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Vol. LVI Novembee 17, 1922 No. 1455 



CONTENTS 



Changes of Latitude: Pbofessor E. H. 

 TucKEE 555 



Conservation and Modern Life: De. James 

 H. Lees 559 



The Present Supply of Biological Stai7is: 

 De. H. J. Conn 562 



Lowery Laymon Lewis: Dr. John E. Gubee- 

 LET 563 



Scientific Events: 



Precise Standardisation of Radio Frequen- 

 cies : The Devonian Forest at G-ilhoa, 

 N. T. ; The Boylston Medical Prizes; Anti- 

 vivisection Legislation in California; The 

 American Association for the Advancement 

 of Science 564 



Scientific Notes and News 567 



University and Educational Notes 570 



Discussion and Correspondence: 



The Evolution of Climates: De. Maksden 

 Manson. The Effects of Captivity on a 

 Sex Character: Ida M. Mbllen. Misuse 

 of the Questionnaire: De. Hubeet Ltman 

 Claek 571 



Quotations : 



Motorless Flight in England 573 



Scientific BooTcs: 



Hohson on The Theory of Functions of a 

 Meal Variable: Peoeessor Henry Blum- 

 BEKG. Vel)len on Analysis Situs: Pro- 

 fessor H. L. RiETZ 574 



Special Articles: 



Zostera marina in its Melation to Tempera- 

 ture : Professor William Albert Setchell 575 



The American Chemical Society : Dr. Charles 

 L. P arsons 57 7 



SCIENCE: A Weekly Journal devoted to the 

 Advancement of Science, publishing the official 

 notices and proceedings of the American Asso- 

 ciation for the Advancement of Science, edited by 

 J. McKeen Cattell and published every Friday by 



THE SCIENCE PRESS 



I I Liberty St., Utica, N. Y. Garrison, N. Y. 



New? York City: Grand Central Terminal 



Annual Subscription, $6.00 Single Copies, 15 Cts. 



Entered as second-class matter January 21, 1922, at the 



Post Office at Utica, N. Y., Under the Act of March 3, 1879. 



CHANGES OF LATITUDE 



In this era of changes of every deseription, 

 the question of changes of position of our 

 astronomical observing stations on the surface 

 of the earth has recently become a live issue. 

 The question is still an open one, and its ulti- 

 mate decision may rest upon a comparison of 

 the precision of the results of observation with 

 the size of the changes predicted or adopted 

 by geologists. 



California has undergone some severe earth- 

 quake shocks, of which we commonly talk but 

 little and endeavor to think not at all. Of the 

 modern disturbances, that of 1906 was clearly 

 due to a slip at the surface of the earth along 

 a geological fault line. At the location of this 

 fault the relative slip of the two opposite 

 sides was as much as twenty feet in some 

 places. There is no such evidence available 

 for any other earthquake, but it may be as- 

 sumed that other shocks in this coastal region 

 were of similar nature. 



In Japan, where some five hundred earth- 

 quakes of sensible character have been recorded 

 in twenty years, the shocks are presumably not 

 due to slips a,t the surface along geological 

 faults. 



The only extensive results of astronomical 

 observations in this region are those at the 

 Lick Observatory, where meridian circle work 

 has been prosecuted for nearly thirty years, 

 and at Ukiah, about a hundred and fifty miles 

 northwest of us, where zemth telescope work 

 has been carried on continuously for twenty 

 years. There have been isolated zenith tele- 

 scope determinations of latitude, but they 

 would contribute little of importance to the 

 discussion of progressive or abrupt changes, 

 owing to the uncertain errore of the star 

 declinations adopted. 



For instance, the latitude of our instrument, 

 as furnished by the U. S. Coast and Geodetic 

 Survey in the early days, was 37° 20' 24.48". 



