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DR. MAURICE H. GIVENS has resigned as chief of the department of biochemistry in the research laboratories of the Western Pennsylvania Hospital, Pittsburgh, Pa.

MONSIEUR BEHAL, professor in the Paris School of Pharmacy, has been elected a vicepresident and president for 1922 of the Paris Academy of Medicine to fill the vacancy caused by the death of M. Bourquelot. Professor Bénal has been a member of the Academy of Medicine since 1907, and was lately elected a member of the Academy of Sciences.

THE Council of the Institution of Civil Engineers has made the following awards for papers read and discussed during the session 1920-21: A Telford gold medal and a Telford premium to Mr. George Ellson (London); Telford gold medals to Sir Murdoch MacDonald (Cairo) and Dr. T. E. Stanton (Teddington); a George Stephenson gold medal to Mr. R. G. C. Batson (Teddington); a Watt gold medal to Mr. S. A. Main (Sheffield); and Telford premiums to Mr. Algernon Peake (Sydney, N. S. W.), Mr. L. H. Larmuth (London), Mr. H. E. Hurst (Cairo), Professor T. B. Abell (Liverpool), and Mr. Percy Allan (Sydney, N. S. W.).

THE observatory founded in 1913 by Sir Norman Lockyer and Lieutenant-Colonel F. K. McClean on Salcombe Hill, above Sidmouth, is henceforth to be called "The Norman Lockyer Observatory." It is proposed to place in the observatory a portrait of Sir Norman Lockyer, in the shape of a medallion, to be executed by Sir Hamo Thornycroft.

IT is announced in Nature that the annual meeting of the British Medical Association will be held at Newcastle-upon-Tyne on July 15-23, under the presidency of Professor David Drummond. On the occasion of the president's address on July 19 the gold medal of the association will be presented to Sir Dawson Williams, editor of the British Medical Journal since 1898, in recognition of his distinguished services to the association and the medical profession. In connection with the annual meeting in 1922, to be held at Glasgow, Sir William Macewen, Regius professor of sur

gery in the University of Glasgow, is announced as president-elect. The council of the association has recommended that the annual meeting in 1923 be held at Portsmouth.

UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS

THE Connecticut legislature is being asked for $625,000 for the State College, of which $400,000 is for a new science building for the chemical, botanical, physics, and bacteriological departments. The remainder is for maintenance during the ensuing biennium, and would be an increase from $150,000.

THE University of Virginia has received the promise of a gift of $100,000 from the Carnegie Corporation of New York on condition that the money shall be used for the purposes of permanent endowment, and that it shall be payable after there has been raised not less than $500,000 for permanent endowment from other sources.

PROFESSOR PAUL H. M.-P. BRINTON, head of the department of chemistry at the University of Arizona, has accepted appointment as professor of analytical chemistry in the school of chemistry at the University of Minnesota.

DR. CHARLES F. BROOKS, of the U. S. Weather Bureau, has been appointed associate professor of meteorology and climatology at Clark University.

DR. MEYER SOLIS-COHEN has been appointed assistant professor of internal medicine in the Graduate School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania.

DR. KLOTZ, of the chair of pathologic anatomy at the University of Pittsburgh, has accepted a call to the similar chair at São Paulo.

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Long life to the moon for a dear noble cratur Which serves for lamplight all night in the dark, While the sun only shines in the day which by natur

Wants no light at all as ye all may remark.

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was merely a manufactured story" without antecedent, it seems pertinent to remark that this idea of the independence of daylight and the sun is of great antiquity and somewhat common in early civilization.

For example, in the Hebrew story of creation we find:

.. God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light day, and the darkness he called night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. (Genesis I., 3—5.)

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On the second day God created the land and water and on the third day the flora. Not until the fourth day did God create the sun (Genesis I., 14-18) "to divide the day from the night," to be for a sign," "to rule the day" and incidentally "to give light upon the earth." Also, God set the "lesser light (the moon) to rule the night." It also gave light upon the earth. Evidently, the "Irishman's astronomy " and that of the South American Indians are in strict and complete accord with the concepts of the author of Genesis. Quite clearly, the day was light before the sun was set to rule" it, but the night was dark before the moon lighted it. It is not to be presumed that we can attribute any Irish wit to the author of Genesis, but it may be that the Irishman was a good orthodox churchman and, in common. with many others, accepted the scripture as his authority in science. However, the Indians' concept must have been of independent origin.

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Seriously, does it not appear that the ancients, even in a high degree of civilization, had only very vague and confused ideas of the relation between light and the sun?

Simple as it may appear to us to regard a luminous body as the source of some influence, which, acting on the eye, excites the sense of sight, much doubt appears to have existed among those who

first investigated the subject as to whether objects become visible by means of something emitted by them, or by means of something issuing from the eye of the spectator.1

Some of the Greeks conceived vision as due to something (light?) projected from the eye.

They all [some of the Greeks] had a confused notion that as we may feel bodies at a distance by means of a rod, so the eye may perceive them by the intervention of light. It is very remarkable that this strange hypothesis held ground for many centuries, and little or no progress was made in the subject till it was established on the authority of Alhazen in the eleventh century A. D., that the cause of vision proceeds from the object and not from the eye.2

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A SECTION OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION ON THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE TO THE EDITOR OF SCIENCE: As one of a group interested in the formation of a section on the history of science, I would venture to suggest that the inclusive nature of the designation-History of Science is well illustrated by the use of the word "science" by the parent organization. Surely a section has the same right to include historical, philological, and other sciences, which touch the history of science under the designation— History of Science as the parent organization has in its use of the term. The history of science touches diverse fields, and as this 1 Preston, Theory of Light, 3rd Ed., p. 2.

2 Preston, p. 5.

3 Preston, p. 4.

subject becomes more intensely pursued in American Universities the contact with philology, anthropology, history, and allied subjects will increase. To group "philological science" with "history of science" is absolutely unnatural; it has an implication, apparently, that the history of science is to be studied from the philological standpoint. No one would question that philology does frequently contribute, but it can hardly be said. to represent a fundamental method in the history of science.

History of science, using science with the inclusive meaning as in the title A. A. A. S., is surely the proper name for the new section now under way.

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The Crisis of the Naval War. By Admiral of the Fleet, VISCOUNT JELLICOE OF SCAPA, G.C.B., O.M., G.C.V.O. 259 pages; 8 plates, 6 charts and appendices. George Doran Co. 1921.

This is a companion volume to Admiral Jellicoe's "The Grand Fleet, 1914-1916" which was reviewed in these columns.1 The meeting in battle of the fleets of Great Britain and Germany was in its essence, a try-out of scientific methods of annihilation, as developed by the leading scientific nations of the world. It was said of the earlier volume that the book might aptly carry as a sub-title Science Afloat up to 1916."

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The present volume gives developments during 1917. It is not the story of a great fight like Jutland; but of undersea warfare, in which the submarine, like an assassin, struck from behind or below. Warfare on the sea had changed materially; and battleships needed screening from torpedo and mine, equally with transport and merchantman. One may well ask at this point, Was Jutland" (in some respects the greatest naval battle ever fought; but on the whole the least decisive and most unsatisfactory) "the last great sea

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1 SCIENCE, N. S., Vol. L., No. 1279, pp. 21-23, July 4, 1919.

fight?" It seems likely; and the long line from Salamis down, draws to an end. The decisive conflicts of the future will be fought by aerial squadrons.

The present volume contains 12 chapters. The first deals with Admiralty organization and tells of the changes made in 1917. The Admiral believes that specialists (which means scientific experts) should be part of the staff, not just attached. He says:

In the Army there is, except in regard to artillery, little specialization. The training received by an officer of any of the fighting branches of the Army at the Staff College may fit him to assist in the planning and execution of operations, provided due regard is paid to questions of supply, transport, housing, etc. This is not so in the Navy.

He proceeds to show that naval officers are quite a different order of being from land officers. Further discussion of this view may be omitted here. But the Admiral preaches sound gospel, so far as men of science are concerned, when he says:

Human nature being what it is, the safest procedure is to place the specialist officer where his voice must be heard, that is, give him a position on the staff.

Some rather forceful remarks follow to the effect that various divisions are not to work in water-tight compartments, but must be in close touch with one another.

We notice that in the Admiralty reorganization,

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The well-known electrical consulting engineer has consented to serve as director of Experiments and Research, at the Admiralty—unpaid. We italicize one word and refrain from comment.

Chapter II. gives the general features of the Submarine Campaign in the early part of 1917. We are let in on certain state secrets; such as,

"Experienced British officers aware of the extent of the German submarine building program, and above all aware of the shadowy nature of our existing means of defense against such a form of warfare" realized that the Allies "" were faced with a situation fraught with the very gravest possibilities."'

Throughout the chapter and also in later chapters we are given clearly to understand that the enemy submarine campaign was the gravest peril which ever threatened Great Britain.

Chapter III. tells of Anti-Submarine Operations; and while the volume lacks a dramatic climax, like Jutland, the reader whose blood runs faster because of heroic deeds, can find in this chapter stirring records of courage and defiance to the end, by the officers and men on decoy ships, drifters, trawlers and minesweepers.

Chapter IV. describes the Introduction of the Convoy System. There were not enough destroyers to give adequate protection. Requests for protection came from every quarter, but "the vessels wanted did not exist." At the end of February, 1917, the enemy had 130 submarines of all types in home waters and 20 in the Mediterranean.

A very serious situation followed the sinking of so many tankers or fuel oil ships. These vessels of great length and slow speed presented the easiest of targets for a torpedo from a submerged submarine. The reserve of oil became so perilously low that directions were issued limiting the speed of warships burning oil.

Other chapters describe the effect of the entry of the United States, the Patrol Craft and Minesweeping, Production at the Admiralty-and the Future.

The impression left on the reader is that the big fleets, big guns and big ships were to a certain degree side-tracked; and that the smaller units did most of the work and were the effective factors in winning the war. The Admiral clearly indicates this in an eloquent passage on page 188.

I regret very deeply that in spite of a strong desire to undertake the task, I have neither the

information nor the literary ability to do justice to the many deeds of individual gallantry, selfsacrifice and resource performed by the splendid officers and men who manned the small craft. No words of mine can adequately convey the intense admiration which I felt and which I know was shared by the whole Navy for the manner in which

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their arduous and perilous work was carried out. These fine seamen though quite strange to the hazardous work which they were called upon to undertake quickly accustomed themselves to their new duties; and the Nation should ever be full of gratitude that it bred such a race of hardy, skil ful and courageous men as these who took so great a part in defeating the greatest menace with which the Empire has ever been faced.

The references to the American Navy, and in particular to Admiral Sims, are most complimentary. The laying of the mine barrage from Scotland to Norway indicates how far modern warfare at sea has changed since the days when Captain Mahan wrote his treatise on Sea Power."

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In the future, the seaplane, greatly developed of course from its present stage, will be the effective unit, both in offense and defense. With perhaps more truth the words of the Admiral regarding specialized training will hold for officers of the Air Service.

ALEXANDER MOADIE

Diseases of Economic Plants. By F. L. STEVENS. New York, The Macmillan Company.

This is a revised edition of a former work under the same title by Stevens and Hall. It will be welcomed not only by the professional botanists, but also by a very large number of teachers, county farm demonstrators and others who are finding plant pathology a subject of increasing interest and importance. The importance of plant diseases and the very rapid progress of plant pathology makes frequent revision of a work of this kind imperative. The general plan of the work is very similar to the original edition but is somewhat enlarged and has been brought up to date. The author pays a pleasing tribute to our American workers by inserting the pictures of Farlow, Burrill, Halsted, Bessey, Atkinson and E. F. Smith, who are so well known to all students of mycology and plant pathology.

The discussions are arranged with reference to the crops on which the diseases occur. The diseases are grouped mostly with reference to

the crops on which they occur and are subdivided into diseases of major and minor importance. This arrangement is especially serviceable to those who are not specialists on plant diseases. The descriptions of the symptoms are brief, clear and very readable. There is no attempt whatever to discuss the organisms which are the causes of these diseases but references are given to some of the more important publications. Each disease is designated by its common name; the scientific name for both the imperfect and the perfect stages, where known, are placed in parenthesis. The book also contains chapters on the history of the subject, damages due to plant diseases, prevention and cure, general diseases which attack a large number of crops, fungicides and soil disinfection. The chapter on cost of spraying which was in the first edition is very properly omitted since this is a varying factor dependent on cost of materials and labor.

The work is intended primarily as a textbook and it will prove of great service to all teachers of plant pathology. Possibly its greatest value lies in the brief, clear descriptions which are of such great importance in making diagnoses of diseases in the field. The student of mycology will also find it an important supplement for his work on economic forms. The horticulturists, nurserymen, county farm demonstrators, progressive farmers and in fact all others who are interested in the applications of agriculture will find it an extremely useful reference book.

The mechanical make-up of the work is good except for the crowded arrangement of the bibliography which would lead any one who uses it to fear that the supply of paper is exhausted.

NEW JERSEY AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION

MEL T. COOK

SPECIAL ARTICLES

THE Y-CHROMOSOME IN MAMMALS

THE majority of workers on mammalian spermatogenesis have described the sex-chro

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mosome as being of the X-O type but recent investigations in this field by the author indicate that the X-Y type of chromosome may be more common than is generally thought. In the opossum, an animal for which the X-O type of sex-chromosome has been described, the writer finds a typical X-Y sexchromosome complex. Both the X and Y components may be recognized in spermatogonial and somatic divisions because of their distinctive size. In the first maturation division the X and Y elements segregate apart to opposite poles of the cell, and in the second maturation division both divide equationally. Hence half of the sperm carry an X and half carry a Y chromosome.

The diploid chromosome number for both the male and female opossum is 22, and not 17 or 24 as concluded by previous investigators.

In the testes of both the white man and the negro I have found in the first spermatocytes a chromosome pair which is similar in appearance and behavior to the X-Y chromosome of the opossum. The two members of this pair, in the human, representing the X and Y components, are unequal in size; they segregate apart in the first maturation division just as in the case of the opossum.

It will be of general interest to biologists to know that the diploid number of chromosomes for man is very close to the number (47) given by Winiwarter.2 In my own material the counts range from 45 to 48 apparent chromosomes, although in the clearest equatorial plates so far studied only 46 chromosomes have been found. Before a final conclusion is made on the exact number it is desired to make a careful study of a large number of division plates. There can be absolutely no question, however, but that the diploid number of chromosomes for both the white man and the negro falls between 45 and 48. With the X-Y type of sex-chromosome we 1 The writer's work now in press.

2 Winiwarter, H. von, 1912, Arch. de Biol., Vol. 27.

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