JANUARY 26, 1912] 
of electricity upon solutions and relative 
deliquescent tendencies of salts. There is, 
of course, a good deal about crystallog- 
raphy. In the absence of the laboratory 
note-books, only parts of some of the tabu- 
lated results have been found. One set of 
experiments, chiefly with common salt, led 
to the conclusion that the freezing points of 
solutions are lower in proportion to the 
amount of the dissolved body. Even the 
most insignificant experiments were carried 
out quantitatively. 
In Lomonossoff’s laboratory, a good deal 
of special apparatus was devised. Meas- 
urements of the coefficient of expansion of 
air had been made, and a value (recalcu- 
lated to 1° C.) of 0.003 (in place of 
0.00367) was found. This led to the con- 
struction of an air-thermometer for meas- 
uring low temperatures. Incidentally, he 
reformed the Delisle scale of tempera- 
tures, which ran downwards from 0° at 
the boiling point of water to 150° at the 
freezing point, by simply inverting it 
(Oi lore — (pC peal cy () can ry —-8it () an Oe) AY 
thermostat for ice and water was employed 
in some experiments, and instruments for 
the study of oceanography, devised by him, 
came afterwards into general use. One of 
the most extensive pieces of work done in 
his laboratory was a study of colored 
glasses and mosaics, the results of which 
led to the establishment of a factory, still 
in successful operation, near St. Peters- 
burg. 
The achievements of Lamonossoff out- 
side of chemistry were as remarkable as 
those within that science. He wrote a 
treatise on metallurgy, made investiga- 
tions in meteorology and especially atmos- 
pherie electricity, in geology, and in min- 
eralogy, and he assisted in the equipment 
of expeditions for geographical explora- 
tion. He observed the transit of Venus of 
1761, and drew from his observations the 
SCIENCE 
129 
conclusion that the planet had an atmos- 
phere ‘‘similar to, and perhaps greater 
than that of the earth,’’ a discovery gen- 
erally attributed to Schréter and Herschel 
(1791). 
No undertaking that required courage 
and originality was outside the compre- 
hensive sphere of his interests. He was the 
first to attempt to apply modern forms to 
the writing of poetry in the Russian lan- 
guage, and was the author of odes, poems, 
and even of tragedies to be performed in 
the Court Theater. He prepared a Rus- 
sian grammar and a treatise on rhetoric. 
He devised a vocabulary for expressing 
scientific conceptions, and his terms are 
those now in use in Russia. As the most 
prominent Russian man of science of his 
time, public affairs claimed much of his 
strength. Taking him all in all, the redis- 
covery of Lomonossoff has added at once 
a chemist of the first magnitude and a per- 
sonality of marvelous force and range to 
the limited gallery of the world’s very 
greatest men. 
ALEXANDER SMITH 
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 
THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE 
ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE 
THE CAUSE OF HIGH PRICES 
Ir the student of present-day affairs 
should classify the reasons for existing dis- 
content, he would certainly give to the high 
cost of living a position in the front rank. 
Dominant political parties, ruling minis- 
tries, national policies and local conditions 
are indiscriminately blamed, yet the phe- 
nomenon of high prices is manifest among 
all progressive nations and in a degree 
throughout the whole world. It is in evi- 
dence in all countries regardless of tariff 
policy and monetary standards. It is also 
1 Address of the vice-president and chairman of 
Section I, Washington, 1911. 
