December 30, 1920] 



NATURE 



583 



generations. VVc have also received Dr. Davenport's 

 annual report as director of the department of experi- 

 mental evolution and of the eugenics record office of 

 the Carnegie Institution of Washington. It gives us 

 a glimpse of a manifold activity. Investigations are 



in progress on the modifiability of the germ-plasm by 

 alcohol, the control of sex in pigeons, the sex- 

 intergrades in Daphnia, the heredity of colour in dogs, 

 cats, doves, and canaries, heredity in aristogenic 

 famiKes, inbreeding in man, and many other subjects. 



The Pan-Pacific Scientific Conference. 



T\\\l first meeting- of the Pan-Pacific Scicntitic 

 Conference was held at Honolulu on August 2-20. 

 At the close of the meeting a number of general 

 resolutions were passed which concerned the confer- 

 ence as a whole. It was resolved that similar con- 

 ferences should be held at intervals of not more than 

 three vears, and that the Governor of Hawaii should 

 be invited to take action to make the conference a 

 f)ermanent organisation. Other resolutions dealt with 

 the desirability of establishing an International 

 Research Council, and with the need for the equip- 

 ment of ships by the Governments concerned for the 

 purpose of carrying out scientific research in the 

 Pacific Ocean. The last general resolution was con- 

 cerne<l with the promotion of education arul with the 

 need for the better payment of scientific workers ; this 

 was dealt with more fully in Nature of October 21, 



P- *49- 



The sections of the meeting have also published a 

 number of recommendations. The section of anthro- 

 pology advocates measures which are similar to those 

 urged by Prof. Karl Pearson in his presidential 

 address to Section H (Anthropology) of the British 

 .Association at the meeting this year at Cardifl. 

 It recommends that centres for study and research in 

 anthropology should be developed by the exp>ansion of 

 university departments or by the alliance of universi- 

 ties with other research institutions, so that such 

 schools may combine all the features of museums and 

 of research! and teaching institutions. Research is 

 particularly necessary into the history and culture of 

 the Polynesians in order to reach a satisfactory 

 solution of the ethnological problems of the Pacific. 



The resolutions of the section of biological science 

 can be divided into three groups; the first deals 

 entirely with marine biological survey In the Pacific. 

 Ft is contended that the work should be undertaken 

 by the Governments of those countries bordering on 

 the Pacific Ocean, and that steps should be taken to 

 avoid the overlapping of work which might other- 

 wise occur. The second group of recommendations 

 deals with the land fauna of the Pacific islands. A 

 survey of the fauna, and particularly of the mollusca, 

 on both the better-known and the comparatively 

 unknown i.slands in the Pacific is advocated. The 

 last group of recomrnendations deals with the flora 

 of Polynesia. Surveys are again necessary, and atten- 

 tion is directed to the importance of investigating 

 carefully the flora of new lava-flows. 



Surveys are also the burden of the recommendations 

 of the geographical section. Topographical maps of 

 many land are.ns in the Pacific are incomplete, and 

 sur\'evs of X\\t: shore-Iine and coastal waters are neces. 



sary. Continued work is also necessary in order to 

 cornplete the general magnetic survey of the Pacific 

 Ocean, and to extend this work to coastal waters 

 where the magnetic phenomena are known to be com- 

 plex. Recommendations dealing with physical oceano- 

 graphy merely emphasise those put forward by the 

 biological section when referring to marine biology; 

 the two ends could be served by the same expedition. 

 Meteorology is also included in the scope of the section 

 on geography. Observation at the place of origin of 

 typhoons, cyclones, etc., and of the motion of these 

 disturbances is necessary, and the establishment of 

 an observatory on the Island of Hawaii and the re- 

 sumption of observations at Macquarie Island are 

 advocated. In most cases it is urged, on the plea of 

 expense, that the work should be umlcrtaken by the 

 States bordering on the Pacific. 



The section dealing with geology passed a number 

 of resolutions advocating extensive geological surveys 

 in the Pacific area. It recommends that three maps 

 on the international scale of : : 1,000,000 should be 

 drawn, one showing topographical features, another 

 geological formations, and the third mineral resources. 

 .Another important group of recommendations deals 

 with the importance of subacrial and submarine 

 erosion, and asserts the need for research on the geo- 

 logical side of these matters. A plea was also made 

 for the planning of research in such a way as to 

 correlate the efforts of different workers and to pro- 

 mote a uniform mode of publication of results. 



Three motives, the need for localised work, for pub- 

 lication and for the education of people in providing 

 safeguards against disaster, and for precise geophysics, 

 were the basis of the resolutions passed by the section 

 on seismology and vulcanology. The section recom- 

 mends the establishment of more volcano obser\'atories, 

 and also the intensive study of earthquakes in seismic 

 provinces as likely to lead to advances in geophysical 

 knowledge. It also advociites that complete statistics 

 of earthquakes and eruptions for the whole world 

 should be compiled. Tliis project could be furthered 

 by the establishment of .t central bureau for the Pacific 

 which could collect and disseminate inform;ition of a 

 seismological tiature, and later the same scheme could 

 be applied to the world. .An important resolution was 

 that dealing with the training of |H-ople in proper 

 methods of construction and in behaviour during 

 emergencies in countries liable to seismic disaster. 



Polynesia is to be congratulated on having success- 

 fully gathered together her men of science in an 

 endeavour to increase our knowledge of the Pacific 

 Ocean and of the conditions existing in the archi- 

 pelagoes of that side of the world. 



Mathematics in Secondary Education. 



Bl 1,1.1: IIN No. I ( Kjj.i), i.(.nlly issu.-d by lli<- I'.S. 

 Bureau of Education, shows that the authorities ' 

 III Washington are fully alive to the difficulty of the I 

 priililcnis that confront the secondary schools in thik 

 era of reconstruction. It contains, under the heading 

 "The Problem of Mathematics in S<'condary Schools," i 

 a report of a committee which confesses at the outset 

 that it has been unable to come to definitive con- 



NO. 2670, VOL. 106] 



elusions. Tlx! coinniiiicc li.is thrrefore contented 

 itself with throwing out suggestions based upon nn 

 analysis of the existing situation in the hope that the 

 result will be such a series of discussions and experi- 

 ments as will enable future committees eventually to 

 arrive at definite proposals for reconstruction. 



.At the outset the present mate of affairs is acknow- 

 ledged to be entirely unnatisfaclory. Tr.iditions are 



