UNDER authority of the Research Committee of the Archeological Society of Washington, Dr. Mitchell Carroll recently examined with Professor George Grant MacCurdy the prehistoric cave and rock-shelter known as Castel Merle in the commune of Sergeac, 30 minutes from Les Eyzies, considered by Dr. Hrdlička and other authorities as perhaps of equal promise with the now famous prehistoric sites of the region, and concluded a ten-year lease from the owner, M. Castanet, with sole privilege of excavation and control of the finds. This was made possible through the generosity of Colonel William Eric Fowler, one of the trustees of the society. The society entered upon an agreement with the American School of Prehistoric Research to conduct the excavations which began at once in charge of Professor MacCurdy, who has already announced the discovery of numerous prehistoric flint implements in addition to faunal remains. Half the archeological specimens found on the site are to be deposited with the U. S. National Museum as the property of the Archeological Society of Washington.

A CORRESPONDENT writes: "One of the most interesting recent acquisitions by the Museum of the California Academy of Sciences is a magnificent specimen of the East African gorilla. The specimen is an adult male measuring six feet in height when standing erect; the chest measures 63 inches, the span of arms 91 inches and the weight was 480 pounds. These figures show that this specimen is one of the largest gorillas in any museum in the world. It was shot in the Birunga Mountains, north of Lake Kivu, in the eastern part of the Belgian Congo. It was artistically mounted by an expert taxidermist in London, from whom it was purchased for the academy by Mr. A. Kingsley Macomber, well-known clubman and capitalist of Burlingame and patron of the California Academy of Sciences."

PROVISION is made in the will of Andrew W. Preston, late president of the United Fruit Company, that in the event of the death of all heirs the estate shall be used "for advancing the science of chemistry in the United States." The estate is estimated to exceed $6,000,000.

THE Deseret Museum of Salt Lake City, a general geological and biological collection containing one of the largest and most complete mineralogical collections in the West, was recently presented to the Brigham Young University, of Provo, Utah.

FORDHAM UNIVERSITY dedicated on October 24 its recently completed seismic station to be one of the few in the world devoted exclusively to the recording of earthquake phenomena. The building is the gift of William J. Spain, of New York, in memory of his

son, William J. Spain, Jr., a member of the class of 1924 at Fordham.

By unanimous vote the administrative board of the American Engineers Council has agreed to insist on abolition of the Department of the Interior of the Federal Government to be replaced by a Department of Public Works. The Department of the Interior was held to be archaic, and the motion, as put by L. P. Alford, of New York, and formally adopted, called for an aggressive course in support of the new plan.

AUTHORITY for the transfer of approximately 14,000 acres of public land in the Salt River Mountains of Arizona to Phoenix for public park purposes has been granted by the Interior Department. The sale for $1.25 an acre was authorized by the Congress. The land makes available recreational facilities for the entire Salt River Valley population of about 100,000, including Phoenix.

By far the most comprehensive and vigorous enforcement of the Alaska fishery laws and regulations ever undertaken has been in progress this season under the supervision of the United States Bureau of Fisheries. In southeastern Alaska alone approximately 75 special stream guards have been on duty. Six patrol vessels have been engaged and there has also been the regular force of employees. In other sections of Alaska this character of work has been expanded over that of former seasons. Various cases, including trap and vessel seizures, have been presented for court action. This is the first time that such seizures have been made, authority being derived from the recent Alaska fisheries act of June 6, 1924. Commissioner O'Malley has been in southeastern and central Alaska during most of the current fishing season giving personal supervision to salmon-protection activities. The results will be highly beneficial in reestablishing and maintaining this very valuable natural resource.

UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL

NOTES

THE movement, started last May by the alumni of St. Louis University, to raise $1,000,000 for a new medical college, has thus far brought a total of $410,000 in pledges, according to Dr. Hanau W. Loeb, dean of the school of medicine.

Ar the University of Oklahoma two new structures, the medical and engineering buildings, are nearing completion. These buildings are being constructed under the appropriation of $100,000 for each, made by the last state legislature.

THE will of the late Charles L. Hutchinson, of Chicago, provides a bequest of $30,000 to Harvard University for the work of the Arnold Arboretum.

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY has received a gift of $15,000 from the Borden Company to be used for research in the field of food chemistry and nutrition, and $6,000 from an anonymous donor for the laboratory of surgical research.

WESTMINSTER Hospital Medical School, London, has been offered by A. J. H. Carlill £20,000 towards the establishment of a pathological unit as a memorial to his father.

THE Jefferson Medical College has created a department of bronchoscopy and esophagoscopy. Dr. Chevalier Jackson, professor of laryngology in the college, has been elected to the professorship of the new department. Dr. Fielding O. Lewis has been elected to fill the chair vacated by Dr. Jackson.

DR. GEORGE A. TALBERT, associate professor of physiology at the University of Nebraska College of Medicine, has been appointed professor of physiology at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine.

DR. D. S. MORSE, of Cornell University, has been appointed assistant professor of mathematics at Union College.

DR. HARRY H. KNIGHT, assistant professor of entomology and curator of the insect collection at the Farm School of the University of Minnesota, has resigned to accept a similar position at the Iowa State College.

EDUARDO DIAZ LUQUE was recently appointed professor of physics at the Universidad Nacional in Mexico City; he is also doing work for the Mexican Light and Power Company.

PROFESSOR HENRY BRIGGS, who has been for several years professor of mining engineering in the HeriotWatt College, Edinburgh, has been appointed to the newly established chair of mining in the University of Edinburgh.

DR. HANS V. HABERER, of the University of Innsbruck, has been appointed professor of surgery at the University of Graz, to take the place of Professor v. Hacker.

DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE ALKALINE REACTION OF THE COTTON

PLANT

IN an article which has recently appeared under the above title (SCIENCE, September 19, 1924, page 268), Mr. J. E. Mills has referred to some observations published about a year ago by Mr. C. M. Smith regarding the alkaline reaction of the dew of the cotton plant (J. Agric. Research, 1923, 26, 192). The

subject was incidentally considered by Mr. Smith in connection with an investigation of "arsenical injury to plants," and from an examination made by him of dew collected from the plants, he was led to conclude that its alkalinity was to be attributed to the presence of the bicarbonates of calcium and magnesium. It was also observed by him that "the dew gave a reaction alkaline even to phenolphthalein," which he stated would indicate the presence of soluble hydroxide or salts of very weak acids. Mr. Mills has now noted (loc. cit.) that it would hardly seem possible that the alkalinity of the dew can be attributed to these compounds.

In collaboration with the Bureau of Entomology of the U. S. Department of Agriculture an investigation was undertaken by the undersigned for the purpose of determining the volatile constituents of the cotton plant and of ascertaining their attraction for the bollweevil. This work was begun in the summer of 1923 and has continued to engage our attention to the present time. Although the complete results of this investigation will be published in due course in a scientific periodical, in view of the above-mentioned article by Mr. J. E. Mills and also the statements relating to the subject from time to time in the daily press it seems desirable that we should now place on record some of our observations.

The chemistry of the cotton plant is a very complex subject, and although much progress has been made in our investigation of it, considerable time will still be required for its complete elucidation. We now particularly wish to state that we believe the alkalinity of the dew of the cotton plant to be attributable, at least in part, to the presence of ammonia and trimethylamine, since we have determined the presence of these substances in it and have also obtained the same substances in very much larger amounts from the products of distillation of the cotton plant with steam. Both ammonia and trimethylamine are evidently emanations from the plant, and it has already been ascertained that the trimethylamine possesses a particular attraction for the boll-weevil. An account of the numerous other substances that have been isolated from the cotton plant and completely identified must be reserved for a future publication.

BUREAU OF CHEMISTRY,

FREDERICK B. POWER, VICTOR K. CHESNUT

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, WASHINGTON, D. C.

RADIOACTIVITY OF RIPE TOMATOES

IN cooperation with the Bureau of Standards a project for experimental study was outlined in the

summer of 1923, the object being to determine whether or not any radioactive substance occurred in food and if so its significance. Owing to unforeseen circumstances, the experimental work could not be begun at that time. In June of the present year, however, a beginning was made, the food chosen being ripe tomatoes. These were washed in distilled water and then pulped by passing the fruit through a meat grinder of household size. The pulped fruit and juice, 900 cc altogether, was tested for radioactive substance in accordance with the procedure followed at the Bureau of Standards of the United States Department of Commerce, the determinations being made by W. H. Wadleigh, of that bureau. The glass flask containing the pulp and all the other equipment used was taken from stock which had not been exposed to radioactivity. The experimental conditions were such as to prevent the concentration of the pulped fruit and juice during the experiment.

The results obtained are reported in the following table in comparison with Washington city water which was used as a check, its radioactivity being known:

OCCURRENCE OF RADIOACTIVE SUBSTANCES IN RIPE
TOMATOES

After the first determination for radioactivity, the tomatoes were set aside and again tested at the end of a week. This procedure was continued, five tests in all being made with the original material.

The radioactivity noted, though relatively small, was pronounced, being more than three times as great as that of city water. It is also apparent that the amount diminished as time passed.

The topics which suggest themselves for consideration in continuing the work are numerous. One of primary importance is to determine whether or not the radio-active substance is carried into the fruit by ground water taken up by the growing plant or whether it had another origin. Others have to do with the relationship, if any, between such phenomena and nutrition problems now receiving attention.

WASHINGTON, D. C.

C. F. LANGWORTHY

THE METRIC SYSTEM

IN SCIENCE for September 5 there is a letter on the metric system which gives an incorrect impression as to the position of the engineering profession on this question.

The engineer necessarily uses the unit of measure that is the legal standard in the country where he is working, but it does not make any difference whether the unit used is a foot or a meter. The essential thing is that it shall be a decimal system, and the engineers of the world are now using a decimal system exclusively for all measurements and calculations. The unit of measure in this country is the foot, and all measurements are made in feet and decimal parts of a foot. The surveyor's chain or steel tape is 100 feet long, graduated in feet and tenths and hundredths. The leveling rod is graduated in tenths and hundredths with a vernier reading in thousandths of a foot. All measurements of every kind are made in these decimal divisions of the foot and all calculations for steelwork, track-work and earth-work, for it would be impossible to apply trigonometry to measurements expressed in feet and inches.

After the calculations are completed the engineer has to convert his decimal fractions into inches and sixteenths for the steel worker and into cubic yards for the grading contractor. Of course all mathematical handbooks for engineers contain tables for converting decimal parts of a foot into inches and sixty fourths, and all railway engineers learn the "twentyseven times" multiplication table so that they can divide by twenty-seven as easily as most people can divide by twelve, but if manufacturers would use a decimal system also it would save the engineer a great deal of unnecessary trouble and many mistakes, for every translation from one system to the other introduces one more possibility of error.

There is no doubt that a duodecimal system would be more convenient sometimes if our system of numbers were also duodecimal, but the important thing is that our system of measures should agree with our

CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN HIGH SCHOOL,
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO

THE letter by Mr. John Satterly regarding the use of metric weights and measures which appeared in the September 5th issue of SCIENCE is of special interest. From visits to Canada, east and west, I can state that his attitude is very unusual. The work of Dr. J. C. McLennan, of Toronto University, is important in this connection. He writes:

In the early part of 1906, at the request of the Honorable L. B. Brodeur, minister of inland revenue of the Dominion Government of Canada, I agreed to deliver

a number of lectures on the use of metric weights and

measures.

Through the cooperation of the department mentioned, a schedule of the lectures was arranged and it was made known in various centers throughout Canada that my services in connection with the metric campaign would be available on certain dates for the various local societies interested in this subject.

In carrying out this rather strenuous schedule, lectures were given in Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, Regina, Vancouver and in over thirty other Canadian cities. In some places the idea of the simple metric system corresponding to decimal currency was then new to many people. Our meetings were well attended; in some cases as many as six hundred people being present. At the close of each address all present were invited to take part in the discussion of the subject. The pros and cons were propounded with the utmost frankness and in some cases with considerable vigor. Never during this lecture tour or at any other time have I heard, in so far as I can judge, a really valid argument against the general use of metric weights and measures. On the other hand the many valid reasons for their use increase as time passes.

It is highly desirable that this preliminary educational work, conducted entirely at the expense of our government, should be effectively followed up. It is chiefly for the purpose of encouraging others to do their part in securing for Canada the advantages of the use of the metric system that on April 28, 1922, I accepted the chairmanship of the Toronto Section of the Metric Association. At that time Mr. W. P. Dobson, of the Hydro-Electric Power Commission, was elected secretary, and Mr. L. Burpee, of the Canadian General Electric Company, Ltd., was elected treasurer. Our section is composed of volunteer workers who desire to see the metric campaign progress as it should. We believe that everybody can do something to help. We hope that a great many people will let Mr. Dobson know that they will help the metric movement in their own industry or line of work.

The Metric Association has a local section and a good group of members in Toronto. In the Frenchspeaking portions of Canada the public opinion in favor of the metric system is almost unanimous. HOWARD RICHARDS

METRIC ASSOCIATION, NEW YORK, N. Y.

QUOTATIONS

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

THE patient technique of laboratory research does not seek the limelight of sensational discovery. For this reason the public mind does not grasp completely the significance of the work carried on by hundreds of students, up and down the country, whose investigations are bringing greater worth and purpose to the conditions of national life. The Report of the

Committee of the Privy Council for Scientific and Industrial Research for the year 1923-24 serves to remind us of the ever-increasing dependence of health, commerce and industry on the adequate opportunities afforded for scientific inquiry and accomplishment. The problem is, however, less a financial than an educational one. Money for research is there-over half a million was spent during 1923-24-but often the speed at which work can be carried out is limited-as in the case of the Fuel Research Board-"by the number of competent and trained workers available." It is to the university that we must look to give us the trained student, patient though adventurous, imaginative though cautious, cooperating without self-seeking to increase the sum of human knowledge. We have to ensure, also, that no alert and creative mind is barred from that training through lack of means to rise through the secondary school to the university. There is still too much reason to fear that reserves of ability are untapped owing to the failure of certain local education authorities to make careful provision for the poorer scholars. Last year 291 grants were made by the council to research workers and students in training, of which 244 were allowances enabling them to take advantage of facilities for training in research afforded by various universities. The grants made during the academic year 1923-24 amounted to £41,000 as compared with £49,000 during 1922-23. The transfer to university and college authorities of the responsibility for recommending rates of allowance in accordance with the needs of individual students has led to more generous help from local funds and greater local interest in these activities. Nevertheless, the powers of local authorities under section 74 of the Education Act, 1921, are not so fully utilized as they might be.

There are, however, other considerations beyond the financial which need to be taken into account in the training of students for research. Sir William McCormick, the administrative chairman of the Advisory Council, warns against too easy specialization. "Experience has taught us," he says, "to attach great importance to the student's school history, and our conviction grows that in the last two years of school life science must not be allowed to absorb the whole of the students' attention, to the exclusion of the humanities and to the detriment of his general education"; and Sir William urges further that "at a later stage, when the student has graduated and is serving his apprenticeship to research, we should like to see him. encouraged to devote attention as part of his training to the historical and cultural aspects of the subject in which he is specializing." Inability to interpret contemporary social phenomena by the light of the past has been one of the causes which have often prevented expansion of method and the acceptance of

new ideas by leaders of industry. The war destroyed much of the crippling conservatism which had hitherto hampered development. The outcome is to be seen in more scientific organization and production in factory and workshop. Probably no movement has been of greater value to industry than the setting up of research associations in 1918, 1919 and 1920 under the government's scheme for industrial research and the consequent growth of cooperation and team work in dealing with problems common to the methods and processes of the various trades. The report shows that many of these problems are incapable of solution by one branch of science alone, and consequently it is essential that there should be increasing cooperation between chemists and physicists, biologists and engineers. An interesting instance of cooperation with medical research is seen in the financial help given to the Medical Research Council, accompanied by expert assistance from the Engineering Research Board, to enable the council to investigate problems of machine design in relation to the comfort and efficiency of the operator. Employers are only now beginning to understand how greatly industrial contentment, efficiency and output can be increased by comfort in manipulation and adequate light and ventilation in the factory.

There is need also to educate public opinion in regard to the value of research in the domain of national health, and the work of the Fuel Research Board in this direction should receive more general recognition. The Gas Regulation Act of 1920, which was based on the work of the board, has already led to substantial savings. The physical and chemical survey of the national coal resources, the research in carbonization and in by-products, the possible modification of the blast furnace are all likely to have important bearing on the prevention of waste and the diminution of the smoke evil. Public opinion, however, must press for proper fuel control in industrial works; "without it," says the report, "the advantages of better fuel which research may provide would be largely nugatory."-Educational Supplement of the London Times.

SCIENTIFIC BOOKS

The Physiology of Photosynthesis. By SIR JAGADIS CHUNDER BOSE. Longmans, Green and Co., New York, 1924; VII-287 pp., with 60 illustrations.

THE work under review comprises twenty-eight short chapters on about as many separate problems of the phenomenon of photosynthesis. The author confines himself largely to a description of apparatus and experiments of his own design and the results he has obtained therewith. The experiments were carried out with the water plant, Hydrilla verticilla,

and the evolution of oxygen from the plant during illumination was taken as a measure of the rate of photosynthesis. As has been known for a long time, the gas which is emitted from an illuminated plant is not composed of pure oxygen but contains varying amounts of nitrogen and carbon dioxide. In order to avoid this source of error in the determination of photosynthetic activity by the volume of oxygen emitted, the author, in one of the methods described, removes the nitrogen from the water and the plant by placing these under a vacuum at the beginning of the experiment. It is stated that under these conditions pure oxygen is evolved in the light. Another familiar error in the bubble-counting method is due to the variation in the volume of the bubbles. This error the author has endeavored to remove by the use of a device which collects a definite volume of gas; a slight increase in the pressure of the gas causes its release, which is recorded on a revolving drum. By means of this apparatus, which was also elaborated into an automatic recorder of photosynthesis, a variety of factors which influence the rate of photosynthesis were studied.

In the results obtained on the relation between light intensity and photosynthetic activity no new contributions are made. Thus it is concluded (p. 48) that "Taking all factors into account, we find that the activity of photosynthesis is proportional to the quantity of incident light." It is most unfortunate that absolutely no regard should have been taken of the mass of valuable information which has accumulated during the past twenty-five years on this and many other phases of the photosynthesis problem. In the arrangement of the experiments and in the interpretation of the results obtained the facts which led to the formulation of the theory of limiting factors are entirely disregarded, nor is there any consideration of the conclusions of other recent workers in the field, such as Harder and Lubimenko. The result of this general neglect in endeavoring to coordinate the observations recorded with the body of existing knowledge in photosynthesis is a most unsatisfactory one. Many of the phases of the photosynthesis problems are touched upon; none of them have been subjected to a thorough investigation. There are many interesting observations recorded, but their bearing is not certain because either they are purely unconnected or incomplete.

Interesting are the results of traces of iodine, formaldehyde and nitric acid on the photosynthetic activity. It was found that minute traces of these substances accelerate the activity enormously. Less fortunate are the author's conceptions of the "period of photosynthetic induction" and "photic stress"; the phenomena observed have been fully discussed some