OCTOBEB 8, 1909] 



SCIENCE' 



475 



lunar spectra were equally intense; plainly 

 signifying that the observed bands were due 

 to water vapor in the earth's atmosphere above 

 the summit of Mt. Whitney. This does not 

 mean that Mars has no water vapor, but only 

 that the quantity present, if any, must be very 

 slight. Let us recall that we see Mars by 

 reflected sunlight. The rays which reached 

 our instruments passed from the sun into the 

 Martian atmosphere, for the most part down 

 to the surface of the planet, and then out 

 again to us, thus passing twice through the 

 planet's atmosphere and any water vapor it 

 may contain. Even with this multiplying 

 effect on Mars the vapor bands in the Martian 

 and lunar spectra were alike, and we conclude 

 that any water vapor in the Martian atmos- 

 phere must have been much less extensive than 

 was contained in the rarefied and remarkably 

 dry air strata above Mt. Whitney. 



These observations do not prove that life 

 does not or can not exist on Mars. The ques- 

 tion of life under these conditions is the biol- 

 ogist's problem rather than the astronomer's. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 



Dr. Ira Eemsen, president of the National 

 Academy of Sciences, has consented, at the 

 request of Dr. H. F. Osborn, president of the 

 American Museum of Natural History and 

 Mr. Archer Huntington, president of the 

 American Geographical Society, to appoint a 

 scientific commission to examine the records 

 of Lieutenant Peary and Dr. Cook, in case 

 they are ready to present them to such a com- 

 mission. Lieutenant Peary has accepted the 

 suggestion, and it is reported that Dr. Cook 

 will under certain conditions also accept. 



The mayor of Baltimore has nominated 

 Dr. William H. Welch, of the Johns Hopkins 

 Medical School, as a member of the new 

 charter commission. 



The University of Manchester has con- 

 ferred an honorary doctorate on Dr. Otto 

 Wallach, professor of organic chemistry in the 

 University of Gothenberg. 



An international committee has been 

 formed to celebrate the fortieth year of uni- 

 versity work of Professor Henrico H. Gig- 

 lioni, professor of zoology at Florence. 



Mr. E. Priestley, who left University Col- 

 lege, Bristol, to join Mr. Shackleton's Ant- 

 arctic expedition as geologist, has left Eng- 

 land for Australia on October 22. He intends 

 to join Professor Edgeworth David, F.E.S., at 

 Sydney University, to work up the geological 

 results of the expedition. 



We learn from The Journal of Terrestrial 

 Magnetism that the Norwegian Storthing has 

 voted to Professor Birkeland 5,000 kroners 

 annually for four years, making a total of 

 20,000 kroners (about 5,300 dollars), thus en- 

 abling him to continue the publication of his 

 investigations on magnetic storms and polar 

 lights. 



Professor Charles Josuh Smith, of the 

 chair of mathematics of Western Eeserve 

 University, has been given leave of absence 

 for the year. 



Dr. Charles H. Mayo, of Eochester, Minn., 

 wiU deliver two lectures at the University of 

 Maryland, on November 9 and 10, on " Dis- 

 eases of the Thyroid Gland," and on academic 

 day he will receive from the university the 

 honorary doctorate of laws. 



Ox the opening of the graduate school of 

 the University of Pennsylvania, on Septem- 

 ber 30, Dr. Thomas H. Montgomery made an 

 address on " The Making of the Investigator." 



Mr. John Birkinbine, president of the 

 Pennsylvania Forestry Association, will give 

 a lecture at Lehigh University during the 

 present month on " The Eelation of the Engi- 

 neering Profession to Forest Preservation." 

 This lecture and others have been made pos- 

 sible by a special gift for increasing interest 

 in forestry. 



The valuable scientific library of the late 

 Professor Simon Newcomb has been pur- 

 chased by Mr. Jolm Claflin for the College of 

 the City of New York. 



The death is announced of Dr. Anton 

 Dohrn, founder and director of the Biological 

 Station at Naples, and eminent for his con- 

 tributions to zoology. 



Dr. Max Heinze, professor of philosophy at 

 the University of Leipzig, known for his im- 

 portant publications on the history of philos- 



