is believed to represent readvance, or at least a long pause in the ice front. For these somewhat regular oscillations no secular cause appears adequate except the precision of the equinoxes, and Taylor figures the time, using the minimum of the precession periods, as 75,000 to 150,000 years. In New York we have many clear proofs of the great length of Glacial and Postglacial time. One of them refers to continental land uplift. Since the glacier passed off from New York the land at the north boundary has risen 740 feet, and that rise is all subsequent to the deposition of the Hudson-Champlain clays, though not to that of the clays of the St. Lawrence. Any measurement of time by counting seasonal lamination of the Pleistocene clays will require conscientious study of many sections, with the same scrupulous care that Huntington gave to the counting of the growth rings in the California Big Trees. The clay record, it should be repeated, is only the time while the latest ice sheet was passing off, and that time is only a fraction of glacial time, to say nothing of true Postglacial time. It is apparent that the proposed study can not be done hurriedly, by reconnaissance and cursory methods. It is the work of a lifetime, and when done is little more than a guess. Possibly such study might develop criteria and methods that would give precision. To attribute the long-period variation in world climate which produced the Pleistocene Glacial Period, and other vastly more ancient glaciation, to variability in solar radiation is the easiest way of explaining a difficulty. It has no scientific basis. We would better seek causes for climatic changes in the known geologic and atmospheric changes. For this Professor Chamberlin has blazed the path. UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER H. L. FAIRCHILD GENERAL RESOLUTIONS OF THE PANPACIFIC SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE1 1. FUTURE CONFERENCES SINCE the present conference has been found highly inspiring and illuminating and an in1 Held at Honolulu, August 2 to 20, 1920. valuable aid in defining the essential problems of the Pacific region, be it Resolved that future similar conferences should be held at intervals of not over three years. 2. PERMANENT ORGANIZATION The results of the First Pan-Pacific Conference have demonstrated the high value of meetings for the discussion of problems common to all countries whose interests lie wholly or in part within the Pacific area; and have shown that the problems relating to the welfare of Pacific peoples are too large and too complex to be solved satisfactorily except by sympathetic cooperation of individual institutions and governmental agencies. To develop a unity of interest and to make harmonious coordination practicable, it seems desirable that some permanent organization be established which may serve as the point of contact for representatives of various interests in the countries of the Pacific. Be it therefore Resolved that the attention of the governor of Hawaii be called to the great opportunity afforded by an organization designed for the advancement of the common interests of the Pacific, including scientific research, and to the desirability of taking action which may lead to the development of such an organization vouched for and supported by the various Pacific countries. 3. INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL Since this conference commends the organization of the International Research Council as a means toward coordinating research in science; be it. Resolved that it is the desire of this conference that any agency created for the guidance of scientific research and exploration in the Pacific region may be affiliated with the council and with the various national research councils of the nations of the Pacific. 4. SHIPS FOR EXPLORATION The cost of scientific researches in the Pacific which involve the continuous use of a ship is prohibitive for most scientific institutions and individuals. The results of the Challenger and the Wilkes expeditions have demonstrated the great advantage gained by the use of government-owned ships for scientific exploration. Be it therefore, Resolved that this conference unites in inviting the attention of governments to the desirability of providing vessels for suitably planned expeditions. 5. PROMOTION OF EDUCATION The results of scientific research have led to extensions of human knowledge and to increased control of the forces and resources of nature the values of which can not be measured. All scientific work which is well done is of value, and no man can predict to what useful purposes the results of any investigation, no matter how recondite, may be put. It is of fundamental importance that sufficient numbers of young men and women of first class ability shall be adequately trained, and that teachers and investigators shall be properly compensated. This conference therefore, Recommends: 1. That in order that young men may enter upon scientific careers without sacrificing all hope of reasonable financial returns, the compensation for instruction and for research in science be increased so that all can at least be assured of a comfortable living for themselves and their families, and that men of exceptional attainments may receive financial rewards which shall approximate those which their powers could command if directed to commercial ends. 2 That persistent efforts be made to inform the public of the progress of science and of its bearings upon the practical affairs of life. 3. That to enlarge the experience and vision of the instructors in the various colleges and universities of the Pacific countries, making them thereby more competent and inspiring teachers, the exchange of teachers between institutions in different countries to be encouraged and made possible. 4. That a clearing house of information relative to opportunities for scientific study and research in the Pacific area be established. 5. That arrangements be perfected between the universities and other research institutions whereby properly qualified students may move from institution to institution carrying on their work at the place or places where the best facilities are available for the special kind of 'work upon which each may be engaged. 6. That a considerable number of fellowships be provided, with adequate stipends which shall be looked upon as compensation for the faithful performance of scientific work, and that especially able work by young investigators be rewarded by substantial prizes. 7. That to stimulate interest in the Pacific and inculcate a knowledge of its importance and unity, text-books should be prepared in which proper emphasis will be placed upon the Pacific area, its physical features, peoples, fauna, flora, resources and trade, and that the schools in Pacific countries be encouraged to give instruction which will stimulate the interest and enthusiasm of young students in the objects of their environment. SCIENTIFIC EVENTS DIMENSIONS AND AREA OF THE UNITED STATES THE gross area of the United States is 3,026,789 square miles. The land area amounts to 2,973,774 square miles, and the water area-exclusive of the area in the Great Lakes, the Atlantic, the Pacific, and the Gulf of Mexico within the three mile limit-amounts to 53,015 square miles. These and other data determined or compiled by the United States Geological Survey, Department of the Interior, to show the limits of the continental United States contain some interesting facts. The southern most point of the mainland is Cape Sable, Fla., which is in latitude 25° 07′ and longitude 81° 05′. The extreme southern point of. Texas is in latitude 25° 50′, and longitude 97° 24'. Cape Sable is therefore 49 miles farther south than the most southern point in Texas. A small detached land area of northern Minnesota at longitude 95° 09′ extends northward to a latitude 49° 23'. The easternmost point of the United States is West Quoddy Head, near Eastport, Maine, in longitude 66° 57′ and latitude 44° 49′; the westernmost point is Cape Alva, Wash., in latitude 48° 10′, which extends into the Pacific Ocean to longitude 124° 45'. From the southernmost point in Texas due north to the forty-ninth parallel, the boundary between the United States and Canada, the distance is 1,598 miles. From West Quoddy Head due west to the Pacific Ocean the distance is 2,807 miles. The shortest distance from the Atlantic to the Pacific across the United States is between points near Charleston, S. C., and San Diego, Calif., and is 1,152 miles. The length of the Canadian boundary line from the Atlantic to the Pacific is 3,898 miles. The length of the Mexican boundary from the Gulf to the Pacific is 1,744 miles. The length of the Atlantic coast line is 5,560 miles and that of the Pacific coast line is 2,730 miles. The Gulf of Mexico borders the United States for 3.640 miles. Nearly all maps of the United States show the parallels of latitude as curved lines and are likely to lead the ordinary observer to believe that certain eastern or western states are farther north than some of the central states that are actually in the same latitude. For this reason, one who is asked which extends farther south, Florida or Texas, is very likely to say "Texas," but, as stated, the mainland of Florida is nearly 50 miles farther south than the southernmost point in Texas. For the same reason, when we consider the geographical positions of countries south of the United States we find that errors likely to be made in estimating position or extent in longitude. Few realize that the island of Cuba, for example, if transposed directly north would extend from New York City to Indiana, or that Habana is farther west than Cleveland, Ohio, or that the Panama Canal is due south of Pittsburgh, Pa., or that Nome, Alaska, is farther west than Hawaii. are THE BRITISH DEPARTMENT OF SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH THE following is a list of Research Associations which have been approved by the department as complying with the conditions laid down in the government scheme for the encouragement of industrial research and have received licenses from the Board of Trade: The British Boot, Shoe and Allied Trades Research Association, Technical School, Abington Square, Northampton. Secretary-Mr. John Blakeman, M.A., M.Sc. The Brittish Cotton Industry Research Association, 108, Deansgate, Manchester. Secretary-Miss B. Thomas. The British Empire Sugar Research Association, Evelyn House, 62, Oxford Street, London, W.1. Secretary-Mr. W. H. Giffard. The British Iron Manufacturers' Research Association, Atlantic Chambers, Brazennose Street, Manchester. Secretary-Mr. H. S. Knowles. The Research Association of British Motor and Allied Manufacturers, 39, St. James's Street, London, S.W.1. Secretary-Mr. Horace Wyatt. The British Photographic Research Association, Sicilian House, Southampton Row, London, W.C.1. Secretary-Mr. Arthur C. Brookes. The British Portland Cement Research Association, 6, Lloyd's Avenue, London, E.C.3. Secretary-Mr. S. G. S. Panisset, A.C.G.I., F.C.S. The British Research Association for the Woollen and Worsted Industries, Bond Place Chambers, Leeds. Secretary-Mr. Arnold Frobisher, B.Sc. The British Scientific Instrument Research Association, 26, Russell Square, W.C.1. Secretary— Mr. J. W. Williamson, B.Sc. The Research Association of British Rubber and Tyre Manufacturers, c/o Messrs. W. B. Peat & Co., 11, Ironmonger Lane, E.C.2. The Linen Industry Research Association, 3 Bedford Street, Belfast. Secretary-Miss M. Burton. The Glass Research Association, 50, Bedford Square, W.C.2. Secretary-Mr. E. Quine, M.Sc. The British Association of Research for Cocoa, Chocolate, Sugar Confectionery, and Jam Trades, 9, Queen Street Place, E.C.4. Secretary-Mr. R. M. Leonard. THE CENTENARY OF OERSTED'S DISCOVERY1 ON August 31 and September 1 the centenary of the discovery of electromagnetic action by the Danish physicist, Hans Christian Oersted, was celebrated at Copenhagen. Meetings were held in the Town Hall and 1 From Nature. university, at which many Scandinavian men of science were present, and the occasion was marked by the publication of some of Oersted's scientific correspondence. It was during the winter of 1819-20 that Oersted observed that a wire uniting the ends of a voltaic battery affected a magnet placed in its vicinity, and after prosecuting his inquiries some months longer, in July, 1820, he published his Latin tract, "Experimenta circa effectum Conflictus Electrici in Acum Magneticum." The importance of his discovery received instant recognition. Ampère, Arago and Davy all seized on the idea, and four months after the publication of his tract Oersted was elected a foreign member of the Royal Society and awarded the Copley medal. Efforts to connect magnetism with electricity had hitherto met with little success, and Wollaston, in his discourse as president of the Royal Society, referring to Oersted's discovery, expressed the hope that "the gleam of light which thus beams upon us may be the dawn of a new day, in which the clouds which have hitherto veiled from our sight the hidden mysteries of light and heat, of electricity and magnetism, may be dispelled." Oersted, who was the son of a country apothecary, originally studied medicine, but turning his attention to chemistry and physics while at Copenhagen University, and he held that position until his death in March, 1851, at the age of seventy-three. Known alike for his genial and kindly nature and for his scientific labors, he was the author of some two hundred memoirs, and received many honors at home and abroad. Twentyfive years after his death a bronze statue of him was erected on the old fortification of Copenhagen. THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE ON MATHEMATICAL RequiremenTS THE National Committee on Mathematical Requirements held a meeting at Lake Delavan, Wisconsin, on September 2, 3 and 4, at which a number of reports were discussed and adopted. A report on The Revision of College Entrance Requirements received the greatest amount of discussion. It is hoped that this report may be released for publication early in October. It includes a general discussion of the present problems connected with college entrance requirements in mathematics, a report of an investigation recently made by the National Committee concerning the value of the various topics in elementary algebra as preparation for the elementary college courses in other subjects and a suggested revision of the definitions of entrance units in elementary algebra and plane geometry. A copy will be sent to any person interested upon application to the chairman of the committee, Professor J. W. Young, Hanover, N. H. A preliminary draft on mathematics in experimental schools was discussed at this meeting. Mr. Raleigh Schorling of the Committee has spent over a year collecting material for this report. Miss Vevia Blair of the committee presented her report on the present status of disciplinary values in education. It is expected that this report also will be released for publication in October. It gives a critical review of the complete literature concerning the experimental work on the transfer of training. Professor E. R. Hedrick presented a report which he prepared at the request of the National Committee on "The Function Concept in Secondary School Mathematics." This report also will be published in the near future. A preliminary report on junior high school mathematics is in the press of the U. S. Bureau of Education and should be ready for distribution early in October. A subcommittee under the chairmanship of Professor C. N. Moore in preparing a report on "Elective courses in mathematics in secondary schools." A committee under the chairmanship of Professor David Eugene Smith is preparing a report on "The standardization of terminology and symbolism" and Professor R. C. Archibald is preparing one on "The training of teachers." It is expected that all three of these reports will be presented for the consideration of the national committee in October. SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS THE First Pan-Pacific Scientific Conference closed its three weeks session at Honolulu on August 20. Delegates were present from Australia, Canada, China, Japan, New Zealand, Peru, the Philippines, Samoa and from several scientific organizations and Federal Bureaus of the United States. The proceedings of the conference are to be published by the Bishop Museum under the direction of a committee consisting of Dr. Arthur L. Dean, president of the University of Hawaii, Dr. Herbert E. Gregory, Yale University, Dr. T. Wayland Vaughan, United States Geological Survey and Dr. Henry S. Washington, Geophysical Laboratory. This committee announces that the daily proceedings of the conference, including the discussions and the resolutions adopted, will be issued shortly and that the detailed programs of research in various branches of science will appear early in 1921. DR. CHARLES MACFIE CAMPBELL, assistant director of the Henry Phipps Psychiatric Clinic, Johns Hopkins Hospital, has resigned to become professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and director of the Boston Psychopathic Hospital. Dr. Campbell will assume his new work on October 1. DR. OLIVER KAMM, of the chemistry department of the University of Illinois, has been appointed director of the Chemical Research Department of Parke, Davis & Co. DR. C. D. SHERBAKOFF, hitherto truck pathologist at the Florida Agricultural Experiment Station, Gainesville, has accepted the position of station pathologist at the Tennessee Agricultural Experiment Station, Knoxville. UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS DR. HARRY BEAL TORREY has resigned from the faculty of Reed College to become professor of zoology and director of fundamental education in medical science in the University of Oregon. He will divide his time between Eugene and the School of Medicine in Portland. An attempt will be made to bring together in one course the premedical and medical years and to obliterate the divisions commonly existing between premedical, preclinical and clinical studies. AT Tulane University the following appointments have been made: Dr. D. S. Elliott, head of the department of physics in the Georgia Institute of Technology, professor of physics; Dr. S. A. Mahood, chemist of the Forest Products Laboratory of the University of Wisconsin, associate professor of chemistry, and Dr. Herbert E. Buchanan, professor of mathematics in the University of Tennessee, professor of mathematics. DR. LANE has been appointed clinical professor of dermatology in the Yale Medical School and Dr. Alfred G. Nadler has accepted a similar position These two physicians will divide between them the work heretofore carried on by Dr. Ralph A. McDonnell, resigned. DR. C. MCLEAN FREASER has been appointed professor of zoology in the University of British Columbia, at Vancouver. THE chair of chemistry in Berlin University, rendered vacant by the death of Emil Fischer, will be filled by Professor Fritz Haber, who will retain also his present position of director of the Emperor William Institute for Physical and Electro-Chemistry. DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE MIRAGES? TO THE EDITOR OF SCIENCE: I have frequently observed the phenomenon described by F. W. McNair in SCIENCE for August 27. Contrary to the assumption of Mr. McNair, however, it may be observed under any conditions of weather and temperature. I have seen it ahead many times while driving an automobile over concrete and tar-surfaced roads. There can be little doubt that it is a phenomenon of simple reflection and is therefore entirely independent of atmospheric conditions. Any compara |