R. Shadle; additional members of the executive committee, Drs. Edward A. Moore and Wayne J. Atwell.

DR. MARY ELIZABETH HANKS has been elected president of the Chicago Council of Medical Women. Dr. Florence Johnston, assistant editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association, has been appointed secretary.

DR. M. M. LEIGHTON, chief of the Illinois State Geological Survey, was recently elected chairman of the St. Louis Section of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers.

YING LAM PUN, Ph.D. (Ohio State), formerly instructor in the department of chemical engineering, has been traveling around the world for the last nine months on his way home to China. Dr. Pun has made a series of addresses in Great Britain, Holland, Germany, France, South Africa and India before Chinese Chambers of Commerce on the industrial conditions and future of China. Dr. Pun is at present in Burma.

PAUL JACKSON has joined the research department of the Bakelite Corporation.

E. WADE ADAMS has resigned his position as assistant professor of chemistry at the Kansas State Teachers' College of Pittsburg to accept a position as research chemist in the laboratory of the Standard Oil Company, Whiting, Ind.

DR. PHILIP B. HAWK is removing his Food Research Laboratory from Duxbury, Mass., to New York City in June.

DR. WALTER H. SNELL, head of the department of botany in Brown University, will resume his work as assistant forest pathologist for the New York Conservation Commission during the coming summer. He will continue various studies upon the white pine blister rust for the commission.

DR. BRADLEY M. DAVIS will spend the summer in England with headquarters at the John Innes Horticultural Institution, Merton.

DR. T. A. JAGGAR, director of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory of the U. S. Geological Survey, is making a visit to Washington.

DR. CHARLES E. WEAVER, who has spent three years in geologic work in Argentina, will in September resume his position as professor of paleontology in the University of Washington, Seattle.

DR. M. I. PUPIN, professor of electro-mechanics at Columbia University and president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, will give the principal address at the commencement exercises of Swarthmore College on June 11.

PROFESSOR WILDER D. BANCROFT, of Cornell Uni

versity, lectured on May 12 before the Swarthmore Chapter of the Society of Sigma Xi on "The ramifications of a research problem."

PROFESSOR CHARLES A. KOFOID, of the University of California, delivered a lecture on "Hookworm and amoebiasis as a public health problem," at the Rice Institute on May 8.

DR. E. E. SLOSSON, of Science Service, will speak on June 1 at the annual meeting and dinner of the Alumni Association of the Graduate Schools of Columbia University, on "Science and superstition."

DR. H. FREUNDLICH will address on May 28 a joint meeting of the Washington Academy of Sciences, the Chemical Society of Washington and the Philosophical Society of Washington, on "The state of aggregation and form of colloid particles."

PROFESSOR C. K. LEITH, of the department of geology of the University of Wisconsin, will lead a round-table conference on "International aspects of mineral resources" at the fifth session of the Institute of Politics, at Williamstown, Mass., for four weeks beginning on July 23.

PROFESSOR HENRY H. GODDARD, of the department of psychology of the Ohio State University, sailed for Honolulu on May 13, to deliver a series of lectures under the auspices of the University of Hawaii.

AMONG the five busts unveiled in the Hall of Fame of New York University on May 21 is one of Asa Gray, the botanist. The bust is the work of Chester Beach, and was presented to New York University by the Gray Herbarium of Harvard University and friends and relatives of Mr. Gray. Miss Katherine P. Loring made the presentation and Miss Alice A. Gray unveiled the statue. Dr. Charles W. Eliot, president-emeritus of Harvard University, spoke through the phonofilm and Professor Benjamin L. Robinson, professor of systematic botany at Harvard University, made the address.

JOHN EDWARD MCGRATH, formerly of the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, the discoverer of Mount Logan, died on May 7, at the age of sixty-nine years.

THE REVEREND FATHER ALOYSIUS LAURENCE CORTIE, S. J., astronomer and director of the Stonyhurst College Observatory, England, died on May 16, aged sixty-six years.

OTAKAR BARKUS, a graduate in chemistry of the University of Prague, Czecho-Slovakia, recently associated with the University of Nebraska, died at Saranac Lake, N. Y., on May 8, at the age of twentyseven years. He had published several articles in The American Journal of Physiology.

THE following cable, dated May 21, has been received by President Vincent, of the Rockefeller Foundation, from the secretary general of the League of Nations, Geneva: "Deeply regret inform you Drs. Samuel Darling and Norman Lothian met with fatal automobile accident while traveling as members League of Nation's Malaria Commission near Beirut yesterday." Dr. Darling, who for the past ten years has been a member of the staff of the International Health Board of the Rockefeller Foundation, has made important contributions to scientific knowledge of malaria, relapsing fever, dysentery and parasitic diseases, particularly hookworm disease, filariasis and trypanosomiasis. He was born in Harrison, N. J., in 1872, and received his degree in medicine at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Baltimore. From 1906 to 1915 he held the post of chief of laboratories of the Isthmian Canal Commission, Panama Canal Zone.

THE late Sir T. Clifford Allbutt, Regius professor of physics in the University of Cambridge, who died in February last aged 88 years, has bequeathed to the Fitzwilliam Museum of Cambridge his portrait by Sir William Orpen, R.A., and on the death of his wife a quantity of antique furniture and drawings and paintings by noted artists, including Romney, Landseer, Rossetti, Watts and Turner.

THE second general assembly of the International Astronomical Union will be held at Cambridge, England, from July 14 to 22.

THE third annual meeting of the Virginia Academy of Science was held in Richmond on May 1 and 2, together with the Virginia section of the American Chemical Society. At the business session the academy voted to become affiliated with the American Association for the Advancement of Science on the terms set forth in their recent memorandum on the relations between affiliated academies and the association, as has already been recorded in SCIENCE. Dr. Robert E. Loving, of the University of Richmond, was elected president for the coming year.

THE third annual banquet of the Sigma Xi club of the Kansas State Agricultural college, with several visiting members of the Sigma Xi chapter at the University of Kansas in attendance, was held on April 24. Sixty-two members, including fifteen from the University of Kansas, attended. Dr. R. K. Nabours, president of the local club, acted at toastmaster. Dr. Raymond C. Moore, head of the department of geology of the University of Kansas, and state geologist, spoke on "Contributions of geology to the progress of science." Dr. Nobel P. Sherwood, head of the department of bacteriology, spoke on "The service of medicine in the progress of man." Professor J. W.

McColloch, of the department of entomology at the Kansas State Agricultural College, discussed "The advancement of science with the study of insects," and E. C. Miller, of the department of botany, "The study of plants as an aid in scientific progress."

UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL
NOTES

THE sum of $200,000 has been given to the University of Chicago by Mr. Charles H. Swift. This gift has for its purpose the institution and maintenance of a "distinguished service professorship." It is the first professorship endowment at Chicago. yielding an income of $10,000. Other endowments are expected to follow to supply financial rewards for distinguished service. Present members of the faculty and outsiders will be eligible. Mr. Max Epstein has contributed $10,000 for "scientific work in medicine or one of the allied sciences." The university has also received $53,000 from Mr. Morton D. Hull and an anonymous gift of $50,000.

DR. GLENN FRANK, editor of The Century Magazine, has been elected president of the University of Wisconsin.

PROFESSOR GREGORY P. BAXTER, teacher of chemistry at Harvard since 1897, has been named Theodore William Richards professor of chemistry. This professorship was recently established at Harvard by Thomas W. Lamont, and Professor Baxter, a graduate of Harvard College in 1896, is the first incumbent. A second new chair in chemistry is also announced, the Sheldon Emery professorship of organic chemistry. Professor Arthur B. Lamb, director of the chemical laboratory, is named as the first incumbent of the new chair. Dr. William John Crozier, professor of zoology at Rutgers College, has been appointed associate professor of general physiology.

DR. J. E. WODSEDALEK, head of the department of zoology and director of pre-medical and graduate studies at the University of Idaho, has been made dean of the graduate school.

DR. EDWARD L. TROXELL, of Yale University, has been appointed professor of geology and dean at Trinity College.

DR. SEWALL WRIGHT, senior husbandman in charge of animal genetics in the bureau of animal industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture, has been appointed associate professor of zoology in the University of Chicago. Dr. Wright will have charge of the subject of genetics in the department of zoology dating from January 1, 1926.

THE following promotions have been made in the department of physics of the University of California: From assistant to associate professor, Frederick S. Brackett and Leonard B. Loeb; from instructor to assistant professor, J. J. Hopfield and V. F. Lenzen.

DR. WOLFGANG KOEHLER, professor of psychology in the University of Berlin, as has already been stated in SCIENCE, has been appointed visiting professor of psychology in Harvard University for the first semester of the year 1925-26. He, however, remains during this period visiting professor in Clark University, where he has been since February of this

year.

DR. HAROLD A. WILSON, F.R.S., professor of natural philosophy in the University of Glasgow, has accepted reappointment to the professorship of physics which he held at the Rice Institute from 1912 to 1924 inclusive.

DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE PHOTOGRAPHING THE SHADOW BANDS PREVIOUS to the recent solar eclipse great interest was displayed in the problem of photographing the shadow bands. The conditions were unusually favorable, and very many persons must have made attempts to photograph the bands. It was therefore to be expected that many such photographs would be taken and that some of them would find their way into the newspapers and magazines. However, up to the present moment I have neither seen such pictures nor seen in print any mention of their having been secured. It may therefore be of interest to know that a photograph of the shadow bands was secured by a photographer of this locality.

The negative is four by five inches in size and shows in the foreground five shadow bands on a plane snow surface. Unfortunately, the exposure was too short and the picture is therefore "thin." It could scarcely be reproduced for magazine or newspaper printing, but photographic copies are sufficiently clear to be of scientific interest. The only object in the picture serving to fix the size is a footprint in the snow. It is therefore difficult to estimate the size of the bands. Each shadow appears to be about eighteen inches long, three or four inches wide and separated from its neighbor by about ten or twelve inches. This agrees with the observations made by the writer at a point not much more than a mile from the photographer's station.

In all characteristics the photographs appear to represent wave phenomena. In length, width, relative position and shading, the shadows in the picture exactly imitate a water surface rippled by the wind. In fact, in looking at the picture one can not escape the feeling that the surface of the snow is thrown up in

waves, so perfect is the illusion of wave form. This agrees well with the suggestion that the shadow bands are caused by the light shining through a rippling surface of contact between two layers of air of differing density. This is supported by the observation made by the writer that the bands were moving in the same direction as the lower air currents (northeastward) and at approximately the velocity of the air movements.

The gentleman who made the photograph is Mr. Glen Lowry, a professional photographer, of Stroudsburg, Pa. He kindly supplies the following photographic data:

Location, three miles north of Port Jervis, N. Y., on road leading to Huguenot. Graflex camera, Eastman super-speed film, F 4.5 aperture, 1/1000 second exposure, exposure made just one minute after close of totality. The exposure might well have been five to ten times longer.

STATE NORMAL SCHOOL EAST STROUDsburg, Pa.

W. L. EIKENBERRY

THE GERMINATION OF BARLEY UNDER LATE SPRING MALTING CONDITIONS IN INDIA

THE malt houses of India are not equipped with the elaborate control apparatus found in many of our American plants. The summers are very hot and no malting is done in midsummer. To secure a longer malting season malt houses have been established in the hills at some elevation. I visited one of these at the time the last malt of the spring was on the floor. The temperature at this season is high and the air dry. Some peculiarities of germination under these conditions seem worthy of noting.

The barley is a very fine grade of grain with an unusual uniformity of development and soundness. In midwinter practically perfect germination is secured. The best malting conditions probably obtain in December. At this time the temperature of the malting floor is about 60° F. and the air sufficiently humid to grow the grain with no additional water after the soak. In June, however, when the last malting is done, the floor is actually hot to the touch. Daily sprinklings are given the grain. Yet at this time with high temperature (74° F.) the grain remains on the floor for twelve days or longer. Under fast malting conditions in the United States the plumules are often protruding in five or six days. The plumule of the high temperature malt of India has hardly started at the end of twelve days. The Royal Pilsen malt of Austria, which is commonly regarded as the world's best, is characterized by a growth of plumule two thirds the length of the grain in practically every kernel. The plumules of Ameri

The explanation of this behavior must rest in the fact that the optimum temperature for the germination of barley is fairly low and that its germination vigor decreases rapidly at temperatures higher than the optimum. The enzyme secretion must not be retarded to the same extent as growth. Maltsters in India believe that the local barleys do not germinate well until the winter season approaches and that the viability begins to wane by May. In June the percentage of germination is much reduced. Tests made in Washington from a sample of the barley which germinated weakly in India the previous June show its vitality to be unimpaired when grown at temperatures such as exist in India in December.

If saturated burlap were used to lower the temperature of the malting rooms and increase the humidity in India, it is probable that the June malt would behave more nearly like that of December.

AMANITA MUSCARIA IN MAINE Amanita muscaria in the coastal woods of eastern Maine is frequently found with pitted upper surface and indented edges, the pits and indentations bearing tooth marks apparently of rodents. The common red squirrel has twice been seen by the writer, holding bits of this mushroom in his fore paws and eating them. A friend, a geologist, says that he has a number of times observed the red squirrel's habit of eating this mushroom. Are these observations of any interest to students of mushroom poisoning?

MAYNARD M. METCALF

NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL

SCIENTIFIC BOOKS

A Text-book of General Botany. By WILLIAM H. BROWN. Ginn & Company, pp. xi + 484, 1925. Laboratory Botany. By WILLIAM H. BROWN. Ginn & Company, pp. xiv +168, 1925.

ON opening this most recent of the textbooks of botany one is surprised to find the author writing from a university in the tropics, the University of the Philippines. One's interest is at once aroused as to how the subject will be presented by one teaching in a tropical country, and whether a text so written is applicable to classes in temperate zone countries. We will let the book answer for itself.

There are two outstanding features in Professor Brown's text: first, its universality in the selection and presentation of subject-matter, and second, its excellent illustrations.

The first is the natural outgrowth of many unsuccessful attempts to adapt texts written by botanists in temperate zone countries for temperate zone students, for the use of students in tropical countries. The author states in his preface: "In this book an attempt has been made to treat botany from the standpoint of general principles rather than as illustrated by special plants used as types, and from a world point of view rather than from a local one." The author proceeds to carry out this purpose by discussing each topic in a general way; defining, describing and locating, whether it be a sieve tube or a starch grain, without mentioning what specific plants may be used to illustrate the point under discussion. This method gives the experienced instructor entire freedom to choose his sieve tubes from squash or sugar cane and his starch grains from potato or rice, hence meets the needs of the teacher in temperate and in tropical countries alike. The beginning instructor, on the other hand, will be aided by the complete labeling, including the name of plant used, of the many cuts used to illustrate the points discussed in the text. This feature will appeal to many botanists and is needed to counteract the seeming tendency to illustrate all botanical principles by the use of a few familiar plants.

The author emphasizes the similarity between botanical features in temperate zones and in the tropics and furthers his idea of the universal viewpoint in botany by his method of presenting such topics as leaf fall and annual rings connected with growth. He presents them as being the effects of adverse conditions rather than as due to a winter season. The necessity of stressing this method of presentation is easily seen when one remembers that even some recent textbooks of botany state specifically or leave the inference that all trees have annual rings of growth.

The illustrations, of which there are 518, are the most attractive feature of the book and are its most valuable contribution to the teaching of botany. Done directly under the author's supervision by assistants racially and temperamentally fitted for the most painstaking accuracy, they represent an enormous amount of patient work and study. And the result is worth the effort! The text is unique in the large number of original drawings. Of the 465 cuts (there are 53 half-tones) only 28 are redrawn wholly or in part from the works of others. The drawings certainly ought to be "an inspiration to the student and an incentive for him to make good ones himself." Considerably over half of the species used for illustrating various principles are of universal distribution, available in both temperate and tropical countries.

The plan of the book follows even more closely than recent texts the idea of the inseparability of structure and function. After a chapter on the plant and one on the cell, the leaf is discussed and, in the same chapter, such physiological topics as hydration, photosynthesis, respiration and transpiration. This is followed by a chapter on the stem, including responses, movement of materials and growth, and a chapter on the root, including absorption, growth and a discussion of soils. Each chapter ends with a discussion of specialized leaves, stems and roots, respectively. Chapters on the flower, heredity and evolution, and the fruit and seed follow; and under these headings the functions of pollination, digestion and germination are taken up. The divisions of plants, discussed under the headings Thallophyta, Bryophyta, Pteridophyta and Spermatophyta, cover only 128 pages, the greater part of the book being devoted to the structure and functioning of the higher green plants. The author believes that the greater importance of the higher plants in the students' environment justifies a greater amount of space being devoted to them. A final chapter on plant geography covers the various types of vegetation of the world as determined by environment, such as tropical rain forests, cold temperate deciduous forests, tundra, deserts, fresh-water vegetation and others. Several pages are devoted to succession and climax vegetation.

Controversial matter is avoided, but several of the

newer phases of botany are considered, such as colloids, hydration and the effect of light on growth. Certain points are discussed somewhat more fully than is usually the case in elementary texts; as movement of stomates, trichomes, phyllotaxy, arrangement of mechanical tissues, soils, Mendelism, plant breeding, evolution and the kinds of food stored in plants.

Care is taken to avoid using an undefined term, hence the first part of the text may seem cumbersome because of the definitions of terms given as the discussion proceeds. These terms are later however more fully explained in their proper place.

The laboratory botany follows the text closely and gives a series of 185 exercises, headed drawing, experiment, observation; or combinations of these depending on what is required in the exercise. The directions in the early exercises are very full, but as the student gains familiarity with the subject they are shortened. The author prefers that the student secure information not obtainable by observation of the specimen or the experiment from the manual rather than from the instructor. Likewise few questions are asked of the student, the author believing that "too many questions hinder rather than encourage independent thought and observation." The exercises, as is the case with the text, are written in a general way so as to be "applicable to average plants rather than to a particular species," thus furthering the author's emphasis on general principles of botany. The two books are intended to cover a year's work with beginning classes in botany but have been used for semester classes by omitting many of the laboratory exercises and portions of the text. Even in a year's course some of the material may be omitted at the discretion of the instructor. This applies particularly to the lower forms of plants.

Representing as it does the views of another botanist as to how the subject should be taught, the book is likely to be of interest and value to those engaged in teaching.

The publishers deserve credit for the excellent work done in reproducing the line drawings and the halftones.

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

RAYMOND KIENHOLZ

THE POSSIBLE ORIGIN OF THE

ANGIOSPERMS

DR. H. HAMSHAW THOMAS, lecturer in botany of Downing College, Cambridge, has just published an important paper under the caption: "The Caytoniales, a new group of angiospermous plants from the Jurassic rocks of Yorkshire."1 The origin of the

1 Phil. Trans. Royal Soc. London, Series B, vol. 213, pp. 299-363, pls. 11-15, Feb. 21, 1925.