ABSTRACTS 



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

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

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 ward such material to this journal and abstracts of official publications should 

 be transmitted through the representative of the bureau in which they originate. 

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 this issue. 



OCEANOGRAPHY. — A study of the salinity of the surface water in the 



North Pacific Ocean and in the adjacent enclosed Seas. Austin 



Hob ART Clark. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, 60: No. 



13. 1-13. 1912. 



The complete salinity records of the Albatross cruise of 1906, corrected, 



are here given. The original observations were made by the author. 



A short preliminary account of the seasonal variation in salinity on the 



California coast, and of the conditions in the Bering Sea, as worked out 



from the Albatross records, is included. 



In addition there is a short sketch of the surface variations in salinity 

 and of the surface currents, mostly taken from the works of Vice-Admiral 

 Makaroff. A. H. C. 



PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY.— On the effect of high pressures on the physi- 

 cal and chemical behavior of solid substances. John Johnston and 

 L. H. Adams, of the Geophysical Laboratory. American Journal 

 of Science (4), 35: 205-254. 1913. 

 This paper is an endeavor to review and to define the present status of 

 our knowledge of the effect of high pressures on the behavior of solids, 

 to reconcile some of the conflicting statements on the subject to be found 

 in the literature, and to indicate the conclusions which may justifiably 

 be drawn from the available evidence, especially with regard to their 

 application to the discussion of geological phenomena. Some of this 

 confusion results from the employment of indefensible criteria in ascer- 

 taining the character and magnitude of the change produced by pressure, 

 as, for example, in determining the effect of pressure in promoting chem- 

 ical reaction between soJids, but in the main it is due to failure to take 

 into account the fact that the effects produced depend upon the charac- 

 ter, or mode of action, of the compression. The effects are different, 



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