony. 


The minority report recommends that the 
Department of Justice investigate Elliott with 
a view to bringing charges for the misuse of 
congressmen’s franks by sending out under 
them abusive and defamatory matter to wit- 
nesses before the committee and for perjury 
under various heads, and that a joint com- 
mittee of Congress be appointed to investigate 
“all proceedings in connection with the in- 
vestigation as conducted by this committee.” 

It is interesting to note that of the original 
committee who presented the majority report, 
Congressman McDermott was compelled to 
resign from Congress owing to his connection 
with the disgraceful Mulhall disclosures, while 
Rothermel, the chairman of the committee, 
who was particularly vindictive in the prosecu- 
tion, failed to secure renomination in his home 
district after charges had been made against 
him on the floor of the House for improper and 
illegal use of funds allotted to his committee. 

The Rothermel committee sent Elliott as an 
investigator to the seal islands during the 
summer of 1913, a proceeding which the 
minority report brands as “nothing but a 
farce” on the grounds that “if the object of 
the committee had been the substantiation of 
the Elliott charges, it could not have adopted 
a more certain means of accomplishing this 
result than by sending Elliott himself.” How- 
ever, it seems that the committee overstepped 
its authority in doing this and Congress has 
refused to refund the expenses of the trip. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1033 


There is a verse concerning a mountain, 
which after great labor, brought forth a mouse. 
The work of the congressional committee 
headed by Rothermel has produced similar 
valuable results. The fiasco has been a very 
expensive one, however. It has cost the coun- 
try many thousands of dollars, it has further 
endangered the existence of the seal herd al- 
ready depleted by many years of pelagic seal- 
ing, it has caused the loss to the Bureau of 
Fisheries of the services of the eminent 
ichthyologist Dr. Barton W. Evermann, who 
has since become director of the museum of 
the California Academy of Sciences, and has 
inflicted needless expense, humiliation and 
irritation upon the scientists who formed the 
advisory board. As far as the scientific stand- 
ing of these men is concerned, it is not neces- 
sary to remark that it will not suffer in the 
least on account of this political attempt to 
diseredit them. 

It should be mentioned that the Bureau of 
Fisheries has had no part whatever in these 
attacks on the scientists mentioned and that 
whatever changes have been made in the plan 
of conducting the seal work have been those 
prescribed by law. Whatever may have been 
the attitude in the past, of the Department of 
Commerce, under which the Bureau of Fish- 
eries is placed, it is evidently desirous of learn- 
ing the truth in regard to the work on the 
Pribilofs, for Secretary Redfield this past 
summer sent a special committee of three 
zoologists to the islands to investigate and 
report upon conditions there. At his request, 
one of these was nominated by the Department 
of Agriculture, one by the Smithsonian Insti- 
tution and one by the National Academy of 
Sciences. While none of these men has had 
any previous acquaintance with work on the 
islands, they will at least be able to give an 
entirely unprejudiced report, even if they are 
unable to make any comparison with past con- 
ditions. The Dominion of Canada and Japan 
have also sent investigators to the seal islands. 
The report of this committee is awaited with 


interest. Raymonp C. OsBurN 
CoLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, 
September 12, 1914 


OcToBER 16, 1914] 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 
RECENT BOOKS ON MATHEMATICS 

Memorabilia Mathematica or The Philomath’s 
Quotation-book. By MRosert Epovarp 
Moritz, Ph.D., Ph.N.D., Professor of Mathe- 
matics in the University of Washington. 
New York, The Macmillan Company. 1914. 
Pp. vii + 410. 

Analytical Geometry of Space. By Virew 
Snyper, Ph.D., Professor of Mathematics at 
Cornell University, and C. H. Sisam, Ph.D., 
Assistant Professor of Mathematics at the 
University of Illinois. .New York, Henry 
Holt and Company. 1914. Pp. xi-+ 285. 

Analytic Geometry and Principles of Algebra. 
By Awrxanper Ziwet, Professor of Mathe- 
matics, the University of Michigan, and 
Louts ALLEN Hopxins, Instructor in Mathe- 
matics, the University of Michigan. New 
York, The Macmillan Company. 1918. Pp. 
viii + 369. 

Higher Algebra. By Hersert BE. Hawkes, 
Ph.D., Professor of Mathematics in Colum- 
bia University. Boston, Ginn and Company. 
Pp. iv + 222. 

Industrial Mathematics. By Horack WiLMAR 
MarsH, Head of Department of Mathe- 
matics, School of Science and Technology, 
Pratt Institute, with the collaboration of 
ANNIE GriswoLD Forpyce Marsu. New York, 


John Wiley and Sons. 1913. Pp. viii 
ATT. 
Trigonometry. By AurreD Monroz Knnyon, 


Professor of Mathematics, Purdue Univer- 
sity, and Louis Incoup, Assistant Professor 
of Mathematics, the University of Missouri. 
Edited by Earn RayMonp Heprick. New 
York, the Macmillan Company. 1913. Pp. 
xi + 1382 + xvii + 124. 

Trigonometry for Schools and Colleges. By 
Freperic Anperecc, A.M., Professor of 
Mathematics in Oberlin College, and Ep- 
warp Drake Ros, Jr., Ph.D., Professor of 
Mathematics in Syracuse University. Bos- 
ton, Ginn and Company. Pp. viii + 108. 

Advanced Algebra. By Jos. V. Coutins, Ph.D., 
Professor of Mathematics, State Normal 
School, Stevens Point, Wisconsin. New 


SCIENCE 


559 


York, American Book Company. 1913. Pp. 
x} 349, 


The Algebra of Logic. By Louis Coururat. 
Authorized translation by Lypra GintincHaM 
Rosinson, B.A., with a-Preface by Pamir E. 
B. Jourpain, M.A. (Cantab.). 1914. Chi- 
eago and London: The Open Court Publish- 
ing Company. Pp. xiv + 98. 


A History of Japanese Mathematics. By 
Davin Evcent SmirH and YosHio Mikami. 
Chicago, The Open Court Publishing Com- 
pany. 1914. Pp. v-+ 288. 

Thousands of readers will be grateful to the 
author and the publishers for a work that is 
so beautiful, both physically and spiritually, 
as the “Memorabilia.” The ideal that re- 
quires us to dispense entirely with authority 
and to hold no beliefs and form no judgments 
not based on evidence examined by ourselves 
is not attainable. If it were, it would not be 
an ideal. In the future it will be necessary, as 
it has been in the past, for all men and wo- 
men to depend for the most part upon bor- 
rowed estimates. Even if it were not, we 
should still value as such the opinions of 
others, especially when expressed in worthy 
and lasting form. In view of such considera- 
tions such an undertaking as that of Professor 
Moritz is amply justified and especially so be- 
cause this work of his is the first of its kind in 
the English language. Nor has he, except in 
the case of “a small number of famous utter- 
ances,” duplicated Rebiere’s “ Mathématiques 
et Mathematiciens ” or the “ Scherz und Ernst 
in der Mathematik” of Ahrens. We have 
here more than a thousand utterances of 
more than three hundred authors regarding 
the nature and value of mathematics. The 
quotations vary in length from a line to sev- 
eral scores of lines, and all of them are in 
English. In the case of borrowed translations, 
the translator’s name is given. At the end of 
each passage there are given the author’s name 
and the source of the extract. An attempt to 
group the material under heads has resulted 
in dividing the volume into twenty-one chap- 
ters. Moreover, the final index refers to nearly 
seven hundred topics. The list of authors, 


360 


which represents all historic times, includes 
not only mathematicians but students of nat- 
ural science, poets, philosophers, statesmen, 
theologians and historians. In respect of fame 
these range from the obscure to the world-re- 
nowned. Various criteria were used for de- 
termining the admissibility of passages, 
as eminence of the author, fitness of con- 
tent, felicity of expression. Even Shake- 
speare contributes three passages and Goethe 
ten. One of these is: “ Mathematics, like 
dialectics, is an organ of the inner higher 
sense; in its execution it is an art like elo- 
quence. Both alike care nothing for the con- 
tent, to both nothing is of value but the form.” 
Gauss contributes 10 passages, Poincaré 5, 
Plato 9, Emerson 2, Euripides 1, Descartes 
11, Newton 7, Leibnitz 8, Laplace 13, Daniel 
Webster 1, Pliny 1, Dante 2, and so on. It is 
difficult to imagine that any teacher, student 
or scholar could fail to find instruction and 
delight in this book of gems. 

Professors Snyder and Sisam’s book will 
meet the demand of those who desire a larger 
knowledge of the analytical geometry of three 
dimensions than is afforded by the usual first- 
course books on analytical geometry and who 
find such works as those of Salmon and Frost 
too extensive. The first eight chapters present 
the usual matter but the remaining six chap- 
ters of about 180 pages will serve admirably 
as a basis for an undergraduate advanced elec- 
tive in the subject; the main topics here 
treated being tetrahedral coordinates, quad- 
ratic surfaces in tetrahedral coordinates, linear 
systems of quadrics, transformations of space, 
curves and surfaces in tetrahedral coordinates, 
and differential geometry of curves and sur- 
faces. There is appended a list of answers 
to the exercises. Graduate students should 
come with such preparation as this book yields. 

Among the commendable features of Ziwet 
and Hopkins’s book are the treatment of alge- 
braic topics usually presupposed by or studied 
simultaneously with first lessons on analytical 
geometry, the early introduction of the use of 
determinants, the emphasis upon the straight 
line and the circle as preliminary loci, the at- 
tention given to the plotting of polynomials 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1033 


before attacking the conics, and the employ- 
ment of the notion of the derivative of poly- 
nomials. The doctrine of poles and polars is 
presented only in relation to the circle. The 
concept of a vector is introduced in connec- 
tion with applications to mechanics. The ele- 
ments of the geometry of space occupy 78 
pages. Portions that may be omitted are in 
small type. Answers are given. 

Professor Hawkes’s book opens with a chap- 
ter of 22 pages devoted to a review extending 
through linear equations in two variables. 
Funetions and their graphs occupy the next 
chapter (14 pages). Recognizing that a stu- 
dent who would proceed to analytical geom- 
etry, the caleulus or the theory of higher equa- 
tions must gain a thorough knowledge of the 
quadratic equation, the author has devoted a 
chapter of 27 pages to this important subject. 
Tt is handled admirably. A very brief pres- 
entation of inequalities is followed by an ex- 
cellent chapter on complex numbers. There 
follows a chapter of 75 pages dealing with 
elements of the theory of the general equation 
in one unknown. A notable feature is the pres- 
entation of Horner’s method. The notion of 
derivative of a polynomial is introduced. 
Permutations, combinations and probability 
claim ten pages, followed by the elements of 
determinant theory. Then follow chapters on 
partial fractions, logarithms and infinite series. 
The book closes with some short tables, and a 
good index. The work is notably successful in 
its endeavor to make theory and practise re- 
ciprocally helpful. 

Mr. Marsh’s thick volume contains a mass 
of information designed to enable “ indus- 
trial” folk to use mathematics without really 
studying the subject beyond the initial steps. 
It begins with arithmetic. After much useful 
direction in a great variety of mensurations, 
the solution of simple equations is reached on 
page 354. Mathematical theory is present in 
only amounts, sometimes of 
higher order, whilst practise swells toward the 
infinite. The reader is told how to do things, 
even how to solve triangles by use of logarith- 
mie tables. The work will help many who are 
very ignorant of mathematical science. One 


infinitesimal 


OctToBER 16, 1914] 


of its possible services is that of awakening in 
the reader a desire to understand the ghostly 
theory that lurks behind the practician’s rules. 
I shall never forget how unhappy I was made 
when a boy by having to learn by heart and to 
use the rule for computing the area of a tri- 
angle in terms of its sides before looking into 
a geometry and what a burden was rolled off 
when in subsequent years I learned to deduce 
the rule. Industrial folk will not find it easy 
to circumvent the necessity of understanding 
something of the science they would use. The 
way otf the transgressor is hard. 

Among the more notable features of Pro- 
fessor Kenyon and Professor Ingold’s “ Trig- 
onometry”’ are the prominence given to the 
solution of triangles, first by geometric meth- 
ods, then gradually by means of the trigo- 
nometric functions and logarithms; the use of 
composition and resolution of forces to show 
the significance of large angles and of addition 
formule; the hinging of the treatment on a 
minimum of theoretical considerations; the 
very large number and variety of exercises 
and applications; the omission of DeMoivre’s 
theorem and of infinite series; the presence of 
a rather extensive chapter on spherical trig- 
onometry, and the inclusion of 124 pages of 
convenient tables. 

The attractiveness of the admirable little 
volume of Professors Anderege and Roe is due 
partly to its smallness. The smallness is due 


in some measure to conciseness but mainly to 


omission of tables, model arithmetical solu- 
tions, a list of answers and an index. A large 
part of the book deals with spherical trigo- 
nometry. Jt is shown that plane trigonom- 
etry is a special case of spherical. It is evi- 
dent that the authors are fascinated with the 
theory of the subject, and their treatment of 
it looks up toward higher analysis rather than 
merely down to practical uses and computa- 
tion. 

As we open Professor Collins’s “ Advanced 
Algebra” it is pleasant to be greeted by a 
genial likeness of Sylvester and, as we pass on, 
to encounter the pictures of Tartaglia, 
Cauchy and Gauss, with brief accounts of them. 
A first-year course is presupposed. The book 


SCLENCE 


561 


falls into three parts, devoted respectively to 
a review, to the remaining topics of elementary 
algebra, and to such college topics as general 
equation theory, probability, determinants and 
infinite series. The author’s aim has been to 
equip the student to meet either of the two 
algebra standards of the College Entrance 
Board and to carry him well into college 
topics. 

Many students of modern logie will wel- 
come Miss Robinson’s excellent English trans- 
lation of Dr. Couturat’s well-known “ L’Algé- 
bre de la logique.” This edition is distinctly 
enhanced by the preface prepared by Mr. Jour- 
dain. Here and now are not the place and 
time to review the content of a work of which 
the original French edition was published in 
1905. Suffice it to say that it consists of the 
elements of the classic logic of exclusion and 
inclusion presented in algebraic garb and that 
the algebra of logic is not to be confounded 
with what is known as the logic of mathe- 
matics. 

From the mathematical public thanks are 
due Professor Smith, Mr. Mikami and the 
Open Court Publishing Company for their 
“ History of Japanese Mathematics.” Owing 
to the wellnigh complete insulation of the 
Japanese until recently from the western 
world, this first English account of their 
mathematical work is a real romance in the 
austere things of the human spirit—almost as 
fascinating as would be a message from Mars. 
We confess to having read every line of it with 
eager and increasing interest. Not only will 
all liberal students and teachers of mathe- 
matics wish to read it but it is rich in mater- 
ial for psychologists, historians and other sci- 
entific students. In particular may anthro- 
pologists find in it evidence both for and 
against the thesis that similarity or dissimi- 
larity of circumstances determines similarity 
or dissimilarity of intellectual developments. 
Even if space allowed it would be a kind of in- 
justice to delineate the content of this volume 
here and so deprive the reader of it of the pleas- 
ure of meeting its surprises first-hand. Suffice 
it to say that the numerous beautiful photo- 
graphic illustrations (made by Mr. L. L. Lock) 


562 


are themselves well worth the price of the vol- 
ume. Casstus J. Knyser 


A Dictionary of Applied Chemistry. By Sm 
Epwarp TxHorpr. Longmans, Green & 
Company. 5 vols., 800 pp. each. Price 
$13.50. 

Samuel Johnson, to use his words, “ noting 
whatever might be of use to ascertain or illus- 
trate any word or phrase, accumulated in time 
the materials of a dictionary.” A proper 
dictionary of chemistry might then well be a 
collection of whatever information might be 
of use in ascertaining and illustrating words 
and phrases of chemical usage. Some such 
broad foundation was used in the dictionary 
at hand. 

Thorpe’s “Dictionary of Applied Chemis- 
try,” first published in 1890, has ever since been 
such a well-known dictionary that a review of 
this new and enlarged edition need concern 
only the completeness of the accumulations 
since then. It is clear that no other English 
work contains so much information of chem- 
ical nature. As it also gives the main refer- 
ences to literature on many subjects, it is 
difficult to conceive of any improvement which 
the chemist might fairly expect. There are 
now five volumes, as against three in 1898. 
Emerson’s reference to dictionaries, in his 
essay on Books, is particularly fitting when 
shorn of any points of irony: “ Neither is a 
dictionary a bad book to read. There is no 
cant in it, no excess of explanation, and it is 
full of suggestions—the raw material of pos- 
sible poems and histories.” This has all seemed 
very pertinent to me in reading the “ illustra- 
tions” of some of the chemical words. “ Ab- 
sorption spectra and chemical composition” 
has charm and rhythm that must be poetry 
to every real chemist. The brief accounts of 
such perennially youthful patriarchs as iron, 
tungsten, boron, ete., are free from “cant” 
and “excess,” and are powerful new history. 
The Frash process, by which practically all 
the sulphur in the United States is now pro- 
duced, is a very interesting story and partic- 
ularly to those who know only of the Sicilian 
sulphur of the older books. 

Hardly a single chemical element has been 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8S. Vou. XL. No. 1033 


“dead” since the publication of the first edi- 
tion of this Dictionary, and therefore they all 
had their history rewritten. Then almost no 
hydrogen was technically applied, no oxygen 
manufactured, no aluminum sold. Silicon, 
tantalum, argon and radium were all prac- 
tically unheard of. 

A great deal had to be written to “ illus- 
trate” the words of modern applied chemistry, 
novelties of the recent period: eryoscopy, cya- 
namid, monel metal, metallography, etc. This 
has been well done, and usually by experts. 
Who, for example, could better describe carbon 
bisulphide than our own E. R. Taylor, who 
makes about all that is used in America? The 
oils, fats, waxes, ete., have been cared for by 
Lewkowitsch, water by Frankland, potash by 
Lunge, radioactivity by Bragg, cellulose by 
Cross, and paper by Bevan, dyes by Perkin, 
and acetylene by Lewes. Thus scores of the 
most prominent chemists of all nations have 
aided the work. 

A few more of the indicators used to deter- 
mine that the work has been brought up to 
date may well be mentioned. The ancient and 
interesting “suffoni” are now partly displaced 
by California mines of colemanite as a source 
of boric acid. Cement is now burned in rotat- 
ing kilns of 150 feet length. Oxyhydrogen and 
oxyacetylene metal cutting are well described. 
Chemical affinity, equilibria and catalysis are 
living subjects evidently still being studied at 
the time of going to press, and they are made 
comprehensive by articles of breadth. Bordet’s 
and Ehrlich’s different views of the interaction 
of toxins and antitoxins are disclosed. The 
Claude and the Linde air liquefaction proc- 
esses and the liquefaction work on hydrogen 
and helium by Travers and Olszewski are fully 
described. Four different uses of the word 
ferrite are described, which ought to militate 
a little against the use of this word for any 
other newly discovered material. 

Chemical analysis is treated in 100 pages as 
compared with 57 of the 1898 edition: Azo 
colors in 88 pages, as against 28; carbohydrates, 
94 as against 4; naphthalene, 102, in place of 
65; ozone 8 against 22; rust and corrosion of 
iron 11 against 23; spectrum analysis 30 


OcroBER 16, 1914] 


against 20. The additional space devoted to 
such subjects is usually distributed well. One 
or two subjects might still be extended. For 
example, iron (including all steels) is covered 
in twenty pages, one fifth that devoted to naph- 
thalene. No mention of electric furnace steel 
products is made. Such subjects as metallog- 
raphy (21 pp.), toxins and antitoxins (4), col- 
loids (4), utilization of atmospheric nitrogen 
(12), radioactivity (11), and many others ap- 
pear for the first time. These representatives 
will also serve to indicate that the dictionary 
is not so closely confined to applied chemistry 
as the earlier editions. In many of the topics 
the completeness is quite remarkable and fre- 
quently includes references to patents con- 
taining matter not found in other published 
researches, and therefore not generally avail- 
able. 
W. R. WHITNEY 


Catalogue of Scientific Papers. Fourth Series 
(1884-1900). Compiled by the Royal Soci- 
ety of London. Vol. XIII, A-B. Cam- 
bridge, University Press. 1914. 

The first incentive to the monumental under- 
taking of which the present volume marks the 
beginning of the end in its original form, 
came from America, in a communication from 
Professor Joseph Henry to the British Asso- 
Ciation at Glasgow in 1855, suggesting the 
formation of a catalogue of philosophical 
memoirs, which was favorably reported upon 
by a committee of the Association in the fol- 
lowing year. Six volumes, in quarto, covering 
the scientific periodical literature from 1800 
to 1863, were issued under the superintendence 
of the Royal Society from 1867-72, and were 
followed by two volumes, covering 1864-73, in 
1877-9, three volumes, covering 1874-83, in 
1891-6, and a supplementary volume, cover- 
ing literature of 1800-83 not hitherto indexed, 
in 1902. The present volume is the beginning 
of a series which will cover all papers pub- 
lished or read during 1884-1900, completing 
the catalogue for the whole of the nineteenth 
eentury. The four series, when completed, 
will thus comprise a complete author cata- 
logue of the scientific literature of 1800-1900, 


SCIENCE 


563 


no subject rubrics being employed. All scien- 
tifie literature published after the end of 1900 
has been in the hands of the authorities of the 
International Catalogue of Scientific Litera- 
ture, and since 1907 has been issued in the 
form of subject bibliographies of the funda- 
mental sciences by the International Council 
of the Royal Society. 

Before the Royal Society undertook this 
work, there had been, from the time of Conrad 
Gesner’s “ Bibliotheca Universalis” (1545- 
49), other bibliographies of similar scope, such 
as the “Repertorium commentationum” of 
J. D. Reuss (1800-21), which was confined to 
society transactions and not limited to scien- 
tific papers, or the “ Gelehrten-Lexicon” of 
C. G. Jécher (1750-51), continued by Adelung 
and Rotermund (1784-1819), with a final 
volume by Rotermund. (1897). In the year of 
the Royal Society’s first venture in this field 
(1865), the physicist, J. C. Poggendorft (of 
Poggendorfi’s Annalen) published his “ Biog- 
taphisch-literarisches Handworterbuch,” con- 
taining biographical bibliographies of 8,400 
scientists, which was continued for the years 
1858-83 by Feddersen and von Oettingen in 
1898, and to 1904 by the latter. Of exhaustive 
bibliographies of special subjects, many of 
which are listed in Petzholdt’s “ Bibliotheca 
Bibliographica ” (1866), there have been such 
striking examples as those of Haller in botany 
(1771-2), anatomy (1774-7), surgery (1774-7) 
and internal medicine (1776-8); A. G. Kast- 
ner in mathematies (1796-1800); C. P. Calli- 
sen’s 33-volume catalogue on the medical 
literature of his time (1830-45) ; L. Agassiz in 
zoology and geology (1848-54), and such later 
works as those of Waring in therapeutics 
(1878), R. Schmid in public hygiene (1898- 
1906), Laehr in neurology (1900), Stiles and 
Hassall in parasitology (1900—2), and Abder- 
halden in alcoholism (1904). The entire liter- 
ature of medicine has been covered, both for 
authors and subjects, in the well-known 
“Index Catalogue” of J. S. Billings (1880- 
1914), now nearing its completion. The 
author catalogue of the Royal Society forms 
at once a supplement and a complement to 
all these, containing many titles not to be 


564 


found anywhere else. The immense prolifera- 
tion of scientific literature in seventeen years 
alone (1884-1900) may be judged by the fact 
that the present volumes, of 951 double-column 
pages in small type, covers only letters A—B. 
This is due to the fact that, in addition to 
periodicals and serials devoted to pure sci- 
ence, many publications of lighter weight have 
been indexed, as containing occasional con- 
tributions of value. The list of new abbrevia- 
tions covers some 90 pages. In this we find 
such titles as L’Abeille (entomology), the 
Analyst (chemistry), Aquila (ornithology), the 
Hlectrician, Garden and Forest, the Humming 
Bird, the Sidereal Messenger, the Wombat, 
the Journal of Tropical Medicine, the New 
York Medical Journal and the Practitioner. 
Such titles do not, however, connote triviality, 
but the editors admit that the selection of 
material in the less exactly defined sciences, 
such as anthropology or geography, can not 
be made from a rigid viewpoint. Not pre- 
suming to go outside the medical sciences, a 
number of titles might be noted which are 
nowise reports of original work, but articles 
@actuahté, abstracts or résumés of work done 
by others, a species of ephemeral literature in 
which medicine, more than any other group of 
sciences, abounds. Any one familiar with 
medical bibliography will realize how un- 
avoidable such inclusions are; but in the more 
rigorous branches of science there is little 
chance for vulgarization, and “ abstracts” 
are usually described as such. One very valu- 
able feature of this catalogue consists in the 
well-selected obituaries and memorial notices 
of deceased individuals, for instance those of 
the surgeon Billroth (p. 558) or the physiol- 
ogist Brown-Séquard (p. 851). The system of 
Russian transliteration adopted is a new de- 
parture. In the twelve volumes preceding, 
the standard used was a table, approved by 
Loéwinson-Lessing, Morfill and other Russian 
scholars, and adopted by the British Museum, 
the Royal Society and other learned bodies in 
England.1 The present system, which is also 
employed in the “ International Catalogue of 
Scientific Literature,” is based on the phonetic 


1 Nature, 1889-90, XLI., 396-97. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1033 


value of Roman letters in Bohemian. Thus 
what was formerly written zh becomes 2, kh 
becomes ch, ch becomes ¢, sh becomes 3, and 
shch becomes sc, ya or yu becomes ja or ju at 
the beginning of a syllable and 7a or tw after 
a syllabic consonant. These improvements 
will undoubtedly make for less unsightly 
names or words in print, and, if standardized, 
may mercifully settle the vexed question of 
Russian transliteration. In the present cata- 
logue, however, it has been necessary to em- 
ploy cross references to facilitate identifica- 
tion with names in earlier volumes trans- 
literated after the old method. One of the 
great difficulties in cataloguing Russian 
names is the fact that German or other non- 
Russian names in Russian text are often vio- 
lently wrenched from their true orthography, 
making strange appearances when rendered 
by certain transliterators. Thus Wales be- 
comes Uels, Herzen becomes Gertsen, Zoege- 
Manteuffel becomes Tsege-Mantazrffel and Poehl 
is written Pel. The difficulty is further com- 
plicated by the fact that many Russian writers 
of Yiddish extraction who bear German names 
decline to spell such names German fashion, 
when written in Roman characters, adhering 
to a servile transliteration of the Russian. 
This is very commonly seen in the students’ dis- 
sertations of Berne and Ziirich, where Jewish 
pupils abound. Even before the days of 
Yuryev and Petrograd, it was necessary for 
the bibliographer to have a certain flazr, an 
actual science des noms in Russian translitera- 
tion. In regard to another detail of the sci- 
ence of personal names, the Royal Society 
Catalogue has preserved throughout an ad- 
mirable consistency and uniformity. Thus 
the prefixes d’, Da, Dal, de, De, Del, Della, 
van, Van, von are all lower-cased and not con- 
sidered as part of the name, Da Costa appear- 
ing under Costa, and the Belgian Van Beneden 
along with the Dutch van Beet or the German 
von Bardeleben. Names preceded by Du, 
Des, Mac and O’ are, however, found under the 
letters D, M and O, and those preceded by 
La, Le, Les are all found under the letter L. 
In English and Dutch compound names, the 
last name is preferred; in French, Spanish 


OctToBER 16, 1914] 


and Portuguese, the first. Any system of this 
kind, if rigidly adhered to, is of vast aid in 
cataloguing. How to catalogue such a name 
as “du Bois Reymond” is one of the ever- 
recurring puzzles of bibliography. In listing 
abbreviations, the Royal Society Committee 
still adheres, in many instances, to the prac- 
tise of placing the locality of a given society 
at the head of the abbreviation of the title of 
its transactions, instead of after it, as ordi- 
narily, which sometimes loses it under an un- 
known entry. In some cases, this difficulty is 
obviated by a cross reference, but the custom 
can not be commended. A few very trifling 
errors have been noted, such as the confusion 
of J. S. Billings, Sr. and Jr., but these are 
surprisingly rare in a work of such vast ex- 
tent. The impeccable typography is in itself 
a token of accuracy in indexing. The entire 
series, when completed, will be one of those in- 
valuable works which no scientific library can 
do without for any length of time. 


F. H. Garrison, M.D. 
ArMy MrpIcaL Musrum 


THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE COMMITTEE 


THE seventh conference of the National 
Conference Committee on Standards of Col- 
leges and Secondary Schools was held at the 
rooms of the Carnegie Foundation for the 
Advancement of Teaching, New York, on 
February 28. 

The following delegates were present as 
representatives of the organizations indicated: 


Headmaster Wilson Farrand, Newark Academy, 
tepresenting the College Entrance Examination 
Board, President. 

Dean Frederick C. Ferry, Williams College, rep- 
resenting the New England Association of Colleges 
and Preparatory Schools, Secretary-Treasurer. 

Professor Frank W. Nicolson, Wesleyan Univer- 
sity, representing the New England College Hn- 
trance Certificate Board. 

Dean Frederick P. Keppel, Columbia University, 
representing the Association of Colleges and Pre- 
paratory Schools of the Middle States and Mary- 
land. 

Principal Frederick L. Bliss, Detroit University 
School, representing the North Central Association 
of Colleges and Secondary Schools. 


SCIENCE 


565 


Chancellor James H. Kirkland, Vanderbilt Uni- 
versity, representing the Association of Colleges 
and Secondary Schools of the Southern States. 

President John G. Bowman, The State Univer- 
sity of Iowa, representing the National Associa- 
tion of State Universities. 

Secretary Clyde Furst, as substitute for Presi- 
dent Henry S. Pritchett, representing the Carnegie 
Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. 

Honorable Philander P. Claxton, the United 
States Commissioner of Education. 


There was present also, by invitation, as a 
visitor, Dr. Samuel P. Capen, specialist in 
higher education in the National Bureau of 
Edueation. 

Headmaster Wilson Farrand, president of 
the committee, presided at both the morning 


-and the afternoon sessions. 


The subcommittee, consisting of Head- 
master Farrand (chairman), Dean Ferry, 
President Pritchett and Principal Bliss, gave 
a report of an investigation made by its chair- 
man to ascertain the number of recitation 
periods per week devoted to Mathematics A, 
History A, History B, History C, History D 
and Civies (as a separate study), the year in 
the course when each of these subjects is 
taken by the pupil, and the number of periods 
per week which constitute the normal schedule 
of the pupils in the schools considered. IJn- 
formation had been procured from 363 schools 
widely scattered through the country. The 
results seemed to the committee to warrant 
the raising of the question of increasing the 
weight (in units) given to Mathematics A 
and decreasing the weight given to each of the 
four history subjects. 

The subcommittee suggested also the con- 
sideration of the proposal presented from vari- 
ous sources, and particularly from the North 
Central Association of Colleges and Secondary 
Schools, that there be a discrimination among 
units according to the time in the secon- 
dary school curriculum when the subject is 
studied; e. g., units of the first two years 
might be called “minor” units, those of the 
last two years “major” units, and perhaps 
those of the second and third years “ inter- 
mediate” units. A third suggestion was to 


566 


the effect that it might be advantageous for 
colleges and universities to demand that a 
certain number of admission units, say ten or 
twelve, be confined to a small number of sub- 
jects, say three or four, and that only a defi- 
nite minimum be made up of isolated sub- 
jects. After much discussion, it was voted 
without dissent that these questions be re- 
ferred to the constituent bodies for considera- 
tion and advice; and for that purpose the fol- 
lowing circular letter was later prepared by 
Dean Keppel and Secretary Furst for sub- 
mission to the members of the organizations 
whose delegates constitute the National Con- 
ference Committee on Standards of Colleges 
and Secondary Schools: 


In spite of the marked progress toward uniform- 
ity in college entrance credits, this committee is in- 
formed of certain recurring difficulties in admin- 
istration. It appears, for example, from our gen- 
eral inquiry concerning the subject, that elemen- 
tary algebra is usually given more time than is 
represented by the unit and a half of credit given 
to this subject, and that certain branches of his- 
tory are usually given less time than is represented 
by the unit of credit that they receive. There is, 
on the other hand, a tendency toward a strictly me- 
chanical interpretation of the unit, even to the 
point of counting minutes, which emphasizes the 
letter rather than the spirit of a system of merely 
approximate measures. 

The committee realizes the importance of recom- 
mending as few changes in the regulations as pos- 
sible, but it believes that it will be of service if the 
organizations that it represents will consider and 
Teport to the committee their official judgment or 
the attitude of their members toward the following 
suggestions: 

A, That the unit credits assigned to the subjects 
of elementary algebra and history be modified so 
as to represent more nearly the amount of time 
given to these subjects. 

B. That in certain subjects—as for example, 
history—the amount of credit to be assigned should 
not be uniform in all cases but should vary with 
the time and attention given. 

C. That some distinction be made between the 
amount of credit that is given to subjects taken in 
the early years of the high school and those taken 
in the later years. 

D. That there be adopted some uniform plan of 
limiting the number of subjects in which credit 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1033 


may be gained in order that continuity of work 
may be secured in at least two subjects. 

The committee having received many re- 
quests for a uniform blank for the submission 
to the college of a statement of the school 
record, and it being understood that com- 
mittees of the Association of Colleges and 
Preparatory Schools and of the College and 
University Presidents Association of Penn- 
sylvania are already engaged in the prepara- 
tion of such a paper, it was voted that the 
subcommittee seek information on this sub- 
ject, consult with other committees, and re- 
port to the committee at its next meeting. 

Commissioner Claxton asked that the Na- 
tional Conference Committee undertake the 
task of definmg many terms which have come 
into use in modern education, school admin- 
istration, ete., and have not had certain and 
clear meanings assigned to them. It was 
agreed that the committee should undertake 
this work with the expectation that some part 
of it, at least, could be successfully accom- 
plished. It was accordingly voted that the 
subcommittee be instructed to take this sub- 
ject under consideration with a view to the 
extension of the field of the committee to the 
desired determination of definitions and that 
a report be made at the next meeting. 

Officers for the ensuing year were elected 
as follows: 

President, Headmaster Wilson Farrand. 

Vice-president, Chancellor James H. Kirkland. 

Secretary-treasurer, Dean Frederick C. Ferry. 

The choice of the subcommittee was left to 
the president with the provision that he serve 
as its chairman. The other members, as ap- 
pointed by him, are Chancellor Kirkland, 
Dean Ferry and Dean Keppel. 

FREDERICK ©, FERRY, 
Secretary 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 
THE “ MULTIPLE UNIT” SYSTEM AS A SOURCE OF 
ELECTRICITY FOR LABORATORIES 4 
Tue problem of furnishing electricity, 
adapted to physiologic and pharmacologic ex- 


1From the pharmacology laboratory of the 
Northwestern University Medical School. 


OcTOBER 16, 1914] 


perimental work, has been satisfactorily 
solved in but few laboratories. Very little on 
the subject is found in the literature and the 
need of a practical method which is compre- 
hensive and can be intelligently adopted, is 
becoming apparent. With this in mind the 
writer presents a brief discussion of the 
sources of electricity suitable to laboratory 
use, with special reference to what he terms 
the “multiple unit” system. 

Dry batteries are extensively used chiefly 
because of their compactness, ease in handling 
and apparent cheapness. But they are not 
dependable, since they polarize easily, the cur- 
rent is not constant and the supply is limited. 
Because of this much time is often lost in 
getting apparatus to work properly. In addi- 
tion the cost per year is usually a considerable 
item. Yet in spite of these inconveniences 
they still remain the common source of elec- 
trical supply. Wet batteries have the same 
disadvantages as dry cells. They are also 
clumsy and hence little used. Storage cells 
are fairly reliable but their bulkiness and 
expense make them undesirable for student 
work. 

The direct electric lighting current is an 
excellent source. A suitable resistance wire 
is attached in series to this as a rheocord from 
which sufficient current may be tapped off at 
various points and led to different instruments. 
The principle involved is well known, although 
it appears that but few physiologic or phar- 
macologie laboratories are utilizing it. This 
shunt rheocord system has the advantage of 
being absolutely reliable. The current is of 
unlimited supply and the voltage or amperage 
can be either made constant or varied at will. 
This is important in the stimulation of tissues 
with the direct current, where graded amounts 
are desired. Such an outfit may be made com- 
pact, accessible and inexpensive; it requires 
little care and will last indefinitely. 

The installation of such a system involves 
several important considerations. 

First, Source—Preferably, a direct 110-volt 
current should be used. 

Second, Amperage Carried.—This is deter- 
mined largely by (a) the amount of current 


SCIENCE 


567 


necessary to make any instrument work prop- 
erly, (6) the internal resistance of each, and 
(c) the number of instruments to be used and 
their effect upon the line amperage when 
shunted into the line resistance. Most induc- 
toria of American make operate best with a 
current of .5 to 1 ampere and 1.5 to 2 volts. 
The Harvard coil has an internal resistance of 
about .5 ohm, but this may rise as high as 1 
ohm with the interrupter in series if the con- 
tact points of the latter are poor. The 
Stoelting make No. 7090 has 1.5 ohms, and 
2 ohms or more with the interrupter. Signal 
magnets all work well with 1.5 to 2 volts and 
-5 to 1.5 amperes. Their resistance ranges 
between .5 ohm and 3 or more ohms (Stoelting 
No. 7076—.5 ohm; Harvard—3 ohms). An 
induction coil in series with a magnet requires 
a 2 to 3 volt and a 4 to 1 ampere current. An 
average resistance of all the instruments is 
about 1.5 ohms, Practically, the above amper- 
ages may be decreased within certain limits if 
the voltages are correspondingly increased, 
and vice versa. Individual needs will deter- 
mine the number of instruments to be used. 
In this laboratory accommodations are pro- 
vided for sections of thirty-five students each, 
and a maximum of sixty-five instruments is 
permitted. 

Great increases in the line current must be 
avoided, and in order to determine the current 
necessary to keep this rise in the line amperage 
below any desired maximum, say 15 per cent., 
it is of advantage to keep in mind the follow- 
ing formule: 

The current in amperes (7) equals the 
potential in volts (e) divided by the resistance 
in ohms (r). 


. ée S 
7=- or e=ir (1) 
T 

The conductance of two wires in parallel 
equals the sum of the two separate conduct- 
ances, conductance being the imverse of re- 
sistance. 
rr"! 


7 "ee o 


er al 1 

zoom mee, OS 
The amount of current passing through 

each of two wires in parallel is inversely pro- 


portional to its resistance. 


568 


(3) 


The amount of current passing through 
two wires in parallel equals the sum of the 
two separate currents. 


a7 +7. 


(4) 


As an illustration, a rheocord, taking 2 
amperes from a 110-volt main, has a resistance 
of 55 ohms (formula 1) and 2 volts drop for 
each ohm. Shunt in a 1.5 ohm signal magnet 
on this line at two points, A and B, between 
which there are 2 ohms and consequently 4 
volts. The intervening resistance becomes by 
formula (2) .85 ohm and is therefore reduced 
1.15 ohms. The total line then has a resistance 
of 53.85 ohms and a current of 2.04 amperes 
(formula 1). Between A and B the voltage 
becomes 2.04.85 or 1.75 (formula 1) and 
the solving of equations from formule (8) 
and (4) shows the line amperage so divided 
that .85 ampere passes through the line and 
1.15 amperes pass through the instrument. 
Accordingly, the magnet receives a current 
of 1.75 volts and 1.15 amperes, which is suffi- 
cient. But, should twelve such instruments 
be connected to similar sections of the line, 
the resistance would be reduced 1.15 ohms for 
each section and 13.8 ohms for the twelve sec- 
tions giving the line a resistance of only 41.2 
ohms and a current increased to almost 3 
amperes (formula 1). The point is that the 
shunting in of too many instruments on a 2 
ampere system would raise the amperage be- 
yond the safe carrying capacity of the wire. 
The danger in this case is eliminated by using 
3 or 4 instruments only, which can be operated 
across 8 or 10 ohms of resistance. Thus two 
parallel 32-candle-power lamps connected in 
series with 10 ohms of wire will furnish about 
29 amperes and will operate instrument cir- 
cuits of 1.5 or more ohms. Several such 
systems are required for large classes and the 
total amperage supply is necessarily high. 

Figuring with greater amperages on a single 
line, it is found that an 11-ampere line will 
accommodate sixty-five instruments on sepa- 
rate shunts and keep the rise in amperage 
below 15 per cent. This is easily determined: 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1033 


on a 10-ohm line carrying 11 amperes, let 
there be between two points A and B a poten- 
tial of 2 volts and a resistance of .18 ohm, each 
ohm having a drop of 11 volts. With a 1.5 
ohm instrument shunted in, there is found a 
resistance of .16 ohm (differing by .02 ohm 
from the original .18 ohm), a potential of 
1.76 volts, and a current through the instru- 
ment of 1.2 amperes. Sixty-five instruments 
averaging 1.5 ohms each, even when shunted 
in simultaneously on separate sections, give 
a total reduction of 1.3 ohms, and leaving 8.7 
ohms in the line allow the passage of 12.6- 
ampere current, which is an increase of 15 
per cent. above the normal. But, as less than 
twenty machines ordinarily are operating at 
any instant, there can be a resistance not 
reduced more than .4 ohm, a current not 
greater than 11.5 amperes and hence an amper- 
age rise not over 5 per cent. 

Third, Resistor Used—Most of the electric- 
ity passing through a line is transformed into 
heat energy and the temperature of the con- 
ductor rises until the heat generated by the 
current equals the heat dispersed per unit of 
time. This heat rise, other things being equal, 
varies to a large degree inversely with the 
amount of radiating surface, which again is 
determined by the size, length and resistivity 
of the wire as well as its actual resistance. A 
large heat rise reduces the radiating surface 
necessary, and for a short wire a high resistiv- 
ity must be used. For a moderate heat rise as 
150° F. the radiating surface becomes pro- 
portionately larger and a correspondingly 
moderate resistivity is demanded on a short 
line carrying 5 or more amperes. Compara- 
tive resistances of resistors range between 1 
and 65 times that of copper. For a 2 ampere 
system ordinary carbon lamps and any wire 
of high resistance as B. & S. No. 18 “ Ni- 
chrome” is satisfactory. In the “ Multiple 
Unit ” system, which, carrying 11 amperes, has 
10 ohms of resistance and is allowed an arbi- 
trary heat rise of 160° F., the resistivity for 
a line made as short as possible for compact- 
ness is found to be about twenty times that 
of copper. As an example No. 15 B. & S. 
18 per cent. German silver wire 19 times as 


OcToBER 16, 1914] 


resistant as copper and carrying 11 amperes 
will give a heat rise of about 160° F. The 
length is less than 200 feet. In selecting wire 
for conditions other than those given above, 
the different wire capacity tables may be con- 
sulted for various heat rises, lengths, ete., that 
are easily obtained from wire manufacturers. 
The choice will lie mainly with iron, 18 per 
cent. and 28 per cent. German silver, “ climax ” 
and nickel-chromium wires or their equiva- 
lents given under various trade names. Their 
resistances are, respectively, seven, twenty, 
thirty, fifty and sixty times that of copper. 


Fourth, Umit System Installed—The “ indi- 


vidual unit” system, as previously mentioned, 
carrying 2 amperes, is applicable for a 
limited number of certain instruments, partic- 
ularly those of higher resistance. Several 
such systems are necessary for class work. 
Jackson’s? “single unit” system consists 
essentially of one large frame over which is 
strung the resistance line, and has a capacity 
for a large number of instruments. This has 
in general all the favorable points of the shunt 
rheocord system, but the chief drawback is 
that such a frame is situated at one place 
from which all tapping wires must lead. In 
class work this may incur confusion in iden- 
tifying individual tappings, and more espe- 
cially necessitates the running of an excessive 
amount of wire from the frame to each table. 
Further, it is desirable that each machine, 
particularly inductoria, has its own separate 
connection to the resistance board in order that 
its operating current may be varied at will and 
may not be affected by the working of any 
other instrument, as is the case when one or 
more are placed in parallel with it. The 
“multiple unit” system eliminates this ob- 
jection to the “single unit” by dividing the 
latter into several sectional units connected 
in series and placing one section near each 
table. Confusion is avoided, extensive wiring 
unnecessary, and quick variations of currents 
to individual instruments readily made. 
Fifth, Miscellaneous Details—In general, 
these are for convenience and safety and con- 


2 Jackson, Journal A. M. A‘, 1912, Vol. LVII1, 
p. 1011. 


SCIENCE 


569 


cerned with electrical rules and regulations. 
The main leads and the wires connecting the 
sectional units should be insulated copper 
large enough to carry the desired current 
(B. & S. No. 16—6 amperes, No. 14-12 am- 
peres and No. 12—15 amperes). All connec- 
tions are thoroughly fastened or spliced and 
soldered if necessary. 

- Sectional or individual units may be con- 
structed to suit individual preferences, the only 
requirement being proper insulation of the 
bare wire. Stringing the resistance line over 
wooden frames, even asbestos lined, is not 
always advisable because of possible dangers 
from accidental overheating. Slabs of slate 
or stone are more preferable since they permit 
ample insulation and protection. The resist- 
ant units in the author’s “multiple unit” 
system are slate slabs 14 in. x12 in. x1 in. in 
Size with a #4-in. beveled edge, a 3-in. hole 
near each corner for fastening unit to the 
wall being separated from it by 2-in. porcelain 
§pools. One inch in along each long side a row 
of holes is drilled to fit 3/16 in. stove bolts, 
the holes being $ in. apart and so located that 
the wire when strung shall run in a zigzag 
manner. Through the holes bolts are inserted 
from the rear surface; a washer is placed on 
each next to the slate on the front surface; 
and the wire is strung tightly from bolt to bolt, 
each of which is finally tightened by a single 
washer and nut. The bolt ends should project 
out free 4 in. so that spring clips of the tapping 
Wires may be easily attached where direct wire 
tapping is less convenient or not desired. Wire 
strands between bolts are 10 in. long and each 
strand produces approximately a .5-volt drop in 
the current. Thus a 2-volt drop is obtained 
across four strands. Jf tappings are to be 
made from the bolt ends only, the resistance 
wire may be coiled spirally, thus shortening 
the span of the strands and materially dimin- 
ishing the size of the units. 

Tapping wires are twisted flexible lamp cord 
of ten or other convenient length with ends 
numbered and all lightly soldered to prevent 
the strands from breaking and with spring 
clips, fastened to one pair of ends, for attach- 
ing to the bolt ends or the resistance wire. 


570 


Into the tapping wires between the spring clips 
and instrument connections 4 or 1 ampere 
fuses, which “blow out” with 14 to 24 am- 
peres of current, may be inserted. Provision 
is made for connecting in series one or, in 
some tapping sets, two instruments. 

The system may be briefly described as fol- 
lows: The “multiple unit” system, used in 
the pharmacology laboratory of the North- 
western University Medical School consists of 
8 sectional units, connected in series, strung 
with 10 ohms of No. 15 B. & S. German silver 
18 per cent. nickel alloy wire about 200 feet 
long. The 110-volt, 11-ampere current enters 
at the positive main, passes through a cartridge 
fuse and switch on an enclosed switchboard, to 
resistance unit No. 1, to unit No. 2, so on 
consecutively to unit No. 8, and back through 
the switch and a fuse to the negative main. 
A pilot light is connected in parallel across 
some unit to indicate when current passes 
through the line. From varying points on any 
unit, double-fused flexible lamp cord may be 
led off to an inductorium. Similarly, a signal 
magnet, or an inductorium with a signal 
magnet in series, may be connected. Each 
strand is 10 in. long and has a .5-volt poten- 
tial. Single instruments operate across a 3 or 4 
strand shunt (1.5 to 2 volts), two instruments 
in series operate across a 4 to 6 strand shunt 
(2 to 3 volts). All instrument circuits take 
.5 to 1.5 amperes, according to their resistance, 
while during the passage of the current the 
voltage drops from .05 to .3 volt, due to the 
decreased resistance across the shunt. It is 
wise to test each instrument, because of pos- 
sible differences in its resistance, with the 
volt-meter and the ammeter before using it 
in regular work. The “multiple unit” system 
is likewise admirably adapted not only for 
tissue stimulation with the direct current as 
previously mentioned, but also for physiologic 
chemical work as the determination of copper 
in sugar analysis, ete. The cost of such an 
outfit will range between 5 and 15 dollars, in- 
cluding units, switch box, wire and tapping 
cords. Since the operating expense is but a 
few cents per hour and the “system” is a 
permanent fixture, the actual expense is much 


SCIENCE 


{N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1033 


less than that of dry batteries, which must be 
frequently renewed. 

A few possible dangers are to be remem- 
bered. If the negative main be connected to 
the ground, as occurs with some power plants, 
“srounding ” of the positive main from any 
point along the resistance line may take place 
through a tapping wire, either directly by con- 
tact with water pipes, radiators, etc., or in- 
directly through instruments not insulated 
from stands which themselves are grounded. 
In either case the grounding wire and any 
instrument in series with it takes part of the 
line current which usually burns out the 
small fuses in the tapping wire but, if not, 
may be so large as to injure the instrument. 
Signal magnets, if not insulated, may “short 
circuit ” by permitting the current to flow from 
one instrument to another, either through a 
common stand rod, or through metal writing 
levers touching a kymograph drum not covered 
with tracing paper. This will prevent the pas- 
sage of sufficient current through the instru- 
ments which then do not work properly. With 
a 2-ampere system for 3 to 4 instrument 
capacity, only the last 8 or 10 ohms of the 
wire nearest the negative main should be used. 
This, as well as the fusing of the individual 
tapping wires, minimizes the danger. Like- 
wise, it is preferable if possible to have imstru- 
ments operated on the negative side of a larger 
ampere line in order to reduce the seriousness 
of grounding. Students should be given the 
following instructions to prevent these occur- 
rences. 

First, always make sure that the line has no 
possible “ground” before the main current 
is switched on. 

Second, tap last from a resistance unit when 
setting up an apparatus and disconnect first 
from the unit when changing instruments or 
through using apparatus. 

Third, insulate signal magnets and other 
electrical apparatus from metal stands by 
heavy rubber tubing and keep tracing paper on 
drums which are in contact with metal writing 


levers. C. L. v. Hess 


NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY, 
MEDICAL SCHOOL 


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il SCIENCE—ADVERTISEMENTS 


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SCIENCE 


FrRipAy, OcToBer 23, 1914 


CONTENTS 


Science and Practise: PRoFEsSsorR Ross G. 


HARRISON 


Public Health Education: PRoFEssoR GEORGE 
C. WHIPPLE 


Scientific Notes and News 588 


University and Educatienal News .......... 592 


Discussion and Correspondence :— 


Heredity and Environment: Dr. HENRY 
LEFFMAN. A Feminized Cockerel: Dr. H. 
D. GoopvatE. A Third Order Rainbow: 
Dr. H. W. Farwewtt. A Solar Halo in 


Virgimia: A. W. FREEMAN 593 


Scientific Books :— 
Allen’s Photo-electricity ; Hughes’s Photo- 
electricity; PROFESSOR ERNEST MERRITT. 
Pearson’s Tables for Statisticians and 
Biometricians: Dr. J. ARTHUR Harris. 
Walker’s Crystallography : PROFESSOR 
CHARLES PALACHE. Smith’s Industrial and 
Commercial Geography: PROFESSOR J. PAUL 


GOODE 596 


The Committee on General Science of the 
National Education Association: PROFESSOR 


JOHN F. WooDHULL 601 


Indiana Unwersity Expeditions to North- 


western. South America: ARTHUR HENN.... 602 


Special Articles :— 
Possible Factors in the Variations of the 
Barth’s Magnetic Field: Dr. S. R. WILLIAMS. 
Changes of Drainage in Ohio: DR. GEORGE 
N. Corrty. The Poisonous Nature of the 
Stinging Hairs of Jatropha Urens: Dr. 
(O}nunfo il by nfs ree pesotc a ater eon Ieee aie Sco 


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


SCIENCE AND PRACTISE1 


THE Society of Naturalists at this meet- 
ing celebrates its thirtieth anniversary, an 
occasion which in itself perhaps calls for 
no special felicitation, but one on which we 
should ‘all rejoice on account of the safe 
passing of a crisis in its life. Not many 
years ago its very existence was threatened, 
and now the society finds itself securely es- 
tablished for a definite purpose. Conceived 
by its founders as a means to bring to- 
gether workers in biology for the discus- 
sion of topics of common interest, it was 
confronted almost at the outset by a condi- 
tion in which there appeared to be no such 
topics, so rapidly did the organization of 
more special societies from its midst take 
place. It seemed as if its career were to be 
that of the ephemerid, a sacrifice to its own 
fecundity. Ultimately, however, as a re- 
sult of an experiment suggested by the late 
Professor Penhallow, when president of the 
society, a process of regeneration took 
place, not an exact restitution of all that 
had been lost by autotomy, but rather a 
sort of heteromorphie growth, which, while 
preserving the old shell, transformed the 
main functional activity of the organism 
to a new sphere, specialized but neverthe- 
less having much common ground of inter- 
est. It is particularly appropriate that 
the society should have taken up the field 
of genetics as its own, for what has its 
career been but one long persistent effort 
in practical eugenics? Though its early 
experiences did seem to resemble a self- 
destroying schizogony, we now look upon 


1 Address of the president of the American So- 
ciety of Naturalists, Philadelphia, 1913. 


572 


them as the more usual type of parent- 
hood. Its offspring have become many and 
waxed strong. The eldest daughters have 
begun to reproduce their kind and just to- 
day the society rejoices in the advent of a 
new grandchild.? We can see long vistas 
of new physiological associations reaching 
out into the dim and distant future, and no 
one can predict where this propagation of 
societies will end. We view this with 
equanimity so long as the new organiza- 
tions do not become too narrow in their in- 
terests and so long as they continue to 
recognize the mutual benefits of regular 
family reunions. From this year’s gather- 
ing the society notes with regret the absence 
of some of its most fancied children. 

Through its relationship to the affiliated 
societies the Society of Naturalists has now 
come to represent in a general way the in- 
terests of biological science. It is import- 
ant that there should be some such body 
in existence even if it were solely for the 
maintenance of the proper relationship be- 
tween our science and the public. 

In these days of intense practical activ- 
ity and social unrest it is difficult to over- 
estimate the need for the application of 
science to every-day life and to the 
sudden exigencies of our social organiza- 
tion. I do not mean merely the ap- 
plication of science to industry or to phys- 
ical health, but rather the more general re- 
lation of science to human aspirations and 
to human conduct. 

Man to-day, while still retaining instincts 
which he shares with other animals, is dis- 
tinguished from them by the vast modifi- 
cations which accumulated experience has 
brought about. Social, moral and religious 
sanctions are so interwoven with instinc- 
tive impulses that it is all but impossible 
to distinguish between what is nature and 


2The American 
Pathology. 


Society for Experimental 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No, 1034 


what is nurture in our make-up. Yet this 
is the fundamental criterion for all action 
that seeks to improve mankind either 
through breeding a better race or through 
the modification of his behavior. 

Human civilization has its many visible 
signs in the machinery it employs and in 
the objects it collects about it. These are 
the outward expressions of the mental and 
moral impulses that have actuated man 
and which we collectively call culture. 
Many definitions of this elusive spirit have 
been attempted, but I like best Matthew 
Arnold’s characterization, that culture has 
its origin in the love of perfection, and in- 
volves two main elements—the passion for 
Knowledge and the will to do good. It 
rests upon right thinking as well as upon 
right doing—I like this conception because 
it recognizes culture as creative, and not 
merely as passive appreciation. 

To give these forces [of culture] names from 
the two races of men who have supplied the most 
signal and splendid manifestation of them, we 
may call them respectively the forces of Hebraism 
and Hellenism. Hebraism and Hellenism—be- 
tween these two points of influence moves our 
world. At one time it feels more powerfully the 
attraction of one of them, at another time of the 
other; and it ought to be, though it never is, 
evenly and happily balanced betwen them. . . . The 
governing idea of Hellenism is spontaneity of 
consciousness; that of MHebraism, strictness of 
conscience.8 


Science, like literature, art and other in- 
struments of culture, has fallen under both 
of these influences. Yet science in its last 
analysis is the very embodiment of the Hel- 
lenic spirit—the passion to know. Its great 
intellectual achievements are the fruition 
of this ideal. The application of these to 
the alleviation of human misery and the 
uplift of the world are manifestations of 
the spirit of Hebraism. 

The commonest and the most distorted 


3‘¢Culture and Anarchy,’’ pp. 110 and 113. 


OCTOBER 23, 1914] 


view of the value of science finds utterance 
in the glorification of its relation to me- 
chanical invention and industry in general. 
I am not one of those who believe that sci- 
ence has been sullied by this alliance, but 
I do wish to emphasize the one-sidedness of 
this point of view. These improvements 
are applications of science. They have given 
us much comfort and ease, and they have 
suggested some of the most interesting 
fields for purely scientific study though, on 
the other hand, they have brought in their 
wake some of the most difficult problems 
with which society is confronted. How- 
ever, it is not the material benefits that man 
now most needs. In these days when most 
perplexing questions are crowding upon us, 
it is not so much the results of science as it 
is the spirit of scientific inquiry and the ap- 
plication of scientific method that are indis- 
pensable. To have an array of investiga- 
tors covering all fields of human knowledge 
is not sufficient. What is most needed is 
that the scientific spirit should permeate 
much further into the rank and file of 
humanity, that there should be a more gen- 
eral appreciation of the value of science 
beyond what it does for our bodily com- 
fort. 

It is not necessary to dwell at length 
upon what constitutes the spirit of science 
and what its methods are. Accuracy in 
observing and recording natural events is 
the very foundation of its existence; power 
of analysis, sense of proportion of values, 
and imagination are necessary for its 
highest achievements. The watchword of 
science is fair play and fearlessness in 
recognizing that the rules of the game are 
inexorable and that any infraction of them 
leads sooner or later to disaster. It is too 
much to expect the man in the street to 
possess scientific imagination and subtle 
analytic power, but it is not beyond reason 


SCIENCE 


573 


to hope that there may be found in him 
ultimately a greater regard for accuracy 
and fair play in forming opinions to guide 
his conduct. 

' Modern life is, however, not satisfied with 
opinions—we have them to satiety. It de- 
mands action as well as words. This rest- 
less demand for action reveals undiscrimi- 
nating and half-baked opinions, and it 
leads to one individual demanding that 
others make their own conduct conform to 
what he thinks is right. 

' We are just now in a period of exuberant 
Hebraism. At least at the present time the 
Hebraic ideal seems to be’ the dominant if 
not the only uplifting force opposing the 
most sordid materialism. But we need 
more light—we are in sad need of the 
genius of Hellenism in general affairs. It 
is the part of science to breathe this spirit, 
to provide the basis of action that is right 
and to discourage doing for the mere sake 
of dog. If, though, practical life has too 
much of Hebraism, the very best of science 
is too much without it. Scientific men must 
take greater part in the affairs of the 
world, not only in industry, but also in the 
idealistic movements of society. The un- 
relenting abomination of sham, hypocrisy 
and wilful ignorance which inheres in sci- 
ence means far more for mankind than the 
solution of particular problems. Who, for 
instance, would place the chief value of as- 
tronomy in its application to the art of 
navigation, to surveying, or to the prognos- 
tication of the weather, rather than in what 
it has done in widening man’s horizon and 
giving right appreciation of the relation of 
himself and the earth to the universe? The 
sublime ideas of infinity of space and time 
and the beauty of the simple laws of plane- 
tary motion have had a value to mankind 
far transcending that of any so-called prac- 
tical application of stellar science. The 
theory of evolution is in the eyes of the mul- 


574 


titude a totally unpractical idea. Yet it 
has done more to stir the foundations of 
society than the steam-engine or the tele- 
graph. 

The failure of scientific men to exert their 
full measure of influence in affairs rests 
largely upon their guilelessness and naiveté 
in dealing with men as well as upon 
their natural reluctance to express opin- 
ions on subjects about which they feel they 
know but little, especially since the prob- 
lems involved are usually of far greater 
complexity than those encountered in their 
regular work. You will see that I am 
overcoming that reluctance this evening. 

Society, maintaining itself upon an in- 
complete knowledge, which is always in 
process of growing, must necessarily at 
times receive rude shocks and make new ad- 
justments. Just at present all its constants 
seem to have become independent variables. 
Old traditions have given way and doing is 
preferred to thinking. To be called a man 
of action is to receive the highest approba- 
tion of one’s fellow-men. Yet there never 
was an age when there was greater need for 
sound thinking. 

The pressing problems all involve in 
their last analysis the relation of the in- 
dividual to society. In how far shall lib- 
erty of the individual be subordinated to 
that of the community? For better or for 
worse the doctrine of laissez-faire is in 
abeyance. It is the abuses of individual 
liberty that are uppermost in men’s 
minds, and the defense of individual rights 
is in danger of bemg left completely in 
the hands of those who would use them 
for selfish ends. The spirit of social and 
moral progress is ground between the 
upper millstone of doctrinaire reform 
and the nether millstone of commercial- 
ism. Many good and wise men find them- 
selves in a dilemma from which there 
seems to be no way out. 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1034 


The more purely economic and adminis- 
trative problems need perhaps cause no 
great misgiving. They are likely to keep 
themselves adjusted to the requirements of 
the nation even though sharp clashes of 
interest do arise, for here there are more 
exact measures of value and a sort of self- 
regulating mechanism which, while it may 
often get out of order, nevertheless will 
not fail entirely. It is for the social and 
moral questions that solutions seem most 
remote and the direction of travel most un- 
certain. 

In this age of militant reform the list 
of measures proposed for the regeneration 
of mankind and for which organized 
propaganda is made is a very formidable 
one. Effort is correspondingly scattered 
and really important movements are be- 
fogged in a cloud of petty and oft ill-ad- 
vised attempts at correction. Reformers 
are good citizens with the best of imten- 
tions and are frequently the sole influence 
for good in a community. The evils which 
they combat are often very serious, so 
that one hesitates to do or say anything in 
Opposition to their aims, or even to the 
means they employ to realize them. Yet 
there are weighty and by no means selfish 
considerations that may constrain one at 
times to raise a dissenting voice and draw 
attention to some of their misdirected ef- 
forts. 

The chief characteristic of reform is the 
dominance of Hebraism over Hellenism— 
“<the preference of doing to thinking.’’ It 
is always ready to act, and to act with en- 
thusiasm according to what it supposes to 
be light, though half the time remaining 
blind to the need of more knowledge and 
neglecting the means of obtaining it. 
There is neither breadth of view nor sense 
of the proportionate value of things. 

Particularly misguided are those re- 
forms that seek to enforce by legal enact- 


OCTOBER 23, 1914] 


ment various forms of abstinence, that 
empty sort of moral felicity the real virtue 
of which consists in the circumstance that 
it may be followed later by some properly 
regulated and supposedly innocuous in- 
dulgence. The prohibition movement is 
the best to consider here by way of ex- 
ample because it is one of great force and 
one that aims to combat a serious evil. 
Any argument that is valid against it will 
hold a fortiori against similar movements. 

The misery caused by.drink, with all its 
hygienic, economic and moral phases, ap- 
peals dramatically to man’s sympathy and 
awakens the desire to do something to 
mitigate it. To accomplish this no means 
would seem simpler and more direct than 
the prohibition of the sale of liquor by 
law. The results of this method have not 
been satisfactory, however, except perhaps 
in small communities, because the habits 
of mankind involved are treated merely as 
“so many physical obstacles to be thrust 
aside by a calculated amount of force. It 
is not reasonable to expect that a large 
minority—within a fraction of fifty per 
cent. in the state of Maine—will submit to 
the regulation of their personal habits by 
scarcely more numerous neighbors. Not 
having the moral support of a large enough 
proportion of the population, the laws are 
violated to a scandalous degree. Thus, 
while the intent of the prohibition laws 
constitutes an unjust infringement of in- 
dividual rights, their failure to accom- 
plish their purpose, which is inevitable, is 
responsible for evils far more fundamental 
and more insidious than the drink habit 
itself. This is realized by a great many 
thoughtful persons but, incredible as it 
may seem, opposition to the propaganda 
of prohibition is left largely to those pe- 
cuniarily interested in keeping the liquor 
traffic intact. There are certainly some 
most exasperating and disheartening as- 


SCIENCE 


575 


pects of the liquor situation in this coun- 
try—so many, in fact, that worthy citizens 
sit in their clubs and drink, at the same 


time giving a long list of reasons why they 


vote ““no license.’’ Nevertheless a large 
proportion of these evil features could 
readily be eradicated if we had less of that 
hypocrisy and cynical contempt for the 
law that is engendered by the existence of 
so many laws not really in accordance with 
public opinion. The experience of other 
countries amply justifies this view. 

The methods employed to obtain prohi- 
bition legislation are often more objection- 
able than the measures themselves. Public 
Opinion is aroused by protracted cam- 
paigns led by paid agitators, where en- 
thusiasm for the cause precludes all con- 
sideration for opposing views and the 
rights of the minority. The legislative 
chambers become invaded by a veritable 
lobby of political and moral intimidation, 
and the final passage of an act is made the 
occasion of scenes that belong to the time 
of the crusades rather than to the present. 
Even the halls of the national congress are 
not exempt from such spectacles,* and yet 
those who believe that important questions 
should be settled with full knowledge and 
in a fair and dispassionate spirit stand 
aside and leave the opposing ground to the 
brewery and the saloon. To tolerate such 
methods for accomplishing even the most 
worthy purpose constitutes the gravest 
kind of danger to our political and social 
organization. The pernicious habit once 
acquired will surely be used for baser 
ends. The art of exhortation is confined 
neither to the righteous nor to the wise, 
and much, if not all, of what is done by 
the revivalist method will inevitably be 
regretted in the light of reason and have 
to be undone—often with difficulty. 

To attempt to stop drinkine by legal 

4 December 11, 1913. 


576 


compulsion is to overlook that behind the 
tangible evils of drink there lies a weak- 
ness of human character. It is but the 
part of foresight to look to influences that 
strengthen self-control rather than to re- 
move some particular temptation. The 
latter action substitutes the restraint from 
without for the far more ennobling and en- 
during restraint from within. Man is too 
much of an imitator not to have his indi- 
vidual character deeply modified by en- 
vironmental influences. The force of a 
good and cheerful example will accom- 
plish more than preaching and artificial 
restraint. All can not be saved, but it 
were better that some go to the wall than 
that all sicken in that stifling air of virtue 
by act of legislature. 

Almost daily some new ‘‘crusade’’ is 
chronicled. Some are directed against real 
evils, others are trivial and still others 
vicious. These reform movements, so far 
as they seek to regulate the private life of 
individuals, show weaknesses of the same 
kind as those just cited and probably none 
of them has the justification that the drink 
evil affords. More sound thought and less 
hasty action is needed. Let there be less 
running to the legislature for laws that 
make new crimes of venial offences, and 
laws that extend the definition of serious 
crimes to include lesser transgressions. 
Undue severity of punishment, instead of 
stopping crime and immorality, merely 
brings the law into diseredit. ‘‘If we in- 
quire into the cause of all human corrup- 
tions,’’ wrote Montesquieu in “‘The Spirit 
of Laws,’’ ‘‘we shall find that they proceed 
from the impunity of criminals, and not 
from the moderation of punishments. Let 
us follow nature, who has given shame to 
man for his scourge; and let the heaviest 
part of the punishment be the infamy at- 
tending it.’ If this be true for major 


5 Op. cit., Vol. 1, p. 96. Nugent’s translation. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1034 


erimes, and the Romans at least found that 
it was, how much more does it hold for those 
very natural offences against good behavior 
that moral zealots seek to punish with se- 
vere penalties. But, I fear, such wisdom 
is a long way off from general recognition 
in this country, for, as Mr. Bryce per- 
tinently remarks, ‘‘For crotchet-mongers 
as well as for intriguers there is no such 
paradise as the lobby of a state legisla- 
ture.’’ lest this seem far away from sci- 
ence, remember that the method of science 
is based on experience. Shall we throw all 
past experience to the winds in our mad 
dash for the millennium? 

The youngest reform movement, as yet 
but scarcely born, the one which all biolo- 
gists must be watching with parental solic- 
itude, is eugenics. But this youngster, too, 
needs protection from its overzealous 
friends. Already the enthusiasts are de- 
manding legislation, unmindful of how 
little information we really have to base it 
on, and oblivious of the vast complica- 
tions of a problem which touches the 
very vitals of our social and our animal 
organization. For the present the prac- 
tical application of eugenics to man 
would best be left to that minority of 
thoughtful and rather unimpulsive per- 
sons who are willing to experiment upon 
themselves and their descendants. On the 
other hand, we need not look upon the 
widest extension of this practise with any 
misgiving. The eugenice sanction, even if 
it does require the subordination of the 
impulse of the moment to future expecta- 
tions, is far less artificial than many of the 
restraints imposed by our present social 
conventions.° In considering the motives 
that may impel mankind in the future to 
more general practise of eugenics, it does 
not seem likely that young men and wo- 

6 Havelock Ellis, ‘‘The Task of Social Hy- 
giene.’’ 


OcTOBER 23, 1914] 


men will be carried away to any extent 
by a higher sense of duty toward remote 
posterity. The ideal will be realized rather 
through the due appreciation of a frag- 
ment of ancient wisdom: ‘‘The father of 
the righteous shall greatly rejoice; and he 
that begetteth a wise child shall have joy 
of him’’—Hellenic sense from a Hebraic 
source. 

Holding the view that many of the tend- 
encies of the time may best be combated 
by more general use of the methods of sci- 
ence, and by less worship of material re- 
sults, it is pertinent to inquire how to make 
the scientifie attitude of mind more prev- 
alent. Here the immediate problem is not 
one of eugenics. Hven for the present gen- 
eration and the one following it we hope 
to do something through individual train- 
ing, 

Our own time has witnessed the exten- 
sive introduction of science teaching into 
the schools and there are now no important 
institutions of collegiate rank in this coun- 
try where science is not at least on an 
equality with the humanities. As a conse- 
quence of this we should expect more satis- 
factory results than have been obtained. 
The fault is that in our science teaching 
too much stress is laid upon the mere im- 
parting of information, in response to the 
demand that subjects must be presented 
in an attractive and entertaining way, and 
in disregard of the fact that the chief 
value of science lies in its methods and 
its spirit. We do not make enough of 
methods and thoroughness. School and 
college science is much too desultory; there 
is no practise in that power of sustained 
thought that is so necessary to the draw- 
ing of right conclusions. In the schools 
there are possibly difficulties in the way 
of concentration of studies, but it is by no 
means so in the colleges, and such concen- 
tration is at present hindered only by the 


SCIENCE 


577 


time-worn notion that culture consists in 
knowing a little about everything. Spe- 
cialization has been foreed upon us by an 
unprecedented activity in all branches of 
learning. Not to plan our curriculum in 
accordance with this condition is futile. 
If we want men who can direct their at- 
tention to the solution of the large prob- 
lems of life we must give our youths prac- 
tise in concentration of thought—some 
rigorous schooling in the methods of rea- 
soning by which problems are solved. One 
who has had such training, no matter in 
what subject, will have no difficulty in 
picking up any information he may need, 
but the man who has scattered his efforts 
will ever flounder hopelessly and will find 
his appetite for sound learning dulled by 
his persistent nibbling. 

This leads to the general question of the 
value of discipline, a feature of training 
sadly lacking in our American life. We 
indulge our children at home, we demand 
no mark of respect from them, we give way 
in deference to all their whims, and we are 
pleased to see them entertained rather 
than instructed and trained in our schools; 
and on top of all of this unwise and un- 
fitting early training it is sought to re- 
form the world by laws that require the 
most self-denying conduct. Are we not 
trying to “‘teach the old dogs new tricks’’ 
—an impossibility known to the world 
long before the study of animal behavior 
became a science? Could not infinitely 
more be accomplished by a rigorous early 
training? Good habits acquired in early 
life would surely obviate the ground for 
much of that clamor for compulsion at a 
period of life when compulsion comes hard. 

If our educational system and our fam- 
ily training do not altogether measure up 
to their opportunities in bringing more 
of the scientifie spirit into life, what shall 
we say of the relations of our agents of 


578 


publicity to the problem? If the masses 
are not reached in the schools they may be 
reached through the newspaper, but at 
present the relation of science to the press 
is in a lamentable state. Especially in 
this country, where we pride ourselves on 
the freedom, the enterprise and the versa- 
tility of the daily newspaper, the relation 
is particularly unsatisfying to scientific 
men, and altogether ineffective as a means 
of properly interesting and informing the 
public on scientific progress. Probably the 
fault lies on both sides. The press, in 
catering to the popular taste for the sensa- 
tional and in disregarding the very foun- 
dation of scientific inquiry, which is ac- 
curacy, utterly fails to reflect the purpose 
and the results of scientific activity. On 
the other hand, men of science hold them- 
selves aloof, and do not appreciate their 
opportunity to exert a useful influence. It 
may be that the latter is the real root of the 
evil. In any case, it is at this end of the 
line that we ourselves may best try to help 
out. It is true that the limited experience 
which members of our profession have had 
in the matter of newspaper publicity does 
not lend much encouragement to the hope 
of a satisfactory outcome. Some of the 
most influential dailies avowedly have the 
desire to promote the true interests of sci- 
ence in relation to the public welfare; they 
have the confidence of some scientific men, 
and often have direct access to the sources 
of discovery, but what one of us can be 
satisfied with the form in which new dis- 
coveries are reported? We can not, of 
course, expect statements of our work to 
command the attention of the public if 
couched in the language of the Jahresbe- 
richt. Explanatory matter must be given, 
but beyond the demand of a diseased taste 
for the sensational, is there any necessity 
for the form in which science is now pre- 
sented in the newspapers? Must a discov- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1034 


ery, in order to attract notice, necessarily 
be heralded in flaring headlines as the 
greatest of the day and be accompanied by 
a full-page portrait of the discoverer? 
Yet that is the kind of science given to the 
newspaper-reading public to quench its 
thirst for knowledge. 

Each year there are held in this country, 
not to speak of the world at large, numer- 
ous scientific congresses, at which much is 
communicated that is of the utmost im- 
portance to civilization. We should expect 
to find the proceedings adequately and 
decently reported in the newspapers. That 
this expectation is vain, is, however, ob- 
vious. To relate a little experience of my 
own will serve to answer why it is so. A 
few minutes before being called upon to 
speak at a medical congress not long ago, 
I was approached by a reporter who asked 
for an account of my paper. My remon- 
strance that he could soon hear what was 
to be said to the assembly, evoked the 
reply that he hadn’t time for that and, be- 
sides, he wouldn’t be able to understand 
if he had. Immediately after the meeting 
another reporter came up and asked me to 
explain the papers that had been read, 
and particularly what was meant by the 
terms ‘‘tissue,’’ ‘‘cell’’ and ‘‘heart-beat,”’ 
confessing frankly that he hadn’t under- 
stood a word of what had been said. 

Clearly there is no reason to find fault 
with either of these men for their igno- 
rance. They may have been quite com- 
petent in their regular work. They cer- 
tainly had the virtues of frankness and of 
knowing their own limitations. It would 
be unreasonable to blame a reporter of 
sporting or police news for a lack of 
knowledge of radio-activity or experi- 
mental embryology, but what should we 
say of otherwise resourceful newspapers 
that send such men to report scientific 
news for a knowledge-craving and credu- 


OCTOBER 23, 1914] 


lous public? That such subjects can be 
sensibly and accurately reported in the 
daily press is proved by the splendid record 
of the London Times, as shown, for in- 
stance, in its admirable reports of the last 
International Medical Congress. These re- 
ports have almost the accuracy that one 
would expect to fmd in official proceedings 
of the meetings. It is clear that the meet- 
imgs were reported by experts, not only 
possessed of requisite knowledge, but also 
highly skilled in the art of writing. Here 
is an example worthy of emulation, and a 
splendid opportunity for some of our best 
papers to serve the public interest. 

We read the newspapers and further- 
more we believe what we read more than 
we are willing to admit, though we damn 
them and sneer at them at the same time. 
But it is wrong to say that conditions are 
hopeless and incapable of betterment. Im- 
provement in the relations between science 
and the press can be effected through closer 
contact and understanding. Scientific men 
must emerge occasionally from the sanctum 
and endeavor to make their aims and their 
work understood. The press for its part 
must in reporting science give up catering 
to the public demand for the sensational, 
and allow itself to be inoculated by the 
germs of accuracy and honesty that give 
life to the scientific spirit. The scientific 
man must not be pictured as an alchemist 
in medieval surroundings, searching for 
the elixir of life or the philosopher’s stone. 
He is both human and modern, and the 
public will learn to appreciate him sooner 
as a man than as a magician. The habit 
set by reporting science in the spirit of sci- 
ence would ultimately spread to the more 
usual fields of newspaper activity and lead 
to more accuracy and less desire simply to 
make a good story in reporting news. This 
and a more rational conception of what 
science stands for and what its methods 


SCIENCE 


579 


are will give to the average man the power 
to view his own problems with sanity and 
clearness and discredit a large measure of 
the cant that now gains many followers. 

In giving expression to belief in the 
signal importance of the scientific spirit for 
practical life we come inevitably to those 
questions which every one has asked and 
no one has answered. Whither is it all 
leading, and how is it going to satisfy our 
human yearnings? It has been often said, 
and correctly, that we, the philosopher- 
scientists of to-day, have but traveled as 
did the poet-astronomer eight hundred 
years ago. 

And many a Knot unravell’d by the road; 
But not the Master-Knot of Human Fate. 
But need this observation in its modern 
application be interpreted as a wail of 
pessimism? [ think not. Though modern 
science has not pretended and does not now 
pretend to have unraveled the master-knot, 
though its philosophy even shows that we 
can not hope to attain that goal, the un- 
raveling of knots by the road has shown no 
tendency to stop and new ones are ever ap- 
pearing, no matter how far we go. Hvery 
knot unraveled effects some change in the 
relation of man to his environment, and 
sooner or later calls for some act of re-ad- 
justment on his part. In this respect the 
modern relation of science to practise seems 
to differ fundamentally from that which 
obtained during the period of Hindu and 
of Greek ascendency, and this cirecum- 
stance leaves ground for hope that the civ- 
ilization based upon it may long endure 
and escape the fate of its forerunners so 

well deseribed in Huxley’s words:* 


The Vedas and the Homeric epos set before us 
a world of rich and vigorous life, full of joyous 


fighting men 
‘That ever with a frolic weleome took 
The thunder and the sunshine... .’? 


7‘‘Eyvolution and Ethies.’’ 


580 


and who were ready to brave the very Gods them- 
selves when their blood was up. A few centuries 
pass away, and under the influence of civilization 
the descendants of these men are ‘‘sicklied o’er 
with the pale cast of thought’’—frank pessi- 
mists or, at best, make-believe optimists. The 
courage of the warlike stock may be as hardly 
tried as before, perhaps more hardly, but the 
enemy is self. The hero has become a monk. The 
man of action is replaced by the quietist, whose 
highest aspiration is to be the passive instrument 
of the Divine Reason. By the Tiber, as by the 
Ganges, ethical man admits that the cosmos is too 
strong for him; and, destroying every bond which 
ties him to it by ascetie discipline, he seeks sal- 
vation in absolute renunciation. 


In our present culture the passion to 
know and the finding of new knowledge 
calls forth the desire to act even though 
the two impulses are not always found in 
the same individual. The very technique 
of modern science requires action ; ideas are 
followed by experiments and experiments 
give new ideas. Discoveries lead to inven- 
tions which revolutionize social and eco- 
nomic conditions. On the other hand, prac- 
tical instruments have suggested some of the 
grandest ideas of science, as when the prob- 
lem of the economy of the steam engine led 
to the discovery of the law of the conser- 
vation of energy; and who will set any 
limit to the flow of ideas set free by pres- 
ent social and industrial conditions? 
Thought and action are in an infinite alter- 
nate succession. Because of this, because 
of the relation of present science to every 
phase of life—physical, intellectual, eco- 
nomic, social, ethical—I believe that the 
love of right thinking will not endanger 
our will to act. 

Nor is there grave danger in the deter- 
minism of science, which has proved to be 
such an effective weapon in the pursuit of 
knowledge. Present methods of investi- 
gation become impossible if not based upon 
the postulate of the “‘uniformity of na- 
ture,’’ but, at the same time, the motive to 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1034 


carry out our inquiries, the passion for 
knowing, takes us ever to new and un- 
trodden fields, broader and of ever increas- 
ing interest. This enormous unknown re- 
gion, which renders the prediction of the 
remote future but idle fancy, and hems 
our ability to predict our own conduct 
even in commonplace affairs, leads us to 
ascribe to ourselves freedom to act as we 
will, and to place upon individuals a proper 
share of praise and blame for their acts. 
This feeling, which is instinctive, will not 
generally give way unless the time should 
come when all of the events of nature can 
be foretold with precision. 

It is not my wish to indulge in the pas- 
time of prophecy. The tendencies of the 
time, though in reality but ripples, may 
often seem like mountainous waves about 
to engulf all. We may consider ourselves 
fortunate if we can see over the crest of the 
nearest wave and apply our strength and 
skill to stem its force. The present danger 
is not a wave of individualism and an- 
archy; it is rather a perversion of moral 
and intellectual ideals that seeks to confine 
spontaneity and individuality within a 
pale of external restraint, to minister to all 
wants, to regulate all joys—in other words, 
to standardize human character, by smooth- 
ing out to monotonous level those ups and 
downs of life that make us what we are. 

Thinking and doing are for the time 
out of balance. Science has the power to 
restore and maintain the balance by 
breathing more of its spirit into practical 
life, and if an instrument to guide this 
work is needed—if it is right for men of 
science to have a confession of faith—I 
know of none more inspiring than the 
words that Huxley used in defining his own 
life purpose: 

To promote the increase of natural knowledge 


and to forward the application of scientific 
methods of investigation to all the problems of 


OCTOBER 23, 1914] 


life to the best of my ability, in the conviction 
which has grown with my growth and strengthened 
with my strength, that there is no alleviation for 
the sufferings of mankind except veracity of 
thought and of action, and the resolute facing of 
the world as it is when the garment of make- 
believe by which pious hands have hidden its 
uglier features is stripped off. 


Ross G. Harrison 


PUBLIC HEALTH EDUCATION, WITH SPE- 
CIAL REFERENCE TO THE SCHOOL FOR 
HEALTH OFFICERS OF HARVARD 
UNIVERSITY AND THE MASSA- 
CHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF 
TECHNOLOGY1 

FRoM time immemorial the world has recog- 
nized three great professions—the ministry, 
law, medicine. They stand, respectively, for 
love, order and health—the great trinity upon 
which human happiness is founded. During 
the nineteenth century another profession 
arose, different from the other three in that it 
concerns itself with things external, but never- 
theless of vast importance to the well being 
of the race—the profession of engineering. 
With many parts, heterogeneous, amorphous, 
the world has not always recognized it as a 
united whole; but gradually it has become 
crystallized around the central idea that 
“engineering is the application of the great 
forces of nature for the use and convenience 
of man.” Thus our professional triangle has 
become four square and our modern civiliza- 
tion may be said to rest upon the four learned 
professions—the ministry, law, medicine, engi- 
neering. 

Between these corner posts of education the 
framing of our social structure is intimate and 
complex. Beams stretch from one post to the 
other, and there are braces and cross-braces; 
combinations of sciences, sub-professions and 
vocations. As civilization becomes more com- 
plex the network thickens until we can 
scarcely recognize the boundaries of our eall- 
ings and even our avocations become mixed 
with our vocations. 

1 Address delivered at the New York State Con- 


ference of Sanitary Officers at Saratoga, N. Y., 
Sept. 15, 1914. 


SCIENCE 


581 


Kyery once in a while some particular need 
of the race comes prominently to the front, and 
as the need becomes filled and men educate 
themselves for it we say a new profession has 
come—meaning a new species, not a genus. 

At the present time the great need of the 
world is peace. The new science of engineer- 
ing has built one of its structures too high and 
it has toppled over. Over-developed arma- 
ments have thrown the nations into a sea of 
blood, from which only the other three pro- 
fessions can rescue them, those which stand for 
love, order and health. But it is not civil 
engineering which has wrecked 'Europe, it is 
military engineering—the application of the 
great forces of nature not for the use and 
convenience of man but for the destruction of 
man. This is not what is meant when we 
speak of the new fourth great profession. 

Although engineering has failed to blot out 
war, it has done much to blot out the other 
great scourges of the race—famine and pesti- 
lence. The development of transportation on 
land and sea has brought the wheat fields of 
the smiling prairie to the parched desert, and 
has widened the market gardens of the city. 
Agricultural engineering has multiplied the 
fruits of the soil. The development of cold 
storage has widened our markets in time as 
well as distance. Future famines from natural 
causes will occur only when engineering fails 
to do its work. 

In combating pestilence the profession of 
engineering has combined with that of medi- 
cine. When disease comes from without it 
requires the aid of a profession which deals 
with things external, and as disease always 
acts within it requires the aid of a profession 
which deals with things internal. It is idle 
to discuss whether the doctor or the engineer 
plays the greater part in preventing disease. 
Where so much has been accomplished by both, 
where the work to be done is so great, there 
are tasks enough and rewards enough for both 
professions. In fact we must include the pro- 
fessions of ministry and law because social 
service and legal force are potent weapons in 
the campaign for health. Let us recognize as 
our first principle that the leaders in this cam- 


582 


paign, the health officers of the country, must 
base their work upon all four of the great 
professions, upon medicine, engineering, law 
and social service. It is for this ideal that the 
new School for Health Officers of Harvard 
University and the Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology stands and it is about this ideal 
that I wish to speak to you to-day. 

The movement for fostering health and 
preventing premature death from accident and 
disease is world wide in its range, and has 
attained a magnificent popular momentum, 
thanks to thousands of earnest men and wo- 
men who have approached the subject from 
many different angles. It is a mighty stream, 
and like a mighty stream has power for good 
and power for harm. It needs to be controlled. 
The movement needs to be organized through 
regularly constituted governmental agencies. 
The mechanism for this already exists in crude 
and diversified forms. We have departments 
of health in most states and cities, local boards 
of health in small communities, occasional 
county or district organizations, voluntary 
associations, philanthropic agencies, and last 
but not least our ambitious and constantly 
improving national Public Health Service. 
Without in any way belittling what is being 
done, on the contrary with a just pride in 
what has been accomplished, we must all 
admit that, take it the country through, the 
public health service is ineffectively organized 
and insufficiently supported. The need of the 
hour is for official leadership and for the pub- 
lie recognition of this need for official leader- 
ship. 

We are all familiar with the term “captains 
of industry.” We know that the men so called 
are leaders in the industrial world. But we 
also know that industrial organization would 
go to smash were it not for the sergeants of 
industry and for the corporals of industry, for 
those who come into actual contact with the 
rank and file of business men. Similarly we 
have our “captains of health.” Their great 
names are known to us all. We recognize 
their ability. When they speak the world 
listens and takes heed. But as an organization 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1034 


we lack the sergeants of health and the cor- 
porals of health, we lack the local leaders. 

Our present local health officers have risen 
from the ranks, generally from the medical 
profession. All honor to those who have 
served so faithfully and so well. Those who 
have succeeded and have become not only 
sergeants, but captains of health, have done 
so only by long service, individual study and 
personal sacrifice. Individuals here and there 
have succeeded, yet the method is wrong. 

Our present service is unequal in efficiency. 
The large city, with a large problem, can af- 
ford to pay a large salary to a large man. 
The small town with a small problem has 
likewise been obliged to pay a small salary 
to a small man, or, to put it less harshly, to 
pay a small salary to some man who, because 
of the small salary, can not give all of his 
time or thought to the public health service. 
We also have local boards of health where 
no one is paid, and where the service is con- 
sequently irresponsible. A great fault is that 
the ultimate unit has been too small. The 
problem of caring for a people’s health is so 
complicated that the man who attempts it 
should not try to do anything else. He can 
not do so in justice to himself and to his 
work. 

In order that he may give his whole time 
to his job he must be paid a living wage. 
And in order that he may be paid a living 
wage he must serve a district large enough 
to afford such payment. Hence the ultimate 
unit must be made larger than it has been in 
the past. Improvements in transportation 
and the communication of thought make this 
possible to-day to a much greater extent than 
formerly. The town, or the borough, or the 
village, or the small city will not ordinarily 
prove adequate, and one of the signs of the 
times is the establishment of public health 
districts presided over by a district health 
officer. The state of New York has adopted 
this system and Massachusetts is following 
her example. 

We also have in Massachusetts examples of 
voluntary combinations of neighboring towns 
to secure the services of a health officer who 


OcTOBER 23, 1914] 


gives his full time to the towns included in 
the arrangement. The towns have the ad- 
vantage of the services of a specialist and the 
man receives joint compensation commensu- 
rate with his services. 

The first step in perfecting our public 
health organization, therefore is to provide 
for full time health officers, serving districts 
large enough to afford an adequate salary for 
a well-trained man. 

The second step is that of securing stabil- 
ity of service, by establishing long terms for 
health officers. To train one’s self for this 
work costs time and money. It requires cap- 
ital in the shape of education and experi- 
ence. No man ean afford to enter upon this 
career unless his livelihood is assured. 
Furthermore, a health officer’s success does 
not depend wholly upon his knowledge of 
sanitary principles; it depends equally upon 
his knowledge of the community. He must 
know his territory geographically and phys- 
ically, and he must know his people and their 
habits of life. This knowledge can be acquired 
only by familiarity. 

The third step is coordination. Lines of 
authority should be established from the 
health officials of the smallest communities 
through the districts to the state departments 
of health, which in some states are already 
well organized. Cooperation between the 
states under the general direction of the fed- 
eral government will also be necessary. 

But let us come now to the man himself. 
What shall the health officer be, a doctor, an 
engineer, a lawyer, a minister? Yes, any one 
of these, provided he knows enough about the 
other three professions and has the proper 
personality. Instances may be cited where 
lawyers and where ministers have become 
public health officers, and in recent years many 
engineers have proved conspicuously success- 
ful in this field. It must be admitted, how- 
ever, that in the majority of cases men have 
entered this service through the profession of 
medicine. This was natural and proper as 
long as disease was regarded as something 
wholly personal, and it probably will remain 
true that for many years to come the best 


SCIENCE 


583 


portal of entry to the public health service will 
be that of the profession of medicine. By 
this is meant that the man already learned in 
medicine will have less to learn of the other 
sciences than he who is already trained in 
some other profession will have to learn of 
matters that are biological and medical. 
Again, the world has for so long regarded the 
medical practitioner as the custodian of the 
public health that the title of doctor carries 
with it a certain prestige which is of advan- 
tage from an administrative point of view. 

We have seen, however, that the profes- 
sion of public health has greatly broadened. 
Young men starting afresh for this career can 
not afford in most cases to become a doctor 
of medicine first and a doctor of public health 
afterwards, or an engineer first and a doctor 
of medicine afterwards. Also the training 
for the degree of M.D. contains many mat- 
ters which relate to healing and have practi- 
cally nothing to do with the prevention of dis- 
ease. The time devoted to them can be spent 
to better advantage in the study of other sub- 
jects more directly connected with public 
health administration, such as sanitary engi- 
neering and demography. 

Tt is a fatal mistake, therefore, to make the 
medical degree a prerequisite to public health 
positions, as it tends to disbar from the serv- 
ice young men who are giving themselves the 
broadest and best possible education for the 
positions that need to be filled. Some of our 
best and most recent laws still contain pro- 
visions for this outgrown and unfortunate 
limitation. The requirement of an M.D. was 
doubtless made in order to safeguard the serv- 
ice from the political appointment of unfit 
men, but it now needs modification in order 
to provide for the new conditions and to ad- 
mit to the service those who are specializing 
in preventive medicine and the control of the 
public health. It is true that the harm will 
come in the future rather than at present, but 
i is the future of the service to which we 
should look. Laws which prescribe an M.D. 
degree should be amended by the addition of 
some such modifying clause as this—“ A doc- 
tor of medicine or a person trained in public 


584 


health holding a degree or certificate in pub- 
lic health from a school of recognized stand- 
ing.” This would open the field of service to 
those best qualified to serve and would at the 
same time prevent the unscrupulous political 
appointment of unqualified persons. 

There is an increasing number of young 
men who without an M.D. degree are fitting 
themselves for public health service. What 
is more they include some of the best of the 
college graduates, men who have come to real- 
ize that they can best serve humanity by 
helping to maintain humanity’s health, men 
who are going to devote their lives to the 
cause. The states and cities which remove 
the present disbarment will get the services 
of these enthusiastic progressive specialists 
and will benefit accordingly. 

Before the field of service in the public 
health is fully opened to men without the med- 
ical degree it is right and proper that the 
training which students are getting in the 
acquirement of a degree or certificate in pub- 
lic health be carefully examined to see if it 
is adequate. Unless the training is adequate 
the change in the laws should not be made. I 
bring before you to-day the program of stud- 
ies at the School for Health Officers of Har- 
vard University and the Massachusetts Insti- 
tute of Technology—the first school of its 
kind in the country, trusting that it will be 
studied and that we may have the benefit of 
advice founded on experience. 

The School for Health Officers is conducted 
by Harvard University and the Massachu- 
setts Institute of Technology, acting in co- 
operation, through an administrative board 
appointed for this purpose, by both institu- 
tions. At the present time the board consists 
of Professor William IT. Sedgwick, chairman, 
Professor Milton J. Rosenau and Professor 
George C. Whipple. It is significant of the 
spirit of the school that these men are re- 
spectively a doctor of science, a doctor of 
medicine and a civil engineer. Dr. Rosenau 
is director of the school, with headquarters at 
Harvard Medical School. 

The principal object of the school is to 
prepare young men for public health work of 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1034 


all kinds and especially to fit them to occupy 
administrative and executive positions, as 
health officers, or members of boards of 
health, or secretaries, agents or inspectors of 
health organizations. To this end, lectures, 
laboratory work and other forms of instruc- 
tion are offered by both institutions, and by 
special instructors from national, state and 
local health agencies. The subjects embraced 
in the course of study have been selected to 
cover a wide range, including medical, bio- 
logical, hygienic and engineering sciences, to- 
gether with practical health administration. 

A certificate in public health (C.P.H.) is 
granted to candidates who have satisfactorily 
completed the studies in an approved sched- 
ule, who have spent not less than one aca- 
demic year in residence, and who have other- 
wise complied with all requirements. This 
certificate is issued by Harvard University 
and the Massachusetts Institute of Technol- 
ogy and signed by the presidents of both in- 
stitutions. The first class graduated in June, 
1914, when five men received their certificates. 
It happened that all of these had previously 
received a medical degree. The membership 
in the school is now eleven. 

The question may naturally occur to some 
ene, why call this a certificate in public 
health, and not a doctor of public health, or 
a diploma in public health. The reason is 
that the degree of Dr.P.H. is already admin- 
istered by Harvard University in its medical 
school, and stands for a larger body of work, 
and a longer course than most men can afford 
to take or than it is necessary to take in prep- 
aration for many of the positions in the public 
health service. The reason that the “ Diploma 
in Public Health,” 7. e., D.P.H. was not chosen 
was because these letters sometimes stand for 
doctor of public health and our school desired 
to avoid giving what might appear to be a 
doctor’s degree, but technically was not. 

The following are the requirements for ad- 
mission: Graduates in Medicine of Harvard 
University and other recognized medical 
schools are admitted upon their records and 
registered as candidates for the certificate in 
public health. Bachelors of science in biology 


OcTOBER 23, 1914] 


and public health of the Massachusetts Insti- 
tute of Technology and other recognized in- 
stitutions are likewise admitted and registered 
as candidates for the certificate. 

Masters of civil engineering of Harvard 
University who have specialized in sanitary 
engineering and bachelors of science in sani- 
tary engineering of the Massachusetts Insti- 
tute of Technology and other recognized in- 
stitutions, who lack the necessary preparation 
in medical and other sciences, are admitted 
upon their records, but are required to spend 
at least one year in preparation before being 
accepted as candidates for the certificate in 
public health. : 

Other graduates of colleges or technical or 
scientific schools are admitted to the school 
without examination, provided their collegiate 
courses have included adequate instruction in 
physics, chemistry, biology, French and Ger- 
man; but, as a rule, they are required to spend 
two or more years in preparation before being 
accepted as candidates for the certificate in 
public health. Applications for admission to the 
school will be considered from those who have 
spent at least two years in a recognized col- 
lege or technical or scientific school and have 
pursued satisfactory courses in physics, 
chemistry, biology, French and German, and 
also from persons of unusual experience or 
special qualifications; but, as a rule, such per- 
sons are required to spend two or more years 
in preparation before being admitted as can- 
didates for the certificate. 

Special students, not candidates for the 
certificate in public health, who desire to fit 
themselves for some special field are admitted 
to the school, and may take any course or 
courses for which they are properly qualified, 
on approval of the administrative board. 

Women are admitted to the School for 
Health Officers on the same terms as men, and 
are equally eligible for the certificate in pub- 
lic health. Women are admitted to many of 
the courses given in the Harvard Graduate 
School of Medicine, but not to undergraduate 
courses in the Harvard Medical School. If 
women require the latter courses they must be 


SCIENCE 


585 


obtained elsewhere, preferably before entering 
the School for Health Officers. 

As the school is now in its infancy no uni- 
form curriculum is required of candidates for 
the certificate in public health. Each student 
is required to choose a schedule of courses to 
meet his individual needs. In general, the 
choice of studies must be such that the candi- 
date on the completion of his course will have 
covered in a broad way the subjects included 
in the varied duties of a public health officer, 
together with such allied subjects as anatomy, 
physiology, pathology, biological chemistry, 
sanitary biology, preventive medicine and 
hygiene, demography and sanitary engineer- 
ing. 

After a few years’ experience it is probable 
that some standard curriculum will be pre- 
scribed, but the time for this has not yet ar- 
rived, as the qualifications of the average stu- 
dent on entrance remain to be learned. It is 
probable also that different standard schedules 
will be made for students who wish to prepare 
for different fields of work. 

Every candidate for the certificate in public 
health is required to complete satisfactorily 
each course taken by him and, on the comple- 
tion of his approved schedule, to submit to a 
general oral examination by the administra- 
tive board. This examination covers not only 
his work in the school, but his previous studies 
and experiences. Last year the oral examina- 
tion of each student lasted at least two hours. 

The courses available in the school are not 
restricted to those stated in the catalogue of 
the school, but may include subjects in any 
department of Harvard University or the 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, pro- 
vided the work is in harmony with the objects 
of the school and meets with the approval of 
the instructor in charge of the course and of 
the administrative board. Certain special 
courses are given by instructors not otherwise 
connected with either institution, and prac- 
tical work may be taken in city, state and na- 
tional health departments and in the hospitals 
of Boston. As time goes on it is the intention 
to increase the opportunities for this practical 
work, or apprenticeship, which obviously is an 


586 


important element in a health officers’ train- 
ing. 

The courses offered are divided into two 
lists. The first is a list of so-called regular 
courses, which demand considerable time and 
ordinarily cover a half year or more. It is 
from this list that the student is required to 
make his principal selection and do his most 
serious work. The second is a list of special 
courses and lectures. 

The courses are also divided into eight 
groups according to subject. These groups are 
as follows: 

. Preventive Medicine. 

. Personal Hygiene. 

Publie Health Administration. 

. Sanitary Biology and Sanitary Chemistry. 
Special Pathology. 

. Communicable Diseases. 

. Sanitary Engineering. 

. Demography (Vital Statistics). 

The following is a list of the courses offered 
in 1914: 


“IO OF IR oo bo 


[e.9) 


REGULAR COURSES 
Group I. Preventive Medicine 

Principles of Sanitary Science and Public Health. 

Professors W. T. Sedgwick and S. M. Gunn. 
Preventive Medicine and Hygiene. Professor M. 

J. Rosenau, Dr. L. W. Hackett, Dr. E. S. 

Birge and Dr. F. B. Grinnell. 
Public Health Problems. Professor S. M. Gunn. 
Epidemiology. Professor W. T. Sedgwick. 
Relation of Animal Diseases to the Public Health. 

Professor Theobald Smith and Dr. Carlon Ten- 

Broeck. 
Tropical Medicine. Professor R. P. Strong. 


Group II. 
Personal Hygiene. 
Personal Hygiene. 
Industrial Hygiene and Sanitation. 

M. Gunn. 


Personal Hygiene 
Professor W. B. Cannon. 
Professor P. G. Stiles. 
Professor 8S. 


Group III, Public Health Administration 
Practical Health Administration. Dr. M. W. 
Richardson, Dr. W. C. Hanson and Mr. H. C. 
Lythgoe. 
Sanitary Law. Professors W. T. Sedgwick, S. C. 
Prescott, R. S. Weston and S. M. Gunn. 
Municipal Sanitation. Professor S. M. Gunn, Mr. 
R. N. Hoyt. 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1034 


Sanitation of Houses and Public Buildings. 
fessor S. M. Gunn. 

Publie Health Administration. 
Gunn and Mr. R. N. Hoyt. 
Hygiene of Ventilation and Heating. Professor 

W. T. Sedgwick. 


Pro- 


Professor S. M. 


Group IV. Sanitary Biology and Sanitary Chem- 
istry 
Protozoology. Professors Theobald Smith and H. 
E. Tyzzer. 
Entomology. Professor W. M. Wheeler and Asst. 
Professor C. T. Brues. 

Advanced Bacteriology. Dr. EH. C. Howe. 
Bacteriology of Tropical Diseases. Professors H. 
C. Ernst and 8. B. Wolbach and Dr. Austin. 

Dairy Bacteriology. Professor S. C. Prescott. 


Bacteriology of Water and Sewage. Professor 
S. C. Prescott. 
Zoology and Parasitology. Professor R. P. 


Bigelow. 
Helminthology. Dr. Philip E. Garrison. 
Sanitary Biology. Dr. J. W. M. Bunker. 
Analysis of Water, Sewage and Air. Dr. J. W. 
M. Bunker. 
Water and Air Analysis. Dr. J. F. Norton. 
Water Supplies and Waste Disposal. Dr. J. F. 
Norton. 
Food Analysis. 
Advanced Food Analysis. 
man. 


Professor A. G. Woodman. 
Professor A. G. Wood- 


Group V. Special Pathology 
Comparative Pathology of Tropical Diseases. 
Professor Theobald Smith. 
Pathology of Tropical Diseases. 

Mallory. 
Clinical Laboratory Work. Professors H. C. 


Ernst and S. B. Wolbach and Dr. Austin. 


Professor F. B. 


Group VI. Communicable Diseases 
Dr. E. H. Place. 
(interneship at South 
Dr. EH. H. 


Communicable Diseases. 

Communicable Diseases 
Department, Boston City Hospital). 
Place. 

Biology of Infectious Diseases. 
Gunn. 

Board of Health Diagnosis. Dr. F. H. Slack. 

Public Health Laboratory Methods. Professor S. 
M. Gunn and Associates. 

The Diagnosis of Rabies and Glanders by Labo- 
ratory Methods. Dr. Langdon Frothingham and 
Dr. E. F. Walsh. 


Professor S. M. 


OcTOBER 23, 1914] 


Group VII. Sanitary Engineering 
Sanitary Engineering. Professor G. C. Whipple 
and Assistants. 
Sanitary Engineering—Summer Course. 
fessor G. C. Whipple and Assistants. 
Water Supply Engineering. Professor G. C. 
Whipple. 

Sewerage Engineering. Professor G. C. Whipple. 

Limnology. Professor G. C. Whipple, Dr. J. W. 
M. Bunker and Assistants. 

Sanitary Research Laboratory. Mr. 
Whipple. 

Rural Sanitation. Dr. J. W. M. Bunker. 

Hydraulic and Sanitary Engineering. Professor 
Dwight Porter. 

Advanced Hydraulic and Sanitary Engineering. 
Professor Dwight Porter. 

Engineering of Water and Sewage Purification. 
Professor Dwight Porter. 

Theory and Practise of Water and Sewage Puri- 
fication. Professor R. S. Weston. 


Pro- 


M. C. 


Group VIII. Demography 


Demography. Professor G. C. Whipple and As- 
sistants. 

Sanitary Biometrics. 

Vital and Sanitary Statistics. 
Dewey. 


Professor 8S. M. Gunn. 
Professor D. R. 


SPECIAL COURSES AND LECTURES 


Group I. Preventive Medicine 
Infant Mortality. Professor J. L. Morse. 
Genetics and Eugenics. Professor W. H. Castle. 
Social Service Work. Professor R. C. Cabot and 
Miss Ida Cannon. 
Tropical Dermatology. Professor R. P. Strong 
and Dr. H. P. Towle. 


Group IT. Personal Hygiene 


Dr. T. F. Harrington. 
Professor E. H. Southard and 


School Hygiene. 
Mental Hygiene. 
Associates. 
Venereal Prophylaxis. Professor E. H. Nichols. 
Tropical Sunlight. Professor Theodore Lyman. 
Posture and Deformities. Professor R. W. 

Lovett. 
Ocular Hygiene. 
Oral Prophylaxis. 
Prevention of Diseases of the Har. 
Mosher. 


Dr. F. H. Verhoeff. 
Professor W. H. Potter. 
Dr. H. P. 


Group III. Public Health Administration 


Sanitary Law—Legal Powers of Health Officers, 
Professor Hugene Wambaugh. 


SCIENCE 


587 


Medical Inspection of Immigrants. 
Safford. 
Municipal Sanitation. 


Dr. M. V. 


Dr. C. V. Chapin. 


Group IV. Sanitary Biology and Sanitary Chem- 
astry 
Venomous Animals. Dr. Thomas Barbour. 
Poisonous Plants of the Tropics. Professor W. J. 
V. Osterhout. 


Climatology. Professor R. DeC. Ward. 


Group VI. Commumicable Diseases 
Tuberculosis. Dr. J. B. Hawes, 2d. 


Group IX. Medical and Other Sciences 


The following courses are also open to students 
registered in the School for Health Officers: 
At Harvard Medical School: 
Anatomy, gross and microscopical. 
Embryology. 
Physiology. 
Biological Chemistry. 
Pathology. 
Bacteriology. 
At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology: 
General Bacteriology. Professor S. G. Pres- 
cott. 
General Physiology. Professor P. G. Stiles. 
Physiological Laboratory. Dr. E. C. Howe. 
Vertebrate Anatomy. Professor R. P. Bige- 
low. 
At Harvard University: 
Hlementary Bacteriology. Dr. 
Bunker. 


J. W. M. 


This intellectual bill of fare is not as com- 
plicated as it looks, but the long list of courses 
shows the opportunities offered by the educa- 
tional institutions in Boston for students of 
public health. In fact, the resources of one 
of the oldest and best medical schools and the 
first great engineering school of the country 
are available, and to these should be added 
the opportunities presented for cooperation 
with the Massachusetts State Board of 
Health, the Board of Health of the City of 
Boston, the various hospitals in the city, and 
the excellent medical and engineering li- 
braries. 

It is not the food which is put upon the 
table, but that which is eaten and digested, 
which nourishes. It is not what the student 
has opportunity to learn, but what he does 


588 


learn that counts. And perhaps the best thing © 


to be said about the new School for Health 
Officers is that it is a combination of schools 
which have been noted for efficient instruc- 
tion and for the hard work done by the stu- 
dents. The Harvard motto “Veritas” is 
combined with the Institute motto “ Mens et 
manus”—mind and hand working together 
for the truth, or truth expressing itself 
through mind and hand. We believe that the 
spirit which has created these two institutions 
will not fail to build up a school of public 
health which will faithfully serve its day and 
generation. 

But lest I be accused of screwing the nut 
too tightly upon Boston as the hub of the 
universe let me say that we who shelter our- 
‘selves beneath the fins of the codfish do not 
claim to have a monopoly of the sea. What 
has most impressed us in making our plans 
has been not the magnificence of our Boston 
institutions, but the magnitude of the prob- 
lem which the country has to solve—the prob- 
Jem of ministering to the health of a hundred 
million people gathered from all the quarters 
of the globe. 

In conclusion, let me restate the ideal for 
which the School for Health Officers of Har- 
vard University and the Massachusetts Insti- 
tute of Technology stands—for a body of edu- 
eated sanitarians working in many fields and 
well-trained for their particular work—but 
especially for the health officer whose educa- 
tion is based on all four of the great profes- 
sions—medicine, engineering, law and social 
service. And it calls to the states and cities 
and towns of the country and says, “ This is 
the kind of a man you need to protect your 
public health, a man broadly trained and well- 
paid who can afford to give all his time and 
all of the best that is in him to the work.” It 
ealls to the legislators and says, “ Amend your 
‘laws so that you can get this kind of men.” 
It calls to the young men of the country and 
says, “The field is ripe for the harvest.” And 
it calls to the other universities and says, 
“Join us in this great movement to secure 
men for the public health service.” Let us all 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1034 


work together for the health of the country 
and the health of the world. 


Grorce CO. WHIPPLE 
HARVARD UNIVERSITY 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


Amone the thirty-seven honorary degrees 
conferred on the occasion of the one hundred 
and fiftieth anniversary of the founding of 
Brown University were two doctorates of sci- 
ence, given to Dr. Simon Flexner, director of 
the laboratories of the Rockefeller Institute for 
Medical Research, and Dr. L. A. Bauer, di- 
rector of the department of terrestrial magnet- 
ism of the Carnegie Institution. 


At the celebration of the twenty-fifth anni- 
versary of the Johns Hopkins Hospital a por- 
trait of Sir William Osler, by Mr. Sargeant, 
was presented. 


Mr. Doucias W. FRESHFIELD, known for his 
publications on mountains and other subjects, 
has been elected president of the Royal Geo- 
graphical Society. 

Proressors Roentgen, Lenard and Behring 
have each recently been reported to have re- 
pudiated the gold medals conferred on them by 
scientific associations in Great Britain, and 
have donated them to the Red Cross or other 
relief work, and now it is said that the Han- 
bury medal has likewise been donated for relief 
work by its recipient, Dr. EK. Schmidt, pro- 
fessor of pharmacology at Marburg. 


Dr. Grorce H. WHIPPLE, a graduate in 1900 
of Yale and M.D. in 1905 of Johns Hopkins, 
and since 1906 a member of the faculty of the 
department of pathology of Johns Hopkins 
Medical School, has taken up his new duties as 
director of the George Williams Hooper 
Foundation for Medical Research, to endow 
which Mrs. Sophronia T. Hooper of San Fran- 
cisco recently gave to the University of Cali- 
fornia property valued at much more than a 
million dollars. Three other appointments 
have been made to the foundation. Dr. Karl 
Friedrich Meyer and Dr. Ernest Linwood are 
to become associate professors of tropical medi- 
cine, and Dr. Charles W. Hooper is to be 
fellow in research medicine. The head- 


OcTOBER 23, 1914] 


quarters of the foundation will be in special 
laboratories at the University of California 
Medical School buildings on Parnassus 
Avenue, San Francisco. 


Dr. BensgAMIN Wuite, formerly director of 
the department of bacteriology of the Hoag- 
land Laboratory, Brooklyn, is now assistant 
director of bacteriological laboratories of the 
department of health, New York City, and is 
in charge of the research and antitoxin labora- 
tories at Otisville, and Dr. Harold Lyall, 
formerly associate director of the department 
of bacteriology of the Hoagland Laboratory, is 
now bacteriologist at the Otisville laboratories. 


Dr. S. Moreutis has been placed in charge 
of an investigation of the metabolism of fish 
by the Bureau of Fisheries of Washington, 
D.C. The investigation is being conducted in 
the New York Aquarium and in the bio- 
chemical laboratory of the College of Physi- 
cians and Surgeons, Columbia University. 


Dr. W. J. Diuine, of Aberdeen, has been 
appointed to the newly established “ Robert 
Pollok” lectureship, for research in materia 
medica and pharmacology, at the University 
of Glasgow. 


- Prormssor ALBERT Prrry Brigham has re- 
turned to Colgate University after spending 
the past year in Europe. In August he gave 
a course of seven lectures before the Oxford 
University school of geography, on “ Regional 
development and conservation problems in the 
United States.” 


Mr. Luo E. Minter, of the Roosevelt expedi- 
tion to South America, has completed plans 
for another expedition. He will leave New 
York within a few days for Porto Columbia, 
where he will begin his trip of exploration in 
the interest of the American Museum of 
Natural History. The expedition is supported 
by a gift of $5,000 from Mr. Roosevelt. 


News has been received from Professor Wil- 
liam M. Davis, formerly head of the Harvard 
geological department, who after the meeting of 
the British Association visited in late August 
and early September the Great Barrier reefs 
of the Queensland coast of northeastern Au- 
stralia, and on September 11 sailed from 


SCIENCE 


589 


Sydney via New Zealand to the Society 
Islands, where he expected to spend a month 
examining Tahiti and other members of that 
group. He expects to return to Cambridge 
early in November. 

Present Harry Pratr Jupson, who has 
been absent for six months from the Uni- 
versity of Chicago in the prosecution of his 
duties as chairman of the China Medical Com- 
mission of the Rockefeller Foundation, sailed 
from Yokohama, Japan, September 29 on the 
Pacifie Mail Steamship Mongolia. 

Prorressor Horatio H. Newman, of the de- 
partment of zoology in the University of 
Chicago, will give before the College Endow- 
ment Association of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a 
series of four lectures on the general subject 
of “ The Social Life of Animal Communities.” 
He will discuss in the opening lecture parental 
care, mutual aid, and social life among ani- 
mals. In the second lecture will be considered 
community life among bees and wasps, and 
recent discoveries concerning their habits and 
intelligence. In the third lecture he will dis- 
cuss ant communities, their agriculture, 
armies, battles, and slavery; and in the last, 
the most complex insect communities—term- 
ites or white ants. 


Miss Etten B. Scriprs has made a gift of 
$35,000 (in addition to $60,000 previously sub- 
seribed by herself) for a pier, pumping plant 
and additional equipment for the Scripps In- 
stitution for Biological Research, at La Jolla, 
near San Diego, California. For its mainten- 
ance she gives yearly to the University of Cali- 
fornia $10,000. 

THE annual meeting of the Association of 
American Universities will be held at Prince- 
ton on November 6 and 7. 


THE annual meeting of the Society of 
American Bacteriologists will be held in 
Philadelphia, December 29, 30 and 31, 1914, 
under the presidency of Professor Charles E. 
Marshall. The session programs will be ar- 
ranged as follows: 

Tuesday, A.M. Systematic Bacteriology, H. A. 

Harding, Urbana, Ill. 

Tuesday, P.M. Technique, G. EF. Ruediger, La 

Salle, Il. 


590 


Wednesday, A.M. Industrial Bacteriology, R. E. 
Buchanan, Ames, Iowa. 

Wednesday, P.M. Sanitary Bacteriology. 

Thursday, A.M. Infection and Immunity, J. A. 
Kolmer, Medical Dep’t University of Pennsyl- 
vania, Philadelphia, Pa. 

Thursday, P.M. Ventilation, C.-E, A. Winslow, 
25 West 45th Street, New York City, N. Y. 


On Thursday afternoon the session will be 
devoted to a symposium on Ventilation with 
Section K of the American Association for the 
Advancement of Science. Professor ©.-E. A. 
Winslow has this program in charge. The 
local committee of arrangements consists of D. 
H. Bergey, Jos. Leidy, Jr., Jos. McFarland 
and A. Parker Hitchens, chairman. The sec- 
retary is A. Parker Hitchens, Glenolden, Pa. 


THE eminent French physicist, Professor 
Ch. Fabry, of the Faculté des Sciences, Mar- 
seilles, is devoting himself to radiography for 
the benefit of the wounded in the war. He 
fears an exhaustion of the French supply of 
X-ray tubes and has written to an American 
friend, requesting that makers and dealers in 
such supplies should communicate with him at 
once, giving prices of their supplies and tubes 
for medical and surgical purposes. 


“ MENDEL’s Vererbungstheorien aus dem 
Englischen tibersetzt von alma Winckler mit 
einem Begleitwort von R von Wettstein.” 
Teubner, Leipzig, 1914, is a German edition 
of Dr. W. Bateson’s well-known book recently 
reviewed in these columns. Jt will be useful 
to those who read German more readily than 
English, or by preference. 


Dr. Henry CHanpier Cow.ss, associate pro- 
fessor of plant ecology in the University of 
Chicago, was engaged some time ago by the 
United States Department of Justice to make 
an investigation of a large tract of timber land 
in Arkansas which had been originally sur- 
veyed as lake. Professor Cowles’s services as 
an ecological expert were secured to determine 
from the nature of the timber and other evi- 
dence whether or not the area could possibly 
have been lake as recently as the time of the 
original survey in 1847. The investigation 
was made and testimony given, and the United 
States judge of that district gave a sweeping 


SCIENCE 


27,685,770 pounds. 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No, 1034 


decision in favor of the government’s conten- 
tion. Among the findings was that none of 
the areas returned as lake had any evidence 
of a beach line such as should have existed. 
But the most striking evidence of the fraudu- 
leney of the original survey was the existence 
of immense upland trees growing over all the 
areas, many of the trees being from two hun- 
dred to three hundred years old, and some of 
them from five hundred to a thousand. 


“Tue Production of Explosives in the 
United States during the Calendar Year 1913 ” 
has just been published by the United States 
Bureau of Mines. The total production of ex- 
plosives, according to the figures received 
from manufacturers, was 463,514,881 pounds 
(231,757 short tons), as compared with 489,- 
393,131 pounds (244,696 short tons), for 1912. 
This production is segregated as follows: black 
powder, 194,146,747 pounds; “high” explo- 
sives other than permissible explosives, 241,- 
682,364 pounds, and permissible explosives, 
These figures represent a 
decrease of 36,146,622 pounds of black powder 
and an increase of 7,212,872 pounds of high ex- 
plosives and 3,055,500 pounds of permissible 
explosives. As explosives are essential to 
mining, and the use of improved types of ex- 
plosives lessens the dangers of mining, the 
Bureau of Mines undertook the compilation of 
information showing the total amount of ex- 
plosives manufactured and used in the United 
States, its first report dealing with the year 
1912. This is the second technical paper relat- 
ing solely to the production of explosives that 
the bureau has issued. Jt is expected that 
similar publications will be compiled annually, 
and that with the cooperation of the manu- 
facturers these statements will be published 
within a few weeks after the end of each year. 
The figures show that in 1902 only 11,300 
pounds of permissible explosives was used in 
coal mining, whereas in 1913 the quantity so 
used was 21,804,285 pounds. The quantity of 
permissible explosives used in,the United 
States is larger than in a number of foreign 
countries. In 1912 it represented about five 
per cent. of the total quantity of explosives 
produced, and in 1913 six per cent. The total 


’ OCTOBER 23, 1914] 


amount of explosives used for the production of 
coal in 1913 was 209,352,938 pounds, of which 
about ten per cent. was of the permissible class 
as compared with eight per cent. in 1912. The 
use of permissible explosives in coal mining 
has had gratifying results, and few, if any, 
serious accidents can be attributed directly to 
their use. 


THE consumption of white arsenic in the 
United States in 1913 amounted to about 
7,200 tons, valued at $570,000, of which 2,513 
tons, valued at $159,236, was produced in this 
country as a by-product from copper and preci- 
ous-metal smelters, and the remainder was im- 
ported largely from European countries. For 
the present imports of arsenic will probably be 
seriously diminished and the American smelters 
can save much more arsenic than they do now, 
for the cheapness of the product has pre- 
vented the saving of all that was practicable. 
Works for the exclusive production of arsenic 
have been erected at only two places in the 
United States—Brinton, Va., and Mineral, 
Wash. It is difficult for such plants to pro- 
duce arsenic to be sold in competition with 
the by-product of the smelters except in peri- 
ods of high prices, such as may again prevail 
if the industrial disturbances are long con- 
tinued. 


Tue value of the mineral production of the 
United States now exceeds $2,500,000,000 a 
year, according to the United States Geological 
Survey. Though this value falls far below that 
of the country’s farm products, the magnitude 
and scope of our mineral industry may be best 
measured by comparing our own mineral pro- 
duction with that of other countries, no one 
of which can compete with us in abundance 
or variety of mineral resources. The United 
States mines nearly 40 per cent. of the world’s 
output of coal and produced 65 per cent. of the 
petroleum in 1913. Of the more essential 
metals, 40 per cent. of the world’s output of 
iron ore is raised from American mines, and 
the smelters of the United States furnish the 
world with 55 per cent. of its copper and at 
least 80 per cent. of its lead and zine. These 
are the raw materials on which has been 


SCIENCE 


591 


founded a great metallurgical industry, but on 
which can be built much more extensive chem- 
ical and metal-working industries. 


ACCORDING to statistics recently completed by 
Ernest F. Burchard, of the United States Geo- 
logical Survey, the production and shipments 
of iron ore in the United States exceeded those 
of any previous year. The crude iron ore 
mined in the United States in 1913 amounted 
to 61,980,437 long tons, compared with 55,150,- 
147 tons mined in 1912—an increase of 6,830,- 
290 tons, or 12.88 per cent. The iron ore 
shipped from the mines in the United States 
in 1918 amounted to 59,643,098 long tons, 
valued at $130,905,558, compared with 57,- 
017,614 long tons, valued at $107,050,153, 
marketed in 1912—an increase in quantity 
of 2,2625,484 long tons, or 4.60 per cent., 
and in value of $23,855,405 or 22.28 per 
cent. The average price of ore per ton for 
the whole country in 1913 was $2.19, com- 
pared with $1.88 in 1912. These quantities 
of ore, both mined and marketed, include the 
iron ore used for fluxing other metallic ores at 
smelters in the Middle and Western states, but 
do not include the iron ore sold for the manu- 
facture of paint. The iron ore marketed for 
paint in 1913 amounted to 16,950 long tons, 
valued at $44,851. The ore reported as sold 
for fluxing purposes other than in the manu- 
facture of pig iron amounted to 62,842 long 
tons, valued at $235,588, in 1913, compared 
with 88,449 long tons, valued at $244,315, in 
1912. The domestic iron ore actually mark- 
eted for the manufacture of pig iron amounted 
in 1913 to 59,580,256 long tons, valued at $130,- 
669,970, compared with 56,929,165 long tons, 
valued at $106,805,838, in 1912. Tron ore was 
mined in 28 states in 1913, one more than in 
1912. Idaho, Montana and Nevada produced 
ores for fluxing only; part of Colorado’s out- 
put was used for fluxing and part for pig iron; 
a little magnetic ore mined in Utah was 
shipped to a Salt Lake iron foundry for testing 
a new method of reduction, and the remainder 
of the Utah ore was used for fluxing. The 
cther states produced iron ore for blast-furnace 
use only, except small quantities for paint 
from Georgia, Michigan, New York and Wis- 


592 


consin, which are, however, excluded from the 
above figures for iron ore. The rank of the five 
states producing the largest quantity of iron 
ore—Minnesota, Michigan, Alabama, New 
York and Wisconsin—remained unchanged in 
1913, but there were a few changes in the rela- 
tive rank of certain of the smaller producers. 
The Minnesota iron ranges are yielding at 
present considerably more iron ore than is pro- 
duced in all the rest of the states together, 
kaving furnished 62.37 per cent. of the total 
for the United States in 1913. The Lake Su- 
perior district, comprising all the mines in 
Minnesota and Michigan and those in northern 
Wisconsin, mined 52,377,362 tons in 1913, or 
84.51 per cent. of the total. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 


Puitiips Acapemy, Andover, Mass., receives 
a bequest of about $462,000 under the will of 
Melville C. Day, of New York, who died in 
Florence, Italy. This amount is the residue 
of the estate. At the termination of a life 
estate created for the benefit of a friend, 
Phillips Andover will receive a further sum of 
about $45,000. 


FREDERICK WILLIAM DoHRMANN, for a num- 
ber of years a regent of the University of 
California, has bequeathed $5,000 as a loan 
fund, for loans to members of the faculty to 
tide them over hard places in times of illness 
or other emergency. 


Brown University celebrated last week the 
one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of its 
foundation. Among the events were historical 
addresses by Dr. W. W. Keen, of Philadelphia, 
and the Hon. Charles EK. Hughes, of the Su- 
preme Court. Dr. William Peterson, principal 
of McGill University, gave the university ad- 
dress. Thirty-seven honorary degrees were 
conferred, the recipients including the presi- 
dents of the seven universities established be- 
fore Brown. There were many academic exer- 
cises and entertainments. 


Tue University of Louvain has accepted the 
offer of the Cambridge University to give the 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1034 


use of its libraries, laboratories and lecture 
rooms during the present crisis, without the 
payment of the usual fees, in order that the 
work of the Belgian University as a corporate 
body may be carried on without breach of con- 
tinuity. Cambridge University has only 1,500 
students, as against 3,500 last year, and other 
institutions have lost students in about the 
same proportion. ‘The German universities 
expect about one third the usual attendance. 


Tue last year of the post-graduate course 
of the Naval Academy at Annapolis is now 
taken at the school of engineering at Colum- 
bia University and seventeen lieutenants and 
one ensign, in active service in the U. S. 
Navy, are in attendance. Under the naval 
regulations the course is of two years, and both 
were taken at Annapolis until last year. It 
was decided, however, that, while the instruc- 
tion at the academy was feasible as far as the 
first year was concerned, the equipment then 
was not sufficient for the second year, so 
Columbia was chosen for the more advanced 
work, 

THE attendance at the University of Chicago 
for the summer quarter has been announced, 
and shows an advance over the registration for 
the corresponding quarter a year ago. The 
total number of men registered in the gradu- 
ate schools of arts, literature and science was 
860 and of women, 528, a total of 1,388; in 
the senior and junior colleges 572 men and 
605 women, a total of 1,177; in the professional 
schools, divinity 282, medicine 135, law 163, 
education 991, making a total of 1,571; and 
excluding duplications, the registration for the 
entire university was 3,974, the largest sum- 
mer registration in the history of the institu- 
tion. 

Cornet University Mepicat CoLLEGE opened 
with an enrollment as follows: For the degree 
of M.D., first year, 55; second year, 28; third 
year, 32; fourth year, 20: special students 
(work not leading to the degree of M.D.), 12: 
for the degree Ph.D., 5, making a total of 152. 
All students now registered, with the exception 
of those pursuing the combined seven years’ 
course leading to the degrees of A.B. and M.D., 
are graduates of arts and sciences, or doctors 


OcroBER 23, 1914] 


of medicine doing advanced work. Students 
in the combined course present the baccalau- 
reate degree before they are admitted to the 
second year in medicine. 


Iy accordance with the agreements for co- 
operation between the Massachusetts Institute 
of Technology and Harvard University, fifteen 
of the Harvard professors are to be added to 
the instructing staff of the institute this year. 
Their names and departments are the follow- 
ing:—Mining Department: Professors Henry 
Lloyd Smyth, Edward Dyer Peters, Albert 
Sauveur, George Sharpe Raymer, Charles 
Henry White and Louis Caryl Graton. Me- 
chanical Engineering Department: Professors 
Lionel Simeon Marks and Arthur Edwin Nor- 
ton. Drawing, Civil Engineering Department: 
Professors George Fillmore Swain, Lewis 
Jerome Johnson, Hector James Hughes and 
George Chandler Whipple. Department of 
Electrical Hngineering: Professors Arthur 
Edwin Kennelly, Harry Ellsworth Clifford and 
Comfort Avery Adams. 


At the University of Pennsylvania promo- 
tions include the following: Dr. Bradley Moore 
Davis, to be professor of botany; Dr. Oliver 
Edmunds Glen, to be professor of mathe- 
matics; Dr. Howard Hawks Mitchell, to be 
assistant professor of mathematics; Dr. Melyin 
Reece Harkins and Dr. Dicran Hadjy Kabak- 
jian, to be assistant professors of physics; Dr. 
Samuel G. Barton, to be assistant professor of 
astronomy. Dr. Lowell J. Reed has been ap- 
pointed instructor in mathematics, and Mr. 
EK. J. Lund instructor in zoology. 


At Rutgers College Professor Alfred A. 
Titsworth has been appointed dean of mechan- 
ical arts and Professor Jacob OC. Lipman, dean 
of agriculture. 


Dr. Atpxanper J. INnetis has resigned as 
professor of the science of teaching at Rutgers 
College, to become assistant professor of edu- 
cation in Harvard University. 

Grorce H. Cuapwick, for seven years pro- 
fessor of geology at St. Lawrence University, is 
now connected with the department of geology 
at the University of Rochester. His successor 
‘at St. Lawrence is Dr. C. J. Sarle. 


SCIENCE 


593 


Dr. Cartes Oscar CuamBers has been ap- 
pointed instructor in agriculture, biology and 
applied chemistry at the George Peabody Col- 
lege for Teachers. He comes from the Univer- 
sity of Cincinnati, where he was acting head 
of the department of biology last year. 


Dr. Pavut B. CuarK, of the Rockefeller In- 
stitute for Medical Research, has been ap- 
pointed associate professor of bacteriology in 
the University of Wisconsin, succeeding Dr. 
Mazyck P. Ravenel, who has gone to the Uni- 
versity of Missouri 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 


HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT 


To THE Eprror or Science: Some discussion 
has been held lately in the columns of Sctuncr 
concerning the question of the influence of 
monarchs and the relations of heredity to the 
manifestations of statecraft and warcraft in 
tulers. Professor Woods has been one of the 
champions of the view that monarchs and their 
immediate kin show exceptional excellence in 
both these lines, and he has based his thesis 
on a wealth of illustration from history, that, 
apart from his interpretation, must command 
admiration as a scientific inquiry. 

One point will, I think, be admitted by all 
who go somewhat deeply into the problem of 
descent, and, that is, that starting with beings 
of good physical and mental characteristics, 
inbreeding will emphasize many of these and 
produce a well marked and strong race. The 
Jews and the Irish show this fact. Both have 
been to a large extent close bred, due partly 
to religious, partly to geographic conditions. 
For centuries the Jew was separated from the 
other races by his adhering to a peculiarly ex- 
clusive religious code. The Irish—T refer, of 
course to the Roman Catholic Irish—were for 
centuries separated by island habitation; as 
well as intense religious antagonisms, from 
their nearest neighbors. Even in the melting 
pot—the United States—the two strains have 
been kept well apart from each other and 
from the bulk of the population. Inter- 
marriage between Jews and Christians, or be- 
tween Irish Catholics and Protestants, or even 


594 


between Irish and German Catholics are only 
occasional. 

When, however, we come to ascertain the 
relative value of heredity and environment in 
determining the character of offspring, it 
seems to me that it is necessary to use extreme 
caution, to eliminate, on the one hand, mere 
coincidence, and on the other hand to avoid 
confusing the two influences. The develop- 
ment of the germ cell and the fertilizing cell 
we must consider heredity, but gestation is 
largely environment, and surely this period is 
of profound importance to the new being, espe- 
cially in the case of human beings, with which 
the period is long and markedly subject to 
psychic influences. The period of infancy is, 
so far as rulers, or the highest social classes 
even, are concerned, a period of special envi- 
ronment, eminently adapted to continue and 
intensify any qualities distinctly marked in 
the parents. Monarchs’ children are from 
their birth set apart from the world at large, 
surrounded by an atmosphere of authority and 
pretense; surely these conditions must have a 
large share in determining character. If one 
feature looms largest in the characters of 
rulers throughout the ages, it is their ruthless- 
ness, that is, their indifference to the rights 
and feelings of their subjects. Just as the 
mass of children learn from their parents and 
associates to consider the lower animals as 
having no rights that human beings are bound 
to respect, so the young prince is taught to 
regard the mass of his nation. 

Nor can we overlook opportunity as an ele- 
ment in favoring the ruler. By the very con- 
dition of things, his views prevail. In the 
light of modern theories, especially, the mate- 
rialistie conception of history, are not many 
of the incidents of a given reign merely mani- 
festations of causes within the core of human- 
ity itself, and the monarch a creature of such 
causes rather than himself a cause? In other 
words, in ascribing to Louis XIV. a profound 
share of the development of France, are we not 
making the mistake of assigning Tenterden 
steeple as the cause of Goodwin Sands? 
“ There was a man sent from God whose name 
was John.” Is it permissible to say that there 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1034 


was a man sent from God whose name was 
Abraham Lincoln? Can any one assert that 
Abraham Lincoln was any more necessary to 
the working out of a proper destiny of this 
country than a hundred of the prominent 
statesmen, north and south, in his day? I 
think it has been proved by Adams in his re- 
cently published volume, that the success of 
the Federal forces was almost entirely due to 
the efficiency of the blockade of the ports of 
the Confederacy. 

In Professor Woods’s two volumes on this 
topic we miss a study of the influence of two 
important classes of rulers with whom hered- 
ity can have little concern, namely, the popes 
and the presidents of the United States. 
Chosen under more or less emotional condi- 
tions, a long line of pontiffs exhibits striking 
examples of human excellence and human 
failings. The latest, and probably the best 
authority, on this series—the Catholic Encycelo- 
pedia—places Gregory VII. as the greatest 
of them, yet by his own statement he was from 
the proletarian. Of recent popes, Leo XIII. 
is the most able; his claim for noble descent 
was only established with difficulty and there 
is no ascription to him of blood royal. 

Then what is to be said of the great line 
of American statesmen, drawn from the lower 
ranks, such as Franklin, Paine, Hamilton, 
Jackson, Lincoln? Jt is admitted that the 
cause of American independence was furthered 
as much by a journeyman printer and a 
journeyman corset maker, as by any one. 


Henry LErrMann 


A FEMINIZED COCKEREL 


From time to time during the last five 
years, grafts of various sorts have been at- 
tempted in connection with studies of the 
effects of castration on the domestic fowl. 
The condition of one of the birds on which 
grafts have been made is of particular interest. 

A Brown Leghorn male was castrated com- 
pletely when 24 days of age and the ovaries 
from two brood sisters, cut in several pieces, 
were placed beneath the skin and also within 
the abdominal cavity. 

At date of writing, the bird is as obviously 


OcTOBER 23, 1914] 


a female in general appearance as its brood 
sisters. Several skilled poultrymen, when 
shown the bird, have unhesitatingly pro- 
nounced it a pullet. 

Aside from a perfectly clear record, the 
marks of the operation, which are still visible, 
show that the bird when operated on must 
have been a male. 

While possible that this particular indi- 
vidual may owe its feminized character to a 
constitutional condition, such as hen feather- 
ing, such an assumption is extremely improb- 
able. Rather, it seems more probable that the 
bird has actually been feminized by the im- 
planted ovaries in similar fashion to the rats 
and guinea-pigs of Steinach. 

A full account of the bird will be published 
after it has been under observation for several 
months. 

H. D. GoopatE 

MASSACHUSETTS HXPERIMENT STATION, 

AMHERST, MASS. 


A THIRD ORDER RAINBOW 


To THE Eprror oF ScteENcE: On September 
11, as I stood near the lake in Beardsley Park, 
Bridgeport, Conn., I observed a rainbow in 
such an unusual position that it seems to be 
worthy of some short description. The rain- 
bow was first noticed about a quarter of five 
in the afternoon, with the sun perhaps 60° 
from the zenith. The sky in general was clear, 
though there were heavy clouds above the 
eastern horizon and very light cloud streaks 
between the observer and the sun, with a few 
fleecy clouds near the zenith. No rain was 
falling, and probably none had fallen in the 
region for some time, nor was there indication 
that any would fall for hours; yet, between the 
observer and the sun, some 10° from the 
zenith, there appeared between two of the 
clouds a distinct rainbow, clearly observed by 
others whose attention was called to the phe- 
nomenon. 

The bow was rather short, not over an eighth 
of a circumference, convex toward the sun, 
and showed plainly the usual rainbow colors. 
Not until the bow had faded to such an ex- 
tent that the colors were no longer marked was 


SCIENCE 


595 


it recalled that no accurate statement of the 
order of colors could be given. Jt is my im- 
pression now that the red was on the convex 
side. 

Wood’s “ Physical Optics,” second edition, 
p. 348, gives for the deviation produced by K 
internal reflections in a sphere 

D=2(¢—r) +h(4— 2r) 
and for minimum deviation, 


eros 


sate | eee ae 
BOS OS renee © 
For K =8, this gives 
4 = 76° 50, 
7 = 46° 55’, 
D=318° 20’, 


whence the angle between the emergent and 
incident light would be about 42°. This would 
agree fairly well with the rough estimate of 
50°. Hence the conclusion that the rainbow 
observed was the result of three internal re- 
flections within suspended drops of such small 
size and number as to give no appearance of 
a cloud. 

Various authorities, however, state with 
more or less emphasis that the bows corre- 
sponding to three reflections are never seen 
on account of the much more intense direct 
light from the sun. Jn the case cited above it 
would seem that the light clouds directly be- 
tween the observer and the sun served to 
diminish the intensity of the direct light to 
such an extent that the bow was plainly seen. 

This seems to be the only explanation for 
the bow, but considering the very light clouds 
noted above, the observation is all the more 
remarkable. H. W. Farwett 


A SOLAR HALO IN VIRGINIA 


Tuer solar halo, a sketch of which is ap- 
pended, was visible over a considerable portion 
of east Virginia for several hours on Sunday, 
November 2, 1913. It was observed by the 
writer at Fredericksburg, Virginia, at one P.M. 
on that day. The phenomenon was of the 
greatest brilliancy, the acessory “suns” being 
at times almost as brilliant as the sun itself. 
The great circles around the horizon were dis- 


596 


tinctly marked, and persisted for hours. The 
bright spot at the opposite pole from the sun 
was only occasionally visible. The rainbows 
were brilliantly colored and could be seen 
until the sun was almost down. 

The sky at the time was almost clear, except 
for a few wisps of cloud and a thin haze which 
was densest directly over the face of the sun. 

A. W. FREEMAN 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 


Photo-electricitty. By WH. Srantry ALLEN. 
London, Longmans, Green and Co., 1913. 
8vo. Pp. ix-+ 291. Price $2.10 net. 

Photo-electricity. By ArtHur LiLEwreLyNn 
Hucues. Cambridge, The University Press, 
1914. 8vo. Pp. vili+ 144. 

The present generation of physicists has 
seen the rapid and almost spectacular devel- 
opment of several important fields of activity 
in physics: such, for example, as the subject 
of electric waves, of kathode rays and elec- 
trons, of X-rays, and of radioactivity. While 
the subject of photo-electricity has not aroused 
the same widespread and popular interest as 
the subjects just mentioned, there are at 
present many reasons for believing that the 
study of photo-electric phenomena may prove 
to be of almost equal importance in its bear- 
ing upon theories of atomic structure and of 
radiation. 

I imagine that most physicists have read 
the paper in which Hertz described his dis- 
covery of the photo-electric effect. The paper 
is reprinted in Hertz’s “ Ausbreitung der 
elektrischen Kraft” and in the English trans- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1034 


lation “Electric Waves.” I can think of no 
scientific article which illustrates so well not 
only what research in experimental physics 
ought to be, but also how the results should 
be presented. It is a good illustration also 
of the importance of the unexpected things 
that so frequently turn up in experimental 
work. It will be remembered that the dis- 
covery of the photo-electric effect came as an 
incident in Hertz’s work on electric waves. 
As difficulty was experienced in seeing the 
minute sparks that indicated the response of 
the resonator, he tried to improve matters by 
placing a box around the gap so as to screen 
the eyes. But instead of making it easier to 
see the sparks the box apparently made the 
resonator less sensitive. I imagine that most 
of us would have been content to call the 
attempted improvement a failure, and would 
have dismissed the matter with mingled feel- 
ings of mild wonder that the scheme didn’t 
work, and regret that we had wasted so much 
time in making the box. But Hertz was not 
content to simply wonder. He set out to dis- 
cover why the box had such an unexpected 
effect, and by a beautifully logical series of 
experiments and deductions he found the an- 
swer to his question. Since it appeared that 
the new phenomenon had no bearing upon 
what he regarded as his more important prob- 
lem, he left its further study to others and 
returned to the subject of electric waves. 

Hertz’s paper aroused wide-spread interest 
and the work was quickly taken up by others. 
During the first nine years after Hertz’s dis- 
covery more than one hundred articles deal- 
ing with the photo-electric effect were pub- 
lished, and interest in the subject has con- 
tinued undiminished since. As no résumé of 
the subject has been published which is at all 
complete, it is clear that the physicist who 
wishes to make himself familiar with what has 
been done in this important field has no small 
task before him.t The almost simultaneous 

1A résumé of work on the photo-electric effect 
was published in ScrencE, Vol. IV., p. 853 and p. 
890, 1896, which was, I believe, complete to the 
time of publication. The subject has developed 
so greatly since that time, however, that this sum- 
mary has little more than historical interest. 


OcTOBER 23, 1914] 


appearance of two books on the subject of 
photo-electricity is a welcome response to a 
very general demand. 

Dr. Allen’s book is intermediate in char- 
acter between a popular or semipopular pre- 
sentation—such as would be suitable for the 
reader with a general scientific interest, or for 
workers in subjects related to physics—and a 
detailed summary intended for the ‘specialist. 
After two introductory chapters, giving a very 
brief general survey of the whole field and an 
account of the work of the early experimenters, 
the author takes up in greater detail such 
subjects as the emission of electrons in a 
vacuum, the velocity of the electrons emitted, 
the photo-electrie behavior of different sub- 
stances, the influence on photo-electrie phe- 
nomena of gas-pressure, temperature and the 
wave-length of the exciting light, and photo- 
electric fatigue, to whose experimental study 
Dr. Allen has himself contributed. Then fol- 
low chapters on “Theories of Photo-electric 
Action,” “ Fluorescence and Phosphorescence,” 
and “ Photo-electrical Actions and Photog- 
raphy.” Since the topics treated in the last 
two chapters, although probably related to the 
subject of photo-electricity, are not to be re- 
garded as essential parts of the general sub- 
ject, the author makes no attempt at a com- 
plete treatment of these topics. 

Dr. Allen makes no attempt to summarize 
all the articles dealing with photo-electricity, 
and has not given a complete bibliography. 
The value of the book would have been 
greatly increased if a complete list of articles 
had been given. But even without this the 
book is of great value. In discussing each 
topic references are given to some of the more 
important original articles, so that the reader 
who wishes to go into the subject in detail will 
be greatly helped. 

For the specialist I imagine that Dr. 
Hughes’s book will be found the more useful 
of the two. It assumes considerable familiar- 
ity on the part of the reader with the subject 
and with related subjects, and goes into 
greater detail in the critical discussion of the 
results obtained by different observers. This 
is especially true in the case of those phases 
of the subject which are now attracting most 


SCIENCE 


597 


attention. At the end of each chapter there 
is a summary of results, and in many cases a 
discussion of their theoretical bearing, which 
will be found very useful. References to orig- 
inal sources, although not complete, include 
most of the more important articles. In the 
main the ground covered is the same for the 
two books. Dr. Hughes includes, however, a 
chapter on the ionization of gases by ultra- 
violet light, which is looked upon as one in- 
stance of photo-electric action. There are also 
short chapters on positive rays produced by 
light, and on the sources of light used in 
photo-electric experiments. On the other hand 
the treatment of photo-electric fatigue is less 
complete than in Dr. Allen’s book, and the 
subjects of luminescence and of photographie 
action, to which Dr. Allen devotes two chap- 
ters, are not taken up at all. 

In discussing the velocity of emission of 
photo-electrons Dr. Hughes points out that 
while it seems probable that a linear relation 
exists between the maximum energy of the 
photo-electrons and the frequency of the 
exciting light, so that the retarding potential 
necessary to prevent discharge is given by 
V=kn—YV,, the constant & has not been 
found to have the value h/e which Einstein’s 
theory, based on the theory of quanta, would 
lead us to expect. Since this chapter was 
written Millikan’s measurements on sodium 
have not only established the linear relation 
between V and n with greater exactness and 
through a wider range than has been done by 
any previous investigation but have also led 
to a value of ke which differs from h by con- 
siderably less than the uncertainties in the 
value of Planck’s constant. This chapter of 
Hughes’s book would undoubtedly have been 
considerably modified if it had been written 
after the publication of Mlillikan’s work. 
Nevertheless the author’s discussion retains 
its value, for the results obtained by other ob- 
servers still requires explanation. 

I am convinced that these books’ will be 
found most useful, both by those who wish only 
to be informed regarding recent progress in 
the subject of photo-electricity and by those 
who are engaged in investigation in this field. 

Ernest Merritt 


598 


PEARSON’S TABLES FOR STATISTICIANS AND 
BIOMETRICIANS 

WHEN one is told that the advance of sci- 
ence is in a high degree dependent upon im- 
provements in technique, one naturally thinks 
of the astronomical and physical instruments 
of precision, the calorimeters of the chemist’s 
equipment, the microtomes and microscopes 
of the general biological laboratory, and of the 
pure culture and surgical technique of the 
clinic. With such magnificent examples of 
instrumental facilities for research, it is easy 
to forget the large debt of modern science to 
mathematical methods of description and an- 
alysis. Even if one limits oneself to the cases 
in which the mathematical tools have taken 
the most workable form—that of tables of final 
constants for given value of observation or 
tables to facilitate the calculation of such 
constants—the debt is enormous. Who can 
estimate the service to applied science of the 
engineer’s pocket books of formule and tables? 
or the value to pure science of the convenient 
volumes of logs and trigonometric functions? 
or, to be both specific and modern, of such 
volumes as the “ Physikalish-chemische Ta- 
bellen ” of Landolt and Bornstein, the tables 
for physicists and chemists of Castell-Evans, 
and the “Annual Tables of Constants and. 
Numerical Data” published by the Commis- 
sion of the International Congresses of Ap- 
plied Chemistry ? 

The most recent advance of this kind is 
marked by the publication of a series of tables 
for the use of statisticians and biometricians. 

With the foundation of the Biometric School 
of Biology, there were available only the gen- 
eral aids to caleulation—tables of logarithms 
and trigonometric functions, Barlow’s tablest 
and Crelle’s.? 

All of these are still to some extent useful, 
though the improvement of calculating ma- 
chines has rendered them less indispensable. 

1 Barlow’s tables of squares, cubes, square roots, 
cube roots and reciprocals of all numbers up to 
10,000. London, Spon. 

2Dr. A. L. Crelle’s calculating tables giving the 
products of every two members from 1 to 1000 and 
their application to the multiplication and division 
of all numbers above one thousand. Revised by 
C. Bremiker. New York, Steckert. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1034 


The tables? before us, carefully designed as 
they are to meet the needs of a special group 
of students, are in a very different class. To 
workers in the difficult field of higher statistics 
such aids are invaluable. Their calculation 
and publication was, therefore, as inevitable 
as the steady progress of a method which 
brings within the grip of mathematical analy- 
sis the highly variable data of biological ob- 
servation. The immediate cause for congrat- 
ulation is, therefore, not that the tables have 
been done but that they have been done so well. 

In the original prospectus of Biometrika, 
the editors promised to provide “numerical 
tables tending to reduce the labor of statistical 
arithmetic.” Since 1901, when the first of 
these tables was published in Biometrika, the 
responsible editor has had but one end in view, 
the publication, as funds would permit, of as 
full a series of tables as possible. 

A detailed list of the tables which have re- 
sulted from’ the grim perseverance in this 
determination for the past fifteen years is 
superfluous. Such fundamental series of con- 
stants as Sheppard’s “Tables of the Prob- 
ability Integral,” Elderton’s Tables of 
Values of P for Pearson’s x? Test of Good- 
ness of Fit of Theory to Observation, 
Everitt’s “Tables of the Tetrachoric Func- 
tions,” Rhind’s “ Criteria for Frequency Types 
and Probable Errors of Frequency Constants,” 
and such convenient aids to calculation as 
Miss Gibson’s values of x, and x, and Soper’s 
1— 7? to lighten the labor of the calculation 
of the probable errors are only sample titles of 
the fifty-five sets caleulated by Bell, Duffell, 
Elderton, Everitt, Gibson, Greenwood, Heron, 
Lee, Pearson, Rhind, Sheppard, Soper, “ Stu- 
dent ” and Whitaker, which cover with great 
completeness the whole field of statistical 
description and analysis. 

The convenient volume in which these are 
now brought together contains something over 
75 pages of explanation and illustration and 


3‘¢Tables for Statisticians and Biometricians.’’ 
Edited by Karl Pearson, F.R.S. Issued with as- 
sistance from the grant made by the Worshipful 
Company of Drapers to the Biometrie Laboratory, 
University College, London. Cambridge Univer- 
sity Press, 1914. 


OcroBER 23, 1914] 


about twice that space of solid tables and 
diagrams. It has three noteworthy char- 
acteristics. 

The first is the excessive labor involved in 
ealeulation. In a few instances, for example, 
in the case of the tables X,, x, and 1—7r? to 
facilitate the calculation of the probable errors, 
it has been possible to arrive at constants of 
the greatest usefulness with a minimum of 
simple arithmetic. But in the great majority 
of cases, each entry has cost heavily. It is 
probably safe to say that the difficulties of 
computation have been far greater than in the 
majority of published tables. 

The second remarkable feature of the book 
is originality of contents. For the most part, 
volumes of tables are largely made up of old 
material which has long since become common 
property. Practically, the whole of this quarto 
is strictly new. In only a few cases have 
materials already published been better 
adapted to meet the needs of statisticians. 
Thus the tables of logarithms of the Gamma 
function have been adapted from those of 
Legendre; the table of angles, arcs and deci- 
mals of degrees is based on Hutton’s mathe- 
matical tables; after the table of logarithms 
of factorials had been completed, similar 
tables issued in 1824 were discovered and used 
as checks. 

The third distinguishing feature of the 
volume is that it represents the work of a 
single laboratory and its associates under the 
leadership of the one who has finally brought 
the colossal undertaking to completion. 

The cost of publication has been very great; 
it has been made possible only by distributing 
the expense of setting and moulding over a 
period of years of first publication in Biome- 
trika. Thus the completion of the tables has 
largely depended upon the possibility of main- 
taining Biometrika. Though this has been 
given such protection as copyright affords, it 
has been practically impossible to prevent 
Piracy of tables already issued and so to make 
possible the completion of the series. The 
editor remarks with a bitterness which is fully 
justified by his experience of the last few 
years: “It is a singular phase of modern sci- 


SCIENCE 


599 


ence that it steals with a plagiaristic right 
hand while it stabs with a critical left.” 

The volume is indispensable to all who are 
engaged in serious statistical work. 


J. ARTHUR Harris 


Crystallography. An Outline of the Geomet- 
rical Properties -of Crystals. By T. L. 
Watrer. New York, McGraw-Hill Book 
Co., 1914. Pp. xiv + 204, 218 figures in text. 
So many elementary treatises on crystallog- 

raphy have appeared in the American press 
within the last five years that a new one would 
seem to be justified only by the introduction of 
some essentially new feature. Such a justi- 
fication is certainly to be claimed for this brief 
work by Professor Walker in which a discus- 
sion of the geometrical properties of crystals 
is based on the gnomonic projection as em- 
ployed in the methods of Goldschmidt. 

After brief consideration of the process of 
erystallization in very elementary terms there 
is given in Chapter IV. an account of the 
egnomonic projection showing how by its means 
a graphic representation of the relations of 
erystal faces may be obtained; how numerical 
symbols for the forms and values for the axial 
elements may be read directly from it; and how 
the regular arrangement and spacing of the 
projection points illustrate the laws of sym- 
metry, of constancy of crystal angles and of 
the rationality of parameters. The chapter 
also contains instructions for preparing both 
gnomonic and stereographic projections from 
two-circle goniometric measurements as well 
as an account of the conventional axes of 
reference and the derivation of Miller’s index 
symbols. 

This chapter seems to the reviewer an 
admirable presentation to the beginning stu- 
dent of the difficult subject of the mathe- 
matical relations of crystal faces. No ade- 
quate account of Goldschmidt’s very useful 
methods exists elsewhere in the English 
language and these methods are here very 
happily welded to the conventional ones which 
they illuminate. It is to be regretted that the 
author did not supplement his account by a 
statement of Goldschmidt’s energy theory of 


600 


the growing crystal with its simple expression 
in numerical symbols; and by a clear state- 
ment of the general reciprocal relation which 
exists between the polar elements of Gold- 
schmidt and the linear elements of Miller. 

The systematic description of crystal forms 
follows conventional lines, the concept of 
hemihedrism being used throughout to classify 
the various symmetry classes within each 
system. Chapters on twinning and on crystal 
drawing from gnomoniec projection complete 
the author’s text. A final chapter contains 
extracts from vyarious American crystallo- 
graphic publications which illustrate to the 
student the methods of procedure required for 
several varieties of crystallographic investiga- 
tion. These extracts seem on the whole of 
doubtful value to the class of students for 
whom the book is primarily intended. 

The illustrations include gnomonic pro- 
jections of the holohedral class of each system. 
The crystal figures have suffered severely at 
the hands of the printer; a great number, 
nearly one third it seemed on a rapid estimate, 
are set skew on the page; figures 25 and 206 
are inverted; and figure 161 is obscure. The 
text is free from such obvious results of care- 
less proof-reading. 

- QOHaRLEs PALACHE 


Industrial and Commercial Geography. By 
J. Russert Smite. New York, Henry Holt 
& Co. 1918. Pp. xi+914. 6X 82 inches. 
Price $4. 

The complex field of interests in which the 
student of industrial and commercial geog- 
raphy works, involves many matters which are 
not geographic, and many pitfalls are laid for 
the geographer who sets venturesome feet 
across its borders. Professor Smith has some 
freedom in working this field, since he comes 
to it as an economist, rather than as a geog- 
rapher, and he has chosen “to interpret the 
earth in terms of its usefulness to humanity. 
And since the primary interest is humanity 
rather than parts of the earth’s surface, the 
book deals with the human activities as af- 
fected by the earth, rather than with parts of 
the earth as they affect human activities.” 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1034 


Thus the author frankly states his point of 
view, and as honestly does he carry it out 
through the 900 pages which follow. So the 
geographer has but one protest to make, and 
that is as to the choice of title. The work 
should have been called “ A Text-book of In- 
dustry and Commerce” and it is in recogni- 
tion of this point of view and purpose of the 
work, that this review is written. 

The book is divided into two parts, Indus- 
trial Geography and Commercial Geography. 
In the first part there are essays on the chang- 
ing forces in our environment; the place and 
nature of agriculture; on various industries 
and the commodities produced by them; on 
the fundamentals of manufacture; on the 
mineral industries and on the expansion 
of industries and resources. The second 
part of the book is given over to a statement 
of the principles underlying commerce; then 
to a sketch of the great highways of commerce, 
including the ocean, and trade routes of the 
various continents. The last four chapters 
are on the trade center; the balance of trade; 
and geographic influences in the commercial 
policy of nations. 

The book makes interesting reading. One 
must admire the wealth of interacting rela- 
tions presented by the author, even though he 
must at times take issue with the statement 
of fact or interpretation of the phenomena dis- 
cussed. The style is frank and easy, often al- 
most colloquial, quite unlike the usual text- 
book. In fact it will be criticized on this point 
as at times diffuse and in need of condensa- 
tion. 

Of course errors are bound to creep into any 
beok. The most careful proof-reading will not 
avail against errors. But there are so many 
errors in this first edition as to make it seem 
that parts of it were overlooked in the proof 
reading. In the interest of accuracy it will be 
fair to call attention to some errors and inac- 
curacies. The author states, p. 46, that it is 
too cold for winter wheat north of Nebraska. 
Yet the record yield of wheat in America is 
held in eastern Montana, and with winter 
wheat. On p. 63 a wrong addition is made in 
footing up the world’s wheat production; p. 75 


OCTOBER 23, 1914] 


the sense is spoiled by using run for rim; p. 92 
the statement is made that corn has no gluten; 
p. 105 Austria is said to be in the Baltic basin; 
p. 106 Chile is given just one climate, the 
Mediterranean, and is said not to be hospitable 
te the potato, the country in which the potato 
originated; p. 119 Japan is credited with one 
sixth of her land under cultivation. The 
Japanese are much more modest in reporting 
the arable area; pp. 288 ff coffee, tea and cacao 
are treated as condiments; p. 292 ff San Do- 
mingo is wrongly used as the name of a coun- 
try; p. 293 a wrong date is given for the aboli- 
tion of slavery in Brazil; p. 296 Havre is 
f@iven as the world’s greatest coffee market; 
p. 807 diacritical marks are omitted from the 
Portuguese form of St. Thomas; p. 330ff 
pilagie does duty for pelagic; p. 875 Maderia 
for Madeira; p. 878 the final letter is 
omitted from Pittsburgh; p. 378 steamboats 
are given credit for plying to Minneapolis; p. 
403 has the great falls of Iguazu on the Parana 
River; p.- 441 the form Austro-Hungary is 
used, and in another place Austro for Austria; 
p. 449 Estremaduro for Hstramadura; p. 454 
states that the Philippine forests belong to the 
United States government; p. 454 the Philip- 
pines are stated as “tree poor,” an astonishing 
statement; p. 445 the tropical cedar used in 
making cigar boxes is said also to be used in 
making lead pencils; p. 498 we learn that 
“wool is covered with minute scales, whereas 
hair is:smooth”; p. 584 Spain, ete., given 
eredit as the source of most of our sulfur 
supply; p. 617 “plate glass .. . passed between 
rollers which give it the beautiful smooth sur- 
face”; p. 619 “the ancients were better artifi- 
cers in copper than are the moderns”; p. 627 
aluminum is said to be a more efficient “ trans- 
mitter” of electricity than is copper; p. 637 a 
legend says “silver production is unusual in 
that it does not increase.” The graph above 
the legend shows an increase from 72 to 220 in 
the period covered. 

There are many examples of inaccuracy 
which may be due to loose writing. Such, for 
example, as p. 172, where the whole Parana 
valley is made a sheep district like that in 
Australia; p. 285 vacuum pans are used be- 


SCIENCE 


601 


cause there is Jess danger of burning; p. 311 
vanilla “is an orchid-like vine”—but why 
continue? There are scores of these faults, 
little and big, which should not have gone out 
even in a first edition. 

Such errors, while a serious blemish, are not 
permanent handicaps. Careful editing may 
remoye them. The spirit of the author is so 
good, his interpretations so suggestive, that 
when a revision is made the book will stand as 
the best text-book presentation so far pub- 
lished in this country, of the complex and diffi- 
cult field of industry and commerce, from the 
geographic viewpoint. The book can be used 
with advantage as a text in college classes, 
where the teacher, if a geographer, may easily 
accentuate to his taste the purely geographic 
elements involved. 

J. Paut Goode 

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO 


THE COMMITTEE ON GENERAL SCIENCE 
OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATION 
ASSOCIATION 


THE returns which have come in thus far 
indicate that the schools should give informa- 
tion from the whole field of science—not 
neglecting astronomy. ‘The public needs un- 
mistakably require a new organization of sci- 
ence instruction according to projects. The 
problems of life are not differentiated after 
the manner of specialized science. Pupils 
in both elementary and high schools are in a 
much more primitive state of mind in regard 
to all science than our school programs would 
indicate. Many are apparently blind and deaf 
to nature’s most evident teachings. They are 
in the depths of superstition about common 
things even while surcharged with academic 
formulas regarding things scientific. Our 
secondary schools persist in articulating with 
that which is above them rather than with the 
elementary school. Few persons appear to 
know that they have the answers to most of 
their questions readily accessible in diction- 
aries, encyclopedias and readable books. Ap- 
parently we have deprecated the teaching of 
science from books too long and too success- 


602 


fully. The greatest need, and likewise the great- 
est demand, among even highly educated per- 
sons, is for information rather than training 
in science. All workers and students require 
training in their specialty, but in other fields 
they want knowledge in simple form and by 
the most direct method. 

Natural science has moved from a position 
of great worth as a school subject to one of 
Minor importance. Science teachers every- 
where are beginning to regard it a high duty 
to bring it back to its rightful place and 
value. Attention has been too sharply focused 
on teaching “subjects” as against teaching 
students those things that are important for 
them to know. The schools reached the low- 
est point in real science instruction when, 
under the stress of preparing for higher insti- 
tutions, they narrowed their work to “the 
forty quantitative experiments.” It was de- 
sultory, scrappy, unorganized, unscientific. 
At best the teaching was confined to vocabu- 
laries of technical words, definitions of scien- 
tific terms, statements of “fundamental prin- 
ciples,” ete. The natural and effective order 
is not principles followed by applications, but 
the reverse. From a multitude of experiences, 
facts and observations, arranged so as to illu- 
minate one another, some few principles may 
be derived; if these principles can be shown 
to be fundamental and can be brought into 
immediate use. The trouble with most of the 
so-called “fundamental principles” is that 
they are never again met either in school or 
life, and the majority even of enlightened 
men get on very well without having ever 
heard of them, or, having heard, they have 
forgotten them because they did not prove to 
be fundamental to anything. A principle 
which occurs, or is likely to occur, so often 
that one can not forget it, is fundamental, and 
few others need be considered. 

Principles are not to be taught merely for 
discipline and training, nor for use only in a 
remote future. 

The study of “projects” in science will 
necessitate the breaking down of boundary 
fences that have been erected between highly 
specialized sciences. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1034 


General science should be adapted to local 
conditions and may not be universalized. 
Many projects elaborated by ingenious and 
skilled teachers should be published in a 
series of small books or pamphlets for the use 
of pupils. Teachers may select from these as 
time, place and other circumstances require. 
Enough of this material may easily be pre- 
pared to occupy many years of study on the 
part of pupils. What it is worth while to 
know from the fields of astronomy, botany, 
chemistry, geology, meteorology, physics, phys- 
iology, zoology, ete., may be thus acquired. 

Correspondence is invited. 


Joun F, WooDHULL, 


Chairman 
CoLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, 
NEw York City 


INDIANA UNIVERSITY EXPEDITIONS TO 
NORTHWESTERN SOUTH AMERICA 


In these columns in 1905, Dr. C. H. Eigen- 
mann gave a discussion of the fresh-water 
fishes known from both slopes of Panama,! and 
suggested the advisability of a biological survey 
to record their distribution before the comple- 
tion of the canal should furnish a waterway 
and allow the intermingling of the two faunas. 
His conclusions were, m the main, that the 
Pacific slope fauna was derived from the 
Atlantic slope fauna in times more recent than 
the obliteration of the interoceanic connection, 
and that this fauna crossed the divide some- 
where near Panama. At his suggestion, reso- 
lutions were adopted by various scientific 
bodies, including the International Zoological 
Congress and the American Association for 
the Advancement of Science, calling upon the 
president and congress to provide means for a 
survey of the regions about the canal. In 1910, 
under the auspices of the Smithsonian Insti- 
tution, the survey was organized from among 
the various scientific departments at Wash- 
ington. The collection of fishes was imtrusted 
to Dr. S. EK. Meek, of the Field Museum of 
Natural History, and Mr. S. F. Hildebrand, 


1 Science, N. S., Vol. XXIT., No. 549, 1905, 
p. 18. 


OcToBER 23, 1914] 


of the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries. They spent 
the winters of 1910 and 1911 in the field, but 
their results remain largely unpublished. 

In December, 1911, Professor EKigenmann 
left for Colombia with the principal object of 
investigating the faunas of the Atrato and 
San Juan Rivers, south of Panama. These 
rivers flow in opposite directions in a longi- 
tudinal trough west of the Western Cordilleras 
and the height of the divide between them does 
not much exceed 300 feet. Other points were 
the relation of the faunas of the Atrato and 
the Magdalena, which seemingly possess no 
obstacles to inter-migration, and the relation- 
ship existing between the faunas of the upper 
Cauca and the upper Magdalena, separated as 
they are by the high Central Cordilleras. Dr. 
Eigenmann landed at Cartagena and proceeded 
thence by river steamer and rail up the Magda- 
lena, collecting en route at Puerto Wilches, 
Pefias Blancas, Honda and Girardot, thence 
to the high plateau of Bogota, where a large 
collection was made of all fishes occurring 
there, including the supposedly mutating 
“eapitan” (Hremophilus mutisiz). He then 
proceeded by pack-train from Girardot through 
Ibagué and Toche, crossing the Central Cor- 
dilleras over the Quindio pass, descending 


thence to the Cauca at Cartago, from which- 


point he continued by pack-train to Cali, col- 
lecting on the way. With more pack mules 
the Western Cordilleras were crossed to Caldas; 
from here collections were made at successively 
lower elevations on the River Dagua to the 
coast at Buenaventura. From this point a 
steamer carried the expedition up the San 
Juan to the head of navigation at Puerto 
Negria, thence a dugout continued on to 
Istmina. The low continental divide was 
crossed here to the Atrato; he went then by 
steamer to Cartagena. Collections were made 
at various points along these rivers. Dr. 
Higenmann returned to the university in the 
middle of April, 1912. The expenses of this 
expedition were assumed by the Carnegie Mu- 
seum of Pittsburgh, to which belongs the first 
series of the fishes collected; the second series 
remains at Indiana University. 

Since his return, Mr. Manuel Gonzalez, a 


SCIENCE. 


603 


Colombian, who accompanied him on part of 
the trip, has been employed by the university 
to continue collecting about Bogota and to the 
eastward in the headwaters of the Orinoco. 

Mr. Charles KE. Wilson, an Indiana Univer- 
sity student, left in December, 1912, for 
Tumaco, the most southerly port of Colombia 
on the Pacific. He spent about a month col- 
lecting in coastal streams and above Barbacoas 
in the Telembi, a tributary of the Patia. He 
then continued northward to Buenaventura, 
returning over the San Juan-Atrato route, 
collecting at various points in both of these 
rivers and in the Truando, one of the prin- 
cipal tributaries of the Atrato. He returned 
to the university in April, 1913. His expenses 
were paid by Mr. H. McK. Landon and Mr. 
Carl G. Fisher, both of Indianapolis. 

Mr. Arthur W. Henn, another student of 
the university, had been with Mr. Wilson on 
the Telembi when both were forced to return 
to Tumaco with fever. When recovered Mr. 
Henn returned to Barbacoas by small steamer 
and then went by pack-train to Tuquerres, 
situated in the Western Cordilleras at an ele- 
vation of over 10,000 feet. From here, after 
some delay, he continued northward with an- 
other specially engaged pack-train to the gorge 
of the Patia, where this mighty stream has 
cloven a majestic canyon through the Western 
Cordilleras. The route followed here was in 
general that followed by the geologist A. Stiibel 
through Ancuya, Tambo and Pejiol. The gorge 
was reached at the mouth of the Guaitara. 
The expedition continued back through Pasto 
and Tuquerres to Barbacoas and Tumaco. Mr. 
Henn sailed then for Buenaventura, continued 
to Puerto Negria by small steamer, and re- 
turned by canoe to the lower San Juan, espe- 
cially for work in the Calima, which he 
ascended for three days, returning overland to 
Buenaventura. Instructions had meanwhile 
been received from Dean EKigenmann directing 
the work to Keuador. 

Mr. Henn sailed southward to Guayaquil, 
where he arrived in May. A short trip was 
taken to Naranjito, where collecting was done 
in the River Chan Chan. He then went to 
Manabi, entering at Bahia, fishing at Chone 


604 


and Portoviejo and returning to Guayaquil 
by way of Manta. Several more weeks were 
spent in the rivers Daule and Vinces. He then 
ascended into the high Andean plateau over 
the Guayaquil and Quito Railway, collecting 
at various points. From Quito he descended 
again into the subtropical forest region at 
Mindo on the western slopes of Mt. Pichincha. 
The expedition then continued northward to 
E] Angel, where several weeks were employed 
excavating old Inca tombs. Nearly 300 pieces 
of Inca pottery were obtained; these are now 
in the John Herron Art Institute of Indian- 
apolis and the Carnegie Museum. Mr. Henn 
went from here down the valley of the Chota 
to a point below the hacienda Paramba. 

Revolutionary developments and the pres- 
ence of roving bands of “ montoneros” made 
necessary a return to Quito, where the month 
of January was spent. Here a small collection 
of birds, aggregating about 65 species, was ob- 
tained, chiefly from Pichincha and the sur- 
rounding region. When quiet again pre- 
vailed, Mr. Henn returned to El Angel to 
secure the stored collections, continued on 
through Tulean to the Colombian frontier and 
thence to Barbacoas, reached after twelve days 
of continuous travel by mule from Quito. He 
arrived in New York at the end of March of 
this year after fifteen months in the field. 
Aside from the collections of fishes, the col- 
lection of batrachians comprises probably 400 
specimens, representing all ranges of altitude 
and climate. The collection of mammals is 
insignificant, of note is the acquisition of four 
skulls and one skin of the rare spectacled bear 
(Tremarctos ornatus). This expedition was 
made possible by the generosity of Mr. Hugh 
McK. Landon, of Indianapolis. 

The general result of these expeditions is 
the definition of two geographical sub-proy- 
inces, of more or less equal value, differing 
somewhat in their constitution, but more so 
in their origin. The Pacific Province of con- 
tinental South America may be divided into 
two sub-provinces, (1) the Colombian, ex- 
tending from the Chepo basin of Panama 
south to the river of Esmeraldas and (2) the 
Ecuadorian, extending from the Guayas system 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1034 


south until lost, probably in the desert of Ata- 
cames. The fishes of the Pacific slope are in 
general widely distributed Amazonian types; 
none of them would cause surprise if taken at 
Manaos. 

The Colombian sub-province is character- 
ized by its extreme humidity. None of its 
rivers are large, the San Juan and Patia are 
the largest, but all carry a relatively immense 
amount of water. The few fishes which have 
come into them have undergone much adaptive 
radiation. Its fauna is much richer than that 
of the Ecuadorian sub-province. Its types are 
mostly Amazonian and among the oldest 
found on the continent. This fauna has cer- 
tainly entered over the Atrato-San Juan route. 
The fishes of these two rivers are very similar 
and many species are common to both. The 
channel-fishes of the Atrato, however, have 
not succeeded in crossing over to the San Juan. 
They have spread thence to all the rivers south 
to Esmeraldas. Those of the Chepo and Tuyra 
basins of Panama have evidently also come 
from the Atrato. Dr. Meek says :? 

- it is quite evident that strictly South Amer- 
ican migrants in comparatively recent times did 
not go far beyond the Canal Zone, and that most 
of these are lowland forms which came from the 
streams on the Atlantic side of Colombia to the 
Pacific side after the last gap (Atrato-Tuyra) 
here between the two oceans was closed. We find 
Curvmatus, Ctenoluctus and Gasteropelecus and 
other Colombian Atlantic forms in streams oppo- 
site the Rio Chagres but not in it. Some Loricar- 
ids occur in these streams and also in the Rio 
Chagres, but these appear to us to have probably 
crossed from the Pacifie side streams to the 
Chagres and not to have migrated from the rivers 
of Colombia to the Chagres direct. 


The Ecuadorian sub-provinee is character- 
ized by its increasing aridity, which begins 
immediately south of the cross-ridge of 
Esmeraldas, is intensified below Guayaquil as 
shown by the Desert of Tumbez, and culminates 
in the desert regions of Peru. In the long 
dry season all of the rivers dwindle to mere 
puddles. Under these unfavorable conditions 


2 Publications, Field Museum of Natural His- 
tory, Zoological Series, Vol. X., No. 10, 1914, p. 
134, 


OcToOBER 23, 1914] 


but little evolution has taken place. The 
difference from the fauna to the north is the 
difference in species; the genera are in most 
eases of wide distribution. 

Few species occur in both faunas, and these 
are such widely distributed barrier-surmount- 
ing fishes as Rhamdia, Hoplias and Lebiasina. 
For them the Esmeraldas ridge has not been 
a barrier. Sternopygus macrurus may have 
come from the north; it is the only Gymnotid 
found south of Esmeraldas. Sub-andine forms 
also occur indiscriminately in both regions. 
The four distinctive Pacific-slope genera are 
confined to this region. It is a very old fauna 
and an extremely meager one. Astyanazx 
feste, Astyanax or Bryconamericus brevirostris 
and Bryconamericus peruanus, all lowland 
forms, confined to this area are more inti- 
mately related among themselves than they are 
to the nearest geographical members of their 
respective genera. Hither long isolation in a 
region offering few environmental units has 
eaused them to converge or they have only 
recently arisen. 

This fauna has evidently come from the 
east coincident with the first stages in the rise 
of the Andes. This possibility was suggested 
by Dr. Kigenmann? in 1909, chiefly to account 
for the presence of Cetopsis occidentalis which 
has near relatives in the Upper Amazon. A 
ridge or spur of the Andes forms the water- 
shed between the systems of the Esmeraldas 
and the Guayas. On it is situated Santo 
Domingo de los Colorados at an elevation of 
1,500 feet, but its height nearer the sea is 
further decreased. This seems to separate the 
two faunas. It is, according to Wolf,‘ of early 
tertiary formation and probably arose but 
slightly later than the beginning of the up- 
heaval of the great western chain. The trough 
in which now flow the Guayas and the Daule 
is of subsequent alluvial formation. Deposits 
showing tertiary depression occur at Loja and 
in the headwaters of the Catamayo. Through 
this route possibly have entered the fishes. 
This point now raised more than seven thou- 

3 Reports of the Princeton University Expedi- 
tions to Patagonia, Vol. III., 1909, p. 361. 

4‘‘Geografia y Geologia del Eeuador,’’ Leipzig, 
1892. 


SCIENCE 


605 


sand feet above the sea is, however, the only 
break in the majestic wall of the Andes. 

“The distribution of the Glandulicaudine 
shows a strange relationship between the 
faunas of Transandean Colombia and south- 
eastern Brazil. This relationship is confirmed 
by the distribution of Salminus and other 
fishes. The similarity is not confined to posi- 
tive resemblances, but a number of types ab- 
sent from northwestern Colombia are also 
absent from southeastern Brazil and Uruguay. 

“The few genera of small fishes which suc- 
eeeded im crossing or circumventing the 
Eastern Cordilleras of Venezuela and Colom- 
bia have undergone a remarkable radiation in 
Colombia. These Cordilleras very probably 
become a barrier before the evolution of the 
electric-eel, the Serrasalmonine and many 
others of the common Amazonian sub-families 
which are absent from Colombia. This makes 
very desirable a knowledge of the fauna of 
the region about Lake Maracaibo, where the 
university later plans to send an expedition.” 

The factors of vertical distribution are to 
be considered in a region so mountainous as 
that contiguous to the Andes. Of interest 
here is the recurrence of the same species at 
similar altitudes, in widely separated localities, 
a fact pointed out by Sir Edward Whymper 
among insects. The same species of Hemi- 
brycon was taken at Sandon4, in the Pacific 
slope of the Western Cordilleras; at Ibagué in 
the Central Cordilleras and at Guadual, in the 
Atlantic slope of the Cordilleras east of Bo- 
gota, in each case at an elevation of some four 
thousand feet. Bryconamericus caucanus 
oceurs in the Upper Cauca and at a similar 
altitude in the Upper Patia. Arges cyclopiwm 
occurs in all the high inter-andean valleys of 
Ecuador and is represented at Toche in the 
Central Cordilleras nearly four hundred miles 
to the north by a very similar if not identical 
form. This species, known as “ Humboldt’s 
fireproof fish” is the only true andean fish; 
in the great Andes of Ecuador it ranges as 
high as eleven thousand feet. 

At elevations not greater than five thousand 
feet, a subandine fauna is encountered con- 
taining fishes such as Pygidium, Arges, Hemi- 
brycon, Rhoadsia and Piabucina. The number 


606 


of species here is in direct proportion to the 
amount of rainfall. The stream gradient at 
this altitude is very high, but great humidity 
permits standing pools of water outside of the 
rivers themselves. Full tables of the distribu- 
tion of the fishes of Colombia and Ecuador 
will be given in the final complete reports. 
ARTHUR HENN 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 


POSSIBLE FACTORS IN THE VARIATIONS OF THE 
EARTH’S MAGNETIC FIELD 

Newatu! has described a very interesting 
experiment in which “a lamp flame held 
under an iron or steel wire (which is in cir- 
cuit with a galvanometer), so that a short 
portion of the wire becomes red hot, is made 
to travel slowly under the wire, and it is 
found that a current appears in the galvanom- 
eter, the direction of the current depending 
on the direction in which the flame travels. 
Tomlinson? described a similar experiment at 
an earlier date than Newall. While this cur- 
rent is described as due to difference in thermo- 
electric quality between the iron or steel in 
the magnetic and non-magnetic state, yet it 
is suggestive of what might happen in the 
erust of the earth as the sun’s rays fall upon 
its surface and warm it. 

The following simple experiments were 
carried out with a view to getting more light 
on the phenomenon of earth currents and 
their relation to the earth’s magnetic field. A 
board, seventy-five centimeters long and four 
centimeters wide, Fig. 1, had a shallow rim 
fastened around it so as to form a tray. At 
either end was fastened a zine strip, both of 
which were in turn soldered to copper wires 
leading to a galvanometer. In this tray and 
covering the zine terminals, a fairly homo- 
geneous paste of mud was placed about one 
half centimeter thick. The water used in 
making up the mud paste was slightly acidu- 
lated with sulphuric acid to make it a better 


1 Newall, Philosophical Magazine, June, 1888. 
See also Ewing’s ‘‘ Magnetic Induction,’’ p. 184, 
3d ed. 

2Tomlinson, Philosophical Magazine, January, 
1888, p. 50. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1034 


conductor. When a Bunsen flame was allowed 
to play on this strip of mud for some little 
time and then slowly moved in one or the 
other direction lengthwise of the tray, a cur- 
rent was set up in the galvanometer, depend- 
ing upon the direction of the motion of the 
flame. 


Tf the electrode marked B, Fig. 1, was made 
positive by applying the positive pole of a dry 
cell to it and the negative pole to A, then the 
galvanometer gave a deflection to the left. 
When the flame was slowly moved from A 
toward B, the deflection of the galvanometer 
was to the right, and when the motion of the 
flame was reversed the current was also: 
This indicated that the direction of the cur- 
rent was opposite to that of the burner. 

Suppose now this condition exists in the 
surface of the rotating earth as the heat rays 
of the sun falling upon it move from east to 
west. A current will be set up in the opposite 
direction, 7. ¢., from west to east, which will 
locally complete itself on the earth’s surface 
somewhat as shown in Fig. 2. 


z - 
Fic. 2 


It was found that the hotter the Bunsen 
flame for a given rate of moving, the greater 


OCTOBER 23, 1914] 


the deflection of the galvanometer. Hence we 
would expect that the maximum current den- 
sity would be set up in the earth’s crust, most 
directly under the sun and parallel with the 
equator. Consequently the resultant of all of 
the current filaments set up in the earth’s 
crust would be represented by Fig. 2, in which 
the currents in the southern hemisphere would 
be opposite to that in the northern. 

As this current sheet advances westward 
with the sun, and its magnetic field strikes the 
various magnetometer needles, there will be the 
conditions for a westward deflection in the 
northern hemisphere and an eastward deflec- 
tion in the southern hemisphere, followed later 
in the day by a reversed deflection in both 
cases. 

This experiment on the mud strip was re- 
peated and the same results obtained with sey- 
eral kinds of soil to be found here locally. 
The relation of direction of current and direc- 
tion of motion of flame was the same for the 
mud strip as for the iron wire investigated by 
Tomlinson.2 From what we know of thermo- 
electric elements, it would seem possible to 
find conditions where the direction of the cur- 
rent would be the same as the flame. For 
instance, in large areas covered by glacial de- 
posits if one edge of the deposit was heated 
more than the opposite edge we might possibly 
find a condition as just stated. Certain it is 
that oceanic areas would differ from land areas 
for these thermo-electriec earth currents. 

It was interesting to note the effect of pour- 
ing water on the strip of mud. Fairly large 
disturbances were produced when one or the 
other edge of the wet portion was heated. 
Local showers might thus produce local mag- 
netic disturbances. 

Blowing air either on one side or the other 
of a heated section of the strip also produced 
regular disturbances. Winds in this respect 
may be a possible cause of magnetic disturb- 
ances. 

The cooling effect of a cloud passing over 
the sun or the shadow of the moon sweeping 
across the earth’s surface in an eclipse may be 
made manifest by setting up these thermo- 
electric currents which will affect the earth’s 


SCIENCE 


607 


magnetic field. The temperature to which the 
mud was heated was bearable to the hand. 
Whether these thermo-electric currents 
actually exist in the earth’s crust as due to the 
heat of the sun’s rays, and whether they could 
be picked out from other earth currents, is a 
matter to be investigated further, but for the 
present it does seem worth while to learn 
more about these thermo-electrie currents due 
to a moving heat source or sink in all sorts 
of conductors, particularly electrolytic. 
S. R. WiLui1aMs 


PHYSICAL LABORATORY, 
OBERLIN COLLEGE 


CHANGES OF DRAINAGE IN OHIO 

THERE is probably no state in the union in 
which the advance of the ice caused more 
decided and interesting changes in drainage 
than Ohio. Almost every stream of any impor- 
tance in the state is now running in a new 
channel for at least a part of its course, and 
most of them for practically their entire dis- 
tance. 

During the progress of the reconnaissance 
soil survey of Ohio the writer had an oppor- 
tunity to visit every section of the state and to 
make some study of the adjustments in drain- 
age which resulted from the advance of the 
ice. Some observations and conclusions are 
believed to be of general interest and may be 
of value in interpreting changes in drainage 
elsewhere. 

The most important relates to the probable 
interglacial rather than preglacial origin of 
many old valleys in Ohio, but the gravelly 
nature of all terraces along streams in or 
issuing from the glaciated section of the state, 
as contrasted with the silt and clay character 
of the terraces along nonglacial streams, is 
also worthy of mention, as this fact often 
helps to determine the age as well as the 
direction of flow of some old streams. 

The course of the old Kanawha River was 
definitely traced many years ago through the 
hills east of the Scioto in southern Ohio as 
far north as Waverly, but as to its further 
course there has been some doubt. The occur- 
rence of deposits, similar to those in its old 


608 


channel, upon the west side of the Scioto 
northeastward from Waverly and the presence 
of an old valley extending on for several miles 
beyond Richmondale, carrying like material, 
and finally turning westward to the Scioto 
again below Chillicothe (see Waverly and 
Chillicothe topographic sheets) proves conclu- 
sively that the old Kanawha flowed northward 
as far as Chillicothe. It seems very probable 
that it also extended northward through the 
present Scioto Valley to the vicinity of Marion 
and then possibly on northward into Lake 
Erie. 

Tt will be recalled by those familiar with the 
topography of Ohio that the highest point in 
the state is near Bellefontaine in Logan 
County. Although the rocks in this section 
dip to the southeast the hills east of Belle- 
fontaine are capped with the same formations 
that are found around Delaware, although the 
latter is approximately 40 miles east and 600 
feet lower in elevation. The large amount of 
erosion which has been necessary to the forma- 
tion of the Scioto Valley would seem to indi- 
cate very strongly the continuance of the old 
Kanawha northward. 

It has been shown by Tight! that an old 
valley leaves the Scioto about halfway between 
Columbus and Circleville and extends north- 
eastward by Buckeye Lake and Newark to the 
Muskingum at Dresden. From this point the 
valley extends on northeastward up the Musk- 
ingum and Tuscarawas to Canal Dover and 
thence on northward by Beach City and Justus 
to Massillon. Beyond this point its course is 
rather difficult to determine because of the 
deep drift and possibly for other reasons which 
will be evident later. 

This valley has been considered as a pos- 
sible channel of the old Kanawha River al- 
though Leverett? states that he has “found 
decisive evidence against the suggested north- 
eastward line, in the presence of an old divide 
now crossed by the Tuscarawas between Zoar 
and Canal Dover.” He apparently rejects the 
northward extension of the old valley sug- 

1 Bull. Dennison University, Vol. VIII., Pt. IL., 
1894, pp. 35-61. 

2 Mon. 41, U. S. Geol. Survey, p. 103. 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Von. XL. No. 1034 


gested above because of a restriction in width 
near Strasburg. However, the narrowest 
place is almost one half mile in width (about 
2,300 feet), or wider than many places along 
the Ohio River to-day, and the restriction is 
believed to be due to the character of the rock. 
Almost as narrow a restriction occurs just 
north of Conesville (see Navarre, Canal Dover 
and Conesville topographic sheets). A rather 
careful study during last summer convinced 
the writer that the Tuscarawas from Navarre 
to Canal Dover was deflected by the Wisconsin 
glaciation and that the present course by Zoar 
and across the divide to Canal Dover was 
opened up during this time. 

While the writer does not believe that this 
old valley was ever occupied by the Kanawha, 
this opinion is based upon other evidence than 
the presence of the divide near Canal Dover. 
It is believed that this old valley, as well as 
many others in Ohio, is of interglacial origin 
while the Kanawha is preglacial.. Some of 
the reasons for this conclusion will be briefly 
presented. 

From Chillicothe southward the Scioto 
River has a very much wider valley than the 
Hocking, Muskingum, or even the Ohio in 
much of its course. In fact these streams 
have practically no bottom lands. The Scioto 
Valley was evidently formed after the change 
in the Kanawha drainage because it is 100 
feet or more lower than the old Kanawha 
Valley and therefore could not have been 
carved out by a northward flowing stream. It, 
therefore, becomes necessary to explain the 
greater width of this valley as compared with 
the valleys of the other streams. The most 
satisfactory explanation seems to be that dur- 
ing interglacial time this yalley formed the 
line of discharge for all of the drainage north- 
eastward, at least as far as the Tuscarawas 
drainage now extends, and it may be possible 
that the first change in the Ohio drainage was 
also across the divide between Canton and 
Alliance and down this valley. The elevation 


‘here, with the drift added, is hardly equal to 


that of the hills near New Martinsville and, 
if the advance of the ice, which first obstructed 
the northward Ohio drainage, did not come as 


‘OCTOBER 23, 1914] 


-far south as Alliance, which seems very prob- 
-able, the Ohio might easily have first broken 
-over here and have flowed westward. The 


deep drift in this section makes it difficult to 
determine this point but the width of the 
Tusearawas Valley, the narrowness of the 
present Ohio Valley and the occurrence of 
lacustrine deposits north of Alliance and 
mixed more or less with the drift in many 
parts of the Grand River Valley seem to 


strongly favor such an hypothesis. 


It is generally believed by geologists that 
the preglacial divide of the Ohio drainage 


-was near New Martinsville, West Virginia. 


A study of the direction of the streams along 
the Tuscarawas would seem to indicate that 
the preglacial divide along this stream was 


‘near Port Washington and that Big Still- 


water, Conotton and Big Sandy Creeks flowed 
northwest, the former by Canal Dover along 
the present course of Sugar Creek reversed at 
least beyond Beach City. Whether this stream 
joined the other two near Justus or Navarre or 
flowed on northwest separately can not be 
stated definitely because of the drift and the 
changes brought about by the advance of the 
ice. Below Port Washington the drainage 
was probably westward into the Scioto Valley 
and old Kanawha system. 

Upon the first advance of the ice southward 
of Lake Erie the drainage of all northward 
flowing streams was obstructed and it became 
necessary for their waters to seek other out- 
lets. As the country to the west was in gen- 
eral lower the streams were dammed up until 
they finally ran over the lowest divide on the 
west. There was a tendency for them to follow 
in a general way the ice border, just as the 
Ohio and Missouri Rivers to-day follow rather 
closely around the southern extension of the 
ice. 

In view of the above considerations it is 


3 Since this article was written the writer has 
had an opportunity to make further observations in 
the country north of Alliance and has found fur- 
ther evidence, particularly an old valley near 
Rayenna, to substantiate the hypothesis that the 
Ohio River first broke over in this section and 
formed the Tuscarawas-Scioto Valley. 


-their present channels. 


SCIENCE 609 


-believed that the Tuscarawas-Scioto Valley 


had its origin in an early advance of the ice 


-and represents the principal drainage line 


during interglacial time, and that the advance 
of the ice farther southward during the later 
glaciations forced the Hocking, Muskingum 
and possibly the Upper Ohio to change to 
Such a hypothesis 
makes it possible to explain many very pecu- 
liar connections between old valleys, which are 
very difficult to understand otherwise. If the 


‘time which elapsed between the different ad- 


vanees of the ice, had been estimated with any 
degree of approximation it can be easily 
understood how much larger valleys may have 
been formed during interglacial periods than 
since. The matter appears to deserve more 


‘consideration in the interpretation of changes 


of drainage than it has been given heretofore. 
Grorce N. Corrry 


THE POISONOUS NATURE OF THE STINGING HAIRS 
OF JATROPHA URENS 


Jatropha urens is one of the most abundant 
Euphorbiaceous plants growing in or around 
the savannas of the Pacific coast of Central 
America. Its spread is favored by the fact 
that the cattle avoid it, and because it is not 
kept down by the too indolent owners of the 
pastures. Everywhere it has the reputation of 
being extremely dangerous, on account of its 
poisonous effects. 

The plant is easily recognized: It is her- 
baceous, 0.5 to 1.5 meter high, regularly rami- 
fied, with large palmatilobate leaves, white 
flowers and small, 3-celled capsules. All parts, 
trunk, leaves, flowers and fruits are covered 
with long, hard and glossy, stinging hairs, 
which protect the plant as barbed wire pro- 
tects the fortifications of to-day. It would 
seem as if the remarkable glossiness of the 
stinging hairs might warn the curious against 
approaching or touching. As a mater of fact, 
the animals either by instinct, or on account 
of the wisdom acquired through some previ- 
ous experience, avoid contact with it. 

The vernacular name of Jatropha urens is 
“ortiga” or “ortiga brava” (nettle) in Pan- 
ama, and other parts of Central America, in- 


610 


dicating somewhat its noxious effects. Some- 
times it is also called “ chichicaste.” 

The stinging hairs of Jatropha urens show 
the same structure as those of the common 
nettle (Urticacexz), though the two plants be- 
long to different families. The poison is pro- 
duced by a cell of the epidermis which, during 
the growth, swells up, forming a goblet- 
shaped bulb, set into the surrounding tissue. 
The hair then represents a long tube, the walls 
of which have incrustations of silicic acid in 
the upper part and are calcified in the lower 
parts, so that they are very brittle and break 
at the lightest touch. Near the top this cell 
expands a little, in the form of a miniature hat 
‘with very thin walls, so that when touched, it 
breaks in an oblique direction, forming the 
point of a cannula, which enters the skin of 
animal or man. At the same time the poison- 
ous liquid of the cell is discharged into the 
wound, and produces instantly a local in- 
flammation. The mechanism is, in fact, the 
same as that of the poison fang of the snakes, 
and it is also similar to the cannula of the 
surgeon. 

To estimate the formidable effects of the 
hair and the intensity of its poisonous liquids, 
it has been calculated that about 10,000 hairs 
of the common nettle may produce one drop of 
poison (0.05 c.em.). As in the case I am going 
to mention, about 10 hairs of the Jatropha 
were broken. It may be calculated on the same 
basis that about 0.00005 c.cm. of poison en- 
tered the wound. This is, however, a low esti- 
mate, because the hairs of our plant and their 
inner cavity are larger than those of the com- 
mon nettle and the amount of poison intro- 
duced into the system in the following occur- 
rence was probably much larger than it would 
have been in the case of an equal contact with 
Urtica urens. 

On an excursion along the San Felix River, 
in eastern Chiriqui, with Dr. MacDonald, 
geologist of the Canal Commission, the writer 
became acquainted with Jatropha urens by 
unavoidable contact with a single specimen 
of the plant. All at once he felt an intense 
burning on the left hand, where about 10 of 
the stinging hairs had entered pretty deep into 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1034 


the skin. The inflammation produced by this 
touch was very similar to that produced by 
nettles, but the pain soon increased, the whole 
hand began to swell and inside of half an hour 
had assumed a monstrous shape. Then the 
arm commenced to swell also, the right hand 
and arm, without having been innoculated, yet 
showed the same abnormal symptoms, and a 
very strong itching sensation was felt all over 
the upper part of the body. At about the same 
time parts of the face, around the eyes and 
nose, swelled considerably. The itching sen- 
sation rapidly spread over the abdomen and 
the lower extremities and red pimples ap- 
peared everywhere. In less than an hour the 
poison had extended over the whole surface of 
the body, and its entrance into the blood cur- 
rent was indicated by the corresponding physi- 
ological reaction of the interior organs. The 
palpitation of the heart became extremely 
accelerated and the mind was soon overcome 
by an agonizing depression. The respiration 
seemed to be delayed as if under a great pres- 
sure, cold sweat broke out, and the patient gave 
way altogether, remaining unconscious for 
more than an hour, except for feverish 
dreams. After coming back to his senses, he 
had several fits of copious vomiting, from 
which it may be surmised that the poison was 
slowly eliminated from the organism. The 
weakness, however, remained for several days. 

A case of such extreme effects, which might 
have killed a man of less strength than the 
writer, has never been recorded, as far as the 
literature on the subject shows. Undoubtedly 
the intensity of the intoxication was due to 
the rather strong contact with the plant, which 
caused-a considerable amount of poison to be 
introduced into the blood circulation. 

Many other tropical plants, among them 
some Urticacee and Loasacew, have such 
deadly stinging hairs, the poison of which is 
active enough to kill a man, even in a rela- 
tively small dose. The only way of allaying 
its effects would be to neutralize or precipitate 
it by means of a prompt application of chloride 
of lime, ammonia or sodium permanganate. 


Otto Lutz 
INSTITUTO NACIONAL DE PANAMA, 
PANAMA, R. DE P. 


= sCIENCE 


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Vou. XL. No. 1035 ANNUAL SUBSORIPTION, $5.00 


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Octavo of 625 pages, illustrated. By Carron W. 


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PHILADELPHIA 


CIENCE 


SS= 


Frmay, OctToser 30, 1914 


CONTENTS 


Multiplicity of Crops as a Means of Increas- 
ing the Future Food Supply: PROFESSOR 


PURE TEMEDRACKS Papa ciiiercievcici aye sic ciereloyers oles 611 
Headship and Organization of Clinical De- 
partments of First-class Medical Schools: 
iDe, SL ds IimMyaIR, 450605 Gn5000uno50000C 620 
Research and Teaching in the University: PRo- 
FESSOR J. MCKEEN CATTELL ............ 628 
Section of Zoology of the American Associa- 
HOD. Gadus rope bar oaae se Ose ooM omen D 630 
Scientific Notes and News ................ 631 
Uniwersity and Educational News .......... 635 
Discussion and Correspondence :— 
BHvolution by Selection of Mutations: Dr. 
ARTHUR M. Mivimr. Potassium Cyanide 
as an Insecticide: W. G. BLISH .......... 636 
Scientific Books :— 
Dialogues concerning Two New Sciences: 
Proresson W. F. Macir. Stewart on Chem- 
istry and its Borderland: PROFESSOR JAS. 
Lewis Howe. Jones on Nucleic Acids: Dr. 
PAR WME BVININE yp. S25 are'cy sr creveys seewieisicys aie ie 2 She 637 
Standardization of Courses and Grades: PRo- 
FEessoR W. C. RUEDIGER, GEO. N. HENNING 
AND SWIM ZAC) WiTBUR) 2)sicveleisvalseise ei ssise a's 642 
Special Articles :— 
The Tertiary of the Great Basin and that 
of the Marginal Marine Province in Cali- 
fornia: PROFESSOR JOHN C. Merriam. The 
Crenation and Flagellation of Human Ery- 
throcytes: WADE W. OLIVER ............ 643 


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


MULTIPLICITY OF CROPS AS A MEANS OF 
INCREASING THE FUTURE FOOD 
SUPPLY1 

ECONOMISTS prophesy a deficiency in the 
world’s food supply. The cost of living 
everywhere portends accuracy in their 
divination. The fast and furious struggle 
between nations and individuals for land 
upon which to grow food augurs lean years 
to come. Census enumerations of popula- 
tion presage sooner or later a dearth of 
ammunition among the multiplying peo- 
ples of the earth to carry on the battle of 
life. Of all this you need to be reminded 
rather than informed. 

So many men have stated and attempted 
to solve the problem of the future food 
supply that it would seem that the subject 
has been wholly talked out from the facts 
at hand. Indeed, there has been so much 
said and written about hard times at hand 
and famine ahead that I doubt if you are 
pleased to have your premonitions reawak- 
ened by further forebodings and to be 
forced, through the prestige of the presi- 
dent’s chair, to give attention to a subject 
which has been so much discussed. Thrash- 
ing over old straw in the presidential chair 
is, I quite agree with you, a most abomin- 
able practise and I have done my best to 
bring a few sheaves of grain to the thrash- 
ing I am now beginning. 

Agricultural economists discuss three 
rather general means of securing a food 
supply for those who live later when the 
earth teems with human beings. These 
are: conservation of resources; greater 
aereages under cultivation; and increased 


1 Presidential address, Society for Horticultural 
Science, Washington, D. C., 1913. 


612 


yields from improved plants and through 
better tillage. It is difficult to anticipate 
the problems that will confront us when 
people swarm on the land, as now in India 
or China, but I venture the prediction that 
if in that day “‘the evil arrows of famine”’ 
are sent upon us, a fourth means of sup- 
plying food will be found quite as impor- 
tant as the three named. 

We shall find, long before famine over- 
takes us, that the natural capacity of soils 
and climates to produce a diversity of crops 
is one of the greatest resources for an in- 
ereased food supply. As yet, multiplicity 
of crops as a means of augmenting the sup- 
ply of food has received little attention 
and I want to bring you to a better reali- 
zation of its possibilities in the half hour 
at my disposal, attempting to show, in par- 
ticular, how greatly the necessities and 
luxuries of life can be increased by the 
domestication of wild esculents; by better 
distribution of little-known food plants; 
and by the amelioration of crops we now 
grow through breeding them with wild or 
little-known relatives. 

Few, even among those who have given 
special attention to agricultural crops, 
have a proper conception of the number 
that might be grown. De Candolle, one of 
the few men of science who have made a 
systematic study of domesticated plants, 
and whose ‘‘Origin of Cultivated Plants’’ 
has long been sanctioned by science as au- 
thoritative, is much to blame for the cur- 
rent misconception as to the number of 
plants under cultivation. By conveying 
the idea that his book covers the whole 
field, De Candolle prepared the ground for 
a fine crop of misunderstandings. 

Humboldt had stated in 1807 that 


The origin, the first home of the plants most 
useful to man, and which have accompanied him 
from the remotest epochs, is a secret as impen- 
etrable as the dwelling of all our domesticated 
animals. 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1035 


De Candolle set out to disprove Hum- 
boldt. He assorted cultivated plants in 247 
species and ascertained very accurately 
the histories of 244 out of the total num- 
ber. De Candolle’s thoroughness, patience, 
judgment, affluence of knowledge, clear 
logic and felicity of expression, make his 
book so trustworthy and valuable in most 
particulars, that we have accepted it as the 
final word in all particulars, overlooking 
his faulty enumeration and forgetting that 
most of his material was gathered more 
than a half century ago. 

My first task is to establish the fact that 
the number of plants now cultivated for 
food the world over is not appreciated in 
either science or practise. Neither are bot- 
anists nor agriculturists seemingly well 
aware of the number of edible plants not 
domesticated which are in times of stress 
used in various parts of the world for 
food, many of which can well be grown for 
food. Your attention must be called to the 
number of these. 

Inspiration for this discussion of the un- 
developed food resources of the plant-king- 
dom came to the speaker from the use of 
notes left at the New York Agricultural 
Experiment Station by the first director of 
the station, the late Dr. E. Lewis Sturte- 
vant, who gave most of his life to the study 
of economic botany. His pen contribu- 
tions on cultivated plants in agricultural 
and botanical magazines cover thirty years 
and number many titles. Im addition, the 
unpublished material just mentioned, 
under the heading ‘‘Hdible Plants of the 
World’’ takes up over 1,600 typewritten 
pages. During his life, Dr. Sturtevant was 
in the full tide of American science, but I 
am sure could he have lived to publish the 
great treatise which he had planned on 
edible plants, and upon which he worked 
for twenty years, we should give him 
much higher rank with giants of science, 


OcToBER 30, 1914] 


and that his book would now be the mag- 
num opus of economic botany. 

_ De Candolle, as we have seen, includes 
but 247 cultivated species in his work. 
This is approximately the number gener- 
ally thought to minister to the alimentary 
wants of man. Sturtevant, in his notes on 
edible plants, enumerates 1,113 domesti- 
cated species now cultivated, and a total 
of 4,447 species, some part or parts of which 
are edible. Following De Candolle, Sturte- 
vant made use of botany, archeology, pale- 
ontology, history and philology in obtain- 
ing his data. He searched the literature of 
the world from the earliest records in 
Egyptian, Chinese and Pheenician until the 
time of his death to make a complete rec- 
ord of the edible plants of the world. 
Sturtevant’s were the species, too, of a 
generation ago, many of which have since 
been divided twice, thrice or oftener by 
later botanists. It is said that no food plant 
of established field culture has ever gone 
out of cultivation, an approximate truth, 
at least, from which we may presume that 
the number of cultivated plants is not 
smaller than the numbers given from our 
author’s notes. 

In leaving this phase of my subject, I 
ean not but say that, despite the fulness of 
Sturtevant’s notes, the feeling comes in 
reading them, as it does in reading De 
Candolle, Darwin or whoever has written 
on the domestication of plants, that what 
has so far been found out is so little in 
comparison to what we ought to know re- 
garding the modification of cultivated 
plants by man, that our present knowledge 
but makes more apparent the dire poverty 
of our information. 

Passing now to a more direct discussion 
of the subject in hand, I have to say that I 
have chosen to discuss three general means 
of developing the latent possibilities in the 
plant-kingdom for agriculture. It may 


SCIENCE 


613 


help to hold your attention if I discuss 
these in order of their importance—the 
most important last. They are: First, the 
domestication of the native plants of any 
region. Second, better distribution of 
plants now cultivated. Third, the utiliza- 
tion of hybridization to bring into being 
new types of plants better suited to culti- 
vation and to the uses of man. 

' In the matter of domesticating plants let 
us glance hastily at what has and what can 
be done in our own country. In De Can- 
dolle’s treatise we make but a poor show- 
ing, indeed. Out of his 247 cultivated spe- 
cies but 45 are accredited to the New World 
and but three of these—the pumpkin, Jeru- 
salem artichoke and persimmon—come from 
North America. To these three Sturte- 
vant adds about thirty. The poor showing 
made by our continent in furnishing food 
plants, it must be made plain, is not due to 
original inferiority. The number would be 
vastly greater, as Asa Gray long ago 
pointed out, had civilization begun in this 
rather than in the Old World. It is prob- 
able, indeed, that the numbers would be 
approximately equal if civilization had be- 
gun as early in the Western as in the Hast- 
ern Hemisphere. 

What are some of these plants that Gray 
and other botanists have so often told us 
might have been and may yet profitably 
be domesticated? The list is far too long 
to catalogue, but you will permit me time 
for a few examples, choosing those that are 
still worth domesticating for some special 
purpose or environment. Fruits give us 
most examples. 

Wild fruits abound in North America. 
The continent is a natural orchard. More 
than 200 species of tree, bush, vine and 
small fruits were commonly used by the 
aborigines for food, not counting nuts, 
those occasionally used, and numerous 
rarities. In its plums, grapes, raspberries, 


614 


blackberries, dewberries, cranberries and 
gooseberries North America has already 
given the world a great variety of new fruits. 
There are now under cultivation 11 Ameri- 
can species of plums, of which there are 
433 pure-bred and 155 hybrid varieties; 15 
species of American grapes with 404 pure 
and 790 hybrid varieties; 4 species of rasp- 
berries with 280 varieties; 6 species of 
blackberries with 86 varieties; 5 species of 
dewberries with 23 varieties; 2 species of 
cranberries with 60 varieties and 2 goose- 
berries with 35 varieties. Here are 45 spe- 
cies of American fruits with 2,226 varieties, 
domesticated within approximately a half 
century. De Candolle named none of them. 
The final note of exultation at this really 
magnificent achievement of American hor- 
ticulture would typically be uttered in a 
boast as to the number of millions of dol- 
lars these fruits bring fruit-growers each 
year, but science is not sordid and the cal- 
culation, I am sure, would not interest you. 

What more can be done? The possibili- 
ties of the fruits named have by no means 
been exhausted. The fruit of the wild 
plum, Prunus maritima, an inhabitant of 
sea-beaches and dunes from New Brunswick 
to the Carolinas, is a common article of 
trade in the region in which it grows, but 
notwithstanding the fact that it readily 
breaks into innumerable forms and is a 
most promising subject under hybridiza- 
tion, practically nothing has yet been done 
toward domesticating it. Few plants grow 
under such varied conditions as our wild 
grapes. Not all have been brought under 
subjugation, though nearly all have horti- 
cultural possibilities. It is certain that 
some grape can be grown in every agricul- 
tural region of the United States. The blue- 
berry and huckleberry, finest of fruits, and 
now the most valuable American wild 
fruits, the crops bringing several millions 
of dollars annually, are not yet domesti- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1035 


cated. Coville has demonstrated that the 
blueberry can be cultivated. Some time we 
should have numerous varieties of the sev- 
eral blueberries and huckleberries to enrich 
pine plains, mountain tracts, swamps and 
waste lands that otherwise are all but 
worthless. A score or more native species 
of gooseberries and currants can be domes- 
ticated and should some time extend the 
eulture of these fruits from the Gulf of 
Mexico to the Arctic Cirele. There are 
many forms of juneberries widely distri- 
buted in the United States and Canada, 
from which several varieties are now culti- 
vated. The elderberry is represented by 
a dozen or more cultivated varieties, one of 
which, brought to my attention the past 
season, produced a half hundred enormous 
clusters, a single cluster being made up of 
2,208 berries, each a third of an inch in 
diameter. 

These are but a few of the fruits—others 
which can only be named are: the anonas 
and their kin from Florida; the native 
erab-apples and thorn-apples; the wine- 
berry, the buffalo-berry and several wild 
cherries; the cloud-berry prized in Labra- 
dor; the crow-berry of cold and Arctie 
America; the high-bush cranberry; native 
mulberries; opuntias and other cacti for 
the deserts; the paw-paw, the persimmon, 
and the well-known and much-used salal 
and salmon berries of the west and north. 

The pecan, the chestnut and the hickory- 
nut are the only native nuts domesticated, 
but some time forest and waste places can 
be planted not only to the nuts named, but 
to improved varieties of acorns, beech- 
nuts, butternuts, filberts, hazels, chinqua- 
pins and nut-pines, to utilize waste lands, 
to diversify diet and to furnish articles of 
food that can be shipped long distances 
and be kept from year to year. The fad of 
to-day which substitutes nuts for meat may 
become a necessity to-morrow. Meanwhile 


OctToBER 30, 1914] 


it is interesting to note that the pecan has 
become within a few decades so important 
‘a crop that optimistic growers predict in 
another half century that pecan groves will 
‘be second only to the cotton fields in the 
south. A recent bulletin from the United 
States Department of Agriculture de- 
seribes 67 varieties, of which more than a 
million and a half trees have been planted. 

It is doubtful whether we are to change 
general agriculture much by the domesti- 
cation at this late date of new native 
erains, though many may well be intro- 
duced from other regions and wonderful 
improvement through plant-breeding is, as 
all know, now taking place. Raw material 
‘exists in America for domestication, but it 
‘is not probable that we shall ever use it ex- 
tensively. 

There are, however, a number of native 
vegetables worth cultivating. The native 
beans and teparies in the semi-arid and 
sub-tropical southwest to which Freeman, 
of the Arizona station, has called attention, 
‘grown perhaps for thousands of years by 
the aborigines, seem likely to prove timely 
erops for the dry-farmers of the southwest. 
Professor Freeman has isolated 70 distinct 
types of these beans and teparies, suggest- 
ing that many horticultural sorts may be 
developed from his foundation stock. The 
eround-nut, Apios tuberosa, furnished food 
for the French at Port Royal in 1613 and 
the Pilgrims at Plymouth in 1620, and as a 
crop for forests might again be used. 
There are a score or more species of Phy- 
salis, or ground cherries, native to North 
America, several of which are promising 
vegetables and have been more or less used 
by pioneers. Solanum migrum, the night- 
shade, a cosmopolite of America and Hu- 
rope, recently much advertised under sev- 
eral misleading names, and its congener, 
Solanum triflorum, both really wild toma- 
toes, are worthy of cultivation and in fact 


SCIENCE 


615 


are readily yielding to improvement. 
Amaranthus retroflecus, one of the common 
pigweeds of gardens, according to Watson, 
is cultivated for its seeds by the Arizona 
Indians. In China and Japan the corms 
or tubers of a species of Sagittaria are com- 
monly sold for food. There are several 
American species, one of which at least was 
used wherever found by the Indians, and 
under the name arrowhead, swan potato 
and swamp potato has given welcome sus- 
tenance to pioneers. Our native lotus, a 
species of Nelwmbo, was much prized by the 
aborigines, seeds, roots and stalks being 
eaten. Sagittaria and Nelumbo furnish 
starting points for valuable food plants for 
countless numbers of acres of water-cov- 
ered marshes when the need to utilize these 
now waste places becomes pressing. 

The temptation is strong to continue this 
discussion of the domestication of native 
plants, but time demands that I pass to a 
consideration of the second potential of an 
increased diet, that of better distribution 
of the world’s food-producing plants. 

Beginning with the discovery of the New 
World, botanical and agricultural explora- 
tions have been carried on with zeal, and 
food plants have been interchanged freely 
between newly discovered lands and older 
civilizations. Yet in these centuries the 
food-plant floras of races have been changed 
but little. Quite too often a crop is found 
to be the monopoly of a race or nation irre- 
spective of soil and climate, factors which 
ought to impose a cultivated flora. It 
would seem that agriculturists would 
quickly adopt food plants grown elsewhere 
of which the advantage is evident, and be 
thereby diverted from the cultivation of 
poorer crops in their own country. Yet 
the introduction of foreign plants is usu- 
ally arrested, if not actually opposed, by 
the timidity of agriculture, and it has been 
most difficult to introduce new crops into 


616 


old regions. This conservation on the part of 
those who grow the food plants of the 
country is due to a universal dislike in the 
animal kingdom, most strongly developed 
in the human family, to eating unfamiliar 
foods. But travel is making all people less 
and less fastidious as to foods, as the nu- 
merous new foreign dishes in daily use in 
our own homes give evidence. Only sav- 
ages and those who must strugele for suffi- 
cient food to sustain life live on one or a 
few foods. 

Let us hastily run over a few foreign 
plants that may well receive more attention 
in America, naming fruits first as of most 
interest to this audience. Japanese plums 
and persimmons came to America in the 
medieval days of horticultural progress, 
and interest in them seems to have ceased. 
We need new importations of the many 
types not yet in the country. The fig is an 
ancient immigrant, but I am told that many 
desirable relatives were left behind. Date 
culture is now a most promising infant 
industry in the southwest. The Chinese 
jujube promises to be one of the most valu- 
able of the many plants recently introduced 
into this country. The jujube is a hardy 
tree which has been cultivated in China 
for more than 4,000 years, being one of the 
five principal fruits of the new republic. 
There are hundreds of varieties differing 
in flavor and sizes, some growing less than 
an inch in length and others equaling the 
size of a hen’s egg. One variety is seedless. 
Some kinds are eaten fresh, some are 
stewed. 

Among the newest of the new on proba- 
tion, but all clamoring for recognition, are 
the avocada from tropical America; the 
feijoa from Brazil; a dozen or more annon- 
aceous fruits from the tropics, of which 
the cherimoya seems now to be most promi- 
nent; an edible Osage orange from Cen- 
tral China; the roselle, an annual from the 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1035 


Old World tropics, valuable for its fruit, 
stalks and seed. Several species of Ber- 
beris supply a refreshing fruit in northern 
Asia and might add variety to the rather 
spare fruit diet of the colder parts of this 
continent. Beside these are innumerable 
new citrus fruits, the number of species 
and varieties of which seem to be legion— 
the speaker is neither able to enumerate 
them nor to tell where they begin or where 
they leave off. Swingle’s splendid work 
with this genus is one of the most notable 
contributions to horticulture in recent 
years. 

The mango has long been grown in Flor- 
ida, but interest in mangos has recently 
been renewed through the introduction of 
choice Indian varieties. Poponoe de- 
seribes 312 varieties of mangos grown in 
various parts of the world, of which as yet 
I judge there are but few in America, 
though they are not difficult to grow im 
Florida, California or in our insular pos- 
sessions. A quotation from Fairchild sug- 
gests the possible future of the mango in 
America. He says: 

The mango is one of the really great fruits of 
the world. There are probably more va- 
rieties of mangos than there are of peaches. I 
have heard of one collection of five hundred dif- 
ferent sorts in India. There are exquisitely 
flavored varieties no larger than a plum, and there 
are delicious sorts, the fruits of which are six 
pounds in weight. .. . These fine varieties, prac- 
tically as free from fiber as a freestone peach, 
can be eaten with a spoon as easily as a cante- 
loupe. Trainloads of these are shipped from the 
mango-growing centers of India and distributed 
in the densely peopled cities of that great semi- 
tropical empire. 

No one can read Bayard Taylor’s fer- 
vent praise of the durian and the man- 
gosteen and not desire to grow these fruits 
in America. This is his panegyric on the 
durian. 


Of all fruits, at first the most intolerable; but 
said, by those who have smothered their preju- 


OcTOBER 30, 1914] 


dices, to be of all fruits, at last, the most indispen- 
sable. When it is brought to you at first, you 
clamor till it is removed; if there are durians in 
the next room to you, you can not sleep. Chloride 
of lime and disinfectants seem to be its necessary 
remedy. To eat it seems to be a sacrifice of self- 
respect; but, endure it for a while, with closed 
nostrils, taste it once or twice, and you will ery for 
durians thenceforth, even—I blush to write it— 
even before the glorious mangosteen. 


Listen to his laudation of the ‘‘glorious 
mangosteen.’’ 

Beautiful to sight, smell and taste, it hangs 
among its glossy leaves the prince of fruits. Cut 
through the shaded green and purple of the rind, 
and lift the upper half as if it were the cover of 
a dish, and the pulp of half-transparent, creamy 
whiteness stands in segments like an orange, but 
Timmed with darkest crimson where the rind was 
eut. It looks too beautiful to eat; but how the 
rarest, sweetest essence of the tropics seems to 
dwell in it as it melts to your delightful taste. 

One need not titillate the palate to enjoy 
such fruit. Can they be so delectable? 
Surely we can find a place for them some- 
where in America. 

Let us turn to a few examples of prom- 
isine vegetable and farm crops of foreign 
countries not yet cultivated in the United 
States. Only those which give most em- 
phasis to the present paper can be men- 
tioned. 

All know that rice furnishes the chief 
food of China, but few are aware that 
sorghum is as important a crop in Asia 
as rice and that it is the chief food of a 
large part of Africa. In China not only 
are the stalks of sorghum used, but bread 
is made from the seeds. In parts of India, 
sorghum is the staff of life. The Zulu 
Kaffirs live on the stalks, which are chewed 
and sucked, and Livingstone says ‘‘the peo- 
ple grow fat thereon.’’ The several species 
of yams constitute one of the cheapest and 
most widely distributed food plants in the 
world, yet the yam is little grown in Amer- 
ica. Several genera of Aroidex, as 


SCIENCE 


617 


Caladium, Alocasia, Colocasia and Arum, 
each with imnumerable varieties, furnish 
taro, arrowroot, ape and other more or less 
familiar food to the South Sea islanders. 
In a bulletin from the United States De- 
partment of Agriculture, under the title, 
“Promising Root Crops for the South,’’ 
these Aroids, called under their native 
names of yautias, taros and dasheens, are 
recommended as most valuable wet-land 
root crops for the South Atlantic and Gulf 
States. Of the place of the cocoanut in the 
world’s economy I need not speak. Vari- 
eties of Maranta were grown in Mississippi 
and Georgia in 1849, but disappeared. 
From one of the several species of this 
genus comes the arrowroot of commerce. 
Arrowroot is a favorite food of the Feejees 
and their neighbors, as well as of the in- 
habitants of Cape Colony, Natal and Queens- 
land. May not arrowroot some time be 
produced profitably in America? The 
banana has been on our tables less than a 
generation, yet it is now one of the com- 
monest foods. There are several species 
and many varieties yet to be introduced 
into the tropics of America. The leaves 
and buds of several agaves furnish an 
abundant and a very palatable food to our 
southern neighbors. From plants of the 
large genus Manihot of equatorial regions, 
tapioca is made under conditions which 
could be greatly improved. As cassava, 
one of these manihots is already important 
im the United States and may some time 
compete with corn and wheat in the food 
supply of the country. 

To quench the thirst of the teeming 
millions in time to come there may be a 
multiplicity of beverages as well as of 
foods to mitigate hunger. In Arabia sev- 
eral millions of people drink khat, while in 
southern South America as many more 
millions allay their thirst with maté. Maté, 
according to Hairchild, can be produced 


618 


at but a fraction of the cost of tea and 
supplies the same alkaloid in a more easily 
soluble form. Both contain thein, the ac- 
tive principle in ‘‘the cups that cheer but 
not inebriate.’’ Sturtevant names twelve 
plants the leaves of which are used in dif- 
ferent parts of the world to adulterate or 
in place of tea. We have but just acquired 
the use of cocoa and chocolate from the 
natives of our American tropics and of 
eocacola from the negroes of Africa, and it 
is not unlikely that we shall find other 
similar stimulants. For drinkers of more 
ardent beverages, if Kine Alcohol con- 
tinues to reign, there is an abundance, the 
diversity and cheapness of which probably 
will ever as now be regulated by taste and 
taxes. 

Mime prevents my naming other valuable 
foreign plants that deserve to be tried in 
our agriculture. It is fortunate for Amer- 
ican farming that men from the United 
States Department of Agriculture are now 
searching everywhere for new material. 
Saul went in search of asses and came back 
with a crown. So these men sent to foreign 
countries for material, possibly common- 
place enough, are bringing back treasures 
the value of which in many eases will be 
inealeulable. Introduction of seeds and 
plants for the nation is work to which the 
institutions represented here should lend 
aid in every way possible. 

The last of the three means of developing 
plants for food, and as I believe the most 
important, is by using either foreign spe- 
cies or wild native species to hybridize with 
established crop-plants. It needs but a 
‘brief statement of what has been accom- 
plished in increasing hardiness, productive- 
ness, disease resistance, adaptability to 
soil and other essentials of standard crop- 
plants, to show that through hybridization 
of related species we have probably the 
best means of augmenting our diet. Let 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1035 


us glance at a few recent accomplishments 
of hybridization, noting chiefly results with 
horticultural plants. 

Downing in 1872 described 286 varieties 
of 4 species of plums. In the 40 years that 
have elapsed the number has increased to 
1,937 varieties representing 16 species. 
Now the significant thing is that whereas 
Downing’s plums were pure-bred species, 
155 of the present cultivated plum flora 
are hybrids between species. Downing 
could recommend plums for only a few 
favored regions. Some kind of plum can 
be grown now in every agricultural region 
in North America. Even more remarkable 
is the part hybrids have played in the evo- 
lution of American grapes. At the begin- 
ning of the nineteenth century, the grape 
could not be called a cultivated crop on 
this continent. Now there are 16 species 
and 1,194 varieties, the most significant fact 
being that 790 or three fourths of the total 
number are hybrids. The grape through 
hybridization has become one of the com- 
monest cultivated plants. The genus kubus 
promises to attract and distract horticul- 
turists next. As nearly as I can make out 
there are about. 60 species of Rubus in 
North America. In the two completed 
parts of Focke’s ‘‘Species Ruborum,’’ 273 
species are described. Raspberries, black- 
berries, dewberries and their like hybridize 
freely and we already have in the logan- 
berry, the purple-cane raspberry, the wine- 
berry and in the blackberry-dewberry 
erosses valuable fruits. If any consider- 
able number of Focke’s several hundred 
species can be similarly mixed and amal-~ 
gvamated, the genus Rubus will be one of 
the most valuable groups of fruits. 

The speaker is studying cultivated 
cherries. When the work began a few 
years ago about a score of species were in 
sight. Koehne, a recent botanical monog- 
rapher of the sub-genus Cerasus, to which 


OcToBER 30, 1914] 


our edible cherries belong, describes 119 
species, many of them but recently col- 
lected by Wilson in Asia. There are 
enough hybrids between species to indicate 
that cultivated cherries will some time be 
as diversified as plums and with quite as 
much advantage to the fruit. 

Webber’s and Swingle’s work in breeding 
hardy citrus fruits; blight-resistine pears 
as a result of crossing Pyrus communis and 
Pyrus sinensis; Burbank’s spectacular hy- 
brid creations; the diversity of types of 
tomatoes, potatoes, ege-plant, peppers, 
beans, cucurbits and other vegetables, not 
to mention roses, chrysanthemums, orchids 
and innumerable flowers, suggest the pos- 
sibilities of hybridization. We have not 
done what lies within our reach in crossing 
cereals—corn, wheat, oats, rye, buckwheat, 
the last especially, remain yet to be 
touched by the magic wand of hybridiza- 
tion. Hybrid walnuts, chestnuts, hickories 
and oaks, promise a wonderful improve- 
ment in nuts. 

Truth is we do not know how much nor 
what material we have to work with in 
many of the group of plants I have named, 
lending color to the saying that the plants 
with which man has most to do and which 
render him greatest service are those which 
the botanists know least. This brings me 
to the last division of my subject. 

Nothing is more certain than that we are 
at the beginning of a most fertile period 
in the introduction of new and the improve- 
ment of old food-plants. Yet agricultural 
institutions are most illy prepared to take 
part in the movement. ‘‘Art is long and 
time is fleeting,’’ can be said of no human 
effort more truly than of the improvement 
of plants, and haste should be made for 
better preparation. Looking over the mate- 
rial that is usable in agricultural institu- 
tions, it seems that we are sadly lacking in 
the wherewithal upon which to begin. It 


SCIENCE 


619 


is indispensable for effective work that we 
have an abundance of material and that 
we know well the plants with which we are 
to work. 

How may the material be had? We are 
fortunate in the United States in having 
the Office of Foreign Seed and Plant Intro- 
duction of the United States Department 
of Agriculture for the importation of for- 
eign plants. This office has effective ma- 
chinery for the work. It maintains agri- 
cultural explorers in foreign countries. It 
is in direct contact with the agricultural 
institutions of other countries as well as 
with plant-collectors, explorers, consuls, 
officers of other countries and missionaries. 
Through these agents it can reach the 
uttermost parts of the world. Moreover, it 
has trained men to identify, to inventory, 
to propagate and to distribute foreign 
plants. This office can better meet quaran- 
tine regulations than can private experi- 
menters or state institutions. All inter- 
ested in foreign plants ought to work in 
cooperation with the Office of Foreign Seed 
and Plant Introduction of the Department 
of Agriculture. 

To be used advantageously material must 
be near at hand. This means that there 
must be botanic gardens. There should be 
in every distinct agricultural region of the 
country a garden where may be found the 
food plants of the world suitable for the - 
region. It is strange that in the lavish - 
expenditure of state and federal money m 
the agricultural institutions of the land, 
that so little has been done to establish and 
maintain comprehensive plantations of 
economic plants. Now that the ameliora- 
tion of plants is a part of the work of agri- 
cultural colleges and stations it would seem 
that the establishment of such gardens is 
imperative. True, there are botanic gar- 
dens, but the museum idea is dominant in 
most of them—they contain the curiosities 
of the vegetable kingdom, or they show the 


620 


ornamental and beautiful, or they are used 
for purposes of instruction. We need agri- 
cultural gardens in which agricultural 
plants are dominant rather than recessive. 

There is another difficulty quite as detri- 
mental to progress as inability to obtain ma- 
terial. It is the lack of trustworthy infor- 
mation in regard to economic plants. Quite 
as necessary as agricultural gardens is an 
agricultural botany. In this botany must 
be set forth, besides descriptions of spe- 
cies, the habitat, the migrations, the geo- 
graphical relations to other plants, the 
changes that have occurred, how the plant 
is affected by man-given environment, 
and all similar data. Physiological facts 
regarding germination, leafing, flowering 
and fruiting must be given. The produc- 
tion of such a book is a consummation de- 
voutly to be wished. At present the infor- 
mation needed is best supplied by Bailey’s 
splendid cyclopedias, but there is need of 
more historical and biological knowledge 
in agricultural botany. 

I had thought to say a few words about 
the men who are to do this work. Material 
and books do not create. The man has not 
been lost sight of, but I should have to set 
forth his temper and training too hur- 
riedly even if I could properly conceive 
them. But from the beginning to the end 
of this new shaping of food crops, the in- 
dividual man trained for the work will be 
dominant. The work to be done, however, 
is so vast that we can not make an appreci- 
able showing unless the task be divided 
among a great number of workers. Those 
who will do most are such as can concen- 
trate on particular problems the sifted 
experience and knowledge of the world. 
Many may sow, but only the strong can 
garner. 

There should be unity of action to avoid 
waste. What more pathetic spectacle than 
that of isolated men in our agricultural 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1035 


institutions attacking one and the same 
problem in which they duplicate errors 
and waste their efforts in what too often 
proves with all to be petty circle-squaring. 
Much of this appalling waste can be 
avoided by a proper spirit of cooperation. 
By all means let us cooperate in the ameli- 
oration of plants. 

In conclusion, I must end as I began by 
calling attention to the great probabil- 
ity of a near-at-hand deficiency of food. I 
must again urge the importance of ma- 
king use of every means of increasing the 
supply. Ihave tried to call attention to the 
desirability of growing a greater number 
of food-plants as one of the means. Not 
to attempt to develop and utilize to its 
highest efficiency the vast wealth of ma- 
terial in the plant-kingdom for the world’s 
food is improvidence and is a reckless 
ignoring on your part and mine of splendid 
opportunities to serve our fellow men. It 
is my hope that the horticultural depart- 
ments of the agricultural colleges and ex- 
periment stations of North America, rep- 
resented by members of this society, may 
become active agents in increasing the 
number of food crops and thereby the 
world’s food supply. 

U. P. Heprick 


HEADSHIP AND ORGANIZATION OF CLIN— 
ICAL DEPARTMENTS OF FIRST-CLASS 
MEDICAL SCHOOLS) 


Two recent official manifestations with ref- 
erence to the problem of full-time clinical 
positions deserve to be put at the head of our 


1 This manuscript has been prepared for the 
president and trustees of a university in answer 
to the following questions: 

“‘Wirst: What should be the relation of the 
hospital to a first-class medical school? The 
question is asked . . . to bring out the ideal re- 
lationship. For instance, to what extent should 
the school own, control, or manage its teaching 
hospital in its medical and in its administrative 
functions. 


OcTOBER 30, 1914] 


discussion, because they come from the most 
important educational bodies in medical mat- 
ters in this country and because they throw 
light upon the acuteness and the present 
status of our problem. (1) The Johns Hop- 
kins University has recently appointed full- 
time professors of medicine, surgery and pedi- 
atrics. There under the term “ full-time pro- 
fessorship” two obligations are included. In 
the first place the head of a clinical depart- 
ment must give as much of his time to his 
department as other full-time university pro- 
fessors give of their time, for instance, as the 
professors of physiology and pathology give 
to their departments. In the second place, the 
head of a clinical department can not give 
any of his spare time to any clinical venture 
which may bring him material gain. I¢ is in- 
teresting and instructive to find that this plan 
was advocated twelve years ago by Dr. L. F. 
Barker, while he was professor of anatomy at 
the University of Chicago. Here is what he 
said then :? 


They (the full-time professors of clinical sub- 
jects) should be well paid by the universities. 
They should not engage in private practise even 
if the university has to pay them double the ordi- 
nary salary now paid a university professor to 
retain them wholly in university work. If any 
patients at all outside the hospital were seen in 
consultation, and there is some force in the argu- 
ment that the well-to-do public should, at least in 
some rare and difficult cases, be permitted to 
profit by the opinion and advice of the university 
professor, the fees received from them may be 
contributed to the budgets of the hospital them- 
selves, in order Ke remove all temptation from the 
staff. 


2. The second manifestation is contained 
in the official Report of the Council of Med- 
ical Education made at the last meeting of 
the American Medical Association.? This re- 
port speaks of the Johns Hopkins plan, ac- 


“‘Second: How important do you believe full- 
time positions in the clinical subjects are for a 
satisfactory connection between the school and 
hospital??? 

2 Amer. Medicine, 1902, Vol. 4, p. 146. 

3The Journal of the American Medical As- 
sociation, LXIII., 1914, 86. 


SCIENCE 


621 


cording to which the full-time professors 
“may do private practise, but that fees from 
that practise are to be turned into the univer- 
sity treasury and not into their own pockets,” 
as grotesque. The report lays stress upon the 
fact that this plan was proposed by non-med- 
ical men (that is, the General Education 
Board) who “do not have the medical point 
of view and do not understand the complex 
functions demanded of the clinical teacher.” 
It may be said here in parenthesis that the 
term “non-medical men” is in this case not 
entirely correct, as the plan was surely sug- 
gested, advocated and accepted by important 
members of the Medical School, for instance 
the professors of pathology, physiology, anat- 
omy, ete. However, this designation remains 
true to the extent that some of the medical men 
who advocated these radical changes in the de- 
partment of medicine have practical knowl- 
edge only in the sciences closely associated 
with medicine, but not in the domains of 
clinical medicine itself. The report, however, 
acknowledges the fact that at present the 
placing of the clinical departments in the 
medical school on a satisfactory basis is one 
of the most pressing needs. 

With this in view the council of Medical Edu- 
cation has appointed a strong committee of ten 
clinicians, who have had great experience in 
teaching and who are regarded as authorities in 
their special department and in medical educa- 
tion, to study this subject and to report to the 
next conference on medical education. ... The 
medical school very properly demands that their 
clinical teachers be men who are recognized as 
authorities in their special fields both by the pro- 
fession and by the community ... whatever plan 
is adopted must make it possible for the clinical 
teachers to remain the great authorities in their 
special fields both in the eyes of the profession 
and in the eyes of the public. 


The report of the council does not. state di- 
rectly that the present status of teaching in 
the clinical departments in the medical 
schools of this country is very unsatisfactory. 
It admits it, however, tentatively, when it 
states that the placing of this teaching on a 
very satisfactory basis is one of the most 
pressing needs. We have seen that the Johns 


622 


Hopkins University already began to experi- 
ment with a cure for this unsatisfactory con- 
dition. The Council of the Medical Educa- 
tion finds this cure grotesque and defers its 
own therapeutic plans until the committee of 
ten clinicians has rendered its report on this 
problem. Now, we never ought to offer any 
treatment before we know exactly the nature 
of the ailment. What ails the instruction 
and instructors in clinical subjects in the med- 
ical schools in this country? I do not find 
that this phase of our problem, perhaps its 
most essential part, has been anywhere an- 
alyzed. I shall therefore attempt to do it 
here. 

The report of the Council on Medical Edu- 
cation lays great stress upon the requirements 
that the clinical teachers must be “great au- 
thorities in their special fields both in the eyes 
of the profession and in the eyes of the pub- 
lic.” If that would be really the main cri- 
terion of fitness, I would then say that pro- 
fessors of medicine of to-day fulfill, at least 
in most instances, their mission: they are 
great authorities in the eyes of the public and 
the profession; their offices are full and they 
are consulted by physicians and the sick from 
near and far. But are these authorities well- 
fitted to be heads of clinical departments? 
According to my way of thinking, I would 
say that in most instances they are unfit for 
these positions. Now let me give my reasons 
for this statement, which may sound a little 
too severe. 

I wish to introduce my argument by the 
following two propositions, the correctness of 
which ought to be apparent to every one. (1) 
The proper preparation of practitioners of 
medicine is a very serious task; it is of great 
importance to the public as well as to the stu- 
dent of medicine himself, and ought, therefore, 
to be carried out as a primary occupation and 
in an earnest and conscientious manner. (2) 
No matter whether we take a progressive or a 
conservative stand in medicine, one and all 
must agree that the student of medicine of 
to-day must be taught the medical knowledge 
as it is known to-day. For this purpose let 
us look at the activities of any head of a 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8S. Vou. XL. No. 1035 


clinical department, let us say, of internal 
medicine, who is, as the council demands, 
“a recognized authority in his field in the 
eyes of the profession and of the public”; let 
us see whether these activities comply with the 
above-mentioned self-evident requirements. 
Let us first scrutinize the history of one day 
of one of our noted professors of medicine. 
He has consultation hours every morning until 
noon; the waiting room is crowded (he is the 
“best diagnostician ” in his town) and some- 
times he has to remain in his office an hour or 
two longer. As a rule he has to accept a few 
bedside consultations with practitioners, which 
again takes up many hours of his time in the 
afternoon. He may even have to go out of 
town for consultations. At any rate, including 
the time given to his meals, etc., about ten 
hours of his day are easily accounted for by 
this activity. Then on account of his high 
social standing in the community, ete., func- 
tions have to be attended, for which his wife 
makes the engagements; dinners have to be 
attended and to be given; meetings of advisory 
boards and of all sorts of committees have to 
be attended. Then there are letters to be 


‘written or dictated, bills and other business 


matters to be looked after. No doubt that by 
these diverse obligations at least about three 
more hours of the day are consumed. We 
have thus far accounted for about thirteen 
hours every day of the professor’s time. Now 
how much of his time is then left for teaching 
medicine to students and attending to the 
sick at the hospital? If I say three hours, I 
am sure it is exaggerated in most cases. But 
whether two or three hours, they are hours 
left over from a very busy active occupation, 
and the teaching is then done in most cases 
by a worn-out man bodily and mentally. It 
will be generally admitted that for nearly all 
teachers of clinical subjects private practise, 
with its commercial end, is the chief aim and 
occupation, while the teaching part is at best 
only a minor subject, and in not a few in- 
stances only an ornament and unmistakably 
a very desirable advertisement. I remember 
how years ago a noted surgeon, who was the 
professor of surgery at one of the best-known. 


OcTOBER 30, 1914] 


medical schools, said to me: “ They pay me a 
thousand dollars a year. The fools! I would 
pay them $5,000 for the professorship; it’s 
‘worth more than $25,000 a year to me.” What 
a deplorable condition! The teaching of the 
‘pure medical branches which, for the physician 
in the making, is the most important part of 
his medical education, should be carried on by 
worn-out men for whom it is invariably only 
‘a secondary occupation and often not much 
more than an ornament or an advertisement! 

Now let us come to the second proposition. 
We have seen that the professor of medicine, 
who is considered an authority by the profes- 
‘sion and the public, is so busy that very little 
time is left to him to carry on properly his 
duties as a teacher. Is there any time left 
him to study properly the advances which are 
continually made in medicine? Let us study 
the medical career of the best medical consul- 
tant and professor. He graduated in medi- 
eine at the head of his class, he served as an 
interne at a good hospital, he went abroad, 
where he learned the then newest things in 
medicine. After his return he soon became 
assistant to a leading consultant and a pro- 
fessor. For several years he made for his 
‘chief laboratory examinations with the older 
and newer methods of diagnosis, saw some of 
the chief’s private patients, and was soon ap- 
pointed adjunct at the hospital and instructor 
in the department of medicine of which his 
chief was the head. He saw some of the au- 
topsies and compared them with the diag- 
moses; found time to read some of the newer 
medical literature, made himself several con- 
tributions to it; assisted his chief in prepar- 
ing and giving the lectures and helped him 
in preparing a paper or two which had to be 
flavored with some of the newer things in 
medicine. Gradually he picked up a private 
practise of his own, which suddenly com- 
‘menced to grow rapidly. He had to leave his 
‘chief, consultations began to come in, and in 
a short time he advanced to the position of at- 
tending physician in several hospitals, and 
perhaps also to the position of a clinical pro- 
fessor in his school. His reputation and his 
<private practise grew, and with it grew his 


SCIENCE 


623 


extensive personal experience; he was becom- 
ing indeed an excellent physician. But in 
exact proportion to this growth his spare time 
grew less and less, and with it grew fainter 
and fainter the first-hand acquisition of 
knowledge of the advances of medicine, which 
are going on in rapid strides all over the 
world. There was no longer any idea of doing 
some original work or of a patient study of 
communications on entirely new subjects 
which continually spring up in rapid succes- 
sion. There was no real reading any more; 
perusing of some articles, glancing at ab- 
stracts, picking up one thing or another at 
meetings and discussions, had to take the 
place of study. Our authority is not an old 
fogy who does not believe in the truth of 
things which he does not know. On the con- 
trary, he is a progressive man and knows how 
to get at the new things. With a growing in- 
come and with the cheapness of scientific 
labor, he learned early to surround himself 
with several young assistants, specializing in 
various directions. The morphology and the 
chemistry of the urine; the various morpho- 
logical blood pictures, and the chemistry of 
the blood; the bacteriology of diverse diseases 
and the various immunity reactions; meta- 
bolic studies, phlebograms and cardio-electro- 
grams, etc., our authority gets a report on all 
of them and is told of their possible signifi- 
eance by his various young assistants. Of 
course, his knowledge of these things as he 
picks them up is extremely superficial; they 
can be thoroughly grasped only by hard 
study. But our authority has to use, and uses, 
this superficial knowledge of new things in 
consultations at the bedside, in the lecture 
room and in papers and discussions at med- 
ical meetings. 

To state it briefly: the store of more solid 
knowledge of the best clinical teacher, as we 
know him to-day, consists of that which he 
had acquired during his undergraduate and 


post-graduate studies and of the accumulated 
‘personal knowledge gained by long empirical 


observations at the bedside. Of the marvelous 
advances which are continually made in all 


624 


branches of medicine all over the world our 
clinical teacher has at best only a very super- 
ficial knowledge and ought not to be the man 
to teach them to the physician of the future. 

The foregoing analysis shows, I believe, 
conclusively, (1) that the teaching of medi- 
cine to the future physicians is for nearly all 
the heads of clinical departments only a sec- 
ondary occupation and in some instances it is 
not’ more than an ornament or a legitimate 
business advertisement; and (2) that most of 
the present heads of departments do not pos- 
sess sufficient familiarity with the modern 
medicine to be the instructors of present-day 
medicine to the coming physician. 

The source of this anomalous situation is 
to be found in the fact that heads of depart- 
ments of medicine are chosen from the class 
of physicians who are primarily busy practi- 
tioners and consultants. They may be noted 
men in their line and perhaps are indeed all 
that the Council on Medical Education is 
laying stress upon, namely, “great authori- 
ties in their special fields both in the eyes of 
the profession and in the eyes of the public.” 
But on account of that very virtue they are 
in such demand in their private practise that 
for years they could find no time to follow up 
seriously the rapid advances in medicine. 
For the same reason they are compelled to 
treat their vocation as educators in the sci- 
ence and practise of medicine only as a second- 
ary occupation—which alone is bound to 
bring unsatisfactory results, even if our pro- 
fessors were well fitted to teach the medicine 
of to-day. 

There is no doubt, then, that the present 
mode of instruction of clinical subjects is very 
unsatisfactory. Let us now examine the 
methods by means of which the anomalous 
situation could be mended best. I wish to 
present at first my own suggestion very briefly. 
I have pointed out before that the source of 
the evil is to be found in the fact that at 
present the heads of the departments are 
chosen from a class of very busy practitioners, 
for whom teaching is invariably only a second- 
ary occupation. That fact points to the fol- 
lowing plan as the most efficient remedy for 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1035 


our evil. Heads of departments should be 
chosen from a class of physicians who from 
the time of their medical graduation never 
ceased to be close students of their science, 
and for whom the study of and instruction in 
a chosen clinical subject constitutes their 
primary occupation. To the question, where 
can we get this class of physicians? my an- 
swer is: create it, or, more correctly expressed, 
accelerate its development, since a fairly good 
beginning has been made in the last few 
years. I shall return later to this suggestion 
and discuss it in detail. 

In considering plans for correction, we 
ought to bear in mind that we are confronted 
not with one evil alone, but with two, namely, 
that (1) the present instructor in clinical sub- 
jects can not and does not give his best time 
to his calling as a teacher, and that (2) he 
has been for many years out of close touch 
with the advances in the medical sciences and 
is therefore unfit to teach them efficiently. 
Looking at our problem from this point of 
view, it is evident that the creation of “ full- 
time ” clinical professors will not cure the sec- 
ond evil. Suppose a large number of noted 
consultants, who are at. present the professors 
of medicine in the various schools, resolve 
henceforth to make teaching their primary 
or even their exclusive occupation—will this 
resolution convert them at once into desirable 
educators, fit to teach efficiently modern medi- 
cine? There may be many things which they 
will have to learn from the beginning, just as 
much as their students, and at an age when 
learning is no longer an easy task. 

The Johns Hopkins plan remedies both 
evils. That school was fortunate to be able to 
appoint as heads of the three chief depart- 
ments of clinical medicine, men who always 
were close students of their branches of medi- 
cine, and who are willing to devote all their 
time to the teaching and the study of their 
subjects. As to the question, whether it is 
best that such teachers should have no pri- 
vate practise at all, opinions may differ, espe- 
cially when this should be considered as a part 
of a general plan applicable to all medical col- 
leges. As far as I know such a requirement 


OcTOBER 30, 1914] 


does not exist anywhere, even in Europe. But, 
as far as I know, the Johns Hopkins Medical 
School does not offer its new procedure as a 
general plan to be used in all other colleges. 
The Hopkins school follows lines of its own, 
and with great success. When that school 
was opened, about twenty-one years ago, the 
entrance requirements were made very high, 
indeed higher than at any place in the world, 
and at a time when most of the colleges in 
this country had very low requirements. The 
wisdom of that venture is to-day self-evident. 
Johns Hopkins Medical School is sending out 
a high type of medical men into teaching de- 
partments, into research institutes and into 
general practise. The part of the plan which 
does not permit the professor of clinical sub- 
jects to practise for private gain does not de- 
serve to be designated as “grotesque,” as has 
been done in the report of the Council on 
Medical Education. Jt probably originated 
in the desire to put the teachers of clinical 
subjects on a university basis, and thus main- 
tain a university atmosphere in the medical 
school, an atmosphere which is essential to 
the mode of life of the scientific men of that 
school, and which is readily disturbed by the 
mode of life of a head of a department “who 
in a very limited amount of time devoted to 
practise could obtain for his service much 
more than the amount of such a salary.” 

However, it seems to me that this part may 
be well omitted from a plan which is devised 
to fit all or most good medical schools. The 
evils would be satisfactorily mended when 
study and teaching were the primary occupa- 
tions of the head of a department. What he 
does with his spare time should not be our 
concern. We could not object, if he used it 
for some hobby; we should be rather glad, if 
he utilized it for practising medicine. 

The Council on Medical Education says in 
its report that the Johns Hopkins plan “has 
not been well received by the clinical teachers 
and finds its supporters almost entirely among 
the laboratory men.” The council has, as 
stated above, not yet made any definite sug- 
gestions; but it is very emphatic on the one 
point, namely, “whatever plan is adopted 


SCIENCE 


625 


must make it possible for the clinical teachers 
to remain the great authorities in their spe- 
cial field both in the eyes of the profession 
and of the public.” JI wish to say here with 
emphasis that I have a profound admiration 
for the great work which the council has done 
in the short time of its existence. The results 
which it has achieved in the elevation of 
medical education of the United States are 
manifold: the general demand for higher en- 
trance requirements; the weeding out of unfit 
medical schools; reducing in general the num- 
ber of medical schools and the number of unfit 
practitioners in the United States; encourag- 
ing full-time professors for the purely scien- 
tific branches; demanding bedside instruction 
in clinical subjects and the creation of labo- 
ratories and the demand for laboratory work 
in clinical departments. The personal com- 
position of the council has been usually 
good—authoritative indeed, as far as the 
above-mentioned premedical and medical 
education is concerned. But will the council 
as well as the committee which it has ap- 
pointed remain authoritative and unbiased 
in their judgment also on the subject with 
which we deal here? We have seen that the 
two great evils of the present system consist 
in the facts that for our present heads of 
clinical departments instruction is only a sec- 
ondary occupation and that on account of the 
extensive work which their primary occupa- 
tion demands they are unable to follow eff- 
ciently the continuous progress of medicine. 
I have no doubt that the ten clinicians which 
make up the strong committee are “ great au- 
thorities in their special fields both im the eyes 
of the profession and the public,” that is, they 
are great practitioners and consultants. But 
for this very reason they are just the men 
who are not fit to be heads of departments in 
medicine. Will the members of this com- 
mittee and the members of the Council on 
Education be unbiased enough to recognize 
the fact that being a celebrated consultant 
and being an efticient teacher of modern medi- 
cine are separate capacities which frequently 
exclude one another? The frequent repetition 
in the report of the council of the requirement 


626 


that the men to be chosen must be great au- 
thorities in the eyes of the public and the 
profession is, to say the least, disconcerting. 
To be a great authority in the eyes of the 
public is surely no evidence even of being an 
efficient consultant. Any one who is fre- 
quently mentioned in newspapers as having 
been called in consultation to treat this or that 
rich or noted man, or who has charged enor- 
mous fees, etc., stands as a great authority in 
the public eye and, I am afraid, not infre- 
quently also in the eyes of the profession—in 
its present state of medical education. 

_ I come now to a more detailed statement of 
my own suggestions. I shall say at the start 
that whatever the ideal plan may be, it 
should not be attained by revolutionary steps; 
accelerated evolution gives better and safer 
results than revolution. The changes should 
not be introduced abruptly; they should be 
gradually developed and adapted to the partic- 
ular condition of each individual medical col- 
lege. But these changes should in all cases be 
in the direction of one and the same ideal 
plan which could finally serve as a standard 
for all medical schools. Now as to this plan. 
I have given above a brief outline of it. But 
it dealt only with the head of a medical de- 
partment. J wish now to consider the com- 
position of the entire department. Generally 
it ought to be made up of the following four 
groups: (1) A head for whom this position 
should be his main occupation; (2) two, three 
or more paid scientific assistants for whom 
this position should also be their chief occu- 
pation; (3) several professors and associate 
professors, ete., for whom these positions will 
be ‘secondary occupations, their chief occupa- 
tion being their private consultation or fam- 
ily practise; some of these may receive mod- 
erate salaries; (4) an unlimited number of 
unpaid volunteer assistants. I should say 
here that all these positions should be ap- 
pointments, limited variously to varying 
periods of years. 

The head should give about eight hours a 
day to this, his main calling, and they should 
be his fresh hours, say, from 8 4.M. to 4 P.M. 
After these hours he may do with his time as 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1035 


he pleases. He may accept private consulta- 
tions at his office or at the bedside and keep 
the fees. But he should have no private pa- 
tients at the hospital in the department of 
which he its the head. Jf this hospital has 
paying patients, all the income from these pa- 
tients goes to the budget of the hospital. He 
should not accept consultations for the first 
eight hours of the day, and he should make it 
his business to avoid spectacular consulta- 
tions. He should do his best to be appreciated 
by the best of his profession, but to do also his 
best to avoid standing continuously in the 
public eye. He should help to make medicine 
a science and its teaching a serious business, 
and by his behavior he should assist in the 
efforts to deprive the practise of medicine of 
ats commercial aspect. For a head of a depart- 
ment the first two reappointments should be 
for five years only; a further reappointment, 
if it takes place, should be until age limit. 
This will serve as an efficient corrective 
against misuse of position or mistaken elec- 
tion. The salary of a head of a clinical de- 
partment should at least equal the highest 
given at that university. 

The election to headship must be based 


upon evidence that for the past years the ap- 


pointee has been continuously a close stu- 
dent of modern medicine and showed eiticiency 
in teaching, as well as in research, in the sci- 
entific and practical fields of medicine. The 
work of the department should be conducted 
with the aid of all three classes or groups, but 
especially with the aid of the scientific assist- 
ants. 

These shall be elected from graduates who 
have given evidence of possessing higher abil- 
ities and ambitions, and who had one year 
service in a good hospital and one year labo- 
ratory work in the science of medicine. They 
shall be appointed for three years with sal- 
aries varying from $1,000 to $2,500. During 
the first period their entire time should be- 
long to the department; when reappointed, 
however, for a second period, they should be 
required to give only about eight hours a day 
to the department and use the balance of their 
time for the acquisition of some kind of a pri- 


OcroBER 30, 1914] 


vate practise. The senior assistant should 
serve as adjunct to the head. It should be the 
duties of these assistants, besides conducting 
the routine work of the department with all 
its ramifications, to take up successively, every 
six months of these three years, special parts 
of medicine for a special study, so that at the 
end of the three years they would have ac- 
quired an intimate knowledge of the entire 
field of their department. They should also 
acquire successtully a fair knowledge and 
technique of all or most of the sciences allied 
to medicine. They should follow closely the 
new steps made in medicine and the allied 
sciences and test the reliability and practical 
_ applicability of new statements. J shall not 
enter into further particulars of their duties, 
which in the main should be guided by the 
head of the department.* 


4The problem of research which ought to oc- 
cupy the clinical departments, and the methods of 
teaching which they ought to follow are too ex- 
tensive subjects to discuss them here. JI wish, 
nevertheless, to append here the following brief 
remarks: 

1. Recent writers were emphatic in their state- 
ments that diagnosis and therapeutics are the ex- 
elusive fields for clinical research. When a 
clinician begins to study pathological and physio- 
logical problems it is time for him, they say, to 
leave clinical medicine and become a pathologist 
or a physiologist. This is a fundamental error 
and an unfortunate misconception of the scope of 
medicine. Diseases are experiments made by na- 
ture which great clinicians ought to try to inter- 
pret not merely by pressing them into facts, 
views or classifications found or put up by 
others, but also by original, broad views and 
illuminating conceptions of their own, if they are 
the brainy scientifically well-trained men which 
they ought to be. Medicine had to wait long 
for the appearance of clinicians like Graves, Ad- 
dison, Gull and Kocher and Minkowsky to bring 
to light new forms of diseases and to shed light 
upon the normal function of apparently obscure 
organs. If clinical medicine will attract real 
brainy men who had a thorough training in the 
methods of investigations in the adjoining exact 
sciences and who would choose medicine as their 
field of investigation, a flood of light would be 
thrown in rapid order upon the nature and the 
course of the functional processes in disease and 


SCIENCE 


627 


When these scientific assistants have served 
trom eight to ten years, they will be in most 
eases well qualified to investigate and teach 
modern medicine from a scientific as well as 
from a practical point of view. That is the 
new class of physicians, of which I spoke 
above, which should be created and from which 
the new heads of clinical departments should 
be chosen. If a number of high-grade med- 
ical schools would accept this part of the 
plan, in eight or ten years the country would 
be provided with a group of a higher type of 
clinicians. They will then work for the 
further development of this new type and our 
problem would find a permanent solution. 

The third group should consist, as stated 
before, of professors, associate professors, 
etc., who should teach practical medicine at, 
the bedside and for whom the teaching part, 
may remain, as it is now, their secondary oc~ 
cupation, their primary occupation being pri- 
vate practise. They should be appointed for 
periods of five years and receive some re- 
muneration. They should be selected from the 
consultants and practitioners of the town 
where they are recognized for their abil- 
ity and efficiency. They should teach medi- 


in health. 2. Even in this, more scientific part of 
the department, the practical education of the 
students must be foremost in the mind of the 
teacher. They should be taught, here, indeed, the 
medicine as it is known all over the world to- 
day. But newer things ought to be tested at the 
department for their reliableness and usefulness 
and ought to be made handy and practical, be- 
fore they are handed over to the students. All 
students ought to be trained, in the first place, to 
become efficient practitioners. They will have to 
see many patients in one day and will have to act 
quickly and efficiently. New things appear daily; 
some are very complicated and some have only a 
temporary place in practical medicine. By load- 
ing the minds of the average student (and prac- 
titioner) indiscriminately with the ‘‘newest 
things’? in medicine, we create there a haze which 
interferes with the promptness of the practical 
activity. Departments of medicine which will 
seriously and in an unpreoccupied manner test 
all new things before putting their stamp upon it, 
will act as very meritorious clearing houses for 
the practise of medicine. 


628 


cine from the point of view of their rich, per- - 


sonal experience. 

The fourth group, the volunteer assistants, 
should consist of younger men of ability of 
the practitioners’ class. Officially they should 
work with and under the last-named group of 
teachers, but suitable men should be admitted 
for special purposes to the laboratories of the 
scientific staff. Under certain proper circum- 
stances one or the other man of this group may 
be appointed to the staff of scientific assist- 
ants. The appointment of volunteer assist- 
ants should be for two years, and if after one 
reappointment they are not found deserving 
of advancement to the regular staff, they 
should not be reappointed. 

As far as teaching is concerned, all parts 
should work as a unit, regulated chiefly by the 
head of the department. 

The necessity for reappointment will serve, 
4s stated above, as a valuable controlling fac- 
tor; the power of appointment and reappoint- 
ament should therefore be exercised with great 
‘care. I would suggest the following distribu- 
tion of power. Heads of departments and full 
‘professors should be appointed, or reappointed, 
oy the university; all other members of the 
staff should be appointed or advanced by the 
members of the medical faculty. In appoint- 
ing and reappointing scientific assistants the 
head of the department should have at least 
three votes. 

A head of a department who does not wish 
a& reappointment, or is not reappointed, after 
ten years’ service, shall have the right to be 
transferred to the practical department with 
the title professor—unless there are potent 
reasons against such a transfer. This, in 
conjunction with the privilege of having some 
private consultations at his own time during 
his occupancy of the headship, will compen- 
sate the head of a clinical department for the 
failure to obtain an appointment for life. 

As to the relations of hospitals to the teach- 
ing department I can be briefer. There must 
be one hospital which is devoted exclusively to 
the teaching and study of clinical branches of 
medicine. While it may have laymen as trus- 
tees and a medical superintendent with the 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1035 


necessary clerical staff for the conduction of 
the business of the hospital, the actual man- 
agement of its inside affairs should be exclu- 
sively in the hands of the medical faculty, and 
the inside affairs of each department should 
be exclusively or essentially in the hands of its 
head. This hospital should not have many 
private rooms for well-to-do patients, and, as 
stated above, they should not be used for pri- 
vate patients of the head of the department or 
any other member of the faculty. The income 
derived from the treatment of well-to-do pa- 
tients in private rooms should go to the funds 
of the hospital. 

There ought to be at least one other hos- 
pital at the disposal of the medical school 
which may have many private rooms. Here 
the practical staff of the school will teach at 
the bedside—in addition to their right to send 
patients to and teach at the school hospital— 
and here the consultants and practitioners be- 
longing to the school may treat their private 
patients in the private rooms. 

The students of medicine will have then a 
chance of learning predominantly modern 
scientific medicine at the one, and predomi- 
nantly practical medicine with a mixture of 
art at the other, hospital. He will then be able 
to make his selection as to his future career, 
according to his natural inclinations and pre- 
ceding impressions, whether it be scientific 
medicine with its elevating atmosphere, or ac- 
tive practise and all that goes with it. 

S. J. Meirzer 

ROCKEFELLER INSTITUTE FOR 

MEDICAL RESEARCH 


RESEARCH AND TEACHING IN THE UNI- 
VERSITY1 

1. No verifiable evidence has been published 
which proves how research affects the quality 
of university and college instruction. 

2. I believe that research work usually im- 
proves the teaching of the instructor, both in 
the subject in which the research is conducted 


1 Answers to twenty-one questions addressed to 
the writer by Messrs. William H. Allen and E. C. 
Branson, directors of a survey appointed to re- 
port on the work of the University of Wisconsin. 


OcTOBER 30, 1914] 


and in other subjects. It, however, depends on 
the man and the circumstances. Some men 
of character and ability may use their time 
most profitably in teaching. On the other 
hand, it may be the duty of some instructors 
to devote themselves mainly to research, even 
though they are therefore compelled to neglect 
somewhat their students. It is the duty of the 
university professor or instructor in equal 
measure to advance knowledge, to teach stu- 
dents and to serve the public. He should 
undertake what he can accomplish to best 
advantage. 

3. Research affects methods of instruction 
directly in so far as it leads the instructor to 
think more independently and to gain com- 
mand of his subject instead of depending on 
text-books. The principal arguments, how- 
ever, for encouraging instructors to do re- 
search work are: (1) It is the business of the 
university to advance knowledge and to train 
men to advance knowledge; (2) Better men 
ean be obtained if they are permitted to do 
research work, and (8) This gives an objec- 
tive criterion of their ability. 

4. Whether the teacher benefits most by 
research which he conducts alone, by research 
in which he is assisted by students, or by 
supervising the research of students, would 
depend on the circumstances of the case. An 
efficient professor would probably use the three 
methods. Perhaps on the whole the ’prentice 
method is the most desirable and the most 
economical in the production of scientific 
results. 

5. The extent to which a student is helped 
by assisting the instructor depends on the 
kind of work he is set to do, the amount of 
freedom he is given and his understanding of 
the problem on which he is working. 

6. The student who engages in research 
work uses the correct method of learning by 
mastering one subject and relating other 
knowledge to it; he gains in interest, in inde- 
pendence and in power of initiative, and he 
learns how to do research work. 

4. The result of the imstructor’s research 
would usually be to increase his enthusiasm in 
teaching, which would doubtless apply more 


SCIENCE 


629 


directly to the subject which he is investi- 
gating and to advanced classes, but it would 
tend to hold to a certain extent in all cases. 

8. Both scholarship and research are im- 
portant, but I regard the latter as the more 
important. 

9. It is desirable for the student to choose 
some special subject for work and to connect 
his other interests with that subject. 

10. It follows from this that in preparation 
for the master’s degree or the doctor’s degree 
it is best to require complete mastery of some 
subject, other knowledge being related to this, 
rather than to study the whole field of science 
as it might be represented in a text-book. I 
regard the preparation of a dissertation as 
usually desirable. 

11. There is, in my opinion, no fundamental 
difference between adding to knowledge and 
applying knowledge in new ways. The dis- 
tinction is between discovering or applying 
new methods and applying old methods in the 
old way. The professional school should be on 
the basis of the university, not of a trade 
school. 

12. I regard knowledge as of value only in 
so far as it is useful. Jt may, however, be 
useful as religion or art is useful. All knowl- 
edge is likely to be of use, ‘and the investigator 
is justified in carrying on investigations the 
usefulness of which can not be foreseen. I 
myself prefer investigations the immediate or 
remote usefulness of which is evident, though 
an element of danger enters when the utility 
may be a financial gain to the investigator. 
It would be desirable to pay the professor an 
adequate salary and let any money he earned 
by the application of science go to his depart- 
ment. 

13. An instructor in chemistry is usually 
more usefully employed, even as regards his 
teaching ability, in conducting chemical in- 
vestigations than in research as to how to 
teach chemistry. However, one of the advan- 
tages of research is that it leads the instructor 
to consider and adopt improved methods of 
teaching. 

14. Scientific research is a different problem 
from helping students. As I understand it, 


630 


the object of the questions is to inquire 
whether the instructor is likely to help stu- 
dents more if he carries on research than if 
he does not, and my reply is in the affirmative, 
with the qualification that this is not based on 
definite knowledge and that much depends on 
conditions. There is probably a high corre- 
lation between ability to carry on research 
and ability to teach, and the productive 
scholar or scientific man is more likely to 
have a beneficial influence on the student 
than a professor who does nothing but teach 
and attend athletic events. 

15. The stimulating effect of research is 
doubtless to a large extent due to professional 
recognition, and in return professional recog- 
nition stimulates research. The university 
should consequently promote the means of 
publication by professors and instructors, pay 
their expenses to attend scientific meetings, 
invite scholars and scientific men from other 
institutions to lecture and give courses, ar- 
range for the exchange of instructors and the 
like. 

16. It is more desirable for instructors in 
the department of education to study methods 
of instruction than for instructors in other 
departments to do so. 

17. The more advanced a student is, the 
more desirable is it that his instructors should 
be engaged in research work. This would also 
be desirable even in elementary schools, but it 
is not at present feasible to obtain teachers 
competent to do research work or to pay them. 
Perhaps if salaries were more adequate all the 
way from the elementary school to the univer- 
sity, it might be possible to obtain men com- 
petent to do research work, to the great benefit 
of the students and of the world. 

18. Under existing conditions the college or 
university which fails to provide for research 
work by its instructors is likely to have me- 
diocre teaching. The better men tend to 
go to institutions where they will be encour- 
aged to do research work and those who stay 
are apt to adopt the attitude of the school- 
master rather than that of the professor. The 
university or college which does not regard 
the advancement of knowledge and public 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1035 


service as part of its functions has small claim 
to public support or private gifts, and is likely 
to deteriorate in all directions. 

19. The amount of productive scholarship 
and research work conducted in America has 
increased many fold since the introduction of 
graduate work in the universities in the 
seventies, and at present three fourths of our 
productive scientific men are supported by our 
universities and colleges. The majority of 
our leading scientific men are connected with 
a few universities doing graduate work. 

20. It is obvious that if the instructor 
devotes all his time to teaching, he can not 
do research work. The science in which Amer- 
ica was most productive, prior to the introduc- 
tion of the modern university, was astronomy, 
in which subject a large amount of under- 
graduate teaching was not required. Those 
men doing the most valuable work do not 
devote the larger part of their time to under- 
graduate or class teaching. A professor can 
teach by example as well as by lecturing. 

21. I doubt whether most administrative 
work by instructors has a stimulating and 
broadening effect on their teaching. One of 
the chief dangers to the American university 
is that honor, influence and salary are given to 
administrative officers instead of to the pro- 
ductive scholars and men of science who are 
the university. 

J. McKeen CatteLh 


SECTION OF ZOOLOGY OF THE AMERICAN 
‘ASSOCIATION 

Section F—Zoology—of the American As- 
sociation for the Advancement of Science will 
hold its annual meeting at Philadelphia, De- 
cember 29, 30 and 31, in conjunction with 
the American Society of Zoologists and the 
American Society of Naturalists. All ses- 
sions will be held in the lecture room of the 
zoological department of the University of 
Pennsylvania. A joint symposium has been 
arranged for the afternoon of Thursday, De- 
cember 81, with the following program: 


EH. G. Conklin—The cultural value of zoology. 
C. B. Dayenport—The value of scientific geneal- 


ogy. 


OctToBER 30, 1914] 


G. H. Parker—The coming problems of eugenics. 

Stuart Paton—Modern aspects of the study of the 
mind. 

H. F. Osborn—The museum in the public service. 


The address of Dr. Mayer, the retiring 
Vice-president of Section F, will be given at 
the close of the Naturalists’ banquet, Thurs- 
day evening, December 31. Dr. Mayer will 
speak with lantern illustrations upon the 
work of the Tortugas Laboratory. 

As under the rules of the American As- 
sociation the officers of national societies take 
charge of the program of joint meetings, the 
program of the Philadelphia meeting will be 
in the hands of the officers of the American 
Society of Zoologists. All titles and ab- 
stracts of papers therefore should be sent to 
Professor Caswell Graves, Johns Hopkins 
University, before the first of December. 
But members of Section F, American Associa- 
tion for the Advancement of Science, who 
are not members of the American Society of 
Zoologists, may send them to H. V. Neal, 
Tufts College, Mass. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


THe National Academy of Sciences will 
hold its autumn meeting at the University of 
Chicago on December 7, 8 and 9. 

THE Association of German Scientific Men 
and Physicians will hold no meeting this year. 

THE past and present members of the scien- 
tific staff of the Rockefeller Institute for 
Medical Research gave a dinner at Delmon- 
ico’s to Dr. Simon Flexner on October 16, in 
celebration of the tenth anniversary of the 
opening of the laboratories of the institute 
under his direction. The members of the 
board of scientific directors and of the board 
of trustees were present but the dinner was 
not public. Dr. S. J. Meltzer presided; a 
short address, engrossed on parchment and 
signed by the members of the staff, was read 
and presented to Dr. Flexner. The following 
spoke: Dr. W. H. Welch, Mr. F. T. Gates, 
Mr. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Dr. Peyton Rous, 
Dr. Hideyo Noguchi, Dr. F. R. Fraser, Dr. 
Jacques Loeb, Dr. Rufus Cole and Dr. Flex- 
ner. 


SCIENCE 


631 


THE Observatory states that among the 
visitors to the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, 
during September, were Professor and Mrs. 
W. W. Campbell, Professor H. D. Curtis and 
party of the Lick Observatory, and Professor 
C. D. Perrine and Mr. Mulvey, of the Cordoba 
Observatory. Both parties were returning 
from eclipse expeditions in Russia, neither of 
which, unfortunately, met with success, owing 
to cloudy skies. The Lick Observatory party 
was stationed near Kiev, practically on the 
central line, while the Cordoba observers were 
near Theodosia with Professor and Mrs. 
Newall. 


Dr. AuBrecut Prnck, professor of geog- 
raphy at Berlin, and Dr. Otto Maas, professor 
of zoology at Munich, who attended as guests 
the meeting of the British Association for the 
Advancement of Science in Australia, are, ac- 
cording to a press despatch, detained in Eng- 
land. Dr. Otto Lutz, professor of biology in 
the Institute Nacional de Panama, the author 
of an article in the last number of Sctmncz, 
is held there as a prisoner of war. 


Leave of absence has been granted by the 
trustees of Princeton University to Professor 
Pierre Boutroux, of the department of mathe- 
matics, who is in the French service, and to 
Professor Joseph H. W. Wedderburn, of the 
same department, who has returned to Eng- 
land to enlist in the British army. 


Dr. Rospert W. GEDDES, professor of anat- 
omy in McGill University, has been called by 
the British war office to take command in one 
of the home regiments. Dr. Geddes was a 
reservist of the British army, having served 
with distinction in the South African War. 
He became professor of anatomy in McGill in 
1912. 


Tur New York Section of the American 
Chemical Society has appointed a committee 
to. examine into the feasibility of expanding 
the manufacture of chemicals and dyestuffs in 
the United States. This committee is com- 
posed of H. A. Metz, I. F. Stone, J. B. F. 
Herreshoff, David Jayne, J. M. Matthews, 
Allen Rogers and B. C. Hesse, chairman. 


632 


A COOPERATIVE agreement has been entered 
into by the University of Illinois and the U. S. 
Department of Agriculture, whereby all of the 
demonstration work done by the department 
will be in cooperation with the University of 
Illinois and under the management of the 
same organization that administers the Lever 
bill. Pursuant to this plan of cooperation, 
Mr. W. F. Handschin, now of the animal 
husbandry department of the university, has 
been appointed state leader in charge of the 
county advisory work, both under the Lever 
bill and the cooperative relations with the 
department. 


Dr. L. A. Bauer gave an illustrated lecture 
before the Franklin Institute, at Philadelphia, 
on October 21, his subject being “The Karth, 
a Great Magnet.” 


Proressor J. M. Atpricu, of the U. S. 
Bureau of Entomology, who was for many 
years a professor of geology in the University 
of Idaho, gave a lecture at the University of 
Illinois on October 14 on “ Western Salt Lakes 
and Their Inhabitants.” 


Sir J. J. Tomson delivered his presidential 
address to the Physical Society of London on 
October 23, the subject being “ Ionization.” 


In connection with the London County 
Council’s plan of indicating the houses in 
London which have been the residences of dis- 
tinguished individuals, a tablet has, as we 
learn from Nature, recently been erected com- 
memorating the residence of Benjamin Frank- 
lin, at 86 Craven Street. 


Tue scientific library which Professor New- 
ton H. Winchell gave to the University of 
Minnesota is estimated to be worth six thou- 
sand dollars. It is a valuable collection of 
books and serial publications in geology, 
archeology and related subjects, collected by 
Professor Winchell during his long life en- 
gaged in scientific work. 


A portrait of the late Dr. Reginald Heber 
Fitz, by Mr. I. M. Gaugengigl, of Boston, has 
been presented to the Harvard Medical School 
by more than one hundred former associates 
and pupils. At the presentation made at a full 
meeting of the faculty of the school, President 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1035 


Lowell presided and the gift was formally 
made to the university by Dr. Harold C. 
Ernst. Dr. Fitz was professor in the Harvard 
Medical School from 1873 to 1908. 

BerrNARD RICHARDSON GREEN, civil engineer, 
superintendent of the Congressional Library 
building and grounds, died on October 22, aged 
seventy-one years. Mr. Green was born at 
Malden, Mass. He was graduated from the 
Lawrence Scientific School, of Harvard Uni- 
versity, in 1864. For fourteen years subse- 
quently he was engaged with officers of the 
United States Corps of Engineers in con- 
structing permanent seacoast fortifications in 
Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. 
Since then he had been in charge of the erec- 
tion of public buildings in Washington, in- 
cluding the State, War and Navy Buildings, 
the Washington Monument, Army Medical 
Museum and Library, United States Soldiers’ 
Home, the Library of Congress, the Washing- 
ton Public Library and the National Museum 
Building. 

Dr. Hans HaAtte, assistant in plant physiol- 
ogy in the University of Munich, has died as 
the result of wounds received in the war. 

Tue death is announced of Dr. Maximilian 
Reinganum, professor of physical chemistry, 
in Freiburg i. Br. 

On account of the situation in Europe and 
America created by the war, the executive 
committee for the Second Eugenics Congress 
has decided that it will be impossible to hold 
the proposed congress in New York City in 
September, 1915. The existing organization 
will be maintained, pending the reestablish- 
ment of settled conditions, when the committee 
will determine upon a new date. The execu- 
tive committee hopes for the continued inter- 
est of those who have consented to serve as 
members of the several committees and as 
officers of the congress. 


Since the European war broke out Holland 
has increased its appropriation for the Panama- 
Pacifie International Expedition from $100,- 
000 to $400,000; Argentine from $1,300,000 to 
$1,700,000. France, which appropriated $400,- 
000 for her participation, has sent word that 
there is no change in her plans. Japan is pre- 


OcToBER 30, 1914] 


parin® a comprehensive national representa- 
tion and appropriated $600,000. Thirty-nine 
foreign nations will participate in the exposi- 
tion. 


In the Observatory the monthly notes en- 
titled “ From an Oxford Note-book” begin as 
follows: “There is but time for a hurried 
note or two to catch the mail, for the upheaval 
in Europe has transmitted waves of minor 
disturbance to the Antipodes, which ‘have 
eliminated the small intervals of leisure orig- 
inally allowed us by Australian hospitality. 
The news of the war reached us by wireless 
telegraphy a day or two before our landing, 
with an effect on a company containing repre- 
sentatives of many nations which can well be 
imagined. Sir Oliver Lodge, the retiring 
president, at once struck a note which has been 
resonant ever since; rising from his chair at 
dinner he remarked that science knew no 
polities, he called attention to the presence of 
various distinguished foreign guests among 
us, and took the opportunity of drinking their 
very good health. The brief simple words were 
received with a burst of applause. When we 
landed and were most hospitably entertained 
at Perth, the same spirit was abroad; at the 
conferring of honorary degrees at Adelaide 
(and afterwards here at Melbourne), the Ger- 
man visitors were specially and heartily ap- 
plauded—and whenever Germany was men- 
tioned, it was to speak of all that it had done 
for science. Finally, it was made clear from 
the first that the main desire of the Australian 
people was to carry through with as little dis- 
turbance as possible the splendid program they 
had arranged for us. Balls were, of course, 
turned into receptions, and the National An- 
them was a notable feature of all the earlier 
gatherings; but the scientific part of the pro- 
gram has been up to the present fully carried 
out.” 


THE magnetic survey vessel, the Carnegie, 
arrived at Brooklyn on October 21, having 
completed a eruise of about 10,000 miles this 
summer in the North Atlantic Ocean. Hn 
route from Hammerfest, Norway, to Rej- 
kiavik, Iceland, she reached the latitude of 
79° 52’ north, off the northwest coast of Spitz- 


SCIENCE 


633 


bergen. Mr. J. P. Ault, of the Department of 
Terrestrial Magnetism, was in command of 
the vessel; he was assisted in the scientific 
work by Dr. H. Y. W. Edmonds, and by 
Messrs. H. F. Johnston, I. Luke and N. 
Meisenhelter. 


A CABLEGRAM from Buenos Ayres states that 
Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Antarctic steamer Hn- 
durance is coaling at Montevideo, Uruguay. She 
reports that she had a bad voyage. She was de- 
layed to such an extent that the coal became ex- 
hausted, and she was forced to burn her spars 
to make port. Sir Ernest Shackleton and the 
members of his staff are said to be well. They 
expected to leave Buenos Ayres for the Ant- 
arctic region about October 23, and to be able 
to arrive in the Weddell Sea about the end of 
November. Sir Ernest said that if he is com- 
pelled to go into winter quarters at some point 
on the Weddell Sea he believes that he may be 
unable to communicate with the civilized 
world before about March, 1916. 


Tue American Genetic Association, Wash- 
ington, D. C., offers two prizes of $100 each for 
two photographs, one of the largest tree of a 
nut-bearing variety in the United States, and 
one of the largest broad-leaf tree which does 
not bear edible seeds. In the first class, for 
example, are included trees such as chestnut, 
oak, walnut, butternut and pecan; and in 
the second, trees such as elm, birch, maple, 
cottonwood and tulip poplar. No photographs 
of cone-bearing trees are wanted, since it is 
definitely known that the California big trees 
have no rivals among conifers. At a later time 
the association may take up the same question 
as between the various kinds of conifers, such 
as pines, spruces, firs, cedars and cypresses. 
The announced purpose of the Genetic Asso- 
ciation is to bring about the dissemination of 
seed or stock of the best specimens, when 
found, to demonstrate, if possible, the value of 
heredity in tree growing. The contest ends 
on July 1, 1915. 

THE non-resident lecturers in the graduate 
course in highway engineering at Columbia 
University appointed for the 1914-1915 session 
are as follows: John A. Bensel, New York state 
engineer; Edward D. Boyer, cement and con- 


634 


erete expert, The Atlas Portland Cement Com- 
pany; Sumner R. Church, manager, research 
department, Barrett Manufacturing Com- 
pany; William H. Connell, chief, bureau of 
highways and street cleaning, Philadelphia; 
W. W. Crosby, chief engineer, Maryland Geo- 
logical and Economie Survey; Charles Henry 
Davis, president, National Highways Associa- 
tion; Arthur W. Dean, chief engineer, Massa- 
chusetts Highway Commission; John H. De- 
laney, commissioner, New York State Depart- 
ment of Efficiency and Economy; A. W. Dow, 
chemical and consulting paving engineer; 
H. W. Durham, chief engineer of highways, 
Borough of Manhattan, New York; C. N. 
Forrest, chief chemist, Barber Asphalt Paving 
Company; Walter H. Fulweiler, chief chemist, 
United Gas Improvement Company; D. L. 
Hough, president, The United Engineering 
and Contracting Company; William A. 
Howell, engineer of streets and highways, 
Newark; Arthur N. Johnson, highway engi- 
neer, Bureau of Municipal Research, New 
‘York; Nelson P. Lewis, chief engineer, Board 
of Estimate and Apportionment, New York; 
Philip P. Sharples, chief chemist, Barrett 
Manufacturing Company; Francis P. Smith, 
chemical and consulting paving engineer; 
Albert Sommer, consulting chemist; George 
W. Tillson, consulting engineer to the presi- 
dent of the Borough of Brooklyn, New York; 
George Warren, president, Warren Brothers 
Company. 


GREENHOUSES for work in plant pathology 
and plant physiology are now in process of 
erection and will be ready for use within a 
few days at the University of Illinois. These 
comprise 12 greenhouse rooms to be equally 
divided between the two subjects. Green- 
houses are usually provided with ample heat- 
ing arrangements but these new houses of the 
university will also have in connection an 
ample refrigerating plant so as to enable such 
sections of the house as may demand it to be 
cooled to the desired point. ‘There is provis- 
ion, such that any desired area may be iso- 
lated, ‘ quarantined” from other sections 
and also for regulating the humidity and 
other factors of environment in such way as 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1035 


may be necessary in studying disease resis- 
tance, immunity, ete. 

SECRETARY LANE has issued an order desig- 
nating as nonirrigable under the 320-acre 
homestead law more than a million acres of 
land in the state of Oregon. The effect of this 
order, which becomes effective November 10, 
is to make such of these lands as are vacant 
and subject to entry available to be taken up 
as enlarged homesteads of 320 acres each. 
Those haying within the designated area en- 
tries of 160 acres upon which final proof has 
not been made may apply to enlarge their 
homesteads to 320 acres by taking up an addi- 
tional 160 acres of any of the designated land 
which is surveyed, vacant, nontimbered, etc., 
and which adjoins their present entries. 

Tur Panama-Pacific International Exposi- 
tion is provided with its own railway system, 
which runs through all the exhibit palaces and 
throughout the exposition grounds, connect- 
ing with the freight ferry slip near the Pal- 
ace of Machinery. Cars may be switched into 
the exhibit palaces and exhibits unloaded in 
the space in the palaces which they are to 
oceupy. Under the classification of exhibits 
each group and class of exhibits at San Fran- 
cisco is assigned a certain area in the exhibit 
palaces, an arrangement which simplifies to an 
extraordinary extent the actual placing of ex- 
hibits. When an exhibitor makes application 
for exhibit space his application automatically 
falls into one of the eleven different exhibit 
departments and automatically will be placed 
in one of the eleven exhibit palaces. Consoli- 
dation agencies are established in the east and 
exhibits routed direct to the exposition 
grounds. Whenever possible exhibits are made 
up in carload lots. More than seventy thou- 
sand tons of exhibits will be shown at San 
Francisco, involving a freight charge of more 
than $3,000,000. Exhibits brought from dif- 
ferent portions of the United States will be 
returned without charge to the exhibitor, pro- 
vided they have not changed ownership. When 
a car load of freight reaches Oakland it is 
barged across San Francisco bay to the expo- 
sition freight ferry slip, or, if shipped via 
San Francisco Peninsula, it will come by the 


OcTOBER 30, 1914] 


Belt Line directly into the exposition 
grounds. When foreign exhibits reach San 
Francisco bay by steamer they are barged to 
the exposition freight ferry slip. 


In Virginia there are 700 school and civic 
leagues organized in the country school dis- 
_ tricts by the Cooperative Education Associa- 
tion, which is a citizens’ organization work- 
ing in conjunction with the State Department 
of Education. A school and civic league is 
“a social club, school betterment association 
and chamber of commerce set down in a coun- 
try neighborhood and holding its meetings in 
the schoolhouse. Officers are elected, meet- 
ings are held monthly or fortnightly, and the 
teacher is a leading spirit in all activities.” 
Tt is a means of community education for 
practical citizenship adapted to rural condi- 
tions and needs. In addition to musicals, 
spelling bees, and other social activities, discus- 
sion and debate of public questions, primarily 
of local interest, occupy the meetings. The 
Cooperative Education Association sends to 
each league programs on such questions as 
health, good roads and better farming. A 
home reading course has been established, 
based on a text-book on some rural subject 
and supplemented by bulletins from the sev- 
eral state departments and from the College of 
Agriculture. Upon the completion of the 
course members are awarded certificates. The 
civic training afforded by the leagues comes 
largely, however, through activity in behalf of 
better community conditions. One league last 
year raised $2,500 for the improvement of the 
roads leading to the school, and this year the 
good roads meeting held in a one-room school 
started a movement for an automobile road 
over 100 miles in length. The improvement 
of the school itself is, of course, one of the 
chief interests of the leagues. In 1912-13 
they collectively raised $65,000 which was ex- 
pended for libraries, pictures, pianos, window 
shades and other improvements. In a sparsely 
settled section of Charles City County, which 
until a year ago had no school facilities, a 
league was formed, an old farm building was 
rented and furnished with a few chairs and a 
table, and the school trustees were requested 


SCIENCE 


635 


to supply a teacher. Interest increased and 
finally a model one-room school building was 
erected, partly by public funds and partly by 
money raised by the league. Many high 
schools in Virginia have been built in just 
this way. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 

THE corporation of Yale University has ap- 
proved plans for the new pathological labor- 
atory of the Medical School, in connection 
with the New Haven Hospital. This build- 
ing is to be called the Anthony N. Brady Me- 
morial, and is a gift of members of the Brady 
family. 

THe Baltimore Association for the Promo- 

tion of the University Education of Women 
again offers a fellowship of $600 for the year 
1915-16 available for study at an American 
or European university. Applications must 
be in the hands of Dr. Mary Sherwood, chair- 
man of the committee on award, before Jan- 
uary 1, 1915. 
- THE trustees of Princeton University have 
increased the tuition for regular students from 
$160 to $175 a year, beginning September, 
1915. The remission of tuition which is 
granted to needy students has been increased 
from $100 to $115. 


Brcinning this autumn only the degree of 
bachelor of arts will be awarded to students 
of the college of the University of Pennsyl- 
vania, the degree of bachelor of science in the 
arts course having been discontinued. 

Proressor A. N. WINCHELL, of the Univer- 
sity of Wisconsin, is trying the experiment of 
teaching the microscopic study of minerals 
and rocks by correspondence, under the aus- 
pices of the Extension Division of the Uni- 
versity. Hach student must be equipped with 
his own petrographic microscope and thin 
sections. 

Tur Aix-en-Provence University has in- 
vited the Belgian universities to send their 
faculties and students to Aix, offering to pro- 
vide free lodging for the students. The uni- 
versity has asked the minister of education 
for the privilege of granting degrees to the 
refugee students. 


636 


Dr. T. E. Hones, president of the Univer- 
sity of West Virginia, has resigned to be- 
come a candidate for congressman-at-large. 


Proressor JAMES Wi~LiAM ‘Toumry has 
been elected director of the Yale School of 
Forestry for five years, in place of Henry S. 
Graves. Professor Toumey has been acting 
director during Professor Graves’s absence 
as United States forester. 


Proressor M. A. Rosanorr, for the past 
seven years director of the department of 
chemistry in Clark University, has accepted 
a professorship of chemical research in the 
Mellon Institute of Industrial Research and 
the graduate school of the University of 
Pittsburgh. Dr. Rosanoff’s students have re- 
signed fellowships at Clark and have followed 
him to Pittsburgh. 


Dr. Homer F. Swirr has been appointed 
associate professor of the practise of medi- 
cine in the College of Physicians and’ Sur- 
geons of Columbia University in succession to 
Dr. Theodore C. Janeway, now of the Johns 
Hopkins Medical School. 


Dr. Autwin M. PappEnHErMER has been ap- 
pointed professor of pathology in the College 
of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia Uni- 
versity, to succeed Dr. James W. Jobling, 
who has become professor of pathology in 
Vanderbilt University. 


In the University of California Dr. Walter 
Lafayette Howard, since 1905 professor of 
horticulture in the University of Missouri, 
has been appointed associate professor of 
pomology. Dr. Jacob Traum, until recently 
of the staff of the division of pathology of 
the Bureau of Animal Industry of the United 
States Department of Agriculture, has been 
appointed assistant professor of veterinary 
science, and will devote his time to investiga- 
tions in regard to tuberculosis in the domestic 
animals. Roland S. Vaile, until recently col- 
laborator in the United States Bureau of 
Entomology, has been appointed assistant 
professor of orchard management. He will be 
attached to the Graduate School of Tropical 
Agriculture at Riverside. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1085 


At the Massachusetts Institute of Technol- 
ogy in the department of mechanical engi- 
neering, H. W. Brewster and Arthur F. Petts 
have been named assistants, and Henry M. 
Wylde, Robert T. Gookin and Walter Haynes, 
assistants in inorganic chemistry, food analy- 
sis and electrical engineering, respectively. 
Dr. Charles A. Kraus has resigned as assist- 
ant professor of physico-chemical research. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 


EVOLUTION BY SELECTION OF MUTATIONS 


Hueco pr Vries, in his Brussels address de- 
livered last January and printed in SciENCE 
of July 17, with an annotation by the author 
replying to a criticism of his theory by Edward 
C. Jeffrey, objects to evolution by selection of 
fluctuating variation on the ground that this 
is too slow a process for the length of geologic 
time. 

He does this without offering any evidence 
that evolution by selection of mutations would 
be any faster process. He admits that “it is 
hardly probable that these jumps are numerous 
in a state of nature as it now surrounds us.” 

Is there any more presumption in favor of 
a more rapid rate for evolution proceeding by 
jumps separated by long intervals from each 
other than by evolution proceeding by constant 
though imperceptible steps? 

Until we are in possession of such quantita- 


‘tive data we are not in a position to affirm how 


much change may or may not take place in 
organisms in a given period of time. 

Croll, I think it was, offered a word of 
caution here. Jt was to the effect that no one 
was in a position to say offhand what might 
or might not take place in a million years. 

It has always seemed to me that Herbert 
Spencer pretty effectually answered the “not- 
time-enough objection ” to evolution, even by 
the slow process of imperceptible change in 
organisms; by a comparison of ontogeny with 
phylogeny and the drawing of a conclusion 
in accordance with the simple “rule of three.” 

Taking the development of man in his indi- 
vidual history of 40 weeks from germ cell to 
fully developed human being, as an epitome 
of the development of the animal kingdom 


OcroBER 30, 1914] 


from protozoan cell to highest vertebrate in 
the course of geologic ages, he let 40 weeks 
(reduced to hours) represent geologic time— 
say 20 or 40 million years. For the third 
term in the proportion he took the number of 
hours it was necessary to observe the embryonic 
development in order to detect an apprecia- 
ble change, and obtained for an answer as the 
fourth term a number in years which was 
much longer, even when the shortest lengths 
of geologic time were taken, than our his- 
toric period. 

So that it was clear there was plenty of 
geologic time for evolution to proceed at a 
pace so slow that it could not be detected 
within the historic period and still accomplish 
its perfect work. 

When it comes to attempts to estimate geo- 
logic time in years it seems to me that most 
persons must agree that they are not very 
satisfactory. This is particularly so with those 
of the physicists who have assumed as a basis 
for their calculations an origin for our planet, 
no longer looked upon with much favor in the 
light of the facts which support the planetes- 
imal hypothesis. These calculations have 
also been largely invalidated by discoveries 
relating to the radio-activity of matter. 

Of all geologic time estimates, those based 
upon rate of denudation, and its correlative— 
the rate of deposition of stratified rocks, seem 
least unsatisfactory. When these methods are 
applied to precambrian time it is admitted 
they amount to little more than wild guesses. 

And yet we know that evolution was well 
on its way before the beginning of Cambrian 
time. c 

Walcott has brought to light in the Cana- 
dian Rockies abundant evidence of a rich and 
by no means lowly organized marine fauna at 
the very beginning of Cambrian time. 

He and others estimate that at least 90 per 
cent. of the total evolution to the present had 
taken place before the Cambrian period. 

Le Conte, even before he had had the benefit 
of these discoveries, was impressed with the 
high type of the Cambrian faunas. 

His memorable words in this connection are: 

When the curtain goes up on geological history 


SCIENCE 637 


at the beginning of the Cambrian Period we find 
practically all the subkingdoms of the animal 
kingdom present and ready to answer to the roll 
eall. 

In the light of these facts what vistas of 
practically unrecorded geologic time filled with 
evolutionary process are opened up to us! 

Bold indeed is he who from a rate of devel- 
opment predicated upon that observed during 
the brief span of the historic period would 
assert that geologic time is too short for a 
gradual evolutionary process. 


ArtHur M. Minter 
STaTE UNIVERSITY, 
LEXINGTON, Ky. 


POTASSIUM CYANIDE AS AN INSECTICIDE 


Reavineé the article of Professor Fernando 
Sanford in the October 9 issue, I would add 
that I have found potassium cyanide very ef- 
fectual in killing ants in lawns, and it does its 
work without killing the grass. A half ounce 
in 6 to 8 quarts of water applied with a 
sprinkling pot is enough for a nest 18 or 20 
inches across. 


W. G. BusH 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 


Dialogues concerning Two New Sciences. By 
GauiLreo GaLime. Translated from the 
Italian and Latin into English by Henry 
Crew and ALFonso DE Satvio, of North- 
western University, with an introduction by 
ANTONIO Favaro, of the University of Padua. 
New York, The Macmillan Company. 1914. 
Pp. xxi-+ 300. Price $2.00 net. 

In these dialogues Galileo presents the re- 
sults of his investigations in mechanics and 
physics. His representative, Salviati, speak- 
ing either for himself or as the reader and 
expositor of the manuscript of a certain un- 
named academician—of course Galileo once 
again—is the principal speaker, and the source 
of most of the valuable original ideas. 
Sagredo, the more learned of the other two 
interlocutors, occasionally contributes some- 
thing of importance. Simplicio, as an inter- 
ested. layman, raises the objections which 
would occur to such a man, and gives occa- 
sion for the introduction of alternative ex- 


638 


planations or illustrations. In presenting 
such new and revolutionary views as these 
of Galileo the dialogue form is really the best 
that could have been used. Jt enables the 
author to consider the questions he treats from 
various points of view and to answer objec- 
tions or confirm and enlarge upon his proposi- 
tions, and to do this in an interesting way. 
The literary skill with which Galileo uses the 
advantages which the dialogue affords him is 
remarkable. 

The discussion of the first and second day 
is devoted to the subject of the resistance 
which solid bodies offer to fracture. On the 
first day the talk is not very systematic. 
Salviati introduces the subject by calling at- 
tention to a fact known to all practical men, 
though seemingly forgotten by the philos- 
ophers, that a large structure built of the 
relative dimensions of a small model is not of 
the same relative strength, but is always 
weaker; and declares his intention of proving 
the relations which must obtain among the 
dimensions of such structures in order that 
they shall be of equal strength; but he soon 
drifts off into other matters. Not to mention 
them all, we find in this book a discussion of 
the horror vacut, in which is described the 
famous experiment which showed that a suc- 
tion pump will not lift a column of water 
more than eighteen cubits, and in which 
Salviati describes an experiment to determine 
the limits of the horror vacui; a most inter- 
esting discussion of infinitesimals and of infi- 
nites; an experiment to determine the velocity 
of light; a study of the resistance which the 
air offers to a body moving through it, with a 
clear statement about the terminal velocity, 
and the general relation of this to the weight 
and surface of the body; experiments to deter- 
mine the specific gravity of air; the isochron- 
ism of the pendulum and the relation between 
its period and its length; and lastly the rela- 
tion of the pitch of a musical tone to the fre- 
quency of the vibration, demonstrated and 
illustrated by beautiful observations. The 
range of Galileo’s interests and the acute- 
ness of his thought can not be better appre- 
ciated than by a study of this book. 


SCIENCE 


the matter are unsurpassed. 


‘mechanics. 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1035 


On the second day Salviati, after giving 
Galileo’s famous demonstration of the law of 
the lever, goes on to a more formal study of 
the relations of the dimensions of beams to 
their breaking strength. 

The third and fourth day are devoted to the 
study of the motion of bodies. The discussion 
is the one that is familiar to every one from 
its use in text-books of mechanics. On the 
third day the subject considered is linear 
motion with constant acceleration on inclined 
planes. On the fourth day it is the path of 
projectiles. Both these books contain, be- 
sides the fundamental propositions which are 
well known and are still used, a great num- 
ber of others of less importance, which never- 
theless serve to show Galileo’s fertility of in- 
vention and geometrical skill. 

This outlme of their contents will show 
why it was worth while to translate Galileo’s 
Dialogues into English. The book is a recog- 
nized classic in physics. The freshness and 
beauty of the thought and the importance of 
It is a book 
which should particularly be examined by 
students of physical science at a stage in their 
progress at which the appreciation of the great 
original work of the present day would be 
impossible. It will bring such students at 
once into a range of thought which they can 
understand and will illuminate the arid 
wastes of the text-books in mechanics with the 
light of genius. 

The translators have succeeded remarkably 
well in preserving the lightness and grace of 
the style without sacrificing accuracy of ex- 
pression. The language used by Galileo is so 
unsystematic that it must have been often 
difficult to give the proper equivalents to his 
words and phrases. One suspects that the 
correct rendering of a word had sometimes to 
be determined by geometry. Without being 
pedantic about it, the translators have tried 
to use the modern technical equivalents of 
Galileo’s less accurate words, and have suc- 
ceeded so well that the book can be read easily 
by any one who has the slightest knowledge of 
The beginner will probably once 
in a while agree with Simplicio in his rueful 


OctoBER 30, 1914] 


complaint that the author “keeps on assum- 
ing that all of Euclid’s theorems are as famil- 
jar and available as his first axioms, which is 
far from true.” The occasional brief notes of 
the translators are helpful in the full under- 
standing of the text. 

The Dialogues were published in 1638, when 
Galileo’s life was nearly at an end, but it is 
shown by Professor Favaro in the scholarly 
introduction which he contributes to this edi- 
tion, that most of the discoveries described in 
them were made many years before, while 
Galileo was at Padua. 

The book is printed in a manner worthy of 
its contents. The diagrams and illustrations 
are reproductions of the originals. In pub- 
lishing this translation the authors have done 
a service to all English-speaking students of 
the history of physics. 

W. F. Mactr 


Chemistry and Its Borderland. By AuFrep 
W. Srewart, D.Se., lecturer on organic 
chemistry in the Queen’s University of 
Belfast, ete. With 11 illustrations and 2 
plates. Longmans, Green and Co. 1914. 
Pp. xii+ 314. Price $1.50 net. 


The scope of this book is best shown by 
giving the titles of the fifteen essays of which 
it consists. They are: The Ramification of 
Chemistry, The Allies of Chemistry among 
the Sciences, The Relations between Chemis- 
try and Industry, Immuno-chemistry and some 
Kindred Problems, Colloids and the Ultra- 
microscope, The Work of the Spectroscope, 
Chemistry in Space, The Inert Gases and their 
Place among the Elements, Radium, Niton, 
Transmutation, The Nature of the Elements, 
Chemical Problems of the Present and Future, 
The Methods of Chemical Research, and The 
Organization of Chemical Research. 

The first three of these essays, as well as 
the last three, appeal most interestingly to the 
general non-technical reader. The others, 
which deal with special developments of chem- 
istry, would hardly be intelligently read by 
those who have no chemical training, but 
they do serve well to give the chemist a com- 
prehension of the work that is going on in 


SCIENCE 


639 


other branches of his specialty. These par- 
ticular chapters are, however, somewhat lack- 
ing in clarity, especially that on immuno- 
chemistry. Jt is difficult to describe advanced 
work in any chemical field in easily compre- 
hensible language, and a failure to put the 
theories of Ehrlich and Metchnikoff success- 
fully into popular language is not to be won- 
dered at. Perhaps it is hardly worth while to 
try. 

The essay on Chemical Problems of the 
Present and Future presents an interesting 
discussion of the part to be played by chemis- 
try in energy and food supply. As possible 
developments along the line of sources of 
energy are suggested more efficient storage 
batteries and primary batteries, improved 
methods of utilizing solar radiations, artificial 
coal, the use of explosives in gas engines, and 
the use of radium. In discussing food supply 
the question of fertilizers is dwelt upon, with 
comments on the annual loss of $80,000,000 in 
the nitrogen of sewage carried into the sea. 
The future use of the seaweeds of the Sargasso 
Sea is mentioned and a good description is 
given of the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen 
in the electric furnace. A second division of 
the food problem is the discovery of new sup- 
plies. These may be materials which have 
hitherto, as foods, gone to waste, as oleomar- 
garine, or they may be synthetic foods. At 
present the latter are too expensive to be 
thought of, but processes for their manufac- 
ture on a large scale may some time be dis- 
covered. This leads the author to a brief dis- 
cussion of the possible synthetic production of 
living tissue. 

We have the means of building up more and 
more complex protein derivatives, and, sooner or 
later, we shall probably synthesize substances 
quite as complex as the natural protoplasmic 
materials; when this point is reached, unless our 
knowledge of ‘‘vital’’ reactions has considerably 
advanced, we shall at best be in the position of a 
watchmaker who has constructed a watch but has 
forgotten to make any contrivance for winding 
it up. At this point, chance might enter into the 
problem, and the protoplasmic machine we have 
designed might spontaneously set itself in mo- 
tion, but more than this we are not entitled to 


640 


expect. Experiment is the only possible test, and 
the date of the crucial trial is still far distant. 
This, however, does not prevent the author 
from indulging in an interesting speculation: 
Suppose that this new protoplasm had proper- 
ties slightly different from those types which we 
know; its accidental discovery might involve us 
in very serious consequences. Assume that it 
had great powers of assimilation and reproduc- 
tion, and we might find it rather a dangerous 
neighbor, so that finally the new discovery might 
end in the rapid extirpation of the long-sought- 
for product. Even more serious, however, would 
be the state of things if the synthetic creature 
tesembled our ordinary bacteria, and was capable 
of lodging in animals, and there liberating new 
forms of toxins against which we are not immun- 
ized. It is just a possibility, but it would cer- 
tainly be a most awkward end to an experiment. 


The further career of this future Franken- 
stein may be left to the speculations of H. G. 
Wells. 

The essays on chemical research may well 
be commended to every one interested in the 
future of those industries which are in any 
way connected with the applications of chem- 
istry. While written from an English stand- 
point, they are none the less applicable in 
America. In both these countries the future 
held out to the student of chemistry is by 
no means attractive and the expectation of 
adequate remuneration for a life work is less 
than in many other fields. Yet the future of 
these industries is bound up with chemical 
research, and that not merely in the field of 
the direct applications of chemistry, but even 
more especially in the field of pure science, 
and here it is that there is the least hope of 
adequate remuneration. The outlook is never- 
theless not without hope, both in Britain and 
in America. The foundation of the Carnegie 
Trust for the Universities of Scotland and 
the Science Research Scholarships of the 
Royal Commission for the International Ex- 
hibition of 1851 are dwelt on at length, as 
steps in the right direction, and in an appendix 
is set forth the Outline of a Scheme for the 
Improvement of Research Conditions, worthy 
careful perusal, however much one may dis- 
agree with some of the suggestions. 


SCIENCE 


[N. 5. Von. XL. No. 1035 


The book is well written and comparatively 
free from errors, though exception might be 
taken to the accuracy of occasional state- 
ments. We object seriously to the use, un- 
fortunately far too frequent here and else- 
where, of “body” where “substance” or 
“compound ” is meant, and we wonder if the 
word “researcher,” for one engaged in re- 
search, has come to stay. 

Jas. Lewis Howe 

WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY, 

LEXINGTON, VIRGINIA 


Nucleic Acids. Their Chemical Properties 
and Physiological Conduct. By WattEr 
Joxes, Ph.D. Longmans, Green & Co. 
1914. Pp. viii + 118. 

Nucleic acids and their components have 
held, for more than a century, the interest of 
the chemist, of the biologist, of the physician, 
of the pharmacologist, and of the physiologist. 

The first acquaintance with the derivatives 
of nucleic acid was made through the discovery 
of uric acid by Scheele in the year 1776. The 
name given to the substance betrays the scanty 
information of the discoverer concerning the 
chemical structure of the acid, hence of its 
exact place in the economy of the organism. 
The constant occurrence in the urine of ap- 
preciable quantities of uric acid may have led 
one to the conclusion that it belonged to the 
class of final products of metabolism. What 
was the mother substance of uric acid? The 
question could not be answered when informa- 
tion concerning the chemistry of the tissue 
components, or of food stuffs, was lacking. 

Nucleic acids were discovered much later 
by Altman, a cell biologist. He was in search 
for an explanation of the staining properties 
of cell nuclei. The problem, as far as Altman 
was concerned, was solved by the demonstra- 
tion of the presence in the cell nuclei of a 
substance with the properties of an acid. The 
substance was named nucleic acid. Altman 
little thought of the possible relationship of 
the new substance to the uric acid of the 
urine. On the other hand, the chemists and 
physicians engaged in researches on uric acid 


OcToBER 30, 1914] 


suspected as little a relationship between the 
two acids. Jt required years of labor to bring 
the two independent lines of inquiry to a 
common ground and to a mutual understand- 
ing. 

The inquiry into the chemical structure of 
uric acid led up to the classical work of 
Fischer on the “purin” derivatives. This 
work established the relationship of uric acid 
to xanthin, hypoxanthin, guanin and adenin— 
basic substances discovered in the extracts of 
animal tissues. It then became evident that 
the uric acid of the urine is a product of ani- 
mal combustion of purin bases. 

On the other hand, the inquiry into the 
structure of nucleic acids led up to the knowl- 
edge that these acids contain in their mol- 
ecule purin bases. Thus, by some display of 
imagination, the origin of the purin bases of 
tissue extracts could be explained by a rupture 
of the complex structure of the nucleic acid 
molecule. The genesis and the fate of uric 
acid became obvious. This triumph of knowl- 
edge is unquestionably important for its own 
sake. However, in this place it may be of 
service as an illustration of the scope of 
biological chemistry as compared with that of 
the structural organic chemistry. 

The discovery of the arrangement of atoms 
in a given molecule is the aim of the struc- 
tural chemist. The physical and chemical 
properties of a molecule are determined by 
the arrangement of the component atoms. 
The work of the chemist is completed when he 
is successful in arranging hypothetically all 
the atoms of the molecule in such a manner 
that the conduct of the molecule appears a 
natural sequence of this arrangement. 

Not so simple is the task of a biological 
chemist. A tissue component is not only a 
chemical, but also a biological unit. It is not 
only a reacting body but also a structural ele- 
ment of cells and tissues. Furthermore, it 
reacts not only in its state of integrity, but 
also in its state of dissociation. The dissocia- 
tion is most generally a complex process, and 
is controlled by well regulated mechanisms. 
In a word, the scope of biological chemistry is 
not only the chemical structure of substance, 


SCIENCE 


641 


but the life cycle of the structure, and the 
relation of this cycle to that of the other tissue 
elements. 

Hence, the biochemical problems are very 
complex, and for the present it is difficult to 
point out any tissue component regarding 
which our knowledge is complete. 

The subject of nucleic acid is one of the 
most successful chapters in the history of 
biochemical inquiry. Not that information 
is complete either in regard to the structure or 
in regard to the conduct of this group of 
substances. But the information that is lack- 
ing is small as compared with that already ac- 
quired. And the information acquired con- 
cerns equally the biologist, the chemist and 
the physician. 

To sum up all the recent progress in this 
field of research is a very difficult undertaking. 
Professor W. Jones in his monograph on 
“Nucleic Acids” has acquitted himself of the 
task in a most masterly manner. The work 
contains a very systematic and keen analysis 
of all the numerous publications in this field 
of biochemical research. And yet, the book 
reflects the personality of the author and his 
interests as an investigator. Dr. Jones has 
contributed considerably to the knowledge of 
the chemical structure of nucleic acids, but 
his most important contributions relate to 
the process of their disintegration in the 
organism. Naturally the chapters on the 
“eonduct” of the nucleic acids carry most 
inspiration. Hence, the biologist, the physi- 
cian, and the physiologist will read the book 
with special interest. However, also the chem- 
ist will find a complete and very comprehen- 
sive review of all the work dealing with the 
chemical structure of nucleic acids. 

The first part of the monograph deals with 
nucleins, nucleoproteins, and with “nucleic 
acids” in general. The second chapter of this 
part gives a good account of the chemistry of 
nucleic acids of animal origin, and the con- 
cluding chapter reviews the results of the re- 
cent work on the nucleic acids of plant origin. 

The second part gives a critical résumé of 
the very extensive literature dealing with the 
questions of biological formation of nucleic 


642 


acids, and of the process of their disintegra- 
tion. Reading these chapters, one can not 
help being impressed by the complexity of the 
mechanism which controls the catabolism of 
nucleic acids. There haye been described in 
the animal organism at least a dozen agents 
(enzymes) taking part in the work of the 
destruction of nucleic acids. Undoubtedly 
more will be discovered. Hach of the known 
enzymes is capable of inducing only one re- 
action, of performing only one phase in the 
general process. 

The reading of these chapters is instructive, 
not only for the information contained in them, 
but as an illustration of the means employed 
by the animal organism in order to bring 
about a very gradual transformation of the 
complex tissue components into simpler deriy- 
atives. How great must be the number of 
enzymes residing in animal tissues if more 
than a dozen are required for the catabolism 
of only one tissue component! 

P. A. Levene 


STANDARDIZATION OF COURSES AND 
GRADES 


Tue following regulations were adopted for 
the guidance of the faculty at a recent meet- 
ing of the president’s council of the George 
Washington University: 

To the President’s Council: The Committee on 
Standardizing Grades appointed last June begs 
leave to submit suggestions upon the following 
two problems: 

1. How can the amount of work required for 
each unit of credit be approximately equalized in 
the various courses? 

2. What common standard of grading can the 
various members of the faculty observe so that they 
will all grade approximately on the same standard? 

In submitting principles and standards for the 
solution of these problems the committee wishes 
first of all to be understood that it does not wish 
to dictate, or even to suggest, how any member of 
the faculty should do his work. It not only has oo 
intention of curtailing the legitimate rights and 
freedom of any teacher, but it desires especially 
to emphasize that these rights and freedom are sa- 
ered; that they are an indispensable condition for 
the best type of university work. 

But in schools, colleges and universities the per- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1035 


sonal side is not the only side to teaching. There 
is present also a social side which grows out of the 
fact that a school is in some fundamental aspects 
a social unit. The various members of the faculty 
are all working to contribute in piecemeal to the 
same end. They are all contributing to the 
rounded education of individuals, and to the ex- 
tent that social relationships are involved in this 
process to that extent is it necessary to observe 
similar standards and principles. When this is not 
done the equilibrium and the efficient working of 
the whole is disturbed. Students in considerable 
number will elect those courses in which they can 
get the largest number of eredits or the highest 
grades, or both, for the least work, and they will 
shun those courses in which the opposite is true. 

But in observing similar standards and principles 
in those matters that pertain to the school, as a 
whole, it would seem that no desirable aspect of the 
personal freedom of the teacher needs to be vio- 
lated. A common goal only needs to be recognized, 
the manner of reaching the goal being left to the 
individual teacher. We have here an example of 
the type of liberty within law that obtains else- 
where in society. 


Equalization of Units 


It appears to be true that the amount of work 
required of students in different courses carrying 
equal amounts of credit varies greatly. While in 
some courses little more than attendance upon lec- 
tures and the passing of examinations ig re- 
quired, in others from one to three or even four 
hours of outside preparation for each lesson is re- 
quired in addition. To minimize this divergence 
the committee recommends: 

(a) That all teachers strive to require about 
two hours of outside preparation for each lesson. 

(b) That courses which are now so weighted that 
they can not be completed with this amount of 
study be readjusted so that they can ordinarily be 
completed with two hours of preparation for each 
lesson. 

(c) That lecture courses in connection with 
which it is impossible or undesirable to assign any 
considerable amount of outside work carry one 
half as many credits as the number of lectures per 
week. 

Distribution of Grades 


Considered from the social standpoint, the col- 
lege, in common with other schools, performs two 
interrelated, although distinguishable fundamental 
functions. It (1) educates and it (2) selects. 


OCTOBER 30, 1914] 


The educative function is the one commonly rec- 
ognized and is in outline well understood. It in- 
eludes the imparting of ideals, knowledge and skill. 

The selective function, on the other hand, has 
been less commonly recognized, but it has always 
been present and is socially indispensable. The 
school not only imparts ideals, knowledge and skill, 
but it also designates those who have acquired these 
characteristics, and by the assignment of grades it 
aims to indicate the degree in which they have ac- 
quired them. k 

The giving of grades to students is only one of 
a number of means that the school uses in dis- 
charging the selective function of education, but 
it is one of the most important. Like other edu- 
cational functions it must be done carefully, in- 
telligently and uniformly in order to avoid injus- 
tice to the student. The desideratum of uniform- 
ity requires not only that each teacher always use 
approximately the same standard with all of his 
students, but that all teachers use approximately 
the same standard with all students. When this is 
not done, the educational equilibrium of the school 
is disturbed and injustice is done to the earnest 
and conscientious student. The less serious the 
students are the more they tend to gravitate toward 
the teachers that give the higher grades and the 
injustice that this tends to work upon the conscien- 
tious student when it comes to the awarding of 
honors and the recommending for positions is ob- 
vious. The giving of many high grades, further- 
more, gives many students a false and exaggerated 
notion of their ability. The grade of ‘‘A’’ espe- 
cially should be reserved for very exceptional abil- 
ity which in the nature of the case is rare. 

The principle underlying a uniform standard of 
grading is found in the distribution of mental abil- 
ity as revealed by psychological investigations. 
These investigations have shown, when sufficiently 
large numbers of people are considered, that abil- 
ity in general or in any particular line, is distri- 
buted in the form of a bell-shaped curve tech- 
nically known as the probability curve or the 
normal surface of frequency. Letting the base line 
represent the degrees of ability from poorest to 
best and the vertical lines the numbers of persons 
possessing each degree of ability, it is clear that 
there is but a small number of students with excel- 
lent ability, a larger number with good ability, a 
relatively large number with medium or average 
ability, a smaller number with sub-medium but 
passing ability, and a small number with distinctly 
unsatisfactory ability. 


SCIENCE 643 


There are, of course, no sharp dividing lines be- 
tween these different groups, and any such lines 
that are drawn are arbitrary. But when the base 
line is divided into five equal steps, representing 
therefore five approximately equal steps of abil- 
ity, the percentages of students that fall into each 
group are approximately as follows: 


Per Cent. 
Bex cellenbii (CAS) Wenisievelej<ceierernievorere 4 
Good (LED) eal ete caine les 24 
Medium (CLO) ranean ches 44 
Sub-medium (D) .............. 24 
Failure GEM Rae 4 
Mo baley pair niaisee) Nina 100 


These percentages mean in the present connec- 
tion that a teacher’s grades should in the long 
run be distributed approximately in the amounts 
indicated by these percentages. The grade of 
“C4 ,’? or excellent, should be assigned to about 4 
per cent. of the students; ‘‘B,’’ or good, to about 
24 per cent.; ‘‘C,’’ or medium, to about 44 per 
cent.; ‘‘D,’’ or sub-medium, to about 24 per cent.; 
and ‘‘H,’’ or failure, to about 4 per cent. It is 
quite likely that the percentage of failures in the 
lower classes may properly be somewhat higher 
than that in the upper, with corresponding changes 
in the other percentages, and failures may perhaps 
also properly be more frequent in professional 
schools than in liberal culture schools. Because of 
its immediate social responsibility, it is the duty 
of the professional school to apply the principle of 
selection rigidly. 

It should, however, not be inferred that the 


' grades assigned in any particular class, especially 


in a small class, must approximate closely to the 
distribution above given. The expression, ‘‘in the 
long run,’’ should be emphasized. The principle 
can not be applied mechanically, but it devolves 
apon each teacher to school himself to recognize 
excellent ability, good ability, and so on. 

W. OC. RuepIcEr, 

Gro. N. Hennive, 

Wm. A. WILBUR, 


Committee 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 
CORRELATION BETWEEN THE TERTIARY OF THE 
GREAT BASIN AND THAT OF THE MARGINAL 
MARINE PROVINCE IN CALIFORNIA 
In December, 1913, a party of students 
from the University of California working 


644 


under the leadership of Dr. Bruce Clark, in- 
structor in paleontology, obtained an interest- 
ing collection of remains of land mammals in 
Tertiary deposits north of Coalinga, on the 
west side of the Great Valley of California. 
As the Tertiary section in the Coalinga region 
is a part of the marginal marine series of 
Californian formations, and the mammalian 
remains obtained in these beds represent a 
land fauna best known in the epicontinental 
deposits ranging from the Great Basin east 
to the Great Plains region, this occurrence 
offers an unusual opportunity for correlation 
between the marginal marine province and the 
mammal-bearing deposits of the interior of 
the continent. 

‘Evidence bearing on the problem of corre- 
lation between the Great Basin and the 
Pacific Coast province is particularly weleome 
at this time, since there has been reason to 
believe that the geologic scales used in the 
two regions have not coincided in the limits 
of the periods. 

The mammalian remains obtained in the 
North Coalinga region were found at not less 
than four horizons ranging from beds gen- 
erally considered to be Lower Miocene or 
Upper Oligocene, to a horizon of Pleistocene 
or Pliocene stage. The occurrence of the 
faunal zones in the sequence of deposits in the 
North Coalinga region is shown in the table. 

The lowest horizon is characterized by 
abundance of horse teeth representing the 
genus Merychippus, and may be known as the 
Merychippus zone. At the second horizon 
from the base comparatively few remains are 
known. The presence of teeth of Neohipparion 
suggests the tentative designation of this por- 
tion of the section as the Neohipparion zone. 
The third of the principal horizons is char- 
acterized by the presence of a new species of 
horse designated as Protohippus coalingensis 
and may be known as the Protohippus coalin- 
gensis zone. The latest fauna is distinguished 
by the presence of a large specialized horse, 
probably representing the genus Hquus, and 
by remains of a form near Cervus. This may 
be- known as the Equus-Cervus fauna. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1035 


Occurrence of Mammal Zones in Tertiary Beds of 
the North Coalinga Region of California 


Time Divisions Tocalsor- Mammal Zones 
mations 
; =| 2 = 
RBleistocens Terrace de- | ? Equus-Cervus 
posits fauna in part 
Tulare 
Pliocene Etchegoin og /acopus eo 
lingensis 
| Jacalitos Neohipparion 
Tones “Santa Mar- 
Pp garita”’ 
Miocene | Middle 
Merychippus 
“Temblor”’ 
Lower 


The fauna of the Merychippus zone occur- 
ring in the “ Temblor ” beds commonly recog- 
nized as Lower Miocene, includes the follow- 
ing types. 

Merychippus, n. sp. 

Tetrabelodon %, sp. 

Procamelus %, sp. 

Prosthennops %, sp. 

Desmostylus, near hesperus Marsh. 
Isurus, sp. 


The horses of the Merychippus zone corres- 
pond very closely in most respects to Mery- 
chippus isonesus of the Mascall Middle Mio- 
cene of the eastern Oregon region. The stage 
of evolution of the teeth of this form is not 
reached by any species of the Lower Miocene 
in America. The proboscidean, Tetrabelodon?, 
has no certainly known relatives in America 
earlier than the Middle Miocene of our ac- 
cepted scale. The camel resembles a late Mio- 
cene type. It seems impossible to refer this 
fauna to a stage older than that of the Mas- 
call Miocene of the mammalian sequence of 
the Great Basin province. 

From the occurrence of the Merychippus 


OcroBER 30, 1914] 


fauna in the “Temblor” beds of the North 
Coalinga region, it seems clear that these ma- 
rine beds, commonly referred to Lower Mio- 
cene or late Oligocene, are not older than 
mammal-bearing beds of the interior of the 
continent referred to Middle Miocene. 

The “ Temblor ” beds of southern California 
represent a phase of the Monterey series of 
California, which is one of the best known and 
most widely spread of the divisions of the Ter- 
tiary. There seems good reason to believe 
that the Monterey series of California is ap- 
proximately to be correlated with the Mascall 
Middle Miocene of the Great Basin. 

A broad consideration of the lack of adjust- 
ment between the time scale of the Pacific 
Coast province and that of the Great Basin 
suggests that correlations of marine faunas 
of the Pacific Coast region, particularly those 
based on the percentage method, have tended 
to locate the time divisions relatively too far 
from the present or Recent. In late years, the 
refinement of specific characterization has 
proceeded very rapidly. Splitting the species 
as resulted in giving us a larger number of 
forms each of which has a relatively restricted 
geographic and geologic range. The percent- 
age method, as proposed by Lyell, when used 
with modern species naturally results in push- 
ing time divisions farther apart. 

The lack of adjustment in the time scale 
also suggests the desirability of testing the re- 
lation of Middle Miocene mammal-bearing 
beds of North America to the formations of 
Lower Miocene age in the European scale. 

The fauna of the second mammal zone of 
the Coalinga region comes from beds referred 
for the present to the Jacalitos formation. It 
includes a form referred to Protohippus by 
Arnold and Anderson, and a Neohipparion 
species of somewhat advanced stage. The 
Neohipparion material from this zone is in- 
sufficient for thoroughly satisfactory compari- 
son. It seems in part to be related to a 
Neohipparion from the Rattlesnake Pliocene 
of the John Day region of eastern Oregon. 
This species does not appear to be very closely 
related to the well-known HAipparion species 
in the Ricardo fauna from the Mohave Desert. 


SCIENCE 


645 


The fauna of the third or Protohippus 
coalingensis zone of the Etchegoin formation 
in the Coalinga region has as its most char- 
acteristic form a new species, Protohippus 
coalingensis,! which differs from all the de- 
seribed species found west of the Wasatch 
Range. It is most nearly related to a species 
represented in the Ricardo fauna of the Mo- 
have Desert. It does not, however, seem to be 
identical with the Ricardo form. The stage 
of this fauna, in very general terms, seems to 
be Pliocene. Both the Etchegoin of this zone 
and the Jacalitos below it were referred by 
Arnold and Anderson? to the Upper Miocene. 

The fourth fauna of the North Coalinga re- 
gion includes a number of species of relatively 
modern aspect. These include forms referable 
to Hqwus and to Cervus or Odocoileus. This 
assemblage may be known for the present as 
the Equus-Cervus fauna. Its stratigraphic 
position is not entirely clear. The fauna is in 
part much like that of the Pleistocene. 


JoHN ©. MERRIAM 


THE CRENATION AND FLAGELLATION 
ERYTHROCYTES 
I. Crenation 


OF HUMAN 


THE method of preparing the blood on which 
the following observations on crenation were 
made is very simple. A drop of blood obtained 
by pricking the finger is immediately sucked 
up into a pipette which contains one to two 
cubie centimeters of sterile Ringer’s solution 
or 0.85 per cent. sterile sodium chloride or 
human blood serum. The suspension is then 
mixed on a sterile glass slide until a homo- 
geneous suspension is obtained. A drop of the 
suspension is then transferred by means of a 
pipette to an absolutely clean large coverslip 
and the drop allowed to spread out into a thin 


1 Protohippus coalingensis, n. sp. Type speci- 
men, No. 21,341, Univ. Cal. Col. Vert. Pale. Dis- 
tinguished by large size, unusual narrowness of 
cheek-teeth in transverse diameter, small proto- 
cone and narrow, simple fossettes. 

2 Arnold, R., and Anderson, R., U. S. Geol. Sury. 
Bull. No. 398, p. 78, 1910. 


646 


film. The preparation is then mounted in a 
glass moist chamber, open to the air at one 
end, and examined at ordinary room tempera- 
ture. A drop of untreated human blood 
mounted in a moist chamber serves equally 
well, if the corpuscles be more or less separated, 


by spreading the blood into a thin film on 


the cover-slip. 

The preparations were studied at room tem- 
perature by means of both natural and arti- 
ficial light. A frosted Mazda light globe of 
sixty watts was used as the source of illu- 
mination, the light being passed through a 
glass container containing sufficient copper 
chloride to impart a weak blue color to the 
solution. The following observations were 
made with an ordinary Leitz 1:12 oil immer- 
sion lens and a No. 4 ocular. Certain finer 
details of structure were better revealed by a 
No. 12 compensating ocular. 

The microdissection technique used is the 
same as that employed by Kite! and involves 
the use of the Barbour pipette holder, the 
Barbour moist chamber, and exceedingly fine 
(1-2 microns) hard Jena glass needles and 
pipettes. 

When blood is prepared as above described 
certain of the cells are seen to have undergone 
more or less pronounced crenation as soon as 
they can be examined. If now a very fine 
needle point be brought up under a crenated 
erythrocyte, then carefully elevated so as to 
just touch the cell, and then immediately 
lowered, the corpuscle instantly regains an 
optically normal appearance and retains it 
for hours. Orenated cells thus brought back 
to the normal have never been seen to undergo 
subsequent crenation if left undisturbed. (It 
should be noted that in bringing the fine point 
of the dissecting needle into contact with the 
cell extreme care must be taken; otherwise, 
although the cell immediately rounds up and 
swells, yet within 20 to 30 seconds the hemo- 
globin dissolves out and only a so-called 
“shadow corpuscle” remains.) 

If a fine needle be raised into a drop con- 
taining normal red blood cells no crenation 


1A detailed description of the method will be 
published shortly. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Voz. XL. No. 1035 


occurs when the needle pierces the meniscus 
of the drop. If now the needle point be 
brought up alongside the cell (not touching 
the cell but in the same focal plane) the cor- 
puscle immediately crenates. The amount of 
crenation seems to be dependent somewhat on 
the proximity of the needle to the cell. As 
long as the needle remains in place the cre- 
nation persists, but as soon as the needle is 
lowered out of the focal plane of the cell the 
corpusele instantly goes back to the normal. 
This experiment of crenating and uncrenating 
a cell can be indulged in indefinitely, with 
always the same results. 

Various methods were employed. If, for in- 
stance, a fine microdissection needle be 
brought up alongside a completely crenated 
cell, and if the needle point be then carefully 
moved against the cell, pushing in a small are 
of the cell substance before it, immediately 
on lowering the needle away from the cell, the 
corpuscle rounds up and swells. Jn all the 
above-quoted and subsequent experiments cells 
brought back from the crenated stage remained 
intact and optically normal. In fact, such 
cells can not be distinguished from absolutely 
normal red-blood cells. 

Even more striking results on a somewhat 
larger scale are obtained when, instead of a 
needle, a very fine pipette is employed. The 
best results are obtained with a glass pipette 
whose lumen is not more than one micron in 
diameter. If such a pipette be raised into a 
field of crenated erythrocytes the instant the 
pipette pierces the meniscus of the drop all of 
the crenated and otherwise distorted cells in 
the field immediately round up and retain 
their perfectly normal, regular outline and 
appearance so long as the pipette is allowed 
to remain in the drop. If now the pipette be 
lowered out of the drop, all the cells immedi- 
ately go back to their irregular, crenated 
shape. The cells that were originally of a 
pointed oval shape, etc., for instance, return to 
their oval form, and the variously crenated 
cells return to their original stage of crenation. 

Tf, into a drop containing perfectly normal 
red-blood cells, a very fine pipette is raised and 
the experimenter exerts a very slight suction 


OcToBER 30, 1914] 


on the pipette, all the cells within a more or 
less definite zone about the pipette instantly 
erenate. If now the experimenter blows into 
the pipette very slightly (the pipette, of 
course, still being in the drop) the cells imme- 
diately round up and remain perfectly normal. 
This alternate crenating and uncrenating the 
cells can be indulged in repeatedly. 

Examination of red-blood cells kept for 
hours in a moist chamber gives evidence that 
probably there are a number of more or less 
definite types and stages of crenation. In 
preparations of crenated erythrocytes a vary- 
ing number (dependent somewhat upon the 
age of the preparation) are seen to undergo an 
internal change (as noted by Kite) which is 
characterized by the formation of refractile 
granules and rods, of somewhat definite size, in 
the cell substance. ‘The exact relation of this 
phase to crenation has not yet been determined. 
The deposition of these rods and granules is 
very possibly a coagulation phenomenon. 
Cells that have undergone such a change are 
apparently more stable and less easily brought 
back to the normal than crenated but optically 
homogeneous corpuscles. Such cells can be 
sucked up into a pipette and expelled into the 
same or different drop without undergoing 
any apparent alteration in shape or size. Such 
a cell can, however, be brought back to the 
normal by raising a needle against the cell 
body and immediately lowering it. The gran- 
ules and rods instantly disappear and the cell 
immediately assumes an apparently perma- 
nent normal outline and appearance. 

All of the above experiments can be per- 
formed equally well whether the blood cells be 
mounted im an isotonic, slightly hypotonic or 
slightly hypertonic solution. Certain of the 
experiments, especially, would seem to indicate 
that the phenomenon is apparently outside the 
sphere of any possible osmotic process, depend- 
ent upon an alteration in a hypothetical semi- 
permeable membrane around the red-blood cor- 
pusele. Rather the experiments would lead 
one to suspect that the shape a red-blood cell 
assumes is an expression of surface tension 
forces. The experiments also serve to empha- 
size the extreme irritability of protoplasm. 


SCIENCE 


647 


Il. Flagellation 


In an article? to be published shortly in the 
Journal of Infectious Diseases, Kite records 
a series of dark-field observations on the struc- 
tural modifications undergone by the blood 
cells of various vertebrates when mounted in 
liquid plasma containing Ringer’s fluid and 
hirudin and examined in sealed preparations. 
He records dark field observations of various 
types of both motile and non-motile processes 
which appear on the blood cells of vertebrates. 

After studying certain of these structural 
changes in sealed preparations by means of 
the dark field and special condensers it seemed 
of interest to more carefully study red-blood 
cells mounted in a Barbour moist chamber 
freely open to the air, and to determine 
whether these changes could be seen by ordi- 
nary transmitted light and without the aid 
of special condensers. For this purpose the 
following experiments were undertaken. It 
should be recorded here that, although one 
type of process mentioned below is apparently 
coarser and of a somewhat different nature 
than any of the processes figured by Kite, yet 
there is no reason to suppose that this type of 
process is anything more than possibly an- 
other phase in the transformations described 
by him. As can be determined by reference 
to Kite’s paper, priority of certain of the fol- 
lowing observations made under somewhat 
different conditions belong to him. Control 
observations with hirudinized preparations 
haye been made with the same results. The 
method of preparing the microscopic mounts 
is the same as described above under crenation. 

Immediately upon making the preparation 
a large proportion of the red-blood cells are 
seen to possess very short non-motile spinous 
processes which line the entire periphery of the 
cell. Within forty to fifty minutes after the 
preparation is made the erythrocytes are seen 
to possess long processes, some of which exhibit 
a rapid whip-like motion, others a slow undu- 


2‘¢<Some Structural Modifications of the Blood 
Cells of Vertebrates,’’ G. L. Kite. Read before 
the Society for Experimental Biology and Medi- 
cine, April 15, 1914. 


648 SCIENCE 


latory movement, while still others are abso- 
_lutely motionless. These processes, which can 
be seen to be thrown out from the cell and 
possess unquestioned continuity with the cell, 
apparently originate from small blunt projec- 
tions which appear on the surface of the cell. 
These processes appear alike on crenated and 
uncrenated cells, are comparatively easily seen, 
and vary in length from two to three microns 
to as long as 30 microns. Under certain con- 
ditions, the details of which have not been 
worked out, they are capable of extremely rapid 
retraction. Frequently oval erythrocytes with 
the two ends drawn out into a long fine 
whipping process which may have a length 
of five to six times the diameter of the cell are 
found. Cells with these beating processes are 
rapidly whipped across the field. These long 
fine processes, when they first appear on the 
red cells, are of a clear, non-granular nature. 
After whipping for twenty to thirty minutes 
they have been seen to take on a granular, 
beaded appearance. The beaded processes con- 
tinue to beat. If watched, certain of these 
processes can be seen to break off from the 
cell, and even after being detached, continue 
to whip across the field. If these detached 
processes are further observed they can be 
seen to eventually break down, the granules 
floating free in the preparation and exhibiting 
marked Brownian movements. These gran- 
ules apparently hold up, and at the end of 
five or six hours are found in large numbers. 

By means of the microdissection technique 
devised by Kite the fine beating processes on 
the red blood cells have been dissected off. 
When a process is dissected off the cell, the 
broken-off process may remain sticking to the 
point of the needle. The free end continues to 
whip for as long as forty minutes after being 
detached from the cell. If a process be dis- 
sected off near the cell the small portion re- 
maining attached to the cell continues to 
whip. 

If a motionless process on an erythrocyte is 
touched at any point along its extent by a 
yery fine needle the process immediately begins 
to whip. For instance, an erythrocyte of per- 
fectly regular outline with a long (20-30 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1035 


micron) process at each pole of the cell was 
watched for forty-five minutes. During this 
time the cell did not change in outline, and the 
cell and its processes remained absolutely mo- 
tionless. At the end of this time one of the 
processes was touched near its base. The proc- 
ess immediately commenced to whip, and the 
motionless process at the other pole of the cell 
took on a very slow undulatory movement. 
When this latter undulating process was 
touched by the needle, it, too, immediately 
commenced to whip. The two actively whip- 
ping processes soon carried the cell out of the 
field, and the cell was followed in its progress 
through a number of fields. At the end of 
thirty minutes the processes were still whip- 
ping the cell through the preparation. The 
long processes are exceedingly flexible and 
seem to beat in an arhythmic manner. They 
frequently are seen to whip around the cell to 
which they are attached, and become glued to 
the surface of the cell. After several minutes 
they can be seen to beat free from the cell and 
continue their active whipping motion. The 
apparent viscidity of the processes is evi- 
denced by the fact that two or more beating 
processes of the same or neighboring cell fre- 
quently become entangled and stick together. 
They may become freed naturally, or they can 
be pulled apart by means of the dissecting 
needle. At times the middle portion of a long 
process becomes stuck to the cell while the 
free terminal portion continues to whip. - 

If a dissecting needle be brought up along 
side the middle portion of one of these long 
beating processes, and this portion then be 
carefully pushed so as to form an are, the distal 
portion of the process continues to beat in a 
line with the motionless proximal portion. If 
too much tension is placed on the process it is 
torn loose. The various types of motile and 
non-motile processes on the red-blood cells can 
be found in moist chamber preparations of 
blood mounted in 0.85 per cent. sodium 
chloride for many hours after the preparation 
is made (at least twenty-four hours). 


Wave W. OLIVER 
MARINE BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY, 
Woops HOLE 


4 


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CONTENTS 


The Germplasm as a Stereochemic System: 
PROFESSOR EDWARD TYSON REICHERT .... 649 
The Content and Structure of the Atom: Pro- 


FEessor G. W. STEWART 661 


Methods of Resuscitation ..............0005 663 


Awards of the John Scott Medal 664 


Proceedings of the National Academy of Sci- 


ences 664 


oosoeadgs ousted s 665 


Scientific Notes and News 


Unwersity and Educational News .......... 669 


Discussion and Correspondence :— 


The History of Science: PROFESSOR 
Water Lippy. Some Inconsistencies im 
Physics Text-books: Suz Avis BLAKE. 
Chemistry in the Agricultural College: C. 
A. Peters. The Renouncing of Honorary 


Degrees: A. E. SHIPLEY 670 


Se i ee ry 


Scientific Books :— 


Preece’s Telegraphy: PRoressor A. E. KEn- 
NELLY. Smith’s History of Mathematics, 
The Development of Mathematics in China 
and Japan: Proressor Louis C. Karpin- 
SKI. Eaton on The Birds of New York: 
Dr. J. A. ALLEN. Curtis on the Nature and 
Development of Plants: PRoressor J. E. 


KirRK woop 674 


Botanical Notes :— 


The Annwersary of a Great Garden; Tricar- 
pellary and Tetracarpellary Ash Fruits; 
Stamens and Ovules of Carnegitea gigantea: 
RROFESSOR CHARLES EH, BESSEY .......... 678 


Special Articles :— 


Actiwation of the Unfertilized Egg by Ultra- 
violet Rays: Dr. JAcQuES LorB. Determ- 
nation of the Lunar and Solar Deflection 
of the Vertical: Dr. R. A. Harris. Ap- 
prozimate Measurement of Textile Fibers: 


N. A. Copp 680 


ee ee ee ee 


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


“2 


t 


—$———————SSSSSsssHy 


THE GERMPLASM AS A STHEREOCHEMIC 
SYSTEM1 


THE discovery in 1883 by Dr. S. Weir Mit- 
chell and myself that the toxic principles of 
the yenoms of serpents are albuminous marked 
an era in the chemistry, physiology and 
pathology of proteins, and among other things 
laid the foundation of our knowledge of bac- 
terial and other toxalbumins. Since that time 
our information of the properties of albumin- 
ous substances, then extremely meager and 
somewhat chaotic, has greatly advanced, and 
many investigations have been made to deter- 
mine the precise nature of these poisons, with 
the effect of more or less modifying the state- 
ments we then set forth. The astonishing 
fact that these terribly lethal substances were 
found by the tests of the day to be proteins, 
and that apart from their toxie properties 
they were indistinguishable from cdrrespond- 
ing bodies that are ingested as food or derived 
therefrom by the processes of digestion, or 
found as normal constituents of the living 
tissues generally, naturally led me to much 
speculation and ultimately to the pursuit of 
the very elaborate series of researches that I 
have been carrying on during the past decade 
under the auspices of the Carnegie Institu- 
tion of Washington, reports of two of which 
haye appeared as Publications Nos. 116 and 
178. 

It would be futile for me to attempt within 
the necessarily restricted time that can rea- 
sonably be allotted to the reading of a com- 
munication to present in a satisfactory form 
even the briefest summary of the very volu- 
minous results and conclusions that are em- 
bodied in these works, or even an outline of 


1 Read by title at the meeting of the American 
Philosophical Society, April 25, 1914, and in fuil 
before the Society of Normal and Pathological 
Physiology of the University of Pennsylvania, 
April 28, 1914. 


650 


their bearings upon a vast number of prob- 
lems of normal and abnormal biology, so that 
perforce my remarks shall be limited to a 
fragment—a fragment which bears upon one 
of the most baffling yet all-absorbing prob- 
lems of life, why “like begets like.” 


A. The Specificity of Stereotsomerides in 
Relation to Genera, Species, etc. 


These researches have as their essential 
basis the conception that in different organisms 
corresponding complex organic substances that 
constitute the supreme structural components 
of protoplasm and the major synthetic products 
of protoplasmic activity are not in any case 
absolutely identical in chemical constitution, 
and that each such substance may exist in 
countless modifications, each modification being 
characteristic of the form of protoplasm, the 
organ, the indiwidual, the sex, the species and 
the genus. This conception was supported not 
only by the extraordinary differences noted 
between the albuminous substances of venom 
and those of other parts of the serpent, but 
also by the results of the investigations of 
Hanriot, who described marked differences in 
the properties of the lipases of the pancreatic 
juice and the blood; of Hoppe-Seyler and 
others who stated that the pepsins of cold- 
and warm-blooded animals are not identical; 
of Wroblewsky and others who recorded differ- 
ences in the pepsins of mammals; of Kossell 
and his students who found that the protamins 
obtained from the spermatozoa of different 
species of fish are not identical; and of vari- 
ous observers who have noted that the erythro- 
eytes of one species when injected into the 
blood of another are in the nature of foreign 
bodies and rapidly destroyed. During sub- 
sequent years, and especially very recently, 
data have been rapidly accumulating along 
many and diverse lines of investigation which 
collectively indicate that every individual is 
a chemical entity that differs in characteristic 
particulars from every other. To any one 
familiar with the advances of biochemistry 
and with the trend of scientific progress to- 
wards the explanation of vital phenomena on 
a physico-chemical basis, it will be obvious that 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8S. Von. XL. No. 1036 


if the conception of the non-uniform consti- 
tution of corresponding proteins and other 
corresponding complex organic substances in 
different organisms and parts of organisms 
were found to be justified by the results of 
laboratory investigation a bewildering field of 
speculation, reasoning and investigation would 
be laid open—a field so extensive as to include 
every domain of biological science, and seem- 
ingly to render possible, and even probable, a 
logical explanation of the mechanisms under- 
lying the differentiation of individuals, sex, 
varieties, species and genera; of the causes of 
fluctuations and mutations; of the phenomena 
of Mendelism and heredity in general; of the 
processes of fecundation and sex-determina- 
tion; of the tolerance of certain organisms 
to organic poisons that may be extremely 
virulent to other forms of life; of tumor for- 
mation, reversions, malformations and mon- 
sters; of anaphylaxis, certain toxemias, immu- 
nities, etc.; and of a vast number of other 
phenomena of normal and abnormal life which 
as yet are partially or wholly clothed in 
mystery. 

Some years previous to the discovery of the 
nature of the lethal constituents of venoms, 
Pasteur found that there exist three kinds of 
tartaric acid which, because of different effects 
on the ray of polarized light, are distinguished 
as the dextro-, levo- and racemic-tartaric 
acids, the dextro form rotating the ray to the 
right, the levo form to the left, and the race- 
mic form not at all. When these acids were 
subjected in separate solutions to the actions 
of Penicillium glaucum fermentation pro- 
ceeded in the dextro form, but not in the lxvo 
form, while in the solution of the racemic 
acid, which is a mixture of the dextro and 
levo acids, the dextro form disappeared, leav- 
ing the levo moiety unaffected. All three 
acids have the same chemical composition and 
chemical properties, but differ strikingly in 
their effects on polarized light and in nutri- 
tive properties. Identical or corresponding 
peculiarities have since been recorded in rela- 
tion to a large number of substances. Thus, 
of the twelve known forms of hexoses, or glu- 
coses, only the dextro forms are fermentable, 


November 6, 1914] 


that is, capable of being used by certain low 
organisms as food, but not all are thus avail- 
able, and, moreover, those which are show 
marked differences in the degree of fermenta- 
bility. In the case of other substances Penz- 
ciliwm may consume the levo form, but not 
the dextro form. Other organisms show similar 
selectivities, using either dextro or levo form, 
or both, but in the latter case in unequal 
degree. Even more striking instances have 
been recorded in the actions of poisons, as, for 
instance, dextro-nicotine is only half as toxic 
as the levo form; dextro-adrenalin has only 
one twelfth the power of the levo form; 
racemic-cocaine has a quicker and more in- 
tense but less lasting action than the levo 
form; the asparagines, hyoscines, hyoscya- 
mines and other substances have been found 
to exhibit marked differences in accordance 
with variations in their optical properties. 
With other bodies belonging to this category 
it may be found that one form is sweet while 
another is tasteless; another may be odorous, 
but its enantiomorphous form without odor. 

To the foregoing there may be added exam- 
ples of other substances that exist in several 
forms, but which physico-chemically belong 
to a different class. Thus, nitroglycerine may 
exist in forms that are so different that under 
given conditions of temperature and percus- 
sion one is explosive and the other non-explo- 
sive. Differences in substances which are 
found in allotropiec forms may be as marked 
as in any of the preceding illustrations, as, for 
Instance, in the case of phosphorus, which is 
familiar as the yellow, white, black and red 
varieties, all of which with the exception of 
red phosphorus are exceedingly poisonous, while 
the latter is inert. The ortho, meta and para 
forms of a given substance may exhibit more 
or less marked physiological and toxicological 
variations, and so on. 

The explanation of the remarkable differ- 
ences shown by these substances, which differ- 
ences are paralleled by those manifested by the 
lethal and imnocuous proteins of the serpent, 
the pepsins, the protamins and the red blood 
corpuscles is to be found in the results of two 
independent but intimately related lines of 


SCIENCE 


651 


physico-chemical research: (1) The investi- 
gations of Van’t Hoff and LeBel and subse- 
quent observers which have laid the founda- 
tion of a new, and to the biologist and physi- 
cian an extraordinarily important, develop- 
ment of chemistry known as stereochemistry— 
a department that treats of the arrangements 
of the atoms, groups and masses of molecules, 
or in other words of intramolecular arrange- 
ment or configuration of molecular components 
in the three dimensions of space. (2) The 
investigations of Willard Gibbs and others 
which have given us the “phase rule,” which 
defines the phases or forms in which a given 
substance or combifiation of substances may 
exist owing to differences in intramolecular 
and extramolecular arrangements and concen- 
tration of their components in relation to 
temperature and pressure. 

According to stereochemistry a given sub- 
stance may exist in multiple forms dependent 
upon differences in the configuration of the 
molecule, all of which forms have in common 
the fundamental chemical characteristics of 
a given prototype, yet each may have certain 
properties which positively distinguish it from 
the others. Theoretically, such substances as 
serum albumin, serum globulin, hemoglobin, 
starch, glycogen and chlorophyl may be pro- 
duced by nature in countless modified forms, 
owing to differences in intramolecular ar- 
rangements. Miescher has estimated that the 
serum globulin molecule may exist in a thou- 
sand million forms. Substances that exist in 
such multiple forms of a prototype are dis- 
tinguished as stereoisomers. The remarkable 
fact has been noted by Fischer and others 
that stereoisomers may exhibit as great or 
even greater differences in their properties 
than those manifested by even closely related 
isomers, which latter in comparison with stereo- 
isomers are distantly if at all chemically 
related. As already imstanced, so slight a 
change in molecular configuration as gives 
rise to dextro and levo forms may be suffi- 
cient to cause definite and characteristic and 
even profound differences in physical, nutri- 
tive and physiological properties. 

In accordance with the “phase rule” a sub- 


652 


stance or a combination of substances may 
exist in the form of heterogeneous or homo- 
geneous systems, a heterogeneous system con- 
sisting of a number of homogeneous systems, 
each of which latter is a manifestation of an 
individual phase and distinguishable from the 
others by physical, mechanical, chemical or 
physiological properties. The number of 
phases of a heterogeneous system increases 
with the number of component systems, and 
the number of the latter is in direct relation- 
ship to the number of independent variable 
constituents. Therefore, by means of varia- 
tions of either or both intramolecular or extra- 
molecular arrangement the number of forms of 
a substance or combination of substances may 
range from few to infinite. 

Our means of differentiating stereoisomers 
are, on the whole, limited, and for the most 
part crude, and while it has been found that 
differences so marked as those referred to may 
be detected by the ordinary procedures, it seems 
obvious that the inherent limitations of such 
methods render them inadequate where a large 
number of stereoisomerides or related bodies 
which may exhibit only obscure modifications 
are to be definitely differentiated, so that 
other and more sensitive methods must be 
sought, or at least special methods that are 
adapted to exceptional conditions. The re- 
sults of much preliminary investigation in 
this direction led in one research to the adop- 
tion of the crystallographic method, especially 
the use of the polarizing microscope, which 
in its very modern developments of analysis 
has demonstrated that substances which have 
different molecular structures exhibit corre- 
sponding differences in crystalline form and 
polariscopic properties; and, moreover, that 
the “ optical reactions” may be found to be as 
distinctive and as exact analytically as the 
reactions obtained by the conventional methods 
of the chemist. Furthermore, the necessities 
of the hypothesis demanded the selection of a 
substance for study of a character which upon 
theoretical grounds might be expected to exist 
in nature widely distributed and readily pro- 
curable, and, as a consequence, hemoglobin 
was selected. 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8S. Von. XL. No. 1036 


In the investigation of the hemoglobins I 
had as a coworker Professor Amos Peaslee 
Brown. Hemoglobins were examined that were 
obtained from over 100 animals, representing 
a large variety of species, genera and families, 
From the data recorded certain facts are 
especially conspicuous, among which may be 
mentioned the following: 

1. The constant recurrence of certain angles, 
plane and dihedral, in the hemoglobins of 
various species, even when the species are 
widely separated and the erystals belong to 
various crystal systems. This feature indi- 
cates a common structure of the hemoglobin 
molecules, whatever their source. 

2. The constant recurrence of certain types 
of twinning in the hemoglobins, and the prev- 
alence of mimosie. This has the same signif- 
icance as the foregoing. 

3. The constancy of generic characters in 
the crystals. The crystals of the various spe- 
cies of any genus belong to a crystallographic 
group. When their characters are tabulated 
they at once recall crystallographic groups of 
inorganic compounds. The erystals of the 
genus Felis constitute an isomorphous group 
which is as strictly isomorphous as the groups 
of rhombohedral and orthorhombic carbonates 
among minerals, or the more complex mole- 
cules of the members of the group of mono- 
symmetric double sulphates. 

4. The crystallographic specificity in rela- 
tion to species. The crystals of each species of 
a genus, when they are favorably developed 
for examination in the polarizing microscope, 
can usually be distinguished from each other 
by definite angles and other properties, while 
preserving the isomorphous character belong- 
ing to the genus. Where, on account of diffi- 
culty of measurement, the differences can not 
be given a quantitative value variations in 
habit and mode of growth of the erystals often 
show specific differences. 

5. The occurrence of several types of oxy- 
hemoglobin in members of certain genera, 
In some species the oxyhemoglobin is dimor- 
phous and in others trimorphous. Where sev- 
eral types of crystals occur in this way in the 
species of a genus the crystals of each type 


NOVEMBER 6, 1914] 


‘may be arranged in an isomorphous series. 
In other words, certain genera as regards the 
hemoglobins are isodimorphous and others 
isotrimorphous. 

6. When orders, families, genera or species 
are well separated the hemoglobins are corre- 
spondingly markedly differentiated. For in- 
stance, so different are the hemoglobins of 
Aves, Marsupialia, Ungulata and Rodentia 
that there would be no more likelihood of con- 
founding the hemoglobins than there would 
be of mistaking the animals themselves. Hven 
where there is much less zoological separation, 
as in the case of the genera of a given family, 
but where there is well-marked zoological dis- 
tinction, the hemoglobins are so different as 
to permit readily of positive diagnosis. When, 
however, the relationships are close the hemo- 
globins are correspondingly close, so that in 
instances of an alliance such as in Canis, 
Vulpes and Urocyon, which genera years ago 
were included in one genus (and doubtless 
correctly) the hemoglobins are very much 
alike, and im these cases they may exhibit 
closer resemblances than may be found in 
general in specimens obtained from well-sepa- 
rated species of a genus. 

So distinctive zoologically are these modified 
forms of hemoglobins that we had no difficulty 
in recognizing that the common white rat is 
the albino of Mus norvegicus (Mus norvegicus 
albus Hatai) and not of Mus rattus, as almost 
universally stated, and that Urside are related 
to Phocidze (as suggested by Mivart 30 years 
ago), but not to Canide, as stated in modern 
works on zoology. Moreover, we were quick 
to detect errors in labeling, as, for instance, 
when a specimen marked as coming from a 
species of Papio was found to belong to one 
of the Felidz. Generic forms of hemoglobin 
when obtained from well-separated genera are, 
in fact, so different in their molecular struc- 
tures that when any two are together in solu- 
tion they do not fuse to form a single kind of 
hemoglobin or a homogeneous solution, but 
continue as discrete disunited particles, so 
that when crystallization occurs each erystal- 
lizes independently of the other and without 
modification other than that which is depend- 


SCIENCE 


653 


ent upon such incidental conditions as are to 
be taken into account ordinarily during crys- 
tallization. Thus, the hemoglobin of the dog 
erystallizes in rhombic prisms which have a 
diamond-shaped cross-section; that of the 
guinea-pig in tetrahedra; that of the squirrel 
in hexagonal plates; and that of the rat in 
elongated six-sided plates. When any two of 
these hemoglobins are together in solution and 
erystallization occurs, each appears in its own 
form. Such phenomena indicate that the 
structures of the hemoglobin molecules are: 
quite different; in fact, more differentiated! 
than the molecules of members of an isomor- 
phous group of simple carbonates, such as the 
carbonates of calcium and magnesium which 
when in separate solutions crystallize in 
rhombohedrons whose corresponding angles 
differ 2° 15’, but which when in molecular 
union, as in the mineral dolomite, crystallize 
as a single substance which has an intermedi- 
ate angle. 

Upon the basis of our data it is not going 
too far to assume that it has been satisfactorily 
demonstrated theoretically, inferentially and 
experimentally that at least this one substance 
(hemoglobin) may exist in an inconceivable 
number of stereoisomeric forms,? each form 
being peculiar to at least genus and species 
and so decidedly differentiated as to render the 
“hemoglobin crystal test” more sensitive in 
the recognition of animals and animal rela- 
tionships than the “ zooprecipitin test.” 

Subsequent to the research referred to in- 
vestigations have been pursued in the study 
of hemoglobins from various additional sources, 
especially from representatives of Primates, 
with the result in the latter case of finding 
indubitable evidence of an ancestral allianee 
of man and the man-like apes. 

More or less elaborate studies by erystallog- 
raphie and other methods have also been made 
with other albuminous substances and with 
starches, glycogens, phytocholesterins, chlo- 


2Even if we assume that the different forms 
are not, strictly speaking, stereoisomers it must be 
admitted that hemoglobin exists in forms that are 
specifically modified in relation to genera and 
species. : 


654 


rophyls and other complex synthetic products 
of animal and plant life, especially with 
starches, of which over 300 specimens were 
examined that were obtained from different 
plant sources, including representatives of a 
considerable number of families, genera, spe- 
cies, varieties and hybrids. In all of these in- 
vestigations the results are not only in full 
accord with those of the hemoglobin researches 
but also in some instances of broader signif- 
icance because by better methods of differen- 
tiation in some cases it was found possible to 
recognize not only peculiarities as regards 
genus or species, but also varieties and hybrids, 
and even to trace in hybrids with marked 
definiteness the transmission of parental char- 
acteristics. 

Summing up the results of these indepen- 
dent but interwoven researches, we find that 
the modified forms of each of these substances 
lend themselves to a very definite system of 
classification, and to one that is in general 
accord with that of the botanist and zoologist, 
that is, each genus is characterized by a dis- 
tinctive type of hemoglobin, albumin, starch, 
etc., as the case may be, which may be desig- 
nated the generic-type; every species of the 
genus will have a modification of this type, 
which is a species-type, or generic primary 
sub-type; and every variety of a species will 
have a modification of the species-type, that is 
a variety-type, or generic secondary sub-type, 
or species sub-type. In fact, it seems clear 
that with revisions of present classifications 
that are certain to come there will be found 
definite family types; and, moreover, that 
with improved methods of differentiation there 
will be discovered positively distinctive sex- 
and individual-types. This last statement 
already has support in the results of collateral 
lines of research which bear upon the speci- 
ficities of enzymes, anaphylaxis, precipitin re- 
actions, immune sera, etc. 

From the foregoing data it seems obvious 
that the complex organic substances which 
may be assumed to constitute the essential 
fundamental constituents of protoplasm and 
the ammediate complex synthetic products of 
protoplasmic activity may exist im exceedingly 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1036 


numerous or even countless stereoisomeric 
forms, each form being peculiarly and speci- 
fically modified in relation to genus, species, 
variety, race, sex, indwidual or even part of 
an individual. 


B. Protoplasm a Complex Stereoisomeric 
System 


The next logical step in our investigation is 
manifestly the study of the bearings of these 
stereoisomers, as such and in their variable 
combinations and associations, upon the struc- 
ture, processes and products of protoplasm. 
Protoplasm according to the modern develop- 
ments of biochemistry is to be regarded as 
being in the nature of an extremely complex, 
labile aggregate of proteins, fats, carbohydrates 
and other substances that are peculiarly agso- 
ciated to constitute a physico-chemical mechan- 
ism. The possible number of “phases” in 
which such a system can exist varies with the 
forms of the stereoisomerides and in general 
with the number and independent variability 
of the components. In such a mechanism we 
conceive that the number of variables is in- 
conceivably great. From analogy we believe 
that such mechanisms are so extremely sensi- 
tive that the properties and processes may be 
modified by even so slight a change as the sub- 
stitution of one form of stereoisomeride for 
another of the same prototype. Were it prac- 
ticable to examine all of the most complex of 
the organic structural components of proto- 
plasm, it doubtless would be found that every 
one exists in a form that is peculiar to the 
individual and his position in classification. 
Moreover, we must conceive that the com- 
ponents of protoplasm are as specific in rela- 
tion to the form of protoplasm as are the 
peculiar forms of stereoisomers, so that differ- 
ent forms of protoplasm are characterized 
physico-chemically (1) by the peculiarities of 
the stereoisomerides, and (2) by the pecu- 
liarities of the kinds, combinations, associa- 
tions and arrangements of the components in 
the three dimensions of space. 

In accordance with the foregoing the human 
organism may be regarded as being a highly 
organized composite of heterogeneous physico- 


NOVEMBER 6, 1914] 


chemical systems that are composed of a vast 
number of parts, each such part representing 
a particular “phase” of the system and being 
physically, mechanically, chemically and func- 
tionally an individual interacting unit of the 
aggregate. Hence, it follows that the sum or 
totality of these peculiarly modified stereo- 
isomers per se, and of their arrangements with 
the associated components, constitutes a 
“stereochemic system” that is peculiar to the 
cell; that the sum of the cell-systems is pecu- 
liar to the tissue; that the sum of the tissue- 
systems is peculiar to the organ; and that 
the sum of the organ-systems is peculiar to 
the individual. 

While the living organism had been for 
years recognized as being in the nature of an 
exceedingly complex physico-chemical aggre- 
gate of interacting independent and interde- 
pendent parts that constitute a single working 
unit, it has been in only recent years that the 
mechanisms that bring about cooperative activ- 
ities of the various parts has been made clear. 
The governing influences of the nervous sys- 
tem were found inadequate even in the highest 
organisms, not to speak of forms of life in 
which such actions occur, but in which there 
is apparently a total absence of nervous 
matter. As an associate of the nervous system, 
and doubtless far antedating it in organic evo- 
lution, is a correlative mechanism of a chem- 
ical character that is of the greatest impor- 
tance, and doubtless equally so throughout the 
whole range of living organisms from the 
lowest to the highest. Every living cell, whether 
it be in the form of a unicellular organism or 
a eomponent of a multicellular organism, is 
undoubtedly in the nature of a heterogeneous 
stereochemic system, each of the component 
parts of the system forming substances which 
may affect directly or indirectly the activities 
of the processes of the other parts; likewise 
every cell of a multicellular organism is not 
only in itself a heterogeneous system, but a 
part of a number of associated heterogeneous 
systems and which by virtue of certain of its 
products, with or without the agency of the 
blood-vascular or lymph-vascular systems, may 
exercise influences upon other structures, 


SCIENCE 


655 


which structures may have or seemingly not 
have either structural or physiological rela- 
tionship. Thus we find that a secretin formed 
in the pyloric glands of the gastric mucosa 
may excite the glands of the cardia; that 
growth is determined by some product or 
products of the pituitary body that are carried 
to the various structures; that the liver, pan- 
ereas and intestinal glands are excited to 
secretory activity by a peculiar substance 
formed in the duodenal and jejunal mucose; 
that carbohydrate metabolism in the liver and 
muscle is influenced to a profound degree by 
hormones that are formed in the pancreas; 
that lactation is determined essentially by 
substances derived from the corpus luteum, 
placenta and involuting womb; that the peri- 
ods of ovulation and menstruation are in- 
hibited by secretins of the corpus luteum; that 
vitally important states of activity of the 
generative organs are directly associated with 
functions of the adrenal glands; and that 
normal development, especially of secondary 
sexual characters, is intimately related to the 
ovaries and testicles. To these extraordinary 
correlations might be added many others. 
Some of the bodily structures are in this way 
so definitely associated in their activities as 
to constitute cooperating or interacting sys- 
tems, so that the tissue products are eomple- 
mentary, supplementary, synergistic or antag- 
onistic in their influences upon given 
structures. Such correlations must be, for 
perfectly obvious reasons, one of the most 
primitive forms of interprotoplasmie eorre- 
lation, and we are justified, upon the basis of 
our present knowledge, in the conclusion that 
each active part of a cell, each cell, each 
tissue and each organ contributes products 
which may affect the activities of functionally 
related or unrelated parts. Hence would 
follow the dictum that not only is every part 
of a cell, every cell, every tissue and every 
organ an individualized stereochemic unit, but 
also that its operations, and hence the nature 
of its products, must be subject directly or 
indirectly to the influence of every other active 
part of the organism, however different the 
structures and functions may be. 


656 


€. The Germplasm a Stereochemic System, 
that is, a Physico-chemical System that is 
Particularized by the Characters of its 
Stereotsomers and the Arrange- 
ments of its Components in the 
Three Dimensions of Space 


If during the progress of development there 
arise the multiple forms of differentiated pro- 
toplasm that are represented in the nerve 
cells, muscles, glands, etc., which exhibit such 
diversity of form, functions, composition and 
products, each part being correlated to other 
parts by the agency of tissue products, it is 
logical to assume that in the development of 
the ovaries and testicles these organs have 
been so specialized as to endow them with the 
attribute of producing a form of protoplasm 
that embodies in a germinal state the funda- 
mental peculiar stereoisomerides and the pecu- 


liar arrangements or phases of the associated - 


proteins, fats, carbohydrates and other sub- 
stances which inherently characterize the 
organism; and, moreover, that owing to the 
influences of the products of activity of the 
various tissues upon these organs, such changes 
in the organism as give rise to acquired char- 
acters may through the actions of modified 
or new tissue products or foreign substances 
affect the operations of these organs and thus 
alter the germplasm and consequently become 
manifested in some form in the offspring. The 
ovule in its incipiency is conceived to be com- 
parable to a complex unequilibrated solution 
in which changes go on until the attainment of 
full development, at which time it is equili- 
brated and remains inactive because of the 
absence of some disturbing influence, but in 
which energy-reactions may be initiated phys- 
ically, mechanically or chemically, and proceed 
according to definite physico-chemical laws in 
definite directions to a definite end. As, for 
instance, when a solution of boiled starch and 
diastase is at a temperature below the minimal 
of activity and the temperature is raised, 
causing immediate developmental activation; 
or when the equilibrated molecules of nitro- 
glycerine are exploded by percussion; or when 
an. equilibrated maltose-dextrose-maltase solu- 
tion is rendered active by dilution with water. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1036 


The nature of the germplasm or transmis- 
sive material that serves as the bridge of con- 
tinuity between parents and offspring has been 
the subject of speculation from time immemo- 
rial. Such hypotheses and theories as have 
been advanced have had reference almost 
wholly to its physical constitution or ulti- 
mate morphological structure. Most of them 
are micromeric, that is, they hold that the 
germplasm is made up of infinite number of 
discrete ultramicroscopic particles which are 
endowed with both determinate structural and 
vital attributes. A considerable degree of in- 
genuity has been displayed in their formula- 
tion. Thus, we have the “ organic molecules ” 
of Buffon, the “ microzymes” of Béchamp, the 
“life units” of Spencer, the “plastidules” of 
Maggi, the “bioplasts” of Altmann, the 
“stirps ” of Galton, the “gemmules” of Dar- 
win, the “biophors” of Weismann, the 
“pyangens” of DeVries, ete., each author 
attributing to the units certain inherent pecu- 
liarities. To the foregoing might be added 
particularly the conceptions that belong to the 
chemical category, such as the “chemism” of 
LeDantee and the “ physico-chemical ” theory 
of Delage. Some of these conceptions are so 
fanciful in the light of modern science as to 
be unworthy of more than passing considera- 
tion, while none of them has led anywhere be- 
yond the field of speculation and reasoning. 
Even the very recent and extremely interest- 
ing and important additions to our knowledge 
of the histological phenomena of the develop- 
ing ovum, especially of the chromosomes, have 
not taken us appreciably nearer the ultimate 
constitution or mechanism of the germplasm, 
or even to the nature of the reactions which 
occur immediately antecedent to and cause 
the formation of the chromosomes. 

A theory to be zdeal must not only have as 
its basis well-defined principles that are con- 
sistent with facts, but also be capable of sub- 
stantiation by laboratory investigation. Given 
as the basis of scientific study a germplasm 
that has inherently the power of development; 
that is in the form of a stereochemic system 
that is peculiar to the organism; that is highly 
impressionable to stimuli; and that has the 


NOVEMBER 6, 1914] 


marked plasticity that is inherent to organic 
colloidal matter, we have all the postulates 
that are needed as a foundation upon which, 
according to the laws of physical chemistry, 
ean be built a logical explanation of the essen- 
tial fundamental elements of the mechanism 
of heredity. 

The inherent potentiality that determines 
the development of the egg along a line of 
definite sequential processes must be recog- 
nized as being common to both animate and 
inanimate matter and subject to the same 
laws, so that the phenomena of living and dead 
matter are inseparably linked and reciprocally 
explanatory. The typical condition of matter 
of definite composition is crystalline, and the 
erystalline form is the result of development 
that becomes manifested in a separation and 
orderly and progressive arrangements of com- 
ponents in the three dimensions of space. 
Having a homogeneous solution of various 
selected crystalline substances of appropriate 
chemical composition and constitution, and 
given conditions attendant to crystallization, 
the successive stages of crystalline development 
will proceed along fixed and definitely recog- 
nized lines, and the interactions and inter- 
action-relationships between the various sub- 
stances constituting the physico-chemical 
mechanism become obvious to a greater or 
less extent in the peculiarities of form, com- 
position and other properties of the crystals. 
Having in the germplasm an analogous 
physico-chemical system, but one which is 
markedly different especially because of its 
organic and colloidal character and infinitely 
preater molecular complexity and sensitivity, 
the phenomena of development likewise pro- 
ceed in conformity with the same laws along 
definite lines, but they are for perfectly mani- 
fest reasons more complex and varied, more 
difficult of analysis, and necessarily in many 
very important respects quite different. Hach 
step in this orderly development leads not 
merely to changes of the physico-chemical 
mechanism by the modification, rearrangement, 
or splitting off of component parts, but also to 
alterations which automatically determine the 
characters of the next sueceeding step, and so 


SCIENCE 


657 


on to the establishment of physico-chemical 
equilibrium and the consequent termination 
of the reactions. 

In living matter the chemical processes are 
dependent to a preeminent degree upon 
enzymes that are formed by the different 
kinds of protoplasm to serve as implements 
to carry out operations that are essential 
to their existence, and such enzymes are 
modifiable in quantity and quality in ac- 
cordance with changes in internal and ex- 
ternal conditions. The nature of both reac- 
tions and products of enzymic action depends 
upon the constitution and composition of the 
physico-chemical mechanism of which the 
enzyme is an integral part. Whether or not 
at each step of serial reactions a portion of 
preexisting enzyme is merely modified or a 
new enzyme is formed which constitutes an 
essential part of the particular phase of the 
reactions is not known, but that one or the 
other occurs is apparently without question. 
It has long been established that some of the 
lower organisms, such as the yeast plant, have 
the property of modifying the characters of 
the enzymes produced in relation to varying 
conditions; recent studies of the animal organ- 
ism show that the same phenomenon occurs 
in both tissues and blood; and our knowledge 
of the processes concerned in the catabolism 
and anabolism of complex substances, such as 
starch, is fully in support of such a conception. 
In other words, as each step of development is 
reached the alterations which occur in the 
physico-chemical mechanism absolutely auto- 
matically predetermine the characters of the 
changes of the next succeeding step, and so on 
to the end. Hence it follows that the pecu- 
liarities of any given physico-chemical mechan- 
ism predetermine the characters of the phe- 
nomena which ensue under given conditions. 

An illustration of the probable modus 
operandi of such a mechanism is found in the 
phenomena of the synthesis and analysis of 
starch: During the production of starch 
through the agency of the chloroplast or 
leucoplast we conceive that there are insti- 
tuted a predetermined, orderly, independent 
and interdependent series of reactions, the first 


658 


of which is manifested in an interaction between 
water and carbon dioxide through the agency 
of an enzyme in the form of an oxidase to form 
formaldehyde. During this process there is 
formed another enzyme, which tentatively may 
be designated an aldehydase, that reacts with 
formaldehyde and by polymerization and con- 
densation of six molecules gives rise to a 
simple sugar, such as dextrose. At the same 
time another enzyme appears in the form of 
maltase, which, reacting with the dextrose 
causes the formation of maltose, during which 
reaction another enzyme, a dextrinase, is pro- 
duced which reacts with the maltose to yield 
dextrin. Going on with this reaction, another 
enzyme which may be designated an amylase 
appears, which, reacting with the dextrin, forms 
soluble starch. During this stage there arises 
another enzyme, a coagulase, which converts 
the starch from the soluble to the insoluble 
form or ordinary starch. At this stage the 
series of reactions have reached their end be- 
cause a state of physico-chemical equilibrium 
has become established, the ultimate purpose 
of the processes being attained; that is a 
form of pabulum of extremely high nutritive 
value and of extremely low molecular pres- 
sure, even in soluble form, so that it may 
entirely and rapidly disappear without dis- 
turbance of physico-chemical equilibrium in 
the starch-bearing cells. The mechanism con- 
cerned in starch-formation is without doubt 
paralleled in the synthesis of proteins, fats and 
other complex organic substances, and it is 
but a step from the individual serial processes 
concerned in the formation of each of these 
substances to associated processes whereby 
there are formed and combined the various 
substances that constitute the organic struc- 
tural components of protoplasm. Moreover, 
such serial processes are reversible at any stage, 
and so simple a modification as a change in the 
per cent. of water may, as in the maltose- 
dextrose-glucase reaction, cause a synthetic 
change. 

In vitro in both synthetic and analytic 
processes like those which constitute serial 
steps in the building up and breaking down 
of starch, protein, fat and other complex 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. VoL. XL. No. 1036 


organic substances there does not occur in any 
reaction, as far as known, either a trans- 
formation or a production of enzyme such as 
oceurs im vivo, hence, when a single enzyme 
is present it carries out but one step of the 
reactions, but when, as in the case of diastases 
as ordinarily prepared, the enzyme is not a 
single substance or unit body but a composite 
of a number of enzymes or modifications of 
a given basic enzyme, serial steps may occur 
as im vivo. Thus, if only a single enzyme be 
present formaldehyde may be converted into 
a monosaccharose, or a monosaccharose into a 
disaccharose, or a disaccharose into a poly- 
saccharose such as dextrin, or dextrin into a 
higher form of polysaccharose such as soluble 
starch, according to the enzyme or modified 
enzyme and initial substance present; or the 
reverse of any one of these processes may occur 
if proper conditions are present, but never do 
any two successive progressive or regressive 
steps occur unless through the agency of two 
different or modified forms of enzymes which 
are present. 

It will thus be apparent that the first step 
of synthesis is determined by the character of 
the initial physico-chemical mechanism and 
that all subsequent reactions under given con- 
ditions are definitely predetermined; in other 
words, the entire train of reactions depends 
inherently upon the nature of the initial 
physico-chemical mechanism of which the 
enzyme that starts the serial changes is an 
integral part. 

Having a specific stereochemic system, such 
a system in accordance with the laws of 
physical-chemistry can exist in either a latent 
or active state, and that when in an active 
state the reaction or reactions are always in 
the direction of the establishment of equili- 
brium of solution, every reaction or series of 
reactions being as definitely predetermined as 
is every reaction familiar to the imorganie 
chemist. The germplasm in the form in which 
it is secreted may be regarded as being in the 
nature of an exceedingly complex stereochemig 
system which is from its incipiency, or very 
soon is in a state of physico-chemical un- 
equilibrium, and in which, as a consequenee, 


NOVEMBER 6, 1914] 


reactions are set up which are manifested espe- 
cially in histological developments that ulti- 
mately characterize the fully developed ovule, 
at which time a state of physico-chemical 
equilibrium’ is established, as is evident by the 
arrested developmental activities. This state 
of physico-chemical equilibrium of the ma- 
tured ovule may be instantly changed to one 
leading to serial definitely predetermined re- 
actions by means of an activating substance or 
condition, such as certain ions or inorganic 
salts, a spermatozoon, or a needle prick, by 
initiating the first step of the reactions, the 
nature of the succeeding reactions being pre- 
determined primarily by the inherent nature 
of the physico-chemical system and secondarily 
by the factor that activates it. In other 
words, from this initial stereochemic system 
there arises a complex heterogeneous system 
that ultimately is morphologically expressed 
in the histology of the matured ovule and 
from which are formed a composite of cor- 
related, independent, interdependent and differ- 
entiated masses which represent different 
phases of the components of the initial system 
which have been modified not only physico- 
chemically as expressed by changes in phys- 
ical, mechanical and chemical properties, but 
also in developmental energies; and from this 
composite are developed successively other 
systems. 

Owing to the great impressionability and 
plasticity of such an exceedingly complex 
stereochemic system as the germplasm, it fol- 
lows that the germplasm must be extremely 
sensitive to changes in internal and external 
conditions, and that its operations and prod- 
ucts may be so materially modified by changes 
in its molecular arrangements or components 
as to give rise to variables that are manifested 
in the transmutability of sex, variations, 
fluctuations, mutations, deformities, retrogres- 
sions, tumor formation, immunities, etc. 

Assuming in accordance with our eoncep- 
tion that the germplasm is in its incipiency 
an unequilibrated stereochemic system that 
igs characteristic of the inherent, fundamental 
stereochemic system of the parent, it follows, 
as a corollary that, having a highly special- 


SCIENCE 


659 


ized form of parental structural material with 
peculiar energy-properties, the offspring must 
of necessity possess essentially the same funda- 
mental characteristics as the parents when 
normal fecundation has occurred, and that it 
would be quite as impossible to have any other 
result than in ordinary chemical reactions 
under given conditions of experiment. The 
essential characters of the building material 
as regards substances, arrangements and 
energy-properties are definitely fixed within 
narrow limits of variation. 

That the peculiar forms of stereoisomerides 
or intimately related bodies that are inherent 
in the parent are conveyed in the germplasm 
to the offspring, and hence of necessity serve 
to distinguish a given form of germplasm 
from that of any other species or genus, and 
that the stereochemic conception of the nature 
of the germplasm is capable of laboratory 
demonstration, are instanced in the results of 
the investigations of Kossell and his students 
who found that simple forms of protein, known 
as protamins, obtained from the spermatozoa 
of different species of fish are different, each 
being apparently of a form peculiar to the 
source. Here is one substance at least that 
seems to be in specific stereoisomeric forms in 
the sperm of different species, which obviously 
must affect the properties of the germplasm, 
and which when brought in contact with the 
germplasm of the egg play its part in deter- 
mining the phenomena of development. More- 
over, by the “precipitin reaction” method 
Blakeslee and Gortner have found evidence 
that is consistent with the conclusion that 
there are not only “species proteins ” but also 
“sex proteins,” and this receives support in a 
number of very recent investigations, espe- 
cially those of Steinach, who found that the 
corresponding hormones secreted by the ovaries 
and testicles are different, and that by virtue 
of these differences the secondary sexual char- 
acters, female and male, are determined. Thus 
he found in eastrated young males, in which 
transplantation of ovaries had been practised, 
that the development of masculine peculiar- 
ities is inhibited and female traits substituted, 
so that the individuals tend to assume the 


660 


female type and become to a striking degree 
feminized-males, as shown in bodily form, in 
a development of the mammary glands, in lac- 
tation, and in, an alteration of psycho-sexual 
characters. Furthermore, Riddle has found 
that the ova of the pigeon are dimorphic, one 
males and the other half females; that the 
eggs having the male tendency have a higher 
per cent. of water, a smaller size, and a lower 
half having an inherent tendency to produce 
males and the other half females; that the 
eggs having the male tendency have a higher 
per cent. of water, a smaller size, and a lower 
per cent. of potential energy; and that the 
“ sex-foundation ” of the germplasm is trans- 
mutable, so that an egg that has inherently 
the male tendency may become female, and 
that such females exhibit secondary male 
sexual characters. The transmutability of the 
germplasm is comparable in its physico- 
chemical mechanism to the reversion of the 
maltose-dextrose-maltase reaction that is 
caused by a change in concentration of the 
solution, the dextrose being reverted into iso- 
maltose and not to the antecedent maltose— 
the male egg is not changed into a female egg, 
but into a modified or feminized-male egg. 
In considering the transmissibility of par- 
ental substances it is essential to distinguish 
positively between the stereoisomerides and 
intimately related bodies that are inherent 
in the parent and those which are acquired 
through infection or otherwise. Thus anti- 
bodies that are acquired by the mother may 
be without influence upon the ovary during 
the formation of the germplasm and not even 
become a constituent of the latter. On the 
other hand, an immunity may be established 
in the mother that may be conveyed to the 
offspring, yet, curiously enough, such an immu- 
nity may not be transmitted by the immunized 
male. In processes of the production of the 
germplasm the ovary may be as insensitive to 
the presence of many acquired substances of 
the blood as are some or all other organs, and 
there igs no more reason in general for expect- 
ing the ovary and its product to be affected by 
such bodies or conditions than there is for the 
pancreas and the pancreatic juice or any other 
secretory structure and its product to he 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1036 


affected. Every acquired substance must in its 
relations to the ovaries be governed by the 
same physico-chemical laws as determine spe- 
cifie selectivities or reactivities in connection 
with the tissues generally. Hence, any such 
substance may be reactive in relation to one 
structure, but not to another. 

Plasticity as regards sex-determination has 
been demonstrated in the studies of the devel- 
opment of a male (drone) bee from the un- 
fertilized egg, and of a female from the fertil- 
ized egg. Moreover, the developing female 
bee when fed on ordinary food becomes a com- 
mon female “worker,” but when fed on royal 
food develops into a queen. 

The continuity of the building material 
between parent and offspring is seen in its 
simplest manifestations in reproduction among 
protozoa by binary fission and budding, by 
which the part separated from the parent mass 
is in all essential respects like the parent, 
having the same fundamental physico-chemical 
composition and constitution. That in such 
instances the offspring should be a segmental 
counterpart of the parent mass seems as ob- 
vious as that halves of a cube of sugar should 
be alike. Similarly, if we have in the ovule 
and sperm forms of protoplasm which as stereo- 
chemic systems are in all fundamental respects 
counterparts of those from which the parents 
were developed, it follows that the offspring 
must under normal conditions in accordance 
with the laws of physical chemistry have the 
same fundamental parental characteristics, as 
much so as separated portions of any complex 
stereochemie system must possess the prop- 
erties of the initial mass. Moreover, if the 
stereochemic systems of germplasms of the 
female and male differ, as must be admitted, it 
is manifest that the stereochemic system of the 
ege that has been activated artificially or 
naturally, as the case may be, must be differ- 
ent, and hence undergo development differ- 
ences that will be obvious in the offspring. In 
the first instance, the serial reactions which 
lead to the formation of the different tissues, 
ete., are activated by a mere disturbance of 
physico-chemical equilibrium, which may be 
due to the conversion of a proenzyme into 
enzyme or a prosecretin to a secretin, or in 


NOVEMBER 6, 1914] 


other words of an inactive body into an active 
one. In the second instance, there is not only 
activation, but the extremely important addi- 
tion of the male stereochemic system which by 
admixture with the female system constitutes 
a female-male system. Therefore, in the first 
place the offspring is developed solely from the 
female stereochemic system, and in the second 
place from the combined female and male sys- 
tems, one or the other of which may be wholly 
or in part dominant in determining certain 
peculiarities in the developmental changes. 
Moreover, owing to the transmutability of 
stereoisomerides and the multiphase transmu- 
tability of stereochemic systems, coupled with 
the reversibility of metabolic processes which 
may be due to even the simplest of changes in 
physico-chemical mechanisms, we have a log- 
ical basis for the explanation of the phenomena 
of sexual dimorphism that is expressed in the 
so-called male and female ova, and male and 
female spermatozoa; of primary and second- 
ary hermaphroditism; of paradoxical sex 
developments where the unfertilized egg 
develops into either male or female offspring; 
and of sexual transmutability of the inherently 
male or female ovule. 

Tt follows upon the basis of our theory that 
because of the inherent peculiarities of the 
stereochemic systems of the germplasms and 
the definitely predetermined nature of the 
entire series of reactions in accordance with 
the laws of physical chemistry that “like be- 
gets like” because like every other physico- 
chemical phenomenon, individual or serial, 
under given conditions, it is a physico-chemical 
fatality. Epwarp Tyson REICHERT 

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA 


THE CONTENT AND STRUCTURE OF THE 
ATOM1 
Tuts lecture has presented to you a vision 
of the recent struggle toward a better knowl- 
edge of the atom. Both experimental results 
and theory have been briefly discussed. You 
can readily place confidence in the former, 
1The closing portion of the address of the re- 


tiring President of the Iowa Chapter of Sigma 
Xi, delivered on October 14th. 


SCIENCE 


661 


but in the realm of theory you are unable to 
distinguish truth from error. I have brought 
to you, then, not the satisfaction which one 
enjoys in believing he hears the final truth, 
but rather the discontent with which the 
scholar views the limitations of knowledge in 
his field. Such discontent gives birth to zeal- 
ous endeavor to learn new truth and is thus 
the precursor of that research in science which 
our society is organized to encourage. An at- 
tempt to think in sub-atomic terms very 
quickly makes one conscious of the limita- 
tions of our knowledge. But I wish to em- 
phasize that such limitations occur in all sci- 
ences and, indeed, at any point that a scholar 
chooses to make his special study. These lim- 
itations are not usually easy to extend, espe- 
cially in the older sciences. And just such 
difficulties furnish the challenge of scholar- 
ship in science to the young men and young 
women of ability. 

There is, however, no need to offer explana- 
tions to those who are dissatisfied with a dis- 
cussion in which truth and error can not be 
separated. The unscientific mind possesses 
but two compartments, one for truth and one 
for error, and such a mind has no compart- 
ment in which to place a discussion of the na- 
ture and structure of an atom. The scientist, 
however, recognizes no such compartments, 
for absolute truth and absolute error are un- 
known to him. After weighing the evidence 
furnished, his decisions consist only in se- 
lecting the degree of his confidence that is 
merited by that evidence. 

Having given you a bird’s-eye view of the 
evidence, it may now be appropriate to pre- 
sent a brief résumé in perspective of the 
great achievements in science which have been 
the subject of this lecture. We can now re- 
gard the existence of the sub-atomic electron 
with as much confidence as that given any 
other experimental fact in physics. There is 
yet a question as to whether or not the elec- 
tron actually is our smallest unit of negative 
electricity, but the affirmative evidence is 
much the greater. The mass of the electron 
can be called “ apparent,” with the restriction 
that we know this to be true only to the de- 


662 


gree of accuracy of the experiments. But one 
can be fairly confident as to the electrical 
character not only of the electron, but also of 
the entire atom, for there is much evidence in 
favor of such a view and none that is contra- 
dictory. The conception of a nucleus, as 
given in the Rutherford theory, is so well 
verified in the experiments in the deflections 
of the alpha-particles, the velocity of the 
struck atom, and the high frequency spectra 
and in the splendid use made of it by Bohr’s 
theory, that it will probably remain, suffer- 
ing but little change in the future. It is 
reasonable to believe that the charge of the 
nucleus is a natural atomic unit, supplanting 
the atomic weight in determining the posi- 
tion of an element in the Periodic Table, as 
now understood. This suggested important 
function of the nucleus charge seems to af- 
ford an explanation for the existence of 
“isotopes,” or elements occupying the same 
position in the Periodic Table, possessing the 
same chemical properties and giving the same 
spectrum, but exhibiting different radio-activ- 
ities. Moreover, it is becoming more evident 
that our conception of the atomic weight as a 
natural unit is incorrect, that the atomic 
weight is merely the resulting apparent mass 
of the atom, or practically of the nucleus, 
and that this apparent mass is not merely the 
sum of the apparent masses of the charges in 
the nucleus considered separately, for the ap- 
parent mass of a charge is influenced by the 
proximity of other charges. 

The very valuable theories of atomic struc- 
ture, especially that of Bohr, can not, of course, 
command one’s complete confidence. Indeed, 
Bohr’s theory has been extended to but a par- 
tial investigation of the simplest elements 
and does not pretend to be complete. It pos- 
sesses great interest because it is a relatively 
simple effort to account for the exceedingly 
complex functions of the atom. At the pres- 
ent stage of development of this theory its 
chief faults are the questioned validity of its 
assumptions, its lack of uniqueness, and the 
impossibility of extending it to complex 
atoms. The question of the validity of the 
assumptions involved should not be taken too 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1036 


seriously, for any assumptions that will lead 
to an agreement of theory and experiment will 
be welcome. The lack of uniqueness need not 
be a matter of immediate concern, for experi- 
mental facts at the present time go far be- 
yond any suggested theory. There is, how- 
ever, a strong contention on the part of 
Nicholson that the present theory of Bohr 
can not be extended to more complex atoms 
without marked modifications in the present 
assumptions. But the theory is a remarkable 
contribution even if it does no more than ex- 
plain many facts known in the case of the 
simplest elements. When one contemplates 
the narrow scope of even this brilliant theory, 
what a limitless field for research seems 
ahead! Fortunately, there are at hand a 
number of methods of investigation that have 
not yet been fully utilized. Some of the most 
promising lines of research in this field are 
the extension of theory into the fields of heat 
radiation and magnetism and to a larger 
number of elements, the study of high-fre- 
quency spectra, the scattering of swift 8 par- 
ticles, the production of Rontgen rays by the 
impact of positive rays, the low temperature 
characteristics of elements, and the effects of 
the magnetic and electric fields upon line 
spectra. To this might be added a long list 
of experiments which are more indirect, but 
which, nevertheless, are very important. An 
illustration is the investigation of the elec- 
trical and optical properties of selenium 
erystals, which is now being carried on in the 
laboratory of this university by Doctors Brown 
and Sieg. Before all these lines of approach 
are fully occupied new ones will be found, and 
there is no indication of a cessation of the 
attack upon the atom for years to come. 
Where will the investigation end? It will 
be without end. Notwithstanding the prospect 
of such a lively attack upon this problem, one 
can readily appreciate that progress is likely 
to be made with much difficulty, taxing all the 
resources of the physicist and the mathemati- 
cian. Yet science rarely completes a task be- 
fore new problems that are more fundamental 
are found. For example, electricity was first 
discovered as electrification or strange vari- 


\ 


NovEMBER 6, 1914] 


ations of matter. The problem of matter was 
not solved before that of electricity was under- 
taken. Indeed, through the study of this vari- 
ation in matter we came to appreciate that in 
it lay the path to the understanding of the 
atom. Will this experience now be repeated ? 
Will a variation in the electron, not accounted 
for by electrical laws, be found, and will an in- 
vestigation of that phenomenon lead to 
knowledge of the electron and thus of the 
atom ? 

I now desire to direct the attention of the 
younger members of the Society to two sig- 
nificant points that are illustrated by the ma- 
terial in this lecture. The first is that a 
problem may be too dificult for a direct at- 
tack, and one may need to await discoveries 
which furnish new and unsuspected clues. 
Réntgen rays were not discovered for the pur- 
pose of studying atomic structure. Neither 
was such a purpose the cause of experiments 
which led to the discovery of radioactivity. 
Thus the scientific worker can never know 
the future importance of his own work. His 
motive should be to follow up the most prom- 
ising clues with which he is favored and to 
trust that all he accomplishes will be worthy 
ef his effort. 

The second point is suggested by the fact 
that most of the methods of attack here men- 
tioned are comparatively new and probably 
will never become part of laboratory tech- 
nique taught in a university curriculum. 
Method in scientific research is fundamentally 
not a thing to be learned by graduate or re- 
search students. For scientific research is 
nothing more than the successive application 
of complete acts of thought to experimental 
and theoretical problems. One needs but to 
think and to act. 

G. W. Stewart 

Stare UNIVERSITY oF Jowa 


METHODS OF RESUSCITATION 


_ In line with its campaign to reduce the 
number of deaths in the mines of the United 
States, the Federal Bureau of Mines some 
time ago appointed a committee of eminent 
physicians and surgeons to develop an effi- 


SCLENCE 


663 


cient method of resuscitation to be adminis- 
tered by miners or other persons to a fellow- 
workman overcome by electric shock or by 
gases In places which can not be reached by a 
physician or surgeon in time to saye life. 

As a result of this committee’s report just 
made, the Bureau of Mines, through Director 
Joseph A. Holmes, recommends the following 
procedure in rendering first aid to those in 
need of artificial respiration. 

The recommendations apply not only to men 
who are overcome by electric shock or gases 
in mines, but also to persons suffering from 
the effects of illuminating-gas poisoning oF 
from electric shock anywhere. The recom- 
mendations are, therefore, of importance to 
many thousands of workmen: 

In case of gas poisoning, remove victim at 
onee from the gaseous atmosphere. Oarry him 
quickly to fresh air and immediately give 
manual artificial respiration. Do not stop to 
loosen clothing. Every moment of delay is 
serious. 

In ease of electric shock, break electric cur- 
rent instantly. Free the patient from the 
current with a single quick motion, using any 
dry non-conductor, such as clothing, rope, oF 
board, to move patient or wire. Beware of 
using any metal or moist material. Mean- 
time haye every effort made to shut off current. 

Attend instantly to the victim’s breathing. 
If the victim is not breathing, he should be 
given manual artificial respiration at once. 

If the patient is breathing slowly and reg- 
ularly, do not give artificial respiration, but 
let nature restore breathing unaided. 

In gas eases, give oxygen. If the patient 
has been a victim of gas, give him pure 
oxygen, with manual artificial respiration. 

The oxygen may be given through a breath- 
ing bag from a cylinder having a reducing 
valve, with connecting tubes and face mask, 
and with am imspiratory and an expiratory 
valve, of which the latter communicates di- 
rectly with the atmosphere. 

No mechanical artificial resuscitating device 
should be used unless one operated by hand 
that has no suction effect on the lungs. 

Use the Schaefer or prone pressure method 


664 


ef artificial respiration. 
moment’s delay is serious. 

Continue the artificial respiration. If neces- 
sary, continue two hours or longer without 
interruption until natural breathing is re- 
stored. If natural breathing stops after being 
restored, use artificial respiration again. 

Do not give the patient any liquid, until he 
is fully conscious. 

Give him fresh air, but keep his body warm. 

Send for the nearest doctor as soon as the 
accident is discovered. 

The members of the committee reporting to 
the Bureau of Mines are as follows: Dr. W. B. 
Cannon, chairman, professor of physiology, 
Harvard University; Dr. George W. Crile, 
professor of surgery, Western Reserve Uni- 
versity, Cleveland, Ohio; Dr. Joseph Erlanger, 
professor of physiology, Washington Univer- 
‘sity, St. Louis; Dr. Yandell Henderson, pro- 
fessor of physiology, Yale University; and Dr. 
S. J. Meltzer, head of the department of phys- 
jology and pharmacology, Rockefeller Insti- 
stute for Medical Research. 


Begin at once. A 


AWARDS OF THE JOHN SCOTT MEDAL 


‘Tun city of Philadelphia, acting on the 
recommendation of The Franklin Institute, 
has awarded the John Scott Legacy Medal 
and Premium to Elmer Ambrose Sperry, of 
New York, N. Y., for his gyro compass. On 
battleships under action, the shifting of large 
masses of magnetic material precludes the 
use of the magnetic compass, and even on 
ordinary iron yessels, the material of the ship 
and its disposition must be compensated for. 
The gyro compass is entirely non-magnetic 
and is unaffected by the proximity of iron. 
For some years Mr. Sperry has devoted prac- 
tically his whole time to overcoming the 
numerous physical difficulties involved in the 
adaptation of a gyroscope to a ship’s compass 
in the place of a magnetic needle. He has 
been able to make an instrument which auto- 
matically corrects for the speed and direction 
of the vessel, and which is unaffected by the 
rolling of the ship in a heavy sea. His com- 
pass may be made in the form of a master 
compass which may be made to actuate sec- 
ondary or repeater compasses mounted in any 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vout. XL. No. 1036 


desired part of the vessel. On naval vessels, 
such an arrangement is very desirable, as the 
master compass may be installed behind heavy 
armor plate and protected from damage, and 
may still be available when all the secondary 
compasses are destroyed. 

An award of the John Scott Legacy Medal 
and Premium has also been made to Arthur’ 
Atwater Kent, of Rosemont, Pa., for his 
“unisparker.” The unisparker is an essential 
element of the Atwater Kent Ignition System 
for automobiles, and consists of a contact- 
breaker, governor and distributor, arranged in 
one structure. The contact-breaker is in the 
primary of a non-trembler coil circuit and is 
so designed as to be operative only when the 
engine runs in one direction, thus preventing 
backfiring. The governor automatically ad- 
vances and retards the spark according to the 
requirements of the engine. The distributor 
is in the secondary circuit of the coil and 
distributes the sparks to the several cylinders. 
All the parts of the device are especially de- 
signed for durability. The contact points are 
of tungsten and are of large area. The cur- 
rent in the primary circuit can be reversed at 
will, changing the polarity of the contacts and 
preventing their disintegration. 


PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACAD- 
EMY OF SCIENCES 


In January, 1915, the National Academy 
of Sciences will begin the publication of 
Monthly Proceedings. The members of the 
editorial staff, with the fields of science repre- 
sented by them, are: 


Astronomy: E. B. Frost, Yerkes Observatory, Wil- 
liams Bay, Wis. 

Mathematics: EH. H. Moore, University of Chicago, 
Chicago, Ill. : 

Physics: Henry Crew, Northwestern University, 
Evanston, Ill. 

Chemistry, Biological and Organic: J. J. Abel, 
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md. 

Chemistry, Physical and Inorganic: A. A. Noyes, 
Mass. Inst. Tech., Boston, Mass. 

Geology: H. F. Reid, Johns Hopkins University, 
Baltimore, Md. 

Paleontology: Charles Schuchert, Yale University, 
New Haven, Conn. 


NOVEMBER 6, 1914] 


Botany: J. M. Coulter, University of Chicago, 
Chicago, Ill. 

Zoology: R. G. Harrison, Yale University, New 
Haven, Conn. 

Genetics: C. B. Davenport, Cold Spring Harbor, 
N. Y. 

Physiology: W. B. Cannon, Harvard University, 
Cambridge, Mass. 

Pathology: Simon Flexner, Rockefeller Institute, 
New York City. 

Anthropology: W. H. Holmes, National Museum, 
Washington, D. C. 

Psychology: J. MeKeen Cattell, Columbia Univer- 
sity, New York City. 

Hz-offictis : f 
Home Secretary, A. lu. Day, Geophysical Lab- 

oratory, Washington, D. C. 
Foreign Secretary, G. EH. Hale, Solar Observa- 
tory, Pasadena, Cal. 

Managing Editor: BE. B. Wilson, Mass. Inst. Tech., 
Boston, Mass. 

Chairman of the Board: A. A. Noyes, Mass. Inst. 
Tech., Boston, Mass. 


The main purpose of the proceedings is to 
obtain the prompt publication and wide cir- 
culation of a comprehensive survey, in the 
form of brief original articles, of the more 
important scientific researches currently made 
by American investigators. The articles are 
to be much shorter and less detailed than those 
commonly published in special journals, and 
may subsequently be published in more exten- 
sive form in such journals. It is expected 
that the articles will as a rule vary from one 
to five printed pages in length, with a maxi- 
mum limit of eight to ten pages in exceptional 
cases where the results of extended investi- 
gations are summarized, or the significance of 
a series of detailed publications is formulated. 
The articles are, however, to be precise, and to 
contain some record of the experimental, ob- 
servational, or theoretical methods and results 
upon which the conclusions are based; but 
these statements are to be condensed, long 
tables of data and the details of the work 
being reserved for publication in special 
journals. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


Tue Bisset Hawkins memorial medal, 
awarded triennially by the Royal College of 


SCIENCE 


665 


Physicians of London, in recognition of work 
in advancing sanitary science or promoting, 
public health during the preceding ten years, 
was, on October 19, presented to Sir Ronald 
Ross, in recognition of his researches on ma- 
laria. 

THE Technical Institute at Zurich has con- 
ferred its honorary doctorate on Professor 
Hermann Schwartz, professor of mathematics 
at Berlin, on the occasion of the fiftieth anni- 
versary of his doctorate. 


Dr. JosepH P. Ippines is engaged in geolog- 
ical research in the far east, having been in 
Java in August. He does not expect to re- 
turn to Washington for a year or more. 


Dr. J. WitLiaAM WHITE, emeritus professor 
of surgery at the University of Pennsylvania, 
and Dr. R. Tait McKenzie, head of the de- 
partment of physical education, have volun- 
teered their professional services to the British 
government. 


Mr. Mimiarp K, SHauer, who is represent- 
ing the United States in affording relief to 
suffering Belgians, was, until 1909, a member 
of the U. S. Geological Survey, since which 
time he has been engaged in explorations in 
the African Congo region. 


SEVERAL German scientific men, including 
the botanist Dr. Kukenthal, who were engaged 
in a scientific expedition to Corsica, are said! 
to be held prisoners of war on the island. 


Dr. R. TRUMPLER, astronomer for the Geo- 
detic Commission of Switzerland, has been ap- 
pointed assistant at the Allegheny Observa- 
tory, but has thus far been detained, being 
an officer in the Swiss army. 

Dr. Grorczr H. Suutt has returned to the 
Station of Experimental Evolution, Cold 
Spring Harbor, N. Y., after spending thirteen 
months in Berlin. He carried on some ex- 
periments in Dr. Erwin Baur’s botanical gar- 
den in Friedrichshagen, and at the outbreak 
of the war was able to assist in the other ex- 
perimental work. Previously he took part in 
the meeting of the German Botanical Society, 
and by invitation gave an address on hetero- 
zygosis in its bearing on practical breeding 
before the Society for the Advancement of 


666 


German Plant Culture at its annual meeting, 
held this year at the University of Gottingen. 


Dr. A. M. Patterson has resigned as editor 
of Chemical Abstracts, and Dr. J. J. Miller 
has been elected editor and Dr. E. J. Crane, 
associate editor of the publication. 


On November 1, Dr. C. W. Stiles changed 
stations from the U. S. Marine Hospital, 
Wilmington, N. C., back to the Hygienic 
Laboratory, Washington, D. C. His address 
until further notice will be: Hygienic Labo- 
ratory, 25th and E Streets, N. W., Washing- 
ton, D. CO. All communications intended for 
the International Commission on Zoological 
Nomenclature should be sent to that address. 


Dr. Harvey W. Witey celebrated his seven- 
tieth birthday on October 18 by a dinner 
party, the guests at which included Professor 
Charles E. Monroe, who was one of Dr. Wiley’s 
instructors at Harvard University; Dr. W. D. 
Bigelow, for many years associated with Dr. 
Wiley in the bureau of chemistry; Dr. G. L. 
Spencer, who was a student under Dr. Wiley 
when he taught at Purdue University 40 years 
ago, and who is widely known as a sugar enpi- 
neer, and Professor Frank W. Clarke, of Wash- 
ington. 

In recognition of his work on the fossil 
birds in the collection of the Peabody Museum 
of Yale University, Dr. R. W. Shufeldt, of 
Washington, D. C., was, at the regular meet- 
ing of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and 
Sciences held on October 28, elected an active 
member of that society. The society has ac- 
cepted for publication the aforesaid work, it 
being a description of the fossil birds in the 
Yale collection, including a revision of all of 
Professor O. ©. Marsh’s types (exclusive of 
the Odontornithes), and other material left 
undescribed by him. Several new genera and 
species of extinct birds are described for the 
first time. 


Dr. Irwin SHEPARD, for twenty years secre- 
tary of the National Education Association, 
has for the past fifteen months been connected 
with the Panama-Pacifie International Expo- 
sition as national secretary of the bureau of 
conventions and societies. He has been asso- 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vout. XL. No. 1036 


ciated with James A. Barr, director of cong- 
resses, in the work of arranging for a world 
series of congresses, conferences and conven- 
tions. On September 11, he was compelled 
for reasons of health, much to the regret of 
the exposition authorities, to retire from the 
active work of the bureau. 


A series of lectures on “ Sanitation as Ap- 
plied to Cities” is being given at the Wor- 
eester Polytechnic Institute on Monday and 
Friday afternoons during November by Pro- 
fessor George C. Whipple, of Harvard Uni- 
versity. The dates and subjects of the lec- 
tures follow: 

November 2. 
liness. ’” 

November 6. 

November 9. 

November 13. 

November 16. 

November 20. 
tation. ’” 

November 23. 
tion.’’ 


“¢The Value of Municipal Clean- 


“Clean Air,’? 
‘Clean Water.’’ 

“‘Disposal of Liquid Wastes.’’ 
“¢Disposal of Solid Wastes.’’ 
‘<The Economics Factor in Sani- 


‘<The Social Factor in Sanita- 


A courRSE of eight public lectures is being 
given in the botanical department of Univer- 
sity College, London, on the réle of plants in 
the protection and growth of the shore, by 
Professor F. W. Oliver. 


Tue Harveian Oration, delivered before the 
Royal College of Physicians of London on 
October 19 by Sir R. Douglas Powell, dealt 
with advances in knowledge regarding the 
circulation and attributes of the blood since 
Harvey’s time. 

On October 30, Professor J. C. Bose, of 
Calcutta, gave a lecture before the Royal Soci- 
ety of Medicine, London, on the modification 
of response in plants under the action of 
drugs. 

Tue second Thomas Hawksley lecture was 
delivered in the meeting hall of the Institu- 
tion of Mechanical Engineers on October 30, 
by Mr. W. B. Bryan, the subject being “ Pump- 
ing and Other Machinery for Waterworks and 
Drainage.” 

Tuer family of Emil du Bois Reymond has 
donated the Helmholtz gold medal to the relief 
fund, with the statement that this medal, repre- 


WNovEMBER 6, 1914] 


senting the highest appreciation im his own 
land of the scientific achievements of du Bois 
Reymond, is honored more by devoting it to 
the service of the country than by preserv- 
ing it. 

We learn from Nature that the opening 
meeting of the new session of the Institution 
ef Electrical Engineers, London, will be held 
on Thursday, October 29, when the president, 
Sir John Snell, will deliver his inaugural ad- 
dress. At this meeting a marble bust of 
Michael Faraday will be presented to the in- 
stitution by Mr. Llewellyn Preece, on behalf 
ef the family of the late Sir William Preece, 
past president. 

Dr. Grorce Livineston Prapopy, formerly 
2 prominent New York physician, died sud- 
denly at his home in Newport on October 30. 
Dr. Peabody, who was in his sixty-fifth year, 
graduated from Columbia College in the class 
ef 1870, and from its College of Physicians 
and Surgeons in 1873. He was lecturer in 
medicine in the college from 1884 until 1887, 
and then became professor of materia medica 
and therapeutics, which post he held until 
1908. 

Dr. FREDERICK Konic, professor of surgery 
at the university of Marburg, was killed re- 
eently while attending to the wounded on one 
ef the battlefields at the eastern seat of war. 
Others who have lost their lives in the war are 
Dr. Ernst Preuss, docent for machine-testing 
in the Technological School at Darmstadt, and 
Dr. Wilhelm Deimler, docent for mathematics 
in the School of Technology at Munich. 


THE directors of the American Chemical 
Society have voted that it is not advisable to 
hold any general meeting of the society previ- 
ous to the New Orleans meeting, April 1-3, 
1915. They have also voted, in accord with 
previous invitations presented to the council, 
that the annual meeting of 1915 be held in 
Seattle, Washington, with adjournment to San 
Francisco, the exact date to be settled by the 
president and secretary after conference with 
members of the section immediately concerned. 

Tuer office of the American Mathematical 
Society was destroyed by fire on October 10, 
with loss of records, files and a considerable 


SCIENCE 


667 


part of the stock of back numbers of the 
Bulletin and Transactions. The society has 
now no copies of the first ten volumes of the 
Bulletin except the single set in its library. 
Gifts of any of these early volumes would be 
greatly appreciated, and also of any copies of 
the Annual Register. The society’s address 
is 501 West 116th Street, New York, N. Y. 


THe New York Section of the American 
Electrochemical Society will hold a joint meet- 
ing with the American Gas Institute and the 
Institute of Illumimating Engineers at the 
Chemists Club, New York, on ‘Tuesday, 
November 10. An informal dinner, to which 
guests are cordially welcome, will be held at 
the Chemists Club at 7 on the night of the 
meeting. The program is as follows: 

“‘The Improved Incandescent Mantle,’’ Milton 
C. Whitaker, Columbia University. 

“‘Chemistry in the Development and Operation 
of the Flaming Ares,’’ William C. Moore, Na- 
tional Carbon Co. 

“<The New Tungsten Lamps,’’ Ralph HE. Myers, 
Westinghouse Lamp Co. 

“‘The Quartz Mercury Lamp,’’ R. D. Mailey, 
Cooper Hewitt Electric Co. 

“The New Moore Tubes,’’ 
Moore, Edison Lamp Works. 


D. MacFarlan 


Arter ten years of successful experience, 
the Mathematical Club of Syracuse Univer- 
sity has been reorganized into a mathematical 
fraternity, Pi Mu Epsilon, whose aims are the 
advancement of mathematics and scholarship. 
The fraternity was incorporated under the 
laws of the state of New York under date of 
May 25, 1914. The charter members consist 
of members of the mathematical faculty, grad- 
uate students in mathematics and undergradu- 
ate major and minor mathematical students. 
Among the powers granted under the articles 
of incorporation is that of granting charters 
to other chapters to be organized elsewhere. 


THE Royal Canadian Institute in Toronto, 
Canada, plans to inaugurate work on the lines 
of the Mellon Institute of the University of 
Pittsburgh. Dr. Raymond F. Bacon, director 
of Mellon Institute, has been invited to speak 
before the Canadian Institute this month. 
The University of Toronto has been selected 
for this meeting because the late Dr. Robert 


663 


Kennedy Dunean, founder of the system of 
industrial research in Pittsburgh, was a Ca- 
nadian and a graduate of the University of 
Toronto. The Dominion of Canada Royal 
Commission on Industrial Research visited 
Pittsburgh about a year ago to study the in- 
stitute. The report of the commission indi- 
eated that work such as that done by the Mel- 
lon Institute was as urgently needed in Can- 
ada as in the United States. 


THE surgeon general of the army announces 
that preliminary examinations for appoint- 
ment of first lieutenants in the Army Medical 
Corps will be held on January 11, 1915, at 
points to be hereafter designated. Full infor- 
mation concerning these examinations can be 
procured upon application to the “ Surgeon 
General, U. S. Army, Washington, D. CO.” 
The essential requirements to secure an invi- 
tation are that the applicant shall be a citizen 
of the United States, shall be between 22 and 
30 years of age, a graduate of a medical 
school legally authorized to confer the degree 
of doctor of medicine, shall be of good moral 
character and habits, and shall have had at 
least one year’s hospital training as an in- 
terne, after graduation. The examinations 
will be held simultaneously throughout the 
country at points where boards can be con- 
vened. Due consideration will be given to lo- 
ealities from which applications are received, 
in order to lessen the traveling expenses of 
applicants as much as possible. In order to 
perfect all necessary arrangements for the ex- 
aminations, applications must be completed 
and in possession of the adjutant general at 
least three weeks before the date of examina- 
tion. arly attention is therefore enjoined 
upon all intending applicants. There are at 
present twenty vacancies in the medical corps 
of the army. 


A VALUABLE collection of ethnological speci- 
mens has just been received by the University 
of Pennsylvania Museum from Dr. William C. 
Farabee, who is at the head of the university’s 
Amazon expedition. The specimens were col- 
lected in the southern part of British Guiana 
among the Carib and Arowak Indians and 
other hitherto unknown tribes. They include 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1036 


clothing for men and women, made from the 
feathers of the Macaw and other birds of rich 
plumage, paintings of religious ceremonials, 
on sticks, beadwork, bows and arrows, spears, 
hammocks and domestic utensils. 

Miss Suz Watson, of Pittsburgh, artist of 
the department of anatomy in the School of 
Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, has been 
appointed by Governor John K. Tener, to 
make four panels, which will stand above the 
main entrance of the Pennsylvania State 
Building at the Pan-Pacifie Exposition. This 
is the second award that Miss Watson has re- 
ceived for public work of this kind, the first 
one having been the award for decorative work 
on the new Schenley Theater. 


THE Royal Photographie Society has, as we 
learn from Nature, opened to the public a 
house exhibition of photographs by Mr. Lewis 
Balfour, “ Bird Life on the Bass Rock.” There 
are upwards of one hundred of these pictures 
showing the various sea birds and incidents 
in their lives. 

A MOVEMENT has been set on foot in Holland 
for a resumption of scientific exploration in 
the Dutch East Indies, in the region between 
Celebes and New Guinea, particularly in the 
island of Ceram. At the end of last year the 
matter was referred by the president of the 
Royal Netherlands Geographical Society to the 
Expedition Committee, which, after fully con- 
sidering the question, reported to the Council 
of the Society in March, 1914. The committee, 
which included various gentlemen who have 
taken part in previous scientific research in 
that region, enjoyed the cooperation of other 
experts, and from a study of all existing in- 
formation, drew up a statement on the present 
state of our knowledge of the part of the 
Archipelago between Celebes and New Guinea, 
which is considered to offer an important field 
for further research. This statement, together 
with the report of the committee, is taken by 
the Geographical Journal from the May num- 
ber of the Tvdschrift of the Netherlands 
Geographical Society. As regards the large 
island of Ceram, it is pointed out that existing 
knowledge of its topography is scanty, and, for 
the interior of the eastern part, practically nil. 


NOVEMBER 6, 1914] 


From a geological point of view much valuable 
information would result from a study of the 
double bridge of islands between Celebes and 
New Guinea—the more northerly running 
through Pulo Peling, the Banggai archipelago, 
the Sula Islands, Pulo Obi and Misol, to the 
so-called “duck-bill” of New Guinea; the 
more southerly through Buru and Ceram to 
Fakfak. This is, in fact, one of the most im- 
portant and interesting tasks remaining to be 
done in the archipelago. A detailed examina- 
tion of the geology of Ceram, known to us only 
through the work of Martin and Verbeek, 
would be of both scientific and practical value. 
In the domain of hydrography and oceanog- 
raphy there is much to be learned in the region 
round Ceram, and the program would include 
surveys, soundings, studies of the tides, cur- 
rents, temperature and composition of the 
water, and the fauna and flora of the coast, the 
coastal waters, and the deep sea. Little is also 
known of the inhabitants of the interior of 
Ceram, their relationships among themselves 
and with the coast peoples, their languages, and 
so on. The zoology and botany of the island 
offer a wide field for research, and in conjunc- 
tion with the geology should throw an impor- 
tant light on the past history of this part of 
the world. The flora of Central Ceram is con- 
sidered to be probably the oldest member of 
the flora of the Moluccas. The proposed inves- 
tigations promise results of great scientific 
interest. 


THE United States Geological Survey has 
just printed a large, colored wall map showing 
the petroleum resources and the natural gas 
deposits of the United States, and also the 
thousands of miles of trunk oil pipe lines. 
The map shows the areas underlain by known 
oil pools and known gas pools, as well as gen- 
eral localities which are productive in either 
oil or gas, and also areas where there are note- 
worthy occurrences of either oil or gas but 
where there is no present production. The 
map is 49 by 76 inches, printed on the scale of 
40 miles to 1 inch, in 5 colors. It is printed 
in two sheets and is sold by the Geological 
Survey. This map not only shows graphically 
the oil fields and pipe lines, but is an excellent 
general map of the United States. 


SCIENCE 669 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 


A crt of $10,000 has been made to Brown 
University from the Philadelphia alumni for 
the purpose of establishing the “ Morgan Ed- 
wards Fellowship.” 


THE council of the University of Paris has 
made all arrangements for beginning courses 
in the various departments at the usual date. 


THE St. Louis College of Pharmacy will 
celebrate its semi-centennial on November 10 
and 11, with appropriate exercises, partici- 
pated in by prominent pharmaceutical educa- 
tors from different sections of the country. 


THE extension of the certificate privilege to 
accredited high schools and preparatory schools 
has resulted in an increase in the number of 
students in the freshman class entering Stey- 
ens Institute this fall of eighty-three per cent. 
over the number entering last year. 


Dr. Water Prarson Ketiry has been ap- 
pointed professor of agricultural chemistry in 
the graduate school of tropical agriculture and 
citrus experiment station of the University of 
California. ' Woodbridge Metcalf has been 
appointed assistant professor of forestry in 
the university, and Dr. Wilbur A. Sawyer, di- 
rector of the California State Hygiene Labor- 
atory, has been appointed lecturer in hygiene 
and preventive medicine in the medical school. 


Dr. Cornenius Copnny has been appointed 
professor of laryngology in the College of 
Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia Univer- 
sity, to succeed the late Dr. William K. Simp- 
son, 


Mr. M. A. Cuaravay, instructor in experi- 
mental engineering, in the Stevens Institute 
of Technology, has been appointed assistant 
professor. Mr. ©. Lester Coggins, of the de- 
partment of physics has accepted an assistant 
professorship at Rhode Island State College. 
Mr. L. C. F. Horle, a graduate of Stevens, has 
been appointed assistant in physics in his 
place. 

Dr. Howarp THomas Karsner, B.S., M.D. 
(Pennsylvania), now assistant professor of 
pathology in Harvard Medical School, has 
been appointed professor of pathology in the 
school of medicine, Western Reserve Univer- 


670 


sity, and will begin his duties December 1, 
1914. The following additional full-time in- 
structors began service this year: Henry O. 
Feiss, A.B., M.D. (Harvard), D.Se. (Edin- 
burgh), in experimental medicine; Gaius E. 
Harmon, M.D. (Boston), ©.P.H. (Mass. 
Inst.), in hygiene; Bradley M. Patten, A.B., 
Ph.D. (Harvard), in histology and embryol- 
ogy; George E. Simpson, B.S. (illinois) in 
organic and biochemistry. 

THe following appointments have been 
made in the department of psychology at the 
University of Dlinois: Dr. Homer B. Reed, 
instructor; Dr. Joseph E. De Camp, assistant ; 
Miss Anna Sophie Rogers, graduate assistant, 
and Miss Helen Clark, fellow. 


Dr. Rupotr Rorus, professor of mathemat- 
ics in the Technical School at Hanover, has 
been called to the Technical School at Char- 
lottenburg to succeed the late Professor Hett- 
ner, 

Dr. Peter DEBYE, professor of physics at 
Utrecht, has accepted a call to Gottingen. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 
THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE 


To THe Eprror oF Science: During the past 
months I have written a number of professors, 
deans and college presidents, as well as direc- 
tors of institutes of technology, in reference to 
the value to American undergraduates of the 
study of the history of the sciences and indus- 
tries. In each case the response received has 
been marked by cordiality and enthusiasm; so 
that I am now encouraged to seek a larger 
audience than can be reached by private corre- 
spondence. May I hope that the columns of 
your periodical will be open for a discussion of 
the matter ? 

Many of my correspondents (whose names, 
unfortunately, I have not yet sought permis- 
sion to quote) feel that if in their undergrad- 
uate days they had been given a survey of the 
development of the sciences, or, better still, 
had been led to trace the evolution of scien- 
tific thought, their individual mental progress 
would thereby have been much stimulated and 
advanced. They feel, moreover, that such a 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1036 


course of study as I suggest would be of spe- 
cial value in America, where our life and in- 
stitutions commit us to the ideals of a demo- 
cratic culture. 

It is of course widely recognized that the 
individual sciences would be better taught if 
presented on an historical background; we 
know most vividly what we know in its ori- 
gins. An old-fashioned course in chemistry 
taught us that oxygen was a colorless, taste- 
less, odorless gas, non-combustible, but a sup- 
porter of combustion, and left it to later 
chance reading to disclose the thrilling story 
of the discovery of oxygen. Those fortunate 
enough (perhaps years after graduation) to 
read eventually of the men of genius, Scheele, 
Priestley, Lavoisier, who had agonized to at- 
tain the generalization that had seemed so 
tame and valueless to the undergraduate, real- 
ized the defectiveness of instruction that 
sought to give the results of scientific investi- 
gation without availing itself of the historical 
motive. 

The practise of teaching the sciences in their 
evolution is a needed modification of Herbert 
Spencer’s pedagogy, without which his theory 
is both inconsistent and rude. On the one 
hand, he, like a true follower of Auguste 
Comte, held that the development of the indi- 
vidual intellect should rehearse the course of 
the history of civilization; on the other hand, 
he attacked as too primitive what he called 
the esthetic and ornamental studies. If he had 
supplemented his devotion to the sciences (as 
he understood them) by a recognition of the 
sciences in their development he would have 
been more consistent, and perhaps have been 
less bellicose in his attitude toward those lan- 
guages in which Archimedes, Lucretius and 
Galileo wrote. That the history of the sciences 
was the essential history of civilization and 
as such should be rehearsed by each develop- 
ing mind he still could have maintained. 

Another defect in the undergraduate cur- 
riculum that might be made good by the gen- 
eral history of science is the lack of connec- 
tion between scientific studies. In the old- 
fashioned college the student was permitted 
to take up biology in the freshman year, phys- 


Novemser 6, 1914] 


ics and chemistry in the sophomore, mineral- 
ogy and crystallography in the junior, and 
geology, astronomy and psychology in the 
senior. Scarcely a word in reference to the 
mutual influences and interconnections of 
these sciences! Only the exceptional gradu- 
ate was able to bring order out of the chaos of 
knowledge he bore away with his skeepskin. 

Those who attend American institutions of 
higher learning might easily be made to see in 
the beginnings of science essential problems in 
their less complex forms, and realize that or- 
ganized knowledge arose in connection with in- 
dustry and human needs. They could be 
placed in a position to appreciate the present- 
day applications of science, and to welcome 
future inventions and discoveries. At the 
same time they would learn that some of the 
most abstract reasoners have contributed to 
racial progress through studies that were not 
obviously utilitarian. They could be made to 
understand that science is the constant pur- 
suit of truth and not merely a treasure-house 
of truth already attained, and incidentally 
that it is no reproach to science that it does 
not teach to-day what it taught five hundred 
years ago, and that Darwin did not live in 
vain even if what he discovered is also in the 
process of evolution. As already indicated, 
our undergraduates through the example of 
the great scientists should be stimulated to 
research and independence, and weaned from 
the childlike notizenstolz of the academic 
classroom. 

Of course in order to be truly cultural a 
course in the history of the sciences must rise 
to general ideas, discuss cause and effect, the 
constitution of matter, and the conceptions 
fundamental to all the sciences. In a word it 
must be interpretive and not merely narra- 
tive. In fact, the subject of study I am dis- 
cussing first presented itself to my mind as 
an equivalent in this institution of the tra- 
ditional history of philosophy, a means of 
deepening our culture without prejudice to 
our confessed practical, vocational aims. It 
was soon realized that the general history of 
science affords a unique approach to the his- 
tory of general thought. The history of phi- 


SCIENCE 


671 


losophy can be reread in the light of the his- 
tory of science. 

For example, we all learned at college that 
Thales saw in water, or the moist, the prin- 
ciples of all things; but we were not taught at 
the same time that twenty-three centuries 
elapsed before men discovered the constitution 
of water as we understand it, and before it 
was demonstrated that water could not be re- 
duced to a solid by boiling; that Thales was 
dealing with what a later time called the states 
of aggregation of matter; and that liquid, or 
possibly fluid, might represent his conception. 
Similarly we studied the theory of the pneuma 
without knowing that it was late in the eight- 
eenth century that a great chemist published 
his “experiments and observations on differ- 
ent kinds of air.” The nature of the elements, 
the reality of the concept, the permanence of 
species, the transmigration of souls and ge- 
netic psychology, these topics will suggest to 
my readers points at which the history of sci- 
ence throws light on the history of philosophy. 
Indeed whole periods, like the scholastic (with 
its insistent question: What is the difference 
between this and that?), assume a new value 
as seen from the standpoint of the history of 
science. 

Dannemann’s work “Die Naturwissen- 
schaften in ihrer Entwicklung und in ihrem 
Zusammenhange” has the merit of offering a 
wealth of material on the subject it treats. 
The fourth volume gives excellent bibliog- 
raphies of the general history of the sciences, 
as well as of astronomy, physics, chemistry, 
mineralogy, geology, zoology, botany, general 
biology, medicine and hygiene, technology, 
mathematics, etc. It is far from being an 
ideal text-book, but it affords a fascinating 
survey and leaves no doubt in the mind of the 
experienced instructor that the history of the 
sciences could be treated in a way highly ac- 
ceptable to the American undergraduate. It 
would interest the humblest intelligence, and 
stimulate the exceptional minds to the heights 
to which they might be capable of attaining. 
The tactful instructor would emphasize the 
narrative or interpretative factors, the prac- 
tical or philosophical aspects, of the subject, ac- 


672 


cording to the abilities of the students. I can 
think of no better means than that which the 
history of general science affords of making 
the accumulated wisdom of the race tell on 
the active American life of to-day. 

The problem of presenting this subject ade- 
quately would be greatly simplified if there 
were in English a good book of four or five 
hundred pages on the Evolution of Scientific 
Thought. Let us add, since we are merely ex- 
pressing a pious wish, that it should be a 
model of concise and logical exposition 
written with the charm and lucidity of a Hux- 
ley. It should rest on a background of general 
ideas, and be a philosophy of the sciences; at 
the same time it should not neglect the appli- 
cations of science, and should incite an inter- 
est in industry and invention. 

Some such work is needed by the scientific 
world as a sort of confession of faith, or 
canon of the truth it holds and teaches. 
Without some summary of what investiga- 
tion has demonstrated the professor has less 
authority than the clergyman in the minds of 
young men and women. He is held in general 
to be an unbeliever, because he is negative 
rather than positive, destructive rather than 
constructive, a cold critic of what others teach 
rather than an enthusiastic exponent of the 
faith he holds. The professors fail to express 
what they really think and feel. The mind of 
the learned world has traveled far from the ag- 
nosticism of the middle of the nineteenth cen- 
tury. It is not merely that in reference to 
traditional faiths scholars do not believe, or 
believe not; they believe something else. It is 
too general to say that they believe in educa- 
tion and enlightenment and simple goodwill. 
It is merely intellectual to proclaim: I be- 
lieve in the law of gravitation, the nebular 
hypothesis, the circulation of the blood, the 
cellular structure of the tissues, organic eyvo- 
lution, the continuity of germ-plasm, the de- 
pendence of human thought on nerve tissue, 
the evolution of mind, and the cure of disease 
through the development of antitoxins. But 
when hundreds of such truths are presented 
historically as the fixed points in a cosmos es- 
tablished by the combined efforts of men, the 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8S. Von. XL. No. 1036 


cumulative effect is to take us beyond a cold 
intellectual formulation of an ordered uni- 
verse to an enthusiastic affirmation of the 
reign of law to be widened by the energies of 
the generations. Moreover, within its scope 
come social and ethical as well as physical and 
other mental phenomena, and through the his- 
torical study of ethics and sociology the stu- 
dent is led to see the gradual triumph of 
beneficent customs and legislation, supported 
on principles of justice, equity, freedom and 
good will. : 

Such a philosophical summary of the his- 
tory of science introducing the best minds of 
the continent, perhaps the foremost million of 
the population, to the vital ideas of the time, 
seems an almost imperative need of American 
culture. For in the realm of ideas there is no 
such thing as spontaneous generation. Those 
who seem the originators of great movements 
are those who have been brought under great 
influences. Apparent exceptions to this rule, 
like Shakespeare or Darwin or Lincoln, prove, 
on examination, excellent examples. There is 
little difficulty in tracing historically the con- 
tinuity of human thought. It follows that we 
can not hope for a generation of original 
thinkers unless we immerse our students in 
the stream of the world’s thought. The most 
inventive mind must have material on which 
to react, and can not strike out in a vacuum. 

The more or less friendly foreign critics who 
discuss American culture complain of our ex- 
elusive devotion to practical aims, our lack of 
conversation, and a certain narrowness in our 
outlook. From one point of view these so- 
called faults seem as fair as others’ virtues. 
But it is wisdom to recognize the just element 
in these strictures. Practical considerations 
alone warn us against narrowness of training. 
It can be shown from a history of the indus- 
tries that frequently progress has been op- 
posed by men whose experience has confined 
them to one department, or to one section of 
one department. Advances have come here as 
in the sciences from outsiders. Rightly 
understood this is a further argument, not for 
lack of culture, but for breadth of culture. 
Such freedom of outlook, without any impair- 


NOVEMBER 6, 1914] 


ment of our robust and practical ideals, can 
be gained by the study of the work of Faraday, 
Newton, Kepler, Franklin, Darwin and Pas- 
teur, and the general conceptions on which 
their work was based. 

In conclusion one must recognize that sci- 
ence is international, English, German, 
French, Italian, Russian, all nations coopera- 
ting in the imterests of racial progress. Ac- 
cordingly, a survey of the sciences tends to in- 
increase mutual respect, and to heighten the 
humanitarian sentiment. The history of the 
sciences can be taught to people of all creeds 
and colors, and can not fail to enhance in the 
breast of every young man or woman, faith in 
human progress and good will to all mankind. 

WALTER Lippy 

CARNEGIE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY. 


SOME INCONSISTENCIES IN PHYSICS TEXT-BOOKS 


Tue following is a quotation from Kohl- 
rausch’s “ Physical Measurements”: 


The coefficient of capillarity may be defined as 
the weight of fluid which is supported by the unit 
of length of the line of contact of its surface 
with a thoroughly wetted plate. 


Now a coefficient is a proportionality factor, 
a pure number expressing the measure of some 
specified force or property. For example, the 
volume coefficient of expansion of a gas is 
the ratio between the increase in volume per 
degree rise in temperature, and the volume at 
zero degrees centigrade, the pressure remain- 
ing constant. If we keep the expression coefii- 
cient of capillarity or capillary constant it 
must be as the ratio between the weight of 
liquid raised above the undisturbed level and 
the length of the line of contact of its surface 
with a thoroughly wetted plate. 

In my opinion there is a difficulty with 
ratios involving quantities measured in differ- 
ent units. Jt is much simpler, for instance, 
to grasp the significance of the ratio of the 
extension of a wire per given or unit tension, 
to the initial length (see Duff’s “ Text-book 
of Physics,” p. 122) than of Young’s modulus 
expressed as the ratio of the longitudinal 
stress to the longitudinal strain; the stress 


SCIENCE 


673 


measured as tension per unit cross section and 
the strain as extension per unit length. 

The quotation from Kohlrausch is not in 
any case a definition: it explains how the 
surface tension of a liquid may be measured. 
Capillarity is the phenomenon of rise or fall 
of liquids in tubes due to the surface tension 
of the liquids. In most recent text-books and 
laboratory manuals the term coefficient of 
capillarity, capillary constant or coefficient of 
surface tension is not used. Duff, for instance, 
and Ames in his “ College Physics,” state this: 

Tf a line be imagined drawn along the surface of 
a liquid, the part of the surface on one side of the 
line pulls on the part on the other side, and if the 
length of the line be supposed one centimeter the 
pull in dynes is taken as the magnitude of the 
surface tension of the liquid. 


Another term used inconsistently is specific. 
A specific quantity is concrete and so should 
be expressed in a unit. But we find specific 
gavity defined as a ratio. 

The specific gravity of a body is the ratio of 
the mass of any volume of it to the mass of the 
same volume of pure water at 4° C. (Carhart’s 
“‘College Physics’’). Specific gravity may be de- 
fined consistently as the weight of unit volume of 
the substance (Watson’s ‘‘ Text-book of Physics’’). 
But it is useful to keep in the definition, because 
of our methods of determining specific gravity, the 
idea of comparison. Kimball (‘‘College Phys- 
ies’’) calls it relative density, defining it as ‘‘the 
ratio between the density of the substance consid- 
ered and the density of a standard.’’ 

The definition of the specific heat of a sub- 
stance is consistently given, in most recent 
text-books, as the quantity of heat in calories 
which will raise the temperature of one gram 
of a substance through one degree centigrade. 
The specific inductive capacity of a medium is, 
however, defined as the ratio between the 
capacities of two condensers equal in size, one 
of them being an air condenser, the other 
filled with the specific dielectric. But this 
ratio is as often called dielectric constant, 
sometimes the coefficient of induction. 

These points are small ones, but they are 
puzzling to beginners and always annoying. 
Sur Avis Bake 
SmirH CoLLEGE 


674 


CHEMISTRY IN THE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 


Prorsssor CoprLanp in a recent article in 
Scrmnce? on “Botany in the Agricultural 
College” states as a minor point that much 
of the chemistry taught in these institutions 
is not basic to work in agriculture. 

It may be interesting to note in this con- 
nection that we have found in this laboratory 
that it is possible to give freshmen, in a re- 
quired course in chemistry, work which has 
relation to agriculture and seems to be of 
interest to them. 

The work is synthetic rather than analytic 
or descriptive in character, and consists, in 
part, in preparation from the original sources 
of the following materials: superphosphate, am- 
monium sulfate (from gas liquor), high grade 
muriate and sulfate of potash, as well as the 
sulfate of potash-magnesia from crude salts, 
arsenate of lead, lime-sulfur, Bordeaux mix- 
ture, Paris green and various emulsions. 

A student spends one or more two-hour 
laboratory periods on one preparation, often 
using the product of one day’s work to make 
a second substance. For example, copper 
sulfate is made from metallic copper, and at 
a following exercise Bordeaux mixture and 
Paris green are made from the copper salt. 
Similarly lead nitrate is made from the oxid 
before the nitrate is used to prepare the 
arsenate of lead. 

Many of these preparations, in the making, 
furnish excellent opportunities to illustrate 
the principles of mass-action and some phases 
of colloidal chemistry. 

C. A. Peters 


MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, 
DEPARTMENT OF GENERAL AND 
AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY 


THE RENOUNCING OF HONORARY DEGREES 


To tHE Eprror or Science: In your issue 
of October 2, I notice certain German pro- 
fessors have stated their intention of renounc- 
ing the honorary degrees conferred upon them 
by British universities. If they imagine they 
can do this they are, as regards Cambridge, 


1 September 18, 1914, page 401. 


SCLENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1036 


imagining a vain thing. Our statutes, which 
are acts of parliament, give no power, even to 
the authorities of the university itself, to take 
away honorary degrees. 

The utmost the German professors can do is 
to cease to use them, but they will still remain 
honorary doctors of Cambridge. They will go 
down to the tomb with this indelible stain upon 
their names. 


A. E. Suipiry 
CHRIST’S COLLEGE, 
CAMBRIDGE 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 


Telegraphy. By the late Sm W. H. PREECE, 
K.C.B., F.R.S., and Sm J. SIVEWRIGHT, 
M.A., K.C.M.G. Revised and partly re- 
written by W. LimrwELityn Preece. London 
and New York, Longmans, Green and Co., 
1914. 422 pages, 269 illustrations. Price 
$2.25 net. 

This interesting volume in the Text-Book 
of Science Series is a thorough revision of a 
smaller volume of 300 pages by the same two 
authors published by Longmans, Green & Co. 
in 1876. Although the original volume passed 
through nine editions, its contents remained 
almost unchanged. At that time, the book was 
practically the only one on the subject of teleg- 
raphy in Great Britain available for operators 
and artisans employed in the British post-office 
system. Great changes have naturally taken 
place in that system during the 38 years which 
have passed since the book first made its ap- 
pearance. The new book has, for instance, te 
include telephones and telephony, neither of 
which is referred to in the original edition. 
On the other hand, it has been necessary te 
exclude, for want of space, some of the sub- 
jects dealt with in the original volume. 

In clearness and simplicity of statement, it 
would be difficult for the new edition to im- 
prove upon the old. All the writings of the 
late Sir William Preece were signalized by 
their directness and lucidity. His collaborator, 
Sir James Sivewright, was entitled to a like 
share of praise for his literary presentations. 
Between them they wrote a volume that re- 
mained, during a generation, a standard for 


NOVEMBER 6, 1914] 


the class to whom it was addressed. The tra- 
ditions of the volume have been well supported 
by Mr. Llewellyn Preece, Sir William’s son. 
While many of the original illustrations have 
been preserved and reproduced in the new edi- 
tion, more than a hundred new illustrations 
have been incorporated. 

Tt is so rarely that we find a man’s scientific 
and literary production adequately brought up 
to date by the labor of his son, that the book 
before us would have a claim for recognition 
on this account alone. 

In yiew of so much new material which has 
been introduced, it seems invidious to com- 
plain of omissions. It is to be regretted, how- 
ever, that the last chapter of the original edi- 
tion, devoted to “Commercial Telegraphy ” 
and dealing with the very interesting and spe- 
eial administrative features of the British 
telegraphs, should have had to disappear, in 
making up the new volume. There was a char- 
acteristic quality in that presentation which 
we think will be missed in the new edition, and 
which is valuable to students of telegraphy. 

The new chapters on Repeaters, Quadruplex, 
Multiplex, the Telephone and Wireless Teleg- 
raphy are excellent, and the treatment which 
they offer of those subjects accords remarkably 
well with the style of the original volume. 


A. E. KENNELLY 


4 History of Japanese Mathematics. By 
Davin Evcene Smith and YosHio MiIKAMI. 
The Open Court Publishing Company, 
Chicago, 1914. Pp. vii+ 288. 

This interesting story of Japanese mathe- 
matics is presented in most attractive garb. 
The paper, the type and the illustrations make 
ef it a work which it is a delight to handle, 
but an American must feel some regret that 
this beautiful book with the imprint of an 
American publishing house is nevertheless 
from the press of a German printer, W. Dru- 

_gulin, Leipzig. 

The Japanese mathematics is largely indig- 
enous and, as the authors well state, it is “ like 
her art, exquisite rather than grand.” Of the 
six periods into which the history of their 
mathematics may be divided the first extends 


SCIENCE 


675 


to 552 a.D., and is almost entirely a native 
development. The second period, from 552 to 
1600, was characterized by the predominance 
of Chinese mathematics. The third period 
was a kind of renaissance which reached its 
highest development in Seki Kowa (1642— 
1708), the most famous Japanese mathemati- 
cian. The fourth and fifth periods, from 1675 
to 1775 and from 1775 to 1868, are marked by 
the development of the wasan, or native mathe- 
matics. Even before these periods the Jesuits 
had secured a foothold in China, and a Japan- 
ese student of mathematics was working under 
Van Schooten in Leyden as early as 1661, so 
that some influence of European mathematics 
may be confidently assumed. The sixth period 
is the period of the present day which, in 
mathematics, at least, knows nothing of polit- 
ical and racial boundaries. 

The uncertainty of the first and second 
periods is best illustrated by the fact that but 
17 pages are devoted to their consideration. 
A passage in the discussion of the Chinese 
“ Arithmetical Rules in Nine Sections” is 
also significant: “If these problems were in 
the original text, and that text has the anti- 
quity usually assigned to it, concerning neither 
of which we are at all certain, then they con- 
tain the oldest known quadratic equation.” 

Tangible arithmetic seems to have secured 
its greatest development among the Japanese. 
The fundamental operations with the soroban, 
a modification of the Chinese swan-pan, are 
explained in a detailed manner, and illus- 
trated with excellent photographs. Certainly 
it is striking that in Chinese swan-pan has 
the meaning “reckoning table,” which corre- 
sponds precisely to the Greek word from which 
“abacus” is derived, this also having the 
meaning “table,” particularly for bankers. 
The sangi, or computing rods, are explained 
both as used for representing numbers and 
also as applied to the solution of algebraic 
equations. 

Extensive numerical computation appealed 
greatly to the Japanese as well as to the Chi- 
nese mathematician. The game side of mathe- 
matics is represented by magic squares, and 
even magic circles. An approach to the meth- 


676 


ods of the calculus is found in the yenrz, or 
circle principle, which tradition states was 
devised by Seki Kowa. 

This work should appeal to a wide circle 
of readers, to the students of the history of 
science, to all interested in Japanese civiliza- 
tion and even to the general reader, for much 
of the work is non-technical. Certainly this 
book will contribute to a juster and broader 
appreciation of the Japanese genius. 


Louis C. Karpinsk1 
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN 


The Development of Mathematics in China and 
Japan; Abhandlungen zur Geschichte der 
mathematischen Wissenschaften, Vol. XXX. 
By YosHio Mikami, Teubner, Leipzig, 1913. 
G. E. Stechert and Co., New York. Pp. x-+ 
347. 

The activity of Mr. Mikami in making the 
mathematics of China and Japan known to the 
western world is highly to be commended. Be- 
sides many articles dealing with particular 
problems of the history of mathematics, Mr. 
Mikami has an earlier work, “ Mathematical 
Papers from the Far Hast,” in the same series 
as this volume under discussion, and also 
another book jointly with Professor David 
Kugene Smith, “ A History of Japanese Mathe- 
matics,” published by The Open Court Pub- 
lishing Company. The more active coopera- 
tion of some English-speaking historian of 
mathematics would have been desirable in the 
two volumes which were published in Cer- 
many. Professor G. B. Halsted has, indeed, 
prefatory notes in the volumes which imply 
that the task of correcting the English was 
entrusted to him, but the literary charm of 
Professor Halsted’s own works is lacking here, 
and even unintelligible as well as non-idiomatic 
English mars the excellence of these works. 
Errors are too numerous to be listed. 

The book is divided into two parts: the first 
91 chapters discuss the Chinese mathematics, 
and the following 26 chapters the Japanese. 
Three chapters which are of great value to 
the student of the history of science are en- 
titled, A General View of the Japanese Mathe- 
matics, A Chronology of the Japanese Mathe- 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Von. XL. No. 1036 


matics, and A Short Notice of the Historical 
Studies of the Japanese Mathematics. Some- 
what similar treatment of the Chinese portion 
would have added much to the value of the 
work. An omission in the bibliography of the 
historical works is Souciet (Pére), Observa- 
tions mathématiques, astronomiques, ete., 
tirées des anciens livres Chinois, ou faites 
nouvellement aux Indes et a la Chine par les 
peres de la Comp. de Jesus (Paris, 1729), to 
which my attention has been ealled by Pro- 
fessor W. W. Beman. 

Considerable uncertainty attaches to the 
dating, and even the content, of the ancient 
Chinese and Japanese mathematical treatises, 
but this, we may say, seems somewhat charac- 
teristic of our knowledge of the early Orient, 
particularly India. An evidence of this uncer- 
tainty is the fact that Mikami’s description of 
the early “ Arithmetic in Nine Sections” is 
quite different (footnote, p. 10) from that 
given by T. Hayashi in his “ Brief History of 
Japanese Mathematics” which appeared in 
the Nieuw Archief, Tweede Reeks, Deel VI. 
(mot accessible to me). 

To the student of mathematics the most 
striking feature of this history will doubtless 
be the processes of solution of equations of 
higher degree than the second, by means of the 
sangis or calculating pieces. These solutions 
require a great amount of detail and approach 
closely the methods of Horner and Newton. 
The attention paid to the “squaring of the 
circle” is of interest, and the approach to a 
determinant notation is truly striking. The 
student of the history of mathematics will 
doubtless be most impressed by the description 
of the early Chinese process of multiplication 
of an integer of several places by an integer of 
the same kind, for the process corresponds in 
many details to the methods taught in the 
early works on the Hindu art of reckoning. 

Some allowance for the enthusiasm of a 
Japanese writer must be made by the reader. 
However, to compare the Japanese Seki with 
Newton, “If Seki did not surpass Newton in 
his achievements, yet he was no inferior of 
the two,” is quite beyond the bounds of allow- 
able enthusiasm, for no evidence is presented 


NOVEMBER 6, 1914] 


which in the least warrants this surprising 
statement. 

In the present state of European civilization 
we turn with more interest possibly than form- 
erly to these ancient civilizations of the East. 
English people can only regret that when the 
Japanese have taken the pains to write in the 
English language treatises of this kind about 
their history that even then the publication 
should be effected in Germany and Holland. 
Surely the people of the Orient should be met 
by English and Americans more cordially in 
scholarly as well as commercial matters. Mr. 
Mikami has rendered a real service to the his- 
tory of science by this exposition of the devel- 
opment of mathematics in China and Japan. 


Louis C. KarpinsKx1 
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN 


Birds of New York. By Eton Howarp Eaton. 
Memoir 12, New York State Museum, 
John M. Clarke, Director. Part 2. Intro- 
ductory Chapters; Land Birds. Albany, 
University of the State of New York. 1914. 
4to. Pp. 719. Sixty-four colored plates, 
and many half-tone illustrations in the text. 
In the review of Part I.1 it was said that 

“Of the many manuals and reports on birds 

issued under authority of the various state 

governments none approaches in voluminous 
detail and fullness of illustration the present 
work on the ‘ Birds of New York,’” of which 

Part I., comprising the water birds and game 

birds, appeared in 1910. It was further 

stated that “the author, Elon Howard Eaton, 
has shown himself well fitted for the task, 
both the introductory matter and the syste- 
matic part giving evidence of thorough re- 
search and good judgment.” This high praise 
is equally merited by Part I1., comprising 

introductory chapters on bird ecology (pp. 5- 

46), the economic value of birds (pp. 46-51), 

the status of our bird laws (pp. 51-52), special 

measures for increasing bird life (pp. 52-58), 

bird refuges (pp. 58-59), private preserves 

(pp. 58-60), and a systematic account of the 

land birds (pp. 61-548). 
1Scrmnce, N. S., Vol. XXXII., No. 866, pp. 

247-48, August 19, 1910. 


SCIENCE 


677 


The chapter on bird ecology treats (1) of 
the fundamental factors of environment, as 
climatic, physiographic, character of soil, and 
biotic; (2) bird habits; (8) nesting sites of 
New York birds, in respect to whether in 
banks, on the ground, in tussocks, in thickets, 
at different elevations in trees, or in struc- 
tures erected by man, including bird boxes 
specially provided by man; (4) bird commu- 
nities, classified with reference to breeding 
haunts; (5) succession of bird life, with 
reference to climatic and edaphic conditions; 
(6) the influence of culture conditions, as 
timber cutting, draining of swamps and 
marshes, pruning of shade and fruit trees, and: 
effects of agriculture; (7) birds in relation to 
their food habits; (8) injury done by birds, in 
different ways by particular species; (9) 
economic value of birds, as destroyers of in- 
sects, weed seeds, field mice, ete.; and, finally 
(10) measures for increasing bird life, as the 
erection of artificial nesting sites, and the 
planting of trees and shrubs that yield them 
shelter or food. 

The systematic part treats of the genera and 
species in the sequence of the A. O. U. Check- 
list, from the vultures to the bluebird, in the 
detailed manner indicated in the review of 
Part I. The 65 half-tone illustrations in the 
text are mostly of young birds or of nests 
and eggs, but include a few full-length views 
of birds from mounted specimens; the 64 
colored plates are by TF uertes, and thus 
scarcely need further comment, except to say 
that the color-printing is of very unequal 
merit, being for the most part good, but far 
from satisfactory in many of the sparrow 
plates and in some others, which, of course, is 
not the fault of the artist. The subject- 
matter does great credit to the author and to 
the state, and the work will always be the 
standard authority on the ornithology of New 
York as known at the time of its publication. 
As a piece of book-making it falls far short of 
being a model. There is no table of contents 
beyond the chapter titles given on the title- 
pages, nor any list of the text illustrations, 
nor of the plates; the index is placed after 
the plates with a hiatus in the pagination 


678 


from page 543 to page 678, presumably to 
cover the explanatory leaves facing the plates. 


J. A. ALLEN 
AMERICAN MUSEUM oF NATURAL HIsToRy, 
New YorE 


Nature and Development cf Plants. By 
Caruton C. Curtis, Professor of Botany in 
Columbia University. Illustrated. New 
York, Henry Holt & Company. 1914. Pp. 
vii + 506. 

A few years ago it fell to the reviewer’s lot 
to diseuss in these columns the first edition 
of this excellent text, and it is with pleasure 
that he offers herewith his comments on its 
recent revision. 

It is well that a book of this kind has met 
with that degree of appreciation and success 
which has warranted its third edition in so 
short a time. It is rare among our text-books 
of botany that the essential facts of the sci- 
ence are presented in a style at once so clear 
and attractive as to hold the attention of the 
casual reader, to say nothing of its acceptabil- 
ity to students. Too often is it the tendency 
among writers to kill, in the average stu- 
dent, all interest in a subject naturally engag- 
ing, by a dictionary style of composition and 
a pedantic devotion to technical terminology. 
Technical terms are well enough in their 
place, but their acquisition is not the end of 
botanical study, and to present the nature and 
development of plants accurately and in simple 
language demands a keener appreciation of 
the facts and their relations, than it may re- 
quire to clothe the subject in the diction of a 
specialist. 

One of the points in which this book is 
especially to be commended is the effort of 
its author to direct attention to the economic 
bearings of the subject. While the deeper 
thinker has no difficulty in appreciating the 
practical value of pure science, so-called, the 
fact remains that most students are stimu- 
lated by a perception of the relation of this 
or that fact to human welfare, and the more 
the facts of such relation are emphasized, the 
less will botany have to contend for its just 
place in the academic program. 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1036 


It is the aim of the author, as stated in the 
preface, that the mastery of this text shall 
exact strenuous effort on the part of the stu- 
dent, an excellent motive from the pedagogical 
standpoint, but an end which is better reached 
in the laboratory than elsewhere. Such a pur- 
pose would hardly be achieved in the present 
volume with its clear and simple style, unless 
it be in the mass and suggestiveness of its 
fact, which we take to be the author’s intent. 

The book before us is divided into two parts. 
The first deals with the plant as an organ- 
ism, definite, vital, dynamic. In this the 
topics of photosynthesis, transpiration, absorp- 
tion, growth, reproduction, etc., as well as the 
structure of the tissues concerned, are treated 
with special reference to the seed plant and 
introduces the significance of plant structures 
and life. Part two presents the subkingdoms 
of the plant world and their more common 
representatives, setting forth the principal 
features of relationship and evolution. The 
book should form the basis of a year’s study, 
supplemented by lectures and laboratory work. 
The illustrations are excellent and well chosen. 

J. E. Kirkwoop 

Missouna, Mont. 


BOTANICAL NOTES 
THE ANNIVERSARY OF A GREAT GARDEN 


SEVERAL months ago the botanists of the 
world were asked to come to St. Louis about 
the middle of October to celebrate the twenty- 
fifth anniversary of the organization of the 
board of trustees of the Missouri Botanical 
Garden. And in planning the celebration 
those in charge wisely provided for a dignified 
program of scientific papers of notable merit, 
rather than for a series of congratulatory ad- 
dresses. Of course there were some congratu- 
lations, but these were confined to the after- 
dinner speeches, at the close of the anni- 
versary exercises. So there was a minimum 
of inane congratulations, and a maximum of 
notably meritorious botanical papers. The 
example of the managers of this program is 
commended to other managers of anniversary 
exercises. 

Here it should be remembered that Henry 


NOVEMBER 6, 1914] 


Shaw was born in England in 1800, and that 
coming to America he amassed a fortune by 
middle life, and retired from business, spend- 
ing the remainder of his life in beautifying 
his estate in the suburbs of St. Louis. Even- 
tually this became known as “Shaw’s 
Garden.” About 1860 it was opened to the 
public, and in 1889 was transferred to a board 
of trustees to administer the estate under the 
provisions of Mr. Shaw’s will, as the Mis- 
souri Botanical Garden. The garden has thus 
no legal connection with the city of St. Louis 
and it even pays taxes on all of its real estate 
excepting only the land actually occupied by 
the garden itself. The garden has been for- 
tunate in its immediate management, which 
is vested in its director. The first director 
was Professor William Trelease, who filled this 
position with distinguished honor until his 
resignation in 1912, and he was followed by 
Doctor George T. Moore, whose two years of 
service have already proved his fitness. 

The general program as announced in Sct- 
ENCE for September 11, 1914, was carried out 
with some additions and changes due to the 
disturbances caused by the European war. 
The mornings were spent in visiting places of 
interest in the city, and at the garden. The 
midday lunches afforded excellent opportun- 
ities for extending personal acquaintances. 
The program of the first afternoon (October 
15) included after Director Moore’s address 
of welcome (mainly historical), eight papers, 
six of which were actually presented, the re- 
maining two being read by title only. Thus 
the papers by Director Britton (New York), 
Professor Wille (Norway), Professor Bessey 
(Nebraska), Professor Conzatti (Mexico), 
Professor Coulter (Chicago), and Assistant 
Director Hill (Kew) were presented in full, 
while those by Doctor Lipsky (Russia), and 
Director Briquet (Geneva) were not in hand, 
and were presented by title only. 

The program of the second afternoon 
(October 16) included ten papers, of which 
those by Professor Czapek (Prag), Director 
MacDougal (Desert Laboratory), Doctor Appel 
(Berlin), Professor Setchell (California), 
Director Westerdijk (Amsterdam), Professor 


SCIENCE 


679 


Atkinson (Cornell), and Doctor Smith (Wash- 
ington) were presented in full, while those by 
Director Fitting (Bonn), Director Klebs 
(Heidelberg), and Professor Buller (Mani- 
toba) were presented by title only. 

The closing banquet was worthy of the occa- 
sion. Those who have been fortunate enough 
to be bidden to the “Shaw Banquets” need 
no description as to what this one was like. 
It was notable for the profusion of floral 
decorations, public report asserting that more 
than six thousand plants were used for this 
purpose, including about six hundred vari- 
eties of decorative plants. In a second matter 
this banquet was notable in that for the first 
time there were women among the guests, as 
should be, of course, when we remember the 
very considerable number of women who are 
engaged in botanical investigation, and in 
botanical teaching. 


TRICARPELLARY AND TETRACARPELLARY ASH FRUITS 

For several years I have been watching 
some of the green ash trees (Fraxinus penn- 
sylvanica) along the streets of Lincoln, having 
found many years ago that some of them were 
in the habit of producing tricarpellary fruits, 
in addition to their usual bicarpellary samaras. 
As a result, several months ago I found one 
tree that produced these fruits in such num- 
bers that the case seems to me to be worthy 
of record. One of my assistants, Mr. F. F. 
Weinard, collected from this tree 87 clusters 
of the fruits, and found that the average num- 
ber of fruits in each cluster was 25, of which 
on an average ten were tricarpellary. In 
other words of the whole number of samaras 
examined (2,183) there were 876 that were 
tricarpellary. This means that almost exactly 
40 per cent. of the whole number of fruits were 
tricarpellary, a proportion that is quite un- 
looked for. In the same collection there were 
found four tetracarpellary fruits, that is about 
one fifth of one per cent. 

Elsewhere in the city other trees were found 
that produced tricarpellary fruits, but it is a 
well established fact that most green ash 
trees produce very few, if any, of these ab- 
normal fruits. 


680 


STAMENS AND OVULES OF CARNEGIEA GIGANTEA 
TuHRoucH the courtesy of Director Mac- 
Dougal of the Desert Botanical Laboratory at 
Tucson, Arizona, a lateral branch of the giant 
cactus (Carnegiea gigantea), measuring about 
a meter in height and twenty centimeters in 
diameter has been blossoming at intervals since 
May in the botanical plant houses of the Uni- 
versity of Nebraska. No less than five dis- 
tinct sets of flowers have appeared in this time. 
From the first the number of stamens in- 
terested us, and some estimates were made of 
their number, but these varied so much that 
at last it was determined that the only thing 
to do was to make an accurate count of the 
stamens. Accordingly Mr. R. E. Jeffs, a fel- 
low in botany, was asked to determine the 
number by enumerating every stamen, not 
making any estvmate whatever. The result 
was astonishing, for it was found that there 
were 3,482 stamens in the flower, probably the 
largest number recorded for any flower. 

This quite naturally raised the question of 
the number of ovules in the same flower, and 
Mr. Jeffs accommodatingly counted these also, 
with the result that he found 1,980 ovules. 
Here again the number is unexpectedly large, 
but the result is by no means as astonishing 
as in regard to the stamens. ‘These figures 
are deemed worthy of publication. 

Cuartes EK. Brssry 

THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 


ACTIVATION OF THE UNFERTILIZED EGG BY ULTRA- 
VIOLET RAYS 


THE sterilizing effect of the ultraviolet rays 
suggested the possibility that with their aid 
unfertilized eggs could be induced to develop, 
since the writer’s previous experiments have 
shown that any substance which acts as a cy- 
tolytic agency can also produce artificial par- 
thenogenesis. It was found, indeed, that the 
unfertilized eggs of the sea urchin Arbacia, 
‘as well as those of the annelid Chetopterus, 
can be caused to develop by a short treatment 
with the Heraeus quartz mereury arelamp. The 
lamp was fed with a current of 3.4 amperes, 
the voltage of which was 220. The alleged 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1036 


candle power of this light was 3,000. The eggs 
were at the bottom of a glass dish covered by 
a layer of 2 cm. of sea water. The dish was 
open on top and it stood directly under the 
lamp at a distance of 15 em. In order to pre- 
vent the temperature of the eggs from rising 
above the normal room temperature the glass 
vessel containing the eggs was surrounded by 
melting ice. The eggs formed a single layer 
on the bottom of the dish, since it seemed that 
the eggs lying on top screened the eggs under 
them from the effect of the ultraviolet light. 

When unfertilized eggs of Arbacia were ex- 
posed to the ultraviolet light for ten minutes, 
many and sometimes all formed fertilization 
membranes. In some of the eggs this mem- 
brane was only the fine gelatinous film which 
the writer called an atypical membrane; others 
possessed a typical normal fertilization mem- 
brane. When nothing further was done with 
the eggs they underwent, at room temperature, 
cytolysis without segmentation. When the 
temperature was below room temperature 
(about 12° OC.) some of the eggs segmented into 
two or four cells, but then perished. When 
the eggs were put for twenty minutes into 
hypertonic sea water, about ten minutes after 
the treatment with ultraviolet light, they devel- 
oped into larve. The eggs had suffered, how- 
ever, since few developed beyond the gastrula 
stage. When the eggs were exposed too long 
to the ultraviolet light (e. g., twenty minutes) 
they formed fertilization membranes, but were 
injured to such an extent that they could no 
longer segment or develop. 

It was of interest that a cover glass of 0.1 
mm. thickness prevented all effects of ultra- 
violet light even if the eggs were exposed forty 
or sixty minutes. Such eggs remained nor- 
mal. A layer of from 2 to 6 cm. of sea water 
did not prevent the effect of the ultraviolet 
rays. Neither did the rather thick walls of 
a quartz test tube. 

The membrane formation by ultraviolet rays 
took place in the absence as well as in the pres- 
ence of oxygen. When unfertilized eggs were 
put into quartz test tubes from which all the 
oxygen had been driven out by sending a pow- 
erful current of hydrogen through for four 


NOVEMBER 6, 1914] 


hours, the ultraviolet light still caused mem- 
brane formation. This effect of the ultra- 
violet rays was not prevented by even an ex- 
cessive quantity of NaCN, which inhibits oxi- 
dation in the egg. The membrane formation 
under the influence of ultraviolet light took 
place in neutral solutions as well as in weakly 
alkaline ones. 

The calling forth of the membrane forma- 
tion was due to a direct action of the ultra- 
violet rays upon the egg and not to a product 
formed by the rays in the sea water or in the 
air. For sea water which had been exposed 
to the influence of the rays, no matter how 
long, without containing eggs, did not cause 
membrane formation when the eggs were put 
into it after the ultraviolet light was 
turned off. 

These experiments show that causation of 
membrane formation in the unfertilized sea 
urchin egg and the subsequent inducement to 
development were due to the direct effect upon 
the ege of ultraviolet waves below 2607 A. u., 
since, according to Dr. and Madame V. Henri, 
waves below this range can not penetrate a cover 
glass of 0.14 mm. thickness. It is not possible 
to state in which way the ultraviolet waves 
caused the membrane formation in the egg 
except that it could take place without free 
oxygen as well as in the presence of NaCN. 

The results mentioned thus far were ob- 
tained in the egg of the sea urchin. The egg 
of Chetopterus, after an exposure of from five 
to ten minutes to the ultraviolet rays under 
the conditions mentioned above, developed 
into swimming larve, without cell division. 

Since Rontgen rays are only very short light 
waves, and since they also cause cytolysis, they 
should also cause membrane formation of the 
unfertilized egg. It is of interest that G. Bohn 
states that Rontgen rays induce artificial par- 
thenogenesis. His experiments were made be- 
fore the role of the membrane formation (or 
the alteration of the surface of the egg) was 
recognized as a necessary step in development, 
and he therefore does not mention whether or 
not Réntgen rays induce membrane formation. 

JACQUES LOEB 

THE ROCKEFELLER INSTITUTE FOR 

MEDICAL RESEARCH, NEW YORK 


SCIENCE 


681 


ON THE FEASIBILITY OF DETERMINING EXPERI- 
MENTALLY THE LUNAR AND SOLAR DEFLEC- 
TION OF THE VERTICAL BY MEANS OF 
TWO CONNECTED WATER TANKS 
For some time I have had in mind the 
essentials of the arrangement or apparatus 
deseribed below, the purpose of which is to 
ascertain the deflection of the vertical as dis- 
turbed from its mean position by the attraction 
of the moon and sun. It may not be new; 
but I have never seen it described or referred 

to elsewhere. 

Briefly described, such apparatus would con- 
sist of two tanks or cisterns of equal diameters 
and of equal depths, located some distance 
apart, upon the same level, and connected by 
means of a pipe. This pipe should be of metal 
excepting for some distance near its central 
portion where a glass section or length of 
much smaller diameter should be inserted. 
The pipe should be attached to the bottoms 
of the tanks in order to avoid complications 
which would otherwise arise should the tem- 
peratures of the water in the two tanks become 
somewhat unequal. But if the pipes are 
attached to the bottoms of the tanks, the 
unequal expansion of the water will not seri- 
ously affect the equilibrium and so will not 
set up any flow of consequence from one tank 
to the other. 

At any given place upon the earth’s surface 
the direction of the instantaneous vertical 
continually deviates from its mean position 
by a small angle dependent upon the time (or 
local hour angle) selected and the positions of 
the moon and sun relative to the earth’s center. 

Ignoring the attraction of the disturbed 
oceans, the plumbline upon an unyielding 
earth deviates in accordance with the im- 
pressed horizontal forces. These forces, in 
terms of g or terrestrial gravity are: 

Eastward force, 
==— 0.0000001684 cos ALM, sin (mt + arg, M,) 

+S, sin (Sat + argo 8.) +... ]. 
— 0.0000001684 sin A[K, sin (k,¢ + arg) K,) 
+ O, sin (0,¢ ++ argo 01) 
P, sin (p,t + arg, Pi) + --- ]. 

Southward force, 

= 0.0000001684 cos A sin ALM. cos (m,¢ + arg, M_) 


+ S, cos (sf + arg, S.) + --- ]. 


682 


— 9.0000001684 cos 2A[K, cos (k,t + arg, K,) 
+ O, cos (0,¢ + arg, O,) 
+ P, cos (pit + argo P,) + --- J. 


Here M,, 8,, K,, O,, P,, denote abstract 
numbers or coefficients of tidal constituents 
bearing these names and are equal to 0.4543, 
0.2114, 0.2652, 0.1886 and 0.0878, respectively. 
The angles in the parentheses are the argu- 
ments of the forces which give rise to the 
various constituent tides. , denotes the lati- 
tude of the place or station selected. 

The above expressions also denote the in- 
stantaneous deviation of the vertical expressed 
in radians (1 radian = 206265”). 

Let Z denote the horizontal distance be- 
tween the centers of the two tanks. Let 
d denote the inside diameter of the small trans- 
parent pipe used and 7 its length. Let 
denote the area of the water surface in either 
tank. 

For convenience, consider here only the 
principal periodic term of the lunar semi- 
diurnal tide and let the two tanks be situated 
upon the earth’s equator. The foregoing ex- 
pressions will enable one to make similar com- 
putations for all terms given, for any latitude, 
and for any orientation of the apparatus. 

At a time three lunar hours before the upper 
or lower culmination of the mean moon, the 
surface of the water in the eastern tank will 
be ZX 0.0000001684<0.4543 = 0.0000000765 Z 
units higher than the surface of the water in 
the western tank. The reverse will be the case 
three lunar hours after either meridian pas- 
sage. 

The amount of water passing through any 
eross section of the connecting pipe will be 


OL X 0.0000000765 


cubie units. 

If 2b denote the entire distance over which 
the water in the glass section of the pipe 
moves, we must have 


apt x = QL X 0.0000000765; 


area tank 
cross section small pipe ” 


If this ratio be 10,000, then 


.”. 2b =L X0.0000000765 x 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1036 


2b = 0.000765 L 


units, and if the length of Z be 10,000 units 
(say centimeters) then 


2b = 7.65 units (centimeters). 


Now the time required in making this trans- 
fer of water is 6 lunar hours, or 22,357 seconds; 
. . the average velocity in the small tube will 
be 2b + 22,357 —0.00084 units per second, 
and, because the disturbing force here used is 
harmonic, the maximum velocity will be 
2b — 14,233 = 0.00054 units per second, and 


the maximum flux, 0.000547 a? eubie units per 


second. 

This small velocity in a pipe say 1 cm. in 
diameter implies stream-line motion; and so 
we can compute by Poiseuille’s laws the flux, 
or rate of discharge, under given or assumed 
conditions as regards the diameter and length 
of pipe and the difference of pressure at the 
two ends of this pipe. The formula for this is 

x {d\*pi — po 
Flux =< GC) 
cubic centimeters per second. In the first 
place, assume that 
PD; — P2=L X 0.0000000765 gp. 


Here p denotes the density of the water and is 
about unity; 
i 0.0178 
*~ 10.3370 + 0.0002216 
@ denoting the temperature Centigrade; and 
g=981 centimeters per second. 

Tf 7100 em., and Z—10,000, the flux, 
ignoring the resistance in the larger pipe, 
would amount to 

x 1 0.000765 

8.16 #100 
cubic centimeters per second, a quantity many 
times greater than the maximum flux neces- 
sitated by the water transference. 

For a pipe 100 meters long and of diameter 


\/10 centimeters, the flux will be the same as 
for the small pipe one meter long just con- 


sidered. 

From the above it can be seen that the 
effect of all pipe resistance can be so reduced 
by varying the diameters and lengths as to 


NovEeMBER 6, 1914] 


not seriously interfere with the quantity of 
water actually transferred; and a little con- 
sideration will show that the amount of such 
interference can be calculated with some cer- 
tainty. 

Nothing has been said as to the nature of 
a float suitable for indicating the motion in 
the glass pipe. Somewhat as Forel in his 
“lemyrameter ” used corks weighted to the 
specific gravity of water, so here a cylinder 
having a diameter somewhat less than the in- 
side diameter of the glass pipe, and having the 
specific gravity of water, could be used. Each 
of the metal ends of such cylinder should be 
pierced by a hole, so that the cylinder could 
be threaded loosely on a fine wire stretched 
along the axis of the small pipe. However, 
some other style of float may be preferable to 
this. The readings should be made at regular 
hourly or half-hour intervals. 

The amount whereby the observed b, prop- 
erly corrected for pipe resistance, may fall 
short of its simple theoretical value, 7. e., its 
value on a perfectly rigid earth devoid of 
oceans, is an important factor in the deter- 
mination of the amount of yielding of the 
earth to the known tidal forces, and so in the 
determination of the earth’s rigidity. The 
interpretation of such measurements, however, 
constitutes no part of the present communica- 
tion. 

R. A. Harris 

WASHINGTON, D. C., 

March 28, 1914 


[Simce the above was written, I have seen 
the surprisingly consistent results obtained by 
Professor Michelson and published in the 
Journal of Geology and in the Astrophysical 
Journal for March, 1914; also the account 
published in Scrence for June 26, 1914. It 
will be recalled that in these determinations, 
the vertical oscillation of the water’s surface 
at the two ends of a half-filled horizontal pipe 
was the quantity measured. R. A. H., Sep- 
tember 29.] 


APPROXIMATE MEASUREMENT OF TEXTILE FIBERS 


THIs note is hardly the place for the demon- 
stration of the following theorem. However, 


SCIENCE 


683 


it is readily capable of demonstration, and the 
reader of a mathematical turn of mind will at 
once perceive the line of proof. 

THEOREM. If an infinite series consisting of 
straight parallel linear elements of every pos- 
sible length, each element arranged perpen- 
dicularly to and symmetrically to a given 
straight line, be bisected along that line 
and the two half-series thus produced be 
placed with the former outer edges of adja- 
cent, then if the elements of one of the half- 
series be systematically rearranged, its longest 
element matched to the shortest of the other 
half-series and its next longest to the next 
shortest of the other half-series and so on, a 
new parallel-sided uniform series will be pro- 
duced, each of whose elements has a length 
equal to the mean length of the elements of 
the original series. 

Tf the theorem be changed so that the ele- 
ments are stated to vary in length within pre- 
seribed limits, then for this modified theorem 
the line of demonstration as well as the final 
result is the same. 


Fie. 1. Straight elements varying in length 
within prescribed limits, arranged symmetrically 
with reference to a given straight line, a—b, in 
accordance with theorem. 


If the number of elements is limited, say, 
for example, to a few thousand, the result be- 
comes approximate; and if the elements in- 
stead of having their middle points on the 
given straight line are arranged so that their 
middle points fall at random on either side of 
the given straight line a distance less than 
half the length of the shortest element, then 
the reconstructed series will have a width ap- 
proximately equal to the mean length of the 
original elements; for it will always be pos- 


684 


sible to pair the elements whose middle points 
fall to the right with those whose middle 
points fall to the left in such a way, the long 
with the short, as to secure the result stated in 


Fic. 2. Series shown in Fig. 1 bisected, and its 
left half transposed and turned over. For the 
sake of simplicity, in Fig. 1 the elements are so 
assorted that in Fig, 2 they match without rear- 
tangement. The width of the second series 
(Fig. 2) equals the mean length of the original 
elements. 


a 
ahs 
ha “| 
s { 
\ 


@éy 


| 


Fic. 3. Application of the theorems to the 
Ineasurement of textile fibers in mass, for in- 
stance a ‘‘pull’’ of cotton fibers. The pull con- 
sisting of about 2,000 fibers is cut in two trans- 
versely with clean sharp shears. One half of the 
pull ‘‘a,’’ is placed between thin glass plates, 1 
and 2 (lantern plate covers). The other half is 
placed between the glass plates 2 and 3. 1 and 2 
are pressed firmly together with the left hand, as 
shown, while 3 is held loosely with only its left 
hand edge in contact with 2 and resting against 
the left thumb, its right hand edge being lifted 
so as to enable the operator to move the fibers 
“*6’? back and forth over the fibers ‘‘a’’ by 
friction. Or the fibers ‘‘b’’ may be moved back 
and forth in any one of several different ways. 
For instance, the left edge of ‘‘3’’ may be used 
to move ‘‘b’’ back and forth on ‘‘2.’? When 
““a?? and ‘‘b’’ are adjusted the three plates of 
glass are held in the left hand and the measuring 
seale applied with the right hand. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1036 


the theorem approximately, the degree of ap- 
proximation depending on the number of the 
original elements and the uniformity of their 
increments in length when arranged in the 
order of their magnitude. 

It has been ascertained by comparison with 
the results of my accurate method of measur- 
ing the length of fine crooked fibers, a de- 
Seription of which has already been published, 
that if a series of textile fibers be arranged in 
a manner similar to that described in the 
theorems, the mean length of the fibers can be 
measured approximately, if proper allowance 
be made for the “ fly-back,” or shortening of 
the fibers, due to their elasticity. 


Fic. 4. The halves of the ‘‘pull’’ shown in Fig. 
3 matched ready for measurement. The halves are 
adjusted against a strong transmitted light and 
yet with a good top-light; for instance, against 
sky-light reflected from a mirror laid on a table 
near a window; ‘‘b’’ is so adjusted over ‘‘a’’ 
that the fiber masses present the same shade from 
end to end. This simple optical method is found 
to approximate the conditions of the theorems. 
Care should be taken not to disturb the parallelism 
of the fibers. The width of the series, as arranged 
in Fig. 4, represents the mean length of the fibers 
minus the ‘‘fly-back.’’ This latter, about one 
millimeter in twenty-five for well-conditioned cot- 
ton fibers, has to be added. The results are accu- 
rate to the fraction of a millimeter. The method 
is definite, readily learned, and easily applied. 


It is intended to publish details in connec- 
tion with this approximate method of measur- 
ing textile fibers in a separate publication. 

N. A. Coss 

BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY, 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, 
September 25, 1914 


SCIENCE 


NEW SERIES 
VoL. XL. No. 1037 


Fripay, NoveMBER 13, 1914 


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CIEACE 


Frmay, NovempBer 13, 1914 


CONTENTS 
The Nature and Purpose of Education: Pro- 


FESSOR VICTOR C. VAUGHAN ............. 685 
The Uses for Mathematics: Dr. SAMUEL G. 

BARTON VGaibos adios CBORD CIO COC ECC ae 697 
The Late William Saunders: Dr. FRANK T. 

PO ELU MUD MMR eles ci tera cl spaieraichete, sic: sysyateus) sie) averlceshes evans 700 


The Museum of Vertebrate Zoology of the 
Unwersity of California: Dr. C. Hart MEr- 


THANE goonddobtecsndooouonoNouOodeOnoouas 703 
Scientific Notes and News ..............+- 704 
Unwersity and Educational News .......... 707 


Discussion and Correspondence :— 
Sunflower Problems: PRoressor T. D. A. 
COCKERELL. X-ray Diffraction Patterns: 
Dr. W. W. Strone. «a New Method of Pre- 
paring Spiders for Exhibition in Museum 
Groups: IGNAZ MATAUSCH .............. 708 


Scientific Books :— 
Daly on Igneous Rocks and their Orig: 
Dr. J. P. Ippines. Smith on Bacteria in 
relation to Plant Diseases: PROFESSOR 
CHARLES H. BESSEY. Savage on the Bac- 
teriological Examination of Food and 
Water: Proressor C.-E. A. WINSLOW. 
Crowther on Molecular Physics: PROFESSOR 


R. A. MinLikan 710 


Special Articles :— 
Milk Epidemics of Septic Sore Throat and 
their Relation to Streptococci: Dr. Davin 
JoHn Davis. The Artificial Fertilization 
- of Queen Bees: FRANCIS JAGER AND C. W. 
HowaRrD 


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


THE NATURE AND PURPOSE OF EDUCA- 
TION1 


Students of Michigan: From farm, village 
and city, from every state in the union, from 
every continent in the world, you have come 


to spend here from four to six years in the 


formative period of your lives. Why are you 
here? What has impelled you to leave your 
homes and come to this small city? While 
Ann Arbor is a pleasant place in which to 
reside, there are many other cities, both 
larger and smaller, more attractively located. 
We have no inspiring view of ocean, no pic- 
turesque lake, no majestic river, no towering 
mountain peaks, no vine-clad hills, no broad 
valleys, no historic associations, no ruined 
castles. Ann Arbor is a commonplace town, 
pleasant enough in its way, but without the 
material attractions of which a hundred other 
places may boast. What is the loadstone that 
has drawn you from near and from afar? It 
is the university. What is the university, 
why does it exist and what is your purpose in 
coming to it? Some universities have been 
founded to perpetuate theologieal creeds, 
some to serve aS monuments to men of 
wealth and power, but neither of these mo- 
tives actuated the founders of this university. 
It had its inception in the wisdom of the 
early settlers of this state, it has been and is 
maintained by the labors of their descend- 
ants. The rich and the poor contribute to its 
support. Many of the former send their sons 
and daughters to more aristocratic institu- 
tions and many of the latter are not able to 
send their children to any university, but all 
pay in proportion to their means to the sup- 
port of this institution. What justifies the 
reople of this state in imposing upon them- 


’ selves the burden of taxation necessary to sus- 


tain this university? The total fees paid by 


1A popular lecture to the students of Michigan 
University on Convocation Day, October 16, 1914. 


rire. 
y HIstivy 
ZA. 


686 


you each year would not carry the current 
expenses for three months. The people of the 
state are, therefore, giving each of you more 
than four times what it received from you. 
Each of you becomes a debtor to the state. 
What does the state demand from you in re- 
turn for its generosity? There is an implied 
moral contract between each of you and the 
state, and unless you intend to comply with 
your obligation to the state you should not 
be here. The university does not exist in 


order to support the saloons and billiard halls 


of this town nor to afford a comfortable resi- 
dence for loafers, and the university authori- 
ties are not worthy of the trust imposed upon 
them if students of this class are permitted 
to remain here. This is not a reformatory 
institution, nor is it an asylum for the feeble- 
minded, the state having made provision else- 
where for those wanting in morality and 
intellectuality. Admission is a privilege and 
continued residence should be permitted only 
to those who show intelligence, industry and 
integrity in all proper functions of student 
life. Even admonition to more earnest work 
or better behavior is not a duty of the uni- 
versity teacher to his students. The purpose 
of the university is to better fit you for citi- 
zenship. With this end in view, the people of 
Michigan expend on you more than one mil- 
lion dollars annually, a. sum which if capital- 
ized at four per cent. represents twenty-five 
millions. This means that the amount an- 
nually paid for the support of this university 
is equivalent to a contribution of more than 
one third of a dollar from every inhabitant of 
the state. Is this expenditure justified? Why 
should the state be so generous and what obli- 
gation do you assume in accepting this gen- 
erosity? Jf there be among you those who do 
not feel any responsibility in this matter, in 
all honor let such depart immediately. The 
state does not educate you in order that you 
may make a living more easily. It does not 
intend to make shyster lawyers, who fleece 
their clients, nor quack doctors who rob the 
sick and afflicted, nor ignorant engineers who 
build unsafe bridges, nor indifferent school- 
teachers who perform their tasks perfuncto- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1037 


rily, nor lazy farmers who impoverish the soil; 
but it does hope to educate jurists who will see 
that only wise laws are enacted and in their 
administration justice shall be done, physi- 
cians who will render the sick the best serv- 
ice and protect the well from disease, engi- 
neers who will develop the natural resources, 
school teachers who will train the young in 
body and mind, and farmers who will improve 
the fertility of the soil. The state realizes 
that intelligence, industry and integrity are 
the great factors in the betterment of the con- 
ditions of life and it seeks the development of 
these attributes in all its citizens. In a gen- 
erous spirit it offers its training in these quali- 
ties to all who are capable of .development 
along these lines whatever their nationality, 
color or creed may be. One who is lacking 
in any one of these cardinal virtues can not be 
of service to the state and should not seek his 
education in a state university. Without in- 
telligence development is impossible; without 
industry life is barren; without integrity the 
individual is a menace to the state. 

In a broad sense, education has been de- 
fined as the modification and development of 
behavior through experience. Since behavior 
is determined through the mechanism of the 
nervous system, education is concerned espe- 
cially with the function of the nerves. Man 
comes into the world the most helpless of all 
animals. At birth the child is incapable of 
locomotion and of finding unaided its food 
supply. For months, and indeed for years, 
the child remains in this helpless state. The 
dog in the first six months of its life learns 
more than the child does in years. It is the 
superiority of his nervous mechanism that 
has given man dominion over the earth and 
all that is therein. We need sound bones, 
strong muscles and healthy organs, because 
these render the development of the nervous 
system possible, and the health of the body, as a 
whole, is essential to the well-developed man. 
We can have no correct conception.of education 
without some knowledge of the mechanism 
employed in its acquisition. Briefly consid- 
ered, the nervous system consists of receptors 
or special senses, which are stimulated by the 


NOVEMBER 13, 1914] 


environment, of conductors which transmit 
the stimulation to the central organs and of 
effectors which control and direct the re- 
sponses to the stimuli. The primary function 
of the nervous mechanism is to provide paths 
of conduction between the receptors and effec- 
tors. The first breath of air at birth starts 
the machinery of respiration. Irritability and 
automatism are properties of all living things. 
Even unicellular organisms, ameb, for in- 
stance, in which there is no nervous tissue, 
automatically respond to external stimuli, such 
as food, and changes in behavior or rudimen- 
tary and limited education can be developed 
in them. As eell differentiation is evolved 
the structure of the nervous system becomes 
more complicated and its functions are more 
diversified and effective. 

A sense receptor, such as the eye or ear, the 
sensory nerve, such as the optic or the audi- 
tory, the nervous center to which the impres- 
sion is conveyed and the motor nerve, through 
which the response is transmitted, constitute 
the “reflex are.” Reflex action is the simplest 
function of the nervous system. Strong light 
induces contraction of the pupil, the sight or 
odor of food causes the saliva to flow, pinch- 
ing the flesh is followed by muscular move- 
ment. These are examples of innate reflexes. 
The normal child comes into the world pos- 
sessed of these reflexes. A large part of edu- 
eation consists in the coordination and de- 
velopment of these innate reflexes. Walking, 
talking, reading, writing, are examples of co- 
ordinated, trained reflexes. 

The first lesson we learn in investigating 
the mechanism of education is that the sense 
receptors must be in good condition to start 
with and must be kept in the highest state of 
efficiency as we proceed. The receptors 
through which our behavior is modified and 
developed by environment are the five senses, 
seeing, hearing, touch, smell and taste, each 
of which, on close analysis, is found to be 
complex. All primary knowledge reaches the 
brain through these sources. In no other way 
ean environment modify our behavior or can 
we be educated. The dictum of Locke, “ Nihil 
in intellectu est quod non prius in sensu,” is 


SCIENCE 


687 


not refuted by the addendum of Leibnitz, 
“Nisi intellectus ipse.” When the senses are 
defective in function, illusions, hallucina- 
tions and delusions control us and dominate 
our conduct. The senses may be primarily 
defective and to some extent these defects 
may be removed by medical skill. When nor- 
mal in mechanism these functions may be im- 
paired by poisons introduced from without the 
body, such as alcohol, or by those generated 
within the body, such as those due to fatigue 
or to disease. Although the truth expressed 
in the Latin proverb, “ Mens sana in sano 
corpore,’ has come down to us from classical 
times, educators have been slow to realize its 
force. Indeed, when mystical scholasticism 
formulated educational ideals affliction of the 
body was believed to be essential to the high- 
est development of the mind. Fortunately, 
even educators, one by one, with some reluc- 
tance, are awakening from their dreams and 
becoming interested in scientific investigation. 
Greater benefits in educational methods have 
been obtained by observation of the effects of 
altered environment on the behavior of ani- 
mals than have been evolved from the inner 
consciousness of the greatest genius. Ap- 
preciating the fundamental importance of 
normality in securing an education, this uni- 
versity is developing a splendid system for the 
supervision of the health of its students. 
However, the health of each individual is 
largely in his own keeping, and I wish to say 
that idleness, alcoholism and sexual vice re- 
main the most potent factors in student 
wreckage. With senses untrained from idle- 
ness and benumbed by dissipation, the indi- 
vidual is a failure in college and in the 
greater school of the world. 

Certain complex reflexes are known ‘as in- 
stinets. These play an important part in edu- 
cation. All instincts are not manifest at the 
time of birth, but develop with age and are 
influenced by the evolution of the individual, 
as a whole. The instinct of play manifests 
itself in every normal child and the same is 
true of the instincts of acquisitiveness, con- 
struction,, possession, self-assertion, anger, 
self-abasement, rivalry, pugnacity, ete. These 


688 


need to be controlled and directed, and this 
constitutes an important part of education. 
They are inherited, but are subject to marked 
modification by environment. For instance, 
the instinct of imitation is one of great po- 
tency in shaping our conduct and in determin- 
ing not only our own lives, but of those about 
us. In this lies sufficient justification of state 
education. One scientific farmer in a com- 
munity enhances the value of all the farm- 
ing land about him, because he demonstrates 
the productivity of the soil. One honest, 
learned lawyer reduces litigation and a skil- 
ful physician not only alleviates the suffering 
of the sick, but prevents the spread of dis- 
ease. The highest purpose of this university 
is to train leaders of men, those whose influ- 
ence among their fellows may always be in 
the right direction. 

Success will depend largely upon the en- 
vironment under which you live while here. 
This can not be wholly determined by the 
university authorities. To a large extent you 
will educate one another. 

A part of education consists in inhibiting 
reflexes and suppressing misdirected instincts. 
The only way in which this can be done is by 
the cultivation and exercise of certain other 
reflexes. As we shall see later, nervous im- 
pulses travel most easily over well-worn path- 
ways. A function frequently performed pro- 
ceeds automatically and to the exclusion of 
antagonistic tendencies. One of the most diffi- 
cult things the untrained student has to con- 
tend with is diffuse activity. He tries to 
study, but outside stimuli of vision, hearing, 
ete., bombard his sensorium and demand his 
attention. Training is essential before calls 
to purposeless activity can be ignored. 

The first impression which one receives in 
studying the structure and function of the 
nervous system is that it is a grossly defective 
mechanism. The elements of which it is com- 
posed consist of nerve cells with axons and 
dendrites. The dendrites are supposed to re- 
ceive the stimuli and the axons to conduct 
them to the next unit. Between these units, 
ealled neurones, there is no direct structural 
connection. The axons of one unit come in 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1037 


more or less direct contact with the dendrites 
of the next, but each neuron is organically 
quite distinct from all others. The apparent 
imperfection lies in this absence of direct 
connection. The point of contact between two 
neurons is known as a synapse and at this 
point there is more or less resistance to the 
transmission of the stimulus. This apparent 
imperfection is, however, in some respects at 
least, a benefit. Were it not for this delay the 
brain would be stormed continuously by stim- 
uli from the outer world and orderly thought 
would be quite impossible. Without these ap- 
parent imperfections, sleep would be less rest- 
ful and anesthetics would not be able to re- 
lieve pain. Education consists partly in im- 
proving these connections. A pathway 
through the nervous tissue having been once 
opened is more easily followed by subsequent 
similar stimuli. This renders possible the 
formation of habits. The more frequently a 
given pathway is traversed, the more easily 
stimuli pass, until finally transmission occurs 
without conscious effort. The first attempt to 
learn is more or less laborious, but with each 
repetition the resistance becomes less and 
finally the thing is done automatically. Ef- 
fectiveness is largely the result of the forma- 
tion of good habits. In this way the expert is 
developed. The best preparation for doing 
anything is the fact that you have once or 
oftener done it, and the more frequently it has 
been done the more certainty is there in re- 
peating it. The beginner in telegraphy must 
give attention to each letter, then he thinks 
only of words, and later he advances to 
phrases and even to sentences. 

In learning of this kind, progress is not al- 
ways uniform. After reaching a certain de- 
gree of proficiency there is a period in which 
there is no apparent progress. ‘These periods 
are known as plateaus. All students are fa- 
miliar with these depressing states in which 
effort seems without avail, but with persist- 
ence the curve of learning suddenly begins to 
rise and the elation of success is the reward. 

The question of the transference of skill ac- 
quired in one branch of learning to another has 
been debated among psychologists, but the 


NOVEMBER 13, 1914] 


weight of evidence is that it is not possible. Be- 
ing an expert mathematician does not make one 
an authority in law or medicine. The neural 
pathways opened up in the pursuit of differ- 
ent branches of learning are not the same. 
_ They may lie quite far apart and expertness 
in one line does not imply even soundness of 
judgment in another. This is an important 
matter in education and will receive further 
attention later. 

The formation of habit is common to all 
animals, and habits have a marked influence 
on behavior. We do things so often that it 
becomes difficult to refrain from doing them 
when the conditions under which they have 
been done recur. The most forceful teacher 
of my college days was wont to say: “ Man is 
but a bundle of habits and happy is the man 
whose habits are his friends.” At twenty, it 
seemed to me that the force of this saying lay 
in its sonorous quality. At sixty I realize 

that its strength lies in its truth. The young 
scout the idea that they can not indulge in a 
- vice oceasionally without becoming a victim. 
The chains forged in the smithy of habit are 
strong in every link. They may safely hold us 
in the heaviest storm or they may drag us to 
the bottom of smooth seas. Another mistake 
often made by youth is the belief that every 
experience is helpful. There is no other com- 
modity for which we pay so dearly and the 
price often is health, happiness and even life. 

Some stimuli make such deep and lasting 
impressions on the central nervous system that 
the picture may be recalled without the recur- 
rence of the original stimulus. This is mem- 
ory. Jennings has shown that there is some 
evidence of memory even in unicellular or- 
ganisms. This becomes more marked as the 
‘animal structures, especially the nervous sys- 
tem, develop. Even a spider learns by experi- 
ence and alters its behavior to its own benefit, 
when repeatedly subjected to like conditions. 

Colvin says: 


Memory is a fundamental phenomenon of or- 
ganic life. In its widest sense it signifies the fact 
that impressions once received by an organism 
are retained for a greater or less period and that 
this retention is indicated in the modified he- 


SCIENCE 


689 


havior of the organism. The evidence of mem- 
ory in animals is their ability to profit by experi- 
ence. A white rat is placed at the entrance of a 
maze at the center of which is food. The animal 
moves about in an aimless manner until at length 
it reaches the center. If on succeeding trials the 
rat shows an improvement in the accuracy and 
rapidity with which it moves about the maze, this 
means that its earlier attempts have in some sense 
left their effects; they have modified subsequent 
conduct. Memory, when used in this widest sense 
of the term, lies at the basis of all learning. It 
is a measure of educability. 


There are three important factors in mem- 
ory. The impression must be “stamped in.” 
It must be correctly associated with other im- 
pressions. It must be subject to recall and 
proper recognition. The strength of the im- 
pression is dependent upon many factors. 
The brain may be so altered by inherited de- 
fect, trauma, senility, fatigue, disease or toxie: 
agents, that effective and lasting impressions 
ean not be made. So long as the brain re- 
mains in the abnormal condition its receptiv- 
ity can not be improved. The mentally de- 


‘fective can be educated to a certain point, but 


can go no farther. An impression may be 
“stamped in” by the force or unusual char- 
acter of the external stimulus. The external 
world demands the attention of the individual 
and an unusual sight, noise or other sensation 
makes a  never-to-be-forgotten impression. 
This is known as passive attention and is com- 
mon to all animals. It is the basic principle 
in all attempts to modify behavior through 
hope of reward or fear of punishment and is 
highly effective in the control and training of 
the lower animals and ignorant men, but loses 
in power with the development of intellect. 
However, in this and other universities this 
appeal to increased effort is employed in the 
form of grades, admission to special societies, 
the bestowal of insignia of distinction, etc., 
and on most men in our stage of development 
it is not without effect. The approval of our 
fellows as shown by social, political and in- 
tellectual preferment, still proves a potent in- 
centive to increased effort. With the devel- 
opment of intellect, passive attention is 


largely supplanted by the active form. In 


690 


the latter the individual selects the stimuli 
which are to make permanent impressions. 
An important function in the accomplishment 
of this purpose is the rejection of stimuli be- 
lieved to be unimportant or harmful, and seiz- 
ing upon and fixing of those recognized as of 
greatest value. In this selection lies the path- 
way to wisdom. It determines the ideals of 
the individual. It shapes the ego and sets the 
lines of future development. The memory 
pictures photographed in the highly labile 
molecules of the brain constitute a record of 
all our available knowledge, not only that 
gained through personal experience, but that 
acquired from any source. We rehear the 
spoken and reread the written word. We re- 
call the facts of history. We utilize without 
conscious effort in our daily dealings the 
mathematical skill acquired in childhood. We 
make practical application of the scientific 
discoveries of the past in supplying our- 
selves with the necessities and comforts of 
life. We enjoy the literature of all nations in 
all ages. In short, the storehouses of learning 
to which we have access are practically limit- 
less in their wealth, and from this we may se- 
lect at will and appropriate to our own use 
without diminishing to the smallest degree 
what is left for others. 

In order to be of greatest service, memory 
pictures must be clear and properly placed. 
Clearness and association are essential to 
prompt recall and correct recognition. 
Memory, like all other functions of the nery- 
ous mechanism, is capable of improvement 
by exercise. When memory pictures have a 
faulty setting, they may influence behavior 
disastrously. The old man thinks all this talk 
about impure milk killing infants and in- 
fected water causing typhoid fever is non- 
sense, because all his life people, both young 
and old, have been drinking dirty milk and 
polluted water. He does not know or recog- 
nize the fact that many even within his own 
circle have died from these causes. In his ex- 
perience these facts have not been recognized 
as possessing any causal relationship. Half his 
children have died from the summer diarrheas 
of infancy and others have died in youth 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1037 


from typhoid, but he has always connected 
these bereavements with the world-old belief 
that disease could not be prevented nor death 
delayed. The failure to properly correlate ex- 
periences or their memory pictures is one of 
the things which prevent many elderly peo- 
ple, especially the untrained, from adjusting 
themselves to advances in knowledge. Many 
superstitious rites and ceremonies have their 
origin in the faulty conception of cause and 
effect. Many reason post hoc ergo propter 
hoc. This faulty logic is still a strong sup- 
port of charlatanism in its many survival 
forms. 

The study of the structure and function of 
the nervous mechanism makes plain what 
should be attempted in securing an education. 
We have seen that in the acquisition of knowl- 
edge pathways to the cerebral cortex must be 
opened up. Conduction of nervous impulses 
meets with resistance as it passes from one 
neuron to the next. This resistance grows 
less with each traverse of the impulse along 
the same path, and with frequent repetition 
the trail becomes so smooth that impulses pass 
through without conscious effort. It is easier 
to open up pathways to the cortex in youth 
than in later years because the lability and 
plasticity of the nervous tissue decrease with 
advancing age. However, lines of conduction 
established in the plastic period are never ob- 
literated save by disease or death. Even with 
approaching senility, when the opening of new 
lines is impossible, those established in youth 
continue to operate. Truly, learning becomes 
the solace of age. The educated octogenarian 
remains in sympathy and intelligent touch 
with the outer world, while his untrained 
brother finds himself isolated and marooned 
on a small barren island. Furthermore, it 
has been demonstrated that the lines of con- 
duction which serve in one department of 
learning are useless in the conduction of in- 
formation from other sources. The acquisi- 
tion of mathematical skill does not give spe- 
cial preparation for historical erudition. 
These elemental psychological facts indicate 
that in youth training of the nervous system 
should be broad, the purpose being to estab- 


NOVEMBER 13, 1914] 


lish many and diversified sources for the 
supply of mental pabulum. Symmetrical ex- 
ercise is as essential to the normal develop- 
ment of the nervous system as it is in muscu- 
lar training. Athletes are not made by put- 
ting all muscles save one in plaster casts and 
exercising the free one, neither can the func- 
tions of the brain be properly developed in 
such a way. 

What are the fundamental subjects which 
should form the basis of education? It goes 
without saying that the educated man must 
know his own language thoroughly. He 
should possess a large vocabulary and should 
select his words and shape his phrases and 
sentences with reference to smoothness of dic- 
tion and clearness of statement. 

Language is the medium of exchange in 
mental commerce and it must be on a gold 
basis. Fortunately in this country dialects 
are not sufficiently developed to interfere with 
intelligent transfer of information. However, 
we are known for our diversified richness in 
slang. Some of these expressions are highly 
illustrative of multum in parvo in speech, 
sound in sense, rich in humor and forceful in 
meaning. The function of the educated man 
in regard to these colloquialisms consists in 
the suppression of the atrocious ones and the 
regulation of others. Next to color, speech is 
most powerful in fixing dead lines across the 
paths of individual advancement and useful- 
ness. A man who is constantly blundering in 
the use of his native language can not be long 
tolerated among the educated, whatever his 
virtues may be. In European countries, dia- 
lect is a potent factor in class distinction. I 
never fully appreciated this until I met 
with the following experience in  south- 
ern Italy. On a drive I saw a beautiful 
villa, picturesquely situated, quite new and 
untenanted. On my return to the hotel I 
asked an intelligent appearing man concern- 
ing the villa. He became quite excited and 
in broken, but plainly intelligible English he 
made the following statement: “I was born 
a peasant in this community. I never spoke 
Italian and knew only the local dialect. At 
sixteen I went to New York. During the 


SCIENCE 691 


forty years of my residence in that city my 
highest ambition was to accumulate enough 
wealth to enable me to return to Italy and to 
participate in its affairs, concerning which I 
kept myself thoroughly posted. Four years 
ago I closed my business in New York and 
returned to this place. My dreams were now 
to be realized. With much pride I purchased 
land and built the villa you have seen. But 
the moment I attempted to move in econom- 
ical, social or political matters, I found a dead 
line I could not cross. I did not speak Italian. 
I do not blame those who repulsed me. You 
would not have at your table an American 
who did not speak correct English. In New 
York I spoke only broken and incorrect Eng- 
lish, but all said Mr. Blanco is Italian and we 
do not expect him to speak correct English. 
The villa can rot. I am going back to New 
York.” Even in this country and in university 
cireles I have known men who show lack of 
fundamental education by lapses in speech. 
Some years ago I was called one morning 
into the country where a German farmer asked 
me to lance a “bile” on his arm. On my re- 
turn to town I saw a university instructor 
who told me that he had been vomiting “ boil ” 
all morning. A temporary colleague of mine, 
a man of much merit, frequently said: “I 
done it.” Another said: “them there things.” 
Tt is needless to add that these men found 
themselves out of place in a university fac- 
ulty. There is one peculiarity about men of 
this kind; they are infuriated at the most 
delicate attempt of a friend to help them in 
their defects. Hvery educated man should 
speak and write correctly by habit. 

The study of Greek and Latin is a great 
factor in the comprehension of other lan- 
guages partly derived from these. Moreover, 
one who is limited in his reading to transla- 
tions, whether the original be in ancient or 
modern speech, loses much of the force, 
beauty and spirit of the author. It is true 
that there are translations which equal and 
a few which improve the originals. As one who 
has made scientific work his special endeavor 
during the entire period of his adult life, the 
speaker believes that the student who has 


692 


never dug Greek roots nor pruned Latin 
stems has missed much in both pleasure and 
discipline. If a bit of personal experience be 
permitted, the speaker testifies that the first 
author to quicken the pyramidal cells of his 
cortex was Virgil, and to-day when recreation 
is sought the only book preferred to Virgil is 
Dryden’s translation of the same. 

While an educated man’s linguistic ability 
may be limited to Hnglish, inability to read 
French and German handicaps him, delays ac- 
quaintance with important discoveries in 
various realms of knowledge, and limits his 
mental vision. To scientific workers a read- 
ing knowledge of French and German is quite 
essential. There are splendid nuggets of sci- 
ence and glittering gems of imagination en- 
eased in Italian, and sparkling jewels of 
humor encrusted in Spanish, but these, with 
many other languages, both ancient and mod- 
ern, can hardly be placed in the list of edu- 
cational essentials, however important they 
may be to the special student or for direct 
vocal intercourse. When philologists grow 
away from the false idea that centuries are 
necessary for the development of effective 
language and when nations recognize that 
there is no need of limiting verbal and written 
intercourse by political boundaries, man will 
use a world language, more perfect in struc- 
ture, more forceful in expression and elegant 
in diction, than any now used. This time, like 
that of universal peace and good will, now 
seems a long way in the future. 

Man needs figures as well as words. His 
sense perceptions are registered in numbers. 
They take various shapes. He perceives not 
only plain surfaces, but extension in geo- 
metrical forms. He needs figures in all his 
mental concepts. Some of the lower animals 
can count in small figures, while those of man 
are unlimited. He must establish units of 
measurement, linear, square and cubical. The 
external objects which stimulate his sense or- 
gans and photograph themselves on the sensi- 
tive plates of his brain vary in number, shape 
and size. Every educated man should know 
mathematics through plane trigonometry. 

History is a record of the experiences of 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1037 


past generations and of these no man can af- 
ford to be ignorant. The child comes into the 
world without inherited knowledge and the 
individual can not depend upon his own nar- 
row and limited experiences. The brute has 
this to direct and modify its behavior, and we 
have enough of the brute disposition left in us 
to make us slow to profit by the experiences 
of others. This is a marked defect in youth. 
The young man believes that he can take per- 
sonal, economic and social risks in which 
thousands of others have fallen, without in- 
jury. He believes that he was born under a 
propitious star, trusts his luck and goes to 
ruin by the same path that others have tray- 
eled and that more will continue to travel. If 
this were true only of individuals, it would’ 
not be so bad, but it is equally true of nations 
or rather of those who control nations. Some 
man, laboring under the delusion that he is a 
chosen son of destiny, brings about some hor- 
rible catastrophe which results in death, sor- 
row and suffering to the present generation 
and places chains of bondage on the unborn. 

I have defined education as the modifica- 
tion of behavior by experience, and a large 
part of this experience which is to determine 
our behavior should be learned from history. 
History in the wide sense in which I am now 
using the word includes the record of all hu- 
man experience. It is national, communal 
and individual. 

Fuller says: 

History maketh a young man to be old without 
either wrinkles or gray hair; privileging him with 
the experience of age, without either the infirmi- 
ties or inconveniences thereof. Yea, it not only 
maketh things past present, but enableth one to 
make a rational. conjecture of things to come. 
For this world affordeth no new accidents, but in 
the same sense when we call it a new moon, which 
is the old one in another shape; and yet no other 
than it hath been formerly. Old actions return 
again furbished over with some new and different 
circumstances. ; 


Failure to profit by the experiences of the 
past leads to the most serious disasters that 
befall our race. Study history. Study it in 
college and out of college. Devote much of 
your energy to it in youth, find time for it in 


NOVEMBER 13, 1914] 


your busiest years, and do not neglect it in 
age. For if it maketh the young old. without 
infirmity, it keepeth before the old the pic- 
tures of the eternal youth of the race. 

There has been some discussion among par- 
tisan educators about the relative merits of 
humanistic and scientific studies. The sym- 
metrical and effective development of the nery- 
ous system demands both forms of exercise. 
The man who knows the classics and nothing 
more is blind and deaf to much which is of 
the highest interest to both himself and his 
fellows. The man whose knowledge is con- 
fined to some narrow domain of science is 
equally out of touch with much that is neces- 
sary to make life rich in either endeavor or 
accomplishment. 

Without experimental science man would be 
to-day in his primitive state, or more likely 
he would have become exterminated long since 
in his unequal contest with the elements and 
the brute creation. Even in his most perfect 
physical development he is inferior to many 
of the lower animals in muscular strength, 
fleetness and range of sense recognition; but 
he is unique among animals in the develop- 
ment of the instinct of inquisitiveness. He 
wants to know, therefore, he experiments. He 
observes the effect of altered environment, and 
his interest in experimentation grows in scope 
and purpose. He ascertains that when cer- 
tain definite relations are established, the re- 
sults are constant. He slowly develops an ap- 
preciation of causal relationship. After count- 
less generations of crude experimentation, 
careless observation and faulty generalization, 
he sees the necessity of greater exactitude in 
his experimentation. In this way, slowly and 
laboriously, the sciences have been evolved. 
With periods of barrenness of variable length, 
some of which have extended through many 
consecutive centuries, man has slowly pro- 
gressed from his primitive state to his pres- 
ent condition. Scientists, the greatest bene- 
factors of the race, have always been few in 
number, but their work has benefited many. 
In some ages the masses have been too igno- 
rant to utilize the scientific knowledge pos- 
sessed and enjoyed by their ancestors and have 


SCIENCE 


693 


shown marked retrogression. The most po- 
tent causes of these lapses have been disease, 
war and famine. In no age, not even the 
present, has scientific training touched more 
than a small part of the generation. 

Some primitive man learned that fire could 
be kindled by friction between pieces of wood 
or that a spark could be struck with flint. 
What benefit came from this simple discovery ? 
It gave protection from the cold of winter and 
greatly extended the range of man’s activities. 
The camp fire, now started when and where 
he willed, frightened away beasts of prey, 
served to cook his food and formed the nu- 
cleus of a primitive home. One day, ore be- 
ing used as stones for the crude hearth, metal 
is found in the ashes and the flint age is 
passed and that of metal has come. Century 
after century passes; accidental discovery is 
teplaced by systematic investigation, and the 
science of metallurgy with its multiple bene- 
fits is developed. 

Primitive man crouched in terror when 
darkness enveloped the earth at noon day. 
He could see in this only the angry disap- 
proval of an all-powerful God. The stars were 
supposed to control the destinies of individ- 
uals, communities and nations. The motions 
of the celestial bodies were observed, the heav- 
ens were charted and astrology became astron- 
omy. 

Primitive man fed upon such fruits, veg- 
etables, nuts and berries as the soil gratui- 
tously offered him, eked out with the uncer- 
tain product of the chase. Experience showed 
that the productivity of the soil would be 
greatly increased by tillage, and that certain 
animals could be domesticated easily and made 
to serve man in life and after death. Having 
the breeding and feeding of these animals 
under his direct control, he has learned to 
modify them to suit his purpose. From a com- 
mon stock he has evolved the draft, race and 
trotting horse, each with many variations. 
From the wild grains he has produced many 
varieties of each cereal, while at the same time 
he has increased the yield more than a hun- 
dredfold. By irrigation and cultivation he 
has converted thousands of acres of barren 


694 SCIENCE 


desert into fields of golden grain, dotted with 
orchards bearing luscious fruits. When the 
territory now within our national continental 
boundaries was occupied by savage man, it 
supported only a few thousands, now under 
the stimulus of scientific agriculture it feeds, 
shelters, clothes, supplies the necessities of life 
to all and untold luxuries to many of its 
ninety millions of inhabitants and sends 
abroad enough to feed other millions. 

In the long ago, some man observed the 
magnifying effect of a natural lens. The lap- 
idary labored through centuries in the perfec- 
tion and proper adjustment of lenses. The re- 
sult was the evolution of the compound micro- 
scope. In 1849 a village doctor on the Rhine 
studied the blood of animals sick with anthrax 
under his crude microscope and compared it 
with the blood of healthy animals. He discov- 
ered the bacillus of this disease. This work 
under the genius and diligence of Davaine, 
Pasteur, Koch and others demonstrated the 
causal relationship between microorganisms 
and disease. The science of preventive medi- 
eine has been developed, the average of human 
life has been lengthened by fifteen years within 
one century and the way has been made clear 
for a like prolongation within a like period, 
provided the masses of the people acquire suffi- 
cient intelligence to properly utilize the facts 
already known. The capacity of the individ- 
ual for work, rational pleasure and intellectual 
growth has been multiplied. Pestilential re- 
gions have been converted into fit dwelling 
places for man and his dominion over antagon- 
istic conditions and forces of nature has been 
extended. Disease, which hitherto has ex- 
cluded man from the fairest portions of the 
earth, has exacted heavy toll in all climes, has 
wrecked the greatest civilizations of ancient 
times and has more than once threatened the 
race with extinction, is now largely under 
man’s control. 

The foregoing are only illustrations of what 
science has done in the improvement of our 
race. I know of no scientific discovery which 
has not aided in the betterment of mankind 
and still science is in its infaney. Its ultimate 
goal is the domination of the forces of nature 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1037 


and their utilization in the betterment of 
mankind. . 
The fundamental principles and facts of the 
physical, chemical and biological sciences must 
be included in the courses taken by every stu- 
dent who wishes a broad, symmetrical educa- 
tion, whatever his business or professional 
calling is to be. Moreover, training in these 
sciences should not be of the amateur kind, 
but should be sound and thorough and accom- 
panied by laboratory observation and demon- 
stration. It should supply a sound basis which 
will enable the student in after life to reach 
correct conclusions, when scientific judgments 
must influence his behavior. The failure of 
those in high places to appreciate the value of 


scientific equipment and procedure has proved’ 


to be a serious matter many times. The im- 
portance of this subject justifies the mention 
of specific instances. When the Spanish- 
American War began in 1898, Congress re- 
fused to make appropriation for scientific med- 
ical equipment. The graduates of West Point 
up to that time had no instruction in army 
sanitation. Not a regiment, either regular or 
volunteer, went into the field with the medical 
equipment necessary to recognize either ma- 
laria or typhoid fever. Regimental command- 
ers paid no heed at first to the protests of med- 
ical officers as to the location and sanitation 
of camps. The result was nearly twenty thou- 
sand cases of typhoid with more deaths from 
disease than from the shots of the enemy. 
Still, the only golden chapter in the history of 
that war is that which records the discovery of 
the manner of transmission of yellow fever, the 
lifting of the curse of this disease from the 
“Pearl of the Antilles” and the subsequent 
construction of the Panama Canal, made pos- 
sible by this discovery. 

The officials of the state of California de- 
nied the existence of the plague in San Fran- 
cisco in face of the fact that its presence had 
been demonstrated scientifically. The result 
was the infection of certain rodents throughout 
a large territory and the expenditure of lives, 
money and energy in its eradication. 

Duluth placed the outlet of its sewers and 
the intake of its water supply in close prox- 


NOVEMBER 13, 1914] 


imity and paid for its ignorance in an epi- 
demic of typhoid. A list of cities which have 
made similar mistakes is too long to give; a 
list of those which have followed scientific 
teaching would be shorter. 

As I have indicated, our inability to utilize 
the known facts of preventive medicine 
means that the aggregate of human life in 
our population of one hundred million will 
measure one billion five hundred million less 
in years than it would were we, in the mass, 
more intelligent. This is a trustworthy and 
conservative statement of the stupendous 
price that this generation is paying for the 
ignorance of the many and for the special 
activities of Christian Science, the league for 
medical freedom and other impedimenta to 
the progress of scientific sanitation, which so 
far have been potent enough to block much 
needed legislation. There are many men di- 
recting our local, state and national affairs, 
among them graduates of our greatest uni- 
versities and best colleges, who are as ig- 
norant of, consequently as indifferent to, these 
matters which so seriously affect our national 
life—present and future—as are the untaught 
hordes that crowd into our country like so 
many cattle, through the gates of Ellis Island. 

The fatalities due to ignorance of science 
make big figures in the mortality tables. 
Whether the infant lives or not depends most 
largely upon the scientific knowledge of the 
one who feeds it, and many a mother, who 
would give her life to save her child, murders 
it through ignorance. Surely, ignorance of 
such scientific knowledge as is necessary to 
protect health and life is a crime, a moral, if 
not a statutory one. 

Descartes said that the purpose of all edu- 
cation is to enable one to reach sound judg- 
ment. Daily most of us are compelled to 
reach some judgment founded on scientific 
knowledge and training, and yet many col- 
lege graduates are lacking not only in the 
knowledge but in the capability of compre- 
hending it when presented. 

I have indicated the subjects which in my 
Opinion are essential to a liberal education, 
and I wish to add something about methods 


SCIENCE 


695 


of study. It is a fallacy to suppose that every 
man who takes a college course gets an edu- 
cation and that all who do not have this priv- 
ilege fail to be educated. The best university 
with the most complete equipment and the 
most learned faculty can do no more than 
supply opportunities. An education is not 
secured without effort on the part of the stu- 
dent. Too many college students follow lines 
of least resistance, dissipating instead of con- 
centrating their energies, fall into bad habits, 
and instead of being improved are harmed by 
college residence. This is shown by their sub- 
sequent behavior. Forty years have I been in 
this university as student and teacher, long 
enough to see many uncouth, unpromising 
lads develop into eminent jurists, skilful engi- 
neers, able physicians and surgeons and, in 
short, honoring alike themselves and their 
alma mater in widely diversified spheres of 
activity by their deeds, but to-day I recall 
many who have been cast as useless driftwood 
upon the shores of life’s sea. Were I asked to 
name the rocks which have caused the greater 
part of this wreckage I would mention—first 
of all, those that lie about the alluring islands 
of idleness. Inherited defects are not com- 
mon among university students. The fact 
that they have been directed wisely at the 
start is proof of this, but it requires personal 
strength of character and fixedness of pur- 
pose to hold to the course. Next, but far less 
in number, are the high reefs of active dissi- 
pation. Lighthouses show their location and 
warn the sailor of danger, but he thinks he can 
pass through the narrows, where so many, less 
skilful than he, have been wrecked; he takes 
the risk and goes on to the rocks. 

I drop the simile of the sailor and the rocks 
and continue my illustrations. One finds that 
he needs a knowledge of French or German in 
order to secure the fullest information. He 
elects the subject for one semester, works in- 
differently and fails. He concludes that he 
has no aptitude for language and tries some- 
thing in another line in like spirit and with 
like result. SSome men spend their lives in 
trying to find out what they are good for and 
die good for nothing. In my basic statements 


696 SCIENCE 


I have emphasized the fact that effort is neces- 
sary in order to open pathways to the cerebral 
cortex and that educatio strenua is the only 
genuine article. 

While I have made an earnest plea for a 
broad, liberal, fundamental education in 
order that we may be in intelligent touch 
with the basic conditions that control and 
modify human behavior, there is like physio- 
logical reason for advising every student to 
build on this broad foundation his specialty. 
When you have reared your house with heavy 
rocks for the foundation, massive walls, 
bound together with steel beams, on this you 
can carry up as high as you please the tower 
which will afford you an outlook. Take one 
subject and know everything that is known 
about it and if possible know more than any 
one else. In other words, in addition to your 
general knowledge be a specialist. To your 
general knowledge add the skill of the expert. 
The physiological reasons for this advice must 
be evident to all who have followed my line 
of argument. Neural pathways ‘become 
smoother the more frequent the travel over 
them. I recommend expert development for 
the following reasons: (1) Extension of the 
domain of knowledge is secured. (2) The 
pleasure known only to the discoverer comes 
to him who does work of this kind. (8) It is 
a rest and recreation to turn into the well- 
worn paths along which thought moves auto- 
matically. 

It is not essential that the special study, 
which I recommend, should be in the line of 
one’s vocation. It may lie quite apart from 
business or professional duties. 

The history of intellectual progress is quite 
in accord with the teaching that a broad edu- 
cational foundation with the addition of ex- 
pert learning gives the best results. I will 
mention a few illustrations of the educational 
training of men who have advanced human 
knowledge. William Herschell was a music 
teacher and never saw a telescope until he was 
thirty-five. His hobby was to grind lenses 
and make perfect mirrors. With these he dis- 
covered worlds, systems and universes. His 
great reflectors caught up light which left its 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1037 


source two million years ago. Our solar sys- 
tem became a mere speck in the range of his 
vision. Burnham became an enthusiast in 
the study of double stars, of which he discov- 
ered a thousand while he was still a stenog- 
rapher in a Chicago court. Hutton, physi- 
cian, chemist and farmer, showed that the 
earth’s crust is a stone book, made up of pages, 
chapters and volumes. William Smith, the 
English surveyor, without college training, 
demonstrated that the characters used in this 
great stone book are the fossils. Cuvier, an 
anatomist, was the first to read some of the 
chapters in the history of the building of the 
earth. Buckland, doctor of divinity, extended 
the reading. Perraudin, the chamois hunter, 
suggested glacial action in shaping the 
earth’s crust. The fox-hunter, Murchison, 
with Sedgwick, named the volumes of the 
stone book in order of their issue. Priestley, 
the dissenting clergyman, discovered oxygen. 
The Quaker physician, Thomas Young, the 
real discoverer of the undulatory theory of 
light, published many of his papers anony- 
mously for fear that the rumor that he was a 
scientific investigator would injure his prac- 
tise. Furthermore, he devoted some of his 
spare time to deciphering Egyptian hiero- 
glyphics. lLavoiser, the father of chemistry, 
went to the guillotine. The official while 
signing his death warrant said: “ The Repub- 
lic has no need of savants.” The honor of 
discovering the mechanical equivalent of heat 
and laying the foundation of the law of the 
conservation of energy is divided between the 
Manchester manufacturer, Joule, and the 
German village doctor, Mayer. The self- 
trained Quaker boy, John Dalton, became the 
founder of the atomic theory. Jefferson was 
the framer of the Declaration of Independ- 
ence, president of the United States, founder 
of the University of Virginia and student of 
natural history. Franklin was printer, au- 
thor, envoy from the young republic to 
France, postmaster general and scientist. The 
autocrat of the breakfast table was professor 
of anatomy in Harvard Medical School and 
his greatest contribution will not be found in 
his novels or poems, but in his article on the 


NOVEMBER 13, 1914] 


“Etiology of Puerperal Fever,” in which he 
divides honors with the great Hungarian ob- 
stetrician, Semelweiss. It is said of Goethe 
that he might have been the greatest scientist 
of his age had he not chosen to be the greatest 
poet. The man who made the greatest con- 
tribution to medicine in the nineteenth cen- 
tury, Pasteur, was not a physician, but a 
chemist. Elihu Burritt with his knowledge 
of many languages was a blacksmith. Vir- 
chow, the father of cellular pathology, was a 
socialistic-democrat, a member of the Reich- 
‘stag and a vigorous opponent of Bismarck. 

Permit me to briefly summarize my chief 
themes: Education is the modification of be- 
havior through experience. The mechanism 
of learning consists of the nervous system 
with its sense receptors, conductors, centers 
and effectors. KHducation is secured by open- 
ing up neural pathways to the brain; this re- 
quires effort, but a frequently traveled path 
becomes smooth and easy. The course of 
learning does not show a constant ascent, but 
has occasional plateaus. Special pathways 
are needed for the acquisition of special 
knowledge. A fundamental education should 
include language, mathematics, history and 
science. No education can be symmetrical 
without training in all these. Upon these 
as foundation stones, the tower of special 
knowledge may be carried as high as the 
builder can. 

Accuracy and promptness in formulating 
judgment are the ends sought in education; 
correctness first, and readiness next. When 
these qualifications are accompanied by the 
ability to be both prompt and effective in ac- 
tion the individual becomes of highest serv- 
ice to himself and his fellows. 

I am aware of the fact that the advice of 
age does not meet a ready reception in the 
mind of youth. The old frequently envy 
youth its opportunities and wish that they 
were again young. This is idle and besides 
is not desirable. My generation has enjoyed 
great privileges. It has been my personal 
good fortune to know in the prime of life that 
great Englishman, the founder of antiseptic 
surgery, Joseph Lister, to sit at the feet of that 


SCIENCE 


697 


‘great German, the discoverer of the tubercle 
-bacillus, Robert Koch, and to look into the 
face of that greatest of Frenchmen, the man 


who laid the foundations of preventive medi- 
cine, Louis Pasteur. Were the price offered 
eternal youth, I would not tear from memory’s 
book one page of its golden lessons, and I ask 
no higher immortality than that there should 
be found among my students those who have 
been inspired by my words and works, to 
earry forward the torch of science to light 
their fellow-men on their way to wider knowl- 
edge and its beneficent rewards. 

Man has already accomplished much, but 
the greater tasks lie ahead. The productivity 
of the soil must be increased a hundredfold. 
Grains and fruits, yet unknown, must be 
grown. ‘The heavy burdens that still oppress 


-the shoulders of labor must be transferred to 


the tireless muscles of machinery. The litera- 
ture of the higher civilization is, as yet, un- 
written. Laws for which no precedents can be 
found must be framed and administered. 
The giant strength of intra-molecular energy 


must be harnessed into the service of man. 


A broader morality must govern our be- 
havior, one to another, and a loftier religion 
must enthuse the common aspirations of the 
race. All this and much more must be 
achieved before man fully develops his high- 
est potential greatness. 

The world of effort is before you, young 
men and women. The road ad astra lies per 
aspera, but bruised heels and aching limbs 
count for naught when the way leads upward 
toward the mountain tops of human growth 
and perfection. Keep to this road, doing what 
you can to lift yourself and your fellows to a 
more rational life, and Michigan will have 
done well in bestowing upon you her richest 
gift, an education. 

Victor C. VauGHaN 

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN 


THE USES FOR MATHEMATICS 


Matuematics has been termed the hand- 
maiden of the sciences. Whether or not the 
mathematician himself accepts this as a truth- 
ful representation of his beloved science de- 


698 


pends upon what the word “handmaiden” 
connotes. If it is used to designate a sup- 
posed inferiority either in value or respect, 
or a menial and degrading compulsory service, 
he justly rebels against the use of this meta- 
phor. If, on the other hand, divested of all 
suggestion of inferiority ordinarily concomi- 
tant with the use of the term servant, the word 
is only construed to mean a voluntary, honor- 
able assistance, then, though deploring the use 
of a figure with such possibilities for false 
interpretation, he may not seriously object to 
its use. Mathematics undoubtedly does render 
incalculable aid to the exact and many other 
sciences. 

Since mathematics antedates the other 
familiar sciences, astronomy excepted, its 
existence is surely not dependent upon their 
existence, nor can service to the other sci- 
ences be its sole aim and object. It does not 
live to serve, alone. It is not a born slave. It 
has an existence absolutely independent of 
any use to which it may be applied. The 
mathematician has pursued and will pursue 
his investigations regardless of material profit. 
The unselfish motive which directs his activ- 
ities as well as those of other pure scientists 
is that love of knowledge pure and simple 
which seeks no reward other than the intel- 
lectual delight incident to the discovery of 
unknown truth, for him the revelation of 
hitherto unseen relations existent in the realms 
of number and space. However abstract and 
remote from practical application the truth 
revealed, matters not. He is not and refuses 
to be guided by mercenary motives. 

If, however, in the light of popular concep- 
tions, the standard of appreciation of science 
be the extent or importance of its application 
to the exigencies of daily life, mathematics 
gains rather than suffers from the lowering of 
the standard. Nevertheless the teacher of 
mathematies is frequently required by the 
prospective student to justify the usefulness 
of his courses. It occurred to me that a very 
definite and unprejudiced reply to such queries 
ean be obtained from the Encyclopedia Britan- 
nica, 11th ed. This great work which is a 
“survey of the field of knowledge” presum- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1037 


ably is impartial. Necessarily only the essen- 
tials can be given in such a work. We have 
selected from this book those subjects which 
have required the symbols of infinitesimal 
calculus in their treatment. The list is in- 
tended to be complete, but omissions are prob- 
able, owing to the haste in covering so many 
pages. Notice of omissions will be welcomed. 
Some of the subjects, such as infinitesimal 
ealeulus, are obviously mathematical, while 
the appearance of others, such as clock and 
sky, may surprise even mathematicians. The 
list would be far greater if we based it upon 
a lower subject such as trigonometry instead 
of calculus. 

The list contains 104 headings which are as 
follows: Aberration, accumulator, ther, 
algebra, algebraic forms, amplitude, astron- 
omy, atmospheric electricity, aurora polaris, 
ballistics, bearings, Bessel function, bridge, 
calculating machine, calorimetry, capillary 
action, chemical action, chemistry, clock, com- 
binatorial analysis, condensation of gases, con- 
duction electric, conduction of heat, curve, 
eyeloid, differences calculus of, differential 
equation, diffraction of light, diffusion, 
dynamics, dynamometer, earth figure of the, 
elasticity, electrokinetics, electrolysis, elec- 
tromagnetism, electrostatics, energetics, 
Fourier’s series, function, fusion, geodesy, 
geometry, gravitation, groups theory of, gyro- 
scope and gyrostat, harmonic analysis, heat, 
Herbart, hodograph, hydraulics, hydromechan- 
ics, illumination, induction coil, infinitesimal 
calculus, interference of light, interpolation, 
lens, light, lighting, logarithm, lubrication, 
magnetism, magnetism terrestrial, magneto 
optics, map, maxima and minima, mechanics, 
mensuration, meteorology, molecule, number, 
power transmission, probability, quaternions, 
radiation, radioactivity, series, shipbuilding, 
sky, solution, sound, spectroscopy, spherical 
harmonics, spiral, steam engine, stereoscope, 
stoichiometry, strength of materials, sun, sur- 
face, surveying, table mathematical, tacheom- 
etry, thermodynamics, thermoelectricity, ther- 
mometry, tide, time measurement of, trans- 
former, trigonometry, units physical, vaporiza- 


NOVEMBER 13, 1914] 


tion, variations calculus of, vector analysis, 
wave. 

That mathematics is the handmaiden of the 
sciences is fully confirmed, Only about a 
fourth of the headings are those of pure 
mathematics. The wide variation of the sub- 
jects is evident. They cover the subjects of 
five sections of the American Association for 
the Advancement of Science. 

If these facts are pointed out to the stu- 
dents, it will doubtless give them a greater 
interest in the subjects of mathematics, for 
even though they can not understand the 
references they can at least grasp their signifi- 
cance and approach their work with a con- 
viction that it is worth while. It is hoped that 
this list may prove valuable to teachers in 
this way. 

The student should appreciate early the 
importance of his mathematical training in 
his work, particularly in any subject of exact 
science. The haste made necessary by the 
limitations of time and the demand for more 
and more principles leaves little time for the 
application of known principles to explain 
nature in a mathematics class. The utility of 
the subject may thus not be as obvious to the 
inexperienced pupil as to the teacher. The 
subject of mathematics should not be con- 
sidered by the pupil as mere continued 
drudgery without ultimate gain. When those 
uninspiring successions of hooks and crooks 
are clothed with a garb of meaning provided 
by nature herself and their real import and 
significance made manifest, they command a 
proper reverence because of that which they 
have accomplished. The beauty of the truth 
revealed or explained sheds a sense of beauty 
even over the cold abstract reasoning. 

The student should know that that which 
he dimly foresees will appear before him as a 
panorama of extended beauty over which, he 
can roam when once he has mastered that 
most wonderful and powerful instrument of 
modern analysis, discovered by Newton and 
Leibnitz, and so fully developed and applied 
by that constellation of immortal mathema- 
ticians the Bernouillis, Clairaut, Euler, La- 
grange and Laplace, namely the infinitesimal 


SCIENCE 


699 


calculus. He will then have a deeper insight 
into, and a partial comprehension of the plan 
of nature. Beauty concealed by ignorance of 
the mathematics necessary for interpretation 
will be revealed to him. He will then see that 
of which the untutored mind has no concep- 
tion because lying beyond its comprehension. 

The massive bridge once wonderful because 
of its enormous size, when its principles of 
construction are understood becomes a thing 
of beauty, a wonderful monument to the intel- 
lect of the designer and constructor. The great 
tunnels, turbines, subways are changed to ob- 
jects of wonder to those who are capable of 
understanding the difficulties overcome in their 
construction. The stars in the universe above 
which nightly dissipate some of their light 
upon the earth bespeak their Creator’s glory 
in yoices but faintly heard by those whose 
training does not enable them to comprehend 
the reign of law there prevailing. To such an 
one the heavens declare the glory of God in 
a more real and exalted sense. The earth is 
full of His glory. There will be “sermons in 
stones.” 

The extent to which natural laws have been 
discovered and expressed in mathematical equa- 
tions must be a source of unending wonder. 
“Order is heaven’s first law.” The mathe- 
matical equation is the apotheosis of order. 
It will ever be a matter of self-congratulation 
to mankind that they can thus interpret natu- 
tal phenomena by expressing the inexorable 
laws governing them in equations. We should 
better say that we are thankful to God for 
revealing to us those laws to which He has 
subjected His creation. It must compel a 
higher order of admiration for the Creator 
that He has made things thus. 

One of nature’s demands in which she is 
inexorable is a study of higher, the highest 
mathematics. The interpretation of her laws 
requires it. I close by quoting a scientist of 
wide fame. Sir John Herschel in the intro- 
duction to his celebrated “ Outlines of Astron- 
omy” writes: 

The utmost pretension of this work is to place — 


its readers on the threshold of this particular wing 
of science, or rather on an eminence exterior to it, 


700 


whence they may obtain a general notion of its 
structure. . . . Admission to tts sanctuary and to 
the privileges and feelings of a votary is only to 
be gained by one means—sound and sufficient 
Knowledge of mathematics, the great mstrument 
of all exact inquiry, without which no man can 
ever make such advances in this or in any other of 
the higher departments of science as can entitle 
lam to form an independent opinion on any sub- 
ject of discussion within their range. 
Samuret G. Barton 
FLOWER OBSERVATORY, 
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA 


HR LATE WILLIAM SAUNDERS, C.U.G., 
LL.D. 

In the death of Dr. William Saunders, 
C.M.G., late director of the Dominion Experi- 
mental Farms, which took place at London, 
Ontario, on September 13, there passed away 
‘a notable pioneer in the field of Canadian 
‘agricultural investigation, one who had worked 
‘hard and successfully in the best interests of 
this country for more than a quarter of a cen- 
tury and who, we rejoice to say, had lived to 
See in a large measure the fruits of his labor 
in a very material improvement of our basic 
industry, in methods, in crops and in stock 
throughout the length and breadth of the land. 
Comparing the agriculture of this country to- 
day with that of 1886, when Dr. Saunders 
entered upon what we may term his life work— 
the establishment of the Experimental Farm 
System—it is abundantly apparent that farm- 
ing in all its branches has developed and pros- 
pered and we can not doubt that the varied 
activities of this system, in research and in 
the wide dissemination of information among 
our farmers, carried forward as they have been 
by Dr. Saunders and his co-workers with en- 
thusiasm and skill, must have played a very 
important part in this agricultural progress. 
Tt has been a valuable and national work, and 
stands to-day as a monument to the initiative, 
the unflagging zeal and the untiring energy of 
Dr. Saunders, who held the directorship of the 
farms from their establishment to April, 1911, 
when he retired, owing to failing health and 
advancing years. 

William Saunders was born in Devonshire, 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1037 


England, in 1836, and came at. the age of 12 
years to this country with his parents, who 
settled in London, Ontario. In early manhood 
he studied chemistry and pharmacy and sub- 
sequently established a business for the manu-' 
facture of pharmaceutical preparations, a 
business which he successfully carried on till 
1886, when it was handed over to his eldest 
son, William E., who has remained since that 
date as head of the firm. Im 1882, we find 
that his chemical knowledge had gained for 
him the post of public analyst for Western 
Ontario. Previous to that date he had taken 
a leading part in the founding of the Ontario 
College of Pharmacy, of which he was presi- 
dent for two years. He was also on the pro- 
fessoriate of the medical faculty of the 
Western University. His interest in entomol- 
ogy led him to assist in establishing the Ento- 
mological Society of Ontario, of which he was 
president for the period 1883-6. In the prac- 
tical work of this society he maintained an 
active and warm interest throughout his life, 
acting as editor of its organ, the Canadian 
EHntomologist, for thirteen years. As a result 
of his entomological studies, which were 
mainly of an economic character, he published 
in 1882 his work entitled “Insects Injurious 
to Fruit,” a book that has been widely used 
as a text in agricultural colleges and by 
orchardists in the United States and Canada. 

In 1868 Dr. Saunders purchased a small 
farm in the neighborhood of London and 
there, it may be said, he laid the foundation of 
his future work in horticulture, always his 
favorite study. This area of land, which he 
planted largely to fruit, enabled him to inves- 
tigate and observe in the fields of experimental 
agriculture and horticulture, and no doubt fur- 
nished him with those qualities and that 
knowledge ‘which led to his selection as the 
one best qualified to undertake the important 
task of establishing the Experimental Farm 
system. His many successes in the production 
of new fruits, flowers and grains during this 
period testify to his skill as an hybridist of the 
first rank. 

Of his work as head of the Experimental 
Farms it will only be possible to give the 


NOVEMBER 13, 1914] 


merest outline, but the annual reports and 
bulletins of that institution and his papers 
before learned societies give ample evidence 
of his active life in agricultural research. 
We can only refer here, and that briefly, to 
the results of his work with fruits and cereals. 

In gooseberries he produced the Pearl and 
Red Jacket, both well and favorably known. 
With black currants he made many crosses 
and his Eclipse, Magnus Clipper, Climax, 
Success and Beauty have all established repu- 
tations. - He crossed the red raspberry with 
the black cap, but the resulting varieties though 
of excellent quality and good bearers were not 
generally acceptable to the fruit trade by 
reason of their dark color. The “Sarah,” 
however, has proved an excellent variety for 
home use, being valuable on account of its late 
fruiting. Early varieties of the red currant 
of Dr. Saunders’s production are the Brighton 
and Count, both hardy, prolific and good 
yielders. In grapes, his Emerald, a white 
grape of fine quality, may be mentioned; it 
was held to be the best grape of the Canadian 
varieties exhibited at the Colonial Exhibition 
in London in 1886. 

In ornamental plants he did excellent work, 
originating two fine and valuable roses, the 
Mary Arnott and the Agnes. Among the bar- 
berries also he left as a legacy several very 
interesting and highly ornamental hybrids. 

His efforts and their results in hybridizing 
with apples are well known to the horticultural 
world. He set himself the difficult task of 
producing an apple that would be sufticiently 
hardy to withstand the rigor of the winter in 
our northwestern provinces. Many pages 
might be filled with an account of his labors 
in this direction. They were begun in 1894, 
using as the female parent the exceedingly 
hardy and exceedingly small wild Siberian 
erab, Pyrus baccata, and as the male parents 
a large number of hardy Russian and Ameri- 
can apples. From these crosses he obtained 
his first fruit in 1899, and from among the 
bearing trees he found some that would justify 
their propagation. About 800 trees were set 
out and many of them have proved hardy and 
have fruited abundantly on the open prairie. 


SCIENCE 


‘Prince, Tony, Elsa and Charles. 


701 


Their fruit showed a very considerable increase 
in size, as compared with that of the mother 
parent, some of them having a diameter of 
one and three quarters inches. Among these 
first crosses stand out the Jewel, Sylvia, 
Fruit of 
these has been produced at Fort Vermilion, 
in latitude 58°, where the winter temperature 
may fall as low as 60° below zero Fahrenheit. 

From this initial work Dr. Saunders pushed 
forward, seeking apples of larger size and better 
quality. Taking the larger, he recrossed these 
hybrids with several hardy apples of well- 
known varieties and produced a number of 
still greater promise. Of these second crosses 
he planted about 400 trees, some of which have 
borne fruit two and a half inches in diameter 
and of good quality. These are now under 
test on the prairie farms and it is confidently 
expected that many of them will prove of 
value where apples can not at present be suc-' 
cessfully grown. 

In his work with cereals—a work which has 
proved of paramount importance and value to 
Canada—Dr. Saunders’s endeavor was to pro- 
duce an early ripening wheat of good quality, 
that might serve for districts in the Canadian 
northwest where the Red Fife, our standard 
variety, was in some seasons injured by early 
autumnal frosts. The story of this wheat 
breeding is a long and interesting one, cover- 
ing many years of patient, skilful work. 
Many hundreds of hybrids have been produced 
and tested at the Central Farm. Hundreds 
have been discarded in the course of this in- 
vestigation and hundreds were tried out tor 
prolifieness, earliness and bread-making qual- 
ities. Of this large number a few, perhaps a 
dozen, have been found worthy of introduc- 
tion, and these, all crosses from the standard 
varieties, Red Fife and White Fife, are now 
well known and widely cultivated. Some men- 
tion must be made of the more important of 
these new wheats, which are all vigorous, 
productive and early in ripening. Preston 
and Huron are bearded, the equal of Réd Fife 
in hardness and color. Stanley is a beard- 
less wheat and in some respects from the com- 
mercial point of view perhaps somewhat infe- 


702 


rior to the foregoing varieties. Of somewhat 
different parentage is the next to be referred 
to and the best of them all—the Marquis— 
derived by crossing the Red Fife with the 
Hard Red Calcutta. Marquis, that practically 
from its first introduction, leaped into popu- 
larity and stands to-day as the equal of Red 
Fife in bread-making qualities and vastly 
superior to it as regards earliness in ripening. 
The selection of this splendid wheat, from a 
number of unfixed but closely related types, 
is the outcome of much painstaking and care- 
ful work on the part of Dr. Saunders’s third 
son, Dr. Charles E. Saunders, who as Dominion 
Cerealist at Ottowa, took up this phase of 
his father’s work in 1903. The Marquis has 
more than fulfilled the most sanguine expec- 
tations, and farmers and millers alike speak 
most enthusiastically of its many fine qual- 
ities and its extreme earliness. It has given 
excellent yields in Manitoba, Saskatchewan 
and Alberta, but not only is it a heavy cropper, 
but’ its grain is heavy and of excellent ap- 
pearance, practically undistinguishable in all 
good qualities for milling and baking from 
Red Fife. It resists well adverse weather 
conditions. In earliness of ripening it is 
ready for harvesting from 5 to 10 days before 
Red Fife, a matter of no small importance 
for districts subject to early autumnal frosts. 
Such a combination of good qualities easily 
accounts for its success with farmers and its 
great popularity. It is rapidly replacing all 
the older early maturing wheats, including the 
Red Fife, on our western prairies. It won the 
prize of $1,000 given at the land exhibition in 
New York City in 1911, for the best 100 
pounds of wheat grown on the continent of 
North America, and in 1912 was the success- 
ful competitor for the $2,500 prize awarded 
by the Dry Farming Congress held in that 
year at Lethbridge, Alberta. In 19138 it again 
received the highest award at the Congress 
held in Tulsa, Okla. We may thus safely say 
that the problem that Dr. Saunders set him- 
self, to produce a good wheat with an early 
maturing habit suitable for general cultivation 
jn the Canadian northwest, has been success- 
fully solved. The production of the Marquis 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1037 


wheat has demonstrated the value of research 
work in agriculture and increased our pos- 
sibilities as a wheat-growing country. Its 
value to Canada is scarcely to be calculated in 
thousands of dollars. 

Dr. Saunders was a great lover of the 
beautiful in the out-of-doors, and to adorn the 
grounds he had charge of he introduced from 
other countries many shrubs and flowers. His 
planning and planting of the grounds and 
arboretum of the Central Farm and of much of 
the Government Driveway, at Ottawa, testify 
to his skill and good taste in landscape 
gardening. 

Dr. Saunders’s achievements were widely 
recognized. For his valuable work in pro- 
moting the interests of Canadian agriculture 
he was the recipient of many honors from 
learned societies and universities at home and 
abroad. He received the honorary degree of 
LL.D., from Queens University in 1896, and 
the University of Toronto bestowed on him 
the same honor in 1904. In 1905 he was 
created by His Majesty, the late Kine Edward 
VII., a Companion of the Most Distinguished 
Order of Saint Michael and Saint George. 
He was a Fellow of the American Association 
for the Advancement of Science, Fellow of the 
Linnean Society of London, Corresponding 
Member of the Royal Botanical Society, Fel- 
low of the Chemical Society (London, Eng.), 
and held a membership in many other soci- 
eties devoted to the natural sciences. 

The Transactions of the Royal Society of 
Canada, of which Dr. Saunders was made a 
charter member on its formation in 1882, con- 
tains many contributions from his pen. The 
titles of some of these are “ The Introduction 
and Dissemination of Noxious Insects,” “The 
Importance of Economizing and Preserving 
Our Forests,” “The Influence of Sex in the 
Hybridizing of Fruits,’ “Early Ripening 
Cereals,” “‘ Progress of Experiments in Cross- 
fertilizing at the Experimental Farms,” “ Re- 
sults of Tree Planting on the Northwestern 
Plains,” “Increased Production of Farm 
Crops by Early Sowing.” These titles indi- 
cate his wide interests in economic phases of 


NOVEMBER 13, 1914] 


agriculture. He was honored by election to the 
presideney of the Royal Society in 1906. 

Dr. Saunders possessed a pleasing personal- 
ity and was much beloved by those who knew 
him well. He was kind and considerate to all 
and ever, ready to listen and help those who 
came to him for guidance and assistance. He 
was a good administrator, consistent, quiet and 
firm, with an excellent judgment of men and 
affairs, and these qualities no doubt contrib- 
uted largely to his success as chief officer of 
the Experimental Farms. He never exagger- 
ated to force home a truth, no matter how im- 
portant it was, but contented himself in all 
his writings with a plain statement of the 
facts as observed and of the deductions that 
might safely be drawn therefrom. Anything 
of the spectacular or sensational, for the pur- 
pose of publicity or advertisement, were par- 
ticularly abhorrent to him. 

The name of Dr. Saunders is honorably and 
inseparably identified with the establishment 
and work of the Dominion Experimental 
Farms. To this end he labored long and 
earnestly and, as is well known, successfully. 
Canada gladly and gratefully acknowledges 
the benefits which those services have bestowed 
upon her agriculture. 

Frank T. Suutt 


THE MUSEUM OF VERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY 
OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
Among the research museums of America is 

one which in view of the brief period of its 

existence and the relatively small fund avail- 
able for its maintenance has made such phe- 
nomenal growth and published such important 
results that it deserves the consideration and 
respect of all American naturalists. I refer to 
the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology of the Uni- 
versity of California. This institution is only 

six years old, having been established in 1908 

through the liberality and public spirit of Miss 

Annie M. Alexander. For years previously 

Miss Alexander had been engaged in amass- 

ing collections of West Coast mammals, and 

had conducted important expeditions reaching 
northward far into Alaska. There being at 
the time no museum on the Pacific coast with 


SCIENCE 


703 


which she could cooperate in building up the 
splendid research collections she had in view, 
she sought and obtained the cooperation of the 
State University at Berkeley. During the first 
year a temporary building was erected, the 
cost of which was shared equally by the uni- 
versity and Miss Alexander. 

Modern work in systematic zoology has 
demonstrated over and over again the futility 
of attempting critical studies of the relations 
and variations of species, or of the problems 
of their distribution, without the illuminating 
aid of large series of specimens from many 
localities. Keenly alive to this need, Miss 
Alexander, by her own efforts and those of her 
assistants in the field, has already brought to- 
gether the largest collections ever made of 
West Coast terrestrial vertebrates—collections 
sure to be of inestimable and increasing value 
as time goes on. Her field explorations have 
extended from the deserts and mountains of 
southern California northward and westward 
to Prince William Sound in Alaska. Among 
the areas already worked in detail are the great 
interior valley of California, the Colorado 
Desert and other deserts and mountains of 
southern California, Owens Valley, the Mt. 
Whitney region, the Trinity Mountains in 
northern California, Humboldt Bay on the 
northwest coast, the Modoc and Goose Lake 
region of northeast California, certain moun- 
tains and deserts in northern Nevada, Van- 
couver Island and other parts of British Co- 
lumbia, and the Sitkan and Prince William 
Sound regions in Alaska. 

The magnitude of the collections—consist- 
ing mainly of birds, mammals, reptiles and 
batrachians—is surprising in view of the rela- 
tively brief period covered by the field work, 
the museum already containing more than 
21,000 mammals, about 25,000 birds, more than 
1,300 sets of birds’ eggs, and upwards of 5,500 
reptiles and batrachians. 

Based on these rich collections, the univer- 
sity has issued a series of highly important 
faunal and systematic papers, illustrated by 
plates, text-figures and maps, some treating of 
the faunas of special areas, others of the spe- 
cies of particular groups. In nearly all cases 


104 


these; contributions possess the merit and fresh- 
ness of having been written by the men who 
actually did the field work on which they are 
based. The authors are Joseph Grinnell, the 
able and energetic director of the museum, and 


several assistants, past and present, namely,: 


Harold C. Bryant, Joseph Dixon, Edmund 
Heller, Frank Stephens, Harry S. Swarth, 
Walter P. Taylor, and Miss Louise Kellogg. 
The museum has adopted a most liberal 
policy in regard to the loaning of specimens, 
so that responsible naturalists engaged in re- 
visions of groups may have the benefit of its 
material. In my own ease, particularly in my 
studies of the big bears of Alaska, of which 
Miss Alexander has amassed the largest and 
most important collection in existence after 
that of the United States Biological Survey, I 
have enjoyed such unusual courtesies in the 
unrestricted use of specimens and field notes 
that I feel it a privilege as well as a duty to 
make this slight acknowledgment of the gen- 
erosity and spirit of cooperation shown both by 
the founder and the director of the museum. 
C. Hart Merriam 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


Tur American Society of Naturalists, in 
affiliation with the American Society of Zool- 
ogists, the Botanical Society of America, and 
the Society of American Bacteriologists, will 
hold its thirty-second meeting at Philadel- 
phia, under the auspices of the University of 
Pennsylvania, on Thursday, December 831. 
The morning session will be open for papers 
on evolution, genetics and related subjects from 
members or invited guests. The program of 
the afternoon will be a joint symposium with 
Section F of the American Association for the 
Advancement of Science on “The Value of 
Zoology to Humanity.” The annual dinner 
will be held in the evening of the same day. 


Tur American Physiological Society, the 
American Society of Biological Chemists, the 
American Society for Pharmacology and Ex- 
perimental Therapeutics, the American Soci- 
ety for Experimental Pathology and the 
Society of American Naturalists, will meet 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1037 


in the laboratories of the Washington Univer- 
sity, St. Louis, on December 28, 29 and 30. 


Tue New York Academy of Sciences and its 
affiliated societies had a general meeting at 
the American Museum of Natural History, on 
Monday, November 2, when Professor Regi- 
nald A. Daly, of Harvard University, gave a 
lecture on “Problems of Wolcanic Action,” 
which was followed by a reception. 


Prorrssor Wittiam Henry Brace, who 
holds the chair of physics at the University 
of Leeds, is giving a course of four lectures on 
X-rays and erystals at Brown University, as 
part of the celebration of the hundred and 
fiftieth anniversary of its foundation. 


Dr. Fetix von Luscuan, director of the 
Royal Museum of Ethnology in Berlin, and 
professor of anthropology in the University of 
Berlin, who was a guest at the Australian 
meeting of the British Association, is at pres- 
ent in this country, haying been unable to 
return to Germany. He lectured last week 
at the University of Chicago. 


Proressor Davy Topp has returned to 
Amherst College, having made successful 
photographs of the corona of the recent solar 
eclipse from the estate of Count Bobrinsky, 
about a hundred miles southeast of Kieft. 
Owing to the mobilization, his imstruments 
did not arrive in time, but he was able to 
obtain a camera and lenses that could be used. 


Dr. Cyrm G. Hopxins, head of the depart- 
ment of agronomy of the University of Illi- 
nois, has returned to his work after a year’s 
leave of absence. Dr. Hopkins during the last 
year has been working for the interests of the 
south with the “Southern Settlement and 
Development Association,” with headquarters 
at Baltimore. 


Present A. C. Humpureys, of the Stevens 
Institute of Technology, will act as president 
of the International Gas Congress, which meets 
in San Francisco next September. 


Tue Alvarenga Prize for 1914 has been 
awarded by the College of Physicians of Phila- 
delphia to Dr. Herman B. Sheffield for an 
essay entitled “The Fundamental Principles 


NOVEMBER 13, 1914] 


involved in the Use of the Bone Graft in 
Surgery.” 

Sirk AtMrotH Wricut has been appointed 
consulting physician to the British army in 
the field. 

Mr. Hersert K. Jos, who for the past four 
years has been state ornithologist of Con- 
necticut and lecturer on ornithology at the 
Connecticut Agricultural College, has resigned 
to take up work along similar lines for the 
National Association of Audubon Societies. 

Dr. Grace L. Metes has been appointed by 
Miss Julia Lathrop, chief of the children’s 
bureau of the U. S. Department of Labor, as 
expert on sanitation on the staff of that 
bureau. Dr. Meigs has recently been attend- 
ing physician in children’s diseases in Cook 
County Hospital, and will act in a general 
advisory capacity to the bureau in matters of 
child health and hygiene. 

Proressor W. K. Hart, of Purdue Univer- 
sity, has been appointed by the county com- 
missioners of Marion County, to report on the 
design of the West Washington Street bridge 
over White River at Indianapolis. 

Dr. M. A. Rosanorr, professor of research 
chemistry in the Mellon Institute of Industrial 
Research, University of Pittsburgh, will give 
a series of about twenty-five lectures on the 
general subject. “ Equilibria in Heterogeneous 
Systems ” beginning Tuesday evening, Novem- 
ber 3, 1914. 

Proressor VERNON L. Kexioae, of Stanford 
University, is giving in November a series of 
four lectures on “ Heredity ” before the Asso- 
ciated Charities of San Francisco. 


Proressor Winuiam E. Rirrer, of the depart- 
ment of zoology of the University of Cali- 
fornia and director of the Scripp’s Institute 
for Biological Research, addressed on Novem- 
ber 4 members of the zoological department, 
graduate students and faculty members at the 
University of Illinois on the work of the 
institute. 

Mr. G. R. Minss, fellow of Sidney Sussex 
College, Cambridge, and professor of physiol- 
ogy in McGill University, died on November 
7, at the age of twenty-nine years. Professor 
Mines died while making experiments in his 


SCIENCE 


705) 


laboratory on the action of the heart, appar- 
ently as the result of some failure in the 
apparatus. 

Dr. Henry Gannett, geographer of the U. S. 
Geological Survey since 1882, president of the 
National Geographic Society, the author of 
contributions to typographical surveying, 
statistics and geography, died in Washington 
on November 5, aged sixty-eight years. 

Dr. Frieprich von Graner, director of the 
Forestry Bureau in Stuttgart, has died at the 
age of sixty-eight years. 

At the meeting of the Association of Amer- 
ican Universities, held at Princeton Univer- 
sity last week, papers were presented by Presi- 
dent George E. Vincent,-of the University of 
Minnesota, on “The Granting of Honorary 
Degrees”; by Mr. George Parmly Day, treas- 
urer of Yale University, on “The Function 
and Organization of University Presses,” on 
“State Agencies of University Publication,’ 
prepared by Professor John OC. Merriam, Uni- 
yersity of California, and presented by Dean 
Armin O. Leuschner, and on “ Economy of 
Time in Education,” by President A. Law- 
rence Lowell, of Harvard University. 

THE seventh annual meeting of the Ameri- 
can Institute of Chemical Engineers will be 
held in Philadelphia, Pa., from December 
2 to 5. A program of excursions to a number 
of the large chemical manufacturing plants in 
and around Philadelphia is being arranged. 
A number of addresses and papers on “ The 
Present Opportunities for American Chem- 
ical Industries” will be delivered by promi- 
nent chemical engineers and business men. 

Tur New England Geological Excursion, 
which was announced for October 16-17, was 
given up on account of rain. 

GovEeRNoR HBERHART, of Minnesota, has is- 
sued a proclamation setting aside the week of 
November 29 to December 5 for the study of 
general health problems. 

In accord with the unanimous vote of the 
first Pennsylvania Industrial Welfare and Effi- 
ciency Conference held in Harrisburg last 
year, John Price Jackson, commissioner of 
labor and industry, has issued a call for a sec- 


706 


ond conference to be held im the State Capitol 
' at Harrisburg on November 17, 18 and 19, 1914. 
This conference is held under the auspices of 
the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and 
Industry and the Engineers’ Society of Penn- 
sylvania. The purpose of the conference is to 
enable the employers and employees to work 
out together the problems before them with 
reference to increasing the welfare of the em- 
ployees and the prosperity of the industries. 
The conference last year was attended by ap- 
proximately two thousand persons, many of 
whom were leaders in the labor and industrial 
world. The first session of the second confer- 
ence will be called at 10 a.m. on November 17, 
and the meetings will close at 5 p.M. on No- 
vember 19. The various sessions of the con- 
ference will be held in the State Capltol, Har- 
risburg. In connection with the conference 
proper, will be held a Safety, Welfare and 
Efficiency Exhibition which will open on the 
morning of November 16 and close on the 
evening of November 20. 


WE learn from the Journal of the American 
Medical Association that the Wesley Memorial 
Hospital of Chicago has established five fellow- 
ships to be given yearly to those graduates in 
medicine who have clinical scientific problems 
that they wish to solve. The work will be 
done under a joint board made up from the 
staff of the Wesley Hospital and the labora- 
tory departments of the Northwestern Uni- 
versity Medical School; the clinical work to 
be done in the hospital and the laboratory 
work in the laboratory of the medical school. 
The problems are restricted to those having 
direct application to clinical medicine and 
surgery or the specialties. The fellowships 
are open to any graduate in medicine. The 
recipient of the fellowship will be required to 
devote his entire time during the first year, at 
least, to the prosecution of his investigation. 


Proressor I. W. Batery, of the Harvard 
Forest School, has returned to the Bussey 
Institution after an absence of several weeks 
spent in visiting a number of the middle 
western universities. The following papers, 
prepared in collaboration with Dr. E. W. Sin- 
nott, were read by Professor Bailey: 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1037 


University of Chicago, October 12: ‘‘The Ef- 
fects of Decreasing Temperatures upon the Form 
and Structure of the Angiosperms.’’ 

Meeting of Central Botanists, St. Louis, Oc- 
tober 17: ‘‘The Origin and Dispersal of Her- 
baceous Angiosperms.’’ 

Missouri Botanical Garden, October 21: ‘‘Some 
Problems in Phytogeography. ’’ 

University of Wisconsin, October 26: ‘‘The 
Effects of certain Changes in Climate upon 
Arborescent Angiosperms.’’ 

University of Michigan, October 30: ‘‘ Recent 
Educational Developments in Forestry and Lum- 
bering.’’ 

A MEETING of the New York Section of the 
American Electrochemical Society was held 
on November 10 in Rumford Hall to discuss 
“Contributions of Chemistry to Illuminating 
Engineering.” The program was as follows: 
Milton C. Whitaker, Columbia University : “The 
Improved Incandescent Gas Mantle”; William 
C. Moore, National Carbon Co.: “ Chemistry 
in the Development and Operating of Flam- 
ing Arc Lamps”; Ralph E. Meyers, Westing- 
house Lamp Co.: “The New Tungsten 
Lamps”; R. D. Maily, Cooper Hewitt Hlec- 
tric Co.: “The Quartz Mercury Lamp”; D. 
McFarlan Moore, Edison Lamp Works: “ The 
New Moore Tubes.” 


PENNSYLVANIA so far exceeds all the rest of 
the states in the value of its mineral products 
as to stand almost alone. Exclusive of the 
value of pig iron,.coke and other derived or 
secondary products not included in the total, 
the value of Pennsylvania’s mineral produc- 
tion is nearly one fourth that of the entire 
country; and in 1913, according to figures of 
the United States Geological Survey computed 
in cooperation with the Pennsylvania Topo- 
graphic and Geologic Survey Commission, it 
equaled the combined value of the production 
of West Virginia, Illinois, Ohio and California, 
the next four states in the value of their min- 
eral product. Pennsylvania derives its min- 
eral wealth almost entirely from nonmetalli- 
ferous mining operations. Except for a small 
amount of copper it produces none of the preci- 
ous or semiprecious metals, and the only other 
metal which figures in the total production of 


NOVEMBER 13, 1914] 


the state is iron, of which a small quantity 
(less than 500,000 tons of ore in 1913) is 
mined. In addition, however, to being the 
premier state in the production of coal, Penn- 
sylvania leads also in the manufacture of 
cement, the burning of lime, and the produc- 
tion of mineral paints, sand, slate and stone. 
It is second in the value of clay products and 
natural gas, and sixth in the production of 
petroleum. Although not an iron-ore state, 
Pennsylvania is by far the leading producer 
of pig iron, which is obtained from the Lake 
Superior ores. The production in 1913 was 
12,871,349 long tons, valued at $197,726,314. 
Tf the value of the pig iron made in Pennsyl- 
vania were added to the value of the other 
products of the state, the total values for 1913 
would have exceeded $700,000,000, which is 
more than one fourth of the value of the total 
mineral production of the United States. The 
production of coal in Pennsylvania in 1912 
amounted to 246,227,086 short tons, valued at 
$346,9938,123; in 1913 the value was $388,220,- 
933, an increase of $41,227,810, or 12 per cent., 
over 1912. Second in importance among 
Pennsylvania’s mineral industries is the manu- 
facture of Portland cement, closely followed 
by the clay-working industry. The production 
of cement in 1913 was 28,060,495 barrels, 
valued at $24,268,800, against 27,625,340 bar- 
rels, valued at $18,945,835, in 1912. The 
value of the clay products, exclusive of raw 
clay mined and sold, increased from $21,537,- 
921 in 1912 to $24,231,482 in 1913. Although 
ranking second in the total value of its clay 
products, Pennsylvania is first in the produc- 
tion of brick and tile. A large part of the 
fire clay is mined in connection with coal 
mining and becomes in reality a by-product 
of that industry. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 

Mr. W. K. Vanperpint has given $135,750 
toward the purchase by Columbia University 
of a half block of land on 117th Street ad- 
joining other land owned by the university. 

Tur University of Pennsylvania receives 
$50,000 by the will of Miss Anna Blanchard of 
Philadelphia. 


SCIENCE 


707 


Tue late Dr. Morris Longstreth, who at one 
time held the chair of pathological anatomy in 
Jefferson Medical College and later was in 
practise at Cambridge, Mass., and Barcelona, 
Spain, made the College of Physicians of 
Philadelphia his residuary legatee. 

THE annual dinner of the faculty and man- 
agers of Haverford will be held on November 
23, when questions relative to the curriculum 
and the general policy of the college will be 
discussed. 

Dr. WittiAM WabpELL Boyp was inaugu- 
rated president of- the Western College for 
Women, Oxford, Ohio, on November 4. His 
inaugural address was entitled “The Intelli- 
gent Use of the Intellect.” 

A CABLEGRAM to the N. Y. Sum states that 
M. Henri Bergson, presiding at a meeting of 
the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences 
on November 7%, announced that Arthur 
Raffalovitch, Russian privy councillor and 
attaché of the Russian Embassy in Paris, a 
correspondent of the academy, has given his 
library, which he has been collecting for thirty 
years, to the University of Louvain. M. Berg- 
son added that a committee is beng formed 
to reconstitute the library’s funds. It is 
known that the Germans removed the most 
precious manuscripts before burning the li- 
brary, so it is hoped that the treasures even- 
tually will be restored to Louvain. 

Tus Medico-Chirurgical College of Phila- 
delphia has, according to the Journal of the 
American Medical Association, made the fol- 
lowing faculty changes: Dr. Herbert H. Cush- 
ing, professor of practical anatomy; Dr. 
Ardrey W. Downs, professor of experimental 
physiology; Vernon K. Suydam, professor of 
physics; Charles E. Vanderkleed, professor of 
analytical chemistry; Dr. John H. Small, asso- 
iate professor of bacteriology; Dr. Eugene A. 
Case, associate professor of pathology; Dr. 
Philipp Fischelis, associate professor of his- 
tology and embryology; Dr. Guy Hinsdale, 
Hot Springs, Va., associate professor of 
climatology; Dr. Arthur C. Morgan, associate 
professor of medicine, and Dr. John Stewart 
Rodman and Dr. John J. Gilbride, associate 
professors of surgery. 


708 


Dr. JoHANNES MErISENHEIMER, associate pro- 
fessor at Jena, has been elected professor of 


zoology at Leipzig, to succeed the late Pro- 
fessor Chun. 


Dr. Paut Korpe, associate professor at 
Leipzig, has been elected professor of mathe- 
matics at Jena, as successor of Professor 
Johannes Thomae. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 


SUNFLOWER PROBLEMS 


Proressor Bateson, in his British Associa- 
tion address (Sctencr, Aug. 28, 1914, p. 300), 
has raised the question whether the red sun- 
flower may not owe its chestnut color to the 
loss of an inhibitor, instead of the positive 
addition of a factor for red. Are all yellow- 
rayed sunflowers potentially red, but prevented 
from becoming so by something which “stops 
down ” the series of chemical processes which 
would produce redness? 

So far as I can determine, the cultivated 
Helianthus annuus is derived from the wild 
H. lenticularis, which has a dark dise and 
orange rays. The dise florets of this plant 
have small triangular lobes, which are a sort 
of dull wine red owing to an abundance of 
anthocyan pigment. The rays are orange, 
without red. The dise bracts have dark red 
ends. There is evident anthocyan pigment in 
the stem, producing a mottled effect. Thus, 
it is clear that the kind of pigment which 
characterizes the red sunflower is rather abun- 
dantly present in the wild plant, although it 
does not invade the rays. Occasionally, how- 
ever, the rays show a little red. At Longmont, 
Colorado, August 30, 1914, I found a plant of 
H. lenticularis having the middle third of the 
rays beneath with the apical half variably 
light brownish-red. Microscopie examination 
showed cells with anthocyan, which became 
redder with acid. On the upper side, the rays 
were entirely orange as usual. In the red 
sunflowers, it is this middle tract of the under 
side of the rays which is generally especially 
heavily pigmented. Had this Longmont plant 
a special “ factor for red,” or had some of the 
effects of the normal reddening factor of the 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1037 


dise florets spilled over, as it were, on to the 
rays? In our red sunflowers, we find that the 
heterozygous forms may be very richly colored. 
Nevertheless, they may be almost wholly yellow- 
rayed. The most extreme case of this sort 
is a plant grown this year, which has very 
purple stems and branches, but the very rich 
orange rays apparently wholly without red, 
though a lens shows a little scattered red. 
In this case it would seem natural to think of 
the red being inhibited. However, the appear- 
ance of yellow-rayed heads at the end of the 
season on heterozygous more or less red-rayed 
plants suggests not so much the late develop- 
ment of a special inhibitor, as the failure 
under adverse conditions of the color-producing 
mechanism. In other words the “ inhibitor” 
here is nothing more than the withdrawal of 
the needful stimulus. 

The monocephalous garden sunflowers have 
the dise yellow, the red having disappeared 
from the disc florets. The same variation 
occurs from time to time in the related wild 
species (e. g., the variety phenaxz of H. petio- 
laris). Dark dise is strictly dominant or 
epistatic to yellow. Here we naturally speak 
of the loss of a factor; but carrying the inhib- 
itor postulate a little farther, we can assume 
that we have here a second inhibitor, acting 
upon the dise, only operating when the plant 
is homozygous for it. A supposition of this 
sort is certainly fatiguing to the imagination. 

In homozygous red-rayed sunflowers, the 
pigmentation may be intense.1 We not only 
have the form (var. ruberrimus, nov.) with 
the rays deep chestnut red all over; but this 
year we obtained one (var. niger, nov.) with 
the rays practically black above, slightly red 
apically, though beneath they showed on one 
side a streak of orange. (The orange streak 
on one side, not always the same side, beneath, 
is a regular character of the very red varieties. 
I am not at present able to explain this asym- 
metry, unless it has to do with the manner 


1Tt is singular that the pigmentation of the seed 
(fruit) follows quite different lines. Sutton’s tall 
primrose variety of H. annuus has long black seeds, 
and in a cross with brown-seeded varieties, the 
seeds of F, come broad and dark brown. 


NOVEMBER 13, 1914] 


of folding in the bud, whereby one side is 
deprived of light.) 

In the vinous series (red on primrose) we 
have corresponding forms, one (var. vinosis- 
simus, nov.) having the rays entirely dark 
wine red. 

On the whole, and in view of the fact that 

there are no wild species of sunflowers with 
red rays, it seems reasonably certain that the 
red represents a “positive” variation; but, as 
with color variations in animals, there may 
well be also a diluting or inhibiting factor, 
which when present sensibly modifies the ex- 
pression of the factor for red. It is not neces- 
sary, however, to suppose even this, since vari- 
ous degrees of stimulation might equally bring 
about the results. Miss Wheldale, describing 
analogous cases in chemical terms, suggests 
that if the local oxidizing capacity of any 
tissue is greater than its reducing power, this 
is indicated by the local appearance of antho- 
cyanin; if the reducing power is greater than 
the oxidizing power, no pigment results. Thus, 
she says, the loss of a dioxidizing factor would 
produce color, as may be the case in the red- 
leafed beech. 
_ Duggar found that in the tomato a red 
pigment (lycopin) and a yellow (carotin) both 
occur. In yellow varieties only the carotin 
occurs; but in genetically red varieties a high 
temperature precludes the formation of lycopin, 
and yellow fruits result. Im the case of the 
red sunflowers, the red color very commonly 
fades more or less after the flowers open, 
probably in part owing to growth without 
corresponding increase of pigment, which thus 
becomes diluted. Dr. J. R. Schramm of the 
‘Missouri Botanical Garden informs me that 
in the hot summer of St. Louis this fading is 
excessive, good red forms becoming practically 
yellow before they are over. Also, on compar- 
ing notes with Mr. D. M. Andrews of Boulder, 
Dr. Schramm observed that roses with pale 
tints are much less colored at St. Louis than 
in Colorado. 

With regard to a possible “ dilution ” factor, 
it is to be noted that in the series of yellow 
and orange pigments, which occur in visible 
‘particles, dilution can be seen, as explained in 


SCIENCE 


709 


‘Semncer, August 21, 1914, p. 284. More re- 


cently we have obtained the fourth possible 
combination of this series, dilute orange, in 
plants of the bicolor-vinosus type. 

In the paper just quoted, irregularities in 
the distribution of anthocyan pigments were 
described. I have now to record a similar 
peculiarity in which the solid pigments are 
involved. An F, plant from very pale Helz- 
anthus cucumerifolius X H. annwus coronatus 


‘had broad orange rays, with about the basal 


half strongly washed with chestnut. A single 
ray, however, was primrose color, slightly 
streaked with vinous. This ray had an orange 
longitudinal stripe on the under side. ‘The 
difference here is only in the yellow, the differ- 
ence in the red (chestnut and vinous) being 
entirely due to the character of the background. 

A few words may be added regarding 
gigantism. In 1913, and again in 1914, there 
appeared among our red sunflowers a certain 
number of gigantic plants, fully ten feet 
high, nearly always with yellow rays. These 
numbered perhaps about 25 per thousand 
plants. The occurrence of these plants this 
year has been especially striking, in a large 
group of very good reds. One occurred, bloom- 
ing very late, in the series of F, plants from 
primulinus X coronatus, which gave us our 
first vinous. Have:we here a sort of jack-in- 
the-box effect, some inhibitor of growth being 
lacking in a certain number of cases? The 
coronatus we used had some “ Russian” (var. 
macrocarpus 1).C.) in its ancestry, which might 
bring a recessive tendency to gigantism. 
These large plants, however, were much 
branched and had dark discs. 


T. D. A. CocKERELL 


UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO 


X-RAY DIFFRACTION PATTERNS 


Tue diffraction patterns discovered by 
Friederich, Knipping and Laue have been 
shown to be due to the arrangement of the 
atoms of erystals into planes. These patterns 
are used to indicate the spatial distribution 
of atoms in crystals. 

An experiment illustrating these patterns can 
be very easily shown to an audience by permit- 


710 


ting a beam of light to enter a dark room and 
fall upon the face of a diamond such as used 
in rings. The diamond is held a few inches 
from the hole through which the beam of light 
enters and upon this screen is thrown a large 
number of bright spots very closely resembling 
the X-ray patterns. By moving the diamond 
to and fro from the screen or by rotating it 
the form of the pattern can be altered. The 
portions of rays that enter the diamond and 
are reflected from the rear surfaces may show 
the spectral colors. 

This experiment can be demonstrated to a 
class very easily and should be of some use in 
explaining erystalline structure. 

W. W. Srrone 


THE CARNEGIE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, 
PITTSBURGH, PA. 


A NEW METHOD OF PREPARING SPIDERS FOR EX- 
HIBITION IN MUSEUM GROUPS 


THE preservation of spiders for museum 
purposes has always presented serious diffi- 
culties on account of the fact that the ab- 
domens of the Arachnids lose their shape and 
color on drying. The usual method of preser- 
vation in liquids is of course out of the ques- 
tion when spiders are to be used as part of a 
faunal group. By preparing an artificial ab- 
domen of wood and fastening it to the cephalo- 
thorax of the actual specimen I have found it 
possible to produce an imitation which can 
scarcely be distinguished from the living ani- 
mal. 

A large number of specimens of the desired 
species must be collected, to allow for the se- 
lection of full-grown animals. It is advisable 
to keep them alive for several days and to sup- 
ply them with plenty of food; as it often hap- 
pens that either conditions of the weather do 
not allow an ample food supply or else the in- 
sect may be abnormal on account of a recent 
or impending molt. Jn such instances the 
abdomen may often be not quite half the size 
of that of a well-fed specimen or one filled 
with eggs. 

After the insect body is fully developed, the 
imitation abdomen must be made before kill- 
ing. For this purpose a piece of light soft 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1037 


wood is used, carved in the exact form and 
size. Then the coloration is put on in precise 
shade and pattern. 

Next the spider is killed. The best way to 
kill it is by putting it in a corked bottle con- 
taining cyanide. According to the strength 
of the cyanide and the size of the spider this 
takes from one to two hours. If the length of 
time is not sufficient the spider may later re- 
cover. After being sure that the spider is dead 
an insect pin is driven through the center of 
the cephalothorax and the insect fastened into 
a cork sheet, the legs being put in position 
and supported with pins. After being pre- 
pared in this manner, the insect must be kept 
in a warm and dry place, protected from dust. 

After a few days, when the insect is thor- 
oughly dry, the shrunken abdomen may be 
carefully removed and replaced by the wooden 
model. Ienaz Matausca 

AMERICAN MUSEUM OF 

NATURAL HIsToRY, 
New York 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 


Igneous Rocks and Their Origin. By Rect- 
NALD ALDWorTH Daty, Sturgis-Hooper Pro- 
fessor of Geology, Harvard University. 
New York and London, McGraw-Hill Book 
Company, Inc., 1914. 

In a previous publication Professor Daly 
expressed the opinion that “to be more pro- 
ductive geology should be more speculative.” 
In this sense the author has become highly 
productive. In the introduction to his book 
on “Igneous Rocks and Their Origin,” which 
is an elaboration of his previous publications, 
he qualifies the estimate commonly put on the 
value of experimental research in physics and 
chemistry by remarking that, while the mathe- _ 
matical methods employed are precise the 
premises relied on are not. How much lower 
value then must be placed on the results of a 
procedure in which both the premises and the 
mode of reasoning are seriously at fault! 

The author pays a just tribute to the effec- 
tiveness of a regulated imagination, but fails 
to warn the student of the havoe which may be 
wrought by a badly regulated one, which like a 
defective aeroplane may bring destruction not 


NOVEMBER 13, 1914] 


only to the aviator but to those who may be 
under him; a simile suggested by his obser- 
vation that geology is “a science involving 
long excursions into space.” It is to be hoped 
that in his contributions to higher education 
Professor Daly will keep this risk constantly 
before his readers. 

His statement that “science is built on a 
long succession of mistakes” is inexact. Very 
serious mistakes have been made in the past, 
and obviously are being made still by those 
who are earnestly endeavoring to build it up, 
but it is to be hoped that very little of the 
structure of modern science is built upon mis- 
takes. It is true as the author says that “ their 
recognition means progress.” Most surely, 
perhaps, when we recognize our own, for “ thus 
we rise on stepping stones of our dead selves 
to higher things.” 

The author seems to be outside of petro- 
graphical conceptions when he imagines that 
“science is drowning in facts.” The solid 
facts of petrology should furnish the best 
building material for a scientific structure, 
as well as for a foundation, and are not in 
such a flux as his metaphor suggests. There 
are many evidences in the book before us that 
its author confuses facts and subjective con- 
ceptions or hypotheses about them; indeed, he 
closes the introduction with the statement that 
“The ‘facts’ of to-day are the hypotheses of 
yesterday,” and he demonstrates his confidence 
in this assertion by citing as facts in one 
chapter what were his own hypotheses in a 
previous one. 

In his zealous endeavor to advance the sci- 
ence of petrology Professor Daly has the earn- 
est sympathy of his fellow workers, however 
much some of them may disagree with him 
as to his methods of thought and of presen- 
tation, or as to his assumptions and conclu- 
sions, but the present writer is somewhat at a 
loss as to how one should interpret Professor 
Daly’s statement that “the best sympathy is 
expressed in constructive criticism.” If this 
means that the construction should be an 
elaboration of his hypotheses and theories, 
then the reviewer regrets that his sympathy 
is not of that kind. However, if constructive 


SCIENCE 


711 


criticism consists in the presentation of other 
hypotheses, built with the aid of the imagina- 
tion on other premises, which seem to the 
writer to be more secure and more in accord 
with modern conceptions regarding the physics 
of the earth and the essential characteristics 
of igneous rocks and their molten magmas, 
then he would present Professor Daly with 
the views expressed in the writer’s recent lec- 
tures on voleanism at Yale University as a 
token of his sympathy, and would ask him to 
look upon the present criticism of his work 
on “Igneous Rocks and Their Origin” as an 
evidence of the serious concern which the 
writer feels for the science which both of us 
are striving to promote, and of his sense of 
duty in pointing out what seem to the writer 
some of the mistakes of method employed 
with such dangerous effectiveness by the 
brilliant but, as it seems to the writer, mis- 
taken author of the volume in hand. 

Since the book is an elaboration of papers 
already published by the author, which are 
familiar to most students of petrology, it will 
not be necessary to state at length the contents 
of the work which are given in a brief ab- 
stract in the first chapter, from which may be 
gotten more definite ideas of the author’s 
views than are obtainable in some instances 
from the involved discussions in subsequent 
chapters. Moreover, the book is so full of 
statements, citations and tabulated material, 
much of which is open to criticism and debate, 
that it would require an exhaustive treatise to 
discuss the whole work thoroughly. The 
volume represents a great amount of energy 
and: thought expended through years of study 
and speculation, evidences of which may be 
found in extensive tables compiled to illustrate 
the author’s hypotheses, as well as in abundant 
bibliographic references which must represent 
but a small part of the author’s researches 
into the literature of petrology, a large part 
of which would seem to be of little value for 
his purpose. 

It seems to the writer that the most funda- 
mental feature of the book is the mistaken 
method employed by its author in his at- 
tempts to solve the problems of volcanism, 


712 


which involve the character and origin of 
igneous rocks and their antecedent magmas, 
a method which is disclosed by the construc- 
tion of the book, as well as by the statements 
of the author regarding it. The work is 
divided into three parts. The first broadly 
treats of what the author considers the facts 
which need explanation in a philosophy of 
igneous rocks. The second contains a gen- 
eral, “eclectic” theory of the subject. The 
third outlines the results of applying this 
theory to the so-called “facts” previously 
mentioned. 

By way of introducing the “facts” in the 
ease the author devotes a chapter to the 
Classification of Igneous Rocks, and thereby 
reveals his lack of acquaintance with some of 
the fundamental principles of modern petrol- 
ogy, those based on the physical chemistry of 
erystallizing solutions so far as known. The 
chapter also demonstrates the inexactness, or 
incoherence, of his logic, or his indifference 
to the meaning of words, for on page 2 he 
says that “Reasons are stated for preferring 
a classification founded on actual mineral 
composition,” and on page 9 it is shown that 
it is not possible to determine the actual 
mineral composition of igneous rocks, and that 
recourse must be had to chemical analyses. 
He then proceeds on the assumption that a 
collection of rock analyses grouped by Rosen- 
busch according to Rosenbusch’s system of 
mineralogical classification is a classification 
according to the mode of a rock, the mode 
having been defined as the actual mineral com- 
position of a rock expressed quantitatively. 
Rosenbusch himself states that his classifica- 
tion is based on the most noticeable minerals, 
in porphyritic rocks, with little or no regard 
in some instances to the minute minerals in 
the groundmass, which may form a large 
part of the rock. The author’s misuse of the 
term mode as well as his statements regarding 
the Quantitative System of Classification, 
which he calls the Norm System, show plainly 
his failure to comprehend the fundamental 
principles both of this system of classification 
and of the chemico-mineralogical relations in 
igneous rocks on which the system was 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1037 


\ 


founded. This is further shown by his effort 
to indicate its methods by a hypothetical 
jumble of biological species. 

The author pays a high tribute to the leader- 
ship of Rosenbusch in connection with rock 
classification, whose system he professes to 
adopt, with modifications of his own, but he 
violates absolutely the essentials of the system 
in the third part of his book, and he ignores 
Rosenbusch’s judgment on principles which 
conflict with the main thesis of his “eclectic ” 
theory. Rosenbusch based his system on the 
microscopical petrography of igneous rocks, 
in which branch of petrology he was the ac- 
knowledged leader, and it was not to be ex- 
pected that in the later years of his brilliant 
career he would have undertaken to recon- 
struct his system of classification in the light 
of new discoveries in allied branches of science. 
But it must not be supposed that he had no 
appreciation of the march of events; toward 
new or revolutionary ideas he held a conserva- 
tive course, and upon one occasion in a dis- 
cussion of new ideas with which he was in 
sympathy he remarked to the present writer’ 
that he must not introduce such changes into 
his book suddenly, but gradually in successive 
editions, for otherwise his readers would not 
follow him. On the same occasion he yolun- 
teered the remark: “I do not know what the 
future petrography will be, but it will be 
quite different from what it is now,” in 1890. 
It was as though this great leader of a 
wandering people had had a vision of a land 
into which he himself was not permitted to 
enter. 

For the rocks grouped together by Rosen- 
busch Professor Daly calculates average anal- 
yses, chiefly from the tables of analyses pub- 
lished by Osann, and assumes that these aver- 
ages represent types of each group, the sub- 
jective character of such calculations not being 
considered by him as objectionable. A funda- 
mental error in his procedure with respect to 
igneous rocks appears in the misstatement, 
copied from Rosenbusch, that coarse-grained 
intrustive rocks differ from their correspond- 
ing porphyry and lava forms by the relative 
proportions of their chemical constituents. 


NOVEMBER 13, 1914] 


This error vitiates some of the fundamental 
hypotheses developed in subsequent parts of 
the book (p. 229). It has been clearly demon- 
strated that these supposed differences rest 
on the failure of the qualitative system of 
Rosenbusch to classify rocks by their actual 
mineral compositions, or modes, and also upon 
the fact that the modes of chemically similar 
-magmas may differ because of the different 
physical conditions which may have controlled 
the chemical equilibria within solidifying 
magmas. This well-known principle is lost 
sight of by Professor Daly. Apparently the 
author’s units for classification have been 
petrographical names and definitions, and not 
the rocks themselves, with which he seems to 
be less familiar. 

Having qualified the Qualitative System of 
Rosenbusch to suit his conceptions of it, the 
author proceeds in the third chapter to employ 
it quantitatively, and undertakes to determine 
the relative abundance of various groups of 
names which he has ealled “ clans,” assuming 
that the areal distribution of igneous rocks, as 
represented on maps made at various times by 
many geologists and petrographers, will fur- 
nish a reliable basis for the comparison of 
actual rock bodies and of the relative amounts 
of various kinds of igneous rocks! To one 
familiar with the methods of geological cartog- 
raphy, with methods of observation and petro- 
eraphical determination of large areas of 
igneous rocks, and also with the modes of 
occurrence of rocks in the field, the idea of 
employing the areal representations of such 
bodies as a means of estimating the relative 
quantities of rocks grouped by Professor Daly 
into “clans” is remarkable both as an evi- 
dence of the author’s respect for the data 
before him and as an indication of his con- 
ception of the structural geology involved. 
Great areas of igneous rocks are commonly so 
complex that their mapping is not attempted 
in detail on many maps, and in some regions 
a thin surface flow of lava may overlie hun- 
dreds of square miles of other igneous rocks, 
which is the case in eastern Idaho, for ex- 
ample, where basalt overlies rhyolites which 
are not represented on maps of the region. 


SCIENCE 


713: 


The value of his efforts to determine the rela- 
tive quantities of various kinds of igneous 
rocks, as well as of the classification he has 
applied to the rock bodies studied, appears in 
his conclusion that the rocks of the globe be- 
long quantitatively to two types, “granite” 
and “basalt”; a statement which shows that 
his petrography goes back to that early period 
when “granites” and “greenstones” ‘were 
considered to be the chief groups. 

In shutting his eyes to the great volumes of 
intermediate rocks which form the chief bulk 
of igneous magmas Professor Daly exhibits 
the results of the method which controls his 
researches, and also to what extent an ob- 
server may “ feel the pressure of the category ” 
(p. 62). It goes without saying that the 
writer disagrees with Professor Daly as to the 
value of the observer under such circum- 
stances. The lack of breadth in his discus- 
sions of some subjects is shown by his failure 
to give proper weight to the effects of erosion 
in revealing the deeper-seated intrusions of 
older times, as well as in removing older sur- 
face lavas, which accounts for the apparent 
differences he finds in the modes of eruption 
of magmas in different geological periods. 

The chapters on intrusive and extrusive 
rock bodies are full of excellent diagrams and 
illustrations of many instances which have 
been taken from many sources, as the author 
states, and they contain a great deal of valu- 
able material. However, with his opinions re- 
garding batholiths the writer takes many ex- 
ceptions which have been expressed in the lec- 
tures on volcanism already referred to. It is 
to be regretted that in his discussion of these 
bodies Professor Daly is constantly confound- 
ing observed facts with hypotheses to the seri- 
ous confusion of the reader. His suggestion 
as to the origin of the rhyolite plateaux of the 
Yellowstone National Park, which is expressed 
diagrammatically in Fig. 71, shows the limits 
to which he is willing to be led by his specu- 
lations, and becomes a reductio ad absurdum 
for his batholithic hypothesis, of which he 
says it is a logical outcome, when one con- 
siders the geological structure of the region 
and the character of the rhyolite lava flows 


714 


forming the plateaux. The diagram referred 
to would seem to be a limiting case of the 
author’s indifference to rational geodynamics, 
yet in the introduction to Part II. he states 
that “ Throughout the preceding chapters the 
attempt has been made to admit only such 
descriptions and classifications as are direct 
expressions of objective facts.” 

The second part of the book begins with a 
discussion of the possible temperature and con- 
stitution of the earth, which he concludes con- 
sists superficially of an outer “acid” or 
“granitic” shell with a partial covering of 
stratified rocks, underlaid by a liquid “ basal- 
tic” shell. He states that the phenomena of 
intrusion and of rock variation can all be ex- 
plained by the interaction of these shells, to 
demonstrate which the succeeding chapters 
were written. The hypothesis of concentric 
zones of granitic and basaltic magmas is like 
those of yon Waltershausen, Durocher and 
others, and the synthetic features are similar 
to those of yon Cotta. These hypotheses were 
evolved before the closer study of igneous 
rocks had shown the error of their funda- 
mental conceptions. This modern knowledge 
Professor Daly ignores, and any attempt to 
convince him of his mistake would involve 
a course of instruction which he does not ap- 
pear to desire. It is not too much to say that 
the statements he makes in support of his 
hypotheses regarding the constitution of the 
lithosphere, the processes of magmatic intru- 
sion, of overhead stoping, assimilation and 
subsequent differentiation appear to the 
writer to be in part fundamentally wrong and 
in many cases thoroughly misleading to the 
reader. It would be an extensive undertaking 
to criticize his elaborate and voluminous argu- 
ments in detail, and it would be a task the 
writer does not care to attempt. 

His discussion of “ abyssal injection ” which 
is based on the assumption that. the earth con- 
sists of a “relatively thin crust overlying a 
fluid basaltic substratum of unknown thick- 
ness” (p. 192), and the diagrams illustrating 
his conception of the process, as well as of 
that of batholithic intrusion, and also the 
scheme of rock genesis which is given in Part 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1037 


ITI., are all based on the principle of contrast- 
ing two assumed antithetical qualities, or 
groups of properties, such as a “solid crust” 
and a “liquid substratum,” an “acid” rock 
mass and a “basic” rock magma; correspond- 
ing to the two magma hypothesis of Bunsen 
with its synthetic corollaries. It is a system 
which does not appear to be in harmony with 
modern notions of evolution, but finds its 
counterpart in metaphysics, with its antithet- 
ical right and wrong. It seems to the writer 
that physics, not metaphysics, should furnish 
the basis for modern petrology. 

In calling his speculations an “ Eclectic” 
theory Professor Daly has not distinguished it 
from any other complex theory of the present 
day, which in the nature of science must be 
derived from many other theories or hypoth- 
eses, previously enunciated. All modern complex 
theories are eclectic, or are but slight modifica- 
tions of previous ones. The theory to which 
that of Professor Daly is most closely related, 
as he points out, is that of Loewinson-Les- 
sing, published fifteen years ago, which its 
author called a “synthetic-liquation theory of 
differentiation,” a name which has the merit 
of being descriptive. 

The third part of the book before us outlines 
the result of applying the author’s theory to 
the problem of petrogenesis. The result is a 
most remarkable distortion of petrographic re- 
lationships, and a thoroughly artificial scheme. 
The grotesqueness of the conclusions might be 
relied on to condemn the process of reasoning 
by which they have been attained were it not 
for the eminence of the author, the magnetism 
of his personality, and the effectiveness of his 
address, which give a seriousness and force to 
his writings that will carry conviction to many 
readers who have no means of independent 
judgment, both as to the correctness of his di- 
rect statements in each case and as to which 
are realities and which subjective conceptions. 

With Professor Daly’s tireless energy and 
vigorous methods of attack; with the acknowl- 
edged honesty of his conviction as to the cor- 
rectness of his reasoning, but with his lack of 
discrimination between the relative values of 
objective realities and subjective conceptions ; 


i 


Cig ea 


NOVEMBER 13, 1914] 


with his chivalrous devotion to a “ complete 
mental system,” and with his courage in the 
use of his speculative imagination—he is a 
veritable knight errant in petrology. 


J. P. Ippines 
Batavia, JAVA, 
August 3, 1914 


Bacteria in Relation to Plant Diseases. By 
Erwin F. Smiru, in charge of Laboratory 
of Plant Pathology, Bureau of Plant Indus- 
try, U. S. Department of Agriculture. 
Volume three. Vascular Diseases (Con- 
tinued). Washington, D. C. Published by 
the Carnegie Institution of Washington, 
1914. Quarto, viii-+ 309 pp. 

Tt is not so many years since we were assured 


by some foreign bacteriologists that bacteria 


did not and could not produce diseases of 
plants. Less than a dozen years ago the 
writer of this review took part in an impromptu 
discussion in the bacteriological laboratory of 
one of the German universities in which it 
was vehemently contended on the one side that 
American bacteriologists showed their incom- 
petence by thinking that the bacteria they 
found in plants had any pathological signif- 


‘iecanee. Even pear blight was held to be due 


to some other than bacterial action. The 
sweeping assertion was made that no plant 
diseases whatever were due to the presence of 
bacteria. 

The three stately volumes which Dr. Smith 
has already issued remind one of these recent 
opinions, and one wonders what can now be 
said by these same disbelievers in the patho- 
genic relation of bacteria to the diseases of 
plants. At any rate, Dr. Smith has here mar- 
shaled an array of facts that must be stag- 
gering to one who still feels that bacteria do 


not cause plant diseases. 


The present volume deals about equally with 
diseases of monocotyledons and dicotyledons, 
principally with diseases of sugar-cane and 
maize, and with those of potato, tomato and 


tobacco. A full account is given of Stewart’s 


disease of sweet corn and all the evidence 
going to show that it is disseminated on the 
seed. The morphology and cultural char- 
acters of Bacteriwm solanacearum which pro- 


SCIENCE 715 


duces the “ Brown Rot” of potatoes and other 
related plants are given in full. The destruc- 
tive tomato disease, due to Aplanobacter 
michiganense, is also illustrated and distin- 
guished from that due to Bacteriwm solan- 
acearum. Growers of tobacco will find a sepa- 
rate chapter on the bacterial wilts of tobacco. 

Throughout the book are found more than 
150 text illustrations, and 47 full-page plates, 
some of the latter colored. The reader will 
share the author’s satisfaction with the way 
that the printer has been able by the use of 
excellent paper and ink, and carefully selected 
type, to bring out the text and the illustrations. 
In passing it should be noted that only twenty- 
nine of the illustrations are borrowed from 
other authors, so that in this regard also this 
book is a contribution to the literature of 
plant pathology. 

Although this volume was issued in the 
early part of August, 1914, it is known that the 
manuscript left the author’s hands about two 
years earlier. During its slow progress through 
the printer’s hands Dr. Smith has added many 
a paragraph and illustration, so that in fact 
the volume has been brought down as close 
as possible to its date of issue. 

We need only pause a moment to call atten- 
tion to the admirable index, which is all that 
an index shouldbe. It is first of all an alpha- 
betical index of the topics treated and the 
terms used, but, in addition, these are so sys- 
tematically arranged that the index is a con- 
spectus of the whole volume, and especially of 
its various sections. 

As the writer of this review runs over this 
volume and its predecessors he is still more 
impressed with the feeling that some of these 
days the botanists of this country must ask 
very emphatically for a text-book on plant dis- 
eases prepared by Dr. Smith. A text-book 
from his hand could do much to place plant 
pathology on a truly scientific basis. 


CuartEs EK. BrEssry 
THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA 


The Bacteriological Examination of Food and 
Water. By W. G. Savace. Cambridge, Eng- 
land, University Press. 


716 


Dr. Savage has prepared this volume of 170 
pages as “a practical manual” dealing with 
the bacteriology of water, milk and other food 
products and air. It begins with two intro- 
ductory chapters dealing in particular with 
the significance of colon bacilli, streptococci 
and anaerobic spore formers as “ indicator or- 
ganisms.” Then follow chapters on Water, 
Soil and Sewage, Shellfish, Milk, Modified 
Milk and Milk Products, Bacteriology of 
Meat and Meat Products, Air and the Deter- 
mination of Antiseptic and Germicidal Power. 

A book of this size covering so wide a field 
can not from the nature of the case give a 
complete and authoritative treatment of the 
various subjects under discussion—such a 
treatment for example, as Dr. Savage has given 
to the problems of water bacteriology in his 
excellent “‘ Bacteriological Examination of 
Water.” On the other hand the discussion 
seems somewhat too discursive and the pro- 
cedures and standards of interpretation are 
stated with insufficient clearness and definite- 
ness to make the book altogether satisfactory 
as a student’s text-book or a practical manual 
for the laboratory worker. Dr. Savage does, 
however, give an excellent summary of recent 
English discussions in regard to the subjects 
treated, with a good list of reference to orig- 
inal sources which will make the book valu- 
able for advanced students. 

From an American standpoint the most 
serious defect in this work is the almost com- 
plete lack of acquaintance with the progress 
which has been made along these lines on this 
side of the water. It seems strange, indeed, 
to find a book on the bacteriology of milk, 
water, air and food with no reference to Amer- 
ican investigations on the direct microscopic 
examination of milk, on the lactose bile pre- 
sumptive test, on the bacteriology of sewer air 
and on the bacteriological examination of 


shellfish. C.-E. A. Winstow 


THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF 
NATURAL HISTORY 


Molecular Physics.. By James ARNOLD 
CrowtHer. Philadelphia, P. Blakiston’s Son 
& Co. 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1037 


This little book of 175 pages, though entitled 
“ Molecular Physics,” contains in reality only 
such material as is usually found classified 
under the general head “Electronics.” It rep- 
resents an attempt to present in elementary, 
almost in popular, form the recent develop- 
ments in physics which center around X-rays, 
the electrical phenomena observable in ex- 
hausted tubes and radioactivity. The author 
is himself Fellow of St. John’s College and 
demonstrator in physics at the Cavendish Lab- 
oratory. The points of view taken are then 
those which have grown up in that inspiring 
atmosphere out of which have unquestionably 
come more of the influences which have molded 
modern physics than from any other two 
places in the world combined. Freshness and 
originality of treatment are to be expected 
from such an author, and the expecta- 
tion is not disappointed. The first two chap- 
ters deal with the determination of e/m and e, 
the third and fourth with the work on posi- 
tive rays, J. J. Thomson’s beautiful photo- 
graphs being given especial attention. The 
fifth chapter gives the usual deductions found 
in a chapter on the nature and size of an 
electron. The sixth and seventh chapters are 
entitled the Chemistry of the Model Atom and 
the Atom in Vibration and represent the best 
elementary treatment I have seen of atomic 
models in relation to spectroscopy. 

The eighth chapter presents just a touch of 
the conventional molecular physics in the dis- 
cussion of Van der Waal’s equation, but the 
last half of the chapter returns to the electron 
theory of metallic conduction. This subject 
is treated in the usual way, but unfortunately, 
I think, without any attempt to explain, or 
even to state the serious difficulties which the 
theory encounters. This is the one place in 
the book where the untrained reader will per- 
haps obtain a somewhat erroneous impression. 
The last chapter on the Atom in Dissolution is 
a very brief survey of the subject of radio- 
activity. Altogether the book is admirable 
and contains elements of interest for both the 
physicist and the general reader. 


R. A. Miniikan 


NOVEMBER 13, 1914] 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 


MILK EPIDEMICS OF SEPTIC SORE THROAT IN THE 
UNITED STATES AND THEIR RELATION 
TO STREPTOCOCCI 

In England epidemics of sore throat, bear- 
ing some relation to the milk supply, were 
recognized as early as 1880 (Rugby). Since 
then a number of such epidemics have occurred 
and in those in which the etiology was investi- 
gated, streptococci were uniformly found as 
the infectious agent. In some of these epi- 
demics there were reasons to believe that 
udder or teat infections were the source of the 
‘organisms; in others the evidence seemed to 
point to a milker or handler as the source. 

In the United States the first epidemic of 
sore throat recognized as having a definite re- 
lation to the milk supply appeared in Boston 
in 1911 and was carefully imyestigated by 
Winslow. There is no doubt, I think, that 
many such epidemics have occurred in the 
past in this country, as well as in other coun- 
tries, but on account of the almost universal 
prevalence of ordinary colds and sore throats 
their epidemic character and origin was not 
recognized. Indeed, in the medical literature 
there are references here and there to outbreaks 
of severe colds and other similar infections 
associated with serious and fatal complica- 
tions, such as peritonitis. It is not unlikely 
that such epidemics originated from a con- 
taminated milk supply since we know that 
these milk epidemics are, as a rule, serious in- 
fections followed often by severe complica- 
tions. In the case of milk epidemics of scar- 
let fever, diphtheria and typhoid fever, it may 
be pointed out that formerly their possible re- 
lation to the milk supply was not recognized 
or was denied, and only recently, when more 
intensive studies of such epidemics were made, 
was their true relation to milk supply estab- 
lished. 

Since the Boston epidemic of 1911, similar 
outbreaks have been reported from Chicago, 
Baltimore, Boston (1912), Concord, N. H., 
Cortland and Homer (N. Y.), Wakefield and 


1J. Inf. Dis., 1912, X., 73. 


SCIENCE 


717 


Stoneham (New York) and Jacksonville, Il. 
The number of persons stricken in these various 
epidemics has been estimated as follows: Bos- 
ton, 1,400, Chicago 10,000, Baltimore 1,000, 
Boston (1912) 227, Concord 1,000, Wakefield 
and Stoneham 1,000, Cortland and Homer 669, 
Jacksonville 348; making a total of nearly 16,- 
000. Probably many more than this number 
were affected since the above are all conserva- 
tive estimates. This number is sufficient to at 
least give one some idea of the magnitude and 
importance of this type of infection. 

Tn all, the onset, the character of the symp- 
toms, and the later complications are strik- 
ingly alike and, it may be said, they agree in 
this respect with the epidemics in England. 
Furthermore, the relation to the milk supply 
appears to be unquestionable in all. The in- 
teresting fact stands out that there is a cer- 
tain uniformity in the reports in that the con- 
taminated milk, though used perhaps by a 
small proportion of the people, still furnished 
a very high proportion (70, 80 or 90 per cent.) 
of the reported cases. The remainder of the 
cases probably resulted from personal contact 
or from some other means. 

Streptococci were unquestionably the cause 
of the disease in all the epidemics, being 
found abundantly in the throats or in the se- 
eretions of the sick persons in all the cases 
investigated. This fact is of great impor- 
tance because it establishes definitely the etiol- 
ogy, and since the clinical symptoms in all 
the epidemics are so strikingly uniform, we 
may consider these infections as a definite 
clinical entity. They should, I think, take 
their place and be considered in text-books in 
medicine along with other infectious diseases, 
such as scarlet fever, measles, typhoid fever 
and the like. 

As regards the nature of the streptococci, 
there is a fair degree of uniformity so far as 
the reports of the various investigators per- 
mit one to judge. They are all virulent, 
usually highly so, for animals. In general, 
they correspond, with only slight variations, 
in their morphology, in their cultural charac- 
teristics, and in their biological properties. 
In certain respects there seem to be some 


718 


slight differences between these streptococci and 
the ordinary Streptococcus pyogenes, and these 
differences have been sufficient to lead to the 
use of the special term Streptococcus epidem- 
icus for them. It should be stated that it may 
be questioned whether or not the differences 
between them and the Streptococcus pyogenes 
are sufficient to justify such a distinction. 
They may be simply highly virulent strains of 
ordinary Streptococcus pyogenes whose prop- 
erties have been modified by animal passage. 

In some of the reports, particularly the 
earlier ones, and this is especially true of the 
English epidemics, descriptions of the strep- 
tococei are not given in detail. In certain in- 
stances this could not be done because the epi- 
demic was practically over before its study 
was undertaken. It is unfortunate that this 
is so, because it is very important that the or- 
ganisms from each of these epidemics should 
be carefully studied in order that the results 
may be correlated. It may not be out of 
place here to call the attention of physicians 
and health officials to the importance of such 
studies. Especially should the local physicians 
and health officers in small communities and 
towns be on the lookout for such epidemics, 
for it is they who meet these cases early, the 
time most suitable naturally for the isolation 
and study of the causative agent. Such physi- 
cians and health officers should see to it there- 
fore that a careful bacteriologic study be 
undertaken as soon as possible. If they have 
not the means at hand or for any reason do 
not care to undertake such a detailed study, 
they should send the material to some labora- 
tory where this can be done. The writer would 
be glad to examine such organisms with a 
view to identification and requests any who 
may desire to do so to send such material to 
him. 

It may be stated that in the future it is 
probable that the small community will be 
affected by such milk epidemics more fre- 
quently than the larger cities since the milk 
products are apt to be less carefully handled 
and pasteurization will less often be required 
than in larger places. 

One of the properties noted in the strep- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1037 


tococci from nearly all the epidemics is that of 
hemolyzing blood when the colonies are grown 
on human or rabbit blood agar plates. While 
there has been slight variations in the strains 
studied, they have been strikingly alike in 
this respect. By hemolysis is meant that a 
well-defined wide clear zone appears about the 
colonies in 24 hours at incubator temperature. 
Tt does not mean a slight halo occurring about 
the colonies nor does it mean a slight narrow 
ring of cleared media developing perhaps after 
48 hours or more as occurs with certain strains 
of organisms. This property is of great im- 
portance because it is a very ready and prac- 
tical means of differentiating such organisms 
from the common Streptococcus lacticus 
(Bact. giintheri) which are not hemolytic. 
These latter are practically always present in 
normal milk, and so far as we know are of no 
sanitary significance. It should be pointed 
out that there are other perhaps more reliable 
but less practical means of determining the 
hemolytic power of bacteria than the simple 
plate method. I refer to such methods as 
those of Lyall? and Marmorek? which should 
be used as confirmatory tests, where they are 
of real value. 

It is not to be understood that every hemo- 
lytie streptococcus is necessarily virulent or 
dangerous to man. But finding them in any 
considerable number in milk should make one 
very suspicious of udder disease, and such 
milk should at once be excluded from use. 

The question of the source of streptococci 
causing these epidemics of sore throat is an 
important one. Two possible sources are rec- 
ognized: the one bovine—the udder or teats of 
the cow; the other human—some lesion in the 
throats, hands, ete., of a milker or handler. 
It is often a difficult matter to absolutely 
prove in a given case whether or not the infec- 
tion is bovine or human in origin. This is 
because practically identical hemolytic strep- 
tococci occur in the diseased udders of cows 
and also in the throats and on the hands of 
milk handlers. Furthermore, both streptococcal 
infections of udders in cows and streptococcal 


2 Jour. Med. Research, 1914, XXX., 487. 
3 Ann. de 1’Inst. Past., 1902, XVI., 172. 


Ya 


NOVEMBER 13, 1914] 


infections in the human are relatively com- 
mon; consequently, in an investigation of 
large numbers of cows and of milk handlers, 
as it is usually necessary to do in studying 
these epidemics, one is very apt to find in- 
stances of one or the other and hence draw 
conclusions accordingly. On the other hand, 
the real source of streptococci may be over- 
looked on account of some hidden focus of in- 
fection in the throat or tonsils of a milker 
which could not be detected in an ordinary 
throat examination. Or a cow might be suf- 
fering with inflammation of the udder and 
discharging millions of streptococci in the 
milk and still, as the writer has shown experi- 
mentally, the udder may show no physical 
signs of disease and might thereby escape de- 
tection on inspection. For these reasons it is 
readily seen how one might be misled in his 
conclusions when looking for the ultimate 
source of streptococci causing an epidemic. 

In the Boston epidemic the source of the 
streptococci was not clear, Winslow stating 
that it was probably a carrier. In the Chi- 
cago epidemic, certain facts suggest that the 
origin was bovine, but absolute proof was lack- 
ing. Stokes and Hatchell from their investi- 
gations of the Baltimore outbreak “ feel rea- 
sonably sure the infection was caused by 
streptococci of the epidemicus type from 
eases of mastitis among the herds supplying 
the dairy.”* In the report of the Concord, 
N. H., epidemic, made by Mann® no mention 
is made of a possible bovine source. There 
was evidently sufficient opportunity for con- 
tamination of the milk by human carriers on 
the farms supplying the milk. In the Wake- 
field and Stoneham (N. Y.) epidemic re- 
ported by Morse,® a very definite connection 
seemed to exist between the epidemic and a 
throat abscess in one of the milkers. In the 
report of the Cortland and Homer epidemic 
made by North, White and Avery, the state- 
ment is made that “two cows having inflamed 
udders in the herd of Dairy X were undoubt- 
edly responsible for the epidemic of septic sore 


4Public Health Reports, 1912, Vol. 27, p. 1923. 


5 Jour. of Inf. Dis., 1913, 12, 481. 
8 Am. Jour. Pub. Health, 1914, 4, 506. 


SCIENCE 719 


throat.”7 At Jacksonville, Dll., the epidemic, 
studied by Dr. J. A. Capps and the writer, was 
caused by hemolytic streptococci and from 
two cows supplying milk to Dairy X the same 
type of organisms were isolated. No sus- 
picious human earriers could be found on the 
farms or among the milk handlers. 

From the above it is seen that bovine and 
human sources are suspicious, and perhaps 
each or both at times may be responsible. It 
is known that human streptococci may be 
highly virulent for cows® and the reverse may 
also very probably be true. In an analysis of 
milk organisms, therefore, the fact that hemo- 
lytic streptococci have been the cause in prob- 
ably all the sore throat epidemics centers our 
attention at once upon this type of strepto- 
eoceus. As yet there is no evidence that other 
types have any sanitary significance whatever 
so far as sore throat or any other human dis- 
ease is concerned. I therefore call attention 
to the fact that in any investigation of milk 
streptococci, whether from the standpoint of 
pure or applied bacteriology, the relation of 
the streptococci to hemolysis of blood should 
be carefully noted. It is well known, of 
course, that hemolysis may not be an abso- 
lutely stable property in any given strain. A 
strain may occasionally alter its power in this 
respect just as it may change its fermentative 
properties under certain conditions. For 
practical purposes, however, it is of very great 
value, as I believe every one who has occasion 
to work with pathogenic streptococci will ad- 
mit. Furthermore, the fact that the hemo- 
lytic property can not be correlated with other 
properties such as those of fermentation does 
not detract from its value as a differentiating 
feature, but rather adds to it. 

The question of pasteurization is an inter- 
esting one in relation to these infections. In 
the case of at least four of the epidemics in 
this country the infected milk had been pas- 
teurized by the “flash” method and the evi- 
dence in all indicated quite clearly that the 
milk was contaminated before pasteurization. 
Nothing further need be said, therefore, con- 


7 Jour. Inf. Disease, 1914, 14, p. 132. 
8 Dayis, Jour. Inf. Dis., 1914, 15, 135. | 


720 


cerning the absolute inefficiency of the “ flash” 
method. The harm it may do by giving the 
people a sense of false security is also self- 
evident. In the remaining epidemics the milk 
was consumed raw. It would seem that our 
only safeguard against such epidemics is efii- 
cient pasteurization not only of the milk and 
cream, but also of the material entering into 
the manufacture of other milk products. It 
is a point of some importance that it is not 
uncommon for firms to sell pasteurized milk, 
but to sell cream in the raw state. The latter 
of course may be even more dangerous than 
milk. 

The question as to what constitutes efficient 
pasteurization for streptococci is one that evi- 
dently requires further study. It is commonly 
stated in the literature that pathogenic strep- 
tococei are killed at relatively low tempera- 
tures (52°-54° C. for 10 minutes Sternberg). 
Undoubtedly for many strains this is alto- 
gether too low. The recent work of Ayers and 
Johnson® indicates that the thermal death 
point of typical streptococci varies consider- 
ably and one of 22 strains studied by them re- 
sisted heating for 30 minutes at 62.8° C. 
(145° F.), the usual temperature for pasteur- 
izing. Furthermore, their viability in milk 
and milk products should be carefully studied 
since we know the media may exert an impor- 
tant effect on the resistance of organisms to 
heat. The pasteurization process may there- 
fore have to be modified accordingly to meet 
these demands. 

Daviw JoHNn Davis 

LABORATORY OF EXPERIMENTAL MEDICINE, 

UNIVERSITY OF JLLINOIS, 
CHICAGO 


THE ARTIFICIAL FERTILIZATION OF QUEEN BEES 


In July last, the senior writer called the 
attention of the junior writer to the desirabil- 
ity of attempting some work in bee culture, 
with the object of securing pure-bred queens. 
One of the lines of work decided upon was that 
of artificial fertilization of queens. In spite 
of the lateness of the season, it seemed advisa- 
ble to begin work at once and eight newly 


9 Jour. of Agricultural Research, 1914, 2, p. 321. 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Von. XL. No. 1037 


emerged queens were secured before the end 
of the queen-producing season. 

In six of the experiments, we suffered fail- 
ures from natural causes; robber bees killed 
three and the workers refused to accept three. 
In a seventh case, the queen died as a result 
of an infection probably set up at the time 
of fertilization. 

In an eighth experiment, apparent success 
seems to have followed artificial fertilization, 
and whatever the nature of this may be, it 
seems of sufficient interest to be recorded, 
awaiting, in the meantime, the next season for 
further attemps at confirmation. This queen 
emerged from her cell on July 23, 1914. Both 
wings were so rudimentary as to be almost 
unnoticeable. She was kept in a 38-frame 
nucleus, in which no drones were present and 
with a queen excluder applied to the entrance. 
On July 28, the seminal vesicles and sperma- 
tophore of a drone, which was captured in 
flight near one of the hives, were dissected out, 
teased apart, and contents diluted to facilitate 
manipulation. The fluid containing sperma- 
tozoa was then carefully injected through the 
genital opening of the queen. After this was 
done she was replaced in a queenless and 
droneless nucleus with queen-excluder applied 
to the hive. 

By August 4, the ovaries showed consider- 
able development, as indicated by the size of 
the abdomen, and on August 18 she began to 
deposit eggs, contimuing to do so up to the 
time of writing, although normal queens had 
ceased to lay eggs for about a month. This 
was due probably to the stimulation given this 
swarm by feeding. To date, at least 3,000 eggs 
have been laid. The remarkable thing is that 
all the eggs have produced worker bees ex- 
cept four, which produced drones. In every 
respect the brood, capping of the cells, and the 
resulting worker bees are perfectly normal. 

At present, the swarm is being strengthened 
and prepared for winter, so that studies of this 
remarkable queen may be continued next 


season. 
Francis JaGer, 


C. W. Howarp 
AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION, 
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA 


Sass 


Sa e sR 


SCIENCE 


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SCIENCE 


Fripay, NovempBer 20, 1914 


CONTENTS 


The Mathematician in Modern Physics: Pro- 
RE SSORM CARTES ARTS ier sietetestis st) -ats)-<1a =tessjets 721 


Contemporary Unwersity Problems: PRESI- 
DENT! Gy STANDBY, EVATI 6)... ce cccs ues 727 


Russian versus American Sealing: GEORGE 


ARCHIBALD CLARK ...................... 736 
Scientific Notes and News ................ 739 
University and Educational News .......... 743 


Discussion and Correspondence :— 
The Association of University Professors: 
Proressor ArtHuR O. LoyvErgsoy. Atmos- 
pheric Optical Phenomena: C. FirzHuGcH 
BIVATNEATNiteseyeverevetoionehetevevarceclesersie ie. 's/alacs-e 2)aneieee 744 


Quotations :— 
Foot-and-Mouth Disease ...............--.- 746 


Scientific Books :— 


Perception, Physics and Reality: PROFESSOR 
Louis TRENCHARD Morr. Bessey’s The Es- 
sentials of College Botany: PROFESSOR - 
Bryon D. Haustep. Cannon on the Botan- 
ical Features of the Algerian Sahara: 
THoMAS H. Kearney. The British Ant- 
arctic ‘‘ Terra Nova’’ Expedition: Dr. WM. 
PETROVA: Tyler sl vase te myatearcuagetele, Sermie Wis vig alctelaueiae TAT 


Special Articles :— 


The Failure of Equalizing Opportunity to 
reduce Individual Differences: PROFESSOR 
EpWwarD Ll. THORNDIKE. Phosphate Depos- 
its im the Mississippian Rocks of Northern 
Utah: WILLIAM PETERSON .........-..-.. 753 


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


THE MATHEMATICIAN IN MODERN PHYS- 
IC81 


It is perhaps presumptuous for an experi- 
mental physicist to address a body of mathe- 
maticians. He can at, best appeal. They are 
the arbiters of his science. They determine 
the number of cubic feet allotted for his antics. 
In a genial mood, they may give him the 
equivalent number of cubic centimeters. 
Physicists appreciate the clemency. Let no- 
body contend that there are, necessarily, laws 
of nature. Im science, as in civil law, the ex- 
perts in a measure make the facts. So I ap- 
peal to the law-givers of physics, with a pur- 
pose of exhibiting something of the method 
with which they have supposedly treated me, 
in the past forty years of my experience. If I 
am obtrusively personal I must be pardoned, 
for this is the only experience I have to give. 
- We, the experimentalists, are supposed to be 
the artists of science, a type of men who reach 
conclusions by intuition, by a happy leap in 
the dark. The inventor, the laboratory her- 
mit, parades an essentially feminine type of 
mind, whereas the eternal masculine, the es- 
sentially logical trenchency, belongs to the 
mathematician. In all humility, however, in 
the dark recesses of the laboratory, there are 
skeptics who believe that both the physicist 
and the mathematician, in the main, follow 
the method of trial and error; that both de- 
velop from idea to idea. The usual outcome 
in the mathematical case is a huge paper 
basket, overflowing and standing in the waste; 
the outcome in the other, a sort of dismal 
morgue, a junk-shop of botches. Failures 
lave been the rule, successes the exception. 
But as we flaunt our successes (and they only 


1From an address given at the dinner of the 
American Mathematical Society, in Providence, 
September, 1914, on the occasion of the one hun- 
dred and fiftieth anniversary of Brown Univer- 
sity, by Professor Carl Barus. 


722 


can be indefinitely manifolded, like truth) 
while our failures are still-born, we are known 
not for what we are or actually do, but by the 
occasional incident, by the happy accident. 
And it is this incident that wills it that the 
results of the mathematician are much more 
glorious, soaring unfettered and free even into 
transcendental space, whereas the results of 
the physicist, as a rule, must be of the 
earth, earthy. While the mathematician in- 
dulges an oriental dream—“Nein, Wir sind 
Dichter!” cries Kroneker—the physicist must 
tread the straight and narrow path, guided by 
the arithmetic of the fathers. We are the 
Puritans, you the unmitigated voluptuaries. 

Judge, therefore, the astonishment of the 
world that it was left to our brother of the 
soil to detect the four-dimensional world 
among the inadequacies, or shall I say the 
débris, of the three-dimensional. It is the 
journeyman of science that clamors for a 
wider scope. It is rule of thumb evidence 
that cries exultingly “we are living in a 
Copernican era.” Things believed to be at 
test are asserted to be moving and so un- 
cannily moving, that if there were an In- 
quisition in power to-day, we should all, like 
Galileo, be put to the torture. Need we then 
blame the physicist if in his intoxication he 
suspects that the mathematicians may not, 
after all, be the only experts, that the laws of 
his undoing may have been, in a measure, of 
his own making? 

However, I am digressing too far. I will, 
therefore, reconsign the experimental skeptic 
to the allurements of his workshop and there 
he may grumble as he chooses. 

I implied that it is suspected that the 
mathematician makes our laws for us. It is 
thus necessary to indicate, however superfi- 
cially, what I mean. When I began my work 
in Germany in 1876 the theory of Weber, 
“Das electrodynamische Grundgesetz” of 
1846, was rife in that country and had even 
invaded France (cf. Briot, Thermodynamique) 
and the other countries of continental Eu- 
rope. Electrodynamics through the genius of 
Ampére (1821-22), had already definitely cap- 
tured magnetism. Weber embraced the whole 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1038 


of electromagnetics in a single equation, con- 
sistent with the law of the conservation of 
energy. It was a beautiful theory; but it was 
action at a distance gone mad. Such indeed 
was the rage of these theories at the time that 
even Gauss and Riemann did not escape 
temptation, while Clausius revised and modi- 
fied the argument throughout, bringing out a 
new theory of his own. I doubt whether any 
one here has read that theory. I have never 
seen it referred to and yet it is a superb piece 
of vigorous mathematical reasoning, quite 
worthy of Clausius. 

I am induced: to pause for a moment to 
speak of Weber himself, a singularly lovable 
child-like man, to all appearances hopelessly 
unpractical, so much so, that many of his inti- 
mates were wont to poke fun at him. But 
Weber, like his friend Gauss, was a profound 
mathematical thinker and in that capacity 
introduced two of the most practical things 
which the practical world has inherited; for 
the electric telegraph is a Gauss-Weber in- 
vention (1833); and what we now call our 
C.G.S. system of units is fundamentally the 
Gauss (1832). A man may, therefore, be 
practical even if he sometimes fails to drive 
a nail straight. 

To resume: what these men did was to pos- 
tulate a force which depended upon the states 
or motion of the point where force originates; 
but any phase of the foree hammers away at 
any distant point co-temporaneously with the 
time of its origin. These electrical forces, in 
other words, did what gravitational forces still 
persist in doing. If we glance back at such 
theories from our present point of van- 
tage, we can not but marvel how perilously 
near they came to the state of the case as we 
know it to-day. If they had only retarded 
their potentials! It is all the more curious 
that they suspected nothing, as the 3 x 101° 
velocity which characterizes the relation of 
Weber’s electrostatic to his electromagnetic 
system, of units, measured by Weber and 
Kohlrausch in 1856, is the velocity of light. 

The respite accorded to any of these theories 
was brief. In England they were vigorously 


NOVEMBER 20, 1914] 


condemned. Thomson and Tate, 7 and ZT’, 
as we used to call them, in the earlier edition 
of their book anathematized them, as all the 
more pernicious in proportion as they were 
beautiful. They were completely swept away 
by the profound originality and incisiveness 
of the Faraday-Maxwell hypothesis (1854). 
Maxwell’s great book (1873) had in fact ap- 
peared three years before I entered as a stu- 
dent, but it naturally was looked at askance 
in Germany, Helmholtz alone excepted. The 
aim of the earlier thinkers, to reduce the whole 
of electrical science to one equation was now 
to be realized in a way that marks one of the 
most important epochs in the history of physi- 
eal science; an epoch comparable only to that 
of Newton; for although Maxwell modestly 
ascribes the incentive to his great accom- 
plishments to Faraday, and believes that he 
is seeing nature with a mathematically un- 
sophisticated eye, the capital discovery of the 
equations of the electromagnetic field (and 
this is the real issue) is Maxwell’s creation. 
More than the widest sweep of the generalizing 
faney could have anticipated, was here com- 
pleted; for at a single stroke of the wand, as 
it were, the whole domain of light and heat 
was annexed to electricity. Jt interpreted the 
meaning of the transparent and the opaque 
body of reflection and refraction. It intro- 
duced a new cosmical force, the light pressure 
long after found by Lebedew (1900), and our 
own countrymen, Nichols and Hull. It har- 
monized the divergent views of Fresnel and 
Neumann, admitting both impartially, and it 
gave to optics a new lease of life by lifting it 
over the obstructions of the elastic theory. 
Indeed Maxwell’s best friends were apprehen- 
sive, since the theory predicted even more 
than was believed to exist, until in 1877 the 
new Maxwellian light dawned upon the mind 
of Hertz. The theory endowed the world 
medium, the ether, with new potencies, in in- 
sisting on its continuity, on the point to point 
transfer of electric force, so that ether stress 
became one of its familiar images, a veritable 
charm to conjure by. 

It would carry us too far if we attempted to 
analyze the reaction of the new views on kin- 


SCIENCE 


723 


dred sciences. Hydrodynamics, which had 
suggested the useful conception of the force- 
flux, in particular, profited and such beauti- 
ful researches as those of the Bjerknes 
(1863 et seq.) father and son, were stimulated 
in proportion as they fitted into the electromag- 
netic scheme. It was inevitable, moreover, 
that in the further treatment of Maxwell’s 
equation the use of vector methods of compu- 
tation should become indispensable in physics. 
They were approached cautiously enough and 
at first rather regarded as an affectation. Max- 
well himself merely indicated the use of qua- 
ternian methods. Helmholtz, so far as I 
know, made no use of them. But in spite of 
petty differences of notation which still per- 
sist, the vector method became more and more 
general until to-day it is a commonplace, and 
beginning to make room for the new and more 
powerful 4, 6 and 9 dimensional geometry of 
higher vectors. 

This was the second epoch and an epoch 
of unexampled fruitfulmess. The ether elec- 
trically ignored heretofore has become all em- 
bracing. Woe to him that lisps, action at a 
distance! That Maxwell should have died 
before the ultimate vindication of his theory 
on the part of Hertz or the appearance of im- 
portant corollary of Poynting (1884) is one 
of the tragedies of science. Similarly Hertz 
was not to witness the spectacular development 
of radio-telegraphy which followed so soon 
after his death. Maxwell’s theory, which ac- 
cording to Hertz means Maxwell’s equations, 
thus includes the whole of physics, dynamics 
alone excepted, and the world equation has ad- 
vanced another step. Maxwell indeed, follow- 
ing the established custom, endeavored to call 
dynamics to his aid; but here his questions 
were put to a silent sphinx, inasmuch as 
mechanics had no counsel to give. Naturally 
the theory so revolutionary gained headway 
but slowly on the continent of Europe and 
even in England, unfortunately, Kelvin and 
(1 believe) Rayleigh long remained uncon- 
vineed. When therefore the theory was uni- 
versally accepted, it was already ripe for the 
modification, which Hertz himself actually 
began. 


724 


The ether as Maxwell left it has two inde- 
pendent properties, specific inductive capacity 
and permeability, which may be regarded as 
associated in the velocity of the electro- 
magnetic wave passing through it. But the 
equations apply only for a medium at rest or 
at least approximately at rest, to a quasi- 
stationary medium. It is fortunate that a 
very coarse approximation to rest suffices; 
otherwise the early workers would have lacked 
encouragement. The new epoch, now about to 
dawn, thus found its point of departure in the 
motion of electrical systems. It has been in 
the main an era of confusion and bewilder- 
ment and one was to learn the hopelessness of 
any fundamental proof in physics. Instead of 
subjecting physics to the arbitrament of 
dynamics, we see dynamics pleading at the 
gates of electrical science, when electricity, 
distraught within itself, has no fundamental 
interpretations to offer. The troubles begin 
with the study of the first-order effects of 
moving optical systems, in the researches of 
Fizeau (1851); they become grave in the 
famous experiment of Michelson (1881) where 
the effects to be observed are of the second 
order. The speed of the earth, regarded optic- 
ally from axes fixed in the ether, is zero. 
The ether and the earth have no relative veloc- 
ity. This is tantamount to a rejection of the 
ether. Judge the consternation! As Max- 
well’s equation contained no direct reference 
to the motion of the charged body, a first at- 
tempt as I have already intimated was made 
by Hertz (1890) to supply this deficiency; but 
it was not of permanent value. The real inter- 
pretative advance came from Lorentz, in 1892. 
Although he fully realized and had endeavored 
to explain away the Michelson difficulties, 
Lorentz none the less boldly put his coordinates 
in an absolutely fixed ether, penetrating all 
bodies, even the atoms. He then went back to 
the methods of Weber, but with this essential 
difference that he included the whole dictum 
of the Maxwellian electro-magnetics in his 
postulates. The peculiar feature of the ether, 
its permittance and permeability, were abol- 
ished and in their place appears the velocity 
and density of the electron, or charged particle. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1038 


Hlectric fluid exists; magnetic fluid does not. 
Lorentz then showed with consummate skill that 
the equations of the classic electromagnetics of 
Maxwell could be retained, that both the scaler 
potential and the vector-potential would retain 
their original form, would be invariant, so to 
speak, if the time-variable were belated by the 
interval consumed by light in passing from 
the source to the point of application in ques- 
tion. The profound originality and power of 
this and the earlier Lorentz transformation 
would perhaps not have been detected so soon, 
but for the unexampled abundance of new re- 
sources accruing to experimental physics at 
this time. In 1892 Lenard had isolated the 
cathode ray; Roéntgen in 1895 discovered the 
X-ray. As a sort of corollary of the X-ray 
came the Becquerel-ray in 1896; the radium of 
the Curies in 1897, soon to be interpreted as to 
radiation by Thomson and Rutherford. The 
year 1896 brought the Zeeman effect, virtually 
predicted by Lorentz. The year 1898 brought 
Thomson’s electron. In these and similar re- 
searches, bodies moving with a speed approxi- 
mating that of light (easily exceeding ¢/10) 
were for the first time in history, at the dis- 
posal of the investigator. The new bodies, 
showing an inertia or virtual mass depending 
in a pronounced way on their speed, made 
havoe with Newton’s laws and swept the classic 
dynamics mercilessly out of the field, as an 
arbiter of world phenomena. Theories such 
as those of Lorentz, 1892, or of Larmor, 1894, 
were now the only refuge. What could they 
do, was the ardent question, to replace 
dynamics ? 

Following the suggestion of Lorentz that 
the moving system contracts in the direction 
of motion, or at least apparently contracts to 
the fixed witness, Hinstein in 1905 was the 
first to clearly perceive the iron logic of the 
situation; and the logie of a desperate situa- 
tion is all there is in the theory of relativity. 
Kinstein saw that if systems were to be 
interconsistent, time periods in the moving 
system would have to expand in the same 
second-order ratio to the ken of the fixed 
observer, so that time specifications and time 
frequencies may proportionately contract; or 


Soa 


NovEMBER 20, 1914] 


that identical clocks in the moving system must 
go slower. In such a case, any natural phe- 
nomenon, preferably a vacuum phenomenon 
like the velocity of light, is the same in all 
systems, moving or at rest. One system is 
as good as another. All observation is rela- 
tive. The equations of this celebrated prin- 
ciple of relativity, culminating in Ejinstein’s 
famous addition theorem of velocities belong- 
ing to different systems—an ultimate break 
with the Galileo transformation, where time 
has the same absolute value everywhere—have 
been the very focus of discussion for the last 
ten years. 

‘Jn its original form, the principle is as yet 
rather a detached statement, adapted to defi- 
nite purposes but lacking in mathematical 
elegance. It was left to the genius of Minkowski 
(1908) to mould this flotsam of ideas into a 
philosophical system of extraordinary sym- 
metry and breadth, the promise of which it is, 
as yet, too soon to adequately appreciate. In 
fact, the untimely death of Minkowski was an 
irreparable loss to science, even if with Hilbert 
we resignedly conclude to be grateful for what 
he has done for us. Minkowski’s world, as he 
himself remarks, is a response of modern 
mathematical culture to the urgent demands 
of the laboratory, and therein lies its strength. 
In the minds of prominent thinkers it is a 
philosophical revolution, am inversion of 
thought, as far-reaching in scope as the simi- 
lar revolution of Copernicus. “ Let space and 
time be submerged,” cries Minkowski in an 
impassioned utterance, “Sie sollen in den 
Schatten versinken,” to make way for a single 
unified world; in other words, let the incanta- 
tion ring in a world in which the variables 
x, y, 2, t, are linked with ties as inherent and 
indissoluble as the variables x, y, z, in common 
space. So understood, every point in space, 
even if at rest, describes a world line, which 
may be referred to and is contained between 
the two extremities of the time axis. Uniform 
motion is a straight world line. Any other 
motion an appropriately curved world line. 
World time is the length of a world line in 
relation to the speed of light. These world 
lines are thus a veritable warp and woof of the 


SCIENCE 725 


Deity. With Goethe we may say “Sie weben 
der Gotheit ewig Gewand’”—or recall the 
curious passage of Wagner’s Parsifal “Du 
siehst mein Sohn, zum Raum wird hier die 
Zeit.” 

To establish the connection between the 
four variables which shall be invariant in case 
of linear time transformations as is the case 
in Newton’s dynamics, or that shall embrace 
the Einstein transformations as a special ease, 
Minkowski postulates a four-dimensional 
hyperboloid with a single parameter c, the 
velocity of light, given by the reciprocal of 
the time axis. The other parameters are one. 
The hyperboloid is now usually made equi- 
lateral by calling the time variable ct. The 
intersection of the at-plane with this hyper- 
boloid, thus cuts out two hyperbolas symmet- 
rically above and below the x-axis, the former 
(for positive time) alone being considered. 
The major axis is again the reciprocal of c, 
the minor axis a unit. 

Now if the hyperbola in question with its 
parameter c is referred to conjugate diameters, 
it is easily shown that the oblique time and 
a-axes imply all the transformations of the 
theory of relativity, for the same c. The equa- 
tion of the hyperbola is an imvariant with 
relation to the new axes. The axes, or units 
of measurement, are proportionately increased, 
the specifications or numerics decreased, but 
the ties of the variables are exactly the same 
as before. Minkowski calls this the group G,. 
Velocities greater than c are imaginary and 
are thus essentially excluded. 

On the other hand, if the parameter c be 
supposed to increase to infinity, the symmet- 
rical hyperbola eventually coincides with the 
x-axis, eliminating the time axis, and referring 
the whole system back to Newton’s dynamics. 
This is the transitional group G@®. 

The generalized time is then the new varia- 
ble of which zx, y, z and ¢ are all functions. 
Every translational vector now has four com- 
ponents and the rotational vectors six com- 
ponents, corresponding to the six pairs of 
variables or planes of rotation. One may even 
add that the new world, like Cesar’s Gaul, 
is divided into three parts by the asymptotic 


726 


cones unknown to Cesar. Axes may be so 
chosen as to make any two events contempo- 
raneous. They need merely be parallel to the 
time axis selected. Similarly there are four 
equations of motion, the fourth being the 
energy equation, as energy itself is possessed 
of inertia. Finally, the equations of electro- 
magnetic field in their magnetic and electric 
aspects, like the rotations, are given by the 
geometry of a vector with six components. 

The treatment of motion is thus profoundly 
generalized, and Minkowski remarks that if 
these new transformations had been discovered 
by a mathematician “ aus freier Phantasie,” by 
an untrammeled imagination, they would have 
constituted a triumph in mathematics of the 
very first order. But, even under present cir- 
‘cumstances, aS soon as such developments were 
demanded by the laboratory, finding that 
within the atom the Newtonian world is cer- 
tainly discredited, mathematics was at once 
ready to embody the new conception in a way 
that makes the bonds of mathematics and 
physics closer than before. 

Vast and beautiful as these generalizations 
are, we must nevertheless confess that they 
are still but a coarse reproduction of nature; 
for in none of them is there any unequivocal 
or imperious demand for gravitation. Gravity 
still acts at a distance, as did the electrical 
vector in the days of Weber. Nor is the most 
generalized electromagnetic field able to ac- 
eount for the spectrum distribution of radia- 
tion, im the development of which energy 
threatens to pursue, if it has not already 
entered, the route of atomistic physics occupied 
by chemistry. 

While mathematics is easily able to cope 
with the problems of relativity, even in their 
most generalized aspects, since they never 
break with continuity, the questions are more 
menacing in the second class of the recent 
demands of experimental physics, which came 
to a crisis in certain straightforward experi- 
ments on radiation made at the Reichsanstalt 
(Lummer and Pringshen, 1899; Christianson, 
1884). The question dates back to Kirchoff’s 
black body (1859), in which emission and ab- 
Sorption are equal. Some time after came 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1038 


Stefan’s universal law of black body radiation 
(1879) and the theoretical verification on the 
part of Boltzmann in 1884. There was a 
period of intermission, in which the question 
of the equi-partition of the energy of a gas 
among the degrees of freedom of its molecules 
was vigorously discussed but without leading 
to available conclusions. However with the 
introduction of the black body by Kirchoff and 
the treatment of its radiation as a case of 
thermodynamic equilibrium, it was possible 
to assign both temperature and entropy to 
such radiation. But there was one further 
fundamental step to be taken and that was the 
definition of entropy apart from the Carnot 
engine and the intelligent manipulator, who 
is always an implied part of that wily machine. 
The second law was to be freed from reference 
to anything of a biological nature. Helmholtz 
had often insisted that the second law is the 
result of the order of physical size of the 
agent, in comparison with the atomic size, 
of his lack of equipment to control the indi- 
vidual molecule. To a being of molecular 
dimensions, there would be no irreversibility; 
whereas irreversibility has a very real mean- 
ing to the grosser attributes of the corrupter 
of nature. It was to the genius of Boltzmann 
(1877) that the fulfilment of this task was 
allotted. He was the first to give to entropy 
a purely mathematical signification, defining 
it as the logarithm of the probable occurrence 
of any thermo-dynamie state, be it a distribu- 
tion of yelocities, be it a definite distribution 
of discontinuous radiation energy-elements. 
Along this line, therefore, the new thermo- 
dynamics proceeded effectively. The first step 
came from W. Wien, whose displacement law 
of 1893 is embodied in the shift of the maxi- 
mum of spectrum energy density, from red to 
violet, with increasing temperatures. Wien 
showed that a universal function of the ratio 
of temperature to frequency must here be in 
question. The determination of this universal 
function was the culmination of the insight 
and consistent labors of Planck (1900), who 
by postulating the energy quantum, became 
the creator of modern thermodynamics; for 
this energy element is a saucy reality, whose 


NOVEMBER 20, 1914] 


purpose is to stay. It not only tells us all we 
know of the distribution of energy in the 
black body spectrum in its thermal relations, 
but it gives us, indirectly, perhaps the most 
accurate data at hand of the number of mol- 
ecules per normal cubic centimeter of the gas, 
of the mean translational energy of its mol- 
ecules, of the molecular mass, of the Boltz- 
mann entropy constant, even of the charge of 
the electron or electric atom itself. Under 
the guidance of Nernst it has created new 
chapters in the treatment of specific heats at 
low temperatures, their evanescence at the abso- 
lute zero of temperatures, the evanescence of 
the specific electrical resistance at zero, all 
more or less bearing on Dulong and Petit’s 
law. Not less vital is the introduction of the 
new universal constant hitherto not even sus- 
pected, the “ Wirkungs quantum,” an equiva- 
Jent of the Hamiltonian integral of action. 
Here then is a departure from continuity pos- 
tulated for energy, which will hereafter oper- 
ate with definite finite elements only. The con- 
dition of occurrence of such elements in any 
definite relations, can for this reason be speci- 
fied as a case of probability. 

Of the Planck molecular oscillators I must 
speak briefly. If operating continuously under 
the established electromagnetic laws they lead 
to the impossible distributions of energy in the 
spectrum investigated by Rayleigh and Jeans. 
But if emitting only, when their energy con- 
tent is a whole number of energy elements, a 
ease thus involving the entropy probability 
of Boltzmann, Wien’s law and the numerical 
data referred to are deducible with astounding 
precision. 

This then is the peculiar state of physics 
to-day. The appearance at the very footlights 
of the stage, of a new constant, the meaning 
of which nobody knows, but whose importance 
is incontestable. Moreover energy is seen 
there under an entirely new role. Grasping 
at greater freedom she has hopelessly involved 
herself in the meshes of the doctrine of prob- 
ability. There was a time, the time antedating 
Mayer (1840-42) and Joule (1843), Kelvin 
and Clausius, when to speak of indestructible 
energy would have been rash. It was a glori- 


SCIENCE 


727 


ous epoch when she first appeared in the full 
dignity of her conservative and infinite con- 
tinuity. In contrast with this, the energy of 
the present day is scarcely recognizable. Not 
only has she possessed herself of inertia, but 
with ever stronger insistence she is usurping 
the atomic structure once belieyed to be 
among the very insignia of matter. Contem- 
poraneously, matter itself, the massive, the in- 
destructible, endowed by Lavoisier with a sort 
of physical immortality, recedes ever more 
into the background among the shades of 
velocity and acceleration. 

But the single equation of nature, aimed at 
by Lagrange and Hamilton, by Weber and 
Maxwell in their several ways, has nevertheless 
throughout all this turmoil reached a more 
profound significance and now even holds 
dynamics, awkwardly it is true but none the 
less inexorably, in its grasp. That it is not 
complete, that it never can be complete, is 
admitted (for the absolute truth poured into 
the vessel of the human mind would probably 
dissolve it); but that it is immeasurably more 
complete to-day than it was yesterday is as 
incoutrovertably true as it is inspiring. 


Cart Barus 
BROWN UNIVERSITY, 
PROVIDENCE, R. I. 


CONTEMPORARY UNIVERSITY PROBLEMS} 


THE story of Clark University during the 
quarter century of its existence, the close of 
which we celebrate to-day with the alumni, 
under the inspiring guidance of Dr. French 
and his committee, has in some respects no 
parallel in academic history. Especially the 
first few years of our annals have both brighter 
and darker pages than I can find in the rec- 
ords of any university. Thirteen of us in- 
structors had taught or taken degrees at the 
Johns Hopkins, and we left that institution, 
which had added a new and higher story to the 
American university, when it was at the very 
apex of its prosperity and hence were naturally 

1 Address given on the occasion of the celebra- 
tion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of Clark Uni- 
versity by Dr. G. Stanley Hall, president of the 
university. 


728 


inspired with the ideal of taking the inevitable 
next step upward, as indeed were all the other 
members of our original faculty, which was 
remarkable, if not unpredecented in this coun- 
try, in its quality. Of the no less notable orig- 
inal board of trustees, every member of which 
has now passed away (while death has not once 
invaded the ranks of our professorial corps), 
the triumvirate, Hoar, Devens and Washburn, 
who stood nearest to Mr. Clark, as his execu- 
tive committee of all work, estimated the re- 
sources that were ultimately to be at our dis- 
posal at from eight to twelve million dollars, 
and very likely more. 

I was at the outset sent on an eight months’ 
trip to Europe, with several score letters of in- 
troduction, including one from the national 
government which gave me access to the in- 
side workings of Kultus Ministeria and uni- 
versity circles and archives, so that my trip 
constituted a pedagogic journey I think al- 
most without precedent. Twenty-five years 
ago these very weeks I was on this unique mis- 
sion and was surprised to find the most emi- 
nent men of learning in Europe profoundly 
interested in it, and so Javish with their time, 
sympathy and counsel. I was entertained by 
Lord Kelvin, Pasteur, Helmholtz, Jowett, and 
some scores of others of the greatest living 
leaders in scientific thought; went on a trip 
of inspection of German universities as the 
guest of the Prussian Minister of Education, 
von Gosslar; perhaps most embarrassing 
of all, was taken in state by General Trepa- 
noff on a visit to the two great Russian mili- 
tary schools near St. Petersburg, in each of 
which an all-day’s program of military evo- 
lutions had been arranged for my special edi- 
fication; was a guest of honor at a meeting of 
Swedish universities, ete. My instructions 
from Mr. Clark had been to see everything 
and every institution possible, collect building 
plans, budgets, administration methods of 
every kind, and find out a few of the best men 
who might be willing to come to a new insti- 
tution here, but to engage no one, but to be 
ready to negotiate with them later. The 
amazement to me was how lavish everybody 
was of advice, how cherished and often how 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1038 


elaborate were the ideals of university men, 
many if not most of whom seemed to have 
imagined installations of their own depart- 
ments rivaling not only Bacon’s House of 
Solomon, but sometimes almost suggesting 
apocryphal vision. From my voluminous 
notes of that trip could be compiled ideals 
lofty, numerous and far-reaching enough to 
inspire all the universities of the world for 
a century, and to organize a new one here for 
the conduct of which ten times ten million 
dollars would be sadly inadequate. 

They gave me plans of the then new four- 
million-dollar university building at Vienna, 
of the new Sorbonne at Paris, its rival, of 
the complete new university which Bismarck 
had established at Strassburg to show Alsace- 
Lorraine, which Germany had just annexed, 
and to show especially France, what the Teu- 
tons really meant by higher education, of the 
newly built university at Kiel, in which Ger- 
many sought to impress upon the Scandi- 
navians the same object-lesson in her newly 
acquired Schleswig-Holstein, and which was 
designed to compete with the neighboring 
university of Copenhagen, just as she re- 
habilitated Koenigsburg to impress the same 
lesson upon the nearby Russian rival institu- 
tion at Dorpat. I was given in some cases 
the secret é¢at and the unprinted Statuten of 
the universities,—all this until I felt an al- 
most Tarpeian embarrassment, especially as 
I was in nearly all these places utterly un- 
known and an object of interest solely because 
of my unique mission. J found young pro- 
fessors prone to see visions, and old ones to 
dream dreams, each for his own department, 
that all a king’s ransom would be inadequate 
to make real. Of all this I wrote Mr. Olark 
and my colleagues here awaiting the great 
instauration. The harvest home-coming, with 
all these sheaves of suggestion and inspira- 
tion, marked the zenith of great expectation 
and of hope tiptoe on the mountain-top. 
For years and sometimes even yet, European 
savants who first heard of Worcester from me 
and have since known it only as the home of 
Clark University, seemed often, to our great 
embarrassment, to assume that many or most 


NOVEMBER 20, 1914] 


of the ideals that we then discussed together 
are now realized in this golden land of prom- 
ise, and rank us far above our own modest 
sense of our deserts. 

If I came home slightly intoxicated with 
academic ideals, so were all of us in some de- 
gree, according to our temperament, but a 
reality that was sobering enough soon con- 
fronted us. I can not enter here upon the 
details of our disappointments, culminating 
in the tragic hegira to Chicago and elsewhere 
of three fifths of our faculty. If ever there 
was an academic tragedy, a va crucis, a veri- 
table descent into Avernus, it was here. The 
story of these years has been carefully written 
out, with everybody heard from, and all the 
divergent interpretations of what occurred 
and what it meant faithfully set down, and 
filed away in our archives, and perhaps after 
another twenty-five years or yet another, it 
may be published. 

Suffice it to say that although we started 
with far less than, justifiably or not, we had 
hoped for, we began the fourth year, 1893-94, 
with only about one fourth of the total annual 
resources that we had the first year. In the 
seven years that followed, down to the found- 
er’s death in 1900, we had for all purposes only 
four per cent. of the income of $600,000 plus 
that of $100,000 more for the library, that is, 
less than $30,000. Several of us who remained 
here were tempted by larger offers to what 
seemed more promising fields, but, on the 
whole, and I believe no one regrets it, we 
elected to stand by here. These lean years 
were, however, characterized by two features. 
First, they were years of unique harmony. 
There was no friction. We stood and worked 
shoulder to shoulder. And this is of prime 
importance in a small institution like this. In 
a great university discords can and always do 
Occur, but here, where discontent in any de- 
partment disturbs the whole institution, ac- 
cord is one of the prime necessities. The 
other feature of these years was intense de- 
votion to research and to teaching, and our 
productiveness, whether compared with our 
numbers or our income, has never been 
greater, and indeed, I wonder if that of any 


SCIENCE 


729 


other institution has been greater relatively 
to its size. Perhaps the alumni of these days 
were, and will ever be, a little nearer to the 
center of the hearts of those who went through 
them, and it is significant, and can be no 
cause of jealousy to others, that it is they who 
are leading in the epoch-making activities that 
center about to-day and mark this as the date 
from which henceforth our alumni will be a 
potent factor in our future history. Their 
newly and well organized support, their en- 
thusiasm for the spirit of research, which is 
our inspiration, will henceforth greatly re- 
enforce all our best efforts here and be an 
inspiration to our future development. 

With the dawn of the century came also the 
college, which has given us 51 students who 
have already taken degrees in the last eight 
years, although it has its own independent 
purpose. As to it, we are brethren, children 
of the same parent or, to change the figure, a 
married couple, and unlike married couples 
we can never be divorced, so that he who 
would make discord between us is an enemy 
to both, and every man who helps the other 
is a friend to both. Any encroachment of 
either upon the other’s domain or any effort to 
profit or exalt the one at the other’s expense; 
is bringing discord into sacred family rela- 
tions. Our two-in-one or dual unity is 
unique, delicate, imposes new responsibilities 
and presents also inspiring possibilities for a 
new solution of some of the highest academic 
problems. I think we can truly say that each 
is now a noble stimulus to the other. We are 
proud of the college and we are so just in 
proportion as we know and understand its 
problems, aspirations and achievements. We 
are proud of the name and the work of its first 
great president and of the rare men he 
brought here, whose growth in knowledge and 
power, together with those of the college 
alumni whom they trained in his day, consti- 
tute his living monument, and we of the uni- 
versity salute the college colors in our deco- 
rations to-day, and hail with pride and give 
our heartiest Godspeed to the second presi- 
dent of the college, who is not only carrying 
out the ideals he inherited of a three years’ 


730 


course of non-athletic and citizen-building 
functions, but is going further and making the 
college a leader and light among others in the 
land. Would that some one would offer a prize 
for some pregnant symbol, seal or even slogan 
or song typifying this unique conjunction, 
which college and university should forever 
unite to use! Could we not fitly commemo- 
rate this occasion by a new resolve that there 
shall never be tension or strain between us, 
and that a policy of mutual help shall hence- 
forth animate us both? 

In the recent voluminous literature on col- 
leges, so much under discussion of late, we 
lave several characterizations of the ideal 
college professor, and these agree pretty well. 
He must be a good man, a model citizen, a 
gentleman and a scholar, a teacher born, made 
or both, tactful, and in close personal rela- 
tions with his students, anxious and able to 
teach them all they are capable of learning in 
his department, a man whose character will 
be normative and influential for good, fitting 
students, not for the university, nor even for 
professional or technical careers chiefly, but 
for their work in life in general, and evoking 
all their powers. Noble as are all these traits 
of nature and nurture, and rare as is their 
combination, and exacting as are the condi- 
tions of instruction and parental care, many 
college professors go further and are not even 
content with the useful work of making text- 
books, but really add to the sum of human 
knowledge by their researches, and it is a sat- 
isfaction to us that so many of those here are 
with and of us in this respect. 

For the university professor research is his 
prime function. He must specialize more 
sharply, must not only keep in constant and 
vital rapport with everything that every crea- 
tive mind is doing in his field the world over, 
but he must hear and lay to heart every syl- 
lable that the muse of his department utters 
to every co-worker everywhere, and best of 
all, she must also speak new words through 
him. There is a vital sense in which he 
stands in closer relation to his co-workers in 
other lands than to his colleagues in the same 
institution. The chief momentum of the vital 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8S. Vou. XL. No. 1038 


push-up in him impels him to penetrate ever 
a little farther into the unknown, to erect 
some kiosk in Kamchatka, where he can 
wrest some new secret from the sphinx, who 
has far more to reveal than all she has yet 
told. Whenever he grows impotent to do this, 
he becomes only an emeritus knight of the 
holy ghost of science. Studies of the age 
when men in various departments do their 
best work show that scientists are the oldest 
of all the creators of culture values on the 
average, but that there is more individual 
variation, so that they cross the dead line 
both older and younger than any others. It 
is one of the hardest things in the world to be 
and remain a productive investigator. There 
are sO many journals and books to be read, so 
many and constant alterations and adapta- 
tions, needful to press the questions we ask 
nature home and to get an answer, such 
changes of methods and apparatus, so much 
that was yesterday new and will to-morrow be 
obsolete if we would not abandon what Janet 
ealls “la fonction du réelle,’ and take some 
kind of flight from reality and its ever-press- 
ing devoir présent. But if research is hard 
and the life it demands beset with dangers, so 
that many are always falling by the way with- 
out giving any sign of their demise to out- 
siders, this work has its supreme reward, and 
I can not believe that there is any joy life 
has to offer quite so great as the Eureka joy 
of a new discovery. 

Not only this work itself, but its conditions 
are amazingly complex, unstable, and ever 
shifting. Just at present it seems to me that 
academic unrest was never quite so great the 
world over, and that the near future never 
promised so many important changes. Some 
abuses, great and small, have of late grown 
rank and demand remedy. Certain vicious 
tendencies must be corrected and reforms 
made. Bear with me if I ask you to glance 
briefly at a few of these. 

Beginning with the Teutonic countries, 
since 1907 the assistant professors and docents 
have developed a strong inter-institutional or- 
ganization against the head or full professors. 
The unprecedentedly rapid growth in the size 


- yee 


NOovEMBER 20, 1914] 


of the student body everywhere has resulted 
in what Eulenberg calls a lush “ Nachwuchs” 
of assistants of all grades. Statistics show 
that on the average the Hxztraordinarw or as- 
sistant professors receive this appointment at 
the age of 37, at an average salary of $523, 
and remain in this position nearly 20 years, 
attaining an average salary of $1,200, before 
promotion, at the average age of 57. These 
now constitute, with the docents, about half 
the teaching personnel of German institutions, 
and they often have neither seat nor vote in 
the faculty and little participation in the cor- 
porate life of the institution. In the munici- 
pal university which opens at Frankfurt this 
fall it was even proposed to have a president 
of the American type, to safeguard the as- 
sistants against the oppression of the full 
professors. A few years ago Tiibingen, and 
last year Ziirich, radically revised their an- 
cient statutes to remedy these evils, and the 
projected university at Hamburg will go yet 
further. The two new universities in Hun- 
gary, at Pressburg and Debreczen, and the 
private one at Hongkong—these grant more 
liberty and show more appreciation of the en- 
thusiasm and ideals of the younger members 
of the faculty. Even students in Germany 
have caught the spirit of unrest, if not revo- 
lution, and now have a strong inter-institu- 
tional organization, and their pamphlets are 
boldly demanding better methods of teaching, 
printed outlines of professors’ lectures, are 
trying to develop a sentiment that no in- 
structor shall ever repeat in a lecture anything 
he has ever published; are calling for more op- 
tions, especially more freedom of choice in the 
selection of subjects for their theses and more 
meaty topics for them that do not make their 
work ancillary to that of the professor, more 
personal rights to what they produce or dis- 
cover in them, a longer period of hospitieren 
or of trying out each course before they finally 
sign for it, more and better seminaries with 
better tests for admission, more practical 
courses, better access to books, journals and 
library facilities generally, less overcrowding 
and more elimination all the way from Ober- 
Sekunda in the Gymnasium to the doctorate, 


SCIENCE 731 


better social opportunities, dormitories, more 
personal contact with the professors, less re- 
strictions on their personal liberty, reform of 
the corps, honor system and the Mensur. 
This unrest, although it seems ominous to 
conservatism, can not fail to prevent waste 
and bring reform. 

In the English universities agitation has 
had many recent expressions, from Lord Cur- 
zon’s demand for reforms in 1909 on to Till- 
gard’s of last year. Here the protestants 
grant that these institutions still breed the 
flower of national life, the English gentleman, 
but demand better library facilities than the 
individual colleges, with their wasteful dupli- 
cation, afford, and especially more of what 
the critics so strenuously insist is still lacking 
and that parliament should enforce, namely, 
more teaching and research. Thus the deep- 
ening sense that something rather radical 
must be done seems now crystallizing into 
just what that something should be. In 
France and in Russia unrest is greater and 
reforms are more loudly demanded. 

In this country academic unrest has been 
largely directed against organization and ad- 
ministration. In the old days the college 
president, though he usually taught, was su- 
preme and autocratic, and as leading institu- 
tions grew and he ceased to teach, the concen- 
tration of power in his hands became alto- 
gether excessive. The foundation of new in- 
stitutions, the Hopkins, and a little later 
Stanford and Chicago, greatly augmented his 
power under our system. He had to deter- 
mine the departments, select professors, fix 
their status, build, organize, represent the in- 
stitution to the board and public, perhaps the 
legislature, plunge into the mad, wasteful 
competition for students and money, lay sup- 
ply pipes to every institution that could fit. 
Never was the presidential function so sud- 
denly enlarged nor its power so great and un- 
controlled as a decade or two ago. Even the 
University of Virginia and other southern 
universities, which had only a president of 
the faculty, elected by its members, fell into 
line, and a reaction toward democratization, 
which in its extreme form seemed sometimes 


732 


almost to adopt a slogan, “ Delindus est prez,” 
was inevitable. In the Cattell movement 
abundant incidents of arrogance and arbi- 
trary, if not usurped, power were collected, 
and it was even insisted that although charters 
or conditions of bequests, to say nothing of 
American tradition, would have to be reversed, 
it was urged that the president should be only 
chairman of the faculty, elected perhaps annu- 
ally by them, and in the literature of this 
movement we find occasionally the radical 
plea that some or all of the powers of the 
board should be turned over to the faculty, 
who should at least be given control of the 
annual budget. More lately the movement of 
protest here is against the autocracy of the 
dean, whom the president had created in his 
own image, and who sometimes exercises a 
power that he would never dare to do, and 
who in large institutions has constructed a 
mechanism of rules, methods, procedures, 
standards, which have almost come to monop- 
olize the deliberations of the Association of 
American Universities, which fortunately 
can not prescribe or legislate for its individ- 
ual members. University deans have often 
created rules which they themselves can sus- 
pend for individuals, and this has greatly 
augmented their power. It is they largely 
who have broken up knowledge into standard- 
ized units of hours, weeks, terms, credits, 
blocking every short cut for superior minds 
and making a bureaucracy which represses 
personal initiative and legitimate ambition. 
Just now perhaps we hear most remonstrance 
against head professors and statements that 
the assistant professors and younger instruct- 
ors in their departments are entirely at their 
mercy, that they are burdened with the drudg- 
ery of drills, examinations, markings, all at 
small pay, while their chiefs take the credit, 
so that the best years of the best young men, 
who are the most precious asset of any insti- 
tution, or even of civilization, are wasted. 
Indeed we have vivid pictures of the hard- 
ships which often crush out the ambitions of 
young aspirants for professorial honors and 
tend to make them, if they ever do arrive, 
parts of a machine with no ideals of what 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1038 


sacred academic freedom really means. 
Happily now the best sentiment of the best 
professors now organizing inter-institution- 
ally to safeguard their own interests and 
those of their institutions, stands for a most 
wholesome and needed movement which is 
sure to prevail. 

So far I submit to you and to my colleagues 
that Clark University, not through any wis- 
dom or virtue of its president, although per- 
haps a little through the fact that he is a 
teacher and does not spend all his time in or- 
ganizing, but owing to its small size, its un- 
precedented absence of rules, its utterly un- 
trammeled academic freedom, is to-day in a 
position to lead and not to follow in the wake 
of this movement. No one here wants auto- 
cratic personal power, but we do all want the 
best attainable, whatever it is. Each depart- 
ment here is almost as independent and au- 
tonomous as if there were no other. We have 
no deans, few assistant professors, and so no 
tyranny of departmental heads, no complaints 
on the part of students, as in Germany, that 
we are not doing the best we can for them, 
so that this world-wide movement for aca- 
demic reform we ought to consider as a great 
and new opportunity to us all, trustees and 
faculties, at this psychological moment to 
realize our own advantage, and to carefully 
look over our present system and see if we 
can not use this opportunity to begin the new 
quarter century with our lamps retrimmed 
and burning bright, and alert and profiting by 
every suggestion that the academic Zeitgeist 
is now murmuring like the Socratic daemon 
in our ears. 

Let us, then, look our present situation and 
ourselves frankly in the face. With the in- 
defatigable labors of Senator Hoar in secur- 
ing a just and legal execution of Mr. Clark’s 
difficult will, labors which some of his col- 
leagues in the board thought almost justified 
us in calling him our second founder, with a 
board more active and interested in our af- 
fairs, external and internal, than ever before, 
as their cooperation in this commemoration 
typifies, with our funds better invested and 
yielding a trifle more than they have ever 


NOVEMBER 20, 1914] 


done, with an admirable library, the creation, 
body and soul, of Dr. Wilson, who has the 
greatest genius of friendship of us all, with 
the reestablishment of the department of 
chemistry, which was dropped for a few years, 
with the increase of salaries, from time to 
time, as far as means permitted, inadequate 
though most of these still are compared with 
the increased cost of living; with more de- 
partments and professors and instructors—we 
seem to have entered upon a settled period of 
prosperity and growth that promises that the 
next quarter of a century will far transcend 
the past, and, now that all the perturbations 
of the first formative era are over, we can 
look forward with confidence that the univer- 
sity will go on in the general direction it has 
already so faithfully held to during its period 
of storm and stress, in secula secularum. 

We have no greater distinction than that 
which has come from always preferring qual- 
ity, attainment and ability to numbers, and 
that these standards may never be lowered is 
the most heartfelt wish and prayer of all of 
us. My greatest joy to-day is in the spon- 
taneous testimonials of appreciation and loy- 
alty of our alumni in leaving their work and 
coming here, at this most inconvenient sea- 
son and sometimes from a great distance, and 
giving us or wording their cordial personal 
greeting and Godspeed, and even in contrib- 
uting, not out of their abundance, for most of 
them are moderately paid professors like our- 
selves, but from a sense of gratitude and as 
a token of good will, to the fellowships which 
constitute our very greatest need. 

Turning to the future, the changes we need 
here are largely but by no means wholly in 
harvesting what we sowed at the start and 
assiduously cultivated ever since, for which 
the time is now ripe. Jt would be preposter- 
ous to lay out our course now for another 
quarter century. We must always maintain 
keen orientation in an ever wider and more 
intricate field. To my mind there should al- 
ways be a specialist here and in every institu- 
tion in what might be called the higher 
pedagogy and in academic history, whose 
business it is to keep keenly alive to all that is 


SCIENCE 


733 


doing in academic life the world over. Espe- 
cially now, when these changes are so rapid, 
some one must spend much time in the out- 
look tower, and I would even hazard the strong 
opinion that, had foreign institutions had a 
specialist in the conning tower, intent on 
studying the ever changing signs of the times 
and trained in academic statesmanship, many, 
if not most, of the errors that have caused 
our own and foreign universities so much 
waste of energy in recent years, might have 
been avoided. 

The time is at hand when university rector- 
ates, presidencies, chancellorships, or whatever 
their name, can no longer be filled by any 
professor or even outsider who can secure elec- 
tion, but will require men who, whatever else 
they are or know, are experts in the history of 
the higher culture and its institutions, from 
the four great academies of antiquity down, 
who know the story of medieval universities 
of the church and then of the state, of the 
guilds of scholars, the rise and present status 
of learned societies and academies, the great 
reforms of the past and the yet more signifi- 
cant reconstructions now evolving, the govern- 
mental patronage of learning and research, 
from the day of the Medici down to contem- 
porary legislation for higher institutions, na- 
tional and state, present-day centralization 
and the efforts against it in France, the many 
universities lately established by colonial pol- 
icies, the world-wide movement of university 
extension. He must suggest ways and means 
to his colleagues for achieving their own even 
if unconscious ideals; help free investigators 
to be the supermen they are called to be, each 
in his own way, have a minimum of arbitrary 
authority and a maximum of faculty coopera- 
tion, catch and sympathetically respond to 
and find his chief inspiration in the’ fondest, 
highest, if secret, aspirations of each of his 
coworkers, who must not be content with the 
stale ways of the present perfervid competi- 
tion for dollars and students or with the mere 
horizontal expansion, the multiplication of 
machinery or devices for efficiency of factory 
type, but study precedents, culture trends, and 
believe profoundly in the power of faculty 


734 


democratization and do his utmost to develop 
it, regardless of his own personal or official 
prestige or authority. On the continent, 
mayors are trained professional experts, and 
cities vie with each other competitively for 
their services and find they can well afford to 
do so, for their special training means vast 
economies. Universities in this country, if 
not the world over, are more nearly ready than 
are cities to profit by this example, and their 
gain thereby would be even greater. Twenty 
years ago Professor Paulsen, of Berlin, the 
best representative of the higher pedagogy I 
plead for which that country has yet produced, 
warned German universities of the very dan- 
gers which have now waxed so grave, and with 
which they are battling, and the presidents 
here have only too good reason to look either 
with jealousy or with hope, according to their 
temperaments, upon the now rapid addition of 
the higher story of academic pedagogy to the 
old schoolmaster’s pedagogy of the grammar 
and high school, and development in this di- 
rection is another of the pregnant signs of 
the future. 

Think of the changes since we began. Many 
special lines of research have their own insti- 
tutions where little or no formal teaching is 
done, like astronomic observatories, the Rocke- 
feller Institute, Wood’s Hole, Cold Spring 
Harbor, the Carnegie Institution, with all the 
possibilities of his will, the question of a na- 
tional university, always with us, just now of 
the Fess hundred-million-dollar type, to be de- 
voted chiefly to research, the enormous expan- 
sion of teacher-training in nearly every higher 
institution of this country, a movement that 
is almost without precedent in its magnitude 
and suddenness, the augmented stress laid 
upon practical applications of pure science— 
these constitute a new environment, as also 
do the active and well-organized but silent 
field agencies of most large institutions both 
to recruit students, with competing agents at 
the ear of every boy who thinks of going on, 
and also to place their graduates in every 
academic vacancy. These are problems to 
which a presidential or other agency must 
give great and growing attention and for 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1038 


which the president of the future must have 
special training, and in which also the fac- 
ulty must share the burdens of administrative 
responsibility since questions must often be 
decided one way or the other, while those who 
determine them are uncertain, themselves, so 
that criticism accumulates. 

As to professors, the best of them make an 
almost unprecedented sacrifice and could have 
achieved the highest success in financial, pro- 
fessional, political (witness President Wil- 
son) and other lines. They know the price 
they pay and are willing to pay it, but must 
have as their compensation the boon of secur- 
ity and liberty to teach and investigate freely 
what and how they will. The university pro- 
fessorate, too, means not only the cult of 
specialization but of individuality. Even 
idiosynerasies are to be not only tolerated but 
respected and perhaps welcomed. The uni- 
versity should be the freest spot on earth, 
where human nature in its most variegated 
and acuminated types can blossom and bear 
fruit. The factory type of efficiency has no 
place there. Each must make himself as effi- 
cient as possible, but in his own way and inde- 
pendently of all external circumstances, and 
without the multiplication of machinery, so 
that an able organizer with nothing to do but 
to administer might prove an unmitigated 
curse to all the best things a professor and 
even a university stand for. 

Thus now I, who with one tiny exception, 
have never, during all these twenty-five years, 
to a single citizen of Worcester hinted at a 
donation, will say a word which J wish all 
would hear and consider. We greatly need 
and shall always need more funds to 
strengthen existing and to found new depart- 
ments. Though we bear another name, we 
are, fellow citizens, your University of Wor- 
cester. In all the spheres we touch, we have 
spread the name and added to the fame of this 
Heart of the Commonwealth. If we had ten 
million dollars more, not one of us would gain 
personally, but should only have more work, 
for we are only administering the highest of 
charities. 

If you doubt that this is the highest, listen 


NovVEMBER 20, 1914] 


to the conclusion of the report of the most 
elaborate parliamentary commission Great 
Britain ever knew, of forty volumes and 
nearly nineteen years in the making, covering 
all British charities of every kind, more than 
twenty thousand in all, which is: that of all 
Objects of charity, the highest education has 
proven wisest, best, and most efficient of all, 
and that for two chief reasons, first because 
the superior integrity and ability of the trus- 
tees who consent to administer such funds, 
together with the intelligent appreciation of 
those aided by them, combine to furnish the 
best guarantee that they will be kept per- 
petually administered in the purpose and 
spirit of the founder whose name they bear; 
and second, because in improving higher edu- 
eation all other good causes are most effectu- 
ally aided. Since the first endowment of re- 
search in the Greek academy, porch, grove and 
garden, from which all our higher institutions 
have sprung, thousands of spontaneous free 
will offerings have borne tangible witness to 
the sentiment so often and vividly taught by 
Plato, that in all the world there is no object 
more worthy of reverence, love and service, 
and none that it pays a civilization better to 
help to its fullest development than well-born, 
well-bred, gifted, trained young men who de- 
sire to be masters in an age when experts de- 
eide all things, for in them is the hope and the 
future leadership of the race, and to help 
them to more of the knowledge that is power 
is the highest service of one generation to the 
next. And how this has appealed to all ages! 
Oxford and Cambridge have 1,800 separate 
endowed fellowships and scholarships, to say 
nothing of the smaller exhibitions. Leipzig 
has 407 distinct funds, the oldest dating 1325, 
‘and wherever the higher academic life has 
flourished we find scores of memorials bearing 
the names of husbands, wives, parents, chil- 
dren, and providing for students of some spe- 
cial class, locality or establishing or benefiting 
some new department or line of investigation, 
theoretical or practical; and now that the rap- 
port of business, government and all social 
and cultural institutions was never so close, 
all who give greatly and wisely, or who make 


SCIENCE 


735 


or suggest bequests, have a new noblesse 
oblige to consider. 

Cold facts and figures finally show a few 
things that I beg you all to pondernow. These 
are, that compared either with the size of our 
faculty, the number of departments, or our an- 
nual budget, we have fitted more men for 
higher degrees, seen more of them in academic 
chairs, where they are found in all the leading 
institutions of the land, including some dozen 
of presidencies, first and last, published more 
original contributions which seek to add to 
the sum of the world’s knowledge, have a 
larger proportion of members of our faculty 
starred as of first rank in Cattell’s census of 
the competent, had closer personal and often 
daily contact with students, and given more 
individual help outside of classes, had more 
academic freedom (for no one in our history 
has ever suffered in any way for his opinions), 
had more autonomy in our departments, each 
of which is a law to itself, had less rules and 
formalities of every kind, and had a president 
who was less president and more teacher, good 
or bad, spent less time in devising ways and 
means of seeking contributions from our 
friends here, advertised less and avoided all 
publicity more, until now, when I am, just for 
this one moment, throwing all our traditions 
of silence, modesty, absence of boasting about 
our work, to the winds. In these respects we 
exceed any of the other twenty-four institu- 
tions of the Association of American Univer- 
sities. 

This Clark University means, has stood for 
and will forever stand for, and this is why we 
all love and have put the best twenty-five years 
of our lives into her service and wish we all 
had another quarter of a century to serve her 
better. This is what brings you alumni back 
with your offerings, your loyalty and hearty 
good wishes. This is the university not made 
with hands, eternal in the world of science and 
learning. Clark University is not a structure, 
but it is a state of mind, for wherever these 
ideals reign Clark men are at home, and all 
who have them are our friends and brothers. 

It is this ideal that sustained us in our 
darkest days and now lights up the future 


736 


with a new glow. Is there any joy of service 
to be compared with that of the investigator 
who has wrung a new secret from the heart 
of nature, listening when she has whispered a 
single syllable of truth unuttered before, who 
has been able to add a single stone to the 
great temple of learning, the noblest of all the 
structures ever reared by man? Is there any 
more religious calling than thus thinking 
God’s thoughts after him, and proclaiming 
the gospel of truth to confirm faith, prevent ill- 
ness, deepen self-knowledge and that of society, 
industry, give us mastery over the physical, 
ehemical, biological energies that control the 
world, and develop mathematics, the language 
ef all who think exactly, a language which all 
sciences tend to speak in proportion as they 
become complete? This is why research is re- 
ligious and the knowledge gained in the lab- 
oratory to-day may set free energies that bene- 
fit the whole race to-morrow. Is not an insti- 
tution devoted, heart and soul, to this sort of 
work, the best thing any community can have 
im its midst, and should it not be cherished as 
the heart of this “ Heart of the Common- 
wealth ” ? 
G. STanuey Hay 
CLARK UNIVERSITY 


RUSSIAN VERSUS AMERICAN SEALING1 


In recent discussions of matters relating to 
the fur seals of the Pribilof Islands great 
stress has been laid in certain quarters upon 
the similarity between the recent crisis in the 
herd’s condition and a crisis in which it found 
itself in 1834, during Russian control. Since 
1896 pelagic sealing has been looked upon by 
the majority of those having to do with the 
herd as the sole cause of its decline. But in 
1834 and prior to that time there was no 
pelagic sealing, only land sealing. The argu- 
ment, has, therefore, been that land sealing 
was common to both crises and hence a prob- 
able cause of decline in one as well as in the 
other. 

Land sealing as practised upon the islands 

1 Presented at the forty-fourth annual meeting 
of the American Fisheries Society in Washington, 
D. C., September 30—-October 3, 1914. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1038 


since 1868, when the herd came into the pos- 
session of the United States, has consisted in 
the taking of the superfluous young male seals 
at or about the age of three years, the fur seal 
being polygamous and its handling being 
analogous to that of the commoner domestic 
animals. Pelagic sealing was an indiscrim- 
inate form of sealing, conducted in the open 
sea, while the animals were on their winter 
migration in the Pacific Ocean or on their 
summer feeding excursions in Bering Sea, 
both of which take them far from land. In- 
vestigations of the pelagic catch show conclu- 
sively that sixty-five to eighty-five per cent. of 
the animals taken have been gravid or nursing 
females, with which died their unborn or de- 
pendent young. 

There can be no dispute regarding these two 
forms of sealing, as they have been conducted, 
at least since the beginning of pelagic sealing, 
about the year 1880; the records are exact and 
complete. The question therefore turns upon 
the nature of Russian sealing at and prior to 
1834, of which the records are not so complete. 

In the debates in congress upon the fur-seal 
law of 1912, in which land sealing was sus- 
pended, as a measure necessary for the pro- 
tection and preservation of the herd, Senator 
Shively, of Indiana, made the principal speech 
in the Senate, taking as his thesis the asser- 
tion that the Russians never killed anything 
but bachelor seals. Representative Goodwin, 
of Arkansas, made the leading speech in the 
House and his thesis was that the Russians 
did not kill female seals. These speeches were 
alleged to have been based upon the official 
records of Russian operations. Their pur- 
pose was to show that the Russian sealing, 
which was followed by the disaster of 1834, 
was identical with that conducted on land by 
the United States in the disastrous period 
culminating in 1911, that is—confined to the 
bachelor seals or superfluous males. 

Our knowledge of Russian conditions is de- 
rived exclusively from the writings of Bishop 
Ivan Veniaminof, a Greek-Russian priest, lo- 
cated for the period in question at Unalaska, 
and a brief extract from the report of an 
agent of the Russian government, Yanovsky 


NOVEMBER 20, 1914] 


by name, who made a special investigation of 
the seal herd in 1820. Bishop Veniaminof’s 
account of the seals was published at St. 
Petersburg, in 1842, in a work known as the 
“ Zapiski,” and comprises pages 349 to 381 of 
volume 2 of that work. A partial translation 
of this article has been in existence for some 
time as an appendix to the fur-seal monograph 
of Henry W. Elliott, published in 1881, as 
part of the tenth census. Recently there has 
been made a complete and more accurate 
translation, by Professor Raphael Zon, of the 
U.S. Forest Service, which appears as an ap- 
pendix to a report on the fur-seal herd by the 
writer to the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries for 
1912, as yet unpublished. It is from this 
translation the quotations which are to follow 
are made. 

The extract from the report of Yanovsky 
appears in a letter from the Board of Admin- 
istration of the Russian-American Company, 
dated at St. Petersburg, March 15, 1821, and 
constitutes Letter 6 in the volume of fac- 
similes in the proceedings of the Paris Tri- 
bunal of Arbitration of 1893. A translation of 
the letter appears at page 58 of volume 2 of 
the same proceedings in an appendix to the 
case of the United States. This translation is 
paralleled by a British version at page 323 of 
volume 8 of the proceedings, being a part of 
the British counter case. 

These translations of Yanovsky’s report dit- 
fer in one important particular and the essen- 
tial part may be here reproduced in parallel 
columns for comparison. The translations are 
as follows: 


SCIENCE 


American Version, 

Every year a greater 
number of young bach- 
elor seals is being killed, 
while for propagation 
there remain only the 
females, sekatch, and 
half sekatch. Conse- 
quently only the old 
breeding animals  re- 
main, and if any of the 
young breeders are not 
killed by autumn, they 
are sure to be killed in 
the following spring. 


British Version 

Every year the young 
bachelor seals are killed, 
and only the cows, se- 
katch, and half sekatch 
are left to propagate the 
species; it follows that 
only the old seals are 
left, while if any of the 
bachelors remain alive 
in the autumn, they are 
sure to be killed the 
next spring. 


737 


The difference obviously lies in the use of 
word “bachelors” instead of “young breed- 
ers,” in the British version. Accepting this 
translation the criticism of Yanoysky is that 
too many bachelor seals were being killed and 
hence the decline of the herd. 

A study of the context, however, readily 
shows that the word translated “ bachelors” in 
one case and “young breeders” in the other 
is contrasted with “old breeding animals” in 
the one ease, “old seals” in the other. Inter- 
nal evidence therefore favors the American 
translation—“ young breeders.” This trans- 
lation is not in itself a logical one, since the 
animals under consideration are not “ breed- 
ers” at all, but animals which have not yet 
attained breeding age. Mr. M. Lippitt Lar- 
kin, a Russian scholar, formerly instructor in 
Stanford University, in translating this letter, 
has pointed out the fact that, since the Rus- 
sian, like English, is deficient in a feminine 
form for the word “ holostiaki,” here translated 
“bachelors,” the plural might reasonably be 
taken to cover both sexes, as “men,” in 
phrases like “the children of men,” in Eng- 
lish, is understood to include both sexes. He 
suggests that “unmated animals,” both sexes 
being understood, would be a possible, even 
preferable, translation. If no other light on 
the question existed than is contained in the 
letter itself, it would not be necessary to ac- 
cept the narrow translation of “ bachelors ” 
used in the British text. 

Fortunately, however, we do not have to de- 
pend solely upon the letter itself. The report 
of Yanovsky was made to the Russian authori- 
ties at St. Petersburg. The letter, giving its 
gist, is one addressed the following spring, 
that is, in 1821, to the administrator of the 
Russian-American Company on the seal is- 
lands, for his information and instruction. In 
the article of Bishop Veniaminof, page 369, 
we find this statement as translated by Pro- 
fessor Zon: 


Only in 1822 Muraview, the head administra- 
tor, ordered to leave every year young seals for 
breeding. 


The head administrator did not order 
“bachelors” left, but “young seals,” which 


738 


includes both sexes. We have a right to as- 
sume that this order was an intelligent inter- 
pretation of Yanovsky’s recommendation. 
He had reported that the young seals were too 
closely killed; the order was that a reserve of 
such animals should be set aside for breeding 
purposes. 

It may be noted, therefore, that the testi- 
mony of the Russian agent Yanovsky is that 
in the period at and prior to 1820 the Rus- 
sians were killing young female seals. 

The statements of Bishop Veniaminof are 
much more detailed and definite. In the Zon 
translation from page 353 of the Zapiski, we 
read: 


Under the name Kotiki, or gray pups, are classed 
the four-months-old males and females, which were 
born in the spring and which form the largest 
and almost the entire quantity of seals used in 
the trade. 


This means that the Russian sealing took 
chiefly the gray pups at the age of four months, 
male and female alike. Amplifying this idea 
further, we may continue to quote from page 
360: 


Some years in September the young pups form 
large pods and congregate in special places and 
lie carelessly, so that they all can be driven off 
without leaving a single one behind. Such pods 
are very advantageous for the trade but are the 
most ruinous for the increase of the herd. 


The reason for this is made plain on page 
364. After describing at considerable length 
the Russian method of driving and sorting 
the seals, which was from the breeding 
grounds and included all classes of animals, 
he concludes with these words: 

As soon as they are rested the killing is begun 
with clubs. Small pups which were born the same 
summer are killed without discrimination, both 
males and females. 


These are very positive statements and there 
can be no doubt about the translation. They 
confirm the statement of Yanovsky that the 
Russians killed the young seals too closely, 
leaving only the “old breeding animals” for 
propagation. As these older animals died off 
in the course of time through natural termi- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1038 


nation of life, the herd necessarily declined. 

The account of Veniaminof adds other de- 
tails of importance, among them that the gen- 
eral oversight and control exercised by the 
Russians was inadequate. He says, page 368:. 


From the very discovery of the Pribilof Islands 
(1786) until 1805 .. . the industry on both is- 
lands was carried on without any plan, because at 
that time there were many companies and there- 
fore many masters and each of them attempted 
to kill as many seals as possible. 


As a result of this it was necessary to cease 
killing for a time, but the irresponsible meth- 
ods were not reformed and so Veniaminof 
continues: 


From the time of those close seasons, that is on 
the island of St. George from the year 1808 and 
on the island of St. Paul from 1810 to 1822, kill- 
ing was carried on on both islands without any 
economy and even with extreme negligence, so 
that even sikatchi (adult bulls) were killed for 
their skins and mother seals perished by the hun- 
dreds in the drives and in their journeys from the 
breeding grounds to the slaughtering places. 


This is from page 3869. Then came the order 
of Muraviev, already cited, following the re- 
port of Yanovsky—to save young seals for 
breeding. Even this order was disregarded, 
as we learn from page 371, where Veniaminof 
tells us, 


It was ordered that more care should be exer- 
cised in separating adult and young females from 
the seals which were being killed, and to try as 
far as possible to reserve some of those which 
would regularly be killed. 


These are the Russian records in so far as 
they are available to us. They show that Rus- 
sian sealing was not confined to the bache- 
lors, as is the land sealing of to-day and that 
it included females as well as males. 

This was all prior to 1834. The efforts 
toward reform of these early methods failed, 
one after another, because they were directed 
toward limitation or suspension of all killing 
for brief periods and not toward the elimina- 
tion of indiscriminate killing. With the crisis 
of 1834 came a complete change in Russian 
methods. Prior to that time the driving had 


NOVEMBER 20, 1914] 


been from the breeding grounds, old and 
young, males and females, being subjected to 
the strain of the process, the lack of proper 
oversight and care, rendering it destructive in 
the extreme. Adult females, young females 
and female pups were regularly killed. The 
driving was now limited to the hauling 
grounds, frequented only by the bachelors, or 
young immature males, and these animals 
alone were killed. The females, adult and 
young, were everywhere protected from driv- 
ing and from killing. This was the condi- 
tion of the industry at the time it passed into 
American control in 1868. The depleted herd 
of 1834 had been restored to a maximum con- 
dition of growth and for twenty years there- 
aiter it yielded a fixed product of one hundred 
thousand skins annually. 

That it has not continued to yield this 
product was due simply to the fact that there 
developed, after the year 1880, a new industry 
carried on at sea, which by 1894 had exceeded 
in its annual catch the maximum product 
taken on land. IJIndiscriminate in its nature, 
that is, including the females as well as 
the males and causing the destruction of the 
unborn and dependent young, male and fe- 
male alike, the effect of pelagic sealing was 
necessarily to throw the herd again into de- 
cline and in the end to bring it to a state of 
collapse similar to that experienced in 1834. 
Neither land sealing as such nor pelagic seal- 
ing as such was the cause of this. It was 
due solely to the killing of females. Just 
prior to 1911 the killing of females occurred 
in the sea in connection with pelagic sealing. 
Prior to 1834 it occurred on land in connec- 
tion with the undeveloped and unperfected 
Russian land methods. 

As the cessation of the killing of females 
by the Russians after 1834 stayed the herd’s 
decline and provided amply for its recupera- 
tion, so the suspension of pelagic sealing, ef- 
fected by the treaty of July 7, 1911, is an ade- 
quate remedy for the recent decline in the 
herd and a guarantee for its restoration and 
future protection. 

The suspension of land sealing, incorporated 
in the law giving effect to this treaty of 1911, 


SCIENCE 


739 


was a wholly unnecessary measure—wasteful 

in the extreme, and certain in the end to be 

harmful to the breeding life of the herd. 
Grorce ARCHIBALD CLARK 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


Dr. Aucust WEISMANN, professor of zoology 
at Freiburg since 1867, died on November 6, 
at the age of eighty years. 


TE twenty-third annual meeting of the 
American Psychological Association will be 
held in affiliation with the American Association 
for the Advancement of Science, the American 
Society of Naturalists and the Southern Soci- 
ety for Philosophy and Psychology at the 
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa., 
on December 29, 30 and 31. Professor R. S. 
Woodworth, of Columbia University, is the 
president and Professor R. M. Ogden, of the 
University of Kansas, is the secretary. 


THe American Phytopathological Society 
has selected the Hotel Walton as headquarters 
during its meeting in Philadelphia, Decem- 
ber 29 to January 1. Members should make 
their reservations at once. Material for the 
pathological exhibition may be forwarded in 
eare of Dr. Allen J. Smith, Room 214, Medi- 
eal Building, University of Pennsylvania. 

Martin G. BrumpaucH, Ph.D. (Pennsyl- 
vania), governor-elect of the state of Pennsyl- 
vania, was professor of pedagogy in the Uni- 


~ versity of Pennsylvania from 1895 to 1900 and 


from 1902 to 1906, since when he has been 
superintendent of schools for Philadelphia. 


At the meeting of the Association of Amer- 
ian Universities at Princeton University, on 
November 7, President George E. Vincent, of 
the University of Minnesota, was elected presi- 
dent; President Arthur T. Hadley, of Yale, 
vice-president, and Provost Edgar Fahs Smith, 
of the University of Pennsylvania, secretary. 
President John Grier Hibben, of Princeton, 
and President Thomas H. McBride, of the 
University of Iowa, were elected to the execu- 
tive committee. 

Ar the meeting of the Association of State 
University Presidents in Washington last 
week, President Benjamin Ide Wheeler, of the 


740 


University of California, was elected president 
and Dr. P. P. Claxton, U. S. Commissioner 
of Education, and President Harry B. Hut- 
chins, of the University of Michigan, vice- 
presidents. 


On the evening of October 19 a testimonial 
dinner was tendered to Dr. McCormick by the 
faculty and trustees of the University of Pitts- 
burgh, on the completion of his tenth year as 
chancellor of that institution. 


Av a largely attended dinner at the Sherman 
Hotel, Chicago, on November 9, the Chicago 
Pathological Society presented Dr. George 
Howitt Weaver with an appropriate testi- 
monial of its appreciation of his efficient 
services as secretary of the society for twenty 
consecutive years. Short addresses were made 
by Dr. J. B. Herrick, Dr. Wm. E. Quine, and 
Dr. L. Hektoen; Dr. Weaver responded. 


Dr. Stmon FLexner has been in Chicago to 
study the hoof and mouth disease and will 
continue the investigation by cultures in the 
Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research. 

Dr. Auten J. McLaueutin, formerly of the 
Public Health Service, assumed the duties of 
his office as health commissioner of Massachu- 
setts, at the beginning of November. 


Dr. Henry P. Watcott has been reappointed 
chairman of the Metropolitan Water and 
Sewerage Board of Boston. 

Dr. ArtHuR HarmMount Graves has resigned 
his position as assistant professor of botany in 
the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale Uni- 
versity, and is at present engaged in research 
at the laboratory of Professor V. H. Black- 
man, professor of plant physiology and pathol- 
ogy, Royal College of Science, South Kensing- 
ton, London. 

Mr. F. B. Suerwoop, B.S. (1912, North 
Carolina A. and M. College), has been ap- 
pointed assistant chemist to the North Caro- 
lina Agricultural Experiment Station. 


Dr. Jacos Eriksson has resigned the posi- 
tion of chief of the phytopathological experi- 
ment station at Stockholm, Sweden. 


On account of the war it has been agreed by 
the University of Chicago and the ministry of 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1038 


public instruction in Paris to postpone the 
lectures arranged to be given at the Sorbonne 
by Professor James Rowland Angell, head of 
the department of psychology and dean of the 
faculties of arts, literature and science. 


Proressor WILLIAM E. LIncELBAcH delivered 
his inaugural address as president of the Geo- 
graphical Society of Philadelphia on Novem- 
ber 4. His topic was “ Geography in Russian 
History.” He was presented to the society by 
Mr. Henry G. Bryant, whom he succeeds as 
president. 

On October 19, Dr. O. E. Ferree, of Bryn 
Mawr College, lectured before the Section of 
Astronomy, Physics and Chemistry of the 
New York Academy of Sciences on the efii- 
ciency of the eye under different systems of 
lighting. 

THE Syracuse Chapter of the Sigma Xi has 
held two meetings this autumn. On October 2 
Professor E. D. Roe reported on the meetings 
of the American Mathematical Society at 
Brown University and the American Astro- 
nomical Society at Chicago, while Professor 
F, A. Harvey reported on Professor Ruther- 
ford’s Washington lectures. On November 6 
an address was given by Dr. E. C. Day on 
“Electric Currents Generated in the Hye by 
Light” and another by Professor L. H. Pen- 
nington on “ Studies in Forest Fungi.” 


At the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Johns 
Hopkins Medical School, tablets set in the 
walls of the hospital were dedicated to the 
honored dead. The Journal of the American 
Medical Association states that one of these 
tablets is in memory of Dr. John Hewetson 
who was assistant resident physician at the 
hospital from 1890 to 1894. Another in the 
lobby of the main hospital building is in- 
seribed with the name of the late Dr. D. C. 
Gilman, first president of the university, one 
with that of Dr. James W. Lazear, who gave 
his life to study yellow fever and one with 
that of Dr. Rupert Norton who died a short 
time ago while assistant superintendent of 
the institution. 


Tue German newspapers print obituary 
notices of four university professors killed in 


NOVEMBER 20, 1914] 


the war. They are Heinrich Hermelink, pro- 
fessor of church history at Kiel; Ernst Heid- 
rich, professor of art and history at Strass- 
burg; Ernst Stadler, professor of German 
philology at Strassburg, and Professor 
Frincke, the head of the Hanover-Muenden 
Forestry Academy. Dr. Julius Liebmann, as- 
sistant in the Babelsberg Observatory, has 
also been killed in the war. | 


THE Swedish-English Antarctic expedition, 
headed by Dr. Otto Nordenskjold, will start in 
September, 1915, and proceed to Graham Land. 
The expedition will include twelve members. 
The Swedish government has granted half the 
expenses, while the other half will be sub- 
scribed in England. This latter money has 
nearly all been guaranteed. 


THE Journal of the American Medical As- 
sociation states that Surgeon Rudolph H. von 
Hzdorf, U. S. Public Health Service, has com- 
pleted a malarial survey of Virginia, and re- 
ports that he has located breeding places of 
the malarial mosquito and has taken steps 
toward its eradication. The next step of 
the work is the determination of how many 
people are carrying malaria in their blood, 
while the third part of the work is educational. 
The State Board of Health proposes to do a 
considerable amount of educational and eradi- 
eatory work during the year. 


STUDENTS in engineering schools are of- 
fered an opportunity to compete for $1,000 in 
prizes for essays on highway construction 
offered by the Barber Asphalt Paving Com- 
pany. 

Associate Prorrssor J. PAut Goons, of the 
department of geography at the University of 
Chicago, has in preparation a series of maps 
for colleges and schools, one of them being a 
large wall map of South America. In the ma- 
king of the last-named map, all available offi- 
cial source maps were used, and all the special 
maps of recent exploration. But in a great 
area between the Madeira and Tapajos rivers 
it was necessary to put the legend “ unex- 
plored,” until the results of Colonel Roose- 
vent’s expedition down the “ River of Doubt” 
were published. This map of South America. 


SCIENCE 


741 


with the location of the new river approved by 
Colonel Roosevelt, is one of a series of eight- 
een wall maps for use in colleges and schools 
upon which Professor Goode has been at work 
for some years and which is now nearing com- 
pletion. There is a map of each continent, of 
the United States, of the world on Mercator’s 
projection, and the world in hemispheres. 
Hach of these is presented as a physical map 
and also as a political map. 


AFTER a period of several years’ inactivity 
the Naturalist Field Club, of the University 
of Pennsylvania, is being reorganized by Dr. 
Colton, of the zoological department. Officers 
elected for the ensuing year are: President, 
R. Holroyd; First Vice-president, Miss Len- 
senig; Second Vice-president, S. Harberg; 
Third Vice-president, A. Kolb; Fourth Vice- 
president, Miss Richardson; Secretary, Miss 
Jerdine; Treasurer, C. Keeley. The club was 
organized with the special object of studying 
natural history in the field. This was done by 
taking field trips from time to time to dif- 
ferent sections of the surrounding country. 
Observations of birds, flowers, insects, trees 
and geological formations were made. It is 
planned to follow out the same plans in the 
future, the only difference of the reorganized 
club being in its officers. Formerly members 
of the faculty held all positions, but in the fu- 
ture the affairs of the club will be in the 
hands of students. A room in the zoological 
laboratory will be reserved for the club, and 
a dark room for the purpose of developing 
photographs has been arranged. 


THe quarterly return of the Registrar- 
General dealing with the births and deaths in 
the second quarter of the year, and with the 
marriages during the three months ending 
March last, is abstracted in the British Medical 
Journal. The annual marriage-rate during 
that period was equal to 11.1 per 1,000 of the 
population, and was 0.1 per 1,000 less than the 
mean rate in the corresponding quarters of the 
ten preceding years. The 226,013 births regis- 
tered in England and Wales last quarter were 
equal to an annual rate of 24.3 per 1,000 of the 
population, estimated at 37,302,983 persons in 


742 


the middle of the year. The birth-rate last 
quarter was 2.3 per 1,000 below the average for 
the corresponding period of the ten preceding 
years, and 0.4 per 1,000 below the rate in the 
second quarter of 1913. The birth-rates in the 
several counties ranged from 16.7 in Rutland- 
shire and 17.1 in Cardiganshire, to 29.8 in 
Glamorganshire and 32.38 in Durham. In 
ninety-seven of the largest towns the birth- 
rate averaged 25.5 per 1,000, and ranged from 
13.1 in Hastings to 34.4 in Middlesbrough; in 
London the rate was 25.2 per 1,000. The ex- 
cess of births over deaths during the quarter 
was 101,879, against 105,808, 102,293 and 105,- 
620 in the second quarters of the three pre- 
ceding years. From a return issued by the 
Board of Trade it appears that the passenger 
movement between the United Kingdom and 
places outside Europe resulted in a net balance 
outward of 17,030 passengers of British 
nationality, and a balance inwards of 13,566 
aliens. Between Europe and the United 
Kingdom there was a net balance inward 
of 19,308 British and of 15,887 aliens. 
Thus the total passenger movements resulted 
in a net balance inward of 41,731 persons. The 
deaths registered in England and Wales last 
quarter numbered 124,134, and were in the 
proportion of 13.3 annually per 1,000 persons 
living; the rate in the second quarters of the 
ten preceding years averaged 13.9 per 1,000. 
The lowest county death-rates last quarter were 
8.8 in Middlesex and 10.2 in Rutlandshire; the 
highest rates were 16.1 in Lancashire and 16.7 
in Merionethshire. In ninety-seven of the 
largest towns the death-rate averaged 13.8 per 
1,000; in London the rate was 13.1. The 124,- 
134 deaths from all causes included 3 from 
smallpox, 807 from enteric fever, 2,677 from 
measles, 645 from scarlet fever, 2,658 from 
whooping-cough, 1,122 from diphtheria and 
1,428 from diarrhea and enteritis among 
children under 2 years of age. The mortality 
from whooping-cough and diphtheria was ap- 
proximately equal to the average; that from 
scarlet fever was slightly below the average; 
and that from enteric fever and measles was 
about two thirds of the average. The rate of 
infant mortality, measured by the proportion 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1038 


of deaths among children under 1 year of age 
to registered births, was equal to 88 per 1,000, 
or 10 per 1,000 less than the average propor- 
tion in the ten preceding second quarters. 
Among the several counties the rates of infant 
mortality last quarter ranged from 45 in 
Buckinghamshire and in Rutlandshire to 110 
in Merionethshire and 111 in Lancashire. In 
ninety-seven of the largest towns the rate 
averaged 98 per 1,000; in London it was 79, 
while among the other towns it ranged from 
36 in Bath to 148 in Middlesbrough. The 
deaths among persons aged 1 to 65 years were 
equal to an annual rate of 7.6 per 1,000, and 
those among persons aged 65 years and up- 
wards to a rate ot 79.8 per 1,000 of the popu- 
lation estimated to be living at those ages. 


A sERIES of special lectures on chemical 
engineering will be delivered in the Mellon 
Institute of Industrial Research, University 
of Pittsburgh, as follows: 


November 9—‘‘Our New Knowledge of Coal,’’ 
by Dr. H. C. Porter, chemist, U. S. Bureau of 
Mines, Pittsburgh, Pa. 

November 16—‘‘ Recent Researches on the Com- 
bustion of Coal,’’ by Henry Kreisinger, engineer 
in charge of fuel tests, U. 8. Bureau of Mines, 
Pittsburgh, Pa. 

November 23—‘‘Some Applications of Pulver- 
ized Coal,’’ by Richard K. Meade, consulting 
chemist, Baltimore, Md. 

November 30—‘‘ Producer Gas,’’ by Dr. J. K. 
Clement, physicist, U. S. Bureau of Mines, Pitts- 
burgh, Pa. = 

December 7—‘‘The Softening of Water for In- 
dustrial Purposes,’’ by James O. Handy, director 
of research, Pittsburgh Testing Laboratories, 
Pittsburgh, Pa. 

December 14—‘‘The Classification of Clays,’’ 
by Professor Edward Orton, head of the depart- 
ment of ceramics and dean of the College of Engi- 
neering, Ohio State University. 

January 4—‘‘The Effect of Heat on Clays,’’ by 
Albert V. Bleininger, director, Technological Lab- 
oratory of the U. S. Bureau of Standards, Pitts- 
burgh, Pa. 

January 11—‘‘The Manufacture of Structural 
Clay Products,’’? by Albert V. Bleininger. 

January 18—‘‘The Manufacture of Refractor- 
ies,’? by Kenneth Seaver, chief chemist of the 
Harbison-Walker Refractories Co., Pittsburgh, Pa. 


NOVEMBER 20, 1914] 


January 25—‘‘The Manufacture of Porcelain,’’ 
by Ross C. Purdy, chief chemist of the Norton 
Company, Worcester, Mass. 

January 25—‘‘Glazes and Hnamels,’’ by Albert 
V. Bleininger. 

February 1—‘‘Special Phases of the Glass In- 
dustry,’’ a symposium, by Chas. H. Kerr, Pitts- 
burgh Plate Glass Co., Pittsburgh, Pa.; Dr. S. 
R. Scholes, assistant director, Mellon Institute of 
Industrial Research, University of Pittsburgh, 
Pittsburgh, Pa.; Professor Alexander Silverman, 
professor of chemistry, University of Pittsburgh. 

February 8—‘‘Special Methods of Pyrometry,’’ 
by Dr. H. S. Stupakoff, director of the Stupakofft 
Laboratories, Pittsburgh, Pa. 

February 15—‘‘The Present Status of the 
Chemical Technology of Vanadium,’’ by Dr. B. 
D. Saklat-Walla, chief chemist of the American 
Vanadium Co., Pittsburgh, Pa. 

February 22—‘‘The Manufacture of Steel 
Tubing,’’? by F. N. Speller, National Tube Com- 
pany. 

March 1—‘‘The Manufacture of Steel in the 
Electric Furnace,’’ by Professor Fred Crabtree, 
professor of metallurgy, Carnegie Institute of 
Technology, Pittsburgh, Pa. 

March 8—‘‘ The Corrosion of Iron and Steel,’’ 
by Dr. D. M. Buck, American Sheet and Tin Plate 
Co., Pittsburgh, Pa. 

March 15—‘‘ Catalysis,’’? by Dr. M. A. Rosanoff, 
professor of research chemistry, Mellon Institute 
of Industrial Research, University of Pittsburgh. 

March 22—‘‘Recent Developments in the Hlec- 
trochemistry of Organic Compounds,’’ by Dr. 
Harold Hibbert, research fellow, Mellon Institute 
of Industrial Research, University of Pittsburgh. 

March 29—‘‘Industrial Applications of the 
Phase Rule,’’ by Dr. M. A. Rosanoff. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 


By the will of Dr. George S. Lynde, of New 
York, Bowdoin College is left $10,000, Phillips 
Exeter Academy $20,000, as a memorial to Dr. 
Lynde’s parents, and Yale University is made 
the residuary legatee. The value of the estate 
is not given. 


Tue HK. H. Skinner Company, of Boston, are 
now at work constructing a new $25,000 organ 
for Oberlin College, which will be located in 
Finney Memorial Chapel. The new organ is 
the gift of Frederick Norton Finney, of Pasa- 


SCIENCE 


743 


dena, California, and of Charles M. Hall, of 
Niagara Falls. 


Tue University of Strassburg, like the other 
German universities, has opened the semester 
at the usual time. 


A MEMBER of the faculty of the University 
of Louvain has been engaged to give courses 
at the University of Chicago during the winter 
and spring quarters, his salary to be paid by 
Chicago. The name of the lecturer and his 
field of work will be announced later. 


THE master of Christ’s College, Cambridge, 
states that the university is taking in Belgian 
students from all Belgian universities, and a 
committee is endeavoring to organize syste- 
matic teaching in French and Flemish, and 
also hospitality. There are already some fifty 
students and more than twenty professors in 
residence. Though the resources of the com- 
mittee are limited, no student need be kept 
away by want of means. The master of 
Magdalen states that there are a number of 
Belgian professors at Oxford, including nine 
from Louvain, that a Belgian student’s com- 
mittee has been formed, and that it is in- 
tended to give facilities to professors and stu- 
dents for free admission to university institu- 
tions and lectures. 


Dr. Sipney KE. Mezus, president of the Uni- 
versity of Texas and previously professor of 
philosophy at that institution, has accepted the 
presidency of the College of the City of New 
York, vacant since the resignation of Dr. John 
H. Finley to become state commissioner of 
education. 


Dr. JAMES RowLanp ANGELL, professor of 
psychology and dean of the faculties of arts 
and literature at the University of Chicago, 
has been offered the presidency of the Univer- 
sity of Washington. 


Dr. F. M. Barnes, JR. has resigned from the 
faculty of the medical school of the St. Louis 
University, to become associate in psychiatry 
in Washington University. 


Tue following additions have been made to 
the staff of the chemistry department of the 
North Carolina College: C. F. Miller, B.S. 


744 


(Wesleyan, ’09), Ph.D. (Cornell, 714); E. L. 
Frederick, A.B. (11), Ph.D. (Johns Hopkins, 
14); J. T. Dobbins, A.B. (11), A.M. (12), 
Ph.D. (North Carolina, 714). 


New appointments at the Rice Institute are 
as follows: Claude William Heaps, B.Sc. 
(Northwestern), Ph.D. (Princeton), of Co- 
lumbia, Mo.; formerly fellow of Princeton 
University; instructor in physics at the Uni- 
versity of Missouri, to be instructor in physics; 
Arthur Romaine Hitch, B.A. (Washington), 
Ph.D. (Cornell), of Syracuse, N. Y.; formerly 
assistant instructor in chemistry at Cornell 
University, research chemist of the Solvay 
Process Company, Syracuse, N. Y., to be in- 
structor in chemistry; Herbert Kay Humphrey, 
B.Sce., in electrical engineering (Illinois), M.Sc. 
(Union), of Schenectady, N. Y., consulting 
engineer of the General Electric Company, 
Schenectady, N. Y., to be instructor in elec- 
trical engineering; Joseph Horace Pound, B.Sc. 
in mechanical engineering (Missouri), of 
Pittsburgh, Pa.; engineer and instructor in 
the School of Apprentices of the Westinghouse 
Machine Company, to be instructor in mechan- 
ical engineering; Edwin Eustace Reinke, 
M.A. (Lehigh), Ph.D. (Princeton), of Prince- 
ton, N. J., formerly Proctor fellow of Prince- 
ton University, to be instructor in biology; 
Radoslav Andrea Tsanoff, B.A. (Oberlin), 
Ph.D. (Cornell), of Worcester, Mass., formerly 
Sage fellow of Cornell University; instructor 
in philosophy at Clark University, to be assist- 
ant professor of philosophy; William John Van 
Sicklen, M.A. (Stanford), of Palo Alto, Calif., 
instructor in chemistry at Stanford Univer- 
sity, to be instructor in chemistry. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 


THE ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS 


To THE Epiror or Scrmnce: In the current 
number of The Atlantic Monthly there ap- 
pears, on one of the pages devoted to bio- 
graphical sketches of the contributors, a state- 
ment concerning the committee on the organi- 
zation of a national Association of University 
Professors, to which reference is made in Pro- 
fessor H. C. Warren’s valuable article on 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1038 


“ Academic Freedom ” in the same issue. The 
statement seriously misrepresents the func- 
tions of the committee and the purposes of 
those interested in the organization of the 
new society; and it is published without the 
committee’s authorization, and, as Professor 
Warren permits me to say, without that of the 
author of the article. The committee is in no 
sense a body for the investigation of griey- 
ances or for the examination of internal con- 
ditions in American universities. Its only 
duty is to prepare plans for the formation of 
a representative professional organization of 
university teachers. The committee has de- 
fined its own understanding of the purposes of 
the organization as follows: 


. to bring about more effective cooperation 
among the members of the profession in the dis- 
charge of their special responsibilities as custo- 
dians of the interests of higher education and re- 
search in America; to promote a more general and 
methodical discussion of problems relating to edu- 
cation in higher institutions of learning; to create 
means for the authoritative expression of the pub- 
lie opinion of the body of college and university 
teachers; to make collective action possible, and in 
general to maintain and advance the ideals and 
standards of the profession. 


It may perhaps be well to take this occasion 
to report to those interested that the com- 
mittee expects to call a meeting for the formal 
organization of the association during the last 
week of December. The day and place can not 
yet be announced. The committee, after much 
discussion, determined last spring that mem- 
bers of the profession should, at least at the 
outset, be asked to adhere to the association 
as individuals, and not as representatives of 
their local faculties. The committee is there- 
fore about to send out invitations to a large 
number of university and college professors 
who are known to the committee, or to those 
who have been called upon for advice in the 
matter, as well qualified representatives of the 
several sciences. Doubtless, through the limi- 
tations of the knowledge of the committee and 
its advisers, many to whom invitations 
should be sent will be overlooked. It is not 
contemplated, however, that the eventual 


NOVEMBER 20, 1914] 


membership of the association will be limited 
to those who will be asked to attend this 
meeting. The committee merely sought, by 
the means indicated, to bring together a body 
much larger and more representative than 
itself, which may constitute a nucleus for the 
association, and to whose judgment the com- 
mittee may submit its recommendations. 

The committee is not empowered to define 
authoritatively either the purposes or the 
scope of the association, or the conditions for 
membership in it. It is, however, to be ex- 
pected that the association’s future policy with 
regard to these matters will be determined at 
the meeting to be held next month. 

Since the previous announcement of the 
personnel of the committee, the following 
members have been added to it: 

G. B. Frankforter, 

University of Minnesota, 
H. B. Mumford, 

University of Dlinois, 
C. E. Bessey, 

University of Nebraska, 
Samuel B. Harding, 

University of Indiana, 
Perey Bordwell, 

University of Iowa, 
T. S. P. Tatlock, 

University of Michigan, 
J. W. Garner, 

University of Illinois, 
C. D. Adams, 

Dartmouth College. 

The chairman of the committee, Professor 
John Dewey, of Columbia University, or the 
undersigned, will welcome suggestions from 
any member of the university teaching pro- 
fession relating to the plan of organization 
and the future work of the proposed associa- 
tion. 

ArtHur O. Lovesoy, 
Secretary 
BALTIMORE, 
November 3, 1914 


ATMOSPHERIC OPTICAL PHENOMENA 


To THE Epiror oF Science: The letters from 
‘Messrs. H. W. Farwell and A. W. Freeman, 


SCIENCE 


745 


published in Scrmncr, October 23, 1914, pp. 
595-596, are two of the many recent indica- 
tions of the fact that more attention is now 
being given than formerly to the observa- 
tion of atmospheric-optical phenomena. The 
meteor seen by Mr. Freeman was not, as he 
supposes, a tertiary rainbow, but the circum- 
zenithal are of a solar halo. This particular 
are is also known as the upper quasi-tangent 
are of the halo of 46 degrees. 

The complex halo observed by Mr. Freeman 
at Fredericksburg, Wa., November 2, 1913, 
was visible, in various degrees of development, 
on November 1 and 2, at a great number of 
places throughout the eastern half of the 
United States, and constituted the most re- 
markable display of the kind heretofore re- 
eorded in this country. It should be noted 
that the small arc, convex to the sun, marked 
“vainbow” in Mr. Freeman’s drawing, was 
the same phenomenon as that observed by Mr. 
Farwell, 2. e., the cireumzenithal are of a halo. 
The term “rainbow” is highly inappropriate 
for this or any other halo phenomenon. 

Mr. Freeman’s observation is noteworthy on 
account of including the rare phenomenon of 
the anthelion—a white mock-sun directly oppo- 
site the sun in azimuth, and at the same alti- 
tude above the horizon. The large outer 
circle, shown in the drawing, extending around 
the horizon, is the parhelic circle, a well-known 
though rather uncommon phenomenon. The 
inner, partial circle, drawn parallel to this, is 
decidedly unusual. It appears to be a second- 
ary parhelic circle, produced by the upper 
vertical parhelion of the 22-degree halo serving 
as luminous source. This and other second- 
ary halo phenomena produced by parhelia have 
been described by Bravais and Besson. 

The August number of the Monthly Weather 
Review, which has just appeared, contains a 
translation of a recent memoir by Besson de- 
seribing all known forms of halo. No such 
comprehensive account of these phenomena has 
heretofore been published in English. The 
same number of the Review contains an exten- 
sive report on the halos of November 1-2, 1913. 


C. FirzaucH TALMAN 
U. S. WEATHER BUREAU ~ 


746 


QUOTATIONS 
FOOT-AND-MOUTH DISEASE 

In view of the recent outbreak of foot-and- 
mouth disease in the Mississippi Valley, the 
most extensive as yet in the United States, a 
brief consideration of the principal features 
of the disease may be of interest. It is an 
acute, highly infectious disease, which occurs 
chiefly in cattle, sheep, goats and swine, 
though other animals such as the horse and 
dog, as well as certain wild animals are at- 
tacked also, and it may affect human beings. 
In animals it is characterized especially by 
the eruption of vesicles in the mouth and on 
the feet, in some species more in the mouth, 
in others more on the feet. It cattle the incu- 
bation period averages from three to five days, 
whereupon a moderate fever with loss of appe- 
tite and other general symptoms sets in. In 
two or three days small blisters appear on the 
lining of the mouth, and now the fever usually 
subsides. At the same time one or more feet 
may show tenderness and swelling of the skin, 
soon vesicles form here also, and the animal 
goes lame. In the mouth the blisters may 
reach half an inch or more in diameter, but 
usually they are smaller; the contents, at first 
clear, become turbid, 4nd as the covering 
bursts, small painful erosions are produced 
which either heal quite promptly or turn into 
ulcers that heal more slowly. Usually the milk 
is altered and reduced in quantity; blisters 
and ulcers may form on the udder. There is 
marked loss of weight, as the animals do not 
eat because of the pain. Jn this, the ordinary 
form, in which the death-rate is very small ex- 
cept among the young, the symptoms fade away 
in from ten to twenty days or so, except when 
complicating local secondary infections delay 
recovery, but there are also severe forms with 
extensive infection of the respiratory tract and 
gastro-intestinal inflammation, which fre- 
quently end in sudden death. Im such severe 
cases ulcers are found in the stomach and in- 
testines. In sheep and swine, lesions of the 
feet predominate. The disease is transmis- 
sible to the fetus in utero. 

The cause of the disease is present in the 
contents of the vesicles, the discharges from 
the ulcers, the saliva, the milk, the urine and 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1038 


feces, but as a rule not after the tenth day. 
It is stated that animals having had the dis- 
ease may carry the virus for months. Any 
susceptible species may infect any other sus- 
ceptible species. Infection occurs not only 
through direct contact, but also indirectly, as 
the virus retains its virulence for some little 
time, at least outside the body. Contamina- 
tion of fodder, of stalls, of feeding and drink- 
ing troughs, of milk and milk products and of 
the hands and clothes of drovers serves to 
spread the disease, which often travels over 
wide stretches of country with remarkable 
rapidity, as shown by the present outbreak. 
As from 25 to 50 per cent. of the cattle ex- 
posed to infection may become sick, there re- 
sults great loss from fall in the production of 
milk, from reduction of vitality and fecundity, 
and from deaths as well as on account of the 
measures adopted to stamp out the epizootic. 

The immunity produced by an attack seems 
to be feeble, as animals are said to suffer some- 
times more than one attack within a short 
time. So far no practical method of protec- 
tive inoculation has been developed. 

Our knowledge of the cause of foot-and- 
mouth disease is limited to the fact that it 
concerns a filterable virus, as yet invisible and 
incultivable. It was in 1897 that Loffler and 
Frosch made their classical experiment, show- 
ing that the disease is caused by a living, pro- 
liferative virus that passes filters which do not 
permit bacteria to go through, an experiment 
that has served as a model for all the subse- 
quent work on the many other forms of filter- 
able virus recognized since then. Foot-and- 
mouth virus may remain active for months if 
kept cool and moist, but is destroyed rapidly 
by drying, by heat at 60° C. (140° F.) and 
above, by formaldehyd and by phenol (car- 
bolic acid). The wide range of virulence of 
this virus among animal species has been indi- 
cated, and as stated, the disease may affect hu- 
man beings, especially children, being trans- 
mitted by milk from diseased cows (experi- 
mentally verified) and by butter and cheese 
made from such milk as well as through 


1 Moore, ‘‘The Etiology of Infectious Diseases 
in Animals,’’? 1906. 


NOVEMBER 20, 1914] 


wounds and in other ways. While the course 
usually is favorable, an epidemic described by 
Siegel had a mortality of 8 per cent. The 
manifestations are fever, digestive disturb- 
ances and vesicular eruption on the lips, the 
oropharyngeal lining (“ aphthous fever”) and 
sometimes on the skin. Where there is 
danger of contamination of the milk with 
the foot-and-mouth virus, thorough pasteuri- 
zation of all milk and milk products is doubly 
indicated.—Journal of the American Medical 
Association. 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 


Perception, Physics and Reality. By CO. D. 
Broad, M.A., Fellow of Trinity College, 
Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 
1914. Pp. xii + 388. 

The essay of Mr. Broad is the outgrowth of 

a dissertation presented to Trinity College, 

Cambridge, at the examination for fellowships. 

As now published it is an enquiry into the in- 

formation that physical science can supply 

about the real. Evidently the speculative tend- 
encies of recent science have attracted the 
attention of philosophers, and to some extent 

their envy. As Mr. Broad says: “When a 

certain way of looking at the universe meets 

with the extraordinary success with which 
that of physics has met it becomes the duty 
of the philosopher to investigate it with care; 
for it is likely to offer a very much better 
cosmology than his own unaided efforts can 
do.” This success is due to the fact, he 
thinks, that most scientists start from a posi- 
tion of naif realism. The only successful 
rival, at the present time, to this realism is 
the phenomenalism which has resulted from 
the work of Mach and his followers. And 
this phenomenalism which holds that the ob- 
jects of our perceptions are non-existent ex- 
cept when they are perceived is not according 

to Mr. Broad, an adequate foundation for a 

scientific system. He thus disapproves of the 

modern physicists who are regarding energy 
and electricity as entities rather than as attri- 
butes. 

The essay begins with a discussion of the 
arguments which have been advanced against 


SCIENCE 


747 


naif realism, and after weighing the evidence 
he comes to the conclusion “that none of 
these arguments which are so confidently re- 
peated by philosophers really give conclusive 
reasons for dropping even the crudest kind of 
realism.” Since it is difficult to advance in 
science without a belief in some law of cause 
and effect, he next discusses the arguments 
which philosophers haye advanced against 
causation. This is followed by chapters on 
the arguments for and against phenomenalism 
and the causal theory of perception. The es- 
say closes with a comparison between New- 
tonian mechanics and the so-called new me- 
chanics which is based on variability of mass 
with speed. Mr. Broad is quite conservative, 
for while he does not say that the principles 
of mechanics which have become classic may 
not require revision from time to time, yet 
“the more general laws will still be laws about 
positions and velocities of some extended qual- 
ity or qualities, and, as such, will be capable 
of the same sort of defence that I have of- 
fered for the traditional mechanical physics.” 
His opinion is not of great value to the 
physicist who is not asking for a defence of 
traditional mechanical physics but who is 
much worried about the nature of “some ex- 
tended quality or qualities” which has posi- 
tion and velocity. He is anxious to know 
whether it is matter, electricity or energy. 
The philosophical method of Mr. Broad is 
that of the neo-realists and he owes much, 
as he acknowledges, to the lectures and con- 
versation of Mr. Bertrand Russell. His point 
of greatest departure from Mr. Russell’s teach- 
ing is perhaps the substitution of the crite- 
rion of probability for certainty. This is to 
make philosophy approach more closely to scei- 
ence. As he says in his introduction: “TI have 
constantly put my conclusions in terms of 
probability and not of certainty. This will 
perhaps seem peculiar in a work which claims 
to be philosophical. It seems to me that one 
of the most unfortunate of Kant’s obzter 
dicta is that philosophy only deals with cer- 
tainty, and not with probability. So far is this 
from being the case that to many philosoph- 
ical questions about the nature of reality no 


748 


answer except one in terms of probability can 
be offered; whilst to some there seems no pros- 
pect of an answer even in these terms. Few 
things are more pathetic than the assumption 
which practically every philosopher makes 
that his answer to such questions is the 
unique possible answer; and few things are 
funnier than the sight of a philosopher with 
a theory about the real and the nature of per- 
ception founded on numberless implicit as- 
sumptions which, when made explicit, carry 
no conviction whatever, telling the scientist 
de haut en bas that his atoms and ether are 
mere economical hypotheses.” This is a rather 
long quotation, but it gives very vividly Mr. 
Broad’s philosophical standpoint. While it is 
a good and safe attitude, one can not help 
wondering what the value of a philosophical 
determination of reality may be. Reality 
which depends at best on its probable truth is 
a doubtful reality and must continue to be a 
question of dispute. Does it not become ulti- 
mately a question of temperament; one either 
is convinced of the reality of the external 
world, or he is not, and logic will have but 
little effect on his judgment ? 

Mr. Russell and his followers are able to 
give a specious appearance of certainty to 
their deductions by employing an esoteric sys- 
tem of mathematical symbols and analysis. 
He, himself, is both a mathematician and a 
philosopher. As the former, he must know 
that mathematical analysis will not give cor- 
rect conclusions if the postulates contain an 
error. He must also know that even if the 
postulates be correct, the conclusion is with- 
out meaning if the idea represented by a given 
symbol should change to an appreciable extent 
during the transformations. For example, if 
V represents a constant velocity and if, during 
an experiment, the velocity should change by 
a measurable amount, then no conclusion 
could be drawn from our analysis unless V is 
changed to V’, and in addition we know the 
exact relation between V and V’. The reason 
why mathematics can be applied to interpret 
physical and astronomical phenomena so satis- 
factorily is because the ideas represented by 
the symbols in those sciences are simple and 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Von. XL. No. 1038 


can be measured with great accuracy. Now 
this is not the case, except to a much more 
limited degree, even with the other sciences, 
and it certainly does not obtain for the far 
more complex questions of philosophy. 

While Mr. Broad employs the method of 
Mr. Russell more or less throughout his essay, 
yet he rarely goes so far as to use the very 
irritating symbolism of his teacher. He has 
in fact only two specific examples, and of 
these the one on page 318 applies to a com- 
plicated problem of motion; the other ex- 
ample, on page 165, is better suited as an 
illustration for criticism. Here p is the prop- 
osition, phenomenalism is true; and q is the 
proposition that the objects of our perceptions 
depend on the structure of our organs. Can 
we prove p from this?’ By a manipulation of 
p and q which is printed so as to resemble a 
bastard kind of mathematics, he arrives at the 
conclusion that we can not prove p from the 
argument. We know that Berkeley was so 
shocked when he arrived at the same conclu- 
sion that he created God so that there might 
be a reality which could always perceive our 
organs of perception and thus give them a 
kind of pseudo-reality when no one else was 
near enough to perceive them. But that is not 
the point. It is pretty certain that q stands 
for so complex an idea or proposition that each 
of Mr. Broad’s n readers will have received 
an idea differing sufficiently from the others 
to make it advisable to represent the proposi- 
tion in these varying aspects by the series 
Gy» Ue» I» - ++» Q- And furthermore, during 
an extended argument, each one’s idea will, 
I think, change sufficiently to require changes 
in his g. The result is that q becomes the 
highly complex series q,, qo, - +» + Qn3 G4» Qo» 
2s On 5% > In» + + In, ete. Not even the 
mathematical laws of probability can cope 
with such a problem. 

The fact is, no philosophical method has 
been devised which can settle the questions 
involved in realism and phenomenalism. But 
much ean be gained by a discussion of the 
arguments for and against these ideas. And 
it is in this discussion that the interest and 
value of Mr. Broad’s essay are displayed. 


NOVEMBER 20, 1914] 


Scientists, especially, should read the book, if 
for no other reason than to convince them- 
selves how metaphysical their scientific hypoth- 
eses are. 
Louis TRENCHARD More 
UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI 


Hssentials of College Botany. By Onarurs B. 
Bessry, Professor in the University of Ne- 
braska, and Ernest A. Bessey, Professor 
in the Michigan Agricultural College. 

_ American Science Series. The eighth edi- 
tion revised and entirely rewritten. Henry 

Holt & Co. 1914. Pp. xiv-+ 409 with 206 

illustrations. 

The authorship of this essentially new book 
is unique in American botanical literature, 
and as a fitting foreword it is a pleasure to re- 
eall that the senior author has spent over two 
score of years in the constant and very fruit- 
ful pursuit of botany. The junior author, 
the son, was therefore reared in an invigo- 
rating atmosphere of phytology, since which 
he has been at the head of the department of 
botany in the Michigan Agricultural College, 
the very place where the father began, as an 
undergraduate, the serious study of the sub- 
ject conjointly expounded in this text-book 
fresh from the press. 

As a winning football team is sometimes 
built up around a star player, so here it is 
quickly noted that the book in hand has a 
dominant feature, namely evolution, and its 
title might well be phytophylogeny. In other 
words in the groundplan one sees fourteen 
phyla (branches) of the vegetable kingdom 
arranged in the order of the probable ap- 
pearance of their members (species) in point 
of geologic time. The senior author has long 
specialized in taxonomy, publishing his re- 
sults from time to time in pamphlet form, as, 
for example, “A Synopsis of Plant Phyla” 
(1907), and now the botanical world welcomes 
the appearance of the present work in which 
phylogeny is made the keynote of a text-book. 

The phylum is the group unit employed for 
expanding the fundamental doctrine of evo- 
lution, namely, that the first species were 
low plants and from them have evolved all 


SCIENCE 


749 


others, thus making all species genetically 
related, whether far or near, low or high. The 
lowest of the fourteen phyla is the myxophycer 
(slime algz:)—(the slime fungi find no place 
in the plant kingdom), and ends with antho- 
phyta (flowering plants). Hach phylum has its 
separate chapter, in which the dominant fea- 
ture is considered through “laboratory studies ” 
of types followed by a short bibliography. 
Thus, for example, “ phylum V., pheophycea— 
the brown alge ” has for its characteristic idea 
the addition of the brown pigment, with which 
certain structural features are associated. This 
phylum is a lateral divergence from the main 
evolutionary stem. Again “phylum VIIL., 
bryophyta—the mossworts,” is derived from 
the Chlorophycee (simple alex), shows (a) 
obvious alternation of generations, (b) begin- 
nings of conductive tissue and (c) the mem- 
bers grow upon land. “Laboratory studies,” 
as usual, are given under the classes, namely, 
liverworts and mosses. 

The last chapter, and last phylum, deals with 
anthophyta (flowering plants) and includes 
more than a half of all known plant species. 
In the laboratory the pupil will here receive 
the instruction that usually is found in the 
early pages of the less modern text-books. This 
chapter closes with a tabulation of the “ greater 
steps” in the development of the highest 
from the lowest plants. 

While the method here followed is logical 
from the evolutionary viewpoint, as a matter 
of fact many pupils get into college seriously 
deficient in botanical perspective, and therefore 
a few preliminary lessons upon the more eyvi- 
dent parts of the higher plants and something 
of their functions would be advantageous be- 
fore “making the plunge” into the depths of 
protoplasm, the most complex of all substances 
when measured by its boundless activities and 
possibilities. Therefore it might not be a 
erime to begin the class with a portion of this 
last chapter, thus bringing the pupils even by 
way of review in closer touch with the world- 
wide out-of-door botany. Next to kinship is 
social relations, and one wishes that the pupils 
might be introduced to plant societies, that is, 
to the environmental factors, namely, ecology, 


750 


but that is, perhaps, too far afield for this work, 
and a companion to it upon field botany may 
follow. 

Concerning the fourteen phyla it is evident 
that number of species is no criterion as, for 
example, the calamorphyta with its twenty- 
four existing species, in a single genus of 
insignificant plants, stands in the same grade 
of groups with anthophyta with its 132,000 
present-day species. The authors state that 
“nhilosophically a phylum originates with 
the incoming of a new idea. Stated structur- 
ally, it has its beginning with the development 
of a dominant morphological peculiarity. 
Stated taxonomically its initial point is indi- 
cated by the appearance of a new character.” 
So long as the “new character” dominates 
the phylum remains, but later “ideas” may be 
expressed, and when they become dominant new 
phyla arise successively, and thus the phylo- 
genetic tree is built up. It is evident that 
there might be some difficulty in securing the 
weights of new ideas in the scale pan of 
phylogeny, determine the dominance of a 
“morphological peculiarity ” and the appear- 
ance in time of a “new character ”—all of 
phylum grade, and therefore so long as the 
personal equation plays its réle the last shift 
in the phylogenetic scheme is not yet made. 

The “Key to the Phyla of Plants” follows 
directly upon the fourteen phylum chapters, 
occupies fifty pages, brings the classification 
down through classes, orders to families and 
under these last 683 groups illustrative genera 
are named. This feature of the book is closed 
with reproductions of wall charts showing in 
one the relationship of the phyla and in the 
other those of the orders in the anthophyta. 
These charts will be of great help in genetics 
and perhaps the publishers may be induced to 
issue them in large size for classrooms. It is 
a pleasant thought that these charts, when 
reduced to page size, suggest at first glance the 
forms of certain species of alge and fungi. 

The early chapters remind one of the first 
edition, particularly those upon “ Tissues” 
and “Tissue Systems.” More space for 
greater elaboration seems advisable here, and 
the single chapter upon physiology needs ex- 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8S. Vou. XL. No. 1038 


panding to three upon nutrition, growth and 
reproduction, respectively, with possibly one 
upon pathology—a subject that nowadays can 
not be adequately treated in four small pages. 

Chapter V. “The Chemistry of the Plant” 
is an assemblage of the plant constituents with 
their formule and occurrence. These pages do 
not admit of use as either text or laboratory 
studies, and would make an appropriate ap- 
pendix, possibly associated with a similar 
grouping of phytophysical facts and principles. 

Twenty-nine pages of index “speak vol- 
umes” for the book. 

It is a matter of regret that in a text-book 
where evolution is the fundamental thought 
the subject of species-making is not presented 
somewhat fully and even historically in out- 
line. Under the topic “Variations” both 
“natural selection” and “ Mendelism” are 
touched upon and “mutations” barely men- 
tioned. It is judged that the authors are 
essentially Darwinians who strengthen their 
book by frankly stating their ignorance of the 
way “inherited variations” arise. They are 
equally wise with their “we do not know” in 
other places in the text. 

As a general criticism, previously hinted, 
the book seems too small for its contents. The 
tendency to list instead of to elaborate is felt, 
due doubtless to a fixed limit of space set by 
the series of which it forms a unit. The 
authors have done their work admirably under 
the pressure, and it is regrettable that the 
publishers are sometimes at fault. Fanciful 
colored pictures that inflame the imagination 
are not asked for, but clear photo- and line- 
engravings that supplement the text are de- 
manded. Many of the illustrations are too 
small and “inky”; for example, those under 
physiology, and give the pages a “pinched ” 
appearance. Hven the full-page phylum charts 
require a reading glass, in parts, for their use. 
The proof-reader fails at times as in uniform- 
ity of type for botanical names of plants (e. g., 
p. 53). 

Botanical teachers and taxonomists and 
paleobotanists as well, can not but feel deeply 
thankful for the appearance of this new text- 
book differing from others in its point of view 


NOVEMBER 20, 1914] 


and setting down in a concise and clear form 
the results of many years of very successful 
study and teaching of the subject presented. 
It may well become a new starting point for 
editions that should take on the size and type 
of illustration that the dignity of a college 
botany deserves. Here is a hearty welcome 
to the new text-book in phytophylogeny—The 
Besseys’ Botany Book of Branches. 
Byron D. Hatstep 
RUTGERS COLLEGE, 
October 28, 1914 


Botanical Features of the Algerian Sahara. 
By Witi1am Austin Cannon. (Publication 
No. 178, Carnegie Institution of Washing- 
ton. 1918. 81 pages, 36 plates.) 

The journey of which this paper is an ac- 
eount was made in order “to examine the 
more obvious features of the physiological 
conditions prevalent in the region in question 
and, in connection with these observations, to 
make some detailed studies of the root-habits 
of the most striking species of the native 
flora.” 

After introductory chapters on the geog- 
raphy and climate of Algeria, the writer pro- 
ceeds with an itinerary of his trip through the 
desert. This portion of the paper contains a 
great deal of topographical detail, together 
with much that is of directly botanical inter- 
est, although presented in a somewhat desul- 
tory way. The important botanical data are 
treated more systematically in the “ General 
Summary and Conclusions” (pp. 66-81). 

The author’s intimate acquaintance with 
the vegetation of the southern Arizona deserts 
makes his comparison of conditions there and 
in the Algerian Sahara of special interest and 
value. Some of the striking points of differ- 
ence aS summarized in the concluding para- 
graphs are: (1) the greater sparseness of the 
Saharan vegetation, as compared with that of 
Arizona, there being “ probably no large area 
in southern Arizona, where the soil conditions 
are favorable for plants, where the water con- 
ditions are too meager to support a perennial 
flora of some sort. The greater aridity of the 
northern portion of the Sahara is evident, 


SCIENCE 


761 


therefore, from the great contrast in its flora.” 
Cannon therefore suggests the term “semi- 
desert” for the Arizona region in contrast 
with a true “desert ” like the Algerian Sahara. 
(2) The smaller size of the individual plants, 
at least of the perennial species, in the Sahara. 
(3) The smaller development of spines. “What 
may be the proportion of armed to unarmed 
plants in the northern Sahara I do not know, 
but to a person familiar with the plants of 
southern Arizona, where spinose forms are very 
numerous, the Algerian plants do not appear 
especially well protected.” 

Attention is also called to the fact that 
while in the Arizona desert there are numer- 
ous species, among the Cactacee and other 
families which have a “water balance,” i. e., 
which during and immediately after rains 
store water in their tissues, to be drawn upon 
in periods of drought; few examples of this 
adaptation were met with in the Algerian 
Sahara. Cannon correlates this scarcity of 
“water balance” plants with the fact that in 
Algeria there is but one rainy season. He notes 
that in the Tucson region, where such plants 
are numerous, there are two rainy seasons dur- 
ing the year, while in the desert region farther 
west, where but one well marked rainy season 
occurs, succulent plants are few or wanting. 

The author’s studies of the root habits of 
desert plants in Arizona led him to devote 
especial attention to this feature of the 
Saharan vegetation. The results of his in- 
vestigations are summed up as follows: “A 
study of the relation of the root-type of the 
Algerian plants to the plant’s distribution 
leads to the same general conclusion already 
obtained by similar but more extended study 
in the Arizona desert, namely, that the con- 
nection is often a very close one and often of 
definitive importance. Where the root-type is 
an obligate type the distribution of the spe- 
cies is much restricted, but where it undergoes 
modification with changed environment the 
distribution of the species is much less con- 
fined. It is of interest to note especially that 
as a rule it is the latter kind of root system 
that is developed by such plants as occur 
where the soil conditions are most arid, that 


752 


is, on the hamada or its equivalent, and not 
the former, from which it follows that the 
generalized type of root-system is really the 
xerophytie type par excellence, and not the 
type with the most deeply penetrating tap-root, 
as might be supposed.” An interesting case 
of accommodation of root habit to character 
of the soil is mentioned: “The roots of 
Haloxylon on the hamada at Ghardaia develop 
both laterals and a main root, but in deeper 
soil, as at Biskra and Ghardaia also, the 
laterals are nearly suppressed and the tap-root 
is the striking feature.” 

The Algerian desert vegetation was found 
to have been greatly modified by grazing. In 
the vicinity of large towns, such as Ghardaia, 
the cemeteries, which are surrounded by walls, 
were practically the only places where the 
native vegetation could be found in a rela- 
tively undisturbed condition. The author 
comments on the fact that certain species, 
Halozylon articulatum, for example, which 
are persistently grazed and of which the dis- 
semination would appear to be very difficult, 
nevertheless remain extremely abundant. It 
is pointed out that this factor must have been 
operative even before domesticated animals 
were introduced into the region, since the na- 
tive fauna includes several grazing animals. 
A. striking indication of the modifying influ- 
ence which the persistent action of this factor 
during many centuries must have had upon 
the vegetation is afforded by the present dis- 
tribution of the betoum (Pistacia atlantica) : 
“The betoum, which is the largest arboreal 
species in the Sahara, is confined to the region 
of the Dayas; that is, to the country immedi- 
ately south of Laghouat. The tree is un- 
armed and is eagerly sought after by all her- 
bivorous animals for its foliage and tender 
twigs. Owing to the presence of such animals, 
wild and domesticated, the young tree would 
have no chance to survive were it not that, 
growing in association with it, is the jujube 
(Zizyphus lotus), which is armed and is not 
eaten by any animals. The jujube affords safe 
protection for the seedling betoum, and in its 
capacity as nurse prevents predatory attacks 
by animals during the critical period. The 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1038 


survival (and probably the distribution as 
well) of the betoum is mainly conditioned on 
the presence of its protector.” 

At Ghardaia it was observed that many of 
the perennial species were resuming growth 
and beginning to flower in November, although 
no rain had fallen for twelve months. The 
following explanation is suggested: “ Judging 
from analogy, therefore, it would appear that 
the stimulus to development on the part of the 
WZabite plants may be from the relatively 
better water relations made possible by a lower 
temperature without rain. In November at 
Ghardaia the evaporation rate is much below 
that of summer, that during the night being 
very small. Further, it was told me by good 
authority that the same species seen growing 
in autumn renew growth whenever rain 
chances to come, whatever might be the sea- 
son. But it should be remembered that rain 
most commonly occurs in this region in winter, 
so that the plants may have a rhythm to 
which they usually conform, but from which 
they may depart, and that both stimuli (better 
water relations and lower temperature) are 
the annually recurring factors by which it 
may have been induced. Reference, of course, 
is made to perennials only, as no annuals 
were seen until the rains of spring made con- 
ditions favorable for their appearance.” 

Exposure appeared to be an important factor 
in plant distribution only near the northern 
edge of the desert. 

“Tn parts of the Sahara visited where the 
most rain is reported, especially Laghouat and 
Biskra, plants were observed to exhibit expo- 
sure preference. Here the south or southerly 
facing slopes may have a floral composition 
different from the opposite exposure. In each 
instance the soil conditions, and apparently 
the moisture conditions also, were alike.” 
Farther south, at Ghardaia, “provided there 
is sufficient depth of soil, apparently any spe- 
cies may be found on any exposure.” 

The numerous excellent illustrations show- 
ing the general appearance of various types of 
vegetation and the habit and root development 
of characteristic species are an attractive fea- 
ture of this publication. 


a at 


NOVEMBER 20, 1914] 


The scientific value of the facts and con- 
clusions makes it regrettable that more atten- 
tion was not paid to the manner of their pre- 
sentation. The arrangement of the subject 
matter is not very satisfactory and there is a 
noticeable tendency to diffuseness and repeti- 
tion. There is evidence on every page of hasty 
writing or of inadequate editing and proof- 
reading. The want of precision in statement 
frequently leads to ambiguity. 

These faults of style detract from the pleas- 
ure which the reader would otherwise derive 
from the interesting subject matter. In this 
respect the present paper is not peculiar, how- 
ever, scientific writings being all too frequently 
deficient in literary form. The effectiveness 
of much good work in science is diminished 
through lack of care in its preparation for 
publication. 

Tuomas H. Krarnry 
U.S. DEPARTMENT or AGRICULTURE 


British Antarctic “Terra Nova” Hzxpedition, 
1910. Zoology, Vol. 1, No. 1. Fishes by 
CO. Tate Reaan, M.A. 4°. Pp. 54. Pl. I- 
XIII. British Museum, Nat. Hist., June 
27, 1914. 

This is the first of the reports on the Natural 
History of the expedition conducted by the 
late Capt. Scott, R.N. The Antarctic fishes 
obtained comprise twenty-five species, of which 
four are new generic types and twelve species 
are new to science. Nearly all are from rather 
deep water. Most of the species belong to the 
Nototheniiformes. A new genus of the Bathy- 
draconids resembles the northern Cottoid 
Icelus in its armature of bony spinose plates 
and the discovery of an Antarctic species of 
Paraliparis is interesting. 

For the first time according to the author, 
the knowledge of the coast fishes of the Ant- 
arctic continent is sufficiently complete to 
make it worth while to attempt to delimit an 
antarctic zone and to divide it into districts. 
South of the tropical zone the distribution of 
coast fishes is thus classified by him. (1) 
South Temperate zone with seven districts: 
Chile, Argentina, Tristran d’Acunha, Cape of 
Good Hope, St. Paul Island, Australia and 


SCIENCE | 753 


New Zealand. (2) Subantarctic zone, with 
the districts of Magellan and Antipodes, the 
latter including the island near and south of 
New Zealand. (3) Antarctic zone with the 
Glacial and Kerguelen districts. The Ant- 
aretie zone is characterized by the complete 
absence of South Temperate types and Bovich- 
thydee, and the great development of the other 
Nototheniiformes. The facts point to the con- 
clusion that Antarctica may have been long 
isolated and that its coasts may have been 
washed by a cold sea probably throughout the 
entire Tertiary period. The author rejects 
the idea that it may have been connected with 
South America during recent geological time, 
as supposed by Dollo in the “ Belgica” report. 
There has also been issued Vol. 11, Pt. 1, con- 
taining a twelve-page list of stations where 
collections were made, with full data, and four 
maps upon which the positions are indicated. 


Wm. H. Dati 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 


THE FAILURE OF EQUALIZING OPPORTUNITY TO 
REDUCE INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 


SEVENTY-TWo students in an undergraduate 
course in psychology did the experiment de- 
scribed in the note below. Although this 
was primarily a test for fatigue there was, as 
is usually the case, an improvement with the 


1Do experiment 36 at home and record the re- 
sults. Follow the directions absolutely. 
EXPERIMENT 36 


Arrange to be undisturbed through a morning or 
an afternoon or evening. Provide yourself with a 
watch that records seconds. Multiply mentally, 
using the examples printed on this page, writing 
absolutely nothing until you have the entire an- 
Swer to an example. Then write it and proceed 
at once to the next. Record the time at which 
you begin, and record the time at which you have 
finished each row. Do not stop at all except to re- 
cord these times until you have finished all the 
examples or worked at least two hours. Do ab- 
solutely the best work you can throughout. 


653 537 927 847 286 728 
A. 926 453 384 265 757 487 


Nine similar rows were provided. 


754 SCIENCE [N. S. Von. XL. No. 1038 
TABLE I 
The Relation of Initial Ability in Mental Multiplication to Improvement: 76 College 
Students 
Average Score for Final 
Average Score for First | Row of Six Bxamples Done Average Gains 
Row of Six Examples after Approximately 75 Amount of 
Minutes of Practise Time Spent in 
Fracise iron 
id-point o 
Percentage Percentage A In In 
ee of Figures ane oF Pigares Me te Amt. | Per- 
I of Answers I of Answers i er | centage 
Minute Correct Minute Correct EERE INT Minute Commect 
Group I. 18 highest scoring.... -61 .86 .68 .87 72 7 1 
Group II. 18 next highest...... .36 80 39 -80 81 3 0 
Group IIT. 18 next lowest..... 24. .80 32 .83 74 8 3 
Group IV. 10 lowest scoring.... .143 76 175 78 aa 3.2 2 


exercise of the function. We may then com- 
pare the improvement made in the course of 
approximately 75 minutes of practise (1 count 
from the mid-point of the first row’s time to 
the mid-point of the time of the row such as 
makes this time from mid-point to mid-point 
as near to 75 minutes as possible), by those of 
initially high and those of initially low scores. 

Doing this, we find the facts of Table L., 
(1.) for 18 individuals whose average score for 
the first row was at the rate of .61 examples 
per minute, (II.) for 18 individuals whose 
average score for the first row was at a rate 
of .386 examples per minute, (III.) for 18 
whose average score for the first row was at 
the rate of .24 examples per minute, and 
(IV.) for 18 whose average initial rate was at 
the rate of .14 examples per minute. As the 
table shows, the initially high-scoring indi- 
viduals made an equal gain in speed and some- 


what less gain in accuracy, the net results 
being that they made about as much improve- 
ment as the others. 

The same result appears in the case of addi- 
tion where data from some 670 individuals 
give the facts of Table II. 

These experiments add one more corrobora- 
tion of the general result, so far uniformly 
attained, that equalizing opportunity does not 
reduce individual differences. Such experi- 
ments furnish a very strong argument against 
referring individual differences of unknown 
causation to differences in training, and in 
favor of referring them to original inherited 
characteristics in cases where they follow 
family relationships. We are unable experi- 
mentally to equalize training in such gross 
complexes as scientific achievement, literary 
fame, or reputation as a monarch. But we 
can easily do so with various minor capacities 


TABLE II 


Improvement Made in 1,800 Seconds of Practise at Adding Columns, Each of Ten Digits 
Early refers to the ability estimated for the mid-point of the first day. Late refers to the 
ability shown after 1,800 seconds of practise, counting from the mid-point of the first day. 


Number of Additions per 100 Approximate Number of Errors 
Seconds (Counting the Time of per 1,000 Additions, «. e., 
: : Number of Writing the Answers Equal to Wrong Answers per 100 
Time Required on Day 1 Individuals One Addition’s Time) Ten-digit Additions 
in the Group 

Early Late Change Early Late Change 
Under 400 seconds......... Kine 65 150 162 12 7.0 3.8 3.2 
400 to 499 Te cal aNeire eee RSE 108 108 120 12 ou 6.5 2.6 
500 to 599 Met ioois ceca 6 86 88 99 11 10.3 6.7 3.6 
600 to 699 Mgnt eA che HO 6.8 115 75 87 12 12.0 8.3 3.7 
700 to 799 aun hae. terete Seto. 109 64 75 11 12.7 9.0 3.7 
800 to 899 Noe (nokioxstanshenetcr ane Tasees 103 55 66 11 12.6 9.3 3.3 
Q50kto TF L9OON vei vaciseractstsvetere 65 46 58 12 14.4 10.5 3.9 
1,200 to 1,599 seconds.......... 20 37 46 9 17.5 14.4 3.1 


NovEMBER 20, 1914] 


without great difficulty with various school 
abilities. 
Epwarp L. THORNDIKE 
TEACHERS COLLEGE, 
CoLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 


PHOSPHATE DEPOSITS IN THE MISSISSIPPIAN ROCKS 
OF NORTHERN UTAH © 


Since 1908 extensive work has been done 
both by private individuals and the U. S. 
Geological Survey to determine the amount 
and character of the rock phosphate in the 
Rocky Mountain region. The principal work 
of the investigation of the deposits, however, 
las been confined to the well-known horizon in 
the rocks of upper Pennsylvania of Permian 
age. It is now known that phosphate exists in 
the Mississippian rocks in a zone more than 
9,000 feet stratigraphically below the phosphate 
horizon that has heretofore been given so 
much study. 

The zone containing the phosphate is more 
than 100 feet thick and consists of layers of 
phosphate and black and brown shale with 
interstratified layers of sandy limestone. In 
extent it is known to outcrop in a north-south 
direction for more than forty miles, and sec- 
tions studied show it to have an area of more 
than one hundred square miles. It has been 
reported as far south as Ogden Canyon? but 
no detailed section has been measured in that 
locality. 

On the east side of Cache Valley the phos- 


phate rocks have been prospected for coal and 


this exposure has given the best opportunity 
for detailed study. The face of the mountains 
which form the eastern boundary of the valley 
is a weathered fault scarp which terminates 
the western limb of a syncline. The ledges on 
the face of the mountain are exceptionally well 
exposed, the rock being principally bluish gray 
limestones with thin beds of shale and quartz- 
ite. Here the geologic section is well exposed 
and shows Silurian rocks at the base and 
Pennsylvanian at the top of the succession. 
Only the lower members of the Pennsylvanian 
or Permian are present in this locality. 
1 Blackwelder, U. S. Geol. Survey Bull., 430. 


SCIENCE 


7155, 


Observations on the face of the mountains, 
which extend more than 4,000 feet above the 
valley, show that the rocks strike N. 10° to 
14° E., and dip eastward from 20° to 30°. 
The beds flatten to the eastward and about six 
miles east of the face they rise again, the 
strata on the eastern limb of the syncline dip- 
ping as much as 10° to the west. Erosion has 
clearly exposed the higher beds on the eastern 
limb of the syncline.2 The phosphate rock is 
exposed on both the east and west limbs of the 
syncline which lies near the top of the range. 

The Logan River has cut through the range 
from east to west, and has made a good ex- 
posure of all the strata included in the upper 
part of the synclinal fold. The phosphate 
zone, therefore, lies in two separate areas, one 
to the north and one to the south of the river. 
The Mississippian rocks are well up on the 
western side of the mountains forming the 
eastern boundary of Cache Valley and even in 
the lowest part of the fold in the canyon they 
are more than 1,000 feet above the river. 

The zone containing the phosphate is ex- 
posed in a cliff of very compact bluish gray 
limestone which is usually more than a hun- 
dred feet thick and contains an. abundance of 
cup corals. At the base of this cliff there is 
a lean phosphatic zone from five to seven feet 
thick of shale containing a few bands of chert. 
The shale also contains several thin layers of 
oolitic rock phosphate ranging from one half 
to one inch in thickness. One sample taken 
from all of these layers yielded only 7.21 per 
ably of no economic value. It has been pros- 
pected in a number of places for coal. 

The thicker and richer phosphate zone lies 
just above the thick ledge of limestone. The 
phosphate rocks are less resistant to erosion 
than the underlying and overlying limestone 
ledges and the latter stand out more promi- 
nently than the included softer beds. The 
rocks in the phosphate zone which are gener- 
ally dark colored contain thin bands of non- 
phosphatic limestone with shale and some 

2 See Geological Map—parts of western Wyom- 
ing, southeastern Idaho and northeastern Utah— 
Hayden survey, 1877. f 


756 


chert. Measurements of some of the beds were 
taken in Providence Canyon and are shown in 
the table below. 

At the top of the phosphate zone the rocks 
are not sufficiently well exposed to afford de- 
tailed study. A tunnel driven near the upper 
limestone ledge shows a few inches of good 
rock phosphate interstratified with dark- 
colored limestone and shale. 

Thirty feet below this ledge twenty inches 
of oolitic phosphate rock was measured and a 
sample (No. 1) yielded 55 per cent. Ca,(PO,).. 
In the next thirty feet below there are thin 
bands of oolitic phosphate but none of them 
are believed to be thick enough to be of econ- 


omic value. The details of the lower part of 
the bed in Providence Canyon follow: 
Per Cent 
No. Kind of Work Ca2(PO)s 
3 feet dark gray limestone 
2 18 inches phosphatic shale ........... 30.10 
3 12 inches shaly phosphate rock ....... 16.71 


4 48 inches dark shaly phosphate rock... 
24 inches gray limestone ............. 
® 48 inches shale, some layers phosphatic. 14 


6 11 imches black shale ............... 8.41 
7 30 inches shale, oolitic phosphate, in 

WEMNCK) 55 s0050.00sa0eg09000000000 21.30 
24 inches sandy limestone ............ 

9 38 inches phosphate rock, shaly .. 33.01 
ifs} TMS) OME o6aocae5saq5005000000 
12 inches black shale ................ 

10 30 inches phosphate rock ............ 35.83 
11 12 inches phosphate rock ............ 46.34 
2 inches black chert ................ 

12 48 inches black shale ................ 3.91 
6 inches black chert ................ 

13 21 inches black oolitic phosphate rock.. 65.76 
1 imch black chert .................. 

14 12 inches black shaly phosphate rock.. 21.40 


15 18 inches brown oolitie phosphate rock. 68.59 


bedding planes .................. 28.31 
@ mines HMO so505000n030550080006 
16 6 inches shale showing phosphate in 
PA TONES CBE soc cooodocunso0GGa00G0 

17. +4 inches shaly phosphate rock ........ 27.12 


20 inches sandy limestone ............ 
18 18 inches brown oolitic phosphate rock. 66.9 
12 inches black shale ................ 
16 inches black shale with bands of 
chert. 
5 inehes brown oolitie phosphate rock. 52.22 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1038 
(@anchesiishalemae steiner 
2 inches oolitic phosphate rock with 
MU ChPHe ma Hie wey yelellelel elles ieee 
Limestone ledge ................-.- 


The samples for analysis were taken only 
two or three feet under the surface and it 
seems quite probable that they have been con- 
siderably leached for the rock is less firm and 
crumbles more easily than that from the upper 
Pennsylvanian or Permian horizon. No 
sampling has been done below the level to 
which roots penetrate. It is thought the 
amount of phosphate may decrease to some ex: 
tent with depth, owing to the leaching of the 
less soluble constituents and the concentration 
of the phosphoric acid in the leached zone. 

One very noticeable feature in the phosphate 
zone in this locality, which is an aid in tracing 
the phosphate, is that usually the growth of 
vegetation is denser along the line of outcrop 
than elsewhere. On hillsides which face the 
south and, therefore, have but little moisture 
or vegetation, growths of wild cherry, maple, 
and aspen extend along the outcrop. As a few 
small seeps and springs issue from the phos- 
phate shales the denser vegetation there should 
perhaps be partly accounted for by the 
moisture. 

At a place four miles north of the locality 
in Providence Canyon where the samples men- 
tioned were obtained, two other samples were 
taken from separate layers of oolitic phosphate 
rock near the lower part of the deposit. The 
sample from one bed 18 inches thick yielded 
55.21 per cent. tricalcium phosphate.2 The 
other sample from a bed 42 inches thick yielded 
61.32 per cent. of the material. The section 
does not seem to agree in detail with the. 
measurements made in Providence Canyon. 
It is thought by the writer that the Mississip- 
pian rocks are sufficiently rich in tricalcium 
phosphate to warrant investigation as to their 
economic value. WILLIAM PETERSON 

DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY, 

UraH, AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 


3 The analyses were mostly made by Mr. C. T. 
Hirst in the Experiment Station chemical labora- 
tory. ; 


SCIENCE. 


NEw SERIES SINGLE COPIES, 15 CTs. 
Vou. XL. No. 1039 Pripay, NOVEMBER 27, 1914 ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION, $5.00 


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SCIENCE 


Fripay, NovemsBer 27, 1914 


CONTENTS 


Address of the President of the Association 
of American Agricultural Colleges and Ea- 


periment Stations: Dr. A. C. TRUE ....... 757 
Interglacial Man from Ehringsdorf near Wei- 
_ mar: PROFESSOR GEORGE GRANT Mac- 
CURD Gaosebcugdodad basse ooo pop Boao bo 766 


The Chicago Meeting of the National Academy 


of Sciences 768 


SSC OnCiCnCn nC nC NCCC nn aCe acne CnCy 


The Philadelphia Meeting of the American 
Association for the Advancement of Sci- 


CRC CMA ei te Beaten sateen tetelsyclal sretd tong ayakersile 778 
Scientific Notes and News ................ 779 
University and Educational News .......... 781 


Discussion and Correspondence :— 


Cahokia Mound: Dr. Davip I. BUSHNELL, 
Jz. An EHaxamination of Blood-ejecting 
Horned Lizards: Dr. W. M. Winton. The 
Cotton-worm Moth Again: PRoFEssor H. 
PEL Sa AE: RUNGAWAD) Wwe ear tcc?saVesyoh 5} sy aisle) a levettedehieeustoes 
Scientific Books :— 
Hann’s Lehrbuch der Meteorologie: Pro- 
FESSOR R. DEC. Ward. ARobertson’s Die 
phystkalische Chemie der Proteine: Dr. R. 
Brutner. Abel’s Die Vorzeitlichen Sduge- 
tere: PROFESSOR RICHARD SWANN LULL. 
The Vegetation of the Nebraska Sand Hills: 


Proressor H. C. CowLES 785 


Special Articles :-— 
Intraperitoneal Injections: PROFESSOR PauL 
G. WoouLtEy, Daisy Cuark, AMiz DEMAR. 
The Culture of Didymiwm xanthopus (Dit- 
mar) Fr.: JoHN P. Henyar. The Effect 
on Plant Growth of Saturating a Soil with 
Carbon Dioxide: H. A. Noyes. The Effi- 
ciency of Halogens in inducing Metamor- 


phosis im Frog Larve: Proressor M. 

TNCTISISSG Ba Wels goto ceo ety CIO CIE Le Seer Ca Need 789 
Societies and Academies :— 

The Botanical Society of Washington: Dr. 

PURGE YE OPAUPDING Me teys ieee ane) arciieiete 794 


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


ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE 
ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN AGRI- 
CULTURAL COLLEGES AND 
EXPERIMENT STATIONS1 


Two great things have occupied the center 
of attraction and thought in the affairs of this 
association and the institutions embraced in 
its membership during the past year. These 
are the Smith-Lever Extension Act and the 
changes in the relations of the agricultural 
colleges with the United States Department of 
Agriculture. The discussion of administra- 
tive questions involved in the new develop- 
ments along both of these lines will consume 
a large share of the time of this convention. 
It is my purpose at the present hour to con- 
sider briefly some of the broader relations of 
these matters to the future development of the 
land-grant colleges and the Department of 
Agriculture. 

The Extension Act has rounded out the 
Federal legislation providing for the endow- 
ment along agricultural lines of the institu- 
tions whose establishment was made possible 
by the land-grant act of 1862, not so much by 
liberal grants of money for extension work as 
by recognition of such work as a legitimate 
and necessary function of these colleges which 
ought to be performed throughout the nation. 
The chief importance of the new policy of 
the Department of Agriculture in its relations 
with these colleges is the recognition that this 
national institution, founded also in 1862 pri- 
marily for research and instruction in agri- 
culture, is really a part of our national system 
of agricultural education, represented in the 
states by the land-grant colleges, and that 
therefore it should work not alongside of them 
but in close interlocking alliance with them. 

The enlargement of the functions of both 
the colleges and the department due to the 


1 Read at the convention at Washington, D. C., 
November 11, 1914. 


758 


broad and rapid development of extension 
work is relatively so recent and as yet so in- 
complete that there has been little realization 
of its ultimate far-reaching effects. Un- 
doubtedly it is too early for us to see very 
clearly what these will actually be and unin- 
spired prophecy is always “a shot in the dark.” 
On the other hand when we are laying the 
lines for a great and permanent enterprise it 
will not do for us to consider merely past ex- 
perience and the pressing needs of the present. 
Whither are we going and what will be the 
goal of our efforts are reasonable questions 
and incomplete answers are better than none. 

So far extension work in this country has 
been very largely an incidental function of 
the agricultural colleges and the department. 
I do not mean by this that it has been carried 
on in a small way. Large amounts of infor- 
mation collected by these institutions have 
been broadly disseminated through the printed 
page and by itinerant lectures. In recent 
years demonstration work and the activities 
of the county agricultural agents have assumed 
considerable prominence, but have been looked 
upon as in an experimental stage. In the 
main the colleges and the department have 
done extension work with funds under their 
immediate control and with agents sent out 
from the central headquarters. Now we have 
an Act of Congress permanently providing for 
“cooperative agricultural extension work,” to 
be supported not only with federal: and state 
funds, but also with contributions from coun- 
ties, local authorities and individuals. The 
plan of organization already generally adopted 
involves the appointment of county agricul- 
tural agents as one of its leading features. 
Carried to its logical conclusion this means 
that the colleges and department will before 
long have a definite existence as educating 
agencies in practically every county of the 
United States. Through organization of the 
farm men and women into small groups they 
may ultimately have classes in agriculture and 
home economics in every school district. This 
is an educational organization radically differ- 
ent from that followed in the public school 
system of the United States where local initia- 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No, 1039 


tive and control have largely obtained, state 
supervision hag been very largely of a general 
character, and federal supervision has been 
entirely lacking. The agricultural college is 
to be changed from an institution having a 
strictly local habitat with comparatively 
limited powers for the diffusion of knowledge 
to a widely diffused institution dealing edu- 
cationally with multitudes of people at their 
own homes. And it is to carry with it wher- 
ever it goes the national Department of Agri- 
culture not only as a provider of funds but as 
an active coadjutor in its educational opera- 
tions. And this education is to be not merely 
the giving out of information to be absorbed 
by the students but rather the training in- 
volved in active participation in the demon- 
stration and discussion of practical affairs, 
which will constitute a large share of the ex- 
tension instruction. Moreover this instruc- 
tion will deal with matters which are of vital 
and immediate importance to the students 
since they will affect their incomes, daily 
practises, and community interests. 

The character of the atmosphere and work 
of every educational institution is powerfully 
affected by the character and aims of its stu- 
dents. There is therefore no doubt that the 
reaction of the great masses of extension stu- 
dents on the agricultural colleges and the de- 
partment will be a very important factor in 
their future development. This will manifest 
itself in various ways. The real problems of 
the farming people, for example, will be 
brought out much more definitely and clearly 
than heretofore and these will be pressed home 
upon the research workers in the stations and 
the department. The young people brought up 
in communities where the extension service 
has been well organized and effective will be 
much better prepared to enter the agricultural 
schools and colleges, but they will also not be 
satisfied with much of the instruction as now 
given in our agricutural colleges. The atti- 
tude of the farming people toward the col- 
leges and the department will be broader and 
more sympathetic but it will also be more 
intelligently critical. 

The results of the investigations of the de- 


NOVEMBER 27, 1914] 


partment and the experiment stations, as well 
as the teachings of the agricultural colleges, 
will hereafter be put to a much more thorough 
practical test. When the county agent system 
is well established in any region it will natu- 
rally be expected that after a reasonable lapse 
of time the agriculture of that region will 
show definite improvement. Not only should 
there be better crops and animals but they 
should be so handled and marketed that the 
farmers will receive more satisfactory returns 
for their labor. Moreover the affairs of the 
farm homes and of the rural community should 
be more efficiently managed. It will no longer 
answer to state the agricultural progress of 
this region in general terms, however glitter- 
ing. There must be definite facts and figures 
to prove every statement. And these should 
emanate not from the institutions and their 
agents who have been working there, but from 
the people for whose benefit the work has been 
done. It may be that the county agent will 
be directly responsible for the condition of 
affairs in his own county but everybody will 
know that he has had the backing of the agri- 
cultural college and the Department of Agri- 
culture. These institutions will be held chiefly 
responsible for the success of their agents. No 
other educational system has had such severe 
tests of its practical value. Here are stand- 
ards of judgment from which there can be no 
appeal. If this system was to be applied only 
here and there, failure might be attributed 
to some peculiar local conditions. But this 
is to be a national system whose failure, if 
there is failure, will be due to imperfect or 
false teachings and wrong methods of admin- 
istration. 

This new system, then, is not merely an 
important addition to the business of the agri- 
cultural colleges and Department of Agricul- 
ture for which they must make proper arrange- 
ments by appointing competent agents and 
securing the economical expenditure of public 
funds. It is of course to be expected that 
these institutions will put aside all political or 
other improper motives in the organization 
and work of the extension force. To gather 
about them and to send into the field a body 


SCIENCE 


759 


of the most experienced and best trained men 
and women in thorough sympathy with the 
men, women and children on our farms, that 
existing conditions will permit, will indeed be 
a great achievement. To operate this force 
harmoniously and successfully under a co- 
operative system which involves the close 
alliance of national, state, county and local 
organizations, will be a most wonderful thing. 
But we may have the most competent exten- 
sion force we can get throughout the nation 
and the most cordial relations among the co- 
operating agencies and yet our extension sys- 
tem may prove a comparative failure. And 
it will be this unless the colleges and the de- 
partment look upon the extension work as a 
vital part of their organism, even as the feet 
and hands are parts of our human bodies. The 
blood that flows in this body must be rich and 
pure, the nervous force that propels it must 
be strong and active, the will that controls it 
and the spirit which emanates from it must be 
infused with the highest ideals of public serv- 
ice. Not only the administrative officers of 
the colleges and the department must work 
for the best development of the extension sys- 
tem aS an organic part of their institutions, 
but the investigators and the teachers must 
feel and act toward the extension workers in 
the most sympathetic and helpful spirit. And 
on the other hand, the extension workers, 
whatever the distance that separates them 
from headquarters, must fully realize that they 
are essential parts of the institutions they 
locally represent and must be thoroughly im- 
bued with a spirit of loyalty to these institu- 
tions and an attitude of broad and intelligent 
appreciation of the functions of adminis- 
trators, teachers and investigators at the col- 
leges and the department. There must be no 
carping criticism of the theoretical vs. the 
practical as if these are inevitably to be set 
one over against the other, but a generous 
recognition that in order to do our best work 
for the advancement of agriculture and home 
economics, we must know both the real facts 
as determined by observation and experience 
and also the principles on which these facts 


760 


are based as determined by reason and inves- 
tigation. 

The man in the field must constantly bear 
in mind that he owes what he has to demon- 
strate very largely to the patient labors of the 
investigator and the clear and orderly exposi- 
tion of the teacher. And the man in the 
laboratory or the classroom must do his work 
with the consciousness that what he discovers 
or teaches will speedily and broadly be put to 
the test of actual trial in the field. 

Some have feared that the wide expansion 
of the extension work with its accompanying 
great popularity would break down the thor- 
oughness of investigation and the solidity of 
teaching in our agricultural institutions. 
Without doubt there is grave danger of evil 
effects of this character due to the very rapid 
enlargement of the extension service. As long 
as the supply of properly trained men is far 
below the demand that branch of the service 
where the demand is most urgent is likely to 
profit at the expense of the other branches. A 
great popular movement like the present in- 
sistence on the wide dissemination of agri- 
cultural knowledge is likely to have a tor- 
rential influence and sweep many men off 
their feet and even institutions off their 
foundations. But such floods are short-lived. 
After they subside it is often possible to ac- 
complish greater things than were feasible 
before they came. 

For a time we may expect that our agricul- 
tural institutions will be so busy establishing 
the extension system on a grand scale that 
they may seem to be, and in some cases may 
actually be, neglectful of the best interests of 
their research and teaching divisions. And 
the public will hear and think comparatively 
little of any of their work except the extension 
service. But no sooner will the extension serv- 
ice be well established than it will be apparent 
that it can not do what its enthusiastic pro- 
pagandists have led the unthinking multitude 
to believe it would straightway accomplish. 
Here and there will be great and striking results 
due to peculiar conditions. There may even 
be some steady progress in agricultural better- 
ment over wide areas. But in the main im- 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8S. Vou. XL. No. 1039 


portant immediate changes in agricultural 
practise will be relatively few and general 
advancement will be slow. The reasons for this 
will be many and complicated. But two im- 
portant things affecting our agricultural in- 
stitutions will be apparent. 

First it will be clear that to many of the 
agricultural problems which the extension 
men will encounter in their work among the 
farmers, no solution or at best a very imper- 
fect solution is now available. The limita- 
tions of our knowledge will be more and more 
apparent as this knowledge is widely put to 
the test. The need of further investigation 
along many lines will therefore become clearer 
and the demand for it will be much more 
widespread and insistent. 

Secondly, it will not be long after the ex- 
tension force is expanded to the extent per- 
mitted by available funds before the defects in 
the training of the field men and women will 
be clearly revealed. A goodly number of 
those who will enter with great enthusiasm on 
this service will shortly be actually “prophets 
without honor in their own country,” not so 
much because the people are blind to their in- 
terests as because these prophets have not 
foretold the things that should come to pass. 
In some eases this will be because the exten- 
sion agents have not properly improved exist- 
ing opportunities for training and have gone 
on presumptuously without regard to their 
ignorance. But in most cases these agents 
will be deeply conscious of their own lack of 
knowledge and regretful that they have not 
been better prepared for this special service. 
And even those who have had the best train- 
ing and experience and are most successful in 
their work will have a keen sense of their 
limitations and will realize the defects of their 
training. We may therefore expect a demand 
for better teaching at our agricultural col- 
leges from two sources, (1) from the people 
for whose benefit the extension service is estab- 
lished and (2) from the workers in that 
service. 

The development of the extension service 
will therefore put an additional responsibility 
and burden on the teaching force of our col- 


NOVEMBER 27, 1914] 


leges. This is already overburdened by the 
rapid imcrease in the number of students. 
Under existing conditions this increase will 
erow larger at an accelerating rate, for the 
people are just beginning to realize the value 
of an agricultural education. It is very im- 
portant that the colleges should seriously con- 
sider the situation confronting their teaching 
departments with a view to adjusting them 
to the new demands. For it is clear that the 
agricultural colleges must soon reach a deci- 
sion as to what grades of teaching they will 
undertake and what they will leave to other 
agencies to perform. It is clearly their duty 
to provide thorough and ample courses of 
study for those who are to become investi- 
gators, teachers in secondary and collegiate 
institutions, extension workers, federal and 
state officials, managers of large enterprises 
directly or indirectly connected with agricul- 
ture, and those farmers who are desirous of 
thorough college training as a preparation for 
following the art of agriculture. 

On the higher and more technical side of 
agricultural education greater attention is 
urgently needed to develop strong collegiate 
courses with ample specialization for various 
purposes and graduate imstruction of the best 
type. On the other hand the flood of short 
courses which has so rapidly increased in 
amount and variety in recent years must be 
stemmed and plans must be definitely made 
for diverting this into channels outside the 
college. No doubt these courses have served 
a very useful purpose but the situation with 
regard to them is wholly different from what 
it was at their inception or even a few years 
back. Agricultural education is now a great 
universal demand and will be much more gen- 
erally sought when the extension system is 
well under way. Much more must be done, 
and done as quickly as possible, to provide 
schools in the local communities which can 
take care of the great mass of students who 
desire only elementary and fragmentary in- 
struction in agriculture. Well-trained and 
experienced teachers, capable of giving thor- 
ough collegiate and graduate instruction, are 
not so numerous that we can afford to use up 


SCIENCE 


761 


their time and energy in giving superficial in- 
struction to great classes of a hundred or more 
miscellaneous students at short winter courses 
or in summer schools. Where are we to get 
the great agricultural scholars who are to lead 
and inspire our college students if we do not 
give such men the time and opportunity to 
keep up-to-date in their specialties, to read, 
think, investigate and travel as college pro- 
fessors ought to? One broad effect of the 
new developments in the general college organi- 
zation Should therefore be a clearer differen- 
tiation of the collegiate teaching body and a 
systematic arrangement under which the prob- 
lems of strictly collegiate and graduate teach- 
ing shall receive the attention which they de- 
serve. Obviously many things are now being 
done in the regular college courses in agricul- 
ture which should be turned over to the 
secondary schools and other things which 
should be relegated to the extension divisions. 
There is plenty of opportunity for a better 
pedagogical standard, better laboratory and 
field exercises and equipment, more satisfac- 
tory text-books, manuals and illustrative mate- 
rial for work in the higher ranges of agricul- 
tural instruction. 

Not only is there need for more attention to 
the perfecting of the collegiate courses of in- 
struction for the general body of agricultural 
students, but special attention should be given 
to courses for the training of teachers for the 
regular work of the colleges, for extension 
work, and for secondary schools. As regards 
extension work this need is now very urgent. 
The demand for secondary teachers of agri- 
culture is also growing apace. The constantly 
broadening interest in vocational education is 
sure to bring a far greater demand on the 
land-grant colleges for the training of teachers, 
not only in agriculture, but also in the trades 
and home economics. The National Com- 
mission on Vocational Education made the 
following reference to this subject in its recent 
report to Congress. H. R. Doc. 1004, 63d 
Congress, 2d session, p. 438. 

We can not rightly undertake a program of 


practical education in this country and carry it 
through successfully without teachers properly 


162 


qualified by training and experience for their work 
and with practically no facilities for their proper 
training in the future. 

Here and there are schools which have rendered 
good service by equipping instructors in manual 
training, but it is safe to say that at the present 
time not a half dozen schools exist in the United 
States which afford an adequate opportunity to se- 
eure thoroughgoing preparation for the teaching of 
trade and industrial subjects. Excellent as has 
been the technical preparation which the state 
colleges of agriculture and mechanic arts have 
given to their students, many of them have not as 
yet developed departments of education adequate 
to the task of training prospective teachers either 
of agriculture or the mechanic arts in the admin- 
istrative and teaching problems of the vocational 
school. The comparatively poor support given to 
this feature of their work by some of the agricul- 
tural and mechanical colleges is shown by the fact 
than out of an appropriation of more than $2,600,- 
000 made to them by Congress under the Match 
and Nelson Acts for the year 1912-13, these col- 
leges spent less than $34,000 ‘‘for the prepara- 
tion of teachers in the elements of agriculture and 
mechanic arts.’’ 

In their teaching departments the agricul- 
tural colleges do not need any longer to bid 
for great numbers of students. The problem 
rather is to determine more definitely than 
hitherto what classes of students the colleges 
should undertake to train and then to use their 
available funds in providing the most efficient 
courses of instruction to meet the require- 
ments of such students. The colleges can now 
greatly aid in the proper development of the 
general system of education in agriculture and 
other vocational subjects, which sooner or later 
will permeate our public school system, by 
assuming more strongly a policy of exclusion 
as regards students not qualified to profit by 
college instruction. Much needs to be done 
to correct a widespread popular notion that 
these colleges ought to do all that is necessary 
for the state to do as regards the teaching of 
agriculture and other vocational subjects. 
Unless the colleges themselves cut out these 
features of their present work which are really 
outside their province and devote themselves 
more strongly to those things, such ag the 
preparation of investigators, teachers and ex- 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. KL. No. 1039 


tension workers, which should permanently 
constitute their chief functions, they will 
subject themselves to increasing criticism from 
the more intelligent body of their constitu- 
ents. They will also surrender some of the 
highest privileges of leadership in the great 
educational movement now in progress in this 
country. 

This association has been greatly interested 
in the promotion of graduate study in agricul- 
ture and has practically shown this interest 
by the maintenance of the biennial short- 
term graduate school of agriculture, the 
last session of which was successfully held at 
the college of agriculture of the University 
of Missouri. Some of our colleges have made 
a good beginning of regular graduate courses. 
Others are not yet in a position to undertake 
such courses in a satisfactory way. May it 
not be the duty of this association to take up 
this matter more thoroughly and through its 
standing committee on graduate study extend 
the cooperative efforts of the colleges to pro- 
vide graduate courses for all students through 
the country who are qualified to pursue them ? 
There certainly should be soon a number of 
centers of graduate study in agriculture in 
the United States which will be broader in 
scope and more thorough in equipment and 
teaching than any the world has yet seen. 
Travel and study abroad will always be bene- 
ficial to a certain extent for persons aiming 
to become experts but the United States should 
have graduate schools of agriculture which 
will not only be thoroughly satisfactory to her 
own students, but also highly attractive to 
those of other countries. We can not be con- 
tent as long as any considerable number of our 
agricultural investigators and college teachers 
have had only an undergraduate course. 
Under existing circumstances these men 
should be encouraged in every possible way to 
extend their studies after they enter the em- 
ploy of our agricultural institutions. But 
stronger efforts should also be made to en- 
courage the taking of graduate courses before 
entrance on active professional careers. And 
the bars of entrance to research or teaching 
positions in our colleges and the department 


NovEMBER 27, 1914] 


should be steadily raised until our agricultural 
institutions in this respect are on a par with 
first-class higher institutions of learning and 
research in this and other countries. 

The events of the past year are also destined 
to have far-reaching effects on the work of 
our institutions devoted to agricultural re- 
search. The great expansion of extension 
activities will inevitably lead to much more 
varied demands for research. The more the 
extension workers and to a considerable ex- 
tent the agricultural people with whom they 
work, come to realize that our present knowl- 
edge will only go a little way toward solving 
the multitudinous problems of agriculture the 
more widespread and insistent will be the de- 
mand for more numerous and thorough in- 
vestigations of these problems. It is there- 
fore very important that we should consider 
the actual status of our research institutions 
and, while rejoicing in their many good fea- 
tures and their valuable work, should be active 
in remedying their deficiencies and enlarging 
their services. 

So far our agricultural experiment stations 
and Department of Agriculture have been 
hampered in their research work because of 
_ the varied duties imposed on them outside of 
their research functions and the lack of proper 
differentiation of lines of work and personnel. 
The department is now alive to this deficiency 
and under the plans for reorganization under- 
taken by Secretary Houston aims to make a 
distinet separation between research, exten- 
sion and regulatory activities. It will thus be 
possible to know what funds, equipment and 
force the department actually has for research, 
to determine definitely what problems it will 
attempt to solve, and to put a more rigid re- 
sponsibility on its research workers to formu- 
late good plans and to hold to their work on 
the chosen projects until something worth 
while is accomplished. If adequate super- 
vision of the research work of the department 
is provided this plan should result in better 
and more productive research. 

The closer relations of the agricultural ex- 
periment stations with the department under 
the new arrangement for comparison of pro- 


SCIENCE 


163 


jects and for publication of results in the 
Journal of Agricultural Research should also 
be a great stimulus to both the state and 
national institutions to improve the character 
of their research undertakings. 

Meanwhile a private organization with large 
resources is planning to undertake agricul- 
tural research on a scale commensurate with 
that on which research in other lines has been 
successfully prosecuted by similar agencies. 
The friendly rivalry of a great private insti- 
tution in this field ought to prove very bene- 
ficial to our public agricultural institutions. 

In a general way our agricultural research 
is at present too diffuse. We have too large a 
number of projects for the funds devoted to 
them. If this private institution follows the 
course pursued by similar institutions in other 
fields and concentrates its efforts on a few 
large undertakings it may serve to aid our 
public institutions to change their policy in 
this direction. We have been so desirous of 
meeting the numerous demands for experi- 
mental inquiry and so ambitious to cover the 
whole field of agriculture that we have so far 
permitted the undertaking of too many small 
investigations and very generally with unsatis- 
factory results. 

Recently a public discussion has arisen on 
the question whether it is better to have re- 
search institutions separately organized or 
connected with colleges or universities. From 
the standpoint of agricultural research this 
discussion is timely. At the dedication of the 
Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, 
Mass., President Woodward of the Carnegie 
Institution pointed out some of the weak points 
in the present attitude of educational institu- 
tions toward research.? 


. .. It is often assumed that research is a harm- 
less and a fruitless diversion in the business of 
education, and that it requires but a portion of 
the leisure time of those chiefly occupied with 
duties of instruction and administration in col- 
leges and universities. On the other hand, some 
eminent minds maintain that serious and fruitful 
research can be advantageously pursued only in 
connection with work of instruction, while a few 


2 Science, August 14, 1914. 


164 


enthusiasts go so far as to suggest that the men- 
tal and bodily vigor of an investigator can be con- 
served only in the stimulating presence of imma- 
ture minds, otherwise known as students or candi- 
dates for higher academic degrees. Such eminent 
minds and enthusiasts entertain grave doubts as to 
the propriety of the existence independently of 
colleges and universities of research establish- 
ments. It is darkly hinted, indeed, that the latter 
may work harm, if not ruin, to the former by en- 
ticing the effective teacher away from his stu- 
dents and by checking the diffusion in order to 
promote the advancement of knowledge. . . . 

... While it is quite true that a majority of 
the fundamental researches of the past have been 
accomplished by individuals and that they will 
continue to be so accomplished in the future, it 
should nevertheless be the primary purpose of a 
research institution to institute and to conduct 
research; to take up especially those larger prob- 
lems not likely to be solved under other auspices, 
problems requiring a degree of organized effort 
and a continuity of purpose surpassing in general 
the scope and the span of life of any individual 
investigator. ... 

. .. They should recognize that the ends of re- 
Search are not limited to the highly worthy object 
of fitting candidates for the doctorate degree; and 
they should recognize that there is the amplest 
room for the simultaneous existence of educa- 
tional institutions along with other organizations 
whose primary purpose is not the diffusion but the 
enlargement of learning... . 

. .. Research and research organizations are 
somewhat in danger of being swamped by an ex- 
cess of symbiosis. . . . Instead of following prece- 
dent, we should in general avoid it. When, for ex- 
ample, a research fund is established we should 
not make haste in academic fashion to set up poor- 
boy scholarships and reviving fellowships to be 
awarded to the amateur and to the tyro, but we 
should seek to originate and to conduct research 
under the auspices of competent and responsible 
investigators. And as regards research in aca- 
demic circles, we need to fix attention rather on 
the professors who are qualified to extend the 
boundaries of knowledge than on their pupils. 
These latter, if worthy of the name, will require 
little formal instruction in the presence of evoly- 
ing discoveries and advances; moreover, they must 
learn early to think with their own hands if they 
may hope to become either competent teachers or 
Jeaders in work of research. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1039 


Dr. Woodward’s suggestions are further 
elaborated by Professor W. E. Castle of Har- 


vard University in Scmncr, September 25, 
1914. 


. .. Our larger universities, and many of our 
smaller ones too, point with pride to the research 
work which they are accomplishing. But in not a 
few cases this work, if inspected carefully, is 
found to take final shape in dissertations for the 
doctorate, of doubtful value as contributors to 
knowledge, prepared primarily not because the 
author had something of yalue to record but he- 
cause he had to record something in order to get 
the coveted degree. 

The chief energies of many professors entirely 
competent as investigators are wholly absorbed in 
laboriously dragging candidates through the aca- 
demic mill up to the final examination for the doc- 
torate. Their success as research professors and 
the standing of their universities as centers of re- 
search is commonly estimated in numbers of doc- 
torates conferred. ... 

The attempt to combine teaching with research 
has another indirect but evil consequence. ‘The 
periods which the professor can himself devote to 
research are intermittent and fragmentary. This 
affects disadvantageously the topics selected for 
investigation. They too must be minor and frag- 
mentary. Great fundamental questions requiring 
long continued and uninterrupted investigation 
can not be attacked with any hope of success by 
one who has only an occasional day or a summer 
vacation to devote to research. The necessity too, 
of hunting up thesis subjects for students, small 
enough in scope to be handled successfully by a 
beginner in a limited time and yet novel enough to 
make a showing of originality reacts unfavorably 
on the professor’s own work. It loses both in 
breadth and depth. He who in the full maturity 
of his powers should be doing a day’s work, runs 
errands for boys, holds their coats and carries 
water. Imagine what the ‘‘Origin of Species’’ 
would have been like had it been brought forward 
vicariously as a series of theses for the doctor’s 
degree, each aiming to present a different point of 
view or a novel method of attacking evolutionary 
problems. ... 

The university is an entirely suitable place, in 
many respects the best place, for a research estab- 
lishment; but when such establishments are 
founded in connection with a university, their pur- 
pose for research should be made very clear and 
their administration should be kept very distinct 


NOVEMBER 27, 1914] 


from both teaching and the demonstration of dis- 
coveries to the public. 


Undoubtedly both the state agricultural col- 
leges and the Department of Agriculture are 
having serious difficulties in creating within 
themselves the proper attitude and atmosphere 
with respect to research. The colleges are 
troubled with the well-nigh overwhelming in- 
rush of students and the innumerable calls 
for service in the extension fields. The depart- 
ment is in difficulty because of the constantly 
increasing pressure of its inspection work and 
other administrative duties and the fact that 
it is supported wholly by annual appropria- 
tions, money for research being considered as 
largely an incidental matter in the general 
budget. Research in both national and state 
institutions is also hampered by the insistent 
calls for immediate practical results, by the 
shifting of men from one institution to an- 
other without regard to the requirements of 
their research work, and by allurements of 
popular applause for striking advertisements 
of alleged accomplishments. The atmosphere 
of our agricultural institutions is surcharged 
with a feverish excitement. Men are hurry- 
ing about to do this or that which is supposed 
to be absolutely necessary to keep their stu- 
dents or the legislators or the farmers con- 
tented and sympathetic. Even on the scien- 
tifie side there is much of distraction. New 
organizations are constantly being formed, 
new journals are being established and edited, 
local, state, national and international meet- 
ings are being held. Besides all these things, 
some agricultural scientists think it is neces- 
sary for them to engage in practical agricul- 
ture and actually manage farms or other 
commercial enterprises. Administrative, edu- 
cational and commercial factors make up so 
much of the atmosphere of our agricultural 
institutions that those gentle and highly intel- 
lectual influences which are needed to inspire 
real research are apt to be felt but weakly in 
the body corporate. The great problem, then, 
is how to make such influences so highly in- 
tensive that they will be felt above all the 
others. For only in this way can we hope to 
make the research work of our public agricul- 


SCIENCE 


765 


tural institutions so efficient that its results 
will be an adequate foundation for the admin- 
istrative and educational functions of these 
institutions and for the permanent prosperity 
of our vast agricultural business. 

Research is not merely an incidental func- 
tion of our agricultural colleges. It is under 
the law a necessary part of their business, and 
they have large amounts of public money 
which can be lawfully spent only for this pur- 
pose. But beyond this it is fundamental and 
essential to their success in teaching and ex- 
tension work. They are therefore under the 
greatest obligations to create within them- 
selves the atmosphere and conditions most 
favorable to successful research and to make 
sure that their research workers can give un- 
divided attention to their investigations. 

Words of friendly criticism may be as silver 
but far better are golden words of encourage- 
ment. And there are many of these which 
might be fitly spoken on an occasion like this. 
It will be thirty years next July since a little 
band of educators, scientists and public officials 
met in Washington at the call of the Com- 
missioner of Agriculture to discuss the needs 
of the department and colleges of agriculture 
and their mutual relations. This proved to 
be the beginning of this association. 

Agriculture in the United States was then 
a depressed and neglected industry; agricul- 
tural investigators, teachers and students were 
very few, and the Department of Agriculture 
was chiefly known as a seed-distributing agency. 
Behold how much has been accomplished in 
three decades, less than a single generation. 
A great system of agricultural research has 
been developed within the department and the 
states and this is found in organized form in 
every state and all our outlying territories. 
So much definite agricultural knowledge has 
been accumulated that strong and broad agri- 
cultural courses have been established in the 
colleges with the result that they are thronged 
with agricultural students. The practical out- 
come of the investigations of the department 
and the stations and the teachings of the col- 
lege has been so far beneficial to our agricul- 
ture that agricultural education is no longer 


766 


confined to our colleges but is now pursued 
by thousands of students in special and ordi- 
nary secondary and elementary schools. And 
this movement is rapidly growing. Our adult 
farmers are so desirous of securing the infor- 
mation which our agricultural institutions 
have to give that many millions of copies of 
department and college and station publica- 
tions are annually distributed, the farmer’s 
institutes last year had an attendance of over 
3,000,000, and a comprehensive system of agri- 
cultural extension service is rapidly covering 
the whole United States. And now has come 
this new union of the national and state and 
local forces for the dissemination throughout 
our vast territory in a practical way of what- 
ever knowledge our research and educational 
agencies have accumulated or will gather in 
the future. And this comes at a time when 
all classes of our people, in both city and 
country, are alive as never before to the funda- 
mental importance of our agricultural indus- 
tries and the absolute necessity of having 
contentment and permanency in our rural 
communities. 

All will acknowledge that the national and 
state institutions represented in this associa- 
tion have individually and collectively ren- 
dered service of great value to the republic 
in the past thirty years. But who will venture 
to set the limits of their achievements in the 
next thirty years? Certainly the program 
which they have set for themselves should be 
a great inspiration to all who serve in their 
tanks. They have defined agricultural re- 
search and education in terms broad enough 
to take in the multitudinous variety of pro- 
duction in agricultural regions which stretch 
from the arctic circle to near the equator, as 
well as a wide range of economic and social 
problems connected with the business of farm- 
ing, the life of the farm home and the activ- 
ities of the rural communities. The extent 
and variety of the subject-matter to be studied 
and taught would in themselves be powerful 
incitements to strenuous intellectual endeay- 
ors. When to these are added the vast extent 
of our territory and the tremendous number 
of our people the human interests involved 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1039 


make a powerful appeal to our emotions. And 
finally the complicated administrative ma- 
chinery which we are developing for this agri- 
cultural service, in harmony with the American 
interlocking system of national, state and local 
jurisdictions, will require the exercise on a 
grand scale of combined energy and self- 
restraint which are the most marked char- 
acteristics of the will power of the modern 
civilized man. If what we call cooperation, 
fraternalism, or any other name designating 
united, harmonious and effective activity of 
groups of people, is to be the governing prin- 
ciple of community, national and international 
life in the years to come, it may have the finest 
exemplification in the activities of the insti- 
tutions represented in this association. And 
this as I understand it is the example which 
we are proposing to show to the world. The 
very difficulties of the scheme are alluring to 
us and the more we imbibe the spirit of this 
undertaking the more we are convinced that 
we can make it a success. 


A. C. Trur 


INTERGLACIAL MAN FROM EHRINGSDORE 
NEAR WEIMAR 

THE attention of prehistoric archeologists 
has long been turned toward the region of 
Weimar, Germany, because of important dis- 
coveries made at Taubach and Ehringsdorf, 
both in the Ilm Valley. Known since 1871, 
the station of Taubach (back of the village of 
that name) was systematically explored be- 
tween 1876 and 1880. The deposits at Tau- 
bach and Ehringsdorf are alike. Their basis 
is a layer of sand and gravel dating from the 
third or Riss glacial epoch (Obermaier). 
Above this is lower travertine with remains of 
the mammoth and woolly rhinoceros near the 
bottom, and those of Hilephas antiquus and 
Rhinoceros mercki, both witnesses of a warm 
climate, near the top. Next above at Ehrings- 
dorf comes the so-called “Pariser” (corrup- 
tion from Pordéser) deposit, a sort of loess. 
Higher still is a deposit of upper travertine 
with remains of the stag and woolly rhinoc- 
eros; curiously enough the Rhinoceros mercku 
also occurs at this level. 


NOVEMBER 27, 1914] 


The human remains in question, consisting 
of a nearly complete human lower jaw, form 
the subject of a paper just published by Pro- 
fessor G. Schwalbe? of Strassburg. Professor 
Hans Virchow was to have given a demonsira- 
tion of the specimen before the German Con- 
gress of Anthropology at Hildesheim last 
August, but the congress was not held on 
account of the war. The discovery was first 
brought to my attention through a letter from 
Dr. L. Pfeiffer, of Weimar, under date of July 
20, 1914. Like much of the archeological 
material previously found at Taubach and 
Ehringsdorf this lower jaw is now the property 
of the museum at Weimar. Because of its 
double association with that city, Schwalbe 
proposes to eall it the Weimar lower jaw. 

The lower jaw was found on May 8, 1914, 
at a depth of 11.9 m. below the surface in the 
lower travertine, 2.9 m. below the so-called 
Pariser loess. It is from the Kiampfe quarry 
at EKhringsdorf and was brought to light by 
means of a blast. Under the circumstances it 
was fortunate indeed that the lower jaw 
suffered no worse. All the teeth are intact 
and in situ save the two right incisors (in 
their place is a small mass of travertine con- 
taining a univalve shell). Both halves of the 
body are practically complete. The right as- 
cending ramus is in part present; although 
not enough remains to save the mandibular 
angle, the coronoid and condyloid processes, 
and the mandibular or sigmoid notch. The 
left ascending ramus is completely gone. 

A number of remarkable features are com- 
bined in the Weimar lower jaw. The absence 
of a chin is doubly emphasized because of the 
pronounced alveolar prognathism as shown in 
the figures, a condition not found in the lower 
jaws of Krapina and La Chapelle-aux-Saints, 
nor even in that of Homo heidelbergensis. 
Closely related to the alveolar prognathism is 
the sloping nature of the inner surface of the 
jaw in the region of the symphysis, region 
ealled by Schwalbe planum alveolare. In all 
other lower jaws of the Neandertal type a 

1‘‘Uber einen bei Ehringsdorf in der Nihe von 
Weimar gefundenen Unterkiefer des Homo primé- 
genius,’? Anat. Anzeiger, Band 47, 337-345, 1914. 


SCIENCE 


7167 


median line in this field is much more nearly 
vertical. Below this planum alveolare is a 
spinous area but no distinct spines for the 
attachment of the genioglossal and geniohyoid 
muscles. Neither is there the customary ridge 
on the inner surface of each corpus for the 
attachment of the mylohyoid muscles. The 
absence of this mylohyoid ridge is even more 
marked than in the well-known mandibles of 
the Neandertal type. 

The foramen mentale is unusually large. It 
is directly beneath the first molar (similar to 
the situation in Homo primigentus); while in 
recent man this foramen is located farther 
forward beneath the second premolar. In the 
Heidelberg lower jaw it is also large but situ- 
ated further forward than in the specimen 
from Weimar. 

Schwalbe lays special stress on the narrow- 
ness of the arch of the Weimar jaw. The 
breadth between the inner faces of the third 
molars is 48 mm.; the distance from posterior 
surface of the third molar to the anterior mar- 
gin of the median incisor is 69 mm. The 
index derived from these two measures in the 
chimpanzee is 54.6. In the Weimar jaw this 
index is 69.5; while it is much larger in other 
known fossil human lower jaws: Heidelberg 
75.7, Krapina 80 and La Chapelle 100. 
Schwalbe admits however that the low index 
of the Weimar jaw might be due in part at 
least to post-mortem deformation. 

The teeth are much worn. Since the pre- 
molars are less worn than the canines, one is 
led to conclude that the points of the canines 
stood above the level of the premolars. There 
is no diastema between the canines and the 
first premolars. A notable feature is the rela- 
tive smallness of the third molars. This un- 
expected condition proves that the tendency of 
the third molars to disappear is of much more 
ancient origin than other known jaws of the 
Neandertal and earlier types have led us to 
suppose. 

Without hesitation Schwalbe places the 
Weimar lower jaw in the Neandertal group, 
for which group he proposed some years ago 
the name Homo primigenius. In the pre- 
liminary paper he does not describe the cul- 


768 


tural remains found at the same level. He 
does however mention some of the numerous 
accompanying fauna: Rhinoceros merckit, 
stag, horse, ox and cave bear. There was also 
an abundance of charcoal and flint imple- 
ments, the latter for the most part apparently 
retouched points and scrapers. 

Two human teeth (one of a child and one 
of an adult) had already been found in the 
lower travertine of Taubach. During the sum- 
mer of 1908, Dr. Pfeiffer found human skull 
fragments in the same deposit at Ehringsdorf. 

Both Obermaier and Schmidt consider the 
lower travertine of Ehringsdorf (the deposit 
in which the lower jaw was recently found) 
and Taubach to be older than Mousterian. 
Although it contains no typical coups de 
poings, on account of the character of the 
fauna as well as the industry, Obermaier would 
call the deposit of Chellean age. For Schmidt, 
who has recently published examples of the 
industry, it is Acheulian. 

In any case all are evidently agreed that 
the deposit belongs to the Riss-Wiirm inter- 
glacial epoch. In that case according to one 
school it might be Chellean, Acheulian, or 
early Mousterian; according to the school of 
Penck, it would have to be later Mousterian, 
since he places early Mousterian during the 
Riss glacial epoch and the Chellean-Acheulian 
during the second or Mindel-Riss interglacial 
epoch. 

Whichever view is correct, on account of 
its anatomical characters, as well as the posi- 
tion of the deposit and the nature of the asso- 
ciated cultural and faunal remains, the an- 
thropologist may justly claim for the Weimar 
lower jaw an antiquity surpassed perhaps only 
by the skull of Piltdown and the Mauer 
(Homo heidelbergensis) lower jaw. 

GrorGE Grant MacCurpy 

YALE UNIVERSITY, 

NEw HAVEN, CONN. 


THE CHICAGO MEETING OF THE NA- 
TIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 
Tut National Academy of Sciences will 
meet December 7, 8 and 9 at the University 
of Chicago. Social headquarters will be at 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1039 


the Quadrangle Club, 58th Street and Uni- 
versity Avenue, where the members will meet 
for the first time December 7, 1:00 p.m., for 
luncheon. A feature of the meeting will be 
the second course of William Ellery Hale 
lectures on evolution, two lectures by Pro- 
fessor William Wallace Campbell, director of 
the Lick Observatory, on Stellar Evolution 
and the Formation of the Harth. These lec- 
tures and four sessions with papers by mem- 
bers of the academy and others will be open 
to the public. 

The council will meet at 4:30 p.m., Decem- 
ber 7, at the Quadrangle Club. 

A preliminary program of the scientific 
Papers is as follows: 


I. Mathematics 


GinpeRrT AMES Buiss: A Generalization of a 
Theorem of Gauss Concerning Geodesic Tri- 
angles. 

If a line OA of unit length is parallel to the 
normal at a point a of a surface S, then 4 may 
be regarded as the image of a on the unit sphere 
with center at O. It is a theorem due to Gauss 
that the difference between 7 and the sum of the 
angles of a geodesic triangle on the surface is 
numerically equal to the area of the image of the 
triangle when each point is mapped on the sphere 
as above described. The paper is concerned with 
a generalization of this theorem. The magnitudes 
involved in the statement of the theorem, angles, 
the equations of the geodesic lines, the area of the 
image of the triangle, are expressible in terms of 
invariants associated with the integral of length 
on the surface S. For a more general integral of 
the ealeulus of variations some of the analogous 
invariants have been found by the author and 
other writers. In the present paper the remaining 
invariants are described, and a theorem corre- 
sponding to that of Gauss is deduced. 


LEONARD E. Dickson: Recent Progress in the 
Theories of Mcdular and Formal Invariants. 
Contrast between algebraic and modular in- 

variants. Formal invariants and their construc- 

tion. Modular plane curves for modulus 2. 


G. A. Minurr: The ¢-subgroup of a Group of finite 
order. 
In 1885 Frattini introduced the ¢-subgroup of a 
finite group G as the characteristic subgroup 
whose individual operators enter into no set of 


NOVEMBER 27, 1914] 


independent generators of G. In the present in- 
vestigation the ¢-subgroups of various important 
groups G are studied,—in particular, of groups of 
order the power of a prime, of direct product 
groups, of abelian groups, of the Sylow sub- 
groups of the symmetric group on n letters. Two 
of the principal results are: (1) The ¢-subgroup 
of a Sylow subgroup G of the symmetric group on 

m letters is the commutator subgroup of this Sy- 

low subgroup G. (2) The various sets of inde- 

pendent generators of a group G of order the 
power of a prime contain the same number of gen- 
erators, so that this number is an invariant of the 

group G. 

ELIAKIM H. Moore: On the Integration by Suc- 
cessive Approzimations of the Ordinary Differ- 
ential Equation of the First Order in General 
Analysis. 

The classic problem of integration of a simul- 
taneous system of mn ordinary differential equa- 
tions of the first order may be expressed as fol- 
lows: To determine the n-partite number or point 
—£= (2,,---, Zn) im n-space S, as a function of 
the real variable ¢ in such a way as to satisfy the 
differential equation 


with the initial condition: 


EC) (a, =. - an). 

Here for every t of a certain interval T’ of the 
real number system 7 and point é of a certain 
tegion S’ of Sn. K(t, &) denotes a point of Sn} to 
lies within 7’; a lies within S’; and K satisfies the 
continuity and Lipschitz conditions. A point € may 
be thought of as a function of 74; &(%) =a 
(i=1,.--, n). If im this problem we replace 
systematically the special variable 7 with the spe- 
cial range i= 1, --.,m by a general variable p with 
the general range P we obtain the corresponding 
problem in general analysis. Then by imposing 
suitable conditions on S’, K and a we validate for 
the general equation with initial condition the proc- 
ess of integration by successive approximations. 
The general treatment covers the classical case and, 
for example, certain types of infinite simultaneous 
systems of differential and of integro-differential 
equations. 


F, R. Moutton: An Extension of the Process of 
Successive Approximations for the Solution of 
Differential Equations. 

With the exception of the Cauchy polygon proc- 
ess, which is not of practical value, the existing 


SCIENCE 


769 


methods of solving differential equations have, in 
general, only a limited domain of applicability. 
The processes defined in this paper apply to a 
very general class of differential equations, they 
are convenient in practise, and they furnish the 
solution with any prescribed accuracy in an arbi- 
trary part of the domain of its existence. The 
range on the independent variable for which the 
solution exists is not known in advance, but the 
process enables one to determine when he is safely 
within that range. 


H. S. Wurtze: The Synthesis of Triad Systems A¢ 

in t Elements, in Particular for t—31. 

This note reviews earlier and recent studies in 
triad systems, and signalizes one advance step. 
The field is largely unexplored, and progress re- 
quires study of specimens and induction. Twenty- 
three specimens of A,,’s showing odd and even 
structure, many new, are available in Miss Cum- 
mings’s dissertation (Bryn Mawr, 1914); and one 
of different structure, headless. Upon these one 
new theorem is verified, then demonstrated, re- 
lating ¢ with 2t-+ 1. This makes possible the pre- 
cise enumeration of A;,’s of odd and even structure 
which can be compounded from a headless A,, and 
any other. Headless systems (yet unpublished) 
prove the resulting A;,’s to number above 14! 


E. J. WitczyNsxi: Conjugate Systems of Space 
Curves with Equal Laplace-Darbouz Invariants. 
It is well known that four linearly independent 

solutions of a linear differential equation of the 

form 
0 
Ou ov 


li) ali) 
— 
Geis Cs an 4 : 


determine a surface upon which the parametric 
curves form a conjugate system. A great deal of 
work has been done upon the special case when the 
Laplace-Darboux invariants of the equation are 
equal to each other. The geometrical significance 
of this condition, which up to the present time 
seems to have escaped notice, is the object of Mr. 
Wilezynski’s communication. 


II. Astronomy 


BE. E. Barnarp: Laplanation of Certain Phe- 
nomena of the Tail of Comet Morehouse (IIL, 
1908). 

Within certain limitations, there is nothing so 
wonderfully effective for the study of cometary 
phenomena as the stereoscope. The author has 
applied this method for the study and explana- 
tion of the remarkable phenomena of the tail of 


770 


Morehouse’s comet on October 15, 1908. A good 
series of photographs of the comet was obtained 
on that date in this country and in Europe, the 
earliest of these being made at Geneva, Switzer- 
land. The photographs made at the Yerkes Ob- 
servatory (continuously) on that date with the 
Bruce telescope extended from 6" 18™ to 13" 28™ 
C. S. T., or for a period of 7" 10™. A set made 
in France, another in England, and two sets ob- 
tained by the author with the Bruce telescope of 
the Yerkes Observatory, are available for stereo- 
scopic combination. It is from the study of these 
combinations that the following simple explana- 
tion of the phenomena is derived. 

The photographs all show a twisted appearance 
of the tail about 4° from the head, apparently 
joined to the head by a slender straight beam. 
The broken part of the tail became more dis- 
rupted, and changed more rapidly in the later 
photographs, until it formed a broad mass with a 
broad tail. A study of the stereoscopic views 
shows what really happened. At a time earlier 
than the first photograph the comet had discarded 
its tail (by ceasing abruptly to emit matter in 
that direction) which drifted away into space. 
For some reason, perhaps from a disturbance due 
to the cessation of emission at that point in the 
comet’s head, the rear end of the receding tail 
‘buckled’? and became twisted into a spiral 
which finally formed an irregular ring—very much 
like the smoke ring familiar to the users of to- 
bacco. Every part of this condensation ring sent 
out a continuous stream of matter until it formed, 
roughly, a long open cylindrical tail to the ring, 
with one end pointed more or less towards us. 

This last phase of the disturbance was the con- 
dition of the tail at the time of my last photo- 
graphs of that night. By the next day the rem- 
nant of the discarded tail had drifted farther 
away and had become so changed as to be of little 
interest in connection with its form on October 15. 
The slender beam of light that apparently con- 
nected this phenomenon with the head was really 
a new tail which was forming and which did not 
touch the masses in the old tail but passed behind 
them, at a considerable angle as shown by the 
Stereoscope. 


W. W. CAMPBELL: On the Radial Velocities of 

Nebule. 

The radial velocities of 54 planetary and ring 
nebule and nebule of irregular form, have been 
determined at the Lick Observatory and at the D. 
O. Mills Observatory in the past three years by 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. KL. No. 1039 


spectrographic means. The nebule are remark- 
able for their high velocities. Only a fifth of the 
radial velocities are less than 10 km. per second, 
there are 9 radial velocities greater than 60 km. 
per second, and the average for the 54 nebule is 
42 km. per second. This is 7 times the average 
radial velocity of the so-called helium stars, which 
have generally been supposed to be the stars most 
recently evolved from nebule. Omitting 12 ex- 
tended and ring nebule, the average radial velocity 
of 42 planetary nebule is 46 km. per second. Two 
nebule, close together in the sky, have been ob- 
served as 202 km. per second recession and 141 
km. per second approach, respectively,—a relative 
radial motion of 343 km. per second. 

The prevailing high velocities of planetary 
nebula make difficult the continued acceptance of 
Sir William Herschel’s view that the planetary 
nebule evolve into stars [whose speeds are of 
average dimensions]. On the contrary, there is 
some basis for the suggestion that the planetary 
nebula have been formed from the rushing of 
high-velocity stars through resisting media in 
space. Rapidly-moving stars are the ones which 
would have the greatest chance to encounter resist- 
ing media, and the collisional or bombardment 
effects would be the more effective in generating 
nebular condition the higher the velocities of 
impact. 


Heser D. Curtis: Preliminary Note on Nebular 

Proper Motions. 

Knowledge of the distances and linear dimen- 
sions of the nebulz are important in studies as to 
the nature of the nebule themselves, and especially 
as to their relation to the stellar system. It is 
desirable, therefore, that every opportunity be 
utilized to determine the proper motions of the 
nebule. 

Professor Keeler’s program of nebular photog- 
raphy with the Crossley Reflector of the Lick Ob- 
servatory was inaugurated in 1898, continued by 
him into 1900, and in the next few years com- 
pleted by Professor Perrine. A new series of 
photographs of the same objects, with the same 
telescope, was begun last winter and should be 
completed in the early summer of 1915. About 
one third of the proposed photographs have been 
obtained to date, and nearly all of these have been 
compared, as to the accurate positions of nebular 
nuclei and other very definite masses of nebular 
structure, with the photographs of the same ob- 
jects secured from twelve to sixteen years ago. If 
any motions of translation or rotation in the 


NOVEMBER 27, 1914] 


objects re-photographed have occurred in the in- 
terval, these changes seem not to be appreciable, 
or at most, are exceedingly small. The conclusion 
drawn from this fact is that the nebule concerned 
are very remote, and therefore are enormous in 
linear dimensions. These provisional conclusions 
apply to many of the large irregular nebule, such 
as the Orion and Trifid nebule, and to many of 
the more prominent spirals, including the great 
spiral in Andromeda. 


Ewoin B. Frost: An Interesting Stellar System. 
Observations have been continued on the spec- 
troscopic binary 6 Cephei, which has the remark- 
ably short period of 4°34™. Some features of the 
system are discussed, and reference is made to the 
detection at Berlin of variations in the star’s 
brightness by the photo-electrie method. 


GrorcEe H. Hate: The Direction of Rotation of 

Solar Storms. 

It is well known that cyclones and tornadoes in 
the earth’s atmosphere rotate in the right-handed 
(clockwise) direction in the southern hemisphere 
and in the left-handed direction in the northern 
hemisphere. What is the case for solar storms? 

The existence of a magnetic field in sun-spots, 
supported by other spectroscopic evidence, proves 
that sun-spots are electric tornadoes of immense 
size. The direction of rotation of the spot-vortex 
is given by a simple spectroscopic observation. 

The results were at first confusing, as spots 
rotating in both directions were found in the same 
hemisphere. But it soon appeared that sun-spots 
usually occur in pairs, lying close together on a 
nearly east and west line, and always having 
opposite directions of rotation. Tabulating the 
polarities separately for the eastern (following) 
and western (preceding) members of bipolar pairs, 
we find (with very few exceptions) that the di- 
rections of rotation for preceding or for following 
Spots are opposite in the northern and southern 
hemispheres. 

Prior to the recent sun-spot minimum the pre- 
eeding spots of the old cycle rotated left-handedly 
in the northern and right-handedly in the southern 
hemisphere, as in the case of terrestrial storms. 
Since the minimum the direction of rotation has 
been reversed. But the spots of the old cycle were 
all in low latitudes, while those of the new cycle 
are all in high latitudes. Thus there probably 
exist in each hemisphere a high latitude zone, in 
which preceding spots rotate right-handedly in the 
northern and left-handedly in the southern hemis- 
phere, and a low latitude zone, where preceding 


SCIENCE 


771 


spots rotate left-handedly in the northern and 
right-handedly in the southern hemisphere. 


J. C, Kaprryn anp W. 8. ADAMS: On the Rela- 
tions between the Proper Motions and the 
Radial Velocities of the Stars of the Spectral 
Types F, G, K and M. 

(1) The radial velocities furnish a very thor- 
ough test of the theory of the star streams. The 
results found for the F, G, K and M stars are in 
close agreement with those we should expect from 
the theory as derived from proper motions. (2) 
The radial velocities of the stars of the smallest 
proper motions show the effects of the two star- 
streams with the same certainty as those of the 
other stars. The existence of the two star-streams 
is, therefore, proven at the greatest distances for 
which we have adequate data. (3) The K stars 
behave in general like the other stars, but there 
are a few exceptional cases. These do not appear 
to be due to the absence of the second stream. 
(4) For all of the spectral classes the average 
radial velocities show a regular increase with the 
proper motion. (5) Such a change of radial 
velocity is a necessary consequence of a velocity 
distribution (for the peculiar motions) different 
from that given by Maxwell’s law. (6) A first 
approximation to the velocity distribution has been 
derived for the K stars. It explains the change 
of velocity with proper motion in a satisfactory 
manner. (7) Some positive indications have been 
found of a change of radial velocity with absolute 
magnitude, the brighter stars moving more slowly 
than the fainter stars. 


S. B. Nicnonson: Discovery of a Ninth Satellite 
of Jupiter. 

A satellite of Jupiter was discovered by means 
of photographs made with the Crossley Reflector 
of the Lick Observatory on July 21 and 22, 1914. 
These photographs were secured in order to de- 
termine positions of the eighth satellite, and the 
new object was in the same photographic field. 
The ninth satellite is considerably fainter than the 
eighth, being estimated at about the nineteenth 
magnitude. Additional observations of the new 
satellite have been secured in August and Sep- 
tember. The preliminary orbit, computed under 
Mr. Leuschner’s direction, shows that the orbital 
motion is retrograde, that the first estimate of the 
period is approximately three years, and that the 
other elements of the orbit are similar to those of 
the eighth satellite. 


T72 


Cc. T. Knipp: Experimental Data on the Stability 
of Positive and Negative Ions. 

In an investigation by Dr. O. H. Smith and the 
writer of the properties of the retrograde rays 
from a Wehnelt or hot lime cathode, it was found 
necessary in order to make their presence known, 
to accelerate these rays by passage through a 
strong electrostatic field. The photographic 
method of J. J. Thomson! was employed. 

A number of plates show anomalies as to the 
direction of deflection, 7. ¢., the appearance of 
positive lines with negative acceleration, while the 
same exposure shows but little or no trace of the 
negative lines. This is contrary to what is ex- 
pected under the given conditions. 

This anomaly, the appearance of positive lines 
on the photographic plate when the acceleration is 
such as to allow only negative ions to get through 
the accelerator into the electric and magnetic de- 
flecting fields beyond, can be satisfactorily ex- 
plained if it is assumed that the positive ion is 
more stable than the negative ion. In other words 
a negative ion loses an electron more easily than 
does a positive ion. 

The paper in detail follows the path of the 
negatively accelerated ion as it issues from the 
accelerator and notes the possible changes that 
evidently take place (upon the supposition stated 
above) as it moves on through the deflecting fields 
to the photographic plate. In this way every part 
of the line on the photograph (7. e., the straight 
portion as well as the parabolic portion), is satis- 
factorily accounted for, and hence the conclusion 
that the positively charged ion is more stable than 
the negatively charged ion. 

A number of photographs showing these lines ac- 
company the paper. 


III. Physics 
A. A. MicHELSON: Behavior of Metals and Other 
Substances Near the Rupture Point. 


R. A. Mmuikan: Lhe Coefficient of Ship in Gases 
and its Relation to the Nature of the Impact 
between a Molecule of a Gas and the Surface 
of a Solid or Liquid. 

In 1911 I brought forward a new method? for 
the very accurate evaluation of the coefficient of 
slip between a gas and the surface of a liquid or 
solid. This coefficient was shown to be equal to 
the quantity Al in the equation for the law of fall 
of a small sphere through a gas.2 This quantity 


1J. J. Thomson, ‘‘ Rays of Positive Electricity,’’ 
1913. 
2 Physical Review, XXXIT., p. 382, 1911. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1039 


Al was in turn shown to be proportional to the 
slope of the line obtained by plotting ¢% 
against 1/pa in the ‘‘droplet’’? method for the 
determination of e. The values of this slope have 
now been obtained with different gases and dif- 
ferent kinds of droplets. It has hitherto been 
supposed from the work of Kundt and Warburg 
that the coefficient in question is in all cases 
proportional to the mean free path of the gas 
molecule. This conclusion is now shown to be 
incorrect; for the above-mentioned slopes are not 
only found to depend on the nature of the sur- 
face against which the gas molecule impinges 
when this molecule remains the same, but also 
upon the value of the impinging molecule when 
the surface is the same. These results show that 
in general gas molecules are not ‘‘diffusely’’ re- 
flected from liquid and solid surfaces as they 
have recently been assumed to be by Knudsen 
and others.’ 


IV. Chemistry 
C. W. BALKE AND GEO. W. SEARS: 

Weight of Tantalum. 

In order to determine this constant two ratios 
were studied, 2TaCl,: Ta,0, and TaCl,: 5Ag. 

In the study of the ratio 2TaCl,: Ta,0,, the 
tantalum chloride was hydrolyzed, using nitric 
acid, and the resulting tantalum oxide was evapor- 
ated to dryness and ignited. In five determina- 
tions, however, a constant weight was not obtained 
even after repeated ignition. A fine white deposit 
was found in the exit tubes of the reaction flask 
after each analysis showing that the oxide was 
being lost. An examination into the cause of 
this showed that the hydrochloric acid was com- 
pletely removed by ignition, that the nitrie acid 
was difficultly removed, if at all, and that tanta- 
lum oxide was lost either mechanically or by 
volatilization, all of which indicated that the 
method was unsatisfactory. 

In the study of the ratio TaCl,: 5Ag, several 
methods involving the removal of the hydro- 
chloric acid from the tantalum were tried but 
without success. The only method found satis- 
factory was to dissolve the tantalum chloride in 
an approximately 5.5 per cent. hydrofluoric acid 
solution and to precipitate the resulting hydro- 
chlorie acid in the presence of the dissolved 
tantalum. Platinum vessels were used through- 
out and the final end point was determined in the 
nephelometer. 


The Atomic 


3 Annalen de Physik, Kundsen Papers, 1909- 
1912. 


NOVEMBER 27, 1914] 


Three determinations by this method gave 181.30 
for the atomic weight. From one to two days 
were allowed for the equilibrium to become estab- 
lished. A further study of this equilibrium, how- 
ever, showed that from three to five days were re- 
quired. A final series of determinations is now 
in progress. 


W. D. Harkins anp EH. C. HumpHrRey: The Capil- 
tary and Electrical Forces at the Interface be- 
tween Two Liquids. 

A method which gives very accurate determina- 
tions of the capillary constant at the interface 
between two liquids has been devised. The method 
consists in a measurement of the capillary height 
under the special conditions which are necessary to 
secure accuracy. The capillary height method 
proves inaccurate in all cases where one of the 
liquids gives an alkaline reaction. For such ligq- 
uids the drop-weight method may be used. This 
method has been adopted largely by workers in the 
field of colloidal chemistry, but without any use of 
the corrections which have now been determined. 
Since these corrections frequently amount to as 
much as 37 per cent. they should not have been 
neglected. 

The latter method has been used to investigate 
the relation between the change of the surface ten- 
sion and the change of the electrical potential be- 
tween two non-miscible liquid phases, in order to 
see if the relationship is such as would be in ac- 
cord with one of the theories of muscular motion. 
This theory is in short that in muscular motion 
the muscle changes from a neutral to an acid re- 
action, that this causes a change of electromotive 
force between two different phases (of the order 
of one volt), and that this in turn gives rise to 
such a change of surface tension at the neutral 
point as was found by von Lerch in Nernst’s lab- 
oratory. The present work shows that von 
Lerch’s results were in accord with the general 
theory only because of the inaccuracy of his ex- 
perimental work. 


Herpert N. McCoy: The Solubilities of Radiwm 
Compounds as Indicated by the Solubilities of 
Analogous Compounds of Calciwm, Strontium 
and Barium. 

If it be assumed that radium is the fourth mem- 
ber of the alkali earth group, it is to be expected 
that the properties of compounds of this element, 
other than those dependent upon its radioactivity, 
should be determinable from a knowledge of the 
properties of corresponding compounds of calcium, 


SCIENCE 


773 


strontium and barium. A knowledge of the solu- 
bility relations of radium and barium compounds 
is of great practical importance, since the former 
must always be separated from large amounts of 
the latter in the course of the extraction of radium 
from minerals. A systematic theoretical study of 
the problem indicated the chemical and physical 
conditions most favorable for the separation of 
these elements. The theoretical predictions have 
been verified by experiment and as a result a new 
method of separating radium from barium has 
been found which is many times as efficient as the 
best hitherto known. 


S. W. Parr: The Development of an Acid Resist- 
ing Alloy for a Bomb Calorimeter. 

Coals of the Illinois type when burned in an 
oxygen bomb generate a mixture of nitric and 
sulfurie acids, equivalent to approximately 30 c.c. 
of 1/20 N acid. The correction called for as a 
result of the heat of formation of these acids ap- 
proximates 100 calories. If in addition some of 
the metal of the bomb is dissolved, there is gen- 
erated an additional increment of heat for which 
a correction can not readily be applied. Hence the 
use of platinum or gold as a lining for such 
bombs. 

In April of 1911 the first attempt was made to 
produce an alloy sufficiently resistant to these 
acids to permit of its use in the construction of an 
oxygen bomb. The first successful casting was 
obtained in December, 1911, but this could not be 
duplicated until quite recently on account of the 
difficulty experienced in casting the metal in a 
dense non-porous form free from flaws. 

The alloy is of the nickel chrome type with 
copper 7 per cent. tungsten and molybdenum from 
3 to 5 per cent. The standard of reference for 
solubility is taken as the amount dissolved by 4 N 
nitric acid at room temperature per 100 sq. cm. 
per hour. The average amount dissolved for such 
unit area and time is 0.09 milligram. The orig- 
inal bomb has had upwards of 1,500 combustions 
with no indications of corrosion. 

A large number of parallel determinations with 
a platinum-lined bomb show a full equivalent of 
acid as indicated by the resulting titrations. Test 
bars show a tensile strength of 50,000 to 60,000 
pounds per square inch while a sample of wire 
gave a tensile strength of 124,000 pounds. At- 
tempts to roll the metal into sheets have not been 
very successful, only small areas having so far 
been produced. 


774 


JULIUS STineLiTz: Molecular Rearrangements of 

Lriphenylmethyl Derivatives. 

The study of the molecular rearrangements of 
triphenylmethyl derivatives was planned to shed 
light on the classical rearrangements of oximes, 
acyl azides, acyl halogen amides, etc., and to test the 
author’s theory concerning the nature and causes 
of these rearrangements. The investigation has 
been developed in four directions: (1) Triphenyl- 
methylhydroxylamines, halogen amines and azides 
have been shown to give the same products of re- 
arrangement. (2) Derivatives of the unsymmetri- 
eal radicles (CoH;).(C,H,X)C-, (C.H;) (C.H.X).C-, 
and (CoH,) (CsH,X) (C,H,Y)C- yield quantitatively 
the same ratio of products in the different groups 
as far as these have been examined. (3) Com- 
plete proof of the rearrangement of ((,H;),- 
C.NCH;-.OH and of the course of the action has 
been brought—the first rearangement of the kind 
ever observed. (4) Rearrangement of the hydra- 
zine (C,H,;),C-NH.NH.C(C,H;),; has been ef- 
fected—the first instance of a hydrazine rear- 
rangement of this type. 


-E. W. WASHBURN: Our Systematic Knowledge of 
the Properties and Behavior of Solutions of 
‘Non-electrolytes. 

A satisfactory theory of solutions must first of 
‘all give us an answer to the question: What is the 
relation connecting the thermodynamic potential 
(or the fugacity, or the osmotie pressure) of a 
given molecular species in a solution with the com- 
position of that solution, its pressure and its tem- 
perature? When this relation is known for any 
given class of solutions we are at once in a posi- 
tion to calculate the values of such quantities as 
freezing points, boiling points, vapor pressures, 
osmotic pressures, solubilities, equilibrium, con- 
stants, etc., for solutions of known composition; 
er vice versa by directly measuring the above 
quantities we may compute the molecular compo- 
sition of our solutions and discover what reac- 
tions, if any, have taken place between the various 
components of the solution. 

The purpose of this paper is (1) to outline and 
describe (a) the manner in which, (b) the extent 
to which, and (c¢) the conditions under which the 
above question is satisfactorily answered by our 
present systematic knowledge of solutions; (2) to 
state a number of the laws of solutions as formu- 
lated in terms of this theory; and (3) to pre- 
sent some experimental data illustrative of the 
quantitative agreement between theory and experi- 
ment. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1039 


V. Geophysics and Geology 


L, A. BAvER: Present Status of the General Mag- 
netic Survey of the Globe. 

On April 1, 1914, the Department of Terrestrial 
Magnetism of the Carnegie Institution of Wash- 
ington had completed the first decade of its exist- 
ence. One of the first tasks undertaken was a gen- 
eral magnetic survey of the globe. During the 
period 1905-1914, 47 land expeditions to 107 dif- 
ferent countries and island-groups, in all regions 
of the earth, were sent out. Magnetic observa- 
tions have been made by these expeditions at 
3,000 points, extending from 80° north to 70° 
south. The total length of the cruises of the two 
vessels used in the ocean magnetic work, the 
Galilee (1905-1908) and the Carnegie (1909- 
1914), is 161,000 miles. By the end of 1916, the 
first general magnetic survey of the globe for the 
region between about 70° north and 70° south, or 
for about 90 per cent. of the total area, will have 
been completed. Satisfactory progress has like- 
wise been made in the atmospheric-electrie work. 
Perhaps the most important result of the observa- 
tions made on the Galilee and the Carnegie is a 
confirmation of the somewhat striking phenomenon 
that, while the conductivity over the ocean is, on 
the average, at least as great as over land, the 
radioactive content is much smaller. The values 
of the potential gradient obtained at sea were of 
the same order of magnitude as those on land. 


T. C. CHAMBERLIN: The Fundamental Segmenta- 
tion of the Harth. 

The paper proceeds on the assumptions (1) that 
the earth-body is and always has been an elastic 
solid, (2) that it is and always has been erystal- 
line throughout, (3) that the specific gravity of 
its constituents varies appreciably throughout its 
mass, (4) that it grew up by accessions which 
varied in the velocities with which they were 
added and in the positions at which the additions 
took place, and (5) in general, that the mode of 
growth was that postulated by the planetesimal 
hypothesis. It is further assumed that the nebu- 
lar knot which constituted the nucleus of the earth- 
growth inherited (1) a certain unknown measure 
of rotation from the sun, (2) that successive 
changes in the rate of rotation arose later from 
the accessions, and (3) that still other changes 
arose from the contraction of the mass as it ad- 
justed itself to the stresses incident to its growth 
and to the progress of internal reorganization. 


NOVEMBER 27, 1914] 


The segmentation discussed in the paper is as- 
signed to changing rates of rotation, the most 
powerful agency of deformation to which the 
earth is subject. The first order of deformation 
under rotation, the passage from a sphere to an 
oblate spheroid, is passed hastily as familiar 
ground, save that an analysis is offered of the 
mode by which an earth-body of crystalline tex- 
ture, affected by a concentric structure, arising 
from accretion, and a radial structure, arising 
from vyulecanism, would respond to the varying 
stress-demands imposed by changing rates of ro- 
tation. This first order of deformation or seg- 
mentation proceeds by halves acting reciprocally, 
its basis being the simplest of divisors, two. The 
essence of the paper consists in showing that 
when such bipartite division is extended to the 
second order of segmentation it develops me- 
chanical inadaptabilities, but that a second order 
of segmentation on the basis of the next simplest 
divisor, three, results in working adaptations. 
This order of segmentation gives rise to six sec- 
tors of similar form arranged symmetrically rel- 
ative to the axis of rotation and alternately re- 
specting the sectors of the opposite hemisphere. 
The special adaptability of this segmentation to 
ease the stresses that arise from changes in the 
rates of rotation is pointed out, as also certain 
eausal relations that exist between these sectors 
and their essential parts. The surficial expression 
of these sectors is identified with the great physio- 
graphic features of the earth’s surface. 


VI. Botany Bacteriology 


CHARLES EH. ALLEN: Development of the Male 

Germ Cells of Polytrichuwm. 

At the conclusion of the antheridial divisions, 
each cell contains a blepharoplast which behaved 
like a centrosome in the last division. This 
blepharoplast begins to elongate. At about the 
same time a large spherical body, the limosphere, 
appears, variously situated in the cytoplasm; 
later it comes to lie near one (the anterior) end 
of the blepharoplast. 
contact with the plasma membrane; two long cilia 
grow out from its anterior portion. The nucleus 
elongates in the same direction as, and in contact 
with, the blepharoplast. The limosphere divides 
into two bodies; the smaller remains in contact 
with the anterior end of the blepharoplast; the 
larger lies close to the posterior part of the 
nucleus. The nucleus becomes a long, coiled, 
finally homogeneous body, of about one and one 


SCIENCE 


The blepharoplast is now in . 


775 


half turns. The cytoplasm contains another body 
of variable size, often lying in a vacuole, which is 
recognizable from a time a little later than the 
appearance of the limosphere until nearly the 
completion of the metamorphosis of the nucleus. 
During this history the cell becomes first approxi- 
mately spherical, then lens-shaped. The cyto- 
plasm, aside from the special bodies mentioned, 
gradually decreases in amount. The body of the 
mature antherozoid consists of the nucleus, with a 
short portion of the blepharoplast, bearing the 
cilia, at its anterior end. The rest of the blepha- 
toplast has become indistinguishable. Adhering 
to the posterior end of the nucleus, but not a part 
of the body of the antherozoid, are the remains of 
the cytoplasm, including the larger derivative of 
the limosphere. 


CHARLES J. CHAMBERLAIN: A Phylogenetic Study 
of Cycads. 

The eyeads, as the only surviving family of an 
ancient phylum reaching back into the Paleozoic, 
are peculiarly favorable for phylogenetic study, 
and the work of others upon the Paleozoic and 
Mesozoic predecessors of the modern family adds 
to the opportunity for comparison. The nine liv- 
ing genera of the Cycadacee are confined to trop- 
ical and subtropical regions, chiefly Mexico, Cuba, 
Australia and South Africa, but during the past 
ten years all the genera and many of the species 
have been studied in the field, and material has 
been collected for a somewhat complete study of 
life histories. The accounts already published have 
dealt with eycads in the field and also with cyto- 
logical details of development and have been de- 
seriptive rather than theoretical, the natural tend- 
enecy to discuss the comparative morphology and 
phylogeny of the phylum being restrained for the 
present. Cytological features have proved to be 
more uniform and distinctive than the characteris- 
tie habit of the family. 

The investigation, as it stands, adds support to 
the already strong conviction that the Cycado- 
filicales, Bennettitales and Cycadales constitute a 
single phylum; when completed it may throw some 
light upon variation, development and retrogres- 
sion. 


Wm. CROCKER AND J. F. Groves: Method of De- 
termining the Life Duration of Seeds. 

In most seeds in a dry condition the viability 
persists from 1 to 150 years, varying with the 
species. There have been several explanations 
offered for the loss of viability. Exhaustion of 
food by respiration, degeneration of digestive and 


776 


respiratory enzymes, and the others have proved 
out of accord with known facts. The hypothesis 
that loss of viability is due to a slow coagulation 
of cell proteins of the embryo has been proposed 
and is being tested out by the writers. The test- 
ing of this hypothesis is carried out by getting the 
life duration at any two high temperatures and 
using these values in the formula that expresses 
the relation between time and temperature for the 
coagulation of proteins to find the life duration 
at any desired temperature. As an illustration of 
the results, a variety of wheat with 12.5 per cent. 
moisture gives a calculated longevity of 9.8 years 
at 20° C. and 110 years at 0° C. This and other 
calculated values at 20° C. tallies rather closely 
with records of longevity in wheat. Also the cal- 
culated values at various high temperatures tallies 
rather closely with the found life duration at 
those temperatures. Two points of technique de- 
Serve special mention, the method of maintaining 
the constant high temperature and the method of 
sterilizing the seeds for germination. If the hy- 
pothesis and method prove tenable they will be of 
great economic significance in making possible a 
quantitative statement of longevity as influenced 
by the factors of moisture content and tempera- 
ture. 


Epwin O. Jorpan: Variation in Bacteria. 

An attempt is made to distinguish in specific 
cases between true mutations and the more or less 
permanent adaptive modifications evoked in bac- 
teria by definite environmental stimuli, and to 
determine the relative value of each in the forma- 
tion of so-called bacterial species and varieties. 
The effect of acclimatization upon bacteria is 
considered as part of the problem. Specific in- 
stances of the extent of variation in a given 
direction and of the plasticity of a pure line 
strain are also brought out. 


WILLIAM TRELEASE: Phoradendron. 

Outline of a taxonomic revision of this genus 
of American mistletoes, with indication of a new 
basis for its primary subdivison. The paper em- 
bodies the results of a study of all of the ma- 
terials in the principal American and Huropean 
herbaria in the course of which almost all of the 
species have been photographed from the types. 
One fourth of the recognized species belong to a 
section that is found in the United States, Mexico 
and Central America, but is absent from the West 
Indies and South America; and three fourths, to 
a section that extends through South America and 
the West Indies and through Central America and 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1039 


southern Mexico, but is entirely absent from the 
United States. 

Though apparently well adapted to dissemina- 
tion by birds, the species are rarely of wide 
geographic range and in general are confined to 
areas limited by barriers which are effective for 
non-parasitiec plants. 


VII. Zoology and Paleontology 
C. M. Cuinp: A Dynamic Conception of the Or- 
ganie Individual. 

Organic individuation may be either radiate or 
axiate. An organic radius or axis in its simplest 
terms is dynamically a gradient in rate of meta- 
bolism or of certain fundamental reactions. In 
this gradient the region of highest rate of reac- 
tion is in greater or less degree dominant over 
other regions because of its higher rate of reac- 
tion and therefore influences the dynamic pro- 
cesses in them and determines the orderly course 
of development and functional relation. This 
dominance apparently depends primarily rather 
upon transmitted dynamic changes than upon 
transported chemical substances and the integrat- 
ing action of the nervous system is its final ex- 
pression. Since a decrement occurs in transmis- 
sion, dominance becomes ineffective beyond a 
certain variable distance and the size of the 
individual is therefore physiologically limited. 
Reproduction results from the following condi- 
tions: first, physiological or physical isolation of 
a part from the influence of the dominant region; 
second, a greater or less degree of dedifferentia- 
tion or loss of its characteristics as a part in 
consequence of the isolation; third, the presence 
or establishment in the isolated mass of an axial 
gradient or gradients; fourth, a new individuation 
and developmental history in consequence of the 
presence of the gradient and a dominant region. 
The axial gradients are not fundamental proper- 
ties of protoplasm but result from local differences 
in the action of factors external to the proto- 
plasm, cell, or cell mass in question. Orderly 
progressive development and definitely coordinated 
function are impossible except where such gradi- 
ents exist or have existed. 


FranK R. Linu: The Fertilizing Power of 

Sperm Dilutions. 

On the basis of the usual supposition that a 
single active spermatozoon may fertilize an egg 
of its own species, fertilization of eggs in series 
of sperm suspensions of increasing dilution should 
run in accord with the following law: To the point 
in the series in which each egg receives a single 
spermatozoon all of the eggs should be fertilized; 


NOVEMBER 27, 1914] 


beyond this point the percentages of eggs fertil- 
ized should fall off at first slowly, then rapidly, 
and then slowly again to a vanishing point. 

This condition is not realized, however, in actual 
experiments unless the time interval between pre- 
- paration of the more dilute sperm suspensions and 
addition of the eggs is made very short (less than 
five minutes). Under such optimum conditions 
the curve of percentages of fertilized eggs begins 
to fall from 100 per cent. at a dilution of about 
1/3000 of 1 per cent. sperm; the curve falls slowly 
to about 1/24000 per cent., then rapidly to about 
1/300,000 per cent., then slowly again to about 
1/90,000,000 per cent. where however about 1 per 
cent. of fertilizations may still take place. The 
observations show that beyond a dilution of 
1/20,000 of 1 per cent. only a single spermato- 
zoon can possibly be concerned in the fertiliza- 
tion of each egg. 

If the time interval be lengthened to twenty 
minutes, fertilizing power of sperm suspensions 
may be completely lost at 1/1000 per cent., a 
point in the series of dilutions at which each egg 
recieves several spermatozoons. Comparing sperm 
suspensions of increasing dilution it is found that 
the rate of loss of fertilizing power is inversely 
proportional to concentration. Thus the time re- 
quired for complete loss in a series of sperm sus- 
pensions between 1/600 per cent. and 1/120,000 
per cent. forms a curve ranging from 45 down to 
6 minutes. Presumably the time is even shorter 
at greater dilutions. 

Spermatozoa may be perfectly motile after loss 
of fertilizing power. Their ineffectiveness in 
these experiments is therefore due to loss of a 
necessary substance. This is an interesting con- 
firmation of the postulate, for which all experi- 
mental proof has hitherto been lacking, that the 
fertilizing power of spermatozoa is due to a 
definite substance. The spermatic substance in 
question represents the ‘‘sperm-receptors’’ of my 
theory of fertilization. 


W. L. TowEr: Experimental Production of a New 

Character. 

The antenne of the Chrysomelide are highly 
invariable organs and are used but little in taxo- 
nomic differentiation, even of the genera and 
families. Of especial interest, therefore is the 
experimental production, by means of continued 
environmental pressure of a factorial group that 
is productive of antennal conditions not known to 
exist in any living or fossil Chrysomelide. In 
origin it arose progressively, in one direction, 


SCIENCE 


717 


exists in three states of stability, each of which 
is capable of transference to other species through 
crossing, thus giving a picture of what may be 
one method of the production of nearly related 
genera. A final point of significance is that its 
behavior in crosses is no eriterion of its method 
of origination, as it arose progressively, with all 
possible intergrades, but was at all points in the 
series alternative and dominant to the normal. 


S. W. WILLISTON: The American Land Vertebrate 

Fauna and its Relations. 

The land vertebrate fauna of Lower Permian 
or Permocarboniferous age in North America 
comprises, so far as now known, at least sixty 
definitely distinct genera, distributed about equally 
among the Amphibia, Cotylosauria and so-called 
Pheromorpha. From all other parts of the world, 
of approximately equivalent age, less than a dozen 
genera are known, for the most part imperfectly. 
In North America vertebrates are known only 
from New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma, Illinois, 
and Pennsylvania. The fauna of New Mexico 
comprises, so far as is yet known, sixteen valid 
genera, twelve of them unknown elsewhere, the 
remaining four somewhat doubtfully identified 
with Texas forms. Not a single genus or family 
even of the American fauna is definitely known to 
occur elsewhere. ; 

The American forms, and especially the higher 
reptiles, within the limits of their more general- 
ized characters, are very diverse. That localities 
so little remote as Texas and New Mexico, though 
showing intimate family resemblances, should be 
so distinct in their genera is evidence that the 
world’s fauna in Lower Permian times was an 
exceedingly abundant one. Probably at no time 
in the earth’s history has there been a more ex- 
tensive fauna of reptiles. As it is, there is no 
formation known in geological history of ap- 
proximately equal duration that has yielded a 
greater number of genera of reptiles and amphi- 
bians than the American deposits. 

The conclusion is legitimate that as early as 
the close of Carboniferous times the reptilian 
fauna of the world was a relatively old one. It 
has been urged that the relationships of this 
reptilian fauna with that of the Middle and 
Upper Permian of Africa was a close genetic 
one. From a recent study of most of the known 
specimens of Huropean Permian vertebrates I am 
convinced that their resemblances are yet closer. 
On the other hand it has been urged that the 
American Permian fauna is an isolated one, with- 


178 


out any real genetic relationships with any known 
subsequent fauna; that such resemblances as have 
been shown are merely primitive or archaic, due to 
heredity from common ancestors, The truth prob- 
ably lies between the two views. 


VIII. Physiology 
A. J. Carson: Some New Observations on the 

Physiology of the Stomach in Man. 

A. The relation of the stomach to the sensa- 
tion of hunger. (1) Peripheral, and central con- 
trol of the hunger mechanism. (2) Chemical con- 
trol of the hunger mechanism. (3) The change 
in the hunger mechanism with age. 

B. The relation of the stomach to appetite. 
(1) The qualitative difference between hunger 
and appetite. 

C. The secretion of gastric juice in man. (1) 
The chemistry of normal human gastric juice. 
(2) Factors influencing the rate and quantity of 
the secretion. (3) The action of tonics or bitters 
on (a) the hunger mechanism; (0b) on the secre- 
tion of gastric juice. 

Suro TAsHiIRO: On the Nature of Nerve Impulse. 

Lack of fatigue, as measured by ordinary 
methods, and absence of heat production during 
continued stimulation in the nerve, have driven 
some physiologists to consider that the nerve im- 
pulse passes through the fiber without consuming 
any material. With new apparatus which meas- 
ures as little CO, as 0.0000001 gm., we have 
demonstrated that a living nerve gives off a 
definite amount of CO, and that when it is stimu- 
lated, this CO, production is increased. These 
new facts may be interpreted in two different 
ways. Some believe that a living nerve should 
be metabolically active like any other tissue, but 
that the chemical change is not identical with the 
nerve impulse, but is the result of functional 
activity. Others consider that the progress of 
chemical change itself constitutes the nerve im- 
pulse. This latter view is supported by some re- 
cent results, which show that CO, production from 
the resting nerve under different conditions is 
parallel to the physiological state of the nerve; 
that the normal nerve impulse passes toward a 
point of lower CO, production; that the rate of 
nerve impulse is closely connected with the rate 
of CO, production and that factors which infiu- 
ence the rate of nerve impulse equally influence 
the metabolism of the resting nerve. The nerve 
impulse is probably a propagated chemical change, 
the propagation being due to restoring the equi- 
librium which was disturbed first at the point of 
stimulus. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1039 


THE PHILADELPHIA MEETING OF THE 
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE 
ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE 


THe sixty-sixth meeting of the American 
Association for the Advancement of Science 
and of the affiliated scientific societies will be 
held in Philadelphia beginning on December 
28. We hope to publish next week full details 
of the preliminary program. It may now be 
noted that while the council of the associa- 
tion and some of its sections and affiliated 
societies will meet on Monday morning, the 
first general session will be held in the Uni- 
versity gymnasium on Monday evening. The 
retiring president, Dr. Edmund B. Wilson, of 
Columbia University, will introduce the presi- 
dent of the meeting Dr. Charles W. Eliot, of 
Harvard University, and will give the annual 
address entitled “Some Aspects of Progress 
in Modern Zoology.” After the meeting there 
will be a reception in the University Museum 
by Provost and Mrs. Smith. 

The meetings of the sections and of most 
of the affiliated societies will be in the build- 
ings of the laboratories of the University of 
Pennsylvania. Luncheon will be served daily 
in the gymnasium and all those in attendance 
are cordially invited to be present. The Hous- 
ton Club is the headquarters at the Univer- 
sity of Pennsylvania, and the Hotel Adelphia 
is the hotel headquarters. 

An interesting event of the meeting will be 
the first session of the newly established sec- 
tion of agriculture, which will meet on Decem- 
ber 30. The program will be a modest one, as 
becomes a new section, and will be specialized 
to cover some of the questions surrounding 
the business side of agriculture and the life of 
people living under it, rather than the strictly 
production phases. The address of the vice- 
president of the section, Dr. L. H. Bailey, late 
director of the College of Agriculture at Cor- 
nell University, will deal with “The Place of 
Research and of Publicity in the Forthcoming 
Country Life Development.” The other main 
feature of the program will be a symposium on 
the general subject of “The Field of Rural 
Economies.” Special phases of the subject 
will be presented by speakers invited to discuss 


NOVEMBER 27, 1914] 


them, and there will be opportunity for some- 
what general consideration. The importance 
of the economic aspects of agriculture and of 
rural affairs, and the broad field which the 
subject opens up, suggest this as an appro- 
priate topic for the new section, and it is 
hoped that it will prove of general interest. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


CHARLES SEDGWICK Minot, James Stillman 
professor of comparative anatomy in the Har- 
vard Medical School, eminent for his contri- 
butions to embryology and biology and for 
public service in science, died at his country 
home near Boston on November 19, at the age 
of sixty-two years. 

Tue gold medal of the Hayden Memorial 
Geological Award was presented to Dr. Henry 
Fairfield Osborn, in recognition of his pale- 
ontological studies, at a special meeting of the 
Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 
on November 24. The presentation address 
was made by the president of the academy, 
Dr. Samuel G. Dixon. 


One of the royal gold medals of the Royal 
Society, has been awarded to Professor Ernest 
William Brown, Sc.D., F.R.S., of Yale Uni- 
versity, in recognition of his investigations in 
mathematical astronomy. 

Tue honorary degree of doctor of science 
was conferred on November 19 by Brown Uni- 
versity upon Professor William H. Bragg, of 
the University of Leeds, before the corporation 
and faculty of the university in special con- 
vocation. Following the conferring of the 
degree Professor Bragg delivered the last of 
four lectures on “ X-rays and Crystals,” which 
he has been giving as the first of the anniver- 
sary lectures to celebrate the one hundred and 
fiftieth anniversary of Brown University. 

Tue John Fritz Medal will this year be 
awarded to Mr. John Edson Sweet, of Syra- 
euse. Mr. Sweet was one of the founders of 
the American Society of Mechanical Engi- 
neers and one of its early presidents. 

At its last meeting the Rumford committee 
of the American Academy of Arts and Sci- 
ences made the following appropriations in 


SCIENCE 779 


aid of researches on light and heat: to Pro- 
fessor P. W. Bridgman, of Harvard Univer- 
sity, $150 in addition to prior grants in aid of 
his researches on thermal effects at high pres- 
sures; to Professor Frederick A. Saunders, of 
Vassar College, $100 in aid of his research on 
the spectra of metallic vapors; to Professor 
Frederick Palmer, Jr., of Haverford College, 
in aid of his research on the properties of light 
of extremely short wave-lengths, $200; to Pro- 
fessor Henry Crew, of Northwestern Univer- 
sity, in aid of his research on the specific heat 
of liquids, $200. 


THE annual public address of the Philadel- 
phia meeting of the Entomological Society of 
America will be given on Wednesday evening, 
December 30, in the rooms of the Academy of 
Natural Science, by Professor Stephen Alfred 
Forbes, of the University of Illinois and State 
Entomologist. His subject will be “The 
Keological Foundations of Applied Entomol- 
ogy.” At the same meeting Dr. Henry Skinner 
at the request of the executive committee of 
the society will present “A History of the 
Entomological Society of America.” 


THE anniversary meeting and reception of 
the New York Academy of Medicine took 
place on November 19. The anniversary dis- 
course, entitled “ Some of the Relations of the 
Profession of Medicine to Municipal Govern- 
ment” was delivered by the Hon. George 
McAneny, president of the board of aldermen 
of New York City. 


M. Bourroux, professor in the University 
of Paris, has accepted an invitation of the 
British Academy to deliver the first of the 
recently endowed annual philosophical lectures. 
His subject will be “ Certitude et Verité,” and 
the lecture will probably be delivered early in 
December. 


Worp has been received from Dr. W. C. 
Farabee, leader of the University of Pennsyl- 
vania’s South American expedition, that he 
had just returned from a second successful trip 
up the Amazon. The party traveled some four 
thousand miles and returned with many valu- 
able collections. 


780 


Dr. Joun L. Herrron, dean of the College 
of Medicine of Syracuse University, has been 
appointed a member of the advisory medical 
council of the state university for a term of 
five years. 

Kart F. Kentrrman has been recently pro- 
moted from the position of physiologist in 
charge of soil bacteriology investigations to 
be physiologist and assistant chief of the 
Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. Department 
of Agriculture. 


Dr. F. B. Powers is about to retire from 
the directorship of the Wellcome Chemical Re- 
search Laboratories, London, on December 1, 
in order to return to the United States. His 
period of service dates from the foundation 
of these laboratories by Mr. H. S. Wellcome 
in 1896. Dr. Power will be succeeded by Dr. 
F. L. Pyman. The character and policy of 
the Wellcome Chemical Research Laboratories 
will continue as in the past. 

We learn from Nature that by the will of 
W. Erasmus Darwin, eldest son of Charles 
Darwin, the Royal Society of London is be- 
queathed the sum of £1,650; his nephew, Mr. 
C. Galton Darwin, receives the portraits of 
Charles Darwin by Lawrence and Ouless, as 
well as Darwin’s medals, Royal Society’s 
candlesticks, snuff-box, christening mug, auto- 
biography, notebook on children, two early 
sketches of “The Origin of Species,” two 
volumes of “ Hooker’s Correspondence,” the 
family Bible, the old Dutch brass-bound box 
containing the family papers, the letters 
written home from the Beagle, and pictures 
and miniatures. The desire is expressed that 
these relics should always be kept im the 
family. 

Proressor Herman J. Kuetn, director of the 
Astronomical and Meteorological Observatory 
‘of Cologne, editor of Szrius, has died at the 
age of seventy-two years. 

Mr. C. F. Apams, head of the department of 
physics of the Detroit Central High School, 
died on October 29, in his sixtieth year. 

Tur American Physical Society holds a 
meeting in Chicago on November 27 and 28. 


Tue fourteenth annual meeting of the 
American Philosophical Association will be 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1039 


held at Chicago, Ill., on December 28, 29 and 
30, in acceptance of the invitation of the philo- 
sophical department of the University of Chi- 
cago. The Western Philosophical Association 
will meet in Chicago at the same time, and 
all sessions will be participated in by both 
associations. The Political Science Associa- 
tion also convenes at Chicago, and on Decem- 
ber 29, in the afternoon, this association will 
join the two philosophical associations in a 
discussion of the subject of Democracy and 
Responsibility. In addition to this joint dis- 
cussion there will be a discussion by the two 
philosophical associations of the subject se- 
lected by the executive committee of the Amer- 
ican Philosophical Association as the main 
topic at this meeting. This subject is “ The 
Interpretation of Justice, with Special Refer- 
ence to Problems forced to the Front by Pres- 
ent Eeonomic, Social and Political Condi- 
tions.” 


It is announced that the award of the 
Nobel prizes for medicine, literature, chemis- 
try and physics will be postponed till next 
year. It is proposed in future, as we have al- 
ready noted, to make the formal distribution 
of the prizes every year in June instead of 
December 10, the anniversary of M. Nobel’s 
death, when the awards will merely be an- 
nounced. 


Appiications for the Sarah Berliner fellow- 
ship for women of the value of one thousand 
dollars, available for study and research in 
physics, chemistry and biology, should be in 
the hands of the chairman of the committee, 
Mrs. Christine Ladd-Franklin, 527 Cathedral 
Parkway, New York, by January 1. 


Last summer the government of New Zea- 
land took advantage of the meeting of the 
British Association for the Advancement of 
Science in Australia to invite a number of 
guests, including fifteen Americans and Cana- 
dians, whose names were given in SCIENCE at 
the time, to join in supplementary meetings 
in New Zealand. The plan was to hold a two- 
days’ session in Wellington and in Christ 
Church. The war interfered with the carry- 
ing out of the program which had been 
planned by the New Zealand committee. When 


NOVEMBER 27, 1914] 


the American visitors sailed from America on 
July 22, no intimation of the coming war had 
reached them. They arrived in New Zealand 
on August 13, in the early stages of the war, 
but the plans were not wholly abandoned. The 
committee in charge of the New Zealand meet- 
ings decided that they would like to have the 
American visitors lecture, each of them giving 
at least one lecture. Most of the American 
visitors have now returned to their homes. 


News of the Routledge expedition to Easter 
Island is given in the Geographical Journal. 
Mr. Routledge writes little as to the scientific 
work so far accomplished, merely observing 
that the remarkable antiquities of the island 
were being examined by the party. He gives 
some account of disturbances in the island, 
due to unrest among the native Kanakas, about 
250 in number. The main or only industry 
of the island—cattle rearing—is carried on 
by a company under the direction of an Eng- 
lish manager, the only permanent white resi- 
dent. Thefts of cattle and other property of 
the company had already been rife, when the 
natives put in a claim to the possession of all 
the cattle on the island—some 15,000 head— 
and began to destroy them wholesale. Such 
was the state of affairs, when the Chilean war- 
ship which visits the island every two or three 
years put in an opportune appearance, and for 
the moment relieved the situation. Four of 
the ringleaders were deported, but Mr. Rout- 
ledge is inclined to anticipate further trouble. 
He describes the natives as unenterprising, 
and loath to work even for their own living. 


THE United States Bureau of Mines has be- 
gun the collection of a general library of pe- 
troleum literature under the direction of W. 
A. Williams, chief petroleum technologist. 
The details of this work have been assigned 
to Dr. David T. Day, who has recently been 
transferred from the United States Geological 
Survey as petroleum technologist, and who 
will also assist in a thoroughly organized re- 
search into the chemistry of oils, which is 
being developed by the Bureau of Mines. It 
is hoped all technologists will aid in the work 
by exchanging with the bureau all available 
books and maps on this subject. 


SCIENCE 


781 


A MEETING was held on November 4, at the 
offices of the British Medical Association, to 
consider the position of the Belgian medical 
men and pharmacists, whose professional 
position has been involved in the utter ruin 
which has fallen upon their country and has 
destroyed the whole machinery of the medical 
profession and its adjuncts. The meeting was 
convened by the editors of the Lancet and the 
British Medical Journal, from which latter 
journal we take this reproduction, in re- 
sponse to representations made by a provis- 
jonal Belgian committee, whose representa- 
tive, Professor C. Jacobs, is now in London. 
Sir Rickman Godlee took the chair, and after 
a brief explanation of the position by Pro- 
fessor Jacobs, the following committee was ap 
pointed, with power to add to their number, to 
make an early report on the procedure to be 
adopted: Sir Thomas Barlow, president of the 
Royal College of Physicians of London; Sir 
Watson Cheyne, president, and Sir Frederic 
Eve, vice-president, of the Royal College of 
Surgeons of England; Dr. Meredith Towns- 
end, master of the Apothecaries’ Company; 
Sir Rickman Godlee; Dr. Frederick Taylor, 
president of the Royal Society of Medicine; 
Mr. T. Jenner Verrall, chairman of represent- 
ative meetings of the British Medical Associa- 
tion; Dr. Des Veux; Mr. E. T. Neathercoat, 
vice-president, and Mr. Woolcock, secretary, 
of: the Pharmaceutical Society. Dr. Sprigge 
was appointed secretary and Dr. H. A. Des 
Veeux, treasurer. The instructions of the 
meeting to the committee were (1) to com- 
municate with the Belgian Minister and the 
authorities of the Belgian Relief Fund; (2) 
to apply to America and other countries if de- 
sirable for assistance in the raising of any 
fund, and (8) to report generally. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 

Tur General Education Board has granted 
$250,000 to Goucher College, Baltimore, con- 
ditionally upon $750,000 being raised by April 
1, 1917. 

A Funp of $60,000 has been turned over to 
Amherst College by the alumni council. The 
disposal of the income from this sum is to be 


782 


determined by action of the trustees and the 
council. 


THE corporation of Yale University has ap- 
proved a plan for inviting full professors of 
the university to meet with the corporation 
at luncheon from time to time during the 
academic year. 


Puans for the celebration next June of the 
semi-centennial anniversary of the founding 
of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute are 
rapidly taking definite shape. A program 
drawn up by a sub-committee consisting of 

_Mr. Rockwood, Mr. Baker and Professor 
Coombs has been adopted, and the committee 
of three has been constituted an executive com- 
mittee to carry it through. The exercises will 
begin on Sunday, June 6, and close on Thurs- 
day, June 10. 


A CERTAIN number of Belgian professors and 
a growing number of students from Louvain, 
Liége, Ghent and Brussels are now in Cam- 
bridge, and although it has proved impossible 
for the Louvain University to transfer its 
corporate and official existence to Cambridge, 
unofficial courses have been instituted, com- 
bining, as far as possible, systematic instruc- 
tion on the lines of the Belgian universities 
with the individual requirements of refugee 
students. It is typical of the disastrous con- 
ditions in Europe that in view of the appeal 
issued by the Belgian government for volun- 
teers, it has been decided, in consultation with 
the Belgian government, that only such stu- 
dents as are physically unfit for military serv- 
ice or have been rejected for other reasons by 
the Belgian authorities, and are in possession 
of a certificate to that effect, can be accepted 
by the hospitality and academic committees. 


R. T. Burpick has been promoted to an 
assistant professorship of agronomy at the 
University of Vermont and the State Agricul- 
tural College at Burlington. 


In the chemistry department of Wesleyan 
Universtiy: Dr. M. L. Crossley, professor of 
organic chemistry at William Jewell College 
until 1913 and lecturer in Wesleyan Univer- 
sity, 1913-14, has been appointed associate 
professor and acting head of the department. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1039 


Dr. H. Lee Ward has been appointed associate 
professor in the department. 


James Murray, B.S.A., manager of the 
farm of the Canadian Wheat Lands, Limited, 
at Suffield, Alberta, has been appointed to the 
chair of cereal husbandry in Macdonald Col- 
lege, McGill University, in succession to Pro- 
fessor L. S. Klinck, who resigned on August 1, 
to accept the deanship of the College of Agri- 
culture of the University of British Columbia. 
Mr. Murray was formerly (1906-1911) super- 
intendent of the Dominion Experimental Farm 
at Brandon, Manitoba. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 
CAHOKIA MOUND 


In this journal, August 28, 1914, Mr. A. R. 
Crook presented a brief note on the origin of 
Cahokia Mound. The communication is here 
quoted in full: 


A study of the materials composing the so-called — 
Monks or Cahokia Mound, in Madison County, 
Tll., establishes, beyond doubt, that it is not of 
artificial origin, as has been so generally held, but 
that it is a remnant remaining after the erosion of 
the alluvial deposits, which at one time filled the 
valley of the Mississippi, in the locality known as 
the ‘‘Great American Bottoms. ’’ 


For the benefit of those who may not be 
familiar with the subject, and for this reason 
may be misled, we desire to say the statement 
made by Mr. Crook is erroneous and without 
the slightest degree of reason, and his con- 
clusion would apply equally well to the pyra- 
mids of Gizeh or the ruins of the valley of 
Mexico. 

Cahokia, by reason of its magnitude and 
importance, has led many to discuss its prob- 
able origin. Three theories have been ad- 
vanced: (1) It is the belief of some that 
Cahokia is a natural formation. (2) Others 
regard the lower part natural and the upper 
part artificial. (3) Some, acknowledging it 
to be the work of man, believe it to have been 
erected at a period when the Mississippi flowed 
between it and the line of bluffs to the east- 
ward, thus placing the mound on the right 
bank of the stream. Mowever, no one of the 


NOVEMBER 27, 1914] 


various hypotheses is compatible with exist- 
ing facts and conditions, and there is no just 
or plausible reason why Cahokia should be 
considered other than the work of man, erected 
after the Mississippi had reached its present 
channel. True at some time in the past the 
waters of the Mississippi reached the foot of 
the bluffs now forming the eastern boundary 
of the wide lowland upon which the mounds 
stand. The waters gradually wore away the 
western bank of the stream until masses of 
limestone, now forming the cliffs on the Mis- 
souri side, were reached. Here a new and 
permanent channel was formed, and so it has 
remained until the present time. The entire 
area between the eastern line of bluffs and the 
limestone on the west was scoured by the ad- 
vancing waters, and no single mass of the loose 
formation could have withstood the elements 
and thus remained an isolated mound near the 
center of the plain. The lowland was formed 
by the gradual shifting of the channel from 
the east to the west; this movement continued 
until it was arrested by the resistant lime- 
stone. Cahokia stands upon the lowland about 
midway between the two lines of bluffs. This 
area was reduced to its present level by ero- 
sion, during the time the stream was moving 
from the east and seeking its present bed. 
Therefore it would have been a physical im- 
possibility for the mounds, standing at the 
present time, to have been erected at a time 
when the waters of the Mississippi flowed along 
the foot of the bluffs to the eastward. 

Some five years ago Mr. N. M. Fenneman in 
“Physiography of the St. Louis Area,” Bul- 
letin 12, Illinois State Geological Survey, 
wrote (p. 63): 

The partly artificial character of Monks’ Mound 
is evident from its form. That it is in part a 
natural feature is seen by its structure. Sand is 
found neatly inter-stratified with loam at an alti- 
tude of about 455 feet, or 35 feet above its base. 
To this height, at least, the mound is natural and 
as there is sufficient other evidence that the val- 
jey was filled in the Wisconsin epoch to at least 
that height, the original mound may be regarded 
as a remnant of the alluvial formation of that 
time. Its base was probably narrowed artificially 
by the removal of material which was carried to 


SCIENCE 


783 


the top. In this way also the conspicuous abrupt- 
uess of its slopes was probably produced. No nat- 
ural stratification has yet been found more than 
35 feet above its base and therefore, for aught 
that is now known, more than half its height may 
be artificial. 


The discovery of a mass of sand in the 
body of the mound does not prove the lower 
part of the structure to be of natural origin. 
The sand is mentioned as being “ neatly inter- 
stratified with loam,” but no statement ap- 
pears as to the extent of the stratum. Was it 
found exposed on all sides of the work or only 
at one point? Probably the latter. 

Of the great number of artificial mounds 
which haye been examined few; if any, have 
been a homogeneous mass. Distinct strata of 
sand, clay, charcoal and ashes, vegetal mold or 
other materials, occur in the mounds. In some 
small deposits of clay, of sand and of black 
soil are in close contact, each mass being the 
quantity that could have been easily carried 
by one person. During the construction of the 
mounds many persons were necessarily engaged. 
‘fhe earth or sand was carried in bags or baskets 
from the chosen area and gradually the mass 
accumulated and the mound was formed. If 
a natural deposit of sand was encountered by 
the builders on one side of the work, while 
loam was being carried from another point, 
the result would be a pocket of sand in the 
artificial work. This may explain the occur- 
rence of sand “neatly inter-stratified with 
loam,” as mentioned by Mr. Fenneman. This 
question will be more clearly understood by 
referring to the writings of Mr. C. B. Moore, 
in which he describes the structure of many 
mounds excavated by him throughout the 
southern states, and likewise to the Twelfth 
Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology. 

One illustration in Mr. Fenneman’s work 
deserves mention, Fig. B, Pl. 6. This shows 
three mounds directly south of Cahokia and 
bears the legend: 


Group of Mounds one half mile south of Monks’ 
Mound. The low grassy knoll at the left is be- 
lieved to be entirely natural. It suggests the orig- 
inal forms of the larger mounds which have been 
artificially shaped. 


784 


This conclusion proves the fallacy of Mr. 
Fenneman’s argument, for although the two 
large mounds represented in the illustration 
have never been touched by the plow, the 
surface of the “low grassy knoll at the left” 
has been cultivated for many years, since early 
in the last century, and consequently its height 
has been reduced many feet. A sketch of the 
group made about the year 1840 and repro- 
duced in “The Valley of the Mississippi,” 
No. 3, September, 1841, shows the mounds to 
have been at that time of approximately the 
same height, therefore the “ grassy knoll” was 
at one time thirty feet or more in height, and 
it is known that during the course of its 
destruction human remains were revealed by 
the plough. 

Cahokia, the subject of this discussion, is 
the largest artificial earthwork in the United 
States. It stands in the extreme southern 
part of Madison County, Illinois, about six 
miles east of the Mississippi. It is in form a 
truncated rectangular pyramid, rising to a 
height of one hundred feet above the sur- 
rounding plain. Its base, rectangular in form, 
covers an area of about sixteen acres and 
measures 1,080 feet from north to south and 
410 feet from east to west. Surrounding 
Cahokia are 69 lesser mounds, some of which 
are more than 40 feet in height. Some are 
circular, others rectangular; the latter, includ- 
ing Cahokia, are placed with their sides toward 
the cardinal points. A group of smaller 
mounds stood near the bank of the Mississippi 
a little south of west of the main group; be- 
tween the two were several isolated mounds 
serving to connect the groups. On the oppo- 
site side of the river, on the summit of the 
ridge a short distance from the river, stood a 
group of 26 mounds, all of which have long 
since disappeared. These were within the 
limits of St. Louis. 

As is generally known to those who are 
familiar with the distribution of mounds in 
the southern part of the country, there usu- 
ally occurs in every group one mound which 
is larger and more imposing than the others. 
Often the larger work is separated from the 
main group by an open space, again it is more 
closely associated with the lesser mounds, 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Von. XL. No. 1039 


sometimes being surrounded by them. The 
St. Louis group belonged to the former class; 
the larger group, with Cahokia near its center, 
belongs to the latter. The mounds of the St. 
Louis group, and those which formerly stood 
on the opposite side of the Mississippi, have 
disappeared, and many of the lesser works of 
the main Cahokia group have been practically 
obliterated by the plow. In view of these 
conditions it is gratifying to know that a 
movement is now being made to have Congress 
purchase, and set apart as a park, an area of 
sufficient size to include Cahokia and certain 
of the smaller mounds which have escaped 
destruction. This would preserve the largest 
earthwork in America, the most imposing 
aboriginal monument east of the Mississippi. 
It is quite evident that Mr. A. R. Crook, of 
Springfield, Ill., is antagonistic to this move- 
ment, but such statements as those recently 
made by him should not be allowed to influ- 
ence the work now being done. 
Davip I. BUSHNELL, JR. 
UNIVERSITY, VIRGINIA 


AN EXAMINATION OF BLOOD-EJECTING HORNED 
LIZARDS 


Tue horned lizard’s (or horned “ toad’s ”) 
remarkable habit of ejecting blood from its 
eye when attacked, although well authenticated, 
is so rarely observed that it is thought by 
many to have its origin and its ereditability 
in the little animal’s dragon-like appearance. 
Even Ditmars confesses that it took an actual 
demonstration, witnessed only after handling 
several hundred specimens, to upset his scep- 
ticism. His description of the performance 
is well known. 

Hay (1892), Stejneger (1893), Van Den- 
burg (1897), Brunner (1907), Bryant (1911) 
and others have observed and mentioned this 
peculiar habit. It is not limited to any single 
species. 

Various explanations have been suggested; 
among others that the phenomenon is con- 
nected with the breeding season, that it may 
be due to some parasite, and that it may be 
“a secondary use acquired by a relatively few 
forms.” 


1‘“‘The Reptile Book,’’ p. 145. 


NOVEMBER 27, 1914] 


Bryant sectioned the eyelids of a blood- 
ejecting specimen, and found them highly 
vascular and full of blood sinuses. 

On July 4, while collecting specimens of 
Phrynosoma cornutwm for examination of 
stomach contents, I was fortunate enough to 
witness this phenomenon. One of my students, 
walking by my side, stooped and thrust out 
his hand to pick up a large specimen, when 
he was met by a sudden spurt of blood coming 
unmistakably from the lizard’s eye. The blood 
spread over the young man’s hand in a fan 
shaped and eyen smear, extending from the 
second joint of the index finger to the wrist, 
and being about thirty mm. wide at the base. 
On July 7, another specimen, while being 
chloroformed, shot a quick jet of blood from 
one eye. The blood was given an almost ex- 
plosive impulse, and formed a single thick 
drop on the inner wall of the bell jar. On 
July 20, another specimen ejected blood while 
being anesthetized. In this case, the blood on 
the wall of the bell jar was mixed with tiny 
fragments of skin and a few scales. 

All three animals were subjected to a very 
careful examination. All were males. Their 
lengths were 108 mm., 110 mm. and 108 mm. 
The lizards were in good condition, even being 
free from tapeworms and other intestinal para- 
sites with which local Phrynosomas are much 
infected. The stomach contents were char- 
acteristic, consisting of agricultural ants, 
small beetles, isopods, ete. In each case, the 
eye from which the blood was ejected showed 
a small quantity of clotted blood in the poste- 
rior corner. The vessels were slightly swollen. 
The cornea seemed to be intact. In the first 
two cases there was a small spot in the 
sclerotic coat, which can be best described as 
a blood blister. The contents on removal to 
a slide, and staining with Wright’s stain, 
showed nothing except a few red corpuscles 
and lymphocytes. The third specimen showed 
nothing but a mass of clotted blood in the 
posterior corner of the eye. Im each case, 
careful dissections were made, using needles 
and working under a 48 mm. objective. No 
parasites of any kind were found. 


SCIENCE 


785 


In my opinion, the most significant fact of 
all is that all three animals were moulting, the 
third being in quite an advanced stage. 

W. M. Winton 


THE RIcE INSTITUTE, 
Houston, TEXAS 


THE COTTON WORM MOTH AGAIN 


Tue large northward flight of the cotton 
worm moth, Alabama argillacea Hubn., in 
September, 1911, is still fresh in the memory 
of entomologists. In 1912 a few of these moths 
were taken in Massachusetts, but in 1913 none 
were found, so far as the knowledge of the 
writer goes. 

The present year none were reported in 
September, but on the evening of October 17, 
large numbers appeared at the lights in and 
around Worcester and were in evidence for 
several days. No other reports of their appear- 
ance in the state this year have been received, 
but it is hardly probable that they were only 
locally present. 

It is interesting to note that while they were 
taken during the last week in September in 
1911, and from September 21 to 25 in 1912, 
their first appearance this year was October 
17, nearly a month later than in the other 
years mentioned. 

‘Since the above was put in type this insect 
has also been reported as abundant in Pitts- 
field during the same period. 


H. T. Frrnanp 
AMHERST, Mass. 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 


Lehrbuch der Meteorologie. Von Dr. JuLius 
Hann, Professor an der Universitat Wien. 
Dritte, unter Mitwirkung von Prorsssor 
Dr. String (Potsdam) umgearbeitete Au- 
flage. Leipzig, 1913, 1914. Chr. Herm. 
Tauchnitz. 8vo. Pts. 1-9, pp. 800.* 

It is significant of the progress of meteorol- 
ogy that three editions of von Hann’s “ Lehr- 
buch” have been published in the past twelve 


1 Ten parts are to be issued. The last one has 
been delayed, doubtless on account of the war.— 
The reviewer. 


786 


years. The first edition (1901) was at once 
accorded its rightful place at the head of the 
list of our meteorological text-books. No 
other book approached it as a complete, sys- 
tematic, masterful discussion of the whole 
range of meteorological phenomena. The 
well-arranged and carefully selected bibliog- 
raphy alone was worth the cost of the entire vol- 
ume. In 1906 came the second edition, in which 
the author introduced certain changes intended 
to make the “Lehrbuch” somewhat more 
popular, using that term in the best sense. 
The number of pages was reduced by 150; 
some of the less important details were 
omitted, and considerable reduction was made 
in the bibliographic notes. In this form the 
book, embodying all the noteworthy additions 
to meteorological knowledge which had been 
made during the years 1901-1906, became a 
most valued text and reference book to an in- 
creased number of readers. 

To the great satisfaction of all workers in 
meteorological science, Professor von Hann 
has found opportunity, in the midst of his 
many other activities, and in spite of his ad- 
vancing years, to revise his “ Lehrbuch ” once 
more, this time with the cooperation of Pro- 
fessor Stiring. What we noted, in these col- 
umns, in regard to the first edition of this 
remarkable work is true, with added empha- 
sis, of the latest issue. The general plan of 
the original edition has again been followed, 
in that the book has been increased in size, 
and the bibliographic notes, which were much 
reduced in the 1906 edition, have been re- 
stored, extended and brought down to date. 
For the purposes of the working meteorolo- 
gist the new edition naturally has a greater 
value than the second, excellent as the latter 
was. No one can read over the new “ Lehr- 
buch” without being profoundly impressed 
by the author’s extraordinarily complete 
grasp of the whole range of meteorological 
literature. Everything is discussed in the 
light of the latest information which we have, 
and everywhere we see the touch of the mas- 
ter-hand, in the clean-cut, well-balanced and 
thoroughly digested discussions. Thorough 
as the treatment is, with marked emphasis 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1089 


upon the physical aspects of all the phenom- 
ena, the reader who is unfamiliar with mathe- 
matical analysis will not find the volume diffi- 
cult to study. For, following the excellent 
plan already adopted in the first edition, the 
more technical mathematical and physical 
sections are included in an appendix. Special 
attention has been paid to the latest results 
of the aerological investigations which have 
become so important a branch of modern 
meteorology. The chapters on aerology, on 
clouds and on atmospheric electricity were 
prepared by Professor Siiring, who is pecu- 
liarly competent to deal with these subjects. 

Two of the matters concerning which 
meteorologists, as a whole, are still uncertain 
are the general circulation of the atmosphere 
and the theory of cyclones and anticyclones. 
Probably many readers of the “Lehrbuch” 
will turn at once to the discussion of these 
matters, in the hope that they may clear up 
their own minds on these debated topics. A 
reading of the sections in which these subjects 
are considered shows very clearly the gaps in 
our present knowledge of the facts, and the 
difficulty of giving satisfactory explanations 
under these circumstances. The case is 
stated clearly in the light of our present 
knowledge, but it is not a closed case. 

Meteorologists will find, in the new edition 
of the “ Lehrbuch der Meteorologie,” their one 
absolutely indispensable reference book. 
Their colleagues, workers in other branches 
of science, will inevitably refer to this vol- 
ume for the information which they may need 
to help them in their own investigations. 
Thus von Hann’s “ Lehrbuch” stands as the 
master-work on the science of the earth’s at- 
mosphere. 

R. DeC. Warp 


HARVARD UNIVERSITY 


Die physikalische Chemie der Proteine. By 
Dr. T. BramsFrorpD Ropertson, professor of 
physiological chemistry and pharmacology 
in the University of California. Trans- 
lated by F. A. Wyncken. Dresden, Verlag 
yon Theodor Steinkopff. 1912. Pp. 447. 
‘This book is a careful compilation of inves- 


NOVEMBER 27, 1914] 


tigations relating to physical constants and 
properties of proteins. This line of study, as 
the author remarks, certainly deserves consid- 
eration on the part of chemists and biologists, 
although it is not yet satisfactorily developed. 
The book is divided into four parts: (1) chem- 
ical statics in protein systems (dealing with 
preparations of pure proteins and hypotheses 
concerning protein compounds); (2) electro- 
chemistry of proteins (conductivity, ete); (8) 
physical properties of protein systems; (4) 
chemical dynamics in protein systems (hydrol- 
ysis of proteins, action of enzymes). Nat- 
urally the author’s own investigations are dis- 
cussed at length. In these he tries to apply 
those quantitative laws which, as a rule, are 
classified specifically as physicochemical: the 
gas laws, van’t Hoft’s theory of dilute solutions 
and all those other laws which ean be derived 
from them on the basis of thermodynamics. 
The numerical data of the measurements fit 
the calculations well in most cases; the conclu- 
sion of the author, however, that protein solu- 
tions do not contain discrete particles does not 
seem perfectly justified, since investigations by 
Einstein and by Perrin have shown that even 
emulsions allow the application of the gas law 
in a certain form. Nevertheless the book will 
certainly prove extremely useful as a manual 
for all those who are interested in the further 
development of this important branch of 


science. 
R. BEvTNER 


Die Vorzeitlichen Saugetiere. By O. ABEL. 
Jena, Gustave Fischer, 1914. Pp. v-+ 309, 
with 250 figures and 2 tables in the text. 
In the introduction the author emphasizes 

the dominance during the Mesozoic of the 

great reptiles—dinosaurs on land, mosasaurs 
in the sea, pterosaurs in the air—which, 
though mammals, had existed from the Upper 

Trias to the limit of the Cretaceous, put an 

effective check upon their evolutionary ad- 

vancement. The principal abiding place of 
the mammals has always been the continents, 
yet by Middle Eocene time one finds the sea 
mammals, such as the whales and Sirenia, al- 
ready evolved, and although the aerial realm 


SCIENCE 


787 


has never been a domain of the mammals, the 
bats have for a long time competed with the 
birds, the heirs of the pterosaurs. 

According to Steinmann, the different rep- 
tilian stems were not extinguished at the end 
of the Cretaceous period, but the great dino- 
saurs are said to have still existed in the great 
land mammals of the Tertiary, the ichthyo- 
saurs in the dolphins, the mosasaurs in the 
baleen whales, the plesiosaurs in the sperm 
whales, the pterodactyls in the bats. This 
view Abel refutes upon anatomical and other 
grounds, and derives the mammals from a 
much more primitive reptilian stock. The au- 
thor discusses the remarkable preservation of 
fossil mammals, as seen in the asphalt beds 
of the Rancho La Brea in California, frozen 
cadavers in the tundras of Siberia and those 
preserved in the oil-steeped soil of Galicia 
and the dry caverns of Patagonia, as well as 
in the ordinary mineralization of the bones. 
The principal localities which have produced 
mammalian remains are recorded; first those 
of the Mesozoic, then the European localities 
in their geologic sequence, followed by those 
of Asia, Africa, North America, South Amer- 
ica and Australia in the order named. A very 
carefully wrought out chronological table is 
given, correlating the faunas of the five con- 
tinental regions, the North American column 
presenting the six successive faunal phases as 
originally proposed by Osborn. 

The oldest mammalian remains are dis- 
cussed, no Permian ones being known, but the 
Upper Trias producing forms which seem to 
point to an origin at the latest by Permian 
time. The position of the ancient mammals 
in the “system” of living mammals is next 
dealt with historically. Abel recognizes the 
difficulty of erecting a system of classification 
which shall also give the phylogenetic stages 
in the history of any stock, and states that it 
almost seems as if it were impossible, on the 
basis of our present taxonomy, to form a sat- 
isfactory compromise between that and 
phylogeny. His own classification, though 
in many cases it does not give full recognition 
to phylogenetic facts, seeks, where possible, to 
lay emphasis on the historic and genetic 


788 


events in the history of the mammalian 
stocks. 

The bulk of the book is taken up by a sum- 
mary of the extinct mammals; first those 
without the placenta (Eplacentata), or the 
marsupials, including the Allotheria or multi- 
tuberculates, the African Tritylodon, Ptilo- 
dus and Polymastodon of North America, and 
the various types described by Ameghino from 
Patagonia. After these comes a discussion 
of the diprotodont marsupials in Australia 
and South America, while the triconodonts 
are included with the polyprotodont types. 
Placental mammals embrace the Pantotheria 
or trituberculates and all forms above them, 
of which the insect-eating types or Insectivora 
are the most primitive; the author also in- 
eludes under this head the unique Tillodonta, 
Tillothervwm and. its rare allies, whose posi- 
tion in the mammalian scheme is very doubt- 
ful. The relationships of the creodonts and 
fissipede Carnivora are clearly set forth, after 
which Abel describes the ancient whales. 

The group of edentates are discussed under 
two distinct heads, the Xenarthra or “ poor- 
toothed” mammals of South America, and 
the Nomarthra, those of the Old World, of 
which there are relatively very few. Rodents 
are briefly dismissed, the curious horned 
types, Hpigaulus and Ceratogaulus, of the 
Miocene of Colorado and Kansas being em- 
phasized as the most remarkable. 

The hoofed mammals are always the most 
conspicuous and numerous forms in every 
fossil fauna, and to them the greater part of 
the volume under consideration is devoted. 
Twelve orders are recognized, of which the 
first is the “Stammordnung” Protungulata, 
embracing all of the forms usually included 
under the order Condylarthra and certain ad- 
ditional families such as the Pantolambdide, 
here considered as ancestral to the Amblypoda 
instead of being placed under that order as is 
the usual custom. The Bunolitopternide, 
ancestral to the Litopterna, are also placed 
here. 

Following the ungulates, the primates are 
discussed, but a very brief section only is 
given to fossil man. 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8S. Vou. XL. No. 1039 


The final chapter of the book is upon the 
rise, dominance and decline of the mammal- 
ian stem. Of particular interest is the au- 
thor’s discussion of the causes of extinction, 
great emphasis being laid upon the possibil- 
ity of contagious diseases having an exten- 
Sive influence in the extinction of faunas. 

Altogether the book is a well-balanced pro- 
duction which avoids excessive technicalities 
but gives a very good general idea of the more 
essential facts of mammalian anatomy, classi- 
fication and relationships as disclosed by 
paleontology. It shows, moreover, how neces- 
sary for systematic work in recent zoology an 
adequate knowledge of extinct animals has 
become. An interesting commentary upon 
the advancement of paleontological science is 
afforded by the fact that the great bulk of il- 
lustrative material is drawn from American 
authorities and based upon the fossil re- 
sources of the New World. 

RicHarp Swann Lubn 

YALE UNIVERSITY 


THE VEGETATION OF THE NEBRASKA SAND HILLS 


THE average traveler regards the prairies 
and plains as regions of extreme monotony; 
particularly is this true if his way takes him 
through a region of sand hills. The total in- 
correctness of this view is admirably illus- 
trated by the publication of Professor Pool’s 
researches in the Nebraska sand hills. From 
an earlier and semi-popular presentation by 
the same author we had learned to know 
something of the fascination and scientific 
interest of these dynamic landscapes, and now 
we have his detailed results.? 

The Nebraska sand-hill country covers an 
area of about 18,000 square miles, that is, 
nearly a fourth of the area of the state. There 
are similar but smaller areas of sand hills in 
Kansas, Colorado and the Dakotas. The soil 


1‘“A Study of the Vegetation of the Sand- 
hills of Nebraska,’’ Raymond J. Pool. Minn. 
Bot. Stud., III., 4: 189-312, pls. 15, figs. 16, 
map 1, 1914. 

2“Glimpses of the Great American Desert,’’ 
Raymond J. Pool. Pop. Sci. Mon., 80: 209-35, 
figs. 17, 1912. 


NOVEMBER 27, 1914] 


is composed of dune sand, probably derived 
from the Loup Fork (Tertiary) beds. These 
hills seem to have been formed largely at some 
previous epoch and to have become stabilized 
and occupied by vegetation. Through the in- 
fluence of man, mostly on account of prairie 
fires and overgrazing, many of these ancient 
dunes have become rejuvenated to the detri- 
ment of those responsible for it. 

After giving the results of his careful meas- 
urements of wind, rainfall, evaporation, tem- 
perature and other ecological factors, Professor 
Pool takes up in detail the vegetation of the 
region. It is a pleasure to note the author’s 
caution in using the word “formation.” He 
rightly believes in using this term only for 
large units, referring the “formations” of 
many authors to associations. The character- 
istic upland formation is the prairie-grass 
formation, which is contrasted sharply with 
the short-grass formation of the plains, the 
two embracing most of the great climatic 
grasslands between our eastern forests and the 
mountains. These two great formations have 
similar physiognomy, but different component 
species; the limiting factors are the available 
water and competition, and not temperature, 
as supposed by Merriam. The chief associa- 
tion is the bunch-grass association, dominated 
especially by Andropogon scoparius; this is 
the vegetation that prevailed generally before 
the advent of the white man, and is regarded 
as the temporary climax of the region. The 
vegetation of this association is open, the 
grasses occurring in tufts or bunches, but it is 
supposed that ultimately some closed prairie- 
grass association will prevail. There is evi- 
dence of this in the spear grass association 
(dominated by Stipa comata and Koeleria 
cristata), and farther west in the grama- 
buffalo grass association (dominated by Boute- 
loua and Bulbilis). 

Doubtless the most interesting features of 
the sand hills are the blow-outs. These are 
retrogressive features and are due, as noted 
above, especially to prairie fires and over- 
grazing. At first through the death of the 
plants there are small patches of bare sand. 
Later the sand is scooped out by the wind, 


SCIENCE 789 


forming conical or crateriform depressions, 
known as blow-outs. As the sand is scooped 
out, more sand falls in from the sides, so that 
the blow-out is increased in circumference, as 
well as in depth. Extreme cases are recorded 
where the depth may be as much as 100 
feet and the circumference 600 feet. When 
wind erosion becomes checked, vegetation 
again gets a foothold, the chief pioneers being 
Redfieldia flexuosa, Psoralea lanceolata and 
Calamovilfa longifolia. After a time these 
pioneers are followed by the bunch-grass asso- 
ciation; after this vegetational changes are 
much less rapid. One of the chief features 
of interest in the woodland formations along 
the streams is the overlap of the deciduous 
eastern forest and the yellow pine (Pinus 
ponderosa scopulorum) forest of the west. The 
lowland formations are much like those else- 
where, as to both content and succession, 
except that a meadow type represents the 
temporary climax; probably one of the more 
eastern of the prairie grass associations repre- 
sents a more ultimate condition. 

Professor Pool is to be congratulated on his 
thorough and sane treatment of his problem. 
His contribution is solid and satisfying, and 
is a pleasant contrast to the many ephemeral 
disquisitions which even yet masquerade too 
frequently under the name of ecology. 

H. C. Cowes 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 


THE EFFECTS OF SMALL REPEATED INTRAPERITO- 
NEAL INJECTIONS OF WITTE’S PEPTONE 
SOLUTIONS IN GUINEA-PIGS*t 

THE experiments reported in this prelimi- 
nary paper form a group in a series which has 
been planned to determine the organic effects 
of parenteral introduction of certain substances 
which may be produced within the tissues of 
an organism, or which may be absorbed from 
the gastro-intestinal tract. The fact that 
Longcope? has reported that parenteral diges- 


1From the laboratories of the Cincinnati Gen- 
eral Hospital and the department of pathology of 
the University of Cincinnati, 

2Longeope, Jour. Hxp. Med., 1913 (18), 678. 


790 


tion of egg-albumen may (under certain cir- 
cumstances) produce organic renal and hepa- 
tic changes may mean that splitting of the 
whole protein leads to these changes, that the 
effects are the results of the irritant action of 
substances set free during splitting, or that 
moieties of the protein molecule by making 
abnormal combinations may act as irritants, 
or in some other undetermined way embarrass 
the activities of the cells of the tissues in 
which they occur. 

In two former publications, Newburgh and 
I? reported the results of a series of injections 
of indol and tyrosin in animals, and stated 
that we were able to discover little if any 
change in any of the parenchymatous organs. 
In the present series use has been made of so- 
lutions of albumose as represented by Witte’s 
peptone. 

The protocols follow: In them the expres- 
sion “ peptone solutions” means one prepared 
as follows and then sterilized: 


Witte’s peptone ....... 1 gram 
Sodium chloride ........ OND ee 
Distilled water ......... 100.0 e.¢. 


Guinea-pig 1.—Weight 400 grams. This 
animal received 17 daily injections each of 
1.5 c.c. of the peptone solution, a total of 25.5 
e.c., or .255 gram of albumose. It died sud- 
denly on the day following the last injection. 
The cause of death was not discovered. The 
post-mortem was done while the animal was 
still warm, and showed no other changes than 
a slight mediastinal edema, moderate hyper- 
plasia of the lymph-nodes and congestion of 
the lungs, liver, spleen and kidneys. Micro- 
scopic examination (Lab. No. 1078) of the 
tissues showed edema and congestion with oc- 
casional small hemorrhages in the kidneys, 
with a few areas of small round cell infiltra- 
tion; enormous congestion of the adrenals; 
edema and focal necroses of the thymus; and 
hyperplastic changes associated with conges- 
tion in the lymph glands and spleen. The 
spleen was more than normally pigmented. 


3 Woolley and Newburgh, J. A. M. A., 1911 


(56), 1796; and Newburgh and Woolley, Cin. 
Lancet-Clmic, April 13, 1912. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1039 


Guinea-pig 2.—Weight about 350 grams. 
This animal received 57 daily injections each 
of 1.5 cc. of the peptone solution; a total of 
85.5 ¢.c., or .855 gram of albumose. Dur- 
ing the period of treatment it gave no sign of 
any untoward effects of the treatment. It ate 
well, lost no weight, and was finally chloro- 
formed 72 hours after the last injection. 
The post-mortem was done while the body was 
still warm. The organs showed no abnormal 
macroscopic or microscopic (Lab. No. 1205) 
lesions, other than a moderate, generalized 
congestion associated with a very moderate 
edema of the parenchymatous organs. ‘This, 
however, was no more than is usual after 
chloroform anesthesia. 

Guinea-pig 3.—Weight about 400 grams. 
This animal received 30 daily intraperitoneal 
injections each of 1.5 c.c. of the peptone solu- 
tion, a total of 5 «ec. or .45 gram of albu- 
mose. It was killed with chloroform. The 
post-mortem showed only a very moderate 
congestion and edema of the liver, spleen, kid- 
neys and adrenals, and a slight hyperplasia 
of the mesenteric lymph glands. Microscopic 
examination (Lab. No. 1179) showed nothing 
abnormal except perhaps a slight degree of 
hyperplasia of the mesenteric lymph glands. 

Guinea-pig 4.—Weight about 400 grams. 
This animal received 5 c.c. of the peptone so- 
lution each day for 7 days, 35 cc, or .85 
gram of albumose. It was killed with chloro- 
form. At autopsy nothing was found which 
was abnormal. Microscopic examination 
(Lab. No. 1248) was equally negative. 

Guinea-pig 5—Weight about 350 grams. 
This animal! was treated in the same manner 
as No. 4 for a period of 20 days, during which 
time it received a total of 100 c.c. of the pep- 
tone solution, or 1 gram of albumose. It was 
chloroformed and autopsied. During the 
period of treatment it lost 87 grams in weight. 
At autopsy nothing noticeable was found ex- 
cept a partially healed meager exudate on the 
surface of the spleen. The peritoneal cavity 
contained 2 e.c. of a clear fluid. Microscopic 
examination of the tissues (Lab. No. 1276) 
showed no lesions except in the case of the 
spleen, in which there was an increased amount 


NOVEMBER 27, 1914] 


of pigment and a moderate hypertrophy of 
the Malpighian follicles. The capsule was 
thickened. 

Guinea-pig 12—Weight 412 grams. This 
animal received 50 intraperitoneal injections 
of 5 c.c. of the peptone solution in the course 
of two months, a total of 250 e.c., or 2.5 grams 
of albumose. After each injection it was sub- 
mitted to deep chloro-anesthesia for 15 min- 
utes. After 25 treatments the weight had 
increased to 455 grams. At the end of the treat- 
ments the weight was 485 grams. The post- 
mortem revealed nothing macroscopically ab- 
normal, and physically the animal seemed to 
be in the best sort of condition. Histological 
examination (Lab. No. 1595) showed that 
there was a certain amount of anatomic modi- 
fication of the tissues of some of the organs. 
The report was as follows: The kidney shows 
a well-marked edema and cloudy swelling. 
The glomerular spaces are dilated and the 
tufts compressed, and in the spaces there is 
considerable coagulated albuminous material. 
About the glomeruli there are frequent small 
accumulations of small round cells, and in the 
outer layers of the cortex there are occasional 
lines of interstitial fibrosis. The whole organ 
showed congestion. The liver showed a very 
well developed edema, to the extent that in 
many areas the cells show what seems to be 
hydropic changes. With this is associated 
congestion and very moderate interstitial fib- 
rosis as exemplified in. the occasional collec- 
tions of small round cells in the perilobular 
connective tissues. ‘The spleen shows enor- 
mous hyperplasia of the Malpighian follicles 
together with some increased pigmentation. 
Within the corpuscles there is evidence of cel- 
lular fragmentation. The adrenals show a few 
collections of formative cells in both medulla 
and cortex, chiefly in the latter. The other or- 
gans revealed nothing remarkable. 

Guinea-pig 11.—Weight 445 grams. This 
animal was treated in exactly the same way as 
No. 12. After 25 treatments it weighed 482 
grams and at the end of the experiment, 565 
grams. The report of the histologic examina- 
tion (No. 1609) stated that the changes were 
similar to those found in No. 12, except that 


SCIENCE 


791 


there were a few retention cysts in the kid- 
neys and that there was nothing of note in the 
adrenals except an intense congestion.‘ 

In this series, which is admittedly small, 
there is evidence (which we are attempting to 
verify by an extended series of experiments) 
that albumose introduced parenterally into 
the guinea-pig has very little, if any, harmful 
effect unless the oxidative powers of the or- 
ganism are below normal. In view of the re- 
sults of Longeope’s experiments, as compared 
with ours, it seems possible that the more 
complex proteins will produce effects in the 
absence of decreased oxidation which the less 
complex ones will not produce under similar 
circumstances.° We are carrying out a series 
of experiments which we hope will throw some 
light upon this problem. 

Paut G. Wooriey, 
Daisy CLarK, 
Amiz DeMar 


THE CULTURE OF DIDYMIUM XANTHOPUS 
(DITMAR) FR. 


In a recent attempt to isolate an ascomy- 
cetous fungus occurring abundantly on the 
seed pods of sweet clover (Melilotus) there 
appeared on one of the plates an organism that 
had- spread over the surface of the synthetic 
medium. The striking feature was the net- 
work of anastomosing branches varying in 
width and height to about two millimeters. 
These were brownish yellow, and slightly 
raised above the surface of the agar, the whole 
having the appearance of the vascular system 
of some maple leaves, as seen on the ventral 
surface. Microscopical examination showed 
that these ridges were composed of granular 
protoplasm with no evidence of a containing 
vessel or cell wall. About ten days after dis- 
covery the culture was again examined and 

4The histologic examinations in these cases were 
made by Dr. T. H. Kelly, who had no knowledge 
of the experimental procedures used in the indi- 
vidual cases. They were subsequently verified by 
one of us (P. G. W.). 

5 These results call to mind Opie’s work along 
somewhat similar lines (Trans. Assoc. Amer. 
Phys., 1910, XXV., 140). 


792 


showed at that time areas of fully developed 
sporangia which indicated that this organism 
was a Myxomycete. A culture was submitted 
to Dr. Thomas H. Macbride, who identified 
the organism as Didymium xanthopus (Dit- 
mar) Fr. 

Since the first appearance of this organism 
cultures have been readily established by trans- 
ferring small portions of the vegetative form 
to fresh media, and also by sowing spores. At 
the present time the third generation from 
spores is growing luxuriantly and is furnish- 
ing excellent material for further study of 
this very interesting organism. It has been 
possible to obtain practically all stages in the 
formation of the sporangium by fixing mate- 
rial taken every two hours during the process 
of development. 

It can also be readily observed with the low 
power microscope that the protoplasm exhibits 
reversible streaming movements in somewhat 
definite channels. This movement occupies 
but a few seconds in each direction, first ac- 
celerating and then retarding to a point of 
rest before reversing. This feature will have 
some value to the teacher who wishes to demon- 
strate protoplasmic streaming to students, for 
it is superior to any other material observed 
for this purpose. 

A more extensive report of morphological 
and physiological studies of this organism 
will be published at a later date. 

JoHNn P. Hetyar 

RUTGERS COLLEGE, 

New Brunswick, N. J. 


THE EFFECT ON PLANT GROWTH OF SATURATING A 
SOIL WITH CARBON DIOXIDE 


Tue following note reports a greenhouse ex- 
periment with corn and tomato plants where 
the soil surrounding the roots was gradually 
saturated with carbon dioxide, the aerial por- 
tions of the plants being under normal condi- 
tions throughout the experiment. The plants 
were grown in six-inch earthenware pots in a 
normal greenhouse soil. Both kinds of plants 
grew uniformly and there was no choice be- 
tween the individual corn or tomato plants 
selected for the experiment. 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1039 


A bell-jar, about ten liters in capacity and 
of the same shape as an ordinary aspirator 
bottle, was placed over one of the tomato 
plants. The earthenware pot containing the 
plant was raised up so that as much as possible 
of the plant was outside the jar. Absorbent 
cotton was placed about the plant at the mouth 
of the bell-jar. The bell-jar was put on a glass 
plate smeared with vaseline. One of the corn 
plants was treated in exactly the same way. 
No carbon dioxide was added for a week and 
the plants growing in the pots, enclosed by 
the bell-jars, made as good growth as the check 
plants. 

A steady stream of washed carbon dioxide, 
of such speed that it gave two bubbles of gas 
per second as it passed through the wash 
bottle, was led into each of the bell-jars through 
a side opening near the bottom of the jar. 
This was continued for two weeks. 

The lower parts of the plants were affected 
first and in a week the ill effects extended en- 
tirely over the plants. The leaves drooped, 
turned brownish, withered and curled up. The 
veins of both treated plants darkened. The 
plants were practically brown at the end of two 
weeks’ treatment, the tomato plant being more 
physiologically affected than the corn plant. 

After two weeks the side openings through 
which the carbon dioxide had been introduced 
were left open. The tomato plant soon damped 
off at the mouth of the bell-jar, while the corn 
plant began to revive, sent out new growth and 
at the end of a week was growing normally. 
Two weeks after the treatment was discon- 
tinued it had made ten inches of new growth. 

From the way the check plants grew, the 
greenhouse temperature was satisfactory for 
plant growth and the soil was a normal one. 
The bell-jars did not produce the results, as 
they did not inhibit growth before the carbon 
dioxide was applied or after its application 
was discontinued. A carbon dioxide saturated 
soil upset. the growth of these plants but did 
not change the soil so that the plant could not 
grow after its application was discontinued. 

H. A. Noyes 

PURDUE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION, 

LAFAYETTE, IND. 


NOVEMBER 27, 1914] 


THE EFFICIENCY OF HALOGENS IN INDUCING META- 
MORPHOSIS IN FROG LARVA* 


GuDERNATSCH has shown in his interesting 
and important experiments on the effect of 
feeding larval frogs upon the substance of 
certain, glands with internal secretions, that 
thyroid accelerates metamorphosis to a marked 
degree. Inasmuch as the present writer has 
been studying the involution of the organs of 
the tadpole during metamorphosis, Guder- 
natsch’s results were of significance and opened 
at once the question as to what component of 
the thyroid exerted this accelerating effect. 
To the solution of this problem I turned my 
attention during the past summer, hoping that 
data would be found to aid in interpreting 
the observations which have already been 
made upon the physiological processes in- 
volved during metamorphosis. 

Attention was first directed to the thyroid 
constituents. All of the iodin-bearing por- 
tions of the gland substance gave positive re- 
sults, while the nucleoprotein, lipoid and 
other fractions were negative. The negative 
results given by feeding lipoid is significant 
in the light of the theory of von Fiirth that 
cholin is responsible for the vaso-motor ef- 
fects of thyroid; for the lipoid-free thyroid 
substance gave positive results, showing that 
cholin, which is present in thyroid only in the 
lecithins, is not functional in a vaso-motor 
capacity in inducing the different changes in 
the metamorphosing tadpole. Other evidence, 
such as ligation of the chief blood-vessels of 
the tail previous to and during involution, 
which does not affect the rate of tissue absorp- 

. tion, points to the fact that blood changes are 
not responsible for metamorphosis. 

Todin seems to be associated in the thyroid 
with a globulin which Oswald has ealled 
thyreoglobulm, which, on hydrolysis, is re- 
ducible to a mass called iodothyrin by Bau- 
mann; this is a mixture of end-products of 
protein disintegration and especially of 
amino-acids, some of which, such as trypto- 
phan and tyrosin, probably hold the iodin in 
some sort of association, but in what way is 

1The complete details of this work are pub- 
lished in another journal (Jour. Biol. Chem., Vol. 
19, 110-13). 


SCIENCE 


793 


not known at present. Now in the present 
set of experiments, thyreoglobulin, iodo- 
thyrin and an iodated amino-acid, tyrosin 
(3, 5, diodo-tyrosin), gave positive results 
when fed separately to the larve. The tyrosin 
used was from a pancreatic digest and after 
recrystallization it was iodated at 0° C. with 
resublimed iodin scales. 

Other iodin compounds, not derived from 
the thyroid, were examined. Starch iodate, 
marine iodin-bearing alge, iodated hen’s egg 
lecithin and all of the inorganic iodides tried 
gave negative results. Jodated Witte Pep- 
tone gave positive results, quite comparable 
in every way with those obtained with thy- 
roid. Inasmuch as only “organic” iodin 
gave positive results and then only when as- 
sociated with proteins, the conclusion seems 
to be warranted that the iodin, in order to be 
available, must be in some way associated with 
amino-acids. The iodin of the plant material 
is known not to be in the same form as in 
thyroid, for in alge it is always associated 
with potassium, probably as KI; therefore 
the plant iodin is not an exception. 

Two theories may be proposed to account 
for this effect of iodin: (1) If the process of 
involution is due to phagocytosis as Metchni- 
koff, Mercier and many others believe, we have 
a basis for the accelerating action of iodin in 
the work of Marbé, who has shown that or- 
ganic iodin preparations raise the opsonic in- 
dex of blood of mammals. (2) If, as the work 
of Loss and of the present writer? up until 
the present time seems to show, the process con- 
cerns, initially, at least, some factor other 
than phagocytosis, and that probably it is a 
matter of autolysis, then we may resort to the 
results obtained by Kepinow, where iodin ac- 
celerates that process. In all probability, the 
role of iodin is two-fold, that is, instigating 
and accelerating autolysis in the first place, 
and secondly, favoring phagocytosis. While 
we do not know certainly what relation exists 
between the destructive changes, collectively 
designated involutionary and those concerned 
with differentiation, results obtained by the 

2 Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. and Med., Vol. 11, p. 184; 
idem., Vol. 10, p. 31; Amer. Jour. Physiol., De- 
cember, 1914. 


194 


writer point to the invariable precedence of 
the former, so that these may set wp processes 
of differentiation. M. Morse 
MADISON, WIS., 
September 25, 1914 


BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 


THE ninety-eighth regular meeting of the Bo- 
tanical Society of Washington was held in the as- 
sembly hall of the Cosmos Club at 8 P.M., October 
6, 1914. Forty members and two guests were pres- 
ent. The following scientific program was given: 

Mr. P. H. Dorsett, ‘‘The Botanical Garden of 
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil’? (with lantern). 

Mr. W. F. Wight, ‘‘ Andean Origin of the Oulti- 
vated Potato’’ (with lantern and specimens). 

Both papers are to be published elsewhere. 

The fourteenth annual meeting of the Botanical 
Society of Washington was held at 1:30 P.m., Oc- 
tober 23, 1914, with twenty-nine members present. 
The customary reports were presented and ap- 
proved and the following officers were elected for 
the ensuing year: Dr. R. H. True, president; Mr. 
G. N. Collins, vice-president; Professor ©. HE. 
Chambliss, recording secretary; Dr. Perley Spauld- 
ing, corresponding secretary; Mr. H. C. Gore, 
treasurer, and Mr, W. EH. Safford, vice-president to 
the Washington Academy of Sciences. 

The ninety-ninth regular meeting of the Bo- 
tanieal Society of Washington was held in the as- 
sembly hall of the Cosmos Club at 8 P.m., Noyem- 
ber 3, 1914. Forty-nine members and three guests 
were present. Mr. Wilson Popenoe was unani- 
mously elected to membership. The scientific pro- 
gram was: 

Mr. Paul Popenoe, ‘‘The Date Palm in Antiq- 
uity’’ (with lantern). 

The speaker referred particularly to the influ- 
ence of the date palm on the religion of the Semi- 
tie peoples. Prized for the food and drink it fur- 
nished, it was revered because of the mystery of sex 
emphasized by its moncciousness, and became 
identified with the primitive mother goddess of 
fertility. A sacred palm in a garden at Eridu, 
near the mouth of the Euphrates River, is thought 
by many investigators to be the origin of the Tree 
of Life of the Garden of Eden, described in Gene- 
sis. The culture of the palm was thoroughly known 
at a very early period, the Babylonian inscriptions 
giving reason to believe that it was more skilful 
1900 years B.C. than it is in that region 1900 years 
A.D. 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1039 


Mr. W. E. Safford, ‘‘The Economie Plants of 
Ancient Peru.’’ 

This paper was based upon collections and ob- 
servations made by the writer while cruising along 
the Peruvian and Chilian coast, in 1887, and while 
acting as commissioner for the World’s Columbian 
Exposition to Peru and Bolivia, in 1891 to 1893. 
Prehistoric graves were opened at Caldera, Iqui- 
que, Arica, the Rimae Valley, Ancon, Chimbote, 
Truxillo, and the vicinity of Payta. The material 
obtained is mainly in the Field Columbian Mu- 
seum at Chicago and the United States National 
Museum. In addition to objects of ethnological 
interest many articles were found illustrating the 
ethnobotany of Ancient Peru. Not only were 
seeds, seed-pods, dried fruits, leaves and tubers 
found, but beautiful representations of many of 
the food plants in terra-cotta, in the form of fu- 
neral vases, were discovered in graves near the 
coast, especially at Chimbote and ‘Truxillo. 
Among these were a number not included in Witt- 
mack’s list published in Reis & Stuebel’s great 
work ‘‘Das Todtenfeld von Ancon.’’ Beautiful 
models in terra-cotta of the tubers of Solanum 
tuberosum were found, also of the fruits of Sola- 
num muricatum and Lucwma obovata, and most in- 
teresting of all the almond-like kernels of Caryocar 
amygdaliforme R. & P., easily distinguished by 
their protruding recurved embryo. Another inter- 
esting object was a terra-cotta vase representing 
the roots of the achira (Canna edulis). The col- 
lections include specimens of Phaseolus vulgaris 
and Phaseolus lunatus, a gourd full of peanuts 
(Arachis hypogea) and models of the same on 
terra-cotta vases; mandioca roots and models of 
the latter; quantities of maize and models of the 
same on funeral vases; bags of coca leaves 
(Lrythrozylum Coca), and specimens of raw cot- 
ton, dark brown, light brown and white, together 
with spindles with cotton yarn upon them; looms 
with half-woven fabrics and textiles of beautiful 
and intricate designs. Among the most interesting 
of the funeral vases were forms representing the 
corn god of ancient Peru, a monster with pro- 
truding tusks, surrounded by ears of maize; and 
the god of agriculture, represented with a stalk of 
maize in one hand and a stalk of mandioca in the 
other, with a cluster of roots at the base very 
much like those of a dahlia. 

The paper was illustrated by numerous slides, 
principally of objects in the collection of the Field 


Columbian Museum. PERLEY SPAULDING, 


Corresponding Secretary 


| SCIENCE: 


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— 


CONTENTS 


X-rays and Crystalline Structure: PROFESSOR 
WiniiAM H. Brace 


Walter Holbrook Gaskell: Dr. FE, H. GARRISON. 


795 
802 


Gaskell’s Work on Organic Evolution: PRo- 
Fessor FE. H. PIKE 


The Philadelphia Meeting of the American 
Association for the Advancement of Sci- 
ence: Dr. L. O. HowArp 


805 


807 


The Convocation Week Meeting of Scientific 
Societies 808 
810 


813 


Scientific Notes and News 


University and Educational News 


Discussion and Correspondence :— 
Minute Animal Parasites: H, B. FANTHAM, 
A, Porter, PROFESSOR Gary N. CALKINS. 
A Filefish new to the Atlantic Coast of the 
United States: Dr. HucH M. SMITH ..,... 


Scientific Books :— 
Chamberlin and Salisbury’s Introductory 
Geology: Proresson H. UL. FaIRcHILD. 
Maurer’s Technical Mechanics: PROFESSOR 
L. M. Hoskins. Smith’s Principles of Elec- 
trical Measurements: PROFESSOR FREDERICK 
BEDELL. Read’s Bacteriology: PROFESSOR 
H. W. Conn. Wajor’s Elements of Psy- 
chology: PROFESSOR R. S. WOODWORTH .... 


Scientific Journals and Articles 


Notes on Meteorology: CHARLES F'. BROOKS. 


814 


816 
821 
822 


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Some Physical Properties of the Cell Nu- 
cleus: PROFESSOR ROBERT CHAMBERS, JR. 
The Geologic History of Lake Lahontan: 
Dr. J. CLAUDE JONES 


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824 


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X-RAYS AND CRYSTALLINE STRUCTURE?) 


Two years have gone by since Dr. Laue 
made his surprising discovery of the inter- 
ference effects accompanying the passage of 
X-rays through crystals. The pioneer experi- 
ment has opened the way for many others, and 
a very large amount of work, theoretical and 
practical, has now been done. As the prelim- 
inary exploration of the new country has pro- 
ceeded, our first estimate of its resources has 
grown continuously; we have learned many 
things which help us to a better understand- 
ing of phenomena already familiar, and we 
have seen avenues of enquiry open out before 
us which as yet there has been little time to 
follow. The work is full of opportunities for 
exact quantitative measurements, where pre- 
cision is sure to bring its due reward. There 
is enough work in sight to absorb the energies 
of many experimenters, and there is sure to be 
far more than we can see. When we consider 
the wideness of the new field, the quality and 
quantity of the work to be done in it, and the 
importance of the issues, we are scarcely guilty 
of over-statement if we say that Laue’s experi- 
ment has led to the development of a new 
science. 

The experiment itself—to put it very briefly 
—constitutes a proof that X-rays consist of 
extremely short ether waves. In order to ap- 
preciate the value of this demonstration, we 
must bear in mind the present conditions of 
our knowledge of the laws of radiation in 
general. Let us consider very shortly how the 
whole matter stood when the new work was 
begun. 

When X-rays were first discovered eighteen 
years ago it was soon pointed out that they 
might consist of electro-magnetic disturbance 
of the ether analogous to those supposed to 


1 Read before the weekly evening meeting of 
the Royal Institution of Great Britain, June 5, 
1914. a ines 


Y 


796 


constitute light. It was true that the new rays 
seemed to be incapable of reflection, refraction, 
diffraction and interference, which were famil- 
jar optical phenomena. But it was pointed 
out by Schuster? that these defects could be 
explained as natural consequences of an ex- 
tremely small wave-length. The positive evi- 
dence consisted mainly in the knowledge that 
the impact of the electrons on the anti-cathode 
of the X-ray bulb ought to be the occasion of 
electro-magnetic waves of some sort, and in 
the discovery by Barkla that the X-rays could 
be polarized, which last is a property also of 
light. 

As experimental evidence accumulated, a 
number of results were found which the electro- 
magnetic theory was unable to explain, at least 
in a direct and simple manner. They were 
mainly concerned with the transference of 
energy from place to place. In some way or 
other the swiftly moving electron of the X-ray 
bulb transfers its energy to the X-ray, and the 
X-ray in its turn communicates approximately 
the same quantity of energy to the electron 
which originates from matter lying in the 
track of the X-ray, and which is apparently 
the direct cause of all X-ray effects. Experi- 
ment seemed to indicate that X-ray energy 
traveled as a stream of separate entities or 
quanta, the energy of the quantum differing 
according to the quality of the X-ray. It 
looked at one time as if it might be the sim- 
plest plan to deny the identity in nature of 
X-rays and light, to describe the former as a 
corpuscular radiation and the latter as a wave 
motion. Otherwise, it seemed that the electro- 
magnetic hypothesis would be torn to pieces 
in the effort to hold all the facts together. 

But it appeared on a close examination of 
light phenomena also, though in much less 
obvious fashion, that the very same effects 
occurred which in the case of X-rays were so 
difficult to explain from an orthodox point of 
view. In the end it became less difficult to 
deny the completeness of the orthodox theory 
than the identity in nature of light and X-rays. 
Modern work on the distribution of energy in 
the spectrum, and the dependence of specific 

2 Nature, January 23, 1896. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1040 


heat upon temperature, has also led indepen- 
dently to the same point of view. It has been 
urged with great force by Planck, Hinstein 
and others that radiated energy is actually 
transferred in definite units or quanta, and 
not continuously; as if we had to conceive of 
atoms of energy as well as of atoms of matter. 
Let it be admitted at once that the quantum 
theory and the orthodox theory appear to 
stand in irreconcilable opposition. Each by 
itself correlates great series of facts; but they 
do not correlate the same series. In some way 
or other the greater theory must be found, of 
which each is a partial expression. 

The new discovery does not solve our diffi- 
culty at once, but it does two very important 
things. In the first place, it shows that the 
X-rays and light are identical in nature; in 
fact, it removes every difference except in re- 
spect to wave-length. The question as to the 
exact place where the difficulty lies is decided 
for us; we are set the task of discovering how 
a continuous wave motion, in a continuous 
medium, can be reconciled with discontinu- 
ous transferences of radiation energy. Some 
solution there must be to this problem. The 
second important thing is that the new meth- 
ods will surely help us on the way to find that 
solution. We can now examine the X-rays as 
critically as we have been able to study light, 
by means of the spectrometer. The wave- 
length of the X-ray has emerged as a measura- 
ble quantity. The complete range of electro- 
magnetic radiations now lies before us. At 
one end are the long waves of wireless teleg- 
raphy, in the middle are first the waves of the 
infra-red detected by their heating effects, then 
the light waves, and then the short waves of 
the ultra-violet. At the other end are the 
extremely short waves that belong to X-radia- 
tion. In the comparative study of the prop- 
erties of radiation over this very wide range 
we must surely find the answer to the greatest 
question of modern physics. 

So much for the general question. Let us 
now consider the procedure of the new inves- 
tigations, and afterwards one or two applica- 
tions to special lines of enquiry. 

The experiment due to Laue and his collab- 


DECEMBER 4, 1914] 


orators Friedrich and Knipping has already 
been described in this lecture room and is now 
well-known. A fine pencil of X-rays passes 
through a thin crystal slip and impresses itself 
on a photographic plate. Round the central 
spot are found a large number of other spots, 
arranged in a symmetrical fashion, their ar- 
rangement clearly depending on the crystal 
structure. Laue had anticipated some such 
effect as the result of diffraction by the atoms 
of the crystal. His mathematical analysis is 
too complicated to be described now, and in- 
deed it is not in any circumstances easy to 
handle. Jt will be better to pass on at once 
to a very simple method of apprehending the 
effect which was put forward soon after the 
publication of Laue’s first results. I must run 
the risk of seeming to be partial if I point out 
the importance of this advance, which was 
made by my son W. Lawrence Bragg. All the 
recent investigations of X-ray spectra and the 
examination of crystal structure and of molec- 
ular motions which have been carried out since 
then have been rendered possible by the easy 
grasp of the subject which resulted from the 
simpler conception. 

Let us imagine that a succession of waves 
constituting X-radiation falls upon a plane 
containing atoms, and that each atom is the 
cause of a secondary wavelet. In a well known 
manner, the secondary wavelets link them- 
selves together and form a reflected wave. 
Just so a sound wave may be reflected by a 
row of palings, and very short sound waves by 
the fibers of a sheet of muslin. 

Suppose a second plane of atoms to lie 
behind the first and to be parallel to it. The 
primary wave weakened somewhat by passing 
through the first plane, is again partially re- 
flected by the second. When the two reflected 
pencils join it will be of great importance 
whether they fit crest to crest and hollow to 
hollow, or whether they tend to destroy each 
other’s effect. Jf more reflecting planes are 
supposed, the importance of a good fit be- 
comes greater and greater. If the number is 
very large, then, as happens in many parallel 
eases in optics, the reflected waves practically 
annul each other unless the fit is perfect. 


SCIENCE 


797 


It is easily seen that the question of fit 
depends on how much distance a wave reflected 
at one plane loses in comparison with the 
wave which was reflected at the preceding 
plane: the fit will be perfect if the loss amounts 
to one, two, three, or more wave-lengths ex- 
actly. In its turn the distance lost depends 
on the spacing of the planes, that is to say, 
the distance from plane to plane, on the wave- 
length and on the angle at which the rays 
meet the set of planes. 

The question is formally not a new one. 
Many years ago Lord Rayleigh discussed it in 
this room, illustrating his point by aid of a 
set of muslin sheets stretched on parallel 
frames. “The short sound waves of a high 
pitched! bird call were reflected from the set of 
frames and affected a sensitive flame; and he 
showed how the spacing of the planes must 
be carefully adjusted to the proper value in 
relation to the length of wave and the angle 
of incidence. Rayleigh used the illustration 
to explain the beautiful colors of chlorate of 
potash erystals. He ascribed them to the re- 
flection of light by a series of parallel and 
regularly spaced twinning planes within the 
erystal, the distance between successive planes 
bearing roughly the same proportion to the 
length of the reflected wave of light as the dis- 
tance between the muslin sheets to the length 
of the wave of sound. 

Our present phenomenon is exactly the same 
thing on a minute scale: thousands of times 
smaller than in the case of light, and many 
millions of times smaller than in the case of 
sound. 

By the kindness of Professor R. W. Wood I 
am able to show you some fine examples of the 
chlorate of potash crystals. Jf white light is 
allowed to fall upon one of them, the whole 
of it is not reflected. Only that part is re- 
flected which has a definite wave-length or 
something very near to it, and the reflected 
ray is therefore highly colored. The wave- 
length is defined by the relation already re- 
ferred to. If the angle of incidence is altered, 
the wave-length which can be reflected is 
altered, and so the color changes. 

It is not difficult to see the analogy between 


798 


these cases and the reflection of X-rays by a 
crystal. Suppose for example that a pencil 
of homogeneous X-rays meets the cube face of 
such a crystal as rocksalt. The atoms of the 
erystal can be taken to be arranged in planes 
parallel to that face, and regularly spaced. If 
the rays meet the face at the proper angle, 
aud only at the proper angle, there is a reflected 
pencil. It is to be remembered that the re- 
flection is caused by the joint action of a 
series of planes, which, in this case, are paral- 
lel to the face; it is not a reflection by the 
face itself. The face need not even be cut 
truly: it may be unpolished or deliberately 
roughened. The reflection takes place in the 
body of the crystal, and the condition of the 
surface is of little account. 

The allotment of the atoms to a series of 
planes parallel to the surface is not of course 
the only one possible. For example in the 
case of a cubic erystal, parallel planes con- 
taining all the atoms of the erystal may also 
be drawn perpendicular to a face diagonal of 
the cube, or to a cube diagonal, or in many 
other ways. We may cut the crystal so as 
to show a face parallel to any series, and then 
place the erystal so that reflection occurs, but 
the angle of incidence will be different in each 
ease since the spacings are different. It is not 
necessary to cut the crystal except for con- 
venience. If wave-length, spacing and angle 
between ray and plane are rightly adjusted to 
each other, reflection will take place in the 
erystal independently of any surface arrange- 
ment, 

This is the “ reflection ” method of explain- 
ing the Laue photograph. W. L. Bragg showed 
in the first place that it was legitimate, and in 
the second that it was able to explain in the 
position of all the spots which Laue found 
upon his photographs. The different spots are 
reflections in different series of planes which 
may be drawn to contain the atoms of the 
crystal. The simpler conception led at once to 
a simpler procedure. It led to the construc- 
tion of the X-ray spectrometer, which re- 
sembles an ordinary spectrometer in general 
form, except that the grating or prism is re- 
placed by a crystal and the telescope by an 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1040 


ionization chamber and an electroscope. In 
use a fine pencil of X-rays is directed upon 
the crystal, which is steadily turned until a 
reflection leaps out; and the angle of reflection 
is then measured. If we use different crystals 
or different faces of the same crystal, but keep 
the rays the same, we can compare the geomet- 
rical spacings of the various sets of planes. 
If we use the same crystal always, but vary 
the source of X-rays, we can analyze the latter, 
measuring the relative wave-lengths of the 
various constituents of the radiation. 

We have thus acquired a double power: (1) 
We can compare the intervals of spacing of 
the atoms of a erystal or of different crystals, 
along various directions within the crystal; in 
this way we can arrive at the structure of the 
erystal. (2) We can analyze the radiation of 
an X-ray bulb; in fact we are in the same 
position as we should have been in respect to 
light if our only means of analyzing light had 
been by the use of colored glasses, and we had 
then been presented with a spectrometer, or 
some other means of measuring wave-length 
exactly. 

We now come to a critical point. If we 
knew the exact spacings of the planes of some 
one crystal, we could now by comparison find 
the spacings of all other crystals, and measure 
the wave-length of all X-radiations; or if we 
knew the exact value of some one wave-length, 
we could find by comparison the values of all 
other wave-lengths, and determine the spacings 
of all crystals. But as yet we have no abso- 
lute value either of wave-length or of spacings. 

The difficulty appears to have been over- 
come by W. L. Bragg’s comparison of the re- 
flecting effect in the case of rocksalt or sodium 
chloride, and sylvine or potassium chloride. 
These two crystals are known to be “ iso- 
morphous ”; they must possess similar arrange- 
ments of atoms. Yet they display a striking 
difference both in the Laue photograph and on 
the spectrometer. The reflections from the 
various series of planes of the latter crystal 
show spacings consonant with an arrange- 
ment in the simplest cubical array, of which 
the smallest element is a cube at each corner 
of which is placed the same group, a single 


DECEMBER 4, 1914] 


atom or molecule, or group of atoms or mole- 
cules. In the case of rocksalt, the indications 
are that the crystal possesses a structure inter- 
mediate between the very simple arrangement 
just described and one in which the smallest 
element is a cube having a similar group of 
atoms or molecules at every corner and at the 
middle point of each face. The arrangement 
is called by crystallographers the face centered 
cube. The substitution of the sodium for the 
potassium atom must transform one arrange- 
ment into the other. This can be done in the 
following way, if we accept various indica- 
tions that atoms of equal weight are to be 
treated as equivalent. Imagine an elementary 
cube of the crystal pattern to have an atom 
of chlorine at every corner and in the middle 
of each face, and an atom of sodium or potas- 
sium as the case may be, at the middle point 
of each edge and at the center of the cube. We 
have now an arrangement which fits the facts 
exactly. The weights of the potassium and 
chlorine atoms are so nearly the same as to be 
practically equivalent, and when they are con- 
sidered to be so, the arrangement becomes the 
simple cube of sylvine. But when the lighter 
sodium replaces the potassium as in rocksalt 
the arrangement is on its way to be that of 
the face centered cube, and would actually be- 
come so were the weight of the sodium atoms 
negligible in comparison with those of chlo- 
tine. Of course the same result would follow 
were two or three, or any number of atoms 
of each sort to take the place of the single 
atom, provided the same increase were made 
in the number of the atoms of both sorts. We 
might even imagine two sorts of groups of 
chlorine and metal atoms, one containing a 
preponderance of the former, the other of the 
latter, but so that two groups, one of each 
kind, contain between them the same propor- 
tion of chlorine and metal as the crystal does. 
We must merely have two groups which differ 
in weight in the case of rocksalt, and are ap- 
proximately equal in weight in the case of 
sylvine. But it was best to take the simplest 
supposition at the outset; and now the evi- 
dence that the right arrangement has been 
chosen is growing as fresh crystals are meas- 


SCIENCE 


799 


ured. For it turns out that in all crystals so 
far investigated, the number of atoms at each 
point must always be the same. Why, then, 
should it be more than one? Or in other 
words, if atoms are always found in groups 
of a certain number, ought not that group to 
be called the atom? 

As soon as the structure of a crystal has 
been found we can at once find by simple 
arithmetic the scale on which it is built. For 
we know from other sources the weight of indi- 
vidual atoms, and we know the total weight 
of the atoms in a cubic centimeter of the 
erystal. Im this way we find that the nearest 
distance between two atoms in rocksalt is 
2.81 < 10-§ em., which distance is also the 
spacing of the planes parallel to a cube face. 
From a knowledge of this quantity the length 
of any X-ray wave can be calculated at once 
as soon as the angle of its reflection by the 
cube face has been measured. In other words, 
the spectrometer has now become a means of 
measuring the length of waves of any X-radia- 
tion, and the actual spacings of the atoms of 
any crystal. 

From this point the work branches out in 
several directions. It will not be possible to 
give more than one or two illustrations of the 
progress along each branch. 

Let us first take up the most interesting and 
important question of the “ characteristic” 
X-rays. It is known that every substance when 
bombarded by electrons of sufficiently high 
velocity emits X-rays of a quality character- 
istic of the substance. The interest of this 
comparison lies in the fact that it displays the 
most fundamental properties of the atom. The 
tays which each atom emits are characteristic 
of its very innermost structure. The physical 
conditions of the atoms of a substance and 
their chemical associations are largely matters 
of the exterior: but the X-rays come from the 
interior of the atoms and give us information 
of an intimate kind. What we find is marked 
by all the simplicity we should expect to be 
associated with something so fundamental. 

All the substances of atomic weight between 
about 30 and 120 give two strongly defined 
“lines”; that is to say, there are found among 


800 


the general heterogeneous radiation two in- 
tense almost homogeneous sets of waves. For 
instance, rhodium gives two pencils of wave- 
lengths, approximately equal to 0.61 & 10-§ cm. 
and 0.54 X 10-8 em. respectively. More exactly 
the former of these is a close doublet having 
wave-lengths 0.619108 and 0.614 >< 10-8. 
The wave-lengths of palladium are nearly 
0.58 & 10-8 and 0.51 & 10-8; nickel 1.66 x 10-8 
and 1.50 10-8. Lately Moseley has made a 
comparative study of the spectra of the great 
majority of the known elements, and has 
shown that the two-line spectrum is character- 
istic of all the substances whose atomic weights 
range from that of aluminium, 27, to that of 
silver, 108. These X-rays constitute, there is 
no doubt whatever, the characteristic rays 
which Barkla long ago showed to be emitted 
by this series of substances. 

Now comes a very interesting point. When 
Moseley sets the increasing atomic weights 
agaimst the corresponding decreasing wave- 
lengths, the changes do not run exactly paral- 
lel with each other. But if the wave-lengths 
are compared with a series of natural num- 
bers everything runs smoothly. Im fact it is 
obvious that the steady decrease in the wave- 
length as we pass from atom to atom of the 
series in the periodic table implies that some 
fundamental element of atomic structure is 
altering by equal steps. There is excellent 
reason to believe that the change consists in 
successive additions of the unit electric charge 
to the nucleus of the atom. We are led to think 
of the magnitude of the nucleus of any ele- 
ment as being simply proportional to the num- 
ber indicating the place of the element in the 
periodic table, hydrogen having a nuclear 
change of one unit, helium two, and so on. 
The atomic weights of the successive elements 
do not increase in an orderly way; they mount 
by steps of about two, but not very regularly, 
and sometimes they seem absolutely to get into 
the wrong order. For example, nickel has an 
atomic weight of 58.7, whereas certain chem- 
ical properties and still more its behavior in 
experiments on radio-activity indicate that it 
should lie between cobalt (59) and copper 
(63.6). But the wave-lengths, which are now 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1040 


our means of comparison, diminish with abso- 
lute steadiness in the order cobalt, nickel, 
copper. Plainly, the atomic number is a more 
fundamental index of quality than the atomic 
weight. 

It is very interesting to find, in the series 
arranged in this way, four, and only four, gaps 
which remain to be filled by elements yet un- 
discovered. 

Let us now glance at another and most im- 
portant side of the recent work, the deter- 
mination of crystalline structure. We have 
already referred to the case of the rocksalt 
series, but we may look at it a little more 
closely in order to show the procedure of 
erystal analysis. 

The reflection of a pencil of homogeneous 
rays by a set of crystalline planes occurs, as 
already said, at a series of angles regularly 
increasing; giving as we say, spectra of the 
first, second, third orders, and so on. When 
the planes are all exactly alike and equally 
spaced the intensities of the spectra decrease 
rapidly as we proceed to higher orders, accord- 
ing to a law not yet fully explained. This is, 
for example, the case with the three most im- 
portant sets of planes of sylvine, those per- 
pendicular to the cube edge, the face diagonal, 
and the cube diagonal respectively. An ex- 
amination of the arrangement of the atoms in 
the simple cubical array of sylvine shows that 
for all these sets the planes are evenly spaced 
and similar to each other. It is to be remem- 
bered that the potassium atom and the chlorine 
atom are so nearly equal in weight that they 
may be considered effectively equal. In the 
ease of rocksalt the same may be said of the 
first two sets of planes, but not of the third. 
The planes perpendicular to the cube diagonal 
are all equally spaced, but they are not all 
of equal effect. They contain alternately, 
chlorine atoms (atomic weight 35.5) only and 
sodium atoms (atomic weight 23) only. The 
effect of this irregularity on the intensities of 
the spectra of different orders is to enhance 
the second, fourth, and so on in comparison 
with the first, third and fifth. The analogous 
effect in the case of light is given by a grating 
in which the lines are alternately light and 


DECEMBER 4, 1914] 


heavy. A grating specially ruled for us at the 
National Physical Laboratory shows this effect 
very well. This difference between rocksalt 
and sylvine and its explanation in this way 
constituted an important link in W. Lawrence 
Bragg’s argument as to their structure. 
When, therefore, we are observing the reflec- 
tions in the different faces of a crystal in 
order to obtain data for the determination of 
its structure, we have more than the values of 
the angles of reflection to help us; we have 
also variations of the relative intensities of 
the spectra. In the case just described we 
have an example of the effect produced by 
want of similarity between the planes, which 
are, however, uniformly spaced. 
In the diamond, on the other hand, we have 
an example of an effect due to a peculiar 
‘arrangement of planes which are otherwise 
similar. The diamond erystallizes in the 
form of a tetrahedron. When any of the four 
faces of such a figure is used to reflect X-rays, 
it is found that the second order spectrum is 
missing. The analogous optical effect can be 
obtained by ruling a grating so that, as com- 
pared with a regular grating of the usual kind, 
the first and second, fifth and sixth, ninth and 
tenth alone are drawn. To put it another 
way, two are drawn, two left out, two drawn, 
two left out, and so on. The National Phys- 
ical Laboratory has ruled a special grating of 
this kind also for us, and the effect is obvious. 
The corresponding inference in the case of the 
diamond is that the planes parallel to any 
tetrahedral face are spaced in the same way as 
the lines of the grating. Every plane is three 
times as far from its neighbor on one side as 
from its neighbor on the other. There is only 
one way to arrange the carbon atoms of the 
crystal so that this may be true. Every atom 
is at the center of a regular tetrahedron com- 
posed of its four nearest neighbors, an arrange- 
ment best realized by the aid of a model. It is 
a beautifully simple and uniform arrange- 
ment, and it is no matter of surprise that the 
symmetry of the diamond is of so high an 
order. Perhaps we may see also, in the perfect 
symmetry and consequent effectiveness of the 


SCIENCE 


801 


forces which bind each atom to its place, an 
explanation of the hardness of the crystal. 

Here, then, we have an example of the way 
in which peculiarities of spacing can be de- 
tected. There are other crystals in which want 
of uniformity both in the spacings and in the 
effective value of the planes combine to give 
cases still more complicated. Of these are iron 
pyrites, calcite, quartz and many others. It 
would take too long to explain in detail the 
method by which the structures of a large 
number of crystals have already been deter- 
mined. Yet the work done already is only a 
fragment of the whole, and it will take no 
doubt many years, even though our methods 
improve as we go on, before the structures of 
the most complicated crystals are satisfactorily 
determined. 

On this side then we see the beginning of a 
new crystallography which, though it draws 
freely on the knowledge of the old, yet builds 
on a firmer foundation since it concerns itself 
with the actual arrangement of the atoms 
rather than the outward form of the crystal 
itself. We can compare with the internal ar- 
rangements we have now discovered the ex- 
ternal forms which crystals assume in growth, 
and the modes in which they tend to come 
apart under the action of solvents and other 
agents. By showing how atoms arrange and 
disarrange themselves under innumerable 
variations of circumstances we must gain 
knowledge of the nature and play of the forces 
that bind the atoms together. 

There is yet a third direction in which en- 
quiry may be made, though as yet we are only 
at the beginning of it. In the section just 
considered we have thought of the atoms as at 
rest. But they are actually in motion, and the 
position of an atom to which we have referred 
so frequently must be an average position 
about which it is in constant movement. Since 
the atoms are never exactly in their places, 
the precision of the joint action on which the 
teflection effect depends suffers materially. 
The effect is greater the higher the order of 
the spectrum. When the crystal under exam- 
ination is contained within a suitable electric 
furnace and the atoms vibrate more violently 


802 


through the rise of temperature, the intensities 
of all orders diminish, but those of higher 
order much more than those of lower. The 
effect was foreseen by the Dutch physicist 
Debije, and the amount of it was actually 
ealculated by him on certain assumptions. I 
have found experimental results in general 
accord with his formula. In passing it may 
be mentioned that as the erystal expands with 
rise of temperature the spacing between the 
planes increases and the angles of reflection 
diminish, an effect readily observed in practise. 

This part of the work gives information 
respecting the movements of the atoms from 
their places, the preceding respecting their 
average positions. It is sure, like the other, 
to be of much assistance in the enquiry as to 
atomic and molecular forces, and as to the 
degree to which thermal energy is locked up in 
the atomic motions. 

This brief sketch of the progress of the new 
science in certain directions is all that is pos- 
sible in the short time of a single lecture: but 
it may serve to give some idea of its fascina- 
tion and possibilities. 

Witi1aM H. Brace 


WALTER HOLBROOK GASKELL (1847-1914) 


Dr. WaLTER Honprook GASKELL, university 
lecturer on physiology and prelector on nat- 
ural science at the University of Cambridge 
since 1883, died suddenly, after a short illness, 
on September 7, 1914. He came of a well- 
known Unitarian family in the north of Eng- 
land, and was born at Naples, on November 1, 
1847. After receiving his preliminary educa- 
tion, he entered Trinity College, Cambridge, 
in 1865, subsequently taking a medical degree 
at University College, London, in 1878. At 
Cambridge, Gaskell was one of the earliest to 
come under the influence of Michael Foster, 
then prelector on physiology, and, at his 
instance, entered Ludwig’s laboratory at 
Leipzig in 1874. Prior to Foster’s advent, 
Gaskell had specialized in mathematics, being 
one of the wranglers in the Mathematical 
Tripos in 1869. From the date of his first 
paper, an important research on the vaso-di- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1040 


lator fibers of striated muscle, the rest of his 
life was devoted to those researches on the 
motor mechanism of the heart and the sympa- 
thetic system which have made his name so 
well known in physiology and clinical medi- 
cine. 

English physiology in the first half of the 
nineteenth century was represented mainly 
by the work of Sir Charles Bell (spinal 
nerve roots), Marshall Hall (reflex action), 
William Sharpey (ciliary motion), Sir Wil- 
liam Bowman (theory of urinary secretion), 
William Prout (HCl in the gastric juice) and 
Thomas Graham (osmosis, colloids). In 
1867 Michael Foster was Sharpey’s assistant 
at University College, and, in 1870, at Hux- 
ley’s instance, became prelector at Cambridge, 
while Burdon Sanderson became Waynefleet 
professor of physiology at Oxford in 1882. 
From the teaching and inspiration of these 
two men came most of the brilliant names 
which have distinguished English physiology 
in the later period, with the exception of 
Starling, whose name is associated with Guy’s 
Hospital. Schaefer was a Sharpey pupil, and 
was persuaded by Foster to devote his life to 
research. Leonard Hill and Gotch were Ox- 
ford men. From Cambridge came Langley, 
Henry Head, Sherrington, Roy, Adami, Gow- 
land Hopkins and Gaskell. 

When Gaskell began to work with Ludwig, 
every one believed in the so-called neurogenic 
theory of the heart’s action, introduced by 
Borelli in 1680, viz., that the heart’s move- 
ments, beat and tonus are due to nervous im- 
pulses. A little before Borelli, Harvey, in his 
demonstration of the circulation of the blood 
(1628), had advanced the idea that the heart 
is a muscular force pump, propelled by its 
own internal heat. This mystic dogma (the 
myogenic theory) was stated in more modern 
form by Haller in 1757, viz., that the heart’s 
contraction is due to an inherent “ irritability ” 
of its muscle, the stimulus being the entrance 
and passage of venous blood through it. Both 
theories, neurogenic and myogenic, have had 
their ups and their downs to date. The neu- 
rogenic theory was restated by Legallois in 

1 Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond., 1877, XXV., 439-445. 


DECEMBER 4, 1914] 


1812, and seemingly confirmed by the Webers’ 
discovery that stimulation of the vagus nerve 
will stop the heart (1845) ; and by the discovery 
of intrinsic nerve ganglia in the heart by 
Remak (1848) and Bidder (1852), which were 
thought to be involved in the celebrated ex- 
periment of Stannius (1852), viz., that a liga- 
ture or cut between the sinus venosus and the 
auricles produces standstill, while a second 
ligature applied to the auriculo-ventricular 
groove causes the ventricle to beat again. The 
modern revival of the myogenic theory is the 
work of Engelmann and Gaskell. 

Between 1874 and 1881, Gaskell made a long 
series of ingenious investigations upon the 
musculature and innervation of the heart, the 
results of which, as given in his great memoir 
of 18812 and later, may be summarized, how- 
eyer inadequately, as follows: 


1. The motor impulses from the nerve ganglia 
in the sinus venosus are discrete, not continuous, 
stimuli, influencing the rhythm of the heart (its 
rate and force) but not originating either its move- 
ments or its beat. 

2. Cardiac muscle can contract of itself and is a 
stimulus-producer. The five properties of cardiac 
(or other) muscle, as deduced by Gaskell, are ex- 
citability, conductivity, tonicity, rhythmicity and 
automatic contractile power. This power of auto- 
matic, rhythmie contractility has been recently 
confirmed in Burrows’s extra-vital cultures of em- 
bryonie heart muscle,3 which contain no nervous 
tissue whatever. 

3. That the automatic contraction wave proceeds 
from sinus venosus to ventricle without nervous 
intervention is proved by Gaskell’s and Engel- 
mann’s sections in the cardiac muscle, excluding 
the nervous tissues, and leaving only a narrow 
isthmus for the transmission of the rhythmic im- 
pulse. Gaskell reversed this peristaltic wave by 
stimulating the ventricle after the second Stannius 
ligature, showing that the normal impulse could 
not have started from the cardiac ganglia. 

4, Gaskell first produced experimental ‘‘heart- 
block’? (a term of his invention) by clamping the 
auriculo-ventricular and sino-auricular grooves, 
which he calls ‘‘the two natural blocking points’’ 
of the muscular contraction wave. In his view, 
the original Stannius experiments become simple 


2 Phil. Tr., Lond., 1883, CLXXTIIT., 993-1033. 
3 ScIENCE, 1912, XXXVI., 90-92. 


SCIENCE 


803 


cases of temporary block. This view has been 
brilliantly confirmed by the discovery of the ves- 
tigial muscular structures known as the auriculo- 
ventricular bundle of His and the sino-auricular 
node of Keith and Flack; also by the clinical and 
pathological findings in the disease described by 
Morgagni in 1761 and now known as heart-block 
or the Stokes-Adams syndrome. Gaskell even pro- 
duced the two-, three- and four-time gallops of 
modern clinicians, in which the ventricle drops one 
or more of its beats. Schiff’s observation that the 
ventricle of a dying heart beats slower than the 
auricle is interpreted as the effect of a gradually 
increasing block. Gaskell also produced the clin- 
ical condition known as ‘‘fibrillation of the 
heart’’ in an isolated strip of cardiac muscle, in- 
terpreting the phenomenon as due to blocking of 
the connections between individual muscle cells. 
In recent medicine, the various rhythmic disorders 
of the heart are regarded, not as cases of nervous 
imbalance, but as the effects of blocking of the 
peristaltic wave which passes from sinus yenosus 
to bulbus arteriosus, and from muscle fiber to 
muscle fiber. 

5. Schmiedeberg’s observation that stimulation 
of the vagus after administration of nicotine will 
accelerate the heart led Gaskell to a series of inves- 
tigations in comparative histology. He found that 
the hearts of warm-blooded and cold-blooded ani- 
mals have the same innervation, that the inhibitory 
fibers of the vagus are medullated, the accelerator 
fibers non-medullated, leading to the important 
conclusion that both sets of fibers belong, not to 
the cerebro-spinal system, but to ‘‘the great sys- 
tem of efferent ganglionated nerves’’ (autonomic 
system), the function of which is the redistribution 
of impulses along collateral paths by means of 
fibers passing to and from an especial sympathetic 
ganglion or synapse. The efferent nerve cells of 
the inhibitory system lie in the heart itself, those 
of the accelerator system lie in external sympa- 
thetie ganglia, the nerve cells in either case being 
a switch (Foster’s synapse) for the transmission 
of impulses. In 1890, Langley showed that nico- 
tine will paralyze the medullated or pre-ganglionic 
fiber of a sympathetic ganglion without affect- 
ing the non-medullated (post-ganglionic) fiber. 
Schmiedeberg’s experiment was, therefore, only a 
special case of Langley’s nicotine effect. He was 
really stimulating the preganglionic or inhibitory 
fibers of the vagus; the switchboard effect across 
the synapse was abolished, the accelerator fibers 
from the external ganglia being unaffected by the 
poison. 


804 


6. The vagus, therefore, acts both as whip and 
bridle, spur and snaffle to the heart. The intrinsic 
ganglia being only bridges for the transmission of 
impulse, the true function of the vagus, in Gas- 
kell’s view, is not inhibitory but quiescent, acting 
upon the heart muscle itself. Gaskell revives 
Borelli’s hypothesis that the effect is chemical. 
The vagus is defined as the anabolic nerve of the 
heart. Inhibition is anabolism.5 The vagus is a 
trophie nerve, both for muscle and ganglia. 

7. Galvanometer observations showed that stim- 
ulation of the accelerator and inhibitor fibers pro- 
duced opposite electrical effects which were inde- 
pendent of contraction, since they could be ob- 
served in a quiescent heart. These electromotive 
effects were first mapped and measured by A. D. 
Waller in 1889. Hinthoven’s string galvanometer 
made it possible for the physician to obtain ‘‘elec- 
trocardiograms’’ or telegrams from the heart, giv- 
ing its electromotive condition, a field of investiga- 
tion which Gaskell was the first to enter. 

8. Gaskell regards certain discrepancies in the 
findings of experimentation upon the heart as due 
to chemical and nutritive changes in different 
hearts at different times of the year. 

These results, the most important work on 
the heart since Ludwig, are embodied partly 
in Gaskell’s Croonian Lecture of 1881, and, in 
more mature and complete form, in his splen- 
did monograph in Schaefer’s “ Physiology ” 
(1898). His comparative researches on the 
innervation of different animals lead him to 
his next great work, the mapping out and 
interpretation of the nerve supply of the en- 
tire vascular and visceral systems, culmina- 
ting in his exhaustive memoir of 1886.6 In 
this, it was shown, by microscopical observa- 


4Borelli believed that a contracting muscle 
actually increases in bulk through a fermentation 
started in its substance from a hypothetie ‘‘suc- 
cus’’ discharged from the nerve. 

5 This view is opposed by Langley, and it does 
not harmonize with the experiments on isolated 
hearts in Ringer’s solution by Howell and others. 
The limiting semi-permeable envelope of a living 
cell, organ or body is usually regarded as the 
agent of anabolism, preventing the undue dissi- 
pation of energy. 

6‘‘On the Structure, Distribution and Function 
of the Nerves which Innervate the Visceral and 
Vascular Systems,’’ Jour. Physiol., Lond., 1886, 
VII., 1-80. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1040 


tion, that the supply of nerves from the spinal 


.cord to the chain of sympathetic ganglia 


originates mainly from the thoracic and upper 
lumbar regions, in which white rami, made 
up of medullated nerves, form the connection. 
Although it is now known that the cerebro- 
spinal system alone governs reflex actions, it 
was formerly supposed that the sympathetic 
system was also concerned in the change of 
afferent impulses to efferent. The mapping 
out of the sympathetic nerves in their distri- 
bution from the spinal roots between the sec- 
ond thoracic and second lumbar vertebre and 
the inclusion of the nerves proceeding from 
the cranial and sacral nerve roots, as a part of 
a greater system, distributed to the viscera, 
blood vessels, ductless glands and all organs 
or regions supplied by smooth (involuntary) 
muscle, was the special work done by Gas- 
kell. This system was defined and interpreted 
by Langley as the “autonomic” system, the 
function of the sympathetic and cranio-sacral 
autonomics being the redistribution of im- 
pulses along all efferent paths which do not 
terminate in voluntary muscle, these paths 
proceeding from a neuron in the spinal cord 
to an external sympathetic ganglion or syn- 
apse, from whence the post-ganglionic fibers 
pass to the glands or muscles. The study of 
these paths began with Gaskell’s investiga- 
tions on the accelerator nerves of the heart. 
Langley’s nicotine method proved the means 
of isolating individual synapses, as the drug 
acts selectively on the autonomic ganglia and 
not on the cerebro-spinal. In internal medi- 
cine, the connection of the autonomic systems 
with the ductless glands forms part of the in- 
teresting theory of the correlation of the in- 
ternal secretions advanced by the Viennese 
clinicians, Eppinger, Falta and Riidinger. 
The remaining years of Gaskell’s life were 
taken up with his theory, formulated in 1889, 
that the central canal of the nervous system 
was originally the lumen of a primitive gut, 
which is elucidated at length in his book on 
“The Origin of Vertebrates” (1908). In 
1898, in connection with his work on the 
Hyderabad Chloroform Commission, Gaskell, 


DEcEMBER 4, 1914] 


with Dr. L. E. Shore, made an interesting 
contribution to pharmacology,’ showing that 
chloroform lowers blood pressure by acting di- 
rectly upon the heart, and not on the vaso- 
motor center, as had hitherto been supposed. 

Gaskell was an unassuming, sympathetic 
character, and it is said that every physiolo- 
gist who has worked in the Cambridge Lab- 
oratory since its start was his personal friend. 
His eminent colleague, Professor J. N. Lang- 
ley, thus describes him: 


Gaskell cared little for public ceremonies, and 
rarely attended the congresses which beset the path 
of prominent scientific men. He loved to work 
quietly, to cultivate his garden, to see his friends, 
and to take a hand at whist or bridge. His house 
at Great Shelford was a recognized meeting-place 
for physiologists, and his frank and genial wel- 
come will be an abiding recollection to all who 
knew him. 

F. H. Garrison 

Army MEpIcaL MUSEUM 


DR. GASKELL’S WORK ON ORGANIC EVO- 
LUTION 

Tr is not with any idea of writing an appre- 
ciation either of the man or of his work as a 
whole that I venture to present this sketch. 
His work within the limits of the narrower 
field of physiology—the observations on the 
effect of a rise in tension of the muscles upon 
the caliber of the lymphatic vessels, the long 
series of experiments upon the relation of the 
vagus and accelerator nerves to the heart and 
on cardiac muscle, the work on the nerves to 
the salivary gland—has been dwelt upon by 
others.t JI wish rather to call attention to some 
of the unusual features, and their bearing on 
the wider biological problems of the day. 

Gaskell’s work on the origin of vertebrates 
was begun under conditions that most inves- 
tigators would consider unfavorable. His wife 
became afflicted with an obscure nervous dis- 
order, not diagnosed at that rather early date, 
and his presence was required more and more 


7 Lancet, Lond., 1893, I., 386. 

iLangley, Nature, 1914, Vol. 94, No. 2343, p. 
93. British Medical Journal, 1914, No. 2804, p. 
559. 


SCIENCE 


805 


at his home. Not wishing to give up investi- 
gation during his enforced absence from the 
laboratory, and having his attention turned 
toward the central nervous system, he began 
to enquire into its origin and development in 
the various animal phyla. Regarding the 
mervous system as the fixed and permanent 
structure in phylogenetic development, he con- 
cluded that the alimentary tract might be the 
thing to be made over in the transition from 
the invertebrate with ventral nerve cord to 
vertebrate with its dorsal nerve cord, and drew 
up his scheme of the origin of the vertebrates 
on this basis. Although Gaskell has brought 
together a vast amount of evidence bearing on 
this point,? his theory has been treated with 
scant courtesy by most morphologists. It is a 
common occurrence to hear it glibly and vigor- 
ously condemned by people who have never 
read his book or weighed independently for 
themselves the evidence adduced in support of 
the theory. It is worthy of remark in this con- 
nection that Gaskell was a pioneer worker in 
a line which has led in very recent years to the 
development of a large and important field in 
the morphology of the central nervous system— 
the field now included in the component theory 
of nerves. And he has shown in a way which 
has had its influence upon other theories of 
the origin of vertebrates, that the older idea of 
the formation of a new nervous system while 
the alimentary tract remained intact in phy- 
logeny is not an assumption to be made lightly. 
But whether the theory of the origin of verte- 
brates as he propounded it be right or wrong, 
a matter which I venture to regard as still un- 
settled, certain of Gaskell’s conceptions of the 
nature of fundamental biological processes are 
firmly and surely grounded. It is of these that 
I wish more particularly to speak. 

Gaskell recognized very clearly the impor- 
tance of the réle played by internal processes 
in evolution. In 1910, he wrote: 

Now the formation of the Metazoa from the 


Protozoa and the progress of the Metazoa up- 
wards signifies that the separate units composing 


2 Gaskell, ‘‘The Origin of Vertebrates,’’ New 
York and London, 1908. 


806 


the individual have been coordinated for the well- 
being of that individual. Such coordination has 
taken place in two ways: (1) a chemical method, 
by the formation of hormones; (2) a nervous 
method, by the formation of a central nervous 
system, and it is self-evident that as soon as a 
central neryous system is formed, such nervous 
coordination, especially im connection with the 
zxormation of the special senses of sight and smell, 
must become the important factor in the life of 
the individual, and its further and further de- 
velopment must constitute the most important 
factor for the upward progress of the animal 
race. 


The fundamental importance of this idea is 
likely to be lost for the general reader in the 
almost platitudinous simplicity of the state- 
ment. In reality, there is much matter for 
long and profound reflection. The idea of 
chemical coordination, although of compara- 
tively recent development, has claimed the 
attention of a host of workers, partly perhaps 
because of its novelty, and the nervous mechan- 
ism has, by contrast, become a neglected field. 
But in the development of the purely chemical 
mechanisms of coordination, so far as they 
have been traced at present, we find that they 
reach their maximum efficiency and com- 
plexity well down in the mammalian phylum. 
It is probable that, so far as the purely chem- 
ical mechanisms are concerned, man is not a 
more complex animal than the rabbit, and 
certainly not a more complex animal than the 
dog. Yet the total difference between man 
and the rabbit or the dog is considerable. The 
reason for this difference is not far to seek. 
It lies in the difference of the nervous systems 
of the two forms, and in the interaction of 
this system with the chemical mechanisms of 
coordination. After the chemical mechanisms 
have reached their zenith, the nervous system 
still shows, step by step, an increasing com- 
plexity, functionally as well as structurally, 
as successively higher types of animals are 
examined. 

I walked out to Dr. Gaskell’s house from 
Cambridge early one August afternoon two 
years ago, intending to make a brief call, but 

3 Proceedings of the Linnean Society of Lon- 
don, Session 122, 1909-10, p. 9. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1040 


the afternoon was far gone and the sun low 
in the west before I started for the little rail- 
road station at Great Shelford. The conversa- 
tion turned on the réle of the internal factors 
in evolution. He remarked: 


It is not size, it is not strength, that has con- 
ferred the great advantage in the struggle, but 
acuteness. 


The hand and arm of man are often cited 
as adaptations of a high degree of perfection 
conferring a great advantage upon its pos- 
sessor. This is but a part of the story. The 
hand and arm without a nervous system to 
control or coordinate its movements would be 
valueless. The hand and arm of a recent 
hemiplegic may have lost little or nothing in 
bone or muscle, but, despite its complex struc- 
ture, it is of less use to its possessor than the 
foreleg and hoof of a horse. The clot of blood 
in the cerebrum has wrecked the mechanism 
which also is necessary if the marvelous hand 
of man is to be of use to him in the struggle 
for existence. Nor would the combination of 
the man’s hand and the dog’s brain be a more 
happy one. The feeble-minded and the idiotic 
often show but slight and unimportant phys- 
ical modifications aside from those found in 
the brain. When looked at from the point of 
view of its functional relations to the whole 
organism, or from the point of view of its use 
to the possessor, neither hand nor motor nery- 
ous system alone is significant, but it is the 
combination of the two—the coordination— 
that is the important thing. And in addition 
to the mere manual skill arising from the 
steady nerves and the strong hand, the faculty 
of looking into the future—the acuteness and 
accuracy of mental vision—constitutes a 
valuable adjunct to the possessor of an organ- 
ism whose chemical mechanisms of coordina- 
tion give vise to no physical discomforts. The 
nervous mechanisms of coordination, as well 
as the chemical, will surely claim the serious 
attention of the student of evolution from its 
functional side. And it is not single struc- 
tures or organs alone which become significant 
in evolution, but the coordination of all parts 
of an organism. 


DECEMBER 4, 1914] 


One corollary may be drawn from this main 
proposition. From the point of view of its 
function, neither the hand as a whole nor any 
of its parts which become of any real signif- 
icance can be regarded as a unit character. 
In the inception of the character there must 
have been some changes in the nutrition of the 
tissues—some change in the chemical mechan- 
ism of coordination—rendering such a depar- 
ture possible, and such a change in a chemical 
system seldom arises without some associated 
change in conditions, near or remote. And 
when the character has developed to a stage at 
which it becomes significant, it acquires this 
significance only because it may enter into 
correlated or coordinated activity with other 
parts of the organism through the medium of 
chemical or nervous mechanisms, or both. It 
is difficult for a physiologist to regard any one 
portion of the body as an isolated mechanism 
acting without reference to any other mechan- 
ism. The tendency to regard a mechanism as 
an isolated mechanism has often led into error. 
And the attempts by experimental methods 
completely to isolate any mechanism so that 
it acts independently of every other has proved 
to be a difficult and for the most part impos- 
sible process under present laboratory condi- 
tions. In the living animal under its various 
conditions of existence, coordination is an in- 
dispensable process. And since the processes 
of evolution are concerned with living animals 
rather than dead ones, the mechanisms of 
coordination become the important factors in 
evolution. For it is these internal factors 
which modify in greater degree than any 
others the growth and development of the 
organism in any environment in which life is 
possible. 

That Gaskell clearly recognized the impor- 
tance of coordination and insisted upon it is 
clear from the extract quoted above. To recog- 
nize clearly amid the multiplicity of confus- 
ing detail the fundamental factors in organic 
evolution regarded from its functional side, 
is a noteworthy achievement. And to state 
the problem in terms of biological phenomena 
rather than in metaphysical terms is to give 


to other biologists a fruitful working hypoth- 


SCIENCE 


807 


esis. It is with a poignant sense of a personal 
as well as a scientific loss that many of us 
have read the recent announcement of his 
death. A kindly, sturdy, clear-eyed Briton, 
England need have little fear for the future of 
its science if she can produce more of his like. 
F. H. Pike 


DEPARTMENT OF PHYSIOLOGY, 
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 


THE PHILADELPHIA MEETING OF THE 
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE 
ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE 
AND AFFILIATED SO- 

CIETIES 


Tue preliminary announcement for the 
meetings of the American Association and 
those of the Affiliated Societies which will meet 
with it at Philadephia during the coming con- 
vocation week has now been sent to members. 


._ The arrangements for the meeting are well 


under way and a strong local committee has 
been appointed, of which Provost Edgar F. 
Smith is chairman, Dr. J. H. Pennimann is 
vice-chairman, Dr. Philip P. Calvert is secre- 
tary, and Dr. George D. Rosengarten is chair- 
man of the finance committee. 

The first meeting of the council will be held 
on Monday, December 28, at 9 A.M. in the 
council room at Houston Hall. Registration 
will be held from 9 A.M. to 5 P.M. each day at 
headquarters in the Houston Club. The sec- 
tions will meet for organization at 10 a.M. on 
Monday and will continue their sessions during 
the week. 

The first general session will be held in 
Weightman Hall, university gymnasium, at 
8 p.m. on Monday, December 28. The meeting 
will be called to order by retiring president 
Edmund B. Wilson, of Columbia University, 
who will introduce the president of the meet- 
ing, Dr. Charles W. Eliot, of Harvard. Ad- 
dresses of welcome by the provost and the 
governor-elect will be replied to by President 
Eliot, after which retiring President Wilson 
will deliver his address on “Some Aspects of 
Progress in Modern Zoology.” 

There will be two public lectures, compli- 
mentary to the citizens of Philadelphia and 


808 


vicinity, the one on Tuesday night, at 8 o’clock, 
being by Dr. Dayton C. Miller on “ The Sci- 
ence of Musical Sounds.” On Wednesday 
night, at 8 o’clock, Dr. William H. Nichols 
will lecture on “The War and the Chemical 
Industry.” The titles of the addresses by the 
retiring vice-presidents of the sections, to be 
delivered during the week before the respective 
sections of the association are as follows: 


Vice-president Alfred D. Cole, before the Sec- 
tion of Physics: ‘‘Recent Evidence for the Ex- 
istence of the Nucleus Atom.’’ 

Vice-president Henry C. Cowles, before the Sec- 
tion of Botany: ‘‘The Economie Trend of Bot- 
any.’’ 

Vice-president Walter B. Pillsbury, before the 
Section of Anthropology and Psychology: ‘‘The 
Function and Test of Definition and Method in 
Psychology.’’ 

Vice-president Frank Schlesinger, before the 
Section of Mathematics and Astronomy: ‘‘The 
Object of Astronomical and Mathematical Re- 
search.’’ 

Vice-president L. H. Bailey, before the Section 
of Agriculture: ‘‘The Place of Research and of 
Publicity in the Forthcoming Country Life De- 
velopment. ’”’ 

Vice-president P. P. Claxton, before the Sec- 
tion of Education: ‘‘The American Rural 
School.’’ 

Vice-president O. P. Hood, before the Section 
of Engineering: ‘‘Safety Engineering.’’ 

Vice-president Joseph S. Diller, before the Sec- 
tion of Geology and Geography: ‘‘The Relief of 
our Pacifie Coast.’’ 

Vice-president Theodore Hough, before the Sec- 
tion of Physiology and Experimental Medicine: 
“<The Classification of Nervous Reactions.’? 

Vice-president Judson G. Wall, before the Sec- 
tion of Social and HEeonomic Science: ‘‘ Social 
and Economie Value of Industrial Museums.’’ 

Vice-president Alfred G. Mayer, before the Sec- 
tion of Zoology: ‘‘The Research Work of the 
Tortugas Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution 
of Washington.’’ 

Vice-president Carl S. Alsberg, before the Sec- 
tion of Chemistry: ‘‘Fermentation.’’” 


A notable event of the meeting will be the 
organization of the new Section of Agriculture. 
Vice-president L. H. Bailey will deliver his 
address this year, and the new section will 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1040 


hold its symposium at 3 P.M. on Wednesday, 
December 30, on the subject of “ The Field of 
Rural Economics.” 

Other symposia will be held as follows: 
Section B and the American Physical Society 
at 8 p.M., Tuesday, December 29, on The Use 
of Dimensional Equations; Section K, at 2.45 
p.M., Thursday, December 31, on the subject of 
Ventilation; at the same time, one will be held 
by Section F, the American Society of Natu- 
ralists, the Botanical Society of America and 
the Society of American Bacteriologists, on 
The Value of Zoology to Humanity; and at 
11 a.m., Friday, January 1, by Sections C and 
K on the subject of The Réle of Nitro- 
Organisms. 

An unusual number of affiliated societies 
will meet with the association this year and 
will hold their sessions as indicated in another 
article in this issue concerning the Philadel- 
phia meeting. The hotel headquarters will 
be at the Hotel Adelphia, Philadelphia’s new- 
est hotel. General headquarters will be at the 
Houston Club, University of Pennsylvania. 


L. O. Howarp 


THE CONVOCATION WEEK MEETING OF 
SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES 


Tuer American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science and the national scientific 
societies named below will meet at Philadel- 
phia, during convocation week, beginning on 
December 28, 1914: 


American Association for the Advancement of 
Science.—President, Dr. Charles W. Eliot, Har- 
vard University; retiring president, Professor 
Edmund B. Wilson, Columbia University; perma- 
nent secretary, Dr. L. O. Howard, Smithsonian 
Institution, Washington, D. C.; general secretary, 
Professor William A. Worsham, Jr., State Col- 
lege of Agriculture, Athens, Ga.; secretary of 
the council, Mr. Henry Skinner, Academy of Nat- 
ural Sciences, Logan Square, Philadelphia, Pa. 

Section A—Mathematics and Astronomy.— 
Vice-president, Professor Henry S. White, Vassar 
College; secretary, Professor Forest R. Moulton, 
University of Chicago, Chicago, Ill. 

Section B—Physics.—Vice-president, Professor 
Anthony Zeleny, University of Minnesota; sec- 


DECEMBER 4, 1914] 


retary, Dr. W. J. Humphreys, U. S. Weather 
Bureau, Washington, D. C. 

Section C—Chemistry.—Vice-president, Provost 
Edgar F. Smith, University of Pennsylvania; sec- 
retary, Dr. John Johnston, Geophysical Labora- 
tory, Washington, D. C. 

Section D—Mechanical Science and Engineering. 
—Vice-president, Albert Noble, New York; sec- 
retary, Professor Arthur H. Blanchard, Columbia 
University, New York City. 

Section H—Geology and Geography.—Vice- 
president, Professor U. S. Grant, Northwestern 
University; secretary, Professor George F. Kay, 
University of Iowa. 

Section EF—Zoology.—Vice-president, Professor 
Frank R. Lillie, University of Chicago; secretary, 
Professor Herbert V. Neal, Tufts College, Mass. 

Section G—Botany.—Vice-president, Dr. G. P. 
Clinton, Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Sta- 
tion; secretary, Professor W. J. V. Osterhout, 
Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. 

Section H—Anthropology and Psychology.— 
Vice-president, Dr. Clark Wissler, American Mu- 
seum of Natural History; secretary, Professor 
George Grant MacCurdy, Yale University, New 
Haven, Conn. 

Section- I—Social and Economic Science—Sec- 
retary, Seymour C. Loomis, 69 Church St., New 
Haven, Conn. 

Section K—Physiology and Experimental Medi- 
cine.—Vice-president, Professor Richard Mills 
Pearce, University of Pennsylvania; secretary, Dr. 
Donald R. Hooker, Johns Hopkins Medical School, 
Baltimore, Md. 

Section L—Hducation.—Vice-president, Pro- 
fessor Paul H. Hanus, Harvard University; secre- 
tary, Dr. Stuart A. Courtis, Liggett School, De- 
troit, Mich. 

Section M—Agricultwre—Vice-president, Pro- 
fessor L. H. Bailey, Cornell University; secretary, 
Dr. EH. W. Allen, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 
Washington, D. C. 

The American Physical Society.—Convocation 
Week. President, Professor Hrnest Merritt, Cor- 
nell University; secretary, Professor A. D. Cole, 
Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. 

The American Federation of Teachers of the 
Mathematical and the Natural Sciences—De- 
ecember 29. President, Professor C. R. Mann, 
Carnegie Foundation, New York City; secretary, 
Dr. Wm. A. Hedrick, McKinley Manual Training 
School, Washington, D. C. 

The American Society of Naturalist?—Decem- 
ber 31. President, Professor Samuel F. Clarke, 


SCIENCE 


809 


Williams College; secretary, Dr. Bradley M. Davis, 
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa. 

The American Society of Zoologists—December 
29-31. President, Professor C. E. McClung, Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania; secretary, Dr. Caswell 
Grave, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, 
Md. 

Lhe Society of American Bacteriologists—De- 
cember 29-31. President, Professor Charles E. 
Marshall, Massachusetts Agricultural College; sec- 
retary, Dr. A. Parker Hitchens, Glenolden, Pa. 

The Entomological Society of -America.—De- 
cember 31_January 1. President, Professor Philip 
P. Calvert, University of Pennsylvania; secretary, 
Professor Alexander D. MacGillivray, University 
of Illinois, Urbana, Ill. 

The American Association of Economic Ento- 
mologists.—December 28-31. President, Pro- 
fessor H. T. Fernald, Amherst College; secretary, 
A, F. Burgess, Melrose Highlands, Mass. 

The Geological Society of America—December 
29-31. President, Dr. George F. Becker, U. S. 
Geological Survey, Washington, D. €.; secretary, 
Dr. Edmund Otis Hovey, American Museum of 
Natural History, New York City. 

The Paleontological Society—December 29-31. 
President, Dr, Henry F. Osborn, American Mu- 
seum of Natural History, New York City; 
secretary, Dr. R. S. Bassler, U. S. National Mu- 
seum, Washington, D. C. 

The Botanical Society of America.—December 
29-January 1. President, Dr. A. S. Hitchcock, 
U. S. Department of Agriculture; secretary, Dr. 
George T. Moore, Botanical Garden, St. Louis, Mo. 

The American Phytopathological Society.—De- 
cember 29-January 1. President, Dr. Haven 
Metcalf, U. S. Department of Agriculture; secre- 
tary, Dr. C. L. Shear, U. S. Department of Agri- 
culture, Washington, D. C. 

American Fern Society.—December 28-29. See- 
retary, Charles A. Weatherby, 749 Main St., Hast 
Hartford, Conn. 

Sulliwant Moss Society—December 30. Secre- 
tary, Edward B. Chamberlain, 18 West 89th St., 
New York, N. Y. 

American Nature-Study Society—December 30— 
31. Secretary, Professor E. R. Downing, Univer- 
sity of Chicago, Chicago, Ill. 

School Garden Association of America.—Decem- 
ber 29-30. President, Van Evrie Kilpatrick, 124 
West 30th St., New York, N. Y. 

American Alpine Club.—January 2. 
Howard Palmer, New London, Conn. 

American Association of Official Horticulturat 


Secretary, 


810 


Inspectors—December 29-30. Chairman, Dr. W. 
E. Britton, New Haven; secretary, Professor J. G. 
Saunders, Madison, Wis. 

The American Microscopical Society—Decem- 
ber 29. President, Professor Charles Brookover, 
Little Rock, Ark.; secretary, T. W. Galloway, 
James Millikin University, Decatur, Ill. 

The American Anthropological Association.— 
December 28-31. President, Professor Roland B. 
Dixon, Harvard University; secretary, Professor 
George Grant MacCurdy, Yale University, New 
Haven, Conn. 

The American Folk-Lore Society.—Convocation 
Week. Secretary, Dr. Charles Peabody, 197 
Brattle St., Cambridge, Mass. 

The American Psychological Association —De- 
cember 30—January 1. President, Professor R. S. 
Woodworth, Columbia University; secretary, Pro- 
fessor R. M. Ogden, University of Tennessee, Nash- 
ville, Tenn. 

The Southern Society for Philosophy and Psy- 
chology.—December 31—January 1. President, 
Professor John B. Watson, The Johns Hopkins 
University; secretary, Professor W. C. Ruediger, 
George Washington University, Washington, D. C. 

The American Association for Labor Legisla- 
tion.—December 28-29. President, Professor 
Henry R. Seager, Columbia University; secretary, 
Dr. John B. Andrews, 131 Hast 23d St., New York 
City. 

Society of Sigma XI.—December 29. President, 
Professor J. McKeen Cattell, Columbia Univer- 
sity; secretary, Professor Henry B. Ward, Univer- 
sity of Illinois, Urbana, Ill. 

ST. LOUIS 


The American Physiological Society.—December 
28-30. President, Professor W. B. Cannon, Har- 
vard Medical School, Boston, Mass.; secretary, 
Professor A. J. Carlson, University of Chicago, 
Chicago, Ill. 

The Association of American Anatomists.—De- 
cember 28-30. President, Professor G. Carl 
Huber, University of Michigan; secretary, Dr. 
Charles R. Stockard, Cornell University Medical 
School, New York City. 

The American Society of Biological Chemists — 
December 28-30. President, Professor Graham 
Lusk, Cornell University Medical School; secre- 
tary, Professor Philip A. Shaffer, Washington 
University Medical School, St. Louis, Mo. 

The Society for Pharmacology and Experimental 
Therapeutics—December 28-30. President, Dr. 
Torald ‘Sollmann, Western Reserve University 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1040 


Medical School, Cleveland, Ohio; secretary, Dr. 
John Auer, Rockefeller Institute for Medical Re- 
search, New York City. 


CHICAGO 

American Mathematical Society.—December 28— 
29. President, Professor E. B. Van Vleck, Univer- 
sity of Wisconsin. 

The Association of American Geographers.—De- 
cember 29-31. President, Professor A. P. Brig- 
ham, Colgate University; secretary, Professor 
Isaiah Bowman, Yale University, New Haven, 
Conn. 

The American Philosophical Association.—De- 
cember 28-30. President, Professor J. H. Tufts, 
University of Chicago; secretary, Professor H. G. 
Spaulding, Princeton, N. J. 


PRINCETON 

The American Economic Association.—December 
28-31. President, Professor John D. Gray, Uni- 
versity of Minnesota; secretary, Professor Allyn 
A, Young, Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. 

The American Sociological Society—December 
28-31. President, Professor E. A. Ross, Univer- 
sity of Wisconsin; secretary, Professor Scott H. 
W. Bedford, University of Chicago, Chicago, Ill. 


NEW YORK CITY 


The American Mathematical Society—January 
1-2. President, Professor E. B. Van Vleck, Uni- 
versity of Wisconsin; secretary, Professor F. N. 
Cole, 501 West 116th St., New York City. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


In addition to the award of a Royal medal 
to Professor E. W. Brown, F.R.S., for his in- 
vestigations in astronomy, chiefly in lunar 
theory, recently announced in Scimnce, the 
president and council of the Royal Society 
have awarded a Royal medal to Professor 
W. J. Sollas, F.R.S., for his researches in 
paleontology, especially in the development of 
new methods; the Copley medal to Sir Joseph 
Thomson, O.M., F.R.S., for his discoveries in 
physical science; the Rumford medal to the 
Rt. Hon. the Lord Rayleigh, O.M., F.R.S., for 
his numerous researches in optics; the Davy 
medal to Professor W. J. Pope, F.R.S., for his 
researches on stereochemistry and on the rela- 


DECEMBER 4, 1914] 


tions between crystalline form and chemical 
constitution; the Darwin medal to Professor 
E. B. Poulton, F.R.S., for his researches in 
heredity; the Hughes medal to Professor J. S. 
Townsend, F.R.S., for his researches on elec- 
tric behavior of gases. 


Dr. F. Scuunsinerr, director of the Allegheny 
Observatory, and professor of astronomy, Uni- 
versity of Pittsburgh; Mr. W. S. Adams, of 
Mount Wilson Solar Observatory, and Pro- 
fessor H. Andoyer, professor of physical astron- 
omy in the Sorbonne, Paris, have been elected 
associates of the Royal Astronomical Society. 


Prorsssor W. H. Brace, of the department 
of physics of the University of Leeds, has been 
appointed Woodward lecturer at Yale Univer- 
sity. 

Dr. C.-E. A. Winstow has resigned from the 
College of the City of New York to become 
director of education in the reorganized State 
Department of Health. His work at the 
American Museum of Natural History will 
continue as heretofore. 


Dr. Grorce R. Lyman, professor of botany 
in Dartmouth College, has been appointed 
pathologist with the Federal Horticultural 
Board. Professor Lyman will not remove to 
Washington until January 1, 1915. 


Proressor F. T. Trouton, D.Sc., F.R.S., has 
resigned the Quain chair of physics at Uni- 
versity College, London, to which he was ap- 
pointed in 1902. 

Proressors WALDEYER, ORTH and others have 
added their protests to that of Professors 
Foerster and Verworn against the action of 
Professors yon Behring, Roentgen and others 
in melting down the medals and renouncing 
the honors conferred upon them by various 
scientific bodies in Great Britain. 


Tue Iron Oross has been awarded to Dr. 
Walther Nernst, professor of physics in the 
University of Berlin, who since the death of 
his son at the front, has joined the automobile 
corps. 

Dr. A. WESTERMARCE, of Helsingfors, Fin- 
land, and professor of sociology at the Uni- 
versity of London, who was to have delivered 


SCIENCE 


811 


a series of anniversary lectures at Brown Uni- 
versity this winter, will be prevented by the 
European war from coming to this country. 
Proressor L. H. Harris, formerly associate 
professor of the University of Pittsburgh, has 
been appointed consulting engineer to the 
Public Service Commission of Pennsylvania. 


Assocratr Prorrssor CHARLES J. CHAMBER- 
LAIN, of the department of botany in the Uni- 
versity of Chicago, has recently returned from 
a botanical trip through Florida and Cuba, 
continuing the investigations which have 
already taken him to Mexico, the Hawaiian 
Islands, New Zealand, Australia and Africa. 
The recent collecting was done in northern and: 
southern Florida, but chiefly in the westerm 
part of Cuba, in the mountains about Her- 
radura, Consolacion del Sur and Pinar del Rio, 

Proressor H. C. Apams, of the University 
of Michigan, has returned from China. He 
was called there one year ago to devise an ac- 
counting system for the railroads which the 
government had taken over. He will resume 
his work in the department of political econ- 
omy next semester. 


Mr. A. Furck, demonstrator at the Univer- 
sity of Glasgow, has been appointed physical 
chemist to the Glasgow Radium Committee, 
established to administer a large fund collected 
in the city for the purpose of acquiring and 
distributing radium for therapeutic purposes. 
A radiometric laboratory, under the auspices 
of the committee, has been fitted up at the 
university. 


Dr. Freperick G. Novy, professor of bac- 
teriology in the University of Michigan, lec- 
tured before the Science Club of the State 
Normal College at Ypsilanti, on November 23, 
on the foot and mouth disease which is now 
prevalent in Michigan. 


Dr. JoHANNA WESTERDIJE has given five lec- 
tures before the students of plant pathology in 
the University of Illinois. The subjects of her 
lectures were as follows: Tropical Plant Dis- 
eases; Potato Vine Diseases; Potato Tuber 
Diseases; Fruit Diseases in Europe and Amer- 
ica; Some Problems in Plant Pathology and 
Methods of Meeting Them. 


812 


During the week ending November 14, Pro- 
fessor George Grant MacCurdy lectured twice 
for the Pittsburgh Academy of Science and 
Art, once at Swarthmore College, and once for 
the Hartford (Conn.) branch of the Archeo- 
logical Institute of America. 


A portrait of the late Director E. A. Fuertes 
which was presented to the university by the 
alumni of the College of Civil Engineering of 
Cornell University was accepted by the trustees 
on November 7. It was resolved that, in ac- 
cordance with the suggestion of the donors, the 
portrait hang in the office of the college in 
Lineoln Hall. 


A Bust of the late Professor Leuckart, the 
well-known zoologist, has been presented by 
his widow to the University of Leipzig. 


Dr. THropor Lipes, professor of psychology 
and philosophy at the University of Munich, 
schas died at the age of sixty-three years. 


Dr. Rupo~tr EMMeErIcH, professor of hy- 
iene and bacteriology in the University of 
Munich, has died at the age of sixty-two 
years. 


Mr. Doucuas S. Martin, at one time on the 
editorial staff of The Electrical World, who 
left New York in August to enroll in the 
mounted forces of Great Britain, has died in 
the Bolougne Hospital from shrapnel wounds 
received at the battle of Messines, on the Bel- 
gian border. 


WE learn that Dr. Hermann Strebel, widely 
known on account of his researches in anthro- 
pology and malacology, especially of Mexico, 
where he was long a resident, died at Ham- 
burg, Germany, on November 6, in his 
eighty-first year. His scientific activities 
eontinued almost to the time of his death. 


Tue death is also announced of Dr. J. 
Borgmann, professor of physics in the Uni- 
versity of Petrograd, and author of works on 
electricity and magnetism. 


Dr. Emme ReryMonp, the distinguished 
French surgeon and senator of the Depart- 
ment of the Loire, has been killed while re- 
connoitering in an aeroplane above the Ger- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1040 


man lines. Dr. Reymond was born in 1865, 
the son of the eminent engineer, Francis Rey- 
mond. 


Tue deaths of scientific men who had been 
with the German army at the front are an- 
nounced as follows: Dr. R. Stumpf, docent 
and first assistant in the Pathological Insti- 
tute of the University of Breslau; Dr. Franz 
Velisek, professor of mathematics in the 
Technical Institute at Prague; Dr. G. Paur, 
docent for statistics in the Royal Academy at 
Posen; Dr. Franz Marshall, director of the 
experimental laboratory of the Agricultural 
Institute of the University of Halle; Dr. Con- 
stantin Guillemaup, docent in geology in the 
Technical School at Aix, and Dr. Oswald 
Loeb, docent for pharmacology in the Uni- 
versity of Gottingen. 


Tue British Medical Journal states that 
the German medical staff has already suffered 
very severely in the present war. Up to the 
middle of October 185 medical officers were 
reported killed, wounded or missing, 74 of 
these having been killed. Among them is 
Friedrich Konig, professor of surgery in the 
University of Marburg, and son of the late 
Professor Franz Ké6nig, of Berlin; he was 
killed in action at the eastern seat of war. 
In the entire Franco-German war of 1870-71 
only 11 German surgeons died on the battle- 
field or from wounds there received. Accord- 
ing to the Berliner med. Wochenschrifé of 
October 19, the decoration of the iron cross 
had then been bestowed on 120 medical officers. 


THE anniversary dinner of the Royal So- 
ciety, usually held on St. Andrew’s Day, will 
not take place this year. The council of the 
Physical Society of London has also decided 
not to hold its annual exhibition of physical 
apparatus. 


Tur Western American Phytopathological 
Society will hold a meeting at Corvallis, Ore- 
gon, on December 28, 29 and 30. This society 
was organized at the State Fruit Growers’ 
Convention at Davis, California, last spring, 
and, while its principal aim is to discuss mat- 
ters of technical plant pathology, practical 


DECEMBER 4, 1914] © 


features will also receive considerable atten- 
tion. All persons interested in this subject 
are cordially invited to attend the meetings. 
Further information concerning the meeting 
may be had by addressing the secretary of the 
society, Wm. T. Horne, University of Cali- 
fornia, Berkeley, California, or Professor H. 
S. Jackson, Corvallis, Oregon. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 


Tue newly founded university at Frankfurt 
a. M. has been opened as planned, having en- 
rolled Edinger, Ehrlich, Hmbden, B. Fischer, 
Goéppert, Herxheimer, Neisser, Rehn and 
others. Kaiser Wilhelm is said to have signed 
the statutes of the university on the historic 
date, August 1. Austria-Hungary has also 
just founded a new university, the fifth in the 
empire. It is located at Presburg, in Hungary, 
about 40 miles east of Vienna. It was imau- 
gurated with simple ceremonies on October 4. 


Ir will be remembered that after the fall of 
Louvain and the destruction of the university 
and its library, the University of Cambridge 
formally invited the Louvain professors and 
students to transfer their university to Cam- 
bridge, and, as far as it might prove possible 
to do so in a foreign land, to carry on their 
teaching and examining. After some time it 
became apparent that the authorities of the 
Belgian university did not see their way for- 
mally to accept. This, however, has not pre- 
vented steps from being taken for the forma- 
tion of unofficial courses, which are being con- 
ducted by the following professors: Dr. Arien, 
Louvain; Professor Breithof, Louvain (graph- 
ies); Professor Carnoy, Louvain (Greek) ; 
Professor Colson, Liége (chemistry); Pro- 
fessor Corbiau; Professor Déjace, Liége (law) ; 
Dr. Devigne, Liége (law and philosophy); 
Professor Léon Dupriez, Louvain (law); Pro- 
fessor Van Gehuchten, Louvain (neuropathol- 
ogy); Professor Gillet; Professor Van Hecke, 
Louvain (engineering); Professor Canon Van 
Hoonacker, Louvain (theology); Professor de 
La Vallée-Poussin, Ghent (Sanskrit); Pro- 


SCIENCE 


813 


fessor Steels; Professor Van den Ven (Byzan- 
tine Greek). 


Tue University of Glasgow has offered acad- 
emic hospitality to accredited teachers and 
students of Belgian universities who have 
taken refuge in Glasgow. The heads of the 
several departments will afford them such 
facilities for study and research as it may be 
found practicable to provide. 


PuLANs are practically completed for the con- 
struction of the Anthony N. Brady Memorial 
Laboratory of the Yale Medical School. The 
laboratory and administration building will be 
erected early in the spring of 1915. 


Dr. James Rownanp ANGELL, who is head 
of the department of psychology and dean of 
the Faculties of Arts, Literature and Science 
in the University of Chicago, has declined the 
offer of the presidency of the University of 
Washington at Seattle. 


Me. L. R. Forp, of Harvard University, has 
resigned, on account of the war, the Sheldon 
fellowship on which he was to have studied 
abroad, and has accepted a lectureship in 
mathematics at the University of Edinburgh. 

PRoressor WILLIAM MARSHALL, on leave from 
Purdue University, has returned from Europe 
and has been appointed assistant professor of 
mathematics in the University of Arizona for 
the year 1914-15. 

Dr. Rupoten H. Kocuer has been appointed 
instructor in research medicine in the Hooper 
Foundation of Medical Research of the Uni- 
versity of California, Berkeley. 


Dr. A. H. Loturop, formerly of Columbia 
University, has been appointed professor of 
biological chemistry in Queens University, 
Kingston, Ontario. 

Dr. WALTER RAMSDEN, senior demonstrator 
in physiology at Oxford University, has been 
elected to the Johnston chair of bio-chemistry 
at Liverpool University rendered vacant by 
the resignation of Dr. Benjamin Moore. 


THE vacancy in the chair of chemistry of 
the University of Aberdeen, caused by the re- 
tirement of Professor F. R. Japp after twenty- 
four years’ service, has been filled by the ap- 


814 


pointment of Mr. Frederick Soddy, formerly 
lecturer in physical chemistry and radio- 
activity, in the University of Glasgow; Pro- 
fessor Theodore Shennan, pathologist to the 
Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and lecturer in 
the university will succeed Professor George 
Dean in the chair of pathology. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 
MINUTE ANIMAL PARASITES 


To tur Epitor oF Science: We have to 
thank you for inserting a review of our book, 
“Some Minute Animal Parasites” in your 
issue of July 17, pp. 105-107, and now ask 
the favor of your columns for the purpose of 
correcting certain inaccuracies contained 
therein. Unfortunately, the reviewer has made 
rather numerous inferences not to be found or 
suggested in the original, and seems to have 
mistaken an account of life-histories of cer- 
tain parasitic Protozoa for a text-book of the 
type dear to the systematist. Both space and 
time prevent us doing more than indicate a 
few of the lapses from accuracy in the review, 
but mention of certain of these is essential. 

The review states: 

1. The fourth chapter deals with the spirochetes 
in a manner ‘‘ which shall be as non-controversial 
as possible, and which will consist of facts and not 
the speculations so fashionable nowadays.’? The 
authors adhere so consistently to this promise that 
the reader would never know from the text that 
thousands of others have worked with these organ- 
isms, 

Excluding the hyperbole regarding the thou- 
sands ‘of workers on the subject, we quote in 
that chapter the works of Balfour, Blaizot, 
Blane, Breinl, Certes, Conseil, Doflein, Dutton, 
Ehrenberg, Hindle, Leishman, Markham, 
Carter, Moebius, Nicolle, Perrin, Prowazek, 
Schaudinn, Todd, Zuelzer and ourselves, and 
give the opinions of other investigators also. 

2. He would also look in vain for a description 
of the spirochete of syphilis. 

A reference to p. 86 not only gives the cor- 
rect name of the organism (Treponema pal- 
lidum), but at least ten lines of special state- 
ment regarding it. There is'also an entry in 
the index on p. 818. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1040 


3. The sixth chapter, dealing with coccidiosis 
. . omits even a reference to coccidiosis in man. 


It is regrettable that p. 117 was not noticed, 
for it is there stated that 


The human parasite is possibly the same as that 
which infests rabbits, and there is the likelihood 
that the eating of the livers of rabbits suffering 
from coccidiosis has resulted in its transference 
with fatal results to the human host. 


There is further reference to Eimeria stiede 
on pp. 139-140 of the book. 

4. Regarding classification, the book was 
never intended ‘to be a text-book for syste- 
matists and we state definitely on p. 18 that 
we “select material presenting as much varia- 
tion as possible . . . without reference to strict 
schemes of classification.” There “is no need, 
then, for adherence to taxonomy. The sug- 
gested arrangement by systematic treatment 
according to mode of infection is impractica- 
ble because of lack of detailed knowledge in 
many cases. However, the principal known 
modes of infection among the Protozoa, with 
examples, are given in the first chapter of the 
book,:on pp. 4-10. 

The ungenerous concluding remark in the 
review, is, we feel, best ignored. We have al- 
ready mentioned in this letter the numerous 
authors to whose work reference is made in 
Chapter IV., and a similar condition obtains 
elsewhere. We can only say that we have 
endeavored to do justice to all so far as the 
limits of a book of this kind would allow. This 
fact has received outside recognition gener- 
ally, and we may’quote the opinion expressed 
in the well-known English journal The Lancet, 
June 27, 1914, p. 1819, where it is stated that 


We may note that everywhere the authors of the 
book under review are careful to give honor where 
honor is due. 


In conclusion, we may add that 'we endeay- 
ored to appeal not only to students of science, 
but also to the class of educated persons whom 
the technicalities and terminology of the syste- 
matist have hitherto repelled. 

H. B. Fanta, 


A. Porter 
CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND 


DECEMBER 4, 1914] 


B 
THE REPLY OF FANTHAM AND PORTER 

Ir is regrettable certainly that books sub- 
mitted for review do not always meet with 
unqualified commendation. Any such book is 
an. objective thing to be treated critically and 
impartially by the unprejudiced reviewer and 
the impression made by the book upon the 
reviewer should be honestly set forth by him. 
This was the case in the present instance and 
the concluding remark which the authors feel 
it best to ignore, was the honest impression 
made by the book upon the reviewer. As it 
was an impression made on a reader unac- 
quainted with the authors but familiar with 
the subjects discussed, the fault must lie in 
the book. 

As for the so-called inaccuracies in the re- 
view I will not take the space here to go over 
the matters which led to the criticisms but 
will point out some misleading statements in 
the authors’ letter. For example the rather 
imposing list of names in connection with 
spirochetes does not include such careful ob- 
servers as Novy, Gross or Dobell, whose views 
regarding so-called longitudinal division are 
quite different from those of the authors. 
These are probably included in the “ opinions 
of other investigators also,” an example of 
which, in connection with spirochaetes, may 
be cited from page 71: 

Again, some persons have denied the existence 
of longitudinal division because they themselves 
have not observed it. Needless to say, their mis- 
fortune does not invalidate the fact of undoubted 
longitudinal division. 

Equally misleading is the reference (2) to 
Treponema pallidum, the spirochzte of syph- 
ilis. It is true that the Index on page 318 
refers to all that is given on the subject, and 
we quote it in full: 

The parasite of syphilis was first regarded as a 
spirochete, but later was renamed Treponema 
pallidum, because the coils of the body were said 
to be fixed. Balfour recently has shown that 
Treponema is a ‘‘granule shedder,’’ %. €., it pro- 
duces ovoid bodies just as spirochetes do. In this 
ease it seems very probable that it is only the 
minuteness of the organism that prevents full 
knowledge of its internal structure, and that for 
the same reason its coils appear fixed. There are 


SCIENCE 


815 


undoubted affinities between all of the organisms 
mentioned, and it seems far better to keep the 
older nomenclature and not to attempt re-classifi- 
cation until the life-history of each form has been 
fully elucidated. Building on an insecure founda- 
tion has the disadvantage of causing endless patch- 
ing and emendation later, and the old saying, 
‘*More haste, less speed,’’ is as applicable in 
protozoology as elsewhere (p. 86). 

This certainly justifies the criticism in the 
original review, for even the authors would 
hesitate to claim that this is a description of 
the organism of syphilis. 

Gary N. Caurins 


A FILEFISH NEW TO THE ATLANTIC COAST OF THE 
UNITED STATES 


Woops Hott continues to yield most un- 
expected ichthyological treasures. The latest 
addition to the fish fauna of the region is a 
filefish taken in floating rockweed in Vineyard 
Sound on September 3, 1914, by Mr. Vinal N. 
Edwards, the indefatigable collector at the 
fishery station. The species is Cantherines 
pullus, described in 1842 from Brazil and sub- 
sequently taken in Cuba, Porto Rico and Tor- 
tugas, but heretofore unknown from the east 
coast of the United States. The genus 
Pseudomonacanthus Bleeker, 1866, appears to 
be identical with Cantherines Swainson, 1839; 
and Pseudomonacanthus amphiozys (Cope), 
known only from two young specimens from 
St. Martin Island, West Indies, is a synonym 
of Cantherines pullus (Ranzani). 

My associate Mr. Lewis Radcliffe advises 
that a comparison of the Woods Hole speci- 
men and another of the same species from 
Porto Rico with a specimen of the type spe- 
cies of this genus, Cantherines sandwichiensis 
(Quoy and Gaimard), from Honolulu discloses 
no valid differences. As the latter is recorded 
from Socorro Island, off the west coast of 
Mexico, and the young are pelagic, it seems 
not improbable that a further comparison of 
a series of specimens from widely separated 
localities will prove pullus to be a synonym of 
sandwichiensis. 

H. M. Smita 


BUREAU OF FISHERIES, 
WASHINGTON, D. C. 


816 SCIENCE 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 


Introductory Geology, a Text-book for Colleges. 
By Tuomas C. CHAMBERLIN and Rotiin D. 
Sauispury. New York: Henry Holt & Co. 
1914. Pp. xi+ 708. 528 inches. Price 
$2.00. 

In comparison with this latest product by 
geologist and printer there stands before the 
writer a long row of early treatises and texts 
in geology, American and English, dating 
from the early part of the last century. The 
contrast is great, both in matter and illus- 
trations. These old books seem very crude 
and it is difficult for us to realize the limita- 
tions of scientific thought before Lyell showed 
the uniformity of nature’s processes and laid 
in physical evolution the foundation for bio- 
logic evolution. Much space in the older books 
is used in proof of matters which are now 
common knowledge of educated people, and 
the illustrations are ludicrously poor. Even to 
fifteen years ago publishers tabooed photo- 
graphic reproductions and regarded hand en- 
graving as the only artistic and proper illus- 
tration. Modern photography has brought the 
far-away geologic and physiographic features 
to the secluded student, and thus qualified the 
aphorism that the first, second and third re- 
quisites of the geologist are travel. 

From 1840 to 1860 the leading text-book in 
geology was that of Edward Hitchcock, which 
in 1860 had run to the 30th edition. The 
civil war distracted attention from scientific 
studies and for many years the only prominent 
book in geology was Dana’s Manual, on which 
the older geologists now living were nurtured. 
Up to about 1900 the works of Dana and Le- 
Conte had fair possession of the schools. 
Chamberlin and Salisbury’s geology in three 
volumes was published in 1905-1906, since 
which time the new books in geology and 
physiography “speak volumes ” for the popular 
interest in earth science. Much of this regard 
may be traced to the popularizing of physio- 
graphic geology, led by Davis. The profuse 
photographie reproduction of natural features 
has been a stimulant to the magazine readers 
and encouragement to the authors and printers, 
while the commercial world has been interested 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1040 


through the economic study of the earth now 
specially emphasized by the national and state 
geologic surveys. 

The book under review is the latest word 
(to-day) in general geology and probably the 


finest example of the bookmaker’s art in works . 


of the class. A duodecimo volume of 700 pages 
is made of practical size by the use of thin, 
fine-quality paper of medium finish, It was 
wise to change from the heavy, highly glazed 
paper used in the three-volume work and to 
sacrifice a trifle of the quality or clearness of 
the halftones and the maps, for the gain in 
other respects. By not wasting space on wide 
margins a four-inch measure is secured for 
the excellent letterpress. As in the larger 
work, the insets carry impressions on both 
sides. The 10-point type, wide measure, with 
forty lines to the page, coupled with the con- 
densed style and brief treatment of less impor- 
tant topics, has produced a book of reference 
value in practical size for students’ use. The 
general arrangement of the matter is in the 
usual order. 

It will be generally conceded that the senior 
author has preeminence in America in philo- 
sophie geology. Consequently the book will 
be recognized as a very high authority, espe- 
cially on the philosophic or theoretic side. As 
should be expected with this authorship there 
is much original matter, though some of the 
text and most of the illustrations are derived 
from the same authors’ larger work. The 
text is in their characteristic terse and rather 
technical style. They do not attempt the 
impossible task of making geology simple and 
easy to the average college student. 

No competent teacher will find in this book 
everything that he wishes nor all that he needs 
with the proper emphasis for his particular 
region. The body of geologic knowledge has 
become so vast that a single volume can do 
no more than generalize. The physiographic, 
geologic and climatic characters are so very 
different in the several provinces of America 
that no book of practical size and moderate 
cost can adequately present the special or local 
features. For example: over great areas of 
our northern lands the glacial phenomena are 


DECEMBER 4, 1914] 


the most obtrusive and available for study; in 
the Appalachian region and other mountain 
districts the structural or tectonic features 
are the more striking; in the Great Basin and 
over the southwestern plateaus the factor of 
aridity; in some districts, vulcanism; ete. 
The stratigraphic and paleontologic differ- 
ences of the several sections are quite as im- 
portant. Some one has said that the best con- 
versation goes on in hints, and a text-book for 
nation-wide use must be merely suggestive on 
many subjects. The competent college in- 
structor must be capable of making his own 
text-book for his own district. The tendency 
of general text-books and treatises will be to 
omit more and more of the elementary matter 
as it becomes the common knowledge of edu- 
eated people, and another class of books will 
arise for observational and intensive study of 
particular provinces. 

To point out minor omissions, slips or errors 
is both ungracious and unnecessary, and few 
are found in this book. One broad criticism 
will be made of the references to collateral 
literature and contemporary authors. The 
book does not make the mistake of loading its 
pages with a multitude of references. But 
when they are used at all they should be dis- 
criminating, impartial and up-to-date. Al- 
though there are abundant references to the 
publication of the U. S. Geological Survey and 
to the Journal of Geology, there are compara- 
tively few references to other literature, and 
very few to articles of the last ten years. Yet 
the geologic literature of the last decade is 
large and much of it of masterly character, by 
eminent authorities, superseding for reference 
value much of the older writings. The geol- 
ogists of the eastern states may feel that the 
book has a provincial character. 

This book will be welcome to those who 
wish a geologic philosophy based on a scien- 
tific theory of the genesis of the globe. An 
admirable summary is given of the three hy- 
potheses of earth origin; the Laplacian 
(“ Nebular”), Lockyer’s meteoritie and 
Chamberlin’s planetesimal. The manner of 
the earth’s origin is the basal postulate in all 
geophysical theories and in most geologic 


SCIENCE 


817 


philosophy. On yery many subjects the 
views of the geologist and his handling of 
problems must ultimately be grounded on his 
conception of the origin of the globe and its 
satellite. As all geologists up to recent years, 
and many of the more conservative at ths 
present time, still hold to the discredited 
hypothesis of an originally incandescent 
globe, it will be seen that this work, like its 
three-volume predecessor, runs counter to 
many long-accepted theories and presents new 
and novel explanations. 

In true scientific spirit and with some defer- 
ence to conservatism, the authors have been 
fair in treatment of old theories and modest 
in presentation of the new views, usually set- 
ting the older thought side by side with the 
new philosophy. A few of the topics which 
have original treatment, in consequence of the 
new cosmogeny, are: origin and nature of the 
deep-seated rocks; origin of the ocean and the 
atmosphere; origin of the sub-oceanic and 
continental relief; diastrophism and mountain 
structure; vulcanism; duration of life; eli- 
matic changes; subdivision of Precambrian 
time. Ore deposits are given a fair presenta- 
tion under the topic “Groundwaters.” The 
chemie and biologie processes of the ocean are 
given space instead of long description of the 
commonplace erosional work. 

The historical portion of a text-book is the 
most difficult to handle. Selection and con- 
densation must be made from a vast body of 
paleontologic fact and from uncertain or con- 
flicting stratigraphy. And such matter is the 
most difficult to keep up-to-date and to make 
satisfactory to the experts. In general, this 
matter of the book seems judicious and well 
balanced, but the New York stratigraphy is 
too old. Under the Silurian the curious mis- 
take of Hall, Emmons and Dana in placing 
the Oneida conglomerate beneath the Medina, 
instead of above it, is repeated, although the 
correction was made years ago in the New 
York State Museum publications, and in 
SCIENCE. 

The series of paleogeographie maps, depicting 
the evolution of the continent, are copied with 
some reduction from the three-volume work. 


818 


It would seem desirable that, for comparison, 
reference should have been made to the ex- 
tended series of similar maps recently pub- 
lished by Schuchert, and also to the series by 
Willis; especially as the three sets of maps 
show very different conceptions of the ancient 
epicontinental seas. 

This book is probably the most comprehen- 
sive, original and suggestive of any single 
volume in geology now printed. 


H, L. FaAmcHinp 
THE UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER 


Technical Mechanics. By Epwarp R. MaurEr, 
Professor of Mechanics in the University of 
Wisconsin. Third edition, rewritten. New 
York, John Wiley and Sons, 1914. 
Maurer’s “Technical Mechanics,” of which 

the first edition was published in 1908, has a 

recognized position among useful text-books 

for students of engineering. The reprints 
previous to the present or third edition con- 
tained few changes; but practically the whole 
book has now been rewritten. The aim of the 
author, however, remains unchanged, the words 
of the original preface describing the book as 
“a theoretical mechanics for students of engi- 
neering ” being again used as applying to the 
present rewritten edition. It has been the 
author’s object to “furnish an adequate course 
of instruction for students of engineering in 
one semester, five times per week.” The re- 
casting for the present work has involved not 
only changes in arrangement and form of 
presentation, but some changes in subject- 
matter, such as the omission of the chapter on 
attraction and stress and some amplification of 
rigid-body dynamics. The scope and order of 
the work are indicated by the chapter headings: 
Composition and resolution of forces; forces in 
equilibrium; simple structures; friction; cen- 
ter of gravity; suspended cables; rectilinear 
motion; curvilinear motion; translation and 
rotation; work, energy, power; momentum and 
impulse; two-dimensional motion; three-dimen- 
sional motion; appendices on theory of dimen- 
sions of units and moment of inertia of plane 
areas. Hspecially worthy of note are the twelve 
pages in the chapter on momentum and im- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1040 


pulse devoted to a lucid explanation of gyro- 
scopic action and its applications to the gyro- 
compass, the mono-rail car, the gyro-stabilizer 
for ships, and the self-steering torpedo. A 
wholly new collection of problems is given, 
most of which are collected at the end of the 
book, thus avoiding interruption of continuity 
of exposition in the text. The illustrations, 
more than 500 in number, are executed with 
notable care. 

Those who know the original edition need 
not be told that the author’s presentation is, 
with few if any exceptions, sound, and that a 
notable quality of his exposition is concise- 
ness without sacrifice of logical accuracy or 
completeness. Some teachers may perhaps 
think the virtue of conciseness is at times car- 
ried so far as to make the book unduly diffi- 
cult reading for the beginner. The many 
teachers who have successfully used previous 
editions will, however, undoubtedly find the re- 
written work even more satisfactory. 

In reviewing the first edition? of this book, 
the writer took occasion to discuss certain 
questions regarding the presentation of funda- 
mental principles of dynamics. At the present 
time special interest attaches to Professor 
Maurer’s presentation of principles because of 
his position as chairman of the committee on 
the teaching of mechanics appointed in 1913 
by the 8. P. E. E. The appointment of this 
committee seems to have been due largely to 
certain rather vigorous criticisms of current 
methods of presenting fundamental principles, 
especially the “fundamental equation of 
dynamics ” and the definitions of units of force. 

Professor Maurer uses the equation #’'= ma, 
but his explanation of it makes it seem 
subsidiary to the equation F/W=a/g, or 
F=(W/g)a; the latter equation being ex- 
plained as a special case of I/F’ =a/a’, where 
a, @ are the accelerations due to forces F’, F” 
acting on the same body at different times. In 
order to pass from the equation # =(W/g)a 
to the equation F = ma (or F = Kma if units 
are unrestricted) use is made of the fact that 
different bodies in the same locality are equally 
accelerated by gravity. In the view of the 

1 SCIENCE, Vol. XXI., p. 302. 


DECEMBER 4, 1914] 


present writer this procedure is not strictly 
sound as a scientific explanation of the equa- 
tion =Kma. The presence of the mass 
constant in the equation should rather be ac- 
cepted as an ultimate part of the laws of mo- 
tion, while the facts of gravity are wholly 
apart from those laws. This is in fact else- 
where recognized by the author in his appar- 
ent acceptance of Newton’s laws (p. 155) as 
the scientific basis of dynamics. 

Although Professor Maurer’s procedure de- 
scribed above seems to lend some countenance 
to the position of those who call the equation 
P/F’ =a/a the “fundamental equation of 
dynamics,” it is not likely that he really accepts 
this view; probably his order of presentation 
was dictated by pedagogic considerations. An 
equation which results from comparing the 
effects of different forces wpon the same body 
can not, of course, be regarded as a complete 
expression of the fundamental law of motion; 
it is equally important to compare the effects 
of forces acting upon any different bodies. 
This of necessity brings in the body-constant 
which most physicists call mass. If an equa- 
tion is used which does not contain this quan- 
tity explicitly, it must be implicitly taken ac- 
count of in the application. 

As a matter of fact it is difficult to under- 
stand the antagonism which some critics have 
shown for the equation F—=ma. The main 
alleged objection to it appears to be the fact 
that it requires units to ke properly chosen; but 
this is true of most of the equations used to 
express physical laws or facts.2 One who 
really understands the fundamental principle 
of dynamics will have no difficulty in under- 
standing the equation #’ = ma, or in remember- 
ing that it implies that units are so defined 
that unit force acting on unit mass causes unit 
acceleration. 


To the present writer it seems that the real 


2Tt is true, for example, of the equation usually 
employed to express the law of gravitation. It is 
true also of the simple equation A — L?, where 4 
is the area of a square of side Z. In fact it is not 
easy to cite equations practically used in applied 
mathematics of which it is not true. The only way 
to avoid the alleged objection is to throw every 
such equation into the form of a proportion. 


SCIENCE 


819 


meaning of the fundamental equation of 
dynamics is most clearly brought out by pre- 
senting it first in the form of a compound 
proportion, 


in which a is the acceleration due to a force 
F acting on a mass m and a’ the acceleration 
due to a force F” acting on a mass m’. From 
this it is easy to pass to the equation F = Kma 
for any arbitrary set of units, and then by a 
certain choice of units to the equation most 
commonly used because simplest, = ma. Sub- 
stantially this method of presentation was 
given in the first edition of Professor Maurer’s 
book, but seems to have been omitted from the 
present edition. 

As regards units of force, Professor Maurer’s 
practise is the usual one among engineers. For 
ordinary use the pound-force or kilogram-force 
is adopted as unit, with the explanation that 
although this unit varies with locality, the 
variation is so slight as ordinarily to be of no 
practical importance. Although remarking 
that the pound-force can be made definite by 
specifying a standard locality, the author does 
not urge the general adoption of such a stand- 
ard unit, but follows common scientific usage 
in adopting a kinetic definition of the abso- 
lute unit of force. This definition is, of 
course, based upon the fundamental principle 
of which the equation #’ = ma (or F = Kma) 
is an expression. This principle being as- 
sumed, it is possible to define the unit force 
as that force which would give some definite 
mass some definite acceleration; the common 


‘practise being to take as unit the force which 


gives the (arbitrarily chosen) unit mass the 
(arbitrarily chosen) unit acceleration,? thus 


3Jt is worthy of remark that the advocates of 
the adoption of a standard pound force, though 
ostensibly defining it as the weight of a pound body 
at a standard locality, in reality define it as the 
force which would give a pound body (meaning a 
body whose mass is a pound) the acceleration 
32.1740 ft./sec®. Thus the real definition is of the 
same kind as that of the dyne, and the standard 
pound-force is really a ‘‘kinetic’’ rather than a 
“Coravity’? unit. 


820 


reducing the fundamental equation to its 
simplest form #—=ma. The author points out 
also that it is possible to vary the procedure 
by choosing arbitrarily the unit force and 
adopting a kinetic definition of the unit mass; 
and he uses the word “slug” to designate the 
mass to which the pound-force would give an 
acceleration of 1 ft./sec*. His explanation of 
this matter seems to the writer to be entirely 
sound, as well as being an aid to the student 
in acquiring a clear understanding of the 
fundamental law. 

The entire treatment of force and of the 
laws of motion is notably free from the vague- 
ness which too often characterizes the expo- 
sition found in text-books. The words push 
and pull are freely used, and the fact is ex- 
plicitly stated at the outset that every force 
is exerted by one body wpon another body. 
The law of action and reaction is stated in 
the following words: “When one particle 
exerts a force upon another, then the latter 
exerts one upon the former; and the two 
forces are equal, colinear and opposite.” 
Most of the difficulty that arises over this law 
is due to losing sight of some one or more of 
the facts that are here explicitly stated. If 
it is kept clearly in mind that an action and 
its reaction (a) always concern two bodies 
and only two and (0) never act upon the same 
body, there is little difficulty in avoiding the 
confusion that is often associated with such 
terms as “inertia-force” and “kinetic reac- 


tion.” L. M. Hosxivs 
STANFORD UNIVERSITY 


Principles of Electrical Measurements. By 
ArtHuR WuitTMoreE SmitH. New York: 
The McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1914. 
Pp. xiv + 348. 

Tn a laboratory course, emphasis may be laid 
by one teacher on manipulation and details of 
apparatus and, by another, on the principles 
underlying the methods employed in making 
the measurements. Professor Smith does the 
latter and has developed a text that is suitable 
for classroom as well as laboratory. The book 
is written for the instruction of those who are 
beginning their course in electrical engineer- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Voz. XL. No. 1040 


ing or who desire a more complete understand- 
ing than is afforded in most elementary man- 
uals. It shows thoroughness and care in its 
preparation. In addition to a discussion of 
subject-matter usual in a laboratory manual of 
this kind—as ammeter and voltmeter methods; 
use of the galvanometer, bridge and potenti- 
ometer; measurement of current, power, capac- 
ity and inductance; magnetic tests of iron and 
steel—the author includes chapters on electro- 
magnetic induction, on the definition of the 
Maxwell and on alternating currents, which, 
while not essential for one only interested in 
the taking of readings, lead the student to a 
better understanding of the subject as a whole. 
FREDERICK BEDELL 


A Manual of Bacteriology for Agricultural 
and Science Students. By Howarp S. Rrab. 
Ginn & Co. $1.25. 

This little manual of 179 pages contains a 
collection of experiments, descriptions of 
methods, formule for media and reagents, and 
other information of practical use in a bac- 
teriological laboratory. It is intended as an 
outline of a course for students, but it would 
be quite difficult, indeed, practically impossible, 
in an ordinary laboratory, for a student to 
follow this course consecutively, since the ex- 
periments described follow each other in an 
order that, while logical for study, would be 
almost impractical to carry out in a laboratory 
class. As a result the student can not follow 
the course without very careful thought and 
selection of experiments on the part of the 
teacher. The book is therefore more valuable 
for a manual for reference than as a distinet 
course for students to follow. It contains 
large numbers of experiments, and if properly 
used can be made of great use as a foundation 
of a course in bacteriology. Jt is more com- 
plete, more up-to-date, and contains more of 
the recent additions to bacteriological meth- 
ods than the other manuals which have been 
published in the last few years. It is made 
more valuable by having in addition to meth- 
ods strictly bacteriological some which are 
especially designed for the study of yeasts, 
and of common molds. While the methods are 


DECEMBER 4, 1914] 


in general simply described, in some cases 
difficult technique is passed over with a few 
words of description, so meager as to make it 
almost impossible for the student to follow 
them without very close supervision on the 
part of the instructor. For example, it is 
doubtful whether a student could ever obtain 
a pure culture of yeasts by the method de- 
seribed without having an instructor at hand 
to show him every detailed step. ‘The numer- 
ous experiments also imply the possession on 
the part of the instructor of a large amount of 
material commonly not at hand in a bacterio- 
logical laboratory, especially in the way of 
cultures of various organisms, and no direc- 
tion is given as to how these may be obtained. 

In a little book of this kind not all labora- 
tory methods can be included, and some omis- 
sion may be well excused. Some of the 
omissions are a little unfortunate. For ex- 
ample, in describing the detection of nitrites, 
the method that is commonly used, of in- 
oculating bacteria into nitrate broth is not 
given at all, the only method given depend- 
ing upon synthetic media. The common use 
of nitrate broth, included in the standard 
methods, should certainly have been among 
the methods given in this little manual. On 
the whole, the manual is useful, and can be 
recommended as an up-to-date reference book 
of laboratory methods. 

H. W. Conn 
WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY 


The Elements of Psychology. 
Masor. Revised Edition. Columbus, R. G. 
Adams & Co. 1914. Pp. 413. 

Much difficulty has been experienced in re- 
cent years in preparing a satisfactory text for 
introductory college courses in psychology. 
Possibly the difficulty arises from the fact 
that the customary elementary course in psy- 
chology—unlike that in other sciences—aims 
Jess to initiate the student into the use of a 
set of special methods and a body of knowledge 
obtained by their application, than to inter- 
pret and rationalize what everyone is more or 
less acquainted with from common experience. 


SCIENCE 


By Davin R. ~ 


821 


HKvidently more tact and literary skill are re- 
quired to treat what is already familiar in a 
profitable way, than to launch out into what 
is new to the student. However this may be, 
there have certainly been a large number of 
attempts to meet the felt need for an ele- 
mentary text, and few of the attempts have 
given much satisfaction. The present book is 
another experiment in this direction, and ap- 
pears likely to prove unusually successful. If 
it makes no great claim to originality of teach- 
ing, and has no special axe to grind, and if it 
lacks somewhat in incisiveness, these are de- 
fects which the student can readily overlook in 
view of its well-sustained effort to meet him 
on his own ground. Granted that the intro- 
duectory course is to be kept within its tradi- 
tional bounds, this text should make a very 
satisfactory guide. 
R. S. WoopwortH 
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 


SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES 


Terrestrial Magnetism and Atmospheric 
Hlectricity for December contains the follow- 
ing articles: “The Free and Forced Vibrations 
of a Suspended Magnet” (concluded), H. F. 
Reid; “ Magnetic Declinations and Chart Cor- 
rections obtained by the Carnegie from Bahia, 
Brazil, to St. Helena, May 20 to June 22, 
1913,” L. A. Bauer and W. J. Peters; “On 
Certain Matters relating to the Theory of 
Atmospheric Electric Measurements,” W. F. 
G. Swann; “Investigation of Certain Causes 
Responsible for Uncertainty in the Measure- 


‘ment of Atmospheric Conductivity by the 


Gerdien Conductivity Apparatus,’ C. W. Hew- 
lett; “ Magnetic Declinations and Chart Cor- 
rections obtained by the Carnegie from Ham- 
merfest, Norway, to Reykjavik, Iceland, and 
thence to Brooklyn, New York, July to October, 
1914,” L. A. Bauer and J. P. Ault; Letters to 
Editor: “ Principal Magnetic Storms recorded 
at the Cheltenham Magnetic Observatory, 
July-September, 1914,’ O. H. Tittmann; 
“Umbau an dem Schulze’schen D-Variometer 
des Observatoriums in Tsingtau,” B. Meyer- 
mann. 


822 


NOTES ON METEOROLOGY AND 
CLIMATOLOGY 
MOUNTAINS AND WINDS 

A RECENT paper by Th. Hesselberg and H. 
U. Sverdrup, entitled, “Uber den Hinfluss der 
Gebirge auf die Lufthewegung lings der 
Erdoberflache und auf die Druckverteilung,” 1 
includes studies of the Appalachians, Alps 
and Apennines as influencing winds. For the 
United States 51 weather maps in 1906 were 
chosen for study. The winds of the Appa- 
lachian region exhibit three simple types of 
influence. (1) With a general flow of air from 
the northwest there is divergence on the wind- 
ward side and convergence on the leeward 
side of the mountains. (2) With a southeast 
wind there is the same general flow of air 
around the mountain mass but locally there 
are converging winds on the windward side. 
This is said to indicate an air whirl on a hori- 
zontal axis there. (3) When there is a general 
southwest wind parallel. with the mountain 
chain, the winds over the mountains are 
usually across them from the west. But when 
the flow is from the northeast, there are no 
such corresponding winds crossing the moun- 
tains. These cross west winds are apparently 
due to the influence of the upper prevailing 
westerlies. 

Stronger and more complex, mountain in- 
fluence on crosswise and lengthwise winds 
was found in Europe, both because of the 
greater altitude of the mountains and because 
of more observing stations. With strong 
cross-mountain flow of air the atmospheric 
pressure is raised to windward and lowered to 
leeward, in addition to changes wrought in 
the wind direction. Cool, wet weather to 
windward and warm dry weather to leeward 
followed as a result of the dynamic changes 
in temperature experienced by the wind in 
crossing the mountains. In winter locally the 
mountains become high-pressure, divergence 
points; while over the valleys low pressure 
and convergence is the rule. In summer the 
weather maps indicate a partial reversal of 
these conditions, since frequently by the time 

1Veréff. des Geophys. Inst. d. Univ. Leipzig, 
2te Serie, heft 4, Leipzig, 1914, pp. 102-116, 2 pl. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1040 


the observations are taken, the diurnal heat- 
ing of the valleys has already started the up- 
valley breezes. Thus the wind directions in 
and about a mountain region are strongly 
controlled by the presence of the mountains. 


THE INFLUENCE OF METEOROLOGICAL CONDITIONS 
ON THE PROPAGATION OF SOUND 


Tuis study by Dr. H. Bateman? includes 
the effects of wind, temperature, moisture and 
air composition on the propagation of sound. 
The general influence of any wind is to re- 
duce the audibility of sounds. The usual 
greater range of a sound with the wind than 
against it is ascribed to the increase of wind 
velocity with altitude, which bends upward 
the sound waves traveling against the wind 
and downward those going with the wind. 
On the other hand, if the upper wind is oppo- 
site to the lower one, a sound refracted up- 
ward in traveling against the surface wind 
may be bent to the earth again on entering 
the other current. This may account for the 
peculiar regions of silence and sound often 
observed in easterly surface winds. If the 
transition from one air current to another is 
sharp, the boundary may become a reflecting 
surface. 

The temperature effect on sound is much 
like that of the wind. In the daytime, the 
normal vertical decrease in temperature leads 
to refraction of sound waves upward, and the 
lack of thermal homogeneity of the air aids 
in dispersing sounds. At night or in cloudy 
weather, when the temperature is more uni- 
form, sounds are more easily heard. Appar- 
ently the lower surface of the stratosphere 
acts as a reflecting surface which returns to 
earth heavy sounds such as from artillery fire 
or volcanic explosions, making spots where 
such sounds are heard far beyond the limits 
of direct audibility. 

Sounds entering moist masses of air are 
weakened by “stifling,” refraction, scatter- 
ing and perhaps reflection. Fog usually pro- 
duces peculiar sound effects, probably on ac- 
count of temperature differences in the fog 


2 Monthly Weather Review, May, 1914, pp. 258— 
265, 1 fig. 


DECEMBER 4, 1914] 


and perhaps also because of sound reflection 
from the upper limit of the fog. Local inter- 
ference resulting from such reflection may ex- 
plain the silent regions so commonly observed 
in connection with fog signals. 

In a similar way, the boundaries between 
air bodies of different temperatures and hu- 
midities in thunderstorms are important in 
prolonging thunder® and in preventing the 
sound from traveling great distances.* 


THE THUNDERSTORM AND ITS PHENOMENA 


Proressorn W. J. Humpureys under the 
above title has published® a careful summary 
of the present knowledge relative to thunder- 
storm physics and has added many new 
points. Professor Humphreys recognizes five 
types of thunderstorms, which occur as fol- 
lows: (1) in regions of high temperature and 
nearly uniform pressure (heat thunderstorms) ; 
(2) in the southeast quadrant of an almost 
circular cyclone; (8) between the branches of 
a V-shaped cyclone; (4) in the trough be- 
tween two anticyclones; (5) on the boundary 
between warm and cold waves. All but the 
first are produced essentially by the over- and 
under-running of winds of different tempera- 
tures, which in some way cause moist air 
masses to rise. Each of these types is illus- 
trated with a set of three successive weather 
maps at 12-hour intervals. 

The squall-wind associated with thunder- 
storms is thought to be the outward flow from 
a cataract of air which is cooled and kept cold 
in its descent by the rain or hail falling 
through it. The sudden rise in air pressure 
at the onset of a strong thunderstorm is as- 
eribed to the combined effect of the downward 
thrust, greater density and relatively small 
absolute humidity of this cold wind, and to 
the interference which the thunderstorm 
offers to the free flow of the general winds. 

The splitting of raindrops in falling 
through the ascending air currents character- 

3W. Schmidt, Meteorologische Zeitschrift, Jan- 
uary, 1914, pp. 33-37. 

4W. J. Humphreys, Monthly Weather Review, 
June, 1914, p. 379. 

5 Ibid., pp. 348-380, 28 figs. 


SCIENCE 


823 


istic of thunderstorms is, according to G. C. 
Simpson, the source of the lightning. The 
small drops with negative charges go up with 
the wind while the larger ones with positive 
charges stay below. Thus in a thunderstorm 
there is usually a region of positive electric- 
ity between the negative earth and the nega- 
tive upper portion of the cloud. When the 
charge becomes sufficient to ionize a path 
through the air, a series of direct current dis- 
charges usually take place along approxi- 
mately the same line. A progressive lengthen- 
ing of a lightning streak in its successive six 
discharges is shown in a picture taken with a 
rotating camera (Fig. 26). Professor Hum- 
phreys is to be congratulated on his thorough 
and simple presentation of such a difficult 
subject. 
RAINDROP VELOCITIES® 

J. LizNar in deriving a new mathematical 
formula for determining the velocities of rain- 
drops has included the effect of the viscosity 
of the air and friction on the horizontal ex- 
panse of the drop. This formula is 


v= 602.6Vr + 57.013 — 23.29177, 


where v is in cm. per sec., 7 in mm. and at- 
mospheric pressure at 986.6 mb. (740 mm.). 
Applied to hail this formula becomes 


4 = 20.795 (V 722.2r + 1/7? —1/r). 


The velocities of raindrops of the radii indi- 
cated are roughly as follows: 


r 0.5 mm., v 400 em. per sec. 
7r 1.0 mm., v 600 em. per sec. 
r 1.5 mm., v 700 cm. per see. 
7r 2.7 mm., v 800 em. per sec. (maximum). 


Large drops are retarded by flattening in the 
air. According to Wiesner’s observations this 
flattening of falling drops will cause those of 
3.6 mm. radius to form rings and split into 
smaller drops. 
NOTES 

THE June number of the Monthly Weather 
Review, which appeared early in October, has 
more than 100 pages (quarto), which are de- 
yoted mostly to meteorological articles. The 

6 Meteorologische Zeitschrift, July, 1914, pp. 
339-347. 


824 


amount and quality of the meteorological ma- 
terial published in the first six numbers amply 
justifies the change of this periodical back to 
its position as the national meteorological 
magazine. 

THe daily weather maps of the northern 
hemisphere issued by the Weather Bureau 
were discontinued on August 6 on account of 
lack of European weather reports. 

THe European meteorological magazines 
are still being received regularly, although 
late. 

“THE Clouds of California,” an address by 
Dr. Ford A. Carpenter before the Occidental 
College, has been published.? The discussion 
concerns not only the cloudiness of California, 
but also includes information about the com- 
position and formation of clouds. 

W. Brieper® has introduced a new factor to 
explain the blue of the sky. According to 
him, the action of ultraviolet light forms 
NH,NO,+ H,O, a thin bluish fog in the 
stratosphere. The blue of the sky is also as- 
eribed to the action on light of dust particles, 
exceedingly small, snow crystals, air mole- 
cules, water vapor and ozone. Recent obser- 
vations on high mountains show the presence 
of sufficient ozone alone to account for the 
sky color.® 

In Symons’s Meteorological Magazine for 
several months there has been a discussion of 
unusual visibility of distant objects as a prog- 
nostic of rain. Haziness is due to the amount 
and visibility of the dust and other particles 
in the air and to optical disturbances caused 
principally by temperature differences. So 
the cloudiness usually preceding rain reduces 
dust haziness by cutting off the bright illumi- 
nation of the particles, and reduces the optical 
haze by preventing the unequal heating of 
the lower air and the establishment of con- 
vectional currents. However, wind blowing 
from the direction of a city, which may be 

718 pages. See Nature, London, August 6, 1914, 
p. 592. 

8 Meteorologische Zeitschrift, July, 1914, pp. 
3858-359. 

9 See Scientific American Supplement, September 
19, 1914, p. 179. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1040 


even far away, generally makes the air more 
hazy.1° 

“British Rainfall, 1913” contains rainfall 
returns from 5,370 stations during the year. 
Complete daily records were received from 
3,370 stations and less complete daily returns 
from 364 others. For the stations sending 
these daily records, the density for the British 
Isles is roughly 42 per 1,000 square miles. 
The January, 1914, issue of Climatological 
Data for the United States by Sections in- 
cludes daily rainfall records from 4,391 sta- 
tions. Thus for the United States, as a whole, 
the number of rainfall stations is but 1.4 per 
1,000 square miles. Even Rhode Island, the 
state with greatest density of rainfall stations, 
has but 8 per 1,000 square miles. Nevada has 
0.6 for the same area. It is little wonder that 
the climatic maps of the United States are 
lacking in detail as compared with the British 
ones. 

CHariss F. Brooxs 
BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY, 
WASHINGTON, D. C., 
October 26, 1914 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 
SOME PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF THE CELL NUCLEUS 


INVESTIGATIONS on the physical properties of 
protoplasm have received fresh impetus 
through the introduction by Kite! of Barber’s 
pipette holder for dissection purposes. By 
means of fine glass needles manipulated in this 
holder it is possible to undertake the dissec- 
tion of fresh tissue under the highest magni- 
fication of the microscope. 

My results in cell dissection largely sub- 
stantiate Kite’s general statements on the con- 
sistency and physical make-up of protoplasm. 

In this paper I wish to present the results of 
studies made on the nucleus of the male germ 
cells of the grasshopper, Disosteira Carolina, 

10 See Nature, London, August 6, 1914, p. 592. 

1G. L. Kite and Robert Chambers, Jr., ‘‘ Vital 
Staining of Chromosomes and the Function and 
Structure of the Nucleus,’’ Scmncz, N. S&S, 
XXXVI., p. 639, 1912; G. L. Kite, ‘‘Studies on 
the Physical Properties of Protoplasm,’? Am. 
Jour. Phys., XXXII., p. 146, 1913. 


DECEMBER 4, 1914] 


and of the cockroach, Periplaneta Americana. 
The follicles of the testis are isolated under 
the dissecting microscope and, on tearing the 
follicular envelope, the cells are set free. A 
good medium appears to be diluted Ringer’s 
fluid to which has been added a trace of egg 
albumin. For the cells of the cockroach I 
used the body fluid collected by means of a 
capillary pipette. As the cells are very sus- 
ceptible to mechanical stimulation care is 
necessary in these preliminary manipulations. 

An uninjured, normal, isolated spermatocyte 
when not in division assumes a spherical 
shape. The nucleus occupies the center of the 
cell and, during the growth period, appears 
almost perfectly hyaline. In Disosteira three 
bodies stand out in the nucleus, their indices 
of refraction being different from that of the 
surrounding medium. One of them is rather 
elongated and lies immediately under the 
nuclear membrane. The other two are more 
or less globular and frequently lie well within 
the substance of the nucleus. In the cock- 
roach only one such body or nucleolus is 
apparent. 

Occasionally nuclei are met with in which 
may be discerned a mass of hazy filaments of 
very ill-defined outlines. It is possible that 
these are nuclei which have been unduly stimu- 
lated in teasing the tissue. Other nuclei are 
also discernible in which hazy bodies, the pro- 
phase chromosomes, are to be recognized 
scattered throughout the substance of the 
nucleus. In cells undergoing division the 
chromosomes are plainly visible during the 
meta- and anaphases. 

Injury and frequently mere mechanical 
agitation of the cell produces a remarkable 
change in the appearance of the nucleus. 
The hitherto optically structureless nucleus 
begins to give evidence of hazy filament of 
a loose granular aspect. They lie imme- 
diately under the nuclear membrane and 
one gains the impression that they are pro- 
duced by a lineal condensation or precipitation 
of granules in the hyaline nuclear substance. 
Within a few minutes the filaments become 
more distinct and thicken as the granules ap- 
pear closer together. Free ends are soon to be 


SCIENCE 


825 


noticed and one may oceasionally trace a 
filament from one end to the other throughout 
its irregular winding course. They can not, 
however, be counted because they are hope- 
lessly entangled. A light line down the middle 
of the filaments gives them the appearance of 
being longitudinally split. The granules are 
collected in bunches all along the length of 
the filament, giving it a cross striated effect. 
In those filaments which can be seen on end 
the granules are found to be arranged more 
or less regularly about a hyaline core. Such 
a structure may explain the longitudinally 
split appearance of the filament when viewed 
on the side. 

The nuclear substance is a more solid and 
viscous gel than the cytoplasm. The filaments 
are still more solid and may be caught in the 
middle with a needle and drawn out into an 
attenuated loop fully as long as the diameter 
of the nucleus. On being set free the fila- 
ment tends to retract and to thicken again. 
After the nuclei under observation have 
reached this stage the filaments collect on one 
side of the nucleus, and despite all my at- 
tempts to prevent it, coalesce into an irregular 
gelatinous mass. 

The above changes take place in a period 
of five minutes to half an hour. Tearing of 
the cytoplasm of the cell accelerates the proc- 
ess and my conclusion is that the greater the 
amount of injury the more rapidly do the 
filaments form. In many eases the tearing 
causes the cytoplasm to absorb water and to go 
into solution. In the nuclei of cells so treated 
the formation of filaments takes place very 
rapidly. 

The cells may be similarly stimulated by 
exposure to ether vapor. The nuclear fila- 
ments and the chromosomes then stand out 
clearly. Formalin vapor, on the other hand, 
seems to kill the cells without bringing into 
evidence the nuclear structure. 

The stimulus produced by injury may be 
transmitted from the injured cell to a sound 
one if there be a cytoplasmic connection be- 
tween the two. This is to be seen on piercing 
one of the daughter cells in the very late telo- 
phase of the spermatocyte. Near the end of 


826 


this stage the two daughter cells are connected 
with one another only by a narrow bridge of 
cytoplasm. Injury to the one causes the ap- 
pearance of filaments in the nuclei of both. 
The changes in the nucleus of the cell directly 
injured take place more rapidly than do those 
in the nucleus of the other cell. 

The formation or coming into evidence of 
the filaments is always accompanied by a slight 
increase in the size of the nucleus. After the 
filaments are formed the nucleus decreases in 
size often to something less than its original 
size. 

The filamentous structure can be easily de- 
stroyed. For example, on sucking the entire 
nucleus containing filaments and nucleoli into 
a capillary pipette the bore of which is many 
times smaller than the diameter of the nu- 
cleus and on blowing it out again the nucleus 
presents itself as a homogeneous, glutinous 
mass with no structural elements whatever. 

Frequently one comes across a cell the me- 
chanical stimulation of which causes the ap- 
pearance in the nucleus of ill-defined granular 
condensations which rapidly resolve themselves 
into the early prophase chromosomes familiar 
to investigators in fixed material, viz., crosses, 
rings and double V’s. The ragged outlines 
characteristic of this stage are very pronounced 
and are due to the irregular granular aspect 
of the chromosomes. Gradually as one watches 
them the chromosomes become more and more 
compact. This appears to be due to an in- 
crease in the number of the granules and their 
coalescence. The large slender rings have thus 
been observed to transform themselves into 
ringlike, compact and homogeneous metaphase 
chromosomes. The crosses also become com- 
pact without losing their cross-like appear- 
ance. The same is true of the double V. 
One of these was observed which shortened 
and became so compact as to appear like a 
tetrahedron of which two opposite sides were 
somewhat more deeply dug out than the others. 

This artificially induced formation of the 
chromosomes is unaccompanied by the dis- 
solution of the nuclear membrane. The 
chromosomes soon clump together and become 
indistinguishable in an irregular glutinous 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1040: 


mass. They are extremely viscous and adhere 
to the needle when touched. If one of the 
early prophase chromosomes with ragged 
granular outlines be seized by the needle and 
rapidly pulled across the field so as to stretch 
it the granules disappear and the whole sub- 
stance becomes homogeneous. The entire nu- 
clear substance is very glutinous and the 
chromosomes can not be taken out of the nu- 
cleus entirely free of the medium in which 
they lie. When torn out of the cell, however, 
in Ringer’s fluid, the nuclear substance very 
soon absorbs water, swells and gradually dis- 
appears. The chromosomes thus laid bare in 
their turn swell and go into solution. 

The chromosomes in metaphase are plainly 
visible. Movements while in the equator have 
been observed, these are’ameboid, consisting in 
a swelling of one part of the chromosomes at 
the expense of another. One arm of a cross, 
for instance, will swell until the cross shape 
is indistinguishable and in another few sec- 
onds the swelling will decrease, the chromo- 
somes returning to their original shape. I 
was unable to observe actual splitting of the 
chromosomes, but anaphase figures passing 
into telophase were frequently observed. The 
chromosomes collect at the poles of the spindle. 
They then swell into vesicles which appear to 
merge into each other much as fluid droplets, 
except that here incomplete outlines of the 
vesicles persist for a time giving the telophase 
nucleus an ill-defined network appearance. 

During metaphase and anaphase the chro- 
mosomes lie imbedded in a hyaline substance 
the viscosity of which is higher than that of 
the surrounding cytoplasm, much resembling 
the matrix of the resting nucleus. This kino- 
plasmic mass retains its shape for a time after 
the cytoplasm has been destroyed by tearing 
and it is this that gives the characteristic 
spindle shape of the metaphase and hour-glass 
shape of the late anaphase figures. 

When once the chromosomes have separated 
in metaphase, no interference short of total 
destruction of the cell will prevent the passage 
of the daughter chromosomes to their respec- 
tive poles. By piercing and tearing the cyto- 
plasm in the equator of the anaphase figure, 


DECEMBER 4, 1914] 


the constriction in that region may be so in- 
hibited as to cause the two daughter cells to 
reunite into one spherical cell but the daughter 
nuclei remain separate. 

As this paper is concerned only with intra- 
nuclear structures I shall merely mention here 
that the mitochondrial threads characteristic 
of the orthopteran germ cell form the bound- 
ary of the kinoplasmic mass and give it an ap- 
pearance of being composed of threads. I 
have been unable to ascertain the existence 
of spindle fibers. The chromosomes may 
easily be pulled out of the equatorial plate 
and give no evidence of being attached to 
such fibers. When one chromosome is dis- 
lodged from the equatorial plate the others 
leave their places, and if left to themselves, 
clump together into an irregular homogeneous 
mass. 

A curious phenomenon connected with the 
dissolution of the cells is the production of 
long slender processes which radiate in every 
direction from the surface of the cells. The 
ends of the processes soon grow into rounded 
knobs which gradually increase in size and 
often break off in the form of droplets. These 
droplets rapidly go into solution. Within half 
an hour or so, however, the entire protoplasm 
of the cell takes up water and swells. The 
pseudopodia are then slowly retracted and 
the cell rounds up and may remain so for a 
long time. 

During the first stages of their formation 
the pseudopodia occasionally perform irregular 
oscillatory movements. Their formation is 
similar to that of sea-urchin eggs when sub- 
jected to the cytolytic action of diluted KCl 
solution. Similar phenomena have been de- 
seribed by Kite? and Oliver? and Merk‘ in blood 
cells. Chromosomes show the same phenomenon 
when isolated in Ringer’s fluid. In one case 
which was very striking a ring chromosome 
was removed from the equatorial plate. Within 
two minutes a pseudopod began to appear from 


2G. L. Kite, ‘‘Some Structural Transformations 
of the Bloodcells of Vertebrates,’’ J. Inf. Diseases, 
XV., p. 319, 1914. 

8 ScrmncE, N. S., XL., p. 645, 1914. 

4 Arch. f. Mikr. Anat., 80, 1912. 


SCIENCE 


827 


one side of the ring. Within five minutes this 
had lengthened into an attenuated filament 
which oscillated slowly. The attenuated tip 
gradually resolved itself into a knob which 
soon was pinched off in the form of a droplet. 
By the time a second droplet was formed and 
pinched off the chromosome itself began to 
swell and rapidly went into solution. 

According to the foregoing experiments the 
chromosome appears to be a highly viscous 
and glutinous protoplasmic gel readily swell- 
ing in water and possessing very much the 
same physical properties as the cytoplasm of 
the cell. 

Rospert CHAMBERS, JR. 
UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI, 
October, 1914 


THE GEOLOGIC HISTORY OF LAKE LAHONTAN 


THE basin of the great lake that once cov- 
ered much of western Nevada has been classic 
ground ever since the early geologists first 
studied it. The shore lines which are to-day 
practically as the receding waters left them, 
the caleareous deposits about its basin, the 
possibility of saline deposits of commercial im- 
portance, have made the deciphering of its 
history one of the goals of geologic endeavor. 
King, believing all of the tufa was a pseudo- 
morph after gay-lussite and witnessing the 
formation of the latter in the Soda Lakes, be- 
lieved that Lahontan had become as saline 
through desiccation, had then fallen, deposit- 
ing the tufa as gay-lussite, and that a second 
flooding of the lake had caused it to overflow, 
washing out the saline material and changing 
the tufa to calcite. 

Russell? determined that Lahontan had 
never had an outlet and thereby vitiated 
King’s hypothesis. Believing that the tufas 
were a deposit from waters saturated with 
calcium carbonate and taking his clue from 
the Great Salt Lake, Russell assumed that the 
waters of Lake Lahontan must have been 
equally saline, although much of his evidence 

1 King, Clarence, U. S. Geol. Expl. of the 40th 
Par., Vol. 1, p. 522. 

2 Russell, I. C., Monograph No. 11, U. S. Geo- 
logical Survey, 1885. 


828 


indicated otherwise. Finding the lakes at 
present occupying portions of the basin to be 
comparatively fresh, he believed that Lahon- 
tan had been completely desiccated and its sa- 
line deposits buried before the present lakes 
formed. 

Russell recognized three types of the tufa 
in the Lahontan Basin; the lithoid, stony and 
compact; the dendritic, porous and coralline; 
and the thinolite, crystallized and a pseudo- 
morph after an unknown mineral. For a dis- 
tance of one hundred feet above the present 
level of Pyramid Lake these were found to be 
superimposed, the lithoid at the hase, suc- 
ceeded by the thinolite, and the dendritic coy- 
ering the other two. While he recognized that 
there was some lithoid tufa intermingled with 
the dendritic, he believed that the lithoid had 
been deposited from waters of slightly differ- 
ent composition from those forming the den- 
dritic tufa. Finding a medial series of grav- 
els in the lake sediments, he believed that La- 
hontan had formed, diminished through desic- 
cation and deposited the lithoid tufa, had 
again risen nearly to its former level, had 
again been desiccated, depositing the thinolite 
and dendritic tufas and, completely disappear- 
ing, left the other salts to be buried beneath 
the alluvium that swept in from the surround- 
ing mountains. Later a slight change to a 
more humid climate produced the present 
lakes. 

In the course of work in the vicinity of the 
Salton Sea,® done in connection with Dr. D. 
T. MacDougal, director of the desert labora: 
tory of the Carnegie Institution of Washing- 
ton, it was concluded that the tufa at present 
forming in the sea were being deposited 
through the activities of blue-green algze and 
the bacteria associated with them. The more 
significant evidence discovered was the con- 
stant association of the alge and the tufa, the 
extreme localization of the tufas, the forma- 
tion of the tufa from water that contained 
considerably less calcium carbonate than would 
saturate it, and the evident relation between 
the development of the tufa and the light ex- 

3 Jones, J. C., Pub. No. 193, Carnegie Inst. of 
Wash., pp. 79-83, 1914. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1040 


posure. Further, a gradual gradation between 
the dendritic and the lithoid tufas was found 
in the older tufas of the basin, the lithoid tufa 
being formed in the dark portions of recesses 
in the cliffs where the conditions were unfay- 
orable for the normal growth of the alge. 
Thin sections of the older tufa show abundant 
remains of the alge included in the tufa as 
are the alge in the tufa forming at present. 

Through the kindness of Dr. MacDougal it 
was possible to immediately carry the study in 
to the Lahontan Basin. Around the shores of 
Pyramid Lake a thin coating of lithoid tufa 
was found coating the rocks and in places ce- 
menting the gravels. The same close associa- 
tion between the alge and the tufa was ob- 
served, and wherever the alge were found the 
gravels were cemented and where they were 
absent no trace of the tufa could be found. 
Thin sections of the older dendritic tufa dis- 
closed forms similar to those found in the 
tufas of the Salton Basin and sections of the 
tufa forming at present showed the alge im- 
bedded in it. As analyses of the lake water 
showed it to contain only about one twentieth 
the calcium carbonate necessary to saturate it, 
it is evident that the tufa forming to-day is 
being deposited through the activities of the 
plant life. As the algz in the Salton Sea are 
depositing dendritic tufa from waters contain- 
ing ten times more calcium carbonate than 
Pyramid Lake and the tufa being deposited in 
the latter at present is lithoid in type, it is 
probable that the calcium content of the lake 
waters is a determining factor in the type 
formed. : 

In the Lahontan Basin a thin layer of the 
lithoid tufa is in immediate contact with the 
rocks on which deposits of tufa were formed. 
Approximately six inches in thickness near the 
water’s edge it decreases in thickness until at 
the top it merges with the caliche formed on 
the basalt that is the predominant rock in the 
basin, and it is practically impossible to say 
just where the tufa ends and the caliche be- 
gins. The dendritic tufa is best developed in 
a horizontal zone between one and two hun- 
dred feet above the present lake. It gradually 
diminishes in thickness and changes character 


DECEMBER 4, 1914] 


until at the higher levels it merges with the 
lithoid tufa. In other words, the gradation be- 
tween the lithoid and dendritic types in the 
Lahontan basin is a vertical one and was ap- 
parently caused by the increasing caleium car- 
bonate content of the receding lake waters. 

Russell placed the upper limit of the thino- 
lite tufa at the thinolite terrace now one hun- 
dred feet above the lake. During the present 
study it was found that the thinolite extended 
some forty feet above the terrace throughout 
the Pyramid Basin and there ended in a few 
scattered crystals at the base of the dendritic 
tufa. Dana‘ after a careful study of the thin- 
olite crystals came to the conclusion that it 
was a pseudomorph after an unknown tetra- 
gonal mineral, possibly a chlor-carbonate of 
calcium. Measurements by the writer of some 
of the more perfect crystals lead to the con- 
clusion that the original mineral was ortho- 
rhombic and probably aragonite. On experi- 
mentation it was found that when a saturated 
solution of calcium carbonate was added to the 
water from Pyramid Lake minute crystals of 
aragonite closely resembling in their detail 
the smaller crystals of the thinolite separated 
after standing a day or two. The thinolite, 
therefore, was deposited as aragonite at a time 
when the waters of Lahontan were saturated 
with calcium carbonate. 

Ag was recognized by Russell, the interme- 
diary gravels are bar and beach deposits, and 
as only the lithoid tufa is associated with them 
they represent a low water stage in the filling 
of the basin. . 

To sum up the present evidence the broader 
features of the history of Lake Lahontan are 
believed to be as follows. As the Lahontan 
Basin began to fill the waters approximated 
those in the present rivers flowing into it and 
contained but little calcium carbonate. As a 
consequence the alge as they became estab- 
lished on the rocks about the lake were able to 
deposit only the lithoid tufa. With the climax 
of the lake when evaporation became the con- 
trolling factor and the lake diminished the 
relative amount of calcium carbonate present 

4Dana, E §8., Bull. No. 12, U. S. Geol. Surv., 
1884. 


SCIENCE 


829 


increased more rapidly than the alge could re- 
move it. With the increasing amount of cal- 
cium available the type of tufa deposited 
gradually changed to the dendritic. Neverthe- 
less, the calcium continued to increase until 
when the lake had fallen three hundred and 
fifty feet from its highest level, the waters 
were saturated and the surplus was deposited 
as aragonite forming the thinolite tufa. With 
the removal of the surplus calcium and prob- 
ably aided by the slower fall of the lakes, ow- 
ing to the diminished area the alge caught up 
and have removed the calcium faster than it 
was brought in by the rivers until at the pres- 
ent time the lake contains only one twentieth 
the amount of calcium possible and only the 
lithoid tufa is being deposited. 

As there is little or no evidence of an un- 
conformity in the tufas, they in themselves do 
not indicate more than one lake period. The 
intermediary gravels are all above the pres- 
ent level of the lakes and from such evidence 
as has been gathered represent but a low 
water stage in the early filling of the lake 
basin. With the conclusion that Lake Lahon- 
tan had but a single period of extreme high 
water the question naturally arises as to 
whether the lake has completely disappeared. 

One unfamiliar with the area and reading 
the reports of King and Russell is apt to 
gather the impression that a large part of the 
basin is covered by the tufa. This is not cor- 
rect. As was noted by Russell, the tufa is ex- 
tremely localized and occurs for the most part 
in large isolated masses. It is only the nar- 
row band of recent tufa about the present 
shores of Pyramid lake that approaches a 
continuous layer and it probably covers less 
than fifty per cent. of the shores exposed. A 
liberal estimate of the tufa-covered area of 
the basins of Pyramid and Winnemucea lakes 
is one per cent. of the total area of these 
basins and the tufa is much more abundant 
here than in the remainder of the Lahontan 
Basin. Estimating an average thickness of 
eight feet of tufa below the Thinolite terrace 
and three feet above it to the high-water mark 
gives sixty-five million tons of tufa deposited 
in the basins of the two lakes in question. 


830 


Assuming that the calcium has been brought 
into the Lahontan Basin in the same ratio to 
the sum of the sodium and potassium as it is 
being brought in by the present rivers and 
calculating how much ealcium carbonate 
would have to be deposited to have main- 
tained the same ratio to the sodium and po- 
tassium in the present lakes gives in round 
numbers one hundred million tons. As this 
figure is approximately the same as the 
amount of tufa deposited, it indicates that 
Pyramid Lake is a remnant of Lake Lahon- 
tan and that the latter has never been com- 
pletely desiccated. 

Tf this be true it is possible to approximate 
the age of Lake Lahontan by computing the 
number of years necessary for the Truckee 
River, the only important stream at present 
flowing into Pyramid and Winnemucca lakes, 
to carry into the lakes the amount of salt at 
present in solution. Several independent de- 
terminations were made, using the total solids, 
and such of the individual salts as were 
likely to have suffered little loss through 
deposition. Of these the chlorine gave the 
maximum figure, 4,500 years, while the others 
ranged from a thousand to 2,500 years. Un- 
fortunately the Truckee flows also into Win- 
nemucca Lake and there is some evidence that 
the latter may have been desiccated since the 
beginning of Lake Lahontan. Further, in 
times of high water) Pyramid Lake has dis- 
charged into Winnemucca and it is uncertain 
how much saline material may have been lost 
by burial in the Winnemucca basin, if any. 
Judging from the correspondence between 
the actual amount of tufa deposited and the 
amount that should have been deposited, as 
indicated by the amount of salines still pres- 
ent in the lake waters, it is believed that the 
loss from this source has been slight. 

A comparison of the total solids in the lakes 
to-day with those present at the time of Rus- 
sell’s visit when the lake was practically at 
the same level gives two thousand years as 
having elapsed since the basins first began to 
fill. From these concordant results it is prob- 
able that Lahontan first began to form within 
the last five thousand years. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1040 


There is abundant evidence of the compar- 
ative recent formation of the terraces, beach 
lines, and other shore phenomena of the an- 
cient lake in their freshness and absence of 
erosion. Even where there is a considerable 
drainage basin behind them the terraces are 
barely notched by the streams that cross them 
and any one who is familiar with the erosive 
power of the not infrequent cloudbursts of 
Nevada can but wonder that the records of the 
old lake have stood so long without extensive 
defacement. Although faulting is still in 
progress, yet the shore lines and sediments of 
Lahontan have suffered little displacement. 
Careful measurements of the elevation of the 
terraces in different parts of the basin show 
them to still be horizontal. 

Estimates go to show that if the rainfall of 
the drainage basin increased to somewhat less 
than double the present rainfall the Lahontan 
Basin would again fill to its former level. 
The recent work of Huntington® with the big 
trees of California indicates that there was 
such an increased rainfall in the immediate 
vicinity of the Lahontan Basin at the time it 
is believed the old lake was at its height. 

While the work is still in progress yet it is 
so nearly finished that it is not believed that 
the above conclusions will be materially modi- 
fied. The conclusion that Lahontan has never 
been completely desiccated and that the waters 
of Pyramid and Winnemucca lakes are resid- 
uals makes it possible to forecast the amounts 
of potassium deposits in the portions of the 
Basin that are at present desiccated. An esti- 
mate made for the Black Rock Desert indi- 
eated that if all the potash deposited from 
Lahontan were segregated in a single square 
mile it would form a deposit only three inches 
thick, and if potash beds are found in this 
desert they must have been formed in the 
buried sediments of a lake of which we have 
no knowledge at present. 

J. CLAUDE JONES 

UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA, 

RENO, NEy. 

5 Huntington, Ellsworth, Rept. of Smithsonian 

Inst., for 1912, pp. 388-412, 1913. 


DECEMBER 4, 1914] 


SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 
THE AMERICAN MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY 


THE one hundred and Seventy-second regular 
meeting of the society was held at Columbia Uni- 
versity on Saturday, October 31. The attendance 
at the morning and afternoon sessions included 
thirty-eight members. Vice-president L. P. Higen- 
hart occupied the chair. The Council announced 
the election of the following persons to member- 
ship in the Society: Dr. H. R. Kingston, Univer- 
sity of Manitoba; Mr. Colin MacLennan, Havana 
Electric Railway, Light and Power Company; Mr. 
E. E. Moots, Walla Walla, Wash.; Mr. C. N. Rey- 
nolds, Jr., Harvard University; Dr. J oseph Rosen- 
baum, New Haven, Conn.; Dr. Joseph Slepian, 
Cornell University; Dr. Anna H. Tappan, Iowa 
State College; Dr. Mabel M. Young, Wellesley 
College. Several applications for membership 
were lost in the fire in the society’s office; the 
Secretary will be glad of any information regard- 
ing these. Four new applications were received. 

A list of nominations of officers and other mem- 
bers of the council was prepared for the official 
ballot for the annual election in J: anuary. A com- 
mittee was appointed to audit the treasurer’s ac- 
counts for the eurrent year. Arrangements. were 
made for adjusting the insurance on the property 
of the society destroyed by the fire and for refit- 
ting the office with the most essential appliances. 

The following papers were read at this meet- 
ing: 

G. M. Green: ‘‘On completely integrable systems 
of homogeneous linear partial differential equa- 
tions.’’ 

G. A. Pfeiffer: ‘‘Contrihutions to the conformal 
geometry of analytic arcs.’? 

C. A. Fischer: ‘‘Conditions for a minimum of 
an ”-fold integral.’’ 

Mr. EH. C. Kemble: ‘‘Note on the definition of 
work.’? 

H. S. White: ‘‘Census of the triad systems on 
15 letters. ’’ 

Edward Kasner: ‘‘A law of reciprocity in the 
calculus of variations.’? 

K. P. Williams: ‘‘Concerning a certain totally 
discontinuous function.’ 

T. H. Gronwall: ‘‘Some remarks on conformal 
representation. ’? 

The Southwestern Section of the society will 
meet at the University of Nebraska on November 
28. The Chicago meeting of the society will be 
held on December 28-29, and the annual meeting 
in New York on January 1-2. At the annual 
meeting President E. B. Van Vleck will deliver his 


SCIENCE : 831 


presidential address on ‘‘The réle of the point 
set theory in geometry and dynamics.’ 
FP. N. Coxe, 
Secretary 


THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY 


AT a meeting of the American Philosophical Soci- 
ety held on November 6, Professor Eric Doolittle 
made a communication on ‘The Determination of 
the Longitude of the Flower Observatory of the 
University of Pennsylvania.’? This determination 
was effected by an employment of the wireless sig- 
nals sent out by our government through the de- 
partment of the Navy in their recent important 
international longitude campaign. 

As is well known to astronomers, a long series 
of these wireless signals were interchanged on 
each night, from October, 1913, to March of the 
present year, between the powerful wireless station 
at Radio, Virginia, and the station at the Eiffel 
tower. The result of this work has, of course, not 
yet been reached definitively, but from the pre- 
liminary reductions it seems evident that the dif- 
ference in longitude between these two widely sep- 
arated stations will be determined with an accuracy 
which has never before been approached. 

The process of determining the longitude of the 
Flower Observatory was described in detail by the 
lecturer, the very full directions sent by the Naval 
Observatory to the other observatories of our 
country having been closely followed in the work. 
The observations were continued from November 
17 to December 20; the results of the 55 compari- 
sons were in unexpectedly close agreement. The 
probable error of the final mean was but 0.015 
sec., though it is probable that the effects of 
the personal equation have not been entirely elim- 
inated from this result. The variation of the in- 
dividual values was considerably less than that of 
those obtained three years ago by the ordinary 
telegraphic method, but the final value, as found, 
was about 0.1 sec. smaller than that found previ- 
ously. It is evident, however, that the wireless 
method is one of extreme accuracy and probably 
the most accurate of all methods available. 

The success of this work is due in no small de- 
gree to the continued courtesy and help of the’ 
officials of the Naval Observatory. From no ac- 
count of wireless longitude determination, how- 
ever brief, should there be omitted a word of ap- 
preciation of the work which they have now so 
nearly completed—a work excellently planned 
and ably executed, which is a contribution of en- 
during value to the science of exact astronomy. 


832 SCIENCE 


THE NEW ORLEANS ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 


THE regular monthly meeting of the New Or- 
leans Academy of Sciences was held in Stanley 
Thomas Hall, Tulane University, on Tuesday, Oc- 
tober 20. President W. B. Gregory presided, with 
a large attendance of fellows and members. The 
president announced that during the summer a 
room had been furnished and equipped in the 
Stanley Thomas Hall for the library of the acad- 
emy. The paper of the evening was read by Dr. 
C. C. Bass, professor of experimental medicine, 
on ‘‘Pyorrhea Alveolaris.’’? The speaker said in 
part: 

Pyorrhea alveolaris is almost a universal dis- 
ease. It begins in childhood or early adult life in 
practically all people. It is usually unrecognized 
by the patient until one or more teeth get sore 
and loose in the socket. By a long suppurating 
process the peridental membrane, which holds the 
tooth in place, is destroyed, and the tooth is lost. 
This process goes on from year to year and tooth 
after tooth is lost, until finally all are removed by 
the disease or by necessary dental operation. 

The cause of the disease has been found to be 
ameba buccalis, which destroys the peridental 
membrane, separating the tooth first from its gum 
and later the alveolar process or bony socket. 

Emetine hydrochloride injected hypodermat- 
ically one half grain daily for three or four days, 
destroys the demonstrable amebze in most cases 
and great improvement and cure of mild or early 
disease results. The treatment should be repeated 
one or more times in most cases, however, after 
an interval of one to four weeks. All patients and 
perhaps everybody should apply ipecac to their 
normal or diseased gums by brushing the teeth 
once a day with a wet brush on which one or two 
drops of fluid extract of ipecac are placed. The 
Ipecac (from which emetine is made) should pre- 
vent the disease and apparently may cure it where 
not deep seated. 

There was considerable discussion of the paper, 
in which Drs. Belden, Wallace, Wood, Mann and 
others took part. A unanimous vote of thanks 
was accorded the speaker at the end of his in- 
teresting paper. 

R. 8. Cocks, 
Secretary 


ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 


AT the 475th regular meeting of the society, held 
October 21 in the Public Library, Dr. D. S. Lamb, 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1040 


editor of the Washington Medical Annals, deliv- 
ered ‘an address on ‘‘Sanitation in Ancient Civili- 
zations.’’? The need of sanitation was especially 
shown by the histories of epidemics; for instance, 
the black death of the fourteenth century de- 
stroyed, it is said, about 25,000,000 persons. Pure 
water was one of the first necessities. Man must 
have availed himself at first of the use of springs, 
lakes and streams; later he dug wells and built cis- 
terns, and still later built aqueducts. Old artesian 
wells are found in Asia Minor, Persia, China, 
Egypt, Algeria and even the Desert of Sahara. 
There were ancient aqueducts in Palestine, Greece, 
Mexico, Guatemala and Peru. Rome at one time 
had nineteen aqueducts, fourteen of which were 
large and had a total length of 359 miles. When 
the king of Persia traveled, he had the water 
boiled before drinking it. Among the Hebrews 
waste was buried or burned. The Romans built 
great sewers or cloace, several of which are still 
in use. At one time the sewers were cleaned out 
at a cost of a million dollars. 

The dead, after battle, were usually buried in 
large pits or burned. To open such pits or church 
vaults and old burial grounds sometimes caused 
sickness and even death. The Egyptians embalmed 
the dead. Infants were often buried beneath the 
habitation. The dead were generally cremated in 
ancient Mexico, and in Rome from 450 B.c. until 
the spread of Christianity. Im Greece the dead 
were buried near the houses of the living. Indian 
mounds in the United States contain the bodies of 
the dead. MHot-air baths and sweat baths were 
found among the ancients. Soap was mentioned 
by Pliny about A.D. 25 and was said to have been 
brought from Germany. ‘The Hebrews were re- 
quired by religious regulations to be clean in per- 
son, clothing and houses. The Romans had many 
publie baths free to all. The Greeks bathed daily. 
The Hebrews attempted to segregate the lepers. 
Cireumcision was common among the Egyptians 
and in many other parts of the world. Among 
the Hebrews it was a religious ceremonial. The 
Egyptians tabooed some articles of food, believing 
that diseases were contracted through them. The 
Hebrews had many rules of diet with the force of 
religious injunctions; especially as to meat, the 
animal was to be slaughtered in a certain way, 
with much attention to detail. 


DANIEL F'OLKMAR, 
Secretary 


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SCIENCE 


Pripay, DEceEMBER 11, 1914 


CONTENTS 
The Outlook for Science: Proressor R. D. 


(CATCH “Ba geaos ase ne Seb rgododaccas 833 
The Philosophy of Biology—Vitalism versus 

Mechanism: PRoresson RaupH §. Linnie. 840 
The Committee of One Hundred on Scientific 

PESCULNCIU MMR ter ppcysvate:sietsitketcteleke chciete fone doneiatele 846 
The Philadelphia Meeting ................. 847 
Scientific Notes and News ................ 847 
University and Educational News .......... 851 
Discussion and Correspondence :— 

Cumulus Clouds over the Illinois River Val- 

ley: JOHN L. RicH. Cyanide of Potassiwm 

im Trees: Dr. H. A. SURFACE ............ 851 
Quotations :— 

Research and Teaching ...........-.+.-.- 853 
Scientific Books :— 

Lehmer’s List of Prime Numbers; Natural 

Sines: Professor G. A. MinLerR. Boveri 

zur Frage der Entstehung maligner Tu- 

moren: PROFESSOR Gary N. CALKINS. 

Park’s Text-book of Geology: PROFESSOR 

Ser Hae SCR Ara read STL ras ah ope beccnoyaielerateke chavels 855 
Botanical Notes :— 

A Study of a Desert Basin; Vascular Plants 

of Ohio; A Study of a Carboniferous Flora; 

A Useful Society: PRoressoR CHARLES EH. 

IBIRSSON) Gola slab oo oto OR DRO O REA aoe DOs6 860 
Special Articles :-— 

The Electric Motor Nerve Centers in the 

Skates: PROFESSOR UuLRic DAHLGREN. The 

Liffect of Storage in River Water on the Pro- 

duction of Acid mn Carbohydrate Solutions 

by the Bacillus Coli Group: Dr. WM. W. 

TBHENO)G/AN BD) OU LA en a en eR ane ua ae esl 862 
The Association of American Agricultwral 

Colleges and Experiment Stations and Re- 

lated Organization: Howarp L. KwnieutT. 864 
The Convocation Week Meeting of Scientific 

BOGE Ka Aen Huan Ob oad Anos Sabo og 868 


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


THE OUTLOOK FOR SCIENCE! 


THE most remote origins of science are to 
be sought in the early observations of primi- 
tive races of men. At first phenomena were 
probably registered in memory with no attempt 
to relate them other than by means of the 
hypothesis that they were due to the will of 
some intelligence akin to that of man. It 
appears that an enormous period of time 
elapsed before men began to conceive even the 
possibility that these phenomena were bound 
together by laws through which they were 
capable of explanation. A long preparation 
of experience seems to have been necessary 
before this conception could arise. 

But we are not to look back upon this period 
as barren. It gave rise to one thing at least 
of essential importance, namely, the effort to 
relate phenomena in such a way as to make the 
universe intelligible. It matters little what 
particular explanation was first offered; but 
it was a thing of profound importance to have 
conceived the possibility of any explanation 
at all. 

The preliminary forms of this conception 
have probably been lost from the view of his- 
tory. The first name which appears on the 
record as we now have it and indeed the first 
name in the history of European thought is 
that of the Greek philosopher Thales. He 
sought to go behind the great multiplicity of 
phenomena in the hope of finding a deep unity 
from which all difference: had been evolved 
and by means of which these phenomena might 
themselves be explained. 

It is interesting to note particularly that in 
this first attempt to make the universe intel- 
ligible Thales sought to ground everything in 
a single material cause. This he found in 
water. How he related it to the plurality of 
phenomena is not known. It is certain, how- 


1 An address delivered to the Indiana Chapter 
of the Society of Sigma Xi on November 5, 1914. 


834 


ever, that he set his contemporaries to think- 
ing along a new line. Other explanations were 
offered each of which sought to find a basis for 
all phenomena in some one material substance. 
One of these was air. Another was a hypothet- 
ical substance having properties between those 
of air and fire. We need not mention more of 
these. It is sufficient to observe that it was 
hard to offer a reason why one of them afforded 
the desired explanation rather than another. 
One outcome, however, of this discussion 
among these thinkers is very interesting, 
namely, the conclusion reached by Anaxagoras 
that all things have existed in a sort of way 
from the beginning, but that originally they 
were in infinitesimally small fragments of 
themselves, endless in number and inextricably 
combined throughout the universe but devoid 
of arfangement. These fragments were the 
seeds of all things. The gradual adjustments 
of these among themselves have given rise to 
all phenomena whatsoever. 

Thus ended the first search among the 
Greeks for a single material cause of all things. 
There followed a long period in which science 
no longer proposed to itself such an ambitious 
problem. Im modern times each worker has 
been content to consider a narrow range of 
phenomena and seek a particular explanation. 
For a long time we have proceeded in this 
way with the study of special problems. In 
recent years we have been brought back in a 
most surprising manner to face the old prob- 
lem of the Greeks. Im the meantime our 
chemists and physicists had studied all known 
substances and had found that they were com- 
posed of about seventy elements. 

When we had become thoroughly convinced 
that these elements were separate and distinct, 
radioactive substances made their appearance 
in our laboratories and we were compelled to 
revise our old opinions. Emanations of vari- 
ous sorts were then eagerly examined and be- 
fore long it was realized that various of these 
seventy elements were giving off the same sort 
of electrons, so that they must certainly have 
something in common. Moreover, some ele- 
ments were actually transformed into others. 

In view of these facts one could hardly fail 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1041 


to raise the inquiry as to whether all elements 
are not indeed only different combinations of 
electrons. The speculative hypotheses of the 
old Greeks in the earliest period of scientific 
history thus stand prominently before our 
physicists in their laboratories to-day. The 
striking elements of agreement between a 
theory asserting that all matter is made up of 
electrons and that of Anaxagoras with its 
primal fragments of things are very remark- 
able, to say the least. What is done with this 
old problem in its new form will certainly exert 
a marked influence on scientific progress. 

Looking from a certain point of view one 
may say that the great problem of science is 
to find out just what unities do exist among 
phenomena. If we can not trace everything 
to one cause we shall at least seek to find those 
general laws by means of which the greatest 
number of phenomena may be explained. This 
we must do in self-defense; otherwise we 
should soon be helpless before the enormous 
volume of science. Only if we grasp the great 
fundamentals, which include many particulars, 
shall we be able to continue our progress. 

Economy of energy is one of the great de- 
mands which will press itself upon our atten- 
tion with increasing force as the body of sci- 
ence is enlarged. One way to realize this 
economy is to make permanent conquests which 
remain for all time our possession. This is 
done in the science of mathematics. Other 
sciences should strive for the same permanence, 
but be all the time ready to grant that it has 
not been attained. No law of phenomena 
should ever be counted so well established as 
not to be subjected to every further test which 
ingenuity can devise. Over and over again 
our fundamental steps of progress have been 
taken in the most surprising way in fields of 
thought where everything had apparently been 
examined with the greatest care. 

The way in which the mathematician has 
gained economy of energy through permanence 
of result is instructive. He confines his at- 
tention within limits so restricted that he may 
define his terms and ideas with the sharpest 
precision. In doing this it may be necessary 
to leave out of account a considerable part of 


DECEMBER 11, 1914] 


the problem in which he is interested. But 
the results which he obtains are permanent; 
these in turn he may use to arrive at tentative 
conclusions concerning the other parts of his 
problem. 

In like manner it may be necessary that a 
theory in experimental science should restrict 
itself to a certain point of view in order to 
remain scientific. The range of phenomena, 
even in a restricted field, may be too great 
to be taken account of at once. Therefore 
some elements are left entirely out of mind 
until considerable progress has been made with 
the investigation. This was done in the case 
of the kinetic theory of gases, the size of the 
molecules being taken into consideration only 
after extensive investigations had been made 
in which this element was ignored. 

Such a plan of procedure will cause us no 
uneasiness if we remember the guiding pur- 
pose of physical science. It does not attempt 
to aftord us an explanation of the essence of 
things; if it did so it would find itself amidst 
inexplicable difficulty from the beginning. 
Its purpose, on the other hand, is to give 
direction to our researches into details and to 
afford us the best means of acting on things 
and of predicting phenomena. 

It may very well happen that a “false” 
theory will serve this purpose better than a 
“true” one. In other words, a theory which 
is in agreement with only a narrow range of 
facts may be better for us at a given time than 
one which agrees with a much wider range. 
The one more nearly perfect, in the absolute 
sense, may be out of reach of our proper under- 
standing or at least beyond any means of ex- 
perimental verification at our command. 

As a first example of this let us consider 
the case of a savage who has been accustomed 
to take the animistic view of nature. It may 
very well be true that his primitive theory 
brings helpful ideas and enables him to get 
around in his world and interpret it in a satis- 
factory way. His observations have little of 
precision about them and consequently they 
do not clash with his theory. To this creature 
the Newtonian law of gravitation would be 
meaningless and useless. For him it could 


SCIENCE 


835 


serve none of the ends for which we employ 
that or any other scientific theory. For him 
to make such a hypothesis as this would be 
distinctly unscientific. 

Another ease in point is the old Greek theory 
of which we spoke a few moments ago. Ac- 
cording to it all matter had a unique origin, 
and a primary task of the philosopher was to 
discover what substance gives rise to all others 
by the combination of its parts. None of the 
answers which they were able to arrive at, as 
we have seen, were of such character as to give 
them greater power to act on things or to pre- 
dict phenomena. In accordance with a true 
scientific instinct the theory was therefore al- 
lowed to drop out of mind. Nowadays it has 
been revived in a different form because in 
this form it now seems capable of being sub- 
jected to experimental examination. 

Probably the best example of the difficulties 
of a position where speculation has outrun ob- 
servation is afforded by the atomic theory of 
the ancients, a theory which is very close in 
its general aspects to that which is usually 
accepted at the present day. Im recent 
times this theory has given rise to the most im- 
portant and far-reaching investigations. Ithas 
in a remarkable degree all the characteristics 
of a useful theory, which we enumerated 
above, and in many ways has proved itself 
vital in experimental investigations. Among 
the ancients, however, it seems to have 
led to nothing but speculations and disput- 
ings. It was too far in advance of other parts 
of scientific theory to be amenable to experi- 
mental investigation. Though essentially in 
agreement with facts, as we understand the 
matter to-day, it yet led to no scientific con- 
quests in ancient times. 

Such examples as these remind us that we 
should not set ourselves the task of finding 
the “true” explanation of things. From a 
scientific point of view our plans should be 
far less ambitious. This is a point, it seems 
to me, which we should be careful not to lose 
sight of. What we want to do is to frame 
general laws which to us appear to be the 
simplest we can find and which have the fol- 
lowing three properties: they are in accord- 


836 


ance with all known phenomena; they enable 
us to predict events; they suggest to us new 
experimental investigations to carry out. We 
shall not undertake to say that these laws are 
true in any absolute sense. Furthermore, it 
will not cause us any uneasiness if we find a 
new phenomenon which contradicts one or 
more of them. That is a thing to be expected 
if we are making progress. It will be no sur- 
prise if a principle which was developed to 
relate past experiences should turn out to be 
insufficient to deal with future experiences. 

The experimentalist is thus continually 
finding things which run counter to his pre- 
conceived opinions, whether they are based on 
unreasoned intuition or on large collections 
of facts. It is important to us to analyze the 
way in which men have heretofore met such 
situations. They will continually arise in our 
experience as long as we are making progress. 
From the most superficial examination we 
may see that they have often stood in the 
way of advancement. 

When an opinion has gained a strong hold 
on our imagination it may obstinately refuse 
to be removed although it causes us grave 
trouble to keep it in agreement with facts or 
even leads us into contradictions from which 
we can find no escape. The early history of 
astronomy furnishes us with a good illustra- 
tion of this matter. The Pythagoreans under- 
took to make precise the central problem of 
this science. Plato followed with other work 
along the same line. By means of a consider- 
able range of speculation and reasoning, 
which would have little weight with us to- 
day and therefore need not be repeated now, 
these philosophers came to the conclusion that 
uniform motion in a circle is the most per- 
fect of all motions, and. therefore must be 
that of celestial bodies. But it was obvious 
that a simple motion of this kind for each of 
these bodies was insufficient to explain their 
positions at various times. Thus from the 
outset it was apparent that it would be neces- 
sary to consider the compounding of various 
circular motions in order to account for ob- 
served facts. Therefore those early thinkers 
confidently proposed as the fundamental in- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1041 


quiry of theoretical astronomy the following 
questions: How can we explain astronomical 
movements by means of uniform circular mo- 
tions ? 

It was well to have this problem proposed, 
although it turned out to be incapable of so- 
lution. Directly or indirectly it has exerted 
a profound influence on the progress of every 
science. As long as the body of observation 
was sufficiently meager men could labor with 
some hope of answering the question as pro- 
posed. At first it was sufficient to compound 
two or three motions. After observations hbe- 
came more exact it was necessary to put to- 
gether four or five circular motions for one 
body and to introduce numerous hypothetical 
spheres in order to have something to move 
along the requisite circular ares. This thing 
continued till the explanations bewildered one 
with their complexity. Still men held to their 
preconceived idea of circular motion for 
many centuries until Kepler finally broke the 
spell by the discovery of the three laws on 
which modern theoretical astronomy is 
based. It is instructive to all scientific work- 
ers, I believe, to ponder the experience of 
men in dealing with this old problem. 

As another example of the influence of pre- 
conceived opinion consider the old belief of 
chemists that the formation of organic com- 
pounds was conditioned by a so-called vital 
force. In accordance with this theory it 
should be impossible to synthesize organic 
compounds from dead matter. But in 1828 
Wohler succeeded with the synthesis of urea. 
But the belief in the necessity of a vital force 
died hard. Men tried to get around the new 
fact by supposing that urea stands midway 
between organic and inorganic substances. 
But the accumulation of other cases in which 
organic compounds had been synthesized 
finally led to the rejection of vital force as a 
factor in purely chemical relations. 

A very curious case which was obviously in 
disagreement with facts is afforded by the old 
phlogiston theory of combustion. According 
to this theory combustibility is due to a prin- 
ciple called phlogiston, which is present in all 
combustible bodies in an amount proportional 


DECEMBER 11, 1914] 


to their degree of combustibility. The opera- 
tion of burning was simply equivalent to the 
liberation of the phlogiston. This theory 
dominated chemical thought for more than a 
generation, notwithstanding its inherent de- 
fect due to the fact that the products of com- 
bustion were heavier than the original sub- 
stance, whereas the theory demanded that they 
should be lighter. 

I have purposely illustrated the influence 
of preconceived opinion by means of some of 
the older examples. Many others might be 
given. Jn fact, in nearly all our theories rel- 
ative to experimental phenomena we intro- 
duce important elements not suggested by 
our observations, but by our own esthetic sense. 
Witness the introduction of the ether in so 
much of physical theory. A man sometimes 
feels that he is putting into his theory noth- 
ing except what observation has directed. 
This, I believe, is always a delusion. More- 
over, I think that it is an undesirable thing 
to attempt. It is not true that observations 
compel any one theory. In fact, as Poincaré 
has shown, there is an infinite number of ex- 
planations of any finite set of facts. From 
among this enormous totality we must select 
the explanation which is most satisfying for 
us from considerations of convenience or from 
the demands of the esthetic sense. This is 
actually what we always do. It should be 
done consciously. 

Now it is clear that any body of doctrine 
built up in this way is in danger of being 
seriously in error, and therefore it is neces- 
sary for us often to reexamine our theories 
with a view to ascertaining whether the pre- 
conceptions which were wrought into them 
still appear to be justifiable. This is one of 
the hardest tasks of the scientist. Accord- 
ingly he often waits long in the presence of 
his difficulties before he tries to overcome them 
by this heroic method. He is usually more 
averse to the surgical knife operating among 
his ideas than on the members of his body, 
however hard he may try to overcome this 
disposition. 

_It is no surprise that this is so. The race 
was too long practical before it sought to be- 


SCIENCE 


837 


come scientific for us to make the change 
readily. Some one has defined the practical 
man as one who practises the errors of his 
forefathers. He is tied down to his precon- 
ceived opinions, not being enough of a 
dreamer to get away from them. He will be 
able to get through the world without receiv- 
ing many hard knocks; but he will not inau- 
gurate profound changes and advances in hu- 
man life. That will always be left for the 
scientist who refuses to be satisfied with what 
is and who is always seeking a new sort of 
fact to destroy his own and his contempo- 
raries’ equilibrium. 

But this will be harder for him to do as the 
years pass. In fact it is true in one respect 
that the problems of the scientist are increas- 
ing in difficulty. As the mass of accumulated 
observations grows larger there are fewer es- 
sentially new facts to be discovered. And 
when it becomes necessary to devise a new 
theory it is harder to make it fit into and 
explain the great array of recorded phenom- 
ena. But this affords no ground for pessi- 
mism, as we shall show in a moment. More- 
over, it carries with it a reward of its own. 
If a theory can be made to fit into the facts 
as now known it has a good chance of doing 
service for some time, and this from the rea- 
son that it has been made to explain so many 
things already. 

But there was a real advantage to be gained 
from the meagerness of data in the old time. 
It was not so difficult to theorize with some 
appearance of success, and therefore men the 
more readily conceived the possibility of re- 
lating things according to law and the more 
easily set up a tentative explanation. I have 
no doubt that speculative philosophy, for in- 
stance, has profited in times past by the 
meagerness of the data on which its specula- 
tions were based. The very fact that no large 
body of observed occurrences stood in the way 
of speculation emboldened men to launch 
forth upon what otherwise would have been a 
forbidding sea. 

But confidence in setting forth did not save 
from danger and shipwreck. For some time 
we have known that no conclusion in science 


838 SCIENCE 


is safe unless it is built up from a large col- 
lection of facts. Our philosophers are begin- 
ning to realize that the same sort of thing is 
true in their realm, and hence we should not 
be surprised to see science itself conquer a 
large part of the ancient domain of philos- 
ophy. Progress in this direction has already 
been sufficient for men to begin to speak defi- 
nitely of “the scientific method in philos- 
ophy.” Such indeed is the title of the vol- 
ume containing the Lowell Lectures delivered 
by Bertrand Russell in Boston last spring. 
The adherents of this new method believe that 
it represents in philosophy “the same kind 
of advance as was introduced into physics by 
Galileo: the substitution of piecemeal, de- 
tailed and verifiable results for large untested 
generalities recommended only by a certain 
appeal to imagination.” This method has 
gradually crept into philosophy through a 
eritical scrutiny of mathematics. It is im- 
bued with the essential spirit of a theoretical 
science based on experimental results. 

The fact that the scientific method is en- 
eroaching upon the domain of philosophy will 
raise the question as to how far it is able to 
go towards solving the problems of meta- 
physics. It appears already to have been 
quite successful in dealing with the notions 
of continuity and infinity. But that it shall 
undertake to solve all the metaphysical prob- 
lems is unlikely. What is more probable is 
that it shall pronounce many of them mean- 
ingless or else out of reach of exact investi- 
gation and consequently leave them to one 
side. 

Returning now to the more special prob- 
lems of science proper, let us inquire what is 
the present outlook for definite achievement 
in research. There are various types of an- 
swers to this question and various types of 
persons who make them. Some take an en- 
thusiastically optimistic view of the situation. 
Others are pessimistic, though there seems to 
be less ground for pessimism now than there 
was fifteen or twenty years ago. Some of 
these pessimists believe that research is about 
to run out, at least in their own fields. They 
see nothing vital remaining to be done or else 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1041 


they feel helpless in the presence of a prob- 
lem which is conceived. The persons who 
have this pessimistic feeling may be divided 
into two classes. 

In the first place, there are those who have 
not attempted research and therefore have no 
first-hand acquaintance with its methods and 
problems and difficulties. At most they can 
see as through a glass darkly. One feels that 
their pessimism will prevent them from ever 
seeing as face to face. Some of these persons 
are so pronounced in their views as to believe 
that research has never made any really sig- 
nificant progress. They reach this opinion 
from quasi-philosophical considerations and 
not from an examination of the facts. It is 
unnecessary to refute these persons. Their 
judgment of matters of research properly has 
no weight at all among men who are actually 
engaged in extending the bounds of knowl- 
edge. 

In the second place, our group of pessimists 
include those who have themselves under- 
taken research and have been unsuccessful in 
their venture. There is an obvious reason for 
their opinion; but it is one which makes no 
contribution toward answering the question 
as to the general outlook for definite achieve- 
ment in research. 

Over against these pessimists there is a 
large and ever-increasing body of enthusiastic 
researchers. They believe in to-morrow he- 
cause they saw good things yesterday and 
have seen better ones to-day. Jt is hard for 
them to perceive how any one can fail to feel 
the expansion of growth in the midst of 
which he is living. To them it is the most 
natural of all expectations to think that we 
are just now on the eve of great develop- 
ments. What is the ground of their confi- 
dence, insofar as it is not temperamental ? 

Tt is not that they have a vision of easy con- 
quest. It can not be doubted for a moment 
that difficulties of the most serious sort con- 
front us in scientific investigations. No one 
of these optimists can see the goal which he 
confidently expects science to attain. But 
there are some things which he can see, 
namely, past achievements and the circum- 


DECEMBER 11, 1914] 


stances under which the work has heretofore 
made progress. 

It is the examination of these things which 
gives rise to such optimism, and especially of 
those of them which belong to the last few 
years. We shall not have time to take up 
these matters in detail so as to examine the 
events one by one; we can only indicate their 
general characteristics, leaving it to the reader 
to supply the concrete individual instances. 

Let us ask: What is the leading character- 
istic, in the infancy of their development, of 
those processes and results of thought which 
have most profoundly influenced human 
progress ? 

To attempt a full discussion of this prob- 
lem would carry us too far aside. But a par- 
tial answer lies close at hand. Great steps 
forward have usually been taken in a way 
which was not expected and in a field of men- 
tal activity where the processes and results of 
thought had assumed an apparently fixed 
form. In such a region there had been for a 
time a seething of thought with frequent 
eruption of new theory; but at last everything 
had come to a state of quiescence. Appar- 
ently, nothing more was to be expected from 
that quarter. But the appearance was false; 
a fresh development came with astonishing 
swiftness. 

Often at a moment when least expected new 
and vital discoveries are made. Thought is 
ruthlessly jostled out of the rut into which it 
has fallen. A state of uncertainty and uneasi- 
ness ensues. Restlessly the mind seeks new 
verities to which to fix itself. There is a gen- 
eral shaking up of its content of thought. 
The old bottles are not strong enough for the 
new wine of new truth and are burst 
asunder. This quickening of thought, this ex- 
pansion into larger conception, this is the 
leading characteristic of fundamental ad- 
vances in human thinking. 

This which I have just described is to my 
mind precisely the leading characteristic of 
several important theories of modern science. 
There has been a ruthless shaking up of the 
whole substructure; uncertainty, and even 
uneasiness, have arisen in many quarters; in 


SCIENCE 


839 


some fields there is no longer any one who be- 
lieves that he knows what should be expected. 
An eminent scientist who, a few years ago, 
was authority for the statement that the fu- 
ture advancement of physics was to be looked 
for in the fifth decimal place is now advising 
younger men to try all sorts of “fool experi- 
ments.” This is an indication of the spirit 
of the times. We find indeed that our power 
over nature is increasing and that we can 
make better predictions than ever before; but 
we no longer have the faith which we once 
had in our theoretical explanations. 

In recent years one surprise after another 
has come with such rapidity that we no longer 
know what it is to be orthodox in scientific 
theory. 

A new liberty—some will say, a new li- 
cense—in theorizing has sprung up every- 
where. The boldness of some of the new hy- 
potheses is amazing, even disconcerting. If 
ever they come into a general acceptance they 
will give rise to an expansive development of 
the human mind in virtue of our attempt to 
understand the philosophic significance of the 
new movements. They will require revision 
of our ways of thinking, and will thus mark 
a new stage in human progress. 

An examination of the discoveries which 
have given rise to this sort of thing will lead 
to the observation that many of them were 
made in such unexpected ways that one al- 
most feels as if they came about by accident. 
In fact there seems to be a certain element of 
haphazard in all scientific discoveries. We 
have not yet learned how to make a syste- 
matic and all-embracing search through 
fields of thought either old or new. Our best 
discoveries are frequently made in territory 
over which we have trodden many times be- 
fore. 

What are we to conclude from the fact that 
our particular discoveries are so often hit 
upon almost by chance and that we have 
looked about so nearly at random and have 
found such things? Let us answer by rais- 
ing another question. Suppose that it had 
been true twenty years ago that only a few 
fundamental facts yet remained to be discoy- 


840 SCIENCE 


ered, in physics for instance, and suppose 
further that men had set about, as indeed they 
have, to try all sorts of “fool experiments”; 
then, in view of the infinite multiplicity of 
things which they might have tried, what is 
the probability that they would have discov- 
ered all or nearly all of the fundamentally 
new facts which twenty years ago were yet to 
be brought to light? According to the theory 
of probability, this chance is practically nil. 
Let us put with this result the further fact 
that for many hundred years men had been 
looking at phenomena with care and had not 
found the important facts discovered in this 
twenty-year period. Then, in view of all this 
we can only conclude that it is extremely 
probable that there is yet an unlimited, or at 
least a very great, number of fundamental 
facts still to be discovered. We can hardly 
refuse to draw the further conclusion that all 
we know at present is only a mere fragment 
of what we shall ultimately find out. 

We can indicate the immediate prospect 
‘more precisely by a consideration of the pres- 
ent state of physics which I believe now 
‘stands in an enviable position with respect to 
all science and all philosophy—in fact, with 
respect to every body of doctrine whose de- 
velopment makes for human progress. In re- 
cent years it has undergone a marvelous re- 
juvenation, into the detail of which we can 
not now enter. It requires no eye of prophecy 
to see that this is certain to make itself felt 
in valuable advances in astronomy and geol- 
ogy and to lead the way to new and funda- 
mental, conquests in chemistry and biology. 
All branches of the sciences of phenomena 
should sit at the feet of the new physics in 
order to get in touch with her most recent dis- 
coveries and to carry them over to their con- 
sequences in other special domains of re- 
search. 

All indications point to magnificent con- 
quests of research in the immediate future 
and for many years to come. An analysis of 
the past gives us a strong assurance that 
there are many important things yet to be dis- 
covered. The progress of the preceding de- 
cade shows that we have in hand tools that 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1041 


have been effective, and we can hardly sup- 
pose that they have just now finished their 
work when we consider the sort of achieve- 
ments which have just been made. Notwith- 
standing that the war in Europe will cut off 
many young men of enthusiasm and power 
and hinder the work of all investigators on 
that continent, it is yet true that there is an 
enthusiastic body of workers, especially in 
America, still carrying on their silent con- 
quests which will take a place alongside the 
great achievements of the race. It is a pleas- 
ure to know that there is such an organization 
as this society to foster a work of this sort. 
I am glad that so many of us have entered 
upon the undertaking already and I hope that 
young men and women of promise will see a 
possibility of labor toward the good of the 
whole future of mankind and will lay their 
lives and their energies upon the altar of 
service in science. 
R. D. CarMicHarn 


THE PHILOSOPHY OF BIOLOGY: VITALISM 
VERSUS MECHANISM1 

In comparison with mathematicians and 
physicists, biologists have contributed little to 
philosophical literature, notwithstanding the 
close relations existing between their science 
and philosophy. The most notable instance of 
recent years has been Driesch, whose attempts 
at philosophical commentary and interpreta- 
tion seem, however, to have given on the whole 
little satisfaction to either biologists or philos- 
ophers. Bergson—“ the biological philosopher,” 
as Driesch calls him—bases much of his doc- 
trine on biological data, and the use of such 
data appears to be becoming more frequent 
among philosophers. Lately professed biol- 
ogists have shown somewhat more tendency to 
enter the field of philosophical discussion; 
and it is remarkable that when they do so 
they often adopt a vitalistic point of view. 
Haldane’s “ Mechanism, Life and Personality ” 
is one recent illustration of this tendency, 
and the present book of Johnstone’s is another. 

1‘¢The Philosophy of Biology,’’ by James 
Johnstone, D.Se., Cambridge University Press, 
1914, 


DECEMBER 11, 1914] 


As the author himself explains, the point of 
view and methods of treatment are largely 
those suggested by Driesch and Bergson. The 
book is not long; there are eight chapters en- 
titled, respectively, the Conceptual World, the 
Organism as a Mechanism, the Activities of 
the Organism, the Vital Impetus, the Indi- 
vidual and the Species, Transformism, the 
Meaning of Evolution, the Organic and the 
Imorganic; there is also an appendix with a 
brief account of the chief principles of ener- 
getics. In the table of contents is given a 
concise yet complete and connected summary 
of each chapter. This makes it unnecessary 
for the reviewer to summarize the whole book, 
and this review will be confined chiefly to a 
criticism of the author’s main contentions and 
especially of the arguments by which he seeks 
to support his vitalistic thesis. 

The first chapter discusses the relation of 
conceptual reasoning to reality. The author 
agrees with Bergson in regarding intellect as 
essentially a biological function, which reacts 
in a characteristic manner on the flux of real- 
ity and dissociates this more or less arbitrarily 
into detached elements; the aim of this dis- 
sociation is practical—namely, to facilitate 
definite or effective action on the part of the 
organism. Scientific method follows an essen- 
tially similar plan; our scientific descriptions 
and formulations of natural processes are con- 
ceptual schemata; their correspondence with 
real nature is inevitably inexact; they neces- 
sarily simplify and diagrammatize. In reality, 
however, nature can not be regarded as a com- 
posite of separate processes, individually sus- 
ceptible of exact description in intellectual 
terms, and interconnected in ways which are 
similarly definite and quantitatively deter- 
minable; it is rather a continuous or flux-like 
unitary activity, exhibiting a progressive and 
irreversible trend; hence actual duration is 
distinct from the conceptual time of physicists. 
Now the intellect, in making its characteristic 
conceptual transformation, neglects or ignores 
or even falsifies much of the essential char- 
acter of reality. This is how it becomes pos- 
sible to view the living organism as a mechan- 
ism: the physiologist substitutes for the real 


SCIENCE 


841 


living organism the conception of a system of 
physico-chemical processes, conceived as inter- 
connected in a definite way; by doing so he is 
enabled to view the organism as essentially a 
physico-chemical mechanism; but we must 
note that the conceptual elements out of which 
he builds up his scientific view of the organism 
inevitably determine the nature of this end- 
conception, which is physico-chemical or 
mechanistic only because his method does not 
permit him to regard the organism as any- 
thing but a summation or integration of the 
physico-chemical processes that form the ele- 
ments of his synthesis. As a result, however, 
he really misses what is most distinctive of 
living beings, and reaches a point of view 
which is not only imadequate for scientific 
purposes—as shown by the failure of physico- 
chemical analysis in the case of many vital 
processes—but in its very nature far removed 
from the actuality itself. 

This is the fundamental criticism which the 
author makes of the accepted scientific meth- 
ods of investigating life-phenomena. In the 
remainder of his book he interprets the char- 
acteristics of the organism and of the evolu- 
tionary process from this general or Berg- 
sonian point of view. He sees operative in 
life a distinctive agency, corresponding to the 
“@élan vital” of Bergson or the entelechy of 
Driesch, which acts typically in a direction 
contrary to that characteristic of inorganic 
processes; these latter tend toward homogeneity 
and dissipation of energy; in living organisms, 
on the contrary, evolution tends toward the pro- 
duction of diversity, and the tendency of en- 
tropy to strive toward a maximum may be 
compensated or even reversed by vital activity. 
“Life, when we regard it from the point of 
view of energetics, appears as a tendency 
which is opposed to that which we see to be 
characteristic of inorganic processes. ... The 
effect of the movement which we eall inorganic 
is toward the abolition of diversities, while that 
which we -call life is toward the maintenance 
of diversities. They are movements which are 
opposite in their direction” (page 314). It is 
here that the author’s views become most seri- 
ously open to scientific attack; the evidence 


842 


that the second law of thermodynamics does 
not always apply to life-processes is certainly 
inadequate; there is exact experimental evi- 
dence that the first law (that of conservation) 
holds for organisms; and the storing of solar 
energy by chlorophyll is in no sense evidence 
that the second law is evaded. There seems 
in fact to be a fundamental misconception in 
this part of the author’s argument. He holds 
that life may play the part of the Maxwellian 
demon under appropriate circumstances (page 
118), and defends this view on the ground that 
the laws of molecular physics are statistical 
in their nature and might be different if it 
were possible to control the movements of indi- 
vidual molecules; such control, it is implied, 
is possible to the vital entelechy. Jt seems 
to the reviewer, however, that the application 
of the second law to gases or solutions implies 
simply a tendency of the freely moving mol- 
ecules to uniform distribution; the resulting 
homogeneity can be prevented only by adding 
energy to, or abstracting it from, part of the 
system; even Maxwell’s demon has to work a 
partition which resists the impact of the faster 
molecules—a consideration which shows that 
any coordination or sorting of molecules would 
in itself involve the performance of work. 
Johnstone’s supposition, however, is that the 
vital entelechy can, without altering the total 
energy of the system, control or direct the 
otherwise uncoordinated motions of the indi- 
vidual molecules; and that the purposive or 
directed character of the individual organism’s 
life, and also of the whole organic or evolu- 
tionary process, is conditional on the existence 
of such an agency, and is indeed the character- 
istic expression of its activity. He thus main- 
tains, in effect, that physiological processes 
are unintelligible unless we can assume the 
existence of some such directive agency pecu- 
liar to life, which can vary the nature, inten- 
sity and direction of the physico-chemical proc- 
esses and coordinate them in the interest of the 
organism. This “entelechy” is what imparts 
their distinctive quality to life-phenomena. 
It has long seemed to the reviewer that fail- 
ures or deficiencies in the physiological anal- 
ysis of complex or delicately adjusted functions 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1041 


form no sufficient ground for rejecting such 
methods of investigation as in their nature 
inadequate. Witalists, however, are fond of 
this kind of attack; and both Haldane and 
Johnstone adduce instances which they believe 
make it incredible that physico-chemical proc- 
esses, unguided by an entelechy, could ever 
form the basis of vitality. At present our 
knowledge of the physiology of embryonic 
development and of certain types of form- 
regulation is especially defective; and such phe- 
nomena are cited more frequently than any 
others as proving the inadequacy of physico- 
chemical analysis. Driesch’s “logical proof of 
vitalism,” quoted in the present book, is an 
instance of this tendency; even relatively 
simple processes like muscular contraction and 
nerve conduction remain largely mysterious, 
and we find also scepticism as to the possibility 
of any satisfactory account of these processes 
in physico-chemical terms (cf. page 100 of the 
present book). 

A twofold reply to this type of vitalistic 
argument may be given. First, it is to be 
noted that the failure of physico-chemical anal- 
ysis is often due to mere complexity of condi- 
tion. But complexity, as such, does not 
introduce any essentially new problems; it 
simply makes more difficult, and may for a 
time make impossible, the task of analysis. 
Provided that the more elementary processes 
forming a complex process are characterized 
by constancy in their nature and in the condi- 
tions of their occurrence, any degree of com- 
plexity in the total process is possible. Ordi- 
nary experience with complex artificial sys- 
tems, of a mechanical or other kind, verifies 
this contention; we find that there is no limit 
other than that set by practical expediency to 
the complexity of a system whose component 
parts operate and imteract in a constant 
manner. In all such cases smaller and simpler 
parts are taken as units from which higher 
compound units are built up, and these second- 
ary units are then similarly utilized for the 
construction of more complex systems; these 
may be still further combined, and so on. The 
one indispensable condition is that there should 
be an essential invariability in the operation 


DECEMBER 11, 1914] 


and interaction of the parts of the system. 
Similarly with life and its manifestations: the 
complexity of organisms and of organic proc- 
esses, so far from making us despair of the 
adequacy of physico-chemical analysis in deal- 
ing with vital phenomena, seems in fact to the 
reviewer the surest witness to their essential 
adequacy. For these vital processes, however 
complex and mysterious, are unfailingly con- 
stant in their normal manifestation; one has 
only to reflect on what is continually happen- 
ing in the body of a healthy man in order to 
realize this; and the stability of conditions 
thus shown surely has the same basis as have 
the stability and constancy of the simpler non- 
vital processes which we everywhere find as 
components of the vital. The basis of this 
stability is simply the exactitude with which 
natural processes repeat themselves under 
identical conditions.2 If this were not the case, 
how could a physico-chemical system of the 
vast complexity of (e. g.) the human organism 
ever exhibit stable existence or constant 
action? It is impossible to doubt that the 
eonstaney with which complex physiological 
processes operate is conditional on the con- 
staney of the simpler component processes— 
those which form the subject-matter of physico- 
chemical science. Constancy in the char- 
acter, mode of action, and interconnection of 
the component substances and processes is evi- 
dently indispensable to the constancy or stabil- 
ity of the product of their integration, the 
living organism. We find in fact that mys- 
terious and unintelligible physiological proc- 
esses, €. g., the regeneration of the lens in the 
eye of a salamander, recur under appropriate 
conditions with the same constancy as the 
simplest and most intelligible, say the forma- 
tion of a retinal image by that same lens. It 
is clear that if we admit the adequacy of 
physico-chemical methods in the one case we 
must be prepared to do so in the other. 
Second, it is to be noted that the organic 


2 Just why there is such repetition is rather a 
philosophical than a scientific question; but it 
seems probable that it is at bottom an expression 
of the homogeneity of the conditions of natural 
existence, space and time. 


SCIENCE 


843 


processes show evidence by their very limita- 
tions that the underlying mechanisms are 
strictly physico-chemical in character. Thus 
vitalists call especial attention to the instances 
of development and form-regulation which 
have so far baffled all attempts at physico- 
chemical analysis. “Does not this mean,” 
Johnstone asks, “that in biology we observe 
the working of factors which are not physico- 
chemical ones?” The limits to the regulative 
power are less frequently cited by vitalists; 
yet surely evidence of this kind is equally 
relevant. Why, if an entelechy can restore 
the amputated arm of a salamander, can not 
it perform a similar miracle in the ease of a 
man? The fact is that nothing is proved by 
citing such cases. But on the whole they 
seem clearly to imply that the properties of 
the organism are throughout the properties of 
physico-chemical systems, differing from in- 
organic systems simply in their complexity. 
The reviewer knows of no facts which, viewed 
without repossession, necessitate or even 
unequivocally favor the contrary view. Those 
vitalists who maintain that material systems 
are incapable, without the aid of an entelechy, 
of developing the characteristics of life—and 
who even hold that fundamental physical laws 
like the second principle of energetics are 
evaded by organisms—must adduce evidence 
of a less doubtful kind in support of their 
thesis. The peculiarities which organisms ex- 
hibit appear to the reviewer to lead to precisely 
the contrary conclusions, and to indicate that 
stable and constantly acting physico-chemical 
Systems may exhibit a degree of complication, 
both of composition and of behavior, to which 
literally no limits can be assigned. 

Another mode of reasoning popular among 
vitalists, and equally fallacious from the phys- 
ico-chemical standpoint, is that an entelechy 
can, without the performance of work, guide 
or coordinate toward a definite end processes 
which themselves require the performance of 
work. This view implies that in the organism 
molecular movement may be directed, retarded, 
or accelerated at the will of the entelechy. 
But in Newton’s first law of motion it is surely 
made clear that any deviation in the movye- 


844 SCIENCE 


ment of a particle from a straight line, or any 
retardation or acceleration of its motion, in- 
volves work in precisely the same sense as does 
the initiation of the movement. Now it is 
evident that guidance or regulation of the 
sequence of events in any material system 
must involve one or other of these kinds of 
processes. In other words, it is physically 
impossible for any agency to modify the proc- 
esses in any material system without modify- 
ing the energy-transfers in that system, and 
this can be done only by the introduction of 
compensating or reinforcing factors of some 
kind—4. e., by altering the energy-content of 
the system—which is equivalent to the per- 
formance of work. One is forced to conclude 
that all such attempts at the solution of 
biological problems are based on fundamental 
misunderstandings. Dogmatism must be 
avoided in scientific criticism; nevertheless it 
seems to the reviewer that the following gen- 
eral considerations are incontrovertible, and 
that they are quite inconsistent with the type 
of vitalism represented by Driesch and John- 
stone. First, the organism is a system whose 
development and continued existence are de- 
pendent on the rigid constancy of physico- 
chemical modes of operation; here, if anywhere 
in nature, stability of the internal or vital con- 
ditions is indispensable; otherwise it is incon- 
ceivable that the complex living system could 
persist, and maintain its characteristic activ- 
ities and often delicate adjustment to the sur- 
roundings. Clearly the numerous and diverse 
processes whose integration constitutes life 
could not deviate far from a definite norm 
without fatal derangement of the whole 
mechanism. Second, the basis for this reg- 
ularity is the regularity of physico-chemical 
processes in general. These, the more closely 
they are subjected to scientific scrutiny, ap- 
pear the more definite and constant in their 
character: this conclusion is not—as many phil- 
osophical critics of scientific method maintain 
—an illusion resulting from the inherently 
classificatory nature of intellectual operations; 
it is simply a matter of observation and experi- 
mental verification. Repeat the conditions of 
a phenomenon and the phenomenon recurs. We 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1041 


find this to be equally the case in living organ- 
isms and in non-living systems; and it appears 
to be as true of psychical as of physical phe- 
nomena. The difficulty in dealing with organ- 
isms is to secure exact repetition of condi- 
tions, because organisms are in their nature 
complex, and complexity means a large num- 
ber of factors which may vary. Regularity, in 
fact, may be said to be of the very essence of 
vital processes; special devices for securing 
regularity (é. g., constancy of body-tempera- 
ture, of the osmotic pressure and reaction of 
the tissue-media, ete.) are highly character- 
istic of organisms. It would seem that an 
entelechy disturbing this regularity, however 
intelligently, would be not only superfluous 
but detrimental. Moreover, we must always re- 
member that unequivocal evidence for the 
existence of such an agency is quite lacking. 

Thus there seems to be no valid reason to 
believe that organisms differ essentially from 
non-living systems as regards the conditions 
under which the processes underlying vitality 
take place. The conditions of natural exist- 
ence and happening appear everywhere and 
at all times to be homogeneous, whatever 
existence itself may be. This conclusion 
seems unavoidable to the impartial observer 
of natural processes; the repetition so 
characteristic of nature is apparently an 
expression of this central fact. The flux- 
like character of natural existence, so in- 
sisted upon by Bergson and the other Hera- 
cleiteans, is to be admitted only in a highly 
qualified sense. Repetition and the existence 


of discontinuities and abrupt transitions are\ 
equally characteristic; and all of the evidence | 


of physical science goes to show that a repe- 
titious or atomistic construction lies at the 
very basis of things. So far from the intel- 
lect arbitrarily imposing a diagrammatic uni- 
formity and repetition upon a nature which in 
reality is a progressive flux and never repeats 
itself—to the student of natural science it ap- 
pears rather true that the conceptualizing 
characteristic of the reasoning process is 
itself one expression of this fundamental mode 
of natural occurrence—that it is, in fact, the 
derivative of a peculiarity which pervades na- 


ies 


a 


DECEMBER 11, 1914] 


ture throughout. Such a view, if well estab- 
lished, would refute the contention that scien- 
tific methods, being intellectual in their char- 
acter, necessarily involve a falsification; and 
would dispose of attempts to discredit physio- 
logical analysis on the ground that life trans- 
cends intellect and hence is properly to be in- 
vestigated by other than scientific methods. 
_ The attempt to find in organisms evidence 
of special agencies not operative in the rest of 
nature seems to the reviewer to show less and 
less promise of success as physico-chemical and 
physiological science advances. Thus the au- 
thor’s attempt to limit the applicability of 
the second law of energetics to the non-living 
part of nature is quite unjustified by the evi- 
dence which he presents. The interception 
and accumulation of a portion of the radiant 
energy received by the green plant, in the form 
of chemical compounds of high potential, is 
in no sense an infringement of the second 
law; as well might one hold that the partial 
transformation of radiant energy into poten- 
tial energy of position, as seen, e. g., in the 
accumulation of glaciers, is an instance of this 
kind. The partial transformation of energy 
at low potential into energy at high potential 
is in fact a frequent occurrence; thus the tem- 
perature of an electric are far exceeds that of 
the furnace which generates the current; sim- 
ilarly the animal organism utilizes energy de- 
rived from oxidation of carbohydrates and 
proteins to build up compounds of much 
higher chemical potential, viz., the fats. If 
living organisms—systems which are specially 
characterized by utilizing chemical energy as 
the main source of their activity—exhibit such 
tendencies, there is in this fact nothing anom- 
alous from the point of view of physical sci- 
ence. To say on the basis of this kind of evi- 
dence that “life appears as a tendency which 
is opposed to that which we see to be charac- 
teristic of inorganic processes” (page 314) is 
surely unwarranted from any point of view. 
This review is not necessarily an attack on 
vitalism, but only on certain current forms of 
vitalism. It can seareely be denied that there 
is something distinctive about life; but at the 
present advanced stage of physical science it 


SCIENCE 


845 


seems futile to argue that the vital process is 
the expression of an agency which is absent: 
from non-living material systems. Viewed 
temporarily or historically, the vital is seen to 
develop out of the non-vital; many of the 
steps in this process are still obscure; but with 
the progress of science it becomes more and 
more evident that the development is continu- 
ous in character. Hence, if we are to account 
for life, we must equally account for non-liy- 
ing nature. Now since nature exhibits itself 
as coherent throughout, we must conclude that 
in its inception® it held latent or potential 
within itself the possibility of life. This is not 
entirely an unbased speculation; even in the 
character of the chemical elements life is fore- 
shadowed in a sense, as shown in Henderson’s 
recent interesting book.* In a recent discus- 
sion,® in some respects related to the present, 
the reviewer has called attention to one impli- 
eation of the scientific view of nature and the 
cosmic process. Jf we assume constancy of 
the elementary natural processes, and con- 
stanecy in the modes of connection between 
them—as exact observation forces us to do— 
there seems no avoiding the conclusion that 
—given an undifferentiated universe at the 
outset—only one course of evolution can ever 
have been possible. Laplace long ago per- 
ceived this consequence of the mechanistic 
view of nature, and the inevitability of his 
conclusion has never been seriously disputed 
by scientific men. Nevertheless, this is a very 
strange result, and to many has seemed a re- 
ductio ad absurdum of the scientific view as 
applied to the whole of nature. The di- 
lemma can be avoided only if we recognize that 
the question of ultimate origins is not, 
strictly speaking, a scientific question at all; 
and in saying this there is implied no dis- 
paragement of scientific method. As an ob- 
ject of scientific investigation nature has to 


3T do not use this term necessarily in a histor- 
ical sense, but rather in the sense of ultimate 
origin of whatever kind,—which it may well be 
necessary to conceive as extra-temporal. 

4‘(The Fitness of the Environment, ’’ 
millans, 1913. 

5 Science, N. 8., 1913, page 337. 


Mac- 


846 SCIENCE 


be accepted as we find it; and why it exhibits 
certain apparently innate potentialities and 
modes of action which have caused it to evolve 
in a certain way is a question which really lies 
beyond the sphere of natural science. Such 
considerations, if they do not exactly remove 
the vitalistic dilemma, yet separate sharply 
the scientific problems which organisms pre- 
sent from the metaphysical questions to which 
the phenomena of life—more than any others 
—give rise. Jf we consider the organism 
simply as a system forming a part of external 
nature, we find no evidence that it possesses 
properties that may not eventually be satis- 
factorily analyzed by the methods of physico- 
chemical science; but we admit also that those 
peculiarities of ultimate constitution which 
have in the course of evolution led to the ap- 
pearance of living beings in nature are such 
that we can not well deny the possibility or 
even legitimacy of applying a vitalistic or 
biocentric conception to the cosmic process 
considered as a whole. 

Although disagreeing with the author’s 
main contentions, the reviewer wishes to recog- 
nize the merits of the book as an interesting, 
enthusiastic and ingenious contribution to the 
literature of its subject. We have noted some 
errors in matters of biological detail, but these 
are not such as to affect the main argument. 
The brief account of certain physiological 
processes seems somewhat out of date; the ac- 
count of the nerve impulse is unsatisfactory, 
and certainly few physiologists now hold that 
a muscle is a thermodynamic machine in the 
sense conceived by Engelmann; there is some 
evidence of unfamiliarity with biochemistry; 
the term “ animo-acid ” instead of amino-acid 
recurs a number of times, a mis-spelling per- 
haps appropriate to a book which is really a 
modern plea for animism. 

Rates S. Livi 

CLARK UNIVERSITY, 

October 12, 1914 


THE COMMITTEE OF ONE HUNDRED ON 
SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 


On the invitation of the chairman of the 
executive committee of the Committee of One 


[N. S. Vou, XL, No. 1041 


Hundred on Scientific Research of the Amer- 
ican Association for the Advancement of Sci- 
ence, there was held at his house on the even- 
ing of November 28 a meeting of the executive 
committee and of some members of the sub- 
committees and of the general committee resi- 
dent in or near Boston. There were present 
Mr. Charles W. Eliot, president of the asso- 
ciation and chairman of the committee, Mr. 
HE. C. Pickering, chairman of the executive 
committee, and Messrs. E. W. Brown, J. Mc- 
Keen Cattell, W. T. Councilman, Charles R. 
Cross, Reid Hunt, Richard C. Maclaurin, A. 
A. Noyes, Theodore W. Richards, Elihu Thom- 
son and Arthur G. Webster. 

Plans for the work of the committee were 
discussed, and preliminary reports were pre- 
sented from four of the subcommittees, as 
follows: Research funds, by Mr. Cross; re- 
search work in educational institutions, by 
Mr. Cattell; the selection and training of stu- 
dents for research, by Mr. Brown, and im- 
proved opportunities for research, by Mr. 
Richards. 

In addition to the subcommittees whose 
membership has been announced, the com- 
mittee on improved opportunities for research 
has been completed, and consists of Messrs. 
Theodore W. Richards, chairman, W. T. 
Councilman, Richard ©. Maclaurin, T. H. 
Morgan and E. H. Moore.' The subeommittee 
on the selection and training of students for 
research has also been formed, and consists of 
Messrs. E. W. Brown, chairman, Ross K. Har- 
rison, George A. Hulett and W. Lindgren, 
Subcommittees have been authorized on re- 
search institutions, research in industrial labo- 
ratories, research under the national govern- 
ment, research on the Pacific coast and re- 
search in the south, but these committees have 
not yet been completely organized. 

Reports from subcommittees will be pre- 
sented at the meeting of the Committee of One 
Hundred, which will be held in the Houston 
Club, University of Pennsylvania, Philadel- 
phia, at 2 o’clock, on the afternoon of Decem- 
ber 28. J. McKeen Cattett, 

Secretary 


DECEMBER 11, 1914] 


THE PHILADELPHIA MEETING 


Tue local committee for the Philadelphia 
meeting of the American Association make 
the following announcements: 

The hotels are either near the center of the 
city or in close proximity to the University of 
Pennsylvania. The headquarters of the asso- 
ciation will be the Hotel Adelphia, 13th and 
Chestnut Streets, two blocks distant from both 
the Pennsylvania and Philadelphia & Reading 
Railroads. The Adelphia is the newest and 
most modern hotel in Philadelphia. Members 
are urged to make hotel reservations as early 
as possible. 

The meetings of the association will be held 
at the University of Pennsylvania in West 
Philadelphia, ten minutes by trolley from the 
center of the city. The university can be 
reached by taking cars, route 13, on Walnut 
Street, one block south of the association head- 
quarters, or cars route 11 or 34 on the subway 
surface lines on Market Street, one block 
north. Persons arriving on the Pennsylvania 
Railroad and desiring to go directly to the 
University of Pennsylvania or to hotels near 
the university should get off at West Philadel- 
phia Station, six minutes’ walk to the univer- 
sity. 

The Houston Club, Spruce Street near 34th 
Street, has been designated as the association 
headquarters at the University of Pennsyl- 
yania. This building is the geographical center 
of the university and all meetings of the 
association will be held in university build- 
ings within a radius of two blocks from this 
point. The privileges of the club are extended 
to all of the members of the association and 
affiliated societies. Mail may be addressed 
here. 

The general meeting of the association will 
be held in Weightman Hall, gymnasium of the 
University of Pennsylvania, 33d and Spruce 
Streets, on Monday evening, December 28, 
at 8 o’clock. 

Luncheon will be served in the gymnasium, 
daily at one o’clock, during the convention, 
and all in attendance are cordially invited. 

The provost of the University of Pennsyl- 


SCIENCE 


847 


vania will give a reception to the members of 
the association in the university museum im- 
mediately after the address of President Wilson. 
Placards of the university campus will indi- 
cate meeting places of the various sections. 
The Geological and Paleontological Society 
will hold its meeting at the Academy of 
Natural Sciences, 19th and Race Streets. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


Tue De Morgan medal of the London 
Mathematical Society was presented at its 
annual meeting to Sir Joseph Larmor in rec- 
ognition of his researches in mathematical 
physics. 

Proressor H. F. Newatt has been elected 
president of the Cambridge Philosophical So- 
ciety. The vice-presidents are Dr. E. W. 
Barnes, Dr. A. C. Seward and Dr. A. E. Ship- 
ley. 

Prorsssor WILHELM Erp, the distinguished 
neurologist of Heidelberg, has celebrated the 
fiftieth anniversary of his doctorate. 


Presipent CHarLes RicHarD VAN Hise, of 
the University of Wisconsin, will be the con- 
vocation orator at the University of Chicago. 


Prorsessor Rospert M. YerKES, who on the 
invitation of the authorities of the German 
Anthropoid Station at Orotava, Tenerife, had 
planned to spend the greater part of the year 
1915 at the station in an experimental study 
of the chimpanzee and orang-outang, has been 
forced to abandon his plan because of the con- 
dition of war in Europe. He will instead con- 
duct his investigations during the spring and 
summer of 1915 at Montecito, California, in 
conjunction with Dr. G. V. Hamilton, in the 
latter’s private laboratory. From February 
to October, 1915, Professor Yerkes may be ad- 
dressed at Santa Barbara, California. 


Proressor J. C. Boss, of Calcutta, known 
for his work in plant physiology, is in this 
country. He is to be in the east until Jan- 
uary 11, on which date he addresses the New 
York Academy of Sciences, and before which 
time he will speak at various universities and 
to scientific bodies. During the latter part of 


848 


January he is arranging a trip to several mid- 
dle western universities. 

Dr. Paut V. Nevucesaver has been ap- 
pointed observer in the astronomical institute 


of the University of Berlin in succession to 
Professor P. Lehmann. 

Tue Harvard corporation has appointed 
Arthur W. Carpenter, of Boston, to the Cen- 
tral American fellowship in archeology, with 
an income of $600 a year. 


THE Journal of the American Medical As- 
sociation states that the salaries of Dr. Haven 
Emerson, sanitary superintendent, and Dr. 
William H. Park, general director of labora- 
tories in the New York Health Department, 
have been increased to $6,000 a year on the con- 
dition that they give their full time to the 
work, relinquishing private practise and their 
work in Columbia University. 


Dr. ALBERT CALMETTE, the eminent pathol- 
ogist, director of the Pasteur Institute at 
Lille, who has been acting as one of the chiefs 
of the medical service of the French army, 
has been missing for some time. It is now re- 
ported that he is a prisoner of war at Miinster. 
Dr. Calmette is a brother of the late editor of 
the Figaro, Gaston Calmette. 


Dr. F. F. BuckHEmer, third incumbent of 
the exchange curatorship in paleontology at 
Columbia, is a prisoner of war in Brest, 
France, and Dr. Hiilsenteck, fourth incum- 
bent, is a prisoner of war in Gibraltar. 


Tue Iron Cross has been awarded to Dr. 
Karl Thomas, of Professor Rubner’s labora- 
tory in Berlin, who was in charge of a field 
hospital near Mons, for courageous action dur- 
ing the retreat. 

Dr. Fernrx von LuscHan, director of the 
Berlin Museum of Ethnology and professor 
in the university, lectured before the German- 
istic Society in New York on December 2, on 
“Peoples of West Asia,’ and at Columbia 
University on December 9 on “ Excavations 
in Asia Minor.” 

Dr. Henry S. Graves, chief forester of the 
United States, lectured before the Washing- 
ton Academy of Sciences on December 3, on 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8S. Von. XL. No. 1041 


“The Place of Forestry in the Natural Sci- 
ences.” 


Prorrssor Larayerte B. MeEnpet, of Yale 
University, will give a course of lectures under 
the Herter foundation, at the University and 
Bellevue Hospital Medical College, on Decem- 
ber 10, 11, 14 and 15. The subject of the lec- 
tures, which will be given at four o’clock in 
the afternoon, is “ Aspects of the Physiology 
and Pathology of Growth.” 


Mr. P. Mactnop Yrarstry lectured upon the 
“ Classification of the Deaf Child for Eduea- 
tional Purposes” at a meeting of the Child 
Study Society at the Royal Sanitary Insti- 
tute, London, on November 5. 


WE learn from the Cornell Alumni Weekly 
of the death of Daniel Elmer Salmon, the first 
chief of the U. S. Bureau of Animal Industry, 
at Butte, Mont. He was born at Mount Olive, 
Morris county, N. J., in 1850, and entered 
Cornell University when it opened in 1868. 
He became interested in the study of veteri- 
nary medicine after becoming acquainted with 
Dr, James Law, who had just come to Cornell 
from Scotland. After practising for several 
years, Dr. Salmon was from 1878 till 1884 
connected with the U. S. Department of Agri- 
culture as an investigator of animal diseases. 
The Bureau of Animal Industry was estab- 
lished in 1884, and Dr. Salmon was appointed 
chief of that bureau, holding the office till 
1906. 


Dr. Grorce L. Mannine, professor of phys- 
ics at Robert College in Constantinople, has 
died in Florence, Italy, while on his way 
home, after a recent illness. 
was 50 years old. 


Dr. Manning 
He was graduated from 
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 
and had taught at Stevens Institute of Tech- 
nology and at Cornell University. 


THE Reverend Dr. Addison Ballard, at one 
time professor of science and mathematics at 
Marietta College and Ohio University, and 
later professor of philésophy at Lafayette Ool- 
lege and at New York University, has died at 
the age of ninety-two years. 


/ 


DECEMBER 11, 1914] 


Dr. Ewatp Fitcet, of the chair of Eng- 
lish philology at Stanford University, died 
at his home in Palo Alto on the evening of 
November 14, in the fifty-first year of his age. 
He had been connected with the university 
from its beginning in 1892, coming from the 
University of Leipzig. 

Dr. Giovan Battista Guccia, professor of 
higher mathematics in the University of 
Palermo, died in that city on October 29. 
Professor Guecia was the founder in 1884 of 
the Circolo Matematico di Palermo and editor 
of its Rendiconti. 


Dr. CHartEs Barrett Lockwoop, a distin- 
guished English surgeon, well known as a 
teacher and as a writer on surgery, has died 
at the age of fifty-six years from septicemia 
contracted in the course of an operation. 


Dr. Herrich BurkHarpt, professor of 
mathematics in the Technical Institute of 
Munich, has died at the age of fifty-three 
years. 


Dr. Emin Atrrep WEBER, emeritus professor 
of philosophy at Strassburg, has died at the 
age of seventy-nine years. 


Lizut.-CotoneL Sir Davis Pratn, director 
of the Kew Botanical Gardens, has lost his 
only son, Lieut. T. Prain, who has been killed 
in action. 


Dr. F. Fetrx Haun, assistant curator in the 
Konigliche Hof Museum, Stuttgart, and lieu- 
tenant in the Bavarian artillery fell before 
Naney on September 8. On receiving his 
doctorate from Munich in 1911, he came to 
the paleontological department of Columbia 
University as the first exchange assistant and 
curator in paleontology. During his year in 
this country he did some detailed work on the 
erapholites leading to the publication of his 
paper “On the Dictyonema Fauna of Navy 
Island, New Brunswick.” Another contribu- 
tion was on “The Form of Salt Deposits.” 
Among his papers in German may be men- 
tioned: “ Ergebnisse neuer Spezialforschungen 
in den Alpen,” “Die aeuere regional geolog- 
ische Spezialliteratur der bayerischen und 
nordtiroler Alpen,” “Zitir Geologie der Berge 


SCIENCE 


849 


des oberen Saalachtales,” “EH. O. Ulrichs 
“Revision der Palaeozoischen Systeme ’—ein 
Merkstein der Stratigraphie als Wissen- 
schaft?,” “Untermeerische Gleitungen bei 
Trenton Falls (Nord Amerika), und ihr 
Verhiltniss zu Ahnlichen Stérungsbildern.” 
This last paper is one of the most important 
contributions to structural geology made in 
this country in the last few years. 


THE Carnegie Museum has secured, through 
Professor C. H. EKigenmann, the pamphlet 
library of the late Dr. Albert Giinther, long 
headkeeper of the British Museum of Natural 
History, justly regarded in his time as the 
most eminent ichthyologist and herpetologist 
of Great Britain. The collection comprises 
almost all the literature relating to fishes and 
reptiles printed in the periodicals and journals. 
of learned societies during the eighteenth and} 
nineteenth centuries. 


Tur Georgia State Sanitarium at Milledee- 
ville has been selected by the United States 
government as a station for experimental work 
in pellagra cases. The patients will be segre- 
gated and kept under special treatment and 
diet, the work being done under the charge of 
two experts of the United States Public Health 
Service. 


A smrips of addresses on subjects connected 
with the European war is announced at the 
University of Chicago. They include: “Ra- 
cial Traits Underlying the War,” William I. 
Thomas, professor of sociology, December 3; 
“The Balkan Question,” Ferdinand Schevill, 
professor of modern history, January 1; 
“Russian and Asiatic Issues Involved,” Sam- 
uel N. Harper, assistant professor of Russian 
language and institutions, January 14; “The 
Effects of the War on Banking and Credit,” 
Professor Andrew ©. McLaughlin, February 
4; “The Ethics of Nations,” James Hayden 
Tufts, head of the department of philosophy, 
February 11; “The Rights and Duties of the 
United States as a Neutral Nation,” Charles 
Cheney Hye, professor of law, Northwestern 
University, February 18; “Geographical and 
Economic Influences,” J. Paul Goode, associ- 
ate professor of geography, February 25; 


850 


“The Effects of the War on Economie Con- 
ditions,” Chester W. Wright, associate pro- 
fessor of political economy, March 4. 


TuHE Rice Institute announces its first series 
of unversity extension lectures to be given on 
the afternoons of Mondays, Wednesdays and 
Fridays. The scientific lectures, given on 
Wednesdays, are as follows: 

Hlectricity, illustrated by numerous experi- 
ments, a course of six lectures by Harold Albert 
Wilson, professor of physics. 

The Geology of Texas, a course of three lec- 
tures by Edwin Theodore Dumble, consulting geol- 
ogist of the Southern Pacifie Company. 

Applications of Chemistry to Industry and 
Commerce, a course of three lectures by Arthur 
Romaine Hitch, instructor in chemistry. 


As an answer to the impression which seems 
fo exist, that all the public lands of any value 
Ihave long ago been taken up, Secretary Lane, 
im an advance statement from his annual re- 
port, calls attention to the fact that since 
March 4, 1913, settlers have made entry on 
mearly 20,000,000 acres of public lands—an 
area equal to that of Connecticut, Massachu- 
setts, New Hampshire and New Jersey com- 
bined. During the same period practically as 
much more coal and other mineral land of the 
west has been examined in detail in 40-acre 
tracts by the Geological Survey, and most of 
it has been thrown open to settlement or pur- 
chase. Some of these lands, such as those 
which include workable deposits of phosphate 
or oil, are still withdrawn pending suitable 
legislation for their disposal or use. Another 
important activity in public-land classifica- 
tion to which the secretary calls attention is 
the designation of lands for entry as “en- 
larged” or 320-acre homesteads. Designa- 
tions under this law approved by him, cover 
33,458,056 acres. The extract from the secre- 
tary’s report contains a series of maps of 
twelve public-land states showing in graphic 
form (1) the areas withdrawn from entry in 
these states between March, 1913, and July, 
1914, (2) the areas restored to entry, (3) the 
designations under the enlarged-homestead 
law, and (4) land taken up by settlers. Thus, 
for example, the map of Montana shows the 
total area for the state, 93,000,000 acres; lands 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1041 


withdrawn from entry, 67,741 acres; lands re- 
stored to entry after examination, 3,171,558 
acres; lands designated under the enlarged- 
homestead law, 11,022,854; acres and lands 
entered by settlers, 7,417,291 acres. The other 
states in which public-land activities have been 
large and which are discussed by the secretary 
are Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, 
Idaho, Washington, Oregon, North Dakota, 
Arizona, California and Nevada. 


ATTENTION is called by The Observatory to 
the fact that at the congress of the representa- 
tives of the national ephemerides held in 
Paris in 1911 a scheme of cooperation between 
the various countries was planned, so as to 
assure in the future a greater production of 
useful work and to avoid a superfluous repe- 
tition of the computations. This end was to 
be attained by a plan of exchange and division 
of work, although each Almanack was to re- 
tain its own distinctive features. The ephem- 
erides for 1916 mark the inauguration of this 
arrangement. The Nautical Almanack Office 
has been supplied from abroad with the follow- 
ing: The ephemeris of Mercury from Berlin. 
The apparent places of polar stars from Paris. 
The apparent places of stars from Berlin, San 
Fernando and Turin. Details of eclipses and 
elements of occultations from Washington. 
The positions of the satellites of Mars and of 
Jupiter’s fifth satellite from Washington; of 
Jupiter’s four principal satellites from Paris; 
of Saturn’s satellites and ring from Berlin; 
of the satellites of Uranus and Neptune from 
Washington. Physical ephemerides of the 
sun, moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jup- 
iter from Washington. The Nautical Alma- 
nack Office has in its turn supplied, under this 
arrangement, the greater part of the Green- 
wich ephemerides of the sun, moon and plan- 
ets. In the table of the mean places of stars 
the magnitudes are taken from the Revised 
Harvard Photometry, instead of, as previ- 
ously, from Newcomb’s Fundamental Cata- 
logue. The spectral types, as given in the Re- 
vised Harvard Photometry, are now also 
added. From 1916 onwards, the fundamental 
meridian adopted by the Connaissance des 
Temps will be the meridian of Greenwich. 


DECEMBER 11, 1914] 


THE annual meeting of the American An- 
thropological Association will be held in 
Philadelphia from December 28 to 31, in 
affiliation with Section H of the American 
Association for the Advancement of Science 
and the American Folk-Lore Society. Titles 
for the joint program should be sent immedi- 
ately to Professor George Grant MacCurdy, 
secretary, Yale University Museum, New 
Haven, Conn. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 

THE board of regents of the University of 
Michigan has revised the faculty salary 
schedule of the literary department and the 
academic divisions of the engineering depart- 
ment. The revised and the original scales fol- 
low: Instructors, $1,000-$1,600, formerly $900— 
$1,400; assistant professors, $1,700-$2,000, 
formerly $1,600-$1,800; junior professors, 
$2,100-$2,400, formerly $2,000-$2,200; pro- 
fessors, $2,500—-$4,000, formerly $2,500-$3,500. 
The revised scale affects 200 teachers, and in- 
creases the year’s budget by approximately 
$40,000. 

Contracts have been let for the construc- 
tion of Ida Noyes Hall, the building which is 
to serve the women students of the University 
of Chicago as Bartlett Gymnasium and the 
Reynolds Club, provide for the physical cul- 
ture and social needs of the men. This build- 
ing, a gift of Mr. La Verne Noyes as a me- 
morial to his wife, will be completed in Jan- 
uary, 1916, at a cost of over $450,000. 

Dr. Rocer I. Ler, of Boston, has been 
elected to the chair of hygiene recently estab- 
lished at Harvard University. 

Dr. Howarp THomMas KarsNeER, assistant 
professor of pathology in the Harvard Med- 
ical School, has been appointed professor of 
pathology in the school of medicine of West- 
ern Reserve University. 

Dr. JoHN PENTLAND Manarry, known for 
his work on Greek history, literature and so- 
cial life, has been appointed provost of Trin- 
ity College, Dublin. 

Dr. Apo CASTELLANI, director of the clinic 
for tropical diseases, Colombo, Ceylon, has 


SCIENCE 


851 


been appointed by the Italian government pro- 
fessor of tropical medicine in the University 
of Naples, and the director of the royal clinie 
for tropical diseases in the same city. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 


A PECULIAR BEHAVIOR OF CUMULUS CLOUDS OVER 
THE ILLINOIS RIVER VALLEY 


AT noon on a bright day in mid-August, 
1914, the writer noticed over the valley of the 
Illinois River in Schuyler County, Illinois, a 
phenomenon which he deems worthy of record. 
The day was hot, with a brisk breeze from the 
west, and clear except for light cumulus 
clouds, uniformly and fairly closely spaced, 


Wig. 1. Sketch of the portion of the Illinois 
River Valley along which the phenomenon here 
described was observed. Clear sky lay over the 
swampy and forested portion of the valley north- 
east of Beardstown while over the uplands and the 
reclaimed bottomlands cumulus clouds were ob- 
served. From the point of observation it could 
not be determined whether the clouds began again 
at the edge of the dune sand or at the eastern 
bluff. 

at 
moving rather rapidly with the wind. Dur- 
ing a stop for lunch on the crest of the western 
bluff-border of the valley between Frederick 
and Browning (Fig. 1) attention was drawn 
to the movement of the cumulus clouds over- 
head. As a matter of curiosity a particular 


852 SCIENCE 


‘cloud was selected with the idea of noting its 
changes of shape and something of its rate 
of movement. The cloud selected advanced to 
a point almost exactly overhead, then began to 
melt away. In a space of less than five min- 
utes it had entirely disappeared. Another 
and yet another did the same. Finally, an 
unusually large cloud was selected; but this, 
too, disappeared on reaching approximately 
the same point. All advanced in orderly pro- 
cession from the west till, overhead, they 
reached a lane of clear sky, then melted away. 
, This lane of clear sky, several miles wide, 
stretched away northeastward to the horizon, 
following very closely the course of the valley 
of the Illinois River, and southwestward over 
the river valley for 4 or 5 miles, after which it 
gave place to the usual cumulus clouds. To 
the east of the valley the cumulus clouds ap- 
peared once more and continued to the hori- 
zon. These relations were observed to persist 
throughout the greater part of the afternoon. 

A possible explanation of the phenomenon 
which suggested itself at the time is here re- 
corded as a working hypothesis to be consid- 
ered in connection with similar occurrences 
which may from time to time be deseribed. To 
make this explanation clear, a brief descrip- 
tion of the geography of the region is neces- 
sary. 

The valley of the Illinois River here is a 
flat-bottomed trough from 4 to 10 miles wide, 
bordered by relatively sharp bluffs, and is 
sunk some 200 feet below the general upland 
level of this part of the state. The upland is 
mainly cultivated farmland, much of it at 
this time of year bare after the wheat, hay and 
oats harvest. The river bottom, on the other 
hand, east of the point of observation and to 
the northeast as far as could be seen, is largely 
either swampy, with several lakes, or forest- 
covered. Four or five miles to the southwest, 
however, in the neighborhood of Beardstown, 
a considerable portion of the river bottom has 
been reclaimed and is given over to agricul- 
ture. 

The explanation suggested is that over the 
upland farms numerous convection currents 
gave rise to cumulus clouds, while over the 


[N. 8S. Vou. XL. No. 1041 


swamp and forest lands of the river bottom 
convection currents were subordinate or, per- 
haps, absent; that consequently, this cooler 
belt over the bottomlands not only failed to 
produce new cumulus clouds but also tended to 
become the channel of descent for some of the 
air which had been rising by convection from 
the surrounding hotter lands. On reaching 
such a belt of descending air, the clouds should 
be expected to melt away as they were drawn 
downward and to leave a zone of clear sky 
over the area of descending air. The width of 
the valley—4 to 10 miles—as compared with 
the height of the clouds—probably about one 
mile—should give ample opportunity for differ- 
ences in heating to become effective in modi- 
fying the air currents and therefore the be- 
havior of the clouds. 

The presence of the cumulus clouds over the 
reclaimed parts of the bottomlands near 
Beardstown is thought to be significant in con- 
nection with the above explanation, since these 
would doubtless be heated nearly as effectively 
as the upland. 

Other possible explanations of the phe- 
nomenon might be suggested, but it seems idle 
to speculate further until more observations 
of a similar nature have been made. 


JoHN L. Rick 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 


CYANIDE OF POTASSIUM IN TREES 


To THE Eprtor or Science: I note an inter- 
esting contribution to ScmNCE in the issue of 
October 9, on the subject of cyanide of potas- 
sium taken up by trees when put into holes in 
the same. I wish to report that this chemical 
is the chief basis of treatment by a firm in 
Allentown, Pa., doing an extensive business 
in some of the Eastern States, claiming to 
render trees immune from attacks by all in- 
sects and diseases, and also to fertilize them. 
The process was originated by a man named 
Kleckner, and is now continued by a company 
ealled the Fertilizing Scale Company, of Allen- 
town, Pa. Their theory is that a tree can be 
given medicine, as well as food, by placing the 
same in capsules and fastening these in inci- 
sions under the bark. While the chief insect 


DECEMBER 11, 1914] 


poison is cyanide of potassium, yet they use 
chlorate of potash and sulfate of iron “to give 
the trees chlorine, sulfur, iron and potash.” 
They make wonderful claims for the destruc- 
tion of the scale and invigoration of trees, and 
commenced by charging fifty cents per tree 
for the so-called “vaccination.” The price is 
now reduced to fifteen cents, but they are tak- 
ing thousands of dollars from the confiding 
public. 

The important scientific point is that I have 
examined hundreds of trees treated by them, 
and have in some instances found no evidences 
that scale insects were ever present, while in 
others I have found the San José scale alive 
on the trees some time after treatment. What 
is much worse is that I have found it is true 
that some one or more of these chemicals is 
evidently taken up in the sap of the tree, and 
that to a considerable extent. While the mate- 
_ vial was placed under the bark about three feet 
from the ground, it blackened the cambium 
layer as high as I could reach and remove the 
bark, and started blight or death of tissue at 
the place where inserted. I have the names 
of scores of persons whose trees or orchards 
were finally killed by this treatment. One 
man, whose name and address I ean give, 
thought that it benefited his trees, and had it 
applied the second year, and the trees then died 
quickly. He is now disgusted with the treat- 
ment. 

In company with Professor I. C. Williams, 
Deputy Forestry Commissioner of Pennsyl- 
vania, I visited an orchard in Lebanon County 
that had been treated a few weeks previously. 
The San José scale was found alive on the 
trees, but blight or death of tissue had com- 
menced at the place of treatment and had 
worked downward slightly and upward con- 
siderably, and in fact, as high as one could 
reach. During the present week I have learned 
of another orchard, in Cumberland County, 
Pennsylvania, that was blighted and destroyed 
by the cyanide treatment. Therefore, while it 
is evident that some chemicals may be taken 
up in the trees and may even destroy some in- 
sects, it is further evident that they may be 


SCIENCE 


853 


injurious to the trees, and should be applied 
with great care and only after considerable 
experimentation, and should be recommended 
by scientists only after great deliberation. I 
shall send to interested persons printed articles 
on this subject from the office of the State 
Zoologist, Harrisburg, giving names and ad- 
dresses of persons whose trees have been killed 
by the cyanide “vaccination,” as the fakirs 
call it. These may be published. 


H. A. Surracs, 
State Zoologist 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, 
HARRISBURG, Pa. 


QUOTATIONS 


RESEARCH AND TEACHING 

THERE are at least three different concep- 
tions of a university. To some men it means 
a group of technical schools which prepare for 
many distinct vocations; a place of universal 
study, as contrasted with one that pursues a 
single line only. To some men it means a 
place which is widely known for its teachers 
of science and literature and the discoveries 
that they are making; a school of universal 
reputation, as distinct from one whose fame 
is merely local. Still others think of it as a 
place where students can get wide range of 
knowledge and fit themselves for their duties 
as citizens of a self-governing community; a 
school with ideals of universal culture, rather 
than of narrow specialization. 

The German university emphasizes the first 
and second of these conceptions; the French, 
the first and third; the English, the second 
and third. The American college in its early 
days devoted itself almost exclusively to the 
third. In attempting to become universities 
instead of colleges, our schools of higher learn- 
ing in America have in recent years tried to 
combine all three aims; but often under such 
adverse conditions or with such imadequate 
resources that they have failed of actually 
attaining any one of them. 

Under these circumstances a widespread 
belief has arisen that the three things should 
be separated rather than combined; that we 


854 SCIENCE 


ought to have country colleges to give the stu- 
dents general culture, city technical schools to 
train them for their several callings, and re- 
search foundations, apart from college or 
technical school, to promote scientific dis- 
covery and other forms of intellectual achieve- 
ment, by relieving the man who does creative 
work from the necessity of teaching. 

Let us first examine the arguments of those 
who say that research ought to be separated 
from teaching. 

The qualities of the investigator and the 
qualities of the teacher are quite different. A 
man may be good in one of these lines and 
bad in another. If investigators and teachers 
are associated in a university under the com- 
mon title of professor, the tendency is to 
require every man who seeks a position at the 
head of his department to do something in 
both lines. The college is so largely depend- 
ent upon teaching for its revenue that it can 
not make any adequate payment to the inves- 
tigator who does not teach. It is at the same 
time so dependent upon investigations for its 
outside reputation that it can not give the 
highest recognition and promotion to the 
teacher who does not investigate. Under these 
circumstances we get no proper division of 
labor. The man who ought to be making dis- 
coveries is compelled to waste his time in 
teaching students who can not appreciate and 
understand him. The man who ought to be 
teaching classes inspiringly and effectively 
feels himself compelled to do second-rate work 
of investigation which is of no inspiration to 
him or to anybody else. What is true of sci- 
ence is true of letters. The man who should 
be a creative author is made to do bad teach- 
ing. The man who should be an effective 
teacher is encouraged to write bad prose or 
worse poetry. To secure the advantages which 
the community can derive from proper divi- 
sion of labor—advantages which the commu- 
nity secures in every line of productive work 
except science and letters—we ought to have 
foundations which, by relieving our univer- 
sities of the responsibility for progress in sci- 
ence and letters, will enable them to spend 
their money in paying adequate salaries to 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1041 


men who can teach. Such are the views of 
those who argue for the extrusion of research 
from our universities. 

These arguments are plausible; to a certain 
extent, they are sound. Foundations to pro- 
mote scientific discovery or literary production 
are admirable things. There are some men 
who can work more effectively without a uni- 
versity connection than with one; and it is 
most important to provide such men with op- 
portunities. But if this idea were carried to 
the extreme, and it were understood that the 
universities were places for teaching and not 
for investigation, the result would certainly 
be bad for the universities themselves, and 
would probably be bad for the progress of sci- 
ence and letters as a whole. 

For while it is true that the work of the 
investigator and the work of the teacher are 
different, it is not true that they are habitually 
separate or antagonistic. There are some pro- 
ductive scholars that can not teach at all; but 
the majority of them can teach remarkably 
well if you give them the opportunity to do it 
in the right way. On this point I may be per- 
mitted to quote a paragraph from my report 
of eight years ago: 


We are not dealing with an ordinary case of di- 
vision of labor. The chief argument for division 
of labor is that it makes each man more expert 
and more efficient in his own field of work. In 
university work, however, the man who tries to in- 
vestigate without teaching is apt to become sterile, 
while the man who attempts to teach without in- 
yestigating becomes a worse teacher instead of a 
better one. We want the opportunities for re- 
search and investigation distributed as widely as 
possible throughout the teaching force and the 
student body. We want to impress upon every 
man that teaching and discovery are both done at 
their best when done in combination. Not that 
every man should be compelled to lecture to 
classes, whether he is able to do so or not. There 
is a great deal of valuable teaching which is not 
done in the class-room, or even in the laboratory. 
There are some men who teach best by their 
writings, their conversations, their intelligent sug- 
gestions for the work of others; but they should 
understand that they are part of the teaching 
force, and are simply doing their teaching in a dif- 


DECEMBER 1], 1914] 


ferent way from other men. Instead of setting 
Such a man apart as a research professor, we 
should let him understand that withdrawal from 
the lecture room and relief from the duties of 
supervising elementary students carry with them 
a larger obligation to publish as fully as possible 
the results of all discoveries, to organize depart- 
ments intelligently, to train up young men who 
ean teach; and to make liberal room for such men, 
instead of trying to get in their way when their 
work becomes popular. 


The routine work of teaching, if done under 
favorable conditions, is often a positive help 
to a scientific or literary man in keeping his 
nerves steady. Very few scholars, however 
productive, can write well all the time. Very 
few investigators, however well qualified, can 
make a continuous series of discoveries. If a 
man has nothing to occupy him in his less fer- 
tile intervals he will be tempted either to 
remain wholly idle or to publish second-rate 
books and pseudo-discoveries. A teaching posi- 
tion enables him to fill his time with work 
sufficiently close to his lines of productive 
activity to be stimulating and yet with enough 
of routine in it to make it healthful. And to 
most men this combination of teaching with 
research gives positive enjoyment of a high 
order. We may well remember the words of 
Lord Kelvin in connection with his receipt 
of the degree of Doctor of Laws from Yale in 
1902: 


There is one point on which I specially desire to 
speak. College professors should be permitted and 
given the means to do research work. On this 
matter of research I feel deeply. At the same 
time I do not believe it wise to have a research 
laboratory without teaching. It is a pleasure for 
a professor to meet students and to tell them what 
he can, and a greater pleasure if he can make them 
understand, and the greatest pleasure if he can 
widen the borders of their knowledge. To com- 
bine research work with teaching is most valuable 
both for student and teacher. 


This is not intended as an argument against 
the establishment of institutions for research. 
There is room outside of the universities for 
all the endowments which we now have for 
productive work in science and letters, and for 
many more. There is as much difference of 


SCIENCE 


855 


temperament among investigators as there is 
among men of any other kind. Some do better 
research work when they are relieved of the 
necessity of teaching. For these we should 
have independent foundations. Others, whom 
I believe to be a decided majority, do better 
research work in connection with university 
positions. I regard it as a most fortunate cir- 
cumstance that we are able to make provision 
for men of both kinds. 

Nor is this intended as an argument against 
appointing men to professorial positions who 
are inspiring teachers rather than productive 
scholars. Our colleges need all the good teach- 
ers that we now have, whether they are pro- 
ductive scholars or not. But with a large 
number of men good teaching and productive 
scholarship ought to be conjoined; and it would 
be most unfortunate for such men themselves, 
for our universities, and for America’s prog- 
ress in science and letters, if we attempted to 
dissociate things that so generally belong to- 
gether.—From the annual report of President 
Arthur T. Hadley, Yale University. 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 


Inst of Prime Numbers from 1 to 10,006,721. 
By Derrick Norman LeHMer. COarnegie 
Institution of Washington, Publication No. 
165, 1914. Pp. xv-+ 133. 

By the publication of his factor table for 
the first ten million natural numbers (Publica- 
tion 105, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 
1909) Professor Lehmer offered to the public 
a monumental work which will probably re- 
main a model of its kind for centuries in view 
of its accuracy. The present work is based 
upon this factor table and was prepared with 
equal care. The pages are of the same size in 
these two publications, but the present volume 
is not quite one third as large as its predeces- 
sor. 

Since the natural numbers are fundamental 
in many mathematical theories, it is not in- 
frequently useful to know whether a given 
number is prime. The direct determination 
of this property is generally very laborious 
when the number is large. Hence a reliable 
table may save an enormous amount of labor. 


856 


On the other hand, such a table is very useful 
as a check in the development of theorems 
relating to prime numbers. Mathematical 
interest along this line has been greatly stim- 
ulated in recent years by the publication of 
the elegant work, in two volumes, entitled 
“ Handbuch der Lehre von der Verteilung der 
Prinzahlen” by E. Landau, of Gottingen, Ger- 
many. 

The prime numbers contained in the pres- 
ent volume can be found by means of the given 
factor table, but it is much easier to use the 
present table in case the only question under 
consideration is whether a given large num- 
ber, within the limits of this table, is prime 
or composite. Hach page contains 100 rows 
and 50 columns of numbers, and hence there 
are 5,000 different prime numbers on a page. 
It is therefore very easy to determine, by 
means of this table, the number of prime num- 
bers lying between any two numbers within 
the limits of the table. 

The Introduction covers fifteen pages and 
deals with various questions relating to prime 
numbers. It includes a table exhibiting the 
actual numbers of prime numbers at intervals 
of 50,000 up to 10,000,000, and comparing 
them with the approximate numbers of these 
primes according to the formulas of Rie- 
mann, Tchebycheff (Cebysév) and Legendre. 
It is somewhat surprising to find that the In- 
troduction contains evidences of carelessness 
while the body of the work seems to have been 
prepared with the greatest care. 

In fact, at least three inaccuracies appear 
on the first page of the Introduction. Line 
twenty begins with the word “infinite” in- 
stead of “finite.” In line thirty-seven of the 
first column it is stated that Eratosthenes was 
a contemporary of Euclid. As a matter of 
fact it is not known whether Euclid was still 
living when Eratosthenes was born. We know 
very little about the life of Euclid, and it is 
distinctly stated in Gutinther’s “Geschichte 
der Mathematik,” 1908, page 83, that we do 
not know whether Euclid and Eratosthenes 
were contemporaries. In line sixteen of the 
second column of the first page the symbol 
22” should be replaced by 2?n. 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1041 


In referring to these inaccuracies in the 


‘Introduction it is not implied that they af- 


fect seriously the value of the book. On the 
contrary, we desire to emphasize the fact that 
the table is not to be judged by its Introduc- 
tion. Professor Lehmer realizes very keenly 
the great importance of accuracy in listed 
results, and he has made a careful study of 
methods which tend to insure the greatest pos- 
sible accuracy. In view of the enormous 
amount of labor involved in testing the accu- 
racy of such tables sufficiently to pass reliable 
judgment, the reviewer bases his confidence in 
the accuracy of the present table on the 
methods used by the author, and not on his 
own direct observations. 

In closing we may refer briefly to the fol- 
lowing interesting sentence which appears on 
page x of the Introduction: “It is hardly 
likely, indeed, that any theorem of importance 
in the Theory of Numbers was ever discovered 
which was not found in the first place by ob- 
servation of listed results.” Professor Leh- 
mer’s comprehensive knowledge of the devel- 
opments in Number Theory gives great weight 
to this striking emphasis on the importance of 
listed results. To the reviewer the quotation 
appears to emphasize too much the usefulness 
of the method under consideration, especially 
as regards the developments in the theory of 
algebraic numbers. G. A. MILLER 

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 


Natural Sines to Every Second of Arc, and 
Hight Places of Decimals. Computed by 
EK. Girrorp from MRheticus. Manchester. 
Printed by Abel Heywood & Son, 47 to 61 
Lever Street. 1914. Pp. 543. 

Among the extensive trigonometric tables 
which were calculated during the sixteenth 
century those of Rheticus occupy the most 
prominent place. That an immense amount 
of labor, devotion and perseverance was in- 
volved in the preparation of such tables may 
be seen from the fact that Rheticus employed 
computers for twelve years at his own expense. 
His “Opus Palatinum,” published posthu- 

1 Braunmiihl, ‘‘ Vorlesungen tiber Geschichte der 
Trigonometrie,’’ Vol. 1, 1900, p. 212. 


DECEMBER 11, 1914] 


mously in 1596, contained tables to ten decimal 
places of the natural trigonometric functions 
at intervals of ten seconds. This was sur- 
passed in 1613 by the tables in the “ Thesaurus 
Mathematicus,” which were based by Pitiscus 
_ upon unpublished tables computed by Rheticus, 
and gave the values of the natural functions 
to fifteen decimal places. 

Soon after the appearance of these exten- 
sive tables the public began to realize the great 
advantages of logarithmic computation. The 
“Trigonometria Britannica” by Briggs and 
the “Trigonometria artificialis” by Vlacq 
appeared in 1633, and served as sources for 
numerous briefer logarithmic tables of trigo- 
nometric functions. For about three hundred 
years it appeared as if the greater part of the 
labor put on the natural function tables had 
been wasted. In recent years calculating 
machines have to a considerable extent re- 
placed logarithmic tables, and have brought 
the natural function tables into more promi- 
nent use; thus furnishing another instance of 
unforeseen usefulness of mathematical lore. 

In 1897 W. Jordan published a table of the 
natural trigonometric functions to seven 
decimal places, basing his work upon the 
“Opus Palatinum.” To-day we have before 
us this work by E. Gifford based on the tables 
of Rheticus and aiming to facilitate the use 
of these tables by computing the values of 
the natural functions from second to second 
by interpolation. In view of the recent refine- 
ment in observation seven place tables do not 
always secure sufficient accuracy. Hence the 
present tables are computed to eight decimals. 

One of the most important elements in such 
tables is accuracy. As the main tables of 
Rheticus have been improved by successive 
computers it would appear that serious in- 
accuracies in such tables as the present 
could easily be avoided. The author of 
the present table does not inform us as re- 
gards his precautionary measures except that, 
“the sines to 1” were interpolated by the 
Thomas calculating machine from Rheticus’s 
figures for 10%, each being copied to 10 
places and obvious mistakes corrected so that 
the differences run in descending series.” It 


SCIENCE 


857 


is a somewhat curious fact that at the top of 
the first page of the table we find cosine 1 in 


place of cosine 90°. G. A. Minter 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 


Zur Frage der Hntstehung maligner Tumoren. 
By Tu. Bovert. Jena, Gustav Fischer. 
1914, 64 pages. 

The eminent position held by Professor 
Boveri in the field of cytology, if for no other 
reason, entitles him to a careful hearing in 
any allied field of research, and the present 
highly suggestive hypothesis as to the origin 
of malignant tumors is by no means inappro- 
priate from him since the tumor problems in 
their last analysis are cell problems. The 
medical man will probably pay little attention 
to this theory because it offers no practical 
solution of the cancer problems. Medical 
men interested in the theories as to the cau- 
sation of cancer, and especially those who fol- 
low von Hansemann, however, will find in 
Boyeri’s hypothesis a most interesting and 
suggestive modus operandi for their favorite 
theory. 

Tn, any hypothesis of cancer origin the diffi- 
culty to be overcome is the phenomenon of 
unrestricted cell division of the malignant 
cancer cells. This is the crux of the whole 
matter and it is here that every current hy- 
pothesis of cancer origin falls down, but in 
Boveri’s hypothesis this point is met. 

The theory rests upon a number of as- 
sumptions, some of which are supported by ex- 
perimental evidence, some are purely conjec- 
tural. We may briefly summarize these as- 
sumptions as follows: First, the chromosomes 
are qualitatively different and a certain num- 
ber and assortment of them are necessary for 
normal balanced activities of the cell; sec- 
ond, abnormal mitosis in the form of multi- 
polar spindle formation, leads to unequal dis- 
tribution of the chromosomes in the resulting 
cells; third, lost chromosomes are never re- 
placed and the abnormal cell, if it divides 
further, must give rise to similar abnormal 
cells; fourth, such an abnormal cell with 
its chromosome complex has a different set 
of interactions with the surrounding tissues 


858 


and with the organism as a whole, than 
does the normal tissue cell (or, as an 
alternative assumption, there may be in 
the nucleus special division-forecing or di- 
vision-preventing chromosomes); fifth, a 
malignant cancer cell is one haying an ab- 
normal chromosome complex which continu- 
ally reacts to a division stimulus from the 
surroundings, or in which the division-prevent- 
ing chromosomes are absent, or in which 
possible division-forcing chromosomes are 
present in multiple number; sixth, the ma- 
lignant tumor always arises from one single 
cell; seventh, this primordial cancer cell 
arises by abnormal division of an otherwise 
normal tissue cell and may start from any one 
of a large number of different causes. 

Of these assumptions the first, second and 
third are supported by experimental evidence; 
the fourth may be accepted as a corollary from 
the experimental evidence. The remainder, 
while based upon the experimental evidence, 
are not supported by direct evidence. 

The experimental evidence is based upon 
the well-known work by Boveri himself on 
dispermic eggs of the sea-urchin in which, 
through multipolar spindles, the chromosomes 
are irregularly distributed in the four result- 
ing cells. Such four-cell stages, submitted to 
the action of Herbst’s decalcified sea water, 
separate and develop on immersion in normal 
sea water. The variety of irregular and ab- 
normal larve resulting from this treatment 
indicate the qualitative differences of the 
chromosomes and the need of a balanced 
chromosome complex. Further experimental 
evidence of the qualitative difference of 
chromosomes is furnished by the modern work 
in cytology and in experimental breeding, 
especially in connection with the sex chromo- 
some. Observations and experiment have led 
to the general acceptance of the theory of the 
individuality of the chromosomes and of the 
conclusion that a chromosome, once lost, can 
not be replaced or regenerated from other 
chromosomes. 

That single chromosomes of tissue cells of 
vertebrates represent different activities in 
the cell is the basic assumption in Boveri’s 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No, 1041 


cancer theory. In his earlier experimental 
work he showed that some chromosomes 
might be absent without causing ill effects on 
the further activity of the cell, while the loss 
of others would be shown by pathological ef- 
fects on future structures and activities. If 
the same principle holds for tissue cells, an 
abnormal mitosis might give rise to cells with 
an unequal distribution of chromosomes, and 
such cells might have a chromosome complex 
which would permit the ordinary, controlled 
activities of the cells of that particular tissue, 
and the result would be relatively harmless; 
or, one of such cells might have an abnormal 
chromosome complex in which the controlling 
factors of division are either absent or over- 
balanced and unlimited growth and division 
would result. Not every abnormal mitosis in 
normal tissue cells would thus lead to tumor 
formation but only such as have the abnormal 
chromosome complex which represents an 
uncontrolled growth and division energy. His. 
theory thus demands that a given cancer 
arises from one original cancer-producing cell 
which transmits its chromosome complex and 
its abnormal peculiarities to all of its 
daughter cells and so gives to the cancer, as. 
a whole, its peculiar cellular characteristics. 
The theory has nothing to do with abnormal! 
mitoses in the cancer cells themselves; such 
abnormal mitoses tend to break up the pe- 
culiar and malignant chromosome complex and! 
to render the progeny of such cells harmless. 
In a sense therefore, abnormal mitoses in can- 
cer might be indicative of spontaneous heal- 
ing, although by the theory it is equally pos- 
sible that a new and more malignant type of 
cancer might be started. 

The cause of a malignant tumor, according 
to this hypothesis, thus may be anything 
which induces abnormal mitoses; for example, 
chronic irritation sets up regenerative proc- 
esses and continues to act during the mitotic 
processes involved in this regeneration. One 
or several mitotic figures might be broken up: 
by such irritation thus giving rise to unequal 
distribution of chromosomes in the resulting 
cells, some or one of which might have the 
chromosome complex necessary for continued 


DECEMBER 11, 1914] 


proliferation, abnormal inter-actions, and to 
cancer formation. 

The abnormal activities of cancer cells, to- 
gether with the products of necrosis present 
in every cancer, may induce cell division and 
the formation of cells with the right chromo- 
some complex for cancer origin, in neighbor- 
ing tissues, and so start up secondary or ter- 
tiary growths from the primary, thus giving 
rise to the phenomenon occasionally met with 
in transplanted tumors of change in type, car- 
cinoma into sarcoma, for example, as Bash- 
ford has found. 

The varying frequency of cancer in different 
organs or tissues depends, according to this 
theory, unon the frequency of mitotic divisions 
in the normal tissues; the age incidence of 
cancer, upon the abnormal divisions which ac- 
company physiologically weakened cells, as in 
the case of protozoa in “ depression ” periods. 

In his treatment of the theory Boveri gives 
its application to most of the well-known phe- 
nomena met with in cancer growth, and meets 
some of the arguments which have been 
brought against it. From the nature of the 
case the theory is difficult if not impossible to 
analyze by direct experiment, and for this rea- 
son, as well as for its impracticability, it is 
probable that the hypothesis will not be fayor- 
ably received by the medical profession. 


Gary N. CALKINS 
CoLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, 
DEPARTMENT OF ZOOLOGY 


A Text-book of Geology, for use in mining 
schools, colleges and secondary schools. By 
James ParK, Professor of Mining in the 
University of Otago, New Zealand. Lon- 
don, Charles Griffin & Co. 1914. 8vo. Pp. 
xvi-+ 598, Figs. 263, Pls. 70. 

Professor Park has already become well- 
known to teachers and students of geology in 
America by his writings upon mining geology. 
His cosmopolitan attitude and broad sym- 
pathies are attested in the present text-book 
by a frontispiece from the Grand Canyon of 
the Colorado, and by acknowledgments, in his 
preface, to the director of the U. S. Geological 
Survey for aid kindly extended. A reader on 


SCIENCE 


859 


this side of the world would naturally antici- 
pate a text-book specially prepared for Aus- 
tralasia, but one is pleasantly surprised to find 
that the anticipations are not borne out by the 
facts. European and American geological sec- 
tions and remains of life are discussed with 
the same fulness as Australasian. One can 
not help wishing that for readers on this side 
of the world a little more emphasis had been 
laid on the latter. 

Professor Park’s text-book is of about the 
same size and scope as Scott’s “ Introduction 
to Geology,” or LeConte’s “ Elements.” It 
will furnish the material, along with labora- 
tory study and suitable field trips, for one 
year’s work in a college or scientific school. 
It impresses the reviewer as too advanced for 
secondary schools, despite its title. 

There are, of course, several lines along 
which the subject of geology may be attacked 
or expounded. Broad, general processes such 
as erosion and deposition, elevation and sub- 
sidence, may be set forth in advance of the 
handling and learning of minerals and rocks. 
Or the teacher, as seems best to the writer, 
may begin with actual rocks and discuss these 
first; passing later to their large forms and 
their erosion, disturbance and order in time. 
A third start is possible if one considers the 
earth in its astronomical relations and later 
comes down to the terrestrial details. Pro- 
fessor Park begins with a summary of the 
science in all its bearings, and in his first 
chapter outlines the general astronomical re- 
lations, history, structure and the play of 
modifying processes. The chapter closes with 
seventeen summarizing propositions. Chap- 
ter II. in two pages blocks out the subdivisions 
of the subject and briefly reviews the teach- 
ings of several of its founders. Passing then 
to denudation and the destructive and con- 
structive effects of streams, oceans, and the 
resulting general rock structures, nine chap- 
ters, or about one third the work, are utilized 
before the rock-forming minerals and the 
rocks themselves are specifically taken up. 
One may question if it would not be clearer 
to a student if the rock-making minerals and 
the rocks themselves, as formed of them, could 


860 SCIENCE 


not be most wisely studied first, as they can be, 
without extended reference to other parts of 
the subject; and then knowing the raw mater- 
ials with which forces and processes deal, the 
student can most intelligently follow out the 
various modifications produced upon them by 
the geological agents. 

Professor Park does not take up rocks as ob- 
jects in and of themselves, but views them as 
products of geological processes. Thus, sedi- 
mentary rocks are first outlined following the 
introductory chapters already mentioned, and 
even after joints, faults and cleavages have 
been described. Igneous rocks are introduced 
by a preliminary chapter on volcanoes and 
volcanic action. Before the individual rocks 
are taken up we find the topics—alteration, 
magmatic differentiation and Atlantic and 
Pacific types discussed, inevitably with the 
use of rock names with whose significance the 
student can not yet be familiar. In these par- 
ticulars it seems to the reviewer that the nat- 
ural order of treatment is reversed. 

A chapter on fossils and a following one on 
conformity and unconformity lead up to the 
great subject of stratigraphical geology which 
forms Part II., and to which fifteen chapters 
or more than one third the work are devoted. 
One hails with satisfaction this recognition of 
the great stratigraphical part of the subject, 
by one who writes primarily for mining 
schools. The tendency to minimize this enor- 
mously important branch of the subject in 
favor of purely structural and dynamic por- 
tions has become pronounced in later days, and 
yet mistakenly. The great conceptions of 
older and younger strata, of succession in 
time, of recognition by organic remains; of 
the growth of land masses, are all fundamental 
to the applications of the subject as well as to 
its proper understanding. The treatment is 
well balanced and the succession of living 
forms is brought out by reasonably full num- 
bers of illustrations. Sections are given for all 
the better explored portions of the globe. 

Part III., Economic Geology, embraces two 
very condensed chapters, one relating to min- 
eral deposits of all kinds and one on the meth- 
ods of field work and geological surveying. Be- 


LN. S. Vou. XL. No. 1041 


sides two brief appendices on special field 
methods, a condensed bibliography of geolog- 
ical works, classified by subjects, is given at 
the close of the work. All in all, Professor 
Park’s work is well written, interesting, and 
will prove a serviceable text-book. 

J. F. Kemp 


BOTANICAL NOTES 
A STUDY OF A DESERT BASIN 


SEVERAL months ago there appeared from 
the Carnegie Institution of Washington, as 
“Publication No. 193” an interesting paper 
entitled “ The Salton Sea,” by Dr. D. T. Mac- 
Dougal and his collaborators. It fills a 
quarto volume of nearly two hundred pages, 
and is illustrated by thirty-two full-page 
plates, and four text figures. 

The whole book is full of interest to the 
scientific reader, and especially to the geolo- 
gist and geographer, as shown by the titles of 
the chapters, “The Cahuilla Basin and Desert 
of the Colorado ”; “ Geographical Features of 
the Cahuilla Basin ”; “Sketch of the Geology 
and Soils of the Cahuilla Basin”; “ Chemical 
Composition of the Water of Salton Sea. and 
its Annual Variation in Concentration,” ete. 
Several of the chapters, including the major 
part of the volume, are devoted to botanical 
aspects connected with the formation and re- 
cession of the limits of the Salton Sea. And 
here it may be remarked that this sea is in 
southern California, and occupies a portion of 
a great desert depression of the earth’s surface 
below sea level. The sea was formed a few 
years ago by an inrush of water from the Col- 
orado River which flooded an area of over 
four hundred square miles of the lower por- 
tions of the Cahuilla Valley. Since then the 
sea has been subsiding, and this fact has en- 
abled the botanists to study the incoming yeg- 
etation under the peculiar conditions here 
found. 

The distinctly botanical chapters are those 
on the “ Behavior of Certain Microorganisms 
in Brine”; “ The Action of Salton Sea Water 
on Vegetable Tissues”; “Plant Ecology and 
Floristics of Salton Sink”; “ Movements of 


DECEMBER 11, 1914] 


Vegetation due to Submersion and Desicca- 
tion of Land Areas in the Salton Sink,” and 
the final “ General Discussion.” In the third 
of these there is given a catalogue of 202 spe- 
cies of plants collected in the Salton Sink. 
Of these, 23 species are lower (spore-bearing) 
plants, while 179 are seed-bearing. Of the 
seed-plants 131 are indigenous, and 48, intro- 
duced, the latter almost wholly confined to the 
reclaimed areas (by irrigation and cultiva- 
tion), and it is said that in no case have they 
been able to intrude where natural (7. e., des- 
ert) conditions remain. 

In the fourth chapter “the main thesis has 
been the manner in which seed-plants were 
carried into moist zones or strands around the 
receding lake which had been completely ster- 
ilized by immersion in the salt water.” Dur- 
ing the six years of close observation five 
trees, 17 shrubby species, and 38 herbaceous 
forms appeared upon the beaches of the reced- 
ing lake. Lists are given of the earlier spe- 
cies to appear on the newly emersed beaches, 
but their significance is hard to understand, 
no doubt because of the many factors enter- 
ing into the problems of dissemination, suc- 
cession, elimination, etc. The transformation 
of a waterless desert of excessively high tem- 
perature into a saline lake with broad beaches, 
which range through all degrees of moisture 
from soft mud to almost complete desiccation, 
involves a great number of physical and bio- 
logical factors, and this paper is a notable 
contribution to this phase of botany, which 
will be of interest to all ecologists. 


VASCULAR PLANTS OF OHIO 


THE state of Ohio is fortunate in having 
had for so many years a succession of syste- 
matic botanists who have gone over their terri- 
tory again and again until its higher plants 
are now very well known. Fifteen years ago 
the lamented Professor W. A. Kellerman with 
the help of a considerable number of contrib- 
utors published the “ Fourth State Catalogue 
of Ohio Plants,” and now his successor, Pro- 
fessor J. H. Schaffner, issues another list 
under the title “Catalogue of Ohio Vascular 


SCIENCE 


861 


Plants.” As indicated by its title it is con- 
fined to the higher plants, and includes 2,065 
species, “about one fourth of which are non- 
indigenous.” 

The nomenclature conforms mainly to that 
of the second edition of Britton and Brown’s 
“Tilustrated Flora of the Northern United 
States, Canada, and the British Possessions,” 
and the arrangement is in accordance with the 
well-known phyletic classification proposed by 
the author of the publication. Thus the phyla 
are Ptenophyta (Ferns, 49 species) ; Calamo- 
phyta (Horsetails, 8 species); Lepidophyta 
(Lycopods, 8 species) ; Strobilophyta (conifers, 
11 species); Anthophyta (Flowering Plants, 
1,989 species). Among the flowering plants 
one finds 526 monocotyledons, against 1,463 
dicotyledons. Again we find 161 sedges 
(Cyperaceae), and 178 grasses (Graminaceae). 
So, in the dicotyledons we find 72 mustards 
(Brassicaceae) ; 94 rosaceous plants (Rosaceae, 
in the wider sense) ; 87 leeumes (Leguminosae, 
in the old sense, although listed under Fab- 
aceae) ; 6 ragweeds (Ambrosiaceae) ; 202 com- 
posites (Helianthaceae) ; 25 chicories (Cicho- 
riaceae). 

A convenient map of Ohio showing the 
counties, and a full index complete this nota- 
ble catalogue. 


A STUDY OF A CARBONIFEROUS FLORA 


Iy a paper entitled “The ‘Fern Ledges’ 
Carboniferous Flora of St. John, New Bruns- 
wick,” published as Memoir 41, of the Geolog- 
ical Survey of Canada (1914) Dr. Marie C. 
Stopes gives descriptions of the species of 
plants from these interesting deposits. The 
genera Calamites, Asterophyllites, Annularia, 
Sphenophyllum, Lepidodendron, Sigillaria, 
Stigmaria, Psilophyton, Sphenopteris, Cros- 
sotheca, Diplothema, Oligocarpia, Pecopteris, 
Alethopteris, Megalopteris, Adiantides, Neu- 


ropteris, Trigonocarpum, Rhacopteris, Spo- 
rangites, Pterispermostrobus, Whittleseya, 
Dicranophyllum, Cordaites, Poacordaites, 


Dadozxylon, Cordaianthus and Cardiocarpon are 

represented by one or more species. Many of 

these are illustrated by half-tone reproductions 
1 Ohio State University Bulletin, No. 24. 


862 


of photographs of the actual specimens. Since 
these half-tones have not been “touched up” 
they must prove of the greatest value to stu- 
dents of Carboniferous plants. 


A USEFUL SOCIETY 


THE Sixth Annual Report of the “ Quebec 
Society for the Protection of Plants from In- 
sects and Fungous Diseases”? (Quebec, 1914), 
¢alls attention to a society that must prove to 
be most useful to the people of the province of 
Quebec in particular, as well as of all eastern 
Canada in general. The report itself covers 
less than a hundred pages, and yet it includes 
more valuable articles than many much larger 
reports. Thus among botanical papers there 
is a short, crisp report of the committee on the 
flora of the province of Quebec recommending 
the early publication of a new “Flora of Que- 
bec”; another on Downy Mildews; still 
others on Some Plant Diseases of 1913; Stor- 
age Rots of Potatoes and Other Vegetables; 
A Bacterial Soft Rot of Turnips; Injury and 
Abscission of Impatiens sultant. One can not 
help feeling that these Canadians have man- 
aged to organize a most useful society, for 
which they deserve to be congratulated. 


Cuaruses E. Brssry 
THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 


THE ELECTRIC MOTOR NERVE CENTERS IN 
SKATES (RAJIDZ) 

Waite the electric lobes of the brains of 
torpedos, with their massed motor nerve cells 
of the electric apparatus, are classic: subjects 
of study, and while the physiologically corre- 
sponding motor centers of the central nervous 
system have been described superficially in 
Malopterurus, Gymnarchus and Gymnotus, 
the motor nerve apparatus of the other three 
types of electric fishes (two Teleosts) have 
never been adequately worked out. The 
writer has recently worked on this nerve cen- 
ter of the electric apparatus in the skates 
with results that promise to be of interest. 

Ewart has already described a motor electric 
nerve cell from Raja, but it is not certain that 


THE 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Von. XL. No. 1041 


the cell, which he figures and describes in his 
short report in the Proc. Royal Soc., Vol. 58, 
pp. 388-391, is a motor nerve cell belonging 
to the electric organ or a motor nerve cell be- 
longing to the muscle that surrounds the elec- 
trie organ. 

The writer examined the spinal cords of 
eleven species of skates and found remarkable 
cells placed in the anterior horn of the cord 
at various regions which were all opposite the 
well-known spindle-shaped electric organs 
found in the tail and lower body of this fish. 
While these cells were placed thus in the cord 
among other nerve cells and corresponded in 
their anterior-posterior distribution with the 
extent of the electric organ, yet their cyto- 
logical character was such that it could 
scarcely be believed that they were nerve cells 
at all. They are of unusually large size, irreg- 
ular in configuration, with many angles and 
projecting points some of which might be 
nerve processes. The large cytoplasmic body 
contains an irregular branching and lobular 
nucleus containing much chromatin but no 
definite plasmosome, the opposite condition 
to that found in most nerve cells. This chro- 
matin is distributed in the form of numerous 
(several hundred) masses of considerable size, 
evenly and regularly strewn through the 
caryoplasm. 

This type of nucleus is so unusual for a 
nerve cell that these cells were traced back- 
ward through a series of embryonic skates to 
their origin, which proved to be the same as 
the other motor nerve cells of the anterior 
horn. Stages were clearly traced that showed 
them being differentiated from these other 
cells at an early stage of the embryo within 
the egg. The physiological activity of these 
large cells was evidenced by the formation of 
series of vacuoles which coalesced into larger 
vacuoles that finally condensed and precipi- 
tated their contents into a number of heavy, 
homogeneous granules which were discharged 
from the cell in a ventral direction and became 
distributed through and around the tissues of 
the gray matter. This material appears to be 
finally absorbed by the blood. Its composition 
has not yet been determined. 


IDECEMBER 11, 1914] 


Work on this whole apparatus and its prod- 
ucts is being pursued by Mr. C. C. Speidel 
and the writer to determine its structure and 
function, which is supposed to have some rela- 
tion to the electric apparatus of the skates, 
even if it does not prove to be the motor nerve 
cells of this apparatus. 

Unric DaHLcREen 


‘THE EFFECT OF STORAGE IN RIVER WATER (STERIL- 
IZED) ON THE PRODUCTION OF ACID IN 
CARBOHYDRATE SOLUTIONS BY THE 
BACILLUS COLI GROUP 


Durine the last decade, the fermentation of 
the various carbohydrates with the production 
of acid and gas has been used almost exclu- 
‘sively for dividing the Bacillus coli group 
into many subdivisions. Theobald Smith 
(1893) seems to have been the pioneer in this 
‘field by his division of the colon group by the 
use of saccharose. Of the later workers, Win- 
‘slow and Walker (1907) and MacConkey 
(1905) seem to have done the most careful 
work. MacQConkey divided the Bacillus colt 
-group into four subgroups by the use of dulcite 
and saccharose according to the following 
«scheme: 


Saccharose Duleite 
B. coli communis .. — + 
B. coli communior .. + + 
B. coli aerogenes ... + = 


B. coli acidi lactict. 


In 1909 MacConkey further subdivided the 
groups by the addition of motility and lique- 
faction of gelatine to his tests. Jackson (1911) 
in America subdivided MacConkey’s original 
‘scheme by the use of mannite, raffinose, ni- 
trate reduction, indol production, motility 
and other similar reactions. The fermenta- 
tion of carbohydrates certainly offers a fruit- 
ful field for the classification of the Bacillus 
‘colt group, but we must soon decide just what 
the limits of fermentation must be, for the list 
of carbohydrates now in use is a long one and 
increasing steadily. The question will soon 
come to the front, “ Are these fermentations 
of the various carbohydrates permanent func- 
tions of the organisms?” Horrocks (1903) 
found that members of the Bacillus coli group 


SCIENCE 


863 


which were kept in sterilized sewage and 
Thames River water as well as in well water 
showed only a weak production of indol and 
a delayed action on milk. Peckham (1897) 
also found that the production of indol is vari- 
able. The purpose of the present work was 
to determine the permanency of acid production 
in carbohydrate solutions by the Bacillus cola 
group in stored river water. Three organisms 
of the original MacConkey scheme were used, 
namely, B. colt communis, acidi lactict, aero- 
genes. 
Procedure 

Water was taken from the Hudson River 
near the outlets of a sewer and 100 c.c. was 
poured into 30 bottles of 250 c.c. capacity. 
The water was sterilized and the sterilization 
tested by plating out respective samples. 
Pure agar cultures of B. coli communis, aero- 
genes, acidi lactici were emulsified in. steril- 
ized water. One cubic centimeter of this 
emulsion was placed in each bottle thus giving 
ten bottles of communis, acidi lactict and 
aerogenes. These bottles were stored away in 
a dark closet at 20° C. At various intervals 
inoculations were made into the carbohydrate 
solutions and titrations made at the end of the 
twenty-fourth hour or as near as possible to 
that period. During the course of the experi- 
ment the following carbohydrates were used: 
Dextrose, lactose, raffinose, saccharose, salicin, 
maltose and mannite. 

The carbohydrates and other media used 
during the work were made according to stand- 
ard methods of water analysis, report of 1905. 
Liebig’s Meat Extract (8 grams to the liter) 
was used in place of meat and gave entirely 
satisfactory results. The method used in 
titrating the cultures followed standard meth- 
ods in detail. Five cubic centimeters of the 
carbohydrate solution to be tested and 45 cubic 
centimeters of distilled water were placed in 
a casserole and boiled briskly for 1 minute. 
One cubic centimeter of phenolphthalein was 
added as indicator, and titration was made into 
the hot solution with N/20 NaOH. All re- 
sults are expressed in per cent. normal. All 
cultures were incubated at 37° C. and titrated 
at the twenty-fourth hour. Controls were run 


864 


in all cases. 'The author wishes to thank 
Meyer M. Harris for the routine analyses. 


TABLE I 


Averages of the Production of Acid by Bacillus 
colt communis 


SCIENCE 


Length 

of Stor-| Dex- | Lac- | Mal- | Saccha-| Man- | Raffi- | Sa- 
ane ap trose | tose | tose rose nite nose | licin 
eeks 
0 2.71") 2.02 | 2.15 Ss 2.87 og | 1.83 
it 2.73 | 2.12 | 2.01 = 2.88 Sf leas} 
2 2.71 | 2.09 | 2.01 BS} 2.82 5 1.69 
3 2.79 | 1.77 | 2.00 S 2.36 o | 1.54 
4 2.78 | 1.81 | 2.08 a 2.34 ih) alesy2 
6 2.76 | 1.78 | 2.11 "s) 2.35 mm 11.54 
8 | 2.44)1.88/1.81] 3 | 234) & |1.49 
10 2.39 |1.84|1.78] © 2.17 2 | 1:38 
14 | 2.41 /1.98]1.77| @ | 209! @ | 1.39 

TABLE II 


Averages of the Production of Acid 
colt aerogenes 


by Bacillus 


Length | 
of Stor-| Dex- | Lac- | Mal- |Saccha-| Man- | Raffi- | Sa- 
agein |} trose | tose | tose rose nite nose |} licin 
Weeks 
.0 2.767| 1.95 | 1.97 | 2.08 | 2.63 | 2.03 me 
1 2.80 | 2.22) 2.09 | 2.64 | 2.62 | 1.48 g 
2 2.77 | 209} 2.16 | 2.66 | 2.49 | 1.53 S 
3 2.81 | 2.05 | 2.03) 2.17 | 2.34 | 1.68 S 
4 2.75 | 1.86 | 1.96 | 1.90 | 2.30 | 1.61 a 
6 2.78 | 1.75 | 2.03 | 1.94 | 2.29 | 158 | 3 
8 2.47 | 1.76 | 2.03} 1.95 | 2.82 | 160) & 
10 2.34 | 1.77) 1.79} 1.82 | 2.16 | 1.59 | ,© 
14 | 2.27 | 1.80] 1.81| 1.77 | 2.13 | 158 | 4 
TABLE III 


Averages of the Production of Acid by Bacillus 
coli acidi lactici 


Length 
of Stor-| Dex- | Lac- | Mal- |Saccha-| Man- | Raffi- | Sali- 
age in| trose | tose tose rose nite nose | cin 
Weeks 
0 lost | 1.96 | 2.46 = 2.82 a 1.65 
1 2.803 | 2.00 | 2.14 2 2.62 @ |1.19 
2 2.81 | 2.00 | 2.15 ae 2.69 2 1.46 
3 2.76 | 1.81 | 2.24 2 2.39 o | 1.44 
4 2.74 | 1.83 | 2.20 & | 2.29 a | 1.39 
6 2.76 | 1.91 | 2.29] 3 2.32 | 1.38 
8 | 2.22 |1.83/2.15| 3 | 227] «& |1.49 
10 2.06 | 1.85 | 1.89 ° 2.23 iS 1.33 
14 2.05 | 1.82|1.86} 4 2.16 1.34 


1 Hach result is 
2 Hach result is 
3 Hach result is 


of ten titrations. 
of ten titrations. 
of ten titrations. 


the average 
an average 
an average 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1041 


Conclusion 

From the tables of averages it may be seen 
that storage for a period of 14 weeks in steril- 
ized Hudson River water (in tidal area) has 
very little effect upon the amount of acid pro- 
duced in dextrose, lactose, saccharose, maltose, 
mannite, salicin and raffinose by various mem- 
bers of the Bacillus coli group, 7. e., Bacillus 
colt communis, aerogenes and acidi lactici, 
which indicates that production of acid is a 
permanent characteristic of the Bacillus coli 
group. The slight decline of acid production 
may be due to diminished vitality of the organ- 
isms as a result of long storage in the water. 


Wm. W. BrowNe 


THE COLLEGE OF THE City or NEw York 


THE WASHINGTON MEETINGS OF THE AS-— 
SOCIATION OF AMERICAN AGRICUL-— 
TURAL COLLEGES AND EXPERIMENT 
STATIONS AND RELATED 
ORGANIZATIONS 

THE twenty-eighth annual convention of 
the Association of American Agricultural Col- 
leges and Experiment Stations, held at Wash- 
ington, D. C., November 11-18, 1914, and ae- 
companied as usual by meetings of about half 
a score of related organizations, brought to- 
gether college presidents, experiment station 
and extension directors, and workers in many 
fields of agricultural science to the number of 
approximately five hundred. The sessions of 
the various bodies were well attended and en- 
thusiastic, and the programs included much 
of interest to educators, scientific men and the 
general public. ; 

The complete list of organizations included 
in these meetings was as follows: American 
Association of Farmers’ Institute Workers, 
November 9-11; American Farm Manage- 
ment Association, November 9, 10; American 
Society of Agronomy, November 9, 10; Na- 
tional Association of State Universities, No- 
vember 9, 10; American Association for the 
Advancement of Agricultural Teaching, No- 
vember 10; Society for the Promotion of Agri- 
cultural Science, November 10; American So- 
ciety of Animal Production, November 10, 


DECEMBER 11, 1914] 


11; Land-grant Engineering Association, No- 
vember 11-13; Association of Official Seed 
Analysts, November 12, 13; Association of 
Feed Control Officials of the United States, 
November 138, 14, and Association of Official 
Agricultural Chemists, November 16-18. 

The general sessions of the Association of 
American Agricultural Colleges and Experi- 
ment Stations opened November 10. In an 
address of greeting, the Secretary of Agricul- 
ture, Hon. D. F. Houston, spoke of the in- 
creasing realization of the unity of interests 
of the department and the agricultural col- 
leges, and of the widened opportunities for 
service through this and through the passage 
of the Smith-Lever extension act. He also 
emphasized the additional responsibilities in- 
curred, and especially the difficulty of securing 
trained men to take up these new undertak- 
ings. The development of strong rural eco- 
Pomics courses to provide workers in such 
lines as marketing studies and the making of 
country life more attractive was strongly 
urged upon the agricultural colleges as well as 
their assumption of a general position of 
leadership in country life matters. 

In the report of the bibliographer, Dr. A. C. 
True, of the Office of Experiment Stations, 
discussed the form of extension publications, 
calling attention to the great diversity of 
practise now prevailing, and suggesting some 
changes in the interests of uniformity, in- 
ereased availability, and ease of preservation 
of these publications. ‘Subsequently, a series 
‘of recommendations from the agricultural li- 
braries section of the American Library As- 
sociation as to title pages, pagination and 
‘similar matters in college and station publi- 
eations in general received the consideration 
and approval of the executive committee of 
the association. 

For the standing committee on instruction 
‘in agriculture, Dr. True reported as chairman 
on farm practise requirements as a part of the 
4-year college course. Much diversity among 
institutions was discovered but the impor- 
tance of the subject was strongly emphasized. 
‘It was pointed out that failure to make pro- 
‘vision for such practise decreases the effective- 


SCIENCE 


865 


ness of instruction in agriculture, and that 
students who are permitted to graduate with- 
out it often bring upon the colleges merited 
unfavorable criticism. The report is to be 
printed as a separate at an early date. 

Dr. H. P. Armsby, of Pennsylvania, re- 
ported for the committee on graduate study, 
dealing especially with the Sixth Graduate 
School of Agriculture successfully held at the 
University of Missouri, June 29 to July 24. 
A policy of concentration upon a few subjects 
at the school was favored as well as the pro- 
vision of some form of credit for work accom- 
plished, and the need of greater attention by 
the colleges and stations to ways for facilita- 
ting the attendance of the younger members 
of their staffs at this school was pointed out. 

Reports were also submitted by the stand- 
ing committees on college, experiment station 
and extension organization and policy. A plan 
for student and faculty cooperation being 
tried at the Iowa State College in such mat- 
ters as the upkeep of the grounds, sanitation 
and other minor improvements, and the pro- 
tection of property was briefly reported by the 
college committee. This committee also sum- 
marized a questionnaire as to student charac- 
ter records which indicated a general belief 
in the desirability of such records but little 
uniformity as to methods. The experiment 
station committee emphasized the need for a 
sharp differentiation of the field of the sta- 
tion work from that of extension agencies, lim- 
iting the scope of the station to the discovery 
of new facts and methods and the testing of 
them to a point sufficient to establish their 
general truth and application. The prompt 
publication of results and the preservation of 
records in such form that in case of necessity 
the work may be taken up by others and the 
wider utilization of the Journal of Agricul- 
tural Research were also recommended. The 
report of the extension committee consisted 
largely of descriptions and definitions of terms 
commonly used in extension work. The ques- 
tion of general agricultural terminology is 
also to receive further study by a special com- 
mittee subsequently authorized by the associa- 
tion. 


866 SCIENCE 


The joint committee of the association and 


the U. S. Department of Agriculture on proj- - 


ects and correlation reported through Dean F. 
B. Mumford, of Missouri, that the committee 
had examined about 1,300 projects submitted 
by the state institutions and about 1,000 from 
the Department of Agriculture with a view to 
their possible correlation. Dr. K. F. Keller- 
man, of the department, for the joint com- 
mittee on publication and research, explained 
the policies of the Journal of Agricultural Re- 
search, now open to experiment station work- 
ers, and urged a wider participation by them. 

The evening sessions of the association were 
devoted largely to the address of the president, 
Dr. A. C. True (already printed in SCIENCE) 
and to addresses by E. L. Morgan, of Massa- 
chusetts, and Miss Elizabeth B. Kelley, of 
Wisconsin. Professor Morgan described an 
interesting experiment in rural community 
planning inaugurated in a typical New Eng- 
land village by the Massachusetts Agricul- 
tural College, whereby a strong community 
spirit was developed and great improvement 
effected in agricultural practise and market- 
ing, transportation facilities and other civic 
affairs, in education, and in the adoption of 
an all-the-year-round plan for community 
recreation. Miss Kelley spoke on home eco- 
nomics in extension work and emphasized the 
importance of educating men as well as women 
along this line, outlining some of the ways 
which have been found effective in bringing 
improved methods into the home. 

One of the general sessions was set aside for 
the discussion of problems in connection with 
the administration of the Smith-Lever exten- 
sion act. At this session, President W. O. 
Thompson, of Ohio, chairman of the execu- 
tive committee, reviewed the passage of the 
measure and Dr. True, for the States Rela- 
tions Committee of the U. S. Department of 
Agriculture, described its practical workings. 
The matter was further discussed by Dean C. 
F. Curtiss, of Iowa, President A. M. Soule, of 
Georgia, A. D. Wilson, of Minnesota, Presi- 
dent Benjamin Ide Wheeler, of California, and 
others. Hon. Carl Vrooman, Assistant Secre- 
tary of Agriculture, also made a brief address 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1041 


at this session in which he pointed out the 
need of extension work. At its close the 
association was received at the White House 
by President Wilson. 

At the final session, a report was made by 
President Brown Ayres, of Tennessee, for the 
executive committee, on the provisions and 
status of the Smith-Hughes bill for federal 
aid to vocational education, including an ex- 
planation of the work of the Federal Commis- 
sion on Vocational Education. Commissioner 
Claxton and others also discussed the scope 
and details of the bill. The association de- 
clared itself in favor of federal aid to voca- 
tional education along the general lines of the 
bill and instructed the executive committee to 
cooperate with other agencies in perfecting 
the measure and aiding in its passage. 

Various measures relative to military in- 
struction in the land-grant colleges were re- 
ferred to the executive committee for consid- 
eration. An engineering division was estab- 
lished in the college sectional meeting with 
provision for either separate or joint programs. 

Officers for the ensuing year were chosen as 
follows: President, EK. A. Bryan, of Washing- 
ton; Vice-presidents, J. H. Worst, of North 
Dakota, T. F. Hunt, of California, C. D. 
Woods, of Maine, P. H. Rolfs, of Florida, and 
C. A. Lory, of Colorado; Secretary-treasurer, J. 
L. Hills, of Vermont; Bibliographer, A. C. 
True, of Washington, D. C.; Executive Com- 
mittee, W. O. Thompson, of Ohio, chairman, 
H. J. Waters, of Kansas, Brown Ayres, of Ten- 
nessee, W. H. Jordan, of New York, and H. L. 
Russell, of Wisconsin. 

The time and place of the next meeting 
were left as usual with the executive com- 
mittee. 

Afternoon sessions were held by the sections 
on college work and administration, experi- 
ment station work and extension work. In the 
college section, the initial paper was on “ The 
Relation of the Agricultural College to In- 
struction in Agriculture and Home Econom- 
ies in Secondary and Rural Schools,” and 
“What the College Can Do to Promote Gen- 
eral Rural School Improvement.” In this 
paper, President E. T. Fairchild, of New 


DECEMBER 11, 1914] 


Hampshire, suggested that the agricultural 
colleges aid in securing the consolidation of 
scattered rural schools and their more liberal 
financial support, undertake a propaganda for 
tural high schools within the states and teach- 
ers’ training classes in these schools, and favor 
a law requiring the teaching of agriculture in 
elementary schools and the training of teach- 
ers in the elements of agriculture. President 
Vincent, of Minnesota, also advocated sum- 
mer sessions at the colleges for training rural 
teachers. 

President D. H. Hill, of North Carolina, in 
a paper entitled “Some Changed Attitudes” 
called attention to the increasing tendency to 
magnify the educational value of utilitarian 
subjects. Inasmuch as the mere training of 
experts will not make leaders of men, he advo- 
eated the retention of some subjects which 
turn men’s minds away from the purely ma- 
terialistic point of view. 

The cost of imstruction in agricultural col- 
leges and the relation of salaries in the di- 
vision of agriculture to those of other divisions 
in the agricultural colleges and universities 
was discussed by President C. A. Lory, of Col- 
orado. This paper described and illustrated by 
means of charts a system of cost keeping 
based on the units of semester credit, student 
semester credit and student recitation hour, 
the last named being found the most satisfac- 
tory. 

President H. J. Waters, of Kansas, was 
elected chairman of this section for the en- 
suing year and President W. M. Riggs, of 
South Carolina, secretary. 

In the experiment station section, under the 
topic of “ Meat Production as a Factor in the 
Progress of Agriculture in the United States,” 
George M. Rommel, of the U. S. Department 
of Agriculture, presented for Dr. A. D. Melvin 
and himself a paper on “ Meat Production in 
the Argentine and Its Effect on the Industry 
in the United States.” Although nearly 140,- 
000,000 pounds of beef were imported from 
Argentina during the last year, they believed 
that killings are about as great as breeding 
conditions will warrant, and therefore need 
cause no serious concern to American pro- 


SCIENCE 


867 


ducers. On the other hand, it was thought that 
Argentina offers a possible market for breed- 
ing stock deserving of increased attention. 
Dean F. B. Mumford discussed “Meat Pro- 
duction on the High-priced Corn Lands,” con- 
cluding that the methods which are likely to 
result in decreasing the cost of meat produc- 
tion and thereby making it possible for the 
farmers of the corn belt region to produce 
meat animals on high priced land are to be 
found in developing unimproved areas of 
land for grazing purposes; by utilizing the by- 
products of the farm, particularly coarse 
roughage such as stover, straw and cheap hay; 
by the general adoption of the silo as a means 
of preserving corn and other crops; by feeding 
more sheep and hogs because of their well- 
known efficiency in the utilization of feed- 
stuffs; and lastly, by the selection of more effi- 
cient meat animals. “The Possibilities and 
Methods of Meat Production in the South” 
were summarized by D. T. Gray, of North 
Carolina, who pointed out the advantages of 
this region in cheap lands and labor, mild cli- 
mate and long growing season, and compara- 
tive nearness to markets, and believed that 
success was to be expected upon adapting the 
industry closely to southern conditions as to 
feeds, buildings, ete. 

Dr. E. W. Allen, of the Office of Experiment 
Stations, explained the administration of ex- 
periment station work by projects. The proj- 
ect properly defined and limited has been 
found a convenient unit in planning, financ- 
ing and supervising station work. It provides 
a record of the stations’ activities, assists in 
defining the scope of this work and tends 
toward general economy and efficiency. The 
discussion following brought out a general con- 
currence as to the merits of the project system. 
A paper entitled “ How Can American Agri- 
cultural Experiment Stations Gain Higher 
Standing as Institutions for Scientific Re- 
search,” was read by Director S. B. Doten, of 
Nevada. The selection of high-erade men and 
the careful conserving of their time, and the 
provision of a scientific atmosphere were 
among the means suggested. 

. The section officers elected for the ensuing 


868 


year are Dean E. A. Burnett, of Nebraska, 
chairman; Director W. R. Dodson, of Louisi- 
ana, secretary; and W. H. Beal, of the Office 
of Experiment Stations, recording secretary. 

The section on extension work held a joint 
session with the American Association of 
Farmers’ Institute Workers, at which Dr. A. 
C. True took up the question of the use of the 
Smith-Lever fund for farmers’ institutes as a 
phase of extension work. In this he drew at- 
tention to the strictly educational character of 
the extension work contemplated by the act 
and the great stress laid on practical demon- 
strations. The farmers’ institutes, therefore, 
come within the provisions of the law only so 
far as they may be agencies through which 
the colleges can carry on work of this type. 
Where the institute system is directly con- 
nected with the colleges it is believed that 
they may be easily modified and restricted in 
scope so as to give them a distinctive place in 
the extension system. In states where the in- 
stitutes are under the direction of other agen- 
cies, their maintenance apparently does not 
come within the provisions of the law, though 
there may be cooperation and participation by 
the college staffs. The eventual establishment 
of a county agent system will also affect the 
situation. Conditions as to farmers’ insti- 
tute administration at present vary so widely 
in different states that apparently the first 
need is a standardization of the institute. 

The relation of farmers’ institutes to or- 
ganized extension agencies was also discussed 
by G. I. Christie, of Indiana. He believed 
that the institute is fulfilling a practical need 
but should be correlated with other extension 
work and brought under the supervision of the 
colleges. 

As an example of a model farmers’ institute 
address, Director C. EK. Thorne, of Ohio, gave 
a paper on “ Maintaining Crop Production.” 
Former Dean L. H. Bailey, of Cornell Uni- 
versity, closed the joint session with an ad- 
dress on “ The Present Responsibility of the 
Rural People.” This had special reference to 
the conditions brought about by the European 
war and emphasized the political responsibility 
of rural people in the progress of the nation. _ 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1041 


The extension section also took up the prob- 
lem of placing county agents in effective 
touch with farmers. C. B. Smith; of the 
States Relations Committee, indicated as 
among the essentials the employment of a well- 
trained representative, the making of a com- 
plete survey of the agricultural conditions, 
and the securing of the cooperation of the ex- 
isting organizations, working through groups 
wherever possible. OC. R. Titlow, of West Vir- 
ginia, also advocated the utilizing of existing — 
organizations, both official and non-official, 
and presented a chart showing graphically the 
correlation of the various agencies. 

C. D. Jarvis, of Connecticut, discussed the 
planning of extension work by means of defi- 
nite written projects, favoring in addition to 
the federal requirements a seasonal schedule 
for workers. K. L. Hatch, of Wisconsin, sub- 
mitted a report from the committee on the 
training of extension teachers, advocating the 
provision of technical training along the spe- 
cial line of prospective extension work and in- 
struction in the art of teaching. He suggested 
that the time necessary for this training might 
be secured by eliminating requirements of for- 
eign languages and mathematics. Teachers 
of approved ability in secondary agricultural 
schools were suggested as a promising source 
of supply for extension work. The officers 
elected for the ensuing year were R. D. Hetzel, 
of Oregon, chairman; C. R. Titlow, secretary, 
and John Hamilton, of Pennsylvania, record- 
ing secretary. Howarp L. Kyicut 


THE CONVOCATION WEEK MEETING OF 
SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES 


Tue American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science and the national scientific 
societies named below will meet at Philadel- 
phia, during convocation week, beginning on 
December 28, 1914: 

American Association for the Advancement of 
Science.—President, Dr. Charles W. Eliot, Har- 
vard © University; retiring president, Professor 
Edmund B. Wilson, Columbia University; perma- 
nent secretary, Dr. L. O. Howard, Smithsonian 
Institution, Washington, D. C.; general secretary, 


DECEMBER 11, 1914] 


Professor William A. Worsham, Jr., State Col- 
lege of Agriculture, Athens, Ga.; secretary of 
the council, Mr. Henry Skinner, Academy of Nat- 
ural Sciences, Logan Square, Philadelphia, Pa. 

Section A—Mathematics and Astronomy.— 
Vice-president, Professor Henry S. White, Vassar 
College; secretary, Professor Forest R. Moulton, 
University of Chicago, Chicago, Ill. 

Section B—Physics.—Vice-president, Professor 
Anthony Zeleny, University of Minnesota; sec- 
retary, Dr. W. J. Humphreys, U. S. Weather 
Bureau, Washington, D. C. 

Section C—Chemistry.—Vice-president, Provost 
Edgar F. Smith, University of Pennsylvania; sec- 
retary, Dr. John Johnston, Geophysical Labora- 
tory, Washington, D. C, 

Section D—Mechanical Science and Engineering. 
—Vice-president, Albert Noble, New York; sec- 
retary, Professor Arthur H. Blanchard, Columbia 
University, New York City. 

Section H—Geology and Geography.—Vice- 
president, Professor U. S. Grant, Northwestern 
University; secretary, Professor George F. Kay, 
University of Iowa. 

Section F—Zoology.—Vice-president, Professor 
Frank R. Lillie, University of Chicago; secretary, 
Professor Herbert V. Neal, Tufts College, Mass. 

Section G—Botany.—Vice-president, Dr. G. P. 
Clinton, Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Sta- 
tion; secretary, Professor W. J. V. Osterhout, 
Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. 

Section H—Anthropology and Psychology.— 
Vice-president, Dr. Clark Wissler, American Mu- 
seum of Natural History; secretary, Professor 
George Grant MacCurdy, Yale University, New 
Haven, Conn. 

Section I—Social and Economic Science—Sec- 
retary, Seymour C. Loomis, 69 Church St., New 
Haven, Conn. 

Section K—Physiology and Experimental Medi- 
cine.—Vice-president, Professor Richard Mills 
Pearce, University of Pennsylvania; secretary, Dr. 
Donald R. Hooker, Johns Hopkins Medical School, 
Baltimore, Md. 

Section L—Hducation.—Vice-president, Pro- 
fessor Paul H. Hanus, Harvard University; secre- 
tary, Dr. Stuart A. Courtis, Liggett School, De- 
troit, Mich. i 

Section M—Agricultwre.—Vice-president, Pro- 
fessor L. H. Bailey, Cornell University; secretary, 
Dr. HE. W. Allen, U. S. Department of Agriculture, 
Washington, D. C. 

The American Physical Soctety—Convocation 


SCIENCE 


869 


Week. President, Professor Ernest Merritt, Cor- 
nell University; secretary, Professor A. D. Cole, 
Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. 

The American Federation of Teachers of the 
Mathematical and the Natural Sciences—De- 
cember 29. President, Professor C. R. Mann, 
Carnegie Foundation, New York City; secretary, 
Dr. Wm. A. Hedrick, McKinley Manual Training 
School, Washington, D. C. 

The American Society of Naturalists—Decem- 
ber 31. President, Professor Samuel F'. Clarke, 
Williams College; secretary, Dr. Bradley M. Davis, 
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa. 

The American Society of Zoologists—December 
29-31. President, Professor C. E. McClung, Uni- 
yersity of Pennsylvania; secretary, Dr. Caswell 
Grave, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, 
Md. 

The Society of American Bacteriologists.—De- 
cember 29-31. President, Professor Charles E. 
Marshall, Massachusetts Agricultural College; sec- 
retary, Dr. A. Parker Hitchens, Glenolden, Pa. 

The Entomological Society of America.—De- 
cember 31—January 1. President, Professor Philip 
P. Calvert, University of Pennsylvania; secretary, 
Professor Alexander D. MacGillivray, University 
of Illinois, Urbana, Ill. 

The American Association of Economic Ento- 
mologists—December 28-31. President, Pro- 
fessor H. T. Fernald, Amherst College; secretary, 
A. F. Burgess, Melrose Highlands, Mass. 

The Geological Society of America— December 
29-31. President, Dr. George F. Becker, U. S. 
Geological Survey, Washington, D. C.; secretary, 
Dr. Edmund Otis Hovey, American Museum of 
Natural History, New York City. 

The Paleontological Society—December 29-31. 
President, Dr. Henry F. Osborn, American Mu- 
seum of Natural History, New York City; 
secretary, Dr. R. S. Bassler, U. 8. National Mu- 
seum, Washington, D. C. 

The Botanical Society of America.—December 
29-January 1. President, Dr. A. S. Hitchcock, 
U. S. Department of Agriculture; secretary, Dr. 
George T. Moore, Botanical Garden, St. Louis, Mo. 

The American Phytopathological Society.—De- 
cember 29-January 1. President, Dr. Haven 
Metcalf, U. 8. Department of Agriculture; secre- 
tary, Dr. C. L. Shear, U. 8. Department of Agri- 
culture, Washington, D. C. 

American Fern Society December 28-29. See- 
retary, Charles A. Weatherby, 749 Main St., Hast 
Hartford, Conn. 


870 


Sullwant Moss Society—December 30. Secre- 
tary, Edward B. Chamberlain, 18 West 89th St., 
New York, N. Y. 

American Nature-Study Society—December 30- 
31. Secretary, Professor E. R. Downing, Univer- 
sity of Chicago, Chicago, Ill. 

School Garden Association of America.—Decem- 
ber 29-30. President, Van Hyrie Kilpatrick, 124 
West 30th St., New York, N. Y. 

American Alpine Club.—January 2. 
Howard Palmer, New London, Conn. 

American Association of Official Horticultural 
Inspectors—December 29-30. Chairman, Dr. W. 
BE. Britton, New Haven; secretary, Professor J. G. 
Saunders, Madison, Wis. 

The American Microscopical Society—Decem- 
ber 29. President, Professor Charles Brookover, 
Little Rock, Ark.; secretary, T. W. Galloway, 
James Millikin University, Decatur, Ill. 

The American Anthropological Association.— 
December 28-31. President, Professor Roland B. 
Dixon, Harvard University; secretary, Professor 
George Grant MacCurdy, Yale University, New 
Haven, Conn. 

The American Folk-Lore Society.—Convocation 
Week. President, Dr. P. EH. Goddard, American 
Museum of Natural History, New York City; sec- 
retary, Dr. Charles Peabody, 197 Brattle St., Cam- 
bridge, Mass. 

The American Psychological Association.—De- 
cember 30-January 1. President, Professor R. 8. 
Woodworth, Columbia University; secretary, Pro- 
fessor R. M. Ogden, University of Tennessee, Nash- 
ville, Tenn. 

The Southern Society for Philosophy and Psy- 
chology.—December 31—January 1. President, 
Professor John B. Watson, The Johns Hopkins 
University; secretary, Professor W. C. Ruediger, 
George Washington University, Washington, D. C. 

The American Association for Labor Legisla- 
tion—December 28-29. President, Professor 
Henry R. Seager, Columbia University; secretary, 
Dr. John B. Andrews, 131 Hast 23d St., New York 
City. 

Society of Sigma XI.—December 29. President, 
Professor J. McKeen Cattell, Columbia Univer- 
sity; secretary, Professor Henry B. Ward, Univer- 
sity of Illinois, Urbana, Ill. 


Secretary, 


ST. LOUIS 


The American Physiological Society—December 
28-30. President, Professor W. B. Cannon, Har- 
vard Medical School, Boston, Mass.; secretary, 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1041 


Professor A. J. Carlson, University of Chicago, 
Chicago, Ill. 

The Association of American Anatomists.—De- 
cember 28-80. President, Professor G. Carl 
Huber, University of Michigan; secretary, Dr. 
Charles R. Stockard, Cornell University Medical 
School, New York City. 

The American Society of Biological Chemists.— 
December 28-30. President, Professor Graham 
Lusk, Cornell University Medical School; secre- 
tary, Professor Philip A. Shaffer, Washington 
University Medical School, St. Louis, Mo. 

The Society for Pharmacology and Experimental 
Therapeutics.—December 28-30. President, Dr. 
Torald Sollmann, Western Reserve University 
Medical School, Cleveland, Ohio; secretary, Dr. 
John Auer, Rockefeller Institute for Medical Re- 
search, New York City. 

The American Society for Experimental Pathol- 
ogy.—December 28-30. President, Professor 
Richard M. Pearce, University of Pennsylvania; 
secretary, Dr. George L. Whipple, San Francisco, 
Cal. 

CHICAGO 


American Mathematical Society.—December 28-— 
29. President, Professor E. B. Van Vleck, Univer- 
sity of Wisconsin. 

The Association of American Geographers.—De- 
cember 29-31. President, Professor A. P. Brig- 
ham, Colgate University; secretary, Professor 
Isaiah Bowman, Yale University, New Haven, 
Conn. 

The American Philosophical Association.—De- 
cember 28-30. President, Professor J. H. Tufts, 
University of Chicago; secretary, Professor H. G. 
Spaulding, Princeton, N. J. 


PRINCETON 

The American Economic Association—December 
28-31. President, Professor John D. Gray, Uni- 
versity of Minnesota; secretary, Professor Allyn 
A. Young, Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. 

The American Sociological Society—December 
28-31. President, Professor E. A. Ross, Univer- 
sity of Wisconsin; secretary, Professor Scott EH. 
W. Bedford, University of Chicago, Chicago, Il. 


NEW YORK GITY 

The American Mathematical Society.—January 
1-2. President, Professor E. B. Van Vleck, Uni- 
versity of Wisconsin; secretary, Professor F. N. 
Cole, 501 West 116th St., New York City. 


NEw SERIES 
VoL. XL. No. 1042 


Fripay, DrecemBer 18, 1914 


fei Le INGE 


SINGLE CoPIEs, 16 Crs. 
ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION, $5.00 


** If these ovens continue to work as well as the one 


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SCIENCE 


i 


Fray, December 18, 1914 


CONTENTS 
The Value of Research to Industry: Dr. Ray- 


EON DIU RMCESACONT) srejere cnet lever clehetevlaho vata steers 871 
Oceanographic Cruise of the Schooner ‘‘ Gram- 

pus’’: Dr. Henry B. BIigELOW .......... 881 
A Fossil Botanical Garden: Dr. JoHN M. 

(OITA ee ete ess crn sales ate ateusiits ctanealel spate rae cOe 884 
Recent Changes in the Boston Museum of 

LIN CLUUUT QU sPELUSEON A oc ayes a colar cove cysicyeiekessiereheuels 884 
The Proposed Toronto Meeting of the Amer- 

(CUR, ABO WOKOD. Sage adadsgadeasoouseHS 885 
Scientific Notes and News ..............+- 886 
University and Educational News .......... 890 


Discussion and Correspondence :-— 
Teaching and Research: Proresson T. D. 
A, CocKERELL. A Note on Apparatus Re- 
par: GB. O. The Tenterton Steeple and 
the Goodwin Sands: MaAximMinIAN BraaM. 891 


Scientific Books :— 
Roger Bacon: PRoFressor Louis C. Kar- 
PINSEI. Martin on the Birds of the Latin 
Poets: Harry C. OBERHOLSER. Shreve on a 
Montane Rain Forest: PROFESSOR DUNCAN 
S. JoHNson. Ries and Watson’s Engineer- 
ing Geology: W. H. Emmons. Henderson’s 


Die Umwelt des Lebens: BR. 8. L. ........ 894 
The Oxidation of Nitrogen: Dr. W. W. StRonG. 899 
Garbage Incinerator at Barmen, Germany: 

JULIUS FESTNER ....................00. 903 


Special Articles :— 


A Possible Mendelian Eauplanation for a 
Type of Inheritance Apparently non-Men- 
delian in Nature: Dr. C. C. Lirtiz. The 
Structure of the Cotton Fiber: B.S. Levine. 904 


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


THE VALUE OF RESEARCH TO INDUSTRY1 


THE large chemical industries and, in 
fact, all branches of chemical technology 
have been immensely developed during the 
nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and 
the achievements of chemistry in the arts 
and industries have been stupendous and 
varied. In particular, industrial research 
—definable as ‘‘the catalysis of raw ma- 
terials by brains’’—has been and is being 
increasingly fostered by chemical manu- 
facturers, and this has led to the accrue- 
ment of important novelties and improve- 
ments. 

Many excellent résumés of the develop- 
ment of industrial chemistry during the 
modern chemical period have appeared in 
the literature. I shall only remind you 
that these indicate how industrial chemis- 
try has been elevated by a continuous in- 
fusion of scientific spirit, and that manu- 
facturing, once entirely a matter of em- 
pirical judgment and individual skill, is 
more and more becoming a system of scien- 
tific processes. Quantitative measurements 
are replacing guesswork, and thus waste 
is diminished and economy of production 
insured. In the United States, several de- 
cades ago, few industrial establishments 
furnished regular employment to chem- 
ists, but now American manufacturers are 
becoming more and more appreciative of 
scientific research, and the results so far 
obtained have resulted in far-reaching im- 
provements. In the production of a metal 
from its ores, or of benzene derivatives 
from coal-tar, it is chemistry that points 

1 An address delivered, by invitation, at the in- 


augural meeting of the session of the Royal Ca- 
nadian Institute, Toronto, November 7, 1914. 


872 


the way, and the more complex the prob- 
lem the greater the dependence. In de- 
vising new processes and in the discovery 
of new and useful products, chemistry is 
again the pathfinder. The community is 
apt to overlook the extent and diversity of 
the services rendered by the chemist, be- 
cause of the quiet and unobtrusive way in 
which the work is carried out. 

The measure of a country’s apprecia- 
tion of the value of chemistry in its ma- 
terial development and the extent to which 
it utilizes this science in its industries, gen- 
erally measure quite accurately the indus- 
trial progress aud prosperity of that 
country. In no other country in the world 
has the value of chemistry to industry been 
so thoroughly understood and appreciated 
as in Germany, and in no other country 
of similar size and natural endowment have 
such remarkable advances in industrial de- 
velopment been recorded, and this, too, 
with steadily increasing economy in the 
utilization of the natural resources. 


THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES OF GERMANY 


The history of the great firm of Farb- 
werke vorm. Meister Lucius und Bruning 
at Hochst a/M., Germany, serves as an 
admirably typical record of the develop- 
ment of German chemical industry. 

In 1862, two chemists and two mer- 
chants organized a firm for the manufac- 
ture of tar colors, and the plant was started 
the following year with five workmen, one 
elerk, and one chemist. One boiler of 3- 
horse-power supplied the power. F'uchsin, 
anilin blue, alkali blue, aldehyde green, 
methyl violet, methyl green and malachite 
ereen were the first products. In 1869, the 
manufacture of alizarine was taken up. 
In 1878, new buildings were erected for 
the manufacture of azo-dyes, and two 
years later the firm was formed into an 
Actien-Gesellschaft. In 1883, the manu- 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8S. Von. XL. No. 1042 


facture of pharmaceutical preparations 
were started with auntipyrine; in 1892, 
Koch’s tuberculin and Behring’s diph- 
theria serum were prepared and marketed ; 
and in 1898 the manufacture of synthetic 
indigo was begun. The number of types 
and colors manufactured twenty-five years 
ago amounted to 1,750; in 1913, about 11,- 
000 were manufactured. In 1888, the 
steam engines had a total horse-power of 
1840; in 1913, 30,000 horse-power were 
required. In 1888, 1,860 workmen and 57 
chemists were employed; in 1912, 7,680 
workmen, 374 foremen, 307 chemists and 
74 other technical men were on the pay- 
roll. In 1912, 8.6 million marks were paid 
in wages and 5.2 million marks in salaries 
and bonuses. 

Since Wallach began his investigation 
of essential oils and terpenes in 1884, the 
manufacture of perfumes in Germany has 
erown continuously. In 1895, synthetic 
neroli oil was prepared; in 1896, oils of 
jasmine and hyacinth blossoms, and, in 
1908, the essential oils of lily of the valley, 
were synthesized. In the explosives indus- 
try the chief efforts have been directed to 
the manufacture of safe products. While 
in 1890, 4,938. tens of dynamite were pro- 
duced and only an insignificant quantity 
of safety explosives, in 1909 the production 
of safety explosives amounted to 10,000 
tons as compared with 8,000 tons of dyna- 
mite. The great development of the Ger- 
man dyestuffs industry led to developments 
in many other branches, especially in the 
sulphurie acid, chlorine, tar-oils and nitric- 
acid industries. The development of the 
cyanide process for the extraction of gold 
also led to the introduction of a new tech- 
nical process of manufacturing synthetic 
indigo, based on the use of sodium amide 
in the alkali fusion of phenylglycin. In 
1913, the selling value of the synthetic in- 
digo on the world market amounted to 


DECEMBER 18, 1914] 


nearly $2,500,000. The demand of the dye- 
stuffs works for coal-tar products also led 
to the great development in the recovery 
of by-products in coke manufacture. The 
recovery of ammonia as ammonium sul- 
phate, a valuable fertilizing material, has 
grown rapidly in Germany. 

The purely inorganic chemical works in 
Germany have been in a different position 
as compared with the large color works, 
which, with their large and excellent scien- 
tific and commercial organization, as well 
as their splendid financial position, repre- 
sent enormous powers. The German color 
works long ago ceased to purchase the in- 
organic products they required. In 1913, 
they worked their own mines, made all in- 
organic and intermediate products them- 
selves, not only for their own requirements, 
but also for sale, and controlled every 
branch of chemical industry. The great 
advance of these large concerns made it 
very difficult for the inorganic works to 
take up new manufactures to compensate 
for the continued falling-off in the profits 
on heavy chemicals. 

Much is to be learned from a study of the 
history of German technology. We find, 
for instance, that the progress of industrial 
chemistry, especially in its synthetic 
branches, has lagged in the United States 
because the United States corporation and 
patent laws are unfavorable (in Germany 
a patent must be worked or forfeited) and 
because there is no large supply of cheap 
researchers. German conditions in these 
respects have been the direct causes for 
the German development. However, with 
proper legislation, the chemical industry 
will develop in the United States, at least 
to the same extent as in Germany, for 
American engineering ingenuity will serve 
to counterbalance the advantage of cheap 
labor; and the same applies to Canada, 
whose engineers have demonstrated skill 


SCIENCE 


873 


and resource in many developments of im- 
portance to the Dominion. 

Like Canada, the United States has un- 
necessarily imported too much. Given 
proper conditions, American industrialists 
can take care of a large amount of goods 
now being imported, and in some eases pro- 
duce them here. In other eases, they could 
even become exporters of commodities now 
imported. To accomplish this, however, a 
large amount of research will be necessary, 
and, in general, considerable investments 
will have to be made. 


THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES OF SWEDEN 


Since most of the rivers of Canada pos- 
sess waterfalls on their course, they must 
become increasingly important as sources 
of power, the basis of industry. Your switft- 
flowing streams, capable of supplying al- 
most unlimited power, remind one of those 
which are the boast of Sweden and Nor- 
way; and like these countries, Canada has 
not only waterfalls, but she has many lakes, 
which will serve some day as large natural 
reservoirs for conducting the water to the 
power stations. It is appropriate, there- 
fore, that brief reference be made to the 
chemical industries of Scandinavia. 

Sweden is a land in which chemistry has 
played an important réle from an early 
date. No less than twenty of the known 
chemical elements have been discovered by 
Swedes, and we are all familiar with the 
pioneer work of Scheele and Berzelius 
during the constructive period of chemistry, 

Sweden owes to three factors its past and 
present position in industrial chemistry: 
an abundantly diversified mineral wealth; 
forests of enormous extent; and abundant 
water power. Its metal products are of 
notably high quality; the manufacture of 
cellulose in its varied forms constitutes an 
enormous industry; and the electrochem- 
ical industries have availed themselves of 


874 


the vast water power. Research is con- 
stantly in progress, and the results of the 
Swedish investigations in the electric 
smelting of iron ores have indicated much 
for a better utilization of the iron deposits 
in certain parts of the United States where 
conditions are not unlike those existing in 
Sweden. 


THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES OF NORWAY 

There are several features worthy of 
careful study in connection with the chem- 
ical industries of Norway. First is the very 
systematic and exhaustive manner in 
which the abundant water power of the 
country has been regulated, stored up, and 
pressed into the service of the constantly 
growing group of electrochemical indus- 
tries. The highest engineering and chem- 
ical talent of Norway is patriotically en- 
listed in this cause, and already the road 
is constructed for little Norway to assume 
an industrial position commensurate with 
its geographical size and maritime facilities. 

In the field of industrial organic chemis- 
try, Norway has also shown her ability to 
develop an industry—the manufacture of 
oxalic acid. This is a branch of manufac- 
ture which has never been developed in 
North America, and, as there is only one 
plant producing oxalic acid in the United 
States, comparatively enormous amounts of 
money have normally been expended annu- 
ally in the purchase of this commodity in 
Norway and Germany. 

While the climate is severe, coal is lack- 
ing, the mineral deposits are not easily 
accessible, and the conditions of life are 
comparatively hard, the Norwegians have 
brought certain chemical industries to the 
fore. In the development of these, chem- 
ical research has had a prominent part. 


THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES OF HOLLAND 
The Netherlands offers a most interesting 
example of what can be accomplished in 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1042 


building up diversified branches of the 
chemical industries when there is an almost 
complete dependence upon foreign fuel and 
raw material. The evolution of the manu- 
facture of starch, of mineral pigments, of 
matches, and fertilizers, as well as the in- 
dustries connected with the oils and fats, 
are most instructive in this connection. 

Providing the people of Holland remain 
free from military burdens, it may be pre- 
dicted that the exceptionally high degree 
of thrift, intelligence and enterprise char- 
acterizing the Dutch will enable them to 
accomplish the enlargement of the field of 
chemical industry and to free the country 
from dependence upon foreign sources of 
supply of finished products. 


THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES OF BELGIUM 

Prior to the present war, Belgium was 
regarded from the standpoint of the tech- 
nologist as offering a most instructive ex- 
ample of what can be done in a small 
country in the healthy development of a 
large group of closely allied industries. 
All the chemical branches dependent to a 
greater or less extent upon the natural 
products of the land had been brought to 
a high state of perfection. In addition, 
numerous chemical industries utilizing raw 
materials of foreign origin had been called 
into existence. Then, too, the ability to 
capture, in various directions, foreign 
markets for different chemical products 
had been revealed to an astonishing degree. 

The Belgian chemists of the next decade 
will once more be obliged to concentrate 
their endeavors in building up the indus- 
tries for which the little kingdom was so 
worthily famous—the production of staple 
articles of value. In this line they will, no 
doubt, show that high degree of inventive 
skill, capacity for organization and com- 
mercial acuteness which has always char- 
acterized the Belgian technologist. 


DECEMBER 18, 1914] 


THE INDUSTRIAL CHEMISTRY OF TO-DAY 

The picture that technical chemistry 
presents to-day is quite different from that 
of thirty years ago. There is more bril- 
lianey around the accomplishment of the 
organic than of the inorganic industries. 
The replacement of natural dyes by the 
products of coal tar, the extension of our 
medical resources by the manufacture of 
synthetic medicines, has gone far to ex- 
tend the appreciation of chemical work and 
to produce the general conviction that 
chemistry is an inexhaustible field of eco- 
nomic possibilities. Indeed, one natural 
product after another falls into the domain 
of chemical synthesis, and chemistry is be- 
coming the important factor in the economy 
of the tropical products which are used for 
industrial purposes. As soon as the price 
of such a product exceeds a certain limit, 
organic chemistry enters the field and syn- 
thesizes it. Tanning materials are in a 
struggle with the condensation products 
of formaldehyde and phenolsulfonic acids. 
Camphor could maintain its position only 
by large price reduction, and the prospect 
of synthetic rubber has held down the 
would-be inflated prices of the natural 
product. The basis of this marked develop- 
ment in organic chemical industries is the 
eombined working of science and technol- 
ogy. The success of this intermingling is so 
obvious that I need not dwell on the point. 

In the domain of inorganic technical 
chemistry things are somewhat different. 
Here, too, a great change has taken place. 
The historical sulphuric acid and soda 
processes have lost much ground to the 
ammonia-soda and electrolytic processes, 
and to the contact process. New branches 
of industries have taken root and grown up. 
In this field, however, the connection be- 
tween scientific and technical progress is 
neither so obvious nor so well recognized 
as in the realm of industrial organic chem- 
istry. The reason is that the advance in 


SCIENCE 


875 


inorganic science, during the last decade or 
two, has resulted less in the discovery of 
new facts which had direct technical appli- 
cations, than in the elucidation and working 
out of new theoretical views. In fact, the 
introduction of physical laws and physical 
methods into the working sphere of inor- 
ganic chemistry has led to the greatest 
scientific progress. The invasion of physics 
into chemistry has produced the splendid 
development of physical chemistry, the 
basis of which is the second law of thermo- 
dynamics, the phase rule, and the theory 
of electrolytic dissociation. The introduc-~ 
tion of the electroscope into chemical anal- 
ysis has opened up the new chemical world 
of radioactivity. Now inorganic chemical 
industries can gain almost as much by re- 
garding their problems from a physical 
point of view as organic industries do by 
the application of structural considerations, 


THE VALUE OF PHYSICO-CHEMICAL RESEARCH: 


Owing to the progress of physical chem- 
istry, based largely upon thermodynamics 
and including the accurate quantitative 
study of the conditions determining the 
reactivity of substances and the velocity of 
chemical change, chemistry has, indeed, 
undergone revolutionizing changes during 
the past twenty-five years. The study of 
the behavior of catalysis comes well within 
the province of physical chemistry. As 
examples of industrial processes based upon 
catalytic action, I shall mention in passing 
the Deacon chlorine process, the contact 
sulphuric process, the hydrogenation of un- 
saturated fatty acids and their esters, the 
synthesis of ammonia from its elements, 
the oxidation of naphthalene in the produc- 
tion of synthetic indigo, and certain meth- 
ods of surface combustion. 

Fermentation industries and the whole 
field of agriculture depend upon physical 
chemistry for their further progress and 
development; for enzymes are essentially 


876 


catalysts and the stimulating action of 
small quantities of inorganic compounds on 
the growth of plants has been demonstrated. 
For instance, very small additions of man- 
ganese or zinc, or mixtures thereof, increase 
the yield of plant culture. 

In this connection I may refer to the ap- 
plication of the phase rule by van’t Hoff 
to the better utilization of the Strassfurt 
salt deposits, and to electrochemistry, 
photochemistry, and to the chemistry of 
colloids. 

The successful solution of the problem 
of the oxidation of atmospheric nitrogen, 
the production of ammonia from its ele- 
ments, and the manufacture of sulphuric 
acid by the contact process, were only made 
possible by the knowledge of the principles 
and methods of chemical dynamics and 
thermodynamics. 

Further, the teachings of physical chem- 
istry have led to the study of the conditions 
of absorption of drugs by the various cells 
and tissue juices of the body, of the part 
played therein by osmosis, by electrolytic 
dissociation, by mass, and especially by the 
colloidal: character of the substances con- 
cerned in metabolism. Such study asso- 
ciated with biological chemistry has pointed 
the way to new methods of research which 
promise well for a fuller understanding of 
the complexities of the processes that are 
comprised in the physiological action for 
drugs. 

Despite the mass of material that has 
thus been accumulated, a scientific basis 
for the preparation of physiologically ac- 
tive compounds is but in its infancy. The 
possibility of precalculating the action of 
a drug from its chemical structure is as yet 
developed to but a limited extent, as has 
been repeatedly brought home during re- 
cent years by the discovery of new groups 
of compounds possessing valuable thera- 
peutic properties, the physiological action 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Von. XL. No. 1042 


of which was in no way anticipated. In- 
deed, the recognition of the therapeutic 
value of some of the earlier synthetic drugs 
was effected, as Keane has indicated, rather 
in accord with Priestley’s belief that all 
discoveries are made by chance, and has 
been extended with some reminiscence of 
his view that scientific investigation was to 
be “‘compared to a hound, wildly running 
after and here and there chancing on 
game.’’ The hypnotic property of sul- 
phonal was a chance discovery; the physio- 
logical action of antipyrine was initially 
examined on account of its supposed rela- 
tion in chemical structure to kairine and 
allied febrifuges, which was subsequently 
proved to be incorrect; and the purgative 
properties of phenolphthalein became 
known from the results that followed its 
use to earmark, for administrative pur- 
poses, a certain kind of wine in Austria- 
Hungary. The commercial success of anti- 
pyrine—the profits in one year from its 
manufacture before the expiration of the 
patent are said to have reached $300,000— 
was followed by a hunt for further “‘game”’ 
and many a compound, such as acetanilide, 
has been called from the seclusion of chem- 
ical museums for the examination of its 
physiological properties. 

The recognition of the therapeutic value 
of such substances has been followed by 
inquiry into the relation of their chemical 
structure and physiological action, with the 
result that the study of this relation has 
since become more ordered and systematic. 

GEOCHEMICAL RESEARCH 

A study of the manner in which certain 
minerals are usually found associated to- 
gether in nature, commonly those which 
are isomorphous or which contain the same 
group of elements, but very often of entirely 
different mineralized and chemical char- 
acter, is of particular importance to the 
commercial man, and should be of great 


DECEMBER 18, 1914] 


assistance to those chemists and physicists 
who study the genesis of minerals and 
““elements’’ and the so-called degradation 
of the latter. Just as the periodic law of 
Newlands and Mendeléeff was evolved 
from the tabular collating of chemical and 
physical data, and was found capable of 


prophetic use, so one may learn and pre- ~ 


dict much from a study of the known asso- 
ciations of minerals, and particularly those 
of the rare metals. One has the advantage 
of knowing that minerals have been pro- 
duced under natural conditions where no 
mistakes or errors of manipulation can have 
occurred and where no difficulties due to 
want of time, material, or facilities for 
experimenting existed; in other words, 
where the personal factor was absolutely 
non-existent. 

Probably the most promising field for 
research exists in the oldest plutonic rocks, 
and particularly in such pegmatites and 
other extremely old granitic and other 
rocks as have been subjugated, at great 
depth and pressure and at high tempera- 
tures, to the action of intruded flows of 
fused mineral matter from still deeper- 
seated sources, or of vaporized mineral 
matter of similar origin. Such rocks exist 
in many parts of the world, but the pegma- 
tites of Norway, the old granites of Green- 
land, and many of the old but less highly 
erystalline tin-bearing deposits of Corn- 
wall, may be instanced as likely to throw 
light on the origin of certain metals, and 
especially of those at the ‘‘heavy’’ and 
“‘light’’ ends of the periodic table. Perhaps 

There is in this business more than nature 
Was ever conduct of. 

It is probable that some of the missing 
heavy elements near the uranium end of 
the table may be found in such rocks, and 
that certain light elements, for which room 
may have to be made in the table, may also 
be discovered. 


SCIENCE 


877 


The comprehensive investigations in 
progress at the geophysical laboratory of 
the Carnegie Institution illustrate the 
change now occurring in geochemical re- 
search. 


THE VALUE OF RESEARCH IN METALLURGY 


To the valuable properties of the many 
alloys of iron now manufactured, from 
carbon steel to the complex alloy known as 
high-speed tool steel, which contains no less 
than five different elements apart from the 
iron itself, is to be attributed the great 
progress which has been made, whether in 
the arts of peace or in war. There is one 
simple concrete instance—the modern 
automobile. Eliminate the alloy steels 
used in its construction, and it could no 
longer be produced. The combination of 
lightness and strength necessary in such 
modern products is only made possible by 


- the use of special alloy steels. 


While the progress made in alloy steels 
since Hadfield’s first researches in 1882 
and onwards has been wonderful, indeed, 
the field for research is still an immense 
one, full of difficulties, disputed points, and 
important problems. It is true that there 
may not be at the present time room for 
such abnormal discoveries in ferrous metal- 
lurgy as in the past, but investigators are 
quietly and steadily augmenting our knowl- 
edge of iron and its alloys, and the value of 
such research work is generally recognized. 

It remains to mention in this connection 
that the science of metallography, which 
has so materially aided the progress of 
metallurgy, has been developed by the 
assistance of the phase rule. 

- Research work of an elaborate nature is 
constantly bemeg conducted by several 
manufacturers, especially at Homestead, 
Pa., by the United States Steel Corpora- 
tion, which has to date expended over 
$800,000 in investigations on the electro- 


878 


thermic production of steel alone. How- 
ever, metallurgical research laboratories 
are still comparatively uncommon. Very 
few iron furnaces or smelting plants are 
without a control laboratory, which has 
come about notwithstanding the opposi- 
tion of ‘‘practical men,’’ and the research 


laboratory will eventually win a similar 


victory. 

The great problems at present in the 
metallurgy of zine are in the concentra- 
tion of the ore and in the treatment of 
flotation concentrate. The latter produces 
the troubles that fine ore always does; it is 
difficult to roast, and the distillation of it 
is attended with troubles. 

Viewing the present status of the practise 
in zine smelting, one is impressed by the 
high extraction results, the low fuel con- 
sumption made possible by regenerative 
gas-firing, and the reduction of labor in- 
volved in the art. 

In copper metallurgy, the leaching of 
copper ores and electrolytic deposition for 
precipitating are receiving increased atten- 
tion. In electrolytic copper refining, 
promising progress has been made in the 
treatment of anode slimes; and more at- 
tention is being paid to the recovery of by- 
products, new uses for two of which, 
selenium and tellurium, are required. 


COOPERATION BETWEEN SCIENCE AND 
INDUSTRY 

While those engaged in a profession 
which has so many ramifications as has 
chemistry in its numerously various appli- 
cations to all modern activities, must co- 
operate to effect advancement, before such 
cooperation can be effective, there must be 
a mutual understanding between chemists 
as a profession and industrialists. Many 
American chemical manufacturers still 
follow rule-of-thumb methods without hav- 
ing any idea of the underlying principles 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1042 


which are immutable. These manufac- 
turers must be induced to recognize the 
actuality of such principles and to realize 
fully that an actual comprehension thereof 
is necessary for the attainment of that 
measure of success necessary to maintain 
uniform quality and maximum output of 
product. 

In this connection, I may say that the 
system of practical cooperation between 
industry and learning, founded by the late 
Dr. Robert Kennedy Dunean, has had eight 
years of trial. The outcome of my eminent 
predecessor’s labors, The Mellon Institute, 
through its industrial fellowship system, 
represents a happy and successful alliance 
between science and industry, for a valu- 
able and permanent relation has been estab- 
lished by the solution, at the institute, of 
many important manufacturing problems. 


THE METHODS OF ATTACKING INDUSTRIAL 
PROBLEMS 


When a chemical industry has problems 
requiring solution, these problems can be 
attacked either inside or outside of the 
plant. If the policy of the management is 
that all chemical problems are to be inves- 
tigated only within the establishment, a 
research laboratory or at least a research 
chemist must be provided for the plant or 
for the company. At present, in the United 
States, probably not more than 100 manu- 
facturing establishments have research 
laboratories or employ research chemists, 
although at least five companies are spend- 
ing over $100,000 per year in research. In 
Germany, and perhaps also in England, such 
research laboratories in connection with 
chemical industries have been much more 
common. The great laboratories of the 
Badische Anilin und Soda Fabrik and of 
the Hlberfeld Company are striking exam- 
ples of the importance attached to such 
research work in Germany, and it would 


DECEMBER 18, 1914] 


be difficult to adduce any stronger argu- 
ment in support of its value than the 
marvelous achievements of these great firms. 

An unfortunately frequent difficulty en- 
countered in the employment of research 
chemists, or in the establishment of a re- 
search laboratory, is that many manufac- 
turers do not appear to grasp the need or 
importance of such work, or know how to 
treat the men in charge so as to secure the 
best results. The industrialist may not 
even fully understand just what is the 
cause of his manufacturing losses or to 
whom to turn for aid. If he eventually en- 
gages a chemist, he is sometimes likely to 
regard him as a sort of master of mysteries 
who should be able to accomplish wonders, 
and, if he can not see definite results in the 
course of a few months, is occasionally apt 
to consider the investment a bad one and 
to regard chemists, as a class, as a useless 
lot. It has not been unusual for the chem- 
ist to be told to remain in his laboratory, 
and not to go in or about the works, and 
he must also face the natural opposition of 
workmen to any innovations, and reckon 
with the jealousies of foremen and of vari- 
ous Officials. 

From the standpoint of the manufac- 
turer, one decided advantage of the policy 
of haying all problems worked out within 
the plant is that the results secured are 
not divulged, but are stored away in the 
laboratory archives and become part of the 
assets and working capital of the corpora- 
tion which has paid for them; and it is 
usually not until patent applications are 
filed that this knowledge, generally only 
partially and imperfectly, becomes publicly 
known. When it is not deemed necessary 
to take out patents, such knowledge is often 
permanently buried. 

In this matter of the dissemination of 
knowledge concerning chemical practise, it 
must be evident to all that there is but little 


SCIENCE 


879 


cooperation between the manufacturers and 
the universities. Chemical manufacturers 
have been quite naturally opposed to pub- 
lishing any discoveries made in their plants, 
since “‘knowledge is power’’ in manufac- 
turing as elsewhere, and new knowledge 
gained in the laboratories of the company 
may often very properly be regarded as 
among the most valuable assets of the con- 
cern. The universities and the scientific 
societies, on the other hand, exist for the 
diffusion of knowledge, and from their 
standpoint the great disadvantage of the 
above policy is this concealment of knowl- 
edge, for it results in a serious retardation 
of the general growth and development of 
the science in its broader aspects, and 
renders it much more difficult for the uni- 
versities to train men properly for such 
industries, since all text-books and general 
knowledge available would in all probability 
be far behind the actual manufacturing 
practise. Fortunately, the policy of indus- 
trial secrecy is becoming more generally 
regarded in the light of reason, and there 
is a growing inclination among manufac- 
turers to disclose the details of investiga- 
tions, which, according to tradition, would 
be carefully guarded. These manufacturers 
appreciate the facts that public interest in 
chemical achievements is stimulating to 
further fruitful research, that helpful sug- 
gestions and information may come from 
other investigators upon the publication of 
any results, and that the exchange of knowl- 
edge prevents many costly repetitions. 


INDUSTRIAL FELLOWSHIPS 


If the manufacturer elects to refer his 
problem to the university or technical 
school, such reference may take the form of 
an industrial fellowship and much has been 
and may be said in favor of these fellow- 
ships. They allow the donor to keep secret 
for three years the results secured, after 


880 


which they may be published. They also 
secure to him patent rights. They give 
highly specialized training to properly 
qualified men, and often secure for them 
permanent positions and shares in the prof- 
its of their discoveries. It should be obvi- 
ous at the outset that a fellowship of this 
character can be successful only when there 
are close confidential relations obtaining 
between the manufacturer and the officer 
in charge of the research; for no such co- 
operation can be really effective unless 
based upon a thorough mutual familiarity 
with the conditions and an abiding faith in 
the integrity and sincerity of purpose of 
each other. It is likely to prove a poor in- 
vestment for a manufacturer to seek the 
aid of an investigator if he is unwilling to 
take such expert into his confidence and to 
familiarize him with all the local and other 
factors which enter into the problem from 
a manufacturing standpoint. 

According to the system of industrial 
research in operation at The Mellon Insti- 
tute of Industrial Research of the Univer- 
sity of Pittsburgh,? a manufacturer having 
a problem requiring solution may become 
the donor of a fellowship: said manufac- 
turer provides the salary of the fellow 
selected to conduct the investigation de- 
sired, the institute furnishing such facil- 
ities as are necessary for the conduct of 
the work. 

The money paid in to found a fellowship 
is paid over by the institute in salary to 
the investigator doing the work. In every 
ease, this researcher is most carefully 
selected for the problem in hand. The in- 
stitute supplies free laboratory space and 
the use of all ordinary chemicals and equip- 
ment. The fellow who is studying the 
problem works under the immediate super- 

2Qn the progress which has been made in in- 


dustrial fellowships, see R. F. Bacon, J. Frankl. 
Inst., November, 1914, 623. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1042 


vision of men who are thoroughly trained 
and experienced in conducting industrial 
research. 

At the present time, The Mellon Insti- 
tute, which, while an integral part of the 
University of Pittsburgh, has its own en- 
dowment, is expending over $150,000 annu- 
ally for salaries and maintenance. A manu- 
facturer secures for a small expenditure— 
just sufficient to pay the salary of the 
chemist engaged on the investigation—all 
the benefits of an organization of this size, 
and many have availed themselves of the 
advantages. 

Each fellow has the benefit of the insti- 
tute’s very excellent apparatus, chemical 
and library equipment—facilities which 
are so essential in modern research; and 
because of these opportunities and that of 
being able to pursue post-graduate work 
for a higher degree, it has been demon- 
strated that a higher type of research 
chemist can be obtained by the institute 
for a certain remuneration than can be 
generally secured by manufacturers. 

There is a scarcity of men gifted with 
the genius for research, and it requires 
much experience in selecting suitable men 
and in training them to the desirable degree 
of efficiency, after having determined the 
special qualities required. Important qual- 
ifications in industrial researches are keen- 
ness, inspiration and confidence; these are 
‘often unconsidered by manufacturers, who, 
in endeavoring to select a research chemist, 
are likely to regard every chemist as a 
qualified scientific scout. 

All researches conducted at The Mellon 
Institute are surrounded with the necessary 
secrecy, and any and all discoveries made 
by the fellow during the term of his fellow- 
ship become the property of the donor. 

It is well said in the Reports of the 
Twelfth Census of the United States that 


DECEMBER 18, 1914] 


probably no science has done so much as chemis- 
try in revealing the hidden possibilities of the 
wastes and by-products in manufactures. 

This science has been the most fruitful agent 
in the conversion of the refuse of manufacturing 
operations into products of industrial value... . 
Chemistry is the intelligence department of in- 
dustry. 

Yet we are often uninformed concerning 
the character and amount of the by-products 
going to waste in our immediate neighbor- 
hoods, a careful study of which might lead 
not only to financial reward for the manu- 
facturer as well as for ourselves, but might 
also prevent much of the present pollution 
of our streams and of the air we breathe. 

It is not only very desirable, but will 
soon become really necessary for manufac- 
turers to avail themselves more freely of the 
assistance of the experts in universities, 
technical schools and scientific institutes. 


THE FUTURE OF RESEARCH IN CANADA 


With a strong and prosperous nation to 
the south, expert in manufacturing opera- 
tions and constantly endeavoring seriously 
to gain markets for its surplus production, 
Canada has developed less rapidly from an 
industrial viewpoint than if she occupied 
a more isolated position geographically. 
European and American products have 
long been familiar to the Canadian people, 
and the manufacturers of the Dominion 
have had an arduous struggle in establish- 
ing their wares. But this time is past. 
Since 1910, all over Canada, new factories 
have been erected, new products are being 
manufactured, and new plans for the fu- 
ture are being considered. 

With her diversified and abundant min- 
eral resources, her extensive forests and 
her great power sources, Canada has in- 
deed wonderful industrial prospects. 
Noteworthily helpful work in the open- 
ing-up of various fields has been done by 
your Department of Mines, whose distin- 


SCIENCE 


881 


guished division Directors, Dr. Eugene 
Haanel, of the Mines Branch, and Dr. R. 
W. Brock, of the Geological Survey, have 
been pioneers in your industrial develop- 
ment; but as your mineral, wood and 
water-power wealth become more and 
more apparent, just so much more will the 
need for and value of industrial research 
become apparent to your manufacturers. 
As in other countries, chemistry will be the 
pathfinder. 

Canada is but at the adolescent period 
in her industrial life. Your patriotism 
need not therefore be shocked by appar- 
ently 


Nourishing a youth sublime 
With the fairy tales of science. 


Many of the natural secrets of your vast 
country have been gained, laboriously 
wrought for, but rich rewards await your 
coming generations who inherit the knowl- 
edge gained by an awakened conscience of 


research. Raymonp F. Bacon 


UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH 
4 


OCEANOGRAPHIC CRUISE OF THE U. S. 
BUREAU OF FISHERIES SCHOONEE 
*“GRAMPUS,’’? JULY AND AU- 
GUST, 1914 

During the past summer the fisheries 
schooner Grampus has continued the oceano- 
eraphic work of 1912 and 1913,1 in my charge, 
with Mr. W. W. Welsh as assistant. The gen- 
eral problem laid out for the Grampus cruises 
of the past three years has been the study of 
currents, salinities, temperatures and plankton 
of the coastal waters off our eastern seaboard. 
In 1912 the work was confined to the Gulf of 
Maine; in 1913 it extended over the whole 


1H. B. Bigelow, ‘‘Oceanographie Cruises of the 
U. S. Fisheries Schooner Grampus, 1912-13,’ 
Science, N. S., Vol. 38, No. 982, pp. 599-601, Oc- 
tober 24, 1913; ‘‘Explorations in the Gulf of 
Maine, July and August, 1912, by the U. S. Fish- 
eries Schooner Grampus. Oceanography and 
Notes on the Plankton,’’ Bull. M@. C. Z., Vol. 58, 
pp. 31-147, 9 pls., 1914. 


882 


breadth of the continental shelf between Cape 
Cod and Chesapeake Bay, with a repetition of 
the Gulf of Maine stations; and for 1914 we 
planned to continue our survey eastward from 
Cape Cod, as far as Cape Breton and Cabot 
Straits, to connect with the observations taken 
by the U. S. revenue cutter Seneca during the 
preceding spring. Special attention was to 
be devoted to George’s Bank, important 
oceanographically because of its position as a 
rim between the cold water of the Gulf of 
Maine and the Gulf Stream; to the effect of St. 
Lawrence water on the physical characters of 
the coast water in general, and on the Gulf 
Stream; and to the possible influence of the 
Labrador Current on our coasts. Experience 
has shown that the coastal water, bounded as 
it is by the coast on one hand and the Gulf 
Stream on the other, is best studied by suc- 
cessive sections normal to the coast; and our 
stations were located with this end in view. 
We were able to carry out this program as far 
as Halifax. But the Kuropean war forced us 
to relinquish the stations further east; and 
the time thus released was devoted to repeating 
our Gulf of Maine stations, and to running a 
section from Marthas Vineyard to the Gulf 
Stream for comparison with the preceding 
year. 

The general program of work for each sta- 
tion consisted of serial temperatures and water 
samples, at sufficiently small vertical intervals 
to afford satisfactory salinity and temperature 
sections (8 to 7 according to the depth); a 
vertical haul with the Hensen quantitative 
net, especially instructive for copepods, less 
so for larger and more active organisms; sur- 
face hauls with the fine (No. 20) and coarse 
(No. 5) silk nets; and hauls at intermediate 
depths with one or more of the large nets, 
according to depth. When two were used they 
were attached simultaneously to the wire rope, 
the Helgoland net usually at the lower, the 
“ Michael Sars” net at the higher level. In 
addition, the surface temperature was taken 
hourly throughout the cruise; and the color 
of the sea frequently recorded by the Forel 
scale. Current measurements occupy so much 
time that we obtained only one complete 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8S. Vou. XL. No. 1042 


record of an entire tide from the ship at 
anchor, 

‘Since 1912 considerable additions have been 
made to the outfit of the ship; and this year 
we were provided with six stopcock water- 
bottles, an Ekman reversing water-bottle, three 
Ekman current-meters, a Lucas sounding- 
machine, and twelve reversing deep-sea ther- 
mometers of the latest type, especially valuable 
because by their use the probable error of the 
temperature readings was reduced from .15° 
to .03° F. Another refinement of apparatus 
was the attachment of the thermometer 
frames to the stopcock water-bottles, allow- 
ing the two sets of instruments to be used 
simultaneously in series, thus shortening the 
time for each set. We also carried a very com- 
plete set of horizontal and quantitative plank- 
ton nets, besides the usual trawls, fishing gear 
and harpoons; in short, we can at least con- 
gratulate ourselves on a thoroughly modern 
oceanographic outfit. 

Our first section, across the Gulf of Maine 
and the western end of George’s Bank, to the 
Continental Slope, oceupied us from July 19 
to July 21. Being then well within the sweep 
of the Gulf Stream, as shown by the tempera- 
ture and plankton, we skirted the outer edge 
of the Bank to about longitude 66° 10’ W., 
whence we drew a second section across the 
Bank, to the deep basin of the Gulf. It would 
have been of interest to have extended the work 
to the abyssal depths further off shore; but 
our gear limited our observations to the upper 
500 meters. 

We next drew a section across the deep 
gully known as the “Eastern Channel,” be- 
tween George’s and Brown’s Banks, of great 
oceanographic interest because it is the only 
connection between the basin of the Gulf 
below the 100-fathom contour, and the deeps 
of the Atlantic; occupying stations successively 
in the gully, on Brown’s Bank, in the channel 
north of the latter, and on the coastal bank off 
Cape Sable. On July 25 the Grampus an- 
chored in Shelburne, Nova Scotia. 

Two days later we made a current station 
a few miles off that port, anchoring the vessel 
in 30 fathoms of water, and taking measure- 


DECEMBER 18, 1914] 


ments of the surface current hourly for twelve 
hours (thus covering an entire tide, ebb and 
flood), and a few bottom current readings. 
The calm weather of that and the two preced- 
ing days gave an ideal opportunity for this 
work; hence the strong dominant set to the 
southwest which our instruments revealed is 
probably of considerable importance as an index 
of the long-shore flow of St. Lawrence water. 
From this point we ran a section across the 
coastal shelf, via Roseway Bank and the deep 
but circumscribed basin between it and La 
Have Bank, to the continental shelf, where we 
towed and took oceanographic observations to 
500 meters. 

Our program now called for a section cross- 
ing the shelf obliquely, to Halifax, and the 
first half of this line was successful. But an 
easterly storm drove us off our course, to 
shelter in La Have River, where we were held 
prisoners, first by northeast winds, then by 
fog, and finally by a violent southwest gale 
for four days. On reaching Halifax, August 
9, we learned of the European war; and shortly 
received orders to return to United States 
waters. 

On August 6 we sailed from Halifax, plan- 
ning to make first a section across the Conti- 
nental shelf normal to the coast as far as 
Emerald Bank; and then to run to the Gulf 
of Maine, making stations en route. The sec- 
tion was successful, and we were lucky enough 
to vary the monotony of the plankton hauls 
by the capture of a large swordfish, and of a 
sunfish (Mola mola Linn.). But thick fog set 
in on August 8 and drove us once more to 
Shelburne for shelter. Umtil the eleventh we 
lay at anchor, waiting for a change of 
weather; then lost patience and put to sea 
again. Our next field was the Gulf of 
Maine, where we located our stations at the 
same positions as those of 1912 and 19138, 
first in the northeast corner, then off Mt. 
Desert rock, and along shore to Gloucester, 
where we arrived on August 15. A week was 
spent in port; and on the 22d the Grampus 
sailed again, running east to the center of the 
gulf, and then to Cape Cod. Passing through 
Vineyard Sound we took our departure from 


SCIENCE 


883 


No-Mans-Land on August 25 for a section 
across the Continental shelf, with stations at 
the 20-, 35- and 80-fathom contours, and one 
over the 1,000-fathom curve. We had sup- 
plied ourselves in Gloucester with bait and a 
long-trawl, and made two sets for tile fish 
(Lopholotilus chameleonticeps) on the twenty- 
sixth. In 80 fathoms we caught only two; 
but in 105 fathoms an hour’s set yielded 19, 
the aggregate weight being about 350 pounds. 
We occupied three stations during the run 
back to Gloucester, where we arrived Au- 
gust 28. 

During the cruise complete oceanographic 
data were taken at 52 stations, ranging in 
depth from 15 to 250 fathoms; 126 tows were 
made with the horizontal nets: the quantita- 
tive net was used at 26 stations. The distance 
sailed was about 2,000 miles. 

Statements as to the scientific results must 
await the completion of titrations of the water 
samples and the general examination of the 
plankton samples: the general report on the 
eruise, like that on the cruises of 1912? and of 
1913 will be prepared in the Museum of Com- 
parative Zoology. 

Henry B. BicrLow 


INTERNATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHIC EXPE- 
DITION 


At the present time arrangements are being 
completed to despatch the International 
Oceanographic Expedition under the command 
of J. Foster Stackhouse, F.R.G.S., for a seven 
years’ voyage to chart the seas, and to deter- 
mine as far as possible the exact position of 
the large number of rocks and reefs which 
have been reported during the last century. 

Not since the days of the Challenger has so 
great an enterprise been undertaken, and it is 
highly desirable that no time be lost in mal- 
ing the fullest inquiries into these hidden 
dangers to navigation. 

Over 3,500 dangers have been reported in 
the Pacific Ocean alone, and some of these no 
doubt account for the fact that during the last 


2 Loc. cit. 


884 


three years, the great insurance corporation of 
Lloyds has reported that over 134,000 tons of 
shipping in which they were interested, had 
mysteriously disappeared, involving a loss of 
over $13,000,000. 

Whilst the first duty of the expedition will 
be to accurately chart the seas, the vessel will 
carry a staff of twelve scientific men, who will 
make a thorough investigation of all places 
visited, and in little known regions, parties 
will be left for short periods to carry on work 
in many branches of science. The expedition 
has been fortunate in enlisting the practical 
support of many governments, and after con- 
sultation with hydrographers in many parts 
of the world, the following itinerary has been 
agreed upon. 

Leaving London in June, surveying work 
will be carried on in the North Atlantic, par- 
ticularly in the vicinity of the sinking of the 
Titanic—where on three occasions a rock has 
been reported—thence down the Atlantic, after 
calling at several ports in this country, to the 
Panama Canal. 

For the next four years investigations will 
be made in the Pacific Ocean, calling at most 
of the little known islands, and extending in 
its operations from the Sea of Ohkotsk to King 
Edward VII. Land. 

On leaving the Pacific, the expedition will 
continue its work amongst the islands of the 
East Indies thence to Zanzibar by way of 
Columbo, Seychelles and Mombasa. Later 
considerable time will be spent in the unknown 
waters south of Madagascar. After calling at 
Natal, the vessel will once more sail for Ant- 
arctic waters, and endeavor to find the coast 
line between Queen Mary Land and the Wed- 
dell Sea. On leaving these latitudes a thor- 
ough investigation will be made of the Sand- 
wich Islands, which are at present unsurveyed. 
Continuing westward oceanographic work will 
be carried on around South Georgia and the 
Falkland Islands. From Port Stanley a line 
of soundings will be made to Montevideo, ex- 
amining several shallow patches in the South 
Atlantic, and thence by way of Trinidad, 
Martin Vaz and Cape Verde Islands to London. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1042 


A FOSSIL BOTANICAL GARDEN 


Tur New York State Museum has received 
from Willard Lester, Esq., a deed of gift of 
about three acres of land in the town of Green- 
field, two miles west of Saratoga Springs, 
which include the widely known “ Cryptozoon 
Ledge,” and this little property is set apart 
as a public geological park to be preserved and 
protected by the state because of its scientific 
interest. 

The acquisition of this natural monument 
by free gift from a distinguished citizen of 
the state is not only the expression of a fine 
sentiment, but it brings under authoritative 
care a noteworthy natural phenomenon. The 
Cryptozoon is a marine calcareous alga which 
grew in great spherical bodies and in the Cam- 
brian seas which deposited the limestones of 
this park, they were so abundant as to form 
extensive reefs. The Hoyt (Cambrian) lime- 
stone here forms a ledge which has been planed 
off by the ice sheet so that the Cryptozoa are 
smoothed down to a level surface and their 
interior structure beautifully displayed over 
an area of about a half acre. The gift, how- 
ever, includes the extension of this ledge into 
other natural rock faces and abandoned work- 
ings of the old Hoyt quarry from which the 
geological formation takes its name. 

The little property which is to be known as 
the “Lester Park” is of great natural beauty, 
both in itself and in its approaches, but not the 
least interesting thing about it is the fact that 
it is given to the state because of its geo- 
logical and educational worth. 

JoHN M. CiarKeE 


RECENT CHANGES IN THE ACTIVITIES OF 
THE BOSTON NATURAL HISTORY 
SOCIETY 

On Wednesday evening, November 18, Pro- 
fessors H. L. Olark and Alexander McAdie 
addressed the first of the general meetings of 
the society which are being resumed this sea- 
son. Dr. Clark spoke on New Australasian 
Echinoderms collected by S. S. Hndeavor and 
Dr. McAdie spoke upon Exploring the Air. 
The interest shown by the large number of 
members present and the number of informal 


DECEMBER 18, 1914] 


discussions which took place afterward around 
the refreshment tables in the library augured 
well for the success of the new series of 
lectures. 

It is the plan of the committee in charge 
to hold these gatherings on the first and third 
Wednesdays of each month until the middle 
of May. A large number of important com- 
munications have been promised by many 
officers of the various scientific establishments 
about Boston and Cambridge. Among these 
may be mentioned especially Professor M. L. 
Fernald who at the next meeting will speak 
upon the Flora of Block Island in Relation to 
that of Cape Cod. At the third meeting Pro- 
fessor Wallace W. Atwood will address the 
society on Mesa Verde, with remarks upon the 
ancient cliff dwellings in that region. Papers 
have also been promised by Professor W. M. 
Davis, on his recent researches on the Reefs 
of the South Pacific, by Professors J. B. Wood- 
worth, P. E. Raymond, R. A. Daly, C. T. 
Brues, G. H. Parker, R. T. Jackson, H. W. 
Shimer, C. Palache, as well as by Dr. H. B. 
Bigelow and Mr. ©. W. Johnson, the curator 
of the society’s museum. 

Many changes have been made in the Mu- 
seum building since the lectures were discon- 
tinued five years ago. The lecture hall has 
been completely renovated and reequipped 
throughout, so that it is now an attractive 
and cheerful meeting place. Even greater 
changes may be seen in the other parts of the 
building. The museum has definitely decided 
to lay special emphasis on exhibits of New 
England natural history and with this end 
in view has entered into a scheme of coopera- 
tion with the University Museum in Cam- 
bridge. The long unused collections of foreign 
material are being sent there and the space 
devoted to exhibits of modern groups of New 
England mammals and birds. The other 
branches of New England natural history are 
also being appropriately displayed. 


THE PROPOSED TORONTO MEETING OF 
THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION 

Tuer University of Toronto and the scien- 

tifie men of the city had extended a cordial 


SCIENCE 


885 


invitation to the American Association for the 
Advancement of Science and the Affiliated 
Societies to meet in Toronto a year hence. 
The circumstances which will make this im- 
possible are explained in the following letters, 
addressed to Dr. L. O. Howard, permanent 
secretary of the association. Dr. Robert W. 
Falconer, president of the university, writes: 


I have had a meeting of the committee which 
the university appointed to make arrangements 
for the reception of the American Association for 
the Advancement of Science, which accepted our 
invitation to meet here a year ago from next De- 
cember. Our committee had been intending to use 
every effort to make the meeting a highly success- 
ful one, and we were hoping to create a widespread 
interest in the association. However, the outbreak 
of this terrible war has made an entirely new situ- 
ation. At present the war hangs over us like a 
cloud so heavily that it would be very hard indeed 
for us to arouse interest in a scientific meeting. 
Also, the financial situation is anything but prom- 
ising. We can not hazard any conjecture as to the 
length of the war, though we are making prepara- 
tions on the assumption that it may last for 
another year at least. What condition we shall 
be in then no one can tell. Our committee thought 
that it was only right that I should thus place our 
conditions before you at this early stage on the 
chance that you might be able to change the place 
of meeting and come to us later, at a time when 
we shall be able to give you a welcome that we 
would be anxious to accord the association. 

Professor J. C. Fields writes on behalf of 
the local committee : 

At a meeting of the local executive committee 
we had an extended discussion on the prospects of 
the meeting of the American Association for the 
Advancement of Science to which we folks up here 
were all looking forward with so much interest. 
In view of the conditions already induced by the 
war and the uncertainty of the future it was the 
general disappointed sense of the members that 
we might not be in a position to arouse sufficient 
local interest or otherwise be able to assure such a 
success as we should wish for the meeting. Here 
everything is disorganized by the war and its issues 
overshadow everything else. Students and mem- 
bers of the faculty are drilling and many are 
likely to go to the front, so that we hardly know 
what will be the position of affairs here by this 
time next year. The members of the committee 


886 


thought that you might perhaps still be able to 
arrange for a meeting-place a year from Decem- 
ber and that the association would do us the honor 
‘of meeting here some time later on when we have 
reverted to normal conditions. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


Av the Philadelphia meeting Section OC will 
hold a session on the afternoon of Thursday, 
December 31, for the reading of papers, and a 
second session, jointly with Section K and the 
Society of American Bacteriologists, on Fri- 
day, January 1, at 10 am. The latter will be 
devoted to a symposium on “The Lower Or- 
ganisms in Relation to Man’s Welfare,” for 
which the following program has been ar- 
ranged: 


“‘Theories of Fermentation,’’ Vice-president C. L. 
Alsberg. 
The general mechanism of the action of ferments: 
““Enzyme Action,’’ C. S. Hudson. 
-A discussion of the chemical changes involved in 
the action of enzymes: 
“Role of Microorganisms 
Canal,’? A. I. Kendall. 
““Use of Bacteria in the Treatment of Textile 
Fibers,’’ F. P. Gorham. 
‘‘Microorganisms in their Application to Agri- 
eulture,’’? C. EH. Marshall. 


Section K (Physiology and Experimental 
Medicine) will hold two meetings in Phila- 
delphia during Convocation Week. 


in the Intestinal 


41. Thursday, December 31, 2 P.M. Laboratory of 
Hygiene, University of Pennsylvania. 
Vice-presidential address: Dr. Theodore Hough, 
‘¢The Classification of Nervous Reactions.’’ 
Symposium on Ventilation (jointly with the 
Society of American Bacteriologists) : 
(a) ‘‘Air-borne Diseases,’’ Dr. A. C. Ab- 
bott, University of Pennsylvania. 
(bo) ‘‘Fundamental Physical Problems of 
Ventilation,’’ Dr. E. B. Phelps, 
United States Hygienie Laboratory. 
(ce) ‘‘Standards of Ventilation—Hygienic 
and Aisthetic,’’? Dr. C.-E. A. Wins- 
low, New York State Commission of 
Ventilation. 
(d) ‘‘Modern Developments in Air Condi- 
tions,’’ Mr. D. D. Kimball, New 
York State Commission of Ventila- 
tion. 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Von. XL. No. 1042 


2. Friday, January 1, 11 a.m. Laboratory of Hy- 
giene, University of Pennsylvania. 
Symposium on the Life of the Lower Organ- 
isms in Relation to Man’s Welfare (jointly 
with Section C and the Society of American 
Bacteriologists). 
The program will be announced later. 


THE program for Section M, Agriculture, 
is now complete. A single session will be 
held, on December 30, in the engineering 
building of the University of Pennsylvania, 
beginning at 2 p.M. The president of the 
association, Dr. Charles W. Eliot, will preside 
at the opening of the session, during the pres- 
entation of the address of the vice-president, 
Dr. L. H. Bailey, on “ The Place of Research 
and of Publicity in the Forthcoming Country 
Life Development.” A symposium will fol- 
low, on The Field of Rural Economics, par- 
ticipated in by the following speakers: 


“Rural Economies from the Standpoint of the 
Harmer,’’ Hon. Carl Vrooman, assistant secretary 
of agriculture. 

“Credit and Agriculture,’’ Professor G. N. Lau- 
man, college of agriculture, Cornell University. 

““Marketing and Distribution Problems,’’ Mr. 
C. J. Brand, chief officer of markets, U. S. Dept. 
of Agriculture. 

‘¢The Distinction between Efficiency in Produce- 
tion and Efficiency in Bargaining,’’ Dr. T. N. 
Carver, Harvard University. 


A DINNER was given in Boston on Decem- 
ber 7 to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of 
the connection of Professor Robert H. Rich- 
ards with the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- 
nology as student and teacher. The speakers 
were President Richard C. Maclaurin, in be- 
half of the institute; Mr. Eben S. Stevens of 
the same graduating class with Professor 
Richards, ’68, of Quinebaug, Conn., in behalf 
of his fellows at the school; Professor Chas. 
R. Cross, 70, in behalf of the faculty and 
Jasper Whiting, ’89, president of the Alummi 
Association in behalf of his association. The 
presentation was made to the institute of a 
portrait of Professor Richards by Miss Mar- 
garet F. Richardson, of Boston. It presents 
him, seated, considering a question which the 
open letter in his hand has brought to him. 


DECEMBER 18, 1914] 


At his elbow on the table are bulky volumes 
typifying his contributions to the literature 
of mining, while the upper right-hand field 
of the background shows a blackboard covered 
with figures and diagrams bearing on ore- 
dressing. 


Ar the Academy of Natural Sciences of 
Philadelphia on Tuesday evening, November 
94, Dr. Henry Fairfield Osborn was pre- 
sented with a Hayden medal. In presenting 
the medal Dr. Samuel G. Dixon called atten- 
tion to the fact that Mrs. Emma W. Hayden, 
widow of the well-known scientific man, 
Ferdinand Venderveer Hayden, had estab- 
lished a deed of trust arranging for a sum 
of money and a bronze medal to be given 
annually to the author of the best publication, 
exploration, discovery or research in geology 
or paleontology, or a similar subject. Pro- 
fessor James Hall, of Albany, received the 
award in the first instance and the other nine 
succeeding him were Edward D. Cope, 1891; 
Edward Suess, 1892; Thomas H. Huxley, 
1893; Gabriel August Daubree, 1894; Carl 
H. Von Littel, 1895; Giovanni Capellini, 
1896; Alexander Petrovitz Karpinski, 1897; 
Otto Torell, 1898; Giles Joseph Gustav De- 
walzue, 1899. In 1900 the deed of trust was 
modified so as to award a gold medal every 
three years. The first to receive the new 
medal was Sir Archibald Geikie; the second 
was Dr. Charles D. Walcott in 1908 and the 
third John Casper Branner in 1911. 


Proressor Witu1aAmM TT. SepG@wick, of the 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was 
elected president of the Massachusetts Public 
Health Association at its recent meeting at 
Jacksonville, Florida. 

Proressor GrorRGE CHANDLER WHIPPLE, 
Professor W. T. Sedgwick, Dr. Milton J. 
Rosenau, Dr. William J. Gallivan, Dr. David 
L. Edsall and Dr. Joseph E. Lamoreaux, have 
been appointed the six members of the ad- 
visory council to Massachusetts’ state com- 
missioner of health, Dr. Allan J. McLaughlin. 

Dr. Ricuarp P. Strone, of the department 
of tropical medicine in the Harvard Medical 
School, has been appointed director of the 


SCIENCE 


887 


laboratories of the hospitals and of research 
work of the United Fruit Co. The signifi- 
cance of the appointment is suggested in a 
letter from the Fruit Company to the Univer- 
sity: 

Through a desire to cooperate with Harvard 
University in its investigation of tropical diseases 
we have properly equipped our hospitals with lab- 
oratories and have ample material constantly 
available in our wards, which we desire to place at 
your disposal for research in connection with the 
prescribed study of tropical diseases embodied in 
your tropical school. 


THe Paris Academy of Medicine elected, 
on November 10, as national associate, Dr. 
Langlet, professor and director of the Ecole 
de médecine de Reims and mayor of that city. 


THE grand cross of the Order of Alfonso 
XII. has been presented to the professor of 
pharmacy at the University of Madrid, Dr. J. 
R. Carracido, who is also a senator, and the 
Isabella cross to Dr. S. Recasens, professor of 
gynecology at the same institution. 


A press cablegram from Berne states that 
M. Hugo Claparéde, professor of psychology 
in the University of Geneva, son of the Swiss 
minister to Berlin, has been dismissed from 
the university by the Swiss federal council on 
the ground that his expressed views concern- 
ing the violation of Belgian neutrality are in- 
consistent with the observance of neutrality 
of Switzerland. Professor Claparéde had 
offered his resignation, following a demon- 
stration against him by the students, but the 
federal council declined to accept it and in- 
stead dismissed him. The students’ demon- 
stration occurred on November 24 as Pro- 
fessor Claparéde entered his classroom and 
read an address in which they asked him to 
resign, because “your attitude prohibits you 
to continue to occupy a public post remuner- 
ated by the state.’ Later the matter was 
brought up in the federal council through an 
interpellation by Deputy de Rabours. 

Mr. Dav T. Day has resigned from the 
United States Geological Survey to enter pri- 
vate practise. He has served the federal bu- 
reau since 1886, having been chief of the 


888 


division of mining and mineral resources 
until 1907. 


Proressor Evcen OBERHUMMER, of the 
University of Vienna, who has been ap- 
pointed visiting Austrian professor to Co- 
lumbia University, is expected to lecture dur- 
ing the second semester of the present year. 
Dr. Oberhummer visited the United States in 
1910 and lectured in the geography depart- 
ments at Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Johns 
Hopkins, Chicago, Wisconsin and other Amer- 
ican universities. 


Proressor Grorce R. LyMan, of the biol- 
ogy department, has resigned from the fac- 
ulty of Dartmouth College, to accept a posi- 
tion as plant pathologist in the Department of 
Agriculture. 


Mr. F. E. Watson has been appointed an 
assistant in the department of invertebrate 
zoology of the American Museum of Natural 
History. He will devote the greater portion 
of his time to Lepidoptera. Mr. Adolph 
Elwyn, who for the past nine years has been 
assistant in the department of anatomy and 
physiology, has resigned his position to be- 
come instructor in histology and biology at 
the Long Island College Hospital. Mr. Clar- 
ence R. Halter has been appointed to succeed 
Mr. Elwyn. 


Proressorn Winu1amM LL. Bray, of Syracuse 
University, has been granted leave of absence 
for the current year and will spend the winter 
with his family in the Bronx, New York. 
During the summer and early fall, Professor 
Bray has been making a general survey of 
the vegetation of New York state with a view 
to the preparation of a bulletin to be published 
by the New York State College of Forestry. 
The results of the field exploration and col- 
lections will be worked up at the New York 
Botanical Garden during the winter. 


Mr. WituiaM B. Peters, of the department 
of preparation of the American Museum of 
Natural History, and Mr. Prentice B. Hill, 
assistant in the department of geology, have 
returned from Weyer’s Cave, Virginia, where 
they secured a quantity of material from 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1042 


grottoes which have lately been discovered in 
the cave. This is to be used, together with the 
collection made last year, in the reproduction 
of a typical grotto in the museum, work on 
which is progressing. 


Dr. ArtHur G. WessTER, of Clark Univer- 
sity, addressed the Chicago Chapter of the 
Sigma Xi at its regular autumn quarter meet- 
ing on December 5, upon the topic “The 
Réle of Chance in Scientific Discovery.” 


Tue Miitter Lecture on Surgical Pathology 
for 1914 was given in the Thompson Hall of 
the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, on 
December 4, by Dr. Fred H. Albee, of New 
York City, on “ The Fundamental Principles 
Involved in the Use of Bone Grafts in Sur- 
gery.” 


THE will of the late Dr. Charles Sedgwick 
Minot, Stillman professor of comparative 
anatomy at the Harvard Medical School, con- 
tains a bequest of $1,000 for the improvement 
and increase of the embryological collection 
which he established at the Harvard Medical 
School, to which he left his scientific appa- 
ratus, books and pamphlets. Dr. Minot also 
bequeathed $2,000 to the Boston Museum of 
Natural History for its library. 


Dr. ALBERT CHARLES PEALE, geologist of 
the U. S. Geological Survey from 1871 to 1898, 
subsequently and till recently aid in the sec- 
tion of paleontology of the U. S. National 
Museum, died on December 6, aged sixty-five 
years. 


Proressor ANGELO CELLI, who held the chair 
of hygiene at the University of Rome and was 
at the same time chief of the National Board 
of Health and senator, has died at the age of 
fifty-seven years. 


Dr. ALEXANDER CAMPBELL FRASER, professor 
emeritus of logic and metaphysics in Edin- 
burgh University, a distinguished writer on 
philosophical subjects, has died at the age of 
ninety-five years. 


Nits CuristorreR DunER, formerly director 
of the observatory at Upsala, Sweden, died on 
November 10, in his eightieth year. 


DECEMBER 18, 1914] 


THERE have been killed in the war, Peod- 
waair Frick, director of the Royal School of 
Forestry at Miinden, and Dr. Heinz Michael- 
son, assistant in the Institute for Oceano- 
graphy in Berlin. 

THE directors of the Fenger Memorial Fund 
announce that the sum of $600 has been set 
aside for medical investigation in 1915. The 
money will be used to pay all or part of the 
salary of a worker, the work to be done under 
direction in an established institution, which 
will furnish the necessary facilities and sup- 
plies free of cost. It is desirable that the 
work undertaken should have a direct clinical 
bearing. Applications giving full particulars 
should be sent to L. Hektoen, 629 S. Wood 
St., Chicago, before January 15, 1915. 

In the will of the late Miss Dessie Greer, 
an annual member of the American Museum 
of Natural History, the museum is desig- 
nated as the ultimate beneficiary of a fund of 
$90,000. 

By the will of the late William Endicott, of 
Boston, a bequest of $25,000 for cancer re- 
search is made to Harvard University. 


Tue American Museum of Natural History 
has received from Messrs. M. Guggenheim 
and Sons the gift of a small collection of pre- 
historic objects found in a copper mine at 
Chuquicamata, Chile. The collection consists 
for the most part of hafted stone hammers 
and wooden scrapers. These were the imple- 
ments used by the Indians in pre-Spanish 
days in collecting the copper (atacamite) 
with which they made knives and other im- 
plements. 

In the New York City building at the Pan- 
ama-Pacific Exposition, the gardens, libraries 
and museums of New York will have a booth 
some twenty-four feet long at the left of the 
entrance, with interior and exterior wall 
space for the display of photographs. Hach 
institution of the city has been allotted ap- 
proximately ninety square feet of surface. 

At a meeting of members of the Lister In- 
stitute, London, under the presidency of Sir 
Henry Roscoe, held on November 18, a pro- 
posal to authorize the governing body to ef- 
fect an amalgamation with the Committee 


SCIENCE 


889 


for Medical Research, established under the 
National Health Insurance Act, 1911, with 
clauses provisionally agreed to by the treas- 
ury was rejected. 


At the recent meeting of the National As- 
sociation of State Universities, in Washing- 
ton, there were five municipal universities, 
institutions directly controlled and supported 
by cities, represented. President Charles Wil- 
liam Dabney made the opening address on 
“The Municipal University.” At the close 
of the meeting President Wheeler, of the Uni- 
versity of California, addressed representa- 
tives of urban universities on the importance 
of their service to American institutions. An 
association to be called the Association of 
Urban Universities was then founded and all 
institutions cooperating with cities and train- 
ing for public service were invited to become 
members. The purposes of the association 
were announced to be the study of the prob- 
lem of the city in its broadest sense, and the 
training of men and women to serve the 
state. Dr. Dabney, of the University of Cin- 
cinnati, was elected president; Dean Everett 
W. Lord, of Boston University, vice-president, 
and Dr. Walter E. Clark, of the College of 
the City of New York, secretary. 


Tue twenty-seventh annual meeting of the 
American Economic Association will be held 
at Princeton, N. J., from December 28 to 31. 
The American Statistical Association and 
the American Sociological Society will hold 
their annual meetings at the same time and 
place. Several joint sessions will be held. 
The first session is to be a joint meeting ad- 
dressed by the presidents of the three associa- 
tions—Messrs. John H. Gray, John Koren 
and Edward A. Ross. The morning session 
on December 29 is to be on “ Speculation on 
Stock Exchanges and Public Regulation of 
the Exchanges.” Papers will be presented by 
Messrs. Samuel Untermyer and Henry C. 
Emery. The afternoon session on December 
99 will be on “ Market Distribution.” The 
morning session on December 30 will be a 
joint meeting with the American Statistical 
Association to discuss “ The Statistical Work 
of the United States Government”; the after- 


890 


noon session will be devoted to “ The Relation 
of Education to Industrial Efficiency” and 
“The Effect of Inheritance and Income Taxes 
on the Distribution of Wealth.” The con- 
cluding session on December 31 will be a joint 
meeting with the American Sociological So- 
ciety on “The Public Regulation of Wages.” 


AT a meeting of Yale University men in- 
terested in engineering at the Yale Club, on 
December 4, a constitution was adopted form- 
ing a Yale Engineering Association. Discus- 
sion of this project has been under way for 
a year, and a committee, consisting of E. G. 
Williams, ’87S.; Calvert Townley, ’86S.; 
Bradley Stoughton, ’98S.; W. ©. Tucker, 
*88S., and Professor L. P. Breckenridge, 
*818., of the Scientific School, has been at 
work drawing up the organization papers. 
The main purpose of the association will be 
“to advance the interests of engineering edu- 
cation at Yale and to promote the better ac- 
quaintance and fellowship of Yale engineers.” 

Tue Bulletin of the American Geographical 
Society states that for two years past the De- 
partment of Historical Research at the Car- 
negie Institution has given a considerable 
amount of time to planning an atlas of the 
historical geography of the United States and 
collecting materials for its construction. Sey- 
eral specialists, including Professor Frank H. 
Hodder, of the University of Kansas; Professor 
O. G. Libby, of the University of North Da- 
kota; Professor Max Farrand, of Yale Uni- 
versity, and Professor Jesse S. Reeves, of the 
University of Michigan, each proficient in one 
or more subjects to be covered by the atlas, 
have been called to Washington to conduct 
investigations for the proposed work. The de- 
partment of historical research wishes to make 
the atlas of the greatest possible use to the 
teachers and writers of American history and 
is seeking all the helpful cooperation that can 
be secured. According to present plans the 
completed atlas, exclusive of text, will con- 
tain 200 pages measuring about 22 by 14 
inches. The largest maps will be approxi- 
mately full-page maps, many others will be 
about one fourth that size and many still 
smaller. The area covered will be generally 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1042 


the whole or a part of continental United 
States. It may occasionally be found desira- 
ble, however, to represent our detached pos- 
sessions, adjacent parts of Canada and Mexico, 
the West Indies and parts of the north Atlan- 
tie and north Pacific oceans. Excepting maps 
illustrating the. geology of the country and its 
early aborigines, all the maps will fall within 
the period from the discovery of America in 
1492 to the present time. The general head- 
ings are expected to include physical geography, 
aborigines, early maps of America, routes of 
explorers and colonizers, boundaries and divi- 
sions, industrial and social maps, and political, 
city and military maps. A considerable por- 
tion of the atlas will be devoted to political 
statistics, which will be treated somewhat after 
the method of Professor Turner and his stu- 
dents. It is to be hoped that the specialists in 
charge will have all the collaboration that can 
add to the value of the proposed atlas. 


A CONFERENCE of Pacific coast horticultur- 
ists was called by Governor West, of Oregon, 
to meet at the Agricultural College early in 
December to secure better and uniform fruit 
inspection throughout the western fruit-grow- 
ing states. After hearing reports and recom- 
mendations from the horticultural commis- 
sioners of Oregon, California and Washington, 
a joint committee of producers and distributors 
was appointed to prepare a bill embodying the 
features endorsed by the conference, to be pre- 
sented to the state legislatures with the rec- 
ommendation that it be enacted into law. 
The joint committee called in as advisory 
members Professor H. F. Wilson and Pro- 
fessor H. S. Jackson, entomologist and plant 
pathologist, respectively, of the Oregon Sta- 
tion. The measure as framed by the committee 
provides effective inspection both within the 
states and from other states, with as little 
restriction as is consistent with efficiency. 
The ultimate aim of the conference ig to 
secure uniform horticultural laws throughout 
the entire country. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 


Two gifts of $100,000 each for the develop- 
ment of a graduate course in preparation for 


DECEMBER 18, 1914] 


business and business administration at the 
Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University, 
are announced. The donors are Frederick 
W. Vanderbilt, of the class of 1876, S., and a 
graduate of the class of 1887, S., whose name 
is not made public. The new course will be 
for one year, and, if possible, two years. It is 
expected that it will be open to students at 
the beginning of the next academic year. 

A Girt of $10,000 to Smith College has been 
made by Mr. and Mrs. A. J. White, of Brook- 
lyn. Half of the money is to be applied toward 
payment for recent improvements on the 
Lyman Plant House. The remainder will 
constitute a permanent endowment fund for 
repairs to the house, purchase of new mater- 
ials, and encouragement of botanical study. 


A BEQUEST of $10,000 to St. Lawrence Uni- 
versity at Canton, N. Y., is made under the 
will of Mrs. Kate A. L. Chapin, of Meriden, 
Conn. 


AT its last session, the council of the Uni- 
versité de Paris unanimously resolyed that 
Belgian students who before the war had been 
matriculated in one of the universities of 
their own country might become matriculated 
in the schools of the Université de Paris with- 
out having to pay the matriculation, inscrip- 
tion and library fees. Young Belgians from 
the Belgian establishments of secondary edu- 
cation will likewise be received if they fulfill 
the conditions exacted by the Belgian univer- 
sities. In default of diplomas and certifi- 
cates, the young people may prove their quali- 
fications by such means as are possible, for 
instance, certificates of French or Belgian 
diplomatic or consular agents. 


Prorressor and Mrs. Frederic S. Lee have 
given to Columbia University the sum of 
$90,000 to establish a fund for the use of the 
department of physiology. It is intended 
that for the present the income shall be used 
for the maintenance of the library of the de- 
partment. The university is about to acquire 
the valuable collection of books belonging to 
the late Professor John G. Curtis and con- 
sisting of ancient and medieval works on the 
history of physiology. 


SCIENCE 


891 


Dr. Ropert Bennett Bean, of the depart- 
ment of anatomy in Tulane University, has 
been advanced from the rank of associate 
professor of anatomy to that of professor of 
gross anatomy in the department of anatomy, 
and Dr. Sidney S. Schochet and Mr. Charles 


W. Barrier have been appointed instructors 
in anatomy. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 
TEACHING AND RESEARCH 


THE suggestive article by Professor Cattell 
in SCIENCE of October 30, p. 628, leads me to 
offer a few observations growing out of my 
Own experience. One who is wholly a 
teacher tends to organize his work on a more 
or less permanent basis, with definite limita- 
tions. If he possesses good natural ability, 
he becomes very efticient, teaching clearly and 
logically what appear to him to be the more 
important things. He tends more and more 
to fixed opinions, and to arbitrary divisions 
between the things which should be known 
and those which need not be known. Such a 
man will be tremendously indignant because 
X does not know a, but feel no shame on ac- 
count of his own ignorance of the analogous 
facts b, ¢, ete. 

One who is primarily interested in re- 
search finds his mind much occupied with 
various trains of thought, and his interest 
tends to center about wncertainties rather 
than certainties. Even as he teaches, things 
assume new aspects to his mind. Much has 
been made of the saying that Kelvin made 
discoveries while lecturing, but (in a small 
way) this is probably a common experience. 

The teacher who does no research tends to 
become increasingly confident of his own 
knowledge, and conveys this feeling to his 
class. One who is primarily an investigator, 
unless he works in a very small field which he 
has thoroughly in hand, is continually re- 
minded of his own limitations and of the 
vastness of the unknown. He is humbled by 
the mistakes he can not help making, and feels 
and appears more ignorant. 


892 SCIENCE 


I have tried to define extreme cases; most 
of us are blends or mosaics of the two types. 
It must be admitted, I think, that when a 
teacher is keenly interested in research, his 
teaching suffers in some respects. Jt gains in 
others, and the question is, how to find the 
optimum condition of affairs. We seem to be 
attacking the old problem of progress. We 
are reproducing on a minute scale the phe- 
nomena of evolution. The absence of prog- 
ress and excessive progress are alike detri- 
mental, and there is a shifting optimum 
between. My personal opinion, which tends to 
grow stronger with time, is that our universi- 
ties mostly err on the side of conservatism 
and dogmatism, so that additional emphasis 
on progressive policies becomes desirable. By 
a sort of paradox, conservative teachers with 
rigid ideas are frequently undecided or in- 
different as to the merits of the systems they 
expound, rather priding themselves on their 
academic impartiality. On the other hand, 
progressive thinkers will be filled with partic- 
ular ideas at particular times, and will then 
appear very confident; thus, superficially, our 
definitions may seem reversed. In reality, the 
indecision of the conservative is due to the 
limitations of his field, and is quite different, 
psychologically, from the indecision of a man 
who is ardently seeking a solution which still 
evades him. 

There is, of course, another matter to be 
considered. Granting that a research man, 
with his necessary limitations, makes a better 
teacher than one who is only a teacher, what 
if he loses interest in his teaching? Many 
will remember instances of this sort, and it is 
customary to put the whole blame on the man 
who has thus failed. Is it not possible that 
the loss of interest is sometimes accelerated 
by the indifference of those who do not wish 
to receive the only sort of thing the man can 
give? There is so much to do in this world 
that among the numerous possible activities 
presenting themselves there is a sort of sur- 
vival of the fittest. No one is justified in 
“wasting his sweetness on the desert air,” if 
he can help it. The problem then becomes 
one of creating an atmosphere in which good 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1042 


teaching can flourish, as well as securing good 
teachers. 

On the whole, it appears that we can not 
have every good thing at once. It is for each 
department and man to seek an optimum 
which will certainly differ according to times 
and circumstances. It may, however, be 
worth while to try to understand the psychol- 
ogy of each situation as it arises. 

T. D. A. CockErELi 

UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO, 

November 16, 1914 


A NOTE ON APPARATUS REPAIR 


To tHE Eprror oF Science: Doubtless there 
are many who like the writer have met with 
accidents where a fused-in-platinum electrode 
has broken off at the very surface of the glass. 
Such a thing occurred while setting up Hoff- 
man’s apparatus for electrolysis. 


Fie. 1. 


In order to repair it the writer took a piece 
of chamois skin cut to an appropriate size and 
shape, formed it into a little sack and fixed it 
with sealing wax to the outer wall of the ver- 
tical tube. This sack was so placed that when 


DECEMBER 18, 1914] 


nearly filled with mereury the broken end of 
the platinum wire was immersed in the liquid. 
To make a connection with the battery cir- 
cuit it was simply necessary to insert a con- 
necting wire into the sack containing the mer- 
eury. This makeshift has worked splendidly 
many times and there seems no reason why it 
should not work indefinitely. The sketch shows 
the arrangement above noted. H,H, are elec- 
trodes, I/,M, mereury, P,P, the pockets. 

The thought occurs to the writer that it 
would be possible to place on certain pieces of 
glass apparatus designed with fused-in-plat- 
inum wires some sort of glass pocket, the 
function of which would be the same as the 
leather pocket above mentioned. It is obvious 
that this arrangement would do away entirely 
with the risk of accident. 

In the case of much glass apparatus where 
the electrodes are inserted through the glass 


the outer terminals are metal rings somewhat. 


securely fixed in place—for example as in 
vacuum tubes. Even in electrolytic apparatus 
such a scheme may be used at times. Yet, 
while that arrangement is certainly an im- 
provement over the projecting-out piece of 
platinum wire, it seems that the above scheme 
would lend itself to even more careless and 
safe handling. 

It is further suggested that the same idea 
might be used on certain forms of vacuum 


tubes. 
G. B. O. 


CoLBy COLLEGE 


THE TENTERTON STEEPLE AND THE GOODWIN SANDS 


On reading the reference to the Tenterton 
(Tenterden) Steeple and the Goodwin Sands 
in the article on “Heredity and Environ- 
ment” by Mr. Henry Leffman,! I wondered 
whether the reference in question would be 
generally understood. I did not think so, and 
in order to test the matter I stated the refer- 
ence and its connection in a meeting of some 
seventy high-school teachers, among whom 
were many A.B.’s, several A.M.’s and a sprink- 
ling of Ph.D.’s. I asked those who understood 
the reference to raise a hand. The result was 

1ScrencEr, October 23, 1914, pp. 593-594. 


SCIENCE 


893 


even more meager than I had anticipated— 
not a single hand went up. 

Although most readers of the article re- 
ferred to may have reached the conclusion 
which the author evidently took for granted 
they should reach, yet because the Goodwin 
Sands have recently been referred to in the 
war news from Dover (Kngland)—the Sands 
are in that vicinity—and further because 
there may be some readers of ScIENCE who are 
still in the dark about the relation between the 
“Sands” and the “Steeple,” therefore I 
thought that a brief account of the origin of 
the incident might not be altogether unprof- 
itable. 

In a “Compendium of English Literature ” 
by Charles D. Cleveland, published at Phila- 
delphia by J. A. Bancroft & Co., in 1869, may 
be found selections from the more prominent 
authors from Sir John Mandeville to William 
Cowper. On page 65 of this compendium a 
biographical sketch of Hugh Latimer is found, 
and following that are a few selections from 
his writings. One of the selections (p. 67) is 
entitled “ Cause and Effect,” and reads in part, 
as follows: 

Here is now an argument against the preachers. 
Here was preaching against covetousness all the 
last year, and the next summer followed rebellion. 
Ergo, preaching against covetousness was the 
cause of the rebellion—a goodly argument. Here 
now I remember an argument of master More’s 
which he bringeth in a book that he made against 
Bilney; and here by the way I will tell you a 
merry toy. 

Master More was once sent in commission into 
Kent, to help to try out (if it might be) what 
was the cause of the Goodwin Sands, and the shelf 
that stopped up Sandwich haven. Thither cometh 
Master More, and calleth the country afore him, 
such as were thought to be men of experience, and 
men that could of likelihood best certify him of 
that matter concerning the stopping of Sandwich 
haven. Among others came in before him an old 
man, with a white head, and one that was thought 
to be little less than a hundred years old... . 
So master More. . . said: ‘‘Father (said he), tell 
me, if you can, what is the cause of this great 
arising of the sands and shelves about this haven, 
... [so] that no ships can arrive here? ... ye of 
likelihood can say most to it, or at leastwise, 


894 


more than any man here.’’.. . ‘‘ Yea, forsooth, 
good master (quoth this old man), for I am well 
nigh a hundred years old. . . . [and] forsooth, sir, 
(quoth he), I am an old man; I think that the 
Tenterton-steeple is the Cause of the Goodwin 
Sands. For I am an old man, sir, (quoth he), and 
I may remember the building of the Tenterton- 
steeple, and I may remember when there was no 
steeple at all there. And before that Tenterton- 
steeple was in building, there was no manner of 
speaking of any flats or sands that stopped the 
haven, and therefore I think that the Tenterton- 
steeple is the cause of the destroying and decay 
of Sandwich haven.’’? And so to my purpose, is 
preaching God’s word the cause of rebellion, as 
the Tenterton-steeple was cause that Sandwich 
haven was decayed. 
Maximinian Braam 
HucHES HicH ScHooL, 
CINCINNATI 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 


Roger Bacon. Essays contributed by various 
writers on the occasion of the commemora- 
tion of the seventh centenary of his birth. 
Collected and edited by A. G. Lirtir. Ox- 
ford University Press, Oxford. 1914. Pp. 
vii + 496. 

American universities and American schol- 
ars are fortunate in the undisputed right to 
celebrate the anniversaries of any of the great 
teachers that the world has known. Oxford 
has the first claim to commemorate the name 
and fame of Roger Bacon, for there the 
“learned doctor” spent many years, both as 
teacher and student. The committee on the 
commemoration of the seventh centenary of 
Roger Bacon’s birth has erected a statue of 
Roger Bacon, by Mr. Hope Pinker, in the 
University Museum at Oxford, has issued the 
volume of memorial essays under discussion, 
and has raised funds for the publication of 
certain unpublished works of the great Fran- 
ciscan. In America Columbia University has 
celebrated this anniversary with appropriate 
exercises, including a pageant; at the Univer- 
sity of Michigan the Research Club devoted 
its annual memorial meeting to public exer- 
cises on Roger Bacon, with papers by Pro- 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Von. XL. No. 1042 


fessors Dow, Lloyd, Guthe and Tatlock, dis- 
cussing the life and times, the philosophy, the 
scientific activity and the relation to magic 
and astrology of Roger Bacon. The Open 
Court Magazine dedicated the issue of Au- 
gust, 1914, entirely to Bacon, and foreign 
journals, such as the Revue des deux Monds, 
have taken this time to discuss the contri- 
butions to various fields made by Bacon. 

Simply the titles of the essays in the pres- 
ent volume, and the list of contributors, pay 
such a high tribute to the intellectual activity 
of Roger Bacon that it seems desirable to pre- 
sent the list of contents: 


I. Introduction: On Roger Bacon’s Life and 
Works. By A. G. Little, M.A., Lecturer 
in Paleography in the University of Man- 
chester. 

II. Der Einfluss des Robert Grosseteste auf die 
wissenschaftliche Richtung des Roger 
Bacon. Von Universitiitsprofessor Dr. 
Ludwig Baur in Tiibingen. 

III. La Place de Roger Bacon parmi les Philo- 
sophes du xili® siécle. Par Francois Pica- 
vet, Secrétaire du Collége de France, Di- 
recteur 4 1’Eeole pratique des Hautes- 
Etudes. 

IV. Roger Bacon and the Latin Vulgate. By 
His Eminence Francis Aidan Cardinal 
Gasquet, D.D., O.S8.B., President of the 
International Commission for the Revision 
of the Vulgate. 

YV. Roger Bacon and Philology. 
Hirseh, Ph.D. 

VI. The Place of Roger Bacon in the History 
of Mathematics. By David Eugene 
Smith, Professor of Mathematics, Teach- 
ers College, Columbia University. 

Roger Bacon und seine Verdienste um die 
Optik. Von Geheimer Hofrat Professor 
Dr. Hilhard Wiedemann in Erlangen. 

Roger Bacons Lehre von der sinnlichen 
Spezies und vom Sehvorgange. Von Dr. 
Sebastian Vogl in Passau. 

IX. Roger Bacons Art des wissenschaftlichen 

Arbeitens, dargestellt nach seiner Schrift 
“De Speculis.’’? Von Dr. J. Wiirschmidt 
in Erlangen. 

X. Roger Bacon et 1’Horreur du Vide. Par 
Pierre Duhem, Membre de 1’Institut de 
France, Professeur 4 1’Université de Bor- 
deaux. 


By S. A. 


Vil. 


VIII. 


DECEMBER 18, 1914] 


XI. Roger Bacon: His Relations to Alehemy and 
Chemistry. By M. M. Pattison Muir, 
M.A., Fellow, and formerly Prelector in 
Chemistry, of Gonville and Caius College, 
Cambridge. 

XII. Roger Bacon and Gunpowder. By Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel H. W. L. Hime, (late) Royal 
Artillery. 

XIII. Roger Bacon and Medicine. 
ington, M.A., M.B. 
XIV. Roger Bacon in English Literature. By Sir 
John Edwin Sandys, Litt.D., LL.D., 
F.B.A., F.R.S.L., Public Orator in the 
University of Cambridge. 
Appendix. Roger Bacon’s Works, with references 
to the MSS. and Printed Editions. 
By A. G. Little. 


By E. With- 


A critical discussion of these fourteen es- 
says is obviously beyond the power of any 
cne individual. However, any scholar in any 
field will find much that is of interest and 
even of profit, in intellectual stimulus, in all 
of these essays. Roger Bacon came at a time 
when the world of the Middle Ages was re- 
awakening. The learning of the Greeks and 
the Byzantines, the learning of the Jews, and 
the learning of the Arabs, were made acces- 
sible to the scholars of that time by the nu- 
merous translators of the eleventh, twelfth 
and thirteenth centuries; although Roger 
Bacon had much to say about the inaccuracy 
of many of the translations with which his 
readers were familiar, the fact remains that to 
the authors of these works is due in large 
measure the revival of learning which was in 
full swing in the thirteenth century. It need 
then occasion no surprise that much of the 
material which is found in the writings of 
Roger Bacon may be found in the writings 
of Greek, Jewish and particularly Arabic 
scholars who preceded him. So, too, as Baur 
points out, the teachings of Bacon may fre- 
quently be traced to the influence of Robert 
Grosseteste, the great Bishop of Lincoln and 
a scholar entirely of the type of Bacon. Nor 
does this dependence upon earlier writers di- 
Minish the importance and significance of 
Bacon’s work. There are now and then those 
geniuses who proceed far in advance of the 


SCIENCE 


895 


main body of scholars; but their work in a 
large measure is lost unless, in some way, the 
great mass of scholars can arrive at the point 
to which the advance guard has attained. 
Only in this way can we understand how it 
happened that the work of Archimedes, so 
much in advance of its age, exerted so little 
influence for fifteen hundred years. Archi- 
medes lacked continuators and those who 
could popularize his work. 

The modern point of view in many discus- 
sions is most striking. Bacon would have the 
ancient languages studied for a more com- 
plete and precise understanding of the Scrip- 
tures; he urged the study of modern lan- 
guages in order to promote trade, to facilitate 
political relationships, and for the conserva- 
tion of peace. The accounts of the great 
travellers of his time, and the geography of 
the world, were of intense interest to him. 
His interest in mechanical discoveries, and a 
somewhat prophetic vision, are evident in his 
statement: “I have not seen a flying machine, 
and I do not know any one who has seen one; 
but I know a wise man who has thought out 
the principle of the thing.” 

This work can be commended in its en- 
tirety to all students of science. The volume 
is interesting and instructive in many ways. 
Any one who reads the work through will 
have obtained a very clear idea of the intel- 
lectual activity, and the life of the students 
in the Middle Ages, as well as a renewed ap- 
preciation of the underlying unity of all 
learning. 

The first three essays in the work are 
written in English, German and French, re- 
spectively; the following three are written by 
a Cardinal of the Roman Church, a Jew and 
an American. May this kind of international 
cooperation speedily return, and wipe out the 
memory of these terrible days when gun- 
powder, possibly invented by Roger Bacon 
and used by him as an amusement for chil- 
dren, is being used by civilized man for the 
destruction of his fellows. 

Louis C. Karpinski 

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN 

ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN 


896 


The Birds of the Latin Poets. By Ernest 
Wuirtnrey Martin. Leland Stanford Junior 
University Publications. University Series. 
Stanford University, California. Published 
by the University. 1914. Pp. 260. 

This, the latest contribution to the literary 
side of ornithology, covers a virgin field. In 
“The Birds of the Latin Poets” Professor 
Martin has attempted to bring together from 
the Roman poetical writers their passages 
which mention birds of any particular kind; 
and an examination of his text and appended 
bibliography shows how admirably he has suc- 
ceeded. Very wisely no attempt has been 
made to include either prose passages or refer- 
ences to birds in general. 

After a brief preface these quotations form 
the major portion of the book, in which the 
arrangement is conveniently alphabetical by 
names of birds, from Acalanthis to Vultur. 
Under the Latin name or names of each bird 
is given a Greek equivalent or equivalents, the 
' English names, and the scientific name or 
names, the last in many cases not more 
than generic. Comment on the use of two 
or more Latin names for the same bird 
is sometimes added, together with various 
notes and explanations, including many 
mythological references. There are mentioned 
also the conspicuous avian parallels of Ameri- 
can poetical literature, these birds being not 
the scientific equivalents, but, as our author 
very well puts it, “the birds which have aroused 


similar reactions in the feelings of their ' 


poetic observers.” A list of American poems 
thus pertinent to the bird in hand is given 
when possible; also a list of Latin epithets, 
some of the latter being especially interesting, 
as, for instance, in the ease of Aquila. Then 
follow the various Latin quotations arranged 
under different topics, and liberally inter- 
spersed with the author’s comments and with 
extracts in English, mostly from American 
poets. These passages for each bird occupy 
from half a page, or even less, to as many as 
17 pages. Not counting synonyms entered 
for convenience of reference, 70 different birds 
are thus treated, among which, as of particular 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No, 1042 


interest, may be mentioned Anser, Aquila, 
Cycnus, Hirundo and Luscinia. 

Following this treatment of individual birds 
are four “ Notes” of several pages each—vir- 
tual appendices—on “The Spring Migration 
and Spring Song”; “The Fall Migration and 
the Fall Song ”; “ The Hibernating of Birds”; 
and “Ruscinia.” Under the first of these 
headings quotations are given to show the atti- 
tude of both American and Latin poets toward 
the spring movements of birds; and under the 
second caption similar treatment is accorded 
the fall migration. The mythical hibernation 
of birds is considered in like manner in “ Note 
Til.” The last of these “notes” is devoted 
to a discussion of the origin and identification 
of the “ruscinia,” and of the application of 
this name to the nightingale. The author’s 
conclusions regarding this obscure question 
come probably as near the true solution as is 
now possible. 

A “Bibliography of the Principal Litera- 
ture Consulted” and an index of all the cita- 
tions from Latin authors complete the book. 

This treatise has been written, and its 
numberless quotations collected, for the pur- 
pose of showing the Roman attitude toward 
bird life so far as it is depicted by the Latin 
poets. The result is thus much more than a 
mere collection of quotations, and really gives 
an insight such as perhaps we could obtain in 
no other way. With our present-day knowl- 
edge of birds it is somewhat difficult for us to 
realize how meager and vague, when the Latin 
poets lived and wrote, was even the scientific 
information regarding bird life, and how in- 
terwoven and bound up with tradition, mythol- 
ogy and augury were even the common facts 
of every-day observation; a condition which 
renders difficult, indeed, often impossible, the 
very identification of the birds that they had 
in mind and at the tip of the pen. By reason 
of this we ought the more to appreciate the 
additional light that comes from researches 
such as these of Professor Martin’s. Of nota- 
ble interest is the Roman attitude toward the 
song of birds, as disclosed by the poets. This 
is, as our author expresses it: “ that they nearly 
always felt a tone of sadness in the songs of 
their favorite song birds, where we are inclined 


DECEMBER 18, 1914] 


to feel joy and ecstacy.” This, our author, 
with much reason, holds, is due to the ancient 
prevalent belief in metamorphosis, through 
which the Roman thought of his birds not 
simply as birds, but also as human beings in 
changed form. Another observation worthy 
of mention, to which our author is led by his 
study of the writings of American poets, is that 
in the latter is found much more traditional 
Greek and Latin bird lore than the ordinary 
reader realizes. 

It is unfortunate, though perhaps unavoid- 
able, that of a number of the birds treated, 
identifications more specific were not made. 
Moreover, while we do not forget that the pur- 
pose of the book is primarily not scientific, 
but literary, we are of the opinion that its 
literary flavor would not have suffered from 
the use of proper modern scientific names 
instead of the antiquated terms that appear 
under many of the species. Any well-informed 
ornithologist could have furnished these. 
Less excusable is the statement (page 242) that 
the nightingale is not a thrush, but a mem- 
ber of the “silvide.” A good index of bird 
names would have aided much in finding refer- 
ences scattered through the text. 

Few of us, however, can fully appreciate 
the great amount of research involved in the 
task that the author has set for himself; and 
we owe him a debt of gratitude for having put 
before us in such readable form the results 
of his industry; and for haying produced a 
treatise that will be interesting and profitable 
alike to classicist, litterateur, and ornithologist. 
It furthermore impresses us anew with the 
thought that in all phases of ornithological 
study there are the same endless possibilities 
that these lines of the poet suggest: 

Quis volucrum species numeret, quis nomina dis- 
eat? 
Mille avium cantus, vocum discrimina mille. 
Harry C. OBERHOLSER 


A Montane Rain Forest. A Contribution to 
the Physiological Plant Geography of 
Jamaica. By Forrest SHREVE. Carnegie 
Institution of Washington, Publication 
No. 199. 


SCIENCE 


897 


This admirable presentation of the results 
of eleven months’ study of the forests of the 
Jamaican mountains should demonstrate the 
value to American botany of a laboratory in 
the primeval forest of the western tropics. 
It ought also to prove the pioneer of a whole 
series of exact distributional and experimental 
studies of American tropical vegetation. 

The main ridge of the Blue Mountains, 
which varies from 5,000 to 7,428 feet in height, 
lies directly across the path of the northeast 
trade winds. In consequence of this the cli- 
mate of the northern, or windward side is fog- 
drenched and constantly humid, with a rain- 
fall of 160 inches. Two miles south of the 
ridge, however, the precipitation is but 105 
inches, the percentage of sunshine is far higher 
and hence the climate is decidedly warmer and: 
less humid. The whole region is frostless. 
The annual range of temperature is about 42° 
Fahrenheit, and the daily range close to 12°. 

The flora of the rain forest is less varied 
than that of the neighboring tropical low- 
lands. The composition of the flora is rather 
less like that of these lowlands than that of a 
temperate forest. A list is given of the higher 
plants, which is not intended to be complete, 
but does embrace the more characteristic spe- 
cies. It includes 93 pteridophytes and 187 
seed-plants. 

The vegetation of the untouched rain-forest 
is dominated by a nearly continuous covering 
of trees, very few of which get to be more than 
50 feet high and 24 feet in diameter before 
being undermined by the rapid erosion char- 
acteristic of the region. On the ridges and 
higher slopes the trees are reduced to 15 or 20 
feet in height. The floor of the forest, espe- 
cially of the windward slopes and ravines, 
supports many shrubs and has an abundant 
carpet of herbaceous mosses, ferns and seed- 
plants, while numerous epiphytic mosses, ferns, 
orchids and bromeliads stick to the branches 
of the trees and lianes often overspread their 
tops. On the leeward slopes, and on the ridges 
of both sides trees are more scattered, the 
herbaceous ground vegetation is sparse, but 
thickets of shrubs or of climbing ferns and 


898 


grasses cover the soil between the trees. This 
difference in the types of plant covering on the 
windward and leeward sides is the most strik- 
ing feature of the distribution of the vegeta- 
tion of these mountains. A comparison of the 
vegetation of a valley bottom with that of its 
own higher bounding slopes, even on the be- 
clouded windward side, shows a difference of 
the same sort as that just mentioned, though 
somewhat less marked. 

Detailed instrumental measurements of the 
physical characteristics of several selected hab- 
itats were made by Shreve, between October, 
1905, and June, 1906. These studies of the cli- 
mate, in the valleys and on the ridges and at the 
top of the forest canopy as well as on its floor, 
together with his inquiry into the transpira- 
tion capacity of typical rain-forest plants, are 
perhaps the most unique features of his con- 
tribution. The habitat in which the climatic 
peculiarities of the rain-forest are most ac- 
centuated, as was demonstrated by the aid of 
the air and soil thermographs, the hygrometer 
and atmometer, is the floor of the windward 
ravines. Here soil moisture is abundant, the 
leaves are dripping wet with rain or fog for 
weeks together. The humidity is constantly 
high; the rate of transpiration is very low 
and the light filtermg through the screen of 
foliage and of cloud is faint even at midday. 
On the slopes, and especially on the ridges, of 
both windward and leeward sides of the moun- 
tains, where air currents and sunlight have 
freer access, the soil is still moist, but the 
leaves are less often covered with water drops, 
and measurement shows that the humidity of 
the air is less, the rate of transpiration is 
higher and there is a somewhat greater daily 
range of temperature. These climatic differ- 
ences, taken together with the characteristic 
differences in the vegetation of the two sides 
of the range, make it clear that the general 
distribution of the vegetation here is controlled 
primarily by the moisture content of the air 
rather than by that of the soil. The latter is 
probably adequate in all but a few restricted 
locations. 

One very interesting feature of the seasonal 
activity of the rain-forest trees is that while 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1)42 


certain of them vegetate actively throughout 
the year, others growing right beside them show 
a well-marked winter rest. Most of the former 
species are allied with the lowland tropical 
forms, while the latter are allied rather with 
north temperate genera. 

Most plants of this montane region grow 
quite slowly, probably in consequence of the 
moderate temperatures, a low transpiration 
rate and the often weak light. The uncoiling 
leaves of certain ferns show the most rapid 
growth observed. 

The rate of transpiration was studied in 8 
or 10 species. One rather unlooked for result 
was that the rate of transpiration for these 
plants, under the conditions prevailing in the 
rain-forest, is not very unlike that found for 
many Arizona plants when growing under 
desert conditions. As a matter of fact the 
desert plant, in spite of its highly protected 
surface, loses more water per square centi- 
meter of surface, in its native habitat, than 
the plant of the rain-forest when growing in 
its home. 

One other interesting conclusion of the 
author from this comparison of rain-forest 
plants and desert plants is that the continuous 
extreme humidity, the low temperature and 
weak illumination give conditions approxi- 
mately as unfavorable to plant growth as are 
the opposite extreme conditions of arid regions. 
The tropical lowlands and the moist temperate 
regions are regarded as the homes of the most 
luxuriant and most varied floras of the earth, 
and the places of origin of new structures and 
new species. 

Dunoan S. JoHNson 


Engineering Geology. By HetnricH Ries and 
THomas L. Watson. New York, John 
Wiley & Sons. Octavo, bound in cloth. 
672 pages. 

This volume fills a special field in which it 
has no rival. It is arranged particularly for 
the use of the student of civil engineering, 
but the full treatment of many subjects and 
the extensive lists of standard papers will 
make it also a valuable reference work for 
engineering libraries. In many engineering 


DEcEMBER 18, 1914] 


schools the curricula of the students of civil 
engineering provide one term only for geology. 
‘The student is expected to master the prin- 
ciples of geology and to find the applications in 
that brief time without any previous train- 
ing in physiography, mineralogy, petrology or 
paleontology. It is obviously a difficult task 
to arrange the material so that the ground- 
work of principles is made clear in the short 
time allotted for the study, and applications 
emphasized sufficiently to make the study of 
much practical value. This difficulty is 
happily met in this volume by brief and con- 
‘cise statements of principles followed by 
ample and well-chosen illustrations. 

The book is well arranged for the mature 
and serious-minded beginner who wishes to 
get the maximum of material in a short time. 
The more advanced student will find also 
many applications of geology brought from 
widely scattered sources and some which are 
not treated elsewhere. Separate chapters are 
‘devoted to rock minerals, rocks, structural 
geology and metamorphism, rock weathering 
and soils, rivers, lakes, wave action, under- 
ground waters, landslides, glacial deposits, 
cements, clays, coal, petroleum and gas, road 
material, and ore deposits. The mechanical 
features of the work are excellent; partic- 
ularly noteworthy are the clearly executed 
photographs and line drawings. 

W. H. Emmons 


MINNEAPOLIS 


Die Umwelt des Lebens. Eine physikalisch- 
chemische Untersuchung iiber die Hignung 
des Anorganischen fiir die Bedtirfnisse des 
Organischen. Yon LAwRENCE J. HENDER- 
SON; ibersetzt von R. Bernstein. Wies- 
baden, J. F. Bergemann. 1914. 

This volume is the German translation of 
the author’s book, “ The Fitness of the Envi- 
ronment,” recently reviewed in these columns. 
There are a few additional features; the 
table of contents contains a very complete and 
convenient summary of the whole book, impor- 
tant sentences or paragraphs are italicized, 

1 Science, N. S., 1913, p. 337. 


SCIENCE 


899 


and a brief final chapter has been added; 
there is also an interesting and apposite quo- 
tation from du Bois-Reymond in a footnote 
on page 161; and the subject-index has been 
omitted. Otherwise the book remains un- 
changed. 

In his final chapter the author calls atten- 
tion to the existence of “a hitherto unrecog- 
nized order among the properties of the 
chemical elements,”—referring to the remark- 
able manner in which certain fundamental 
properties, which have largely conditioned the 
course taken by the evolutionary process, are 
distributed among the elements. These prop- 
erties, far from being distributed with ap- 
proximate uniformity—as the periodic system 
might lead us to expect—attain strongly 
marked maxima, or are, so to speak, concen- 
trated, in relatively few elements, which at 
the same time are among the most abundant 
and widespread, namely: carbon, hydrogen 
and oxygen. “As a result of this fact there 
arise certain characteristics of the cosmic 
process which could not otherwise occur: ” 
the implication is that at the outset of cosmic 
evolution there were present in advance all of 
the conditions needed for the development of 
physico-chemical systems having vital pecu- 
liarities, 7. e., possessing the complexity, activ- 
ity and stability im a changing environment 
which are essential to living organisms. The 
properties of these three elements—and of no 
others—show a most detailed “fitness” for 
the production of just such systems. If, there- 
fore, the main outcome of evolution be re- 
garded as the development of living organ- 
isms, “the biologist may rightly regard the 
universe in its very essence as biocentric.” 

The volume is attractively printed and is 
dedicated to Karl Spiro. 

R. S. L. 


THE OXIDATION OF NITROGEN AND HOW 
CHEAP NITRATES WOULD REVOLU— 
TIONIZE OUR ECONOMIC LIFE 
How is Atmospheric Nitrogen Oxidized? 


It is not many years ago (1898) that Sir 
William Crookes sounded the note of alarm 


900 


concerning the possibility of a future famine 
in the world’s supply of nitrates and other 
nitrogen compounds. At that time the supply 
of these salts was largely confined to certain 
beds of guano and Chile saltpeter. During 
the past few years most important advances 
have been made in our knowledge of the fixa- 
tion of atmospheric nitrogen, and some of the 
processes have been placed upon a purely com- 
mercial basis. 

In addition to drawing on the air directly 
for nitrogen it has been found that large 
amounts of ammonia and other nitrogen com- 
pounds may be obtained as by-products from 
coal and peat in connection with the manu- 
facture of coke, illuminating gas and the 
metallurgy of iron. The treatment of various 
shales, peats, silts and organic refuse often 
yields nitrogen compounds. The nitrogen in 
these substances has probably been derived 
from the atmosphere by one or more of the 
processes which will now be described. 

The amount of nitrogen that enters into 
the plant and animal growth (“ nomadic” 
nitrogen) has been estimated to be about 20 
gm. per square yard of land. Part of this is 
being constantly changed into nitrogen gas by 
the action of nitrifying and dentrifying bac- 
teria. In nature an equilibrium is maintained 
between the action of these bacteria and the 
oxidization of nitrogen in the air by means of 
electrical discharges and the action of plants, 
such as clover. The natural processes of fix- 
ing nitrogen are therefore electrical and by 
the action of bacteria in the legume crops of 
clover and similar plants. In former geolog- 
ical times certain nitride and other chemical 
compounds may have been formed directly 
with the air nitrogen, but it is doubtful if any 
such direct chemical reactions take place at 
present. 

The natural oxidation of nitrogen by elec- 
trical discharges takes place during electrical 
storms, the aurora discharges at high levels 
and possibly in a slight degree in the bom- 
bardment of the higher strata of air by cathode 
and similar rays, ultraviolet light, and pos- 
sibly by other radiations. The disintegration 
of radium and thorium products yields a 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1042 


small amount of oxides of nitrogen. It has 
been estimated that in this way about 100,- 
000,000 tons of fixed nitrogen is carried to the 
earth every year by rain water. 

The other natural method of fixing atmos- 
pherie nitrogen is that of the action of bac- 
teria in the root nodules of the clovers, peas, 
vetches and other legumes. The chemical 
processes are very complicated and are at pres- 
ent unknown. This process is, however, of tre- 
mendous importance to the farmer and is 
probably the cheapest method now known of 
obtaining nitrogen as a fertilizer. This 
method is, however, quite expensive in that 
clover seed is expensive and the raising of a 
crop of clover requires attention, time and 
the exclusion of other crops. On the poor soils 
where humus is the most needed it is found 
very difficult to get clover to grow. Restora- 
tion of fertility to run down soils by this 
method is therefore slow and expensive. 

The commercial methods of manufactur- 
ing nitrogen salts includes the cyanamide 
process, the direct synthesis of ammonia, the 
various nitride processes of making ammonia 
and the electrical methods of oxidizing ni- 
trogen. 

A process that is being used commercially 
is that of treating calcium carbide with ni- 
trogen gas, thus yielding cyanamide which 
itself makes a good fertilizer. Although the 
reactions are known to be complex, they may 
be represented as regards the end products as 


follows: 
CaO + 3 C= Cal, + CO, 
CaC, + N.— CaCN, + C. 


The latter reaction begins at 1000° C. or at 
even lower temperatures. The N, may be pre- 
pared by the Linde process or by passing air 
over hot copper. According to Caro the energy 
consumption for fixing one ton of nitrogen 
(including making the CaC,, azotising, ma- 
chine driving, grinding, charging, air lique- 
faction) is less than 3 H.P. years. 

The direct combination of nitrogen and 
hydrogen into ammonia is very successful 
when done on a small scale with pure gases 
but, so far as is generally known, this process 
is not being worked on a large scale. A Ger- 


DECEMBER 18, 1914] 


man company, however, is planning to make 
large quantities of ammonia by this process. 
The nitride (including the Serpek) processes 
have not as yet proven to be successful from 
the commercial point of view. It is quite 
possible that these methods may be used in 
connection with the manufacture of alumin- 
ium and other metals with which these chem- 
ical methods are intimately connected. 
The Electrical Methods for Fixing Nitrogen 
Several electrical methods are used for oxi- 
dizing the nitrogen of the air into nitric acid 
and various salts of nitrogen. These methods 
all produce chemical reactions between gaseous 
oxygen and nitrogen in intense electric fields. 
Potential differences of thousands of volts are 
used and in the are methods large currents 
and high temperatures accompany the use of 
intense electric fields. Im all these methods 
the aim is to have the electrical discharge take 
place in the gaseous oxygen and nitrogen and 
to eliminate as much as possible the effect of 
the metallic electrodes. Large ares are there- 
fore necessary when the electric current is 
large. In the Birkeland-Eyde method the are 
is drawn out by a magnet; in the Schonherr 
process by a helical current of gas and in the 
Pauling process by horn electrodes and cur- 
rents of gas. In the author’s method a corona 
current is used and this seems to give the most 
perfect type of a purely gaseous discharge. 
The various electrical processes give about 
the same order of efficiency when this is meas- 
ured by the number of grams of nitric acid 
produced per kilowatt hour of consumption of 
electrical energy. About 60 to 80 gm. of 
nitric acid are formed per hour per kilowatt 
of electrical energy. 


The Complexity of Chemical Reactions 


Although single atoms, ions and possibly 
molecules have been isolated, the condition 
under which the isolation takes place is en- 
tirely unique, the particles traveling with a 
very great velocity. Im general chemical re- 
actions will not take place under these con- 
ditions in any way that they can be studied 
individually. Our knowledge of chemical re- 


SCIENCE 


901 


actions is therefore entirely statistical and 
our laws apply to a very large number of re- 
actions. There are numerous instances 
where experimental evidence indicates that 
the chemical reactions are frequently com- 
plex. The speaker’s work on the absorption 
spectra of uranyl and uranous salts indicated 
the possible existence of various intermedi- 
ate compounds in chemical reactions in solu- 
tions. 

In gases chemical reactions are undoubtedly 
much less complex than they are in solutions, 
although here the reactions may not be as 
simple as they are sometimes represented. 
The spectroscope is beginning to show indica- 
tions that the light centers are more numer- 
ous than the possible number of atom, ion 
and molecule types. In the ease of nitrogen 
we have various types of line spectra and 
quite recently Grotrian and Runge! have 
made convincing claims that the so-called 
cyanogen spectrum is due to nitrogen. 
(These experimenters worked with large 
Schénherr ares about a meter in length.) 


Chemical Reaction Centers 


Under conditions such as exist in the are, 
spark or whenever the temperature is high, 
many kinds of “centers” may exist. These 
“centers” may be the sources of light and 
heat emission or absorption, the ions that 
show deflections by electric and magnetic 
fields, and the particles that take part in chem- 
ical reactions. It must not necessarily be as- 
sumed that the “ centers” of the various phys- 
ical phenomena are the same. They may be 
widely different. 

Among the centers which may exist in arcs 
and sparks and which have been shown to 
exist in vacuum tubes are 

= => + + + + 
O;, 0, 0, Os, Os, 0, O, O,, 
N, N, No, Ne N, N, No 


Negative electrons also exist in comparatively 
large numbers. 

The formation of nitric oxide in the electric 
discharge may take place in a large number of 


1Phys. Zett., June 1, 1914. 


902 


ways. Some of these possible chemical reac- 
tions are as follows: 
+N+e+e+e=N0 (1) 


4+N=NO (2) 
+N,=NO+N (3) 
o4 +N+e+e=NO (4) 
+N+e=NO (5) 


+N,+e=NO+N (6) 
+N,te=NO+N, (7) 


N, + 0,—=2NO. A) 
In the place of O we might place O,, O,, O, 


O, O,, O, and O. We thus have 56 possible 
chemical reactions to represent the fixation 
of nitrogen. No doubt only a few of these re- 
actions actually take place though all are pos- 
sible, provided all these kinds of ions exist 
where the oxides of nitrogen are being formed. 

The comparative probability of some of 
these reactions is very small, especially when 
more than two products take part in the reac- 
tion. Since the oxides of nitrogen are appar- 
ently not removed from the gases by the elec- 
trie field, it is probable that the oxide of ni- 
trogen centers are not charged. Hence it fol- 
lows that reactions which involve the presence 
of an electron are improbable. The apparent 
fact that the reaction is “electrical” would 
indicate that the reactions N,+0O, and 
N-+O are not probable. The latter is in ac- 
cord with the view that active nitrogen con- 
sists of N and that N does not take any active 
part in the formation of oxides of nitrogen. 

It seems quite probable therefore that the 
main reaction that results in the formation of 
oxides of nitrogen is 


N.-+ 0. -+ 43000 calories = 2NO 


This type of ionization is produced by cath- 
ode rays or rapidly moving electrons accord- 
ing to Thomson and others and accordingly 
this equation would indicate that the oxidiza- 
tion of nitrogen is indirectly due to cathode 
rays. It may be for this reason that thermi- 
onic electron radiations may play an impor- 
tant role in the formation of oxides of nitrogen 
in the various are processes. In contrast to the 
above reaction is the reaction resulting in the 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1042 


formation of ozone. Ozone must necessarily 
be formed under conditions where some O, is 
dissociated. 

The above reaction may be only one of sey- 
eral reactions, and under different conditions 
of pressure and temperature these reactions 
may be of relatively quite different degrees 
of importance. 


Efficiency of the Nitrogen-fixing Process 

We can get some idea of the inefficiency of 
the present methods of oxidizing nitrogen when 
we consider that when gram molecular weights 
of the gases are used one has: 

Nz +’ O, + 43,000 calories =2NO 
approximately. The amount of energy used in 
this reaction is therefore about 1.7(10)12 ergs 
for about 126 gm. of nitric acid. Assuming 
80 gm. of nitric acid to be made per kilowatt 
hour, we should have an energy consumption 
of about 5(10)1? ergs or an efficiency of about 
4 per cent. 


Nitrogen Fixation and Our Economic Life 


The small percentage efficiency of the pres- 
ent methods for oxidization compared with 
the theoretical efficiency indicate that im- 
provements in the present methods would yield 
most important results. At the present time 
sodium nitrate sells for about $45 per ton. 
Tf the efficiency of the oxidation method could 
be increased so that calcium nitrate could be 
sold for $6 or $8 per ton, it would change our 
economic life fundamentally. Food products 
would be greatly decreased in value, real in- 
tensive farming could be pursued, suburban 
homes could easily be made self supporting and 
“abandoned” farms could be reclaimed. 
Probably no other one scientific development 
would so materially add to the material well 
being of the people as this. 

One of the reasons for the high cost of liv- 
ing is the fact that our soil fertility is diffi- 
cult to maintain. Continued cropping will 
eventually impoverish the most fertile soils if 
the crops are not replaced. Cheap nitrogen 
fertilizers will not only practically restore 
virgin fertility, but will permit of the continual 


DECEMBER 18, 1914] 


removal of crops. In this way the percentage 
of the crops that can be removed from the 
soil will be very much greater than under pres- 
ent conditions. 

The cheapening of nitrogen fertilizers will 
permit of doubling, trebling or even more 
greatly mereasing farm crops. In addition 
to these results cheap nitrogen fertilizers will 
permit a very much greater percentage of 
crops to be removed from the farms. Cheap 
nitrogen fertilizers will also permit of the most 
intensive farming in the immediate vicinity 
of industrial centers, thus lessening the time 
and cost of food distribution. 

Surely the problem of nitrogen fixation 
should appeal to every one interested in the 
conservation of our resources. Our waterfalls 
‘represent an equivalent of nitrogen salt con- 
tinuously going to waste instead of being used. 
And surely work of this kind is of greater 
importance than the building of dreadnaughts 
or the training of armies. 

W. W. Strone 


GARBAGE INCINERATOR AT BARMEN, 
GERMANY 

Owine to the great distance garbage had to 
be hauled for dumping, the city of Barmen, 
numbering 172,000 inhabitants, formerly ex- 
perienced considerable difficulty and incon- 
venience in disposing of its refuse and waste 
matter, and finally decided to build a garbage 
incinerating plant where waste material of all 
sorts is now burned. 

The plant was constructed in 1907 and has 
given excellent satisfaction in every partic- 
ular. Not only is all city garbage disposed of 
in a sanitary way, but from the cremation of 
this waste two important products are gained, 
an excellent quality of sand, and electricity. 

The city’s garbage is collected by an aver- 
age of twenty wagons, which convey the same 
to the incinerator and there dump it into large 
bunkers measuring 4 < 12 meters (floor space) 
each. There are seven of these bunkers, each 
having four trapdoors to receive garbage. 
From the bunkers the garbage is carried on 
wheelbarrows to huge funnels which feed the 
furnaces where the refuse is burned. These 


SCIENCE 


903 


funnels have a capacity of 1,200 Ibs. each and 
they are also seven in number. After being 
filled, a large plug in the center of the funnel 
is raised and the garbage falls through the 
opening beneath into the furnace, where it 
remains for an hour. During the first half 
hour it rests in the rear of each furnace, 
where it is ignited by the former deposit, and 
after burning for half an hour it is brought 
to the mouth of the furnace by large iron 
scrapers manipulated by the men serving the 
fires, and there remains the rest of the hour, 
cooling and igniting the next deposit from 
the funnel. 

The garbage is then in the form of a glow- 
ing, molten mass, called slag, which is removed 
from the furnaces with long iron hooks and is 
pulled directly from the grate into metal 
wheelbarrows, to be then wheeled to the 
sprinkling quarter, where the redhot slag is 
cooled by means of water sprinkled thereon 
for fifteen minutes. Later this process will be 
simplified, the slag being dipped into reser- 
voirs instead of sprinkled. 

After\sprinkling, the slag resembles large 
elinkers and these now come to the crusher 
where they are broken, ground, and finally 
reduced to various grades of sand which is 
used with splendid results for building pur- 
poses and for the construction of bricks. 

While the garbage itself is thus reduced to 
sand, the burning of the same gives another very 
valuable product, namely electricity. This is 
manufactured in the following manner. The 
gases resulting from the burning of the gar- 
bage have a temperature of from 1,200 to 1,500 
degrees Celsius. These gases are conducted to 
two boilers and there utilized in the produc- 
tion of steam, the latter haying a pressure 
of 10-12 atmospheres. Normally steam of this 
pressure has a temperature 180° Celsius, but 
in this case the steam is superheated until its 
temperature is 300° C., in order that it may 
be perfectly dry and there may be no danger 
of its injuring the turbine to which it is now 
conducted. This steam turbine is a 600 hp. 
machine of 3,000 revolutions per minute, and 
its axle is directly united with that of the 
dynamo. The capacity of the latter is 400 


904 SCIENCE 


kilowatts. The steam, consequently, after 
being heated to 300° Celsius, drives the tur- 
‘bine, and this, in turn, impels the dynamo 
which makes the electricity. After passing 
through the turbine, the steam is cooled in a 
condenser and is then pumped back into the 
boilers, 

The electricity thus manufactured is sold to 
the municipal electric works (7. e., owned and 
controlled by the city) at 34 pfennigs (less 
than one cent) per kilowatt hour, and the 
electric works in turn sell the same to the 
public at 11 pfennigs (2.718 cents) per kilo- 
watt hour. Whenever the garbage incinerator 
requires electricity for its own use, as for 
lighting, etc., on Sundays and holidays (ordi- 
narily it furnishes its own electricity), it is 
obliged to procure this from the municipal 
works at the regular price of 11 pfennigs. 
Inasmuch as the garbage cremating plant is 
also a municipal institution, there eventually 
is not much advantage or disadvantage either 
way, as the money belongs to the city under 
any circumstances, the only difference being 
in the showing made by the various depart- 
ments. 

The garbage which is thus utilized for the 
manufacture of commercial products is prac- 
tically every manner of refuse in existence: 
rags, paper, household waste, old clothing, and 
in fact every sort of material usually con- 
signed to the dump heap. 

From the garbage brought to the cremating 
plant 50 per cent. in weight and 80 per cent. 
in volume goes into the finished product, the 
sand. That is to say, 100 lbs. of garbage will 
produce 50 Ibs. of sand, while from 100 cubic 
meters of garbage 30 cubic meters of sand will 
result. 

When once started, the furnaces remain in 
operation uninterruptedly. The men perform- 
ing the labor about the plant work in two 
shifts, from 6 A.M. until 2 p.m. and from 2-10 
p.m. At that hour the last charge of garbage 
is banked so as to burn until the next morn- 
ing. There is no coal or coke fire of any de- 
scription, the garbage being its own and only 
fuel. 

The efficiency of the Barmen incinerating 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1042 


plant lies chiefly in the construction of the 
furnace grates, these being V-shaped, but 
rounded at the base, and constructed from 
heavy cast iron. Along the sides of each 
grate are grooves in which are found minute 
holes at intervals of about three inches. 
Through these small holes a strong air current 
strikes the burning garbage, thus furnishing 
the necessary draft for combustion and aiding 
the process of cremation to a considerable ex- 
tent. In other furnaces these holes are at the 
bottom of the grates and the wind reaches the 


fire from below, but it has been found that in - 


this case the application of the air current is 
a too local one, not reaching the entire burn- 
ing surface and often merely blowing through 
the fuel. By the Barmen method the air cur- 
rent, forced into the furnace by powerful 
pumps, strikes the burning garbage from the 
sides and from above at an angle, and to- 
gether with the differing shape of the grate 
and the grooved sides thereof this method has 
proved most efficient. 


The annual production of the plant amounts: 


to 11,000 tons of slag or clinkers (which are 
erushed into sand as above explained) from 
99,000 tons of garbage, while 1,700,000 kilo- 
watt hours is the annual output in electricity. 


JULIUS FESTNER, 
American Vice and Deputy Consul 
AMERICAN CONSULATE, BARMEN 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 


A POSSIBLE MENDELIAN EXPLANATION FOR A TYPE 
OF INHERITANCE APPARENTLY NON- 
MENDELIAN IN NATURE 


As research in genetic problems proceeds, 
the work of many investigators shows that in 
all probability certain characters of the organ- 
ism depend for their visible manifestation in 
the zygote upon the simultaneous presence of 
more than one mendelizing factor. 

' One of the classic examples of this condi- 
tion is that of the inheritance of the walnut 
comb in fowls reported by Bateson! (1909, 

1 Bateson, W. (1909), ‘‘Mendel’s Principles of 

Heredity,’’? Camb. (Eng.) University Press. 


ee 


DECEMBER 18, 1914] 


p. 60). ‘The chief point of interest in this 
investigation was the fact that the simultane- 
ous presence in the zygote of R, the factor 
for rose comb, and P, the factor for pea comb 
produce an entirely new character, namely, the 
walnut comb. Two walnut-combed birds pro- 
duced by a cross of pea comb X rose comb 
gave, when crossed together, an F, progeny 
consisting of walnut, rose, pea and single 
comb, in a ratio of 9, 3, 3, 1. 

A similar result would be obtained if the 
parents used in the original cross were walnut 
comb of the formula RRPP and single comb 
rrpp. 

In this last case if we focus our attention on 
the walnut comb we should see that it recurred 
im approximately 9 out of 16 of the F, progeny. 

A character dependent solely upon one 
mendelizing factor is present in three fourths 
of the F, progeny. The ratio of those lacking 
it to those having it being as 1:3. When, 
however, two factors are needed for the mani- 
festation of a character, as in the case of the 
walnut comb, the character is lacking in a far 
greater number'of F,, namely, in 7 out of 16. 
The ratio of those lacking the character in 
question to those having it becomes 1:1.3 in- 
stead 1:3, as in the case involving only one 
factor. 

If three factors are necessary for the mani- 
festation of a given character, the F, ratio 
shows a still greater proportionate increase of 
animals lacking the character. If the simul- 
taneous presence of factors A, B and C is 
necessary for the manifestation of a given 
character, the number showing the character 
in F, may be calculated as follows: F, will be 
made up of 27ABC, 9ABce, 9AbC, 9aBC, 8abC, 
3aBe, 3Abe, labe. Only the 27 ABC animals 
will show the character question, and the ratio 
of those lacking the character to those having 
it will be as 1.3: 1. 

An actual eross of this sort is the follow- 
ing: a wild black agouti mouse having the 
factors B for black, A for agouti and D for 
intensity was crossed with a dilute brown 
mouse having the factors b for brown, a for 
non-agouti and dil for dilution. 


SCIENCE 


905 


F, animals were all Aa Bb Ddil, all of them 
having the character in question, namely, in- 
tense black agouti pigmentation. 

When these F, animals are crossed together 
they should give a ratio of 27 intense black 
and 140 other colors, while the expected num- 
bers obtained were 107 intense black agouti 
and 140 other colors, while the expected num- 
bers are 105.3 intense black agouti and 141.7 
other colors, respectively. 

Another cross with mice recorded by Phillips 
and the writer? (1913) will serve to illustrate 
the case of four factors. Here the ratio ex- 
pected is one animal having the character in 
question, to 2.16 lacking it. 

From Table I.? it will be seen that there are 
in F, 486 animals possessing the character 
im question (intense black agouti) to 744 lack- 
ing it, the expected numbers being 373 to 807. 

As the number of factors increases, the ratio 
of animals which do not show the character to 
those that do increases rapidly. 

With 10 factors it becomes 16.7:1, with 15 
factors, 73.8:1, and with 20 factors 314.3:1. 

It will be convenient to present this in tabu- 
lar form as follows: 


Ratioof Animals Lacking 
Character to Those 


Number of Factors Having It 
1 1133} 
2 1:1.3 
3 1.3:1 
4 Blt cil 
5 3.231 
10 16.7:1 
15 73.8:1 
20 314.3:1 


The general principle involved is that, with 
the addition of each factor involved, the num- 
ber of F, animals possessing the character in 
question is multiplied by three, while the total 
number of F, zygotes is multiplied by four. 
It will be seen, therefore that the difference 
between the number of animals with the char- 


2 Little, C. C. (1913) and Phillips, J. C., ‘‘A 
Cross Involving Four Pairs of Mendelizing Char- 
acters in Mice,’? Am. Nat., Vol. 47, pp. 760-762. 

3 Loc. cit., p. 761. 


906 


acter and those lacking it grows progressively 
greater with each factor added. 

The practical value of the principle may 
prove to be considerable as it serves to explain 
eases in which a character dominant in F, 
almost completely disappears in F,, and in 
which an apparently non-mendelian result is 
obtained involving a reversal of dominance. 

For supposing that a certain character, x, 
depended for its visible manifestation upon 
the simultaneous presence in the zygote of 
20 factors which we may designate as A, B, 
C... 7. Then if an animal possessing this 
character and the above mentioned factors is 
crossed with one from a race lacking all these 
factors, F, would all be of the formula Aa 
Bb Cc ...Tt. All would develop the char- 
acter in question since all had a single repre- 
sentation of the twenty factors. If, however, 
these F, animals were bred inter se F, would 
give approximately only one animal in $1} 
which had the character in question. If only 
a small number of F, were raised the char- 
acter might well be thought lost and perhaps 
not truly inherited by F,. 

An entirely different result would, of course, 
be obtained if the factors in question needed 
to be present in all the gametes of the zygote 
in order for the character to be visibly mani- 
fested. In such a case as this none of F, would 
show the character, and its reappearance in F, 
would follow the ordinary rules of mendelian 
segregation and recombination. 

This note is merely offered in the hope that 
it may be of use in the explanation, on a Men- 
delian basis, of certain results which might 
otherwise be offered as examples of non-men- 
delian inheritance. C. C. Litrie 

BussEy INSTITUTION, 

HARVARD UNIVERSITY 


THE STRUCTURE OF THE COTTON FIBER 


In any kind of cotton the typical fiber, that 
is the one in which all the essential parts may 
be determined, can be found in rare cases. For 
this reason the structure of an ideal fiber can 
be inferred only from a series of studies of 
fibers in successive stages of development. 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Von. XL. No. 1042 


By subjecting such fibers to certain chem- 
ical and bacteriological treatments and then 
studying them under the microscope, we found 
that the typical cotton fiber consists of the 
following parts: 

1. The outer layer or the integument. 
2. The outer cellulose layer. 

3. The layer of secondary deposits. 

4. The walls of the lumen. 

5. The substance in the lumen. 

1. The outer layer or the integument is the 
incrusting layer and forms the cementing 
material of the fiber. Its chemical structure 
is not an homologous one, but is a mixture of 
components, some soluble in alcohol, some in 
ether, and some in water. The components are 
cutinous, pectinous, gummy, fatty and other 
unidentified bodies. 

2. The outer cellulose layer is in its struc- 
ture a distinct spiral, consisting of a limited 
number of component fibers, perhaps of one or 
of two. The structure of this layer is deter- 
mined under the microscope from a longi- 
tudinal section of the fiber after the latter has 
been subjected to a series of chemical] and 
bacteriological treatments. Careful treatment 
of some of the fibers by cuprammonia will 
show under the microscope this spiral. There 
is some evidence to show that this spiral con- 
sists of impure cellulose. 

3. The layer of secondary deposits seems to 
be made up of component fibers which in no 
case have shown a spiral structure. Unlike 
the fibers of the above described layer, thgse 
components are from about five to ten in num- 
ber and run with some irregularities along 
the length of the fiber. 

4. The structure of the layer forming the 
walls of the lumen is a spiral much the same 
as the outer spiral, but differs from it greatly 
in its chemical composition. This is deter- 
mined from a microscopical study of the fiber 
while under a cuprammonia treatment. 

5. The substance in the lumen is structure- 
less and, as is proven by a microscopical test, 
is of a nitrogenous nature. 


B. 8S. Levine 
THE BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY, 
Brown UNIVERSITY 


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CONTENTS 


Fripay, DecemBer 25, 1914 
National Academies and the Progress of Ke- 


search: DR. GEORGE ELLERY HALE ........ 907 
University Registration Statistics: JoHN C. 

BES CRG me pale te pay cores aoc eiaplaley cues dee nents Menem 919 
Charles Sedgwick Minot: Prorgessorn HENRY 

ELEM) ONUATD SON ois -avsec tats) -) ic, shone siedetevervelereteys 926 
‘The Samuel Franklin Emmons Memorial Fel- 

LOWSRUD Me Nelscteicyssentey eisssiehe Wietoietey el eee Rekere 927 
The San Francisco Meeting of the American 

Association for the Advancement of Sct- 

CIGD, Fabel oAceeecon op Coe anon OG cb bidcancic 928 
Scientific Notes and News ..............-- 929 
University and Educational News .......... 932 
Discussion and Correspondence :— 

Rate of Continental Denudation: Dr. 

CHARLES KryEs. Cladonema: E. CARROLL 

HVAC SD etek (iad oeulersuee wy Micali nich Ae mate ea apa 933 
Scientific Books :— 

Grove on The British Rust Fungi: PROFESSOR 

J.C. ArtHur. Stanley’s Text-book on Wire- 

(GES Wakaomap nays Ua lay WG Geadeogcoocduce 934 
Botanical Notes :— 

Tropical Leaves; North American Flora; 

Perennial Grass Stems; Some Temperature 

Relations of Plants; Short Notes; Pro- 

FESSOR CHARLES EH. BESSEY ............. 937 
Special Articles :— 

Hadropterus peltatus in the Delaware: 

ETE NR Yan Wi WOWIUEB sce facie cious tecnenerete ie 939 
The Convocation Week Meeting of Scientific 

WSO CTC LUCSI men sited sic yiye: ood szhsceys) aie) Louse eden eee 940 


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


NATIONAL ACADEMIES AND THE PROG 
RESS OF RESEARCH 
Il. THE FUTURE OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY 
OF SCIENCES + 


IN previous papers of this series? we 
have traced the development of European 
academies and observed the powerful in- 
fluence they have exercised on the advance- 
ment of research; we have watched the 
beginnings of scientific investigation in the 
United States, and their public recognition 
by act of Congress establishing the National 
Academy of Sciences; and we have followed 
the history of the Academy during the half 
century which has elapsed since its origin. 
In view of the great part which academies 
have played in the past, and the fact that 
the rapid development of original research 
im this country has carried us out of the 
pioneer period, the National Academy now 
faces an exceptional opportunity to impress 
its influence upon the future scientific 
work of the United States. But if it enjoys 
an opportunity, it also faces a duty, im- 
posed upon it by its national charter and 
by its position as the sole representative of 


1 This paper was presented at the Baltimore 
meeting of the National Academy in November, 
1913. By action of the council, a manuscript 
copy was subsequently sent by the home secretary 
to each member of the academy for criticism and 
comment. In preparing the paper for publica- 
tion, the author has had the advantage of seeing 
these replies. Except for a few minor verbal 
changes, the text is printed in its original form, 
with the addition of new paragraphs in square 
brackets. 

2J. ‘‘The Work of Huropean Academies,’’ 
Science, 38, 681, 1913. II. ‘‘The First Half 
Century of the National Academy of Sciences,’’ 
ScIENCE, 39, 189, 1914. 


908 


America in the International Association 
of Academies. The history of the Acad- 
emy shows that it has taken its obligations 
seriously, by complying with requests from 
the executive and legislative departments 
of the government for advice on scientific 
matters, by the use of trust funds for the 
advancement of research, by the award of 
prizes and grants for investigation, by the 
initiation and support of international co- 
Operation in research, and by such other 
means as its limited endowment has per- 
mitted. But while the rapid growth of the 
scientific bureaus of the government has 
reduced the number of questions which 
would otherwise be submitted to the Acad- 
emy, the enormous increase in the wealth 
of the country, and the expansion of its 
trade relations have raised new problems 
and advanced new opportunities. These 
developments, which have resulted in the 
multiplication of universities, observatories 
and laboratories, and the foundation of 
great endowments for research, place the 
Academy in a new position, and impose the 
question whether it can not now accomplish 
much more than was formerly possible. It 
is the purpose of this paper to open the 
discussion of this question, in the hope that 
its further consideration by other members 
may lead to an extension of the work and 
usefulness of the Academy. 

Fortunately we may take advantage of 
the rich store of experience accumulated 
by the European academies during their 
long histories. In seeking to adapt this to 
our own needs, we must of course recognize 
the special conditions existing in the United 
States. The great area over which our 
members are distributed and the lack of any 
such centralization as we see in London or 
in Paris, will always stand in the way of 
weekly meetings like those of the Royal 
Society and the Paris Academy. But if 
we can not hope to see our leading inves- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1043 


tigators personally demonstrate each step 
in their progress before academic audi- 
ences, aS Haraday and Pasteur and many 
another have done abroad, we can never- 
theless provide for lectures and papers 
illustrated by experiments in connection 
with the semi-annual meetings of the Acad- 
emy, and possibly for others of a public 
character, extending throughout the year, 
after the manner of the Royal Institution 
of London. (The disadvantage of our mem- 
bers in being unable to read accounts of 
their latest advances before weekly meet- 
ings of their colleagues can also be largely 
offset by the publication of Proceedings, 
in which the first results of all new work 
may be adequately presented. Thus, 
though we lack some of the advantages of 
centralization, these may be largely over- 
come, while retaining the very great ad- 
vantage of a widely distributed membership 
representing the scientific interests of every 
section of the country. 


FUNCTIONS OF A NATIONAL ACADEMY 


The criticism has sometimes been directed 
against academies covering the whole range 
of knowledge that their place has been 
sufficiently filled by the special societies 
devoted to particular branches of science. 
For more than a century the Royal Society 
and the Paris Academy served all the pur- 
poses of science in Great Britain and 
France, but toward the end of the eight- 
eenth century special societies began to 
develop in England. The establishment of 
the Linnean Society in 1788 did not appear 
to give special concern to the members of 
the Royal Society. But when the Geolog- 
ical Society was instituted in 1807, Sir 
Joseph Banks, then President of the Royal 
Society, united with Sir Humphry Davy 
and others in a strenuous attempt to amal- 
gamate it with the parent body. The Royal 
Astronomical Society was established in 


DECEMBER 25, 1914] 


1820, partly as the result of the accumula- 
tion of valuable observations too extensive 
for the Royal Society to publish. Sir 
Joseph, though he had himself aided in the 
establishment of the Linnean Society, was 
greatly perturbed at this further develop- 
ment. A short time later he died in the 
belief that the special societies had struck 
a severe blow at the respectability and use- 
fulness of the Royal Society, by robbing it 
of many of its members and laying claim to 
some of its most important departments.* 
But his fears were wholly unwarranted, 
and the special societies continued to grow 
and multiply, to the advantage of science 
.and of the Royal Society itself. Their ex- 
tensive publications have not detracted from 
the volume or the quality of the Philosoph- 
ical Transactions and the Proceedings, and 
each of these societies, by contributing to 
the development of some special field, has 
helped to build up that great organization 
of British science of which the Royal Soci- 
ety is the acknowledged and venerated head. 

These details will not be out of place if 
they help to emphasize a principle which 
should always be respected in the work of 
the National Academy. The societies and 
journals which have been established to 
meet the needs of scientific progress have 
come to stay. It is neither necessary nor 
in any way desirable to usurp their func- 
tions, which are the result of a natural 
process of evolution. There is ample room, 
however, for academies devoted to the 
whole range of science. The rapid advance 
of research in a thousand ramifying fields 
has left much intermediate territory un- 
explored. The approach to these undevel- 
oped regions may be made from more than 
one direction, and through the aid of more 
than one method. Thus nothing can be 

8 Barrow, ‘‘Sketches of the Royal Society,’’ 


pp. 10, 256; Weld, ‘‘ History of the Royal So- 
ciety,’? pp. 242, 246. 


SCIENCE 


——909 


more stimulating to the progress of re- 
search than an acquaintance with the in- 
vestigations and processes which are con- 
stantly being developed in fields other than 
one’s own. Mathematics has received its 
principal impulses from astronomy and 
physics. Physical chemistry is indebted, 
on the one hand, to Pfeffer the botanist for 
the study of vegetable cells, and on the 
other to the mathematical and physical in- 
vestigations of Willard Gibbs, Van der 
Waals and Arrhenius. Astrophysics came 
into existence through the use in astronomy 
of the spectroscope and other physical in- 
struments. Hvery department of science 
sheds a luster which should illuminate, not 
only its particular territories, but others, 
near and far, occupied by other workers. 
The importance of recognizing and utiliz- 
ing this fact must therefore increase as time 
goes on. 

[It has been truly said that an academy 
can hope to accomplish large results only 
as it succeeds in meeting the conditions of 
the present rather than those of the past. 
What are existing conditions in science? 
Surely none is more striking than the con- 
traction of the field of the average inves- 
tigator. Specialization is inevitable in the 
maze of modern progress, and the narrow- 
ing effect of constant devotion to a single 
subject must become still more apparent 
aS science ramifies further. A general 
academy, by insisting on the importance of 
large relationships, by demonstrating the 
unity of knowledge, by recognizing the fact 
that fundamental methods of research, 
wherever developed, are likely to be appli- 
cable in more than one department, can do 


“much to broaden and to stimulate its mem- 


bers. The correlation of research should 
be counted as one of its prime objects, and 
its energies should be largely directed to 
this important end. |] 

We are thus led to the conclusion that 


910 


the functions of a National Academy should 
be of the broadest character, and that the 
advantage of sharing in the results of all 
its departments should belong to every 
member. Thus the policy of our National 
Academy of avoiding division into separate 
sections,* and of bringing papers on the 
most diverse subjects before the entire body, 
is fundamentally sound and should be 
maintained. Later in this paper the ques- 
tion will be considered whether the range 
of the Academy’s activities should be ex- 
tended so as to give increased recognition 
to departments of knowledge other than the 
physical and natural sciences. 

Under the conditions now existing in the 
United States, there is reason to believe 
that the functions of a National Academy 
might well be multiplied so as to meet a 
wide variety of needs. It should stand, 
first of all, as a leading source and sup- 
porter of original research and as the na- 
tional representative of the great body of 
American investigators in science. To the 
government it should make itself necessary 
by the high standard of its work, the broad 
range of its endeavors, and the sane and 
scientific spirit underlying all of its actions. 
To its members it should offer stimulus and 
encouragement in their investigations; due 
recognition of their advances; financial 
assistance and the use of instruments at 
critical periods in their work; the advan- 
tage of listening to papers ranging over the 
whole field of science, bearing suggestions 
of principles or methods likely to develop 
new ideas; contact with the greatest leaders 
of research from all countries and oppor- 
tunities to listen to descriptions of their 
work; access to books and manuscripts not 
easily obtainable from other sources; and 
participation in international cooperative 
projects in every field of investigation. In 
the public mind it should rank as the na- 

4Except for voting purposes. 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Von. XL. No. 1043 


tional exponent of science, and as. the 
agency best qualified to bring forward and 
illustrate the latest advances of its own 
members and of the scientific world at 
large. To representatives of manufactures 
and industries, the Academy should serve 
to promote the appreciation and widespread 
use of the scientific principles and methods 
which have built up the great industrial 
prosperity of Germany. With other soci- 
eties devoted to various branches of science, 
it should cooperate in harmony with the 
best interests of American research. ‘To- 
ward local bodies for the encouragement 
of investigation and the diffusion of knowl- 
edge, it should act as an inspiring example 
and a reliable source of support. And in 
the broad field of international cooperation, 
it should unite with the leading academies 
of the world in the endeavor to perfect the 
organization of research and in the use of 
all agencies contributing to its advance- 
ment. 


NEEDS OF THE ACADEMY 


Many of these objects have been accom- 
plished by the National Academy in the 
past, but others remain for the future. The 
greatest aid in accomplishing its full work 
would be met by the provision of a suitable 
academy building, and an endowment suffi- 
cient to publish Proceedings, conduct re- 
search, provide public lectures, maintain 
exhibits illustrating current investigations, 
and to meet such additional needs as are 
implied by the Academy’s national charter 
and its obligations to the scientific world 
and the general public. Through the cour- 
tesy of the Smithsonian Institution, ex- 
tended in the year of the academy’s organi- 
zation, the annual meetings are held in the 
National Museum, in rooms ordinarily em- 
ployed for other purposes. Thus the Acad- 
emy does not even possess a permanent 
office, or a room for its hbrary, which will 


DECEMBER 25, 1914] 


be needed in the future for its work of re- 
search. It has therefore been compelled 
from the outset to decline many offers of 
books, and thus a large and valuable collec- 
tion, comprising publications offered by 
many of the great academies, laboratories 
and observatories of the world, has been 
lost.® 

It is diffieult to overestimate the value of 
a suitable building in commanding public 
appreciation and support for any institu- 
tion. Visible evidence of the Academy’s 
existence is a matter of no small impor- 
tance, when it is remembered that the 
average American citizen, though well- 
acquainted with the name of the Paris 
Academy through press reports of dis- 
coveries announced there, has never heard 
of our own national organization. But 
a building used as a storehouse and occu- 
pied but once a year is not enough. The 
Academy must be known as a living and 
active body, which recognizes and fulfills 
its many duties to science and the public. 
If its headquarters were constantly em- 
ployed for such purposes as are enumerated 
later, the Academy would soon be looked 
upon as the natural source of information 
regarding the latest developments of sci- 
ence, and more generally recognized as the 
national representative of American re- 
search. 


IMPORTANCE OF PUBLISHING PROCEEDINGS 

Ags explained in a previous paper, the 
name of the National Academy has never 
been associated with the work of its mem- 
bers, since the papers read at its meetings 
have not been published by the Academy. 
Thus it has not been sufficiently identified 
with the progress of American research, 
and the chief source of the reputation of 

5The Academy has accepted some gifts of 


books, which are packed away (unbound) in the 
gstorerooms of the Smithsonian Institution. 


SCIENCE 


vil 


the Paris Academy and the Royal Society 
has been lacking. But though the Academy 
would become more widely known by the 
publication of Proceedings, it would he 
foolish to take such a step merely to accom- 
plish this purpose. The establishment of 
a new journal, in these days when the litera- 
ture of science has become exceedingly com- 
plex, should never be undertaken without 
serious consideration of its probable use- 
fulness. If it fulfills no good and lasting 
purpose, its life will be deservedly short. 
Hence we may not imitate the example of 
societies which established their publica- 
tions before the special journals had taken 
the field. We must recognize, on the one 
hand, that the various journals devoted to 
particular branches of science meet a 
clearly defined need and should not be 
rivaled, even to the apparent advantage of 
the Academy. On the other hand, we must 
also remember that the members of the 
Academy have adopted a regular plan of 
publication, the interruption of which 
might interfere with the accessibility of 
their papers. Thus, if Proceedings are to 
be established, they should be so planned 
as to serve a useful scientific end and be 
distinctly advantageous, not merely to the 
Academy itself, but to all of its members. 

I am strongly of the opinion that no 
step which can be taken at the present time 
would be so beneficial to the National Acad- 
emy as the publication of Proceedings con- 
taining the first announcements of impor- 
tant advances and the chief results of 
American research. I believe, further- 
more, that this can be done in such a 
way as to benefit the members and con- 
tribute to the advancement of science. In 
many departments of the Academy’s work 
papers published in the special American 
journals of limited foreign circulation do 
not reach a sufficiently large group of 
European readers. I am told that this is 


912 


particularly true in biology, where Amer- 
ican investigators are producing a great 
body of results of the first importance. 
Thus the Proceedings of the Academy, if 
properly distributed, might be made to 
serve the very useful purpose of bringing 
the work of a large number of investigators 
to the attention of scholars abroad. But 
in order to preserve all interests, and to 
interfere in the least degree with present 
plans of publication, the Proceedings 
should not be designed to occupy such a 
place as the special journals adequately fill. 

[The chief advantage of the Proceedings 
would not be the same in all departments of 
science. In mathematics, where the exist- 
ing journals are greatly overcrowded, 
prompt publication of the condensed re- 
sults of new research would be heartily wel- 
comed. The same thing is true in botany 
and in many other subjects. In fact, im- 
proved means of prompt publication would 
be generally appreciated by Academy mem- 
bers. Im biology, as already remarked, the 
great number of special journals prevents 
many of them from reaching Huropean 
laboratories, where American research is 
frequently overlooked as a consequence. 
In astronomy and astrophysics, which have 
fewer journals, the circulation of the chief 
American journals is large, and their con- 
tents reach ‘all investigators abroad. But 
the practise of publishing separate series 
of circulars or bulletins, which has been 
adopted by many American observatories, 
confines the circulation of their papers to 
the limited number of astronomers and ob- 
servatories on their mailing lists. If brief 
accounts of the broader aspects of these in- 
vestigations were printed by the Academy, 
they would be useful to astronomers making 
a general survey of progress in their own 
field. But they would be even more service- 
able to the mathematician, physicist, 
meteorologist, chemist, geologist or other 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1043 


investigator who may find information of 
direct or suggestive value in the results of 
astronomical research. Conversely, even 
those astronomers who keep in touch with 
progress in mathematics or physics can not 
also examine the numerous journals of 
chemistry, geology and other subjects which 
contain results applicable in their own 
work. It will thus be seen that the Acad- 
emy could perform an important service in 
its special province of correlating knowl- 
edge by publishing papers covering the 
whole range of science. 

The value of the Proceedings in strength- 
ening the position of American science at 
home and abroad should not be overlooked. 
The rapid progress of American research 
in a single field may be known to the Huro- 
pean specialist, but he may not realize that 
similar advances in other departments have 
raised American science to a new level. 
Recognition of this fact is desirable, not 
for the gratification of national pride, but 
because the international infiuence of 
America in science will grow with its pres- 
tige. The combination of effort which the 
Proceedings would represent, and the dem- 
onstration they would afford of American 
activity in research, are factors of real 
significance in securing that recognition 
and standing, both at home and abroad, 
which is needed to accelerate future prog- 
ress. | 

To accomplish the desired result, it would 
seem that the Proceedings should be inter- 
mediate in character between the Comptes 
Rendus of the Paris Academy and the Pro- 
ceedings of the Royal Society. Papers read 
before the Paris Academy on Monday are 
printed and issued in the Comptes Rendus 
on the following Saturday—a record for 
speed which we should not expect to rival. 
Such accelerated publication, while it 
doubtless possesses certain advantages, 
renders impossible that more leisurely 


DECEMBER 25, 1914] 


editorial examination which most journals 
demand. ‘The Proceedings of the Royal 
Society, on the other hand, appear at irreg- 
ular intervals, and frequently contain long 
and detailed papers, which with us might 
better find a place in the special journals. 
In the case of the National Academy it is 
doubtful whether publication at shorter 
intervals than one month is necessary, but 
the possible advantages of fortnightly pub- 
lication should be carefully considered. 

It goes without saying that papers for the 
Proceedings, while comparatively brief (per- 
haps averaging from three to five pages), 
should not be hasty announcements based 
on inadequate data. On the contrary, the 
dignity of the National Academy and the 
best interests of its members demand that 
only carefully matured conclusions, re- 
sulting from prolonged observational or 
theoretical research, should appear under 
the Academy’s imprint. Measures and 
other exact data needed to establish these 
conclusions would be a necessary part of 
such papers, though long numerical tables, 
profuse illustrations, and detailed accounts 
of minor topics should be reserved for pub- 


lication in the special journals, to which, 


members would continue to contribute as 
before. The Academy Proceedings would 
thus serve for the first announcement of 
discoveries and of the more important con- 
tributions to research, illustrated by line 
cuts and occasional halftones in the text, 
when essential to clearness, but free from 
unnecessary detail and extensive numerical 
data. Non-members, as well as members, 
should be invited to contribute, with the 
understanding that their papers are to be 
presented by a member of the Academy, as 
in the case of the Paris Academy and the 
Royal Society.® 

6 The Proceedings should be so planned as to 


interfere in the least possible degree with the 
Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences, 


SCIENCE 


913 


The constitution of the National Acad- 
emy already provides for the issue of Pro- 
ceedings, aS well as Memoirs and Annual 
Reports. In fact, as explained in a previ- 
ous paper, three volumes of Proceedings 
were published, though they did not contain 
papers presented to the Academy. There is 
therefore no need of any radical departure 
requiring amendment of the constitution. 
In other words, if sufficient funds are 
available, this very important step toward 
the development of the Academy can be 
taken by simple affirmative vote." 

The annual volumes of the Proceedings, 
bringing together for the first time the best 
product of American research, would place 
the Academy in a clearer light before the 
academic world. Annual Reports and 
infrequent volumes of Memoirs receive 
scant attention, except from a few special- 
ists, in the libraries of our contemporary 
societies. But the Proceedings, published 
at regular intervals, and containing a stand- 
ing notice of the Academy’s publications, 
would aid in making them better known. 
The quarto Memoirs, eleven volumes of 
which have already appeared, afford an ex- 
cellent place for extended publication, 
when the necessity for lengthy tables, nu- 
merous plates, or long discussions of data 
places the manuscript beyond the reach of 
the special journals. The publication of 
the Proceedings might serve to disclose 


which is a publication similar in character to the 
one here proposed. As the Journal is devoted 
mainly to work done in Washington, or presented 
before the various Washington societies (other . 
than the National Academy), no important over- 
lapping of the two publications need be antici- 
pated, especially as members of this Academy 
have rarely contributed to the Journal. 

7[The Academy voted, at its meeting of No- 
vember, 1913, to begin the publication of Pro- 
ceedings aS soon as arrangements could be per- 
fected. The first number will appear in January, 
1915.] 


914 


much material worthy of use in the Me- 
motrs, and the editorial board should be 
constantly on the watch for opportunities 
to extend the Memoirs and to render them 
more serviceable to science. 


SCIENCE AND THE PUBLIC 


The circulation of the Proceedings would 
necessarily be limited to scholars and schol- 
arly institutions—they could not be ex- 
pected to reach the general public. Here 
a difficulty remains to be overcome, since 
the results of original investigations should 
certainly be made more generally known 
and more clearly understood than they are 
at the present time. The average man of 
science, after sad experience with the daily 
press, is usually forced to the conclusion 
that newspaper publication is synonymous 
with rank sensationalism. Repeatedly told, 
and not without justice, that his cloistered 
wisdom should reach a wider world, he 
sometimes yields to the persistent demands 
of a reporter. The outcome is too well 
known to require tellmg. Even in the case 
of a really intelligent and conscientious re- 
porter, who does not distort or exaggerate, 
the ‘‘headline man’’ may be depended 
upon to provide a grotesque disguise. A 
few experiences of this sort suffice for most 
investigators. They are soon forced to shut 
out the reporter, and are well pleased when 
they succeed. Yet they recognize that the 
exclusion of the public from all contact 
with their work is neither fair nor desirable. 
Some way should be found of bridging the 
gap. 

A plan followed in England by the Royal 
Society, of circulating brief abstracts on 
the day when a paper is read, which are 
afterwards published in Nature (sometimes 
in condensed form), is one which we might 
advantageously imitate. When a paper is 
accepted by the editorial board for pub- 
lication in the Proceedings, a brief ab- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1043 


stract, preferably prepared by the author, 
should be sent to Scmncz (and perhaps 
also to Nature). At the same time this 
abstract, or a briefer one in less technical 
language, might be communicated to the 
Associated Press. It goes without saying 
that papers for the Proceedings would 
differ widely in their availability for pop- 
ular treatment. Probably only a compara- 
tively small proportion of them would con- 
tain results suitable for use by the Asso- 
ciated Press, but all would doubtless be 
published in abstract by SctIENcE. 
Through the Associated Press, and also 
through certain conservative newspapers 
and magazines, the Academy could thus 
bring before the public the actual results 
of scientific research, as distinguished from 
the false and distorted conceptions of sci- 
ence which most of our newspapers now 
disseminate. 


LECTURES ON RESEARCH 


The plan of publication outlined above 
is but one of several methods by which the 
Academy may enlarge its usefulness. Pub- 
lic lectures should also be instituted, pri- 
marily for the benefit of the Academy mem- 
bers, but also with the expectation of 
reaching a larger circle. Here the Academy . 
would do well to study and imitate the 
Royal Institution of London, where original 
research and the diffusion of knowledge 
are combined in a very effective manner. 
In brilliant addresses, illustrated by lan- 
tern slides and experiments, a long line of 
illustrious speakers, best typified by Fara- 
day, have charmed and enlightened the 
most distinguished audiences. Many of 
these speakers, including Davy, Faraday, 
Tyndall, Dewar, Rayleigh and Thomson, 
have been drawn from the staff of the 
Royal Institution. But their English con- 
temporaries, as well as scientific men from 
all parts of Europe and the United States, 


DECEMBER 20, 1914] 


have also been invited to describe their 
latest advances. The speaker at a ‘‘Friday 
Evening Discourse’’ is faced by the leaders 
of English thought and action in many 
fields. Privileged to select from the large 
collection of historic instruments accumu- 
lated during a century, and even to illus- 
trate his points with the apparatus of Fara- 
day himself, he feels an inspiration that 
no other platform affords. In such an 
atmosphere he learns to appreciate the dig- 
nity of popular science at its best, and to 
perceive how the busiest and most success- 
ful of present-day physicists can find time 
_ to deliver elaborate courses of Christmas 
lectures to a juvenile audience. These lec- 
tures, instituted by Faraday, are now in 
their eighty-seventh season. Under such 
topics as ‘‘The Chemistry of Flame’’ they 
have afforded him and his followers an op- 
portunity to show how simply and beauti- 
fully the principles of science can be made 
to appeal even to young children. The 
art of the popular lecture should be devel- 
oped in the United States by the National 
Academy. Under its auspices, and with 
the example of the Royal Institution be- 
hind him, the lecturer need not fear for 
his dignity. The Academy would soon find 
its reward in the increasing appreciation 
of its work and purposes, the spread of 
scientific knowledge, and ultimately in 
larger endowments for research. 

As a first step in this direction, the chil- 
dren of the late William Ellery Hale have 
established a course of lectures In memory 
of their father. Their object in doing so 
is twofold. In the first place, it is hoped 
that the lectures may add to the attractive- 
ness of the Academy meetings, both to the 
members and the public. Again, it is be- 


8 The last course of Christmas Juvenile Lec- 
tures, on ‘‘Alchemy,’’ ‘‘Atoms,’’ ‘‘Light,’’ 
*“Clouds,’’ ‘‘Meteorites’’ and ‘‘Frozen Worlds,’’ 
was given by Sir James Dewar. 


SCIENCE 


915 


lieved that by a suitable choice of lecturers 
and topics, the inter-relationship of the 
various fields of research represented in 
the Academy, and the light thrown by the 
methods of investigation or of interpreta- 
tion employed in one field upon those of 
another, may be illustrated in an effective 
way. Moreover, the lectures will afford an 
opportunity of testing whether the Academy 
may not further assist in increasing public 
appreciation of the cultural and the indus- 
trial value of science. 


SCIENCE IN EDUCATION 


In the Academy of Plato and the Alex- 
andrian Museum the functions of an acad- 
emy and a university were united, and the 
work of instruction went hand in hand with 
the development of new knowledge. The 
growth of the modern university has now 
removed from national academies their 
former work of teaching a body of students, 
but their opportunity to exert a favorable 
influence on the educational methods of 
the nation remains. The Institute of 
France, as planned by Talleyrand and Con- 
doreet,® was to control public instruction 
and offer courses to advanced students. 
This was not carried out, but an instance 
of the same sort is afforded by the Acad- 
emy of Munich, which has charge of the 
public instruction of Bavaria. 

There is no apparent reason why our own 
National Academy should have a formal 
connection with educational institutions. 
But in harmony with its purpose to advance 
knowledge in the United States, it should 
contribute toward the development of the 
science of education and take advantage of 
the possibility of increasing public appre- 
ciation of the educational value of science. 

In a presidential address which excited 

9See Hippeau, ‘‘L’instruction publique en 
France pendant la révolution,’’ Vol. 1, pp. 115, 
228. 


916 


great public interest in England, Sir Wil- 
liam Huggins emphasized before the Royal 
Society the importance of science in educa- 
tion.1° We need not dwell upon his argu- 
ments regarding the value of scientific 
training in developing the power of accu- 
rate observation and the habit of correct 
and cautious reasoning. But a more 
neglected phase of science in education— 
its power of awakening and expanding the 
imaginative faculty—may be referred to in 
his own words: 


Surely the master-creations of poetry, music, 
sculpture and painting, alike in mystery and 
grandeur, can not surpass the natural epics and 
scenes of the heavens above and of the earth be- 
neath, in their power of firmg the imagination, 
which indeed has taken its most daring and en- 
during flights under the earlier and simpler con- 
ditions of human life, when men lived in closer 
contact with Nature, and in greater quiet, free 
from the deadening rush of modern society. Of 
supreme value is the exercise of the imagination, 
that lofty faculty of creating and weaving 
imagery in the mind, and of giving subjective 
reality to its own creations, which is the source of 
the initial impulses to human progress and de- 
velopment, to all inspiration in the arts, and to 
discovery in science. 


Of all the teachings of science, the prin- 
ciple of evolution makes by far the strong- 
est appeal to the imagination. Isolated 
Phenomena, however remarkable, acquire 
a new meaning when seen in its light. 
Minute details of structure in animals or 
plants, slight differences of the relative 
intensity of lines in the spectra of stars, 
may become of intense interest even to the 
elementary student if explained as steps 
in a great process of development. But, 
after all that has been said and written 
since the time of Darwin, we fail to take 
full advantage of our opportunity. Prop- 
erly presented, a picture of evolution in its 
broadest aspects would serve better than any 


10 Huggins, ‘‘The Royal Society,’’ p. 109. 
ggins, yi yo DP 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Von. XL. No. 1043 


other agency to stimulate the imagination, 
to awaken interest in science, and to demon- 
strate that its cultural value is in no wise 
inferior to that of the humanities. To the 
average student, even physics and chemis- 
try are distinct branches of science, each 
occupied with its own problems. Astron- 
omy, he knows, concerns itself with the 
heavenly bodies, botany with plants, zool- 
ogy with animals. But if he studies these 
subjects at all, he almost invariably fails 
to realize their relationship, because no 
binding principle, like that of evolution, is 
brought prominently to his attention or, at 
the best, is restricted in its application to 
some single organic or inorganic field. 
When Humboldt wrote ‘‘Cosmos’’ and 
Huxley lectured on ‘‘A Piece of Chalk’’ 
and other subjects, they showed what might 
be accomplished in picturing the problems 
of science in a broad way. The National 
Academy is better qualified than any other 
body in America to demonstrate what can 
be done in the same direction with the rich 
store of knowledge acquired since their time. 
A course of lectures on evolution, beginning 
with an account of the constitution of mat- 
ter, the transformation of the elements, 
and the electron theory ; picturing the heav- 
enly bodies and the structure of the uni- 
verse, the evolution of stars and planets, 
and the origin of the earth; outlining the 
various stages of the earth’s history, the 
formation and changes of its surface fea- 
tures, the beginning and development of 
plant and animal life; explaining modern 
biological problems, the study of variation 
and mutation, and the various theories of 
organic evolution; summarizing our know!l- 
edge of earliest man, his first differentiation 
from anthropoid ancestors, and the crude 
origins of civilization; and connecting with 
our own day by an account of early Orien- 
tal peoples, the rise of the Egyptian dy- 
nasties, and their influence on modern 


DECEMBER 25, 1914] 


progress: such a course, free from techni- 
calities and unnecessary details, richly 
illustrated by lantern slides and experi- 
ments, and woven together into a clear 
and homogeneous whole, would serve to 
give the average student a far broader view 
of evolution than he now obtains, and leave 
no doubt in the hearer’s mind as to the cul- 
tural and imaginative value of science. 

The William Ellery Hale lectures will 
open with a series on evolution, so designed 
as to be of interest to members of the acad- 
emy, and at the same time to be intelligible 
and attractive to the public. At each 
‘meeting two lectures will be given by a 
distinguished European or American inves- 
tigator, chosen because of his competence to 
deal with some branch of the subject. The 
first course of lectures, to be given by Sir 
Ernest Rutherford at the annual meeting 
in April, 1914, will deal with the consti- 
tution of matter and the evolution of the 
elements.t At the conclusion of this series, 
which will extend through several years, 
it is hoped that the lectures may be brought 
together, in a homogeneous and perhaps 
somewhat simplified form, into a small 
volume suitable for use in schools. 

The course above outlined will serve to 
test the question whether the Academy may 
advantageously enter more extensively into 
the lecture field. So far as the members of 
the Academy are concerned, it seems prob- 
able that lectures by able American and 
European investigators would add to the 
interest of the meetings. But the value of 
the lectures to the general public can only 
be determined by experiment. If a suitable 
building can be obtained, and the success 
of these lectures is sufficient to warrant it, 
the foremost investigators, American and 


i1 [The second course was given at the autumn 
meeting by Dr. William Wallace Campbell on 
‘“Stellar Evolution and the Formation of the 
Earth.’?] 


SCIENCE 


917 


foreign, might be invited from time to time 
throughout the year to describe and illus- 
trate their advances in the lecture-hall of: 
the Academy. This plan is already followed 
by various American institutions, but the 
Academy, because of its national character, 
would be better able to attract the best men 
and to give their lectures more than local 
significance. Ample facilities for experi- 
mental illustration would also go far to- 
ward enhancing the value of the lectures. 
In short, the example of the Royal Insti- 
tution should be followed as closely as 
possible.*2 


INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH 


The value of science to the American 
manufacturer, though no new theme, is 
capable of wide development at the hands 
of the National Academy. In a presidential 
address delivered before the Royal Society 
in 1902, Sir William Huggins dwelt on the 
“‘Supreme Importance of Science to the 
Industries of the Country, which can be 
secured only through making Science an 
Essential Part of all Education.’’ He saw 
the fruits of English discoveries passing 
into the hands of Germany, whose univer- 
sities have so long fostered and spread 
abroad the spirit of research, and won- 
dered at the apathy of the average British 
manufacturer toward scientific methods. 
Huggins, speaking in plain language, 
pointed to the chief source of weakness— 
“‘the too close adherence of our older uni- 
versities, and through them of our public 
schools, and all other schools in the country 
downward, to the traditional methods of 
teaching of medieval times.’’*% 

In this country, where the classics do 


12 [It has been suggested by several members 
that these lectures might be repeated in two or 
three large cities, in cooperation with local scien- 
tifie institutions. ] 

13‘‘The Royal Society,’’ p. 29. 


918 


not dominate the university system, the 
task of arousing an adequate appreciation 
of the enormous benefits which sci- 
ence can render is a far easier one. We 
must have, first of all, a widespread inter- 
est in science and some comprehension of 
its problems and methods. A general 
course on evolution, given to all college 
students, should be of great service as an 
entering wedge. More students might thus 
be led to take science courses, while those 
who specialize in the humanities could gain 
a better conception of what science means. 
The rapid development of research in our 
universities and technical schools promises 
to influence the faculties of our colleges, 
where a man’s success as a teacher will be 
materially enhanced if he is also a producer 
of new knowledge. Thus the future is 
promising in the educational field. 

On the side of our manufacturers, who 
are eager to adopt the most efficient meth- 
ods, the outlook is equally favorable, as 
President Little of the American Chemical 
Society showed so effectively in his address on 
“Industrial Research in America.’’** Many 
great firms are establishing large research 
laboratories, where problems of all kinds 
are under investigation. The development 
within the past few years of Taylor’s effi- 
ciency system is another indication that the 
advantages of scientific methods are being 
grasped and applied in the arts. But the 
opportunities in this direction are almost 
endless, and the National Academy would 
do well to devise ways and means of con- 
vineing not only the large manufacturers, 
but the small manufacturers as well, of the 
industrial importance of scientific research. 
Lectures on recent advances in engineer- 
ing, by European and American leaders, 
should have a powerful influence if care- 
fully planned and effectively illustrated. 
Parsons on the steam turbine,?® Marconi on 

14 SCIENCE, 38, pp. 643-656, 1913. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1043 


wireless telegraphy,”> Goethals on the Pan- 
ama Canal, would attract large audiences 
and appeal in published form to a wide 
publie. 

But while the advantages resulting from 
ingenuity and invention and the best prac- 
tise of engineering should certainly be 
brought out in the course of lectures I now 
have in mind, the improvement of manu- 
factured products by research methods, and 
the potential industrial value of pure sci- 
ence are the points which should be empha- 
sized. We have a long way to go before 
any single manufacturing firm employs 
seven hundred qualified chemists, as the 
combined chemical factories of Elberfeld, 
Ludwigshafen and Treptow do. The su- 
premacy in this field of Germany, which 
produced chemicals valued at $3,750,000,000 
in 1907, is directly due to the carefully 
directed research of an army of chemists, 
who learned the methods of investigation 
in the universities and technical schools.*® 
The Berlin Academy of Sciences has also 
contributed in an important way to this re- 
sult, through van’t Hoft’s investigations of 
the Stassfurth salt deposits. The recent 
rapid development of our own chemical 
industries leads us to hope that similar 
advances may soon be achieved in the 
United States. In electrical engineering, 
at least, we are already making comparable 
progress. 

But the average man of business is much 
better able to appreciate the value of re- 
search directly applied to the improvement 
of manufactures than to comprehend the 
more fundamental importance of pure sci- 
ence, We must show how the investiga- 
tions of Faraday, pursued for the pure love 

15 Lectures before the Royal Institution, 1911. 

16In 1910 the Nobel prize for chemistry went 
to Germany for the sixth time, thus giving to a 


single country sixty per cent. of all the Nobel 
prizes for chemistry awarded up to that date. 


DECEMBER 25, 1914] 


of truth and apparently of no commercial 
value, nevertheless laid the foundations of 
electrical engineering. If we can dissemi- 
nate such knowledge, which is capable of 
the easiest demonstration and the most 
striking illustration, we can multiply the 
friends of pure science and secure new and 
larger endowments for physics, chemistry 
and other fundamental subjects. 

[ While there can be no doubt of the im- 
portance of emphasizing the value of in- 
dustrial research, the necessity of vigilance 
In the interests of pure science is shown by 

_the opposite tendency of several recent 
writers, who measure science solely in 
terms of its applicability in the arts. 

The stimulus of commercial rivalry is 
doubtless a factor in the rapid progress of 
our great industrial laboratories, but I 
doubt if their directors would maintain 
that all chemical research should be of the 
industrial kind. Immediate commercial 
value as a criterion of success will not 
often point the way to the discovery of 
fundamental laws, though these are by far 
the richest source of ultimate achievement, 
practical as well as theoretical. Modern 
electrical engineers do not forget the inves- 
tigations of Faraday and Hertz in pure sci- 
ence, nor do leading industrial chemists 
overlook the researches of Gibbs, van’t Hoff, 
and others, which brought them no practical 
returns, but rendered many modern indus- 
tries possible. Exclusive attention to in- 
dustrial research means nothing more or 
less than the growth of the superstructure 
at the expense of the foundations. In- 
dustrial laboratories are able to offer large 
salaries and other tempting promises of 
material advantages, and thus to draw the 
most promising men from the universities. 
But while these laboratories should be 
strongly encouraged, and multiplied to the 
point where every small manufacturer will 


SCIENCE 


919 


realize the value of research methods, this 
should not be done at the serious expense of 
pure science. Germany’s success on the 
industrial side is primarily due to her still 
greater achievements in the university 
laboratories. The National Academy, by 
helping to maintain the two phases of 
American research in stable equilibrium, 
can perform a service which the truest ad- 
voecates of applied science will recognize as 
essential to sound progress. | 


GrorcE ELLERY Hae 
THE Mount WILSON 
SoLarR OBSERVATORY 
(To be continued) 


UNIVERSITY REGISTRATION STATISTICS 


THE registration returns for November 1, 
1914, of thirty of the universities of the 
country will be found tabulated on a following 
page. These statistics show only the regis- 
tration in the universities considered. There 
is no intention to convey the idea that these 
universities are the thirty largest universities 
in the country, nor that they are necessarily 
the leading institutions. 

The largest gains in terms of student units, 
including the summer attendance, but making 
due allowance by deduction for the summer 
session students who returned for instruction 
in the fall, were registered by Columbia 
(1,365), California (1,109), Pittsburgh (1,069), 
Ohio State (832), Wisconsin (806), Har- 
vard (784), New York University (634), 
Minnesota (552), Pennsylvania (536), Illinois 
(405), Nebraska (349), Cornell (327), Cin- 
cinnati (319) and Michigan (311). 

Last year there was none that showed a 
gain of more than 1,000 against four this year, 
and ten institutions showed gains of more than 
300 against fourteen of this year. They were: 
New York University, Illinois, Columbia, 
Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, California, Iowa, 
Ohio State, Chicago and Michigan. There is 
a theory that universities and colleges have 
larger increases than usual when national 
economic conditions are bad, that is during 


920 


“hard times.” 
this theory. 

The only university which shows a decrease 
in the grand total attendance, including the 
summer-session, is Indiana. Exclusive of the 
summer-sessions two other universities show a 
very slight decrease, Tulane and Kansas. 

Omitting the summer-sessions the largest 
gains for 1914 are Pittsburgh (1,069), Ohio 
State (687), New York University (580), 
Pennsylvania (431), Wisconsin (424), Cali- 
fornia (389), Columbia (849), Minnesota 
(324), Cincinnati (319), Cornell (318), Dli- 
nois (802), Nebraska (297), Harvard (239) 
and Michigan (218). 

Two show gains of more than 900. There 
were none last year. Fourteen show gains of 
more than 200 as against twelve last year. 
Of the fourteen, eight are in the west and six 
in the east. 

According to the figures for 1914, the thirty 
institutions, inclusive of the summer-sessions, 
rank as follows: Columbia (41,294), California 
(8,180), Chicago (7,181), Wisconsin (6,696), 
Pennsylvania (6,505), Harvard (6,411), 
Michigan (6,319), New York University 
(6,142), Cornell (5,939), Tlinois (5,664), Ohio 
State (4,943), Minnesota (4,484), North- 
western (4,072), Syracuse (3,913), Missouri 
(3,385), Texas (3,371), Yale (3,289), Nebraska 
(3,199), Pittsburgh (2,975), Iowa (2,768), 
Kansas (2,650), Tulane (2,441), Cincinnati 
(2,190), Indiana (2,163), Stanford (1,893), 
Princeton (1,641), Western Reserve (1,523), 
John Hopkins (1,374), Washington Univer- 
sity (1,345), Virginia (902); whereas last year 
the order was: Columbia, California, Chicago, 
Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Harvard, 
Cornell, New York University, Illinois, Ohio 
State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Syracuse, 
Yale, Missouri, Texas, Nebraska, Kansas, 
Towa, Tulane, Indiana, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, 
Stanford, Princeton, Western Reserve, Johns 
Hopkins, Washington University and Virginia. 

A comparison shows that the following 
seventeen universities hold the same relative 
positions (indicated by the numerals follow- 
ing the name) as was held last year. Colum- 
bia (1), California (2), Chicago (3), Penn- 


The above seems to bear out 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1043 


sylvania (5), Illinois (10), Ohio State (11), 
Minnesota (12), Northwestern (13), Syracuse 
(14), Nebraska (18), Iowa (20), Stanford 
(25), Princeton (26), Western Reserve (27), 
Johns Hopkins (28), Washington University 
(29) and Virginia (80). On the other hand, 
there are several changes: Wisconsin comes 
up to fourth place, passing Michigan and 
Pennsylvania. Harvard advances one place 
and Michigan is crowded out of fourth to 
seventh place. Cornell yields eighth place to 
New York University. The next change shows 
Missouri and Texas advancing one place each 
to fifteenth and sixteenth, respectively, and 
Yale dropping behind them. Next comes 
Nebraska and then Pittsburgh, which shows 
the greatest advance, coming all the way from 
the twenty-third position to the nineteenth. 
Towa holds its own at the twentieth place and 
is followed by Kansas, which has slipped back 
two notches. Tulane twenty-second this year, 
and last year twenty-first, is followed by Cin- 
cinnati, which has advanced one place, and 
then by Indiana, which last year held the 
twenty-second place. The remaining six 
schools hold the same places held last year. 

If the summer-session enrollment be omitted 
the universities in the table rank in size as 
follows: Columbia (6,752), Pennsylvania 
(5,736), California (5,614), Michigan (5,522), 
New York University (5,415), Harvard (5,161), 
Illinois (5,187), Cornell (5,078), Wisconsin 
(4,874), Ohio State (4,395), Northwestern 
(3,941), Minnesota (8,940), Chicago (3,887), 


‘Syracuse (8,789), Yale (8,289), Pittsburgh 


(2,975), Nebraska (2,779), Missouri (2,682), 
Towa (2,449), Texas (2,447), Kansas (2,304), 
Cincinnati (2,190), Stanford (1,888), Prince- 
ton (1,641), Indiana (1,570), Western Reserve 
(1,523), Washington University (1,345), Tu- 
lane (1,223), Johns Hopkins (1,058), Vir- 
ginia (902); whereas last year the order was: 
Columbia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Cali- 
fornia, Harvard, Illinois, New York Univer- 
sity, Cornell, Wisconsin, Northwestern, Chi- 
cago, Ohio State, Syracuse, Minnesota, Yale, 
Missouri, Nebraska, Texas, Kansas, Iowa, 
Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Stanford, Princeton, 


DECEMBER 25, 1914] 


Indiana, Western Reserve, Tulane, Washing- 
ton University, Johns Hopkins and Virginia. 
This comparison shows that the relative 
positions of thirteen of the universities remain 
unchanged, although only in the case of one 
institution, Pittsburgh, is the change of more 
than passing interest. The others shift about 
as follows: Michigan yields to California, 
while New York University passes Harvard 
and Illinois. Northwestern and Chicago now 
follow Ohio State imstead of preceding it as 
in the past. Minnesota passes Chicago and 
Syracuse, and the latter is followed by Yale. 
Pittsburgh leaps to the sixteenth position, pass- 
‘ing Missouri, Nebraska, Texas, Kansas and 
Towa. Nebraska and Missouri exchange places 
and Iowa goes ahead of Texas and Kansas. 
The remaining schools hold the same relative 
positions with the exception of Washington 
University and Tulane, which change about. 
While on the subject of the change in the 
relative positions of the universities, based on 
their registration statistics, it may be of some 
interest to briefly point out the change in 
1914 from the positions held in 1904. 
At that time the twenty-seven institutions 
then considered, inclusive of the summer-ses- 
sion, ranked as follows: 


1. Harvard. 10. Pennsylvania. 
2. Columbia. 11, Yale. 
3. Chicago. 12. Northwestern. 
4, Michigan. 13. Nebraska. 
5. Minnesota. 14. Syracuse. 
6. Cornell. 15. New York University. 
7. California. 16. Ohio State. 
8. Wisconsin. 17. Missouri. 
9. Illinois. 18. Iowa State. 
19. Kansas. 


20. Stanford. 

21. Princeton. 

22. Indiana. 

23. Tulane. 

24, Texas. 

25. Western Reserve. 
26. Johns Hopkins. 
27. Virginia. 

Comparing this ranking with that of 1914 
shown above, it should be noted that generally 
speaking the relative positions of the univer- 
sities have changed but little. By dividing all 
of the universities considered in 1904 into 
three equal groups, and by comparing these 
groups with a similar grouping for 1914, it 


SCIENCE 


921 


will be seen that each group has a tendency to 
hold its membership; in other words, univer- 
sities in group I. in 1904 are almost certain to 
be found in group I. in 1914, those in group 
IT. in 1904 are almost certain to be found in 
group II. in 1914, and those in group III. in 
1904 are almost certain to be found in group 
Til. in 1914. There are, however, several ex- 
ceptions to this rule. Minnesota ten years ago 
occupied fifth position in group I. and is now 
occupying twelfth position, or the second posi- 
tion in group IJ. Pennsylvania headed the 
second group ten years ago and is now occupy- 
ing fifth position in the first group. New 
York University has changed from the fif- 
teenth position to the eighth, that is, from 
the second group to the first, in the same 
period. The only other change is that of 
Texas from the third to the second group. 
Changes in the position of the universities 
within each group are not considerable. Har- 
vard holding the ranking position ten years 
ago, now has the sixth place, whereas Colum- 
bia has taken the lead, with California follow- 
ing. Michigan has gone from the fourth to 
the seventh position. Yale has dropped from 
the eleventh to the seventeenth position, and 
Ohio State has advanced into its place, and 
Nebraska has dropped back from the thirteenth 
to the eighteenth position. There are no 
decided changes in the third group. All of 
which suggests the conclusion that the in- 


. erease in attendance of these universities tends 


to be proportionately equal. This may be dis- 
cussed more fully in another article. 
Including the summer session attendance, 
the largest gains in the decade from 1904 to 
1914 were made by Columbia (6,461), Cali- 
fornia (4,442), New York University (3,762), 
Pennsylvania (3,477), Wisconsin (3,326), Ohio 
State (8,185), Chicago (3,096), Texas (2,441); 
Michigan (2,319), Illinois (2,295), Cornell 
(2,106). 
Considering, now, the individual schools of 
the various universities, California with 1,238 
men and 1,853 women, leads in the numbér 
of college undergraduates, being followed by 
Harvard, with 2,479 men and 603 women 
(Radcliffe College) ; Michigan, with 1,802 men 


922 


and 780 women; Wisconsin, with 871 men and 
874 women; Columbia, with 1,014 men and 
689 women; Chicago, with 911 men and 746 
women; Minnesota, with 816 men and 905 
women; Texas, with 817 men and 651 women; 
Yale, with 1,437 men; Kansas, with 776 men 
‘and 626 women; Nebraska, with 650 men and 
%61 women; Missouri, with 829 men and 562 
women; Syracuse, with 1,330 men and women; 
Princeton, with 1,327 men; Indiana, with 778 
men and 461 women; Cornell, with 926 men 
and 279 women, and Northwestern, with 522 
men and 653 women. In the scientific schools, 
that is the schools of engineering, Illinois takes 
the lead with 1,406 students, followed by Cor- 
nell with 1,363, Michigan with 1,347, Yale with 
1,056, Pennsylvania with 906, Ohio State with 
851, Wisconsin with 796, California with 763, 
Minnesota with 590, Columbia with 461, Cin- 
einnati with 458, Kansas with 427, and Stan- 
ford with 418; and in the law schools Harvard 
ttakes the lead with 716 students, followed by 
New York University with 715, Michigan with 
499, Columbia with 440, Pennsylvania with 
856, Texas with 343 and Northwestern with 
336. 

The largest medical school is now in the east 
at New York University where 439 students 
are registered in this subject. Michigan fol- 
lows with 378 students, Johns Hopkins with 
374, Columbia with 358, Tulane with 343, 
Harvard with 321, Pennsylvania with 290, 
Tllinois with 287 and Ohio State with 281. 
Columbia has the largest non-professional 
graduate school with 1,689 students, far out- 
numbering Chicago with 598, Harvard with 
512, Pennsylvania with 489, California with 
478, New York University with 376, Yale with 
371, Illinois with 340 and Cornell and Wis- 
eonsin with 321 each. Cornell holds the lead 
in agriculture with 1,535 students, followed 
by Wisconsin with 1,091, Ohio State with 973 
and Illinois with 959. Four of the univer- 
sities report courses in architecture. Of these 
Oornell is the leader with 157 students in this 
branch, followed by Michigan with 145, Colum- 
bia with 110 and California with 16. Har- 
vard, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Ohio State, 
Pennsylvania, Syracuse, Texas, Tulane and 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1043 


Washington University have registered stu- 
dents in architecture, but listed in other de- 
partments. In art Syracuse leads with 150 
students and is followed by Washington Uni- 
versity. Although courses in art are given at 
California, Iowa State, Michigan and North- 
western, the students are counted in other de- 
partments. 

With 2,466 students New York University’s 
School of Commerce is in the lead, numeri- 
cally speaking; Pennsylvania has the next 
largest with 1,615 students; following comes 
Pittsburgh with 790, Northwestern with 645, 
Wisconsin with 469, Dlinois with 376 and 
California with 287. In this connection it 
may be of interest to note that the largest 
school is in the east and that the schools suc- 
ceed each other in numbers following their 
geographical location toward the west. In 
dentistry Pennsylvania holds the lead with 
663 students, followed by Northwestern with 
578, Michigan with 318 and Towa State with 
302. Of the four divinity schools, North- 
western continues leader with 216 students, 
as against Chicago’s 152, Yale’s 112 and Har- 
vard’s 59. Syracuse’s School of Forestry at- 
tracts 242 students this year, Nebraska 43, 
Yale and Minnesota 37 each. With 136 stu- 
dents in journalism Columbia leads, followed 
by New York University with 110, Wisconsin 
with 101, Missouri with 76 and Indiana with 
67. Syracuse has 960 music students, and is 
followed by Northwestern with 400 and 
Indiana with 100. Columbia has by far the 
largest school of education, enrolling 1,817 stu- 
dents as compared with Pittsburgh’s 668, New 
York University’s 383, Syracuse’s 343 and 
Ohio State’s 341. The largest school of pharm- 
acy is at Columbia where 495 students are 
enrolled. With 200 students Pittsburgh fol- 
lows and then comes Illinois with 199, Western 
Reserve with 120 and Michigan with 110. 
There are only four universities on the list 
teaching veterinary medicine. These are Ohio 
State with 182 students, Pennsylvania with 
122, Cornell with 116 and New York Univer- 
sity with 15. 

All of the above figures are for the indi- 
vidual schools and are exclusive of the sum- 


DECEMBER 25, 1914] 


mner-session attendance. The largest summer- 
session in 1914 was at Columbia, where 5,590 
students were enrolled, as against 3,983 at 
Chicago, 3,179 at California, 2,602 at Wiscon- 
sin, 1,594 at Michigan, 1,436 at Cornell, 1,250 
at Harvard, 1,218 at Tulane and 1,205 at Texas. 

Of the 145 students in architecture at the 
University of California the 16 students listed 
are graduates only. There are besides 129 who 
are undergraduates in the college and these 
are included in the college statistics. In art 
are registered 213 students but these are in- 
cluded in extension and similar courses. The 
_ 936 students in education are included in the 
college statistics. Forestry and veterinary 
medicine are included in the School of Agri- 
culture, and music in the College of Liberal 
Arts. The extension courses show the fol- 
lowing registration: San Francisco Institute 
of Art, 213; Wilmerding School of Industrial 
Art, 145; University Farm School, Davis, 267; 
short courses in agriculture, 170; correspond- 
ence, 1,996; correspondence work in the state 
prisons, 153; class work, 588; and class work 
in state prisons, 608. 

Under other courses are listed at the Uni- 
versity of Chicago 881 students, all of whom 
are taking work in regular university classes 
meeting Saturday morning and late in the 
afternoon of the other week days. These 
classes are given primarily for teachers who 
are working for baccalaureate and for ad- 
vanced degrees. 

At the University of Cincinnati a school of 
household arts of college grade was opened this 
year. An advance in entrance requirements to 
the Medical College has reduced the classes for 
several years but the turn of the tide has com- 
menced and the entering class this year is 
larger than that of recent years. 

Of the 1,817 students classified under edu- 
cation at Columbia University 921 are im the 
School of Education and 896 in the School 
of Practical Arts. The decrease in the num- 
ber of students in the Schools of Mines, Engi- 
neering and Chemistry is caused by the fact 
that these schools have been placed on a 
graduate basis. Students are now required to 
hold a bachelor’s degree or the equivalent, in- 


SCIENCE 


923 


cluding several elementary courses in the sci- 
ences. 

At Cornell University 534 registered in the 
winter course in agriculture are listed under 
extension courses. 

The Graduate School of Applied Science at 
Harvard University is in a state of transi- 
tion, owing to the cooperative plan with Mass- 
achusetts Institute of Technology. 

Of the 879 registered in other courses at 
the University of Illinois, 333 are registered 
under household science and 46 under library 
economy. 

The total attendance at the University of 
Towa, including all departments but excluding 
the summer-session, is divided into 1,706 men 
and 797 women. 

Of the 374 in the School of Medicine at 
Jobns Hopkins University 361 are registered 
for the degree of Doctor of Medicine and 13 
are taking special courses for physicians. 
There are 170 students registered in the col- 
lege courses for teachers given in the after- 
noons. The department of engineering is only 
in its third year and all but a small number, 
that is the third year men, are pursuing 
courses in the undergraduate college. No 
record is made this year of the number. 

There are 154 students registered in educa- 
tion at the University of Kansas, but all but 
one of these are listed in other schools of the 
university. 

Of the 1,492 students in the Scientific 
Schools in the University of Michigan, 1,347 
are in engineering and 145 in architecture. 
The 535 officers include 30 non-resident lec- 
turers and summer-session appointees for the 
college, 128 graduate assistants, and 23 admin- 
istrative officials not included elsewhere. 

The registrations at the University of Min- 
nesota are incomplete, due to the fact that the 
short courses, particularly in agriculture, have 
not been started. These, registrations will in- 
erease the total mentioned under extension and 
similar courses. 

The figures for the University of Missouri 
include the enrollment in all schools at Colum- 
bia and in the Schools of Mines and Metal- 
lurgy at Rollo. The School of Commerce, 


924 


which was organized last spring and requires 
two years ot college work for admission, has 
an enrollment of 12. The decrease in the en- 
rollment of the scientific schools is due to an 
increase in the admission requirements, since 


1911, to two years of college work. Forestry 


is given in the College of Agriculture. 

Of the 282 students in other courses at 
Northwestern University 110 are enrolled in 
courses for nurses, and 172 in the School of 
Oratory. The summer-session in arts was 
reorganized and the increase the last year was 
30 per cent. The Law School is enjoying the 
largest registration in its history despite the 
fact that this year the entrance requirements 
were increased to one year of college work for 
those twenty years of age and under. The 
School of Pharmacy has raised its require- 
ments from one year of high school to high 
school graduation and this imcrease has cut 
down the registration from more than 200 in 
former years to 74 this year. After three years 
of steady decrease, due to the inerease in re- 
quirements, the medical school registration 
shows an increase. The freshman class this 
year was 83 per cent. larger than that of last 
year. 

Of the 463 men registered in the college 
of New York University 298 are in the Col- 
lege of Arts and 165 in Washington Square 
College. The course in journalism is included 
in the School of Commerce. Under other 
courses is listed the woman’s law class with 
an enrollment of 50. 

This year for the first time the registration 
statistics of Ohio State University include 
the enrollment in dentistry and medicine. The 
latter includes homeopathic medicine. Home 
economics mentioned under other courses has 
a registration of 234 and optometrics has a 
registration of 9. 

The University of Pennsyvania, which now 
enters on its 175th year, shows in the Dental 
School an enrollment of 663 students, the 
largest in the history of the school. The School 
of Education has begun a separate existence 
with an enrollment of 89, and the Law School 
shows a decrease of 25. This is the last year 
for admission to this school without the B.A. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1043 


degree or its equivalent. The Medical School, 
which in former years has suffered losses due 
to the gradual annual increase in the admis- 
sion requirements, for the first time in seven 
years shows an increase. There is a slight in- 
erease in the department of mechanical and 
electrical engineering, now separate schools of 
engineering. The extension courses given at 
Wilkes-Barre, Scranton, Harrisburg and Read- 
ing have a total registration of 564. The 
Wharton School of Finance enrolls its Jargest 
freshman class this year, but, on the other 
hand, the School of Veterinary Medicine 
shows a loss because of an increase in the ad- 
Mission requirements to two years of high 
school work. In the medical and dental de- 
partments women have been admitted this year 
for the first time, three and two respectively 
being registered. The 743 students in other 
courses are divided between the college courses 
for teachers with an enrollment of 727, and 
courses in hygiene with 16. 

The large increase in the University of 
Pittsburgh is due in part to the improved 
methods of publicity employed by the univer- 
sity, but mostly to the increase in public in- 
terest caused by the general campaign for 
funds last winter. Of the 304 students in 
engineering, 226 are registered in the School 
of Engineering, and 78 in the School of Mines. 

Of the 198 students enrolled in other courses 
at Syracuse University 50 are regular stu- 
dents in architecture, and 63 in belles lettres, 
20 in photography, and 65 in the School of 
Oratory. The latter was established last year 
with a four-year course. The decrease in the 
College of Law was due to the increase in en- 
trance requirements, which ask now one year 
of regular college work. Twenty students 
listed under extension courses took work in the 
short winter course in agriculture. In connec- 
tion with New York State College of Forestry 
of Syracuse University, a forest ranger school 
is maintained. 

The 44 students under other courses at the 
University of Texas are students in the School 
for Nurses. 

At Tulane University of Louisiana there 
may be some duplications between the summer- 


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926 SCIENCE 


session enrollment and that of the regular 
term. These, however, were not recorded. The 
grand total, therefore, may not be comparable 
with the totals of other universities. 

The 211 students in the scientific schools of 
Washington University are divided between 
eourses in engineering and architecture, while 
87 of the students in other courses are en- 
rolled in the department of social economy and 
the remainder, 271, are enrolled in the Satur- 
day courses for teachers. 

Courses for teachers are offered this year in 
Western Reserve University, and 92’ teachers 
in the public schools of Cleveland are en- 
rolled. There are six students taking one class 
in the College for Women in connection with 
work in the Cleveland Art School. These are 
not included in the statistics. 

The non-resident fee of the University of 
Wisconsin was increased from $70 to $100 a 
year, taking effect for the first time this fall. 
Despite this increase the total registration ex- 
elusive of the summer-session enrollment is 
4,874 as against 4,450 last year. 

The Yale University statistics in art do not 
include 86 enrolled in other departments. Of 
the 371 in the Graduate School, 89 are taking 
special teachers’ courses. ‘There are 67 stu- 
dents enrolled in other departments not in- 
eluded in the statistics for music. Yale Uni- 
versity has no summer-session except for the 
regular summer work done in connection with 
certain classes in forestry and engineering. 
The principal changes in registration from 
last year are the increase in the College, 
School of Religion, Law School, and the de- 
erease in the School of Fine Arts and the 
Sheffield Scientific School. In the School of 
Fine Arts the decrease is due to the new ad- 
mission requirements and in the Sheffield 
School is due partially to the increase in tui- 


tion fees. Joun C. Bure 
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY 


CHARLES SEDGWICK MINOT, DECEMBER 
23, 1852-NOVEMBER 19, 1914 


THE passing of a man like Minot leaves us, 
his friends, sad and filled with sorrow that so 


[N. 8. Vou. XL. No. 1043 


significant a life should be thus swiftly ended. 
One feels as when he hears of some vanishing 
form—that just such a creature can hardly 
come again, for the personality of the unusual 
man is no less unique and he does not reap- 
pear. Yet so long as those who knew Minot 
live, so long as what he planned and thought 
persists to mould the purposes of those who 
follow, so long will his power stretch like the 
wave that seems to fade but really is extended. 

Perhaps Minot was intimate with some 
men who were his seniors; I doubt not Henry 
Bowditch was his confidant, but among his 
contemporaries he seldom showed his thoughts 
or his emotions in the making. Such inti- 
macies he did not cultivate. 

Careful and scrupulous, even in the minor 
ways of life, the impression which he left was 
of a man always sensitive to his surroundings 
—keenly alive to the interests of the greater 
world, seeing life largely, but ever fastidious 
and fine in the formulation of the thoughts 
that occupied his active mind. All life for 
him was purposeful and very interesting. 
Few men, &pon occasion, could speak more 
aptly in appreciation of a scientific friend. 

Well balanced gifts of a high order, a sound 
training, stimulating social contacts and 
ample means were his. As one looks back 
over the past thirty-five years, Minot is to be 
found among the first movers in each effort 
for biological advance: everywhere he took 
part both with insight and with foresight. 
The beginnings of the Society of Naturalists 
—that first effort to bring the working biolo- 
gists of the newer school together—find him 
in the van. The American Association for 
the Advancement of Science, the Marine Bio- 
logical Laboratory are both indebted to him, 
and his administration of the Elizabeth 
Thompson fund remains a model of aid to the 
efficient. 

The honors that belong to such a man came 
to him generously and steadily yet were al- 
Ways somehow transmuted into public service 
for the biological world. His European train- 
ing in the early years included study in the 
never-to-be-forgotten laboratory of Carl Lud- 
wig, and work with that solitary master, Ran- 


DECEMBER 25, 1914] 


vier—great teachers both, who left their im- 
press. 

Devoted to the study of structure, he yet 
maintained, by reason of his early training 
and the later contacts with Henry Bowditch, 
a lively interest in the broader problems of 
physiology; problems which must ever face 
the serious student of structure. He was first 
among us systematically to examine the phe- 
nomenon of growth after birth, and those who 
know anything of his history are familiar 
with the tragedy whereby in a night his 
whole colony of guinea-pigs, which he had 
followed in their growth with unremitting 
care for several years, and which he planned 
to make the basis of a life-long study, was ut- 
terly destroyed. This was a blow that only 
those who have suffered from some form of 
sudden and irreparable loss of their labors 
ean appreciate, and it left him for the moment 
stunned. It was then that he plunged into 
his embryological work and produced his mas- 
terly book on human embryology, accompany- 
ing it by the enlargement of that collection of 
complete series of embryological sections 
which became so great a feature of his labora- 
tory, and of which he was so justly proud. 
But the older interest never died, and many 
who hardly knew the earlier man learned to 
know him through his last book on “ Age, 
Growth and Death,” in which he brought to- 
gether in his lucid way his work and com- 
ments on this fascinating theme. 

As a teacher he will long be remembered as 
the man who made those with eyes to see. 
Most of us would like our epitaph to run that 
way; it stands for lasting work. 

When we move one side to get the larger 
view of his activity, it is startling to sud- 
denly recognize that this work of his in his- 
tology and embryology—work which started 
with the beginnings of such things in this 
country—was conducted in a medical school. 
I must confess that personally I was always 
impressed by this. Of course it was as it 
should be, but how seldom do such things oc- 
eur. With Minot you were in the realm of 
pure science, whether you found him in his 
little dormer room on Bolyston street or in his 


SCIENCE 


927 


marble hall of to-day. The technical atmos- 
phere did not enter in; it was always the 
scientifie interest that you felt. Men have 
worked with him, often I am sure, almost 
without remembering that his laboratory was 
counted as part of a professional school. To 
have achieved such detachment, while doing 
full justice to those who came to him for pro- 
fessional training only, was a great art, and 
betokens an unusual man. ‘The teacher of 
histology to Harvard medical students was a 
one time president of the American Associa- 
tion for the Advancement of Science, presi- 
dent of the Boston Society of Natural His- 
tory and recently exchange professor at Ber- 
lin. Fortunate the students who had such a 
teacher, for the qualities of the man went into 
his instruction. 

To dwell upon the man—the man as a force 
—has been the purpose of these few words, 
and perchance the better one knew Minot the 
more the words will mean. At these Christ- 
mas meetings, where he was so well known, 
we shall miss our friend with his clear speech, 
sure hand in the conduct of affairs and ready, 
generous interest in each youthful searcher 
after truth—and we shall remember him. 


Henry H. Donatpson 
Deeember 19, 1914 


SAMUEL FRANKLIN EMMONS MEMORIAL 
FELLOWSHIP 

Tue friends of the late Dr. Samuel Frank- 
lin Emmons have established a fund whose 
income may be used in support of a fellow- 
ship to promote investigations in the branches 
of geology which were cultivated by him, more 
especially on the economic side. The funds 
have been placed in charge of the trustees of 
Columbia University, but the choice of the 
fellow and the expenditure of the income are 
entrusted to a committee consisting of Pro- 
fessors James F. Kemp, John D. Irving and 
Waldemar Lindgren. The committee an- 
nounces that it will be prepared to award in 
March, 1915, a fellowship of $1,000 for the 
year July 1, 1915 to June 30, 1916, inclusive. 
Applications must be made on blanks which 
will be furnished by the secretary of Colum- 


928 


bia University, New York, N. Y., and which 
when filled and accompanied by testimonials 
and complete statements of the applicant’s 
qualifications will be submitted by him to the 
committee on March 1, 1915. Applications 
must be received by the secretary of Columbia 
University before this date. 

The committee requires that applicants 
should be qualified by proper geological train- 
ing and experience to undertake the investi- 
gation of some problem in or related to eco- 
nomic geology. Each candidate is expected to 
submit with his application a definite state- 
ment of the problem which he proposes to 
study. The carrying out of the investigation 
will be under the oversight of the committee 
and may be undertaken at any place or 
institution which may be preferred by the 
holder of the fellowship and which will 
meet the approval of the committee. The 
place and publication of results will be de- 
cided by the committee. The committee will 
require that the holder of the fellowship agree 
to give his entire time and energies to the 
problem selected, and further agree to con- 
tract no other engagements conflicting with 
or restricting this work without its consent. 
No objection will be made to the use of the 
results as a dissertation for the degree of 
Ph.D. in an approved university. 


THE SAN FRANCISCO MEETING OF THE 
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE 
ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE 

At the meeting of the American Association 
which will be held in San Francisco and vicin- 
ity during the week beginning August 2, 1915, 
the general appointments of the convocation 
week will be as follows: The opening session 
at 10:00 a.m., Monday, August 2, the presi- 
dential address and the reception to visiting 
scientists on Monday evening and four ad- 
dresses before the association as a whole. The 
first of these addresses will be given on Tues- 
day evening by Dr. Fridtjof Nansen, of Nor- 
way, upon oceanographic research. On Thurs- 
day evening, Professor R. A. Daly, of Harvard 
University, will present an address upon prob- 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8S. Vou. XL. No. 1043 


lems of geologic and biologie interest centering 
in the Pacific Islands. On Friday evening, 
Professor W. B. Scott, of Princeton Univer- 
sity, will present an address upon the paleon- 
tologie relations of North and South America. 
A final address will be provided for Satur- 
day evening, August 7, upon issues concern- 
ing the peoples of the Pacific area. 

These general addresses will be given in San 
Francisco. The section and society meetings 
will be held on Wednesday, August 5, at 
Stanford University, and on the remaining 
days of the week at the University of Cali- 
fornia in Berkeley. 

The geological sessions will be in charge ot 
the Geological Society of America and will be 
devoted to discussions of erosion and deposition 
in arid climates, diastrophism of the Pacific 
coast and petrological problems of the Pacific 
area. The topics of the meetings of the Pale- 
ontological Society include a discussion of the 
fundamental criteria used in determining the 
time relations of widely separated life assem- 
blages and rock systems, followed by three 
symposia upon the special problems encoun- 
tered in correlation of the Triassic, Cretace- 
ous and Miocene of the Pacific coast with hori- 
zous referred to these periods in other parts 
of the world. Special papers on other topics 
of interest will be presented. 

Zoological sessions are being planned for the 
discussion of general problems of zoology, evo- 
lution and development, of regulation, of geo- 
graphic distribution, of marine biology, the 
conservation of wild life, and recent advances 
in the field of protozoology. 

The opening session of the botanical meet- 
ings will be devoted to the taxonomy, morphol- 
ogy, history and distribution of Gymnosperms. 
Subjects discussed at other sessions will be 
the effects of light upon plants, the geographic 
distribution of plants with especial reference 
to the possible origin of the California flora, 
and marine and fresh-water Alge. 

The subjects of the anthropological meet- 
ings will be: Races in the Pacifie area with 
reference to the origin of the American 
Indians; the history of civilization in the 
Pacific area, with reference to the relations be- 


DECEMBER 25, 1914] 


tween Asia and the New World: and the social 
aspects of race factors in the Pacific area. 

Two general topics will be considered in the 
agricultural sessions: The relation of agri- 
culture to the food supply of the country, and 
problems of agricultural conservation. In the 
treatment of these topics sessions will be de- 
voted to problems of animal production, nutri- 
tion, agronomy, soil analysis, general problems 
of agricultural chemistry and progress in 
horticultural science. 

Papers upon any of these subjects are cor- 
dially invited from all members of the Ameri- 
ean Association and of societies participating 
in these meetings. Contributions of important 
work in any other lines of research will also 
be welcomed and will be included in the 
programs in so far as time will permit. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


THE present number of SciENCE completes 
the fortieth volume and the twentieth year of 
the journal under the present editorship. 
ScIeNcE was established in 1883 by Dr. A. 
Graham Bell and Gardiner G. Hubbard. The 
president of the board of directors was D. C. 
Gilman, the vice-president, Simon Newcomb 
and the editor S. H. Seudder. In 1900 Sctuncz 
became the official organ of the American 
Association for the Advancement of Science, 
and its membership has since increased from 
1,721 to over 8,000. The journal has witnessed 
and to a certain extent assisted the remark- 
able advance in scientific research which has 
taken place in America in the course of the 
past forty years. 

Amv a joint session of the physiological, bio- 
chemical, pharmacological and pathological 
societies, meeting at St. Louis, on December 
98, papers will be presented in memory of S. 
Weir Mitchell, by Professor Edward T. Reich- 
ert, University of Pennsylvania, and of 
Charles Sedgwick Minot, by Professor Fred- 
eric §. Lee, Columbia University. 

Proressor Hpwarp S. Morse, director of 
the Peabody Museum, has been elected presi- 
dent of the Boston Society of Natural His- 
tory, succeeding the late Professor Charles 
Sedgwick Minot. 


SCIENCE 


929 


Proressor GroRGE QUINCKE, the distin- 
guished physicist of the University of Heidel- 
berg, has celebrated his eightieth birthday. 

Dr. JAMES WITHYCOMBE, who was director 
of the Oregon Agricultural College for nearly 
fourteen years, will soon enter upon his new 
duties as governor of Oregon, to which office 
he was recently elected by an unprecedented 
majority. 

Ar the annual meeting of the trustees of 
the Carnegie Institution of Washington there 
were elected as trustees Senator Henry Cabot 
Lodge, of Massachusetts; Dr. George Wharton 
Pepper, of Philadelphia, formerly professor of 
law in the University of Pennsylvania; Dr. 
Theobold Smith, who has resigned the chair 
of comparative pathology at Harvard Univer- 
sity to become a member of the Rockefeller 
Institute for Medical Research, and Mr. 
Charles Payne Fenner, of Louisiana. Dr. 
Simon Flexner, director of the laboratories of 
the Rockefeller Institute, has resigned as a 
trustee of the Carnegie Institution. 


Tue statement regarding the award of the 
Hayden Memorial gold medal by the Acad- 
emy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, in 
Science for December 18 requires a correc- 
tion. After the modification of the deed of 
trust in 1900, the first gold medal was given 
to Sir Archibald Geilkie, in 1902, the second 
to Dr. Charles Walcott in 1905, the third to 
Dr. John Mason Clarke in 1908, and the 
fourth to Dr. John Casper Branner in 1911. 

Av its last meeting, the Rumford Committee 
of the American Academy made the following 
appropriations: For the purchase of a refrig- 
erating apparatus for the academy, the same 
to be loaned to Professor ©. A. Kraus for his 
research on solutions in liquid ammonia, $300. 
For the purchase of a motor generator for the 
academy, the same to be loaned to Dr. H. P. 
Hollnagel for his research on the extreme 
infra-red portion of the spectrum, $300. 


Tue National Society for the Promotion of 
Industrial Education, at its recent meeting 
at Richmond, has elected the following offi- 
cers: President, William C. Redfield, secre- 
tary of commerce; Vice-president, Cheesman 
A. Herrick, president of Girard College; 


930 


Philadelphia; Treasurer, Frederick B. Pratt, 
secretary, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, N. Y. 


Dr. Grorcze W. Orie, of the 
School of Western Reserve University, will 
leave Cleveland on December 80 for the Amer- 
ican Ambulance Hospital, near Paris, to assist 
in its work. 

Dr. Anrxts CarreL, of the Rockefeller In- 
stitute for Medical Research, is making a 
study of the French military medical estab- 
lishments at the front under the auspices of 
the government. 


Dr. Evie MetcHnikorr, the eminent Rus- 
sian pathologist, who for the last twenty-six 
years has been engaged in research at the 
Pasteur Institute in Paris, will be seventy 
years old next year, and a Festschrift for him 
has been in preparation at Paris for this anni- 
versary. The Journal of the American Med- 
tcal Association states that Dr. Emil von 
Behring, of Marburg, had intended to con- 
tribute an article to it, but the breaking out 
of the war prevented his article reaching the 
publishers on time, that is before September 
1. He now publicly announces (November 
12) that he hopes “before the anniversary in 
question, next May, to manifest in some other 
way my respect and unwavering friendly 
sentiments for Metchnikoff on the occasion 
of his seventieth birthday. 


On December 7, Professor C. J. Keyser, who 
was a guest of the faculty of Washington Uni- 
versity at a smoker held at the Faculty Club 
of that institution, spoke on the demand for 
advanced avocational instruction and the ob- 
ligation of universities to provide it. On the 
following evening he delivered an address on 
“Science and Religion” under the auspices 
of the Washington University Association. 


Dr. A. G. Worrnine, of the Nela Re- 
search Laboratory, Cleveland, addressed a 
meeting of the physics colloquium of the Uni- 
versity of Illinois on December 9, on “ Optical 
Pyrometry and some of Its Applications.” 


Dr. R. Rucewes Gates, of the University of 
London, lectured before the Washington Uni- 
versity Association, St. Louis, in November, 


SCIENCE 


Medical 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1043 


on “The Modern Study of Heredity” and 
“The Present Status of Evolution.” 


Tue death is announced of Colonel Edward 
Daniel Meier, past president of the American 
Society of Mechanical Engineers. 


Fayette Ciay Ewine, JR., associate pro- 
fessor of civil engineering in the University 
of the South, died suddenly of heart failure 
at Sewanee, Tenn., on November 28. Mr. 
Ewing, who was in the twenty-eighth year of 
his age, was a young engineer and teacher of 
marked promise. He graduated at the Uni- 
versity of Virginia in 1910 with the degree of 
C.E., and, before going to Sewanee last May, 
had been connected with railway practise. 


ARCHIBALD Ross CotquHouN, the British 
traveler and explorer, died on December 18, at 
the age of sixty-six years. 


Dr. CHartes Pérter, president of the French 
Academy of Medicine, one of the most dis- 
tinguished surgeons in France, died on De- 
cember 138, aged seventy-eight years. 


AmMonG those killed in the war are: Dr. Al- 
fred Grund, professor of geography in the 
German University of Prague; Dr. Franz 
Waterstradt, professor of agriculture in the 
Agricultural School at Hohenheim; Dr. Fritz 
Ludwig Kohlrausch, professor for work in 
radium in the mining school at Freiburg, and 
Dr. Fricke, professor of forestry in the Forest 
Academy at Miinden. 


Larce bequests for public purposes are made 
by the will of Mrs. Mary Anna Palmer 
Draper, to whom in her lifetime science was 
greatly indebted for intelligent and generous 
support. Mrs. Draper bequeaths $150,000 to 
the Harvard College Observatory for the 
Draper memorial, established in memory of 
Dr. Henry Draper, her husband, whose photo- 
graphic plates and apparatus are also be- 
queathed to the observatory. The sum of 
$450,000 is given to the New York Public 
Library, $200,000 for a memorial to Dr. John 
S. Billings, and $200,000 as a memorial to her 
father, Courtland Palmer. The income of 
these funds is to be used for the purchase of 
books, and an additional trust fund of $50,- 


DECEMBER 25, 1914] 


000 is given for the benefit of the employees of 
the library. There is also a bequest of $25,- 
000 to the Smithsonian Institution; a bequest 
of objects of art with $20,000 for their care to 
the Metropolitan Museum; of $50,000 to the 
New York Polyclinic Hospital; of $25,000 to 
the New York Skin and Cancer Hospital, and 
of $25,000 to the laboratory of surgical re- 
search of New York University, of whose med- 
ical department Dr. Henry Draper was at one 
time dean. 


Section L—Education—of the American 
Association for the Advancement of Science, 
of which the chairman is Professor Paul H. 
Hanus, of Harvard University, and the sec- 
retary, Stuart A. Courtis, has arranged a two- 
days’ program, that of Wednesday, December 
30, being devoted to educational measurement, 
and that of Thursday, December 21, to the 
exceptional child. In the mornings there will 
be presented some thirty ten-minute papers, 
giving the results of researches on these sub- 
jects, and on each afternoon there will be four 
half-hour addresses. The address of the re- 
tiring vice-president and chairman, Dr. P. P. 
Claxton, U. S. Commissioner of Education, is 
on the American rural school. 


As has already been stated in ScrmNcE the 
American Physiological Society will hold its 
twenty-seventh annual meeting at St. Louis, 
Mo., December 27-30. Scientific papers and 
demonstrations for the meeting have been re- 
ported by the following: R. W. Keeton and F. 
G. Koch; F. S. Lee and C. L. Scott; F. P. 
Knowlton and A. ©. Silvermann; Ida M. 
Hyde; F. I. Zeman, J. Kohn and P. E. Howe; 
S. Tashiro; R. S. Pearce; S. Simpson and R. 
L. Hill; W. L. Gaines; W. B. Cannon, C. A. 
Binger and R. Litz; C. C. Fowler, M. E. Reh- 
fus and P. B. Hawk; W. H. Spencer, M. E. 
Rehfus and P. B. Hawk; R. S. Hoskins; H. 
McGuigan and C. L. v. Hess; W. E. Burge; 
F. C. Maclean; G. W. Crile, F. W. Hitch- 
ings and J. B. Austin; A. L. Beifeld, H. 
Wheelon and C. R. Lovelette; F. F. Rogers 
and L. L. Hardt; C. H. Dallwig, A. C. Kolls 
and A. §. Loevenhart; J. F. McClendon; K. 
R. Drinker and C. K. Drinker; M. L. Fleisher 


SCIENCE 


931 


and L. Loeb; F. S. Lee and D. J. Edwards; 
B. H. Schlomovitz, J. A. EK. Eyster and W. J. 
Meek; J. A. E. Eyster and W. J. Meek; C. 
Brooks and A. B. Luckhardt; S. Simpson and 
A. T. Rasmussen; T. S. Githens and S. J. 
Meltzer; C. Voegtlin; B. M. Potter; E. G. 
Martin and P. G. Stiles; M. Dresbach; W. J. 
Meek and J. A. E. Eyster; E. G. Martin; H. 
Ginsburg; A. J. Carlson; F. C. Becht and H. 
McGuigan; H. R. Basinger and A. L. Tatum; 
C. Voegtlin. 


A PRESS dispatch from Denver states that 
the Federal Commission on Industrial Rela- 
tions has determined upon an investigation of 
the country’s benevolent organizations. The 
scope of the investigation is said to be stated 
by Mr. Frank P. Walsh, chairman of the com- 
mission, as follows: 


The commission will investigate the rights, 
powers and functions of self-perpetuating organi- 
zations under their present charters and the ex- 
tent to which these charters may be stretched 
under the present Constitution of the United 
States and the restrictions which present constitu- 
tional limitations impose. It will investigate the 
attitude of high finance toward industrial ques- 
tions—what organizations such as the Rockefeller 
Foundation are doing to relieve industrial unrest; 
how the policies of these organizations are shaped 
and by whom; what part the source of their in- 
come plays in determining what these policies 
shall be; whether self-perpetuating organizations 
such as the Rockefeller Foundation are a menace 
to the future political and economic welfare of 
the nation; what figure they cut in polities; the 
labor policy of ‘‘Big Business’’ in general. 


A GCABLEGRAM to the daily papers says that 
when the war broke out the Prussian military 
authorities requisitioned the trained horses of 
Elberfeld. Dr. Vogel, their owner, protested 
and the Royal Academy of Berlin supported 
the protest. A reprieve was granted, but 
later the horses were requisitioned for an artil- 
lery battery and their death on a Flanders 
battlefield has just been announced. It will be 
remembered that the “thinking horses” of 
Elberfeld were first brought to the attention 
of the public some years ago by their trainer, 


932 SCIENCE 


Herr K. Krall, who exhibited them at various 
places in Germany. 


In accordance with its usual custom the 
faculty of medicine of Harvard University 
will offer a course of free public lectures to 
be given at the Medical School, on Sunday 
afternoons, beginning January 3 and ending 
May 9. The schedule follows: 


January 3—Dr, Reid Hunt. Drugs. 

January 10—Dr. John Lovett Morse. The care 
and training of older children. 

January 17—Dr. J. L.. Goodale. Susceptibility 
and resistance in diseases of the nose and throat. 

January 24—Dr, Alexander Quackenboss. Cat- 
aract; its nature and treatment. 

January 31.—Dr. William P. Graves. Hered- 
ity. 

February 7—Dr. 8. A. Hopkins. Mouth hygiene 
as a factor in sickness and health. 

February 14—Dr. Harris P. Mosher. - Catarrh. 

February 21—Dr. George S. Derby. The pres- 
ervation of the eyesight. 

February 28—Dr. Franklin W. White. Food 
in health and disease. ‘‘Food fads.’? ‘‘ Health 
foods.’’ ‘‘ Vegetarianism. ’’ 

March 7—Dr. BH. G. Martin. Fatigue and rest. 

March 14—Dr. F. S. Newell. Modern obstet- 
tics. (To women only.) 

March 21—Dr. G. 8. C. Badger. Common colds. 

March 28—Dr. Perey Brown. The use of X- 
rays as an aid to our knowledge of disease in the 
stomach and bowels. 

April 4—Dr. R. B. Osgood. The cause and pre- 
vention of chronic rheumatism. 

April 11—Dr. C. A. Porter. What surgery can 
do for chronic indigestion. 

April 18—Dr. Paul Thorndike. The bladder 
ailments of man in later life. (To men only.) 

April 25—Dr. E. H. Place. What may we do 
in diminishing the dangers of contagious disease? 

May 2—Dr. EH. HE. Southard. Sex differences in 
the human brain. 

May 9—Dr. W. B. Laneaster. Lighting. Good 
and bad lighting; its effects on the eyesight. 

Tuer Journal of the American Medical Asso- 
ciation states that the Rockefeller Sanitary 
Commission which has had in charge the eradi- 
cation of hookworm in the southern states 
under the fund of $1,000,000 granted by John 
D. Rockefeller in 1909, will disband at the 
close of the present year. The forces of the 
commission at that time will be withdrawn 


[N. 8S. Von. XL. No. 1043 


from all the states in which they have been 
working except eight, and the work in these 
will be taken over by the Rockefeller Founda- 
tion, a separate organization. The foundation 
will close up the work in five of the eight 
states March 1, 1915, and the remaining three 
on June 30. Under the foundation there has 
been created an International Commission on 
Health which will undertake work for the 
promotion of health in all parts of the world 
in cooperation with health departments of all 
countries, and especially will cooperate in the 
constructive development of state health forces, 
not alone with reference to hookworm, but in 
connection with other health conditions. 
ANOTHER year’s laying record of hens bred 
from selected strains has been compiled by the 
poultry department of the Oregon station. 
A flock of fifty hens averaged 213 eggs each 
during the calendar year, November 1, 1913, 


to November 1, 1914. If the actual laying . 


year of each hen is counted the average num- 
ber of eggs laid becomes 220. The world’s 
champion layer, which last year laid 303 eggs 
in 865 days. has broken the two-year record by 
the production of 505 eggs in two years, while 
another hen has averaged more than 200 eggs 
a year for four years, having laid 819 eggs 
within that time. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 


Mr. J. ArtHuR BEEBE has bequeathed $150,- 
000 to the building club of the Harvard Club 
of Boston; $10,000 to the fund of the Har- 
vard class of 1869, of which class he was a 
member, though he left before graduation; 
$10,000 for music at Harvard College, and 
$5,000 to Dr. F. C. Shattuck for investigations 
of tropical diseases. The residue of the estate, 
after some personal bequests have been paid, 
is bequeathed to Harvard University, the in- 
come to be used for the general purposes of 
the university. 

Tue University of Pennsylvania will be the 
ultimate beneficiary of the $200,000 estate of 
William B. Irvine, ex-city treasurer, who died 
December 6. The money will provide either 
a building for a school of mining engineer- 
ing or an auditorium. 


DECEMBER 25, 1914] 


THe new building for the Medical College 
of South Carolina, Charleston, was formally 
transferred to the board of trustees of the 
institution, November 18. The address of the 
occasion was made by Dr. William S. Currell, 
president of the University of South Carolina. 

Dr. Joun Henry MacCracken, syndic and. 
professor of politics in New York University, 
has been elected president of Lafayette College. 
In the same week Dr. Henry Noble MacCracken, 
professor of Hnglish at Smith College, was 
elected president of Vassar College. They are 
the sons of Dr. Henry Mitchell MacCracken, 
chancellor-emeritus of New York University. 


Proressor §. F. Acree, of the Johns Hop- 
kins University, has accepted the position of 
chief of the Section of Derived Products in the 
Forest Products Laboratory in Madison and 
professor of chemistry of forest products in 
the University of Wisconsin. 


Mr. Dr Forrest HuncERForD, instructor in 
soils in the College of Agriculture, University 
of Minnesota, has been appointed assistant 
professor of agronomy in the College of Agri- 
culture, University of Arkansas. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 


RATE OF CONTINENTAL DENUDATION 


Av first glance nothing appears more simple 
than the measurement of the discharge of a 
large river, and from the volume of matter 
found to be held in suspension and in solution 
to calculate the annual depletion of the drain- 
age basin. Ever since the first estimates of 
Humphreys and Abbot, over half a century 
ago, the Mississippi River has been a favor- 
ite illustration of this kind. Recent results of 
more elaborate measurements of this character 


made by the federal government are apparently 


undertaken with the express purpose of deter- 
mining the rate of lowering of the continental 
surface through stream-corrasion. 

So soon as a concrete case is settled upon 
there enters into the problem a number of new 
and yariant factors which, if not perfectly 
evaluated, utterly invalidate the results sought. 
In this respect the Mississippi Valley appears 


SCIENCE 


933 


to be the most unfortunate choice that it is 
possible to select. Although the recently pub- 
lished results seem to give excessively small 
figures and the established rate very much too 
slow, it is to certain other features that atten- 
tion is here briefly called, which appear not 
to have entered into the calculations named. 
According to the figures referred to it would 
take some millions of years to reduce the 
already low-lying Mississippi basin to the con- 
dition of a true peneplain with a position but 
slightly above tide-level. All direct geologic 
observations made during late years in the 
region go to show rather conclusively that in 


“reality the surface of the vast basin is on the 


whole actually rising instead of becoming 
notably lower. 

Among other factors it appears that the 
wind-borne dusts from western deserts are 
alone probably depositing materials over the 
entire Mississippi Valley faster than the river 
and its tributaries are carrying rock-waste to 
the sea. In recent geologic times, also, the 
western half of the basin has actually had 
deposits laid down upon its surface to a thick- 
ness of not less than 1,000 feet. The great 
river has not only not been equal to the task of 
doing its normal amount of work, but it has 
been so incapacitated as to permit this prodi- 
gious volume of rock-waste to accumulate 
until its original Tertiary surface is already 
carried far below sea-level. Nowhere on earth 
is there finer exemplification of vast conti- 
nental sedimentation. 

In the lately compiled estimates of conti- 
nental lowering several diastrophic factors 
are left out. These are extremely important 
in all calculations of this kind. Since Glacial 
times—perhaps 10,000 years ago—a very con- 
siderable part of the upper Mississippi Valley 
appears to have been elevated not less than 
500 to 600 feet. ‘This change of level may 
represent the isostatic compensation of the 
last great ice-cap. At any rate, while there has 
been over this region an erosive loss of a frac- 
tion of a foot each century, there has been in 
the same time a gain in sediments of many 
times this amount. Growth has exceeded de- 
cline a hundred-fold. 


934 


The elaborate stream-measurements thus go 
for naught. They give no clue whatever to the 
absolute rate of continental lowering through 
erosion. They merely emphasize the fact of 
the relative impotency of stream-work in gen- 
eral. They bring into strong contrast the 
tremendous effects of other geologic agencies 
of degradation and of aggradation which we 
have long been accustomed entirely to ignore, 
or to give only scant consideration. 


CHARLES KryEs 


CLADONEMA 


In looking up the date for the species of the 
flagellate protozoon, Cladonema laxum Kent 
1871 (Anthophysa laxum Kent), I found that 
Seville Kent had proposed for this species the 
name Cladonema,: having derived it from the 
Greek, klados, branch, and nema, thread. His 
type species is C. laxum, of which he wrote: 
“This species was first briefly described by 
the author, with an accompanying figure, in 
the Monthly Microscopical Journal for Decem- 
ber, 1871, under the title of Anthophysa laxa; 
the isolated instead of clustered mode of at- 
tachment of the animalecules to their pedicle, 
added to the flexible, thread-like aspect and 
eonsistence of their structure, distinguishes 
it, however, so conspicuously from the repre- 
sentatives of either the genus Anthophysa or 
other allied forms described in this treatise, 
that a new generic name has been created for 
its reception,” 2. e., Cladonema. 

References to Cladonema in the Jiterature 
earlier than 1880 lead the writer to trace back 
the name to 1843. In Ann. des Sci. Nat. for 
that year, lle serie (Zoologie), Tome 20, pp. 
370-8, Dujardin listed a new medusa, for 
which he proposed the name Cladonema radz- 
atum. This form had developed from the 
hydroid Stawridiwm (see description, p. 372). 
Krohn in 18532 accepted the name for the 
medusa, and only differed from Dujardin’s 
interpretation in minor points in the develop- 


1Manual of the Infusoria, Vol. I., London, 
1880, pp. 264-65. 

2 Mueller’s Arch. f. Anat. u. Physiol., 1853, p. 
420. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1043 


ment into the Stauridium. Others to recog- 
nize the name Cladonema for the medusa 
prior to 1880 are: Kefferstein und Ehlers, 
1861, Zool. Beitraege, Neapel, Messina, p. 85, 
taf. 13, Fig. 5; Van Beneden, 1866, Mem. 
Acad. Roy. Belgique, Tome 36, p. 139, pl. 12; 
Hincks, 1868, “ Hist. Brit. Hydroid. Zooph.,” 
p. 62, pl. 11; Allman, 1872, “ Monog. Tubul. 
Hydroids,” pp. 216, 357, pl. 17, Figs. 1-10; and 
Haeckel, 1879, “Syst. der Medusen,” p. 109. 

Mayer, in his “ Medusa of the World,” Pt. I. 
(Carnegie Inst. Pub.), 1910, recognizes the 
name Cladonema for the medusa form and 
gives the full bibliography (p. 99). In Pt. IM. 
of this work, p. 719, he writes under the 
caption “ Preocecupied Generic Names”: 

The establishment of the Commission upon 
Zoological Nomenclature and the general recog- 
nition which the code that controls its decision 
has won for itself among naturalists makes it 
more than ever desirable that the validity of the 
generic names we now use should be firmly estab- 
lished. Accordingly, the tenability of each and 
every generic name adopted in this work has been 
made the subject of thorough research, and I am 
somewhat surprised to find that names which 
have been used for generations without question 
of their priority are actually preoccupied for 
other groups of animals and can not be applied 
to the medusz. 

He lists five such eases, Corynitis, Slab- 
beria, Turris, Tiara and Laodicea. Cladonema, 
however, remains established for the medusa 
form. 

It seems evident from the above that Kent 
proposed the name Cladonema for the In- 
fusorian without knowing that the name was 
already occupied. Hence the former name 
Anthophysa Bory, 1822 (?), must be revived 
for the reception of this species, or a new 
name proposed. 


E. Carron Faust 
Missouta County HicH ScHooL, 
MissouLa, Mont. 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 
The British Rust Fungi (Uredinales), their 
Biology and Classification. By W. B. 
Grove, M.A. Cambridge, at the University 
Press. 1913. Pp. xii-+ 412. 


DECEMBER 25, 1914] 


The author of the excellent four-hundred- 
page volume treating of the British rust fungi 
has most appropriately begun his preface by 
reference to the eminent achievements of 
Plowright embodied in a similar volume 
twenty-four years previously. Plowright’s 
volume contained a large amount of original 
matter derived from observation and experi- 
ment. In his conception of the Uredinales 
Plowright stood head and shoulders above 
his English co-workers. He was a leader 
among British uredinologists. 

The volume by Mr. Grove is a worthy suc- 
eessor to Plowright’s commanding work. 
Even if it does not measure up to its proto- 
type in leadership, it can justly be said to 
present the interesting group of rust fungi, 
as represented in England and Scotland, in a 
serviceable and acceptable manner. 

In the eighty-four pages devoted to the 
general part of the work the author has be- 
gun by giving in detail the life history of 
Puccinia Caricis, sensibly selecting it instead 
of the usual P. graminis as a typical example 
of a rust, supplemented by a briefer account 
of eight other species. Then are successively 
discussed spore-forms and groupings in ac- 
cordance with their succession, sexuality in- 
eluding nuelear division, specialization, im- 
munity and phylogeny. 

In the larger systematic part of the volume 
about two hundred and fifty species are de- 
scribed, and nearly all illustrated with orig- 
inal outline drawings. The general plan of 
the systematic part is modelled after Sydow’s 
“Monographia Uredinearum.” The illustra- 
tions are superior to those in that work, and 
approach those of Fischer’s “Uredineen der 
Schweiz,” while the method of description is 
similar to that introduced by the writer in 
the “North American Flora.” Recognition 
of the diagnostic value of the pores in the 
urediniospores is especially noteworthy. The 
technical description is followed by helpful 
notes for most of the species. Placing that 
part of the technical description derived from 
extra-territorial material in brackets pro- 
motes clearness and accuracy. The synonymy 


SCIENCE 


935 


is said “to show the origin and authority of 
the name used,” as well as to include refer- 
ences to well-known works, the name for each 
species being selected im accordance with 
the “principle of priority” as restricted by 
the International Rules of 1905 and 1910, yet 
to one who has carefully looked into the his- 
tory of rust names the result appears to ac- 
cord more with what one might designate ac- 
ceptable usage rather than the rigid applica- 
tion of any uniform rules. 

If one accepts the conservative standpoint 
of the author there is nothing of importance 
in the work that calls for adverse criticism. 
Both author and publisher are to be com- 
mended for the excellence of the volume. 

It may be pointed out that in the author’s 
zeal to illustrate with British material a kind 
of spore which does not occur in connection 
with any rust in Great Britain, the identical 
eut which does service as a urediniospore on 
page 208 is reproduced on page 34 in the gen- 
eral part as an amphispore, although the text 
says it is only the “nearest approach” to be 
found among British species. What harm 
could have come from illustrating a kind of 
spore not found in Britain by an extra-Brit- 
ish example is a mystery to a non-Britisher. 

It may also be said that the author has 
doubtless been led into error by accepting 
the assignment to the genus Hemileia of 
three species of Uredo on orchids. The 
writer has examined original material on 
which this assumption is founded, and be- 
lieves that no teleospores have yet been dis- 
covered, those supposed to be such being only 
oblong urediniospores. The morphology of 
these rusts, as well as their host relationship, 
is entirely against their inclusion in the genus 
Hemuileza. 

Exception must be taken to the author’s 
statement that “the genus Milesia is now 
dropped [for the later Milesina], because it 
was founded on an imperfect state which might 
belong to any one of several genera.” It is 
true that it was founded on an “imperfect 
state,” if the uredineal sori are to be spoken of 
as such, but wholly untrue that the spores of 
this stage are not distinctively characteristic 


936 


of the genus. Even the author himself shows 
the fallacy by his drawings, by a statement at 
bottom of page 377, by his omission of other 
spore forms in describing the several species, 
and in his ability to include a species which 
had not before been assigned to the genus 
without having seen other than uredinio- 
spores. The attempt to base modern procedure 
on antiquated and discredited ideas, which this 
instance well illustrates, accounts for the un- 
fortunate rule of the Brussels Congress throw- 
ing out all names for priority not applied to 
the telial stage. It is this rule which the 
author is trying to follow. 

There is much to be commended in the 
author’s attempt to bring together so-called 
species which might more properly be con- 
sidered races or varieties. His nomenclatorial 
method of using a collective name and descrip- 
tion under which constituents are maintained 
as if autonomous is, however, contrary to De 
Candolle’s fundamental law of nomenclature 
that a plant can only bear one name of the 
same grade, a law that has been upheld by 
every botanical congress since its enunciation 
in 1813. If Puccinia Digraphidis, P. Orchi- 
dearum-Phalaridis, P. Winteriana and P. 
Phalaridis are to be grouped as biological 
races under Puccimia sessilis, which seems 
quite correct, the nomenclature should be ad- 
justed accordingly. We hope with the author 
that some one may be found with “more 
knowledge, or more courage,” as he says in the 
preface, to carry this process to other forms. 

It requires both more knowledge and more 
courage to advance the lines of classification 
beyond familiar grounds than most authors 
are willing to incorporate in their works. To 
illustrate from the work before us: On pages 
43-75 the author technically describes the five 
families of the order Uredinales and gives a 
key to the twenty-two genera into which the 
British species may be distributed, using the 
now generally accepted succession beginning 
with the fern rusts and ending with Uromyces 
and Puccinia, but in the systematic part of 
the volume the order is reversed to accord with 
the old and more familiar way. If the makers 
of manuals will not incorporate what they 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8S. Vou. XL. No. 1043 


believe to be the best knowledge available, how 
ean the general student get a working famil- 
larity with it? Too great conservatism is 
as injurious to the diffusion of substantial 
information as too pronounced radicalism. 

The author deplores the lack of a suitable 
way to subdivide the genus Puccinia with its 
enormous number of species, “more than 
1,300 are already known.” After discarding 
Schroter’s and Fischer’s classifications because 
they “separate nearly allied species,” he says 
“ Arthur’s is a pathless chaos,” and decides to 
arrange the species according to hosts, instead 
of introducing a “new imperfect scheme.” It 
is evident that the author did not master the 
classification proposed by the writer, which 
is founded upon the combination of life his- 
tories and morphological characters. That 
classification can justly be called imperfect, 
but not artificial, and by no manner of means 
chaotic. It is imperfect because more informa- 
tion is demanded than was available when it 
was proposed, and must be emended and. 
changed to accord with knowledge as it comes 
to hand, as likely to oceur in the establish- 
ment of a natural system of any group of 
plants. 

The author has not indicated whether the 
spore-forms which he describes under each 
species are all the spore-forms belonging to the 
species, or not, and without such information 
species can not be distributed in the Arthur 
system. How to ascertain this important item 
was pointed out by the writer in 1904. 
Puccinia bullata, for instance, is credited with 
pyenia, uredinia and telia, but no mention is 
made of aecia, and Puccinia Calthae has 
pyenia, aecia and telia described, but no ure- 
dinia. About one half the species in the book 
are thus lacking in definite information. It 
is no wonder the author saw in the Arthur 
system only “a pathless chaos.” 


J. C. ArtHUR 
PURDUE UNIVERSITY, 
LAFAYETTE, INDIANA 


Textbook on Wireless Telegraphy. By RuPErt 
Sranuey, Professor of Physics and Elec- 
trical Engineering, Municipal Technical 


DECEMBER 25, 1914] 


Institute, Belfast. Longmans, Green & Oo. 

Pp. 344. 201 illustrations. $9.25 net. 

Tt is seldom that a reviewer has the privilege 
of examining a book which so well accomplishes 
its purposes as does this elementary text on 
radio telegraphy. The author states in the 
preface that his book is designed to fill the 


needs of those students who, with practically. 


no previous knowledge of electric circuits, de- 
sire to become acquainted with the simple 
theory of wireless telegraphy and with the 
various pieces of apparatus at present used in 
radio work. There is surely no text on the 
market to-day which fills the needs of ‘such 
students as well as does Professor Stanley’s 
book. 

The subject-matter is all useful, live mate- 
rial and is strictly up to date. The historical 
development of the subject is given only suffi- 
cient space to make the student realize the se- 
quence in which the different pieces of appa- 
ratus and circuits appeared in the art. Many 
texts devote a deal of space to detailed de- 
scriptions of the early experiments, but this 
text is fortunately entirely free from such 
irrelevant material. 

The first five chapters deal with general con- 
cepts of magnetism and electricity and intro- 
duce the reader to the modern idea of the elec- 
trie current being motion of electrons. Next 
follows a chapter on measurements and cal- 
culations of series and parallel circuits, volt- 
age, current, power, etc. The material of this 
chapter is well illustrated by problems worked 
out in the text. Three chapters are devoted 
to inductance, capacity and oscillatory dis- 
charges, with methods of producing them. 

Chapter X., on “How Ether Waves are 
Propagated and Received,” deals with a very 
difficult subject but the author has treated it 
exceptionally well, bringing into his discus- 
sion, day and night effects, effect of water and 
dry land, ete., and illustrating his explanations 
by experimental data. 

There are six chapters devoted to the vari- 
ous circuits and pieces of apparatus used in 
sending and receiving stations where the so- 
called “ damped wave system” or spark system 
is used and one chapter on the generating and 


SCIENCE 


937 


receiving apparatus used in systems using 
continuous waves. A short discussion on mis- 
cellaneous apparatus, such as direction finders, 
amplifiers, galvanometers, hot-wire meters, 
etc., is followed by the last chapter of the book 
in which various measurements of radio cir- 
cuits and apparatus are described. 

Four short appendices are devoted to the 
standard code, eall letters of British stations, 
extracts from international radio regulations 
and the system of time signals and weather 
reports sent out from Eiffel Tower. Questions 
added at the end of each chapter increase the 
value of the book as a text. 

The paper on which the book is printed is 
not suitable for fine half tones and these are 
rather disappointing, but to offset this defect 
the diagrams of circuits and connections are 
exceptionally well executed. They show 
thought and skill on the part of the one who 
designed them. There are minor errors, such 
as appear in Figs. 38, 43 and 45, but for a 
first edition the number of errors is very small. 
The author and publishers deserve much praise 
from those interested in radio work for putting 
out this commendable text. 


J. H. M. 


BOTANICAL NOTES 
SOME CORRECTIONS IN REGARD TO TROPICAL LEAVES 


Dr. SHREVE’S paper on “ The Direct Effects 
of Rainfall on Hygrophilous Vegetation 7” 
will serve as a corrective for some “ casual ob- 
servation and vivid imagination ” in regard to 
certain adaptational features, in tropical vege- 
tation, especially those pertaining to leaf 
shapes and structures. His studies were made 
in the Jamaican forests where the rainfall 
ranges from 266.7 em. (100 inches) to 426.7 
em. (170 inches), insuring, with the aid of a 
generally prevalent fog blanket, an almost 
continual wetness of the foliage. In these 
conditions it has generally been assumed that 
the leaves should have dripping points, velvet 
surfaces, epiphylle and hydathodes. And yet 
Dr. Shreve found “a very weak representa- 
tion of such features as the hydathode, the 


1 Journal of Ecology, June, 1914. 


938 SCIENCE 


dripping point, the velvet surface, the varie- 
gated leaf, drooping juvenile foliage, etc.” 
Upon some of these structures his comments 
are suggestive, as, 

There is no feature of foliage leaves that ap- 
pears to give greater promise of haying concrete 
utility under rain-forest conditions than does the 
hydathode. 


Yet in his summary he says: 


Plants possessing hydathodes are very infre- 
quent in the montane rain forests of Jamaica. 


So, too, he says: “ Plants possessing dripping 
points are relatively uncommon in the rain- 
forest,” and a little later, “ Surface wetness 
does not lower the temperature of leaves 
sufficiently, under rain-forest conditions, to 
affect their transpiration rate.” 

The paper is so full of interesting results 
that it is quite impossible to summarize it as 
a whole, yet one rises from reading it with the 
feeling that it must do much to correct current 
notions as to the ecology of tropical leaves. 


NORTH AMERICAN FLORA 


Part 1 of Volume 29 of this slowly moving 
publication appeared August 31, 1914. It con- 
tains the following families of the Order 
Ericales: Clethraceae by N. L. Britton; Mono- 
tropaceae, by J. K. Small; Lennoaceae, by P. A. 
Rydberg; Pyrolaceae, by P. A. Rydberg, and 
FEricaceae, by J. K. Small. In the last-named 
family the genus Arctostaphylos, now named 
Uva-urst, is treated by LeRoy Abrams. 


PERENNIAL GRASS STEMS 


In a recent paper on the “Development of 
the Culms of Grasses” (exclusive of Bamboos) 
by R. S. Hole, of the Imperial Forest Service 
of India,? is a paragraph which will be of in- 
terest to many a botanist: 

It is a common belief, probably due to a study 
of the species characteristic of temperate coun- 
tries, that the culms of grasses are annual, 1. e., 
that they start growth, attain maturity and ripen 
grain in a period not exceeding twelve months. 
In some, at least, of the species of considerable 
economic importance which are dominant in the 


2 Forest Bull. 25, Caleutta, 1914. 


[N. S. Von. XL. No. 1043 


Savannah lands of our Indian forests this gen- 
eralization does not hold good. In Saccharum 
munja Roxb. the culms are, as a rule, biennial, 
and a number of culms of Saccharum arundi- 
naceum Retz. are now under observation in the 
Dehra Experimental Garden which are two years 
old and which, although still growing vigorously, 
have not yet attained maturity. 

No doubt other cases of perennial stemmed 
grasses may be found by a little searching. A 
woody-stemmed south Florida grass (Panicum 
latifolium LL.) appears to have a stem which 
continues to grow for more than one year. 


SOME TEMPERATURE RELATIONS OF PLANTS 


SEVERAL paragraphs in Dr. Shreve’s paper 
on “The Réle of Winter Temperatures in 
Determining the Distribution of Plants”? are 
distinctly quotable, and at the same time help- 
ful to a better understanding of some of the 
temperature relations of plants. As to phenol- 
ogy and phenologists, he says: 

More attention has been given by phenologists 
to the temperature phases of the growing season, 
and their potentialities, than to those of the frost 
season. ... The gigantic toil of the phenologists 
between 1850 and 1890 yielded some results on 
the operation of temperature, and gave us a vast 
accumulation of data of which some real use was 
made at the time, and to which we may return in 
future investigations. Their efforts were 
handicapped by the fact that they worked exten- 
sively rather than intensively, and that they had 
not a sufficient foundation of physiological facts 
upon which to operate. 

The viewpoint of the geographer—and with him 
that of many floristic plant geographers—is too 
broad and general to give due regard to the ac- 
tual physiological effects of temperature on 
plants; the point of view of the plant physiolo- 
gist, on the other hand, is often too intensive to 
enable him to realize that the ‘‘conditions’’ of 
his laboratory experiment are identical with the 
‘(physical factors’’ of the environment of plants 
growing under a state of nature, and he is there- 
fore prone to neglect the bearing of his work on 
the problems of the field. 

From his point of view Dr. Shreve very 
properly criticizes the system of life zones pro- 
posed by Merriam, concluding that 


3 Am. Jour. Bot., No. 4, 1914. 


DECEMBER 25, 1914] 


in spite of the importance of temperature as a 
factor in distribution it is logical to take it as 
the sole criterion for the limits of distributional 
regions, especially when the réle of soil and at- 
mospheric moisture is so obviously of vital im- 
portance and is so potent in determining the 
areas of the principal vegetational regions of the 
globe. f 
SHORT NOTES 


A year or so ago F. L. Sargent published a 
helpful little book on applied botany, entitled 
“Plants and Their Uses” (Holt), and now he 
adds a helpful 80-page pamphlet of directions 
to students (“Student’s Handbook”) to ac- 
company it, and to serve as a laboratory guide. 


SomEwnaT similar in design is Dr. Pool’s 
little book, “Suggestions for Experiments in 
Plant Physiology” (Univ. Nebr.), consisting 
of 100 pages. Fifteen illustrations, mostly 
diagrammatic, supplement the text of very 
explicit directions. 


Tur Nature Study Society of Rockford, IIl., 
has issued a catalogue of “ The Trees of Rock- 
ford and Vicinity,” including 160 species and 
varieties of native and cultivated trees. 
Counting the starred names we find that 50 
species are natives. 


R. A. Gortner and A. F. Blakeslee show‘ 
that this very common black mold contains a 
powerful water-soluble toxin, which is very 
harmful when injected into different parts of 
the body of rabbits and guinea-pigs, but appar- 
ently not harmful when fed to the animals. 
This paper is presented by the authors as a 
report of progress. 


G. D. Funisr’s “Evaporation and Soil 
Moisture in Relation to the Succession of 
Plant Associations”® gives some of the re- 
sults of his studies in the Chicago region. The 
stations included cottonwood dunes, pine dunes, 
oak dunes, oak-hickory forests, beech-maple 
forests and prairies. By graphs and diagrams 
the results are made evident to the eye. 


“ A ProvisionaL List of Parasitic Fungi in 


4‘¢Qbservations on the Toxin of Rhizopus 
migricans,’’? Am. Jour. Physiol., July, 1914. 
5 Bot. Gaz., September, 1914. 


SCIENCE 


939 


Wisconsin,”® by J. J. Davis, is a revision of 
previous lists by Dr. Trelease and J. J. Davis, 
and brings our knowledge of the parasites of 
Wisconsin down to date. The list is in two 
parts, the first being systematic as to the fungi, 
and the second being an alphabetical list of 
hosts. In the first there are 61 Phycomycetes; 
89 Ascomycetes; 418 Fungi Imperfecti; 339 
Uredinales (+19 isolated and undetermined 
forms); 7 Hymenomycetes. The list includes 
therefore, somewhat more than nine hundred 
fungi (914-4 19). 


OrHER recent short papers are J. F. Cle- 
venger’s “Effect of the Soot in Smoke on 
Vegetation ”;7 R. M. Harper’s “ Coniferous 
Forests of Eastern North America”;® J. E. 
Weaver’s “ Kvaporation and Plant Succession 
in South Eastern Washington and Adjacent 
Idaho”; Darsie, Elliott and Peirce’s “Study 
of the Germinating Power of Seeds”;!° Bab- 
eock’s “ Studies in Juglans,” IJ.;11 H. S. Jack- 
son’s “New Pomaceous Rust of Economic 
Importance, Gymnosporangium __ blasdale- 
anum” ;32 Michael Levine’s “Origin and 
Development of the lamellae in Coprinus 
micaceous” 13 and W. A. Cannon’s “ Speciali- 
zation in Vegetation and in Environment in 
California.” 14 


CuartEes EK. BrssEy 
THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 
HADROPTERUS PELTATUS IN THE DELAWARE 


SEVERAL interesting local fishes have come 
to my notice during the past season, the prin- 
cipal of which was a fine large shielded darter, 
Hadropterus peltatus. It was secured in a 
small pool of rapid water in the course of 
Skippack Creek, a tributary of the Perkiomen 
Creek in Montgomery County, on October 24, 

6 Trans. Wis. Acad. Sct., October, 1914. 

7 Bull. 7, Mellon Institute. 

8 Pop. Sci. Mo., October, 1914. 

9 Plant World, October, 1914. 

10 Bot. Gaz., August, 1914. 

11 Uniy. Calif. Pub., October, 1914. 

12 Phytopathology, August, 1914. 

13 Am. Jour. Bot., July, 1914. 

14 Plant World, August, 1914. 


940 SCIENCE 


1914. This is, therefore, the first instance of 
its occurrence in the basin of the Delaware 
River, as well as the most eastern and northern 
locality at which the species has been obtained. 
The species is of further interest in not haying 
been secured in Pennsylvania since its dis- 
covery in the Conestoga in 1864, by Jacob 
Stauffer. The type, Stauffer’s specimen, has 
been compared in this connection, and agrees 
in most all respects. It is, however, over three 
inches in length, though in various works the 
species is given as of smaller size. Recently 
Messrs. Radcliffe and Welsh have described 
a darter from Swan Creek, Maryland, as new, 
under the name H. sellaris. My example differs 
in having the spinous dorsal more conspicu- 
ously lower than the rayed dorsal, one more 
dorsal spine, naked cheeks and coloration. The 
additional dorsal spine would appear an inter- 
mediate character. HA. sellaris is shown with 
the spimous dorsal marked with three dark 
blotches to each spine, whereas in my example, 
at present, the dark blotches are only on the 
membranes. The dark blotches on the back 
are such as may easily admit of change with 
age, the Swan Creek specimens being small. 
Besides the crustaceans Asellus communis and 
Gammarus fasciatus, other fishes found in 
Skippack Creek were Notropis procne, N. 
whippli analostanus, N. cornutus, Rhinichthys 
atronasus, Fundulus diaphanus and Boleosoma 
mgrum olmstedi. In the brook near Rahn, 
another Perkiomen tributary, Semotilus atro- 
maculatus, Catostomus commersonni and 
Micropterus dolomieu were found, and in 
Landis Brook near Grater’s Ford, besides 
Fundulus and Rhinichthys, Notropis whipplia 
analostanus and Lepomis auritus. 

In the Delaware and its tributaries in Bucks 
County I met with several species of local in- 
terest. One was the Hxoglossum mazxillingua 
in the river at Morrisville, on July 22, with 
Notropis hudsonius amarus, N. whipplit analo- 
stanus, Fundulus heteroclitus macrolepidotus, 
F. diaphanus, Lepomis and Boleosoma, show- 
ing its association with upper tidal species. 
In a small tributary above Yardley, Notropis 
bifrenatus, N. whippli analostanus, N. cor- 
nutus, Rhinichthys, Catostomus and Boleosoma 


[N. S. Vou. XL. No. 1043 


were common. In Taylorville, Knowles and 
Pideock’s Creeks, Semotilus atromaculatus, 
Notropis bifrenatus, N. whipplu analostanus, 
N. cornutus, Rhinichthys, Fundulus diaphanus, 
Lepomis and Boleosoma were about equally 
abundant. Pimephales notatus and Semotilus 
bullaris were peculiar to Taylorville Oreek, 
while Hybognathus nuchalis regius and Hsox 
americanus were only found in Knowles, and 
Catostomus oceurred in both. This is the first 
instance of Pimephales in this section, though 
I have it from further west, or the Schuylkill. 
Rhinichthys was the only fish found in Cuta- 
loosa Creek. In Brock Creek near Roelofs, 
Hsoxz americanus, Notropis cornutus, Hrimyzon 
sucetta oblongus and Boleosoma were found, 
the last two also occurring in isolated pools in 
the course of Common Oreek near Fallsington, 
associated with Notropis bifrenatus, Aphredo- 
derus sayanus and Hnneacanthus gloriosus. 
The last species was also met with in the creek 
near the village of Penn’s Manor, with Abramis 
crysoleucas, Ameiurus nebulosus, Schilbeodes 
gyrinus, Fundulus diaphanus, Apeltes qua- 
dracus, Lepomis auritus and Hupomotis gib- 
bosus. In Chester County, in the various 
headwaters of the White Clay Creek, near 
Londongrove, only Salvelinus fontinalis, Rhi- 
nichthys and Boleosoma were met with abun- 
dantly. 
Henry W. Fow.er 
ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES 
OF PHILADELPHIA, 
October 31, 1914 


THE CONVOCATION WEEK MEETING OF 
SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES 


Tur American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science and the national scientific 
societies named below will meet at Philadel- 
phia, during convocation week, beginning on 
December 28, 1914: 


American Association for the Advancement of 
Science.—President, Dr. Charles W. Eliot, Har- 
vard University; retiring president, Professor 
Edmund B. Wilson, Columbia University; perma- 
nent secretary, Dr. L. O. Howard, Smithsonian 
Institution, Washington, D. C.; general secretary, 


Pe 


DECEMBER 25, 1914] 


Professor William A. Worsham, Jr., State Col- 
lege of Agriculture, Athens, Ga.; secretary of 
the council, Mr. Henry Skinner, Academy of Nat- 
ural Sciences, Logan Square, Philadelphia, Pa. 

Section A—Mathematics and Astronomy.— 
Vice-president, Professor Henry S. White, Vassar 
College; secretary, Professor Forest R. Moulton, 
University of Chicago, Chicago, Ill. 

Section B—Physics.—Vice-president, Professor 
Anthony Zeleny, University of Minnesota; sec- 
retary, Dr. W. J. Humphreys, U. 8S. Weather 
Bureau, Washington, D. C. 

Section C—Chemistry.—Vice-president, Provost 
Edgar F. Smith, University of Pennsylvania; sec- 
retary, Dr. John Johnston, Geophysical Labora- 
tory, Washington, D. C. 

Section D—Mechanical Science and Engineering. 
—Vice-president, Albert Noble, New York; sec- 
retary, Professor Arthur H. Blanchard, Columbia 
University, New York City. 

Section EH—Geology and Geography.—Vice- 
president, Professor U. S. Grant, Northwestern 
University; secretary, Professor George F. Kay, 
University of Iowa. 

Section F—Zoology.—Vice-president, Professor 
Frank R. Lillie, University of Chicago; secretary, 
Professor Herbert V. Neal, Tufts College, Mass. 

Section G—Botany.—Vice-president, Dr. G. P. 
Clinton, Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Sta- 
tion; secretary, Professor W. J. V. Osterhout, 
Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. 

Section H—Anthropology and Psychology.— 
Vice-president, Dr. Clark Wissler, American Mu- 
seum of Natural History; secretary, Professor 
George Grant MacCurdy, Yale University, New 
Haven, Conn. 

Section I—Social and Economie Science.—Sec- 
retary, Seymour C. Loomis, 69 Church St., New 
Haven, Conn. 

Section K—Physiology and Experimental Medi- 
cine.—Vice-president, Professor Richard Mills 
Pearce, University of Pennsylvania; secretary, Dr. 
Donald R. Hooker, Johns Hopkins Medical School, 
Baltimore, Md. 

Section L—EHducation——Vice-president, Pro- 
fessor Paul H. Hanus, Harvard University; secre- 
tary, Dr. Stuart A. Courtis, Liggett School, De- 
troit, Mich. 

Section M—Agriculture.—Vice-president, Pro- 
fessor L. H. Bailey, Cornell University; secretary, 
Dr. E. W. Allen, U. S. Department of Agriculture, 
Washington, D. C. 

The American Physical Society.—Convocation 


SCIENCE 


941 


Week. President, Professor Ernest Merritt, Cor- 
nell University; secretary, Professor A. D. Cole, 
Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. 

The American Federation of Teachers of the 
Mathematical and the Natural Sciences.—De- 
cember 29. President, Professor ©. R. Mann, 
Carnegie Foundation, New York City; secretary, 
Dr. Wm. A. Hedrick, McKinley Manual Training 
School, Washington, D. C. 

The American Society of Naturalists—Decem- 
ber 31. President, Professor Samuel F. Clarke, 
Williams College; secretary, Dr. Bradley M. Davis, 
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa. 

The American Society of Zoologists.—December 
29-31. President, Professor C. HE. McClung, Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania; secretary, Dr. Caswell 
Grave, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, 
Md. 

The Society of American Bacteriologists—De- 
cember 29-31. President, Professor Charles EH. 
Marshall, Massachusetts Agricultural College; sec- 
retary, Dr, A. Parker Hitchens, Glenolden, Pa. 

The Entomological Society of America.—De- 
cember 31—January 1. President, Professor Philip 
P. Calvert, University of Pennsylvania; secretary, ~ 
Professor Alexander D. MacGillivray, University 
of Illinois, Urbana, Ill. 

The American Association of Economic Ento- 
mologists.—December 28-31. President, Pro- 
fessor H. T. Fernald, Amherst College; secretary, 
A. F. Burgess, Melrose Highlands, Mass. 

The Geological Society of America.mDecember 
29-31. President, Dr. George F. Becker, U. S. 
Geological Survey, Washington, D. C.; secretary, 
Dr. Edmund Otis Hovey, American Museum of 
Natural History, New York City. 

The Paleontological Society—December 29-31. 
President, Dr. Henry F. Osborn, American Mu- 
seum of Natural History, New York City; 
secretary, Dr. R. 8. Bassler, U. S. National Mu- 
seum, Washington, D. C. 

The Botanical Society of America—December 
29-January 1. President, Dr. A. S. Hitchcock, 
U. S. Department of Agriculture; secretary, Dr. 
George T. Moore, Botanical Garden, St. Louis, Mo. 

The American Phytopathological Society.—De- 
cember 29-January 1. President, Dr. Haven 
Metcalf, U. S. Department of Agriculture; secre- 
tary, Dr. C. L. Shear, U. S. Department of Agri- 
culture, Washington, D. C. 

American Fern Society.—December 28-29. Sec- 
retary, Charles A. Weatherby, 749 Main St., Hast 
Hartford, Conn. 


942 


Sullivant Moss Society.—December 30. Secre- 
tary, Edward B. Chamberlain, 18 West 89th St., 
New York, N. Y. 

American Nature-Study Society.—December 30- 
31. Secretary, Professor H. R. Downing, Univer- 
sity of Chicago, Chicago, Ill. 

School Garden Association of America.—Decem- 
ber 29-30. President, Van Evrie Kilpatrick, 124 
West 30th St., New York, N. Y. 

American Alpine Club.—January 2. 
Howard Palmer, New London, Conn. 

American Association of Official Horticultural 
Inspectors.—December 29-30. Chairman, Dr. W. 
HK. Britton, New Haven; secretary, Professor J. G. 
Saunders, Madison, Wis. 

The American Microscopical Society. Decem- 
ber 29. President, Professor Charles Brookover, 
Little Rock, Ark.; secretary, T. W. Galloway, 
James Millikin University, Decatur, Il. 

The American Anthropological Association.— 
December 28-31. President, Professor Roland B. 
Dixon, Harvard University; secretary, Professor 
George Grant MacCurdy, Yale University, New 
Haven, Conn. 

The American Folk-Lore Society.—Convocation 
Week. President, Dr. P. E. Goddard, American 
Museum of Natural History, New York City; sec- 
tetary, Dr. Charles Peabody, 197 Brattle St., Cam- 
bridge, Mass. 

The American Psychological Association —De- 
cember 30—January 1. President, Professor R. S. 
Woodworth, Columbia University; secretary, Pro- 
fessor R. M. Ogden, University of Tennessee, Nash- 
ville, Tenn. 

The Southern Society for Philosophy and Psy- 
chology.—December 31—January 1. President, 
Professor John B. Watson, The Johns Hopkins 
University; secretary, Professor W. C. Ruediger, 
George Washington University, Washington, D. C. 

The American Association for Labor Legisla- 
tion.—December 28-29. President, Professor 
Henry R. Seager, Columbia University; secretary, 
Dr. John B. Andrews, 131 Hast 23d St., New York 
City. 

Society of Sigma XI.—December 29. President, 
Professor J. McKeen Cattell, Columbia Univer- 
sity; secretary, Professor Henry B. Ward, Univer- 
sity of Illinois, Urbana, Ill. 


Secretary, 


ST. LOUIS 


The American Physiological Soctety— December 
28-30. President, Professor W. B. Cannon, Har- 
vard Medical School, Boston, Mass.; secretary, 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8S. Vou. XL. No. 1043 


Professor A. J. Carlson, University of Chicago, 
Chicago, Ill. 

The Association of American Anatomists.—De- 
cember 28-30. President, Professor G. Carl 
Huber, University of Michigan; secretary, Dr. 
Charles R. Stockard, Cornell University Medical 
School, New York City. 

The American Society of Biological Chemists— 
December 28-30. President, Professor Graham 
Lusk, Cornell University Medical School; secre- 
tary, Professor Philip A. Shaffer, Washington 
University Medical School, St. Louis, Mo. 

The Society for Pharmacology and Experimental 
Therapeutics——December 28-30. President, Dr. 
Torald Sollmann, Western Reserve University 
Medical School, Cleveland, Ohio; secretary, Dr. 
John Auer, Rockefeller Institute for Medical Re- 
search, New York City. 

The American Society for Experimental Pathol- 
ogy.—December 28-30. President, Professor 
Richard M. Pearce, University of Pennsylvania; 
secretary, Dr. George L. Whipple, San Francisco, 
Cal. 

CHICAGO 

American Mathematical Society—December 28- 
29. President, Professor HE. B. Van Vleck, Univer- 
sity of Wisconsin. 

The Association of American Geographers—De- 
cember 29-31. President, Professor A. P. Brig- 
ham, Colgate University; secretary, Professor 
Isaiah Bowman, Yale University, New Haven, 
Conn. 

The American Philosophical Association.—De- 
cember 28-30. President, Professor J. H. Tufts, 
University of Chicago; secretary, Professor H. G. 
Spaulding, Princeton, N. J. 


PRINCETON 

The American Economic Association.—December 
28-31. President, Professor John D. Gray, Uni- 
versity of Minnesota; secretary, Professor Allyn 
A, Young, Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. 

The American Sociological Society.—December 
28-31. President, Professor E. A. Ross, Univer- 
sity of Wisconsin; secretary, Professor Scott E. 
W. Bedford, University of Chicago, Chicago, Ill. 


NEW YORK CITY 
The American Mathematical Society.—January 
1-2. President, Professor EH. B. Van Vleck, Uni- 
versity of Wisconsin; secretary, Professor F. N. 
Cole, 501 West 116th St., New York City. 


retell 


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By KNIGHT DUNLAP 


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Chapter I, The Cell. Chapter Il, The Adult Tis- 
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