SCIENCE 



A WEEKLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, PUBLISHING THE 



OFFICIAL NOTICES AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION 



FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 



Friday, Novbmbjeb 6, 1908 

 oo'nte'nts 



Theories of Manure and Fertilizer Action: 

 De. a. D. Hall 617 



The Dublin Meeting of the British Associa- 



^ tion: De. Leo Fbank Gtjttman 628 



The Official Inspection of Commodities: A. 

 L. WiNTON 636 



The American Sociological Society 640 



" University Table " at the Naples Zoological 



640 



ic Notes and News 640 



The Administration of the University of Illi- 

 nois -. 643 



University and Educational News 644 



Discussion and Correspondence: — 



Dr. 0. P. Hay on the Skull of Diplodocus: 

 De. W. J. Holland. On the Encourage- 

 ment of Mr. Charles D. Snyder: Pbofessoe 

 Jacques Loeb, S. S. Maxwell, T. Bbails- 



FOED ROBEETSON, ThEO. C. BuENETT 644 



Quotations : — 

 Publications of the Wistar Institute 648 



Scientific Books: — 



Campbell's Modern Electrical Theory: Peo- 

 FESSOE H. A. Bdmstead. Goebel's Ein- 

 leitung in die Experiment elle Morphologie 

 der Pfianzen: Pbofessoe Chaeles J. 

 Chambeblain 649 



Scientific Journals and Articles 651 



Special Articles: — 



Electric Disturbances and Perils on Moun- 

 tain Tops: J. E. Chubch, Je. The Blowing 

 of Soils: Albebt B. Reagan. A Fault in 

 an Esker: Feed H. Lahee. Bufo Fowleri 

 (Putnam) in Northern Georgia: H. A. 

 Allabd. a Preliminary Note on a Group 

 of Lactic Acid Bacteria: E. G. Hastings . 651 



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

 xeview should be sent to the Editor of Science, Garrison-on- 

 Hudson, N. Y. 



THEORIES OF MANURE AND FERTILIZER 

 ACTION ' 



It is to Liebig that we owe the first gen- 

 eral theory of the nutrition of the plant 

 and the function of fertilizers: although 

 Liebig himself did not add anything to the 

 knowledge of the process of carbon assim- 

 ilation which had been acquired by Priest- 

 ley, Senebier and others, nor to the study 

 of the nitrogen and ash constituents which 

 had been begun by de Saussure, he yet 

 drew up from these facts a coherent theory 

 of the course of nutrition and put it before 

 the world with such vividness that it forth- 

 with took its place in the general body of 

 accepted scientific opinion. Liebig argued 

 that since the ash constituents alone are 

 drawn from the soil, it is only necessary, 

 in order to ensure the complete nutrition 

 of the plant, that there shall be no defici- 

 ency in the inorganic materials which are 

 left behind when the plant is burnt. Ac- 

 cording to Liebig the function of the fertil- 

 izer is to supply to the soil the materials 

 removed therefrom by the crop, and the 

 fertilizer required can be ascertained be- 

 forehand by the analysis of a similar crop, 

 so that the soil can be supplied with the 

 exact amounts of potash, soda, magnesia, 

 lime, phosphoric acid, etc., which would be 

 removed by a normal yield of that par- 

 ticular crop. Neglecting Liebig 's miscon- 

 ception of the source of the plant's nitro- 

 gen and the long controversy which arose 

 as to the necessity of its artificial supply, 

 we can restate the theory as assuming that 

 ' A lecture given at the Graduate School of 

 Agriculture, Cornell University, July, 1908. 



