government of India, the following officers of the Survey of India will accompany the expedition: Major H. T. Morshead and Captain Wheeler. The expedition will assemble at Darjeeling about May 10. MISS E. M. WAKEFIELD, F.L.S., mycologist, Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, England, is visiting the eastern United States and Canada on her way home from the British West Indies. She was the guest of honor at a dinner given by the women mycologists and pathologists of the U. S. Department of Agriculture on March 23. 66 DR. CHARLES A. Korom, of the University of California, delivered on March 29, at the Cleveland Medical Library, the third Hanna lecture on The clinical and medical significance of parasitic infections of the human intestine with especial reference to hookworm, amebic and flagellate infections." AT a joint meeting of the Washington Academy of Sciences and the Biological Society of Washington on April 2, Dr. A. D. Hopkins, U. S. Bureau of Entomology, delivered an address on "International problems in natural and artificial distribution of plants and animals." PROFESSOR WILLIAM DUANE, head of the department of bio-physics at the Harvard Medical School, gave on March 31 the first of three lectures open to the public at the Jefferson Physical Laboratory. Professor Duane spoke on "Radio Activity and X-rays." DR. GEORGE E. VINCENT, president of the Rockefeller Foundation, recently delivered the second of the Marshall Woods lectures at Brown University, his subject being "The university and public health." THE annual meeting of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters will be held at the University of Wisconsin on April 15 and 16. President E. A. Birge will deliver his presidential address at an informal diner for members of the academy and their friends to be held on Saturday evening, April 16. JOHN BURROUGHS, the distinguished naturalist, died on March 29, aged eighty-four years. DR. DELOS FALL, formerly of the faculty of Albion College and for forty-one years head of the department of chemistry of that institute, died at Bradentown, Florida, on February 19. IT is announced that the 20-inch lens for the telescope at Van Vleck Observatory of Wesleyan University has been delivered. The lens was ordered in 1914 from Jena, a few days before war was declared. THROUGH the gift of Miss Annie M. Alexander who has pledged more than $8,000 annually for a period of years, the University of California has been enabled to organize a Museum of Paleontology. Effected primarily for the advancement of research in paleontology and historical geology, it is expected that the investigators on the fossil mammals and fossil reptiles of the Pacific coast, begun by President John Campbell Merriam, of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, formerly professor of paleontology and historical geology and dean of the faculties, will be continued in the new department. Dr. Bruce L. Clark, assistant professor of paleontology, has been named director of the museum, while E. L. Furlong, assistant in paleontology, is expected to be appointed curator of the vertebrate collections. Included in the staff will be Chester Stock, instructor in palæontology, and Mr. Charles Camp, to be named vertebrate paleontologists. Comprising thousands of specimens of fossil plants, vertebrates and invertebrates, the present collections will be turned over to the museum, and the department of paleontology will cease to have a separate existence. Proper organization of this and other collections is stated to be one of the most important purposes for which the museum has been founded. THE museum of natural history of the University of Illinois has recently acquired the collection of mollusks made by the late Anson A. Hinkley, of Du Bois, Illinois. It contains upwards of 200,000 specimens, including the types or cotypes of 113 new species and five new genera and subgenera. It is rich in the littleknown regions of Alabama and other places in the southern states, and contains extensive material from Guatemala, Venezuela, Mexico, and other parts of Central and South America. Mr. Hinkley was a careful collector and the material includes valuable data as to place and habitat. It is the most valuable scientific collection received by the university in many years. The estate of the late Dr. W. A. Nason, of Algonquin, Ill., has presented Dr. Nason's collections to the museum. These consist of about 50,000 insects, mostly American and largely Illinois, 10,000 land, fresh water, and marine mollusks, and about 2,000 plants. SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY has come into possession, by gift, of the personal herbarium of Gertrude Norton, a native of Syracuse, and former student in Syracuse University. Miss Norton taught for some years in Salt Lake City, Utah, where she died in 1919. This herbarium embraces a collection of about one thousand specimens of the rare or more characteristic plants of Utah and of the Flathead region of Montana. THE state of Illinois has printed for the Natural History Survey of the state a second edition of a report by S. A. Forbes and R. E. Richardson on the fishes of Illinois, the original edition, published in 1908, having been out of print for several years. This report contains an account of the topography and hydrography of Illinois, a chapter on the distribution of Illinois fishes within the state and throughout the country, and full descriptions and many illustrations of the 150 species of fishes found in Illinois, with accounts of their distribution, habits, food, and uses so far as these are known. It is illustrated by 76 black and white figures and colored plates of 68 species. The main report of 492 pages is accompanied by an atlas of 102 maps of the state showing its stream systems, its glacial geology, the localities from which collections of fishes have been made by the Natural History Survey, and those from which each of the 98 more abundant species has been taken. A limited number of the edition is reserved for free distribution to libraries, educational institutions and specialists who have not received the first edition, and the remainder are offered in single copies to institutions and individuals at the cost of the reprint. THE death of Dr. John Iridelle Dillard Hinds is announced, at the age of seventythree years. Dr. Hinds was one of the founders of the American Chemical Society. He was born in North Carolina, educated in the preparatory schools of Arkansas, was for over forty years professor of chemistry in Cumberland University, the University of Nashville and Peabody College. At the time of his death he was chemist for the Geological Survey of Tennessee. UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS DR. ERNEST Fox NICHOLS, for the past year director of physical research at the Nela Park Laboratory, Cleveland, recently professor of physics at Colgate, Dartmouth, Columbia and Yale and president of Dartmouth College, has been elected president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to succeed the late Richard C. Maclaurin. GEORGE HOYT WHIPPLE, director of the Hooper Foundation at the University of California, has been appointed dean of the school of medicine, dentistry and surgery of the University of Rochester. PROFESSOR GEORGE H. PARKER has been appointed director of the Harvard Zoological Laboratory to succeed Professor E. L. Mark, who will retire from active teaching at the close of the current year with the title of professor emeritus, after having spent forty-four years in the service of the university. The new director, Professor Parker, has been associated with Harvard University since his graduation in 1887, and has held a full professorship of zoology since 1906. DR. OLOF LARSELL, associate professor of zoology at Northwestern University, has ac cepted the position of professor of anatomy in the medical school of the University of Oregon. DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE OSTEOMYELITIS IN THE PERMIAN Ir is always an interesting matter to be able to call attention to the earliest appearance in geological time of any phenomenon of nature which is common at the present time. It is especially important in ancient pathology to point out the similarity in form of the results of infective processes of ancient times with those of recent epochs. It is evident that the results of pathological processes have undergone no particular evolutionary change and one untrained in the study of fossil objects is able to recognize an example of osteomyelitis from the Permian if he is acquainted with modern pathology. The present specimen which shows this interesting phase of pathology is a posterior dorsal spine of a reptile of the Dimetrodon type and was collected in the Red Beds of Texas by Mr. Paul C. Miller, of the University of Chicago. The spine had been fractured near its base in a simple transverse break, the line of which is still evident, and from an ensuing infection a chronic osteomyelitis developed in the shaft of the bone producing a sinus-filled tumefaction which is to-day so characteristic of that condition. This argues for the presence of infective bacteria during the Permian such as have been demonstrated by the magnificent researches of Renault in the Paleozoic of France. This is the oldest vertebrate fossil showing the results of infection which has been seen or described, as it is likewise the oldest example of osteomyelitis. These statements apply only to fossil vertebrates for I have not sufficient knowledge of invertebrate forms to make a sweeping statement covering all fossil forms, but so far as my studies go I have seen no example of bacterial infection during the life of any Paleozoic form older than the reptile referred to above. This of course brings up the question as to the existence of a very mild form of pathology during the early geological periods. The entire problem of early pathol- DEPARTMENT OF ANATOMY, CHICAGO THE CHROMOSOMES OF CONOCEPHALUM DURING the winter and spring of 1919-20 study was made of the chromosomes of Conocephalum conicum for the purpose of determining whether or not there exists any visible difference between the chromosome groups of the two sexes. No such difference was found, but the chromosome number (haploid) is plainly nine instead of eight as reported by Farmer, Bolleter, and Escoyez. One of the chromosomes is very minute and may have been overlooked by these workers, or there may possibly be a difference in respect to the chromosome number between the European and the American races which are ascribed to this species. It is planned to secure plants from different localities and continue the study with reference to the chromosome number. AMOS M. SHOWALTER Department of Botany, UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN THE COST OF GERMAN PUBLICATIONS TO THE EDITOR OF SCIENCE: Concerning this topic I may be allowed, as one not long ago from a neutral country, to answer Mr. Howe's and Mr. Dock's letters (SCIENCE, Nov. 26, 1920, and Dec. 24, 1920, resp.) as follows: When, before the war, the Germans sold goods to this country at a lower price than they were sold in Germany, this fact was much resented here. When nowadays, after the war, the Germans sell goods to this country at a higher price, nominally, than they are sold in Germany, this fact is much resented here again. Note the inconsistency! If German books could be imported into this country at prices prevailing in Germany the result, most probably, would be that the American publishers would urge Congress to put high import-duties on them, as has been the case with scientific instruments. Or else, another group of people would get alarmed at the flood of German literature coming into the country and would interpret it as a revival of German propaganda. In either case it is easy to conjecture as to who is finally to become the loser. There is no doubt but that in either case the scientist will suffer the most, the broad-gauge scientist who holds the view that science has no political limits or national boundaries. Only a week or so ago I received a letter from my German book-dealer, a prominent publisher, by the way, who has from the start strongly opposed the placing of any surtax, whatsoever, on the export of German books and publications. He informed me that at last the German government has urged the "Börsenverein des deutschen Buchhandels " (the central organization that controls the price of books in Germany and abroad) to lower its export-tax (Valuta-zuschlag). The suggestion was acted upon favorably by this organization and as a result the tax has been lowered and fixed, for the time being, at 200 per cent. above the current price in Germany. To all appearances this percentage is not likely to go any higher since the rate of exchange, which has so far determined the surtax, has an upward trend. Even at the present rate a German book would cost much less in this country than before the war. Before one may pass judgment on the cases that seem discriminatory to the disadvantage of the foreign buyer in favor of the German, one should consider the fact that nowadays and for a long time to come, the outlay for a book of say 60 marks entails a much greater sacrifice for the German scientist than three times or even five times that amount in German marks to the scientist in America. It is the principle of "Relativity" that should guide us more in our judgments if they are to be unbiased. The German publisher to whom I have re ferred, Dr. W. Engelmann of Leipzig, has likewise informed me that he, at least, has abolished all foreign surtaxes on journals published by his firm. (It is a matter of regret to him that he is not (yet?) at liberty, owing to the binding regulations of the "Börsenverein " to do the same with his own books.) Nevertheless he finds it hard to get as few as 150 subscriptions to some of his publications, a modest figure indeed, the attainment of which is necessary to continue the publication of such invaluable periodicals as the Zeitschrift für wissenschaftliche Zoologie; Groth's Zeitschrift für Kristallographie und Mineralogie, (now under the editorship of the eminent. Swiss mineralogist, Professor P. Niggli, of Zürich); the Botanische Jahrbücher; and others. Two or three dollars in German money now enables an American scientist to take out a personal subscription for a whole year. I trust an appeal to internationally minded scientists and others is not out of place here. Subscriptions for foreign periodicals are needed and are most timely at the present writing in that they will help over times of difficulties such highly important journals of international scope as have been mentioned. Such an aid now is sure to benefit all parties concerned, both immediately and in the future. In conclusion I may add that another scientific journal of high worth must receive financial support, either through subscriptions or voluntary gifts, if it is to be saved from permanent suspension. I am this time referring to a publication devoted to soils, namely the International Review of Pedology or, as it is designated abroad in French and in German respectively: Revue internationale de pédologie and Internationale Mitteilungen für Bodenkunde. A group of Dutch agricultural chemists have taken steps to insure the continuation of that publication and voluntary gifts and subscriptions are solicited. Correspondence should be addressed to Dr. D. J. Hissink, in care of the Agricultural Experiment Station, Groningen, Holland. M. W. SENSTIUS SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY THE COST OF AMERICAN PUBLICATIONS IN ROUMANIA TO THE EDITOR OF SCIENCE: Foreseeing the high soar of science in the United States and desiring to be acquainted with the scientific events in that country and to pursue the activity of my numerous American friends and acquaintances, I have been for twenty years a subscriber to SCIENCE. In December last, I renewed my subscription of seven dollars, which cost now in Roumanian money 595 lei instead of 35 lei in 1914. In the university library of Cluj, otherwise well furnished, and in the libraries of the various institutes, the American publications are almost completely wanting; in the laboratories and clinics of our university there is no instrument or apparatus of American fabrication. The Hungarian administration, that had governed this university until 1919, had not yet discovered America. The leaders and professors of the actual Roumanian University are very desirous to acquire the American books and periodicals; they would like to make use of the best instruments and apparatus constructed in the United States. They can not conceive that a modern and progressive university, as theirs, should lack the intellectual and technical cooperation of the American science. But a microtome "Spencer" cost me 15,000 lei and a binocular "Spencer" 12,000 lei, to which must be added the transport and insurance expenses, etc. There is no scientific institute that could afford such an expenditure, and no Roumanian institution can make "scientific purchases" in the United States as long as the dollar is worth 90 lei. I take leave to draw the attention of the readers of your journal to this sad result of the world's war and to ask them if there might not be found any means to cure this evil, which is detrimental to both our nations. I have great hopes that from the American practical spirit and high love of science will spring the best solution of this great difficulty and therefore I beg the.editor of SCIENCE to SCIENTIFIC BOOKS Root Development in the Grassland Formation, a Correlation of the Root Systems of Native Vegetation and Crop Plants. By JOHN E. WEAVER. Carnegie Inst. Washington Publ. 292. 18 X 26 cm., 151 pp., 25 pl., 39 text fig. Washington, 1920. Students of plant physiology, ecology, agriculture and forestry, when they have taken occasion to survey the general field in which their own particular interests lay, must often have been greatly impressed with the extreme paucity of our knowledge of plant roots. Plant species have been described and redescribed, typical individuals have been photographed and painted, and thousands of pages in our libraries are devoted to the results of these descriptive studies and to their theoretical interpretation-but the far greater part of our accumulated knowledge of higher plants is closely confined to those portions of the plants that are readily seen and may be |