568 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LI. No. 1327 



I perceive from your letter that my friend DoUo, 

 wliom I had informed of the critical conditions 

 here -with us, turned for aid to my friend Osborn. 

 In fact, the past winiter in Vienna was literally 

 frightful. Your people have done a great deal for 

 our children and in this vray have aided materially 

 in reducing the number of cases of sickness due 

 to privation and hunger. The circumstance that 

 Austria is reduced by the peace treaty to a rela- 

 tively small country, and especially that it is lim- 

 ited to the mountain territories, which could not 

 pireviously raise their own food supplies, ajid 

 under the present bad conditions are still less alble 

 to provide for themselves, has shaped the situation 

 since the end of the war for a catastrophe, as we 

 are surrounded all about by new states which in 

 part are unwilling to help us, as with Czecho- 

 slovakia and Hungary and Jugoslavia, and in part 

 are unable to help because they themselves are in 

 want, as vfith Germany. ... Up to the present 

 time destitution has attained terrible dimensions 

 with us, and people have been dying like flies. 

 The middle classes especially have been most 

 heavily affected by these conditions as they were 

 in no position to pass over to other classes the 

 enormous increase in prices occasioned by the des- 

 titution, as the business and labor classes were 

 enabled to do. "We can only hope that as soon as 

 political conditions will permit, Austria, now so 

 much reduced in size and productivity in conse- 

 quence of its geographical limitations that it will 

 scarcely in the future be self-supporting, may be 

 able to shape up some possibility for a continued 

 existence. . . . (April 4, 1&20.) 



Despite these circumstances the writer of 

 the above letter has succeeded in publishing 

 a monumental work, printed on paper of the 

 poorest quality, which must be used by all 

 American students. 



I have taken the liberty of quoting from 

 these personal letters from two men in the 

 very front rank in Europe, in order to present 

 the actual situation to some of my colleagues 

 who are still in doubt as to what their attitude 

 should be. We geologists can not cut of[ com- 

 munication with a country which has produced 

 Edouard Suess. We paleontologists welcome 

 the works of Othenio Abel. 



As regards others, with whom personal rela- 

 tions are less close, I have decided neither to 

 forgive nor to forget nor to extenuate, but to 



carry on. In brief, I find that it is my duty 

 to renew scientific relations with all the 

 specialists of Europe who are engaged in my 

 lines of work, regardless of past or present 

 geographic boundaries. Needless to say, I am 

 now renewing personal relations with my 

 former friends and colleagues, whatever their 

 nationality. 



Henky Fairfield Osborn 

 American Museum, 

 New York, 

 May 12, 1920 



THE METEOR OF NOVEMBER 26, 1919 



To THE Editor of Science : From the Clima- 

 tological Data, Michigan Section for Novem- 

 ber, 1919, issued from the Grand Rapids, 

 Michigan Weather Bureau Of&ce under the 

 heading of " Remarks of Observers " on page 

 132, the following has been taken: 



Newberry — A large and brilliant meteor was ob- 

 served at about 8 p.m. of the 26th; it looked to be 

 aibout 38 inches in diameter. It was first seen in 

 the southwest — raither low but considerably above 

 the horizon — with its course southeastward and 

 downward. At a point about 9° west of south, 

 and near the horizon, dit appeared to be bursting 

 like a rocket as it sank from view. 



This probably is an observation of the same 

 met€or which was noticed in southern Mjch- 

 igan and supposed to have fallen into Lake 

 Michigan near its southern end. This obser- 

 vation is 300 miles or more north of the 

 previously supposed position of the meteor's 

 descent. 



William Kelly 



Vulcan, Mich. 



FORMUL.ffi FOR DATES 



In my formulse for finding the day of the 

 week of any date (Science, May 21, 1920, 

 p. 513) the explanation of the method of find- 

 ing the value of the symbol L is not suffi- 

 ciently clear for dates in centennial years. 

 The following modification is therefore 

 offered: L is the nujuber of leapdays (not 

 counting the one in a centennial year, if any) 

 preceding the date and subsequent to the 

 beginning of the centennial year having the 



