752 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIV. No. 1143 



denied the " existence " of semi-permeable 

 membranes in muscle nor have I ever discussed 

 them in any publication. Neither have I 

 denied the existence of such membranes, be- 

 cause proteins swell more in acids than in 

 water. In fact, I see no cogent reason for even 

 thinking of these two things as at all related 

 to each other, wherefore the conclusion attrib- 

 uted to me by J. Loeb becomes entirely unin- 

 telligible, and appears, as a matter of fact, 

 absolutely absurd. It is true that I have, at 

 various times, lectured on the " role " of semi- 

 permeable membrane in muscle, and, with 

 many other physiologists and colloid-chemists, 

 have come to the conclusion that these mem- 

 branes play a much smaller part in the problem 

 of water absorption than many physiologists 

 formerly thought and J. Loeb still thinks. 

 I still regard the role of osmotic processes in 

 the problem of water absorption by muscle as 

 only of secondary importance, yet even in my 

 latest publication 2 I state that " I do not wish 

 to uphold the somewhat extreme view that 

 osmotic changes play no role whatsoever in 

 the problem of water absorption by organisms." 

 I know full well, moreover, that this position 

 is regarded as too conservative by some of my 

 colloid-chemical colleagues and as inadequate 

 in the light of the newer developments of our 

 knowledge. 



These facts make it evident that J. Loeb is 

 absolutely wrong in his statement that I have 

 denied the existence of semi-permeable mem- 

 branes in muscle, and still more wrong when 

 he says that I have done this " on account of 

 the fact that acid causes proteins to undergo 

 imbibition." So far as my published thoughts 

 regarding this question go, the statements in 

 the article of J. Loeb appear, as a matter of 

 fact, not only, as he says, " superfluous," but 

 wrong and misleading. The whole argument 

 of J. Loeb is based upon an entirely arbitrary 

 distortion of my views. 



Wolfgang Ostwald 



■University of Leipzig, 

 August 5, 1916 



2 Wolfgang Ostwald, ' ' Die Welt der vernach- 

 lassigten Dimensionen, " 133. Dresden and Leip- 

 zig, 1915. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 



Weather Forecasting in the United States. 

 By a Board consisting of Alfred J. Henry, 

 Edward H. Bowie, Henry J. Cox, Harry 

 C. Frankenfield. Washington, 1916, 

 Weather Bureau, No. 583. C. F. Marvin, 

 Chief. Pp. 370, 119 charts. 

 This volume of meteorological studies is 

 timely in its appearance and creditable as to 

 its contents. Time and again the question 

 has been raised as to whether weather fore- 

 casting is entirely empirical or based on scien- 

 tific principles within ordinary comprehension. 

 Almost synonymously with these memoirs ap- 

 peared the bulletins of the Carother's Ob- 

 servatory, Houston, Texas, on the ■ correlation 

 of solar and weather phenomena, with which 

 system of long-time weather predictions Pro- 

 fessor Willis Moore, former chief of the 

 Weather Bureau, is associated. This observa- 

 tory announces the issue, for each state, of 

 long-time forecasts ranging from eleven to 

 eighteen days in advance. These forecasts 

 are based on variations in the solar radiation 

 received by the earth, which are said to cause 

 rotating cyclonic eddies in recurring periods 

 of eighteen days. The Carother's method of 

 forecasting is only one of several systems ad- 

 vanced by individual scientists in the United 

 States, which seek public recognition as to 

 the value of their theories and as to the accu- 

 racy of their weather predictions. 



At times the U. S. Weather Bureau has 

 issued forecasts for even a week in advance. 

 It has remained for the Argentina service, 

 beginning in 1915 under Professor Wiggins, 

 to regularly issue forecasts for a week, indi- 

 cating the temperatures for 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., 

 as also the days on which rain is expected. 



Since Professor Marvin, the chief of the 

 Weather Bureau, has officially stated that 

 systems of the Carothers and allied types are 

 fallacious, it is of special importance that the 

 general public should be definitely informed 

 as to groundwork of the national weather fore- 

 casting. This system has been developed dur- 

 ing the past forty-six years under the control 

 and direction of Generals A. J. Myer, W. B. 



