Februaky 4, 1921] 



SCIENCE 



117 



northern obseiTatories, was incorrect and un- 

 just, in that it overlooked the case of Dr. C 

 P. Olivier, for several years an astronomer in 

 the McCormick Observatory. I regret exceed- 

 ingly this oversight, and I am at a loss to ex- 

 plain it, especially as Dr. Olivier was for a 

 year a member of the staff of the Lick Ob- 

 servatory, and his valued astronomical con- 

 tributions are thoroughly familiar to me. It 

 is my duty and pleasure to say that the ob- 

 servatory of the University of Virginia, 

 thanks in good measure to the abilities and 

 enthusiasms of Director Mitchell and astrono- 

 mer Olivier, is as efficient in good works as 

 any existing observatory. It is greatly to be 

 regretted that their financial resources are so 

 limited. 



I should like to say that my comments upon 

 the astronomical situation in the southeastern 

 states were primarily not intended to be taken 

 in the negative sense. There was with me 

 the hope that a public expression on the sub- 

 ject might lead to a better realization of 

 existing needs, and to more adequate financial 

 provision in the positive sense. 



W. W. Campbell 



TECHNICAL STUDY AT OBERLIN COLLEGE 



In Science for December 31 I find a note: 



It is planned to establish a technical school at 

 Oberlin College with accommodation for about 

 seven hundred students. 



This statement is not quite correct. Presi- 

 dent King has several times proposed, upon 

 his own resiwnsibility and doubtless merely 

 for informal consideration, a plan for tech- 

 nical departments chiefly in chemical engi- 

 neering and metallurgy. I believe the pro- 

 posal has not yet come to the faculty for for- 

 mal consideration, so of course does not have 

 their endorsement. As all matters of internal 

 policy and administration in Oberlin are con- 

 trolled by the faculty, in accordance with an 

 old vote of the trustees twice recently re- 

 affirmed and now in part of the nature of a 

 contract, it is evident the proposal has not yet 

 taken the first formal step toward adoption. 

 President King, who is one of the staunchest 



supporters of this Oberlin system, apparently 

 thinks that it is not yet time for formal con- 

 sideration of the plan. It has been mooted 

 for two years, and indeed over fifteen years 

 ago something of the sort was suggested, but 

 it has received only individual consideration 

 by members of the faculty. Judging from 

 numerous conversations, I think the faculty, 

 if they are asked to consider it, will decide 

 the plan to be unwise. A general feeling 

 among the faculty is that Oberlin's effort 

 should be centered upon strengthening herself 

 in every way as a college before entering u]X)n 

 university or technical school work. 



Maynard M. Metcalf 



further remarks on "the use of the 

 term fossil" 



The short article entitled " The Use of the 

 Term Fossil" published in No. 1330 of 

 Science seems to have fulfilled the writer's 

 object of stimulating discussion. The first 

 criticism, by Garret P. Serviss, appeared in 

 the Sunday American^ and while approving 

 " poetic license " the author continues the 

 plea for a more careful use of scientific terms 

 by the scientist, as follows: 



Half the fogs that trouble the ordinary reader 

 when he undertakes to traverse the fields of sci- 

 ence are due to tihe capricious use of words which 

 ought to have an invariable signification. 



In 'No. 1348 of Science, under the title 

 " Professor Field's Use of the Term Fossil," 

 Professor Authur M. Miller suggests the 

 following definition : " Any trace of an 

 organism that lived in a past Geological 

 Age." He then states that such expressions 

 as " fossil suncracks " and " fossil flood 

 plains " are " illuminating " and " apt " and 

 " are valued contributions to geological 

 phraseology." In a recent contribution by 

 a well-known paleobotanist, we find the term 

 " fossil climate." Would it be considered 

 " illimiinating " or " apt " to define paleo- 

 climatology as the study of " fossil climates " ? 

 There is a science of words as well as of 

 things, and is it not true that much of the 



1 July 22, 1920. 



