OCTOBEE 8, 1920] 



SCIENCE 



331 



This conference liopes this work will be 

 estended. 



10. Isosiaiic Investigations 



Investigations in the theory of isostasy have 

 thrown much light on the subject of deviation 

 from the normal densities in the outer por- 

 tions of the earth, which is of importance in 

 the study of geology, and in other branches of 

 science. 



Much can be added to our knowledge of this 

 subject of isostasy by a mathematical reduc- 

 tion of existing field data, following well- 

 known methods, which would involve only 

 slight expense. 



This conference urges, in the interest of 

 geophysical and other sciences, the early re- 

 duction of existing geodetic data and the ex- 

 tension of geodetic field work to those regions 

 of the Pacific where such data are now lacking. 



This conference commends the Coast and 

 Geodetic Survey of the United States, the 

 Trigonometric Survey of India, and the Geo- 

 detic Survey of Canada for work they have 

 done in isostatic investigations. 

 (To be continued) 



BIOPHYSICS 



The need of liaison or coordination be- 

 tween the different but related branches of 

 science is coming to be felt; and indeed may 

 soon prove as great as the need of specializa- 

 tion. The physiologist has long been wont to 

 consult the anatomist about the materials 

 with which he deals, but though his subject 

 consists largely in the physics of living mat- 

 ter, his contact with the physicist has been 

 limited and often unsatisfactory. It is 

 usually hard for the physicist and physiologist 

 to speak the same language. Almost at the 

 outset of the attempt at cooperation the phys- 

 icist plunges into an entanglement of mathe- 

 matical formulae into which the physiologist 

 can not follow him and from which he can 

 not coax him out, and negotiations have to 

 be broken off. The biologist — especially the 

 physiologist — ought to be better grounded in 

 physics, and the physicist would profit much 

 if he knew something of the behavior of 



living matter and the physical properties in 

 which it so strikingly differs from inanimate 

 matter. Physiologists, even from good lab- 

 oratories, often reveal ignorance of the phys- 

 ical terms they use by such mistakes as call- 

 ing a pair of electrodes " an electrode," or 

 transposing the terms abscissa and ordinate. 

 Many use the electric current without sufficient 

 understanding of its behavior to avoid some 

 of the pitfalls into which it may lead them. 

 Physicists on the other hand are usually so 

 drilled in the analysis of the behavior of in- 

 animate matter, which best lends itself to 

 mathematical treatment, that it is hard for 

 their minds to cope with such things as 

 colloids, ameboid motion of protoplasm, action 

 currents in nerve and muscle, reflex inhibition^ 

 color sense and many other phenomena whichi 

 present features peculiar to life. I have seen 

 a physicist, attempting to reduce the nerve- 

 impulse to the laws of electrical conduction ini 

 insulated cables, greet the suggestion that 

 one must reckon with the electro-chemical 

 condition of the protoplasmic colloid, with 

 the answer that this was merely to relegate 

 the nerve impulse to the realm of things we 

 know nothing about and therefore can not 

 analyze, and that consequently it was better 

 to ignore colloidal chemistry. Thus ignorance 

 of a great field of significant knowledge led to 

 setting aside the kernel of the whole thing. 

 I have heard of physicists being quite in- 

 credulous when told of certain well-estab- 

 lished facts concerning the behavior of elec- 

 trical charges in colloidal matter. The phys- 

 icist who might have his eyes opened and his 

 understanding broadened by a careful exami- 

 nation of vital phenomena, is apt to think 

 these things are too vag-ue and too impossible 

 of quantitative study to merit his notice. 



Physiology has sometimes been divided into 

 bio-chemistry and bio-physics. Most research 

 in physiology to-day is concerned rather witli 

 the chemical side of the subject than the 

 physical side. Physiologists have effected 

 better coordination with chemists than with 

 physicists. But the branches of physiology 

 abutting on the field of physics are many, 

 and possibly offer as great a wealth of knowl- 



