JOURNAL

OF THE

WASHINGTON ACADEMY

OF SCIENCES

^.7

I/' *

VOLUME VIII, 1918

BOARD OF EDITORS

Adolph Knopf A. S. Hitchcock J. Fraxklin Meyer

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY BUREAU OF STANDARDS

PUBLISHED SEMI-MONTHLY

EXCEPT IN JULY. AUGUST, AND SEPTEMBER, WHEN MONTHLY,

BY THE

WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

OFFICE OF PUBLICATION

THE WAVERLT PRESS

BALTIMORE, MD.

N

^i

JOURNAL

OF THE

WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Vol. VIII JANUARY 4, 1918 No. 1

PHYSICS. — The size and shape of the electron. Arthur H.

CoMPTON, Research Laboratory, Westinghouse Lamp Com-

pany. (Communicated by G. K. Burgess.)

The radius of the electron is usually deduced from the energy

of the electron in motion, assuming its magnetic energy to be

identical with its kinetic energy. If the electron is a sphere, its

radius must be, according to this assumption, about 1 X 10 ~^'

cm. It is thus sufficiently small to act as a point charge of

electricity even with the shortest 7-rays.

Calculating on the basis of such an electron, J. J. Thomson^

has shown that the fraction of the energy of an electromagnetic

wave incident upon an electron which is scattered by it is given

by the expression

Stt e^

This corresponds to a mass absorption coefficient due to a

scattering of the primary beam equal to

where N is the number of electrons which contribute to the

scattering in a gram of the absorbing medium, C is the velocity

of light, and e and m have their usual significance. As Barkla

has pointed out, there may be absorption due to other causes,

1 Thomson, J. J. Conduction of Electricity through Gases, 2d ed., p. 321.

1

2 compton: size and shape of electrons

such as the production of secondary photoelectrons or beta rays,

and for other than waves of short length the rays scattered by

the different electrons in an atom are nearly enough in the

same phase to produce the phenomenon of ''excess scattering,"

so that the absorption coefficient is in most cases considerably

greater than the value given by this expression. If the electron

acts as a point charge there is, however, no possible grouping

of the electrons which can, according to classical theory, produce

a smaller absorption than that calculated according to Thomson's

formula.

Barkla and Dunlop^ have shown that for a considerable range

of wave-lengths of X-rays the mass scattering coefficients of the

lighter elements are given accurately by equation (1) if the

number of electrons in the atom is taken to be approximately

half the atomic weight. For elements of high atomic weight the

phenomenon of excess scattering occurs, except with the very

shortest wave-lengths, and the absorption coefficient due to

scattering becomes much greater than this value. For wave-

lengths less than 2 X 10 ~^ cm., however, the absorption co-

efficient becomes very appreciably less than that theoretically

calculated, falling as low as one-fifth as great for the shortest

7-rays. Soddy and RusselP and Ishino* have shown that for

these shortest rays the amount of energy scattered by the dif-

ferent elements is accurately proportional to their atomic num-

bers, so that all the electrons outside the nucleus are effective

in producing absorption. It is therefore impossible to account

for this very considerable decrease in the absorption coefficient

for very short electromagnetic waves if the electron is considered

to be a point charge of electricity.

If, however, the diameter of the electron is comparable in

magnitude with the wave-length of the incident wave, the ra-

diation scattered by different parts of the electron will be so

different in phase that the energy of the scattered rays will be

materially reduced. If, for example, the charge on an electron

^ Barkla and Dunlop. Phil. Mag., March, 1916.

3 Soddy and Russell. Phil. Mag. 18: 620. 1910; 19: 725. 1910.

^IsHiNO. Phil. Mag. 33: 129. 1917.

compton: size and shape of electrons 3

is supposed to be in the form of rigid spherical shell, incapable

of rotation, a simple calculation shows that the mass absorption

coefficient due to scattering is given by

l = ^^sin^(^i^y, (2)

p 3 m'^C' V X / V X / ^ ^

where a is the radius of the spherical shell and X is the wave-

length of the incident beam. For long waves this becomes iden-

tical with equation (1), but it decreases rapidly as the wave-

length approaches the diameter of the electron, as is shown in

curve I, figure 1. Such an assumption is therefore able to ex-

plain at least qualitatively the decrease in the absorption for

electromagnetic waves of very high frequency.

It would appear more reasonable to imagine the spherical shell

electron to be subject to rotational as well as translational dis-

placements when traversed by a 7-ray. The scattering due to

such an electron is difficult to calculate, but an approximate

expression can be obtained if the electron is considered to be

perfectly flexible, so that each part of it can be moved inde-

pendently of the other parts. On this hypothesis it can be shown

that the intensity of the beam scattered by an electron at an

angle d with an unpolarized beam of 7-rays is given by the

expression

If) = I — ^ < sm^ sm - / sin^ - >• (3)

^ 2rWC* LWJ V X 2// 2j ^ ^

Here / is the intensity of the incident beam, r is the distance at

which the intensity of the scattered beam is measured, and the

other quantities have the same meaning as before. The mass

absorption coefficient due to scattering by such an electron is

therefore

- = 2xAV r^smedd. (4)

p J I

This integral may be evaluated graphically or by expansion

into a series. The values of a/p in the case of aluminium, tak-

ing the numbers of electrons per atom to be 13, are plotted in

curve II, figure 1, for different values of a/X. The values for a

compton: size and shape of electrons

rigid spherical electron which is subject to rotation should lie

between curves I and II for the range of a/X here plotted.

Unfortunately the experimental data are too meager to sub-

mit these formulae to accurate quantitative test. There are,

.12

cr

P

■I'f

.13.

.16

.0?

.06

M

,01

.05

.10

.15

.20

.Z5 a/A 0.30

Fig. 1. Mass absorption coefficient for electrons (I) in the form of rigid

spherical shells incapable of rotation, and (II) in the form of perfectly flexible

spherical shells. The number of electrons per atom is taken as 13.

however, three points on the curve w^hich are established with

Some accuracy. Barkla^ has found that for relatively long X-rays

the light elements scatter accurately according to equation (1),

so that the part of the curves where a/X is small is verified.

^ Barkla and Dunlop. Phil. Alag.

compton: size and shape of electrons 5

Hull and Rice*^ have shown that for wave-lengths in the neigh-

borhood of 0.17 X 10-« cm. the value of o-/p for aluminium is

about 0.12. From curve I this corresponds to an electronic

radius of 2.2 X lO-^o cm., while curve II gives 2.3 X lO""' cm.

Ishino" finds that the value of ajp, using the hard 7-rays from

radium-C, is about 0.045. Taking the effective wave-length to

be« 0.093 X 10-^ cm., curve I gives a = 2.1 X 10"^" and curve

II gives a = 2.5 X 10^^^^ cm. Using either formula the agree-

ment between the two values of the radius is within the limits

of probable experimental error. The unusually low absorption

coefficient for 7-rays can therefore be quantitatively explained

on the hypothesis that the electron is a spherical shell of elec-

tricity of radius about 2.3 X 10-"^ cm.

Another difficulty that is found in J. J. Thomson's simple

theory is that it predicts that if a beam of X-rays is passed

through a thin plate the intensity of the scattered rays on the

two sides of the plate should be the same. It is well known,

however, that the scattered radiation on the emergent side of

the plate is much more intense than that on the incident side,

both in the case of relatively soft X-rays and in the case of hard

7-rays. Barkla and Ayres^ have shown that for rather hard

X-rays and for those substances of low atomic weight whose

absorption coefficient can be calculated accurately by equation

(1) this prediction of Thomson's, theory is also valid. In the

case of the heavier atoms and the longer waves, however, the

rays scattered at a small angle with the incident beam by the

different electrons in the atom are so nearly in the same phase

that the intensity is considerably increased, while at large angles

the phase difference is much greater, and the intensity is much

smaller. This explanation cannot, however, be applied to the

excess scattering of 7-rays of short wave-length, since experi-

ment shows^" that for longer waves the light elements show no

"Hull and Rice. Phys. Rev. 8:326. 1916.

UsHixo. Phil. Mag. 33: 129. 1917.

« Rutherford and Andrade. Phil. Mag. 28: 263. 1914.

9 Barkla and Ayers. Phil. Mag. 21 : 271. 1911.

10 Barkla and Ayers. Phil. Mag. 21: 271. 1911.

6

compton: size and shape of electrons

excess scattering on the emergent side, indicating that the

electrons act independently, while for hard 7-rays the excess

scattering is the same as for the heavier elements.

The same difficulty is present if instead of considering the

electron as a point charge it is assumed to be a rigid spherical

shell incapable of rotation, as this assumption also makes the

scattered radiation symmetrical on the incident and the emergent

sides. If, however, the electron is a spherical shell of electricity

which can be rotated by a passing electromagnetic wave, it is

Fig. 2. The intensity of the radiation scattered at an angle d with the incident

radiation, the electron being a perfectly flexible spherical shell. I, radius of

electron = 0; II, radius = 37rX/4.

capable of producing excess scattering on the emergent side for

short 7-rays in much the same manner as groups of electrons

in the atom produce excess scattering in the case of the longer

X-rays. For purposes of calculation it is again simpler to con-

sider the nearly equivalent case of the electron which is a flexible

spherical shell. The intensity at any angle is then given by

equation (3). When a = 0, this expression becomes identical

with that calculated on Thomson's theory, and the correspond-

ing values are plotted in curve I of figure 2. In curve II, Ig/1 is

plotted for different values of d, using the value a = 3xX/4.

compton: size and shape of electrons 7

The circles are experimental values determined by D. G. H.

Florance^^ using the 7-rays from radium bromide scattered by a

plate of iron. Inasmuch as these rays are heterogeneous, and

as the softer rays are scattered relatively more strongly at larger

angles, the agreement of the experimental values with curve 1 1

is as good as can be expected.

A better quantitative test of this explanation is afforded by

Ishino's observation^- that the radiation scattered on the inci-

dent side of a plate struck by hard 7-rays from radium-C is

about 15 per cent of that scattered on the emergent side. On

the hypothesis of the electron as a flexible sphere this ratio is

given by the relation

^ = I I^sm edd \ Iq sin d dd

/a Jv/'l i Jo

(5)

The values of this ratio for different values of a/X are plotted in

figure 3. This curve explains beautifully the observation of

Florance that the ''incident" scattered rays are softer than the

''emergent" and the primary rays, since it shows that the rela-

tive amount of the rays scattered backward is much greater

for soft, or long wave-length, 7-rays than for hard rays. Ruth-

erford and Andrade^^ have found the hard 7-rays from radium-C

to consist of a strong line, X = 0.099 X 10~% and a weaker line,

X = 0.071 X 10-^ cm. Taking into account this selective effect,

we may take the effective wave-length to be 0.095 X 10~^ cm.

On this basis, and using a = 2.3 X 10"^" as determined above,

the calculated value of the ratio of the incident to the emergent

scattered radiation is 8 per cent. The agreement is hardly

within the probable experimental error, but the calculated value

is at least of the proper order of magnitude, which is a strong

verification of a flexible or a rotatable electron.

According to electromagnetic theory it is obvious that the

mass of an electron cannot be accounted for on the basis of a

uniform distribution of electricity over the surface of a sphere

"Florance. Phil. Mag. 20: 921. 1910.

i^IsHiNO. Phil. Mag. 33: 129. 1917.

'3 Rutherford and AxDRADE. Phil. Mag. 28: 263. 1914.

8

compton: size and shape of electrons

of the size here assumed. Much the same effect, so far as the

scattering of 7-rays is concerned, results from the conception of

the electron as a ring of electricity of diameter comparable with

the wave-length of the incident beam. It has been shown by

Fig. 3. Ratio of the intensity of the radiation scattered on the incident side

to that of the radiation scattered on the emergent side of a plate. The electron

is assumed to be a flexible sphere. •

Davisson^^ and Webster^^^ that this conception is compatible

with the electromagnetic theory of the mass of the electron. I

have not as yet been able to solve completely the problem of the

scattering produced by such ring electrons. Approximate

"Damsson. Phys. Rev. 9 : 570. 1917.

»5 Webster. Phys. Rev. 9 : 484. 1917.

compton: size and shape of electrons 9

methods show, however, that if the electron is a rigid ring whose

plane is invariable, the scattered energy follows equation (2)

rather closely, and is symmetrical on the incident and the emer-

gent sides. If the electron is a flexible ring, or one capable of

rotation about any axis, the scattering is more nearly that given

by equation (4), but should be somewhat greater for large

values of a/\. The ratio of the incident to the emergent scat-

tered radiation should also be appreciably larger than that

given by expression (5). It seems probable, therefore, that the

scattering of 7-rays and X-rays may be completely explained on

the hypothesis that the electron is a ring of electricity of radius

about 2 X lO-'i" cm., if the ring is capable of rotation about any

axis.

This hypothesis makes it possible to explain also the effect

noticed by A. H. Forman'* that the absorption coefficient of

iron for a beam of X-rays is greater when the iron is magnetized

parallel with the transmitted beam than when the iron is un-

magnetized or magnetized perpendicular to the X-ray beam.

Using an effective potential of 27,000 volts the effect was about

0.4 per cent, and with a potential of 81,000 volts it was 0.6 per

cent. From X-ray spectra obtained under similar circumstances

it can be shown that the effective wave-length used in the two

cases was about 1.0 X 10^^ and 0.5 X 10^^ cm. respectively.

If the ring electron acts as a tiny magnet, as suggested by

Parson,^^ it may be turned by the magnetic field until its plane

is perpendicular to the incident beam of X-rays This will

make the rays scattered by the different parts of the electron

more nearly in the same phase, so that the absorption due to

scattered radiation will be increased. Moreover, since the in-

cident rays can get a better hold on the electron in this posi-

tion, its displacement will be greater than when unorientated,

and absorption due to transformation of the X-rays into other

types of energy will be greater. For the relatively long waves

used bj^ Forman the ratio of the absorption coefficient when

16 Forman. Phys. Rev. 7: 119. 1916.

1' Parson, A. L. Smithsonian Misc. Collections, Nov. 191.5. Parson esti-

mates his "magneton," or ring electron, to have a radius of 1.5 X 10""' cm.

10 compton: size and shape of electrons

magnetized to that when unmagnetized should be approxhnately

K'-y -ft)

where a is the radius of the ring electron and k is the fraction

of the electrons which are oriented by the magnetic field. Using

the value a = 2.3 X 10~^" cm., this means that the change in

the absorption due to magnetization for X = 1.0 X 10 ~^ cm. is

0.7 k per cent, and for X = 0.5 X 10^^ cm. is 2.8 k per cent.

From the observed values of this difference we find that the

fraction of the electrons oriented by the magnetic field is 0.6

and 0.26. The experimental basis of the latter value is much

the more certain. Taking the number of electrons in the iron

atom to be 26, this means that in order to explain Forman's

effect in terms of ring electrons a number 0.26 X 26 = 7 of the

electrons must be capable of being oriented by the magnetic

field. This is what would be expected if it is the 8 valence

electrons of iron which are responsible for its ferro-magnetic

properties. Our hypothesis of a ring electron of radius 2.3 X

10~i^ cm. is therefore capable of explaining satisfactorily For-

man's effect.

It should be noted that Forman explains his effect as be-

ing due to an orientation of the molecules in the iron. The

experiments of Rognley and the writer'^ on the effect of mag-

netizing a crystal on the intensity of the beam of X-rays re-

flected by it have shown that any orientation of the molecules,

if it occurs at all, must be extremely small. It was found fur-

ther that unless it is very nearly isotropic the atom also is not

rotated by magnetization. Thu^ Forman's explanation of his

effect is inadequate. The fact that his experiments can be ex-

plained in terms of an orientation of the electrons must be

taken as a confirmation of the conclusion arrived at by Rognley

and the writer that it is not the atom as a whole, but the electron

itself that is the ultimate magnetic particle.

18 Compton and Rognley. Science (N. S.) 46:415. 1917.

HOSTETTER AND SOSMAN: MERCURY STILL 11

•

Summary. Ishino's experiments, showing that the scatter-

ing of hard 7-rays by different materials is strictly proportional

to the number of electrons and is not proportional to the masses,

proves that the electrons are responsible for practically all of the

scattering, and that for these wave-lengths they act independ-

entl}^ of each other. According to the classical electrodynamical

theory, this means that if the electrons are sensibly point charges

of electricity, the absorption coefficient due to scattering for these

rays must be given by equation (1). Since this equation does

not hold for these wave-lengths, we cannot consider the electron

to be a point charge. In order to account for the small absorp-

tion coefficient of 7-rays the electron must have an effective radius

of about 2.3 X 10"^° cm. In order to explain the fact that the

emergent scattered radiation is more intense than the incident

radiation, it is necessary to assume further that the different

parts of the charge of the electron can possess certain motions inde-

pendently of each other. It appears that these phenomena, together

with the electromagnetic mass of the electron, can be quanti-

tatively explained on the hypothesis that the electron consists

of a ring of electricity subject to rotation about any axis and of

radius about 2.3 X 10"^° cm. This hypothesis is confirmed by

the fact that it explains satisfactorily Forman's effect of mag-

netization of iron upon its absorption coefficient, for which

there is no other apparent explanation.

CHEMISTRY. — A silica-glass mercury still. J. C. Hostetter

and R. B. Sosman, Geophysical Laboratory.

Although numerous electrically heated mercury stills have

been described and are doubtless being used with satisfaction,

nevertheless there is one undesirable feature that is common

to all vacuum mercury stills and that is avoided in the one about

to be described: namely, that a still made of ordinary glass

or even of combustion glass will, when slightly overheated, col-

lapse under the pressure of the atmosphere.'

1 The form of failure of such a tube is of some interest in itself. One of our

ordinary glass stills that collapsed one night when the voltage on the power line

became too high yielded symmetrically around its vertical axis, instead of flatten-

ing out, producing a figure with three cusps separated by angles of 120 degrees.

n

r

o

\

■Semi-fransparent silica

S mm inside diameter

Semi-transparent silica

/i mm inside diameter

IS mm outside «

Loose asbestos fiber

E

O

OO

E^

B

ym'/iWf<'4

-Aiundum tube

•Semi-transparent silica

■20 mm inside diameter

34- mm outside

■ Asbestos - macjnesia

pipe coverina

■Asbestos hoard

Wooden shelf

^ Transparent silica

tubes, 5 mm bore.

E

E

o

WlSmm^

Fig. 1. Silica-glass mercury still

12

HOSTETTER AND SOSMANI MERCURY STILL 13

After several such exasperating experiences with glass stills —

the overheating being caused by rising voltage on the power

line — we had our still remade of silica glass (fused quartz, or

"quartz glass"), and it has been in use more or less continuously

for several years. The additional cost of the silica-glass still is

well expended in the insurance thereby secured against inter-

ruption of the distillation. We have been requested to put on

record a brief description of the still, having had a number of

inquiries for information concerning its design.

Design of the still. The construction is shown in detail in

figure 1. An effort has been made to simplify the still as much

as possible in order to minimize the difficulties connected with

the working of silica . glass. No originality is claimed for the

design : an inspection of the diagram will show that the essential

points of any continuously acting still have been embodied,

some having been taken from one still and some from another.

The distillation chamber (D) has an inside diameter of 30 mm.

and a length of 110 mm. The condenser (C) has an inside

diameter of 13 mm. Both of these parts of the apparatus are

made of the semitransparent inexpensive variety of silica glass.

The smaller vertical tubes, A and B, however, are made of the

transparent variety, thus enabling one to observe readily the

rate of condensation and to see whether the vacuum is being

maintained. At V the still is connected to a suction pump

that gives a pressure of 1 cm. of mercury or less. This joint is

made with hard De Khotinsky cement and is located where it

will be air-cooled as thoroughly as possible. The lengths of the

small vertical tubes must be such that at ordinary atmospheric

pressure the distillation chamber is about half filled: the length

of A is 720 mm. to the bottom of the distillation chamber, while

B has a length of 840 mm. The inside diameters of A and B

should not be too small; the tubes on our still have a bore of

3 mm., but 5 mm. might be better.

The fu7'nace. The furnace is wound so as to go directly on

the 110-volt circuit (alternating or direct current) without any

external resistance. The power consumption is about 60 watts.

Since the temperature required is comparatively low, various

14 HOSTETTER AND SOSMANI MERCURY STILL

designs for the furnace might be safely employed; such, for

instance, as winding the resistance wire on an asbestos-covered

metal tube. Having at hand, however, an alundum tube of

suitable size, we found it convenient to wind the wire directly

upon this tube, and to hold the wire in place with alundum

cement. The alundum tube has an inside diameter of 1^ inches

(38 mm.) and is 4| inches (114 mm.) long. The winding con-

sists of 51 turns (12 to the inch) of No. 30 nichrome wire (diam-

eter 0.010 inch, or 0.25 mm.), giving a total of approximately

24 feet (7.3 meters) of wire. Its resistance is about 160 ohms

cold and 200 ohms hot, and the current is about 0.6 ampere.

The furnace rests on a disk of heavy asbestos board and is

jacketed with ordinary asbestos-magnesia pipe covering. The

neck of the still is covered with loose asbestos fiber.

Preliminary treatment of the mercury. As here constructed

this still is intended for the final distillation of mercury that has

been previously treated to remove the gross impurities. This

may be done (a) by the well-known process of Lothar Meyer*

since modified by Hildebrand^ and by Desha,* in which the

mercury is allowed to pass in a fine stream through a long column

of dilute nitric acid ; (b) by making the mercury the anode in n.

nitric acid bath and electrolyzing ;^ (c) by passing air through

the slightly heated mercury;^ (d) most thoroughly of all, by the

method of Hulett and Minchin,^ consisting in subjecting the

mercury to a preliminary distillation during which a stream of air

is bubbled through it. The first three methods have recently

been combined and developed into an automatic process.*

Another very simple but surprisingly effective method of

removing impurities, which is not generally known and which

has been ascribed to Henry Leffman, is to shake up the con-

2 Meyer, Lothar. Z. Anal. Ch. 2: 241. 1863.

3 HiLDEBRAND, J. H. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 31 1 933-935. 1909.

4 Desha, L. J. Am. Chem. J. 41 : 152. 1909.

6 Wolff, F. A., and Waters, C. E. Bull. Bur. Standards 3: 624-625; 4: 9-11.

1907.

« Crafts, J. M. Bull. Soc. Chim. Paris 49: 856. 1888.

^Hulett, G. A., and Minchin, H. D. Phys. Rev. 21:388-398. 1905.

•Patten, H. E., and Mains, G. H. J. Ind. Eng. Chem. 9: 600-603. 1917.

ALLEN: SENSORY FIBERS 15

taminated mercury with cane sugar. After such a treatment

and a filtration through a pin hole the mercury comes out re-

markably clean.

Unless the mercury has been partially purified in some manner

the tube A may become clogged by the accumulation of foreign

metals which concentrate in the tube as the mercury distils.

If a wet process of purification has been employed, it is best

to dry the mercury by bubbling air through it for several hours

before introducing it into the still.

After a distillation from this apparatus the mercury should

be given a filtration tlii'ough a pin hole in a filter paper in order

to remove a slight film of oxide produced by the oxidation of

metal impurities by the small amount of air remaining in the

still. After such a distillation and filtration the mercury may

be safely used in vacuum gages and in thermoregulators, and

for other purposes requiring a reasonably pure product.

The yield of distilled mercury is about 400 cc. per twenty-

four-hour day, when the still is operated with a vacuum of

approximately 1 cm. of mercury.

PHYSIOLOGY. — Sensory fibers in the mesencephalic root of man

and the guinea pig. William F. Allen, Department of

Anatomy, University of Oregon Medical School, Portland,

/Oregon.

As a result of Marchi stained serial sections of the brain stems

of a five year old girl and two guinea pigs, in which the left V-

roots of the guinea pigs were previously severed behind the

semilunar ganglion and the V-sensory root of the girl had been

destroyed by a large glioma in the pons region, the following

preliminary statement can be made: A number of sensory

fibers arising from cells in the semilunar ganglion follow the

ventral surface of the sensory root of the trigeminal nerve into

the brain stem to pass dorsally between the V-motor and the

V-sensory (substantia gelatinosa) nuclei to end in considerable

numbers in the motor nucleus. Other fibers continue dorsad

and cephalad in the V-mesencephalic root to terminate in the

16 bartsch: Philippine land mollusks

locus coeruleus. Degenerated fibers were fairly abundant in

the mesencephalic root as far cephalad as the point of crossing

of the IV-nerve root. A few of these sensory fibers apparently

continue farther cephalad in the mesencephalic root to end in

the V-mesencephalic root nucleus lateral to the central gray

mass above the IV and III nuclei. Additional experiments are

in progress to determine the distribution of the nerve fibers

arising from the V-mesencephalic nucleus and the locus coeruleus.

CONCHOLOGY. — The land mollusks of the genus Ohba from the

islands of Bohol and Panglao, P. I.^ Paul Bartsch, U. S.

National Museum.

The United States National Museum has recently received a

lot of shells belonging to the genus Ohba, collected by Gilbert

S. Perez on the islands of Bohol and Panglao, which made a

revision of the group necessary. This has resulted in the rec-

ognition of a number of new forms, brief critical diagnosis of

which are presented herewith. A fuller account and figures of

these will be published in a monograph on the Philippine mem-

bers of the genus, which is in preparation.

Obba rota Perezi, n. subsp.

The present race differs from Obba rota rota Broderip, which is at

home on the island of Siquijor, in being decidedly more elevated and

in having the peripheral keel less upturned at the edge, and situated

about half way between the base and summit, while in Obba rota rota

it is at the anterior extremity of the upper third.

The type. Cat. No. 216983, U. S. N. M., comes from Bilar, Bohol,

and measures: altitude, 10.2 mm.; greater diameter, 27.6 mm.; lesser

diameter, 22 m.

Obba rota panglaoensis, n. subsp.

This race is much smaller and darker than Obba rota rota Broderip.

It is elevated like Obba rota -perezi B. and has the keel similarly situated,

but the sculpture is rougher in the present race.

The type, Cat. No. 216984, U. S. N. M., comes from 'Panglao

Panglao Island, and measures: altitude, 9.7 mm.; greater diameter,

23.5 mm.; lesser diameter, 18.7 mm.

1 Published by permission of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.

BARTSCH: PHILIPPINE LAND MOLLUSKS 17

Obba moricandi hernandezensis, n. subsp.

The present race is more elevated and narrower than typical Obba

moricandi moricandi Sowerby which comes from Jacna, Bohol. The

pronounced characteristic color bands of the spire in the typical form

are completely absent and only a faint narrow light-brown thread

encircles the base. Our specimens come from Garcia Hernandez, Bohol.

The type, Cat. No. 21G980, U. S. N. M., measures: altitude, 19.3

mm.; greater diameter, 33.2 mm.; lesser diameter, 25.2 mm.

Obba scrobiculata valenciensis, n. subsp.

The rought axial sculpture, characteristic of Obba scrobiculata scrobi-

culata Pfeiffer, is reduced to a minimum, while the color bands on the

upper surface of the typical form are merely indicated by obsolete

lines in the present race. The upper surface is marked by broad,

light and dark oblique axial zones, which lend it a watered-silk effect.

A color band is present on the base.

The type. Cat. No. 216986', U. S. N. M., comes from Valencia,

Bohol, and measures: altitude, 13 mm.; greater diameter, 29.3 mm.;

lesser diameter, 23 mm.

ABSTRACTS

Authors of scientific papers are requested to see that abstracts, preferably

prepared and signed by themselves, are forwarded promptly to the editors.

Each of the scientific bureaus in Washington has a representative authorized to

forward such material to this Journal and abstracts of official publications

should be transmitted through the representative of the bureau in which they

originate. The abstracts should conform in length and general style to those

appearing in this issue.

GEOLOGY. — Notes on the geology and iron ores of the Cuyuna district,

Minnesota. E. C. Harder and A. W. Johnston. U. S. Geo-

logical Survey Bulletin 660-A. Pp. 26, with maps, sections, and

illustrations. 1917.

The Cuyuna iron-ore district is near the geographic center of Minne-

sota, about 90 miles west of Duluth and 55 miles southwest of the

western part of the Mesabi district. In contrast with some of the

other Lake Superior iron-ore districts, it is without marked topographic

relief. It is mainly a region of low, irregular morainic hills interspersed

with lakes and extensive swamps and marshes.

The productive part of the Cuyuna district is commonly divided

into two ranges — the north range, including the part lying north of

the Northern Pacific Railway, and the south range, including the belt

lying south of the railway. The discovery of iron ore in the Cuyuna

district was entirely due to the existence of abnormal magnetic attrac-

tions in the region.

The bedrock in the district and adjacent region is largely concealed

by a mantle of glacial drift that varies in thickness from 15 feet to

about 400 feet. No rock exposures are known in Crow Wing County,

in which most of the district is situated. The rocks that have been

found up to the present time in the district can all be grouped under

three classes: (1) sedimentary and igneous metamorphosed rocks

interlayered with each other in beds and lenses and usually having

steep dips due to extensive folding, (2) igneous rocks intruded into the

metamorphosed rocks subsequent to their metamorphism and deforma-

tion, and (3) younger rocks which lie horizontally on the eroded sur-

faces of the rocks of the other two classes. The age of the various rocks

is not definitely known.

18

abstracts: parasitology 19

The iron-bearing formation of the Cuyuna district presents a variety

of lithologic types. Among the more common rocks composing it are

hematitic and Hmonitic chert and slate, cherty and slaty iron carbonate,

siliceous magnetitic slate, amphibole-magnetite rock, jaspilite, dark-

blue, red, brown, black, and yellow iron ore, black, red, and brown

manganiferous iron ore, green chloritic schist, and dark-red hematitic

schist.

It is generally supposed that the original rock frorn which the present

hematitic and Hmonitic chert and iron ore have in large part been

formed is a banded cherty iron-carbonate rock.

The ore bodies are as a rule roughly tabular in shape, with the longer

axes parallel to the bedding of the inclosing rocks. As the beds of

rock generally dip steeply, the ore bodies are shown at the surface as

bands that extend for considerable distances along the strike of the

beds. They range in width to several hundred feet and are usually

very long, some of the known ore bodies being more than a mile in

length. The Cuyuna ore shows all stages of hydration from pure

reddish-blue hematite to ocherous yellow limonite, and both argillace-

ous and siliceous phases are common. R. W. Stone.

PARASITOLOGY. — A further note on the life history of Gongylonema

scutatum. B. H. Ransom and M. C. Hall. Journ. Parasit.

3: 177-181. June, 1917.

Seurat in recent publications has questioned certain conclusions

reached by the writers in former papers relative to the life history of

the nematode Gongylonema scutatum. In the present paper these

conclusions are upheld, namely that dung beetles and croton bugs

fed upon the eggs of G. scutatum become infested with an encysted

larval stage of the parasite and that it is quite evident that sheep,

cattle, and other suitable mammalian hosts become in turn infested

as a result of swallowing infested insects (under natural conditions

various species of dung beetles). Certain larval nematodes found by

Seurat (1916) in several species of Blaps in Algeria are not G. scutatum

and it is not improbable that those which he found in various Algerian

beetles and identified as the larvae of G. mucronatum Seurat in reality

belong to the species G. scutatum. B. H. R.

MEETINGS OF THE ACADEMY AND AFFILIATED

SOCIETIES

WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

The 113th meetmg of the Academy, the nineteenth annual meeting,

was held at the Cosmos Club at 8.30 p.m., Thursday, January 11,

1917. In the absence of the Recording Secretary, the chair appointed

F. E. Wright acting secretary. The minutes of the last annual

njeeting were read and approved.

The reports of the Corresponding Secretary, the Recording Secre-

tary, the Treasurer, and the Auditing Committee were read and ac-

cepted. William R. Maxon presented the report of the editors, which

was accepted.

The tellers reported that the mail ballot had resulted in the elec-

tion of the following officers for the year 1917:

President: W. H. Holmes.

Non-resident Vice-Presidents: E. W. Morley and W. S. Thayer.

Corresponding Secretary: F. E. Wright.

Recording Secretary: William R. Maxon.

Treasurer: William Bowie.

Managers, Class of 1920: Paul Bartsch, C. S. Scofibld.

Nominations for Vice-presidents from the affiliated societies were

then presented, and the following Vice-Presidents were elected:

Anthropological: Walter Hough.

Archaeological: Mitchell Carroll.

Biological: W. P. Hay. ,

Botanical: A. S. Hitchcock.

Chemical C. S. Hudson.

Electrical Engineers: R. H. Dalgleish.

Engineers: A. L. Baldwin.

Entomological: W. D. Hunter.

Foresters: George B. Sudworth.

Geographic: 0. H. Tittmann.

Geological: A. C. Spencer.

Historical: Allen C. Clark.

Medical: G. Wythe Cook.

Philosophical: E. Buckingham.

The meeting was then adjourned for five minutes, after which the

Academy met in joint meeting with the Chemical Society, with C. L.

Alsberg in the chair. R. B. Sosman presented his address as retiring

president of the Chemical Society, on the subject: Some problems of

the oxides of iron. The address has been published in the Journal of

the Academy (7: 55-72. 1917).

R. B. Sosman, Corresponding Secretary.

20

proceedings: anthropological society 21

The 114th meeting of the Washington Academy of Sciences was

held in the auditorium of the Natm-al History Building of the National

Museum the evening of February 1, 1917. The retiring president of

the Academy, Dr. L. O. Howard, delivered an illus:trated lecture

Entitled The carriage of disease by insects. The address has since been

published in abridged form in the Journal of the Academy (7: 217-222.

April 19, 1917).

The 115th meeting of the Academy was held in the Assembl}^ Hall

of the Cosmos Club the evening of March 15, 1917, the occasion being

the presentation of the first of a series of public lectures on Heredity.

I^of. H. S. Jennings, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, delivered

an address entitled Observed changes in hereditary characters in relation

to evolution. This has since been published in full in the Journal of

the Academy (7: 281-301. May 19, 1917).

The 1 16th meeting of the Academy was held in the Assembly Hall

of the Cosmos Club the evening of March 29, 1917, the speaker being

Dr. Oscar Riddle, of the Department of Experimental Evolution,

Cold Spring Harbor, New York. Doctor Riddle's lecture, entitled

The control of the sex ratio, has been published in full in the Journal of

the Academy (7: 319-356. June 4, 1917).

The 117th meeting of the Academy was held in the Assembly Hall

of the Cosmos Club the evening of April 13, 1917. The speaker. Prof.

W. E. Castle, of Harvard University, delivered an address entitled

The role of selection in heredity. This lecture, which concluded the

series on Heredity, has since been published under a shghtly different

title in the Journal of the Academy (7: 369-387. June 19, 1917).

William R. Maxon, Recording Secretary.

ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

The 513th meeting of the Society was held at the National Museum,

October 2, 1917, at 4.30 p.m.

Dr. Ales Hrdlicka, Curator of Physical Anthropology, U. S.

National Museum, addressed the Society on Bohemia and the Bohem-

ians, illustrating his address with lantern slides.

"Bohemia," said Dr. Hrdlicka, "is not a large country but one with

a great history; and while among the oldest in Europe and one of the

most battered by fate it is struggling vigorously to regain its freedom

which it lost in the dark period of the seventeenth century. Its people

have been endowed with an unquenchable love of liberty and its free

sons are now fighting in every Allied army."

The speaker then noted the geographic position of Bohemia in the

center of Europe, surrounded by a natural boundary of hills and moun-

tains. Its area is about one-fourth greater than that of Switzerland,

22 proceedings: anthropological society •

with a density of population nearly twice as great as that of France,

and one-seventh greater than that of Germany. Ethnically the Bo-

hemians are Slavs. The names Bohemia and Bavaria are both of

Roman origin, derived from the name of the Keltic ti'ibe of Boii, the

forefathers of the Bavarians who may have extended over, or clanned

a part of, Bohemian territory at one time. The name Czech (applied

to the Bohemians) is, according to old tradition, derived from that of

a leader or chief of the people.

Archaeological excavations have shown that the Slavs were in Bo-

hemia long before the beginning of the Christian era. The earliest

historical mention of them occurs in the second and third centuries.

They were never subject to Rome, and the Germans were their eternal

enemies. At the beginning of the seventh century they were a strong

political unit and in 630 were powerful enough to severely defeat the

Germans. Thus began historically the marvelous life-and-death strug-

gle of the Czech people with the voracious German flood that would

engulf them, a struggle of thirteen centuries, which has lasted until the

present day.

The rich Bohemian literature and archives were repeatedly destroyed

by the enemy, but enough has been saved to show that those early

times were both idyllic and magnificently barbaric. The people were

agriculturists and soldiers. Their organization was patriarchal, their

government constitutional, almost republican. The religion of Bo-

hemia was naturalistic and poetic. The priests worshiped under great

oaks. There was a supreme deity, beside which there are series of

belobozi, or good gods, cernobozi and dasi or demons, vily (fairies),

vodnici (water-spirits), etc. The burials were by cremation.

From the eighth to the fourteenth centuries the Bohemians were

ruled by kings of a strong native dynasty. In 1526 the last of the

Bohemian kings perished in a battle with the Turks, and soon after-

ward Bohemia as well as Hungary joined Austria for mutual protection

against the common peril. This was the beginning of Bohemia's

misfortunes. During the Thirty Years War the life of Bohemia was

nearly extinguished ; not until the nineteenth century came the time of

a revival and restitution. Today the nation stands at the head of all

those comprised in the medieval conglomerate of Austria-Hungary

in education, industry, and practically every other respect. It is still

shackled and persecuted by Austria but hopes and works for an early

victory of the Allied arms and with this its liberation. In 1918 Bo-

hemia will have with the Allies two small armies of its own, one in

France and one in Russia.

The 514th meeting of the society was held in the National Museum,

October 16, 1917 at 4.30 p.m.

Dr. Mitchell Carroll, Secretary of the Archaeological Institute

of America, delivered a lecture on The story of Greece. The lecture was

richly illustrated with lantern slides portraying the principal centers

of Greek life, such as Olympia, Delphi, Sparta, and Athens, with the

proceedings: anthropological. soceity 23

monuments of architecture and sculpture that have been most influ-

ential in the development of art.

Dr. Carroll, in introducing his subject, noted our indebtedness to

Greece as five-fold, comprising (1) democracy, (2) obedience to

reason, (3) love of beauty, (4) letters, and (5) art. The history

of Greece was outlined in seven divisions: (1) The Prehistoric and

Heroic Ages to the Dorian n igration, 2000-1000 B.C.; (2) the Greek

Middle Ages, 1000-500 B.C.; (3) from the Persian Wars to Alexander

the Great, 500-386 B.C.; (4) from Alexander the Great to the Roman

conquest, 336-146 B.C.; (5) the Roman, Byzantine, and Latin

supremacies, 146 B.C.-1453 A.D.; (6) the Ottoman supremacy,

1453-1832; (7) the n-odern Greek kingdom, 1832.

The racial life of Greece was emphasized by Dr. Carroll, who said

"The central fact of all Greek history, from prehistoric times to the

present, is the unbroken life of the Greek race. This racial unity

rests on common blood, common language, and common institutions."

1. Race. From 650 to 850 the Slavs in Greece outnumbered the

Greeks, but the Greeks, being superior in civilization, gradually ab-

sorbed them. The process of Hellenizing the Slavonians went on

steadily until in about 200 years it was practically complete. Thus,

between 850 and 1050 was formed the basis of the modern Greek nation .

It contains a large infusion of Slavonic blood, but the strain of Hellenic

blood has been perpetual and this has determined the type of the

modern nationality.

2. Language. Greek, though for many centuries crude and ungram-

matical, never lost its vitality. In organic matters of structure and

syntax Greek has never made a compromise with any foreign language.

Briefly, its story has been this. About 300 A.D. the spoken Greek

language began to diverge from the literary language, but until 750

Old Greek was generally understood by the people. Then came the

breach of Greek tradition, due to the Slavs, and by 900 A. D. classical

Greek had probably ceased to be generally understood. Between

1100 and 1200 popular Greek began to have a literature of its own, the

popular Greek of the thirteenth century differing little from the popular

Greek of today. The chief difference between Old and Modern Greek

is that one is synthetic and the other analytic.

3. Character. National characteristics of ancient and modern

Greeks are: (1) aptitude for city life; (2) ability in commerce; (3)

love of mental culture; (4) cleverness. The real core of the Greek

nation throughout its history is the agricultural population of Greece

proper. The Greek nationality, like the Jewish, has never been crushed

out nor lost.

The 515th meeting of the Society was held at the National Museum,

November 6, 1917, at 4.30 p.m.

Prof. James H. Gore presented a paper on Belgium and the Belgians,

illustrated by lantern slides.

Starting with the revolution which resulted in the withdrawal of

the part of Holland that afterward became an independent kingdom

24 proceedings: anthropological society

with the name Belgium, the speaker explained the duality of languages

in Belgium and the ethnic differences between the users of the two

tongues.

Immediately prior to the present European war one-tenth of the

entire population of Belgium were housed in dwellings which, on easy

terms, had become or were becoming the property of the occupants.

Thirty-five per cent of the people had accounts in the savings banks

and 49 per cent of the inhabitants, male and female, worked at regular

callings. Statistics were given to show the thrift of the people, the

fertility of the soil, the extent of their foreign trade, and the variety

and magnitude of their industries. On each square mile there were

598 inhabitants, and for each inhabitant the railroads annually carried

merchandise having a value of $145 as compared with Germany's per

capita of S60, and $30 for the United States.

Considerable attention was given to the agricultural commissions

— a sort of university extension — which brings to the farmers of the

country speakers who tell of recent discoveries and improvements in

agriculture that would be of value to the people of each community.

To this wise provision can be ascribed a large part of the productivity

of Belgium.

The profit-sharing dock laborers of Antwerp were described. It

was shown that the prosperity of that port was due to the efficiency

of its charging and discharging instrumentalities.

The unique town of Gheel was fully described. In Gheel practically

every family cares for one or two feeble-minded persons under the

supervision of Government officials. If the family is unable to meet

the expense of this care it is borne by the state.

The 516th meeting of the Society was held at the National Museum

on Tuesday, November 20, 1917, at 4.30 p.m.

Mr. George Julian Zolnay addressed the Society on Roumania

and her -people, illustrating his subject by native music and by lantern

slides.

Mr. Zolnay stated that, with the exception of the Roumanian Jews,

there are few natives of Roumania in the United States at the present

time, and of these a large majority are from Transylvania and the

Bukovina. This accounts for the dearth of accurate knowledge con-

cerning this picturesque country, wedged in between the Carpathian

mountains and the Black Sea.

The history of Roumania began in 106 when Trajan conquered

Dacia, a country comprising the territory now known as Roumania.

At the fall of the Roman Empire in the fifth* century the descendants

of the Roman soldiers and the Dacian women had become a distinct

nationality, speaking a slightly modified Latin which has remained

the language of the Roumanian people to the present day. The

established religion has remained that of the orthodox Greek Church,

although Roumania wds a vassal state of Turkey for more than 300

years. During the Russo-Turkish war Roumania regained her inde-

proceedings: biological society 25

pendence and wa's proclaimed a kingdom in 1881, later taking her

place as a leading country among the Balkan States.

One of the most remarkable traits of the Roumanian is his love of

his national music. This music is so distinct from that of all other

nations that only the native musician can render it with the mysterious

quality that stirs the Roumanian soul.

Although the misfortunes of war have temporarily prostrated

Roumania, it is to be hoped, in the light of her past history, that she

will emerge intact, to prepetuate her Latin civilization in the midst of

her alien neighbors.

Frances Densmore, Secretary.

BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

The 572d regular meeting of the society was held in the Assembly

Hall of the Cosmos Club, Saturday, October 20, 1917; called to order

by President Hay at 8.15; 42 persons present.

Informal brief notes were presented as follows:

Gen. T. E. Wilcox: Occurrence of California vulture in Idaho. He

said: I have been requested to record, as it has been doubted, the

occurrence of the California vulture in Idaho, then a territory. In the

fall of 1879 I came upon two which were feeding on the carcass of a

sheep. They hissed at me and ran along the ground for some dis-

tance before they were able to rise in flight. They were much larger

than turkey buzzards, with which I was quite familiar, and I was very

close to them so that I could not be mistaken in their identity. The

cattle-men said that the California vulture or buzzard w^as not uncom-

mon there before they began to poison carcasses to kill wolves. Dr.

Coues gives as their habitat ''Rocky Mts. to the Pacific." Boise River

mountains rise to over 7000 feet just back of where the vultures were

feeding. The exact locality was near the Hot Springs above Boise

City. Poison and population have now destroyed that far northern

habitat. The Boise Statesman, if any of Editor Kelly's time are now

living, may be able to confirm the above statement.

Dr. R.W. Shufeldt exhibited a small living specimen of the south-

ern tortoise, or "gopher," Testudo 'polyphemus, and made remarks on

its habits.

Dr. L. O. Howard, referring to the previous note, called attention

to the peculiar insect fauna found in the burrows of the "gopher,"

many of the species having the characteristics of cavern dwelling

insects.

President W. P. Hay in the same connection remarked on the fact

that a species of frog of the genus Rana so far as is known is only found

in the burrows of the "gopher."

Dr. T. S. Palmer remarked on bird roosts that had lately been

observed in the vicinit.y of Washington, calling particular attention

to the martins and starlings in them.

26 proceedings: biological society

Mr. W. L. McAtee exhibited six rare bird papers which ho wished

to dispose of for the benefit of the Society.

Mr. William Palmer made comments on some of the papers re-

ferred to by Mr. McAtee.

Lieutenant Lyon remarked that among the comparatively small

number of stools of patients that he had examined at the Walter Reed

General Hospital he had found seven containing ova of Necator

americanus.

The regular program consisted of three communications:

Dr. T. S. Palmer: A key to ornithological literature. This review of

the literature of birds was discussed by Dr. L. O. Howard and by Dr.

Frank M. Chapman, who mentioned particularly the literature and

the active workers on South American birds.

Mr. A. S. Hitchcock: The alpine flora of the Adirondacks and the

White Mountains. During August Mr. Hitchcock visited the Adiron-

dack Mountains in New York and the White Mountains in New Hamp-

shire for the purpose of studying the alpine grasses. In the former

region collections were made on Mt. Mclntyre and on Whiteface

Mountain, both of which support an alpine flora at the summit above

tree line. Mt. Marcy, the highest peak of the Adirondacks (5344 feet),

was not investigated because it was impracticable to make the trip

in one daj^ from an}^ of the surrounding bases. However Mt. Mc-

lntyre (5112 feet), being nearly as high, presents the same conditions

as those to be found on Mt. Marcy. Four days were spent among the

high peaks of the White Mountains. Entering from the east by way

of Crystal Cascade, the speaker ascended through Tuckerman Ravine

to the summit of Mt. Washington, passing the night at the Lake of

the Clouds Hut (Appalachian Mountain Club). The second day's

trip was to the A. M. C. Madison Huts, passing the peaks of Clay,

Jefferson, and Adams. The third night was spent at Lake of the

Clouds Hut, but the return trail was to the east through the Great

Gulf. On the fourth day the descent was made through Huntington

Ravine over a difficult trail. Nine species of grasses may be classed

as alpine, though a few others extend into the alpine zone from the

lower zones (e.g., Deschampsia flexuo.sa, Calamgrostis canadensis).

The alpine species are Torresia (Hierochloa) alpina, Phleum alpinum,

Agrostis borealis, Calainagrostis langsdorfii, Trisetum spicatimi, Des-

champsia atropurpurea, Poa laxa, P. glauca, Agropyron violaceum.

Most of these are circumpolar species which extend southward in

the mountains. The distribution of each species was discussed.

Dr. R. W. vShufeldt: Notes on some United States hatrachians.

Dr. Shufeldt gave life histories and the peculiar habits of a large num-

ber of North American forms of this interesting group, all the facts

presented having been obtained through personal observations, either

upon captive specimens or on the animals in their native habitats in

the field. Among the forins touched upon were Jefferson's Amby-

stoma, which the speaker has reared in captivity, and which he illus-

trated with lantern slides, showing the eggs in the process of hatching

proceedings: biological society 27

as well as the young when several months old. Other forms taken

from life and thrown upon the screen wei"e examples of the marbled

salamander) Amhyst omaopacum) and the elegant spotted salamander

(.4. punctatuin), shown in its teri-estrial attitudes as well as seen under

water. This form is comparatively rare in the vicinity of AVashington,

less than ten specimens having been collected within the last thirty

years. Some six or eight other species of American salamanders were

thrown upon the screen to illustiate their forms and attitudes in

life.

The peculiar habit the male of the water newt (Diemydylus viri-

descens) has of hugging the female was shown from living specimens

in an aquarium maintained by the speaker at the time these studies

were made. This habit of Dieniydylus is quite independent of any

sexual act during the breeding season, and has been especially referred

to in the published life histories of the animal.

Large colored drawings were exhibited, giving the rare Anderson's

tree toad and several of the Hylidae. Additional presentations by

means of lantern were given of all the frogs, toads, and hylas of the

Atlantic States, as well as some southern species. The remarkable

gopher frog of Florida was fully illustrated and its life history given

in considerable detail.

Dr. Shufeldt's remarks were discussed by Messrs. W. P. Hay,

William Palmer, L. 0. Howard, A. Wetmore, and A. A. Doolittle.

The 573d regular meeting of the Society was held in the Assembly

Hall of the Cosmos Club, Saturday, November 3, 1917; called to order

by President Hay at 8 p.m.; 58 persons in attendance.

Informal brief notes were presented as follows:

Dr. T. S. Palmer called attention to the fact that the first botanical

society in this vicinity had been founded one hundred years ago, and

that members who failed to attend its meetings were subject to fines.

He also exhibited a recently issued Bibliography of British Ornithol-

ogy, which in addition to the usual bibliographic data contains

biographical sketches of the authors of titles listed in the bibliograph3\

Dr. L. O. Howard called attention to the recent centennial celebra-

tion of the Medical Society of the District of Columbia.

Dr. H. M. Smith reported that the recent fur-seal census shows

an increase of about 10 per cent over the previous census, the total

number being 468,000. He also reported that the flesh of whales,

owing to the decreasing supplies of other meats, is being used for

human food in the United States, especially on the Pacific Coast.

Mr. C. Birdseye remarked that large quantities of palatable seal

meat are annually thrown away by sealers along the northeast coast

of North America.

Lieutenant M. W. Lyon, Jr., exhibited a photograph of a human

anatomical anomaly in. which a kidney and its corresponding ovary

and uterine tube were lacking. It was the third case of congenital

absence of a kidney which he had encountered in two years.

28 proceedings: biological society

Mr. William Palmer exhibited a sectioned tympanic bone of a

whale and called attention to its great density and hardness.

The regular program consisted of three communications.

Rear-Admiral G. W. Baird: An unusual human specimen. He

commented on and exhibited a lantern slide of a double monster in a

native Filipino girl of usual intelligence. The external visible parasite

consisted of two lower extremities. She had slight control over these

extremities, much less now than when she was a small child.

This communication was discussed by Drs. C. W. Stiles, M. W.

Lyon, Jr., and R. W. Shufeldt.

Vernon BaiLey: How the pine squirrels help to feed the bears of the

Yellowstone Park. A general account of the bears in the park was

given and it was shown that part of their diet* consists of pine seeds

obtained from cones cut off by squirrels. Cones from which the bears

had extracted seeds were exhibited.

C. Birdseye: The fur industry of Labrador. A detailed account

of this industry, including fur farming, was given and choice skins of

the more important fur-bearing animals exhibited. This communica-

tion was discussed by Mr. A. Wetmore and Dr. L. O. Howard.

M. W. Lyon, Jr., Recording Secretary.

JOURNAL

OF THE

WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Vol. VIII JANUARY 19, 1918 No. 2

HISTORY. — The origin and early days of the Philosophical So-

ciety of Washington.^ William H. Dall, National Museum.

The history of the scientific societies in Washington has been

admirably told by Mr. G. Brown Goode in his memoir on the

origin of the U. S. National Museum. There were, before the

formation of the Philosophical Society, two or three societies, all

of which finally died. One that included most of the naturalists

was called the ''Potomac-Side Naturalist's Club;" and it is a

matter of some little interest that I had recently a call from Prof.

John Chickering, the son of Professor Chickering, of Gallaudet

College, who was one of our former members; and he told me

that in going over his father's papers, he found the records of

meetings of the ''Potomac-Side Naturalist's Club."

Then there was the National Institute, which struggled along

for a number of years very bravely against adverse circumstances,

and finally was obliged to give up on account of the expense of

maintaining a museum and other things of that sort which were

beyond the means of the members of such a small society.

When I returned from Alaska in 1868, I found that there ex-

isted in Washington a club of, I presume, about 20 members,

which was, to the best of my recollection, called the "Physical

Club." It may be added that its membership comprised some

of the most distinguished men of science in Washington, and

*An address delivered at the 789th meeting of the Philosophical Society of

Washington, April 28, 1917.

29

30 dall: origin of philosophical society

Professor Henry was chairman. General Sherman, Admiral Jen-

kins, J. E. Hilgard, and a number of other men whose names are

national property were members of this club. The general

method was to have an address or paper by some member of

the club, and afterward a social meeting with refreshments fur-

nished by the host of that evening. They were most enjoyable

evenings. However, in the course of time, it began to be felt

by some of the members that the tax on the less wealthy mem-

bers of the club was too great. The meetings were held fort-

nightly, and in the course of the season they would come around

several times to the same member. There were others who

wished very much to join, but could hardly be accommodated

in the houses of the old members; and after more or less discus-

sion about it Professor Henry suggested to some of the men

who brought the matter to his attention that they should appoint

a committee to organize a society and to have the whole subject

laid before the club, to form an organization that would omit the

refreshment part of the entertainment; that would make for

scientific purposes ; and that would be available for any scientific

man, either visitor or resident of Washington, and would be re-

stricted to men of science.

The result of this was that a committee was formed whose

report you have heard read by the Secretary. The meeting was

held in the Regent's room of the Smithsonian Institution, and

Professor Henry, by unanimous vote, was made chairman.

A skeleton of a constitution and by-laws, which had been pre-

pared by the Committee of the club, was presented at the meet-

ing and adopted with some amendments. Then General Barnes,

who was Surgeon-General, and was one of the members, was

good enough to offer us more commodious quarters in the city.

In those days coming over to the Smithsonian building, es-

pecially at night, was something of a task. The paths were not

paved; if it happened to be rainy it was a very muddy walk indeed.

There was a rather rickety bridge at Tenth Street over a very

bad smelling canal which we all had to cross in order to get into

the Smithsonian grounds. I do not know whether any of the

present members know that that part of Washington was for-

dall: origin of phisosophical society 31

merly known and is still known to old residents as ''The Island"

because it was separated from the city by the James Creek Canal.

It is that broad road just south of the Center Market that'was

formerly the location of this canal, which formed a sort of semi-

circle and came around the museum grounds enclosing the more

elevated land on which the Smithsonian Institution stands, and

then went southward through the wide lowland nearly parallel

with New Jersey Avenue, Southwest, to rejoin the Potomac,

where a small remnant not yet filled in still exists. At that time

nearly all of the members of the Society lived in the city and

therefore found it desirable to have the place of meeting where

they would not have to go through the Smithsonian grounds,

often through a considerable amount of mud.

Probably those names that were read by the Secretary mean

somewhat less to the members of the Society at present than

they meant to us in those days, and I have made an analysis of

the committee of the founders, which will, perhaps, throw a little

light on the subject.

From the Smithsonian Institution there were of course. Prof.

Joseph Henry and William B. Taylor, who was a very erudite

man and had a considerable part in the activities of the Institu-

tion, T. R. Peale, S. F. Baird, Theodore Gill, and myself. From

the Geological Survey (there was at that time no National Sur-

vey) came Dr. F.V. Hayden; the Signal Service was represented

by General A. J. Myer; from the office of the Nautical iVlmanac

came J. H. C. Coffin, whose great w^ork on the Winds of the Globe

is well known to all meteorologists.

From the Army there were General Sherman, General Benet,

General Hmnphreys, General George H. Elliott, General Casey,

General Parke, and General Meigs, who built the Cabin John

Bridge and had a good deal to do with many of our other princi-

pal buildings here in the District ; from the Army Medical Musemn

staff and the Medical Department of the Army there were Dr.

Woodward, a microscopist of high reputation ; Dr. Otis, who was

a distinguished anthropologist; Dr. J. S. Billings, to whom we owe

the Index Medicus; and Dr. J. K. Barnes, who was Surgeon-

General of the Army. Then there were Admiral Foote, Admiral

32 dall: origin of philosophical society

Sands, and Admiral Jenkins, and from the Naval Observatory

Asaph Hall, Simon Newcomb, and William Harkness. These men

were all distinguished. I suppose no Society of such a small

number of persons as this ever had quite so many distinguished

men in proportion to the whole number. I have always felt it

a very great honor to have been permitted to join with them in

calling myself a founder of the Society.

The original number o founders, that is, those whose signa-

tures were on the list for the formation of the Society, was 43,

including Professor Henry who proposed the name. Philosophi-

cal Society of Washington, giving to the adjective its original

meaning implying the inclusion of all branches of science. No

list of members was published in the Bulletin until 1874 when the

number was 128, there having been four deaths of members, but

during that time 85 additional members became connected with

the Society. Professor Henry presided over the Society until

his death in 1878.

The Bulletin, which was issued shortly after the formation of

the Society, when enough material had accmnulated to form a

volume, was reprinted at Professor Henry's suggestion, as a vol-

ume of the Miscellaneous Collections of the Smithsonian Institu-

tion. That procedure was continued during Professor Baird's

lifetime. The publications were made up, edited, and printed

by the Society, the Smithsonian Institution publication being

made by the use of stereotype plates. The reprint was not

issued until 1888.

Meetings were held at the offices of the Surgeon-General in

the old Ford Theater Building, and were extremely interesting.

The Society was made up of men who could say something

interesting on almost every branch of science.

We had some very remarkable work presented to the Society.

We were privileged, I think, to have the first testing of the tele-

phone. Mr. Bell was introduced by one of the members of the

Society. A telephone wire and receiver were strung up in the

room where we had our meeting and the transmitter was taken

off into another room at some distance and each member of the

Society was enabled to hear communications that came from the

dall: origin of philosophical society 33

other room. That was before 1876, when the first public ex-

hibition of the telephone took place at the Centennial Exposi-

tion at Philadelphia.

Among other things, I remember a paper by Dr. A. F. A. King

in which the mosquito theory of the transmission of malaria

was fully set forth. Dr. King was one of those who originated

the theory that the disease is transmitted by these insects. Of

course, the theory required proof, and it was not till a good many

years afterward that proof was furnished by contributors from the

Medical Corps of the Army and others.

Most of the papers in the early days were intended to be pub-

lished elsewhere than in the Bulletin of the Society. They were

read there for the information of the members, and when the

Bulletin was printed, it would give the title of the paper and state

the place in which it was published, and in that way reference

could be had from the Bulletin to the place of publication of

anything that was read before the Society. At first, of course,

the pecuniary resources of the Society were not great and it

could not afford to publish many papers, but owing to the fact

that most of the members were members of the Government

staff under one Bureau or another, and that the publication of

their results would naturally have to be through Government

agencies, the system adopted was fairly satisfactory. The Society

was a great boon to all of us who desired to know something of

what was going on in the departments of science with which we

were not personally acquainted.

I think that there were none of us but derived welcome and

interesting information, and added to our store of knowledge

from the communications that came from other members in

quite different fields of work. I ought perhaps to mention one

of the remarkable things that were done by members of the So-

ciety at that time. This was the work of Dr. Woodward of the

Army Medical Museum in microscopy. He was the first, as far

as I know — at all events in this country, and I think the first

anywhere — to succeed in getting a diatom photograph of a per-

fection and size that would reveal, for instance, all the almost

invisible, complete and beautiful ornamentation with which it is

34 dall: origin of philosophical society

provided. Dr. Woodward brought forth his new slides and ex-

plained the working of the modifications that he made to his

microscope in order to produce this work, and then threw on the

screen the beautiful figures, sometimes of an ahnost invisible

diatom enlarged to six feet high, showing every detail of its

beautiful structure. They were very interesting indeed. In fact

I might go on for a long time with reminiscences of what was

brought before us; but we are to hear from others of what devel-

oped in the Society as it grew larger and larger and the number

of scientific men increased, and how bodies of our members formed

other societies and gave to them independent lives.

ABSTRACTS

Authors of scientific papers are requested to see that abstracts, preferably

prepared and signed by themselves, are forwarded promptly to the editors.

Each of the scientific bureaus in Washington has a representative authorized to

forward such material to this Journal and abstracts of official publications

should be transmitted through the representative of the bureau in which they

originate. The abstracts should conform in length and general style to those

appearing in this issue. *

GEODESY. — Descriptions of triangulation stations in Georgia. C. H.

SwiCK. U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey Special Publication No.

45. Pp. 43, with 1 illustration. 1917.

This volume is supplementary to Triangulation in Georgia, U. S.

Coast and Geodetic Survey Special Publication No. 43, abstracted in a

preceding number of this Journal (7:584. 1917), and contains all

available descriptions of the triangulation stations in Georgia whose

geographic positions are given in the previous volume. Practically all

of the triangulation data in Georgia, the observations for which were

made before 1917, are now in published form and so are readily avail-

able for the use of engineers, geographers, and surveyors.

C. H. S.

GEOLOGY. — The De Soto-Red River oil and gas field, Louisiana.

George Charlton Matson and Oliver Baker Hopkins. U. S.

Geological Survey Bulletin 661-C. Pp. 40, with maps, sections,

and illustrations. 1917.

The De Soto-Red River oil and gas field lies in the northwestern

part of Louisiana. In 1912, gas was discovered in De Soto Parish

near Naborton at a depth of about 800 feet. Deep drilling resulted in

the discovery of small quantities of oil, and on May 10, 1913, the com-

pletion of the Gulf Refining Company's Jenkins well No. 2 proved the

presence of a notable oil pool. The producing oil and gas bearing

sands are in the Gulf series of Upper Cretaceous age.

The shales associated with the sands and in some places the sands

themselves contain considerable organic matter which was apparently

derived chiefly from vegetation, and it is believed that the oil and gas

were formed from this organic matter by slow cKemical changes, which

may have been facilitated by moderately high temperature and the

35

36 abstracts: geology

pressure caused by the load of sediments that overHe them, and by

the thrusts to which they have been subjected.

The gas and oil in the De Soto-Red River field were probably accu-

mulated under hydraulic pressure. This hypothesis is supported by

the relations of these substances to the structure and by the occurrence

of the oil in very productive pools of small area. R. W. Stone.

GEOLOGY. — The Bowdoin dome, Montana, a possible reservoir of oil or

gas. Arthur J. Collier. U. S. Geological Survey Bulletin

661-E. Pp. 17, with maps, sections, and illustrations. 1917.

The Bowdoin dome is situated on Milk River, in northeastern Mon-

tana, on the main line of the Great Northern Railway between Malta

on the west and Hinsdale on the east. A well drilled here for water

several years ago has been yielding a small flow of gas ever since, and

it is thought that the region offers a chance of success to the driller of

deeper wells. In 1915 a large gas well was drilled at Havre. Only the

Upper Cretaceous Claggett shale, Judith River formation, and Bear-

paw shale, and some of the more recent surficial deposits are exposed

in the immediate vicinity of the Bowdoin dome. The structure revealed

by the Judith River formation in its outcrop around the valley of Milk

River is that of a very broad, flat dome. The dips of the sandstone

are so low as not to be detected by the unaided eye and are best re-

corded in feet to the mile. There is no place around the dome where a

dip as high as 1 degree has been found.

The Bowdoin dome has a structure which if found in Oklahoma or

Ohio would be regarded as favorable for the accumulation of oil or gas.

R. W. Stone.

GEOLOGY. — The Corsicana oil and gas field, Texas. George Charl-

ton Matson and Oliver Baker Hopkins. U. S. Geological

Survey Bulletin 661-F. Pp. 43, with maps, sections, and

illustrations. 1917.

The Corsicana oil and gas field, in Navarro County, Texas, measures

20 miles from north to south and 10 miles from east to west. Oil was

first discovered here in the city of Corsicana, and the field has been

productive for more than twenty years.

The oil and gas are obtained from the upper part of the Upper

Cretaceous, the light oil and the gas in the Corsicana oil pool and in the

Chatfield and Edens gas pools probably coming from the Taylor marl

and the heavy oil and the gas in the other pools from the Navarro

abstracts: geology 37

formation. This field continue^ to yield almost the entire production

of Texas until 1909, when the gas fields of Clay County were developed.

The Lower Cretaceous formations have not been reached in any of the

wells in the Corsicana field.

The strata in the Corsicana field dip in general to the southeast at

a rate of 50 to 100 feet to the mile. The uniformity in direction and

amount of dip is interrupted at a number of places by folds, but none

of the folds are continuous over large areas. The greatest dips observed

on the folds are at the rate of 560 feet to the mile, and these high dips

are confined to small areas. The irregularities in the normal position

of the strata seems to have been produced by forces acting in two

directions, as two sj^stems of folds are determinable — one approxi-

matelj^ parallel to the dip of the rocks and the other at right angles to

it. So far as observed, there is no evidence of faulting, or breaking of

the rock strata, in this field.

A review of the discussion of the structure or a study of the structure

map of the Corsicana field shows that oil and gas occur in this field

under two different structural conditions. They have accumulated

along the crests of well-defined anticlines, as in the Burke pool, and

also in beds of fairly uniform dip, as in the Corsicana pool. Drilling

has shown, however, that the sands of this field are lenticular and vary

in porosity and thickness from place to place.

In the Corsicana district there are at least two productive sands

which are believed to belong to the Taylor formation — the Corsicana

and Edens sands. The Corsicana sand is the principal producing sand

and yields light oil and a small amount of gas at a number of places,

particularly toward the north end of the district.

The oil of the Corsicana field is believed to have originated from

organic matter in the shales that inclose the sands and to a minor extent

in the sands themselves. R. W. Stone.

GEOLOGY. — Structure of the northern part of the Bristow quadranylp,

Creek County, Oklahoma, with reference to petroleum and natural

gas. A. E. Fath. U. S. Geological Survey Bulletin 661-B. Pp.

31, with maps, sections, and illustrations. 1917.

The rocks exposed at the surface in the Bristow quadrangle and

those beneath it to a depth of 2500 feet or more are a part of the Penn-

sylvanian series, the series to which belong the surface rocks throughout

the oil fields of northeastern Oklahoma. The strata dip slightly north

of west about 50 feet to the mile, or a little more than half a degree.

38 abstracts: parasitology

However, the westward slope of the beds is modified by variations in

the rate of dip, by local folds, and by small faults. Accumulations of

oil and gas are generally found in close relation to local irregularities

in the general structure of a region, and it is to such folds and irregu-

larities that attention is principally directed in this paper.

R. W. Stone.

PARASITOLOGY. — Life history of Ascaris lumbricoides and 7'elated

forms. B. H. Ransom and W. D, Foster. Journ. Agr. Research

11: 395-398. November 19, 1917.

The development of A. lumbricoides and closely related forms is

direct, and no intermediate host is required. The eggs, when swal-

lowed, hatch out*in the alimentary tract; the embryos, however, do

not at once settle down in the intestine, but migrate to various other

organs, including the liver, spleen, and lungs. Within a week, in the

case of the pig Ascaris, the riiigrating larvae may be found in the lungs

and have meanwhile undergone considerable development and growth.

From the lungs the larvae migrate up the trachea and into the esopha-

gus by way of the pharynx, and this migration up the trachea may

already become established as early as a week after infection. Upon

reaching the alimentary tract after their passage through the lungs,

the larvae, if in a suitable host, presumably settle down in the intestine

and complete their development to maturity; if in an unsuitable host,

such as rats and mice, they soon pass out of the body in the feces.

Heavy invasions ©f the lungs by the larvae of Ascaris produce a serious

pneumonia which is frequently fatal in rats, mice, and guinea pigs,

and apparently caused the death of a young pig one week after it had

been fed with numerous Ascaris eggs. It is not improbable that

ascarids are frequently responsible for lung troubles in children, pigs,

and other young animals. Age is a highly important factor in deter-

mining susceptibility to infection with Ascaris, and susceptibility to

infection greatly decreases as the host animal becomes older.

B. H. R.

PARASITOLOGY. — Oil of chenopodium and chloroform as anthel-

mintics. M. C. Hall and W. D. Foster. Journ. Amer. Med.

Associat. 68: 1961-1963. June 30, 1917.

Oil of chenopodium as an anthelmintic should be accompanied by

large doses of castor oil, and when so given is a very effective and safe

remedy against ascarids. Chloroform in castor oil was found to be

more effective against hookworms than any other remedy tested.

B. H. R.

abstracts: parasitology 39

PARASITOLOGY. — The occurrence in the United States of certain

nematodes of ruminants transmissible to man. B. H. Ransom.

N. Orl. M. & S. J. 69: 294-298. October, 1916.

Attention is called to the fact that three of the four species of the

nematode genus TricJtostrongylus that have been recorded as parasites

of man are of more or less common occurrence in ruminants in the

United States, indicating the probability that they also occur in human

beings in this country but have been overlooked. B. H. R.

PARASITOLOGY. — The zoological position of the Sarcosporidia.

Howard Crawley. Proc. Acad. Phila. 68: 379-388. August

14, 1916.

The Sarcosporidia are usually assigned to the Neosporidia, one of

the two subclasses recognized as making up the class Sporozoa, but

it is considered by the present writer that they belong in the other

subclass, Telosporidia and should be placed in the order Coccidio-

morpha, which accordingly would include three suborders — Coccidia,

Haemosporidia, and Sarcosporidia. The probability is suggested in

view of certain evidence given that the Sarcosporidia in their normal

life cycle depend upon an alternation of hosts, at least one of which

must be a carnivorous animal. B. H. Ransom.

PARASITOLOGY. — Serum therapy for trichinosis. Benjamin

Schwartz. Journ. Amer. Med. Associat. 69: 884-886. Sep-

tember 15, 1917.

Serum from animals convalescent from trichinosis when injected

into other animals did not produce immunity to trichinosis in the

latter. Trichinous meat mixed with serum from animals during the

active or convalescent stage of the disease proved to be still capa-

ble of producing the disease. Animals once infected and harboring

trichinae in their muscles were not immune to further infection when

fed trichinous meat. Serum from a trichinous animal had no observ-

able ill effects on the larvae freed from their cysts by artificial diges-

tion. None of the results of the experiments appears to be in har-

mony with the assertions made by Salzer (1916, 1917) concerning the

value of serum from convalescent animals as a prophylactic or curative

agent in trichinosis. B. H. Ransom.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY AND AFFILIATED

SOCIETIES

BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

The 574th regular meeting of the Society was held in the Assembly-

Hall of the Cosmos Club, Saturday, November 17, 1917; called to order

by President Hay at 8 p.m.; 78 persons present.

On recommendation of the Council the following named persons were

elected to membership: Miss Katherine A. Stuart, Alexandria, Va.;

H. C. Fuller, Institute for Industrial Research, Washington, D. C;

Herbert Popenoe, Assistant Editor, Journal of Heredity, Washington,

D. C.

Under the heading brief notes and exhibition of specimens. Dr. R. W.

Shufeldt exhibited two grasshoppers, the black Louisiana form of

Rhomaleum micropterum, and a specimen of the same species from

Florida, the latter being much lighter in color, a sort of tan with a ten-

dency in places to pinkish and greenish.

The regular program was a symposium : Recently introduced pests

and the problem of accidental introductions.

1. C. L. Marlatt: The pink bollworm of cotton, illustrated by lantern

slides. (No abstract.)

2. A. L. Quaintance: Recently introduced fruit insects, illustrated

by lantern slides. (No abstract.)

3. Perley Spaulding: Some biological aspects of the spread of the

white-pine blister rust, illustrated by lantern slides. Mr. Spaulding

said that the white-pine blister rust probably originated in Asia, spread

thence to Europe, and more recently to North America. The factors

concerned in its distribution are: (1) Man aids distribution by exten-

sive long distance shipment of nursery stock of pines and possibly of

Rib3s infected by this disease. He hinders distribution by quarantines

and inspections of nursery stock shipments. (2) Animals and insects

carry the spores about on their bodies thus aiding local spread of dis-

ease. They also hinder the production of spores by eating the fruiting

bodies and the surrounding host tissues. Gypsy moth larvae which are

known to be blown for miles feed freely upon the spores and in infected

areas the spores stick in great numbers to their bodies. (3) Wind blows

the spores freely about, as well as gypsy moth larvae which bear spores

upon their bodies. Rain hinders spread by beating down spores which

are floating about in the air. Sunlight within a short time destroys the

viability of exposed spores.

This disease is but one of many which has spread from one country to

another and in many cases from one country throughout the world.

A list of thirty such diseases caused by bacteria and by representatives

40

proceedings: biological society 41

of all the largo groups of parasitic fungi was given, together with the

country of origin and present distribution. The conclusion was drawn

that it is necessary to control the commercial importation of living plants

in such a way that only healthy plants will be received in this country.

4. L. 0. Howard : tiome points for consideration in a discussion of the

problem of accidental introduction. Dr. Howard discussed briefly the

influence which our knowledge of the broad life zones of the world might

have in regard to restrictive legislation among nations, and the influ-

ence which our knowledge of the life zones of the United States, largely

due to Merriam and the Bureau of Biological Survey of the Department

of Agriculture, might have on sectional quarantines. He pointed out

the greater probability of the establishment of an injurious form com-

ihg from what might be termed a "parallel life zone" — as from the

Nearctic to the Palearctic — than from another zone, but showed that

recent experience has indicated that the country is not free from danger

from certain pests coming from zones of radically different types of life.

He invited discussion of the broader biological aspects of the question.

Prof. H. Maxwell-Lefroy, Imperial College of Science, London,

Prof. W. M. Wheeler, Bussey Institution, Harvard University, E. W.

Nelson, J. B. Gordon, and Vernon Bailey took part in the discussion.

The 575th regular meeting of the Society was held in the Assembly

Hall of the Cosmos Club, Saturday, December 1, 1917; called to order

by President Hay at 8 p.m.; 26 persons present.

On recommendation of the Council, Lee R. Dice, of the University of

Montana, was elected to membership.

The following informal communications were presented:

Dr. Walter P. Taylor: Exhibition and discussion of 'distribution of

marmots from the State of Washington. Dr. Taylor exhibited specimens

of marmots collected in the State of Washington, where both the caligata

and flaviventris groups are represented, citing certain facts in their dis-

tribution which emphasizes the principle that the extent of zonal dis-

tribution of an animal depends, not alone on the temperature and other

requirements of that animal, but also upon the presence or absence, in

particular restricted areas, of closely related types filling the same or a

similar niche in the economy of nature. He also called attention to

the fact that the distribution of these animals is in harmony with

what we know of the antiquity of the Columbia River as a barrier to the

distribution of boreal forms, and suggested that as compared with the

portions of the Cascade Mountains north and south of the Columbia

River, the Olympic Mountains have probably been isolated compara-

tively recently. Discussed by Gen. T. E. Wilcox.

Alex. Wetmore discussed the peculiar molting in ducks by which

the large wing feathers are simultaneously shed, rendering the birds

flightless for a period during which time they take refuge in marshes.

Dr. T. S. Palmer called attention to the recent successful meeting

of the A. O. U^. and the interest now taken in birds of foreign countries.

42 proceedings: botanical society

Di". L. O. Howard made remarks on a recent article in a French sci-

entific journal giving analysis of bread found on a Zeppelin, some of

rye made into sandwiches of suet, and some of rye and rice with cheese,

it being of notably better quality than bread taken from German pris-

oners, some of the latter being made in part of the inner bark of pop-

lar trees.

W. P. Hay exhibited lantern slides of the marine turtles of east-

ern North America with an account of their habits, distinctive

characters, and uses to man. Discussed by Gen. T. E. Wilcox and by

Admiral Baird who described a native method of catching hawkbill

turtles without injuring the skull.

Alex. Wetmore remarked on red bats seen November 17. Dis-

cussed by Vernon Bailey and by M. W. Lyon, Jr., who had seen brown

bats flying in the evening during the Christmas holidays several years

ago at Hyattsville.

The regular program was as follows:

Charles Wardell Stiles: Haak as author of Br-isson's 1762 edition

of Regnum Animate. Dr. Stiles being out of the city on sanitary work

at one of the southern military camps, the paper was presented by Dr.

T. S. Palmer. The work was exhibited and it was shown thatBrisson

was not its author. Dr. Palmer gave some interesting facts about the

life of Brisson and some of his contemporary associates.

Lieut. M. W. Lyon, Jr.: The relative resistance of the red blood cor-

puscles of the sheep, ox, and hog. A resume of the hemolytic action of

human serum, certain fish serum, and hypotonic salt solutions on these

corpuscles was given. The results are being published in the Journal

of Infectious Diseases.

M. W. Lyon, Jr., Recording Secretary.

BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

The 123d regular meeting of the Society was held at the Cosmos

Club, Tuesday, November 6, 1917. Fifty-nine members and 4 guests

were present. Among the guests were Dr. L. P. De Bussy, now on

his way from Sumatra to Amsterdam, Holland, to become' Director of

the Colonial Museum at the latter place, and also Prof. H. H. Whetzel,

in charge of the Plant Pathology Department, Cornell University,

Ithaca, N. Y. The program was devoted to a discussion of some of

the newly-discovered diseases of corn.

G. N. Collins: Maize: Its origi^i and relationships. The reasons

for believing that maize has originated as a hybrid between teosinte,

EuchlaeJia 7nexicana, and some member of the Andropegoneae were

reviewed.^ Maize is dependent on cross fertilization for normal and

vigorous development. It has now been demonstrated that teosinte

does not share with maize this intolerance of self-pollination. Thus

maize appears to be unique among the grasses in possessing this charac-

teristic of hybrids. The inheritances of the characters separating

maize and teosinte have been studied in hybrids and none were found

1 Journ. Wash. Acad. Sci. 2, .520-530. 1912.

proceedings: botanical society 43

to be either alternative or Mendelian. These resuUs were advanced

as evidence against the hypothesis that maize has originated by muta-

tion from teosinte. A summary of the evidence to date was held to

support the view that t(>osinte and the unknown ancestor of maize

had evolved by gradual changes along divergent lines and that the

divergence took place before the separation of the Maydeae and the

Andropogoneae.

Evidence was presented for believing that the Maydeae and Andro-

pogoneae were closely related and should not be considered as separate

tribes. It was urged that a recognition of the close relationship of

these two groups was of practical importance in the study of maize

diseases and as a guide in establishing quarantine regulations.

W. H. Weston: The downy mildews of maize, their origin and distri-

bution. During the past twentj^ years considerable alarm has been

occasioned by several serious downy mildews which have appeared on

maize and its relatives in the eastern tropics. Peronospora Maydis

Rac. has been very destructive to maize in Java, Madoorah, and Atjeh

since 1892; and although Euchlaena has so far proven immune, crosses

of this plant with maize are extremely susceptible. Sclerospora sac-

chari Miy. was reported in 1911 as causing serious injury to maize

and sugar cane, and capable of inoculation onto Euchlaena, in For-

mosa; and was later found also in Queensland and the Fiji Islands.

Sclerospora Maydis (Rac.) But. appeared on maize in India about

1913; and in 1916 a species of Sclerospora, possibly identical with this,

was found to be destroying the maize crop in certain parts of the Philip-

pines. Since these parasites are unknown in the Americas where

maize originated, it is probabl^ they have spread to maize from some

of the several related grasses native to the Orient. To prevent the

tremendous loss that would undoubtedly follow the introduction of

these diseases into the United States, the importation of maize and

its relatives from infected countries has been prohibited.

G. R. Lyman: Plant Disease Survey ivork on the Physoderma disease

of maize. This disease was first found in this country by Barrett at

Urbana, Illinois, in 1912. It was first reported as of economic impor-

tance by Barre in South Carolina in 1914. During the next two years,

the disease was found to be prevalent in North and South Carolina,

Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi. In 1917, it was also found

generally distributed in Tennessee.

In September of this year, the Plant Disease Survey put twelve

scouts into the field to act in cooperation with the Office of Cereal

Investigations, Bureau of Plant Industry. In addition to the states

named, the disease was found to be prevalent in eastern Virginia,

Kentucky, southern Illinois, southeastern Missouri, Arkansas, and

Louisiana, and to be sparsely present as far north as New Jersey,

southern Minnesota, and South Dakota, and as far west as central

Nebraska and central Texas. It has evidently spread as far as cli-

matic limitations will permit its development, being inhibited by cold

weather in the North and by lack of moisture in the West.

An intensive study was made of selected regions in the South Atlan-

44 proceedings: botanical society

tic and Gulf States to obtain data on the seriousness of the disease and

on its relation to various environmental factors. High temperature

and moisture are necessary for extensive development, and in favor-

able regions in the South the disease causes a damage of 5 per cent

to 10 per cent. It will not be a serious factor in the North and West

except locally and under exceptional conditions.

The disease was also found on teosinte at two points in South Caro-

lina and at one point in Louisiana.

Heavy infection of fields never before planted to corn may be ex-

plained by the presence of other host plants or by the carriage of infec-

tion on the seed corn.

The 124th regular meeting of the Society was held at the Cosmos

Club, Tuesday, December 4, 1917; 72 members and 8 guests were

present.

C. S. Scofield: Geographical aspects of Haitian agriculture. Haiti

lies adjacent to the steamship route between New York and Panama

and has the most direct access to our markets of any of the American

Tropics. The climate is favorable to crop production, the land is fertile,

and the dense population provides a cheap and abundant supply of labor.

The coastal delta plains are favorably located for irrigation and the

production of sugar cane and cotton, and the hill slopes are well suited

to coffee, which is now the chief commodity of export. The interior

plains and the higher mountain slopes produce an abundance of grass

for stock production.

The present government, with American cooperation, has eliminated

the conditions of internal disturbance that formerly retarded develop-

ment and prosperity. The construction of roads and the protection

of the peacefully inclined inhabitants is resulting in greatly increased

crop production, which is opportune at this time.

C. B. Doyle: Botanical aspects of Haitian agriculture. In Haiti

there is very little left to represent the original forest covering. The

primitive milpa system of agriculture is used and the natives live in

scattered families or small groups. There are only a few large planta-

tions on the island, the bulk of the crops of the three principal exports

(coffee, cacao, and cotton) being produced on the small native farms.

Most of the food plants are of American origin, but as in many

tropical American countries, it is the introduced species that have

become of the greatest importance to the natives. Many different

kinds of fine fruits are abundant, but several species prominent in

other parts of tropical America, such as the papaya, sapote, sapodilla,

and pineapple, are absent or little used. Among the root crops that

are commonly grown are sweet potatoes, yams, yautias, and cassava,

and more recently white potatoes are being successfully produced in

the cool mountain districts southeast of Port au Prince.

In comparison with other tropical countries, conditions appear

favorable for crop production in Haiti, if a more effective organization

of agriculture can be established, together with a better means of

marketing the products.

H. N. Vlstall, Corresponding Secretary.

JOURNAL

OF THE

WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Vol. VIII FEBRUARY 4, 1918 No. 3

CHEMISTRY.— MeMorfs of gas warfare.' S. J. M. Auld,

British Military Mission. (Communicated by L. J. Briggs).

All I can do in the short time available is to give you, if I can,

a general idea of what gas warfare really means on the Western

Front at the present time. Some of you may have gotten the

idea that gas is just an incident, and that there is not as much

attention being paid to it as there was two years ago. That

idea is entirely wrong. Gas is used to a tremendous extent, and

the amount that has been and is being hurled back and forth in

shells and clouds is almost unbelievable. I will try to give you

a general idea of what is occurring and make the lecture rather

a popular than a technical description. I shall also, for obvious

reasons, have to confine myself to describing what the Germans

have been doing, and will say nothing about what we are doing,

Possibl}^ the best plan would be to state more or less chron-

ologically what occurred. I happened to be present at the

first gas attack and saw the whole gas business from the begin-

ning. The first attack was made in April, 1915. A deserter

had come into the Ypres salient a week before the attack was

made, and had told us the whole story. They were preparing

to poison us with gas, and had cyhnders installed in their

trenches. No one believed him at all, and no notice was taken

of it.

' Report of a lecture delivered before the Washington Academy of Sciences

on January 17, 1918.

45

46 auld: methods of gas warfare

Then came the first gas attack, and the whole course of the

war changed. That first attack, of course, was made against

men who were entirely unprepared — absolutely unprotected.

You have read quite as much about the actual attack and the

battle as 1 could tell you, but the accounts are still remarkably

meager. The fellows who could have told most about it didn't

come back. The Germans have claimed that we had 6000

killed and as many taken prisoners. They left a battle field

such as had never been seen before in warfare, ancient or modern,

and one that has had no compeer in the whole war except on the

Russian front.

What the Germans expected to accomplish by it I am not

sure. Presumably they intended to win the war, and they might

conceivably have won it then and there if they had foreseen the

tremendous effect of the attack. It is certain that they expected

no immediate retaliation, as they had provided no protection

for their own men. They made a clear and unobstructed gap

in the lines, which was only closed by the Canadians, who rallied

on the left and advanced, in part through the gas cloud itself.

The method first used by the Germans, and retained ever

since, is fairly simple, but requires great preparation l^eforehand.

A hole is dug in the bottom of the trench close underneath the

parapet, and a gas cylinder is buried in the hole. It is an ordi-

nary cyhnder, like that used for oxygen or hydrogen. It is then

covered first with a ciuilt of moss, containing potassium car-

bonate solution, and then with sand bags. When the attack is

to be made the sand bags and protecting cover are taken off

the cylinder, and each cylinder is connected with a lead pipe

which is bent over the top of the parapet. A sand bag is laid

on the nozzle to prevent the back "kick" of the outrushing

gas from throwing the pipe back into the trench. Our own

methods are practically identical with those first used by the

Germans.

The success of a cloud gas attack depends on thorough prep-

aration beforehand. The attackers must know the country,

the layout of the trenches, and the direction and velocity of

the wind with certainty. Favorable conditions are limited

jjractically to wind velocities between 12 and 4 miles an hour.

auld: methods of gas warfare 47

A wind of more than 12 miles an hour disperses the gas cloud

very rapidl}-. .\n upward current of air is the worst foe of gas.

The weight of the gas is not an important factor in carrying it

along, for it mixes rapidly with air to form the moving ■"cloud."

The time occupied by a gas attack is too short to permit of

much diffusion of the gas out of the original mixture.

The gas attack must be planned very carefull}-. If the trench

line is very irregulai- it is likel}^ that gas will flow into a portion

of one's own trenches. The limits of safety in wind direction

are thus determined by the direction of the lines of the trenches.

The Germans use a 40° angle of safety; that means that on a

given straight portion of the front the wdnd direction must lie

between the two directions which make angles of 40° with the

neighboring sections of the front. The most suitable type of

country is where the ground slopes gently away from where the

gas is being discharged. The Germans made one mistake in

believing that hilly or wooded country would not do. This

was refuted by the French, who made a successful gas attack

in hilly and wooded country in the Vosges, as admitted in a

captured German report. If the country is flat like that about

Ypres, and the wind direction is right, there is very little diffi-

culty about making an attack, especially if the enemy does not

know anything about it. The element of surprise is important.

German gas attacks are made by two Regiments of Pioneers,

with highl}^ technical officers, including engineers, meteorolo-

gists, and chemists. They brought their first cylinders into the

hne without our knowing anything about it, except from the

deserter's report which was not believed. The element of sur-

prise was greatly lessened when we began to know what to look

for and to recognize the sounds incident to the preparation of a

gas attack.

The first attack was made with chlorine. If a gas attack is

to be made with gas clouds, the number of gases available is

limited. The gas must be easily compressible, easily made in

large quantities, and should be considerably heavier than air.

If to this is added the necessity of its being very toxic and of

low chemical reactivity, the choice is practically reduced to

two gases: chlorine and phosgene. Chlorine is to gas warfare

48 auld: methods of gas warfare

what nitric acid is to liigh explosives. Pure chlorine did not

satisfy quite all the requirements, as it is very active chemically

and therefore easily absorbed. Many men in the first attack

who ha^d sufficient presence of mind saved themselves by burying

their faces in the earth, or by stuffing their mufflers in their

mouths and wrapping them around their faces.

There were several gas attacks of almost exactly the same

kind early in 1915. There was no gas between the end of May,

1915, and December, 1915, and by that time adequate protec-

tion had been provided.

The first protection was primitive. It consisted largely of

respirators made by women in England in response to an appeal

by Kitchener. They were pads of cotton wool wrapped in

muslin and soaked in solutions of sodium carbonate and thio-

sulfate; sometimes they were soaked only in water. A new

type appeared almost every week. One simple type consisted

of a pad of cotton waste wrapped up in muslin together with a

separate wad of cotton waste. These were kept in boxes in the

trenches, and on the word ''gas" six or eight men would make

a dive for the box, stuff some waste into their mouths, then

fasten on the pad and stuff the waste into the space around the

nose and mouth. But this got unpopular after a bit, when it

was discovered that the same bits of waste were not always

used by the same men. During the early part of 1915 this was

the only protection used.

Then came the helmet made of a flannel bag soaked in thio-

sulfate and carbonate, with a mica window in it. A modified

form of this device with different chemicals is still used in the

British army as a reserve protection. It is put over the head

and tucked into the jacket, and is fool-proof as long as well

tucked down. This stood up very well against chlorine.

In 1915 we got word from our Intelligence Department of a

striking kind. It consisted of notes of some very secret lectures

given in Germany to a number of the senior officers. These

lectures detailed materials to be used, and one of them was

phosgene, a gas which is very insidious and difficult to protect

against. We had to hurry" up to find protection against it.

auld: methods of gas warfare 49

The outcome was a helmet saturated with sodium phenate. The

concentration of gases when used in a cloud is small, and 1 to

1000 by volume is relatively very strong. The helmet easily

gave protection against phosgene at a normal concentration of

1 part in 10,000. That helmet was used when the next attack

cahie in Flanders, on the 19th of December. This attack was

in many ways an entirely new departure and marked a new

era in gas warfare.

There are three things that really matter in gas warfare, and

these were all emphasized in the attack of December. They

are: (1) increased concentration; (2) surprise in tactics; (3) the

use of unexpected new materials.

Continued efforts have been made on both sides to increase

the concentration. The first gas attack, in April, 1915, lasted

about one and a half hours. The attack in May lasted three

hours. The attack in December was over in thirty minutes.

Thus, assuming the number of cylinders to be the same (one

cylinder for every meter of front in which they were operating),

the last attack realized just three times the concentration of

the first, and six times the concentration obtained in May.

Other cloud gas attacks followed, and the time was steadily

reduced; the last attacks gave only ten to fifteen minutes for

each discharge. We believe that the cylinders are now put in

at the rate of three for every two meters of front, and may even

be double banked.

The element of surprise came in an attack by night. The

meteorological conditions are much better at night than during

the day. The best two hours out of the twenty-four, when

steady and downward currents exist, are the hour between

sunset and dark and the hour between dawn and sunrise. Gas

attacks have therefore been frequently made just in the gloam-

ing or early morning, between lights. This took away one of

the easy methods of spotting gas, that of seeing it, and we had

to depend upon the hissing noises made by the escaping gas, and

upon the sense of smell.

Another element of surprise was the sending out of more

than one cloud in an attack. After the first cloud the men

50 auld: methods of gas warfare

would think it was all over, but ten minutes or half an hour

later there would come another cloud on exactly the same front.

These tactics were very successful in at least one case, namely,

the attack near Hulluch in 1916. Some of the troops discarded

their helmets after the first wave and were caught on the sec-

ond, which was very much stronger than the first.

Efforts were also made to effect surprise by silencing the gas.

But silencers reduced the rate of escape so greatly that the

loss of efficiency from low concentration more than made up for

the gain in suddenness. Another method was to mix the gas

up with smoke, or to alternate gas and smoke, so that it would

be difficult to tell where the gas began and the smoke ended.

The last attack made on the British by this means was in

August, 1916. Since that time the Germans have used gas

three times on the West Front against the French, and have also

used it against the Italians and the Russians. It has been

practically given up against the British, although the method is

by no means dead.

The last attack was a slight set-back in the progress of gas

defense. The casualties had been brought down to a minimum,

and, as shown by the fact that the percentage of deaths was

high, protection was complete in all cases where used, casualties

being due to unpreparedness in some form. The attack in

question was brought on under difficult conditions for the de-

fenders, as it was made on new troops during a relief when twice

as many men were in the trenches as normally. Furthermore,

they had to wear helmets while carrying their complete outfit

for the relief. This was the second time the Germans caught

us in a relief, whether through information or luck we cannot

say.

The protection that had been devised against phosgene proved

effective at the time, but provision was made to meet increased

concentration of phosgene. We never had any actual evidence

during the attack that phosgene was being used, as no samples

were actually taken from the cloud, but cylinders of phosgene

were captured later. Glass vacuum tubes, about 10 by 30 cm.,

with a tip that could be broken off and then closed by a plasti-

atjld: methods of gas warfare 51

cine-lined glass cap, were distributed, but the only one that

came back was an unopened tube found in a hedge, and marked

by the finder "Dangerous; may contain cholera germs." In

a gas attack everybody keeps quiet or else has a job on hand,

and conditions are not conducive to the taking of gas samples.

The original types of vacuum tube were smaller than those now

used.

There was a long search for materials that would absorb

phosgene, as there are few substances that react readily with it.

The successful suggestion came from Russia. The substance

now used very extensively by all is hexamethylenetetramine

(urotropine) (CH2)8N4, which reacts very rapidly with phosgene.

Used in conjunction with sodium phenale, it will protect against

phosgene at a concentration of 1 : 1000 for a considerable period.

An excess of sodium hydroxide is used with the sodium phenate,

and a valve is provided in the helmet for the escape of exhaled

air. The valve was originally devised so that the hydroxide

would not be too rapidly carbonated, but it was found in addi-

tion that there is a great difference in ease of breathing and

comfort if a valve is placed in the mask. The helmet is put

on over the head, grasped with left hand around the neck and

tucked into the jacket. This form is still used in reserve.

By this time gas shells were beginning to be used in large

numbers, and it became evident that protection by a fabric

could not be depended on with certainty. The box type of

respirator was the next development. Respirators have to ful-

fill two requirements which are quite opposed to one another.

In the first place they should be sufficiently large and elaborate

to give full protection against any concentration of any gas,

whereas military exigency requires that they be light and com-

fortable. It is necessary to strike a balance between these two.

Upon a proper balance depends the usefulness of the respirator.

Oxygen apparatus will not do on account of its weight and its

limited life. Two hours' life is excessive for that type. The

side that can first force the other to use oxygen respirators for

protection has probably won the war.

The concentrations of gas usually met with are really very

low. As has been said, a high concentration for a gas cloud is

52 auld: methods of gas warfare

1 part in 1000, whereas concentrations of two or three per cent

can be met by respirators depending on chemical reactivity.

One such respirator is a box of chemicals connected by a flexible

tube with a face-piece fitting around the contours of the face,

and provided with a mouthpiece and nosepiece.

As regards the chemicals used there is no secret, for the Ger-

mans have many of the same things. Active absorbent char-

coal is one of the main reliances, and is another suggestion that

we owe to the Russians. Wood charcoal was used in one of

their devices and was effective, but most of the Russian soldiers

had no protection at all.

We wanted to protect against chlorine, acids and acid-forming

gases, phosgene, etc., arid at one time were fearful of meeting

large quantities of hydrocyanic (prussic) acid (HCN). At one

period every prisoner taken talked about the use of prussic acid,

saying that the Kaiser had decided to end the war and had

given permission to use prussic acid. Protection was evidently

needed against it. The three things that then seemed most

important were: (1) chlorine and phosgene; (2) prussic acid;

(3) lachrymators. Charcoal and alkaline permanganate will

protect against nearly everything used, even up to concen-

trations of ten per cent for short periods.

The German apparatus, developed about the same time, is of

different pattern, and is still employed. It consists of a small

drum, attached directly to the front of the face-piece, and

weighs less than the British respirator but must be changed

more frequently. It has no mouthpiece. The chemicals are

in three layers: first an inside layer of pumice with hexameth-

ylenetetramine, in the middle a layer of charcoal (sometimes

blood charcoal), and outside baked earth soaked in potassium

carbonate solution and coated with fine powdered charcoal.

As regards the future of the gas cloud, it may be looked upon

as almost finished. There are so many conditions that have to

be fulfilled in connection with it that its use is limited. It is

very unlikely that the enemy will be able to spring another

complete surprise with a gas cloud.

The case is different with gas shells. The gas shells are the

most important of all methods of using gas on the Western

auld: methods of gas warfare 53

Front, and are still in course of development. The enemy

started using them soon after the first cloud attack. He began

with the celebrated "tear" shells. A concentration of one part

in a million of some of these lachrymators makes the eyes water

severely. The original tear shells contained almost pure xylyl

bromide or benzjd bromide, made by brominating the higher

fractions of coal-tar distillates.

The German did his bromination rather badly. As you know,

it should be done very carefully or much dibromide is produced,

which is solid and inactive. Some of the shells contained as

much as 20 per cent dibromide, enough to make the liquid pasty

and inactive. The shells used contain a lead lining, and have a

partition across the shoulder, above which comes the T. N. T.

and the fuse. These shells had little effect on the British, but

one attack on the French, accompanied by a very heavy bom-

bardment with tear shells, put them out badly. The eyes of

the men were affected, and many of the men were even anesthe-

tized by the gas, and were taken prisoner.

Our first big experience was an attack at Vermelles. The

Germans put down a heavy barrage of these shells and made

an infantry attack. The concentration was great, the gas

went through the helmets, and the men even vomited inside

their helmets. But it is difficult to put down a gas barrage, and

there is danger that it will not be a technical success. In the

instance cited certain roads were not cut off sufficiently, so that

reinforcements got up. This attack, however, opened our eyes

to the fact that, as in the case of gas clouds, concentration

would be developed so as to make it high enough to produce

the required effect under any circumstances.

\Mien the Germans started using highly poisonous shells,

which was at the Somme in 1916, they did not attend to this

sufficiently, although enormous numbers of shell were used.

The substance used was trichloromethyl-chloroformate, but not

in great strength. It had no decided reaction on the eyes,

hence the men were often caught.

The quantity of gas that can be sent over in shells is small.

The average weight in a shell is not more than six pounds, where-

as the German gas cylinders contain 40 pounds of gas. To put

54 auld: methods of gas ware'are

over the same amount of gas as with gas clouds, say in five

minutes per thousand yards of front, would require a prohibi-

tive number of guns and shells. It becomes necessary to put

the shells on definite targets, and this, fortunately, the Germans

did not realize at the Somme, although they have found it out

since.

The use of gas out of a projectile has a number of advantages

over its use in a gas cloud. First, it is not so dependent on the

wind. Again, the gunners have their ordinary job of shelling,

and there is no such elaborate and unwelcome organization to

put into the front trenches as is necessary for the cloud. Third,

the targets are picked with all the accuracy of artillery fire.

Fourth, the gas shells succeed with targets that are not accessible

to high explosives or to gas clouds. Take, for instance, a field

howitzer, dug into a pit with a certain amount of overhead cover

for the men, who come in from behind the gun. The men are

safe from splinters, and only a direct hit will put the gun out

of action. But the gas will go in where the shell would not.

It is certain to gas some of the men inside the emplacement.

The crew of the gun must go on firing with gas masks on, and

with depleted numbers. Thus it nearly puts the gun out of

commission, reducing the number of shots say from two rounds

a minute to a round in two minutes, and may even silence it

entirely. Another example is a position on a hillside with

dugouts at the back, just over the crest, or with a sunken road

behind the slope. Almost absolute protection is afforded by

the dugouts. The French tried three times to take such a posi-

tion after preparation with high explosives, and each assault

failed. Then they tried gas shells, and succeeded. The gas

flows rapidly into such a dugout, especially if it has two or more

doors.

Among the effective materials used by the Germans for gas

shells were mono- and tri-chloromethyl-chloroformate. Prussic

acid never appeared; the Germans rate it lower than phosgene

in toxicity, and the reports concerning it were obviously meant

merely to produce fear and distract the provisions for protection.

During the last five months the actual materials and the

tactics used by the Germans have undergone a complete change.

auld: methods of gas warfare 55

The lachrymator shells are less depended upon than formerly

for '^ neutralization," but are still a source of annoyance. Mere

annoyance, however, may be an effective method of neutralizing

infantry. For instance, where large amounts of supplies and

ammunition are being brought up there are always cross-roads

where there is confusion and interference of traffic. A few gas

shells placed there make every man put on his mask, and if it is

a dark night and the roads are muddy the resulting confusion

can be only faintly imagined. It may thus be possible to neu-

tralize a part of the infantry by cutting down their supplies and

ammunition.

The use of a gas shell to force a man to put on his mask is

practically neutralization. If at the same time you can hurt

him, so much the better. Hence the change in gas-shell tactics,

which consists in replacing the purely lachrymatory substance

by one that is also poisonous.

One substance used for this method of simultaneously harass-

ing and seriously injuring was dichloro-diethylsulfide (mustard

gas). Its use was begun in July of last year at Ypres, and it

was largely used again at Nieuport and Armentieres. A heavy

bombardment of mustard-gas shells of all calibers was put on

these towns, as many as 50,000 shells being fired in one night.

The effects of mustard gas are those of a ''super-lachrymator."

It has a distinctive smell, rather like garlic than mustard. It

has no immediate effect on the eyes, beyond a slight irritation.

After several hours the eyes begin to swell and inflame and prac-

tically blister, causing intense pain, the nose discharges freely,

and severe coughing and even vomiting ensue. Direct contact

with the spray causes severe blistering of the skin, and the

concentrated vapor penetrates through the clothing. The

respirators of course do not protect against this blistering.

The cases that went to the hospitals, however, were generally

eye or lung cases, and blistering alone took back very few men.

Many casualties were caused by the habit that some of the men

had fallen into of letting the upper part of the mask hang down

so as not to interfere with seeing. The Germans scored heavily

in the use of this gas at first. It was another example of the

56 auld: methods of gas warfare

element of surprise in using a new substance that produces new

and unusual symptoms in the victims.

Up to the present time there has been no material brought

out on either side that can be depended on to go through the

other fellow's respirator. The casualties are due to surprise

or to lack of training in the use of masks. The mask must be

put on and adjusted within six seconds, which requires a con-

siderable amount of preliminary training, if it is to be done

under field conditions.

Among other surprises on the part of the Germans were

phenylcarbylamine chloride, a lachrymator, and diphenyl-

chloroarsine, or ''sneezing gas." The latter is mixed in with

high explosive shells or with other gas shells, or with shrapnel.

It was intended to make a man sneeze so badly that when he

puts on his mask he is not able to keep it on. The sneezing

gas has, however, not been a very great success.

All bombardments now are of this mixed character. The

shells used are marked with differently colored crosses, and defi-

nite programs are laid down for the use of the artillerymen.

As regards the future of gas shells, it should be emphasized

that the "gas shell" is not necessarily a gas shell at all, but a

liquid or solid shell, and it opens up the whole sphere of organic

chemistry to be drawn upon for materials. The material placed

inside the shell is transformed into vapor or fine droplets by

the explosion and a proper adjustment between the bursting

charge and the poisonous substance is necessary. Both sides

are busy trying to find something that the others have not used,

and both are trjdng to find a ''colorless, odorless, and invisible"

gas that is highly poisonous. It is within the realm of possibili-

ties that the war will be finished, literally, in the chemical

laboratory.

The Germans have not altered their type of respirator for

some time, and it is not now equal in efficiency to the British or

American respirator. The German respirator, even in its latest

form, will break down at a concentration of 0.3 per cent of

certain substances. The German design has given more weight

to military exigency, as against perfect protection, than has the

auld: methods of gas warfare 57

British. Another thing that weighs against changes in design

is the fact that the German, already handicapped by the lack

of certain materials, must manufacture 40,000,000 respirators a

year in order to supply his Austrian, Bulgarian, and Turkish

allies, as well as his own army.

In the British and American armies the respirator must

always be carried with the equipment when within 12 miles of

the front. Between 12 and 5 miles a man may remove the

respirator box in order to sleep, but within 5 miles he must wear

it constantly. Within 2 miles it must be worn constantly in

the ''alert" position (slung and tied in front). When the alarm

is given he must get the respirator on within six seconds. The

American respirator is identical with the British. The French

have a fabric mask made in several layers, the inner provided

with a nickel salt to stop HON, then a layer with hexamethy-

lenetetramine ; it has no valve and is hot to wear. The French

also use a box respirator, consisting of a metal box slung on the

back, with a tube connecting to the face mask; the latter is of

good Para rubber and is provided with a valve. One disadvan-

tage of this form is the danger of tearing the single rubber sheet.

The German niask now contains no rubber except one washer;

the elastics consist of springs inside a fabric, and the mask itself

is of leather. It hardens and cracks after being wet, and is too

dependent upon being well fitted to the face when made.

(The lecturer exhibited various types of gas shells, helmets,

masks, and respirators.)

The following compounds have been used by the Germans in

gas clouds or in shells:

1. Allyl-iso-thiocyanate (Allyl mustard oil), C3H5NCS (shell).

2. Benzyl bromide, CeHsCHoBr (shell).

3. Bromo-acetone, CH2Br.CO.CPI3 (hand grenades).

4. Bromated methyl-ethyl-ketone (bromo-ketone), CH2Br-

COC0H5 or CH3.CO.CHBr. CH3 (shell). Dibromo-ketone, CH3-

COCHBr.CHoBr (shell).

5. Bromine, Br2 (hand grenades).

6. Chloro-acetone, CH2CI.COCH3 (hand grenades).

7. Chlorine, CI2 (cloud).

58 standley: blepharidtum

8. Chloromethyl-chloroformate (Palite), CICOOCH2CI (shell).

9. Nitro-trichloro-methane (Chloropicrin or nitrochloroform),

CCI3NO2 (shell).

10. Chlorosulfonic acid, SO3.H.CI (hand grenades and ''smoke

pots").

11. Dichloro-diethylsulfide (mustard gas), (CH2C1CH2)2S

(shell).

12. Dhnethyl sulfate, (0113)2804 (hand grenades).

13. Diphenyl-chloro-arsine, (C6H5)2AsCl (shell).

14. Dichloromethyl ether, (CH2C1)20 (shell).

15. Methyl-chlorosulfonate, CH3CISO3 (hand grenades).

16. Phenyl-carbylamine chloride, C6H5NCCI2 (shell).

17. Phosgene (carbonyl chloride), COCI2 (cloud and shell).

18. Sulfur trioxide, SO3 (hand grenades and shell).

19. Trichloromethyl-chloroformate (Diphosgene, superpalite) ,

CICOOCCI3 (shell).

20. Xylyl bromide (tolyl bromide), CH,C6H4CH2Br. (shell).

BOTANY. — Blepharidnmi, a new genus of Rubiaceae from

Guatemala.^ Paul C. Standley, U. S. National Museum.

In the U. S. National Herbarium there are specimens of a

striking rubiaceous plant, hitherto undescribed, collected in

Guatemala by Mr. Henry Pittier. Some years ago this material

was examined by Captain John Donnell Smith, who concluded

that it probably represents an imdescribed genus. Recently,

while preparing an account of the Rubiaceae for the North

American Flora, the writer has studied the material and has

arrived at the same conclusion. Among North American

representatives of the family the plant is noteworthy because of

its large, long-petiolate leaves and of its large flowers, borne in

peculiar 3-flowered cymes. Its general appearance does not

definitely associate it with any of the known genera, and its

floral details are such as to necessitate its recognition as a new

genus, for which the name Blepharidiiim is here proposed.

'Published by permission of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.

ST AND ley: blepharidium 59

Blepharidium Standley, gen. no v.

Shrubs or trees, with subterete branchlets. Leaves opposite, petio-

late, the blades large, chartaceous. Stipules intrapetiolar, large, thin,

acuminate, entire, caducous. Flowers large, pedicellate, bibracteolate,

in 3-flowered cranes, the cymes axillary, long-pedunculate; calyx-tube

obovoid, the limb large, prolonged beyond the ovary, 4-lobate, the

lobes very broad, imbricate, ciliolate; corolla salverform, coriaceous, the

tube slender, elongate, densely villous within except near the base, the

limb 4-lobate, the lobes broad, spreading, imbricate in bud, one of

them exterior. Stamens 4, inserted in the throat of the corolla; anthers

sessile, dorsifixed below the middle, linear, obtuse, included. Disk

annular. Ovar}' 2-celled; style fihform, included, the stigma bilobate,

the lobes linear, elongate, acute; ovules numerous, imbricate, winged,

the placentae attached to the septum.

Type species, Bhphandium guafemalense Standley.

Blepharidium guatemalense Standley, sp. nov.

Branchlets stout, green, glabrous, sparseh' whitish-lenticellate, the

internodes elongate; stipules ovate-triangular, 2-2.5 cm. long, acumi-

nate or cuspidate-acuminate, brown, glabrous outside, witiiin sericeous-

pilose at the base and bearing numerous glands; petioles stout, 2.5-5

cm. long, glabrous; leaf-blades oval-oblong, 17-30 cm. long, 8-14.5

cm. wide, obtuse or acute at the base, obtuse or acute at the apex,

concolorous, glabrous above, the costa impressed, the other venation

prominulous, sparsely short-pilose beneath along the prominent costa,

the lateral veins prominent, about 8 on each side, arcuate-ascending;

peduncles 3-flowered, slender, 7-21 cm. long, glabrous, the pedicels

stout, 0.3-2 cm. long; bracts foliaceous, oval, about 1 cm. long, the

bractlets broadly ovate, 3-4 mm. long, deciduous; calyx glabrous,

the tube 4-5 mm. long, the limb 4-5 mm. long, 7-8 mm. broad, the

lobes half as long as the tube, broader than long, rounded or truncate,

minutely ciliolate; corolla-tube about 6 cm. long, 4-5 mm. thick,

glabrous outside, the lobes oval, about 1 cm. long; anthers 7 mm. long;

stigma-lobes 6-7 mm. long.

Type in the U. S. National Herbarium, no. 472925, collected in

forest along Saklak River, below Secanquim, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala,

altitude 300 meters, ISIay 7, 1905, by Heniy Pittier (no. 266).

Blepharidium is evidently a member of the Cinchoneae, for

although mature fruit, upon which the classification of the

Rubiaceae is chiefly based, is not available for study, the large,

imbricate, winged ovules are characteristic of this tribe alone.

Within the tribe, however, it is not easy to determine the exact

position of the genus. In most published keys to the subgroup,

it would fall near Exostema, but it does not appear to be very

60 bartsch: subspecies of obba marginata

closely allied to that genus, in which the anthers are borne on

long filaments. By the sessile anthers blepharidium is easily

distinguished from all the genera of the Cinchoneae with imbri-

cate corolla lobes.

ZOOLOGY. — A key to the Philippine subspecies of Obba mar-

ginata with notes on their distribution.^ Paul Bartsch,

U. S. National Museum.

The preparation of a report on the Philippine Island land

shells reveals so many distributional gaps in the material avail-

able for study that it seems wise to publish a series of synopses

in the form of keys to the various groups as the work progresses,

together with a brief account of the zoogeographic facts pre-

sented by the data at hand

It is hoped that these sketches may serve to stimulate collec-

tors to bestow their efforts upon localities from which material

is sadly needed to render the monographic reports complete.

Obba marginata Miiller

In this species the shell varies from broadly conic (066a ■marginata

mearnsi), to almost lenticular {Obba Jiiarginata samarensis) . The

range in size is also great. 066a marginata saranganica attains a

greater diameter of 35 mm., while in 066a marginata mearnsi it does

not exceed 19 mm. All the races have a narrow acute peripheral keel

to which the summit of the succeeding turn is appressed. The ground

color varies from pale buff (066a marginata griseola and 066a marginata

tnearnsi), to pale brownish (Obba marginata marginata). In all the

subspecies known, the peripheral keel and the extreme summit are

edged by a very narrow white or whitish zone, while the rest of the

upper surface of the turns is marked by three bands of brown of which

one adjoins the peripheral white zone while another bounds the white

line at the summit and the third occupies a space almost midway

between them. The width of these brown bands varies in the differ-

ent races. In some they equal the light areas that separate them

(066a marginata balidensis), while in others some of them are repre-

sented by mere hair lines. The intensity of the color may be the same

or may vary in the different bands on the same whorl, the band at

the summit being usually much paler than the rest. Two bands are

present on the basal sides of all the members of this species, one adjoin-

* Published by permission of the Secreta;-y of the Smithsonian Institution.

bartsch:' subspecies of obba marginata 61

ing the light peripheral zone and another situated at about one-third

of the distance between the periphery and the unibihcus anterior to

the periphery. Here, as in the banding of the upper surface, we find

a considerable variation both as to intensity of coloration and width of

the band. In some the zone at the periphery is merely indicated

(Obba marginata lanaona and Obha marginata mearnsi), while in others

they are very dark and broad (Obba marginata marginata and Obba

marginata balutensis). In all the forms the basal lip is toothless.

Under the microscope we find that the first half turn is smooth; the

turn and a half followi.ig this are marked by slender oblique, retrac-

tively curved, axial threads, best seen near the summit and at the

periphery; while the succeeding turns have in addition to these threads,

very fine, closely spaced, impressed lines which cross each other more

or less" at right angles and the lines of growth at an angle of about 45°

and give the surface a fine cloth-like texture.

The various subspecies of Obba marginata can readily be divided into

two groups, one in which the dark coloration predominates over the

light zones and another in which the reverse is true. To the first of

these, the dark group, belong the subspecies saranganica, balutensis,

marginata, ivorcesteri, and boholensis. In the light group we find

characters that readily enable one to further subdivide it. In two

forms (mearnsi and palmasensis) the shell is broadly conic. In the

rest the shell is lenticular. This last complex is again divisible. One

part (subspecies griseola, samarensis, pallescens, and nana) has the

basal peripheral band well developed. In the other (subspecies zam-

boanga, lanaona, and joloensis) the basal peripheral band is obsoletQ.

The distribution, as known to date, extends from the central islands

of Samar, Leyte, Bohol, and Cebu, southward over Mindanao to Jolo

on the west and Sarangani and Palmas islands on the east in the Phil-

ippines, and still farther south beyond our range at least to Celebes.

A plotting of the known distribution points strongly to the fact that

many additional subspecies may be expected when more careful and

extensive collecting shall have been done. The species should occur

on the islands betw:een Samar, Leyte, and Mindanao. In Mindanao

itself we know it only from the northern coastal strip and Zamboanga

and it scarcely stands to reason that there should be a gap in the dis-

tribution between the north coast and the little islands of Sarangani,

Balut, Olanivan, and Palmas off the southeast coast where it is well

represented-

62 bartsch: subspecies of obba marginata

The distribution of the groups outHned above is rather interesting.

The subspecies in which the dark coloration predominates are known

from Bohol, Camiguin, north of Mindanao and the islands of Olanivan,

Sarangani, and Balut off southeastern Mindanao. None of the dark

forms so far are known from the large island of Mindanao itself. The

broadly conic light-colored Obba marginata mearnsi and Obba marginata

■palmasensis come from Sarangani and Palmas, respectively, both off

southeastern Mindanao. The light colored lenticular forms having

the basal peripheral color band well developed are so far known from

Samar, Leyte, Cebu, and northeastern Mindanao, and I strongly sus-

pect that the form recorded from Siquijor and that from Talisayan,

Mindanao, will prove to belong here. The light-colored lenticular

forms in which the basal peripheral band is obsolete are known from

western Mindanao and the island of Jolo.

The following key may be of help in determining the known sub-

species^:

Dark bands predominating over the hght zones.

Greater diameter more than 30 mm.

Lines of growth strongly developed (Sarangani Island).

saranganica Hidalgo.

Lines of growth not strongly developed (Balut Island).

balutensis new.

Greater diameter less than 30 mm.

Basal bands very dark brown.

Greater diameter more than 25 mm. (Camiguin Island).

marginata Miiller.

Greater diameter less than 22 mm. (Olanivan Island).

* worcesteri Bartsch.

Basal bands hght brown (Bohol Island) boholensis new.

Dark bands not predominating over the light zones.

Light zones nmch greater than the dark.

Shell broadly conic.

Peripheral basal color band moderately strong (Palmas

Island) palmasensis new.

Peripheral basal color band obsolete (Sarangani Island).

mearnsi new.

Shell not broadly conic, lenticular.

Peripheral basal brown band obsolete.

Median band above and below reddish (Zamboanga,

Mindanao) zamboanga new.

1 The types of the new subspecies are registered in the U. S. National Museum

under the following numbers: balutensis, no. 256548; boholensis, no. 116914;

palmasensis, no. 256420; mearnsi, no. 2,56423; lanaona, no. 2oM^b\' joloensis, no.

256549; samarensis, no. 256549.

bartsch: subspecies of obba marginata 63

Median band above antl below not reddish, all

bands brown.

Base very strongly convex (Lanao Province,

Mindanao) lanaona new.

Base very slightly convex (Jolo Island).

joloensis new.

Peripheral basal brown band not obsolete.

Greater diameter more than 23 mm.

Band near the summit and at the periphery

more or less interrupted (Cebu Island).

griseola IVIollendorff.

Band at the summit and near the periphery

not interrupted (Samar Island).

samarensis new.

Greater diameter less than 21 mm.

Peripheral basal band strong (Leyte Island).

pallescens Mollendorff.

Peripheral basal band not strong (Northeast

Mindanao) nana Mollendorff.

ABSTRACTS

Authors of scientific papers are requested to see that abstracts, preferably

prepared and signed by themselves, are forwarded promptly to the editors.

Each of the scientific bureaus in Washington has a representative authorized to

forward such material to this JouRisrAL and abstracts of official publications

should be transmitted through the representative of the bureau in which they

originate. The abstracts should conform in length and general style to those

appearing in this issue.

GEOLOGY. — Geology of the Navajo country. A reconnaissance of

parts of Ariftona, New Mexico, and Utah. Herbert E. Gregory.

U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 93. Pp. 161, with

maps, sections, and illustrations. 1917.

The region bordering the Colorado canyons between Little Colorado

and San Juan rivers and extending southward to the line of the Atchi-

son, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway is described. The primary object of

the investigations was to "spy out the land," with a view to suggest-

ing ways in which the country could be more fully utilized. The

region is arid, and the geologic field work was therefore designed chiefly

to obtain information concerning the water supply.

The Navajo country is part of the Colorado Plateau province, a

region of folded and faulted sedimentary rocks traversed by innumerable

canyons. The consolidated sedimentary rocks exposed in the Navajo

country are chiefly of Mesozoic age — -Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous.

The predominant rock of the whole Navajo country is sandstone of

medium grain; limestone and conglomerate are much less common, and

typical clay shale is rare.

In the Grand Canyon district the dominating structural features are

represented topographically by flat-topped plateaus, bordered by lines

of displacement trending roughly north. The simplicity of folded

structures in the Grand Canyon district is not, however, duplicated in

the region east of Colorado River. Synclines and anticlines, both

broad and narrow, sharply delineated monoclines, and domical up-

warps follow one another in succession or abut against one another

like waves in a choppy sea. In one feature only — their general trend —

do the flexures displayed in the Navajo country simulate those of the

region farther west. Ten major folds and eight minor folds, in addi-

64

abstracts: geology 65

tion to local flexures of small dimensions, were noted in the region

between the San Juan and the Puerco and Little Colorado.

The physiographic history of the Navajo country is included in that

of the Colorado Plateau. The stratigraphic series of the area is essen-

tially that of the Grand Canyon district; the crustal movements of

.the two areas, though different in kind, were probably contempo-

raneous, and it is reasonable to suppose also that the periods of igneous

activity for the whole Plateau province are closely related in time.

The surface of the Navajo country has been carved rather than

built; features resulting from deposition are I'elatively unimportant.

Talus slopes and alluvial fans are replaced by cliffs; hills and knolls

give way to buttes and towers; and graded slopes are represented by

walls sculptured into rincons, recesses, alcoves, niches, windows, and

arches, of large variety.

Wide, open mouths of niches and caves perched high on the canyon

walls are conspicuous. These cavities, protected from rain, from the

glaring heat of the sun, and from the suffocating sandstorms, were

widel}^ utilized by the ancient inhabitants as building sites — ''rock

shelters" or "cavate dwelhngs."

Perhaps the most striking erosion feature within the Navajo coun-

tr}' is the recently discovered Rainbow Bridge, which spans Bridge

Canyon, on the northwest slope of Navajo Mountain. Its symmetry

and graceful proportions, as well as its size and beauty of color, give

to this arch a commanding position among the natural bridges of the

woi'ld. . R W. Stone.

»

GEOLOGY. — Ground water for irrigation in Lodgepole ]'alley, Wyoming

and Neh'aska. Oscar E. Meinzer. U. S. Geological Survey

Water-Supply Paper 400-B. Pp. 33, with 4 maps. 1917.

This brief report discusses the distribution and water-bearing char-

acter of the Ogalalla and Arikaree formations, the Brule clsiy, the

underlying formations, and the Quaternary stream gravels. Large

yields are obtained in the valley from the stream gravels and from the

underlying jointed portions of the Brule clay. The strongest well

3nelded, in a test of one hour, at the rate of 710 gallons per minute with

a drawdown of less than 4 inches. The report describes the natural

processes of storage of water in the underground reservoir and of dis-

charge therefrom by gravity in the irrigation season. It also gives

data by the author and by Mr. H. C. Diesem, of the Department of

Agriculture, on the cost of pumping for irrigation. 0. E. M.

66 abstracts: parasitology

FFjTROLOGY. —Chemical analyses of igneous rocks published from

1884 to WIS, inclusive. H. S. Washington. U. S. Geological

Survey Professional Paper 99. Pp. 1201, with 3 figures. 1917.

This paper is a revision and expansion of Professional Paper 14,

published in 1903. In the introductory text the characters of rock

anal3^ses are discussed under the heads of representativeness of the.

sample analyzed and the accuracy and completeness of the analysis.

The chief errors, both of commission and omission, to which rock

analyses are hable are described, and the scheme for rating analyses as

to their quahty, adopted in the work, is explained.

It has been the aim to make the present collection as complete and

accurate as possible and, in a sense, definitive. The search through

the Hterature, a list of the pubhcations examined being given, has

been very extensive, and in this the library of the U. S, Geological

Survey has been the main reliance. The number of analyses collected

in the tables amounts to 8602, as against 2881 in the previous collec-

tion, which analyses are included in the present work. A great im-

provement in quality over the earlier work is manifest. The tables,

which occupy 1098 pages, are divided into four parts: superior analyses

of fresh rocks; incomplete but otherwise superior analyses of fresh

rocks; superior analyses of altered rocks and tuffs; and inferior analyses.

The analyses in Part I are arranged according to the Quantitative

Classification and the norm of each, every one of which has been recal-

culated, is given. A discussion of the rules for naming and of some of

the names of this system is to be found in the text.

In appendixes are presented a description of the Quantitative Classi-

fication, with a tabular presentation of its divisions and names, a

description of the method of calculating the norm, as well as the tables

for the calculation of the molecular numbers of the chemical compo-

nents and percentages of mineral molecules. H. S. W.

PARASITOLOGY. — Recent progress in the development of tnethods for

the control and treatment of parasites of live stock. B. H. Ransom.

Proc. Second Pan-Amer. Sci. Congr. 3: 709-718. 1917.

Brief review with list of references. B. H. R.

PARASITOLOGY. — The sheep tick and its eradication bp dipping.

Marion Imes. U. S. Dept. Agr. Farmers' Bulletin 798, 31 pp.,

figs. 1-15. May, 1917.

A popular discussion with details of methods of control and

eradication. B. H. Ransom.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY AND AFFILIATED

SOCIETIES

WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

The 118th meeting of the Academy, the twentieth Annual Meeting,

was held in the Assembly Room of the Cosmos Club the evening of

Tuesday, January 8, 1918, with President W. H. Holmes in the chair.

The minutes of the last Annual Meeting were read and approved.

The Corresponding Secretary, Dr. R. B. Sosman, elected by the

Board of Managers in September, 1917, to fill the unexpired term of Dr.

F. E. Wright, on account of the latter's continued absence from the

city while engaged upon war work, reported that on January 1, 1918,

the membership consisted of 6 honorary members, 4 patrons, and 470

members, one of whom was a life member. The total membership was

480, of whom 283 reside in or near the District of Columbia. During

the year 1917 the Academy has lost b}^ death: William Bullock

Clark, July 27, 1917; Richard Bryant Dole, January 21, 1917;

Arnold Hague, May 13, 1917. Reference was made also to the dis-

tribution of a new edition of the "red book," the Directory of the

Washington Academy of Sciences and affiliated Societies, in Jul3^

The Recording Secretary reported that four public lectures had been

held during the past year, including the three on Heredity, as reported

upon in the Journal of the Academy for January 4, 1918.

In the absence of the Treasurer, Mr. William Bow^ie, his report was

read b}" the Secretary. The report showed a balance of $850.93 on

January 1, 1917, receipts totaling $6442.69 during the year (including

the payment of a note for $2000,) disbursements totaling $4308.81 (in-

cluding the purchase of a Liberty Loan Bond for $500), and a balance

on December 31, 1917, of $2984.81. The Auditing Committee, con-

sisting of Messrs. E. F. Mueller, H. G. Ferguson, and H. D. Gibbs,

reported that the report of the Treasurer agreed in all respects with the

accounts and with the securities on deposit.

Dr. N. E. Dorset read the report of the Board of Editors.

The report of the tellers, Messrs. J. F. Meyer, H. E. jMerwin, and

R. B. SosMAN, was read by the Corresponding Secretary. The tellers

reported that the mail ballot had resulted in the election of the following

officers for 1918: President, L. J. Briggs; Corresponding Secretary,

R. B. Sosman; Recording Secretary, William R. Maxon; Treasurer,

William Bow^ie; Non-resident Vice-Presidents, T. A. Jaggar, Jr., and

B. L. Robinson; Members of Board of Managers, Class of 1921, T. H.

Kearney and A, O. Spencer.

The following resident Vice-Presidents, nominated by the affiliated

societies, were then elected: Anthrojjological Society, John R. Swan-

ton; Archaeological Society, Ales Hrplicka; Biological Society, J. N.

Rose; Botanical Society, T. H. Kearney; Chemical Society, Frede-

67

68 proceedings: Washington academy of sciences

KICK B. Power; Society of Engineers, Edwin F. Wendt; Electrical

Engineers, P. G. Agnew; Society of Foresters, Raphael Zon; Geological

Society, W. C. Mendenhall; Historical Society, Allen C. Clark;

Medical Society, Philip S. Roy; Philosophical Society, George K.

Burgess.

The Entomological Society and the National Geographic Society had

nominated no Vice-Presidents.

The following amendments to the By-Laws of the Academy, de-

signed to avoid the existing conflict of dates between the annual

meeting of the Academy and the regular meeting of the Chemical

Society, were then read and, in accordance with the By-Laws, referred

to the Board of Managers :

(1) In Section 1, Article III, substitute "Tuesday" for "Thursday."

The section will then begin as follows: "The Annual Meeting shall be

held each year on the second Tuesday of January."

(2) In Section 1 of Article V substitute "Tuesday" for "Thursday."

The retiring President, Dr. Holmes, delivered an address entitled

Man's place in the Cosmos as shadoived forth by modern science, the newly

elected President, Dr. L. J. Briggs, presiding.

"The address was designed to give a brief but comprehensive view

of the career of man not in the world simply, but to shadow forth

his place in the cosmos of which he was formerly thought to be the cen-

tral feature. The problems of the immediate past are in part readily

solved, while the remote past fades into the impenetrable shadows of the

infinite. The problems of the present appear large in the foreground,

so that he who runs may read; but the problems of the future find their

solutions shrouded in the mists of the unknown and the unknowable.

"The story of the progress of research from the childish romancings of

the savage mind through quagmires of superstitious interpretations

to the astonishing revelations of modern science is a fascinating chapter

in human history.* The origin of the earth is found in the reassembling

and consolidation of ^e widely disseminated matter of a spiral nebula,

a process believed to be responsible for the evolution of the solar

system as a whole — the sun and its attendant bodies. These nebulae,

of which a thousand have been identified, are thought to be due to the

encounter of heaventy bodies with such force as to distribute their com-

ponent particles widely throughout space, the encounters being due to

the eccentricity of the orbits.

"The earth thus gathered together by the forces of gravity from the

dust of ruined spheres became, after ages of ripening, the seat of life, —

an oasis in the vast desert of the cosmos. The story of the beginnings

and evolution of living things has been preserved in the fossil-bearing

strata of the earth's surface and its outlines are well made out. From

the earliest, exceedingly simple and minute forms -advance was made

throughout several stages of speciahzation to the culmination in man,

each stage requiring millions of years in its accomplislmient. But the

story is not ended. Mobility, uQceasing change is the rule of the uni-

verse. That which grows or develops reaches its meridian and passes

proceedings: anthropological society 69

into other forms. The fate of the human race is wrapped up with the

fate of the minute satclHte which we call the earth, and is subject to the

ever active mobilizing forces of the cosmos. It must be molded and

remolded into other worlds and suns and stars forever.

"But there are other wonders. The atoms which now enter into the

constitution of all things — our bodies, the world, and the universe, — are

indestructible. They have existed always and will continue to eternity.

The milHons of atoms which now form a drop of human blood, for

example, have each a history more marvelous than words can tell or

mind conceive, each having passed through changes without beginning

and must continue to pass through other changes without end.

"At a certain stage in the earth's evolution life was generated and

there is no reason why a million worlds may not have reached a cor-

responding stage — the stage at which the elements and the energies

acting under immutable laws necessarily bring about the particular

phenomenon known as Hfe. But in the transformations of worlds these

phenomena of life can be but negligible incidents, and the human race

which we see so large is with all the other attendant phenomena of life

in the world, and in all worlds for that matter, only as a breath in the

unending cataclysms of the incomprehensible cosmos.

'Tf any part of the story of man's place in the universe thus outlined

should be challenged, and many parts are open to challenge, the chal-

lenger may be assured that, if the present interpretations of science are

wrong in whole or in part, the storj^ which will finally be told, or which

may never be told, must be more marvelous than this or any other that

the human mind has conceived."

The 119th meeting of the Academy was held in the Assembly Room

of the Cosmos Club the evening of Thursday, January 17, 1918, the

occasion being the first of a series of illustrated lectures dealing with

Science in Relation to the War. The speaker, Maj^S*. J. M. Auld, of

the British Military Mission, delivered an address on the subject

Methods of gas warfare. A summary of the lecture will be found else-

where in this number of the Journal (pp. 45-58).

William R. Maxon, Recording Secretary.

ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

The 517th meeting of the Society was held in the Auditorium of the

U. S. National Museum on Tuesday, December 4, 1917, at 4.30 p.m.

At this meeting Dr. Amandus Johnson, of the University of Pennsyl-

vania, addressed the society on The Scandinavian peoples, illustrating

his address with lantern slides.

The Scandinavian Peninsula has undoubtedly been inhabited by its

present occupants for 10,000 years or more. When the climate of the

country became tolerable after the vast icefields receded, tribes of the

Aryan race found their way into southern Sweden, and established there

the original home of the Germanic peoples. About the year 3000 B.C.,

70 proceedings: anthropological society

at the end of the Stone Age, considerable advancement in culture had

been made, and during the Bronze Age the decorative instinct of the

people found expression in works of art unsurpassed elsewhere in Europe

at that period. Later the Hallstatt and La Tene civilizations made their

influence felt and finally, about the beginning of the Christian Era,

Roman culture became the predominant foreign influence. An exten-

sive trade developed with the western world during the following cen-

turies, and many remains of this intei'course are found in Sweden and

Denmark.

The most important period historically is the so-called Viking Age,

800-1000 A.D. Wonderful progress had been made in shipping and

navigation. Fleets of the Viking ships appeared on almost every

shore. The bold sailors sacked cities on the Mediterranean and Black

Seas, ruled Ireland for generations, and conquered parts of France,

England, and Spain; they founded Russia, and settled colonies in

America and numerous other places. Finally Christianity was introduced

and the Scandinavians settled down to a life of peaceful toil. The

mental and spiritual reaction following the Viking expeditions was in-

tense. A prose literature grew up, especially in L-eland. This was the

most remarkable in Europe at the time and was the only original prose

of the Germanic race. With it was coupled a poetiy no less important.

This art died, however, at about the time when distinct Scandinavian

nationalities began to develop, and from the twelfth century onward we

find long stretches of time nearly void of mental activity.

From this period Sweden began to lead a more separate life, but Den-

mark and Norway were gradually drawn closer together until the latter

country nearly lost its identity. Denmark was the leading power of the

north until the appearance of Gustavus Adolphus. Then Sweden

acquired the supremacy. Through the supreme ability of her leaders she

changed the coui'se of European history and for more than a century

played the I'ole of a great power. In modern times Sweden has pro-

duced leading scientists, created a rich literature, and developed large

industrial establishments.

After 1644 Denmark was weakened from time to time b}' the cur-

tailment of her territory until in 1864 she was reduced to her present

area. In the fields of science, letters, and art, however, she can point

to brilliant achievements. Norwaj^ paid the price of dependency- for

many generations, and not until her separation from Denmark can we

speak of a worthy Norwegian literature. But in the last century the

leadership of the drama belongs to her, and in many lines of achieve-

ment some of her names rank among the fii'st.

The 518th meeting of the Society was held in the Lecture Hall of the

Public Library, on Tuesday, December 18, 1917, at 8 p.m. On this

occasion Dr. Daniel Folkmar, LT. S. Tariff Commission, delivered a

lecture on Japan: people and policies, illustrated by numerous lantern

slides.

Dr. Folkmar opened his address by asking "Who are the Japanese?

Are they as closely related to the Chinese as many Americans think, or

proceedings: anthropological society 71

are they a v(My different race, as the Japanese themselves think? The

whole attitude of the Japanese toward the Chinese and toward the

American people seems to rest on the assumption that they are not

Mongolian, strictly speaking, and that they should be ti'eated as our

equals."

The Japanese frequently compare their empire with Englantl, the

Island Empiie which lules a great part of the world from its favored

position in the Atlantic, a position similar to that of Japan in the Pacific

Ocean. The Japanese are unquestionably a mixed race, like the English

and most of the leading nations of the present da}'. Five distinct ethnic

types are to be found among the Japanese. The most important is the

]\Ianchu-Korean type, taller than the others and seen chiefl}^ among

the upper classes. The second is the well-known Mongolian type, with a

broader face. Perhaps the most important element in the present nation-

ality is the Malay strain, whose representatives are small in stature. The

Ainu preceded both Alongolians and Malays, and it now appears that

they, in turn, were preceded b}- a smaller race of pit-dwellers. Accord-

ing to Keane the Japanese bear a physical resemblance to the Mon-

golians, but linguisticalh' are more closely related to the northern

Asiatic Finno-Tataric stock. From this point of view the Japanese

are more closely related to the Koreans than to the Chinese, since

the Korean language is agglutinative and that of the Chinese is mono-

syllabic. Xumerous authorities were cited on this and similar problems

of the Japanese people. Japan received its profound philosophies from

India and China. Thus the native religion of Japan is Shintoism,

together with Buddhistic beliefs that came from India, and Confucianism

fi'om China.

Concerning Japanese policies Dr. Folkmar said, "There is no doubt

that an exclusive policy, dominated the national policies of Japan until

Perry, the American, broke down the barriers. This act is now regarded

l)y the leaders and educated classes as one of the most fortunate events

in their national history." Dr. Folkmar spoke in high encomium of the

manner in which the Japanese Empire has kept its word in restricting

the emigration of Japanese to the United States, and said that there can

bo no doubt of the wisdom of taking the Japanese at their word in

the recent convention that has been signed regarding the "open door

policy."

- The 519th meeting of the Society was held in the West Study Room

of the Public Libi'ary, January 15, 1918, at 8 p.m. The program con-

sisted of a general discussion of War Anthropology, led by Dr. Ales

Hrdlicka, Curator, Division of Ph3'sical Anthropology, U. S. National

Taking as his subject War and Race, Dr. Hrdlicka first directed atten-

tion to the very general and serious apprehension that the present war

may have an untoward dysgenic effect on the race, saying that there

exists, even among medical men and some men of science, a fear of the

effect of shattered constitutions and the lasting results of shocks, strains,

72 proceedings: anthropological society

exposure, and wounds, together with an acquisition of new diseases.

"These assumptions," said the speaker, "are enough to make the pessi-

mist despair of the future of the race, but happily these assumptions are

not entirely correct. In the first place we have no scientific basis for

the belief that any of the warlike nations of the past have actually

degenerated physically as the result of wars Unques-

tionably there are losses from every great war, and in these I include

the debilitating effects of wounds and disease, but fortunately these

appear to be only temporary."

"There are wonderful laws working on living nature, including human-

ity. One of these is the elimination of the unfit. Another is adapta-

tion, still another is restitution, and finally there are the laws of com-

pensation. These laws have taken care of war-ridden mankind in

the past, and as they work with undiminished vigor they can safely be

expected, with such intelligent assistance as can now be given, to accom-

plish still more in the future." Treating of the action of these laws, Dr.

Hrdlicka noted that many afflictions caused by the war are curable and

others are not transmitted to progeny. The most dangerous diseases

of previous wars have largely been eliminated by preventive means,

while science is already coping with new conditions that have arisen.

The speaker then recounted some of the compensations that will

arise from the war, chief among which he placed the impetus given to the

struggle against alcoholism. Important also among the compensations

will be the great intellectual stimulus, the social and national regen-

eration, and the raising of this nation from an isolated and somewhat

selfish position to that of a world power in the best sense of the term and

for the good of humanity.

In the discussion which followed this communication the office of the

Surgeon General, U. S. A., was represented by Lieut. Sidney Morgan,

Sanitary Corps, U. S. N. A., who spoke on the surprisingly large per-

centage of wounded men who, by expert care, are retui'ned to their homes

fitted to be useful members of society.

Mr. Frank D. Tansley, ex-president of the Patria Club of New York

City, stated that the ratio of casualties in the present war is about the

same as that in the Civil War, from which the nation has been able to

recover. Mr. E. T. Williams, of the State Department, noted that there

may be a deterioration of the race in time of peace, due to industrial

conditions and crowding of factories. Dr. John R. Swanton contrasted

imperialistic and emulative civilizations, to the advantage of the latter;

Mr. James Mooney emphasized the thought that psychology is the

dominant factor in race differentiation; and Dr. Leo J. Frachtenberg

spoke of predominant elements in every race. Rev. John M. Cooper

mentioned an essential vitality which is the outcome of circumstance

and which has been, to some extent, lacking in American youth but

which may be developed by present conditions.

Frances Densmore, Secretary.

proceedings: philosophical society 73

BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

The 576th regular and the 38th annual meeting of the Society was

held at the Cosmos Club, Saturday, December 15, 1917; called to

order by President Hay at 8 p.m.; 19 persons present.

The annual reports of officers and conmiittees were received, followed

b}" the election of officers for the year 1918. The results of the election

are given herewith : President, J. N. Rose ; Vice-presidents, A. D. Hopkins,

H. M. Smith, Vernon Bailey, Ned Hollister; Recording Secretary,

yi.W. Lyon, Jr.; Corresponding Secretary, W. L. McAtee; Treasurer,

Ned Dearborn; Members of Council, J. W.Cjidliiy, William Palmer,

Alexander Wetmore, E. A. Goldman, A*. S. Hitchcock. President

Rose was nominated by the Society as a vice-president of the Washing-

ton Acadeni}' of Sciences.

President Rose appointed as Committee on Publications for 1918:

C. W. Richmond, N. Dearborn, W. L. McAtee, J. H. Riley; as

Committee on Communications: William Palmer, Alexander Wet-

more, R. E. Coker, L. 0. Howard, A. S. Hitchcock.

M. W. Lyon, Jr., Recording Secretary.^

PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

The 793d meeting was held at the Cosmos Club October 27, 1917;

President Buckingham in the chair; 27 persons present.

Messrs. J. T. Tate and P. D. Foote gave an illustrated paper on

Critical potentials for electrons in metallic vapors. The subject matter

presented was published in this Journal (7: 517. 1917).

Discussion: The paper was discussed by Messrs. Loeb, Silsbee, and

Becker.

By invitation Mr. S. J. Crooker gave an illustrated paper on Experi-

ments on direct-current corona. Electrical discharges in gases at pressures

near that of the atmosphere may be divided into five classes: dark,

glow, brush, spark, and arc discharges. Corona is a glow or brush dis-

charge which appears on wires at high potentials indicating energy dis-

sipation to the surrounding gas. Engineering experiments on the

alternating-current corona have led to a revolution in the design and

construction of high-potential transmission lines, machines, transformers,

and insulators. Scientific investigations, especially on the direct-current

corona, have led to an explanation of the phenomena observed.

A review was given of investigations made at the University of

Illinois on the direct-current corona under various conditions. The

corona discharge has been found to be a complicated function of

the applied voltage; kind of gas and its pressure; size, shape, spacing,

condition, and material of wires; temperature; humidity; etc.

The characteristic discharge is a uniform layer of glow for the positive

wire and evenly spaced beads or brushes for the negative wire. The

critical voltage increases with the radius of the wire and the gas pressure

and is different for the positive and negative wires. A slight increase in

pressure due to ionization occurs on sudden application of potential to

74 proceedings: philosophical society

the wire and is a linear function of the energy appHed for all gases.

In hydrogen the critical voltages are much lower than in air and its

characteristics are such that almost complete I'ectification of alter-

nating currents is possible. When corona is present the potential dis-

tribution curves are much distorted from the theoretical position and

indicate an accumulation of charges near the electrodes. Roughness or

oxidation of the wire lowers the critical point and shifts the characteristic

I-V curves. Different metj^ls also show different characteristics.

A short series spark destroys the bead formation on the negative wire,

produces divergent pencils, brushes or streamers on the positive wire,

and reverses the position of the characteristic I-V curves. A special

hot-lime-cathode Braun tuloe showed the currents through the spark

and the gas to be unidirectional pulses.

The uniform positive glow is explained as ionization by collision of gas

particles near the wire. The negative beads may be due to a combina-

tion of ionization by collision and electron discharge. The series

spark impulses may cause a disruptive action in the surface of the wire

shooting off high velocity positive ions which give rise to the positive

sti'eamers. The apparent destruction of the negative beads is probably

a superimposed building up and decay of the observed negative dis-

charge forms for each spark impulse.

Discussion: The paper was discussed by Messrs. Agnew and L. J.

Briggs.

The 794th meeting was held at the Cosmos Club November 10, 1917;

President Buckingham in the chair; 38 persons present.

By invitation Mr. L. W. McKeehan gave an illustrated paper on

Diffusion of, and recoil from, actinium emanation. Previous work on

the diffusion of actinium emanation and on the distribution of its

active deposit between charged metal plates was reviewed, and the

causes of some uncertainties in the interpretation of the results were

pointed out. Apparatus was designed to avoid the defects thus dis-

covered, and measurements made under a variety of conditions. The

value of the diffusion coefficient of the emanation into air at the mean

temperature of the experiments, 20.7°C., was found to be 0.109

(plus or minus 2 per cent). The distribution of the active deposit

between positive and negative plates at different pressures agreed with

that to be expected on the basis of radioactive recoil from the dis-

integrating emanation, and gave as the range of recoil in air at atmo-

spheric pressure and at 20.7°C. the value 0.0092 cm. A closer theo-

retical study made it seem probable that the recoil paths are riot straight,

and preliminary work by the author and another, using C. T. R. Wil-

son's photographic method for studying the initial portions of a-ray

trails, is now in progress.

Mr. N. E. Dorset gave an illustrated paper on Radium luminous

materials. No abstract.

Discussion: The paper was discussed by Messrs. Bauer and E. B.

Stevenson.

proceedings: philosophical society 75

The 795th ineetiiij>- was held at the Cosmos Club November 24, 1917;

President Buckingham in the chair; 34 persons present.

Messrs. H. E. Merwin and L. H. Adams gave a paper on Poly-

morphism of the oxides of lead. PbO appears in a red, tetragonal form

stable below about 500°, and in a yellow, orthorhombic form stable at

higher temperatures. Inversion with rising temperature is rapid, but

with falling temperature so sluggish that it is the yellow form that is pro-

duced conunercially from molten lead oxide. From hot solution in con-

centrated alkali both forms can be obtained. The yellow crystals

frequently come out first and definitely orient the subsequent red crys-

tals which are found attached to them. Pressure with a point upon

certain faces of the yellow form causes immediate transformation to

the red form at the point of pressui'e and along planes radiating in

definite crystallographic directions. Pressure upon other faces causes

cleavage, with little or no inversion. Heating causes the yellow crystals

to become red before they begin to glow, owing to a large temperature co-

.efficient of light absorption. In powder the red for n is dull j^ellowish.

Discussion: The paper was discussed by Messrs. Buckingham,

White, Swann, and Burgess.

Messrs. G. W. AIorey and E. D. Williamson gave a paper on Quanti-

tative applications of the phase rule. The subject of heterogeneous equi-

librium is usually developed by the aid of the phase rule, together with

the Le Chateliei' principle of mobile equilibrium. The phase mle is

a qualitative corollary of a perfectly general and widely applicable

equation, equation 97 in Willard Gibb's paper ' 'On the equilibrium of

heterogeneous substances,"

vdp = ■r]dt + midij.i + niodix-i-^- .... Wnrf/in

in which v, p, -q, and t denote volume, pressure, entropy, and tempera-

ture, resp'ectivelv ; n is defined as being {—') , e being the energy,

vii the mass of component 1, and the subscripts denote constanc}^ of

volume, entropy, and the other masses respectively.

The application of this equation to several problems was discussed.

Plrst, the method of derivation of the approximations known as the laws

of dilute solutions was exemplified by the derivation of Raoult's law,

stress being laid on the assumptions that it is necessary to make in order

to derive these appi'oximations fi-om the exact relations. The appH-

cation of equation 97 to some purely phase rule problems was then dis-

cussed. First, theorems were developed enabling the determination of

the sequence of the P-T curves that intersect at an invariant point, then

th? question of th? change in slope of the P-T curve of a univariant

equililjrium with change in composition of phases of variable composition

was discussed.

The subject mattei' of this paper has appeared in amplified form in the

January number of the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Discussion: The paper was discussed by Mr. Sosman.

Donald H, Sweet, Secretary.

SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS

Dr. George E. Hale, Director of the Mount Wilson Solar Observa-

tory of the Carnegie Institution, gave the public lecture at the annual

meeting of the trustees of the Institution in Washington, on December

13, 1917. The subject of the lecture was "The development of the

telescope and our expanding conception of the universe."

Prof. H. C. CowLES, of the University of Chicago, and Mr, E. W.

Shaw, of the Geological Survey, spent two weeks of last October

in Arkansas, continuing an investigation of the apparently fictitious

"lakes" which have been shown on the maps of northeastern Arkansas

for the past seventy-five years. Both the geological and the ecological

evidence show that the lakes have had no real existence within a period

of at least one hundred years. Their origin on the early land survey

maps is still a mystery; later maps simply copied the "lakes" from the

land maps or from one another. Messrs. Cowles and Shaw have

devoted several weeks of each summer since 1913 to this investigation.

Mr. J. E. Spurr, formerly of the Geological Survey and for the past

twelve years a consulting mining geologist in New York and Philadel-

phia, has returned to Washington and is residing at 1755 Park Road.

The Delegate of the Royal Swedish Government in the United States,

Dr. Hjalmar Lundbohm, is well known to Washington geologists as

the Director of the iron mines of Kiruna, Sweden, and author of papers

on the geology of these ores. Dr. Lundbohm gave a talk on the Kiruna

ores at the Petrologists' Club on December 18, 1917.

Representative S. D. Fess of Ohio re-introduced on December 11,

1917, the bill for a national univei'sity. The bill provides $500,000 for

such a university for the fiscal years 1918 and 1919. The institution

would be governed by a board of trustees in cooperation with an

advisory council representing the states. It would confer no academic

degrees and would accept only students of postgraduate standing.

The Patent Office Society of Washington has taken an active interest

in the proposed Institute for the History of Science, i realizing the great

aid obtainable from such an institution in the administration of the

patent laws, as well as its general usefulness in aid of scientific

investigation and the teaching of science. The Board of Managers of

the Washington Academy of Sciences has voted its concurrence with the

Patent Office Society in urging the location of the proposed Institute

in Washington.

1 See Science, N. S. 45: 284, 635. 1917.

JOURNAL .

OF THE

WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Vol. VIII FEBRUARY 19, 1918 No. 4

PHYSICS. — An optical ammeter. Paul D. Foote, Bureau of

Standards.

The high precision in the measurement of temperature possi-

ble by use of a property designed Holborn-Kurlbaum optical

pyrometer equipped with a suitable pyrometer lamp is well

recognized. If the lamps are operated below 1300° to 1500°C.

the calibration of the pyrometer will not change appreciably

after years of ordinary use. These two factors, accuracy of

photometric settings and constancy in calibration of the lamps,

permit the adaptation of this method of photometry to the

measurement of current. In the present note two forms of cur-

rent measuring instrument are described, one of which is strictly a

hot-wire ammeter with the hot wire at a temperature between

600° and 1500°C., and the other a device for adjusting a current,

by optical methods alone, to any preassigned value. The first

method should prove especially useful for the accurate measure-

ment of alternating current of high frequency.

In order to show what precision may be expected in measure-

ment of current through the pyrometer lamp when the instrument

is sighted on a source of constant brightness we will make the

assumption that a photometric match of the tip of the lamp fila-

ment against the uniform background can be made with an ac-

curacy of 0.5 per cent. This assumption is reasonable for pre-

cision photometry of this type, but even if the accuracy were

only 5 per cent surprisingly accurate measurement of current

can be obtained, as will appear below. The current tempera-

ture relation for a particular lamp used, G. E. No. 8, has the

77

78 foote: an optical ammeter

following form where i is the current in amperes and the abso-

lute temperature of the filament:

(1) ^• = 0.09258 -0.000010719 (t? -273) +0.00000018074 (^-273)2

whence

bi _ [—0.000010719 + 0.0000003615 {d - 273)^] § 8t}

(2)

i i t^

The brightness-temperature relation for this lamp is obtained

from Wien's law as follows :

J \d ^

where Cg = 14350, and J = intensity corresponding to X the

wave length of the monochromatic light employed. In optical

pyrometry this wave length is usually made about X = 0.65^

by the use of a suitable red glass. Combining equations (2)

and (3) one obtains:

, 6i _ [-0.000010719 + 0.0000003615 (^-273)^]^^ X 8J

Thus for a particular value of such as 1273° absolute we have:

(5) - = 0.06 —

i J

Hence, if the photometric match is made with an accuracy of

0.5 per cent the current % is determined with an accuracy of 0.03

per cent, or to three parts in ten thousand. If the photometric

match is made with an accuracy of only 5 per cent, the current

is determined to three parts in one thousand, which is a pre-

cision scarcely to be obtained by an ammeter, especially for

alternating current.

One means for adapting this method of photometry to the

measurement of current is shown in figure 1, where A' is a red

glass screen, A the pupil diaphragm, B the ocular lens, C the

electric lamp connected to the electrical apparatus, F a second

electric lamp, E a diffusing opal glass screen and D a lens focus-

ing upon E and C. The alternating current flowing through C

foote: an optical ammeter

79

brings the lamp to incandescence. By adjusting the rheostat G

the brightness of the lamp C is matched against the image of the

background E illuminated by F. The current required for the

match is read potentiometrically by use of the resistance stand-

ard K. Hence the value of the alternating current is determined

by an auxiliary measurement of direct current. The relation

between the currents thi'ough F and C is obtained in the pri-

mary standardization of the instrument by using a direct cur-

rent thi'ough C and measuring this potentiometrically. For the

highest precision a commutating switch may be used with C,

To electrical Cu-cuit

D

AA

I — VW\AA/\AAWW\AA

m:^

Potentiometer

standard

Resistance

Fig. 1. An optical ammeter.

SO that the standardization with direct current may be performed

immediately following the observations with alternating current.

The range of currents which can be measured by any one system

of lamps exceeds 1:2, and lamps having filaments of varying

sizes may be used for a large range in value of currents. Thus

one lamp may be employed for alternating currents between 0.25

and 0.50 ampere, another lamp between 0.5 and 1 ampere, etc.

Or with the same lamp, the range may be extended by the use of

shunts, although this latter method is probably objectionable

for very high frequency. If the induction effect becomes seri-

ous for the horseshoe filament, a lamp having a straight wire

filament can be used.

^^ hen a suitable magnification system is employed, the diffus-

ing screen E is unnecessary and a magnified image of F may be

80

foote: an optical ammeter

projected directly on the filament C. Another modification of

the above method is obtained by reversing the positions of the

lamps F and C. The above described principle can be employed

for the measurement of alternating voltage, as well as current.

In this case the lamp filament must be of very small wire in order

that the instrument possess a high resistance. For voltages

from 60 to 110 volts a 7.5-watt lamp, which has a resistance of

1600 ohms, should prove satisfactory.

c ur"rp.nt

Fig. 2. Current-temperature relation for two lamps C and F. If a diffusing

screen is used in front of the lamp F, the above curve F refers to the apparent

temperature of the screen.

The apparatus shown in figure 1 may be employed for the

determining of a fixed current of any preassigned value. A

system similar in principle to this has been used, for determining

a fixed temperature but to the writer's knowledge the method

has never been employed for current measurements. Suppose

that the apparent temperature-current relations of the lamps C

and F are represented by the curves shown in figure 2. The

two curves intersect at the point P. Hence, when the lamps C

and F are connected in series and are caused to glow by either

alternating or direct current the two filaments possess the same

Siemens and Halske French Patent No. 466064.

foote: an optical ammeter

81

temperature and are accordingly matched for the current cor-

responding to P. The condition for a match thus defines a

standard current which can be adjusted to any desired value by

the use of a suitable shunt. The match is effected by use of an

adjustable rheostat in series with the two lamps. The precision

obtainable is much less than that possible with the first method

described and depends upon the slopes of the two curves of

figure 2 at the point of intersection. Near the point P these

curves can be assumed to be straight lines. Whence we have:

(6)

(7)

i = a -\- ht for lamp C

i' = a' + h't' for lamp F

From (6) and (7)

(8)

8 it — t ) = _ — — - = 8i, smce i =i

^ b b' bb'

when the lamps are connected in series. Hence the precision

with which the lamps can be matched (i. e., when t — t' = {))

depends upon the relative slopes of the temperature-current

curves for the two lamps. As seen from equation (8) it is of

advantage to have the slopes of the two curves at P differ con-

siderably. There would be no accuracy whatever if the slopes

were nearly the same. Using apparatus assembled as shown

in figure 1, but without paying special attention to the procuring

of lamps having widely different constants, b, the readings given

in table 1 were made by four different observers, one of whom

was unskilled in photometric matching. The accuracy is only

fairly satisfactory, but undoubtedly could be improved by the

proper selection of lamps.

TABLE 1

82 WATSON AND GOOCH: VIVIANITE from FLORIDA

The final mean is 0.9320 ampere, and the average deviation

is 0.18 per cent. The final mean, neglecting the readings of

one observer, is 0.9330 ampere, and the average deviation is

0.06 per cent. Thus this method can be used to define a

standard current with an accuracy of 0.2 per cent.

It may be pointed out that both of the above methods give

results that are practically independent of the temperature of

the room. Hence, an ammeter designed on these principles has

a zero temperature coefficient. '

*

MINERALOGY. — Vivianite from the land pebble phosphate de-

posits of Florida. Thomas L. Watson and Stapleton D.

GoocH, University of Virginia.

introduction

During recent mining operations by the Coronet Phosphate

Company on its property on the Northwest Quarter of Section

34, Township 29, Range 22, about If miles southeast of Plant

City, Florida, fairly abundant crystals of vivianite were exposed

over an area of moderate dimensions. The occurrence was noted

by the junior writer, who is chemist to the Coronet Phosphate

Company, and who kindly sent the senior writer a liberal supply

of the mineral and matrix for study.

Although not a common mineral, vivianite has been observed

both in this country and abroad in a variety of associations,

more especially in veins with the sulphides pyrite and pyrrho-

tite, in bog iron ore deposits, and in clays and marls. In all its

occurrences the mineral is regarded as secondary in origin.

Previous to the recent mining operations by the Coronet

Phosphate Company near Plant City that resulted in exposing

vivianite, the only reference to the occurrence of the mineral in

Florida phosphate deposits found in the literature accessible to

us is a general statement by Matson,i who remarks that vivian-

ite has been noted at several places but is probably rare. In a

1 Matson, G. C. The phosphate deposits of Florida. U. S. Geol. Survey

Bull. 604, p. 85. 1915.

WATSON AND GOOCH: VIVIANITE FROM FLORIDA 83

recent letter to one of us (Watson), Dr. E. H. Sellards, State

Geologist of Florida, states that a specimen of vivianite was

brought to his office in August, 1916, by a citizen of Avon Park,

Desoto County, Florida. The exact locality was not given,

but Dr. Sellards says the mineral presumably came from south

of Avon Park, which would place the locality some distance to

the southeast of the land pebble phosphate area as defined on

the map by Matson.- The vivianite was associated with bog

iron ore.

Vivianite is apparently a rare mineral in the Florida phos-

phate deposits, and so far as we are aware it has not hitherto

been described, although noted in places in association with

phosphate deposits of the Florida type. Because of these facts

and the general character of the vivianite crystals found near

Plant City, the occurrence is regarded of sufficient interest and

importance to warrant a published record.

GEOLOGIC SECTION

The vivianite occurs in a ferruginous or dark-yellow ocherous

matrix of earthy character about 20 feet below the surface at

the contact of the pebble phosphate bed with the "bedrock"

(clay in this section), and partly in each. The vivianite matrix

covers an area of approximately 1000 square feet, with the viv-

ianite-bearing portion limited to about 20 feet square and 2 or

3 feet deep.

The section follows.

Overburden: Thickness in feet

Black sandy soil containing organic matter 2

Sand with very little admixed clay, partly

indurated and colored red by iron oxide 12

Clay, more or less phosphatic 1

Phosphate :

Pebble phosphate with some sand 4-6

Bedrock:

Dark yellow ocherous earth, locally hardened

and red in color, containing besides vivianite

scattered pebbles of phosphate and small

rounded quartz grains 2+

2 Matson, G. C. Op. cit. Folded map in pocket.

84 WATSON AND GOOCH: VIVIANITE FEOM FLORIDA

The contact between the overburden and the phosphate bed

is sharply defined. The land pebble phosphate belongs to the

Bone Valley gravel formation, which is generally regarded as

Pliocene in age, although Matson^ thinks there is some evidence

of the Miocene age of the phosphate. The formation is be-

lieved to be of marine origin,^ the materials of which were prob-

ably deposited under shallow water conditions.

DESCRIPTION OF THE VIVIANITE

The mineral is distributed irregularly through the ocherous

matrix as single crystals and crystal aggregates. Individual

crystals attain a maximum length of 22 mm., are prismatic in

form, usually much elongated, and not infrequently flattened

parallel to 100, with vertical striations sometimes developed.

End faces were not observed, the crystals terminating usually in

rough and uneven surfaces. In the crystal aggregates, the un-

attached end of the individuals sometimes exhibits acicular

form. Fibrous structure, usually radiate or divergent, is some-

times developed.

Perfect cleavage is developed parallel to 010. The luster is

pearly on cleavage faces, vitreous on other faces. Hardness 2;

specific gravity 2.693. Color varies from light or pale green

through blue-green to deep indigo blue, the pale green being pre-

dominant. Streak colorless to faint bluish white, which rapidly

changes to deep blue on exposure. The finely ground powder

after exposure to sunlight for more than 30 days remained deep

blue without any indication of changing to brown as reported by

some writers. Crystals vary from transparent to translucent,

becoming more or less opaque on prolonged exposure.

The optical properties of the pale-green fragments of the

vivianite similar to those yielding the analysis in table 1, kindly

determined for the writers by Mr. E. S. Larsen, gave the follow-

ing results : Optically ( + ) ; 2V large ; dispersion not strong ;

X is normal to 010; Z makes an angle of 28° 30' ± 1° with c.

3 Matson, G. C. Op. cit., p. 69.

'' At Pembroke aggregates of silicified oyster shells have been observed by Dr.

Sellards and the junior writer (Gooch) in the pebble phosphate deposit.

WATSON AND GOOCH : VIVIANITE FROM FLORIDA 85

The refractive indices are :

a = 1.5S0± 0.003, /3= 1.598± 0.003,7 - 1.627± 0.003.

The grains are colorless and nonpleochroic under the micro-

scope. On fine grinding the powder changes to deep blue,

which has similar properties as the pale-green fragments, but is

strongly pleochroic, with A" = deep cobalt blue, Y and Z, color-

less. Fragments of the deeply colored blue crystals show similar

properties and absorption formula as the deep-blue powder of

the pale-green fragments.

A carefully selected sample of transparent pale-green crystals

of the vivianite was analyzed with the results shown in table 1.

TABLE 1

Chemical Analysis of Vivianite (By S. D. Gooch)

FeO 32.64

FeaO. 9.43

P2O5 29 . 99

H2O - 105°C 11 .86

H2O + 105°C 15.84

SiOo 0. 12

CaO 0 . 02

MnO 0.25

TiOs trace

100.15

Specific Gravity 2.693

Careful chemical tests showed the absence of AI2O3, AlgO,

the alkalies (Na20 and K2O), F, SO3, and CO2. Attention is

directed in the analysis to the seemingly high percentage of

ferric oxide. This constituent is invariably present in blue

vivianite in varying quantity, analyses showing it to range up to

33+ per cent. The presence of ferric oxide in the colored varie-

ties of the mineral has been regarded as due to alteration (oxida-

tion), but microscopic examination of the mineral and the very

rapid change in color of the streak or powder, suggested that

the change might possibly be due to inversion from one form to

another.

jMicroscopic examination of the Florida vivianite indicated

that the blue color was not uniform but was developed in or along

streaks, apparently fractures or cleavage planes or both. The

86 WATSON AND GOOCH: VIVIANITE from FLORIDA

very rapid change in color of the streak of vivianite or of its

powder on fine grinding, from white or faint bluish white to deep

or indigo blue, is a well known property of the mineral.

Further chemical study of the mineral was undertaken to deter-

mine, if possible, whether the change in color was due to oxidation

or to inversion. * For this purpose a lot of uniformly colored pale-

green crystals was selected and divided into two portions. The

first portion was accurately weighed, dissolved' without grinding,

and ferrous iron determined. The second portion was reduced

to powder by fine grinding and exposed to sunlight for five hours,

after which a weighed sample of the exposed powder was dis-

solved and the ferrous iron determined. The results follow:

FeO.

UNG ROUND

VIVIANITE

per cent

42.88

FINELY GROUND

VIVIANITE

per cent

38.43

These figures clearly show that fine grinding of the mineral

resulted in the oxidation of 4.45 per cent FeO to Fe203, equiva-

lent to 4.94 per cent FcoOs. A second lot of pale-green crystals

of the Florida vivianite was submitted to Prof. F. P. Dunning-

ton, of the University of Virginia, who found on analysis 40.58

per cent FeO and no Fe203 on dissolving the crystals without

grinding.

The results show beyond reasonable doubt that the presence

of Fe203 in blue vivianite, which is probably the common variety

of the mineral, is due to oxidation and not to inversion. The

rapidity with which oxidation takes place on fine grinding,

manifested in very rapid change of color .(blue), is noteworthy

and of special interest.

COMPOSITION OF THE MATRIX

The matrix is a dark brownish yellow ocherous earth, locally

hardened and red in color, containing besides vivianite irregu-

larly scattered phosphate pebbles of chalky white color with

surfaces partly smooth but usually more or less pitted, and scant

rounded grains of pellucid quartz. It readily dissolves in hot

dilute hydrochloric acid.

WATSON AND GOOCHI VIVIANITE FROM FLORIDA 87

The composition of the matrix is shown in the analysis given

in table 2, The sample analyzed was representative of the ma-

trix, except that care was taken in selecting the sample to avoid

as far as possible the inclusion of phosphate pebbles.

TABLE 2

Chemical Analysis of Vivianite Matrix (By S. D. Gooch) •

Si02 4.17

AUO, 4.96

FesO, 65.20

FeO 1.41

MgO trace

CaO 1 . 68

N^\ 0.16

H2O - 10o°C 4.14

H2O + 105°C 12.72

MnO 0 . 56

TiO. 0.14

PoOo 5 .02

F trace

SOa none

C02 none

100.16

The analysis clearly indicates that the matrix is not a clay,

but an earth composed of the hydrates of iron and aluminum,

chiefly the former, hydrous phosphates of calcium, iron, and

aluminum, and some free quartz. It is characterized by the

essential absence of hydrous silicate minerals, especially kaolinite,

a fact confirmed by microscopic study. The slight insoluble

residue left on boiling a portion of the matrix in dilute hydro-

chloric acid was found to be composed of quartz and not of

silicate minerals.

RELATIONS OF VIVIANITE TO THE ASSOCIATED MINERALS

The principal associated minerals are hydrous oxide of iron,

probably limonite chiefly, calcium phosphate forming the phos-

phate pebbles, and rounded grains of quartz. The relations of

the vivianite to these minerals clearly indicate its later forma-

tion, for the vivianite frequentl}^ incloses phosphate pebbles and

88 bowen: significance of glass-making processes

occasionally a small rounded quartz grain. More often the

quartz grains are inclosed by the phosphate pebbles, whose sur-

faces are frequently pitted with cavities, suggesting the possible

removal of some mineral. Some cavities in several of the peb-

bles examined were filled with vivianite. In no specimens of

the vivianite examined were there indications of inclusions of the

brownish-yellow ocherous material, but some of the vivianite

crystals showed irregularities of surface similar to embayments

which we believe resulted probably from external interference

of the ocher on crystal growth.

ORIGIN OF THE VIVIANITE

The vivianite from the Florida locality is of secondary origin,

formed we believe by the action of ferrous-iron solutions on the

phosphate. Although rated at the present time as a rare mineral

in the land pebble phosphate deposits, the conditions certainly

appear to be favorable to a more general formation and distri-

bution of the mineral in these deposits.

PETROLOGY. — The significance of glass-7naking processes to

the petrologist. N. L. Bowen, Geophysical Laboratory.

(Communicated by A. L. Day.)

The entry of the United States into the war was the occasion

of an enormously increased demand for optical glass to be used

in all kinds of military instruments. The supply of glass from

abroad was almost completely cut off. In the effort to meet

the demand by domestic production many problems were met

with for whose solution the advice and assistance of scientific

men seemed desirable. Glasses are, for the most part, silicate

'mixtures that have been melted at a comparatively high tem-

perature and then cooled to the glassy state. Since the prin-

cipal activity of the Geophysical Laboratory has been the study

of the behavior of silicates at high temperatures, it was expected

that the experience of that organization might be of material

assistance, and its services were therefore called upon. I was

one of the several sent to the glass plant of the Bausch and Lomb

bowen: sigxificaxce of glass-making processes 89

Optical Company, where we went hoping not merely to be of

assistance in solving these urgent problems but expecting also

to learn something of more general interest concerning the be-

havior of silicate liquids when handled on the comparatively

large scale of the glass plant.

One of the principal requirements of optical glass is homo-

geneity. A fragment of glass to be used for a lens or prism

must have the same refractive index and therefore the same

chemical composition in all its parts, and from every pot of glass

made a considerable proportion is rejected because it fails to

fulfil this requirement. Naturally, the causes of inhomogeneity

are diligently sought for, with the hope of removing them or re-

ducing them to a minimum, and it may be stated that these causes

are now pretty well understood. To those interested in the causes

of inhomogeneity (differentiation) in masses of silicate rocks the

factors that lead to inhomogeneity in these artificial silicate

melts are perhaps of sufficient interest to merit description.

Optical glass is made in a great many varieties with a wide

range of composition. SiOj and B2O3 are the principal acidic oxides,

and the alkalies with CaO, PbO, BaO, and ZnO are the princi-

pal basic oxides, though a number of other oxides enter into the

composition of special glasses. The alkalies, lime, and baryta

usually go into the batch in the form of carbonates; lead and

zinc as oxides; and silica as quartz sand. The carefully mixed

batch is usually fed in several instalments into the pots, which

have already been heated to the melting temperature. Factors

tending to produce inhomogeneity immediately set to work.

Some constituents of the batch are readily fusible, others, es-

pecially the sand, are quite refractory. The more fusible por-

tions quickly form a liquid which tends to filter downward

through the porous structure formed by the grains of the more

refractory material. This action is especially marked in the

heavy glasses rich in lead.

As typically developed the result may give every appearance

of liquid immiscibility and the formation of two liquid layers.

The two layers may be sharply marked off from each other and

may so persist throughout the run. But that we have here no

90 bowen: significance of glass-making processes

true case of liquid immiscibility and that the persistence of two

layers is due entirely to the slowness of diffusion is shown by

the fact that appropriate stirring will completely eliminate this

layering and give a single homogeneous liquid. When real im-

miscibility occurs in the glass pot, as it does under certain cir-

stances, it is quite a different matter. If the alkaline carbonates

used in the batch contain a considerable amount of chloride or

sulfate, these salts form a separate liquid layer which floats on

top of the glass, forming the ''salt water" of the glass-maker.

No amount of stirj-ing, however vigorous, will render such a

mass homogeneous. This immiscibility between silicate, on the

one hand, and sulfate or chloride, on the other, serves but to

emphasize that immiscibility between silicate and silicate is not

encountered in the whole range of glass compositions.

This process of settling down of heavy liquid through the

porous mass of the batch can take place only at a stage when the

mass is mostly solid. A factor tending to produce a closely re-

lated result comes into play at the stage when the mass is mostly

liquid. Of all the ingredients of the batch the sand is usually

the last material to dissolve. The sand grains tend to rise in

the liquid and thus to render the upper parts more siliceous and

of lower density. This action results in a continuous density

gradient rather than in a sharp division into two layers. That

it is not a spontaneous arrangement of the liquid according to

the Gouy-Chaperon phenomenon is shown by the fact that as

time goes on diffusion tends to lessen the gradient rather than

to increase it.

Figure 1 is a photograph of a fragment of glass taken from

such a pot, the straight edge being part of the original upper

surface of the glass. Two parallel plane faces were cut normal

to this surface and the specimen was photographed in a bright

light close to a white screen. Under these conditions heavy

shadows are cast by the globules of low refracting glass sur-

rounding the silica grains and by the tails of similar material

pointing downward from them. It is obvious that silica is

continually being transferred towards the top.

There can be no doubt of the correctness of this explanation

of the density gradient as a result of the floating of sand grains,

bowen: significance of glass-making processes

91

for fortunately the action can be interrupted and observed at an

intermediate stage. When the pot is removed at such a stage

and the glass is chilled, sand grains are found suspended in the

glass. That they were rising slowly in the liquid and dissolving

at the same time is shown by the fact that pointing downward

from each grain there is a tail of glass of lower refractive index

than the surrounding glass.

Fifi. 1. Glass containing rising silica grains. Natural si^e.

In a former paper' I criticized the interpretation that has

been offered of the result of a certain experiment by Morozewicz.

The glass from his experiment showed a density and composi-

tion gradient, with the heavier portion at the bottom of the pot,

and this arrangement had been explained as the result of the

Gouy-Chaperon action. I offered the suggestion that the ar-

' The later stages of the ei'oluiion nf the igneous rocks. Journ. Geol., Suppl.

to Vol. 23, p. .5. 1915.

92 bowen: significance of glass-making processes

rangement was due to differential melting with the sinking of

heavy liquid at an early stage and the rising of silica grains at a

later stage, though I had not at that time seen or studied the

phenomenon. A careful study of the behavior of the ingred-

ients of a glass batch leaves no question as to the correctness of

this interpretation. There is, then, no experimental basis for

the belief in an appreciable result from the Gouy-Chaperon

action in a small pot and, therefore, no present reason for as-

signing to it any greater importance in rock magmas than that

which theory would indicate.

There are two other factors making for inhomogeneity in

glass: the solution of the pot, and the volatilization of certain

ingredients from the surface of the liquid. No doubt the cor-

responding processes, namely, solution of the surrounding rocks

and escape of material into them, have their place in magmatic

differentiation, but if their quantitative effect in the glass-pot is

any criterion they cannot be regarded as approaching in impor-

tance the two processes (sinking of liquid and floating of silica)

that have been described above. However, the conditions are so

different that one should be careful not to push the analogy too far

in these cases. It may be safely stated, however, that, contrary

to certain claims that have been made, glass-making processes

offer no support for the belief in liquid immiscibility among

silicates, nor for the belief in a significant density stratification

in a mass wholly liquid. They do, however, suggest the impor-

tance of gravity acting on a mass partly liquid and partly solid,

and emphasize two stages, (1) that at which there is much

liquid and little solid, and (2) that at which there is little liquid

and much solid. The effects of these processes in magmas, — ■

sinking of crystals at an early stage of crystallization and squeez-

ing out of residual liquid at a late stage, — have been discussed in

some detail elsewhere.^

The association of gabbro with granite or of basalt with rhyo-

lite, and the complete absence of intermediate types that is

often noted, have been held by some to necessitate some sort

of discontinuous differentiation, whereas crystallization-differen-

tiation should, for the most part, be continuous. Evans has

offered the suggestion that in aqueous magmas there may be a

2 Op. cit. *

bowen: significance of glass-making processes 93

separation into two liquid portions, the lighter of which contains

most of the water together with much silica, alumina, and

the alkalies.^ This is, of course, a possibility not altogether to

be excluded, nevertheless all the available evidence is against it.

Such experimental work as has been done hitherto on aqueous

silicate melts gives no indication of a tendency towards a separa-

tion into two liquid layers.^ But the range of this work is limited

as yet and one must fall back largely upon examination of the

geological evidence. Over against the lack of types intermedi-

ate between gabbro and granite (granophyre, micropegmatite)

in some localities should be placed the abundance of intermediate

types elsewhere. Again, if we examine the gabbro of a gabbro-

granophyre occurrence we almost invariably find a certain

amount of the granophyre occurring in the gabbro, frozen in as

Daly puts it.^ And when we examine the manner of occurrence of

this frozen-in material we find nothing to lead us to believe that

it represents an immiscible liquid. It does not form globular

masses, large and small, scattered through the gabbro. It occu-

pies crj^stallization interstices with all the marks of a crystalliza-

tion residuum. Add to this the fact that it corresponds in com-

position with the kind of crystallization-residuum one is led to

expect from experimental studies, and the reasons for appealing to

liquid immiscibility may be regarded as of insignificant weight.

Many petrologists regard liquid immiscibility as the ready solu-

tion of all difficulties. Realizing that present evidence is against

it, some are led to ''hope" that it may yet be experimentally

demonstrated in silicate magmas. Until then one must re-

gard its occurrence in silicate magmas as resting on pure assump-

tion, an assumption that is in most cases not even helpful, and

probably never preferable to the well-supported theory of

crystallization-differentiation.''

' J. W. Evans. Discussion of paper by G. W. Tyrrell on The picrite-tes-

chenite sill of Lugar. Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. 72: 130. 1917.

■* G. W. MoREY and C. N. Fenner. The ternary system H20-K2SiOi-Si02.

Journ. Am. Chem. Soc. 39: 1173. 1917.

5 Igneous Rocks and Their Origin, p. 241.

^ I would be the last, however, to claim complete miscibility between sul-

fides and silicates. Cf. Tolman a\d Rogers {A study of the magmatic sulfid

ores. Stanford Univ. Publ. 1916, p. 10).

ABSTRACTS

Authors of scientific papers are requested to see that abstracts, preferably

prepared and signed by themselves, are forwarded promptly to the editors.

Each of the scientific bureaus in Washington has a representative authorized to

forward such material to this Journal and abstracts of official publications

should be transmitted through the representative of the bureau in which they

originate. The abstracts should conform in length and general style to those

appearing in this issue.

GEOLOGY. — Strontianite deposits near Barstow, California. Adolph

Knopf. U. S. Geological Survey Bulletin, 660-1. Pp. 14. 1918.

Strontianite in economically important quantity has recently been

found near Barstow, San Bernardino County, California. The for-

mation in which the deposits occur consists of a series of lake and

terrestrial beds of Upper Miocene age. A threefold subdivision of

the beds may easily be recognized. The strontium deposits are re-

stricted to the middle subdivision, which is made up chiefly of grayish-

green clay in thick beds. In places reefs of algal limestone are promi-

nent, and obviously this part of the formation was laid down in a lake.

Strontianite and strontium-bearing rock have been found at a large

number of places in a belt about 2 miles long. They occur as layers

that lie parallel to the bedding of the inclosing clays and are distrib-

uted at intervals through a thickness of several hundred feet. The

strontianite occurs in two forms — as fibrous masses of resinous color

and luster and as dense, exceedingly fine grained gray or drab material,

which in appearance exactly resembles limestone. The two varieties

occur separately as a I'ule, but in some deposits they are intermingled,

spherulites of coarse resinous strontianite being irregularly scattered

through gray aphanitic strontianite rock. Some celestite is present in

the lower-grade material of the district.

The thickest body of pure spherulitic strontianite that had been

found at the time of visit is 14 inches thick, but the gray aphanitic

strontianite rock had been found in layers as much as 3 feet thick.

The strontianite deposits were formed by the replacement of the

lacustral limestone beds that are interstratified in the clays. They

thus differ widely from the only other commercially productive stron-

tianite deposits — those of the Miinster district, Westphalia — which

consist of a series of steeply inclined veins cutting horizontal marine

94

abstracts: geology 95

calcareous shales of Upper Cretaceous age. They resemble them in

one fundamental respect, however, in that they were formed later

than the strata that inclose them.

GEOLOGY. — Geology and water resources of Big Smoky, Clayton, and

Alkali Spring valleys, Nevada. Oscar E. Meinzer. U. S. Geo-

logical Survey Water-Supply Paper 423. Pp. 167, with maps

and other illustrations. 1917.

This paper describes in detail three typical desert basins of the

Basin-and-Range Province, with respect to their physiographic devel-

opment and the absorption, circulation, and discharge of their ground

waters.

Two cycles of erosion are shown in the Toyabe Range by two strongly

contrasting types of topography. After the region had been eroded to

a stage of maturity, probably late in the Tertiary period, it was faulted

and uplifted, and the resulting escarpment was attacked by the streams,

producing a very rugged front. Extensive faulting, continuing until

recent time, is shown not only by precipitous mountain fronts but also

by observed displacements, by poHshed surfaces, and by numerous

escarpments in the valley fill. Evidences of glaciation, previously

reported, are believed not to exist.

Elaborate systems of beach ridges or embankments, the largest

nearly 50 feet high, mark the outKnes of two Pleistocene lakes, desig-

nated by the author as Lake Toyabe and Lake Tonopah. Lake

Toyabe, when at its highest level, was about 40 miles long, 9 miles in

maximum width, and covered an area of approximately 225 square

miles, or 18 per cent of the drainage basin in which it lay. Lake

Tonopah, when at its highest level, was about 22 miles long, 5^ miles

in maximum width, and approximately 85 square miles in area, or

only about two-fifths the area of Lake Toyabe. This area was only

4.2 per cent of the to^al drainage basin tributary to the lake — a per-

centage less than one-fourth as great as that of Lake Toyabe.

The most important contribution of the report is a quantitative

discussion of the origin, absorption, circulation, and discharge of the

ground water, and of the criteria for determining areas of ground-water

discharge. The amount of absorption was estimated chiefly by meas-

uring stream flow at successive points on a part of the 54 small streams

that discharge into Big Smok}^ Valley, and deducting for evaporation

and transpiration from the wetted areas. The total annual supply of

ground water was estimated to be several tens of thousands of acre-

feet. The criteria for determining areas of discharge are (1) the mois-

96 abstracts: paleontology

ture of the soil and the position of the water table, (2) the appearance

of soluble salts at the surface and the distribution of these salts in the

soil, and (3) the distribution of plants of certain species that feed on

ground water. On the map are shown the areas of discharge (aggre-

gating 130,000 acres), and also the depths to the water table predicted

on the basis of these areas.

Alkali Spring Valley illustrates the other type of desert basin in

which there is no ground-water discharge, the facihties for under-

ground leakage apparently being great enough to dispose of all the

water that is absorbed.

Big Smoky Valley contains three distinct types of ground water,

which are genetically related to the geologic formations from which

they are derived. The processes of concentration were different in

the lacustrine epoch than they are at the present time, and they differ

in the clay cores below the playas from those in the surrounding zones

of active discharge. 0. E. M.

PALEONTOLOGY. — Orhitoid foraminifera of the genus OrtJwphrag-

mina jrom Georgia and Florida. Papers by C. Wythe Cooke

and J. A. Cushman. U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper

108-G. Pp. 16, with 5 plates. 1917.

The first paper, by C. W. Cooke, describes several localities on ,

Chipola River, Florida, Flint River, Georgia, and Suwannee River,

Florida, at which species of Orthophragmina havfe been found in the

Ocala limestone and enumerates the species of other organisms that

are associated with them. The occurrence in the Ocala limestone of

the genus Orthophragmina, which elsewhere appears to be restricted

to the Eocene, is corroborative evidence of the Eocene age of that

formation.

The second paper, by J. A. Cushman, describes and figures 6 new

species and one new variety of Orthophragmina^. C. W. C.

ORNITHOLOGY. — Second annual list of proposed changes in the

A.O.U. check-list of North American birds. Harry C. Ober-

HOLSER. The Auk 34: 198-205, April, 1917.

This is a resume of recent ornithological activities not already treated

in the American Ornithologists' Union Check-List of 1910, its supple-

,ment, and the First Annual List of Changes in the same. It consists

of additions, subtractions, rejections, and the changes in generic,

specific, and subspecific names made for zoological reasons, purely

nomenclatural questions being excluded. In the present list there

abstracts: ornithology* 97

are added 13 genera recently described or raised from subgenera; one

species and 14 subspecies either described as new, revived, or recently

captured within the boundaries of North America. Two species are

eliminated as synonymous, and one proposed subspecies is rejected for

the same reason. Furthermore there are many changes in names due

to the recognition of additional genera, the descriptions as new of the

North American representatives of wide-ranging species, the replacing

of later by earlier names, and similar causes. This brings the subject

down to December 31, 1916, and annual lists of the same character

are to follow hereafter. H. C. O.

ORNITHOLOGY. — A cooperative bird census at Washington, D. C.

Harky C. Oberholser. Wilson Bull. 39: 18-29. March, 1917.

The importance of counting the actual numbers of birds over given

areas, particular!}^ during the breeding season, has already been shown.

Similar censuses during the height of the spring migration are also of

considerable value, both as a basis for comparison of the relative num-

bers of the different species in the same year and of the same species

in different years. Such a count was made by 15 local ornithologists

in the vicinity of Washington, D. C, on May 12, 1913. The country

investigated consisted of the region within 20 miles of the city of Wash-

ington and comprised the valleys of the Potomac and Anacostia rivers,

together with tributary streams and adjacent valleys. The routes of

the 13 parties, each of which covered a distance of from 5 to 55 miles,

traversed the country in all directions from Washington; and the

results were very interesting. One fact of distribution was emphasized

by these trips, which is that almost all the best places for birds about

Washington lie in the moi-e or less immediate valleys of the Potomac

and Anacostia rivers. On this day the total number of species ob-

served by all the parties was 129, of individuals actually counted,

1257. The largest number of species noted by any individual was

91, and the largest number of birds 3049. As the year 1913 was not

particularly good for birds, this record is likely to be much increased

by future observations. Three species, Podilymbus podiceps, Totanus

flavipes, and Dendroica palmarum hypochrysea, noted on this clay, had

not previously been observed so late in the spring. The six most

numerous species, in the order of their abundance, were, rather sur-

prisingly, as follows : Passer domesticus hostilis, Hirundo rustica erythro-

gastris, Iridiprocne hicolor, Melospiza melodia melodia, Chaetura pelagica,

and Lucar carolinensis. H. C. O.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY AND AFFILIATED

SOCIETIES

WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

The Board of Managers, at its meeting on January 21, 1918, adopted

the budget for the year 1918, increasing the allotments to the Journal

and the Committee on Meetings. The appointment of the following

committees was announced:

Executive Membership Meetings

L. J. Briggs Paul Bartsch W. F, G. Swann

R. B. SosMAN C. L. Alsberg C. S. Hudson

WiLLL\M Bowie G. W. Cook K. F. Kellerman

G. K. Burgess W. J. Humphreys E. B. Phelps

A. C. Spencer T. W. Vaughan E. W. Shaw

Prof. Fridtjof Nansen, of the University of Kristiania, Norway,

now in Washington as Minister Plenipotentiary of Norway on special

mission to the United States of America, has been elected an honorary

member of the Academy.

Messrs. 0. H. Tittmann and W. D. Hunter were elected vice-

presidents to represent the National Geographic Society and the En-

tomological Society of Washington, respectively.

Robert B. Sosman, Corresponding Secretary.

GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

The 320th meeting was held at the Cosmos Club, April 25, 1917.

informal communications

F. E. Matthes read a greeting from Prof. Emmanuel de Margerie.

former president of the Societe Geographique de France, to the men of

science in America, acclaiming with enthusiasm the entrance of the

United States into the war.

REGULAR program

G. P. Merrill: The rarer constituents of meteorites.

G. F. Loughlin: The relation of copper and zinc in the carbonate ore

at Ophir, Utah. (Published in U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 690-A.)

F. E. Matthes: The preglacial history of Yosemite Valley.

The 321st meeting was held at the Cosmos Club, May 9, 1917.

9S

proceedings: geological society 99

INFORMAL COMMUNICATIONS

H. yi. Ami: Notes on the geology of Asia Minor. The general geolo-

gic features were outlined with special reference to large undeveloped

mineral resources.

REGULAR PROGRAM

Willis T. Lee : Geology and scenery of the Rocky Mountain National

Park.

E. 0. Ulrich: The limitations of fossils in correlation.

T. Wayland Vaughan: Summai'y of 7'esults of study of marine

bottom samples from Murray Island, Australia, the Bahamas, and

Florida.

The 322d meeting was held at the Cosmos Club, November 28, 1917.

INFORMAL communications

B. S. Johnson: Chalmersite, CuFciS^, a new ore of copper. This

mineral occurs extensively in greenstone in several localities in Alaska.

It is associated with pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite. A satiny sheen due

to cleavage is one of its distinguishing characteristics.

R. C. Wells: Tungstenite, disulphide of tungsten, a new mineral.

The disulphide of tungsten, WS2, was found in material from the Emma

mine, Little Cottonwood district, Utah, associated with pyrite, tetra-

hedrite, and galena. The mineral resembles graphite and shows slicken-

sided surfaces but has a specific gravity of about 7.4. It is decomposed

by aqua regia or by fusion with niter. It occurs massive, is dull to

brilliant metallic in luster, is gray in color, and its hardness is about 2.5.

R. W. Stone: The developmeyii of valuable magnesite deposits in the

State of Washington. This material is suitable for replacing imported

magnesite for use in paper-making and for refractories. The signifi-

cance of previously reported analyses of this material was not appre-

ciated, and its rediscovery and recognition as a commercially valuable

substance was purely accidental.

REGULAR program

Eugene Wesley Shaw: The "lakes" of northeastern Arkansas, and

some features of the work of the Mississippi River. Northeastern Arkansas

has, according to all maps of the region, numerous large and small

lakes. As a matter of fact most of these lakes are fictitious and many

are not even swamps. The "lakes" are generally believed to" have

been caused by the New Madrid earthquake of 1811-12 and are widely

known as "sunk lands." However, in most of them the surface has

not been depressed ; they do not have a basin form bilt instead are as

high as surrounding country. All are in the heavily forested bottom

lands of the lower Mississippi. In this forest there are natural openings

that are swampy and some of them have shallow temporary or perma-

100 proceedings: geological society

nent lakes. Such openings are found lioth inside and outside the areas

mapped as lakes, and other features, such as low ridges and depressions

and soil varieties, show Httle relation to the ''lakes" or to their "shore

lines."

The "lakes" were first reported and mapped by the original public

land Survey oi about seventy-five years ago. The field work, like

much other public land surveying, was done under contract at a price

perhaps too low for thorough and honest work. The early maps have

been copied unquestioningly by all later ones, though strange to say-

there have been numerous later field examinations by various organi-

zations, some purporting to be fairly detailed surveys of one sort or

another, and few if any maps state that they are based on the land

survey.

Ownership of the lands represented as lakes hangs on the correctness

of the original survey. If it was correct and the lakes have become

filled or drained their fertile beds must now be parceled out among

those owning bordering lands — the riparian claimants. If, however,

the old surveys were erroneous, the lands are now, it is said by lawyers,

the property of the nation and open to homestead. Up to about 1910

no one claimed the lands — perhaps because they were poorly protected

by levees and were more or less infested with malaria but perhaps to a

large extent because of the reputation given Arkansas by songs and

tales that have led homeseekers to pass over this rich State for less pro-

ductive lands farther west. As a matter of fact few if any lands yield

heavier crops of corn and cotton than those of northeast Arkansas, this

area seeming to be too far north for serious difficulty with the boll

weevil. In the past five years or since the question of title to the

"lakes" was first raised, squatters have taken possession so far as al-

lowed and there has been much contention between them and the

riparian claimants.

The Department of Justice has brought suit to quiet the title to the

lands in the government and since there is almost no one living who

can testify as to whether or not the lands were lakes at the time of the

old survey, the waiter has been called upon at various times to deter-

mine if possible by the use of geology and physiography whether or not

one or another of the areas was a lake at the time of the old survey.

Ecologist H. C. Cowles was employed to gather for the same purpose

the testimony of the trees of the immense hardwood forests that cover

the "lakes" and surrounding land.

At first it seemed probable that the geologic and ph^^siographic evi-

dence would be indecisive because the whole region has been subject to

annual overflow up to the time the levees were completed (and occa-

sionally since) and hence to more or less erosion and sedimentation.

It was found, however, that with the exception of the natural levee belts

bordering the Mississippi and the larger bayous and other tributaries,

erosion and sedimentation proceed very slowly and hence the presence

or absence of basins, shore features, lake deposits, etc., could be used.

• proceedings: geological society 101

Although there are probably more low swampy areas inside the

meander or "shore " lines of the lakes than outside and in places a bayou

or other natural feature follows one of the lines for a part of its course,

there is with one or two possible exceptions not only no recognizable

lake basin, shore features, or lake deposits but for the most part no re-

lation between the meander lines and any boundary of any featui'e or

deposits, all manner of natural boundaries crossing the "shore lines" at

all angles and all kinds of the natural features and deposits of the region

being found both inside and outside of the "lakes."

The testimony of the trees, according to Dr. Cowles, has a similar

bearing. The forest consists of oak, ash, elm, hickory, cottonwood,

pecan, various gums, cypress, locust, maple, hackberry, sycamore, etc.,

large proportions of which are over sevent,y-five years old and none of

which, according to the same authority, will germinate and grow in a

lake — not even excepting cypress. The spur roots are with rare excep-

tions at the surface indicating no practically erosion or sedimentation.

Here and there are small tracts in which the timber was shaken down

by the Xew ]\ladrid earthquakes of 1811-12 and the surface being de-

pressed, elevated, covered with the sand of "sand blows" or otherwise

changed, a different society of trees has sprung up — all less than 105

years old and some growing astride, the still remaining fallen trunks.

In such places events of the past century are clearly recorded.

♦Perhaps the most important inferences concerning the work of the

Mississippi River are (1) that it is probably filling and not deepening

this part at least of its valley and (2) that throughout most of the flood

plain the rate of sedimentation is very slow — not more than a few inches

per century.

E. S. Bastin: Genesis of the ores at Tonopah, Nevada.

The 323d meeting was held at the Cosmos Club, December 19, 1917.

INFORMAL COMMUNICATIONS

Lawrence LaForge: The occurrence of "Spri7igs"m place names in

the United States. The word is more common in the Southern States.

The relation of the place names to glaciation, limestone formations,

habits of the people, etc., was referred to.

Discussion: David White called attention to the remedial qualities

of springs and the disposition of the people of the South to resort to

springs. T. W. Vaughan spoke of nameless springs throughout the

Southern States and their association with Limestone formations.

0. E. Meinzer referred to the large springs along fault scarps in Nevada,

and W. B, Heroy spoke of the ratio of area of a state to the number

of place-names containing the word "Springs."

regular trogram

Sidney Paige: Coal and iron in the terms of peace.

H. E, Merwin, Secretary.

102 proceedings: philosophical society

PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

The 47th annual meeting (796th regular meeting) was held at the

Cosmos Club, December 8, 1917; President Buckingham in the

chair; 29 persons present. The minutes of the 46th annual meeting

were read. The report of the Secretaries was read by Mr, Sweet.

One member, Thomas W. Smillie, died during the year, one member

resigned, and one member was dropped. Two members were trans-

ferred to the absent list, and two members were transferred from the

absent to the active list. Twenty-four new members were elected.

The present active membership is 170. Fifteen regular meetings were

held, at which 37 formal and 7 informal communications were

presented. A complete revision of the by-laws was adopted on No-

vember 24. According to the new by-laws the functions heretofore

performed by the Executive Committee and the General Committee

are concentrated in the General Committee. At the same time the

General Committee is reduced to thirteen members.

The Treasurer's report through December 1, 1917, was read by

Mr. Mueller. The total receipts for the year, including cash balance

of $443.66, were $2,537.29; the total disbursements were $2,353.16;

cash balance on December 1, 1917, $184.13. The total par value of

the investments now held by the society is $12,500: The report of

the Auditing Committee, consisting of Messrs. Mauchly and Bearce,

was read by Mr. Mauchly. This committee reported that the state-

ments in the Treasurer's report had been found correct. The reports

of the Auditing Committees and the Treasurer were ordered accepted

and placed on file.

The report of the Committee of Tellers, consisting of Messrs. Sils-

bee and White, was read by Mr. White. A total of 43 ballots was

received. From among those placed in nomination bj^ the informal

ballot, the following officers were duly elected for the ensuing year:

President, G. K. Burgess; Vice Presidents, W. J. Humphreys, R. B.

Sosman; Corresponding Secretary, E. C. Crittenden; Recording Secre-

tary, H. L. Curtis; Treasurer, E. F. Mueller; General Committee,

J, A. Fleming, W. F. G. Swann (two year term) and R. L. Faris, W. P.

White (one year term).

The rough minutes of the meeting were read and approved.

Donald H. Sweet, Secretary.

The 797th meeting was held at the Cosmos Club, December 22,

1917; President Burgess in the chair; 39 persons present. The min-

utes of the 795th meeting were read in abstract and approved.

The paper of Messrs. E. D. Williamson and L. H. Adams on Meas-

urement of the compressibilities of solids under hydrostatic pressure up to

12,000 megabars was presented by Mr. E. D. Williamson. The paper

was illustrated by lantern slides. Specimens on which measurements

had been made were exhibited and some of the actual apparatus shown.

The compressibilities of the principal earth constituents are of

proceedings: philosophical society 103

interest in a large number of geophysical problems but, owing to the

difficulties that offer themselves in the experimental determination,

practicalh' no reliable data are available. This paper described a

method by means of which the volume-change under hydrostatic

pressure of any solid may be determined with an accuracy of about

one jjart in a hundred million of the original volume of the solid. Re-

sults were presented for the metals gold, copper, silver, aluminum,

zinc, tin, cadmium, lead, and bismuth; for the alloys brass, cast-iron,

and tin-bismuth eutectic; the minerals halite, quartz, orthoclase,

labradorite, oligoclase, pyrite, mica, and enstatite. The pressure

range was from 2000 to 12,000 megabars (1 megabar = 0.987 atmo-

sphere) .

In carrying out the determination the solid, surrounded by a liquid

such as kerosene, was enclosed in a thick-walled steel bomb fitted with

a movable, leak-proof piston and pairs of simultaneous readings were

taken of (1) the displacement of the piston and (2) the pressure.

The P-AV graphs were found to be nearly straight lines, but there

exists a slight though distinct curvature such that the graphs are con-

cave to the pressure axis. For the more compressible substances, the

curvature is suffi<3ient to allow of a rough estimate of the change of

compressibility with pressure. This change amounts to as much as

10 per cent of the value at thg initial pressure for the most compres-

sible substances.

The average compressibility of the earth at the surface was calcu-

lated to be 1.63 parts per million per megabar.

Discussion: The paper was discussed by Messrs. Sw^ann, White,

and Burgess.

A paper by Messrs. N. S. Osborne and M. S. Van Dusen upon

Latent and specific heats of ammonia was presented by Mr. M. S. Van

Dusen. The paper was illustrated by lantern slides.

Using a calorimeter of the aneroid type, specially designed for the

peculiar conditions, the specific heat and latent heat of vaporization

of ammonia have been determined throughout the temperature interval

— 40° to + 40°C. The apparatus used has been previousl}' described

in detail before the Society. It consists essentially of a cylindrical

metal shell suspended within a thermally controlled metal jacket.

The metal shell or calorimeter, containing the ammonia to be investi-

gated, is provided with an electrical heating coil and a platinum resis-

tance thermometer.

In the measurements of specific heat two independent methods

were used, each of which avoids sources of error present in the other.

In the first method, the heat added to a fixed amount confined in the

calorimeter under saturation conditions and the resulting change in

temperature are measured By using data for the specific volumes of

the two phases and the latent heat of vaporization, the corrections for

vapor are applied, giving the specific heat of the saturated liquid.

In the second method the calorimeter is kept full of liquid at a con-

stant pressure. The heat added to the variable amount in the calorim-

fe

104 proceedings: philosophical society

eter and the resulting change in temperature are measured. A cor-

rection for the heat withdrawn in the expelled liquid is determined

by special experiments. By the use of data for the heat of pressure

variation of the liquid obtained from separate measurements, the

corrections for pressure variation are applied, the result being a second

determination of the specific heat of the saturated liquid.

The greatest difference between the mean results of both methods

and the results of either method as represented by empirical equations

is less than 1 part in 1000.

In the measurements of latent heat the jacket temperature was kept

constant while a measured amount of ammonia was evaporated,

slightly superheated, and withdrawn from the calorimeter. The

approximate amount of heat required to effect this change was added

electrically, the small balance being due to thermal leakage and change

in temperature of the system, both of which were kept small and were

measured. Analysis of the process occurring in the calorimeter during

an experiment leads to a method of calculation whereby data from

other sources than the direct observations enter only in the computation

of correction terms, which can be made small by careful manipulation.

The result of each of the determinations agrees with the mean result

as expressed by means of an empirical equation within 1 part in 1000.

Discussion: The paper was discussed by Messrs. White, Burgess,

SosMAN, and Bichowski.

The 798th meeting was held at the Cosmos Club, January 5, 1918;

Vice-President Humphreys in the chair; 54 persons present. The

minutes of the 797th meeting were read in abstract and approved.

Mr. 0. S. Adams presented a paper on Lambert's conformal conic

projection. The paper was illustrated by lantern slides.

Since the spheroidal surface of the earth is nondevelopable, it is

impossible to make a perfect map of a section of any extent upon a

plane surface. The best that can be done then is to choose an approx-

imation that may preserve the features desired in the proposed map'.

A projection is called conformal or orthomorphic when any infinitesimal

element of the map is exactly similar to the element that it represents.

The Lambert conformal conic projection is admirably suited to the

mapping of any region that has no great extent in latitude. The

parallels become concentric circles and the meridians become radii of

this system of circles. The projection is for this reason very easily

constructed and thus fulfils one of the practical requirements for a

projection. With this method of projection, a map could be con-

structed of the United States that would not be in error of scale in

any part by more than 1.2 per cent. The fact that angles are pre-

served and that the error of scale is within the limits of scaling makes

its use in France of great service at the present time. The projection

is of interest historically because it was originated by Johann Heinrich

Lambert in 1772, and afterwards fully discussed by Gauss. Since

the projection is conformal, it is especially interesting to mathemati-

proceedings: philosophical society 105

cians as an example of the application of the theory of functions of a

complex variable. This simple example of the broad subject of con-

formal mapping of one surface upon another deserves careful considera-

tion l)y all who wish to get a thorough grasp of the subject that is so

important in the natural sciences as well as in pure mathematics. x\ll

honor is due the Alsatian Lambert for his perception of the important

features of such a method of projection. However, even he did not

dream of the importance that the conformal relationship was to assume

both in pure and applied mathematics.

Discussion: The paper was discussed by Messrs. Sosman, Harris,

LiTTLEHALEs, and Jones.

]Mr. William Bow^ie presented a paper on Primary triangulation and

precise leveling as done by the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey.

The paper was illustrated by lantern slides and by three reels of moving

pictures which showed the instruments used in the precise leveling and

primary triangulation and the amount of work that has been done in

the United States, and also the methods of carrying on the various

operations.

There have been completed to date about 38,000 miles of precise

leveling and 14,200 linear miles of primary triangulation and primary

traverse. These operations give standard elevations and geographic

positions throughout the country which are used by surveyors and

engineers for the control of their operations, especially in the map

makmg of the country. The work is of particular value in State and

international boundary surveys.

Three reels of motion pictures were shown; one gave an excellent

idea of the methods employed by an up to date precise leveling party.

As now conducted, the precise level is mounted on a small motor veloci-

pede which runs on the railroad track. The instrument is mounted

on the car in the morning and it is not dismounted until the day's

work is completed. It is not even removed when the car is lifted from

the track to allow trains to pass. The recording of the rod readings

ig now done on a listing adding machine which is mounted on a second

motor car.

Improvements recently made in the methods of organizing and

conducting the precise level party made it possible to increase greatly

the rapidity with which this work is done. The maximum progress

made by a precise leveling part}^ in any one month was 159.6 miles of

completed line. Each mile of this was leveled over at least twice.

The total number of single miles of leveling in that month was 324.

As much as 20 miles of single line were leveled in one day of seven

hours of actual observing.

The second reel showed the erection of the towers or signals which

are used in triangulation in a wooded or flat country to elevate the

instrument to sufficient height to make it possible to observe from one

point to another. The length of lines of the triangulation varies from

a minimum of about 4 miles to a maximum of something over 100

miles. The signal is a double structure, consisting of an inner tripod

106 proceedings: philosophical society

on which the instrument rests and an outer four-legged structure called

the scaffold which supports the observer and the lightkeeper. The

two structures are entirely independent of each other and do not touch

at any point. The reel showed the operation of erecting one of these

towers from the time the building party arrived at the station until

the structure was entirely completed. These towers are usually from

40 to 60 feet in height and are built of lumber purchased at the point

most convenient to the field of operation. The legs of the structure

are set well into the ground and are strongly anchored to prevent their

being blown over by the wind.

The third reel showed the method of conducting the observing party.

It showed the automobile trucks used in carrying the party and outfit

from station to station and the various operations connected with the

observing. It also showed the lightkeeper at work with his signal

lamp or heliograph. Practically all of the observations of primary

triangulation are now made on sunlight reflected from a mirror called

a heliograph and on the signal lamps used at night. The modern

signal lamp has a very high candlepower and the light can be sent

over long lines and through atmosphere which would make observing

impossible with the old style of lamp. The new electric lamp is one

having contracted filament with dry cells furnishing the electric cur-

rent. In the older type of lamp the fuel used was acetylene gas.

The primary triangulation is carried on much more rapidly today

than ever before, but there has been no decrease in the accuracy of the

observations. The accuracy of the triangulation is that expressed by

an average closing error of about 1". The probable error of any

one direction in the triangulation is usuall}^ less than Y- This

accuracy is very great, as is shown by the fact that one foot at a dis-

tance of 40 miles from the observer subtends an angle of 1". The

accuracy in the results is obtained by repeating the angles a number

of times and taking the mean. The errors are probably caused by

atmospheric conditions.

H. L. Curtis, Recording Secretary.

SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS

Among the members of the Academy who are now with the mihtary

forces of the United States are:

Lieutenant Colonel R. F. Bacon, with the Chemical Service Section

of the National Army, in France.

Brigadier General Wm. H. Bixby, U. S. A., retired. President of

the Mississippi River Commission and Division Engineer, Western

Division River and Harbor Improvements, 'at St. Louis, Mo.

Major W. R. Blair, with the Meteorological Service of the Signal

Corps, in France.

Major Edward H. Bowie, with the Meteorological Service of the

Signal Corps, in France.

Major Alfred H. Brooks, Geologist on the staff of General

Pershing, American Expeditionary Forces, in France.

Major General William Crozier, U. S. A., Chief of Ordnance.

Major L. A. Fischer, Ordnance Officers' Reserve Corps, Bureau of

Engineering.

]\fajor General W. C. Gorgas, U. S. A., Surgeon General, Medical

Corps.

Lieutenant Colonel Henry S. Graves, with the Twentieth Engineers

(Forestry) in France.

Captain Carey V. Hodgson, Engineers' Reserve Corps, at Anniston,

Alabama. •

Major Douglas W. Johnson, National Army.

First Lieutenant Walter D. Lambert, Engineers' Reserve Corps.

First Lieutenant M. W. Lyon, Jr., Medical Reserve Corps, at Walter

Reed General Hospital, Washington.

Colonel John Millis, U. S. A., Corps of Engineers, at the Office of

• the Division Engineer, Southeast Division, Savannah, Georgia.

Biigadier General A. W. Vogdes, U. S. A., Retired, at San Diego,

California.

Major W. H. Wilmer, member Medical Research Board, and As-

sistant to Chief Surgeon, Aviation Section of the Signal Corps.

Captain Fred. E. Wright, Ordnance Officers' Reserve Corps, de-

tailed to the Bausch & Lomb optical glass plant in Rochester, New

York.

Dr. H. AL Ami, iformerly of the Geological Survey of Canada, is

spending the winter in Washington. Dr. Ami is in charge of problems

of war metals and minerals in the Trade Department of the British

Embass}'.

in?

108 SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS

Dr. George E. Hale, Director of the Mount Wilson Solar Observa-

tory at Pasadena, California, has been in Washington since last spring

as Chairman of the National Research Council, which is now acting as

the Department of Science and Research of the Council of National

Defense.

Mr. NICHOLAS H. Heck has been transferred from the Coast and

Geodetic Survey to the Navy Department, as a Lieutenant in the

Naval Reserve Forces.

Dr. George Tully Vaughan has been called to active service in

the Medical Corps of the Navy.

Dr. Otto Klotz, who with the late Dr. W. F. King, his predecessor,

was a founder of the Dominion Astronomical Observatory at Ottawa,

has been appointed Chief Astronomer and Director of the Observatory.

Dr. Klotz has presented his scientific library of some 2000 volumes, a

collection of a lifetime, to the Observatory.

Prof. Charles A. Kofoid, of the Department of Zoology, Univer-

sity of California, has been elected a corresponding member of the

Societe de Pathologic Exotique of Paris.

Prof. J. C. Merriam, of the University of California, has been in

Washington for several months on business connected with the National

Research Council.

Dr. Charles Doolittle Walcott, Secretary of the Smithsonian

Institution, has been elected a corresponding member of the Academic

des Sciences of Paris in the section of geology, in place of Sir Archibald

Geikie, who has been elected a foreign associate.

The following have become members of the Academy since the be-

ginning of the year: Prof. Charles August Kraus, Clark University,

Worcester, Massachusetts; Dr. Philip S. Roy, 1200 Massachusetts

Avenue; Prof. John Warren Smith, Weather Bureau; Dr. Edwin'

Frederick Wendt, Interstate Commerce Commission.

JOURNAL

OF THE

WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Vol. VIII MARCH 4, 1918 No. 5

BOTAXY. — Plant life o)i saline soils.^ Thomas H. Kearxey,

Bureau of Plant Industry.

The topic that I have chosen for consideration this evening

may not, at first thought, seem a very inviting one. Those

of you who are famiUar with salt marsh vegetation along the

sea-coast and with the plant life of so-called ''alkali" soils in

the arid part of the country'- must have been impressed with

their monotonous and rather unprepossessing aspects. Even

the mangroves of tropical and subtropical shores, the most

highly developed tj^pe of salt plants or halophj^tes, while in-

tensely interesting from a biological point of view, are by no

means so attractive to the casual eye as are many other forms

of tropical plant life.

Nevertheless the halophytes have long been a subject of the

greatest interest to botanists. Study of this vegetation in rela-

tion to its environment leads us into some of the most intricate

problems in plant phj^siolog}'.

ORIGIN AND NATURE OF THE SALINE COMPONENTS

Soils containing an excessive quantitj^ of readily soluble salts

are for the most part confined eithei" to the immediate neighbor-

hood of the ocean or to arid interior regions. In the former

case the salinity of the soil is caused b^- periodical inundation

1 Address of the retiring president of the Botanical Society of Washington

delivered February o. 1918.

109

110 Kearney: plant life on saline soils

with normal or dilute sea-water and the salts present are such as

occur in the ocean.

In arid regions away from the coast, the accumulation of salts

is due to local erosion. Owing to the scantiness of the rainfall,

the saline components of the country rocks are not, as in humid

regions, carried away by rivers flowing into the ocean. Instead

they are transported short distances by the surface and under-

ground drainage channels and become accumulated in the bot-

toms of the valleys and of closed basins. In this way are formed

the salt lakes and the alkali flats, covered during the dry season

with a glistening white crust of salts, which are so characteristic

a feature of arid countries the world over.

Sea-water is practically uniform in the nature and proportion

of its different salts and the same is necessarily true of the soil

of coastal marshes. In both cases, sodium chloride strongly

predominates. On the other hand, the saline components of

soils in arid regions vary with the composition of the rocks

from which they were derived. Salts of sodium (chloride, sul-

phate, carbonate, bicarbonate) are usually the most abundant, but

the corresponding salts of potassium, magnesium, and calcium

are commonly also present.

Since each salt, when presented in a pure solution, has its

specific toxicity for plants, it might be thought that correspond-

ing differences would be observed in the vegetation of ''alkali"

soils of different chemical composition. But there is little evi-

dence that such is the case. The reason doubtless is that the

solution in saline soils, like the water of the sea, is a "balanced"

solution, in the sense of Loeb and Osterhout.'- It rarely hap-

pens, in arid regions, that soluble salts occur in large quantity

where the soil is deficient in calcium ; and the presence of calcium

equalizes, in large measure, the different toxicities shown in pure

solutions by salts of the other bases.^ Consequently, it is usu-

2 W. J. V. Osterhout. On the importance of physiologically balanced solution-

for plants. Bot. Gaz. 42:127. 1906; also 44:259. 1907. The same investiga

tor has developed the subject in numerous subsequent papers.

^ T. H. Kearney and F. K. Cameron. Some mutual relations between alkali

soils and vegetation. U. S. Dept. Agr. Rept. 71:7-60. 1902. T. H. Kearney

and L. L. Harter. The comparative tolerance of various plants for the salts com-

mon in alkali soils. U. S. Dept. Agr. Bur. Plant Ind. Bull. 113. 1907.

KEARNEY." PLANT LIFE ON SALINE SOILS 111

ally not so much the chemical composition of the soil solution as

its concentration and the resulting osmotic pressure which affect

vegetation."^

CONCENTRATION OF THE SOIL SOLUTION

Saline soils are extremely diverse in respect to texture, water-

holding capacity, humus content, and fertility. The one thing

that they have in common is a high concentration of the soil

solution. This factor, also, is extremely variable, since not

only the absolute quantity of salts may differ enormously within

very short distances, but the concentration of the solution fluc-

tuates continually, being diluted by rainfall or by inundation

and concentrated by evaporation.

The fluctuations are greatest, of course, in deserts, where rain-

falls of brief duration alternate with long periods of extreme

drought. A salt content amounting to 3 per cent of the dry

weight of the soil, to the depth penetrated by the plant roots,

is not uncommon in arid regions. With this salt content, and

with a water-holding capacity of 50 per cent, the soil, even when

saturated with water, would have a solution concentration of 6

per cent, or twice that of sea-water. If the soil dried out to the

wilting point for plants,^ the concentration would reach 30 per

cent, which is bej^ond the point of saturation for sodium chloride.

Even in humid climates the periodical fluctuations are by no

means negligible. Hi'F reported that in a salt marsh in Brit-

tany, heavy rains lasting two days reduced the concentration

of the soil solution to one-sixth of what was observed immedi-

ately before the rain began. If the original concentration had

been that of sea- water, this would correspond to a fall in osmotic

pressure of from about 22 to about 3.5 atmospheres.^

* This does not hold in the case of sodium carbonate ("-black alkali") which,

because of its strong alkalinity, is much more toxic than other salts of sodium.

* L. J. Briggs and H. L. Shantz. The wilting coefficient for different plants

and its indirect determination. U. S. Dept. Agr. Bur. Plant Ind. Bull. 230. 1912.

« T. G. Hill. The Bouche d'Erquy in 1908. New Phytol. 8: 97. 1909.

' Careful computations of the osmotic pressure of sea water have recently

been published by R. H. True {Osmotic experiments with marine algae. Bot.

Gaz. 65:71. 1918).

112 KEARNEY: PLANT LIFE ON SALINE SOILS

«

AGRICULTURAL IMPORTANCE OF SALINE SOILS

Saline soils are of small agricultural value until the excess

salt has been removed by drainage and by flooding with fresh

water. Extensive and successful reclamation work along these

lines has been accomplished in India and in Egypt. Ganong*

has described the methods by which the salt marshes at the

head of the Bay of Fundy have been converted into hay meadows

worth from $100 to $200 per acre.

Different crop plants differ in their adaptability to saline soils

and a few of them are so resistant to concentrated solutions that

they may be regarded as partial halophytes. First and foremost

is the sugar beet, the supposed ancestor of which is a plant of the

sea strand in Europe and northern Africa. Asparagus is another

example, since the nearest related wild forms are said to inhabit

saline soils and the cultivated form finds itself quite at home

when it strays to the borders of salt marshes. Among fruit

trees the date palm and the pomegranate are notable for their

ability to thrive where the soil solution is highly concentrated.

Frorn an agricultural point of view, however, the resistance

of the plant is of less importance than the quantity and quality

of the product for which it is grown. Cereals will make a

fairly vigorous growth in soils where grain production is prac-

tically inhibited. The value of the beet for sugar making is

much impaired, in saline soils, by the high ash content of the

roots. Date palms, in spite of their vegetative vigor under

such conditions, produce fruit of inferior value. Forage plants

that are grown for the sake of the leaves and stems are usually,

therefore, the most profitable crops for soils of relatively high

salinity.

DISTRIBUTION OF THE VEGETATION

The principal types of halophytic vegetation may be roughly

classified as :

1. Marine formations, consisting of aquatic plants, chiefly

algae, which live in the ocean and in brackish water.

* W. F. Ganong. The vegetation of the Bay of Fundi/ sail and diked marshes.

Bot. Gaz. 36: 161, 280, 349, 429. 1903.

KEARNEY: PLANT LIFE ON SALINE SOILS 113

2. Salt marsh, composed mainly of grasses, rushes, and sedges,

with various other annua and perennial herbs as a secondary

element. Salt marsh vegetation is found chiefly in temperate

regions, where it occurs both on the sea-coast and in very wet

saline areas of the interior.

S. Salt scrub, composed of woody species, in large part Cheno-

podiaceae, ranging in size from half shrubs to almost tree-like

dimensions. This formation is typically developed only where

the climate is arid and the soil is not constantly wet.

4. The .mangroie formation, of small trees belonging to the

Rhizophoraceae and a-few other families. This vegetation occu-

pies muddy shores within reach of the tides, in and near the

tropics.

Time permits only brief reference to the fascinating problem

of the local distribution of halophytes. The vegetation of saline

soils, both along the sea-coast and in the interior, often shows

beautiful examples of zonation, determined, in large part, by

differences in salinity, although the physical properties and the

water content of the soil are likewise important factors.

The correlations betw^een distribution of the plants and salt

content of the soils are often so close as to permit of agricultural

classification of the land on this basis, as has been demonstrated

by Hilgard^ and his colleagues in California and by Briggs,

Shantz and the writer^" in the vicinity of Great Salt Lake. The

different types of halophytic vegetation w^ere found to indicate

with considerable precision the degree of salinity of the soil

and hence w^hether the land is suitable for crop production

or could be rendered suitable by the usual methods of recla-

mation. The indicator plant method is particularly useful

in dry areas where there may be no superficial evidence of

salinity but where large quantities of salt may be present in the

subsoil.

The importance of halophytes as geological agents deserves

' E. W. HiLGARD. Soils, pp. 534-549. ^ew York, 1906.

1" T. H. Kearney, L. J. Briggs, H. L. Shantz, J. W. McLane, and R. L.

PiEMEisEL. Indicator significance of vegetation in Tooele Valley, Utah. Journ.

Agr. Research 1 : 365-417. 1914.

114 KEARNEY: PLANT LIFE ON SALINE SOILS

mention. Oliver^i and other British ecologists have investigated

the manner in which Spartina, Sahcornia, etc., colonize and hold

newlj^-deposited soil on the sea-coast. Vaughan^- gives an in-

teresting account of land-building by the mangrove in southern

Florida.

Halophytic vegetation is characterized by world-wide uni-

formity. Each of the principal types — salt marsh, salt scrub,

and the mangrove formation — has much the same appearance,

wherever it occurs. The comparatively small number of species,

the similarity of the life forms, and the scarcity of showy flow-

ers give a monotonous and even somber appearance to these plant

formations.

In taxononlic composition, likewise, there is comparatively

little variation within each of the major halophytic formations,

in different parts of the world. The genera, and in many cases

even the species, are very widely distributed. The great ma-

jority of extreme halophytes are comprised in comparatively

few families. Probably not less than one-half of the species

belong to the Chenopodiaceae, which comes nearer to being a

purely halophytic group than any other of the larger families of

plants. Smaller families which are predominantly halophytic

are Plumbaginaceae, Frankeniaceae, Tamaricaceae, and Rhizo-

phoraceae. Families which, although not primarily halophytic,

contribute numerous genera and species to this vegetation are

Gramineae, Cnaciferae, and Compositae. Other large groups

are conspicuous for their absence from saline soils. Among

these are the lichens, mosses, ferns, Araceae, Orchidaceae, Fa-

gaceae, and Ericaceae.

STRUCTURE OF HALOPHYTES

As a rule, the leaf surface of haloph3^tes is much reduced as

compared with that of mesophytes. In Salicornia and allied

" F. W. Oliver. The shingle beach as a plant habitat. New Phytol. 11: 73.

1912. Some remarks on Blakeney Point, Norfolk. Journ. Ecol. 1:4. 1913.

Vegetation and mobile ground as illustrated by Suaeda ffuticosa on shingle. Journ.

Ecol. 1:249. 1913.

1- T. W. Vaughan. The geologic work of mangroves in southern Florida.

Smiths. Misc. Coll. 5: 46L 1910. •

KEARNEY: PLANT LIFE OX SALINE SOILS 115

genera of Chonopodiaceae and in the tamarisks, the assimilat-

ing tissue is located mainly in the stems, the leaves being mere

scale-like vestiges. The mangroves are a striking exception,

possessing a heavy crown of broad leaves.

Thickness of the leaves and stems characterizes most halo-

phytes, aside from the grasses and grass-like plants. LeSage^^

compared numerous maritime species with the most nearly re-

lated inland forms and found that in the great majority of cases

the former had the thicker leaves. In some species the thick-

ening results merely from an increase in size of cells or in number

of layers of the chlorophyll tissue, but many halophytes possess

also a specialized water storage tissue of thin-walled cells, con-

taining few or no chloroplasts.

The degree of succulence is closely associated with the salinity

of the medium. Several investigators have reported that non-

halophj'tic species, when watered with salt solutions, show an

increase in the thickness of the leaf. Conversely, halophytes,

when grown in an ordinarj' garden soil with fresh water irri-

gation, often develop thinner leaves and stems than in their

natural habitat. Batalin^^ found that even Salicornia re-

sponded in this manner. Holtermann^^ obtained a marked in-

crease in the thickness of the water storage tissue of man-

groves by watering the plants with a sodium chloride solution

of about twice the concentration of sea-water. On the other

hand, irrigation with fresh water resulted in the development

of much thinner leaves than were observed in the normal habitat.

Casu^^ has pointed out that succulent halophytes occur in

nature only where the soil has a high water content as well as

a high salt content. It is otherwise with the succulent xero-

phytes, such as Cactaceae, which prefer soils that are normally

" P. Lesage. Recherches experimentales sur les ynodifications des feuilles chez

les plantes maritimes. Rev. Gen. Bot. 2: 54, 106, 163. 1890.

" A. Batalin. Die Wirkung des Chlomatriums auf die Entwickelung von

Salicornia herbacea. Bull. Congr. Internat. Bot. Hort., 1884, p. 219. St.

P^tersb. 1885.

15 C. HoLTERMAXx. Der Einfluss .des Klimas auf den Bau der Pflanzengewebe.

Berlin, 1907.

" A. Casu. Contribuzione alio studio della flora delle saline di Cagliari. Ann.

di Bot. 2: 403. 1905.

t

116 keaeney: plant life on saline soils

. dry, as well as non-saline. Since the Caetaceae, as Cavara^^

and Livingston^ ^ have shown, are also characterized by a low

osmotic pressure of the cell sap, while the succulent halophytes

develop very high pressures, it is evident that the relation be-

tween succulence and salinity is bj^ no means a simple problem.

Schimper and other ecologists regarded halophytes as being

xerophj'tes, or drought resistant plants, in that their structure

is modified so as to reduce transpiration. Later investigators

have shown the one-sidedness of this point of view. It origin-

ated largely in the mistaken conception that plants of the sea

beaches and dunes, many of which have a markedly xerophytic

structure, are really halophytes. ^^ It is true that in arid cli-

mates many, but by no means all, salt plants exhibit xeroph\'-

tic peculiarities, such as reduced leaf surface, sunken stomata,

thick cuticle, highly developed palisade tissue, and small inter-

cellular spaces. On the other hand, certain xerophytic charac-

ters, particularly hairiness and the excretion of -resin and of

aromatic volatile oils, are rarely met with in halophytes, even in

those that inhabit deserts.-"^

In cool, humid regions, some of the most characteristic salt

marsh plants exhibit almost no xerophytic peculiarities, having

a thin cuticle, stomata level with the epidermis or even slightly

raised, and large intercellular spaces. Terras-' in Scotland and

Cross^- in New Zealand studied the anatomy of coastal halo-

phytes and concluded that some of them have the structure of

aquatic plants rather than of desert plants.

1^ F. Cavara. Risultali di una serie di ricerche crioscopiche sui vegetali.

Contrib. Biol. Veg. (Palermo) 4: 41. 1905.

1* B. E. Livingston. The relation of desert plants to soil moisture and to evap-

oration. Carnegie Inst. Publ. 50. 1906.

^^ T. H. Kearney. Are plants of beaches and dunes true halophytes? Bot.

Gaz. 37:424. 1904.

-" Detailed descriptions of the anatomy of many European halophytic species

and an extensive bibliography are given by H. Chermezon {Recherches anatomiques

sur les plantes littorales. Ann. Sci. Nat. IX. Bot. 12: 117-313, ^^s. 7-5^. 1910).

-^ .1. A. Terras. Notes on the salinity of the cell sap of halophytes. Proc.

Scottish Micr. Soc. 4: 152. 1906.

-2 B. D. Cross. Some New Zealand halophytes. Trans. New Zealand Inst.

42:545. 1910.

KEARNEY: PLANT LIFE ON SALINE SOILS 117

The gist of the matter is that manj^ halophytes that grow

under chmatic conditions favorable to intense transpiration, or

in soils subject to periodical drought, show xerophytic modifi-

cations; but high concentration of the soil solution does not

necessarily induce this type of structure if the cUmate is humid

and an abundance of soil moisture is normally present.

WATER ECONOMY OF HALOPHYTES

It has been repeatedly demonstrated that absorption of water

by the roots of nonhalophytic species is difficult or impossible

when the soil solution reaches such concentrations as are en-

countered in .the natural habitats of halophytes. When forced

to obtain their water from a relatively concentrated salt solu-

tion, ordinary- mesophj^tes, such as the common crop' plants,

show a marked decrease in transpiration and in photosynthetic

activity, resulting in diminished growth.

Schimper-^ argued from the known behavior of nonhalophytes

when exposed to strong salt solutions, and from the assumed

xerophytic structure of all halophytes, that the latter are sub-

ject to the danger of injury from excessive accumulations of salt

in their assimilating cells,,and that protection against this danger

is secured by reduction of the transpiration. He later^^ modified

this view by attributing the supposed necessity for reduced

transpiration to the difficulty of absorption by the roots from a

strong salt solution. In his view a saline soil is "physiologically

dry," even when saturated with water.

jMore recent investigations have demolished all of the pre-

mises upon which this theory rested. It has already been

pointed out that by no means all salt plants possess a transpira-

tion-reducing structure, so that we are justified in speaking of

halophilous mesophytes and hydrophytes, as well as of halo-

philous xerophytes. Species that inhabit dry saline soils in

arid regions doubtless find advantage in such structural modi-

fications as tend to diminish transpiration; but the researches of

" A. F. W. ScHiMPER. Die indo-malayische Strandflora, p. 26. Jena, 1891.

-* A. F. W. ScHiMPER. Pflanzengeographie auf physiologischer Grundlage,

p. 100. Jena, 1898.

118 KEARNEY: PLANT LIFE ON SALINE SOILS

Rosenberg'-^ and Delf^^ on salt marsh plants in northern Europe

and Von Faber's" investigations of mangroves in the East Indies

have shown that many halophytes transpire freely when growing

in their normal habitats.-^

In conformity with these results as to transpiration, Ganong^^

and HilP° have proven that high osmotic pressures are developed

in the roots of halophytes. Difficult absorption of water can-

not, therefore, be a universal condition of existence for this

type of vegetation.

The salt plants are evidently able to carry on normally the

processes of photosynthesis, metabolism, and growth, notwith-

standi*ng the presence of much salt in their cell _ sap This is

sufficient proof that they are not inconvenienced by the high

osmotic pressures in their cells nor by the specific toxicity of the

salt. It is clearly not permissible to draw conclusions as to the

normal physiology of halophytes from the pathological condi-

tions induced in nonhalophytes by exposure to concentrated

salt solutions.

Our knowledge of the physiology of halophytes is one-sided,

since it has been gained chiefly by the study of salt marsh plants

in northern Europe and of the mangrove formation in the tropics.

Neither of these environments affords such extreme conditions

as must be endured by plants inhabiting saline soils in desert

regions. Here the atmospheric conditions ' are conducive to

excessive transpiration, while enormous fluctuations in the water

content of the soil and in the concentration of the soil solution

2^ O. Rosenberg. Ueber die Transpiration der Halophyten. Kongl. Vetensk.

Akad. Forhandl. 53L 1897.

2^ E. M. Delf. Transpiration and the behavior of stomata in halophytes.

Annals of Botany 25: 485. 191L

2' F. C. VON Faber. Ueber Transpiration und osmotischen Driick bei den

Mangroven. Bee. Deutsch. Bot. Ges. 31: 277. 1913.

2* It has been ascertained by Holtermann and by Ruhland, however, that

in halophytes grown in strongly saline soils and having a high concentration of

the cell sap, the quantity of water transpired is smaller than when the same

species are grown in the absence of an excessive quantitj^ of salt.

29 Bot. Gaz. 36:358-362. 1903.

'" T. G. Hill. Observations on the osmotic pressures of the root hairs of certain

salt marsh plants. New Phytol. 7: 133. 1908.

KEARNEY: PLANT LIFE ON SALINE SOILS 119

require corresponding powers of accommodation in the absorb-

ing organs of the plant. A thorough investigation of the water

economy of desert halophytes is, therefore, much to be desired

OSMOTIC PRESSURE IN ROOTS AND LEAVES

Comparatively few determinations have been made of the

osmotic pressures in the roots of halophytes. The data at

hand indicate that, at least under the comparatively favorable

conditions of coastal salt marshes, the plant is easily able to

cope with the problem of absorption. Thus Hill found that the

root hairs of Salicornia can develop a pressure corresponding to

that of an 8.7 per cent solution of sodium chloride, which is

probably equivalent to about 65 atmospheres.

As regards halophytes that inhabit arid regions, determina-

tions appear to have been made only on the leaves and stems.

In ordinary mesophytic plants of temperate climates the osmotic

pressure of the leaf cells seldom exceeds 30 atmospheres and is

usualh' much lower than this. But pressures up to 100 atmos-

pheres were detected in the leaves and stems of salt plants by

Cavara in Italy and by Fitting^^ in the Sahara Desert. Ruhland

was able to develop, in the leaves of Statice Gmelini, a pressure

which he estimated at 165 atmospheres. ^2

It is not improbable that the absorbing roots of desert halo-

phytes ceage temporarily to function when, as doubtless often

happens, the osmotic pressure of the soil solution greatly ex-

ceeds 100 atmospheres. Miss Halket's^^ observation that when

the salt content of the soil solution reached 17 per cent, plants

of Salicornia remained alive and apparentl}^ uninjured but

ceased to grow, points in this direction.

There is abundant evidence of the ability of halophytes to

^'- H. FiTTiXG. Die W asserversorgung und die osmotischen Druckuerhdltnisse

der Wustenpflanzen. Zeitschr. Bot. 3: 209. 1911.

^- It does not follow that equally high pressures would have been detected in

the roots, since comparative determinations upon different organs of the same

individual plant have shown, in numerous cases, that the osmotic pressures of

the root cells are lower than those of the leaf cells.

^^ A. C. Halkett. The effect of salt on the growth of Salicornia. Annals of

Botanv 29: 143. 1915.

120 KEARNEY: PLANT LIFE ON SALINE SOILS

accommodate their osmotic pressure to fluctuations in that of

the medium. Hill found this to be the case in the root hairs of

Salicornia. Von Faber observed that the pressure in the leaf

cells of mangroves varied with the salinity of the soil solution.

Cavara found that in Italian salt marsh plants the pressures

were from 2 to 3 times as high after a long dry period as during

the rainy season. The enormous power of osmotic accommoda-

tion possessed by many bacteria, fungi, and algae is well known.

Plants that inhabit the waters and shores of estuaries and

tidal creeks, where daily fluctuations of great magnitude in the

salinity of the medium occur, must possess the ability to alter

their osmotic pressure rapidly. ^^

SALT CONTENT OF THE TISSUES

Various means are employed in developing these high pres-

sures. In some cases the salt absorbed from the soil solution

appears to be the principal factor, while in other cases organic

compounds elaborated by the plant itself (carbohydrates, tan-

nins) play the chief part. Fitting found that among species

growing side by side in the Sahara Desert, and manifesting ap-

proximately the same resistance to plasmolysis, some had a

highly saline cell sap, while in others there was no noteworthy ac-

cumulation of salt. He concluded that the maximum amount

of salt that can be accumulated in the tissues is a character

of the species, independent, in large measure, of transpiration

and of the salt content of the soil.

Many halophytes take up sodium and chlorine in greater

proportion than these occur in the soil solution. Such plants,

even when grown on soils containing only traces of these ele-

ments, may accumulate large quantities in their tissues. ^^

Schimper^^ ascertained that certain weeds that are character-

'* An interesting example of such accommodation is described by W. J. V.

OsTERHOUT {The resistance of certain marine algae to changes in osmotic pres-

sure. Univ. Calif. Publ. 2: 227. 1906).

^" G. Paris found that the leaves of a species of Atriplex, when growing on a

soil containing the merest trace of chlorides, had an ash content of 37 per cent

and a chloride content of 10 per cent of the total dry weight {SuV Atriplex hali-

mus L. Staz. Sper. Agrar. Ital. 44: 141. 1911).

^^ A. F. W. ScHiMPER. Die indo-malayische Strandflora, p. 142. 1891.

KEARNEY: PLANT LIFE ON SALINE SOILS 121

istic of soils rich in nitrogen also possess this power of selective

absorption. Individuals of these species were found to give a

strong reaction for nitrates, even when growing on soils of low

nitrogen content.

The quantity of water-soluble salts taken up by halophytes

is often considerable. Cameron" found that in a sample of

greasewood (Sarcobatus) salts of sodium constituted about 20

per cent of the total dry weight of the leaves, x4.ll of the sodium

chloride present was apparently free in the cell-sap and could be

recovered by leaching the dry material with water, as Deherain^^

had previously ascertained to be the case with Salsola Kali.

Paris, on the other hand, states that in Atriplex Halimus, the re-

sults of freezing-point determinations indicated that, of the total

chlorine found in the ash, only about half was free in the cell sap.

In view of the injurious effects of concentrated solutions of

sodium salts upon ordinary plants, the question arises, how are

halophytes able to adjust themselves to such extreme salinity of

their cell-sap? A strong development of water tissue, the cells

of which contain few or no chloroplasts, is, as we have seen,

characteristic of many salt plants. The plausible suggestion

has been made that much of the salt taken up by such plants is

stored in this tissue, rather than in the green assimilating cells,

although apparently no direct evidence of such segregation has

been obtained.

Many halophytic species are able to check the accumulation

of salt in their tissues by excreting it, in solution, upon the sur-

face of their leaves and stems. This phenomenon is not con-

fined to plants that possess specialized excretory organs. In

the case of grasses hke Spartina and DistichUs excretion is sup-

posed to take place through the stomata.*^

The best known cases of salt excretion are found in the

Plumbaginaceae, Frankeniaceae, and Tamaricaceae. The mem-

bers of these famiUes are characterized by the possession of

" F. K. Camerox. U. S. Dept. Agr. Rep. 71: 64-66. 1902.

3* P. Deherain. Sur l' assimilation cles substances minerales par les plantes.

Ann. Sci. Nat. VI. Bot. 6: 366. 1878.

^^ A. B. Klugh. Excretion of sodium chloride by Spartina glabra alterniflora.

Rhodora 11: 2.37. 1909.

122 KEARNEY: PLANT LIFE ON SALINE SOILS

epidermal glands, the cells of which are very rich in proto-

plasm and have a large nucleus. The process of excretion by

these organs is not a passive filtration, but a true glandular

activity, as has been demonstrated by the writer^'' and by

Ruhland.^^ The latter investigator also obtained fairiy conclu-

sive evidence that the salt content of the leaves is materially

reduced when excretion is actively taking place.

It would seem to be significant that as a rule the species which

excrete salt do not possess a highly developed water-storage

tissue. On the other hand, salt excretion is not known to occur

in the Chenopodiaceae, the largest and most important of halo-

phytic families. This family includes numerous genera in which

water-storage tissue is exceptionally well developed.

PHYSIOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SALT PLANTS *

From what has been said, it is evident that there are man}"

gaps and many apparent contradictions in our knowledge of the

normal physiology of the salt plants. Two characteristics,

however, are general and may be said to be conditioned by the

nature of the environment. These are

1. Ability to develop a high osmotic pressure in the cells of

the absorbing organs, thus allowing water to be taken up from

solutions of a concentration which would inhibit absorption in

nonhalophytic species. Coupled with this, is the power of ac-

commodating the pressure to (often rapid) changes of concen-

tration in the medium.

2. Ability to carry on normally all essential physiological

functions, notwithstanding the presence of salt in the cell sap in

quantities which, in nonhalophytic species, would seriously ham-

per or entirely prevent photosynthesis, metabolism, and growth.

IMPORTANCE OF SODIUM TO HALOPHYTES

The problem of whether halophytes can grow in the absence

of an appreciable quantity of sodium salts has been the subject

^^ T. H. Kearney. On the excretion of hygroscopic salts in Frankenia and

Statice. Science N. S. 19:419. 1904.

*^ W. Rtthlaxd. Die Salzdriiscn dcr Plumbag i naceen. Jahrb. Wiss. Bot.

55:409. 1915.

KEARNEY: PLANT LIFE ON SALINE SOILS 123

of numerous cultural experiments. The results are contra-

dictory even, in some cases, when the same species was used by

different experimenters. Unquestionably, certain species that

in nature are confined to saline soils, will not only thrive but

grow more vigorously in the absence of a noteworthy quantity of

salt, although the appearance and structure of the plants may

be materially altered.

Batalin claimed that even such an extreme halophyte as

Salicornia herhacea can be grown successfully in ordinary gar-

den soil, watered with river water. On the other hand, Peklo^-

found that this plant soon died in a Knop nutrient solution,

which contains no sodium, but flourished in the same solution

plus 2 per cent of sodium chloride. Similar results with other

species of Salicornia were obtained by Miss Halket.

The published data on cultural experiments which indicate

that sodium salts are important to halophytes, do not permit

a conclusion to be drawn as to whether the limiting factor is the

presence of the element sodium or merely a high total concen-

tration in the medium. It would be interesting to know whether

the results with Salicornia in water cultures would have been

equally satisfactory, if the salt added in excess to the nutrient

solution had been potassium chloride, instead of sodium chloride.

In order to determine definitely whether the salt plants can

completely dispense with sodium, it would, of course, be neces-

sary to insure the absence of any trace of the element, in both

plant and culture medium. Since sodium is known to occur

even in the seeds of halophytes, this experimental condition is

probably impossible to realize.

SODIUM IN PLANT NUTRITION

Consideration of the physiology of halophytes brings up the

question, what, if any, is the role of sodium in plant nutrition?

Osterhout^^ states that this element, because of its protective or

antagonistic action, is essential to the maintenance of life in

*'^ J. Peklo. Bemerkungen zur Erndhrungsphysiologie einiger Halophyten.

Oesterr. Bot. Zeitschr. 62: 47, 114, 172. 1912.

" W. J. V. OsTERHOUT. Plants which require sodium. Bot. Gaz. 54: .532.

1912.

124 KEARNEY: PLANT LIFE ON SALINE SOILS

certain marine algae; and results obtained b}^ Benecke" indicate

that some of the Cyanophyceae may grow equally well if potas-

sium is completely replaced by sodium in the nutrient solution.

In regard to the nutrition of vascular plants, however, no fact

seems to be better established than the indispensability of a

minimum of potassium. On the other hand, it has never been

'proven that sodium is indispensable to any of the higher forms of

plant life.

Although sodium is almost always found in the ash of plants,

it does not, as far as we know, enter into organic combination.

This would seem to indicate that plant life is not conditioned by

its presence as by the presence of potassium, phosphorus, and

magnesium. Nevertheless, it by no means follows that under

certain conditions sodium may not be an important factor in

growth.

Different investigators of the fertilizer value of sodium salts

report widely divergent results, but it is impossible to ignore the

numerous instances in which beneficial effects have been observed,

especially where the soil is deficient in potassium in readily

available fomi.^^

Such effects are doubtless, in many cases, due chiefly to the

setting free by chemical reaction in the soil of the potassium of

relatively insoluble compounds. But even when such reaction

was excluded by growing the plants in water cultures or in quartz

sand, without the addition of potassium, sodium has been ob-

served to stimulate growth.

It would seem, therefore, that when potassium is not avail-

able in sufficient quantity, some of the physiological functions

which are normally performed by that element may be assumed

by sodium. In regard to the nature of these functions, the .

following suggestions have been made:

** W. Benecke. Ueber CuUurhedingungen einiger Algen. Bot. Zeitung

66:84-96. 1898.

"•^ This has been the subject of long-continued investigation by the Rhode

Island Agricultural Experiment Station. The results have been published in

the annual reports for 1894 to 1908 and in bulletins 47, 104, 106, and 153. See

especially H. J. Wheeler and B. L. Hartwell {Concerning the functions of

sodium salts. R. I. Agr. Exp. Sta. Ann. Rep. 1906: 186-316. 1907).

KEARNEY: PLANT LIFE ON SALINE SOILS 125

1. Translocation, into and within the plant, of indispensable

anions, such as nitrogen and phosphorus.

2. Maintenance in the cells of a requisite minimum osmotic

pressure, upon which depends the turgor necessary for growth.

3. Antagonistic or protective action, in relation to other ele-

ments, by which a balanced solution is maintained.

4. Neutralization of organic acids formed within the plant.

5. Stimulation of diastatic activity in the cells.

In the present national emergency, current notions in regard

to fertilizers should be subjected to the most rigorous criticism.

A huge superstructure of opinion in regard to our potash re-

quirements has been erected by the commercial fertilizer in-

terests, domestic and foreign, upon an amazingly small basis of

proven fact.

The enemj' boasts that his control of the great potash deposits

makes him the agricultural dictator of the world. Wilhelm

Ostwald is quoted as having said that the United States ''went

into the war like a man with a rope around his neck, a rope which

is in enemy hands." All the resources of an ably-directed propa-

ganda have been employed for years in fostering among us the

behef that we are helplessly dependent upon Germany in this

matter. It would be folly, and worse than folly, to concede

such a claim until we have thoroughly examined its foundations.

For certain soils and certain crops, the addition of potash in

readilj^ available form may well be essential to profitable produc-

tion. But who knows whether the indispensable minimum is

250,000 tons or only one-tenth of that quantity? Cannot the

apparent need be lessened by better tillage, by rotation with

green manure crops, and by the more extensive use of farm

manure? Will not the use of cheaper chemical fertilizers — salts

of sodium, calcium, magnesium — alleviate many of the supposed

cases of ''pot-ash hunger?" Until these questions have been

answered, no one dare say that our absolute requirement of

potash fertilizers cannot be met by the development of domestic

sources of supply.

126 STAND ley: new species of rondeletia

BOTANY. — A new species of Rondeletia from Mexico.^ Paul

C. Standley, National Museum,

I In an interesting collection of plants received recently from

\ Dr. B. P. Reko, of the State of Oaxaca, Mexico, by the U. S.

National Museum, are specimens of a handsome rubiaceous

plant referable to the genus Rondeletia. The plant offers so

many characters not found in other species as to suggest a new-

generic type, but the specie 5 of Rondeletia already known show a

remarkable range of variation for the family Rubiaceae, and the

present plant is perhaps not more abnormal than some of the

Cuban species, such as R. tinifolia Griseb. and R. correifoUa

Griseb.

Rondeletia Rekoi Standley, sp. nov.

Branchlets stout or slender, obtusely tetragonous, densely and per-

sistently white-tomentose, with a close tomentum; stipules linear

oblong, 6 to 9 mm. long, bidentate at the apex, erect, persistent, densely

tomentose outside on the lower half, glabrate and green above; leaves

opposite, the petioles very stout, 0.5 to 1.5 cm. long, white-tomentose,

the blades ovate or elliptic-ovate, 8.5 to 19 cm. long, 3 to 8.5 cm. wide,

rounded and short-decurrent at the base, very acute or subacuminate

at the apex, subchartaceous, bright-green above, lustrous, scabrous

with short slender curved hairs, the intermediate veins very promi-

nent, finely reticulate, beneath densely covered with a close white

tomentum, the costa prominent, the lateral veins slender, about 14 on

each side, subarcuate, the margin plane or subrevolute; inflorescence

terminal (a pair of cymes present at the base of the peduncle), the

peduncles stout, 8 to 9 cm. long, the rachis 6 to 9 cm. long, bearing

numerous short-pedunculate bifid cymes, the branches of these 1.5 to

2.5 cm. long, the flowers sessile, secund, the bractlets oval or oblong,

obtuse, green, glabrate, about equahng the calyx-tube; calyx-tube

densely white-tomentose, the 4 lobes oblong or oval, about 1 mm.

long, rounded at the apex, green, glabrate, spreading; corolla white-

tomentose outside, the tube stout, 5.5 to 7 mm., long, glabrous in the

throat, the 4 lobes rounded, 2 mm. long, undulate; anthers sessile, in-

cluded; capsule 3.5 to 4 mm. broad, didymous-globose, densely white-

tomentose; seeds minute, pale-brown, angulate.

Type in the U. S. National Herbarium, no. 867145, collected at

Cafetal Las Pilas (Cerro Espino), Oaxaca, Mexico, altitude 400 meters,

October 10, 1917, by Dr. B. P. Reko (no. 3490).

^ Published by permission of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.

standley: new species of rondeletia 127

It is difficult to determine the exact relationship of Rondeletia

Rekoi among its Central American allies. The dense tomentum

of the leaves is characteristic of many continental species, but

the plan of the inflorescence is unlike that of any other Rondeletia.

The cymes simulate perfectlj^ those of the genus Antirhea, of the

remotely related tribe Guettardeae, although in that group the

cymes are solitary arid axillary, rather than racemose, as in this

plant. The stipules, too, of R. Rekoi, are different from those of

any other species, and the prominent reticulation of the upper

leaf-surface seems unique. The plant shows a strong color con-

trast between the bright green upper surfaces of the leaves and

the white lower surfaces and stems, and would doubtless prove

attractive in cultivation.

ABSTRACTS

Authors of scientific papers are requested to see that abstracts, preferably

prepared and signed by themselves, are forwarded 'promptly to the editors.

Each of the scientific bureaus in Washington has a representative authorized to

forward such material to this Journal and abstracts of official publications

should be transmitted through the representative of the bureau in which they

originate. The abstracts should conform in length and general style to those

appearing in this issue.

GEOLOGY. — Ground water in San Simoji Valley, Arizona and New

Mexico. A. T. Schwennesen. U. S. Geological Survey Water-

Supply Paper 425-A. Pp. 35, with maps. 1917.

This is a preliminary report on an extensive investigation of the

Quaternary geology of the San Simon Valley and adjacent parts of

Gila Valley and its relation to artesian water supphes in the region.

The stream deposits, which resemble the ordinary deposits of other

desert basins, are here separated by beds that were laid down in a

lake or other body of water to a depth of several hundred feet. These

lake beds form a gentle syncline whose axis nearly coincides with the

axis of the valley. They include 300 to 400 feet of dense, homog-

eneous, blue clay, which serves well as a confining bed for the water

in the underlying sand strata and older alluvium. Extrusive basalt

is interbedded with the stream deposits and layers of tuff occur in the

lacustrine formation.

The report gives data on artesian and pump wells, and on the de-

crease in artesian pressure. It includes an excellent discussion of

agricultural possibilities by R. H. Forbes. 0. E. ]\Ieinzer.

GEOLOGY. — Ground water for irrigation in the Morgan Hill area,

California. W. O. Clark. U. S. Geological Survey Water-

Supply Paper 400-E. Pp. 48, with 3 plates. 1917.

The water-bearing formation in the area consists of recent alluvial

deposits which are composed of clay or claylike materials, sand, and

gravel. Most of the deposits were formed by Coyote River, which

has built an alluvial fan entirely across the valley and which has alter-

nately diverted the streams on it into the Bay of Montere}' and into

San Francisco Bay.

128

abstracts: geology . 129

In this report an attempt is made to estimate the quantity of ground

water available for irrigation within the area, based on the annual

fluctuation of the water table and the porosity of the materials as

shown by the logs of wells within the area. The results concerning

porosit}^ are checked against a pumping test made at the Lower Gorge

by the Bsiy Cities Water Company in which records were kept of the

quantity of water pumped, the area over which the water table was

lowered as a result of pumping, and the amount of lowering. A further

check is made by the use of stream-flow data, which show the amount

of water lost by Coyote River through percolation during a four-year

period, 1903 to 1907. W. 0. C.

GEOLOGY. — Titi resources of the Kings Mountain district, North

Carolina and South Carolina. Arthur Keith and D. B. Ster-

RETT. U. S. Geological Survey Bulletin 660-D. Pp. 24, with

maps, sections, and illustrations. 1917.

The Kings Mountain district contains both metamorphic and igneous

rocks, and the metamorphic rocks include some of sedimentary and

some of igneous origin. In age the rocks range from Archean to

Triassic. The formations that are associated with the tin deposits are

the Carolina gneiss and a Roan gneiss, of Archean age; the Bessemer

granite, of pre-Cambrian age; the Whiteside granite; and, especially,

tin-bearing pegmatites of late Paleozoic age. •

The pegmatite occurs in sheets, lenses, and irregular masses ranging

in thickness from a few inches to manj' j^ards and attaining half a

mile in length. The tin-bearing deposits occur in pegmatite masses

within Archean rocks, either the Roan gneiss or the Carolina gneiss

along or near its contact with the Roan gneiss. The cassiterite appears

to have been one of the first minerals in the pegmatite to crystallize,

and it seems clear that the cassiterite was an original constituent of

the pegmatite. • R. W. Stone.

GEOLOGY. — Zinc carbonate and related copper carbonate ores at Ophir,

Utah. G. F. LouGHLiN. U. S. Geological Survey Bulletin

690-A. Pp. 14, with illustrations. 1917.

This paper calls attention to the marked lamellar structure of the

zinc carbonate, the prevailing absence of calamine, and the intimate asso-

ciation of the zinc carbonate with copper carbonates in the Ophir mining

district. The processes of deposition of the carbonates are described

and the following conclusions of economic importance are reached:

It is to be expected that bodies of lamellar zinc carbonate like those

130 abstracts: ornithology

at Ophir will iJiove to be of high grade, owing to the complete removal

of limestone, but of small dimensions and confined to the immediate

vicinity of fractures and open bedding planes. Such small bodies are

not Hkely to lead to larger bodies of massive ore, unless they lie near

to groundwater level, or to some impervious stratum or fault that

impounded the waters containing the oxidized compounds of zinc.

Where mixed sulphide deposits in limestone contain both copper and

zinc in considerable quantity the resulting carbonate ores of both

metals are to be expected in the oxidized zone, the copper carbonate

immediately below the position of the original sulphide body or its

siliceous casing, and the zinc carbonate below the copper carbonate.

R. W. Stone.

ORNITHOLOGY.— A^o^es on North American birds, IT. Harry C.

Oberholser. The Auk 34: 321-329. July, 1917.

The Arizona subspecies of T7reo bellii, originally characterized by

Mr. Ridgwaj^ and commonly regarded as inseparable from Vireo bellii

pusillus, is shown to be different and is recognized as Vireo bellii ari-

zonae Ridgway. The form of Baeolophus inoryiatus inhabiting the

Pacific Coast region from northern Lower California, north through

southern California to Santa Barbara County, and described by Mr.

Ridgway as Baeolophus inornatus murinus, is also reinstated. Two

race^ of Baeolophus wollweberi are admitted: Baeolophus wollweberi

wollweberi (Bonaparte), from central and southern Mexico, and 7?aeo/o-

phus wollweberi annexus (Cassin), from northwestern Mexico and the

contiguous portion of the southwestern United States. Reasons are

given for the recognition of Geothlijpis trichas brachidactyla (Swainson),

from the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada; Vermi-

vora celata orestera Oberholser, from the western United States, south-

western Canada, central and northern Mexico; Molothrus ater artemisiae

Grinnell, from the western United States and western Canada; and

Loxia curvirostra bendirei Ridgway, from the mountains of the western

United States; all of which have been discredited by recent authors.

The recent attempted elimination of Dendroica caerulescens cairnsi

on the ground of untenability is shown to be wrong, and its characters

as a recognizable race are given. The British form of Passer domesti-

cus, with which the introduced English sparrows of the United States

are found to be identical, recently described as Passer hostilis, is shown

to be but a subspecies of the continental European bird, and should

therefore be called Passer domesticus hostilis. H. C. 0.

abstracts: ornithology 131

ORNITHOLOGY. — Three reniarkable 7iew species of birds from Santo

Domingo. J. H. Riley, Smithsonian Misc. Coll. 66: No. 15. Pp.

1-2. December 1, 1916.

That the possibilities of the avifauna of the island of Santo Domingo

are not yet exhausted is emphasized by the three remarkable new birds

recently discovered there by Dr. W. L. Abbott. The first is an owl,

Asio noctipetens, of a genus hitherto unrepresented on the island.

Another is Brachyspiza anfiUarum, belonging to a genus not before

detected in any of the West Indies. Still more remarkable is a new

white- winged crossbill, Loxia megaplaga, of another genus hitherto

unknown from the West Indies. Strangely enough, this new Loxia

is much more closely allied to Loxia hifasciata of northern Europe than

to Loxia leucoptera of North America. Harry C. Oberholser.

ORNITHOLOGY. — Generic navies applied to birds during the years

1906 to 1915, inclusive, with additions and corrections to Water-

house's ''Index Generum Avium." Charles W. Richmond.

Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 53: 565-636. August 16, 1917.

This is, as its title indicates, a summary of the generic names pro-

posed during the decade which has elapsed since the publication of

Dr. Richmond's last similar list, including other names previously

omitted or ovei'looked. A list of the errors in the IndexGenerum Avium

of Waterhouse is first given, together with lists of all the Linnaean

genera and a list of the genera published in Bonaparte's papers in the

Ateneo Italiano, May and August, 1854. The main part of this paper

is an alphabetical list of 607 generic names, together with authority,

original citation, type and manner of determination, and indication of

the family to which it belongs. Many changes in current names and

other nomenclatural notes are added in footnotes. The following

new generic names are introduced: Tychaedon Richmond, for Aedo-

nopsis Sharpe, preoccupied; and Amoromyza Richmond, for M crops

samoensis Hombron and Jacquinot. A catalogue of the 607 generic

names of the alphabetical list, arranged under families, is also added.

Harry C. Oberholser.

ORNITHOLOGY.— r/?e birds of the Afiamba Islands. Harry C.

Oberholser. Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus. 98. Pp. v + 75,pls.l-2. 1917>.

The Anamba Islands lie in the South China Sea between the Natuna

Islands and the Malay Peninsula. They comprise about 20 principal

islands, with possibly 200 more islets and rocks, spread over a geo-

132 abstracts: ornithology

graphical area some 55 by 65 miles in extent. Dr. W. L. Abbott was,

in 1899 and 1900, the first ornithological collector to visit these islands,

and he made a collection of 212 specimens, representing 44 species and

subspecies, of which 21 were new. These, together with other obser-

vations made by Dr. Abbott, Ijring the number of birds known from

these islands up to 66. This number will doubtless be greatly in-

creased by future explorations, though the Anamba group does not

seem to be so rich in bird life as the Natuna Islands, which lie nearer

Borneo. In onl}^ one case, so far as known, are there two subspecies

of the same species on different islands in this group. Of the birds now

known from the Anambas, 11 are migrants from the north, and do

not breed on the islands. Fifteen subspecies are peculiar to the Anamba

Islands, and six other subspecies occur outside of the group only on some

other islands of the South China Sea. The remaining 24 Anamba birds

belong to more or less wide-ranging species. Taken as a whole, the

Anamba Islands are faunally most closely allied to the Malay Peninsula;

less so, but about equally to Sumatra and Borneo; still less to Java;

and only slightty to Indo-China. Among the most interesting of the

new forms discovered by Dr. Abbott in the Anamba Islands might be

mentioned those of the genera Muscadivores, Collocalia, Artamides,

Cyornis, Hi/pothyniis, Kittacincla, Lamprocorax , and Dissemurus.

H. C. 0.

ORNITHOLOGY.— r/ie birds of Bawean Island, Java Sea. Harry C.

• Oberholser. Proc. U.S.Nat. Mus. 52: 183-198. Feb. 8, 1917.

Bawean Island is mountainous, with an area of approximatel}^ 100

square miles, from, which some 18 species of birds had been recorded

prior to Dr. W. L. Abbott's visit from November 19 to 28, 1907. His

collection of 35 specimens of birds is of much interest, since 7 of the 15

species represented prove to belong to undescribed forms, most of them,

so far as known, confined to this island; and since it adds 8 species to the

list, making a total of 26 now known from here. The avifauna of

Bawean Island as a whole is most closely allied to that of Java, but it

has also a marked Bornean infusion. Among the most interesting new

forms discovered by Dr. Abbott are a new hawk of the genus Spilornis,

very different from the Bornean Spilornis pallidus and much nearer the

Sumatran bird, Spilornis bassus; a new species of Strix, very different

in coloration from Strix orientalis and Strix ocellata, the characters of

both of which it somewhat curiously combines; and a new form of

Malacocincla abbotti. A series of Microtarsus baweanus, collected by

abstracts: ornithology 133

Dr. Abbott, proves this bird to be only a subspecies of Microtarsus

chalcocephalus of Java. H. C. 0.

ORNITHOLOGY. — A review of the genus Pedioecetes in Colorado. F.

C. Lincoln. Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 30: 83-86, pi. 1. May 23, 1917.

The sharp-tailed grouse inhabiting the eastern foothills of the Rock}^

Mountains in Colorado is found to differ subspecifically from Pedioe-

cetes phasianellus coliwibianus of Colorado west of the Continental

Divide and also from Pedioecetes phasianellus campestris of the plains

in the northeastern part of this State, and' is named Pedioecetes

phasianellus janiesi. Harry C. Oberholser.

OR XITHOLOG Y. — A dditions to the Haitian avifauna. Paul Bartsch.

Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 30: 131-132. July 27, 1917.

The form of the South American Porzana fiaviventris occurring on the

island of Haiti proves to be a recognizable subspecies, and is named

Porzana fiaviventris hendersoni, after Mr. John B. Henderson. The

Haitian golden warbler is distinguished from Dendroica petechia petechia

of Jamaica and reinstated as a subspecies under the name Dendroica

petechia albicollis (Gmelin). Eleven other species, mostly water-birds

and shore lairds, are listed as additions to the avifauna of the island of

Santo Domingo. This list includes Chaetura pelagica, an entirely un-

expected record for April. Harry C. Oberholser.

•

ORNITHOLOGY. — The Porto Rican grasshopper sparrow. James L.

Peters. Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 30: 95-96. May 23, 1917.

The resident form of the grasshopper sparrow found in Porto Rico

proves to be separable from both the Curagao and Santo Domingo

forms, and is named Ammodramus savannarum borinquensis.

Harry C. Oberholser.

ORNITHOLOGY. — Preliminary diagnoses of apparently new birds from

Colombia and Bolivia. W. E. Clyde Todd. Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash.

30:3-6. January 22, 1917.

Seven new species here described ai'e Phoenicothraupis rubiginosus,

from Colombia; Attila caniceps, from Colombia, and Attila neoxenus,

from Bolivia, two remarkable new birds of this tropical genus; Xipho-

colaptes obsoletus, from Bolivia; Celeus innotatus, from Colombia;

Pyrrhura subandina, from Colombia; and Eupsychortyx decoratus,

from Colombia. Ten subspecies from Colombia and Bolivia are also

described, among the most interesting of them Bubo virginianus elutus,

from Colombia. Harry C. Oberholser.

134 abstracts: ornithology

ORNITHOLOGY. — Neiv genera, species, and subspecies of South

American birds. W. E. Clyde Todd. Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 30:

127-130. July 27, 1917.

Two new genera are Idiospiza, proposed for Linaria inornata Lafres-

naye; andPoecilurus, for Synallaxis candaei Lafresnaye. A new species

is Poecilurus atrigidaris, from Colombia. Nine new subspecies from

Venezuela, Colombia, and Panama are also described.

Harry C. Oberholser.

ORNITHOLOGY. ~Muta7ida ornithologica. I. Harry C. Ober-

holser. Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 30: 75-76. March 31, 1917.

During the past several years the writer has incidentally noted a

number of necessary changes in the current scientific names of birds.

This article is the first of a series designed to set forth these changes.

In the present installment the following changes are made, chiefly on

the ground of preoccupation: Nettion torquatum (Vieillot) becomes

Nettion leucophrys (Vieillot); Chloephaga magellanica (Gmelin) becomes

Chloephaga leucoptera (Gmelin); Cerchneis gracilis (Lesson) is renamed

Cerchneis araea Oberholser; Cerchneis alopex deserticola Reichenow is

renamed Cerchneis alopex eremica. Oberholser; and the fossil Rail us

intermedius Milne-Edwards is called Rallus odelus Obeiliolsei-, nom.

nov. H. C. O.

•

ORNITHOLOGY .—Washington region [winter of 1916-1917]. Harry

C. Oberholser. Bird-Lore 19: 153. 1917.

This paper is the first of a series designed to present current reports

on the birds about Washington, D. C. This installment treats of the

winter birds of 1916-1917 up to the month of March. That winter

proved notable for the presence of several interesting northern visitors,

including Loxia leucoptera, Loxia curvirostra minor, Spi?iuspinus pinus,

and Olor columbianus. An individual of Polioptila caerulea caerulea,

seen, January 1 (erroneously recorded as January 2), and one Corthijlio

calendula calendula, noted, January 20, also are worthj^ of special

mention. During the beginning of the spring migration two species

appeared much earlier than ever previously noted: Seirus motacilla on

March 17, and Nemospiza henslowii henslowii on April 1. H. C. 0.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY AND AFFILIATED

SOCIETIES

WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

The 120th meeting of the Academy was held in the Assembly Room

of the Cosmos Club the evening of January 31, 1918; called to order at

8.30 by President Beiggs. The amendments to the By-Laws pre-

sented at the Annual Meeting, January 8, 1918 (see this Journal of

February 4, 1918), were adopted, on the recommendation of the Board

of Managers.

Professor Fridtjof Nansen, of the University of Kristiania, Nor-

way, at present Minister Plenipotentiary of Norway on a special mis-

sion to the United States, delivered a lecture on Changes in oceanic

ay\d atmospheric temperatures ami their relation to changes in the sun's

activity.

The lecturer gave a very comprehensive review, illustrated with lan-

tern slides, of the subject matter of a book recently published by him

jointl}' with Professor Bjorn Heland Hansen, of the Museum of

Bergen, under the title, Temperatur-Schwankungen des N ordatlantischen

Ozems und in der Atvwsphdre. Einleitende Studien iiher die Ursachen

der klimatologischen Schwankungen}

The primary aim of the research was to find the relations existing

between oceanic and atmospheric temperatures. The surface tem-

perature of the water in various parts of the North Atlantic at the

coldest time of the year foi-med the foundation of the first study. When

the region covered by the data is divided into approximately equal

areas, the temperature curves of these areas are found to be parallel.

It is evident from the form of the curves that these changes of tem-

perature taken as a whole are not due to changes in the water-masses

transported. A relation does appear, however, between these changes

and the prevaihng direction of the wind, as deduced from atmospheric

pressure gradients. Where the wind turns south of (i.e. is directed

south of) its average direction over a period of years, the temperature

of the water is lower than the average for the same period, and vice

versa. A similar parallelism between wind direction and water tem-

perature appears along the coast of Norway; the effect near the coast

is based upon the direction of the wind with respect to the land, as well

as upon the season of the year. The air temperature variations on

land appear earlier than the variations in water temperature.

Certain periodicities appear in all the curves of oceanic and atmos-

pheric temperatures, but they vary in type. At the same time a rela-

tion also appears between these curves and curves of sun-spot activity

1 Videnskapsselskapets Skrifter, I Mat.-Naturv. Klasse, 1916, No. 9. Kris-

tiania, 1917.

135 ^

136 proceedings: Washington academy of sciences

and magnetic elements. The 11-year period is prominent. An oceanic-

type and a continental (Eurasian) type can be distinguished. The lat-

ter follows the sun-spot curve directly, whereas the former type follows

the sun spots inversely. There is also a third and very remarkable

type in which the curve changes more or less suddenly from direct to

inverse. This sudden inversion is brought out in many curves, com-

paring stations in different parts of the earth, and the inversion occurs

in very many cases at about the year 1896.

When the temperature curves for different months of the year are

compared with the sun-spot curves, these three types of agreement

again appear in very puzzling and unexpected combinations.

In addition to oceanic and atmospheric temperatures, other meteoro-

logical elements (air pressure, wind velocity, rainfall, cloudiness, mean

daily temperature-amplitude) show a relation to the sun spots, sun

prominences, and magnetic variations, and show not only the 11-year

period but also shorter periods of two, three, and five and one-half years.

The fluctuations of the temperature at the earth's surface do not

follow directly the variations in the energy received from the sun as

determined by the measurements of Abbot and Fowle. The daily and

yearly temperature-amplitudes are believed to furnish sufficient I'efu-

tation of hypotheses based on supposed variations in the absorbing

and reflecting power of the atmosphere, as well as of Humphreys' hy-

potheses as to formation of ozone or effects of volcanic dust. Bland-

ford's hypothesis of the effect of increased evaporation in loweiing

continental temperatures at sun-spot maxima is also not supported by

the facts of tropical land and ocean stations.

The mistake of most authors when they have discussed the causes of

temperature changes has been that they took for granted that the

average temperature at the earth's surface was directly dependent on

solar radiation, and would give a direct indication of heat received.

They have not considered sufficiently the fact that a ver}^ great pro-

portion of the sun's radiation is absorbed by the higher layers of our

atmosphere and that the distribution of heat in the atmosphere is of the

greatest importance for the temperatures at the earth's surface. They

seem very often to have forgotten that the variations in the sun's activ-

ity, and in the so-called ''solar constant," and also in the sun's electric

radiation, may primarily influence the higher layers of the atmosphere,

thus indirectly guiding the distribution of atmospheric pi*essure and the

circulation not only of these higher layers but also of the lower parts

of the atmosphere. In this manner the temperature of the higher

latitudes may be influenced more than that of the tropics, where the

conditions are so stable.

The variation in pressure gradient seems much more closely related

to the temperatuie of land stations than is the variation in air pressure

itself. For instance, the Colombo-Hj^derabad gradient runs parallel

to the temperature in the Himalayas but opposite to the temperature

at Batavia, while Bombay forms an example of those strange reversals •

occurring about 1896. The Iceland-Azores gradient has exactly oppo-

proceedings: Washington academy of sciences 137

site effects in Norway and in mid-Atlantic. An increase of air circu-

lation may thus have opposite effects in different regions. The sun

spots and magnetic elements sometimes oppose and sometimes agree

with the variations in pressure gradients.

Various periodicities appear in the sun spots as well as in the ter-

restrial phenomena. In the sun spots there is an 8-month period cor-

responding with the conjunction or opposition of the planets Venus

and Jupiter with the sun. This same period occurs in the North

Atlantic gradient, and was found by Krogness in the magnetic decli-

nation at Kristiania. There are also periods of six and twelve months

in the magnetic elements, due to the position of the earth. The com-

bination of these 6, 8, and 12-month periods gives a 2-year period for

the magnetic and meteorological elements on the earth. But in the

fluctuations of the sun spots a similar period of two years is also dis-

covered, and especially noticeable are indications of minima every sec-

ond year. Before 1896 there is an agreement between the 2-year

minima of temperature at certain stations and the corresponding sun-

spot minima, but the agreement is remarkable in that the greatest

depressions in the sun-spot curve coincide with the smallest depres-

sions in the temperature curve; this relation ceased about 1896, hence

the peculiar inversion already referred to.

Other periodicities have been recognized. A 32-33-month period

at Batavia may be a combination of the 2-yea]" period already referred

to and a 3.7-year period suspected by Lockyer. Secular changes of

relatively long period (35 years and over 100 years) also are probable.

The researches of Clayton have recognized correlations in daily tem-

perature and pressure fluctuations at various stations over the earth

and the fluctuations in the dail}^ heat radiation of the sun as meas-

ured by Abbot and Fowle, the same three types appearing in these

meteorological variations as have been noted in the long-time varia-

tions. Krogness recognizes^ H-da}^ and 27-day periods in magnetic

storms, as well as in air-pressure gradients, wind, and temperature, in

northern Norway.

To summarize the results of these investigations : In different groups

of areas on the earth the meteorological elements (temperature, baro-

metric pressure, rainfall, etc.) fluctuate or pulsate, so to speak, in time

with one another, while in other groups of areas the fluctuations or pul-

sations are exactly inverted, and finally, some areas show transition

stages between the two. The result of all this is a very complicated

picture of the meteorological fluctuations. But by means of appro-

priate analyses we see that from this complicated and apparentlj^

chaotic set of fluctuations there arises a clear picture of the very inti-

mate relation between all these variations and the variations in the

sun's activity. We have seen that even changes of very short duration

in the sun's radiation (of heat as well as electricitjO are distinctly re-

peated in our meteorological conditions and in the surface temperature

of the ocean. The effects of the solar variations are probably trans-

ferred by means of variations produced in the distribution of pressure

138 proceedings: biological society

in our atmosphere. Changes in solar radiation probably first affect

the higher layers of our atmosphere, and thus create an unrest which

in turn is transmitted to the lower strata near the earth's surface.

Such dynamic changes will produce different effects in different

regions of the earth. But by thorough and complete analyses of the

great meteorological material now at hand it may be possible to find

the general rules. This will be an important step forward toward

understanding the laws ruling our atmosphere.

For this purpose it will also be of the greatest importance to have

the wonderful researches of Abbot and Fowle continued with the

greatest possible efficiency. These investigations of the sun's radiation

of heat, which they have been carrying on for a long series of years at

Washington, Mount Wilson, Mount Whitney, and in Algeria, have

given us the remarkable revelation that our sun is *a variable star,

the most important discovery that has been made in this field in many

years. {Author's abstract.)

William R. Maxon, Recording Secretary.

BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

The 577th regular meeting of the Society was held in the Assembly

Hall of the Cosmos Club, Saturday, Januarj^ 12, 1918; called to order

at 8.00 p.m. by President Rose; 38 persons present.

On recommendation of 'the Council the following were elected to

membership: E. A. Chapin, F. P. Metcalf, Charles E. Chambliss.

President Rose announced the death on October 29, 1917, of Miss

Katherine M. Raber, a former member of the Society.

President Rose announced the membership of the Publication Com-

mittee as C. W. Richmond, J. H. Riley, N. Dearborn, and W. L.

McAtee; of the Committee on Communications as William Palmer,

Alex. Wetmore, R. E. Coker, L. 0. Howard, and A. S. Hitchcock.

The Recording Secretary read a letter from the Washington Academ.y

of Sciences in which subscriptions to the Journal of that Society were

solicited on the part of members of the affiliated societies, and in which

the aims and character of the Journal were set forth.

Dr. L. 0. Howard introduced Prof. Stephen A. Forbes, of the Uni-

versity of Illinois, as a visitor to the Society who was invited by the

President to take part in the discussions.

Under the heading brief notes, General T. E. Wilcox presented a

note read by the Secretary on the inability of camels to swim.

A. S. Hitchcock outlined the plans formulated by a gathering of

botanists during the scientific meetings recently held in Pittsburgh

for the establishment of an abstract journal on the subject of botany.

The regular program consisted of three communications as follows:

N. E. McIndoo: The senses of insects, illustrated by charts. Three

types of olfactory organs were discussed. (1) The lyriform organs are

found on all the appendages of spiders. (2) The olfactory pores found

on the appendages of insects were divided into simple and compound

proceedings: biological society 139

organs; the former being a single sense cell whose peripheral end pierces

the integument, and the latter being a group of sense cells whose

peripheral ends pierce a common plate; the compound organs are

found only on the antennae of a certain coleopterous larva. (3) The

antennal organs discussed are the pore plates, pegs, pit pegs, and end

pegs; each of these organs is innervated, but the nerve does not come

in direct contact with the external air as it does in the lyriform organs

and olfactorj^ pores.

Bees recognize one another chiefly by the odors they emit; in a colony

there are a queen odor, drone odor, family odor, individual odor, and a

hive odor. The hive odor is the most miportant one, because without

it a colony of bees could not exist. These odors are produced by a

special scent-producing organ.

The tactile sense of bees is very acute, and these insects can dis-

criminate between certain foods better than people, although they have

no sense of taste; this is accomphshed by means of the highly devel-

oped olfactory sense after the bees have eaten a little of the foods.

The paper was discussed by Dr. L. 0. Howard and Alex. Wetmore.

Eleanor C. Allex: Wax models of fleshy fungi, with an exhibit of

several models. ]Miss Allen said she had been engaged for the past

four years in making models of this sort for the Milwaukee Public

Museum. She illustrated her talk bj' models of four species of mush-

rooms, each being represented bj- a group of several individuals ar-

ranged as in their living condition. She described the processes inci-

dent to the making of the finished groups. Living specimens growing

in woods or fields are found and before picking sketches of the group

and complete notes in regard to color and habitat are made. Then

plaster models of the various individuals are made. In the laboratory,

using these models, wax mushrooms are cast and the details of these

are worked out by careful modeling, coloring, and the addition of

various materials to give a natural appearance of texture. Habitat

material such as grass, moss, stumps, etc., are gathered and chemically

treated. Backgrounds, natural to individual species, are prepared from

these materials and upon these the wax facsimiles are arranged.

Miss Allen showed photographs of the numerous groups which she

has made and which are now installed in the Milwaukee Public Museum.

Miss Allen not being a member of the Society was introduced by

President Rose. Her communication was discussed by the chair, and

by Alessrs. F. V. Colville and A. S. Hitchcock.

C. B. Doyle: Some agricultural and botanical features of Haiti, illus-

trated b}^ lantern slides. In Haiti there is very little left to repre-

sent the original forest covering. The primitive milpa system of

agriculture is used and the natives live in scattered families or small

groups. ^lost of the food plants are of American origin, butit is the

introduced species that have become of the greatest importance to the

natives. There are only a few large plantations on the island, the bulk

of the crops of the three principal exports (coffee, cacao, and cotton)

being produced on the small native farms. Many different kinds of

140 proceedings: botanical society

fine fruits are abundant, but several species prominent in other parts

of tropical America, such as the papaya, sapote, sapodilla, and pine-

apple, are absent or little used. Among the root crops that are com-

monly grown are sweet potatoes, yams, yautias, and cassava, and more

recently white potatoes are being successfuly produced in the cool

mountain districts southeast of Port au Prince. In comparison with

other tropical countries, conditions appear favorable for crop production

in Haiti, if a more effective organization of agriculture can be estab-

lished together with a better means of marketing the products.

The paper was discussed by Major E. A. Goldman, Dr. L. 0.

Howard, 0. F. Cook, A. S. Hitchcock, and the chair.

M. W. Lyon, Jr., Recording Secretary.

BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

The 125th regular meeting of the Society was held at the Cosmos

Club, Thursday, January 3, 1918. There were 65 members and 8

guests present. The following persons were elected to membership:

A. A. Hansen, Leonard W. Kephart, H. E. Allanson, F. P. Met-

CALF, Nathan Menderson, and T. Ralph Robinson. The following

scientific program was given:

C. V. Piper: The botany and economics of the tribe Phaseoleae. The

word bean traces back philologically to Vicia faba known as the horse

bean, broad bean, Windsor bean, etc. In present-day usage the word

bean is most commonly used for the common or kidney bean Phaseolus

vulgaris. Botanists in general restrict the term bean to the botanical

tribe Phaseoleae, but the original bean Vicia faba belongs to the tribe

Viciae. By extension the word bean has also been applied to seeds

in other families, as the castor bean, cacao bean, vanilla bean, etc.

On the other hand some of the Phaseoleae are commonly known as

peas; for example, pigeon pea and cowpea.

For the purpose of this discussion the term bean is restricted to the

botanical tribe Phaseoleae. In this tribe Engler and Prantl recognized

forty-seven genera, and Bentham and Hooker fifty. In recent years one

additional undoubtedl.y distinct genus has been described and many

botanists subdivide some of the older genera. Thus from Phaseolus

have been segregated Dyslobium and Strophostyles and perhaps other

natural genera still remain to be separated from the Phaseolus complex.

Engler and Prantl divide the tribe Phaseoleae into six subtribes, of

which the most important is the Phaseolinae. Of the eight to twelve

genera in this tribe all but one or two are economic and seven are

important as sources of human food.

All of the edible beans are of very ancient agriculture and most of

them have not been found, or at least identified, as wild plants. The

exceptions which are known as wild are the cowpea, the horse bean,

the soy bean, the lima bean, the moth bean, and the Niger bean.

Most of the beans used for human food are prone to create digestive

disturbances, in strong contrast with the seeds of the pea tribe, but

proceedings: biological society 141

very little is known of the substances in beans which cause these

troubles.

The speaker discussed briefly the botanical characters of the more

important genera. Detailed data were given concerning the species

that are of economic impoi'tance in the United States. Particular

attention was called to the tremendous increase and relative importance

of the velvet bean and of the soy bean.

W. J. INIorse: Morpholoykal c/iamc'.er and food value of soy-bean

varieties. The soy bean is native of southeastern Asia and has been

cultivated as a food crop by the Chinese for more than 5000 years.

In extent of uses and value it is the most important legume grown in

^ Asiatic countries. The plant is found growing in its wild form in

' southern China and on the southern islands of Japan.

The number of varieties cultivated in the Orient is very extensive and

during the past ten years the Department of Agriculture has brought

in through the Ofhce of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction nearly

1000 introductions, nearly all of which were distinct sorts. Very

seldom is the same sort received twice unless from the same locality.

In China and Japan the varieties are distinguished by color, shape, size,

and use of the seed, and, to a slight extent, by the maturity. Certain

sorts are favored for making bean cheese, others for bean sprouts, some

for soy sauce, and still others for the production of oil and meal. In

America, vaieties are classified according to color, size, and shape of

seed, maturity and habit of plant, and color of pubescence and flowers.

Analyses made o" all varieties introduced thus far show a range of

from 12 to 24 per cent oil and from 30 to 46 per cent protein. The

Department of Agriculture is doing considerable work in the selection

of high oil-bearing varieties and also those with a high percentage of

protein for food purposes. Investigations as to starch content indicate

varieties having a total absence of starch to a few having perhaps

about 3 per cent. In most varieties examined, the starch is found

around the hilum, while in one instance a small quantitj^ was found

scattered throughout the cotyledons.

In Oriental countries the so}^ bean is utilized largely for food, being

elaborated into a great variety of productions such as soy sauce, vege-

table cheeses (fresh, dried, fermented, and smoked), vegetable milk,

and bean sprouts. All of these products are rich in protein and fur-

nish, with rice, a well-balanced diet to the people of these countries.

In Europe and America soy-bean flour or meal has been used to a

small extent for many years as a special food for persons requiring a

food of low starch diet. During the last two or three years the dried

beans are assuming a place on the American market and are used the

same as the field or navy bean. The green beans, about three-quarters

to full grown, are finding favor as a green vegetable, being utilized like

the lima or butter bean.

As an oil seed, the soy bean has taken an important place in the

world's commerce and has become an important competitor of other

vegetable oils. Hundreds of thousands of tons of beans are being

142 proceedings: botanical society

crushed for oil and meal in Asia, America, and European countries.

The oil is used quite extensively in the manufacture of food stuffs

such as butter and lard substitutes.

The soy bean, with its products, oil and meal, present great possi-

bilities in supplementing our ordinary food products during the present

emergency, and once introduced on the market will give a highly nutri-

tious food at very low cost. Extensive areas in the United States are

suited to the production of soy beans. Although the acreage of the

crop the past season is about five times that of five years ago, it should,

and no doubt will, assume an important place among the faim crops of

the United States.

Charles Thom : Fermented soy-bean products. Some preliminary ex-

periments have been made to determine the conditions of making and

ripening the Chinese soy cheeses.

The presence of a protein allied to the casein of mammalian milk

makes possible the manufacture of these cheeses. The basis of these

is the so-called Tofu or Dofu; it has various names. This is a soft

curd made by the coagulation of the soy-bean milk with calcium sul-

phate, raw salt, or by acid milk or whey. As it appears in the market,

it contains about 83 to 88 per cent water, 7 to 11 per cent protein,

4 to 5 per cent fat, and perhaps 0.5 per cent ash. In the fresh form

it is comparable to low-grade Neufchatel or cottage cheese which runs

about 10 per cent higher in nutritive constituents. The cakes of curd

are usually about 2 inches square and 1 inch thick. These little cakes

are riponed in cool, very moist rooms, until covered with a deep felt of

mold; then packed in jars with excessive amounts of salt and allowed to

cure slowly. The concentration of brine is such as to reduce the ac-

tivity of microorganisms to a minimum. The final cheeses have high

flavor, rather strong odor, and too much salt to be consumed in bulk

as cheese. They are covered with red sauce and variously combined

with other food products before consumption.

J. A. LeClerc: The composition of the soy bean and its use in bread-

making. The speaker presented the results of the analyses of several

hundred samples representing 45 varieties and grown in six different

localities. From these results it was shown that soy beans contain

on an average 18.6 per cent of fat and about 40 per cent of protein.

It was shown that when all these varieties were grown in the six dif-

ferent localities the influence of environment on the protein and fat

content was marked. The average protein content of some soy beans

grown in one locality was as low as 38 per cent, while those same varie-

ties grown in another locality would contain as much as 42 per cent, in-

dicating definite varietal characteristics. The same conclusions hold

for the fat content. In general, soy beans that are high in fat are

low in protein, and vice versa. It was also shown how soy ])eans

can be used as a flour substitute. Samples of bread made with 20

per cent soy bean and 80 per cent white flour were exhibited.

H. N. ViNALL, Corresponding Secretary.

SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS

The Bureau of Standards has purchased eight acres of land west of

Connecticut Avenue and has let contracts for a new engineering lab-

oratory, 175 by 350 feet and four stories in height. The new building

and its equipment will cost in the neighborhood of $1,000,000, and will

increase the capacity of the Bureau by 50 per cent. The Pittsburgh

laboratory of the Bureau, including the work on glass and ceramics,

will be transferred to Washington. It is expected that the new building

will be occupied during the coming summer.

i\Irs. E. H. Harrimav has turned over to the Carnegie Institution

of Washington the Eugenics Record Office established by her at Cold

Spring Harbor, Long Island, New York, in 1910. Included in the gift

are 80 acres of land, an office building, a large residence and the valu-

able records already compiled. Mi'S. Harriman also has created an

endowment fund jaelding an annual income of $12,000 for maintenance

of the work.

Mr. Frederick Webb Hodge, since 1910 Ethnologist-in-charge of

the Bureau of American Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution, resigned

on February 28, to accept a position with the Museum of the American

Indian, Heye Foundation, in New York City. Dr. Jesse Walter

Fewkes, ethnologist on the Bureau's staff since 1895, has been ap-

pointed chief of the Bureau.

Dr. RoLLiN Arthur Harris, mathematician and physicist, who

had been employed in the Coast and Geodetic Survey for 28 years,

died on January 20, at the age of 55. He was a member of the Philo-

sophical Society, and one of the original members df the Academy.

His work was concerned principally with the theory of functions as

applied to geodesy and cartography, and with problems of tides and

cotidal maps.

Dr. J. W. Turrentine, of the Bureau of Soils, is now in charge of

the experimental kelp-potash plant of the Bureau, at Summerland,

CaUfornia. The plant has been in operation since late August, and

is now marketing daily about $300 worth of materials produced inci-

dentally in experimentation. While primarily experimental, it is

built and equipped to make possible the obtaining of commercial data.

It has a capacity of about 150 tons of raw kelp per day, and its equip-

ment includes a self-propelling harvester; a pier with unloading device

and conveyors; rotary kilns and furnaces for drying; retorts for de-

structive distillation; lixi viator; evaporator and crystalhzer; centrif-

ugal dryers; and the necessary incidental equipment. Dr. Turrentine

has as his assistants Mr. E. B. Smith, formerly of the office of Public

143

144 SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS

Roads, Mr. P. S. Shoaff, formerly Chief Chemist of the Holly Sugar

Corporation, and Dr. G. C. Spencer, formerly of the Bureau of

Chemistry, together with an operating force numbering forty-three.

Prof. C. C. Nutting, a member of the Academy, is organizing a

party of naturalists, composed almost entirely of graduate students

and instructors in zoology at the State University of Iowa, to carry on

investigations regarding marine fauna in the vicinity of the islands of

Barbados and Antigua, British West Indies. The party will sail

about April 27 from New York and expects to return about August 1.

The time will be divided between the islands of Barbados and Antigua,

at both of which places the Colonial Governments have placed ade-

quate quarters for the party. A well-equipped launch with excellent

facilities for dredging down to 200 fathoms has been proffered by a

Washington friend, who himself will be a member of the party.

In his preliminary trip to Barbados last summer Prof. Nutting found

that the natives of these islands are quite expert in diving, and one of

them was capable of bringing up specimens from a depth of 10 fathoms.

It is the intention to make rather extensive use of native divers to

procure specimens down to this depth.

The following persons have become members of the Academy since

the last issue of the Journal: Miss Frances Densmore, Bureau of

American Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution; Major William Mc-

Pherson, War Department, 1800 Virginia Avenue; Dr. Francis

Briggs Silsbee, Bureau of Standards.

JOURNAL

OF THE

WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Vol. VIII MARCPI 13. 1018 No, (i

OCEANOGRAPHY. — A7i eleztrical instrument for recording sea-

water salinity.^ Frnest E. Weibel and Albert L. Thuras,

Bureau of Standards. (Communicated by S. W. Stratton.)

The modern tendency in physical research is to replace indi-

cating instruments by recording instruments wherever possible.

This has been especially true in the science of meteorology,

where the recent advances have been brought about almost

entirely by the remarkable improvements and developments

in recording instruments. In the related science of oceanog-

raphy there are practically no recording instruments now in

general use, except possibly the tide-gage. If meteorology has

been so greatly benefited by such instruments, surely in oceanog-

raphy, where the changes in the physical properties are so much

more regular and therefore more easily interpreted, great ad-

vances should be looked for through the addition or substitution

of recording instruments.

A few years ago a recorder using a platinum resistance ther-

mometer, ^ giving a continuous record of the surface temperature

of the ocean, was designed and constructed at the Bureau of

Standards. This instrument has been used successfully on

board ship and some very interesting records have been obtained

which show the distribution of temperature and thereby indi-

cate the location of ocean currents and also give a knowledge

^Done under the auspices of the Interdepartmental Committee on Oceanog-

raphy, subcommittee on instruments, apparatus, and measurements.

2WAiDNER,DiCKixsox, and Crowe. Bureau of Standards Bull. 10: 267. 1914.

143 ,

146 WEIBEL AND THUUAS: 14ECORDING SALINITY

of their boundary conditions which could hardly be obtained by

repeated single measurements of temperature.

The temperature, however, is not nearly so reliable a clue to

the location of currents and the origin of water masses as is the

salinity. A body of sea water may change considerably in tem-

perature in moving from one place to another, but unless the

evaporation or rainfall is excessive its concentration will change

comparatively little. By salinity is meant the number of grams

of salt or solids in one kilogram of sea water. The composition

of these salts is very nearly constant everywhere in the open

ocean, but the salinity, or concentration of the total salts, varies

from place to place.

From a consideration of the properties of sea water that vary

with the salinity, the electrical conductivity seemed to be the

most susceptible to continuous measurement, if the difficulty

due to the variation of conductivity with temperature can b(^

overcome. This difficulty is avoided by the use of a method

which is compensated for temperature.

This paper describes the method of measurement and the ex-

perimental work done towards the production of an apparatus

to give a continuous record of sea-water salinity to the accuracy

required in the most precise oceanographic research. The work

has not been finished, but from the results obtained we believe

that the method is practical and sufficiently important to war-

rant publication at the present time, even though the apparatus

is not yet built.

DESCRIPTION OF THE METHOD

The method consists in measuring the ratio of the resistance of

sea water in two equal or nearly equal electrolytic cells A and B

(fig. 1); one cell A is sealed and contains sea water of a known

average salinity, the other cell B is open and has flowing through

it the sea water to be measured. This ratio is obtained by a

Wheatstone bridge using alternating current to eliminate polari-

zation effects in the cells. A calibration of the apparatus can

be made at any time by using sea water of known salinity in the

WEIBEL AND THUUAS: RECORDING SALINITY

147

open cell. This can be done either by carrying standard samples

or by determining the salinity of the sea water flowing through

the open cell by some accurate method that can be used on board

ship. Such a method giving salinity by a measurement of den-

sity has been described.'^ A record of the resistance ratio of the

two cells is made by a recorder similar to those now in use for

measuring temperature, but some changes will have to be made

t(^ adapt it for using alternating current.

Fig. 1.

The new and important feature of this method is the use of

two cells containing liquids of nearly the same properties, which

make it possible to compensate almost completely for the large

temperature coefficient of sea water. The two cells are placed

in a uniform temperature bath and the error will bo only that

due to the small differential temperature coefficient of iho two

solutions.

EXPERIMENTAL WORK

Preliminary expoi-iments to test the general feasibility of the

method showed:

1. Good balances can be obtained with a mnplc Wheatstone

■'TiiunAs, A. L., Journ. Wash. Acad. Sci. 7: GO."). 1917.

148 WEIBEL AND THURAS: RECORDING SALINITY

bridge circuit containing the two electrolytic cells, using either

a telephone at 500 cycles per second or an alternating current

galvanometer at 60 cycles per second as a detector.

2. The temperature compensation is sufficient. For the maxi-

mum difference in salinity the lack of compensation did not ex-

ceed 0.03 in salinity (0.03 gram of solids per kilogram of water)

for a change of 10°C.

3. No appreciable change in balance due to the flow of the sea

water through the open cell was obtained.

4. To obtain a continuous record of salinity an alternating-

current galvanometer similar t o the usual direct-current galvan-

ometer is needed to operate tlie recorder. This galvanometer

was constructed of the electromagnet moving coil type,^ and

had a sensitivity and other operating constants as good as those

of the direct-current galvanometers now used. After these

preliminary experiments on some temporary cells had shown the

feasibility of the method a more careful study was made of cer-

tain sources of error in order to obtain data upon which to base

the design of the final cells. These effects are :

1. Heating effect of the current in the cells;

2. Temperature lag of the sealed cell when the sea- water

temperature in the bath suddenly changes;

3. Time necessary for the resistance ratio to reach its true

value if the sea water passing through the open cell changes

in salinity.

In the ordinary conductivity measurements performed in a

laboratory the heating effect of the current can be made negligi-

ble l)y using a sufficiently sensitive galvanometer or telephone

receivei', but with the less sensitive recording galvanometer this

current must be much larger and consequently requires a spe-

cially designed cell to dissipate the heat developed. From ex-

]:)ei-iments on differently shaped cells the heating coefficients,

i.e., temperature rise per watt dissipated in the cells, were found

to l)e approximately inversely proportional to the diameters

and lengths of the cells. Since the length of cell is limited by

*Weibel, E. E., Bureau of Standards Sci. Paper No. 297 p. 23. 1917.

WEIBEL AND THURAS: RECORDING SALINITY 149

practical considerations, it was necessary to increase the diam-

eter in order to reduce this coefficient.

To determine the temperature lag, different cells were placed

in a stirred bath and their time constants were found by chang-

ing their temperatures slightly from the temperature of the bath

and reading the resistance at definite intervals as the cell gradu-

ally assumed the temperature of the bath. By time constant

is here meant the time necessary for the temperature of the cell

to approach the temperature of the bath to 67 per cent of its

initial difference in temperature.

The time constants were found to be very approximately

inversely proportional to the square of the diameter of the cells.

Therefore the condition that is required to reduce the heating

coefficient is opposite to that which will reduce the time constant,

and since both of these values must be small special multiple tube

cells were designed which will fulfill these conditions.

The time lag produced by a change in concentration of the

sea water was determined by passing water of different salinities

through a cell and it was found that if the cell is being swept out

at the rate of three or four volumes a minute the ratio will re-

spond within three or four minutes for probably the maximum

change in salinity which can occur. The following considera-

tions will show the purpose of reducing these factors as much as

possible.

In general the temperature and salinity of the ocean changes

very gradually from place to place so that usually no special

cell would be required to record the salinity, but at some places

as for instance in the vicinity of the Grand Bank of Newfound-

land, where the cold fresh water of the Labrador Current meets

the warm salty water of the Gulf Stream, the temperature and

salinity change comparatively rapidly in moving from one body

of water to the other. At these places such a specially designed

cell is necessary. A few years ago a number of temperature

records of the ocean were taken from a vessel going at moderate

speeds and the most sudden change in temperature was 3.5° in

about one minute. If this change is assumed to be instantane-

ous, the temperature of the sealed cell will in less than two min-

150

WEIBEL AND THURAS : RECORDING SALINITY

utes be so near that of the open cell that the error will be less

than 0.02 in salinity.

Although there. are as yet no observations on the rate of change

of salinity, it is assumed that the maximum change in a short

interval of time is not greater than 2 in salinity. This value is

estimated from the relative changes of temperature which are

discussed above. A response to this change to within 0.02 in

salinity in less than two minutes can be obtained by washing

out the cell at the rate of 3 or 4 volumes a minute. However,

if the temperature and salinity change at the same time, which is

Elect t-olytic Cell

c

End view

Plan view

(m^

Side view

Fig.

¥^

quite probable, the lag of the recorder will be the sum of the

two and if they are both a maximum at the same time, which

is quite improbable, then the total time lag will be 4 minutes.

This is probably the worst possible condition that can occur,

but it is well to point out that as the regain of the true reading

is exponential the recorder Avill at first quickly approach its

correct value and although it takes four minutes to reach within

0.02 in salinity it will take much less than two minutes to obtain

an accuracy of 0.04 in salinity. However, if a more careful

study of the change in salinity between different water masses

WEIBEL AND THUKAS: RECORDING SALINITY 151

is required it is only necessar}- to increase the flow through the

open cell and to make a correction for the error caused by the

rapid change in temperature. Since another recorder will be

used to measure the temperature of the sea water this tempera-

ture correction for the salinitj^ can easily be obtained.

MULTIPLE TUBE CELLS

Each of the 2 cells that have been designed (fig. 2) contains

6 parallel glass tubes 14 cm. long and 1 cm. in diameter. These

tubes are joined at each end to bulbs containing annular-shaped

platinum electrodes. Each electrode has an area of 5.3 sq. cm.

and is held rigidly in place by 4 platinum pins which are welded

to the electrode and sealed into the glass wall of the cell. The

cells are designed so that there are no pockets in which air can

collect, and the sea water is admitted in such a manner as to

sweep off any bubbles that might collect on the electrodes.

The inlet and outlet tubes are sufficiently large to insure a

thorough washing out of the cell in sufficient time to respond

to the maximum changes in salinity that are liable to be met

with on a vessel running at moderate speed.

RECORDER

In order to obtain a continuous record of sea-water salinity

the "NATieatstone bridge and galvanometer must be embodied in

a recorder mechanism such as that developed by the Leeds &

Northrup Company. The most important changes in their

present recorder are due to the use of alternating current. The

electrical connections are as shown in fig. 1. The current may

be obtained from the usual 60-cycle supply, but if only direct

current is available then the small direct-current motor used for

driving the recorder mechanism can be equipped with slip rings

and be operated as a converter. The recorder paper should be

ruled so that salinities can be read directly.

INSTALLATION AND OPERATION ON BOARD SHIP

To obtain a continuous record of surface salinity, the appara-

tus will be set up similarly to the temperature-recording appara-

152

WEIBEL AND THURASI RECORDING SALINITY

tus previously used.^ The recorder will be properly secured in

a convenient place on the vessel and insulated wires will lead

from it to the cells. The cells (see fig. 3) will be mounted close

together in a bath through which water direct from the ocean

will flow continuously. This will insure a uniform temperature

throughout the bath. A flow of water will also be maintained

f leads to the

cell

c/ischatge

Sea wafer

intake

Plan view

bath

Fig. 3.

End vievi

through the open cell, this water being tapped off from the main

supply which passes through the bath. This flow must be broken

as it leaves the cell in order to eliminate the resistance error

due to shunting the open cell. The bath and connections to

the sea-water supply will be carefully covered with heat in-

sulating material to insure a uniform temperature throughout.

5 Treasury Dept., U. S. Coast Guard Bull. 5: 27. 1915.

COOK AND cook: THE MAHO OR MAHAGUA 153

SUMMARY

An apparatus to give a continuous record of sea-water salinity

by the measurement of its electrical conductivity is described.

A pair of electrolytic cells has been designed which when used

with a suitable alternating-current galvanometer will give

satisfactory operation in connection with a recorder. The tem-

perature compensation is obtained by placing both cells, which

are in the two arms of a Wheatstone bridge, in a uniform !em-

perature bath.

ETHNOBOTANY. — The maho, or mahagua, as a trans-Pacific

plant. O. F. Cook, Bureau of Plant Industry, and Robert

Carter Cook.

As noted previously in this Journal^ the word cumara or

kumara, a name for sweet potatoes, is found in the Pacific islands

and among tjie Quichua Indians of the interior valleys of southern

Peru, on the eastern slopes of the Andes. Considering the plant

as a native of America, the preservation of an American name

among the Polynesians appears significant. If the sweet potato

and its name were carried into the Pacific in prehistoric times,

other evidences of communication may be discovered.

The underlying question is whether agriculture and civiliza-

tion arose independently in the two hemispheres, or had their

early development in America and reached Asia by way of the

Pacific islands. Did civilization grow from a single primary

root, or were there parallel developments among widely separated

peoples? The agriculture of ancient America undoubtedly was

indigenous, since it was based on native plants. Nevertheless,

several of the American plants, as the coconut palm, the sweet

potato, the bottle-gourd, the yam-bean, and the upland species

of cotton, appear to have been cultivated in the Pacific islands

and the Malay region long before the period of discovery by

Europeans. Civilization being an outgrowth of algriculture,

evidence from the cultivated plants seems pertinent.

The maho, or mahoe, to use the Jamaican or West Indian name

16:339. 1916.

154 COOK AND cook: the maho or mahagua

that has found its way into diction9,ries, is one of the economic

plants that appears to have attained a trans-Pacific distribution

in prehistoric times. It is a handsome woody shrub or small

tree, with large lemon-yellow flowers, a member of the mallow

family, a. relative of the cotton plant, the okra, and the holly-

hock. The leaves are entire and broadly cordate, much like

those of the linden or basswood, a similarity recognized in the

name given by Linnaeus, Hibiscus tiliaceiis, or linden hibiscus.

Some writers have called it lemon hibiscus and others corkwood.

Many botanists have treated the maho as representing a genus

distinct from Hibiscus under the name Paritium, though as

originally proposed the genus was called Pariti, one of the East

Indian vernacular names being adopted by Adanson as the

generic designation.

A source of fiber and fire

Among the early Polynesians the maho must have been a

very important plant, since it affords two indispensable materials

and has many incidental uses. The bark contains a strong,

flexible fiber adapted to many purposes, tying and binding,

building houses and boats, snaring or trapping game, and making

bark cloths, nets, mats, baskets, and other equipment of primi-

tive life. The wood of the maho has the peculiarity of readily

producing fire by friction. The ease with which the natives of

Tahiti were able to produce fire from maho wood is remarked

by Darwin in the Voyage of the Beagle:

A light was procured by rubbing a blunt-pointed stick in a groove

made in another, as if with intention of deepening it, until by the

friction the dust became ignited. A peculiarly white and very light

wood (the Hibiscus tiUaceus) is alone used for this purpose; it is the

same which serves for poles to carrj^ any burden, and for the floating

outriggers to their canoes. The fire was produced in a few seconds;

Init to a person who does not understand the art it requires, as I

found, the greatest exertion; but at last, to my great pride, I suc-

ceeded in igniting the dust.

The heart-wood of the maho is described in Gill's Jottings,

in the Pacific as very tough and durable, fragrant, of a very dark-

COOK AND cook: THE MAHO OR MAHAGUA 155

green color, and well adapted for making paddles and the frame-

work of boats and houses. Gill states that most of the firewood

used in the islands is furnished by this tree, and also claims for

it an important function in agriculture:

Perhaps the greatest blessing conferred upon these islanders by this

tree is its power of renewing the fertility of the soil. Nothing exhausts

the soil so speedily as yams or cotton. In ten or twelve years the

soil is utterly impoverished. The native plan then is to allow it to be

overrun with lemon hibiscus bush. When the timber has become heavy

you may be sure the soil is perfectly renewed. The soil which once

was dry and hard is now light and extremely rich.

Such a possibility of reclaiming abandoned lands might prove

of practical importance in many tropical countries, and would

doubtless facilitate the commercial cultivation of the maho as a

fiber or paper plant, which has been suggested.

A WILD PLANT IN AMERICA

As with the coconut palm and the sweet potato, the maho

figures more prominently among the Polynesians than among

the natives of tropical America, although the American origin

of the plant is even more clearly indicated. While the coconut

and the sweet potato are not known to exist in a truly wild state,

the maho is an abundant or even a dominant species in many

localities, all the way from Porto Rico and southern Florida to

the banks of the Guayaquil River, on the Pacific coast of South

America. Although used in the same ways as in the East Indies,

for bark cloth and cordage, and for kindling fire, as indicated by

Oviedo, Dampier, Sloane, Barrerre, and many later writers,

these uses were shared with many other plants, so that no

special prominence was attained by the maho. Sloane's History

of Jamaica states that the outer layers of the bark were used for

making ropes and the inner for clothing the slaves.

A CULTIVATED PLANT IN THE OLD WORLD

In the Pacific islands and in eastern Asia the status of the

maho was notably different from that in America. Lack of other

materials may have enhanced its importance. The making of

156 COOK AND cook: the maho or mahagua

bark cloth was a much more highly developed art among the

Polynesians than in America. The maho cordage was used

especially for making canoes, its strength and durability not

being affected by exposure to water. The plant was grown

regularly from cuttings, and in some parts of the East Indies a

condition of seedlessness appears to have been reached, as with

other species that have been subject to vegetative propagation

for long periods.

In some of the islands the maho grows spontaneously, and

covers large areas that have been abandoned after previous

cultivation. As a result of extensive studies of plant dispersal

in the Pacific islands, Guppy classes the maho with the candle-

nut as introduced trees which have replaced native forest vege-

tation. Low banks of tidal rivers are the favorite habitat.

Though many botanists have written of the maho as a cosmo-

politan seashore plant, its wide dissemination may be due largely

to human agency, as with the coconut palm. The distribution

in both cases extends over tropical America and the Polynesian

area, including the islands and shores of the Pacific and Indian

oceans.

DISTRIBUTION OF THE NAME IN AMERICA

The name maho, with many variations, is widely distributed in

tropical America, and is applied locally to many other plants.

The form usually employed in Spanish books is majagua or

mahagua, in French mahaut, mahoe, or mahoii. In Ecuador the

maho is said to be called jagua. A reduplicated form, mahou-

mahou, is listed by Martins for the Galibi Indians of Brazil, but

the simple form mahu is also mentioned in relation to Mahu as a

Tupi place name on the Upper Amazon {Ethnographie, 512).

How far the plant extends up the Amazon is not known. No

definitely recognizable equivalent has been recorded in the

Quichua language of Peru, but ahua, meaning '' string" or

"thread," ahuani to weave, ahuac a weaver, and many other

terms of textile implication are of possible interest for comparison

with Hawaiian words of similar sound and meaning.

COOK AND cook: THE MAHO OR MAHAGUA 157

The chief center of popularity for majagua as a plant name

is in the West Indies. Oviedo, who appears to have written the

first account of the plant in Santo Domingo, early in the six-

teenth centur}^, called it demmahagua and it is still called dema-

jagua and emahagua in Porto Rico. In de la Maza's dictionary

of native Cuban plant names the word majagua or its diminu-

tive vmjaguUla, appears in nearly a score of Spanish combina-

tions, viajagna azul, majagua blanca, majagua de casta, majagua

hembra, etc., in application to several genera of Malvaceae and

Tiliaceae, which have fibrous barks, including Hibiscus, Thes-

pesia, Pavonia, Helicteres; and Guazuma. The Porto Rican

name of Thespesia is maga or magar, while. 7naya and maguey

are the native West Indian names of Bromelia and Agave, two

other important groups of fiber plants. Several species of Ficus,

also with fibrous barks, are called gagiley, jagiley, or jagUeicillo.

In Porto Rico yagua is the name of the leathery, fibrous leaf-

bases of the royal palm.

The list of Mexican plant names by Ramirez and Alcocer

includes majagua as the name of Hibiscus tiliaceus and Hampea

integerrima, and also mahahiia, masahua, and majagililla, as

names of the maho or of Helicteres, Heliocarpus, and Thespesia.

Maho names collected by Pittier from seven of the native

languages of Costa Rica apparently have no relation to the

West Indian and South American series of maho words, as may

be seen from the following list: Bribri, stsd; Brunka, kro-kua, or

krok-ua; Terraba, kip-kuo and tro-kro; Dorasque Gualaca, kis;

Dorasque Changuina, i-lak; Cuna, Chagua tiipii; Guaymi, ko

and kud-td. Two more aberrant names, choucoron and guimauve,

are listed in Van Wijk's Dictionary of Plant Names, probably

from Guiana.

OTHER PLANTS CALLED MAHOE IN AMERICA

Among the plants that share the name, or that have been

confused locally with the maho elsewhere in the West Indies are

Thespesia populnea, Hibiscus clypeatus, and Stercidia caribaea.

In French Guiana and Brazil the names mahoe cochon, mahaguo

158 COOK AND cook: the maho or mahagua

de playa and niahaujo are applied respectively to Sterculia

pruriens, Helideres haruensis, and Muntingia calabura. The last

is called majaguilla in Venezuela, according to Ernst, who also

gives mijagua as a name of Anacardium rhinocarpus. Gomez

de la Maza gives macagua as a Cuban name of Pseudolmedia and

majaguin for Pavonia. All these trees have fibrous barks that

can be used for the same purposes as the maho bark. Muntingia

is very widely distributed and may be considered as replacing

the maho in the drier or more elevated regions of tropical Amer-

ica. A Quichua name for tough-barked trees is p-hancho or

pjancho. Muntingia is called ccarapjancho in the lower Uru-

bamba Valley, while a species of Heliocarpus is known as

llaosapjancho.

From Colombia the names mamagua and maragua have been

recorded by Pittier,^ in relation to another fibrous-barked tree

of the mulberry family, Inophloeum armatum. In Costa Rica

and Panama, according to Pittier, the name majagua is not ap-

plied especially to the maho tree or its bark, but to any kind of

tough bark that can be used for tying. Yet majagiiita is given

as the Costa Rican name of Pavonia dasypetala, a plant that

furnishes a very tough fiber used by the Indians.

NAMES OF THE MAHO IN POLYNESIA

The tendency in many of the island languages is to sup-

press the consonants and reduce words to monosyllables, but

when the simplified Polynesian names of the maho (rnao, 7nau,

au, hau,fau, and vau, are brought together, the essential unity

of the series is apparent. For the tree itself the nearest ap-

proach in Polynesia to American forms of the name is moaua,

recorded from Easter Island, or marau, from New Guinea, but

mahu, mahui, mahoe, mahaga, mahini, mahae, maoa, inaharo,

mahore, 7nagoe, mageo, 7nalo, and many similar words, relate to

the operations of peeling, spreading, pounding, or rubbing the

bark, to bark cloth, or to ropes, strings, or strips of bark used

in tying or snaring, or in other ways that connect naturally

with the maho.

2 Journ. Wash. Acad. Sci. 6: 114. 1916.

■ COOK AND cook: THE MAHO OR MAHAGUA 159

Although Httle can be inferred with confidence from single

instances, the Polynesian maho vocabulary includes several

rather prominent groups of words, as the examples will show.

Many other words that may prove to be compounds or deriva-

tives of maho names are to be found in the vocabularies of

Tregear, Andrews, Pratt, and Churchill.

In suggesting that the Polj^nesian hau and fau probably came

from a root meaning to "bind or tie up," Christian is in ac-

cord with a custom of philologists to deduce particular names

from words of more general meaning, but primitive languages,

though usually rich in spedfic names, may lack generic terms,

which are a later development. Thus a language having many

names for different kinds of spiders and different kinds of plants

may still have no terms to include all spiders or all plants, so

that such names as spider-wort or hind-weed are impossible.

Even the Spanish could not have hind-weed, there being no

proper equivalent of weed, as representing a class of plants that

infest cultivated lands and interfere with the growth of crops.

The question whether fau refers primarily to the tree or to

the act of using the bark is raised by Churchill:'

In the utter absence of perspective in which these languages appear

before us it would be idle to engage upon the attempt to discover

whether in sense the tree or the act of using its bast is primordial. In

the records before us the stem carries the tree sense without the verb

in the Paumotu, the Marquesas, Nukuoro, and Aneityum; nowhere the

verb where the noun does not designate a plant which yields a string.

It seems not impossible, however, that orientation in such

matters may be improved by taking account of the origins, dis-

tributions, names, and uses of the agricultural and economic

plants. Churchill has collected hnguistic evidence of Poly-

nesian migrations from west to east. That such migrations

took place may also be inferred from the cultivation of Malayan

and Asiatic plants in all of the islands, but the possession of

American plants by the early Polynesian has also to be recognized

and explained.

' Polynesian Wanderings, 328.

160 COOK AND cook: the maho or mahagua •

POLYNESIAN COGNATES RELATING TO FIBERS

That a root word associated with the idea of ying or binding

may be very proHfic in derived forms and meanings is appar-

ent from such a series as our Enghsh band, bend, bind, bond,

bound, boundary, bundle, etc. A more recently developed

analogy is that of our word wire, now used not only as the name

of fibers or cords made of metal, but also to designate the many

different uses to which such material can be put, from fastening

things together to sending telegrams. Corresponding series of

words appear to have developed in«the Pacific archipelagoes

from such an original as maho or mahagua, in connection with

each of the principal uses and activities connected with this tree.

In Hawaii rnahui means to join, unite, adhere to, or imitate;

hoo-mau is to tie on, or to fit, as sandals or shoes; maunu, any-

thing that affords a hold on a person for purposes of witchcraft ;

haim and kauhau, to strike, to whip, chastise, or apply stripes;

auau, a snare for catching and killing birds; kau, to catch, hang

up, suspend; kauo, to drag or haul; kaula, a rope or strong cord,

a tendon or bowstring. In Easter Island mahetu means twisted,

like bark for rope; mahani, a habit, custom, or practice; and

hakamahani, to tame, or keep tied, haka being a causative pre-

fix; hai is to tie up; hahai, a package or bundle; hahie, firewood;

magoe and hahamageo, to splice or tie together; and hakamaga,

a roof, which primitive builders usually tie on with strips of

bark. In Samoa fau is not only the name for the maho shrub

and of string or bark used in tying, but is also -the verb to tie,

or to build by tying the timbers of a house together; afauto is

the rope along the top of a fishing net ;fa,fau is to lash on, to fasten

with sinnet, as an adz to its handle, or an outrigger to a canoe;

faufau, to fasten on, to tie together; afaga, the bandage put on

the feet when climbing the coconut tree; faufili, a cord used by

women to fasten on their burdens; and many other compounds

given by Pratt.

Easter Island shares with Tonga and New Zealand such words

as mahaga, mehaga, and mahanga, relating to nooses in ropes,

snares, baits, or allurements for taking game or fish. A Samoan

COOK AND cook: THE MAHO OR MAHAGUA 161

rtame for rope is maea, while maa is a sling in Tahiti. In Pau-

motu maka is a sHng, hakamau is to thread, join, or assure;

fakamau, to sustain; 7nau, solid or stsihle ; fakahau, to reconcile,

soothe, or conciliate ; hau, to rule, reign, or surpass, superior, king-

dom, government, order, peace; haunoho, to stay or sojourn;

meamau, sure, safe; mehara, to remember, idea, disposition,

sense; mauri, soul or mind.

POLYNESIAN COGNATES RELATING TO BARK CLOTH

Although the paper-mulberry appears in recent times to

have been more prominent than the maho as a source of bark

cloth, words relating to bark cloth indicate an earlier dominance

of the maho. Three distinct classes of bark-cloth words may be

recognized; the first referring to the peeling and spreading of the

bark, the second to the beating of the bark to separate the woody

material from the fibrous network, and the third class to the

finished bark cloth and its uses.

Words of the first class are represented in Hawaii by mahihi

and mahole, to peel off bark from a tree, and maliola, to spread

out, but mahole also means to open wide, exhibit or display, and

maholo carries such meanings as to inspect or approve, wonder,

admiration, beautiful, glorious, or admirable. In Tahiti mahae

means to tear. Mahore, in the dialect of the New Zealand

Maoris, means peeled, while mahora means to spread out. In

Easter Island maharo means to spread out, and also to flatter,

admire, or glorify. In Paumotu mahu is to deliver; mahoro,

miscarriage or abortion; pahore, to peel off or scale; pahure, to

be skinned; kihoe pahurehure, to flay; papahoro, to slip; pagore,

smooth or without hair on the body; pahere, to lop, to prune;

pakirotu, a piece of w^ood for beating off bark. In Tahiti, ac-

cording'to Tregear, the w^ord pahere means to pare off the rind,

and in Mangareva pahore is to pare, or the peel taken off.

Among the prominent examples of the second class of maho

words, those that relate to the beating, softening, and cleaning

of the bark, is hau, in some islands the name of the tree, in some

meaning to tie or unite, in others, to reconcile or rule. But in

Hawaii, Tonga, and New Zealand hau or hauhau carries the idea

162 COOK AND cook: the maho or mahagua

of smiting, chopping, attacking, or conquering. Wao and yJhu

are to scratch or to scrape. Of words more similar to maho or

mahagua, Hawaii affords maoha, to rub or chafe; mahaha, soft

and tough, also applied to a kind of fish and to a variety of

taro; maholehole, bruised, crushed together; and maua, lame, sore,

stiff, close or stingy. The Samoan word maoa means "to make a

chopping or hammering sound," vau, vavau, and valu, to bruise,

pound, scrape, grate, or rub down, as taro or arrowroot. In

New Zealand, mahoe is a small mallet, said to be used for strik-

ing the tattooing chisel, but bark cloth was also beaten with

mallets. In Paumotu mihara is to regret, rue, or repent; maha,

to sooth; mahaki or maehaki, to slacken, abate, hinder, or soften;

and pahurehure, a bruise or contusion. The Mangarevan tahoa,

''to make papyrus by beating," is evidently connected with the

Easter Islanders' hahoa, to cut, wound, or hurt.

The third class of bark-cloth words relates to the finished

product and its uses. In Easter Island mahututii is ''bast cloth

in the last stages of composition." In Hawaii aha, aha, and ahu

have numerous applications in connection with fibers, cords, and

mats. Ahu in particular is a fine mat, moena a coarse mat,

and kapahau "a fine species of kapa^' made from the bark of

hau. In Samoa auafa are "the fine mats constituting the wealth

of a family;" fauepa is "to prepare the fine mats on which a dead

chief is laid in state." In Paumotu vauvau means mat, rug,

carpet, seat; kaho or kao is cloth or clothing; and malo a strip of

bark cloth girded about the loins. Pahorehore in Paumotu is

defined as to smooth out linen, but is similar to several words

already mentioned in relation to the preparation of bark cloth.

POLYNESIAN COGNATES RELATING TO FIRE

The importance of the maho in relation to fire is reflected in

the fact that the name for the tree in some of the archipelagoes,

including Easter Island, is purau, that is, fire-aw, while tamau

is the word for tinder in Easter Island and Paumotu. A redu-

plicated form purao-purau is recorded from Paumotu; pura

means phosphorescent; purero, to emit, issue, or appear; pwrara,

COOK AND cook: THE MAHO OR MAHAGUA 163

to- diverge or to spread a report, as analogous to the eventual

breaking out of a hidden or smouldering fire.

In Samoa mafu is to burn, and manj^ Polynesian and Malay

words relating to fire might be considered as echoes of the use

of the maho for fire-making. Mahao was a Hawaiian name for

pith, or for soft, rotten wood. In Wallace's list of Malayan

fire-names aow occurs several times, and is accompanied by many

similar words, aousa, hao, ahu, afu, yafu, yap, and apt, the last

also being widely distributed. In Tahiti aahi is a rag, wick, or

lint for use as tinder; while in Hawaii ahu or aahu is a bag in

which fire materials were carried. Kindling fire by friction is

the meaning of hogi and ogi in Paumotu, and the same islands

have vera, viru, and viku as another group of words relating to

fire, possibly connected with veru a name for cloth, thi-ough the

use of rags as tinder.

The two sticks of au wood used in bringing fire by friction

have separate names in Samoa, the stick with the groove aunaki,

that held in the hand aulima, the latter name being applied also

to the handle of a tool of any sort. Siaga, another Samoan name

for "si large stationary stick used in rubbing fire,", is like siapo,

the Samoan name for bark cloth, and sia means 'Ho get fire by

rubbing one stick on another." A fire-stick is kounati in Manga-

reva and kauati in New Zealand, but in Paumotu kauati is to

make fire by friction. The use of fire in clearing land or of

sticks for digging may be reflected in such words as inahi, which

in Hawaii means to dig the ground for the purpose of planting

food. In Paumotu ahu means to transplant, and in New Zea-

land to cultivate. Other uses of the wood for carrying burdens

and for floating outriggers of canoes, as mentioned by Darwin

in Tahiti, are reflected in such words as auamo and aumaka,

names for burden-sticks in Samoa; auala, the bier of a dead

chief; ama, an outrigger in Samoa, Hawaii, and Paumotu; auma-

fute, the Samoan name of the wood of the paper-mulberry after

the bark is stripped off; mafuna, meaning to peel off, also in

Samoa. The buds and young shoots of the maho were eaten in

times of scarcity by the natives of some of the islands, the

living tissues being mucilaginous, like those of okra.

164 COOK AND cook: the maho or mahagua

SYNONYMS OF MAHO WORDS

That other kinds of words, unhke 7naho or mahagua, share

their meanings in some of the islands does not make the parallel

series of maho words appear less significant. , Other words for

bark, skin, or cloth are kiri, here, kero, iri, or ere, which may

connect also with gere, to strip, and goregore, peel or rind, in

Paumotu. Kuku or tutu is a widely distributed word for beat-

ing or preparing the bark, and in Samoa tutu also means to

kindle fire. The principal word for bark cloth is kapa or tapa,

which philologists have considered an imitation of the sound of

beating the bark, and tutu could be derived in the same way.

In Samoa, where there are no k's, siapo is the principal name

of bark cloth, made from the paper-mulberry, but sema is the

name of ''a red siapo," a color which may indicate maho-bark

cloth. Bark cloth and fine mats were valuable property among

the Samoans and had a collective name, toga, and tolo is another

Samoan word for kindling fire by friction. Nets or cords to

make them were called kupenga in New Zealand, kupega in Man-

gareva and Paumotu, and hupena in Hawaii, the last a curious

approximation to the Greek hyphaino, to weave, and hypha, a

thread.

The mallet for beating cloth is called ike, eike, or ie, and simi-

lar words mean to strike, defend, choose, select, or send. In

addition to this ike the Paumotu people have iku, to rub, rasp, or

to file; ika, to make fire by friction of wood; rotika, fire; roroni,

to twist or wring; rori, to strangle with a cord; rorirori, pliant,

flexible, or supple; rore, seductive or deluding. In Maori, rore

is a snare, according to Tregear. The series may belong with the

maho words, to which it runs closely parallel.

DERIVATIVE PLANT NAMES IN POLYNESIA

That the maho was an ancient possession of the island people

is also to be inferred from the borrowing of its name for other

plants, including three prominent cultivated species that un-

. doubtedly were natives of Asia or the Malay region. From the

manner of naming these plants it appears that the islanders

COOK AND cook: THE MAHO OR MAHAGUA 165

must have had previous acquaintance with the maho. In Fiji,

according to Seemann, the maho is called vaudina, meaning the

genuine van, to distinguish it from several other plants called vau.

THE NAME OF THE PAPER-MULBERRY

One of the Polynesian namesakes of the maho is the paper-

mulberry tree, called in many islands maute or aute, in Hawaii

ivaoke, ivauke, or kaivaiike, in ]\Iangareva eute or ute. A practical

reason for considering the paper-mulberry a kind of au (the

suffix te meaning another kind) is that it yields bark cloth, and

of a finer quality than the maho. In many of the early accounts

of the islands the paper-mulberry appears more prominent

than the maho, though now it is seldom cultivated and on the

heavily forested islands is becoming extinct, as noted by Cheese-

man in Rarotonga. It is not a strictly tropical tree, being

hardy in the United States, and often escaping from cultiva-

tion. It is supposed to be a native of Japan or China rather

than of the Malay region. ' There is a sHght resemblance to the

maho in habits of growth and general appearance, adult trees

having simple oval or cordate leaves, but on young plants and

root-sprouts the leaves are deeply notched and divided.

Other names that may belong to the paper-mulberry are roga

in Paumotu and roa in Tahiti, which suggest toga, the Samoan

name for collections of bark cloth and fine mats. These were

valued as property and used as a medium of exchange. The

paper-mulberry was also called tiituga in Samoa, and a second

growth of paper-mulberry tuapipi. Seemann gives ai masi and

malo as the native names of the paper-mulberry in Fiji, but

Ficus scabra is also called ai' masi, with the explanation that

masi is derived from a verb masia, meaning to scour.

THE NAME OF THE ROSE OF CHINA

The Polynesians also applied the name aute to the ''rose of

China," Hibiscus rosa sinensis. In Rarotonga, according to

Cheeseman, the maho is au, the paper-mulberry aute, and Chi-

nese rose kaute. Though not at all similar to the paper-mul-

berry and not used for bark cloth, the rose of China is a close

166 COOK AND cook: the maho or mahagua

relative of the maho, with the same kind of large showy flowers

which render it a favorite garden shrub among the Polynesians.

It was as natural that the rose of China should be called aute

on account of its flowers as the paper-mulberry on account of

its bark, but almost inconceivable that either of the two plants

called aide should have been named directly from the other.

Two Fijian names of the rose of China, senitoa or seniciobia,

show no resemblance to the Polynesian names.

names of the screw-pines

Another prominent plant with a name that may have been

borrowed from the maho is the Pandanus, or screw-pine, called

by the Hawaiians hala or halau and by the Samoans fala, names

that may be understood as hau-lesii or fau-lesii, and that appear

proper enough when we take into account the fact that the long

narrow leaves of the Pandanus are rich in fiber, and were woven

or braided into mats or used in other ways like the bark of the

maho or paper-mulberry. From Fiji Seemann reports voivoi as

a native name of Pandanus caricosus, the species that is culti-

vated for the sake of its fine fiber, and vaku vaku for Freycinetia

milnei, a screw-pine with edible fruit. Another name for Pan-

danus, possibly cognate with maho, is tima, in Paumotu, where

man means thread or to join. Timau may be analogous to

maute, the name of the paper-mulberry in Easter Island, and is

also similar to tamau, the word for tinder in Easter Island.

other POLYNESIAN PLANTS WITH MAHO NAMES

In addition to these prominent species, maho names are ap-

plied in Polynesia to several other trees or shrubs Thus among

the New Zealanders, who did not have the true maho, one of

the indigenous trees (Melicytus ramiflorus) is called 7nahoe, and

the same word is used, according to Tregear, for "a small mallet

used for striking the tattooing chisel." Mahoewai is* another

New Zealand tree name, which also means 'Ho spread out,"

while mahore means ''peeled."

The Samoans give the name faupata to a native plant, Cypho-

lopus macrocephalus, related to ramie, used for weaving fine

COOK AND cook: THE MAHO OR MAHAGUA 167

mats of a sort called je sina, second only to the kind called je

toga, which are made from Pandanus leaves. A Samoan species

of Trama is called fan ui, fau uta is another plant name, Jauata-

galoa is "a species of indigenous cotton," and ma'o is the ''col-

lective name of several trees." One tree is called ma'oid and

another mafoa.

In Hawaii, mau-a and ma'ua are recorded as plant names, the

former as a timber tree and the latter as food in times of scar-

city, as also stated of kemau, which may refer to the same plant.

Mao and hulu hulu are given by Watt as Hawaiian names of a

native wild cotton {Gossypium tomentosum) . Cotton and okra

are called vau van in Fiji, referring no doubt to the fact that

these plants resemble the vau, this being the Fijian name of the

maho. Anotherclose relative of the maho is Thespesia populnea,

called mulo mulo in Fiji, milo or miro in Samoa. It was consid-

ered a sacred tree in Tahiti, and called toromiro. In Manga-

reva koumiro is a name of the cotton plant. Cheeseman records

a species of Grewia as auere in Rarotonga, where au is the maho.

Another possible cognate is mamaki, recorded as the Hawaiian

name of a special kind of bark cloth made from Pipturus albidus,

a bush related to the ramie plant.

Some of the figs or banyan trees of Polynesia also furnished

bark cloth and their names may be modified maho-words. In

Rarotonga, according to Cheeseman, aoa is the name of Ficns

prolixa, a tree planted to mark boundaries, and as the source

of a coarse kind of bark cloth. In Tahiti also aoa refers to one

of the fig trees and to bark cloth made from it. AoOi, aofafine,

and aotane are names of the banyan and other fig trees in Samoa.

Giliau and kiliau are given by Christian as names of the banyan

tree in some of the Caroline Islands, where the maho is called

gili fau. Another species, Ficus tinctoria, is called mati in Raro-

tonga and matti in Tahiti, names possibly equivalent to maute

or aute, and suggestive also of names of some of the large

wild fig trees in Central America, amate in Guatemala, and

chilamate in Costa* Rica. In Rheede's Hortus Malabaricus two

species of figs are called atty alu and itiyalu.

Still another bark-cloth tree is Antiaris bennetti, called mavu

in Fiji and mami in some of the other islands, according to

168 COOK AND cook: the maho or mahagua

Seemann. Even the breadfruit tree has a fibrous bark and is

sometimes used to make bark cloth. One of several names for

breadfruit is mai, which could be considered a variant of mhu,

as fai replaces fau in some of the islands.

]\Iaho words also appear to be used in the general sense of

bush or woods, maho thickets being the only forest on some of

the smaller islands. Thus in Samoa la'au is tree, timber, or

firewood; vao is bush, vai vau, unoccupied land between two

villages, and vaomaoa, the forest. In Hawaii wao is "a wild

place," while inahakea is jungle or uncultivated land. In the

Quichua language of Peru 7nahiska means abandoned and mahini

to go wild.

maho names of the western pacific

In many of the Micronesian islands the names of the maho are

compound words, Hli fau, kini fau, gill fau, gili fai, giri fai,

gini fai, probably meaning bark-/flM, to distinguish from the

-other applications of the word. Christian states that in Ponape

the maho is called kalau, while in another island kalaua means

bark. In Yap the name of the maho is kal. In the Paumotu

also kiri means bark or cloth, equivalent to ere among the

Hawaiians, and to iri, meaning skin.

Christian gives pa and pe from two of the Caroline Islands.

In Siam po is a name for a related fibrous-barked shrub, Hibiscus

macrophyllus. In China ma is an ancient name for hemp, rep-

resented in writing by an independent radical which appears in

many compound names of other plants.

It may be doubted whether names like vahu, halibago, mid pago,

used in Fiji, the Philippine Islands, and Guam, also belong to

the maho series, but relation seems possible in view of intermedi-

ate Polynesian forms like bago, crooked, faga, to bend, and haga,

to form or to build. In addition to the ndore prominent Tagalog

■ name balibdgo, Merrill's Dictionary of the Native Plant Na7nes of

the Philippine Islands gives balabdgo, malabago, malabayo, and

raquindi, with numerous ^^ariants or compounds of bali and bago

as names of other plants. Names reported from Madagascar

and neighboring islands, baro, foulsapate, var, varo, vau, vaur,

appear to connect with the Malay and Polynesian series. Van

COOK AND cook: THE MAHO OR MAHAGUA 169

Wijk also gives evonove as a Gaboon nanio, the maho being re-

ported from a few localities in West Africa. Three distinct

names are recorded by Schumann and Lauterbach in German

New Guinea, daiia, marau, and papalan, and another form in the

Solomon Islands, dakatako.

A wide-spread Asiatic name is belli pata or belli patta, which

has been reported from Singapore, Ceylon, and Bombay. Sev-

eral other oriental names, banid barid, barn, beligobel, bola,

bourao, chelwa, lo, surihagas, suringas, ihengben, and thingban,

are listed in Watt's Dictionary of the Economic Products of India,

or in Van Wijk's Dictionary of Plant Names. Some of these names

probably were borrowed from other fiber-producing species of

Hibiscus, severa^ of which are natives of India. The name

pariti adopted by Adanson from Rheede's Flora Malabarica,

published in 1686, was also used in the native language to form

compound names of several species of Hibiscus and Gossypium.

Alany other maho names exist, no douJDt, in the languages of

Borneo, New Guinea, and other parts of the East Indies, as well

as in Tropical America, but these are not Hkely to alter the gen-

eral contrast between the very wide distribution of the words

that connect with maho or mahagua and the very local

distribution of the others.

SUMMARY

The maho, mahagua, or linden hibiscus {Pariti tiliaceum) is

one of the economic plants to be taken into account in studying

the problem of contacts between the inhabitants oi tropical

America and the Pacific islands, in prehistoric times. Though

considered a native of America, the maho appears to have been

distributed over the islands and shores of the Pacific and Indian

oceans before the arrival of Europeans.

Readiness of propagation and of transportation by cuttings

renders this plant well adapted for culti\'ation and dissemina-

tion by primitive peoples. Although human assistance in trans-

portation does not appear to be so definitely re(iuired with the

maho as with the sweet potato and other plants that are grown

from only cuttings, the names of the maho afford almost as

170 COOK AND cook: the maho or mahagua

definite indications of human contacts as in the case of kumara,

a name for sweet potato already known to have been shared by

the Pacific Islanders with the Indians of Peru.

The name maho or mahagua, with numerous local variants, is

widely distributed in tropical America and is closely approxi-

mated in many of the Pacific islands, in relation either to the

plant itself or to its principal uses for fiber, bark cloth, and fire-

making. While the genetic relationships of particular words or

applications are to be considered as possible rather than as

proved, the general coherence of names and uses would seem to

justify a thorough philological investigation. One gains an im-

pression of the language being formed in situ, as a reflection of

familiar objects and activities in the minds of the islanders.

That the primitive Polynesians were in possession of the maho

before they became acquainted with similar Asiatic plants may

be inferred, in view of the indications that Polynesian names of

other important cultivated plants — the paper-mulberry (Papy-

rius or Broussonetia) , the rose of China (Hibiscus rosa sinensis),

and the screw-pine (Pandanus) — were derived from names of the

maho. The making of fire by friction of wood and of cloth by

beating the bark of trees with grooved mallets are speciahzed

arts which may have been carried with the maho from America

across the tropical regions of the Old World. A plant that

enabled primitive man to kindle fire and tie things together

must be held to have contributed much to the arts of civilization.

ABSTRACTS

Authors of scientific papers are requested to see that abstracts, preferably

prepared and signed by themselves, are forwarded promptly to the editors.

Each of the scientific bureaus in Washington has a representative authorized to

forward such material to this Journal and abstracts of official publications

should be transmitted through the representative of the bureau in which they

originate. The abstracts should conform in length and general style to tho.se

appearing in this issue.

GEOLOGY. — Mining developmefits and water-power investigations in

southeasterji Alaska. Theodore Chapin, H. M. Eakin and G.

H. Canfield. U. S. Geological Survey Bulletin 662-B. Pp. 92,

with maps, sections, and illustrations. 1917.

Contains short papers on the work of 1916, as follows: Mining

developmepts in the Ketchikan and Wrangell mining districts, by Theodore

Chapin; Lode mining in the Juneau gold belt, by H. M. Eakin; Gold

placer mining in the Porcupine district, by H. M. Eakin; Water-power

investigations in Southeastern Alaska, by G. H. Canfield.

I • R. W. Stone.

GEOLOGY. — Mineral springs of Alaska. Gerald A. Waring, with

a chapter on the Quality of some surface waters, by Richard B.

Dole and Alfred A. Chambers. U. S. Geological Survey

Water-Supply Paper 418. Pp. 109, with 9 plates and 16 figures.

1917.

The report contains a preliminar}^ chapter on the ph5^siography

and geology of Alaska by Alfred H. Brooks. The mineral springs are

grouped for description into hot, carbonated, sulphur, iron, and salt

springs, and individual mention is made of most of the 110 springs

whose locations are shown on maps accompanying the report. Anal-

yses of a number of the waters are given, and their characters are

described briefly in relation to the rock formations through which they

issue.

A number of the stream waters of the Territory were also analysed,

and their characters are discussed in a separate chapter, by Richard

B. Dole and Alfred A. Chambers. G. A. W.

171

172 abstracts: geology

«

GEOLOGY. — The Helderherg limestone of central Pennsylvania. John

B. Reeside, Jr. U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 108-K.

Pp. 41. 1917.

A study of seven localities in Pennsylvania leads to the following

conclusions :

1. The Tonoloway limestone and the Keyser, Coeymans, and New

Scotland members of the Helderherg limestone may be traced from

Maryland through central Pennsylvania with their respective char-

acteristic lithology and faunas, and the essential equivalents of all are

to be found in New Jersey and eastern New York.

2. The Kej'ser member decreases in thickness northward from

Maryland.

3. The Devonian elements in the fauna apparently decrease from

Maryland to New Jersey and New York.

4. The • suggestion of an unconformity at the top of the Ke3'ser in

Maryland is borne out in Pennsylvania by the variations in thickness

of the member and the presence of arenac'eous material at the base of

the Coeymans. R. W. Stone.

GEOLOGY. — Geologic structure in the Gushing oil and gas field, Okla-

homa, and its relation to the oil, gas, and ivater. Carl H. Beal.

U. S. Geological Survey Bulletin 658. Pp. 64, with maps, sections,

and illustrations. 1917.

The geologic work done in the field has disclosed the following

principal facts:

1. The folding of the formations in the Gushing field usually becomes

greater with increase of depth, and there are many marked differences

in structure among the Layton, Wheeler, and Bartlesville sands and

the surface beds.

2. The interval between the Layton and Bartlesville sands is gen-

erally greater around the edges of the anticlines than on their crests.

3. The distribution of the bodies of oil, gas, and water indicates

that the source of the oil lay west of the Gushing field.

4. In general the oil area in an elongated dome, where folding is

simple, extends farther down on the long axes of the anticline or dome

than on the steeper sides.

5. The water surfaces on which the oil and gas rest in the different

sands are not level but are inclined away from the centers of the anti-

chnal folds. R. W. Stone.

abstracts: geology 173

GEOLOGY. — The Palestine salt dome, Anderson County, Texas; The

Brenham salt dome, Washington and Austin counties, Texas.

Oliver B. Hopkins. U. S. Geological Survey Bulletin 661-G.

Pp. 28, with maps, sections, and illustration. 1917.

Viewed as a whole the Palestine dome is a quaquaversal fold on

whose flanks are highly inclined beds that dip in all directions away

from its center but become approximately horizontal within a few

miles; the center of the uplift is extensively faulted, mainly in a north-

easterly direction, producing an irregular distribution of the Cretaceous

beds and a triplication of the outcrop of the Austin chalk.

Such an intensive and highly localized vertical uplift of quaquaversal

form could be produced only by vertical thrust from below. The

results observed are analogous to those produced by driving a punch

into a sheet of cold steel: the effects are entirely local.

The peculiar local nature of salt domes may be due to the effect of

dynamic activity at certain points along lines of deformation, aiding

in the solution and transportation of salt, gypsum, etc., from deep-

lying formations, probably Permian, to the position in which they

are found.

The highly folded, faulted, and eroded condition of the Palestine

dome and the general absence of oil and gas as surface seepages and

in shallow wells in this area detract from its oil prospects.

The results of drilling for oil in the Brenham dome have been dis-

couraging, except that they have demonstrated the presence of a salt

dome. Suggestions are given regarding further drilling at this dome.

R. W. Stone.

GEOLOGY. — Oil and gas possibilities of the Hatchetigbee anticline,

Alabama. Oliver B. Hopkins. U. S, Geological Survey Bul-

letin 661-H. Pp. 33, with maps, sections, and illustrations. 1917.

The geological examination of the area shows that a broad, low anti-

cline, the Hatchetigbee anticUne, 'extends from a point north of Jack-

son, Ala., northwestward across Tombigbee River to the Alabama-

Mississippi state line and beyond; that the disturbance of the earth's

crust which produced this fold also produced a fault, the Jackson

fault; that the Hatchetigbee anticline has in general stronger dips on

its southwestern slope than on its northeastern; that two areas along

the crest of the fold are particularly favorable, structurally, for the

accumulation of oil and gas, and other areas along the crest of the

174 abstracts: ornithology

fold and along the east side of the Jackson fault are also favorable;

that the best chances for accumulations of oil are probably in the

sands above and below the Selma chalk, which lies from 780 to 2700

feet below the surface along the crest of the anticline; and finally that

there are doubtless other areas of favorable structure in the adjoining

region where oil and gas may have accumulated if they are present in

commercial quantities anj'where in the region.

R. W. Stone

ORNITHOLOGY. —Washington region [April and Maij, 1917]. Harry

C. Oberholser. Bird-Lore 19:211-212. 1917.

The months of April and May, 1917, were unusually cold at Wash-

ington, D. C, and the resultant spring migration of birds was peculiar.

Many species of migrants that appeared in April were ahead of their

usual schedule, but many that came in Ma}^ were very much delayed.

A number of birds rare in the District of Columbia, at least during

spring, made their appearance, chieflj^ in May. Conspicuous among

these were Phalacrocorax auritus auritus, Larus atricilla, Chlidonias

nigra surinamensis, Hydroprogne caspia, Phloeotomus pileatus ahieti-

cola, Pisohia fuscicollis, and Protonotaria citrea. H. C. O.

ORNITHOLOGY. — Description of a n.eiv subspecies of Perisoreus ob-

scurus. Harry C. Oberholser. Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington

30:185-188. December 1, 1917.

A new geographic race of the Oregon jay is here described as Periso-

reus ohscurus rathhuni, from Clallam County, Washington. It is

darker than either Perisoreus ohscurus ohscurus or Perisoreus ohscurus

griseus, and much more grayish above than the former, with a usually

broader whitish nuchal collar. Its geographic distribution is appar-

ently limited to that part of the State of Washington about Puget

Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. H. C. O.

■♦

ORNITHOLOGY.— A review of the subspecies of the Leach Petrel

(Oceanodroma leucorhoa iVieiUot). Harry C. Oberholser.

Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 54: 165-172. October 19, 1917.

Notwithstanding the considerable attention that has been paid to

the petrels of the Oceanodroma leucorhoa group, there is evidently

something yet to learn concerning these birds. A study of the entire

species, with extensive material, leads to the conclusion that three

forms are recognizable: Oceanodroma leucorhoa leucorhoa (Vieillot),

abstracts: ornithology 175

which Ijieeds in tho North Athuitic and North Pacific Ocean; Oceano-

droma leucorhon beali. Emerson, which breeds from southeastern Alaska

to the coast of northern Cahfornia; and Oceanodroma leucorhoa kaedingi

Anthony, which occurs off the Pacific coast of Lower Cahfornia, south

to the Revillagisedo Islands, western Mexico. Of these three forms

only the first and third aie cun-ently considered valid. Furthermore,

Oceanodroma leucorhoa kaedingi has hitherto been treated as a species,

whereas it is but a subspecies of Oceanodroma leucorhoa. H. C. O.

ORNITHOLOCtY. — .4 neir .•<i(bsj)ccics of (!eothlyi)is behUngi. Harry

C. Oberholser. The Condor 19: 182-184. December 7, 1917.

A very distinct subspecies of the Belding yellow-throat is heie de-

scribed as Geothlypis beldingi goldmani, from San Ignacio, Lower Cali-

fornia. It differs from Geothlypis beldingi beldingi in its nuich duller

and less yellowish upper paits, whitish instead of yellowish area on the

crown behind the black mask, and more restricted yellow of lower sur-

face. Its breeding lange is confined to central Lower California, al-

though a single specimen indicates its winteiing in the Cape San Lucas

region. H. C. O.

ORNITHOLOGY. — .4 remarkable martin roost in the city of Wash-

ington. Harry C. Oberholser. Bird-Lore 19:315-317. De-

cember 1, 1917.

Although late summer roosts of the purple martin are by no means

uncommon in the eastern Ignited States, there is apparently no record

of a martin roost in the District of Columbia prior to 1917. During

the latter pait of the summer of this year great num])ers of the purple

martin (Progne subis subis) gathered nightly in the INIall, along Fourth

Street, where they roosted in the trees along the street-car line. The

birds were first noted here on August 5 and continued nightly to resort

to this roost until September 9. The numljer of birds ranged from

about 2500 to about 12,000, but the usual number was between 7000

and 8000. They assembled daily about 25 or 30 minutes before sun-

set and we;e all at i-est in the trees by from 12 to 30 minutes after

sunset. Their evolutions during this period were of much interest.

During the martin occupation this roost regularly housed also l^etween

100 and 500 European stailings (Sturtius vulgaris vulgaris), from 1000

to 4000 purple grackles (Quiscalus quiscida quiscula); also, on a few

days, a number of bank swallows (Riparia riparia riparia) and rough-

winged swallows (Stelgidopteryx serripemiis serripennis) . H. C. 0.

176 abstracts: ornithology

ORNITHOLOGY.— iVo^es on North American birds. III. Harry

C. Oberholser. The Auk 34:465-470. October, 1917.

This paper contains technical notes on two genera and three species.

The genus Bannermania Mathews and Iredale, recently proposed for

the reception of Oceanodroma hornbyi (Gray), proves on examination of

further material to be invahd, since the characters given in the original

diagnosis are not constant. The name of the species should therefore

remain Oceaiiodroma hornbyi.

The subgenus Cytnochorea Coues, recently raised to generic rank by

Mathews and Iredale, seems not to be worthy of this elevation. A

careful examination of the species of Oceanodroma discloses the fact

that there are no constant structural differences between them, and

that consequently all must be included in the same genus. In view of

this, Cymochorea Coues can be considered of nothing more than sub-

generic rank.

A new subspecies of booby (Sula dactylatra calif ornica) , recently de-

scribed by Dr. Walter Rothschild from San Benedicto Island, in the

Revillagigedo group, western Mexico, although said to be from Cali-

fornia, has apparently never been taken within the confines of that

State, and therefore must be excluded from the list of North American

birds.

The name Fregata aquila Linnaeus, currently applied to the North

American frigate bird, has been shown by Mathews to be applicable

only to the bird of Ascension Island in the South Atlantic Ocean. The

frigate birds of North America now prove to belong to two other

species: that of the West Indies and southeastern United States being

Fregata magnificens rothschildi Mathews, and the Pacific bird, Fregata

minor -palmer stoni (Gmelin).

The name Strix ivapacuthu Gmelin, recently revived for the Arctic

horned owl (the Bubo arcticus of Swainson), is now shown, as con-

tended previously by Mr. Brewster, to be applicable only to Nyctea

nyctea, and thus unavailable for the other species, which should there-

fore still be called Bubo virginianus subarcticus Hoy. H. C. 0.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY AND AFFILIATED

SOCIETIES

WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

The meeting of the Board of Managers on February 18, 1918, was

devoted chiefly to the discussion and amendment of the report of a

special committee on membership poHcy. The Board adopted rules

for the guidance of the Committee on Membership, limiting the resi-

dent membership of the Academy to 20 per cent of the active scientific

population of Washington, as represented by the number of names in

the "Red Book" (the biennial directory of the Academy and its affili-

ated societies). The requirements for admission to membership,

which are stated only in general terms in the By-Laws of the Academy,

were more exactly defined by the Board; the principal qualifications

adopted is that "the nominee shall have attained recognition for

original and meritorious scientific investigation."

Robert B. Sosman, Corresponding Secretary.

BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

The 578th regular meeting of the Society was held in the Assembly

Hall of the Cosmos Club, Saturday, January 26, 1918; called to order

at 8 p.m. by President Rose; 62 persons present.

On recommendation of the Council, J. B. Norton and S. F. Blake,

both of the Department of Agriculture, were elected to membership.

On recommendation of the Council a proposed amendment to the

constitution was announced by which members of the Society might

become life members upon the payment of fifty dollars in two annual

instalhnents of twenty-five dollars each.

Under the heading brief notes and exhibition of specimens the fol-

lowing informal communications were presented:

A. Wetmore remarked on food habits of grackle with reference to

eating and cracking pin-oak acorns, the peculiar structure of the bill

of the genus Quisqualus being specially adapted for this purpose. This

was discussed by Messrs. Paul Bartsch, Vernon Bailey, and F. V.

COVILLE.

A. S. Hitchcock called attention to a recently issued flora of the

Rocky Mountains by P. A. Rydbsrg, in which 6000 species of plants of

that region are described.

Paul Bartsch referred to a recently received collection of Philip-

pine shells from the island of Luzon, containing an unusually large

number of new forms.

L. O. Howard referred to the utiHzation of acorns for the manufac-

ture of alcohol.

177

178 proceedings: biological society

W. L. McAtee described the behavior of ducks, geese, bitterns,

jacksnipe, and kingfishers in North Carohna during the recent con-

tinued cold weather; the kingfishers' activities being confined to the

vicinity of spring holes.

The regular program of the evening was as follows:

Emerson Stringham : Notes on the speed of fishes, especially thealewife.

Mr. Stringham said the question of the speed with which fish swim

has elements which, it would seem, might make it popular, but there

appear to be few recorded observations. It becomes of economic im-

portance in connection with the effect of water power development on

the fisheries.

Three preliminary points should be mentioned. In the first place

some fish, besides swimming, are able to jump from the water and by

this means pass over a current which it would be wholly impossible for

them to swim through; we are not concerned here with that question.

Secondly, it is assumed that if a fish can maintain itself against a steady

current of so many miles an hour, it can swim the same number of miles

an hour in still water. Thirdly the velocity of a stream is much less

at the bottom or behind obstacles than at surface.

A Belgian engineer (G. Denil), while studying fishways, concluded

that the salmon could swim at a speed of 3.15 meters a second for at

least 14 meters. The author also refers to similar figures given by a

French engineer. In a report on the obstructed condition of the

Frazer River published in the Report of the British Columbia Com-

missioner of Fisheries for 1913, the author (G. P. Napier) expresses

the opinion that the limiting velocity of a steady stream up which a

sockeye salmon is apparently capable of swimming a very short dis-

tance lies between six and seven miles an hour. Mr. H. von Bayer, of

the Bureau of Fisheries, published a paper on fishways in 1910, in which

he said that the current velocity in fishways should not exceed 10 feet

per second. It is remarkable that the three figures, which appear to

be independent of each other, are almost identical. The Belgian esti-

mate is about 6.9 miles an hour, the Canadian's is 6 to 7 miles an hour

and the American's is 6.8 miles an hour.

In the spring of 1917 Mr. Stringham had an opportunity to study

several fishways in Massachusetts, and to make some observations

on the velocities of water up which the fish swam. These fish belonged

to the species Pomolohus pseudoharendus (Wilson), one of the common

alewives. The instrument used to measure the velocity of the water

was a Price current meter lent by the Bureau of Standards. Measure-

ments were made of the rate of flow at 7 points in the fishway where

the current appeared to be greatest, and it was found to vary from 4

to 5 feet per second. At Middleboro the fish were imable to ascend a

little sloping falls where the velocity was about 11 feet per second.

Just below they were swimming through one place where the current

was 5.3 feet per second. At East Warham the head of water, and there-

fore the velocity could be varied. The fish swam up a slope about 3

proceedings: entomological society 179

feet long: where the water was going down at rates of 6.1, 7.8, and even

9.8 feet per second. Tliey were perfectly helpless when it was raised

to 13.5 feet per second.

These figures show that for a few feet at least this species can swim

through water flowing al)out 10 feet per second. That is the same

figure suggested for the salmon by two different investigators and is

the limit suggested for fishways by a third.

The paper was discussed by William Palmer, A. N. Caudell,

Vernox Bailey, Paul Bartsch, H. M. Smith, E. A. Goldman, and

R. W. Shufeldt.

W. E. Safford: Natural history of Paradise Key, Florida.

Mr. Safford's paper was illustrated b\^ numerous lantern slides and

is to be published in the Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution.

M. W. Lyon, Jr., Recording Secretary.

EXTOIMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

The 309th regular meeting of the Society was held at the Saenger-

bund Hall, January 4, 1918; called to order by President Sasscer;

2(3 members and 10 visitors were present.

A resolution was adopted providing for a permanent entertainment

fund to be administered by an Entertainment Committee appointed

b}^ the Executive Committee.

Articles III (Members) and VII (Fees) of the Constitution were

amended.

The regular program consisted of the address of the retiring Presi-

dent, Prof. C. R. Ely, upon Recent entomological chemistry. This in-

teresting review of literature called forth considerable discussion, par-

ticipated in by Messrs. Middleton, Sasscer, G. G. Ainslie, Woglum,

Baker, Wood, and Bishop.

At the close of this discussion the Society was entertained by some

brief remarks from two of our visitors, Prof. A. L. Lovett, of the

Oregon Agricultural College, and Mr. R. H. Allen, of ]\Iassachusetts.

Mr. Paixe exhibited some interesting photographs made under

artificial light.

The 310th meeting of 'the Society was held at the Cosmos Club,

February 7, 1918; called to order by the President; 29 members and

9 visitors were present.

The annual report of corresponding-secretary-treasurer was ac-

cepted. The corresponding secretary announced the following changes

in the pubhcation of the Proceedings: The Proceedings will appear in

nine numbers per year instead of four, and will carry advertising. The

cover will be printed on the same kind of paper as the text, the seal

omitted, and in the space now occupied by the seal will appear the table

of contents. Each page will carry a running head which will consti-

tute a complete citation, and the printing of the list of members pres-

ent at meetings as well as all business transacted at the meetings will

*

180 proceedings: philosophical society

be discontinued. Other minor changes looking to the improvement

of the piibhcation will also be made.

Dr. Carlos E. Porter, of Santiago, Chile, and Mr. Robert M,

FouTS, of Washington, D. C, were elected to membership.

The regular program was as follows:

C. L. Marlatt: Notes on the work of the Federal Horticultural Board.

Mr. Marlatt gave a very comprehensive account of the organization,

purposes, and scope of the services of the Board.

In discussing Mr. Marlatt's remarks, Dr. L. 0. Howard gave a

very interesting account of the events and causes which led to the

passage of the Plant Quarantine Act.

Carl Heinrick: On the Lepidopterous Genus Apostega and its larval

affinities. The author illustrated his remarks with a number of charts

and drawings. This communication drew forth considerable discus-

sion, participated in by Messrs. McIndoo, Pierce, Rohwer, Baker,

BoviNG, Craighead, and Hyslop.

Under the head of short notes:

Dr. Howard announced the recent death of an early member of

the Society, Mr. Chas. R. Dodge. Mr. Schwarz also gave a few rem-

iniscences of Mr. Dodge.

Mr. Snyder called attention to a recent article entitled Origin of

castes in termites by Dr. C. B. Thompson, of Wellesley College, pubhshed

in the Journal of Morphology. Mr. Snyder spoke very highly of the

paper, as did also Messrs. Baker and Howard.

Mr. Snodgrass expressed his pleasure at the evident interest mani-

fested and progress being made in the study of insect anatomy. Messrs.

Howard, Caudell, and Craighead gave additional remarks along the

same line.

Dr. T. J. Headley, of New Jersey, responded to the president's in-

vitation to address the Society by giving some interesting reminiscences

from his experiences.

Mr. J. G. Sanders, of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, responding to a

similar invitation, gave an interesting account of some of his experiences

since leaving the Bureau of Entomology to go to Wisconsin and later

to Pennsylvania. He gave an especially interesting account of some

recent researches in Pennsylvania on the life history of the Angoumois

grain moth.

A. B. Gahan, Recording Secretary.

PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

The 799th meeting was held at the Cosmos Club, January 19, 1918,

with President Burgess in the chair. There were 45 persons present.

Mr. E. T. Wherry presented a paper on Certain relations between

optical properties and crystal form, and their hearing on the question of

"crystal molecules" in organic compounds. The refractive indices of

several simple organic compounds have been determined by the im-

mersion method, and their values substituted in the Lorentz formula

proceedings: philosophical society 181

connecting refractive index and density'. The "refraction ratio," or

ratio of the several vahies obtained for each substance, has been com-

pared with the cr3rstallographic axial I'atio in each case. In some

substances, as urea and iodoform, the two sets of values show exact

inverse proportionality, and it is concluded that this indicates that the

luunljer of pinacoidal planes in the two cr^'stallographic directions in

the crystal molecule, or unit cell of the space lattice, is the same.

Others, like oxahc acid, show inverse proportionalitAMU two directions

but not in the third, although in the latter a simple integral relation

exists. It is concluded that in these the crystal molecule contains dif-

ferent numbers of planes in some diiections than in others. In acet-

amide, which is dimorphous, the planes show somewhat greater diver-

gence in the unstable than in the stable form, suggesting that there is a

tcndenc}^ toward equalization of the number of planes. From these

data it is possible to draw conclusions as to the types of space-lattices

represented in these substances, without the necessity of submitting

theni to examination by X-rays.

Discussion: The paper was discussed by Messrs. Merwin, White,

SosMAX, and Bichowski.

A paper by W. F. Meggers and C. G. Peters on The refractive index

and optical dispersion of air, was presented by Air. Peters. This

paper was illustrated by lantern slides. A survey of previous re-

searches on refraction of air shows that most investigators have worked

either with white light or with one monochromatic radiation, and dis-

persion measurements have been limited to a small interval of the

spectrum. No index measurements exist for waves longer than those

corresponding to orange light, and in the ultra-violet the dispersion

formulas disagree by more than 10 per cent of the index of refraction.

Recent work in spectroscopy makes it very desirable to have more

accurate and extensive data on the index of refraction and dispersion of

ail'. The international system of standard wave length measurements

made under other conditions require small corrections because of the

effect of temperature and pressure of the air upon its optical dispersion.

Furthermore, it is often desirable to multiply wave lengths measuied in

air b}' the indices of refraction of air for these wave lengths and thus

convert them to their value in vacuum. An accuracy of one part in

several millions is now striven for in the measurement of wave lengths,

and to maintain their relative accuracy in the reduction to vacuum

values it is necessary to know the indices of refraction to about one unit

in the seventh decimal place.

For several years the Bureau of Standards has been engaged in the

accurate measurement of wave lengths. Interferometer comparison of

wave lengths have been made throughout a large range of spectra antl

the grating spectra of more than fifty of the chemical elements have been

photographed and measured in the red and infra-red spectral regions.

In connection with these accurate measurements of wave lengths, it

was thought advisable to measure the absolute indices of i-efraction of

air for the entire spectra region that is accessible to photography.

X-

182 proceedings: philosophical society

Accuracy and efficiency recommended the use of a interferometer of

the Fabry and Perot type for this work, since this apparatus can be

conveniently enclosed in a chamber in which the temperature and pres-

sure of the air can be regulated as desired, and it also permits simul-

taneous observations for a lai'ge number of different wave lengths.

Sections of the circular fiinges, produced bj^ various radiations from a

source of light illuminating the parallel plates of the interferometer,

were photographed either with a grating or a prism spectrograph, first

when the space between the plates was evacuated and then when dry

air at measured temperature and pressure was present.

The index of refraction of air for a particular wave length was ob-

tained dii'ectly from measurements of the photographed interference

fringes, which allowed the ratio of lengths of this wave in vacuum and

in ail' to be calculated. Observations were made at spectrum intervals

of about 40 A from the extreme ultra-violet at 2200 A, through the

visible spectrum and into the infra-red to 9000 A .

Complete sots of observations were made on dry air at atmospheric

pressure and at temperatures of 0°C., 15°C., and 30°C. These ai-e

quite well lepresented by the following dispersion formulae:

13.412 0.3777

(.-1)0X10^ = 2875.66 + ^^,^^, + ^-^^^^, '

12.288 0.3555

(„ - 1). X 10' = 2720.43 + ^^^^, + ^;r^j^,

12.259 0.2576

(« - I),. X 10' = 2589.72 + ^-^^^ + ^-^^^^,

The coefficient of index variation with temperature was found from

these ol)servations to be a function of the wave length. For long-

waves this optical temperature coefficient is identical with the density

temperatuie coefficient, i.e., ,y^, but as the ultra-violet absorptio?i

band is approached it increases rapidly, l)ecoming ^^y^ at 2500 A.

Discussion: This paper was discussed by Messrs. Burgess, SwAnn,

CRi'rr]«]NDEN, and Meggers.

The third paper, on Barometric ripples, was presented l)y W. J. Hum-

phreys. This paper was illustrated by lantern slides. Small pressure

changes, amplitude usually 0.1 to 0.3 mm. and period of 5 to 10 minutes,

and continuing for hours or even days together, are very common

during cold weather.

As first demonsti'ated by Helmholtz, whenever layers of air that diffei'

in density at their interface flow over each othei-, long billows, anal-

ogous to giavity water waves, aie produced, which conform, af)proxi-

mat(;ly, to the equation

I'JiOCEEUlNGS: PlIILOSOl'HK'AL SOCIETY ISo

f/X (do — dj)

dAii- V)- + dAV -v)- =

• TV

in wliicli V is the velocity of wave propagation, d\ and r/o (ho densities

of the layers whose velocities are u and v lespectivejy, q the gravity

acceleration, antl X the wave length. If, now, the nnder layer is colder

than the upper, as often happens <luring winter, and lather shallow, 100

meters to 500 meters thick, say, the passage of the air billows, like the

passage of waves in shallow water, necessarily prodnces greater oi- less

cori-espomling changes in the pressni'e on the bottom layer changes

that appear as a seiies of rii)ples in the I'ecord of a sensitive barograph.

Furthermore, such shallow air billows, like shallow water waves, doubt-

less are turbulent — a condition that accounts, prcsumabh', for the

surprisingly rough flying the aviator often experiences during winter

at low levels (300 meters and less).

During summer when air billows rarely form near the surface, thougii

frequently at greater altitudes, especially that of the ciri-us clf)ud,

baiometric ripples and shallow turbulences of the kind just mention(>d

seldom occur. This, doubtless, is because wave disturbances in air

as in water do not penetrate far beneath the wave level.

Discussion: Mr. Littlehales called attention to the fact that where

there are two layers of water of different density, waves frequently

occur at the interface that separates the two watGr layers and yet no

waves are visible on the surface. These waves at times are sufficient

to impede the progress of vessels. The paper was further discussed

by Messrs. White, Burgess, Sweet, Buckingham, and Sosmax.

H. L. Curtis, Recording Secretary.

SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS

The Honoraiy Advisory Council for Scientific and Industrial Re-

search of Canada visited Washington on February 25-28. The Coun-

cil is considering plans for the encouragement of scientific research in

Canada, and spent some days in consultation with members of the

National Research Council, and in visiting the scientific bureaus of

the ( Jovernment. The visiting members were: Professor A. B. Macal-

LUM, of the University of Toronto, (chiirman); Professor S. F. Kirk-

PATRicK, of Queen's University, Kingston; Professor R. F. Ruttan and

Professor F. D. Adams, of McGill University, Montreal; President A. S.

Mackp^nzie, of Dalhousie University, Halifax; Mr. Arthur Surveyer,

of Montreal; Mr. J. B. Challies, of the Water Power Branch, Depart-

ment of the Interior, Ottawa, (Honorary Secretary o: the Council).

Professor C. A. Kofoid, of the Department of Zoology, University

o' California, has been commissioned a major in the Sanitary Corps

of the National Army, and is stationed at the Department Laboratory,

Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas.

Major R. A. Millikan, member of the National Research Council

and Chief of the Science and Research Division of the Signal Corps,

has been commissioned a Lieutenant Colonel in the Signal Corps.

In honor of the appointment of Dr. J. W. Fewkes as Chief of the

Bureau of American Ethnology, a complimentary luncheon was ten-

dered to him and Mrs. Fewkes at the Smithsonian Institution on

Friday, March 1, 1918. Every member of the staff and all the em-

ployees of the Bureau were present. At the close of the luncheon

Dr. Fewkes made a brief address, recalling the high traditions of the

Bureau of Ethnology and outlining plans for its further development.

The primary objects of ethnologic research in this country were de-

fined by Dr. Fewkes as, Man in America, — wher-e did he come from,

hoiv long has he been here, and what has he been doing since he came?

Short sijeeches were made by members of the Bureau, the first

speaker being Mr. James Mooney, who noted that the study of eth-

nology tends to bind the whole human race together by securing a

better understanding of mankind.

The following persons have become members of the Academy since

the last issue of the Journal: Mr. Lon A. Hawkins, Bureau of Plant

Industry, Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C; Dr. Oscar

Riddle, Department of Experimental Evolution of the Carnegie

Institution of Washington, Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island, New

York; Mr. Erskine Douglas Williamson, Geophysical Laboratory

of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, D. C.

184

JOURNAL

OF THE

WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Vol. VIII APRIL 4, 1918 No. 7

GEOCHEMISTRY. — Note on the inorganic constituents of two

small crustaceans.^ F. W. Clarke and B. Salkover,

Geological Survey.

It is well known that very small crustaceans, such as the

copepods, form an important part of the marine plankton, and

that they serve as food for larger animals, like the fishes and

cetaceans. The larger crustaceans all have shells or skeletons

which contain much calcium phosphate, and a comparison of the

two classes seemed to be a matter of some interest. Accordingly

two samples, each made up of hundreds of individuals, were ob-

tained from the U. S. National Museum and subjected to partial

analysis. They were as follows:

1. Temora longicornis (O. F. Miiller), from the coast of New

England. Weight of dried sample, 0.6105 gram, A copepod.

2. Thysanoessa inermis (Kroyer), from Balena, Newfoundland.

Weight of dried sample, 1.5973 grams. A small shrimp.

As the amount of material was insufficient for a thorough

analysis, only three determinations were made on each sample.

They were: loss on ignition, mainly organic matter and water;

phosphoric oxide; and residue insoluble in acid. The phosphoric

oxide, P2O5, was recalculated into the form of tricalcic phosphate,

Ca3P208, and with that adjustment the analyses assume the fol-

lowing shape.

• Published by permission of the Director of the U. S. Geological Survey.

185

186

COOKE : JACKSON AND VICKSBURG DEPOSITS

Loss on ignition

Tricalcic phosphate

Ipsoluble

92.08

7.68

0.22

99.98

These analyses show that the inorganic matter of these minute

creatures consists ahnost entirely of calcium phosphate, although

more refined analyses on larger quantities of material would

doubtless show small percentages of other things. So far, how-

ever, it seems that these very small organisms effect what is

perhaps a primary concentration of the traces of phosphorus

that exist in sea water, and so, as food for the larger animals,

they furnish the material from which the skeletons of marine

vertebrates are built. It is a familiar fact that vertebrate

skeletons consist largely, although not exclusively, of calcium

phosphate.

GEOLOGY. — Correlation of the deposits of Jackson and Vicks-

burg ages in Mississippi and Alabama.^ Charles Wythe

Cooke, Geological Survey.

The deposits of Jackson and Vicksburg ages in Alabama are

usually referred to a single formation, the ''St. Stephens lime-

stone," although many writers have pointed out differences

between the upper and the lower parts. Smith and Johnson'^

divided the "St. Stephens limestone" into three members which

correspond roughly to the major divisions adopted in this paper,

and incomplete studies in western Alabama led Vaughan^ to the

opinion that more detailed investigation would differentiate the

Jackson from the Vicksburg.

This paper summarizes the results of field studies on the

stratigraphy and paleontology of the ''St. Stephens limestone"

1 Published by permission of the directors of the U. S. Geological Survey

and the Mississippi Geological Survey.

2 Smith, E. A., and Johnson, L. C., U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 43: 20. 1887.

' Vaughan, T. W., U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 71: 738, 739. 1912.

COOKE : JACKSON AND VICKSBURG DEPOSITS

187

made in 1913 and 1914 for the U. S. Geological Survey. It

contains also a synopsis of a manuscript report on the Jackson

formation and the Vicksburg group in Mississippi prepared in

partial fulfilment of an agreement between the U. S, Geological

Survey and the Mississippi Geological Survey for a co6perati\'e

investigation of the physiography, stratigraphy, and ground

waters of Mississippi. The correlations and names adopted are

shown in Table 1.

TABLE 1

Correlation of the Jackson and Vicksburg deposits in Mississippi

and Alabama

Age

a

o

a

o

o

a

O

u

bC

b£

M

Mississippi

Alabama

BYRAM CALCAREOUS MARL

Glendon limestone member

Mint Spring ' .. "Chimney Rock"

calcareous marl . facie,*

member

FOREST HILL

SAND

RED BLUFF

CLAY

Yazoo clay member

Moodys calcareous marl member

OCALA LIMESTONE

JACKSON FORMATION

In Mississippi, Lowe" has divided the Jackson deposits into

formations described by him as Yazoo clay marl, Moodys Branch

green marl, and Madison sands. The last of these, which was

doubtfully placed in the Jackson by Lowe, is here referred to the

Vicksburg group and will be discussed later. The other two

intergrade so much that it seems advisable to consider them

members of a single formation rather than as constituting inde-

pendent formations. In the succeeding discussion they are

* Lowe, E. N., Mississippi, its Geology, Geography, Soils, and Mineral Re-

sources. Mississippi Geol. Survey Bull. 12: 78-84. 1915.

188 COOKE : JACKSON AND VICKSBURG DEPOSITS

called the Yazoo clay member and the Moodys calcareous marl

member of the Jackson formation, of which the Yazoo clay is

the upper and the Moodys marl the lower member. Although

the typical exposures of the Yazoo clay are in the bluff of Yazoo

River at Yazoo City, Mississippi, both of these members crop

out in the vicinity of Jackson, Mississippi, where their relative

stratigraphic position is evident. The Moodys calcareous marl

member is named from Moodys Branch, a small tributary of

Pearl River within the city limits of Jackson.

The Jackson formation in Mississippi is composed chiefly of

more or less calcareous clay and less prominent sand and marl

beds. At Jackson and Garland's Creek, the Moodys marl

member contains at the base a bed of shells inclosed in quartz

sand and glauconite and merges below into lignitic clay and

sand supposed to be of upper Claiborne age (Yegua formation) .

Toward the top, the Moodys member is less sandy and much

more calcareous and contains thin beds of indurated marl or

impure limestone. Although these ledges of marlstone are dis-

continuous, the zone in which they are found extends from

Yazoo River to western Alabama, where it has been called the

" Zenglodon bed."^ The Yazoo clay member consists almost

entirely of calcareous, very plastic clay of various colors, but in

most places blue or green when wet but gray when dry.

The thickness of the Jackson formation varies considerably

from place to place. In general, the Moodys marl thins from

east to west and the Yazoo clay thickens rapidly in the same

direction. In central and western Mississippi, its thickness

does not much exceed 35 or 40 feet, but farther east, owing to

the interpolation of beds of sand and clay, it is materially greater.

In Alabama, a few miles east of the Mississippi state line, the

equivalents of the Moodys marl are more than 90 feet thick.

The Yazoo clay member is thickest in the extreme western part

of Mississippi, where well borings south of Vicksburg indicate a

thickness of nearly 600 feet, and thins rapidly toward the east.

5 ScHUCHERT, Charles, U. S. Nat. Mus. Proc. 23: 329. 1900; Cooke, C.

W., U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 95: 116. 1915.

COOKE : JACKSON AND VICKSBURG DEPOSITS 189

In the vicinity of Jackson the Yazoo clay probably does not

exceed 200 feet in thickness; at Shubuta it is reduced to 70 feet;

and in western Alabama it becomes of negligible thickness and

merges with the underlying member. The aggregate thickness

of the Jackson formation appears to be about 600 feet in western

Mississippi, about 230 feet at Jackson, and about 150 feet at

Shubuta.

In Choctaw and Washington counties, Alabama, and in the

adjacent part of Mississippi, the stratigraphy of the Jackson is

somewhat different. The formation divides naturally into five

lithologic units, as follows:

Subdivisions of the Jackson formation in ivestern Alabama and eastern Mississippi

feet

5. Yazoo clay member: Greenish gray calcareous cla}' with white cal-

careous concretions 8-50

4. '"Zeuglodon bed.": Buff argillaceous marl with hard ledges. Tere-

bratulina lachryma, Aturia alabamensis,'^ Ostrea trigonalis, 0. falco,

Pecten perplanus, Schizaster armiger, Basilosaurtis cetoides 8-15

3. Fine yellow sand with indurated lumps in the upper part. Well ex-

posed at Cocoa, Alabama 11-70

2. Greenish yellow, calcareous, very plastic clay 30-50

1. Hard yellow or brown impure limestone or indurated marl with Peri-

archus lyeUi or P. pileus-sinensis and Pecten perplanus 0-15

Division 1 of this generalized section appears to be largely

identical with the " Scutella bed" which Smith^ doubtfully

referred to the ''St. Stephens limestone." In a section at Willow

Branch^ I drew the Claiborne-Jackson line at the top of an

attenuated remnant of this bed, and Hopkins^ accepted this

correlation. My reasons for referring this bed to the Jackson

are the following: (1) Pecten perplanus and Periarchus pileus-

sinensis, species elsewhere restricted to deposits of Jackson age,

^ I am probably to blame for the slip of the pen which caused Hopkins to list

Belosepia ungiila instead of Aturia alabamensis in the "Zeuglodon bed" (U. S.

Geological Survey Bull. 661-H: 296. 1917). Fortunately, I attached the cor-

rect name to the specimen figured by him on plate 27.

^ Smith, E. A., Johx.sox, L. C., and Laxgdo.n', D. W., Report on the Geology

of the Coastal Plain of Alabama. Alabama Geol. Survey, p. 111. 1894.

* Cooke, C. W., The age of the Ocala limestone. U. S. Geol. Survey Prof.

Paper 95: 115. 1915.

^ Hopkins, O. B., Oil and gas possibilities of the Hatchetigbee anticline, Ala-

bama. U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 661-H: 294, 297. 1917.

190 COOKE : JACKSON AND VICKSBURG DEPOSITS

have been found in it at some places; (2) it is the first calcareous

bed of a series dominantly calcareous and succeeds noncalcareous

sands; (3) at Willow Branch and one or two other places there

is evidence strongly suggestive of unconformity between this

bed and the underlying Gosport sand.

The other four divisions are the same as those described by

Hopkins^'* and need no further comment here. Sections illus-

trating them are given by Hopkins and Cooke in the papers

cited.

The Jackson formation contains a large marine fauna. From

Jackson, Mississippi, I have listed 200 species of mollusks and

Vaughan has identified 12 species of corals; of these, about 49

are survivals from the Claiborne and about 15 are supposed to

have lived also in Vicksburg time. Canu and Bassler^^ list

67 species of Bryozoa from Jackson, of which 15 are known from

the Claiborne group and 9 from the Vicksburg. The commonest

and most significant vertebrate is Basilosaurus cetoides.

OCALA LIMESTONE

East of Tombigbee River a rather abrupt change is noticeable

in the stratigraphy of the deposits of Jackson age. The beds

become progressively more calcareous, lose their individuality,

and assume more and more the lithologic and faunal aspects

of the Ocala limestone of Florida. In some places a dual divi-

sion of these beds may be distinguished, but it is not everywhere

possible to draw a sharp line of demarkation between the upper

and the lower members. The lower part consists chiefly of very

argillaceous and somewhat glauconitic limestone, and on Sepulga

River the approximate position of the yellow sand at Cocoa

(division 3 of the generalized section) is occupied by calcareous

sandstone. The upper part, corresponding to the " Zeiiglodon

bed" and the Yazoo clay, consists of soft, cream-colored, amor-

phous limestone which closely resembles the ''chimney rock" of

the overlying Marianna limestone.

10 Op. cit., 296.

1' Canu, Ferdinand, and Bassler, R. S., Manuscript list of Eocene, and Oli-

gocene Cheilostome Bryozoa.

COOKE : JACKSON AND VICKSBURG DEPOSITS 191

As the upper Eocene limestone of southeastern Alabama is

continuous with the Ocala limestone of Florida and southwestern

Georgia and does not differ materially from it in lithology or in

fossils, the name Ocala limestone is extended to all of the deposits

of Jackson age in that part of the state, but future more detailed

field work may show the propriety of restricting the name

Ocala to the upper part of the formation. Just where the

boundary between the Ocala limestone and the Jackson forma-

tion should be drawn is a matter of expediency, for the transi-

tion area, although narrow, is without definite natural limits.

Either the Tombigbee River or the 88th meridian might con-

veniently be selected.

»

VICKSBURG GROUP

In Mississippi the Vicksburg group falls naturally into three

divisions, the upper, middle, and lower Vicksburg, which differ

from one another in both lithology and fossils. The first of

these, which corresponds to the ''Higher Vicksburgian" of

Meyer'- and to the ''Upper Vicksburgian" of Casey, '^ is herein

named Byram calcareous marl; for the second, which is approxi-

mately equivalent to the "Middle and Lower Vicksburgian" of

jMeyer and to the "Lower Vicksburgian" of Casey, the name

Marianna limestone, already in use in Florida, is available; the

third includes two facies, a shallow-water or nonmarine facies in

western Mississippi, which will be called the Forest Hill sand,

and a marine facies in eastern Mississippi and western Alabama

known as the Red Bluff clay. In the middle division, or Mari-

anna, two subdivisions are recognized, herein named Mint

Spring calcareous marl member and Glendon'^ limestone mem-

ber. East of Clarke County, Alabama, the middle and lower

Vicksburg are similar lithologically and are both included in

the Marianna limestone.

12 ]\Ieyer, Otto, Amer. Journ. Sci., 2cl. ser., 30: 71. 1885.

" Casey, T. L., Philadelphia Acad. Nat. Sci. Proc. 53: 515. 1901.

" The name Glendon limestone has been adopted, with mj- consent, by O. B.

Hopkins (U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 661-H. 1917) who had access to my notes and

manuscripts.

192 COOKE : JACKSON AND VICKSBURG DEPOSITS

FOREST HILL SAND

The name Forest Hill sand (from Forest Hill, 5| miles south-

west of Jackson, Mississippi) replaces the ''Madison sands" of

Lowe,^^ which name is preoccupied. The Forest Hill sand appears

to rest conformably upon the Yazoo clay member of the Jackson

formation. Although the character of the sediments indicates

a change from marine to very shallow water or palustrine con-

ditions at the close of Jackson time, it is probable that the

change was gradual and that deposition was nearly continuous.

The Forest Hill is overlain conformably by the Mint Spring

marl member of the Marianna limestone. The relations of the

Forest Hill to the Red Bluff clay are not definitely known, but

it is believed that the two were formed contemporaneously, the

latter having been deposited under more strictly marine con-

ditions than the Forest Hill sand.

In the type area, the Forest Hill sand consists chiefly of cross-

bedded or laminated, more or less ferruginous, silicious sand

and some clay.^" West of this area, the formation becomes

more argillaceous and contains lenses of lignite and lignitic clay.

In Warren and southern Yazoo counties, the Forest Hill sand

is estimated to be about 60 or 70 feet thick, and at Forest Hill it

is between 50 and 60 feet thick.

Petrified wood, leaves, and other plant remains are common

in the Forest Hill sand, but recognizable forms are not abun-

dant. No animal remains have been found in the formation.

The Forest Hill sand crops out along the bluff from Vicks-

burg northward to within a few miles of Satartia. Exposures

are numerous in eastern Hinds County and in Rankin County

as far east as Rankin. Outliers of the Vicksburg group in

Madison County afford good exposures of the Forest Hill sand.

Southeast of Rankin the country has not been explored in suffi-

cient detail to determine the extent of the formation in that

15 Lowe, E. N., Op. cit., 82.

1^ A section at Forest Hill School has been published by O. B. Hopkins (U. S.

Geol. Survey Bull. 641-D: 100. 1916). I consider the lower 7 beds of his

section as typical Forest Hill sand and refer the upper 6 beds to the Marianna

limestone.

COOKE: JACKSON AND VICKSBURG DEPOSITS 193

direction, but lignitic clays that are tentatively referred to the