May 17, 1918] 



SCIENCE 



489 



month: Provided, That there shall be no Leap 

 Day in the last year of any century that is not 

 di\'isible by four. 



A condensed statement of the facts relating 

 to this calendar is as follows: The year con- 

 sists of New Tear's Day, which is the first 

 day of the year, and is not a part of any week 

 or month; and thirteen months of twenty- 

 eight days each, as follows: January, Feb- 

 ruary, March, April, May, June, Sol, July, 

 August, September, October, November and 

 December. 



In centennial years divisible by 400 and in 

 other years divisible by 4, an extra day, called 

 Leap Day, is inserted between the months of 

 Jime and Sol. Leap Day is not a part of any 

 week or month. The first quarter of the year 

 ends with the first week of April, the second 

 quarter with the second week of Sol, the third 

 with the third week of September, and the 

 fourth with the fourth week of December. 

 New Year's Day and Leap Day are holidays, 

 and are omitted in counting interest and rent. 



It might be an improvement in this calendar 

 to have the week begin with Sunday, as has 

 always been the case. The suggestion has also 

 been made to give the extra month the name 

 of Midyear, though these are matters of detail. 



It appears to the writer that this calendar 

 is more desirable than the one outlined by 

 Professor Warren in the April 19 number of 

 Science. I hope those who are interested in 

 the matter will communicate with Congress- 

 man Smith and encourage him to push his 

 laudable efforts in the matter. 



W. J. Spillm.\n 



DRAWINGS ON LANTERN SLIDES 



To THE Editor of Science: In connection 

 with the letter from Professor Gunthorp in 

 your issue of April 12 in regard to drawings 

 on lantern slides, I may mention that I have 

 obtained satisfactory results with the use of 

 ordinary India ink such as is used by drafts- 

 men. This takes hold quite well on ordinary 

 clean glass surface, I suppose through the ac- 

 tion of the gum arable contained in the ink. 

 The slide can be attached to a drawing board 

 by thumb tacks whose heads project over the 

 glass, provided bits of rubber are placed be- 



tween the glass and the heads of the tacks. 

 For drawing circles with a compass a small 

 bit of paper was gummed to the glass at the 

 center, to enable the foot of the compass to 

 take hold without slipping (the paper being 

 afterward scraped off). 



J. E. Benton 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 



Culture and Elh nology. By Egbert H. Lowie, 



Ph.D., Associate Curator of Anthropology, 



American Museum of Natural History. 



New York, Douglas C. McMurtie. 1917. 



Anthropologists in America need to issue 

 more volimaes for laymen than they have so 

 far done. Dr. Lewie's present volume, and 

 Dr. Wissler's larger volume on The American 

 Indian, are especially welcome studies in this 

 sparsely cultivated field. 



Dr. Lowie says in his preface that his book 

 is an attempt at popularization. Its aim is to 

 occupy an intermediate position between tech- 

 nical discourses addressed to scientists and the 

 more popular lectures which are designed to 

 furnish mainly entertainment. In the first 

 four chapters Dr. Lowie seems to me admirably 

 to have attained his purpose. 



The book starts with Tyler's well-known and 

 practically jjerfect definition of culture : " Cul- 

 ture ... is that complex whole which includes 

 knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and 

 any other capabilities and habits acquired by 

 man as a member of society." The point is 

 well made and forcibly driven home that since 

 the science of psychology, even in its most 

 modern and varied ramifications, " does not 

 grapple with acquired mental traits nor with 

 the influence of society on individual thought, 

 feeling and will, there is need of a science 

 which deals with all acquired capabilities and 

 habits of man as a member of society." That 

 science, as Dr. Lowie names it, is Ethnology. 



In the discussion of " Culture and Eace " the 

 author grants that " at first blush " it appears 

 very plausible that within the human species 

 " differences in organization should be corre- 

 lated with the obsen'ed cultural manifestations 

 of varying degree and complexity." And he 

 concludes that though we " assume that racial 



