The urine of the horned lizard is excreted in the dry form at the same time as the feces, from which it is separated by a constriction of the common mass, the material voided at any one time having roughly the shape of a dumbbell, one of the enlargements being composed of urine and the other of fecal matter. The following figures for the composition of the urine of Phrynosoma cornutum (specimens obtained at Alamogordo, N. M.) have been obtained recently in the laboratory of physiological chemistry of the University of Illinois, the work having been undertaken at the suggestion and under the direction of Dr. H. B. Lewis. SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES AMERICAN MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY THE one hundred and ninety-third regular meeting of the American Mathematical Society was held at Columbia University on Saturday, October 27. The attendance at the morning and afternoon sessions included thirty-five members. Professor Oswald Veblen occupied the chair, being relieved by Professor L. P. Eisenhart. The council announced the election of the following persons to membership in the society: Dr. J. V. DePorte, State College, Albany, N. Y.; Mr. J. W. Lasley, Jr., University of North Carolina; Mr. Vincente Mills, Philippine Bureau of Lands; Professor B. M. Woods, University of California. Five applications for membership were received. A committee was appointed to audit the accounts of the treasurer for the current year. A list of nominations for officers and other members of the council was prepared and ordered printed on the official ballot for the annual election at the December meeting. The Secretary was directed to procure insurance to the amount of $10,000 on the library of the society, which is deposited in the Columbia Library. The following papers were read at this meeting: R. D. Carmichael: "Elementary inequalities for the roots of an algebraic equation."' Louise D. Cummings: "The two-column indices for triad systems on fifteen elements.'' G. A. Pfeiffer: "On the continuous mapping of regions bounded by simple closed curves. J. F. Ritt: "On the differentiability of asymptotic series.' "" W. B. Fite: "Concerning the zeros of the solutions of certain linear differential equations." J. E. Rowe: "Hexagons related to any plane cubic curve.' "" G. D. Birkhoff: "On a theorem concerning closed normalized orthogonal sets of functions with an application to Sturm-Liouville series." Edward Kasner: "Systems of circles related to the theory of heat." O. E. Glenn: "Systems of invariants and covariants of Einstein's theory of relativity." J. K. Whittemore: "Theorems on ruled surfaces.'' R. L. Moore: "On certain systems of equally continuous curves."' R. L. Moore: "Continua that have no continua of condensation."' J. R. Kline: "Necessary and sufficient conditions, in terms of order, that it be possible to pass a simple continuous arc through a plane point set." Oswald Veblen: "On the deformation of ncells.'' Oswald Veblen: "Deformations within an n-dimensional sphere. The San Francisco Section met at the University of California on October 27. The Southwestern Section will meet at the University of Oklahoma on December 1. The Chicago Section will meet with the Mathematical Asssociation of America at the University of Chicago on December 2829. The annual meeting of the society will be held at Columbia University on December 27-28. F. N. COLE, Secretary Cornell University Medical College in the City of New York Admits holders of baccalaureate degrees or seniors who can present a degree at the completion of the first year. All students must have completed College courses in Physics, Chemistry, and Biology. Instruction by the laboratory method continued throughout the course. Classes divided into small sections facilitating personal contact of student and instructor. Clinical teaching concentrated in those services of Bellevue and New York Hospitals under direct control of Cornell. Additional facilities in other Hospitals. Graduate Courses leading to the degrees of A.M. and Ph.D. are offered in the scientific departments of the Medical College under the direction of the Graduate School of Cornell University. Session opens the last week in September and closes the second week in June. Fees including all College charges do not exceed $200 a year. For further information and catalogue address Washington University Medical School REQUIREMENTS FOR ADMISSION Candidates for entrance are required to have completed at least two full years of college work which must include English, German, and instruction with laboratory work in Physics, Chemistry and Biology. INSTRUCTION Instruction begins on the last Thursday in September and ends on the second Thursday in June. Clinical instruction is given in the Barnes Hospital and the St. Louis Children's Hospital, affiliated with the medical school, the St. Louis Mullanphy Hospital, the St. Louis City Hospital, and in the dispensaries connected with these institutions. COURSES LEADING TO ACADEMIC Students who have taken their premedical work in Washington University, are eligible for the degree of B.S. upon the completion of the first two years of medical work. Students in Washington University may pursue study in the fundamental medical sciences leading to the degree of A.M. and Ph.D. TUITION The tuition fee for undergraduate medical students is $150 per annum. The catalogue of the Medical School and other information may be obtained by application to the Dean. Euclid Avenue and Kingshighway St. Louis Syracuse University College of Medicine Tulane University of Louisiana Entrance Two years of a recognized course in arts or in science in a registered college or Requirements School of Science, which must include German, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology. Six and seven years' combination courses are offered. The First Two The Third Year The Fourth Year Course are spent in mastering by laboratory methods the sciences fundamental to clinical medicine. is systematic and clinical and is devoted to the study of the natural history of disease, to diagnosis and to therapeutics. In this year the systematic courses in Medicine, Surgery and Obstetrics are completed. is clinical. Students spend the entire forenoon throughout the year as clinical clerks in hospitals under careful supervision. The clinical clerk takes the history, makes the physical examination and the laboratory examinations, arrives at a diagnosis which he must defend, outlines the treatment under his instructor and observes and records the result. In case of operation or of autopsy he follows the specimen and identifies its pathological nature. Two general hospitals, one of which is owned and controlled by the University, one special hospital and the municipal hospitals and laboratories are open to our students. The afternoons are spent in the College Dispensary and in clinical work in medical and surgical specialties and in conferences. Summer School-A summer course in pathology covering a period of six weeks during June and July will be given in case there is a sufficient number of applicants. COLLEGE OF MEDICINE (Established in 1834) School of Medicine— Admission: One year of college work in the sciences and a modern foreign language. After January 1, 1918, all students entering the Freshman Class will be required to present credits for two years of college work, which must include Biology, Chemistry and Physics, with their laboratories, and one year in German or French. Graduate School of Medicine A school for physicians desiring practical clinical opportunities, review, laboratory technic or cadaverio work in surgery or gynecology. Excellent facilities offered in all special branches. School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, including Preventive Medicine Systematic courses offered, leading to certificates in Public Health, diploma in Tropical Medicine, and to the degree of Dr. P. H. Laboratory, Clinic and Field Work. School of Pharmacy— Admission: Three years of high school work, or 12 units. Two years for Ph.G. degree. Three years for Ph.C.degree. For catalogs and all other information, address University of Alabama School of Medicine Mobile, Alabama Entrance Requirements The satisfactory completion of two years of study, in an institution of collegiate grade, to include Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and a reading knowledge of French or German. In addition to four year High School diploma. Combined Course The Combined Course which is now offered by the University in connection with its Medical Department gives to the student the opportunity of obtaining the B.S. and M.D. degrees in six years. This course is recommended to all intending students. The equipment of the school is complete. The clinical facilities ample. Eight full time teachers. For catalog and any desired information, address Tucker H. Frazer, M.D., Dean School of Medicine St. Anthony and Lawrence Sts., MOBILE, ALA. Rush Medical College IN AFFILIATION WITH The University of Chicago Curriculum.-The fundamental branches (Anatomy, Physiol- class is limited. Applications for admission next Autumn Hospital Year.-The Fifth Year, consisting of service as an interne under supervision in an approved hospital, or of advanced work in one of the departments is prerequisite for graduation for students entering the summer quarter, 1914, or thereafter. Summer Quarter.-The college year is divided into four quarters, three of which constitute an annual session. The summer quarter, in the climate of Chicago is advantageous for work. Elective System.-A considerable freedom of choice of courses and instructors is open to the student. Graduate Courses.-Advanced and research courses are offered in all departments. Students by attending summer quarters and prolonged their residence at the University of Chicago in advanced work may secure the degree of A.M., S. M., or Ph.D., from the University. Prize Scholarship.-Six prize scholarships-three in the first two years and three in the last two (clinical) years-are awarded to college graduates for theses embodying original research. The Winter quarter commences January 2, 1918. TUITION-$60.00 per quarter, no laboratory fees. Complete and detailed information may be secured by addressing THE MEDICAL DEAN The course of instruction occupies four years. The first two years are devoted to the fundamental sciences, and the third and fourth to practical clinic instruction in medicine and surgery. All the organized medical and surgical charities of the city of Augusta and Richmond County, including the hospitals, are under the entire control of the Board of Trustees of the University. This arrangement affords a large number and variety of patients which are used in the clinical teaching. Especial emphasis is laid upon practical work both in the laboratory and clinical departments. TUITION The charge for tuition is $150.00 a year except for residents of the State of Georgia, to whom tuition is free. For further information and catalogue address, The Medical Department, University of Georgia AUGUSTA, GEORGIA The Graduate School of the University of Minnesota offers Graduate Instruction in Medicine on a University Basis In The Medical School of the University and in The Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research Fellowships with living stipends. Desirable opportunity for military ineligibles. For details as to requirements for admission, residence, etc., address The Dean of the Graduate School University of Minnesota Minneapolis, Minn. or The Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research Rochester, Minn. SCIENCE FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1917 THE PRODUCTION OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE1 THE great value of scientific research both to the industries and to the nations at large is now generally recognized throughout the world and the last few years have seen a remarkable increase in the efforts made to stimulate the production of scientific knowledge. In 1914 the American Association for the Advancement of Science appointed a Committee of One Hundred to inquire into the steps which should be taken for the increase of scientific research in the United States and the work of this committee has been continued and expanded by the National Research Council. Among the European nations there is a great awakening to the national value of scientific research. The British government has appointed a Department of the Privy Council to deal with the subject, while it is announced that in France a new national laboratory on a very large scale has been projected. In Australia the government has appointed a special department to consider what steps should be taken for the organization and development of research. work in the Commonwealth, and in Canada the matter has been the subject of government inquiry and solicitude. The increase of scientific knowledge can be divided into three steps: first, the production of new knowledge by means of laboratory research; second, the publication of this knowledge in the form of papers and abstracts of papers; third, the digestion of the new knowledge and its absorp 1 Being a paper read before the Rochester Section of the Optical Society of America, October 23, 1917. tion into the general mass of information by critical comparison with other experiments on the same or similar subjects. The whole process, in fact, may be likened to the process of thought. We have first the perception by means of the senses. The percept is then stored in the memory and in the mind is compared with other previously stored percepts, and finally forms with them a conception. I desire in this paper to consider the methods by which these three sections of the production of knowledge may be carried on, to suggest an arrangement of laboratories to produce experimental results dealing with any branch of science, then to consider how the knowledge so obtained may best be stored and classified and finally the methods to be employed to make the results of scientific research available for application. 1. RESEARCH WORK The agencies engaged in scientific research are of several kinds. The traditional home of research work is in the university, and the bulk of the scientific production of the world comes from institutions connected with teaching. The industries are more and more supporting research laboratories, a large number of which contribute to the general fund of scientific knowledge by publishing the results which they obtain, and some of which are engaged upon purely scientific work of no mean order. Consulting and technical laboratories engaged in industrial work make frequent contributions to science, and there are some very important laboratories engaged in pure research work which are supported by philanthropic foundations. The classification of research laboratories is not altogether an easy task. They may obviously be classified according to the source of the funds which support them; that is, we may classify them as uni versity laboratories, industrial laboratories, government laboratories, institution laboratories, and so on, but if we look at them simply in the light of the research undertaken, this does not seem to be altogether a logical classification since there is little distinction between the work done in some university laboratories and some industrial laboratories, and the work of the government and institution laboratories again overlaps that of the two former classes. The University of Pittsburgh, for instance, has an industrial laboratory where definitely technical problems are dealt with. The research work on photometry done at Nela Park and at Cornell University would seem to be similar in kind, and work on physical chemistry or on the structure of chemical compounds is of the same type, requires the same class of workers, and produces the same results, whether it be done in a university, in a laboratory of the Carnegie Institution or in such an industrial laboratory as that of the General Electric Company. It is equally difficult to classify laboratories according to the purpose for which researches are avowedly carried on. Most university laboratories are willing to undertake work of industrial value, and, indeed, some specialize in such problems; while many industrial laboratories are quite willing to carry out a research of purely academic and theoretical interest provided the problems involved bear a relation to the general work of the laboratory. A useful classification of laboratories can, however, be obtained if we consider whether the problems investigated in a laboratory are all connected with one common subject or whether the problems are of many kinds, having no connecting bond of interest. I would suggest that the first type of laboratory might be called "con |