now connected with the Great Western Electro-Chemical Co., San Francisco, Cal.

THE annual meeting of the District of Columbia Chapter of the Society of the Sigma Xi was held in the auditorium of the National Museum, on March 6. Major R. M. Yerkes, Sanitary Corps, U. S. Army, gave an illustrated lecture on the " Relationship of Army Mental Tests to Education and Vocational Guidance." Officers for the ensuing two years were elected as follows: President, C. L. Shear; Vice-president, H. L. Shantz; Secretary, M. W. Lyon, Jr.,; Treasurer, D. Roberts Harper 3d; Councillors, Charles E. Tullar and C. A. Briggs.

A CANADIAN branch of the American Phytopathological Society was recently organized. The purpose of the organization is to correlate the work of plant pathologists in Canada and keep them in closer touch with each other, at the same time retaining a close union with the plant pathologists in the United States. The officers are: Professor J. E. Howitt, president; Mr. W. A. McCubbin, Vice-president; Dr. R. E. Stone, Secretary-treasurer.

THE following officers and council of the Royal Astronomical Society were elected at the annual general meeting on February 14: President: Professor A. Fowler; Vice-presidents: Sir F. W. Dyson, Astronomer Royal, Dr. J. W. L. Glaisher, Major P. A. MacMahon, and Professor H. F. Newall; Treasurer: Mr. E. B. Knobel; Secretaries: Dr. A. C. D. Crommelin and Rev. T. E. R. Phillips; Foreign Secretary: Professor H. H. Turner; Council: Professor A. E. Conrady, Dr. J. L. E. Dreyer, Professor A. S. Eddington, Brig.Gen. E. H. Hills, Mr. J. H. Jeans, Dr. Harold Jeffreys, Mr. H. S. Jones, Lieutenant-Colonel H. G. Lyons, Mr. E. W. Maunder, Dr. W. H. Maw, Professor J. W. Nicholson, and Lieutenant-Colonel F. J. M. Stratton.

WE learn from The British Medical Journal that a House of Commons Medical Committee has been formed to include all medical members and other members of the House of Commons interested in scientific matters akin to medicine. All the medical members, except

ing the ministers, have joined, and also Sir Philip Magnus (member for the University of London) and Sir Henry Craik (one of the members for the Scottish Universities). The chairman is Sir Watson Cheyne, and the secretary Major A. C. Farquharson. The executive committee consists of Sir William Whitla, Lieut.-Colonel Nathan Raw and Captain Elliott. The objects of the committee are to exchange opinions so as to secure representation of agreed views on medical subjects in Parliament. The committee is open to receive representations on all such matters from the colleges and corporations, and from societies and associations, and will hold conferences when considered desirable. It will not allow itself in any way to be identified with any one particular body. A subcommittee has been appointed, consisting of Colonel Nathan Raw (England), Sir Watson Cheyne (Scotland), and Sir William Whitla (Ireland), to watch the ministry of health in its progress through the House.

DR. H. D. CURTIS, of the Lick Observatory, Mount Hamilton, California, gave an address on "Modern Theories of Spiral Nebulæ " at a joint meeting of the Washington Academy of Sciences and the Philosophical Society of Washington on March 15.

THE death is announced on February 19, at eighty-five years of age, of Dr. F. Du Cane Godman, F.R.S., trustee of the British Museum, and distinguished for his work in natural history, especially ornithology.

AN item concerning the "Goodrich conservation bill," printed on page 213 of SCIENCE for February 10, applies to the state of Indiana, and not to Illinois.

MALCOLM PLAYFAIR ANDERSON, a well-known naturalist and explorer, was killed in Oakland, California, on February 21, by the fall of a beam in a shipyard. Mr. Anderson was a graduate of Stanford University, a son of Dr. Melville Best Anderson, professor emeritus of English literature at Stanford. He was an accomplished ornithologist, his work having been largely in China and Japan, where he was head naturalist of the Duke of Bedford's ex

plorations in Eastern Asia. He was brother of Robert V. Anderson, late of the U. S. Geological Survey, now representing the War Trade Board at Stockholm.

UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL

NEWS

By the will of the late Morton F. Plant, the Connecticut College for Women receives a bequest of $250,000.

Two years ago Professor and Mrs. Herdman gave to the University of Liverpool, the sum of £10,000 to establish a chair in memory of their son, Lieutenant George A. Herdman, who was killed in action. Nature states that they have now made a further gift of £10,000 for the purpose of establishing a chair of oceanography with special reference to fisheries. The council of the university has accepted this gift with grateful thanks, and has resolved that (1) Professor Herdman be appointed professor of oceanography as from October 1 next; (2) Dr. J. Johnson succeed him on October 1, 1920, and during the twelve months from October 1 next be lecturer on oceanography at the salary derived from the endowment.

THE senate of the University of Cambridge has approved the plan for the establishment of the degree of doctor of philosophy. The syndicate dealing with this question recommends that, subject to certain exemptions, candidates for the degree, before submitting a dissertation, must have pursued a course of research for not less than three years, and the senate has determined that of this period one year in the case of a graduate of the university and two years in the case of other students must be spent in Cambridge.

SIR OLIVER LODGE has retired as principal of Birmingham University.

THE resignation of Dr. Harry B. Hutchins, as president of the University of Michigan, which was presented on October 12, 1916, has now been accepted by the regents to take effect on June 30. It is reported that Dr. James Rowland Angell, professor of psychology and dean of the department of arts and sciences of

the University of Chicago, will be asked to accept the presidency.

DR. JOHN JOHNSTON, secretary of the National Research Council in Washington, has been appointed professor of chemistry in the Graduate School of Yale University. Professor Johnston is a graduate of the University of St. Andrews.

LIEUTENANT KARL SAX, recently discharged from military service in the coast artillery at Fort Amador, Canal Zone, Panama, has been appointed instructor in genetics at the University of California.

DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE DESMOGNATHUS FUSCUS (SIC).

mar.

To THE EDITOR OF SCIENCE: Professor Wilder's letter recalls a proposal made by Mr. Oldfield Thomas and myself, a proposal worth repeating. Zoological nomenclature has many inevitable difficulties to overcome, and it will save time and disputes if there be removed from it the extrinsic burden of trying to conform with the rules of Greek and Latin gramLet the convention be established that the name of a genus, whatsoever its derivation, be regarded as masculine when the genus denotes a group of living animals, feminine if it denote a group of living plants, and neuter if it denotes a fossil animal or plant. Let it be agreed that the scientific name of an existing species may be changed to accord with this conventional sex where possible, and that in the making of new names, the accord should be made by the author, corrected by the editor or by any subsequent writer. This would simplify matters and, in a considerable proportion of instances would give useful information.

P. CHALMERS MITCHELL ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON

TO THE EDITOR OF SCIENCE: I have read with interest and some amusement the letter by Mr. H. H. Wilder, on "Desmognathus fuscus [sic]." It seems to me to lend additional support to the suggestion made years ago by my friend, the Rev. T. R. R. Stebbing, that

all zoological generic names should be regarded as masculine. I enclose herewith a copy of his article on the subject: perhaps you could quote some portions of it in SCIENCE in order to remind the zoological world of an eminently reasonable proposal.

WM. EVANS HOYLE

NATIONAL MUSEUM OF WALES

My suggestion is that a technical specific name in Zoology should be released from the obligation of agreeing with the supposed gender of the generic name to which it is attached.

Simplicity would be attained by acceptance of the convention that in zoology a generic name, whatever its termination, is to be regarded as of the masculine gender.

That some scholarly ear might occasionally be offended, is a minor disadvantage compared with the general utility of the convention. A famous historical character was hailed as "our king Maria Theresa," without any influence on the actual sex of that distinguished person. Similarly many men have been named Maria without in consequence becoming women or in any degree effeminate. The termination of a generic name is a very indifferent reason for determining a zoological species as either masculine, feminine, or neuter, seeing that the species itself usually includes two of the genders, and sometimes all three. Very commonly all the normal individuals of a species are either of the male or female sex. Yet, under the existing rule, the species must sometimes have a neuter name, as though it referred to something inorganic

or of undiscriminated sex. Such considerations, however, are of subordinate importance compared with the troublesome character of the present arrangement. As every one is aware, it repeatedly happens that by accessions to knowledge, genera become unwieldy and have to be subdivided. The new names, it may be, do not agree in gender with the old, and then the transferred species must all have their terminations altered. But, apart from this consequential trouble, naturalists for ages past have found the determination of generic genders a stumbling-block. How much more is this likely to be the case in the future, with the continuous decline of classical studies! Without actual examples, few would credit the difficulties encountered and the errors committed by naturalists in their endeavors to comply with the existing rule or practise.-T. R. R. Stebbing in Knowledge (1910).

HAY FEVER AND THE NATIONAL FLOWER TO THE EDITOR OF SCIENCE: The attention of the American Hayfever Prevention Association has been called to the article on "Hay Fever and the National Flower" in a recent issue of your journal.

The research department of this association, which was established in 1915, has made a thorough investigation of the causes of hay fever, being assisted in this work by specialists and botanists in practically every state of the union. The pollens of all the most common plants and trees have been tested and their relation to hay fever established.

Generally speaking, the principal causes of fall hay fever in the northern, eastern and southern states1 are the pollens of the ragweeds (Ambrosiaceae), these being replaced in the Pacific and Rocky Mountain States2 by the wormwoods (artemisias) The chief causes of spring hay fever are the pollens of the grasses in all sections. About five per cent. of hay fever cases are due to other pollens. The golden rod, however, is not included in these, having proven a clear "alibi."

For those not already familiar with the subject, the following statement is made:

THE GOLDEN ROD IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR HAY FEVER

1. It does not conform to the description of hay fever plants, which is as follows: (1) They are wind-pollinated, (2) very numerous, (3) the flowers are inconspicuous, without bright color or scent, and the pollen is formed in great quantities. The flowers of the golden rod are insect-pollinated, have bright colors and scent, and the pollen is not formed in large quantities.

1"'Hayfever: Its Cause and Prevention," W. Scheppegrell, M.D., Journal of the American Medical Association, March 4, 1916.

2"Hayfever: Its Cause and Prevention in the Rocky Mountain and Pacific States," W. Scheppegrell, M.D., United States Public Health Reports, July 20, 1917.

"Hayfever and Its Prevention," W. Scheppegrell, M.D., United States Public Health Reports, July 21, 1916.

2. The golden rod continues to bloom for several weeks after the hay fever season is over. In western North Carolina, for instance, the hay fever season concludes about October 1, but the Canadian golden rod (Solidago canadensis) brightens the autumn landscape until November. In our hay fever clinic at the Charity Hospital of New Orleans, the fall hay fever season concludes about October 26, but the golden rod continues to bloom until December.

3. Our research department exposes its atmospheric-pollen-plates in various parts of the United States, and in this way, the atmospheric-pollens are caught and examined. The pollens of the golden rod are never found on these plates, proving that this pollen is not atmospheric. Unless the pollen is in the air, as in the cases of the ragweeds, grasses and other wind-pollinated plants, it can not cause hay fever unless the nostrils are applied directly to the flower, or are used in large quantities for room decorations, in which case the pollen may fall within the limited space.

The pollen of the golden rod may cause a reaction when applied directly to the nostrils, or when used in large quantities for room decorations. As far as being a cause of hay fever, however, it is absolutely negligible. It is one of our most beautiful flowers, and well merits its selection as the national flower of the United States.

W. SCHEPPEGRELI AMERICAN HAYFEVER PREVENTION ASSOCIATION; CHIEF OF HAYFEVER CLinic, CharITY HOSPITAL; EX-PRESIDENT AMERICAN ACADEMY OF OPHTHALMOLOGY AND OTOLARYNGOLOGY

SCIENTIFIC BOOKS Manual of Meteorology, Part IV. The Rela tion of the Wind to the Barometric Pressure. By SIR NAPIER SHAW, Cambridge, University Press. 1919.

4"Susceptibility to Hayfever, and Its Relation to Heredity, Age, and Seasons," W. Scheppegrell, M.D., United States Public Health Reports, July 19, 1918.

The British Meteorological Office during the past four years has been called upon to answer a good many questions put to them by the Army, Navy and Air Services. The requests for detailed information regarding wind, weather and the structure of the atmosphere were numerous and urgent. For in both offensive and defensive operations the military authorities suddenly realized how all important a knowledge of aerography was. In attempting to give definite data, Sir Napier Shaw, as Scientific Advisor to H. M. Government and chairman of the Meteorological Committee, says that he found as a guiding principle of great practical utility, the relation of the wind to the distribution of pressure. The underlying assumption is that the flow of air in the free atmosphere follows very closely the laws of motion under balanced forces, depending upon the spin of the earth and the spin in a small circle on the earth.

There are eleven chapters in the book. The opening chapters give details of the determination of the pressure gradient and the wind. Land and sea relations of surface wind to the gradient, turbulence in relation to gustiness and cloud sheets, eddy clouds, the dominance of the stratosphere, coastal refraction of isobars and the dynamical properties of revolving fluid in the atmosphere, are treated in some detail in successive chapters.

Space permits of but one quotation from the book and that is almost the last paragraph; but here the author drives another nail in the coffin of the convectional theory of the cause of cyclones.

It has long been supposed that the variations of temperature at the surface are themselves the cause of the original circulation of the cyclone, but it is much more easy to explain convection along the core as the effect of an existing circulation above, than vice versa, and there are so many examples of convection attended even by copious rainfall which produce no visible circulation that it is difficult to regard convection from the surface as a sufficient cause of our numerous depressions.

Sir Napier deals at some length with the relation between the surface wind and the geostrophic wind at sea-level. This is pecul

iarly his own field, and is in fact a development of the past six years. It is a distinctive contribution of the British school of aerographers. We may explain that the balance between pressure and velocity of air flow, or what is known as the strophic balance, leads to an equation for the gradient wind of the following form:

8=2wvp sin ±v2p cot r/E

The first term in the right-hand member of the equation represents velocity due entirely to the earth's rotation and hence is known as the geostrophic wind. The other is known as cyclostrophic. Only a few months ago J. S. Dines called attention to a rather remarkable outcome of this equation, where in the case of a path concave to the "low," velocities of the order of 6m/s for normal counter-clockwise rotation, and 46m/s for rotation in the opposite direction, appear to be possible. Thus a depression revolving with high speed in a clockwise direction in the northern hemisphere is dynamically possible. There are reasons why such an eddy on a large scale might not be established or last long, but small area eddies such as those around high buildings, etc., evidently can be set up with rotation either clockwise or anti-clockwise. This raises the question, How often are dust-whirls, tornadoes, and waterspouts observed with a clockwise rotation?

Sir Napier Shaw uses as a frontispiece a chart showing paths of the centers of some notable cyclonic depressions of long duration. One is the path of a baguio traced by McAdie from lat. 15° N. in the western Pacific, starting on November 20, 1895, and reaching the Oregon-California coast January 12, 1896, a rather definite duration of 54 days at sea and a probable history of 4 days more in the United States and 5 days over the North Atlantic. Two other long duration storm paths are given.

These paths of long duration are significant in connection with origin, directive force and persistence of structure of cyclones and anticyclones. The most pressing question to-day before aerographers is accurate knowledge of

the driving forces of a depression, and the directive resultant. There can be no accurate forecasting without this knowledge.

We are promised three more volumes from the University Press; one, a general survey of the globe and its atmosphere. A second on the physical properties of the atmosphere, and a third, a formal exposition of the dynamics and thermics of the atmosphere.

Sir Napier Shaw is to be congratulated not only on the output from his own industrious pen, but upon what he has accomplished in stimulating the young men around him, Lempfert, Dines, Gold, Cave, Taylor and others.

A. M.

THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF

SCIENCES

THE eleventh number of Volume 4 of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences contains the following articles:

The "Homing Habits" of the Pulmonate Mollusk Onchidium: Leslie B. Arey and W. J. Crozier, Bermuda Biological Station for Research, Dyer Island, Bermuda. Onchidium floridanum lives during high tide in "nests," i. e., rock cavities, containing a number of individuals. The individuals leave the nest in low water to feed, and return simultaneously to it before the tide rises again, giving evidence of homing behavior.

Growth and Duration of Life of Chiton Tuberculatus: W. J. Crozier, Bermuda Biological Station for Research, Dyer Island, Bermuda. The growth curve is obtained on the assumption that the age of a chiton may be estimated from the growth-lines upon its shell. The mean duration of life is probably a little less than eight years.

Growth of Chiton Tuberculatus in Different Environments: W. J. Crozier, Bermuda Biological Station for Research, Dyer Island, Bermuda. Growth curves obtained under different conditions are compared.

The Interferometry of Vibrating Systems: C. Barus, Department of Physics, Brown University. The high luminosity of the achromatic interferences and the occurrence of but