SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLVII. No. 1220 



of the dioxide^ there is little left in this re- 

 stricted field as water vapor covers the whole 

 range of terrestrial radiation very effectively. 

 Abbot and Fowle, after very elaborate studies 

 and observations and a review of the available 

 data on the subject, sum up as follows: 



It therefore does not appear possible that the 

 presence or absence, or increase or decrease, of the 

 carbonic acid contents of the air are likely to ap- 

 preciably influence the temperature of the earth's 

 surfaee.9 



There is no evidence showing that the tem- 

 peratures of the depths of the Atlantic ocean 

 are affected by the Salter waters of the Mediter- 

 ranean Sea. The temperatures of the depths 

 of the Mediterranean Sea are controlled by 

 that of the Atlantic at the depth of the sill 

 of the Straits of Gibraltar, over which there is 

 an inflow into the Mediterranean to replace 

 evaporation and surface outflow less about 30 

 inches of precipitation. The temperatures of 

 the depths of the Atlantic are controlled by 

 those of polar waters.^" 



The area of the Mediterranean and tributary 

 seas is about 1,149,000 square miles; of polar 

 oceans down to the parallels of 60 degrees 

 about 187,890,000 square miles. The relative 

 influence of Mediterranean outflow upon 

 abysmal depths of the Atlantic, according to 

 the conclusions of Professors Chamberlin and 

 Salisbury, is probably negligible. 



Maesden Manson 

 San Feancisco, Calip., 

 March 18, 1918 



TRANSLATIONS MADE ACCESSIBLE 



I READ with much interest in the last number 

 of your paper a communication from Mr. Bur- 

 ling regarding translations of foreign litera- 

 ture. If anything is contemplated in the way 

 of a central bureau we would submit for your 

 information that the Technical Section of the 

 Canadian Pulp and Paper Association and the 



8 Chamberlain and Salisbury, ' ' Geology, ' ' Vol. 

 II., p. 672. 



9 Ann. Astrophysical Ohs. Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion, Vol. II., pp. 172-73. 



10 Chamberlin and Salisbury, ' ' Geology, ' ' Vol. 

 II., 658-60. 



Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper 

 Industry (U. S.) through their committees on 

 Abstracts are publishing each week in Paper, 

 New York, and the Pulp and Paper Magazine 

 of Canada, Montreal, abstracts of the litera- 

 ture relating to this industry. 



These abstracts include reviews of articles 

 appearing in American, Canadian, British and 

 Scandinavian Journals relating to pulp and 

 paper-making, lumber and forestry and will in 

 time embrace those in other languages when 

 such periodicals are again available. The com- 

 mittees are ready to loan original copies of 

 the periodicals reviewed and to supply trans- 

 lations where they are desired. 



You are probably aware that Industrial 

 Management of New York has a similar de- 

 partment relating to engineering and similar 

 topics and that their organization is also pre- 

 pared to supply translations of such articles. 

 J. N. Stephenson, 

 Chairman Committee on Abstracts, 

 Technical Section, C. P. & P. A. 



A NEW CALENDAR 



On April 16 Hon. J. M. C. Smith, of Mich- 

 igan, introduced into Congress, at the request 

 of Mr. C. W. Bennett of Coldwater, Michigan, 

 a bill providing: 



That beginning with the year nineteen hundred 

 and twenty each year shall have thirteen months 

 of four weeks, or twenty-eight days each, the 

 added month to be called Sol (from solstice) and 

 to follow June. 



See. $. That Monday shall be the first day of 

 the week and the first, eighth, fifteenth and twenty- 

 second days of every month; the other days of 

 the week to follow in rotation by number, making 

 Sunday the seventh day of the week and the 

 seventh, fourteenth, twenty-first and twenty-eighth 

 days of every month. 



Sec. 3. That the day following the last day of 

 December, nineteen hundred and nineteen, and the 

 last day of December in each subsequent year 

 shall be called New Year Day. It shall be legal 

 holiday, the first day of the new or foUoTsang 

 year, but not a part of January. 



Sec. 4. That in the year nineteen hundred and 

 twenty and every fourth year thereafter shall be 

 an extra day called Leap Day, to be placed be- 

 tween June and Sol, but not to be a part of either 



