UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL
NOTES

NEGROES have given $150,259 to the $1,000,000 fund which has been raised for Howard University, Washington, to be devoted to the purpose of the medical school. Fifty-one Negroes gave amounts ranging

from one thousand to ten thousand dollars.

A LEGACY of £2,000, bequeathed by the late Christopher Collins to the University of Birmingham, is to be added to the biological building fund.

DR. MILO HELLMAN, research associate in physical anthropology at the American Museum of Natural History, has been appointed professor of comparative dental morphology at the New York University College of Dentistry.

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR H. J. ETTLINGER, of the University of Texas, has been promoted to a full professorship of mathematics.

DR. J. R. MAGNESS, physiologist in storage and transportation investigations of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, has been appointed head of the department of horticulture in Washington State College and of the division of horticulture in the experiment

station.

DR. THURMAN B. RICE has been appointed associate professor of bacteriology and public health, and Dr. Frank Forry, associate professor of pathology at the Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis.

DR. FREDERIC A. WOLL will head the department of hygiene of the College of the City of New York, beginning January 1.

W. L. GILLILAND, national research fellow at Harvard University, has been appointed instructor in chemistry at the University of Maine.

H. JENSEN, who has been connected with the department of chemistry of the University of Louisville as assistant professor, has accepted a position at the Johns Hopkins Medical School in the department of pharmacology in order to do research work on insulin.

J. O. COOPER has been appointed lecturer in zoology at Armstrong College, Newcastle-on-Tyne, in succession to Dr. A. D. Peacock, who is going to University College, Dundee, as professor of zoology.

DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE CONFUSING NAMES FOR A METEOR

Two contributors to SCIENCE have expressed themselves on the difficulty of extracting from supposedly intelligent people useful information on the fall of a

meteor. When Mr. Jones announces, perhaps in a scientific publication, that he saw a meteor with a head the size of a golf ball and a tail six feet long fall in broad daylight, which burst over Lake Cochituate at a height of one hundred feet, the exasperated investigator learns little except that the meteor did

not burst over that lake.

It

The purpose of this note, however, is to discuss another difficulty, that of several confusing names for the same meteor, and scientific men are themselves largely responsible for errors from this source. has recently been intimated that much of the same confusion in another field results from the belief of certain individuals that coining a new name for a species is an easy way to gain publicity. We will discuss the treatment of a meteor which fell about twenty miles west of the University of Iowa on February 12, 1875, and the reader can judge for himself whether the publicity on the various new names suggested would be desirable.

This meteor fell in Iowa County, Iowa, largely on land owned by the Amana Society, with the closest towns the Amana villages of South Amana, High Amana and Middle Amana. Their chief village, Amana, and the other society villages, West Amana, East Amana and Homestead, are only a little farther away. Marengo is the closest town of any size.

Two University of Iowa men investigating the meteoric fall published preliminary notes, referring to it as the Iowa County meteor. A more definite designation is, however, desirable, and later in the year, when sufficient stones had been recovered to mark the field of the meteorites, one of the men published the name Amana, under which specimens were sent to Europe and the more complete monograph on the meteor published at a later date.

The preliminary note referred to the fall as occurring "near Marengo." As might be expected some picked on this as a name, and in modern catalogs Marengo is given as one of the alternate names for

.G

10

the Amana meteor. This confuses the Amana meteor of February 12, 1875, with the Marengo meteor of March 27, 1894.

As was said before, the fall occurred some twenty miles west of Iowa City, and was investigated by men from the University of Iowa. Further, meteorites were shipped from Iowa City to various parts of the world. Hence the name Iowa City was attached. It does not appear in the latest catalogs directly, but in Farrington's catalog of "Meteorites of North America" one finds for the position of the fall the longitude and latitude of the University of Iowa. So the error is still with us.

The first stone recovered was found on the property of a Mr. Sherlock, and this stone, important as the only one not exposed to the elements for some months, was referred to as the Sherlock stone. Many were unable to grasp the distinction, and insisted on attaching the name to all the stones of the Amana fall. This is given as an alternate name in the latest catalogs.

When the extent of the meteoric fall became genterally known, dealers sent representatives to the locality. These men made Homestead their headquarters, as that village is the most easily reached by rail of those conveniently near the fall. The dealers secured di many specimens, and we find the name of their trading post, Homestead, given preference in some of the late publications. A recent book showing a map of the vicinity of the fall, and using the name Homestead, marks the position of that village but fails to show Amana and the other villages of the vicinity.

Several interesting items with no basis of fact appeared in the newspapers at the time. The prize should be awarded to a story sent out from West Liberty, forty miles east of the fall, which told of a big stone buried fifteen feet deep found near that town. This story convinced many that the University of Iowa scientists had committed a grave injustice in failing to use the name West Liberty for this meteor. At the St. Louis World's Fair of 1904, practically thirty years after the fall, the map of American meteorites showed the Amana fall as occurring at West Liberty. Even in Europe this has been given as the preferred name in museum catalogues.

UNIVERSITY OF IOWA

C. C. WYLIE

FIREBALLS AND NEW ENGLAND
SCIENTISTS

THE study of the bright meteors often called fireballs, so bright that they attract wide attention and excite great interest among masses of people, differs in an important respect from that of the shooting stars of lesser brilliancy. The latter are noted for their periodicity, and for occasional showers of very numer

ous small meteors with some fireballs intermingled. But fireballs are generally scarce and, while there are signs of periodicity, in many cases they are certainly not members of the solar system, but appear sporadically. These two facts, and the impressive swift glare, burning train and occasional loud noises bring it about that they are for the most part observed by unskilled and unprepared observers, whose reports have to be elicited by appeals through the press and the radio broadcasting stations. The original observations are in general made without focussed attention or expectation of making any report, and the reports are made after a lapse of time from memory.

Schiaparelli plainly stated the remarkable fact of interstellar meteors, and von Niessl and his successor, Hoffmeister, have extended his work in quantity, and have shown that in some cases it is possible to group interstellar meteors as members of interstellar swarms. Continuous investigation of the facts is evidently highly desirable. This has been done in the United States by men of training and capacity from the time of Nathaniel Bowditch, and is now one of the functions of the American Meteor Society, whose president, Professor C. P. Olivier, has at intervals lately published studies of these bodies. It has, however, been plain that the whole continent is too large for one person or observatory to cover, and an attempt has been made to divide the United States and Canada into sections small enough for one institution in each. New England has been assigned to Harvard Observatory.

The object of this writing is to bring fireball observing to the attention of the readers of SCIENCE, and, in particular, to the attention of the New England members of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The hope is that they may interest themselves in observing and reporting very bright meteors, comparable with a bright planet at least.

The Harvard Observatory has already dealt with recent fireballs, which occurred on November 15, 1925, December 29, 1925, and August 10, 1927. The first fell on a Sunday morning, the others in evening twilight. The cue for collecting the data was in each case a press notice in the morning papers the day following the fall. The means used in each case was an appeal for reports by eye-witnesses circulated in the newspapers and in the first two cases by radio broadcast also. The response was in each case rather overwhelming; there were received, in order, 140, 260, 249 reports more or less to the point. In the first case only one meteor was certainly in evidence; its position was determined in a general way as over southern Oxford County, Maine, and it was shown not to be a member of the Leonid swarm. The second case was shown not to be simple, but composite, there having

fallen within a few minutes many strikingly bright meteors in New England, New York and Pennsylvania. Seven of these could be identified with considerable certainty, and for one of them the computation of a parabolic orbit and a study of the train were possible. The last case involved the fall of about forty bright meteors within a few minutes, almost all in the New England area. Of these only four could be dealt with in sufficient detail to determine ending heights.

The characteristic quality of the reports received is for the most part incompleteness, and even in some instances vagueness. In the last case, about one hundred thirty hours were spent in acknowledging reports (by postal cards), in writing abstracts on index cards, to reduce the tedium of handling such varied stationery, and in sorting the observations into groups, each of which might reasonably be taken to represent a single meteor. When this was done, there remained forty-four reports which were too vague to be grouped, the chief reason being lack of any indication of the time of observation, and thirty-eight reports which roughly stated the time of observation, but were nearly useless because of vagueness in the statement of direction. Even among those grouped there were many uncertain.

The useful results obtained in these campaigns are in no proper relation to the population reached by the appeals, or to the time and energy applied. The investigations are too much of a post-mortem nature. The hope for improvement lies in two directions: one is the education of New England people to prepare them for fireball observation when fireballs come; the other is, the informing of the scientific personnel of the region as to what facts are to be noted while a fireball is in flight and immediately thereafter. By the wide-spread circulation of questionnaires whenever a fireball account appears in the papers, the population is being reached. And the scientists of New England are begged to note the following:

The important facts are, (1) duration of flight, (2) moment of apparition, (3) position of bursting or ending point, (4) apparent path. Then, the phenomena of the flight, and the moment of arrival of the detonation, if any; if there is a train left behind, its position and its changes in form.

(1) Seconds can be counted conveniently by the formula: one thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand three . .; and the counting ought to be prolonged after the disappearance for comparison with the watch. While it is often impossible to read the second hand, this should not be omitted in the day time; then (2) follows by back reckoning. Each person has his own rate of counting.

(3) This involves close observation of landmarks and of the observer's position, on road or hillside or

verandah, to be followed up by a return to the point with simple instruments. Such are the pocket compass (whose reading should be given without correction for declination) and a home-made astrolabe.1 Better than instrumental measurements like these are exact references to position among the stars, or with relation to the moon or the sun, or to the position of the shadow of the observer's head; especially if the angles are sketched on the spot.

(4) Memory sketches of the apparent inclination are excellent. But the best record is of the apparent path and ending point among the stars. And no one should be frightened by a lack of knowledge of the constellations. In one instance a very accurate "fix" of a point on a meteor's path was given by a sketch of the path between two stars. These were marked "large star" and "small star," and stated to be "in the west." Only Vega and Altair could match the sketch at the stated time, though the New York farmer who made it probably never heard of Vega or Altair.

If fireballs would come only singly, the exact time of apparition might be of less importance for every single observer. But when they are for several minutes peppered all over several states, and several hundred people write about them, times of apparition become vital; without them the observations can hardly be sorted. Given time of apparition, the moment of arrival of the noise allows a calculation of the mean velocity of the sound and of the average temperature of the air along the sound-ray.

The changes in form of meteor trains give us almost our only information about the winds of the highest atmosphere. They should be noted and sketched carefully, and attempts should be made to photograph them. This means a wide open lens and a moderately long exposure, and careful record of the moments of opening and closing. A few photographic cross bearings on a great train would give valuable data, better than any visual work can.

WILLARD J. FISHER

1 This is a card (a postal card or one of that size is convenient), with a pinhole pricked through near one edge, from which hangs a plumb-line. The plumb-line is a thread, pushed through the hole and fastened on the back, long enough so that the bob-a large button, a screw nut or a pebble-swings clear of the card. One sights along the edge of the card, clips the line against the card with thumb or finger, and marks the direction of the vertical by a line on each side of the thread. The angles can be measured afterwards with a protractor. The card, without the thread, marked, with all records written on it, dated and signed, should go to the computer. There is a somewhat more elaborate form which the Harvard Observatory proposes to send out on return postal cards for use in fireball campaigns like those described above.

ON THE LOSS OF THE FIFTH TOE IN

CERTAIN SALAMANDERS

DR. G. K. NOBLE (in Osborn, Amer. Nat. LXI, P. 18, 1927) makes a statement regarding the loss of the fifth toe in salamanders which is liable to quotation and which is sufficiently misleading and general to merit correction. "There is abundant evidence in both the Plethodontidae and the Hynobiidae that the outer toe is usually lost at a single step (i.e., mutation) and not by a gradual dwindling away."

Now there are forms in both families which never have more than four toes, and these of course give no evidence, but in the well-known species of Hynobiidae, which have either four or five toes, there are frequent cases of the fifth being rudimentary, which might mean a "gradual dwindling away" or rather that the loss of the fifth toe is, as are most size characters, due to several genetic factors, rather than to a single

one.

In 317 specimens of H. leechii, there were ten cases of lack of fifth toe and two cases of a rudimentary

one.

In H. lichenatus, of 50 specimens, there two cases of lack and fourteen of reduction.

In H. sonani, four specimens showed two cases of lack and six of reduction.

In H. tsuensis, 184 specimens showed one case of reduction.

H. ikishimae showed three cases of loss and eight of reduction in a series of 179.

In nebulosus ten specimens showed five cases of loss and five of reduction.

Thus twenty-two cases of complete loss are balanced by thirty-six of reduction, which makes it seem very much rather a "gradual dwindling away" in these cases than "loss at a single step."

For completeness sake it may be added that H. keyserlingii and its possible derivative Batrachuperus (with two species) always lack the fifth toe, and that one out of twenty specimens of H. kimurai has a fifth toe, but that no reduced cases have been reported in it, and that one out of 14 H. retardatus showed one case of loss. Schmalhausen (Anat. Anz. 37, p. 441, 1910) points out that in keyserlingii the fifth toe begins to develop, tarsale V developing only to fuse later with tarsale IV.

In the Plethodontidae two groups lack the fifth toe. Manculus with two forms derived from Eurycea, and Hemidactylium and Batrachoseps with several derived from Plethodon. No cases of reduction have been observed in Eurycea, or Manculus or Hemidactylium, and the loss here may be due to a single factor, but a specimen of Batrachoseps attenuatus pacificus (the most Plethodon-like type) has been reported by Van

Denburgh (Proc. California Acad. Sci. (3), 4, p. 8) to have a rudimentary fifth toe.

The "abundant evidence" therefore, in the absence of which it would be permissible to suggest that the loss took place at a "single step," indicates rather that it took place at more than one step.

Since this evidence is largely set forth in my monographs of the two families in question, which were Noble's source of information, it seems strange to meet with his statement. I have therefore thought it appropriate to set down the known facts concerning digital loss in these families.

"SNUFFLES" has long been one of the deadliest diseases in rabbits. The affected animals seem to have a very bad cold and as a result their nasal cavities are clogged with a heavy yellow discharge. In most cases death follows within a few days after the first symptoms appear. Many practical rabbit breeders house their animals in outdoor hutches where they can be exposed to direct sunlight. This keeps the animals in good health as far as snuffles is concerned. The breeders seem to be of the opinion that the fresh air is responsible for the health of their animals. It now seems that the ultra-violet rays in the sunlight bring about this effect.

Most experimenters with rabbits keep their animals indoors and for this reason are not able to expose them to sunlight. Experience here shows that when two per cent. of cod-liver oil is fed with the grain ration the same effect is produced as by direct sunlight. The grain ration fed is made up mostly of rolled oats, a good absorbent of the oil. In severe cases in which the animal is too weak or unwilling to eat the grain, it has been found serviceable to administer several cc. of the pure oil by means of a medicine dropper. When this is inserted into one corner of the mouth there is no difficulty experienced in causing the animal to swallow.

The oil replaces sunlight because of its high vitamin D content, this vitamin having approximately the same effect as ultra-violet rays. The vitamin A content is high also, but is not of very great importance since the alfalfa hay fed the animals furnishes it in sufficient quantity. When green alfalfa is fed the animals during the summer months they do not die of snuffles, but a considerable number cough, indicating that the vitamin D in the green alfalfa is not quite high enough to act as a complete preventive. 1 Contribution No. 72 from the Department of Animal Husbandry.

Upon occasionally adding to the ration the usual amount of oil the cough ceases, and complete protection is afforded.

Rabbits have a certain form of snuffles known as nasal coccidiosis. This type has not been known to occur in the colony here and therefore it can not be stated to what extent the oil would act as a preventive.

For the past three winters the addition of the oil to the grain, ration of guinea-pigs has been found very beneficial. The losses from pneumonia have been cut down very appreciably and there has been a general improvement in vitality. In previous years the animals were fed sprouted oats in addition to their grain and hay, but this was not sufficient. The sprouted oats is high enough in vitamin C to prevent scurvy but is either lacking or very low in vitamin D. When the latter was supplied by means of cod-liver oil the ration became comparatively perfect.

The feeding of liberal quantities of green alfalfa to guinea-pigs makes them practically immune to pneumonia. It would seem from this that for guineapigs the above green feed has sufficient vitamin D for protection. Either green alfalfa is higher in vitamin D than sprouted oats or, if it is not, protection is afforded because it is fed in much larger quantities.

There is still another possibility and that is that green alfalfa may be entirely or almost entirely lacking in vitamin D but contains some other substance which acts as a good substitute in building up resistance to either pneumonia or snuffles.

The present report is not intended to represent experimental work in nutrition but merely the observations of one interested in raising healthy animals for experimental work in other lines; in this particular case, genetics.

KANSAS AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION

HEMAN L. IBSEN

THE SCIENTIFIC PAPERS OF WILLARD GIBBS

DURING the last few months I have been trying in vain, both in this country and in London, to acquire a copy of Willard Gibbs's "Scientific Papers" (Volume I). It is certainly a sad commentary that in this age of cheap printing, when tons of printers' ink flow daily to record and disseminate the most trivial incidents, the scientific papers of the greatest physical chemist America has produced should be unavailable to those who need them.

It can not be said that Gibbs's papers are of historical interest only. Unlike most scientific publica

tions of fifty years ago, his writings on thermodynamics are as useful to-day as they were when first published. Those who have patiently labored through his admittedly difficult writings are agreed that we are far from having exhausted the valuable material which lies hidden therein.

The publisher who would bring out a reprint of the old edition of Gibbs's papers would certainly perform a service to science. In the meantime, I shall be greatly obliged if any reader can inform Ime where a copy of the old edition can be bought.

Since writing the above, I have obtained from Professor R. G. van Name, of Yale University, through the kind offices of Dr. A. W. Kenney, a copy of the German edition of Gibbs's "Thermodynamische Studien" edited by Wm. Ostwald in 1892. I understand that Professor van Name, who is a near relative of Willard Gibbs, will bring out next year a new edition of Gibbs's Scientific Papers.

CHEMICAL DEPARTMENT,

E. I. DU PONT DE NEMOURS & Co.,
WILMINGTON, DELAWARE

VICTOR COFMAN

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE

A SPECIAL FEATURE OF THE SECOND NASHVILLE MEETING: SCIENCE FOR THE PEOPLE

INCREASINGLY from year to year we witness the further correlation of isolated scientific facts into broad "laws" of economic value and the application of these "laws" to the welfare of the people as a whole. Curious phenomena not known outside of laboratories twenty years ago combined with others equally uncanny are found to form broad basic principles which in one way or another influence the daily lives of each and every one of us. With this development there has arisen in the public mind a keen desire for enlightenment in regard to science as a whole, as well as in regard to each of the various branches into which it is divided.

A

In order to progress science must find support. century ago science was supported chiefly by the scientific men themselves, because they alone appreciated the importance and the potential value of scientific work. Then others became interested, and still later industry took a hand, while at the same time the people as a whole began to accord generous support to scientific institutions, especially to those of their own creation. At the present time science in chis country, and indeed everywhere, is very largely supported by the general public, either through money derived from taxes or by numberless direct donations.