Page images
PDF
EPUB

The load had previously been increased from 0 to 10 kg with similar results.

Although Dr. Klopsteg expresses the belief that the apparatus for which the instruction sheet was written "would fall far short of sufficient precision to show the lack of proportionality," I find it is capable of giving results similar to mine. For, using the data of the first half of set number 2 of measurements made under laboratory conditions and given on page 8 of the instruction paper, I get the following ratios of strain to stress as the load increased from 1 to 10 kg. Since there is evidence that the load of 1 kg was needed to make the wire straight 14.7 was taken as the zero reading.

[blocks in formation]

SEYMOUR SEWELL ON "SALPS OF INDIAN SEAS"

In this careful paper, which treats all but six of the recognized species, two errors of nomenclature made (and later corrected1) by Metcalf2 are perpetuated, two wrong subgeneric names, Apsteinia (instead of Ihlea) and Ritteria (instead of Ritteriella), being used. As Professor Cockerell pointed out to me, Apsteinia and Ritteria were preempted for other groups, so I withdrew them and substituted other names, as above. My SCIENCE paper evidently did not reach Sewell's hands.

Sewell describes, but does not name, a clearly distinct form of Salpa (Cyclosalpa) pinnata, showing resemblance in its musculature to pinnata but in the aperture of its ciliated funnel being much simpler

1 Metcalf and Bell upon Salphidae: SCIENCE n. s. Vol. 6, No. 1278.

2 Metcalf and Bell. "The Salpidae: A Taxonomic Study." U. S. National Museum Bulletin 100, Vol. 2,

part 2.

even than pinnata subspecies polae though not so simple as affinis. I would recognize Sewell's form as a subspecies, the subgenus Cyclosalpa including thus pinnata (Forskal), pinnata polae (Sigl), C. pinnata sewelli, affinis (Chamisso), floridana (Apstein), bakeri (Ritter) and virgula (Vogt).

MAYNARD M. METCALF

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY

STORM DAMAGE AT LONG BEACH, N. Y.

THE unusually severe storm of Sunday, February 22, furnished a striking example of the value of wellconstructed beach protective devices. The shore at Long Beach is protected for the greater part of its length by a series of fairly heavy wooden groins extending into the ocean at right angles to the shoreline; the landward ends of these groins are not tied to bulkheads, as is usually the case, but are extended into the slightly higher sand bank at the rear of the beach. On a short unprotected portion of the beach the waves undermined twelve or fifteen houses, which toppled forward on their faces and then frequently collapsed. No houses were destroyed on any portion of the shore protected by groins, so far as visited by the writer.

In a number of places the groins themselves were partially or completely destroyed by the pounding of the waves, but apparently had borne the brunt of the attack long enough to save the buildings under their protection. The destruction of the groins seemed to be due in some cases to the removal of sand from around their bottoms, whereupon they were floated by their own buoyancy often swinging around nearly parallel to the beach in such a position that the waves soon tore the floating part from the still firmly imbedded portion. In other cases it seemed that they were too weak to withstand the smashing onslaught of the waves, and were broken off like toothpicks. The frequent destruction of timber groins at Long Beach and elsewhere along the Atlantic coast causes doubt as to the advisability of using anything but the heaviest riprap for structures exposed to storm waves from the open ocean.

In one or two places on the western portion of the beach erosion had already started around the landward ends of the groins, and had cut a considerable channel. Fortunately no buildings were situated right at the ends of these groins, or an excellent example of the danger of omitting bulkheads would have been afforded. Due to the danger of such erosion around the inner ends of groins, it is usually unsafe to use them alone unless they can be extended so far into the shore that no apprehension need be felt about scouring around their ends under the combined attack of an unusually high tide and a severe storm. Tight

bulkheads stop this erosion at a level fairly even with their tops, and in conjunction with groins are believed to provide the most efficient protection.

The whole problem of beach protection is so influenced by financial considerations that although it is generally possible to predict what structures will best preserve a given beach, it is often impossible to adopt them, because of the cost which may be prohibitive to a small community. In such cases a cheaper substitute must be used. At Long Beach more expensive structures might have obtained better results, but those erected performed valiant service in cutting down the destruction to a minimum.

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

HENRY S. SHARP

SCIENTIFIC BOOKS

A HISTORY OF OUR TIMES1

IT has been suggested that the universities should establish a new series of courses, dealing with the additions to human knowledge and experience within the past decade or twenty years. Such a plan, if fully and adequately developed, would serve the needs of innumerable busy people who wish to keep in touch with at least certain aspects of the progress of the world. To some extent the universities already minister to such needs, especially in their. summer schools and extension divisions. But after all, comparatively few can take advantage of what is offered, and there is no comprehensive organization of the whole field. of modern knowledge in any school.

What the schools have not done, and perhaps can not do, has been attempted by the editor and staff of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. The volumes before us purport to describe what has been significant in human affairs during the last fifteen years. Not only material events, but also the stuff that dreams are made of those aspirations of the mind, vague or well defined, which motivate our lives. In this gigantic undertaking the editor has certain advantages over even the largest university. He can command a faculty so eminent that it represents on the whole the present competence of our species. Instead of requiring attendance in the classroom, he sends his message to the people of the world, and the most isolated student may have it all at his service. He offers a mirror to mankind, reflecting good and evil, success and failure, hope and despair. We have toiled and struggled, these fifteen years; what has it all amounted to? Well, here it is: let each man sit in judgment on himself and his kind.

1 The Encyclopaedia Britannica. The Three New Supplementary Volumes. London and New York. 1926.

Surely the educational consequences must be very great. Whatever faults may be found, and they are doubtless many, it must be said that a vast mass of essentially accurate information is made the common property of all peoples. That, at least, ought to make for better understanding and more willing cooperation. It is perfectly true that in the perspective of time present values will be strangely altered. Posterity will criticize our judgment of many things. But judge we must, and whatever imparts wisdom to this judgment is worth our earnest attention.

It is not very difficult to discern wherein the present volumes will appear ill-proportioned to later generations. They really constitute a sort of newspaper in excelsis, a summary of what may be expected to interest the readers. Hereafter it will be said of many matters that they were properly subjects of popular concern at the time, but their significance was mainly ephemeral. Of others it will be said that they never deserved the attention they received. In his prefatory note the editor states that one of his main purposes has been "to escape from the passions and prejudices and shattering discords of the war period-to revive and enhance that intellectual cooperation between distinguished authorities of every nation, that civilized community in the sphere of intellect, which the war temporarily destroyed, but which throughout the century before 1914 it was the increasing object of the Encyclopaedia Britannica to nourish." Nevertheless, in looking through the volumes, one is struck by the inordinate space given to the various details of the war, and to methods of warfare. Such titles as "Victory, Advance to" and "Western Front" are intelligible only because recent events dominate our minds. Probably this excessive dominance of the war motive and war interest will be distasteful to a large number of readers, and yet it may be defended on the ground that it has to do with the prime concern of a large part of the civilized world during the period under review. As a contribution to history, it is of great value to have the events of the war accurately described as they could not be during the conflict. Not only are the facts now given with reasonable completeness, but the temper of the articles is fair and well considered. It may well be that the principal effect will be to create, not a warlike spirit, but a sense of humiliation and disgust that such things should have been possible. The personal biographies also depart widely from encyclopaedic standards, and stand rather on a journalistic basis. There are detailed accounts of many politicians, moving picture actors, and the like, who will be quite forgotten after a few years. Thus Mary Pickford gets three inches of space, Fabre only an inch and a half. This is not

due to the existence of a biography of Fabre in a - previous volume, although there had been references to his work. Posterity will see by these notices wherein our interests lay, only of course the actual public interest in and knowledge of Mary Pickford as compared with Fabre is very much greater than the proportions cited might suggest.

To the reviewer it seems that when we consider the presentation of science and art in the volumes, the extraordinary progress and development of science contrasts strangely with what appears to be an actual degeneration of the arts. If it is said that this opinion has no basis, as coming from one unskilled in the arts, I venture to maintain that even a scientific man has a right to criticize artistic productions. Both science and art seek to interpret nature. Scientific workers, in spite of many errors, approach ever nearer to the understanding of reality, not merely of material objects but of mental processes. When we turn to the article Sculpture, and see anatomically incorrect figures seriously presented as offerings of the dominant modern schools, we surely have the right to ask, what is the matter with the mentality of those who see the human body in this distorted form, and actually prefer ugliness to beauty? If the modernist in art then claims that the idea of beauty changes, and is purely subjective, we reply that to us there is also an objective standard of beauty, expressed in the perfection of a type according to its form and function. It is this response to objective reality, this harmony with nature, which seems to us to be the test of sanity. Turn again to the article "Stage and Stage Production"; it is illustrated by a colored plate which merely exhibits the sloppy eccentricity of a certain school of painters. Fortunately, no actual stage setting ever could present such an appearance to the human eye. So it is with some of the other arts, as any reader can find out for himself. On the contrary, the scientific articles, while technical, amaze one by the revelation of progress and the achievements of the human mind. Is it not possible, should it not be possible, to utilize these great powers in other directions with similar success? If so, certainly not by following fads, but by longcontinued and patient labor, for small material rewards.

One other matter of editorial policy deserves discussion. It has been the plan, again departing somewhat from traditional usage, to have the articles written by representatives of the several topics or interests, regardless of whether we may be supposed to agree with their opinions. The complexity of modern knowledge is such that an editorial orthodoxy is hardly possible. Consequently, to the surprise of many, the article on Lenin is by his associate, Trotsky. It seems to me to

be a very good article, giving an account of Lenin's activities to which no one should object. But when we come to the article on Mrs. Eddy, we wonder whether we shall be presently told that "the Encyclopaedia Britannica states" that "beyond cavil or question, her life was an illustration and a demonstration of her proposition that prayer, watching and working, combined with self-immolation, are God's gracious means of accomplishing whatever has been successfully done for the Christianization and health of mankind." The truth is, the Encyclopaedia is a platform in the ordinary, but not in the political sense; it is a place from which specialists give their opinions, but these opinions must not be considered to have any particular editorial sanction.

One result of this free-we had almost said irresponsible-editorial policy is a frequent relief from the ponderous gravity of the traditional encyclopaedia. Not that there is any unseemly levity, but writers appear to feel free to say what they think without the sense of compromising the universe. This imparts freshness and sincerity to many articles, making them very good reading.

It is out of the question to review many of the articles separately, but a few comments are possible. The great earthquake in Japan, misnamed "the Tokyo earthquake," as it was more severe in Yokohama, is not at all adequately discussed. In the account of Sir Charles Eliot, it is not mentioned that he is one of the leading authorities on nudibranchiate mollusca. Entomology is treated only in its economic and medi-/ cal aspects, and zoology is confined to a consideration of the vertebrates, mainly fishes. Hardly any attention is given to the cultural aspects of natural history, or to the advancement of our knowledge of the outof-doors. To this extent I think it must be said that the treatment of the biological sciences is seriously inadequate. The summary of biology (J. Arthur Thomson) is extremely good, remarkable equally for the breadth of treatment and the number of striking discoveries recorded. Evolution is by no less than six different representative authors. The section "Theory of Organic Evolution" (T. H. Morgan) is especially noteworthy for its concluding paragraphs on the relation between modern views and the opinions of Darwin. It was not possible for Darwin to make an analysis of the different types of variation and their consequences, as we can to-day. Some of his reasons for evolution no longer appear valid, but others have taken their place. "Thus what the theory of natural selection lost in one direction it gained in another, and the probability that evolution has taken place by the selection of chance variations is as great as at the time when Darwin advanced his theory of natural selection." Bateson on Genetics and J. Arthur

Thomson on Heredity are important and worthy of their distinguished authors. Household Appliances, Household Appliances, well illustrated, shows what physical science and invention have done to make life easier and more convenient. India (several authors), Russia (Arthur Ransome) and the United States (several authors, but especially A. Bushnell Hart) appear to me to be among the greatest successes of the Encyclopaedia. I was disappointed in the article on Siberia, which does not even mention the American Expeditionary Forces, though these are cited in the article "Japan." "Immunity" (Sir A. E. Wright) is a very important and of course very modern article. The article on Indians, North American (C. H. Burke) shows that, contrary to a popular misconception, the Indians are increasing in this country. "Influenza" (S. L. Cummins) raises very interesting questions concerning the origin and nature of the germs causing pandemic outbreaks. "Intelligence Tests" (E. L. Thorndike) are discussed in an interesting but suitably cautious manner. Sir Arthur Keith gives a detailed account of what is known concerning the evolution of man, concluding with the suggestion that the study of hormones is very significant in this connection. "Mendelism" is by Bateson, as was most appropriate. "Paleontology," while excellently done, suffers from inadequacy in certain directions. Thus the author has never heard, apparently, of Tillyard's great discoveries among fossil insects, which throw so much light on the evolution of the various orders. The Pan-Pacific Union and the various Pan-Pacific meetings of recent years are overlooked, though certainly of international importance. We suspect that the article "Petrograd" does not do justice to that city, but hope to find out personally in the course of next summer. "Population" (A. M. Carr-Saunders) is full of significant statistics. "Protozoology" (C. Dobell) is very interestingly written, and deals with a rapidly advancing subject. "Relativity" (J. H. Jeans) and its "Philosophical Consequences" (Bertrand Russell) are explained as clearly as the nature of the subject permits. "To the relativist the essential background to the picture of the universe is not the varying agitation of a sea of aether in a three-dimensional space but a tangle of world lines in a four-dimensional space. Moreover, it is only the intersections of the world lines that are important. An intersection at a point in the continuum represents an event, while the part of a world line which is free from intersections represents the mere uneventful existence of a particle or a pulse of light." But as a writer recently urged in another case, when we have decided "what is it?" we should then ask "what of it?" Can ordinary people derive any pragmatic values from these considerations? This is the question which Bertrand Russell undertakes to answer.

He holds that, in time, the theory of relativity "may considerably modify the ordinary educated man's pieture of the universe, possibly with far-reaching results." But when he assures us that the "space-time" frame of reality "is known only in its abstract mathematical properties; there is no reason to suppose it similar in intrinsic character to the spatial and temporal relations of our perceptions as known in experience," he is excluding it from the realm of practical truth. The four-dimensional, space-time conception makes no difference to our actual situation, or to our conduct, unless it menaces our sanity. It is a relief to turn from these abstractions to the delightful article on Sargent by Julie Helen Heyneman. It is a type of many sympathetic biographies in the volume; others are those of H. G. Wells and Bernard Shaw. "Sex," by Bateson, is a very valuable summary. "Tissue Culture" (Alexis Carrel) sets forth the extraordinary successes of this method, which is nevertheless said to be "still in its infancy."

Summing up our impressions, it may be said that the work has on the whole been admirably conceived and executed. While nearly every critical reader will see some things he wishes were different and some statements he believes to be erroneous, it is obvious that such imperfections could not well be avoided. It is a very great thing to have given so nearly true a picture of a period so filled with important events, so complex in the interrelations of these events. The general conception is on liberal lines, and we are not made to feel that there is any undue dominance of ancient prejudice or superstition, though there are undoubtedly large concessions to modern fashions. Even in scientific work, fashion is potent, and the important thing of to-day may not seem so important to-morrow. This is not without its advantages; thus the Mendelian fashion has certainly led to concerted investigations all over the world, and here and there more intensive, cooperative work with results of the highest importance. Yet there are different aspects of biological science waiting to have their innings. and some day these will occupy the field. No doubt the Encyclopaedia will have a large part in fostering a broader interest, in enabling us to see the wood as well as the trees, and this in itself is a very conspicuous service. Yet its elaborate analysis clearly invites synthesis, and it may be that some genius will weave the essence of it all into a great epic having universal appeal. Whether this is possible or not, we may at least conclude by hoping that the success of the undertaking will be so great that the publishers will feel justified in issuing such volumes at intervals of fifteen to twenty-five years indefinitely, thus taking stock of man's business in this world.

UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO

T. D. A. COCKERELL

SCIENTIFIC APPARATUS AND

LABORATORY METHODS

A QUICK METHOD OF PRESERVING CATS FOR DISSECTION

THE customary techniques for preserving cats for student dissection are by embalming or by injection of formalin through the femoral or carotid arteries. All these require a certain amount of dexterity and considerable time, especially as the best results are obtained with anesthetized specimens or by using gravity pressure. It is probable that analogy with the medical school dissecting-room is responsible for these divergencies from the technique used for lower vertebrates. Where there are large classes and the injecting must be done by the instructors alone or with student assistance, the time spent in this way may be a real burden. The following method, devised to meet this difficulty, can be used on freshly killed specimens, and permits satisfactory dissection of the digestive, urino-genital, muscular and autonomic nervous systems.

Open the abdominal and thoracic cavities with a median incision, starting well posteriorly, avoiding the milk glands of the nursing females. Cut through the skin on the outside of each thigh from the knee to the gluteal region, and pull up the flaps of skin on each side. With a hypodermic syringe inject from 200 to 400 cc of 10 per cent. formalin into the left ventricle (according to the size of the animal), until bubbles appear at the nostrils. Immerse the animal in 5 per cent. formalin. The cats can be injected in an average time of five to eight minutes apiece. Later, when the students skin their individual cats, perhaps one out of four specimens will show slight discoloration under the skin, which will disappear before the next laboratory period, if the animal is replaced in the 5 per cent. formalin. One specimen out of ten, perhaps, will have a definite decayed spot and is best discarded. After a few days, the formalin may be diluted to 3 per cent. In dissecting the muscles, it is helpful to rub glycerine on the parts being studied.

This is a satisfactory rough-and-ready method; it is not, in any sense, a museum technique.

HORACE ELMER WOOD, 2ND WASHINGTON SQUARE COLLEGE, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY

A CULTURE MEDIUM FOR FREE-LIVING

FLAGELLATES

THE following culture medium has been tried out for two years and may be of general use to other laboratories. Whole wheat is weighed into five-gram lots, which are then put into large test tubes and

25 cc of tap water added. These are then plugged with cotton, capped with lead foil and autoclaved at fifteen pounds for two hours, which very thoroughly macerates the wheat. Tap water is again added up to 50 cc, and desired percentages of this are used after shaking. After opening a tube it is necessary to sterilize again in an Arnold sterilizer, as bacterial growth is quite vigorous in the mixture. However, a tube may be used day after day, if sterilized daily.

Varying percentages of this afford a very good medium for many protozoa. Bacterial feeders as Chilodon, Paramecium, Oicomonas and others thrive. Ochromonas, Chilomonas and several of the smaller Euglenas (E. gracilis, E. quartana, E. mutabilis) have been grown in great abundance in various dilutions and there are several species of Amoeba which likewise occur or are capable of being cultured in large numbers. It has proved best, however, for Entosiphon and Peranema. Both of these forms are easily grown in quantities sufficient for classroom use; isolation cultures of the former have been carried for over a year on this medium. In general it seems much better than cracked boiled wheat, which is often used.

BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY,

WASHINGTON SQUARE COLLEGE,
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY

JAMES B. LACKEY

SPECIAL ARTICLES

CONCERNING PROTOPLASMIC CURRENTS

ACCOMPANYING LOCOMOTION

IN AMEBA

INVESTIGATORS of the mechanics of ameboid locomotion have generally agreed as to the existence of currents in the protoplasm of the progressing ameba, but there has been much disagreement as to the direction and general relations of such currents. One of the most serious contradictions is that between the observations of Rhumbler1 and those of Jennings.2 Rhumbler described a system of currents which was entirely in accord with his view that surface tension is an essential agency in ameboid locomotion. He asserts that the deeper protoplasm (endoplasm) flows forward. Any given portion of it, having attained a superficial position at the advancing front of the animal, then turns and moves backward at a relatively

1 Rhumbler, L., 1898. "Physikalische Analyse von Lebenserscheinungen der Zelle." Arch. für Entwickelungsmech. der Organismen, 7, pp. 103-350, plates VI, VII; 100 figs. in text.

2 Jennings, H. S., 1904. "The Movements and Reactions of Amoeba." Carnegie Institution Publication No. 16, pp. 129–234, 78 figs. Washington, D. C.

« PreviousContinue »