Vol. LVI December 22, 1922 No. 1460 



The Whitney South Sea Expedition of the 

 American Museum of Natural History: 

 Egbert Cushman Mubpht 701 



A Menace to the National Parhs: Dk. "W. G. 

 Van Name 70.5 



The American Associatioa for iiie Advance- 

 ment of Science: 



The Medical Sciences; The History of 

 Science; The Social and Econojnic Sci- 

 ences; Mail-way Tickets to Boston 707 



Scientific Events : 

 Louis Pasteur; The FranTc Nelson Cole 

 Prize in Algebra; Colloid Symposium at 

 the University of Wisconsin; Grants from 

 the Bache Fund... 710 



Scientific Notes and News 712 



University and Educational Notes 715 



Discitssion and Correspondence: 



Radiation a Form of Matter: Professor 

 Arthur H. Compton. Russian Scientifio 

 Aid: Dr. Vernon Kellogg 716 



Scientific Books: 



Noyes's "Watchers of the Shy": Pro- 

 fessor Ernest W. Brown 717 



Special Articles: 



Iodine and Anuran Metamorphosis: Pro- 

 fessor W. W. Swingle 720 



The American Chemical Society: Dr. Charles 

 X.. Parsons ' 722 



The American Mathematical Society: Pro- 

 fessor R. G. D. Eichardson 730 



Science News Supplement 



SCIEINCE: 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. McfCeen Cattell and published every Friday by 



THE SCIENCE PRESS 



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



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



THE WHITNEY SOUTH SEA EXPEDI- 

 TION OF THE AMERICAN MU- 

 SEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 



Ti-iROUGH the personal influence of Dr. Leon- 

 ard C. Sanford, a trustee and lionorarjf fellow 

 of tlie i^nenican Museum of Natural History, 

 Mr. Harry Payne W'hitney agreed in 1920 to 

 finance a zoological expedition in Polynesia. 

 The main object of the expedition is to collect 

 birds at the various islands of the South Sea 

 and on the intervening ocean areas. The sum 

 generously contributed by Mr. Whitney was 

 considered sufficient for five years' work, in- 

 cluding provision for the purchase of a vessel 

 which would assure the jield workers of the 

 Museum an opportunity to visit a large num- 

 ber of islets which are far from the trade routes 

 or ordinarj' lines of communication. The ex- 

 I^edition is perhaps the most comprehensive 

 that has ever been planned and equipped for 

 ornithological science. 



The Whitney South Sea Expedition is under 

 the direct administration of a committee ap- 

 pointed 'by the Trustees of the Museum and 

 consisting of Doctors Leonard C. Sanford, 

 Frank M. Chapman and Robert Cushman Mur- 

 phy. As field representative, the Museum has 

 been fortunate in securing the services of Mr. 

 Kollo H. Beck of San Jose, California, a vet- 

 eran -naturalist and collector of marine birds 

 who had previously rendered the institution 

 years of noteworthy service, particularly while 

 he was in charge of the Brewster-Sanford South 

 American Expedition of 1912-1916. Mr. Beck 

 is accompanied in the field iby Mrs. Beck, who 

 was his constant companion during the South 

 American littoral work, and 'by an assistant, 

 Mr. Ernest H. Quayle, whose training at Stan- 

 ford University has admirably fitted him for 

 the responsibility. In September, 1920, the 

 members of the party sailed from San Francis- 

 co to Tahiti and from the latter base they have 



