trict of Columbia, in the Cosmos Club, Washington, December 11, 1924.

THE annual dinner of the New York Academy of Sciences and its affiliated societies was held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on December 15, when Dr. Clyde Fisher gave an address entitled "Across the trail of Linnaeus in Arctic Lapland."

DR. LAUDER JONES, of Princeton University, gave an address before the members of the Delaware section of the American Chemical Society, Wilmington, on November 19, on the subject "The rôle of nitrogen in inorganic and organic molecules."

DR. AXEL REYN, director of the Finsen Light Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark, recently gave a lecture at the University of Buffalo on "Light therapy."

A LARGE bronze tablet, designed by the Boston sculptor Bashka Paeff, and set in the wall in the reception room, Boston Psychopathic Hospital, in memory of Dr. Elmer Ernest Southard, was unveiled with appropriate ceremonies on November 18. Dr. Southard, formerly professor of psychiatry and neurology at Harvard University, who died in 1920, was the founder of the Boston Psychopathic Hospital and its first director.

STEPS have been taken to place a bronze bas-relief of the late Mrs. Ellen H. Richards, with suitable inscription, in an appropriate location in one of the buildings of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

THE fund which is being raised at the University of Leeds to commemorate the services of Professor A. Smithells has now reached a total of nearly £2,500. A portrait of Professor Smithells has been painted by Mr. Fiddes Watt and the presentation ceremony took place on November 25. The balance of the fund will provide a scholarship, of approximately £100 per annum, which is to be established in the university in the name and with the advice of Professor Smithells.

DR. EZRA BRAINARD, who was for twenty-five years president of Middlebury College, and earlier professor of physics, known for his contributions on the geology of the Champlain Valley and the botany of Vermont, died on December 8, aged eighty years.

DR. E. W. STANTON, formerly professor of mathematics at Iowa State College, recently died, aged seventy-four years.

DR. JOHN IRVINE HUNTER, professor of anatomy at the University of Sydney, Australia, who has been invited to give the Murphy oration at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, died in London,

on December 10.

DR. MAX W. HAUSCHILD, professor of anatomy at

the University of Berlin, died on October 2, after his return from a research expedition to the Dutch Indies. GERARD KALSHOVEN GUDE, of England, authority on tropical land mollusca, died on November 8, aged sixty-six years.

PROFESSOR HERMANN BRAUS, director of the Anatomical Institute, University of Würzburg, eminent for his work in experimental morphology and general anatomy, died on November 28, in his fifty-seventh

year.

DR. RUDOLPH GOTTLIEB, professor of pharmacology at the University of Heidelberg, has died, aged 60

years.

THE death is announced of Dr. E. Wertheimer, emeritus professor of physiology at Lille, France.

THE Joint Genetics Sections of the American Society of Zoologists and the Botanical Society of America will present their third annual program at Washington in three sessions on December 29, 30 and 31. The titles of more than fifty papers have been received and these have been divided as follows: A session for botanical papers on Monday afternoon, zoological papers on Tuesday morning and a general session on Wednesday morning. This arrangement avoids conflict with important programs of the botanical and zoological societies on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons. A program for geneticists interested in agriculture has been arranged tentatively for Monday morning.

THE next Australasian Medical Congress will be held in Dunedin, New Zealand, early in 1927, under the presidency of Dr. L. E. Barnett, who is retiring from the professorship of surgery in the medical school of Otago University, Dunedin. The general secretary of the congress is Dr. W. P. Gowland; the associate secretary, Professor A. M. Drennan, and the treasurer, Professor D. W. Carmalt-Jones.

THE schedule of society meetings at the Chemists Club, New York City, for the remainder of the season 1924-25 is as follows: December 5, Society of Chemical Industry, Grasselli medal; December 12, American Chemical Society, regular meeting; January 9, American Chemical Society, regular meeting; January 16, Society of Chemical Industry, Perkin medal; February 6, American Electrochemical Society (in charge), joint meeting with the Society of Chemical Industry, Société de Chimie Industrielle and American Chemical Society; March 6, American Chemical Society, Nichols medal; March 20, Society of Chemical Industry, regular meeting; April 17, Society of Chemical Industry (in charge), joint meeting with the American Chemical Society, American Electrochemical Society and Société de Chimie Industri

elle; May 1, American Chemical Society, regular meeting; May 8, Société de Chimie Industrielle (in charge), joint meeting with the American Chemical Society, American Electrochemical Society and Society of Chemical Industry; May 15, Society of Chemical Industry, regular meeting; June 5, American Chemical Society, regular meeting.

FREE lectures and demonstrations are being given at the New York Botanical Garden in the Central Display Greenhouse, Conservatory Range 2, as follows: December 6, "Fruits and seeds in winter," Dr. H. A. Gleason; December 13, "Rubber plants," Dr. A. B. Stout; December 20, "Greenhouse pests," Dr. F. J. Seaver; December 27, "A study of birds and their nests," R. S. Williams.

AT the Baltimore meeting of the American Chemical Society, which will be held during Easter week, the Division of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry will hold a symposium on corrosion. At the present time the tentative outline of the symposium is as follows: 1. Submerged corrosion of metals. a. Iron and steel. b. Non-ferrous metals. 2. Atmospheric corrosion. 3. Corrosion of special alloys. It is hoped that the scope of the papers of this symposium will cover the problems of corrosion in the heavy chemical industry, in the special chemical industry, in the marine world, in ordnance equipment, in the oil industry, mining industry, etc. Papers relating to any of these subjects or subdivisions will be welcomed by the chairman of the symposium, who is Robert J. McKay.

PAYMENT of $30,000 to the Cooper Institute, New York, for the advancement of science and art is provided for in the will of Eleanor G. Hewitt, sister of Peter Cooper Hewitt.

UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NOTES

A GIFT of $1,250,000 has been given by the General Education Board, allied with the Rockefeller Foundation, for completion of the Medical School at the University of Minnesota. The gift carries the proviso that the university obtain elsewhere $2,350,000, which will complete the $3,600,000 estimated cost of the proposed expansion.

UNITS of the new graduate school of medicine of the University of Chicago, projected for immediate construction, include the Billings Hospital, with 200 beds; a medical clinic for internal medicine and the medical specialties, to be occupied by the department of medicine, and a similar surgical clinic for general surgery and the surgical specialties, to be occupied by the department of pathology. This group will also house the Billings Library, a gift from Dr. Frank

Billings to the university. The buildings of the physiological group, to be occupied by the department of physiology and the department of physiological chemistry and pharmacology, will be erected on the south side of Fifty-eighth Street and will connect with the hospital group.

WORK will begin shortly on a $20,000 physics laboratory to be known as Founders Laboratory, it is announced at Vassar. The names of the donors have not been made public.

B. MARVEL O'HARRA, assistant metallurgist at the United States Bureau of Mines Experiment Station, Rolla, Missouri, was recently appointed metallurgist and acting director of the station.

APPOINTMENTS to the staff of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have been made as follows: Dr. George Fetterolf, professor of otolaryngology, succeeding Dr. Burton A. Randall, retired; Dr. John Claxton Gittings, professor of pediatrics, succeeding Dr. John P. Crozer Griffith, retired, and Dr. William C. Stadie, assistant professor of research medicine.

DR. H. N. CALDERWOOD, formerly chemist at the U. S. Forest Products Laboratory, is now assistant professor of chemistry at the University of Wisconsin. He has charge of the laboratory instruction given to engineering students. Dr. S. M. McElvain, instructor in chemistry at the university, has taken over the courses in organic chemistry formerly conducted by Assistant Professor Glenn S. Skinner, who has resigned to enter industrial work.

DR. H. O. CALVERY and Dr. H. Jensen have joined the staff of the department of chemistry at the University of Louisville, Kentucky.

DR. L. GRANT HECTOR, former instructor in physics and Tyndall Fellow at Columbia University, has been appointed assistant professor in physics in the College of Arts and Sciences of the University of Buffalo. Dr. P. Thomas McIlroy, of Queens University, Canada, has been appointed instructor in pathology.

DR. ERNEST PICK has been chosen to take the place of Dr. Hans Horst Meyer, professor of pharmacology at the University of Vienna, who has retired.

DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE MUSSEL SHOALS

THE Mussel Shoals of the Tennessee River in northern Alabama (between Lauderdale and Colbert Counties) have received their name from the immense number of species and individuals of freshwater mussels (Naiades) which used to be found at this locality. Thus the common and now official spelling "Muscle Shoals" should be discarded for the more correct one "Mussel Shoals." There is no other place upon the

whole wide world which could be compared with this one in this respect. The cause for this unusual development of Naiad-life (as well as other freshwater life) of this region is found in the fact that here two old faunas, in themselves exceptionally rich, come together, the so-called "Cumberlandian," belonging to the upper Cumberland and upper Tennessee rivers, and that of the "Interior Basin" (Ohioan fauna).

I have tried to compile a list of Naiades known from the Mussel Shoals, and have found that about 80 different species and varieties are represented here, belonging to 29 genera, and this number is increased by some additional types known from the tributaries of the Tennessee River in this region.

This extraordinary fact has been recognized at a very early time. Exactly 90 years ago, Conrad1 wrote:

The bivalves are peculiarly abundant in those rivers of North Alabama and Tennessee, which have cut their channels in the carboniferous limestone, and where generally a long grass affords them a secure hold against the rapid current of these mountain streams. The expansion of the Tennessee River, known by the name of Muscle Shoals, is of the character I have described; it is shallow, ornamented with a number of small islands, and its bed is full of the long grass which abounds in various species of Naiades. The lover of the grand and the beautiful in natural scenery, as well as the student in science, will here find abundant sources of interest. He will be delighted with a noble river, whose beautiful and numerous islands are clothed with gigantic trees; whose high and undulating shore on the one hand is ornamented with thriving villages, and on the other spreads out an extensive alluvial, rich in all the gifts of Ceres, or rises abruptly from the river a mural escarpment of carboniferous limestone, which reflects its blue and sombre aspect in the crystal waters at its base. Like many other spots, however, remarkable for their loveliness, the subtle messengers of death have chosen it for their abode, infusing the poison of their breath into the serenity of autumn, when the transparency of the air and the purity of the sky, together with the gorgeous scenery, present at first to the unconscious traveller sensations alone of health and enjoyment.

At the present time, the above description holds good only in a small part. The beautiful islands, and the general features of the river itself are gone, as well as a large portion of the fauna, chiefly that of the mussels, which depend on the ecological conditions once presented here. For a dam has been built, the "Wilson Dam," just at the lower end of the "Little Mussel Shoals," about two miles above the town of Florence, ponding the river for many miles, and drowning entirely the "Little" as well as the "Big Mussel Shoals," beginning about four or

1 Conrad, T. A., "New Freshwater Shells of the United States." Philadelphia, 1834, pp. 12, 13.

five miles farther above. With the destruction of the conditions favorable for Naiad-life also the Naiades have been destroyed, which is so much more to be regretted, as there were forms among them which have been found only at this locality, and very likely will be, sooner or later, entirely extinct.

There are some shells yet present in this region, chiefly below the dam; but this is only a small remnant of the original richness of the fauna, and there is great danger that also this remnant will gradually disappear, due to the pollution of the waters which will be a consequence of further "improvements" connected with the dam. And then the "glory of the mussel shoals" will be entirely gone, those characteristic and unique features which would rather have deserved to be kept intact and preserved as a "natural monument," second only to very few other monuments of the United States.

Only one part of Conrad's description has been intensified and emphasized by the present conditions: this is the part which speaks of the "subtle messengers of death," undoubtedly alluding to malaria (and mosquitoes), although Conrad, of course, did not know anything about their connection. But the fact is that mosquitoes and malaria are increasing to such a degree that the inhabitants of Florence and other towns in the vicinity are becoming alarmed, and are beginning to discuss preventive measures. Truly, a sad state of affairs!

CARNEGIE MUSEUM

A. E. ORTMANN

AS STUDENTS UNDERSTAND IT THE assumption of omniscience in Dr. David Starr Jordan's comments on my list of student misconceptions, published in SCIENCE of August 29, reminds me of the old story of the man who consulted a physician for relief from an irritation in his chest. "What is your profession?" asked the doctor. "I play in a brass band," answered the man. "Just the trouble!" exclaimed Medico. "I have always claimed that this excessive blowing of horns was injurious to some lungs; What instrument do you play?” “I beat the bass drum," answered the man.

No one would question the absolute necessity of laboratory contact work in any science course, and the lecture accompaniment should be and doubtless is of a summary and explanatory nature.

In all the science courses at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute, in biological matters there are laboratory courses in invertebrate and vertebrate zoology, six hours a week for one term in each, using Dr. Pratt's two manuals as laboratory guides; in botany, systematic laboratory, 6 hours a week for one term, and in advanced botany, 6 hours per week for one

term. There are also laboratory courses in entomology. The department of bacteriology requires 15 hours per week laboratory work for one term.

It is true that the agricultural students do not get the zoological laboratory, unfortunately, and here Dr. Jordan's strictures will apply; though these men get the botanical, entomological and bacteriological laboratory work.

It may be pertinent, however, to say that the student who gave the answer as to the reptile legs, which answer Dr. Jordan specifically comments upon, had had both the invertebrate and the vertebrate laboratory work and had only recently dissected, among vertebrates, shark, perch, frog, snake, turtle, sparrow and rat.

ELLISON A. SMYTH, JR.

VIRGINIA POLYTECHNIC INST.

I HAVE read the article by E. A. Smyth, Jr., in the October 10, 1924, issue of SCIENCE. This discussion is continued by David Starr Jordan, of Stanford University, who raises the question whether after all such ludicrous answers are not explained because of the use of the "lecture" system. He maintains that it is a lack of "contact" or the actual working with plants and animals which brings about a lack of appreciation, or actual knowledge in the minds of our students. In other words, he says, "the results of contact may be permanent."

I did not observe that E. A. Smyth, Jr., obtained the answers quoted as a result of the lecture system -he does not so state in his article. I agree in principle with Dr. Jordan, but in actual practice it does not necessarily work out this way. I am not at all convinced that his method of approach will overcome the lack of thinking and reasoning on the part of our freshmen or even upper classmen. I have been engaged in teaching only about one third as long as E. A. Smyth, Jr., but I have realized that many inane answers may be obtained from "contact" studies in the laboratory as well as from other methods.

"You can lead a horse to water, but you can not make him drink"; also, you can show students the way to knowledge, but you may not be able to make all of them think or reason logically. Working with the hands and using the eyes do not necessarily fix things in the minds of our students.

I am teaching a freshman class in botany this year. I would rather teach freshmen than a group of upper classmen, because they are more ready to be shown and less sophisticated. The intentions of our students undoubtedly are good. Why, then, do we get such answers? It can not be explained by any one To illustrate: we have one experiment in our freshman course in botany which has been recently

cause.

performed to determine the need of water for germination of seeds. The experiment was definitely outlined and ample instructions were given. The students were supplied with honey locust seed, blotting paper and files for cutting notches in the seed coats. The students were told to perform the experiment and set the seed aside until the next laboratory class period, when they were to make an examination to see what had happened. After the results were observed, they were told that the experiment illustrated a principle involved in scarifying alfalfa and sweet clover seed to increase the percentage of germination.

In a quiz a few days later, the students were asked to describe an experiment which demonstrates the need of moisture for seed germination. Since the quiz was given a week after the experiment was performed, I am perhaps unreasonable in expecting them to retain the knowledge that long. This was one of the answers:

The experiment in which the need of moisture for germination was the one where we took the same kind of seeds and placed them in different conditions. One batch of seeds was moistened, placed in an oven at a hundred degrees centigrade, while the others were left in the room at regular temperature. The ones in the oven where there was no moisture for germination were not as good as the seeds that were where moisture could get at them.

The young man submitting this answer had a hazy recollection of another experiment which he performed by "contact" and which aims to show the difference between the moisture content of air-dried seed and germinating seed.

Many of these absurd answers, but not all, could probably be explained by the fact that no matter how a course is taught, it seems to be human nature for the youngsters to have their minds on "dates," dances, parties, pep meetings and the Saturday football game while they are engaged in their work. With these things uppermost in their minds, how can we expect thinking and reasoning on the various subjects required in our curricula?

The students of Agassiz lived at a different age, distractions were perhaps not so numerous, students were probably more mature and serious minded and burning with enthusiasm to obtain knowledge. Our youngsters are "burning with enthusiasm" also, but the fire is kindled elsewhere. If Agassiz were teaching in 1924, with his classes largely composed of 16 to 17-year-old students, and if his laboratory had 25 to 30 students instead of five or six, with the presentday environment in place of that which obtained in 1874, it is scarcely a debatable question in my mind as to the nature of some of the answers he would receive.

It is perhaps unfortunate that most of our courses in science must necessarily call for facts instead of entertaining information, but I am not as yet convinced that the doing away with lecture work and emphasizing contact work will greatly improve the situation where our classes are large and the subjectmatter required.

I do not, however, want to be understood as being an adherent of the lecture system. The easiest way for any of us to explain the situation seems to be to blame the other fellow-something must be wrong with our secondary schools and the age at which the boys and girls enter college. On the other hand, I believe our students have a right to question in some instances the teaching ability of the instructor. college teachers, our greatest responsibility is not to teach our undergraduate students primarily facts, but to think. The question in each one's mind should be how this can best be accomplished under the present conditions.

L. E. MELCHERS KANSAS STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, MANHATTAN, Kansas

As

RECENTLY SCIENCE published so-called "howlers" composed by students during examinations. While the compositions are humorous in a certain sense, yet they possess a pitiable aspect in revealing the lack of preparation in English and geography and a lack of coordination of thought, especially on the part of students entering college. The following have been selected from the writings of students in several schools and in upper classes as well as first year. The quotations are verbatim.

The preCambrian roch were where in distinct fossil were found. The rocks were mostly ingneous and meta morphosed, with some sedimentation in the proterozoic Limestone was found in the rochs. which lead to evidence of life of some organism The Archean is universal and very thick. This tell it was a long period of time and equal. The proterozoic rocks have eroded

some.

Ripple marks and cross bedding are due to formation within minerals of minor minerals on thin planes.

Continental deposits are deposits formed by wind, such as the Rocky Mountains, these deposits are called stratification.

-magmas extrusively imbedded in the earth's crust. A loess is made up of a yellowish-brown material which was peculiar to geologists.

A fossil is the historic record of the past geologic conditions of the world and the chief proof of the fact of evolution or the gradual descent of man caused by the decomposition of animals or plants in rocks under conditions favorable for preservation.

Even Bolivia may be found in young and old river valleys.

The ginkgo would have perished after the Mesozoic had it not been cultivated by the Chinese.

Trilobite is a good name because they have feelers. Gradation is the desire of the earth to level itself.

Stages in development of streams may be compared to stages in children. In infancy they are gullies; in youth they have straight sides and narrow bottoms.

The Rockies were formed between the Cretaceous and the Plastaceous.

Relief features of the second order within the ocean basins are not much concerned with human nature. If the La Placian hypothesis were true all planets would revolve around the sun once a year. The agriculture is mostly mining.

THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY

WALDO S. GLOCK

THE examples of student misinformation submitted by Professor Smyth will doubtless start an avalanche of Outrageous Biology from teachers who hitherto have scarcely dared admit what is possible from their students. From my own collection of some years, one which I alternately view with delight and despair, may I submit these gems?

The liver is a capillaraceous organ whose function is to produce a fluid used in digestion and reproduction. Its outlet is the arteries.

Breathing is rhythmic because it takes so long to take in a breath and so long to let it out and we have to rest between. This is controlled by valves, which are in turn regulated by a column of mercury 760 mm in height. Thus we see that when the system is in proper working condition breathing is rhythmic.

CLEMENTINA SPENCER MOMYER

THE RACIAL ORIGIN OF ALMSHOUSE PAUPERS IN THE UNITED STATES IN an article under the above title which appeared in SCIENCE for October 31, Dr. Raymond Pearl says:

While on January 1, 1923, there were in almshouses 59.8 native-born white persons per 100,000 of the same class in the population, the corresponding figure for the foreign-born was 173.6. This is by some regarded as a fact of dread significance. Perhaps it is. To me it seems possibly only an interesting expression of the difficulties which the human organism finds in adapting itself to a new environment.

As an additional factor not to be overlooked I suggest that the native has relatives and old friends who would feel it a disgrace if he had to enter an almshouse and who prefer to help him along and even support him rather than endure it, while the foreign