SCIENCE 



Friday, Decembeb 17, 1909 



COyTEXTS 



Atmospheric Electricity : Dr. Elihu Thomson 857 



President Tafi's ilessage 870 



The George Crocker Special Research Fund . . 870 



Changes at Harvard College 871 



Education at the Boston Meeting of the 

 American Association 871 



The American Physiological Society 872 



The American Society of Naturalists 872 



Scientifio Notes and News 873 



University and Educational News 877 



Discussion and Correspondence : — 



National Leadership in Education: Henbt 

 E. LlNViLLE. The Association of American 

 Chemical Research Laboratories: Pbofessob 

 M. A. RoSANOFF. The Civilization of Bo- 

 hemia: Db. AiES Hrdlicka. Mars as the 

 Abode of Life: De. Pebcival Lowell .... 878 



Quotations : — 



The U. S. Naval Observatory; The Massa- 

 chusetts Institute of Technology 880 



Scientific Books: — 



Marshall on Consciousness: Pbofessob 

 George Trumbull Ladd. Some New 

 Chemical Books: Professor E. Renouf. 

 Roth's Exercises in Physical Chemistry: 

 Db. B. B. Turner. Stamper's History of 

 the Teaching of Elementary Geometry: 

 Professor Flobian Cajori. Protozoa: 

 G. N. C 881 



Scientific Journals and Articles 889 



Special Articles: — 



The Geological and Geographical Distribu- 

 tion of Some Pleistocene Mammals: Db. 

 Oliver P. Hat. Catalytic Action of Iron 

 Salts: W. J. S. Naunton 890 



The Convocation 'Week Meetings of Scientific 

 Societies 894 



Societies and Academies: — 



The Philosophical Society of Washington: 

 R. L. Paris. The Scientific Association of 

 the Johns Hopkins University: Dr. C. K. 

 Swabtz 895 



MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended for 

 reyiew should be sent to tlie Editor of Sciexce, Garris 

 Hudson, N. Y. 



ATMOSPHERIC ELECTRICITY '^ 

 TuE industrial application of electricity 

 for light and for power began about thirty 

 years ago. There were then no schools or 

 laboratories in which applied electricity 

 was taught. The science or profession of 

 electrical engineering did not exist. Elec- 

 tricity was taught as a part of the physics 

 course in schools or colleges and, incident- 

 ally thereto, brief descriptions of its ap- 

 plication to telegraphy were included. 

 Electroplating, the electric arc and electro- 

 magnetism were studied chiefly from books 

 and sometimes illustrated with such instru- 

 ments and apparatus as were to be found 

 in the apparatus collection. 



When, however, the great growth or ex- 

 pansion began, about thirty years ago, 

 courses in electrical engineering were grad- 

 ually added in some of the schools, usually 

 in conjunction with the teaching of phj^s- 

 ics, to which the new study was most 

 closely allied. The physics department of 

 Princeton under Professor Brackett was 

 among the very earliest to provide instruc- 

 tion in what was in fact the incipient 

 stage of the now highly developed and im- 

 portant science of applied electricity. 

 Those in the field whose memories carry 

 them back to that early time, will easily 

 recall the important contributions made by 

 Professor Brackett and his department to 

 the development of the infant science. On 

 this present occasion Princeton is to be 

 congratulated on the opening of its mag- 

 nificent new laboratory, the generous gift 

 of ]\rr. Palmer, which assures the possibil- 

 ' Address at the formal opening of the Palmer 

 Physical Laboratory at Princeton University,, 

 October 21, 1909. 



