450 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. LVI, No. 14.51 



7. In directing men aboard or on sliore. 



8. To extend tlie possibilities of the dictograph 

 in detecting evidence of crime. 



9. To malce possible addressing larger audi- 

 ences and distant 'audiences. 



10. To make it possible for some women with 

 weak voices to nevertheless speak to large audi- 

 ences. 



11. In acoustical research for the study of sub- 

 liminal sounds. 



12. The detecting of subliminal sounds from 

 animals not now known to make sounds. 



13. To make more audible the whispers or weak 

 sounds of the sick or injured. 



14. To make communication by weak or injured 

 less fatiguing. 



That commercial equipment of good efii- 

 ciency is now readily available may not be 

 known to some of those who might make good 

 use of the apparatus. 



KoswELL H. Johnson 

 Pittsburgh, Pa., 

 September 22, 1922 



CHEMICAL SPELLING 

 Hurrah for Professor Jacobsou and his 

 "chemical spelling match" at the West Virginia 

 University, as described in Science for Sep- 

 tember 29 ! Twenty odd years' experience, 

 when permanent secretary of the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Science, in 

 reading the proofs of the program of the 

 chemical section, gave me some definite opin- 

 ions of chemical terms. I was delighted, in 

 reading the preface to a book recently pub- 

 lished by the veteran naturalist, Auguste Forel, 

 to note the expression la vraie science est 

 I'ennemie des grands mots. Is it a plain infer- 

 ence from Forel's dictum that chemistry is not 

 a true science? 



L. 0. Howard 



QUOTATIONS 



BIOLOGICAL STAINS 

 The stains employed by a worker in"a series 

 of investigations, and other workers repeating 

 his methods, should involve identical materials. 

 It is not necessary that the chemicals should 

 be "pure" ; indeed, the results from a particular 

 method have sometimes been due to an un- 

 known impurity, so recalling the famous salt 

 in Stevenson's "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." 



But they must be the same, if identifications 

 are to be made by their use. 



It was for these reasons and not from any 

 superiority in Gemian manufacture that 

 authorities in microscopical techndo so long ago 

 advised the use of German stains and particu- 

 larly those of Griibler of Leipzig. The advice 

 was generally adopted, so that a practical 

 monopoly of this small but important and 

 profitable commerce in articles essential to 

 medical practice and scientific research fell into 

 German hands, to universal satisfaction. But 

 the reason for the monopoly and the history of 

 its institution were forgotten. When the war 

 deprived allied countries and the United States 

 of German imports of these chemicals, of which 

 only very small stocks were held, manufac- 

 turers in other countries went into the trade. 

 But their products were irregular in their 

 action, did not always produce the familiar 

 results and varied from maker to maker. 



The supposed German scientific supremacy 

 obtained another advertisement. It was de- 

 manded that importation of scientific stains 

 sliould be allowed, or, alternatively, that by 

 some great transformation, British, French and 

 American skill should be brought up to the 

 German level. Last autumn the National Re- 

 search Council of America organized a prac- 

 tical inquiry into stains produced in America, 

 obtaining the cooperation of workers in various 

 branches of biological science. Their prelim- 

 inary report has now been issued. Briefly, it 

 dispels the idea of German superiority. Amer- 

 ican stains are often purer than the Griibler 

 products; there is no difficulty in producing 

 what is required. Biit the trouble is stand- 

 ardization; the stains of different manufac- 

 turers produce different effects. 



It is suggested in the interests of science that 

 the Research Council, after further inquiry, 

 should deteiTuine a standard type for each 

 stain, possibly recommending different manu- 

 facturers for different stains. But it is of im- 

 portance that the standardization should ex- 

 tend beyond one country, so that the results of 

 scientific investigation and the methods of bac- 

 teriological identification should be available 

 for different countres. The whole business is 

 small from the financial point of 'view, and it 

 is to be hoped that standards will be adopted 



