July 30, 1920] 



SCIENCE 



113 



liquid with a spoon, energetically, and re- 

 moving the latter, I noticed that a sharply 

 outlined spiral was persistently present on the 

 surface, until the deep paraboloid returned to 

 the plane. My explanation would be, that at 

 I, part of the tangential velocity is converted 

 into local vortical motion, whereby the par- 

 ticles at I, because of the reduced centrifugal 

 force, slide down the inclined plane of the 

 rotating paraboloid. From another point of 

 view, a stationary wave is produced on the 

 surface by the interference at I. 



play with more interpretable modifications of 

 it a little longer. 



Carl Barus 

 Brown TjNivEBSiTy 



Now though I will not venture to repeat 

 the superscript of this note, I will neverthe- 

 less ask whether something analogous to the 

 above simple experiment may not be taking 

 place in astronomical space. Suppose we re- 

 place the glass vessel of the figure by a gravi- 

 tational mechanism; and suppose we "lip" it 

 at I, by making that locality a region of 

 effectively greater density and relatively at 

 rest. If Kepler's law be written in the form 

 so convenient in its present relations to the 

 modern atom {M, being the virtual mass at 

 the center and A the angular momentum per 

 gram, whereby rv^ = A^/r^M, for the tan- 

 gential velocity v at r), then any local dim- 

 inution of A in accordance with the above 

 model, would be followed by a diminution of 

 r in the part affected. 



At all events the hydrodynamic experiment 

 (rotational surface figures, as related to shape 

 of boundary) is very beautiful and certainly 

 more approachable. I shall allow myself to 



THE PACIFIC DIVISION OF THE AMERICAN AS- 

 SOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT 

 OF SCIENCE 



The Seattle meeting of the Pacific Division 

 of the American Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science held June 17 to 19 at the Uni- 

 versity of Washington, Seattle, was perhaps 

 the most successful so far held by the Pacific 

 Division. Sixteen affiliated societies were 

 scheduled in the final program and delegates 

 were in attendance from every part of the Pa- 

 cific Ooast area. The representation from the 

 University of California and Stanford Uni- 

 versity was particularly large. 



The special sessions of the convention in 

 which the various affiliated societies partici- 

 pated were well attended and the beneficial re- 

 sults of this cooperation were apparent. The 

 conference of Research Committees from the 

 educational institutions of the Pacific Coast 

 held two sessions which were attended by all 

 the delegates. The problems connected with 

 the maintenance and encouragement of active 

 research in the college and university were pre- 

 sented and discussed and some practical sug- 

 gestions were made. It was felt that distinct 

 progress in the solution of these problems had 

 resulted from this meeting and that the re- 

 search conference should be a permanent fea- 

 ture of the annual meetings of the Pacific Di- 

 vision. 



A symposium on the " Einstein Theory of 

 Relativity" was of general interest and was 

 also well attended. In the symposium on " The 

 Animal and Plant Resources of the North 

 Pacific Ocean" given under the auspices of 

 the Pacific Pisheries Society and the Western 

 Society of Naturalists, each speaker empha- 

 sized the great need for more knowledge of the 

 ocean and its life to save the fisheries indus- 

 try. It is hoped that the means will be found 

 to publish the papers in this sjrmposium as a 

 contribution to a better understanding of the 

 importance of the projected exploration of the 

 North Pacific Ocean through international co- 



