February 15, 1918] 



SCIENCE 



173 



bra is the intellectual instrument which has 

 been created for rendering clear the quantita- 

 tive aspects of the world." But are these as- 

 pects important ? " Through and through the 

 world is infected with quantity. To talk sense 

 is to talk in quantities. It is no use saying 

 that the nation is large, — How large? It is no 

 use saying that radium is scarce, — How scarce? 

 You can not evade quantity. You may fly to 

 poetry and to music, and quantity and num- 

 ber will face you in your rythms and your 

 octaves." 



What artist or man of letters has spoken 

 deeper and truer words than the following 

 words spoken by a logician and mathematic- 

 ian regarding style as an aim and test of edu- 

 cation? "Finally there should grow the most 

 aiistere of all mental qualities; I mean the 

 sense for styla It is an esthetic sense based 

 on admiration for the direct attainment of a 

 foreseen end, simply and without waste. 

 Style in art, style in literature, style in science, 

 style in logic, style in practical execution have 

 fundamentally the same esthetic qualities, 

 namely, attainment and restraint. The love 

 of a subject in itself and for itself, where it is 

 not the sleepy pleasure of pacing a mental 

 quarter-deck, is the love of style as manifested 

 in that study. Here we are brought back to 

 the position from which we started, the utility 

 of education. Style, in its finest sense, is the 

 last acquirement of the educated mind; it is 

 also the most useful. It pervades the whole 

 being. The administrator with a sense for 

 style hates waste; the engineer with a sense 

 for style economizes his material; the artisan 

 with a sense for style prefers good work. 

 Style is the ultimate morality of mind. But 

 above style, and above knowledge, there is 

 something, a vague shape like fate above the 

 Greek gods. That something is Power. 

 Style is the fashioning of power, the restrain- 

 ing of power. ... It is the peculiar contribu- 

 tion of specialism to culture." 



Never before have I been tempted in review- 

 ing a book to quote so many of the author's 

 words. I have felt that Whitehead must be 

 allowed to speak for himself. The foregoing 

 quotations are but samples of his manner in 



dealing with other great questions of science 

 and education. It is my hope that the samples 

 may induce readers of Science to read the 

 book. C. J. Keyser 



COLUMBU tjNIVEESITY 



SPECIAL ARTICLES 



A PRELIMINARY NOTE ON SOIL MOISTURE 



AND TEMPERATURE FACTORS IN THE 



WINTER-KILLING OF GRAIN CROPS 



Few investigations show the relation of kind 

 of soil and moisture to temperature during the 

 winter while none deal with their relation to 

 the winter survival of crop plants. Winter- 

 killing and spring condition of alfalfa, clover, 

 winter wheat, oats, rye, barley, and other crops 

 are very largely dependent on soil temperature 

 during the winter months. These factors 

 have been studied at the Kansas Experiment 

 Station in connection with a general study of 

 the causes of winter-killing of cereal crops. 



In the fall of 1914 records were taken of the 

 temperature in three plots of sLlt loam, to 

 each of which different quantities of water 

 were added during the fall and winter, and 

 on which winter wheat, winter barley, and 

 winter oats were grown. In the fall of 1915 

 three plots of heavy clay and two of sand were 

 included, there being added to each plot differ- 

 ent quantities of water as before. The tem- 

 perature was recorded at a depth of one inch, 

 three inches and six inches by means of stand- 

 ardized toluol thermometers during the first 

 season, while electric thermometers were used 

 the second. There was no heaving of the soil 

 in either season and the survival of the plant* 

 appeared to depend on temperature alone. 



The interrelation between the factors studied 

 is very complex, the net resultant varying 

 widely with the degree of variation of the 

 single factors, and also with the character of 

 the season, especially the degree of cold; the 

 duration of freezing weather; the rate of 

 change of air temperature; and the amount 

 of snow. In the first season the lowest tem- 

 peratures were recorded on the dry plot and 

 the survival of the barley and oats was de- 

 cidedly less than for the medium wet or the 

 wet plots. The wheat survived practically 



