304 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVII. No. 947 



to be secured by some such as the foregoing 

 plan. E. 6. Hoskins 



Starling Ohio Medical College 



grana de beasile 



To THE Editor of Science : I should be glad 

 to learn what grain and what region were 

 meant by " grana de Brasile " in the 1193 

 oommercial treaty between the " Bononienses " 

 and " Ferrarienses " copied by Muratori into 

 Vol. 2 of his " Antiquitates Italicse," p. 844. 

 He mentions (p. 488) the repetition of the 

 same item in a " charta " of 1198. 



Capmany's Spanish work on the early ship- 

 ping arts, etc., of Barcelona copies in Vol. 2 

 several thirteenth century Catalan tariif lists, 

 three of which (the earliest 1221) for that and 

 other parts, respectively mention, among mis- 

 cellaneous commodities, " Carrega de Brasill," 

 " faix de bresil " and " cargua de brazil." 

 The usual impost seems to have been two 

 solidos. One of these lists mentions " grana " 

 unqualified. There seems nothing to indicate 

 what material was or was not meant, except 

 the slight negative value of that reference. 



It is interesting to see the variations of 

 orthography in these lists, duplicating those 

 of the Brazil west of southern Ireland on the 

 fourteenth and fifteenth century maps, though 

 Fra Mauro adds berzil and the more southern 

 apparently imitative Brazils (Terciera and 

 others) exhibit further vagaries of spelling. 

 The first appearance of Brazil in geography 

 seems to be, so far as reported, south of west 

 of Limerick on the 1325 map of Dalorto. 



Was it thence that the " grain " of 1193 

 and 1198 was supposed to have come? It can 

 hardly be an error for dyes or dye woods, 

 though both grain and dye wood may have 

 been associated with the idea and name of 

 Brazil, as we still write both India-ink and 

 India-rubber. W. H. Babcock 



concerning government application blanks 



To THE Editor of Science: In former times 

 when one wished to institute a comparison be- 

 tween the various classes of liars, he was ac- 

 customed to say " he lies like a horse-thief," 

 or " he lies like a tombstone." Now, however. 



those of us who are connected with the teach- 

 ing profession are given to saying " he lies like 

 a testimonial." 



It seems a little too bad that one's natural 

 tendency towards mendacity should be ac- 

 celerated by no less a person than Uncle Sam. 

 Some time ago I was asked to fill out a blank 

 for an applicant for a teaching position in the 

 Philippine Islands, and among other questions 

 asked me were the following : 



8. Is the applicant now, or has he ever been, 

 addicted to the use of intoxicating beverages, 

 morphine or opium? 



14. Can you state positively that the applicant 's 

 character is unimpeachable, and his reputation for 

 sobriety and morality unquestionably good? 



The printed directions state that all ques- 

 tions must be answered and that to say " I 

 don't know " is unsatisfactory. Now I feel 

 confident that the young lady who did me the 

 honor to ask me for a testimonial has not been 

 addicted to the use of intoxicating beverages, 

 morphine, or opium ; but I could not make this 

 statement as a positive fact about her or any 

 other acquaintance of mine. Again, I believe 

 the applicant's character to be unimpeachable, 

 but I can not state positively that such is the 

 case. This is a world of surprises and disap- 

 pointments. I am most optimistic, but not 

 sufficiently so to answer these questions in the 

 affirmative. May we not hope that our new 

 president-elect will take measures to relieve the 

 tender consciences of college professors from 

 the great strain that these government blanks 

 put upon them? 



James S. Stevens 



University op Maine 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 

 RicMUnien des Etitwichlungs- und Verer- 

 hungsprohlems. By Alfred Greil, Pro- 

 fessor of Anatomy, Innsbruck. Jena, Gus- 

 tav Fischer. 1912. 2 parts. 

 The crude evolutionism of Bonnet gave 

 place to the epigenesis of C. F. Woeff, and 

 this, too indefinite to give sufficient explana- 

 tion of the phenomena of cell differentiation, 

 adaptation and inheritance, in turn was sup- 

 planted by a newer preformationism, at first 



