and is widely employed by phoneticians. The work of Mr. A. G. Bell and the late Mr. H. Sweet should also be referred to in this connection.

Of perhaps greater importance than a standard alphabet is the question of an international language. In this connection the "Academia pro Interlingua" has carried on a scientific study of the question and perhaps the majority of its members are in favor of adopting simplified Latin. Professor G. Peano, of the Turin (Italy) University, is president of the Academia which has been in existence over twenty-five years.

BUREAU OF STANDARDS

A. FANTI

DR. MOODIE'S OPISTHOTONUS

TO THE EDITOR OF SCIENCE: Professor Moodie's Study No. 3, Paleopathology, "Opisthotonus and Allied Phenomena among Fossil Vertebrates," aims to show that the bent back 1 head which one sees not commonly in well preserved vertebrates is "a manifestation of spastic distress" of the creature, "suggesting a strong neurotoxic condition," and leading the author even to seek for the infecting bacteria which have given the shortly-to-be-fossilized vertebrate a cramp in the neck. This condition Dr. Moodie compares with opisthotonus in man as illustrated in Bell's painful drawing.

I wonder, nevertheless, whether it is necessary to seek so far afield for the cause of this head-bent-back position in fossils. This position, every one will admit, is an extremely common one, in fact most backboned animals show it when they are well preserved while opisthotonus is, so far as I know, an extremely rare malady. It would trouble one to find recorded cases of it in reptiles or birds, amphibia or fishes: even in mammals collectively the percentage of deaths following opisthotonus would evidently be microscopically small. Then, too, when one of these rare cases died in cramp would it be apt long to retain that position while it floated down a stream with muscles rotting, or while it dried out 1 Am. Naturalist, LII., pp. 369–394.

of its soddenness on a bank of mud, or while deliquescently putrid it became picked more or less to pieces by all manner of sarcophagous creatures? No it seems to me that what the doctor calls "opisthotonus" is merely a physical phenomenon which causes the neck region of a macerating vertebral column to bend backward. For on the back of the column are stouter ligaments which hold the bones together: hence when the backbone eventually loosens up in the process of decomposition the bodies of the vertebræ separate earlier than the arches, thus producing the inbent column. Of course there would be no great degree of bending back in the chest region, for here the cage of ribs would long keep the back straight: nor in the lumbar region, since here the neural arches are short and there is therefore less leverage for their dorsal ligaments: nor again in the tail, for here the ligaments are far more nearly balanced in all sides of the column.

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

BASHFORD DEAN

FIELD WORK IN ARIZONA

TO THE EDITOR OF SCIENCE: At the last faculty meeting of the University of Arizona, President R. B. von Kleinsmid outlined a plan for summer-session work that was received with enthusiasm by the faculty, and may be of interest to many readers of SCIENCE. Since the climate of Tucson is not suited to the conventional campus summer-session, the university plans to carry on vacation-work in the field, in several parts of the state where the climate is more bracing or where the work would be of such a character as to make the mid-summer heat a negligible consideration. It is proposed that groups of students under the direction and leadership of professors from the University of Arizona, study: archeology through actual excavation work in the northern part of the state, geology at the Grand Canyon, biology at the Mt. Lemon camp, mining engineering at the great copper mines, Such opportunities for first-hand observation and investigation in an interesting and comparatively fresh field will doubtless appeal

to many teachers of science throughout the country. F. M. PERRY

TUCSON, ARIZONA

QUOTATIONS

SCIENCE IN THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT AMONG the 707 members of the new parliament there are two fellows of the Royal Society, that is to say, of the body which contains the leading representatives of scientific knowledge and research. One of these, Mr. Balfour, must be taken as an example of the

smaller number of fellows who are elected because of their social position and general culture rather than of the normal body of fellows elected because of their devotion to and distinction in scientific research. Sir Joseph Larmor, the other fellow, is a typical example of high scientific distinction, and it is merely an individual accident that his parliamentary record is one of blameless devotion to party politics rather than of specific representation of science. Curiously enough, there are two former teachers of human anatomy-Dr. Addison and Sir Auckland Geddes and Mr. Mackinder was a well-known geographer before he became a politician. The great experience of Sir Philip Magnus has been in the directorate of institutions for applied science and technology rather than in actual scientific pursuits, and a similar comment may be made on Mr. Woolcock's relation to pharmacology and drugs.

The new parliament will be charged with the duty of reconstructing the social, commercial and industrial fabric of the country and of the empire, and among its 707 members there is only one whose life has been devoted to scientific research. Let it be said at once that the object of calling attention to this defect in the House of Commons is not to advocate the presence in parliament of scientific representatives who should try to protect the interests of scientific men in the fashion in which the representatives of professional and working-class trade unions foster the material interests of their members. The point which ought to be taken is wider, and concerns not a group of individuals, but the whole nation. Huxley, in

an address delivered to workingmen in 1868, stated the case in words of enduring cogency. After saying that any one would be a fool who should sit down to a game of chess on the winning or losing of which depended his life and fortune without knowing something of the rules of the game, he went on to say:

Yet it is a very plain and elementary truth, that the life, the fortune and the happiness of every one of us do depend upon our knowing something of the rules of a game infinitely more difficult and complicated than chess. It is a game which has been played for untold ages, every man and woman of us being one of two players in a game of his or her own. The chessboard is the world, the pieces are the phenomena of the universe, the rules of the game are what we call the laws of nature. The player on the other side is hidden from us. We know that his play is always fair, just and patient. But also we know, to our cost, that he never overlooks a mistake, or makes the smallest allowance for ignorance. To the man who plays well, the highest stakes are paid, with that sort of overflowing generosity with which the strong shows delight in strength, and one who plays ill is checkmated-without haste, but without remorse.

In the complicated conditions of modern life, very few of us can play our own game. In sanitation, housing, public health, provision for research, relation of general research to specific inquiries, and a multitude of other matters of fundamental importance, we have to leave all the important moves to parliament. Neither in parliament nor in the departments from which most of the initiation comes, and on which all the execution will depend, is there a sufficient leaven of the requisite knowledge.

It will be said that expert advice is always taken on scientific matters. Assuming this, and adding to it the further assumption that the advice is always acted on with intelligence and sympathy, it is to be noted that expert advice is also always taken on financial matters, commercial matters, legal matters and so forth, and that, none the less, there are in the House of Commons very many members with expert knowledge of, and interest in, finance business, and law. These are ready and able to suggest the final criticisms, adjustments and coordinations that may be required in the measures

that are proposed. There is not this opportunity in science, although science is fundamental.

The relative absence of scientific men from the House of Commons is both a cause and a symptom of the neglect of science in this country. The majority of members of parliament fall into two classes. One of these consists chiefly of representatives of the great working-class organizations, whose subscriptions supply the necessary funds for contesting elections, and whose membership gives the requisite electoral backing. Even if a similar combination were to be desired in the case of scientific workers-an extremely doubtful proposition—their numbers are too few to make it effective. The other great class consists chiefly of persons who have inherited or acquired a competence, and who have the money and the leisure to woo an electorate. As matters are arranged at present, it is almost impossible for a man who devotes his life to scientific research to acquire a competence. His life is spent between the laboratory and the lectureroom amid gray suburban or provincial surroundings, with possibly a small retiring pension. He must be content, and for the most part he is content, with the high adventures of thought and with the appreciation of his fellows. We suggest that this compulsory segregation is bad for scientific researchers and worse for the nation.-London Times.

SCIENTIFIC BOOKS

Contributions to Embryology. Published by the Carnegie Institution of Washington. No. 1, 1915; No. 26, 1918. Volumes 1-8. Every Amercan embryologist who does not indulge in envy may pardonably take pride in the Contributions to Embryology issued by the Carnegie Institution. They form an anatomical publication of unqualified distinction, since all three factors needed for success have fortunately been realized. First, there has been a group of able contributors with beautifully illustrated and important manuscripts; further, there has been generous means for the proper publication of whatever is accepted. Finally, there has been an editor in charge,

whose name does not appear in the title, but whose impress is upon every page. It is not by chance that the great journals of anatomy have been edited by no less distinguished leaders than Max Schultze, His and Virchow. The Carnegie Contributions which thus far rank so well with these are essentially Mall's Archiv and one of his worthiest memorials. Even though they are being so ably continued by his junior colleague in the Carnegie Laboratory, who may realize all that Mall had planned, we can not repress deep regret that the work was only well established-scarcely more than begun-when it was left for others to carry on.

Why is the publication so attractive? Possibly because of the absence of "efficiency" methods, so incompatible with scholarly and artistic work. The contributions even appear at irregular intervals when something of moment has been completed and not because it is time for a new issue. There are no rules for preparing standard manuscript, no Procrustean regulation that for every plate there must be so many pages of text, and thanks to the Carnegie Institution, no insulting request that authors of accepted articles pay any part of the cost of publication. If the editor finds a contribution unworthy of a place, he may decline it; but if accepted, it will be fittingly published with the needed figures skilfully and delicately reproduced. And because the editor's judgment is sound, it becomes an achievement to have an article appear in such select company. Probably the Contributions shed their enlightening rays in the far corners of the earth, but it is not so announced. contributor, however, knows for himself that wherever human embryology is studied, these publications will be sought for and treasured.

The

The series of twenty-six papers thus far published begins auspiciously with Mall's monograph on the fate of the embryo in tubal pregnancy, and Professor Mall has contributed two others-on cyclopia and on the intrachorionic magma. Professors Van der Stricht and Duesberg, who, during the occupation of Belgium, became the welcome guests of Amercan anatomists, continued here their well

known investigations. Van der Stricht has written on the genesis and structure of the membrana tectoria and crista spiralis of the cochlea, and Duesberg on "la fécondation des ascidiens " -a study of chondriosomes. Cowdry likewise has dealt with the mitochondrial constituents of protoplasm and has supplied a shorter paper on the chromophile cells of the nervous system. Mitochondria in nerve cells are quantitatively considered by Madge D. Thurlow. The transitory cavities in the corpus striatum are described by Essick. Two papers deal with tissue cultures, the occurrence of binucleate cells being described by Macklin, and the development of connective tissue fibers by Margaret R. Lewis. Miss Sabin, through series of fine injections, strikingly reproduced, has traced the transformation of the posterior cardinal veins of pig embryos, and, in a second paper, the origin of the primitive vessels in the chick. Streeter has advanced the study of the cerebral sinuses, which have been beautifully drawn, and has described also the formation and spread of the periotic tissue spaces. Weed's important work on the development of the cerebrospinal spaces forms the whole of Volume 5. Clark interprets an extraordinary anomaly of the thoracic duct, and Cunningham describes the pulmonary lymphatic vessels of pig embryos. There are three monographic studies of normal human embryos, by Ingalls, Johnson and Watt; and a specimen with spina bifida is described by Miss Wheeler. Corner reports on the corpus luteum in the pig. Meyer has a statistical study of prenatal growth, based on obstetrical records, and Shipley and Wislocki jointly, interested in the chemical products of the poison glands of Bufo agua, a tropical toad, describe the histology of these epinephrin-producing glands. In the twenty-sixth and last contribution, Kunitomo deals with the retrogression of the caudal end of the spinal cord and the decline of the tail in human embryos.

The contributions are irregularly grouped in small volumes which are sold separately. Doubtless it would be appreciated if a limited number of the separate articles were offered

to embryologists, though every institution needs the complete file. Altogether it is a journal to be studied by those responsible for our anatomical publications. When the American Journal of Anatomy was founded and was being published in Baltimore largely under Mall's direction, it seemed that nothing better was likely to appear in this country. But as the Journal became securely established, losing -perhaps we imagine it-the enthusiasm of the earlier volumes, Mall's genius for publications sought new fields. His Contributions have caught in beautiful form and permanent record the spirit and purposes of current American investigations in embryology, and their future is full of promise.

HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL

FREDERIC T. LEWIS

SPECIAL ARTICLES

NOTE ON THE TECHNIQUE of SOLUTION CULTURE EXPERIMENTS WITH PLANTS

In recent years a large number of sand and solution culture experiments have been carried out by various laboratories. It is becoming recognized that any complete understanding of soil fertility requires an insight into the absorption and metabolism of the plant as well as the nature of the soil solution. In connection with some investigations relating to the latter question, this laboratory has undertaken a series of studies on the effect of concentration and reaction of the nutrient solution on the growth and absorption of the barley plant. Incidental to this work it has been necessary to examine somewhat critically several phases of the technique employed in sand and solution cultures, and it is desired to present here a number of considerations bearing on the interpretation of these experiments.

Ordinarily the conclusions from such investigations have been based on the concentrations and composition of the solutions as originally prepared. In very few cases have analyses been made of the solutions after contact with the plant, nor of the plants themselves. It is not known therefore exactly what was the condition of the solution during the periods between changes. The percentage

variation in the solution for any given element will depend upon the total quantity absorbed, upon the concentration in the original solution, and also upon the volume of solution provided per plant. It is essential to differentiate between two sets of factors, the composition and concentration of the solution and the total quantities of the various elements present. The effect on the plant might be the result either of the concentration as found in the original solution, or of an insufficient total supply of one or more elements. In order to study the effects of concentration or of composition on plant growth, ideally a continuous flow of solution should be arranged so that the roots are always bathed in a solution of constant composition. Such a technique is ordinarily impracticable, and it is necessary to approximate the desired condition by providing a sufficient volume of solution per plant and by frequent changes. This is particularly true when the object of the investigation is to determine the relative effects of a series of solutions. To give a specific example, certain solutions may have only one tenth of their total concentration due to Ca (NO3). In such a case it is possible that all of the NO, might be absorbed before the solution was changed, or at least reduced to a very low level of concentration. Thus, if the interpretation of the experiment is based on three salt triangular diagrams, the effect, actually the result of insufficient NO,, might be correlated with a certain calcium magnesium ratio.

3

In some experiments small bottles (250 to 400 c.c.) have been used with three to six plants in each bottle, changes of solution being made every three days, or sometimes only every four or five days. In the sand culture series the size of the jars usually permits the use of only 250 to 400 c.c. of solution per jar. In our experiments (to be described elsewhere) from 500 to 2,200 c.c. of solution per plant (barley) have been used, with changes every two or three days in many cases. Actual determinations of the absorption of each element have been made by analyzing the solutions or the plants. It has

been found that under favorable conditions of light and temperature, more than 30 per cent. of the total electrolytes may be absorbed in three days, when 500 c.c. of a favorable nutrient solution of 2,500 p.p.m. concentration is provided for each plant. All of the elements are not absorbed in equal percentages, consequently not only the concentration but also the relation between the elements has been altered. In one experiment with solutions containing 100 p.p.m. NO, (500 c.c. solution per plant) barley plants six weeks old absorbed every trace of NO, from the solution in less than 72 hours.

In several experiments in which plants have been grown in solution and sand cultures the yields of straw and heads are fairly comparable with those of plants produced in the field, where an excellent crop is obtained. In some sand and solution culture experiments reported the yield per plant has evidently been much inferior to that for similar plants grown in the soil for an equal period. Some limitation of light, temperature, aeration or of the nutrient solution must therefore have existed. In many cases there is a strong presumption that the supply of nutrients may have been deficient, as noted above.

We do not desire, however to criticize any specific investigations. If plants are grown under sub-optimal light or temperature conditions, the total quantities of nutrients absorbed per plant may be much less than in our experiments. Moreover, in the first few weeks the plant has not reached its maximum power of absorption, so that short culture periods will require less quantities of nutrients. The point we desire to emphasize is that plants grown under the most favorable conditions may absorb or require much larger quantities of nutrients per plant than are ordinarily provided in sand and solution culture work. Each set of conditions should be tested by actual analysis of solutions and plants and results interpreted in terms not of the original solution alone, but also in terms of total supply and the varying condition of the solution in the periods between changes. It should also be noted that deficiencies in total