more open-minded toward unfamiliar ideas. His natural reaction may even change from one of initial opposition to the strange, to one of interest and inquiry. Labels may lose some of their blighting command over his thought and he may lose his fear of such words as Democrat, Republican, heretic, agnostic, socialist, capitalist, conservative,5 radical. The beginnings of freedom may be his.

Was there ever a time when there was more need than now for the unprejudiced spirit which shall receive with open inquiring mind the new ideas that are coming to the fore, and was there ever greater need for an impersonal unselfish spirit than in the social developments of the near future?

I fully believe that the organization of society is to be decidedly changed, that in our legal systems manhood rights and interests are to receive more emphasis in comparison with the rights and interests of property, and that selfish use of power by state or individual will be frowned upon and effectively restrained. The fight against slavery is won the world round. The fight against the special privilege of birth is already won in most countries, and through the aid of the great war will soon be won in all lands. The fight against the special and undue privilege of wealth is now fairly on and it will be a harder fight than either of the others and more searching in its test of the strength of our social bonds.

Any attempt to suppress the movement toward social rebuilding I believe not only to be foredoomed to failure in the end, but also to be extremely dangerous. Sitting on the lid beneath which is seething a deep discontent will merely delay action until the forces become beyond control, and will result in a dire explosion. Bolshevism and I. W. W. outrage will result and the civilization of the world will go into the melting pot. The great movement of the mass of mankind, the world round, toward reorganization of society upon a basis

5 It is a question whether heretic or conservative is the label more feared among American scientists. Conservatism is out of style and is itself almost heretical.

giving to all men a more just share in the organization, the control and the rewards of industry and in the joys of life is to-day so powerful and the stimulus from the great war is so intense that all nations will be stirred to the depths. Who are we in America that we should escape our share of the world travail in the birth of the new order? Traditional conceptions will not help us here. Self interest is no safe guide. Indeed our greatest dangers are from prejudice and selfishness. The American labor unions and organized capital must change their intensely selfish pre-war spirit if they are to cooperate successfully in the work of reconstruction. Collective bargaining for the adjustment of the interests of organized labor and capital, with no representation of and little concern for the interests of the general public, will not take us far toward the true goal. Similarly the general prejudice of organized capital against socialistic tendencies is a hindrance to its rendering effective service in the solution of the problems. Labor's present feeling that it is working in considerable measure to increase the already undue profits of the capitalist develops an unsocial spirit, and so long as the present plan of organization of industry persists it is difficult to see how a more wholesome spirit can be engendered and fostered. The fine war service of both labor and capital shows a capacity for unselfish cooperation, if we can but reorganize society in such a way that all may feel that they are working directly for the common good and are getting a fair share of the rewards of their labor. The English labor party and such Americans as Brandeis, Wilson and Baker have their faces set toward the new day and are both open-minded and broadminded. In such as they, not in the present spirit of American labor unions, lies chief hope of leadership. If instead of opposition to the seething social forces we may have sympathetic guidance, there is hope of progress without

6 I recognize, of course, the moderation and large-mindedness of the university professors' union and of some, at least, of the railway men's unions and possibly of some others.

cataclysmic disaster. The tremendous energy of the forces now stirring in society is too valuable to be wasted even if we could suppress it. It should be guided into the performance of valuable work. Led off through the proper channels and connected with the reorganized machinery of society it could do great things. But it must be led to service of society as a whole and not to service of any privileged class, proletariat, bourgeoisie, or aristocracy. Class prejudice, class rivalries, class hatreds, any organized or individual self-seeking at the expense of others, must be fought wherever found and the open unselfish mind promoted. In leading and in upholding the hands of the leaders the men of true scientific spirit will effectively serve. They will be the leaven, helping the people to understand and accept the new order. The road to the new and better order is through intelligence and altruism, through appreciation of and devotion to the truth, that is through the scientific spirit. Does this seem a tame conclusion? It is old fashioned, as old fashioned as the man of Nazareth who is still unsurpassed in clear vision into the heart of the truths underlying human relations and in unselfish devotion to the truth as seen.

MAYNARD M. METCALF

THE ORCHARD LABORATORY, OBERLIN, Оно

SCIENTIFIC EVENTS

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION IN MEDICINE

ACCORDING to the London Times a very large sum of money has been promised to found what will amount to a headquarters of the American Medical Association in England. The headquarters are to consist of a hospital, a library, lecture theaters, and demonstration rooms, reading rooms, and so forth. American doctors will thus possess a rallying point when visiting London, and the spirit of English medicine will be made free to them in a manner impossible by any other means.

It is understood that Lord Reading has accepted the presidency of the scheme and that Mr. Taft is much interested in it. The names of Messrs. Newton Crane and Van Duzen are

also associated with the work, while the secretary of the American College of Surgeons, Dr. Franklin Martin, of Chicago, has taken a prominent part in furthering it. The new hospital may, it is hoped in some quarters, become a kind of Rockefeller Institute in London. British medical men are anxious to give all the help they can.

The forthcoming general meeting of the American Medical Association at Atlantic City is likely to be attended by, among others, Sir Arbuthnot Lane and, it is hoped, Sir Bertrand Dawson, who will thus help further to cement the friendship which now exists between the profession in the two countries.

Efforts are also being made in Paris to increase the usefulness and importance of the British Hospital there. This hospital, the Hertford, is rather small and the site has certain drawbacks. A scheme recently put for ward would transfer it to a new site in the Bois de Boulogne and would considerably enlarge its scope. Speaking at an informal gathering recently, Dr. Monod, a distinguished French doctor, declared that British doctors would receive the warmest welcome in his country, and expressed the hope that French doctors would be encouraged to go to England to study. This gathering, which was presided over by Sir Bertrand Dawson, included some of the most outstanding physicians, surgeons and medical officers in the British and Colonial professions.

THE TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE SUN PROFESSOR HENRY NORRIS RUSSELL, of Princeton University, writes in the Scientific American as follows:

The present month is notable for the occurrence of a great eclipse, which happens on the 29th, and affords the longest view of the surroundings of the sun, while its own disk is hidden, which has been possible for many years.

At the time of this eclipse the moon is within a day of perigee, and unusually near the earth-her distance being a little less than 224,000 miles. In consequence her tapering shadow is still nearly 150 miles in diameter where it reaches the earth's sur face, and observers situated within the belt, about 8,000 miles in length, over which this shadow sweeps as it crosses the earth's disk, will see a

total eclipse of unusual duration, which, at maximum, may amount to six minutes and fifty seconds.

The eclipse track is rather unfortunately situated. Beginning in the Pacific Ocean, just off the coast of Peru, it sweeps across South America, traversing the Bolivian Mountains, the forests of Brazil, and the higher lands of the eastern coast. Then it crosses the Atlantic, almost along the equator, just grazes the southern coast of the great western projection of Africa, passes temporarily out to sea again, and crosses the main part of the dark continent by way of the Congo basin and Lake Tanganyika-finally leaving the earth's surface at a point in the Indian Ocean not far from the African coast.

The region within which a partial eclipse is visible extends far northward and southward, including practically all of South America except the extreme southern trip, and all of Africa except the Mediterranean coast. The region where totality is longest lies in the Atlantic, and the maximum duration of eclipse observable from land stations is about four minutes, which is reached on the east coast of South America and the west coast of Africa. There is, to be sure, one small island in the Atlantic, lying almost in the central line of totality, where the eclipse lasts fully six minutes; but as this spot, known as St. Paul's Rocks, consists of a few jagged rocks rising to a height of 60 feet from deep water, with no anchorage and no fresh water, it is hardly an inviting station for even the hardiest astronomer, in spite of the fact that certain optimistic souls have nominated it as a way station for transatlantic airplane flights.

The climatic conditions along most of the track are unfavorable-the best chances of fine weather being on the high lands back of the eastern coast of Brazil, and in central Africa above Tanganyika. On account of the remoteness of these stations, and of the disorganization resulting from the war, few expeditions appear to be projected to view the eclipse. One English and one or two American parties, however, are likely to make the journey.

MAPPING FROM THE AIR

REQUESTS made to the United States Geological Survey, Department of the Interior, for information concerning the possibilities of photographic surveying from airplanes or other aircraft have recently become so numerous that it is deemed necessary to issue a statement on this subject. For two years the United States Geological Survey, which prepares and

publishes more maps than any other organization in the world, has devoted much time and labor to the study of problems to be solved in photo-aerial surveying. The camera has long been used in surveys on the ground, and the Geological Survey has been making studies to determine the best methods of using it in aerial work. Before the war the panoramic camera was employed by the Geological Survey for mapping in Alaska, and it had been widely used for photographic surveying in Canada and in Europe. Aerial photographic surveying involves no new principles, yet it differs essentially from photographic surveying on the ground, for the line of view from a camera in a balloon or an airplane is vertical, not horizontal. A complete statement of the Geological Survey's investigations in photographic mapping from the air will later be prepared for publication.

The problem of photographic surveying from the air is dominantly an engineering problem. Photographic technique is of course an essential part of the work, but it is a subordinate part, for the best photographs are valueless as map-making material unless they are accompanied by the requisite engineering data. Projections, adjustments, and other details of map-making technique are as necessary in photo-aerial surveying as in other surveying, and all map-making work should therefore be the work of experienced engineers.

Photographic mapping from aircraft is entirely practicable but it has not yet been brought to the point where it can supersede ground surveying. The science of cartography will no doubt be greatly advanced when the aerial method is perfected, but fundamental problems remain to be solved, and this fact should be recognized and all possible energy should be devoted to the solution of those problems. It is hoped that solutions of the essential problems in photo-aerial surveying will soon be obtained, and that this method will be put to practical use in map-making.

FIFTH NATIONAL EXPOSITION OF CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES

THE Fifth Annual National Exposition of Chemical Industries will be held this year in

where it is probable that a meeting will be held. There are already indications that these meetings will be interesting ones. The Mining Institute is arranging a pyrometry symposium which will consider such questions as: Methods of pyrometry, industrial pyrometry, pyrometry and its relation to science. Special stress will also be laid upon the iron and steel industry by the institute. The American Electrochemical Society is planning an interesting program; so, too, is the Ceramic Society.

SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS DR. WILLIAM GILSON FARLOW, professor of cryptogamic botany in Harvard University, died at his home in Cambridge on the third instant, in the seventy-fifth year of his age.

THE American Medical Association is meeting this week in Atlantic City under the presidency of Dr. Alexander Lambert, of New York City. The Congress of American Physicians and Surgeons meets in the same place next week under the presidency of Dr. Simon Flexner, director of the laboratories of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research.

PROFESSOR THOMAS C. CHAMBERLIN, head of the department of geology and paleontology of the University of Chicago, retires at the end of the present academic year.

THE French minister of education, acting on representations made by the Bureau of Longitudes, has named the following correspondents: George Ellery Hale, director of the observatory, Mt. Wilson, Calif.; William Wallace Campbell, director of the observatory, Mt. Hamilton, Calif.; William Snyder Eichelberger, director of the United States Naval Observatory, Washington, to replace Professor M. Foerster, disbarred from the list of correspondents as being a German subject; and Senator Righi, professor at the University of Bologna, Italy. The late Professor E. C. Pickering was for many years the only American correspondent of the Bureau of Longitudes.

SIR NAPIER SHAW has resumed the administrative duties of the directorship of the British Meteorological Office, from which he was re

lieved in May of last year by the appointment of Colonel H. G. Lyons to be acting director for the period of the war.

A COMMITTEE has been formed consisting of colleagues, students and friends of Professor Landouzy to secure funds by subscription with which to establish a Landouzy Museum at the Paris School of Medicine and to strike off a medal in his honor.

In view of the retirement of Professor F. P. Dunnington, of the school of analytical and industrial chemistry of the University of Virginia, the following resolution has been passed by the visitors: "Resolved, that the rector and visitors of the University of Virginia accept the resignation of Professor Francis Perry Dunnington with very sincere acknowledgment of his long, capable and faithful service to the university. The rector and visitors assure him of their confidence and good will, and wish for him a long life of continued usefulness in his career."

DR. J. C. MARTIN, assistant curator in the division of economic geology of the National Museum, has accepted a position with the U. S. Geological Survey. Mr. Earl V. Shannon has been appointed assistant curator in the department of geology of the museum.

LIEUTENANT COLONEL ALFRED H. BROOKS, geologist in charge of Alaskan Mineral Resources, U. S. Geological Survey, who has been with the American Army in France since the summer of 1917, has returned to Washington and is again taking up his geological work with the survey.

DR. ARTHUR W. Dox, after nineteen months' military service as captain in the Sanitary Corps, has returned to his former position as chief of the chemistry section of the Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station.

DR. DAVID KLEIN, formerly state chemist of Illinois, who has been serving in the Sanitary Corps with the American Expeditionary Forces in France, has been promoted from the rank of captain to that of major. He will spend part of the summer in Serbia with the American Relief Administration. Major Klein has just been appointed associate pro