April 12, 1918] 



SCIENCE 



359 



It is only by such means that biology is to 

 maintain its place. The science has justified 

 its existence, to be sure, in the unravelling of 

 the complicated skein of genetics and sex. 

 However, to eliminate criticism concerning the 

 ability of zoologists to speak glibly of enzymes 

 and catalyzers, or sex hormones and of chem- 

 ical determiners, they should fortify them- 

 selves by a strong development of functional 

 biology. Max Withrow Morse 



6034 Jackso.n' Pabk, West, 

 Chicago, III. 



SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 



AURORA AND MAGNETIC STORM OF MARCH 



7-8 IN ENGLAND 



The auroral display is said to have attracted 

 much attention, partly because it coincided 

 with an air-raid upon London. The northern 

 sky was lighted up with a crimson glow both 

 before and during the raid, which started 

 shortly after 11 p.m.; and the appearance was 

 thought by an observer at Folkstone to be due 

 to a distant fire. Sir Napier Shaw informs 

 Nature that the Meteorological Ofiice has re- 

 ceived reports of aurora observations from Ler- 

 wick, Stornoway, Eskdalemuir, Donaghadee, 

 Liverpool, Clacton and Southend, and for- 

 warded the following account, by Dr. C. Chree, 

 of the large magnetic disturbance recorded at 

 the Kew Observatory between 9 p.m. on Thurs- 

 day and 5 a.m. on the following morning. Mr. 

 A. Lander has sent Nature photographic traces 

 of movements in declination recorded at Can- 

 terbury during Thursday and Friday. Thurs- 

 day's trace was remarkably even until shortly 

 after 9 p.m., when the magnetic storm began. 

 Nature remarks that it is possible that the dis- 

 turbance was a repetition, after three 27-day 

 intervals, of the large magnetic storm of De- 

 cember 16-17, 1917. There was a very con- 

 siderable disturbance on January 12 at the 

 end of the first 27-day interval, and a minor 

 disturbance at the end of the intermediate in- 

 terval in February. 



Dr. Chree wrote : " A magnetic storm of no 

 great duration, but very considerable ampli- 

 tude, was recorded at Kew Observatory on the 



night, March 7-8, 1918. It began with a ' sud- 

 den commencement' at about 9h. 10m. p.m. 

 on March 7. The largest movements occurred 

 in the early morning of March 8, between mid- 

 night and 5 a.m., but smaller oscillations per- 

 sisted for some time after the latter hour. The 

 ' sudden commencement ' was especially promi- 

 nent in horizontal force (H) ; after a small, 

 sudden fall there was a sharp rise of fully 607. 

 The corresponding movements in declination 

 (D) consisted of an oscillation of about 4', the 

 first movement being to the west. The range 

 shown on the D trace was about 51', the ex- 

 treme easterly and westerly positions being 

 reached at 2.20 a.m and 4.16 a.m. respectively 

 on March 8. Between 1.11 a.m. and 2.20 a.m. 

 of the same day there was a movement of 36' 

 to the east. The range on the H trace was 

 about 2407. A very rapid downward movement 

 commenced about 2.3 a.m. on March 8, the fall 

 during the next thirty minutes amounting to 

 fully 1857. After 5 a.m. on the same day there 

 were only short-period oscillations in H of 

 moderate size; but up to 10 a.m. the element 

 remained depressed by fully 707 as compared 

 with its value on the previous day before the 

 storm." 



THE STEAM ENGINEERING TRAINING SCHOOL 

 AT THE STEVENS INSTITUTE 



The Navy Department has designated the 

 Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, 

 N. J., as the headquarters for the new United 

 States Naval Steam Engineering School for 

 the training of engineer officers for the U. S. 

 Naval Auxiliarj' Reserve. 



This school is the only one devoted to train- 

 ing engineer officers for steam-engine service, 

 and is a branch of the large training school 

 now located at Pelham Bay Park. New York. 

 There is at Pelham, in addition to the school 

 for general training of enlisted men, an Offi- 

 cers' Material School, Naval Auxiliary Re- 

 serve. Both the school at Pelham and the engi- 

 neer officer school at Stevens are under the 

 supervision of the Supervisor, Naval Auxil- 

 iary Reserve. The education of the engineer 

 officers at Stevens is directed by Professor F. 

 L. Pryor, of Stevens, who has been appointed 



