briefly concerning the establishment of Federal Fisheries Experiment Stations. The course of popular scientific lectures is being continued on Sunday afternoons at 3 o'clock in the auditorium of the Museum in Golden Gate Park. Announcements are made as follows:

December 16, The growth and transformation of insects (illustrated): Professor E. O. Essig, College of Agriculture, University of California.

December 23, The distribution of plants in California (illustrated): Professor Douglas Campbell, Department of Botany, Stanford University.

December 30, A fiesta of Indian summer: Professor C. L. Edwards, Director of Nature Study, Los Angeles Schools.

January 6, Midwinter birds of Golden Gate Park (illustrated): Professor Joseph Grinnell, Director of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California.

January 13, Fish and game in California (illustrated by motion pictures): Dr. H. C. Bryant, Game Expert, California Fish and Game Commission.

THE next meeting of the Botanical Society of Washington will be held at the Cosmos Club, Washington, D. C., January 3, 1918. Abstracts of the papers presented will be published in the Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences. The program is as follows:

The botany and economics of the tribe Phaseoleæ, C. V. Piper.

Morphological characters and food value of soybean varieties, W. J. Morse.

Fermented soy-bean products, Dr. Chas. Thom. The American species of the genus Phaseolus, Dr. D. N. Shoemaker.

THE Journal of the British Medical Association reports that at a meeting of the Société Internationale de Chirurgie in Paris on November 3, 1917, which was attended by delegates from Belgium, France, Great Britain, Serbia, and the United States, it was resolved to dissolve the society after the publication of the volume of Transactions of the meeting held in New York on April 14, 1914. It was

further resolved that, should there be any assets after the publication of this volume, the money shall be divided pro rata amongst the members, so that each member of the Germano-Austrian group shall receive his share, but that the shares belonging to members of other nations shall be retained and applied to some object of scientific reparation in Belgium. The meeting then determined that a new society shall be formed after the war on a basis similar to that of the Société Internationale de Chirurgie. It will be called the Société Interalliée de Chirurgie, but will be open also to such surgeons of neutral countries as may be nominated for election by the general committee.

A NEW journal of neurology and psychiatry in German, French and Italian has recently appeared under the direction of C. Von Monakow, professor of neurology in the University of Zurich, with the collaboration of all the well known Swiss neurologists and psychiatrists. The assistant editors in neurology are Dr. Bing (Basel), Dr. Minkowski (Zurich), and Dr. Naville (Geneva); in psychiatry, Professor Dr. Weber (Geneva) and Professor Dr. Maier (Zurich).

DR. F. W. CLARKE, chairman of the International Committee on Atomic Weights, writes in the Journal of the American Chemical So

ciety that on account of the difficulties of correspondence between its members, due to the war, the International Committee on Atomic Weights has decided to make no full report for 1918. Although a good number of new determinations have been published during the past year, none of them seems to demand any immediate change in the table for 1917. That table, therefore, may stand as official during the year 1918.

THE Science Club of the University of Oregon recently elected the following officers for the ensuing year: President, Dr. W. D. Smith, of the department of geology; Secretary, Dr. C. H. Edmondson, of the department of zoology. The following program has been arranged for the year:

November. "Symposium on research," Professor O. F. Stafford, chairman.

May. "Biologic investigations in southern California," Mr. Shelton.

THE chief signal officer requests that help be given to the Signal Corps of the army to obtain lenses enough for cameras for the fleet of observation airplanes now being built. The need is immediate and of great importance; the airplanes are the eyes of the army and the camera lenses are the pupils of those eyes. German lenses can no longer be bought in the open market. England met this difficulty in the earlier stages of the war by requiring lens owners to register lenses and requisitioning those needed. The Bureau of Standards of the United States Department of Commerce is now perfecting a substitute for the German 66 crown barium" glass used for lenses and will later be able to meet the needs, and special lenses are being designed for this work. The situation now, however, is that, with airplanes soon to be ready for service, suitable lenses can not be bought. Hundreds are needed at once. Possessors of the required types are urged to enlist their lenses in the army. They are asked immediately to notify the photographic division of the Signal Corps, United States Army, Mills Building Annex, Washington, D. C., of lenses of the following descriptions which they are willing to sell, stating price asked: Tessar anastigmat lenses, made by Carl Zeiss, Jena, of a working aperture of F. 3.5 or F. 4.5 from 8 to 20 inches focal length. Bausch & Lomb Zeiss tessars, F. 4.5, from 8 to 20 inches focal length. Voigtlander Heliar anastigmat lenses, F. 4.5, 8 to 20 inches focal length.

SECRETARY LANE, of the department of the interior, on August 16, formally authorized the

establishment of a new mining experiment station under the jurisdiction of the school of mines at the University of Minnesota. Minnesota is one of two institutions to be so designated. The other bureau was established at Columbus, Ohio, the recognized center of the clay-working industries of the United States. In recommending the University of Minnesota to Secretary Lane for the site of one of the proposed stations, Director Manning, of the bureau, said that at the present rate of production the high grade ores of Minnesota will become almost exhausted the next thirty years and it will be the duty of the bureau to endeavor to show the way to utilize the huge deposits of low-grade ores if the industry is to continue to prosper. The station is to work in a cooperative way with the University of Minnesota, an agreement to that effect having been signed by both parties.

DURING the past summer, Professor C. H. Edmondson, of the department of zoology of the University of Oregon, has been conducting a survey of the shellfish resources of the northwest coast, under the direction of the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries. The survey is a part of the general conservation of food campaign undertaken by the federal government. In the course of the work the coast of Oregon has been traversed from about five miles south of Bandon to the mouth of the Columbia River and the Washington coast north to Gray's Harbor. All the important bays and inlets were visited and the species and relative abundance of the edible clams noted. The purpose of the survey, however, is not merely to determine the location of the edible shellfish, but to aid in all possible ways the increase of this type of food supply and to encourage the general public to make greater use of clams and mussels as a partial substitute for the higher priced meats. Few realize the abundance of food represented by the immense quantities of shellfish distributed along this coast or how cheaply edible clams may be obtained from the towns of Marshfield, Florence, Newport or Tillamook. In view of the fact that little is known of the life history of any of these shellfish of our coast, Professor

Edmondson has initiated experimental work at Florence, Newport and Tillamook for the purpose of determining the rapidity of growth, the age, the spawning season and the conditions under which certain of the edible clams best thrive. These experiments will be carried on throughout the year or until satisfactory results are obtained.

A QUESTIONNAIRE was recently circulated among the members of the Chartered Institute of Secretaries of Great Britain for the purpose of obtaining opinions in regard to the adoption of a decimal system of coinage in the United Kingdom, and the substitution of the metric system for the existing United Kingdom weights and measures. Of the replies received 85 per cent. considered that a change to a decimal system of coinage would be favorable to the business in which they were engaged, and 66 per cent. favored a £1 basis of coinage in preference to the "Imperial Crown" or dollar basis. In regard to weights and measures, 86 per cent. favored a change to the metric system, 53 per cent. of whom already used that system in their business. One member expressed the opinion that a strong commission of able men should be asked to decide whether the continental system, which was forced upon countries at a time when violence, rather than reason, prevailed, had been really satisfactory.

UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS

IN honor to Andrew S. Hallidie, inventor of the use of the cable railway for passenger traffic in cities, who was a regent of the University of California from 1878 to 1900, the regents of the university have given the name "Hallidie Building" to a building which they are now erecting in San Francisco as an investment of University endowment funds.

W. J. SPILLMAN, chief of the office of farm management, U. S. Department of Agriculture, has accepted the deanship of the newly created college of agriculture at the State College of Washington. He will take up his new duties April 1, 1918, after he has com

pleted a survey of the farm labor situation in the United States, upon which he is engaged as an emergency war measure.

A DEPARTMENT of plant pathology has been created by the regents of the State College of Washington, Dr. F. D. Heald, formerly professor of plant pathology, has been made head.

PROFESSOR F. L. WASHBURN of the University of Minnesota has been relieved of his present position in the Agricultural College and station and as state entomologist, and has been given the title of professor of economic vertebrate zoology, to take effect on February 5.

DR. A. L. TATUM, professor of pharmacology in the University of South Dakota, has been appointed assistant professor of pharmaology and physiology in the University of Chicago.

MR. ROY RICHARD DENSLOW, assistant tutor in the department of chemistry, College of the City of New York, has been appointed instructor in Smith College.

DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE THE PITTSBURGH MEETING OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE

[The following letter was delayed in the mails and reached SCIENCE just too late for publication in the last number.]

TO THE MEMBERS OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE:

WHEN the American Association for the Advancement of Science and all similar societies planned their winter meetings, the present situation could not have been foreseen. We had not even entered the war, and did not dream of a congestion of transportation such as now exists. When the present situation had developed, it was (in the opinion of a majority of the committee having power) too late to postpone our meeting.

Transportation is now so greatly overtaxed that necessaries of life can barely be carried; the railways should be spared every extra burden. Great simultaneous pilgrimages on important trunk lines are especially to be avoided, since they demand extra trains, need

ing extra locomotives and coal, and causing much confusion. Therefore, in my opinion it behooves every patriotic and unselfish member to consider very seriously whether he can really serve his country by attending the meeting, or whether he can not better serve in this fateful time by staying at home, especially during a period of highly congested travel, when many of our soldiers may wish to take leave of their families before departing for the front. I believe that only those persons bringing really important contributions to the problems of the war should attend such meetings now. All others, in my opinion, should conserve their money for Liberty bonds and for those in distress, and should save their strength for action in this time of extraordinary crisis. For these reasons, with great regret, I have decided not to attend the meeting at Pittsburgh.

So far as I have been able to ascertain, all the responsible authorities at Washington concerned with transportation agree with me as to the importance of avoiding unnecessary journeys in such a crisis.

The very great usefulness of the American Association for the Advancement of Science is not dependent upon the unbroken continuity of its social meetings.

Science is incalculably important, indeed indispensable, in this world-wide cataclysm. The excellent work of the association in the past is now bearing fruit; but this moment demands action rather than general discussion. We must devote all our energies to winning the war. Let us all make every endeavor to apply our knowledge and strength in our country's noble cause.

CAMBRIDGE, MASS.,

THEODORE W. RICHARDS

December 15, 1917

THE BEARING OF THE FACTS REVEALED BY ANTARCTIC RESEARCH UPON THE PROBLEMS OF THE ICE AGE1

RECENT Antarctic explorations and researches have yielded significant evidence re

1 This term as used by the writer refers to the Great Ice Age of Pleistocene Time. He holds that the occurrences of ice as a geologic agent of mag

garding the problems of the Ice Age, and, of the similarity of the succession of geological climates in polar with those in other latitudes.2

These researches have been prosecuted to the ultimate limit of courage, devotion to duty and endurance-the noble sacrifice of lifeas in the cases of Captain Scott, R.N., and his devoted companions and members of the expedition of Sir Ernest Shackleton.

The data secured by these expeditions are alone sufficient to establish the following premises:

1. That Antarctic ice, although covering areas several times larger than all other ice covered areas, is slowly decreasing in extent and depth.

2. That the same succession of geological climates have prevailed in Antarctic as in other latitudes.3

So vital are these evidences of the retreat of Antarctic ice that it may be well to briefly quote or refer to the most prominent instances:

All these evidences and many others which space will not allow me to mention lead up to one great fact-namely, that the glaciation of the Antarctic regions is receding.4

The ice is everywhere retreating.5

The high level morains decrease in height above the present surface of the ice, the débris being two thousand feet up near the coast and only two hundred feet above near the plateau.

(Scott's lecture on the great ice barrier.") nitude during eras preceding the Pleistocene were not "world wide" nor as "phenomenal," nor were they preceded, accompanied nor followed by conditions as significant as corresponding phenomena of the Ice Age. (Compte Rendú du XI ième Congrès Géologique International, p. 1105. Stockholm, 1910.)

2Scott's Last Expedition," Vol. II., p. 206. 8 This part of the evidence is not considered in this paper except inferentially as bearing upon the general subject.

4 Scott, "The Voyage of the Discovery," Vol. II., page 416. See also pp. 423-24-25, and sketch map of ice distribution, p. 448.

5 Scott, "National Antarctic Expedition, 19001904," Vol. I., p. 94.

"Scott's Last Expedition," Vol. II., p. 294.

This observation applies to an ice-covered area of over 116,000 square miles.

Mr. Griffith Taylor notes the recession of Dry Valley Glacier twenty miles from the sea below Taylor Glacier."

Mr. Taylor also notes and speaks with confidence of the passage of the Ice Age from Antarctica.8

In speaking of the evidence of ice retreat over Antarctic areas explored by him, Sir Ernest Shackleton said:

Some time in the future these lands will be of use to humanity."

This impressive and conclusive evidence is corroborated by the greater and still more impressive evidences of the comparatively recent uncovering of temperate land areas,10 and the progressive retreat of the snow line to higher elevations in temperate and tropical latitudes and towards the poles at sea level, being far greater in Arctic than in Antarctic regions. We are therefore confronted with the conclusions:

1. That the disappearance of the Ice Age is an active present process and must be accounted for by activities and energies now at work, and that the use of assumptions and hypotheses is not permissible;

2. That the rates and lines of retreat are and have been determined by exposure to solar energy and the temperatures established thereby; and by the difference in the specific heat of the land and water hemispheres;

3. That the lines of the disappearance of ice are not conformable with those of its deposition, and mark a distinctly different ex

7 Ib., p. 286.

8 Ib., p. 288. See also photograph following p. 286 and p. 292.

Address to the Commonwealth Club, San Francisco, Calif., November 7, 1916.

10 Slight fluctuations in the retreat of the small residual glaciers in temperate latitudes are noted in the reports of the Commission on Glaciers of the International Geological Congress by Professor Harry Fielding Reid. But the great

measures of the progressiveness of glacial retreat are in the past disappearance of the Pleistocene ice fields of temperate latitudes and the present retreat in the Antarctic and Arctic regions.

posure and climatic control from that which prevailed prior to the culmination of the Ice Age.

4. This retreat also marks a rise in mean surface temperature along these new lines, manifestly due to recently inaugurated exposure to solar radiation and also the inauguration of the trapping of heat derived from such exposure; which process is cumulative and has a maximum not yet reached.

The researches under the direction of Captain Scott and Sir Ernest Shackleton have therefore very rigidly conditioned any inquiry as to the causes of glacial accumulation and retreat. These conditions are CORRECTIVE and DIRECTIVE-corrective, in that they have entirely removed any doubts as to the alternate glaciation of the poles under the alternate occurrence of aphelion and perihelion polar winters by the precession of the equinoxes, as advanced by Croll; directive, in that they have imposed an appeal to energies now active as causes of retreat, and divested the problem of resorts to the fascinating but dangerous uses of suppositions and hypotheses.

They have, moreover, pointed out with unerring accuracy the vital conclusion that the same energies which have but recently converted the glacial lake beds of Canada into the most productive grain fields of the world will in time convert the tundras of to-day into the grain fields of to-morrow.11

The bearing of this conclusion upon the ultimate development of the human race is so far-reaching in its consequences that the great sacrifice of life attendant upon the prosecution of these researches stands forever as a memorial in the correction of the erroneous and wide spread conception that the earth is in a period of refrigeration, desiccation and decay; and establishes the conclusion that it is in the spring time of a new climatic control during which the areas fitted for man's uses are being extended and that the moss of polar wastes will be replaced by rye and wheat. MARSDEN MANSON

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA

11 See also Compte Rendú du XIième Congrès Géologique International, p. 1102. Stockholm, 1910.