that the extreme values of the potential gradient occur at about the same time of the year, hence not at the same season everywhere. The writer in addition has found from a discussion of the Carnegie ocean observations, and recent land stations, that nearly everywhere the mean value of the potential gradient for the six months October to March, when the earth is nearest to the sun, is greater than the mean value for the six months April to September, when the earth is farthest from the sun. Accordingly, distance of the earth from the sun, rather than season, appears to be the controlling factor. If we confine our attention to series of observations since 1900, when more rigorous methods of observing were employed than formerly, two outstanding exceptions from the general rule just stated are found, namely, the observations at Helwan, Egypt, 19071914, and those made by Dr. G. Berndt at Buenos Aires, 1911-1912. Dr. Wait, of the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, has carefully investigated the Helwan series and he has been led to infer that this station may be subject to disturbing influence, owing to the seasonal variation in sand storms. The results at Buenos Aires depend on electrometer readings made three times daily for one year from May, 1911, to April, 1912. It would be highly desirable that additional observations be obtained at these two stations and that the annual variation be derived on the basis of both electrically undisturbed and disturbed days. On the average, from the Arctic to the Antarctic, the monthly mean values of the potential gradient vary during the year from minimum to maximum to the extent of about 60 per cent. of mean gradient for the year. Another interesting fact is that the daily range of the potential gradient varies during the year, generally in the same manner as has been stated with regard to the gradient itself. In other words, the daily range is a quantity very similar to the potential gradient; the former may be looked upon as counted from the minimum value as the zero, whereas in the case of the usual potential gradient the earth is assumed at zero potential. And now we come to the consideration of the question of a possible relationship between changes in the annual values of the potential gradient and changes in solar activity during the 11-year cycle. In a paper published in 1924, I brought together all the available data through 1923. The chief conclusion was that "the probability is high that the atmospheric 7 6 Researches of Department of Terrestrial Magnetism and Atmospheric Electricity, Vol. V, Washington, 1926, pp. 382-384. 7 Terrestrial Magnetism and Atmospheric Electricity, Vol. 29 (1924), pp. 23 to 32 and 161 to 186. potential-gradient and its diurnal and annual ranges, as also the air-earth current, are subject to sunspot influence." For an average increase of 90 in the sunspot number, between minimum and maximum sunspottedness, the increases in the potential gradient and its diurnal and annual ranges were found to be about 30 per cent. With the aid of fifty-nine series of diurnal-variation observations of the potential gradient made aboard the Carnegie in the different oceans during 19151921, including the year 1917, of maximum sunspot activity, I again investigated the matter in 1925,8 reaching once more the conclusion already stated. Dr. Mauchly could not find any adequate cause for the observed changes in the potential gradient, other than the one already mentioned of possible effect arising from varying sunspottedness. It will probably be necessary to await the completion of another cycle and the accumulation of data at widely distributed stations, not subject to local disturbing influence, before all the questions arising as to the precise nature of any solar-activity influence on atmospheric electricity may be definitely settled. However, renewed interest has been aroused in the problem and it is also gratifying in this connection that beginning in 1928 the observational work in atmospheric electricity aboard the Carnegie will be resumed. Owing to the meagerness of available data, it is not possible at present to state whether, or not, the electric conductivity of the atmosphere is subject to cosmic influences. It will be a long time before the question as to any possible secular changes in the atmospheric potentialgradient can be investigated successfully. For example, do the mean values of this gradient for a solar cycle vary from cycle to cycle, as does mean sunspottedness? LOUIS A. BAUER DEPARTMENT OF TERRESTRIAL MAGNETISM, CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON, WASHINGTON, D. C. AWARD OF FELLOWSHIPS BY THE GUGGENHEIM MEMORIAL FOUNDATION THE award of fellowships totaling $143,000 to sixty-three scholars, writers, musicians and artists has been announced by the trustees of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Seven of the awards were to enable completion of work undertaken 8 See Researches of Department of Terrestrial Magnetism and Atmospheric Electricity, Vol. V, Washington, 1926, pp. 361-381. by fellows appointed last year. The awards, given annually, are made possible by the gift in 1925 of $3,500,000 by former United States Senator Simon Guggenheim and Mrs. Guggenheim in memory of a son who died in 1922. The committee that made the awards comprised President Frank Aydelotte, of Swarthmore College, chairman; President Ada Louise Comstock, of Radcliffe College; President Frederick C. Ferry, of Hamilton College; Professor Charles Homer Haskins, of Harvard University, and Dean Charles B. Lipman, of the University of California. The list of awards in the field of science, as announced by the foundation, follows: Dr. Edward Frederick Adolph, assistant professor of physiology, School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Rochester, to study the internal factors that control the size of organisms, particularly during growth, principally at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute, Berlin. Dr. William Ruthrauff Amberson, assistant professor of physiology, School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, to study mechanisms involved in the electrical stimulation of nerve and muscle, principally with Dr. A. V. Hill, at University College, London. Dr. Richard Bradfield, associate professor of soils, University of Missouri, to investigate the principles involved in the purification of colloids by electro-dialysis, principally with Dr. Herbert Freundlich at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute, Berlin. Dr. Ralph Erskine Cleland, associate professor of biology, Goucher College; for studies of the chromosome constitution and behavior of the evening primroses (oenothera), as related to certain genetical problems, in consultation with European authorities. Dr. Carl Henry Eckert, National Research fellow, California Institute of Technology, for researches concerned with the new quantum theory, with Professor A. Sommerfeld at Munich, and E. Schrodinger, at Zurich. Dr. William Henry Eyster, professor of botany, University of Maine, for a study of the physiology of the chloroplastic pigments-principally with Professor Richard Willstätter, Munich. Dr. Philip Franklin, assistant professor of mathematics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to study integral equations, orthogonal functions and their relation to almost periodic functions, principally at Göttingen, Germany, and Zurich. Dr. George Ernest Gibson, associate professor of physical chemistry, University of California, for research in the field of the theory of band spectra, principally at the University of Göttingen, Germany. Dr. Rodney Beecher Harvey, associate professor of botany, University of Minnesota, to investigate low temperature effects on plants, principally at Cambridge University. Dr. Harvey has discovered that ethylene gas will hasten the ripening of fruits and vegetables. By injecting less than 40 cents' worth of gas into a carload of green bananas they can be ripened within forty-eight hours. Dr. Lewis Victor Heilbrunn, assistant professor of zoology, University of Michigan, for researches into the colloid chemistry of protoplasm, principally with Dr. Herbert Freundlich, at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute, Berlin. Dr. William Vermillion Houston, National Research fellow in physics, California Institute of Technology, to study the most recent developments in quantum mechanics as applied to the explanation of spectra, principally with Professors A. Sommerfeld, at Munich, and Niels Bohr and A. Heissenberg, at Copenhagen. Dr. Frank C. Hoyt, research associate, University of Chicago, for research into the quantum theory and its meaning for radiation and atomic structure at Göttingen, Copenhagen and Zurich. Dr. Victor F. Lenzen, assistant professor of physics, University of California, for a critical study of statistical mechanics at Göttingen and Zurich. Dr. Edwin Blake Payson, professor of botany, University of Wyoming, for studies in taxonomy in relation to generic phylogenies, principally at Kew Gardens, London. Dr. Lloyd Hilton Reyerson, associate professor of chemistry, University of Minnesota, for investigations in the field of contact catalysis, principally with Professor Herbert Freundlich at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute, Berlin. Dr. Manuel Sandoval Vallarta, assistant professor of physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to study the connection between Schrodinger's wave mechanics and the Einstein theory of relativity, in consultation with European authorities. Harry Schultz Vandiver, associate professor of pure mathematics, University of Texas, for research abroad on Fermat's last theorem and the laws of reciprocity in the theory of algebraic numbers. Dr. J. Walter Woodrow, professor of physics, Iowa State College, to study the phosphorescent, chemiluminescent and photoelectric properties of cod liver oil and other substances which either have anti-rachitic characteristics or can be activated by treatment with ultraviolet light, principally with Professor E. Rutherford, of Cambridge University, and Professor J. S. E. Townsend, of Oxford University. Renewal of grants to the following fellows of the foundation, appointed last year, were announced among others as follows: Dr. Wallace Reed Brode, Bureau of Standards, Washington, D. C., to continue abroad research on the absorption spectra of simple azo dyes. Dr. J. Penrose Harland, University of Cincinnati, to continue investigations in the Bronze Age civilizations of the Aegean Basin. Dr. Linus Carl Pauling, California Institute of Technology, to continue theoretical and experimental researches on the atom. SCIENTIFIC EVENTS SIR ISAAC NEWTON'S BI-CENTENARY THE History of Science Society, in collaboration with committees from The American Mathematical Society, Mathematical Association of America, American Astronomical Society and the American Physical Society, proposes to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the death of Sir Isaac Newton by an appropriate program at Columbia University, New York, November 25 and 26, 1927. On this occasion it is planned to have addresses relating to the great contributions of Newton to the advancement of mathematics, astronomy and physics, and setting forth his interests in chemistry, chronology, theology and other branches of learning. It is also hoped that some reference will be made to Newton's early contribution to the advancement of science in the American Colonies-when Harvard and Yale Colleges were in their infancy. Each subject will be represented by at least two papers given by scholars of distinction. It is proposed to have a large exhibition of Newtoniana, including the first edition of the Principia, and other related publications, also portraits, medals and autographed letters and documents, and such material as bears directly upon his life, achievements and contemporaries. Therefore it is hoped that those who have material of this nature will take pleasure in loaning it to the committee in charge of the exhibit; it is requested that those who can contribute will communicate as soon as possible with the secretary. Similar commemorative programs have already been held on the anniversary date of Newton's death, namely, March 20, by various societies and universities of this country, and also in England. The History of Science Society will take the opportunity to honor Newton, at its regular annual meeting. A full program of papers and speakers with other particulars will be published in SCIENCE during October. The following individuals form the Program Committee: For the History of Science Society Dr. David Eugene Smith (chairman), Columbia Dr. Henry Crew, Northwestern University. For the American Mathematical Society, and Mathematical Association of America Dr. R. C. Archibald, Brown University. Dr. Florian Cajori, University of California. THE CENTENARY OF THE BIRTH OF LORD LISTER THE centenary of the birth of Lord Lister, the pioneer in antiseptic surgery, occurs on April 5. The occasion is being widely celebrated in England. On April 4, the day before the reception in the great Hall of the British Medical Association of the official delegates to the Lister centenary, Sir St. Clair Thomson will give an address at the social evening of the Royal Society of Medicine on "The Centenary of Lister-Recollections by One of his House-surgeons." The Lister memorial committee of the Canadian Medical Association aims to establish the fifth of April as Lister Day in medical schools, hospitals and health centers throughout the world. A public meeting in celebration of Lord Lister's centenary is to be held in the McEwan Hall, Edin burgh, on Wednesday, July 20, at 8 p. m. The Right Honorable the Earl of Balfour has consented to take the chair, and short addresses will be delivered by Sir William Watson Cheyne, Bt., Professor Tuffier, of Paris; Professor Harvey Cushing, of Harvard University, and Dr. James Stewart, of Halifax, Nova Scotia. The British Medical Journal states that throughout the week of the annual meeting of the British Medical Association a museum of Lister relics will be on view in the upper library of the old university. In this connection most generous assistance has been given by the director of the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum, London, and his staff, and the unique interest of the exhibits will largely be due to their cooperation. A Lister memorial volume has been prepared, and with the consent of the council of the British Medical Association it will constitute the book of the meeting in so far as a copy will be presented to each member of the association who registers. The volume, edited by Dr. Logan Turner, contains a variety of contributions; a sketch of Lord Lister's life is given by his former house-surgeon, Sir George Beatson, of Glasgow. A series of short personal reminiscences has been written by Sir William Watson Cheyne, Dr. Rutherford Morison, Dr. Grasett, Dr. Baldwin, Dr. T. R. Ronaldson, the late Professor Francis Caird, Dr. Stewart (Halifax), Dr. Douglas (Cupar) and Mr. Hamilton Russell, of Melbourne. Two of Lister's scientific addresses and a series of letters of general interest are incorporated in the book. A number of A striking comments which he made at various times in relation to the germ theory and the antiseptic system, and, in fact, upon things in general, have been grouped in a chapter under the heading "Obiter dicta." A section of particular interest is that dealing with the lives of Lister's fellow residents in the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary during the summer of 1854, a group which included Beddoe, Christison and Kirk-men who won distinction in widely differing fields. This chapter has been contributed by Dr. Logan Turner. chapter entitled "Surgery Prior to Lister's Time" is written by Mr. Alexander Miles, while an article on the influence of Lister's work on surgery is contributed by Professor Fraser; Professor Sharpey-Schafer deals with Lister's work as a physiologist. The volume, which will contain from 180 to 200 pages quarto, is illustrated, and, except in so far as reproduction of certain letters and published articles is concerned, the matter is original. The residences which Lister occupied while in Edinburgh have hitherto been undistinguished by any memorial inscription. The committee considered the present a suitable opportunity to remedy what may have seemed to many an omission. With the generous consent of the proprietors concerned, short indicatory inscriptions are being placed upon the wall of 11, Rutland Street, and 9, Charlotte Square. A donation of £25 was received by the committee, the donor desiring that this sum should be awarded as a prize for the best essay submitted on the subject "The Influence of Lister on Surgery." To the original prize the committee has added a gold medal, and this award is open to students and graduates of not more than one year's standing of any medical school in the British Empire. It is intended that the award of the prize and medal shall be made by Lord Balfour at the Lister centenary meeting on July 20. YALE-IN-CHINA THE trustees of Yale-in-China have issued a statement announcing the resignation of President Edward H. Hume, to take effect in July. They report: The trustees and Dr. Hume have long felt that executive control of the colleges at Changsha should pass into Chinese hands as early as possible. With this thought in mind every encouragement was given to the creation of a Chinese board of managers for the Medical College, the new board taking complete control in the spring of 1925, when Dr. F. C. Yen, a distinguished Chinese medical graduate of Yale University, became principal. In order to make Chinese leadership effective in the College of Arts and Sciences as well, a policy in which the trustees and Dr. Hume are fully in accord, the resignation of President Hume was offered to the board of trustees on June 24, 1926, and was accepted in October. Negotiations for a Chinese successor were in progress, and it was hoped that announcement of an election could be made at the same time as that of Dr. Hume's resignation. The unfortunate events of the past few months have interrupted these efforts, but it is hoped to renew them as soon as practicable. President Hume was called from a post with the United States Public Health Service in Bombay to lay the foundations of the medical work at Changsha in 1905. Until 1910 he was the only medical member of the staff, being joined in the latter year by Dr. F. C. Yen. On October 18, 1915, the corner-stone of the new hospital at Yale-in-China was laid by Professor William H. Welch, of the Johns Hopkins Medical School, the building being opened to patients in February, 1918. Dr. Hume continued as dean of the Medical College and professor of medicine from 1914 to 1923, when he was elected president of the colleges of Yale-in-China. In accepting President Hume's resignation, the trustees placed on record their appreciation of his conspicuous service during the past twenty-two years, in a special resolution: Dr. Hume was among the first to put into effect a policy of partnership with the Chinese in medical education. Through his efforts he has been instrumental in developing one of the outstanding medical schools in the Far East. With a remarkable knowledge of the Chinese language and eloquence in using it, he has won for Yale-inChina many needed friendships. His Christian character, his strong faith, and ceaseless activity have kindled the enthusiasm of his colleagues and other workers throughout China. ORGANIZATION OF A LOUISIANA A LOUISIANA Academy of Sciences was recently organized by Dr. I. Maizlish, head of the physics department at Centenary College, Shreveport, La. The object of the organization is to unite the scientists of the state, to foster scientific development and to encourage scientific research. The organization meeting was held conjointly with that of the Louisiana-Mississippi Section of the Mathematical Association of America at Centenary College, March 5, 1927. Those attending the meeting were very enthusiastic about the academy. The officers elected are as follows: President: Dr. I. Maizlish, Centenary College, Shreveport, La. Vice-President: Dr. H. L. Smith, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, La. Secretary: Professor Geo. Williamson, Louisiana State Normal College, Natchitoches, La. Treasurer: Mr. F. M. Witherspoon, care of Louisiana Oil Refining Corporation, Shreveport, La. Members of the Executive Council: Dr. H. V. Howe, Louisiana State University; Professor S. T. Sanders, Louisiana State University; Dean C. C. Bass, Tulane University; Professor H. E. Buchanan, Tulane University; Professor G. C. Hilman, Louisiana Polytechnic Institute; Professor A. C. Maddox, Louisiana State Normal College; Professor A. M. Alvarado, Loyola University; Professor Geo. M. Reynolds, Centenary College; Dr. Hubert G. Shaw, Louisiana College; Professor D. J. McNaspy, Southwestern Louisiana Institute; Mr. W. C. Spooner, Shreveport, La.; Mr. C. D. Evans, Shreveport, La.; Mr. Chas. Shutts, Lake Charles, La.; Dr. A. A. Herold, Shreveport, La.; Mr. F. J. Mechlin, Shreveport, La. Membership Committee: President A. B. Dinwiddie, Tulane University; Dr. D. V. Guthrie, Louisiana State University; Dean Jno. A. Hardin, Centenary College. SCHOOL OF FORESTRY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN THE 1927 State Legislature is to be asked to appropriate sufficient funds to establish a separate school of forestry at the University of Michigan, and if this is granted, Samuel T. Dana, director of Northeastern Forest Experiment Station, will be appointed dean. In making this announcement, Dr. Little made the following statements: It is high time that the University of Michigan should assume its proper rôle in the program of work in conservation which the state is to undertake. The university always has attempted to do its share in this matter but now feels, as never before, the very great importance of placing all such work on a very much more firm and extensive basis than it has hitherto occupied. The conservation, reproduction and economic utilization of forests for industrial, recreational and educational purposes is one of the cornerstones of a permanent program of constructive general conservation and economy for the state. It is believed that the state rightly will demand and provide the opportunity for leadership in this field from its university. Conservation of natural resources will insure adequate raw products to stabilize economic conditions, investigation of the problems of tree reproduction both under controlled and under natural conditions, the reforestation of waste areas by planting the proper development of the forest with its wild life as recreational factors in a highly industrialized state, and the utilization of the forests as sites for summer camp and educational work, are all of them phases of conservation in which the university can and should serve the state. Research work and the training of leaders in these fields I will be necessary. The utilization of wood and wood products should be made the object of further investigation and of instruction. To do this the university hopes next September to be able to establish as one of its branches a new school with S. T. Dana, now director of the Northeastern Forest Experiment Station, as its head. Mr. Dana is splendidly qualified as a scholar and executive to take charge of this work. He believes in service to the state and it is fair to assume that with adequate financial support the school, under his guidance, will set a standard for the state and I most earnestly hope for the country as a whole. SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS WILLIAM HEALEY DALL, paleontologist of the U. S. Geological Survey since 1885 and honorary curator of the Division of Mollusks of the U. S. National Museum since 1869, died in Washington on March 27, aged eighty-two years. PROFESSOR CHARLES SPRAGUE SARGENT, director of the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University since 1872 and professor of arboriculture since 1879, has died on March 22 at the age of eighty-six years. DR. WILLIAM H. WELCH, who resigned his position as director of the School of Hygiene and Public Health at the Johns Hopkins University to accept the chair of history of medicine, established last November by the General Education Board, will be in charge of a new library of medical history. This library, which is to contain 400,000 volumes, is being equipped with the aid of $750,000 received by the university from the General Education Board. PROFESSOR JULIAN LOWELL COOLIDGE, of the division of mathematics of Harvard University, has been appointed exchange professor to France. He will lecture on algebraic plane curves and conduct a seminar in the Sorbonne. PROFESSOR VICTOR C. VAUGHAN, of the University of Michigan, has been chosen by a committee representing the Medical Corps of the Army, Navy, Public Health Service and the American Public Health Asso ciation as the lecturer of the Kober Foundation a Georgetown University, and delivered a lecture or "The Chemistry of Living Substances and its Adapt ability to its Environment," on March 28. DR. LIBERTY HYDE BAILEY, retiring president of the American Association for the Advancement o Science, has been awarded the George Robert Whit medal of honor for 1927 by the Massachusetts Horti cultural Society in acknowledgment of his achieve ments in horticulture. DR. HUBERT WORK, secretary of the interior, wa the principal speaker at the charter day exercise of the University of California on March 23. D Work was accompanied by Dr. Elwood Mead, hea of the United States reclamation service. They pla to go from San Francisco to Honolulu to attend th Pan-American Congress. |