August 5, 1921] 



SCIENCE 



113 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 NEWS 



Dr. K. G. Matheson, president of the 

 Georgia School of Technology, announces that 

 the sum of $1,222,857 has been contributed 

 toward the fund of $5,000,000 which the insti- 

 tution has undertaken to raise for permanent 

 buildings and equipment. 



Dr. Wade H. Frost, former surgeon in the 

 United States Public Health Service, has been 

 appointed head of the department of epidemi- 

 ology and public health administration in the 

 School of Hygiene and Public Health of the 

 Johns Hopkins University. 



Lieutenant-Colonel Hardee Chambliss, 

 since 1919 commanding officer of the U. S. 

 nitrate plant at Sheffield, Ala., has been ap- 

 pointed to take charge of the work of the de- 

 partment of chemistry at the Catholic Uni- 

 versity owing to the prolonged illness of the 

 Eeverend Dr. John J. Griffin, who has been 

 in charge of the department since its opening 

 in 1895. 



Dr. Egbert H. Lowie is leaving the Ameri- 

 can Museum of Natural History, where he has 

 been associate curator in the department of 

 anthropology, to accept the position of associ- 

 ate professor of anthropology at the University 

 of California. 



Dr. Bertram G. Smith, of the Michigan 

 State Normal College, has been appointed as- 

 sociate professor of anatomy, in charge of em- 

 bryology and histology, in the New York 

 University and Bellevue Hospital Medical 

 College. 



Dr. Chester A. Mathewson, for seven years 

 head of the department of science in the Max- 

 well Training School for Teachers, Brooklyn, 

 N. T., has been appointed head of the depart- 

 ment of biology in the School of Education 

 at Cleveland, Ohio. 



In the Oregon Agricultural College, H. H. 

 Gibson, professor of vocational agriculture in 

 the University of Arizona, has accepted the 

 headship of the department of agricultural ed- 

 ucation. He was formerly director of agri- 

 cultural education in the University of Ver- 



mont. John E. Du Priest, professor of steam 

 and gas engineering and design in the Eens- 

 selaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, N. T., has 

 been appointed assistant professor of mechan- 

 ical engineering. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 



A DEFENSE OF PROFESSOR NEWCOMB'S 

 LOGIC 



To the Editor of Science : To those ac- 

 quainted with Professor Simon Newcomb's 

 mental habits and with Professor Comstock's 

 usual preciseness of language, the latter's 

 criticism of Newcomb's statement concerning 

 ultra-mundane life is puzzling (Science, July 

 8, 1921). After several readings I venture the 

 opinion that he appears to impugn the logic 

 which he seems to think Newcomb might have 

 used in coming to the conclusion that " to 

 suppose " countless worlds are inhabited " is 

 perfectly reasonable." Is there a chance that 

 Professor Comstock may be the victim of his 

 own false premise, contained in the sentence 

 with which he starts upon this phase of the 

 subject : " As to the numerous worlds alleged 

 (sic) to be the abode of life, Newcomb in 

 his essay ..." says so and so. If we may 

 trust the dictionaries, to allege is to make a 

 positive assertion, or a statement which the 

 alleger is under obligations to prove; whereas 

 io suppose is to " conceive a state of things 

 . . . , but not free from doubt " (.Century Dic- 

 tionary). So far as my search has gone. New- 

 comb has not at any time alleged or asserted 

 the existence of animal life in other worlds; 

 he has merely supposed, and said that such 

 supposition " is perfectly reasonable." A 

 reading of his admirable essay on the subject 

 (" Life in the universe," in " Side-Lights on 

 Astronomy," 1906) should, in my opinion, con- 

 vince of the reasonableness. 



W. W. Campbell 



Mount Hamilton, California, 

 July 16, 1921 



BIOLOGICAL CONTROL OF DESTRUCTIVE 

 INSECTS 



To THE Editor of Science: Control of de- 

 structive insects by the introduction of their 



