564 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LII. No. 1354 



it is desired to make is that the range of 

 equally favorable ratios between nutrient salts 

 is probably a very broad one, no doubt in- 

 cluding the solutions of most soUs. This ia 

 not a surprising conclusion in view of the 

 observation that under proper climatic condi- 

 tions many different types of plants can grow 

 vigorously on any fertile soil, while a given 

 type of plant may grow equally well on 

 various soils, the extracts of which have 

 entirely different proportions of nutrients. 

 Again, plants of equal development may store 

 nutrient elements in very different ratios, 

 when grown in different soils or solutions. 



It has sometimes been suggested that solu- 

 tion and sand culture experiments offer a 

 fundamental means of determining fertilizer 

 requirements of soils, in connection with a 

 proper physiological balance for the plant. 

 If one considers the dynamic nature of the 

 soil system, with its constantly fluctuating 

 soil solution and the reactive properties of 

 the soil minerals, it seems scarcely within the 

 limits of possibility to alter a soil solution to 

 fit any particular ratio of nutrients. The ad- 

 dition of any one fertilizer salt may affect all 

 the various components of the soil solution. 

 Moreover, many elements are present in the 

 soil solution besides those added to the arti- 

 ficial culture solutions and it may not be 

 assumed that these are without effect on the 

 physiological balance of the solution, if 

 indeed such a balance is of importance 

 ordinarily. 



D. R. HOAGLAND 



DrvisioN or AGRicuLTUKAi Chemistet, 

 TjNrVERSITT OF Califoenia 



THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY, 

 CHICAGO MEETING 



The 60th meeting of the American Chemical So- 

 ciety was held in Chicago, 111., Monday, September 

 6, to Friday, September 10, 1920. The council 

 meeting was held on the 6th and a general meet- 

 ing on September 7th, in the morning at the Con- 

 gress Hotel, Chicago, and in the afternoon at 

 Northwestern TTniversity, Evanston. Divisional 

 meetings were held all Wednesday morning and all 



day Thursday, and excursions Wednesday after- 

 noon and Friday. Full details of the meeting and 

 program will be found in the October issue of the 

 Journal of Indiistrial and Engineering Chemistry. 

 The registration was one thousand three hundred 

 and eight. 



The combined outdoor and indoor entertainment 

 on the campus of Northwestern University on 

 Tuesday afternoon was a new feature which met 

 the hearty approval of all as it offered both a 

 varied entertainment to the members and special 

 opportunity for becoming acquainted. 



General public addresses were given by Thomas 

 E. Wilson, president, Wilson & Co., on "The value 

 of technical training in the reconstruction of in- 

 dustries," and by Professor A. S. Loevenhart, 

 head of the department of pharmacology of the 

 University of Wisconsin, on "Chemistry's contri- 

 bution to the life sciences. ' ' The chief public ad- 

 dress was the president's annual address given, by 

 Dr. W. A. Noyes, in the Gold Room of the Congress 

 Hotel, and was entitled, "Chemical publications." 

 General addresses on Tuesday afternoon were given 

 by H. P. Talbot on "Eelation of educational in- 

 stitutions to the industries," and by W. A. Pat- 

 rick on ' ' Some uses of silica gels. ' ' The banquet, 

 held on Thursday evening, September 9, filled the 

 Gold Room of the Congress Hotel to overflowing. 

 At the general opening session Charles L. Parsons 

 reported on the International Conference of Pure 

 and Applied Chemistry held in Rome, June 22 to 

 25, of which he was vice-president and to which he 

 was a delegate from the American Chemical So- 

 ciety. 



Abstracts of a larger part of this paper pre- 

 sented follows: 



DmsioN op biological chemistet 

 R. A. Gortner, chairman, 

 A. W. Dox, secretary 

 Diet and sex as factors in creatinuria in man: 

 HowAED B. Lewis and Genevieve Steaens. There 

 appears to be no direct relation between the phases 

 of the menstrual cycle and the appearance of crea- 

 tine in the urine of the normal adult female. Pro- 

 tein per se is not a causal factor in the production 

 of creatinuria and there is no more tendency 

 toward the production of creatinuria by high pro- 

 tein diets during the menstrual than in the inter- 

 menstrual periods. The retention of creatine in- 

 gested per OS by women does not differ markedly 

 from that by men. 



