NOVEMBEE 20, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



727 



chemist — and I should use the word, " mere," 

 with care, especially when one recalls such 

 assemblies of scholars as are gathered in such 

 a research laboratory as that of the Badische 

 Anilin-und-Soda Fabrik, but if a young man 

 plans for such a position, the remarks of 

 Professor Kipping may well apply. But that 

 ^uits well with the conditions of the past; 

 what we are concerned with is what touches 

 the present needs. 



One feature of American manufacture is 

 the remarkable development of machinery and 

 power application; and a great lack in this 

 -development is the very absence of what 

 should be the chemical-engineering side of it. 

 Now such a nation as Germany has both sides. 

 Why should not America also have both sides ? 

 But the only way to reform is to reform; and 

 now that we see the need, it is only necessary 

 to follow in the path indicated. We have a 

 store of well-trained chemists. We have a 

 store of engineers. We lack the adequate 

 supply of practical chemical engineers. It is 

 «asy to produce this needed supply — by teach- 

 ing the chemist engineering; and by giving 

 him teachers who have been and are in touch 

 ■with the practical. Moreover, there is a great 

 need of reforming the methods of teaching 

 chemistry. With the safeguarding of the 

 curriculum by employing men who know and 

 respect theory, it is feasible to start the stu- 

 dent with the practical idea; then he wiU 

 never get away from it, he wiU see it always, 

 he will love it and he will use it. For he 

 will learn the dignity and worth of putting 

 theory into overalls ; and in turn he will learn 

 the method and value of dressing practise 

 ■with the dignity of theory. 



Charles S. Palmer 



Newtonviixe, Mass. 



auroral displays 



In the issue of Science dated July 10, I 

 •described a remarkable illumination of the sky 

 at Sandy Hook, N. J., on the evening of 

 March 27. Since that date I have witnessed 

 two more sky glows, one on the night of Au- 

 gust 18, and another on September 4. I had 

 been quite prepared for further exhibitions of 



this kind, as a dispatch to the New Tork Sun 

 from Washington, August 8, 1908, stated that 

 there had been an unusual number of auroral 

 displays or sky glows visible in Europe and 

 the eastern part of the United States. 



On August 18, I was at Murray Bay, 

 Canada, on the lower St. Lawrence. The 

 night of August lY-18 was cool, rainy and 

 foggy. The afternoon of the eighteenth was 

 windy and clear, and the evening was cool, 

 calm and clear. The few days previous had 

 been unusually warm. On the eighteenth, 

 about 8 P.M., I first noted a rich glow in the 

 west. This was followed, shortly afterwards, 

 by the appearance of shafts spreading from 

 about ten degrees north of west around by the 

 north to almost due east. The illumination in 

 some cases reached almost to the zenith. The 

 shafts appeared and vanished with bewilder- 

 ing rapidity, and quite a number of spiral 

 luminous clouds and persistent bright patches 

 were visible. The illumination lasted until 

 about ten o'clock. There was no moon, yet 

 the general effect of the display was a diffused 

 light about equal to that given by the moon 

 at a quarter-phase. 



The exhibition of the night of September 4 

 was noted at Fort Terry on Plum Island 

 about ten miles from New London, Conn. 

 The same succession in weather conditions 

 had prevailed; hot weather followed by heavy 

 rains, and clear cooler weather. The first in- 

 dication was at 7:15 p.m., and consisted of a 

 streamer about 60 degrees in length, rising 

 from the horizon about ten degrees west of 

 north. Other streamers in great number but 

 much more attenuated appeared east of north. 

 Some of these faded very quickly, to be fol- 

 lowed by new ones, while others were quite 

 persistent, and had a distinct motion towards 

 the west. At about 8 o'clock a bright fiat 

 glow was noted almost due north, and shortly 

 afterwards the northern illumination faded. 

 At about 8 :45 some peculiar striated luminous 

 clouds appeared in the southwest, followed in 

 turn by a few pale streamers due north. The 

 display closed altogether about 9 :30 p.m. It 

 should be noted that the sky became somewhat 

 cloudy towards the end of the display and 



