July 21, 1922] 



SCIENCE 



71 



skilled in high mountaiu craft to the highest alti- 

 tudes. Geoffrey Bruce had never climbed a snow 

 and ice mountain before. Yet under Finch's 

 skilled leadership he was able to attain a height 

 of 27,300 feet. And the Sherpa porters, though 

 they were praetically untrained to snow and ice 

 work, were able, under General Bruce 's stimu- 

 lating influence — and we must gratefully acknowl- 

 edge that it was he who originated and carried 

 out the idea of forming a corps of these men — 

 to carry loads up to 25,500 feet, some of them 

 making the journey four times and so earning 

 the unstinted praise of the best mountaineers. 



So by careful organization and combination of 

 effort, by using experience to guide inexperience, 

 and by the display of indomitable pluck on the 

 part of the highest climbers, the expedition has at 

 a bound brought the record up from 24,600 feet 

 to 27,300 feet, and thus left only 1,700 feet to 

 be climbed before the crowning summit is 

 reached. 



The standard of human achievement has there- 

 by been sensibly raised. And many another 

 climber, many another traveler, and many an- 

 other struggler upward in every walk of life and 

 in every country will be braced and heartened in 

 remembering what Finch and Mallory, Somervell, 

 Norton and Bruce have this year accomplished 

 on Mount Everest. And this, to my mind, is 

 incomparably the most valuable result of the 

 expedition — and a result which makes their efforts 

 in the highest degree worth while. 



In conclusion may I quote from an article on 

 mountaineering I have just read? "Mountain- 

 eering proper is not necessarily rashness, but is 

 entirely a question of prudence and of courage, 

 of strength and steadiness, and of a feeling for 

 nature and her most hidden beauties, which are 

 often awe-inspiring, but for that reason the more 

 sublime and to a contemplative spirit the more 

 suggestive." These words were written thirty- 

 three years ago by an Italian Alpine climber, a 

 certain Father Ratti. That mountaineer has now 

 become Pope Pius XI and his words exactly 

 express the sentiment which has animated all 

 those connected with the Mount Everest Expedi- 

 tion, whether in its initiation or in its execu- 

 tion — and which will continue to animate them 

 till the final goal is reached. 



The Public Ledger, in a cable dispatch, an- 

 nounces that the expedition to climb Mount 

 Everest has been abandoned as a result of an 

 avalanche in which seven porters were killed. 

 Three members of the expedition, C. L. Mal- 

 lory, T. H. Somervell and C. A. Crawford, had 



narrow escapes. The dispatch said the final 

 attempt to scale Mount Everest had been made 

 on June 7. 



ENGINEERS AND AN AMERICAN UNIVER- 

 SITY IN EUROPE 



Establishment in Central Europe of a 

 great American university and library is urged 

 by Dr. B. Stepanek, minister to the United 

 States from Czechoslovakia, who, to advance 

 international peace, calls upon the engineers 

 of this and other countries for united partici- 

 pation in ■world affairs. Dr. Stepanek makes 

 an appeal for the fowna;tion of a world fed- 

 eration of engineers, and for an international 

 engineering conference to deal constructively 

 with the problems of civilization. 



Dr. Stepanek's views, made public by the 

 American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 

 which, through its oiScial journal, stresses the 

 need of engineering solidarity among the lead- 

 ing nations, are regarded by engineers as a 

 significant diplomatic utterance supporting the 

 efforts now being made in America, Great 

 Britain, France and Italy to bring about closer 

 relations among engineers. 



Award of the John Fritz medal to Senator 

 Guglielmo Marconi has aroused fresh interest 

 in the idea of a world union of engineers. 

 Marconi's expressed hope of promoting peace 

 through science coincides, it was said, with 

 action to devise a working plan of international 

 cooperation between the engineers of America 

 and Italy. 



John W. Lieb, vice-president of the New 

 York Edison Company, has reported, after a 

 trip to Italy, that Italian engineers are ready 

 to form such an alliance. Herbert Hoover, 

 Professor Comfort A. Adams, of Harvard 

 University, Eugene Schneider, of Paris, and 

 Sir Robert A. Hadfield, of London, are others 

 who favored advancement of world peace 

 through the united action of men of science. 

 Actively backing the project also are the presi- 

 dents of the American Society of Civil Engi- 

 neers, American Institute of Mining and 

 Metallurgical Engineers, American Institute of 

 Electrical Engineers and the Federated Amer- 

 ican Engineering Societies. 



Alfred D. Flinn, secretary of the Engineer- 

 ing Foundation, and chairman of the Engineer- 



