September 29, 1916] 



SCIENCE 



463 



an average of $4.25 a ton, was obtained and 

 sold from the coal-gas plants in 1915. In- 

 cluding by-product, the output of which in 

 1915 was 14,072,895 tons, valued at $48,558,- 

 325, the coke and retort carbon produced in the 

 United States was 15,796,461 tons, valued at 

 $55,964,239. The value of the tar, ammonia, 

 benzol products, naphthalene and coke pro- 

 duced in the United States in 1915 was $80,- 

 816,975. 



The Electrical World notes that the great 

 scarcity of potash has almost crippled many 

 of the industries in this country, notable 

 among others being the glass industry. The 

 glass used in making incandescent electric lamp 

 bulbs is a very special kind that must with- 

 stand sudden changes of temperature and also 

 great pressure. Heretofore it has been thought 

 that only glass made with a certain amount of 

 potash was suitable for the lamp industry. 

 The outbreak of the war two years ago cut off 

 all supply of potash from Germany and threat- 

 ened the supply of glass. The research chem- 

 ists of the General Electric Company, how- 

 ever, succeeded in producing a glass for ma- 

 king incandescent electric lamp bulbs by re- 

 placing potash with soda in the glass mixture. 

 This glass, it has been stated, has proved su- 

 perior to the old potash glass; so much so, in- 

 deed, that from now on potash glass will no 

 longer be used. The world supply of potash 

 comes almost entirely from Stassfurt in Ger- 

 many, because the natural deposits there have 

 been cheaper to work than any other known 

 source. The sources of supply in the United 

 States have proved utterly inadequate to meet 

 the great demand of the industries. Soda, on 

 the other hand, is produced from ordinary 

 table salt, great natural deposits of which are 

 to be found in different parts of the country. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 



NEWS 

 Dr. Thomas F. Holgate, professor of mathe- 

 matics in Northwestern University and dean 

 of the college of liberal arts, has been elected 

 by the trustees ad interim president of the 

 university, on the recommendation of the coun- 

 cil of deans. 



Dr. James R. Clemens has been elected dean 

 of the John A. Creighton Medical College, 

 Omaha. 



Dr. A. I. Ringer, formerly assistant pro- 

 fessor of physiological chemistry at the Uni- 

 versity of Pennsylvania, has been appointed 

 professor of clinical medicine (diseases of 

 metabolism) at the Fordham University 

 School of Medicine, New York. 



Dr. Leon F. Shackell, of "Washington Uni- 

 versity, has been appointed an instructor in 

 physiology at the University of Utah Medical 

 School, Salt Lake City. 



Donald W. Davis, Ph.D., of De Pauw Uni- 

 versity, has been appointed professor of biol- 

 ogy in the College of William and Mary, and 

 is succeeded at De Pauw University by Har- 

 din E. Glascock. 



At the State University of Iowa, George 

 Bain Jenkins has been appointed professor of 

 anatomy, and Vive Hall Young, assistant pro- 

 fessor of botany. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 



THE SONG OF FOWLER'S TOAD 

 (BUFO FOWLERI) 



Various observers have described the voice 

 of Fowler's toad. All descriptions indicate 

 that only its characteristic, weird, droning 

 scream has been heard. 



Allen, speaking of the common toad in New 

 Hampshire, believed that the toad's song 

 changed from a prolonged trill to the weird 

 mote produced by Fowler's toad. He says : 



After the breeding season the toad's song 

 changes from a prolonged pipe to a shorter, lower- 

 toned note that, at night, has a peculiar wierdness 

 and almost reaches a wail. 1 



Until recently the writer was convinced that 

 Fowler's toad possessed but one song, the un- 

 mistakable, weird, wailing scream which ad- 

 vertises its presence throughout its range. It 

 is now known that some individuals produce a 



i Allen, Grover M., "Notes on the Eeptiles and 

 Amphibians of Intervale, New Hampshire," Proc. 

 of the Boston Soo. of Nat. Hist., Vol. 29, No. 3, 

 1899, p. 71. 



