THE University of Leyden has held a special exhibition of the portraits and scientific instruments up of Dutch physicians, biologists and instrument makers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, in the physical laboratory of the university on the occasion of the sixth Congress of the History of Medicine, which was held in July, in Leyden and Amsterdam. Nature states that Drs. C. A. Crommelin, W. P. Jorissen, C. J. Van der Klaauw and W. H. Van Seters, have collaborated in producing a catalogue of the 139 objects exhibited in illustration of the work of 's Gravesande, the Munchenbroecks, Huygens, Leeuwenhoek and Swammerdam. Two of the exhibits, two object glasses made by Constantijn Huygens, junior, and signed by him "C. Huygens, 10 May 1686, Ped. 122" and "C. Huygens, 19 Jun. 1686, Ped. 84," are of great interest, because they are accurately dated documents which, taken in conjunction with the three object glasses in the possession of the Royal Society of London, and dated June 4, June 26, and July 23, 1686, are evidence of the great industry and rapidity of working of the maker. We also note the reappearance of a quadrant made by J. M. Kleman for Boerhaave for use at his country house at Oud-Poelgeest. Although not stated in the catalogue, this quadrant, after being exhibited at Oxford in 1919, was given to the University of Leyden by the late Sir William Osler.

THE annual report of the Rockefeller Foundation for 1926 shows the total amount available for disbursement was $15,818,156, of which $9,741,474 was disbursed on account of appropriations, leaving an undisbursed income on December 31, 1926, of $6,076,682. Against this were unpaid appropriations of $4,200,284, leaving a balance of $1,876,398 available for 1927 appropriations. The income for 1926 was $9,075,022, which, with undisbursed income on hand January 1, 1926, and refunds during 1925 on prior year appropriations of $6,743,134, brought the total amount available for disbursement to the above figure. Disbursements under the general budget in 1926 included $2,516,758 for the International Health Board, $1,412 109 for the China Medical oBard, $674,294 for the Division of Medical Education, $759,162 for the Division of Studies, and $152,737 for the Central Administration, while capital expenditures were $1,567,688 for the International Health Board, $61,164 for the China Medical Board, and $2,597,652 for the Division of Medical Education. The total assets of the foundation on December 31, 1926, were $180,397,799, including undisbursed income of $6,076,682. The book value of the principal fund was $165,204,624, to which $77,000 was transferred in 1926 from the special fund. Land, buildings and equipment at the end of 1926 were valued at $9,039,493, of which $8,991,753 were abroad and $47,740 in New York offices.

UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL

NOTES

NEW YORK UNIVERSITY receives $500,000 under the will of Miss Emily O. Butler, of Scarsdale, N. Y. Most of Miss Butler's estate, which is valued in excess of $1,000,000, has been left for public uses, among other important legacies being one of $150,000 to the Union Theological Seminary. The will provides that any property remaining after all the bequests are paid shall be divided equally between New York University and Union Theological Seminary.

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY is the remainder legatee under the will of Dr. Clarence A. McWilliams, wellknown surgeon, who left an estate of $105,178. The estate is left in trust to Dr. McWilliams's sisters

during their life time.

DR. ROBERT LANGLEY PORTER, former San Francisco city physician, who has spent the past two years in study at Rome, has been appointed dean of the Medical School of the University of California in San Francisco. He will relieve Dr. Lionel S. Schmitt, acting dean, who has been serving at that post for five or six years.

DR. F. L. RANSOME, formerly geologist of the U. S. Geological Survey, has resigned from the faculty of the University of Arizona and has accepted the professorship of economic geology at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena. W. P. Woodring, of the survey, has been appointed professor of invertebrate paleontology.

DR. LAURENCE IRVING, of Stanford University, has been appointed associate professor of physiology in the University of Toronto.

DR. J. H. MUIRHEAD, professor of philosophy at the University of Birmingham, England, and Bedford College, London, will serve as visiting professor of philosophy at the University of Southern California in the second semester.

DR. D. L. MACKINNON has been appointed as from August 1 to the chair of zoology in the University of London, tenable at King's College.

DR. JULIUS RUSKA, professor of the history of science at the University of Heidelberg, has been appointed director of the recently established Institute for the History of Science at Berlin.

DISCUSSION

A NEGLECTED NOTE BY A NEGLECTED

MAN

In the course of a study being made on some of the chemical and physical properties of hydrofluoric acid,1 a somewhat extensive review of the literature was instituted. It was of interest during this work to consider the historic development of this acid from the time of its discovery.

This search has been rewarded by the uncovering of a note that to my knowledge has not hitherto been recorded. None of the treatises on historical chemistry or mineralogy, nor any of the extant bibliographies of the literature on this acid that I have had the opportunity of perusing has made any mention of this reference.

The note referred to appears as a short (eleven pages) appended section to the second edition of Dr. John Hill's treatise "Theophrastus's History of Stones. With an English Version and Notes, etc." London, 1774.2 This note (pages 267 to 278 incl.) is,

1 Berliner and Hann, SCIENCE 61: 498 (1925).

2 Printed for the author, in St. James's-Street and sold by L. Davis, in Holborn; Norse, in the Strand; White, in Fleet-Street; Cater, in Holborn; Bell, in the Strand; Fletcher, at Oxford; Woodyear, at Cambridge; and Bell, at Edinburgh. 385 pp., 8°.

This also appeared in a separate reprint the same year; the only alteration being the renumbering of the pages. 16 pp., 8° (pages 1 to 5 are the title and cover pages).

no doubt, based on a communication, or a series of communications, between the author and Karl Wilhelm Scheele, who announced his discovery of hydrofluoric acid in 1771 (Vetensk. Acad. Handl. 1771).

This note is entitled "Observations on the new Swedish acid and of the stone from which it is obtained." This note is of much interest in that it so completely and accurately describes the production and properties of hydrofluoric acid and the mineralogical and chemical properties of fluorite.

The "observations" are divided into two sections, the first dealing "Of the mineral acid in general" and the second "On the stone from which the Swedish acid is obtained." Many interesting and remarkably accurate observations are included in these few pages. It may be of interest to give the details of the experiment:

The Process by which I tried the Substance was this: Two Pounds of the green Kind of the Stone were powdered, and put into a Glass Retort;

Two Pounds of Oil of Vitriol were added to this; And a Quart of Spirit of Wine was put into the Receiver.

No Heat, nor Ebullition whatsoever, followed the Mixture for some Time; and in the End but little.

The Vessels were closed; and kept in a Reverberatory Furnace for fourteen Hours.

The Fire was slow at first; else the Matter would have risen over.

No phosphorescent Light was visible at any Time. The Fumes were some Times visible, in the Receiver; at others not. Whereas in the marine Acid they are never visible; unless Air be admitted.

They were elastic; and had a Smell like those from Spirit of Salt.

The Surface waved, and rose a little; and there was on it an icy, and gelatinous Substance.

The upper Part of the Receiver became covered with a thin stony Crust.

The Swedes speak of a Crust of absolute Flint, upon the Surface of the Liquor in the Receiver. But they put Water there: This was the same Substance; And it remained fix'd on Part of the Receiver: While Part was displaced; probably by some light Vapour from the Spirit of Wine.

The Corrosion of the Glass of the Retort seems to be an Effect of that peculiar Sublimation which rises in the Distillation; nay, and begins to rise, even without that Operation; For watching attentively the Effect of mixing the vitriolic Acid with the Stome, I perceived, that tho' they seemed to meet without any Effervescence, yet by Degrees there appeared a slight Commotion; which increased for a considerable Time, and, during which, this

This is also printed for the author and sold by B. White, in Fleet-Street; and J. Robson, in Bond-Street.

My attention was called to this reprint, of which there is a copy in the Surgeon-General's Library at Washington, D. C., by Dr. L. L. Woodruff.

the

-ite.

WO

in

the

efer

s of 2

...

The final appearance of the retort and nature and properties of the products of the reaction are described. It is of interest that nowhere in this note is the term "hydrofluoric acid" employed; the mineral is on one occasion termed "fluor." Another omission for which no explanation is attempted, is the neglect of mentioning Scheele, his work, or the previously published observation. Throughout the text the only allusion made as to the original work is the term "the Swedish acid or stone." In this note Hill discusses the rôle of this acid as a "mineralizer" in ore S deposits. This is also an uncredited observation and was "rediscovered" many years later. Many other novel and seemingly precocious notations are recorded. The remarkable accuracy and extensiveness of these observations are to be marvelled at when one considers the many fields of learning in which Dr. Hill ably distinguished himself. Surprisingly little has been written concerning his life or accomplishments. Recently Dr. L. L. Woodruff, of Yale University, has published an excellent summary of this interestIing man's careers for whom "One has but to turn the pages of London's print from 1750 to 1775 to meet his name." This short treatise gives a very clear, fair and intensely interesting outline of perhaps the most brilliant and least known character appearing in the history of science.

Dr. Hill wrote extensively on many subjects, completing an almost unbelievable number of treatises during his life. It has been said that "This gentleman may very justly be estimated as a phenomenon in literary history-he was perhaps one of the most voluminous writers that this or any other age has produced."

The diversity of his interests is indicated by the comprehensive number of subjects to which he made distinct contributions. His writings concern medicine, botany, zoology, astronomy, theology, philosophy, gardening, microscopy, pharmacology, animal husbandry, etiquette, mineralogy, naval and other histories, and in spite of all these studies he found time to edit The British Magazine, write a series of daily essays for a number of years, as well as publish several stories and plays. He was embroiled in innumerable polemics and wrote several satirical articles, one of the most interesting being "A Review of the Works of the Royal Society of London; containing animadversions on such papers as deserved par3 The American Naturalist, Vol. LX, 417-441 (1926).

IN a recent note (SCIENCE, n. s., Vol. 65, No. 1695, p. 616-617) H. R. Rosen refers to his experiments which indicate that no toxic effects are produced by Fusarium vasinfectum on cotton plants when organic nitrogen is used in the culture medium, and he suggests the possibility of field control of cotton wilt by the use of organic fertilizers. He states: "Orton's findings (U. S. Dept. Agr. Farmers' Bul. 333, 1910), which have doubtless acted as a deterrent in the use of organic fertilizers for the control of wilt, are based on very little experimental data, and his results are contradicted by the work of Fulton (La. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bul. 96, 1907). The writer has some data which seem to confirm Fulton's work."

The following quotations from the above-cited publication of W. A. Orton relate to the use of stable manure and other organic material in the practical control of cotton wilt where nematode root-knot is usually a complicating factor: "The application of stable manure has been recommended as a remedy for wilt. Our experience has been that in slightly infected fields this does give some relief, but that the wilt takes the field in the end in spite of the heaviest manuring. The use of stable manure in growing resistant varieties of cotton has been very profitable however." Under the caption "Combined treatment of wilt and root-knot" he enumerates the following among the essential principles to be observed in arranging a rotation of crops: "(1) To use crops immune to root-knot in order to starve out this pest. (2) To build up the fertility of the soil, and especially to increase the amount of organic matter or humus." Definite rotations of soil-improving crops are then suggested in detail.

My recommendation of stable manure for cotton wilt control was based on two seasons' tests at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on land very heavily infested with Fusarium vasinfectum and lightly infested with rootknot nematodes. It was not put forward as a sole preventive, but was to be used in connection with other control measures, such as the use of wilt-resistant cotton varieties and a crop rotation to reduce infestation.

Rosen himself thinks that "if nematodes are present, then the use of organic matter in such soil will not remove the possibility of wilt development, although it may partially alleviate the losses that might be incurred by stimulating the growth of the plant."

It is thus apparent that there is fundamentally very little difference in the three views in so far as they relate to the practical use of organic fertilizers in cotton wilt control under usual field conditions. Rosen's present important work will doubtless stimulate further detailed investigation of the effectiveness of organic matter in the control of cotton wilt in the field, and it is hoped will lead to more extensive practical use of such material by cotton farmers, as has always been recommended as good practice by the pathologists of the U. S. Bureau of Plant Industry.

In this general connection reference may be made to the recent work by C. J. King and H. F. Loomis, of the U. S. Bureau of Plant Industry, on the control of cotton root-rot caused by Phymatotrichum (Ozonium) omnivorum (Jour. Agric. Res., 32: 297-310, 1926), which is summarized in part as follows: "Experiments conducted in the Salt River Valley and at Sacaton, Arizona, to test the effects of manure and other organic materials on the control of root-rot have consistently shown a reduction in the infected area and the number of cotton plants dying from the disease following the treatment."

WASHINGTON, D. C.

PLASMA CALCIUM

H. R. FULTON

ACCORDING to the observations of Dr. J. B. Collip as reported in The Journal of Biological Chemistry, Volume LXIV, June, 1925, the thyroparathyroidectomized dog is no more responsive to the plasma calcium-raising principle contained in a hydrochloric acid extract of bovine external parathyroid glands than the normal dog.

Several tests on the effect of such an extract, prepared according to the method of the writer, have convinced us that the thyroparathyroidectomized albino rat is much more responsive to the calciumraising principle than the normal albino rat.

The parathyroid preparation used in these tests was one which had previously been standardized by testing its reaction on normal dogs. Fifteen milligrams of the preparation in 0.85 per cent. sodium chloride solution produced an increase in the plasma calcium of a 12 to 13 kilogram dog, 3 to 4 milligrams, 15 to 17 hours following subcutaneous administration. The potency of this preparation is further illus

trated by citation to an experiment in which 60 milligrams was administered, in four doses of 15 milligrams each, to a 13.6 kilogram dog, during the course of 48 hours. During that time six plasma calcium determinations were made. The initial calcium value was 11.85 and the terminal value at which death occurred was 26 milligrams per 100 cc. of plasma.

When 15 milligrams of this preparation was administered to several normal albino rats, no noticeable increase above the normal value was found after seventeen hours. Thirty milligrams administered in two equal doses seventeen hours apart were necessary to produce an increase of approximately 5 milligrams in the plasma calcium of a normal rat.

Nine milligrams of the preparation was found to double the plasma calcium of a thyroparathyroidectomized rat of approximately the same weight, while 15 milligrams gave a value of 17.5 milligrams per 100 cc. of plasma.

We also found that as in the dog the plasma calcium value of the rat begins to drop very soon after parathyroidectomy. After reaching a value between 5 and 8 milligrams per 100 cc. of plasma, the calcium value has been found the same 200 days following thyroparathyroidectomy.

W. R. TWEEDY S. B. CHANDLER

LOYOLA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

THE ANCIENT AMERICAN CIVILIZATIONS AND CALENDARS

UNDER the above title and within a period of eight months I recently made a communication, consecutively, to the British Association for the Advancement of Science in Oxford, the International Congress of Americanists in Rome, the Anthropological Society of Washington, D. C. and the Sociedad Cientifica "Antonio Alzate" in Mexico City.

In this communication I first pointed out that all the ancient American centers of civilization were situated between the tropics; that within this zone the year consists of two seasons only: the dry and the wet and a striking phenomenon occurs, namely, the passage of the sun through the zenith twice a year, at irregular intervals, according to the differences of latitude.

I next submitted irrefutable historical, documentary, archeological and pictorial proofs that the ancient astronomer-priests, inhabiting even widely separated parts of this tropical zone, observed the phenomenon by means of gnomons consisting of upright poles, stelae, pillars, altars or constructions with vertical walls, and interpreted the periodically recurring total disappearance of their shadows about noon, as

the

des

stee

ht

a "descent of the sun-god," whom they represented, 16 pictorially and sculpturally, under the form of a human being descending head foremost or seated, at rest, within the solar disk; or under the form of different birds or of a jaguar. As in Mexico, when the phenomenon occurs towards the end of the dry season, it heralds the advent of rain generated by the heat of the vertical solar rays and as the growth T of vegetation ensued, the ancient Mexican sages began their solar years at the moment when, marking the approach of the rainy season, the sun-god descended upon the gnomons and these cast no shadows. At the end of my communication to the Sociedad Antonio Alzate in Mexico City I made the suggestion that the ancient observation of the annual phenomenon, which marked the beginning of the Aztec New Year and is always allowed to pass by unobserved and unmentioned by the present inhabitants of the capital, be revived as a national school festival, which would be of educational and patriotic value as it would link the present with the past generations of native Mexicans. My suggestion was received with enthusiasm by the president and members of the society and on May 18 the impressive phenomenon was observed in several schools in Mexico City, the most important celebration being held in the great courtyard of the new normal school under the auspices of its directors, Señor Aguirre and Señora Berlanga; of Señor Gallo, the director of the Astronomical Observatory, and of Señor Heliadoro del Valle, who, with other eminent professors, initiated a celebration in which over six thousand pupils took part with song and dance. The hope I also expressed that this beautiful nature festival will likewise be revived in other anciently inhabited centers within the tropical zone bids fair to be realized next year, as official representatives of Peru and Guatemala have already expressed their intention to recommend the adoption of the same school festival in their countries, and it is probable that others will follow suit.

chandise of the group than has the medical profession. Furniture dealers are by no means agreed that it is in the public interest to let it be generally known that a table made of birchwood with a thin veneer of mahogany is not the "solid mahogany" of the advertisement; the gentlemen in "suits and cloaks" are far from agreeing that there is any moral defection in describing a garment of cotton and shoddy as "allwool"; furriers still act on the principle that it is permissible to unload dyed muskrat on the public as "Hudson seal"; the manufacturers of a well-known brand of soap admit privately that the slogan "99 and 44/100% pure" is a slogan rather than a fact. But, for over twenty years, the organized medical profession has attempted to bring to a minimum misrepresentation and deceit in the exploitation of medicinal products. Physicians, then, as a class, will probably be more interested than any other one group in the book recently published under the title "Your Money's Worth," by Stuart Chase and F. J. Schlink. Neither of the authors is a physician, but both of them have been trained to clear thinking and, what is equally evident from their book, to a lucid expression of facts. Mr. Chase, for some years on the staff of the Federal Trade Commission and at present a director of the Labor Bureau, Incorporated, is by profession a certified public accountant. Mr. Schlink, a mechanical engineer-physicist and an officer of the American Engineering Standards Committee, is fortified by an experience he had of some years on the staff of the National Bureau of Standards at Washington. "Your Money's Worth" appeared originally as a series of magazine articles, under the title "Consumers in Wonderland." The book deals not so much with adulteration of products and deceptive advertising as outstanding evils of modern merchandising as with the wastefulness of selling what are practically identical articles under various brand names and with the absence of impartial information available to the public. In a few of the industrial fields, the public is protected in its purchases by standardization worked out. by the industry itself, but the ground thus covered is pitiably small. Medicine, however, has reason to feel proud of the fact that it was among the first, both in point of time and of importance, in establishing agencies whereby the public, through the profession, could be protected. In speaking of this phase of the problem, discussed by Messrs. Chase and Schlink, they say:

Far and away the leader among the technical societies from the point of view we are considering is the American Medical Association. It is as fearless as it is explicit in the exposure of quackery. Its Council on Pharmacy and