SCIENCE 



Friday, June 18, 1909 



CONTENTS 

 The Physics Teacher's Prohlem: Peofessob 

 C. R. Mann 951 



Alhert B. Porter: Pbopessoe Henet Ceew . . 962 



Banquet in Honor of Professor Bessey 963 



Jiritish Association Trip to Alaska 964 



The Carnegie Foundation for the Advance- 

 ment of Teaching and the George Washing- 

 ington Vnwersity 964 



Scientific Notes and News 965 



University and Educational News 969 



Discussion and Correspondence: — 



Minimal Quantities of Preservatives: Peo- 

 EESSOB J. F. Snell. The Chalk Forma- 

 tions of Northeast Texas: De. Robt. T. 

 HllJL. The Daylight Saving Bill: T. C. M. 

 Liirary Book-stacks without Daylight: Dr. 

 W. W. Keen 970 



Scientific Books: — 

 I'ecent Mathematical Books: Peofessob G. 

 J. Ketser. Oilman's Hopi Songs: Alice 

 C. FUETCHEB 974 



Special Articles: — 



The Dorsal Spines of Chameleo cristatus 

 Stuck: Peofessob E. C. Case. On the 

 Chemistry and the Development of the 

 Yolk Platelets in the Egg of the Frog: 

 De. J. F. McClendon. The Structure of 

 Lily Pistils: Charles E. Temple 979 



Societies and Academies: — 

 The loxoa Academy of Science: L. S. Ross. 

 The Torrey Botanical Club: Percy Wilson 980 



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

 review sliould be sent to the Editor of Science, Garrison-on- 

 Hudson, N, Y. 



TEE PHYSICS TEACHER'S PROBLEM '^ 

 That physical science is constantly ren- 

 dering most magnificent service to human 

 life was never more dramatically demon- 

 strated than on the occasion of the recent 

 wreck of the steamship Bep^iblic. That a 

 ship, disabled and hidden in a dense fog, 

 was yet able to summon to its aid another 

 ship a hundred miles away by an inaudible, 

 invisible, yet infallible means of communi- 

 cation, thereby saving many hundred lives, 

 is a feat that would have been pronounced 

 impossible by our grandfathers if not by 

 ourselves but a few years ago. Had Mr. 

 Binns, the operator of the wireless tele- 

 graph on the Bepuhlic, lived near Boston 

 about two hundred and twenty years ago, 

 he would surely have been burned for 

 witchcraft. 



So thick and fast have come such con- 

 tributions of science to our commercial and 

 economic life, that most people now take 

 them as a matter of course. A telephone 

 is at present almost as much of a household 

 necessity as a kitchen stove. The steam 

 engine and the electric motor, since by 

 their aid ten men can do the work of one 

 hundred, are increasing our potential man- 

 ufacturing population at a rate that must 

 satisfy even President Eoosevelt that we 

 are in no immediate danger of dying out 

 as a nation. Musicians are being replaced 

 by arc lights, or by pianolas; and even 

 teachers are being compelled to yield their 

 divine calling to graphophones in the 

 "teaching" of foreign languages. Are we 

 then surprised that this is called a scientific 

 age? Do we wonder that scientists are 



^Address delivered at the Fourth Annual Con- 

 ference of the Schools of Vermont with the Uni- 

 versity of Vermont, March 12, 1909. 



