SCIENCE 



PEffiAY, November 19, 1920 



CONTENTS 



The Research Spirit in Everyday Life of tTie 

 Average Man: De. John C. Merriam 473 



Doctorates conferred in the Sciences hy Amer- 

 ican Universities in 19S0: Oallib Hull 478 



The Low Temperature Laboratory of the Bu- 

 reau of Mines: Dr. E. B. Moore 483 



Scientific Events: — 

 Phosphates in Morocco; The Pasteur Insti- 

 tute of Paris; The British Ministry of 

 Agriculture; Collection of Birds of the Cali- 

 fornia Academy of Sciences; The Geological 

 Society of America 484 



Scientific Notes and News 487 



University and Educational News 490 



Discussion and Correspondence: — 



An Unfavorable Spawning Season for Mul- 

 let: Dr. C. H. Edmondson. EemarTt; on 

 Family Names: Colonel Thos. L. Caset. 

 I Sesearch Problems "assigned to" Univer- 

 , sity Professors and their Students: Pro- 

 fessor C. T. Beues 490 



The Laws of Hybridizing discovered by Rich- 

 ard Diener : L. J. C 492 



Special Articles: — 



On the Belationship between Freezing Point 

 Lowering, A, and Specific Electrical Con- 

 ductivity, K, of Plant Tissue Fluids: Drs. 

 J. Abthtje Harris, Boss Aiken Gortner, 

 John V. Lawrence 494 



The American Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science: — 



Minutes of the Executive Committee of the 

 Council : Professoe Burton E. Livingston. 495 



MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended for 

 review should be sent to The Editor of Science, Garrison-on- 

 Hudson, N. Y. 



THE RESEARCH SPIRIT IN EVERYDAY 

 LIFE OF THE AVERAGE MANi 



Research has been considered generally as 

 a phase of efiort quite distinctly set off from 

 the natural course of human interest. It is 

 my purpose to discuss the spirit or attitude of 

 investigation as normally involved in the 

 everyday working plans of the average person. 



Of the significance of research in all fields 

 of our endeavor the extraordinary advances 

 and applications of science in the recent war 

 have not left the world in doubt. For nearly 

 half a century Germany had been known as a 

 nation given to investigation in a great 

 variety of little explored subjects, and gov- 

 erned in considerable measure in accordance 

 with the results of such researches. The 

 strength of German military organization, 

 backed by scientific and economic interests 

 welded into one powerful instrimient, brought 

 to all the Allied Powers full realization of the 

 need for a supreme effort of intellect in many 

 kinds of scientific and economic operation 

 previously unknown. The result of this re- 

 action was a stupendous contribution to ap- 

 plication of research. Incidental failures, due 

 to unpreparedness and to lack of organization, 

 may not detract from the importance of what 

 was thus produced. 



No less clear is now in post-war reconstruc- 

 tion the evidence of need for entirely new 

 views of old knowledge, for immediate answer 

 to old questions not yet solved, and for quick 

 results of investigation on problems of con- 

 struction never before encountered. As had 

 been predicted, we find ourselves to-day going 

 forward to new plans of human organization, 

 but more unsatisfactorily prepared for the 

 complex situations of the new era than we 



1 Delivered as the address of the retiring presi- 

 dent of the Pacific Division, American Association 

 for the Advancement of Science at Seattle, Wash- 

 ington, June 17, 1920. 



