SCIENCE 



A WEEKLY JOURNAL DEVOTEB TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, PUBLISHINQ THE 



OFFICIAL NOTICES AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION 



FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 



FRroAY, Februaet 26, 1909 



CONTENTS 



North America and Europe: A Geographical 

 Comparison: Professor Albkecht F. K. 

 Penck 321 



Report of the Commission on Agricultural 

 Research 329 



The Rhodes Scholarships 330 



The Darwin Centenary 330 



Scientific Notes and News 331 



University and Educational News 335 



Discussion and Correspondence: — 



Appointments in Colleges and Universities: 

 De. E. J. WiLCTNZKl. Genera without 

 Species: Peofessoe T. D. A. Cookeeell. 

 Dr. Williston on " The Fossil Turtles of 

 North America ": De. O. P. Hay Sao 



Quotations : — 

 Ammunition against the Anti-vivisection- 

 ist; An Idle Challenge 342 



Scientifio Books: — 



Locy's Biology and its Makers: Peofesssob 

 Maykaed M. Metcalf. Andrews on the 

 Young of the Crayfishes Astacus and Cam- 

 harus: Pbofessoe Feancis H. Heebick. 

 Dolmage's Astronomy of To-day: Peofessoe 

 Chaeles Lane Pooe. The Royal Society 

 Archives : De. Geo. F. Kunz 343 



Special Articles: — 



A Revised Classification of the North Amer- 

 ican Lower Paleozoic: Peofessoe Amadeus 

 W. Grabau 351 



Research Work in Chemistry at the Univer- 

 sity of Illinois 357 



Societies and Academies: — 



The Washington Academy of Sciences: J. 

 8. DiLLEE. NeiD York Section of the Amer- 

 ican Chemical Society: C. M. Joyce 358 



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

 review should be sent to the Editor of Scikhce, Garrison-on- 

 Hudson, N. Y. 



NORTH AMERICA AND EUROPE: A GEO- 

 GRAPHICAL COMPARISON ' 



Nothing could surpass my curiosity 

 when I landed for the fii'st time in North 

 America, a new world, separated from the 

 old one by a great ocean. As a geologist, 

 I knew that similar rocks formed the land 

 and that similar surface features would 

 occur, but as a geographer, I knew too that 

 the vegetation of North America differs 

 from that of Europe and that there are 

 only a few species common to both sides 

 of the water. What will be the impression 

 of the landscape — will it be European or a 

 different type? But when I put my foot 

 on the land near Quebec I became aware 

 that the general features of the landscape 

 and the surroundings of man were nearly 

 the same there as in Europe, and only a 

 closer inspection convinced me that I was 

 amid a new flora. Indeed, I had the feel- 

 ing of being not in a latitude south of 

 Vienna, whence I had .just come, but 

 rather of being in the same surroundings 

 as at Stockholm— twelve degrees of latitude 

 farther north. 



There are, indeed, very strong similari- 

 ties between North America and Europe. 

 A superficial glance at our maps will reveal 

 similar features. Europe is only a penin- 

 sula of Asia, and the peninsular character 

 determines all features of this continent. 

 North America may be compared with the 

 whole of Eurasia, and its eastern part 

 shows a similar peninsular articulation as 



^ Inaugural lecture by the Kaiser Wilhelm Pro- 

 fessor, delivered at Columbia University on No- 

 vember 3, 1908. 



