286 



NA TURE 



[March 2, 1922 



spirit of international good-fellowship and under- 

 standing prevailed throughout the meeting. 



Sixteen well-attended dinners were held during the 

 meeting by the various groups of scientific workers. 

 The programmes of the sections and of the societies 

 associated with them were generally extensive, and 

 all were interesting and important. Many vice-presi- 

 dential and presidential addresses were given and 

 many symposia held. Special mention should 

 be made here of the fine programme of Section M 

 (Engineering) and of the symposium on an inter- 

 national auxiliary language, which was arranged for 

 Toronto under the auspices of Section K (Social and 

 Economic Sciences). The engineering programme 

 was unusually excellent in many ways. Arrange- 

 ments for this were due to the very efficient work of 

 Mr. J. B. Tyrrell, of Toronto, vice-president of Section 

 M. The Society for the Promotion of Engineering 

 Education met with Section M. 



The social and economic sciences (Section K) had 

 no separate programme, but through the enthusiastic 

 and efficient work of Dr. F. G. Cottrell, of the U.S. 

 National Research Council, a symposium on an inter- 

 national auxiUary language was arranged. This was 

 held at a joint session on Friday afternoon of Sections 

 K and Q (Education). The symposium was pre- 

 ceded by the address of the retiring vice-president of 

 Section K, Dr. F. L. Hoffman, of the Prudential Life 

 Insurance Co. of America, on " The Organisation of 

 Knowledge." 



A programme of great general and cultural 

 interest was presented by the Committee on the 

 History of Science in a session held on Thursday 

 morning. Among others, Dr. J. P. McMurrich — after- 

 wards elected president of the association for 1922 — 

 gave a paper on the artistic anatomical work of 

 Leonardo da Vinci. 



The extraordinary success of the meeting was due 

 mainly to the tireless and varied activities of the 

 members of the local committee under the chairman- 

 ship of Prof. J. C. Fields, who foresaw all needed 

 arrangements and added many pleasant and con- 

 venient details. Especially was praise given to the 

 very artistic official badge, which will serve as a 

 worthy commemoration of one of the most satisfactory 

 meetings of the association. The very onerous and 

 pressing work of caring for the pubhcation of the 

 general programme was undertaken by Dr. J. P. 

 McMurrich, who handled this very difficult and con- 

 fusing complex of details with very great skill. The 

 University of Toronto Press gave very efficient service 

 in this connection. 



Publicity was unusually well handled. The recently 



organised Science Service co-operated with the asso- 

 ciation in arousing public interest in the meeting 

 through the daily press. Dr. E. E. Slosson, editor 

 of Science Service, and Mr. Watson Davis were pre- 

 sent throughout the meeting on behalf of Science Ser- 

 vice. Besides the valuable publicity work of Science 

 Service, which is under the control of the American 

 Association, the U.S. National Academy, and the U.S. 

 National Research Council, and which operates for 

 the sole purpose of disseminating scientific knowledge 

 through the newspapers, just as valuable and efficient 

 publicity work was accomplished by the local Sub- 

 Committee on Publicity, of which Prof. A. G. Hunts- 

 man was chairman. 



At the council meeting of the association the sum 

 of 4000 dollars was allocated in grants for re- 

 search, according to the recommendations of the 

 committee on grants. Prof. B. K. Emerson, of 

 Amherst, Mass., and Prof. E. A. Smith, of the 

 University of Alabama, were elected to emeritus 

 life-membership on account of the Jane M. Smith 

 Endowment Fund. On a vote by the council the 

 president appointed the following committee to con- 

 sider the subject of reciprocity between the United 

 States and Canada so far as this concerns scientific 

 work : — E. L. Nichols (chairman), F. D. Adams, T. C. 

 Chamberlin, J. C. Fields, and J. C. Merriam. It was 

 decided that the next annual meeting of the associa- 

 tion should be held at Boston, Mass., on December 

 26-30, 1922, and the 1923-24 meeting at Cincinnati, 

 Ohio, in December 1923. 



Dr. J. P. McMurrich, professor of anatomy in the 

 University of Toronto, was elected president of the 

 association. The following vice-presidents of the 

 several sections were elected : — A (Mathematics), G. A. 

 Miller, University of Illinois ; B (Physics), Frederick 

 A. Saunders, Harvard University ; C (Chemistry), 

 W. Lash Miller, University of Toronto ; D (Astro- 

 nomy), Otto Klotz, Dominion Observatory, Ottawa, 

 Ontario ; E (Geology and Geography), Charles P. 

 Berkey, Columbia University ; F (Zoological Sciences), 

 Maynard M. Metcalf, Oberhn College ; G (Botany), 

 Francis E. Lloyd, McGill University ; I (Psychology), 

 Raymond Dodge, Wesleyan University ; K (Social and 

 Economic Sciences), Henry S. Graves, Washington, 

 D.C. ; L (Historical and Philological Sciences), Wil- 

 liam A. Locy, Northwestern University ; M (Engineer- 

 ing), George F. Swain, Harvard University ; N 

 (Medical Sciences), Francis W. Peabody, Harvard 

 Medical School ; and O (Agriculture), R. W. Thatcher, 

 University of Minnesota. 



Burton E. Livingston. 



A- 



The Use of Light as an 



T the meeting of the Illuminating Engineering 

 ■ Society on January 31, Lt.-Col. L. F. Blandy, 

 who is associated with the Air Ministry, delivered a 

 paper on " The Use of Light as an Aid to Aerial 

 Navigation.'; Gen. Sir Frederick Sykes, Controller- 

 General of Civil Aviation, presided. In the introduc- 

 tory portion of the paper the author described the 

 lighting of the passengers' accommodation and crew's 

 quarters, etc., on a modem airship, the light being 

 derived from electric lamps fed from a generator 

 driven by the engine. Small candle-power lamps are 

 used for illuminating the dials of instruments, etc., 

 on some machines. The external fighting of aircraft 

 has been closely studied by the International Air Con- 

 vention, which has defined precisely the equipment of 

 a forward white fight of 8-km. range, a red light of 

 at least 5-km. range on the left hand, and a green 

 fight of similar range on the right. Special arrange- 

 ments must be made to prevent the green fight being 



NO. 2731, VOL. 109] 



Aid to Aerial Navigation. 



seen from the left side or the red fight from the right. 

 A white rear light is also provided. 



In navigating the air, principles similar to those in 

 use at sea are thus being adopted for external lights, 

 but owing to the motions of aircraft and their high 

 speed the arrangement of navigation lamps demands 

 special care. The relative speed of approaching 

 machines may attain 200 m.p.h., i.e. 3-3 miles 

 per minute. From the time of sighting head- 

 lights to the moment of collision the time avail- 

 able may be only 90 seconds, and it looks as though 

 the range of navigation fights may have to be in- 

 creased. Lights used by aircraft to facilitate landing 

 may be either chemical or electric. Gas-filled electric 

 lamps of 1000-2000 c.p. have been developed for this 

 purpose, and appear to have some advantages over 

 flares, notably as regards ease of control and extinc- 

 tion at will. Aerodrome lighting includes fights used 

 to define the positions of buildings and other obstruc- 



