JUNE 7, 1912] 
t 
of vegetation; when the round is stopped, the 
sesquioxide and the solution of sulphate in 
which all the ingredients are bathed are robbed 
of the oxygen and form pyrite. 
The classic laboratory experiments show 
that organic animal matter acts with greater 
rapidity and sureness, and the resulting pseu- 
domorphs of sphalerite, chalcopyrite, or pyrite, 
when a live clam is placed in a saturated solu- 
tion of a sulphate of the above, are well known. 
We find them abundantly in nature, in the 
Trenton rocks as well as in the coal measures. 
Epwarp H. WituiaMs, Jr. 
THE CROCKER LAND EXPEDITION 
To tHE Epitor or Science: The Crocker 
Land Expedition which was to have gone 
northward this summer under the leadership 
of George Borup and D. B. MacMillan, has 
been postponed to the summer of 1913, on ac- 
count of the lamentable death of George 
Borup and the impracticability of finding a 
substitute for him in the short time remain- 
ing before the expedition was to start. 
The Honorary Committee, consisting of 
President Henry Fairfield Osborn, Mr. Chand- 
ler Robbins, General Thomas H. Hubbard and 
Dr. Walter B. James, and the Committee in 
Charge, comprised of Dr. E. O. Hovey and 
Mr. H. L. Bridgman, have begun the reorgani- 
zation of the expedition along such lines as 
circumstances may necessitate, without chang- 
ing the main objects of the enterprise, as set 
forth in the prospectus issued in January 
1912. 
Colonel Borup and a number of the prin- 
cipal supporters of the expedition have united 
in the furtherance of the new plans; the ex- 
pedition will be a memorial to George Borup, 
the young explorer who was so keenly inter- 
ested in it and who was the mainspring of the 
original undertaking. 
Mr. MacMillan’s connection with the enter- 
prise continues as heretofore, and he is utiliz- 
ing the intervening time for the purpose of 
making additional preparation for the scien- 
tific work of the expedition. 
A considerable part of the supplies and 
equipment had been prepared. The prepared 
SCIENCE 
893 
material has been put into safe storage for 
use next year, while the special apparatus is 
being assembled at the museum. Subscrip- 
tions already made are sufficient to insure the 
starting of the expedition a year hence. 
Epmunp Otis Hovey, 
Hersert L. BripGMan, 
Committee in Charge 
UNIVERSITY CONTROL 
LETTERS FROM HARVARD UNIVERSITY 
I am on the whole very pleasantly im- 
pressed, as you know, with the general con- 
stitution that has been worked out at Harvard: 
a bi-cameral arrangement for the general gov- 
erning boards; one large academic faculty and 
several professional faculties for the boards of 
instruction; comparatively independent divi- 
sions and departments, with a considerable 
range of initiative within their own fields; a 
president who is, while powerful, still subject. 
to a great many decidedly distinct and potent 
sorts of checks from alumni and from various. 
boards. This constitution does not seem to 
me perfect. The president at Harvard has. 
probably still too large a range of discretion. 
The result is certainly not bad; but is also. 
still subject to further growth. The bi-cam- 
eral system (the “overseers” elected by the 
alumni, able to advise but not to initiate legis- 
lation, able also to veto; the “ corporation,” 
self-perpetuating and capable of initiating, but 
always subject to the overseers’ veto), seems. 
to me to work well but unevenly, since the 
overseers have their seasons of too great or too: 
little activity, while the president is probably 
a little too potent in influencing the corpora- 
tion legislatively. Nevertheless, I regard the 
result of the interaction between the “ over- 
seers ” and the “corporation” as so useful in 
many crises, and so convenient both in calling 
out and in holding in check the interests of 
the alumni, that I can not be convinced of the 
value of your proposals 1 and 2, if they were 
regarded as contemplating a constitution in- 
tended to take the place of ours. I should say, 
in place of your proposal (1), that a bi-cameral 
governing body like ours is preferable to the 
