SCIENCE 



PRroAY, March 28, 1913 



CONTENTS 



Galileo, the Physicist: Professor Henry 

 Grew 463 



Facts and Fiction about Crops: Professor 

 Cyril G. Hopkins 470 



The American Philosophical Society and Presi- 

 dent Wilson 476 



Scientific Notes and News 477 



University and Educational News 483 



Discussion and Correspondence: — 



A Simple Formula for Computing Gyro- 

 scopic Forces in an Aeroplane: Professor 

 Edward V. Huntington. Fur-bearing 

 Mammals, an Unappreciated Natural Re- 

 source: Walter P. Taylor. The Writings 

 of Willia.m G. Sumner: Albert G. Keller. 

 Lest We Forget: Professor A. H. Patter- 

 son. To Whom is the Academic Costume 

 Worth While? T 484 



Scientific BooTcs: — 



Walcott on Cambrian Brachiopoda: Dr. 

 John M. Clarke. Stiles 's Nutritional 

 Physiology: Professor W. H. Jordan. 

 Bragg 's Studies in Radioactivity: Pro- 

 fessor B. A. Millikan 488 



Botanical Notes: — 



Polystictus Versicolor as a Food Plant; An 

 Every-day Botanical Manual; The Evolu- 

 tion of Plants. Professor Charles E. 

 Bessey 492 



Special Articles: — 



Supplementary Note on the Significance of 

 Variety Tests: Dr. J. Arthur Harris. On 

 the Metamorphosis of an Amoeba into Fla- 

 gellates and Vice Versa: Professor Wm. 

 B. Wherry 493 



The Illinois State Academy of Science: Pro- 

 fessor Otis W. Caldwell 496 



Societies and Academies: — 



The Helminthological Society of Washing- 

 ton: Mauwce C. Hall. The Anthropologi- 

 cal Society of Washington: Wm. H. Bab- 

 cock . 496 



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

 reTieT should be Bent to Professor J. McKeen Cattell, Gairison- 

 on-Hudson, N. Y. 



GALILEO, THE PHYSICIST^ 



The mission of an academy of science is 

 a function of the age in which it flourishes. 

 The ancient academies accomplished a 

 work now performed by the universities. 

 The Italian academies of the Eenaissance, 

 variously estimated at from 500 to 700 in 

 number, represent different purposes al- 

 most as numerous as the institutions them- 

 selves. But in general they were literary 

 and scientific clans; they belonged to a 

 period when learning was the possession of 

 the few, to a period when one might still 

 take all science for his domain. 



The modern academy is, as a rule, 

 closely allied with the sovereign power of 

 some state, whose interests are promoted 

 by it, consciously and unconsciously, in a 

 variety of ways. The service which it 

 renders is sometimes political, sometimes 

 literary, sometimes scientific, sometimes 

 social. But, so far as I can see, they all 

 have, in common, these two ends, namely, 

 the encouragement of the individual and 

 service to the community. 



The triple purpose of the Illinois State 

 Academy of Science is clearly stated in the 

 second article of its constitution as being 

 "the promotion of scientific research, the 

 diffusion of scientific knowledge and of the 

 scientific spirit, and the unification of the 

 scientific interests of the state"; just how 

 this object can best be secured is the inter- 

 esting subject of an after-dinner discussion 

 this evening. 



I leave this problem, therefore, with the 



' Presidential address, delivered before the Illi- 

 nois Academy of Science, at Peoria, February 21, 

 1913. 



