SCIENCE 



Friday, October 21, 1921. 



The Direction of the Evolution of Science and 

 the Place of Sigma Xi in such Evolution: 

 Professor Ross Aiken Gortneb 363 



The Relation of Chemical Training to Indus- 

 try : Dr. Walter H. Coolidge 367 



Anthropology in the Medical Curriculum: Dn. 

 E. Bennett Bean 371 



Scientific Events: 



The Film Photophone; Badium for Eng- 

 land; Biology in South China; Committee of 

 the U. S. Department of Agriculture on 

 Land Utilization; The Director of the Mellon 

 Institute 373 



Scientific Notes and News 376 



University and Educational News 377 



Discussion an-d Correspondence : 

 An Ideal Host: Dr. Reynold A. Spaeth. A 

 Remedy for Mange in White Mats: Dr. 

 Arthur H. Smith 377 



Quotations : 



The Technicians in Industry 378 



Scientific Books: 



Choulant's History and Bibliography of 

 Anatomic Illustraition: Professor F. T. 

 Lewis. Morse's Observations on Living Gas- 

 teropods of New England: Paul Bartsch. . 379 



Venomous Spiders: Professor Albert M. 

 Reese 3g2 



Special Articles: 



Prevalence and Distribution of Fungi In- 

 ternal of Seed Corn: Dr. T. F. Manns and 

 Dr. J. r. Adams 385 



The General Meeting of the American Chemical 



Society: Dr. Charles L. Parsons 387 



The American Philosophical Society 389 



MSS. intended for publication and booka, etc., intended for 

 review should be sent to The Editor of Science, Garriaon-on- 

 Hudson, N. Y. 



THE DIRECTION OF THE EVOLUTION 

 OF SCIENCE AND THE PLACE OF 

 SIGMA XI IN SUCH EVOLUTION i 



I RECENTLY read Professor Conklin's book 

 " The Direction of Human Evolution " and 

 his thesis so impressed me that I wish to 

 apply his methods of analysis to-night to 

 the subject of the evolution of science. 



Dr. Conklin believes that the direction 

 which human evolution will travel can be 

 more or less accurately predicted by studying 

 the path that evolution has already traveled 

 and analyzing such knowledge so as to arrive 

 at the basic laws which have governed the 

 evolution of the past and presumably will 

 govern the evolution of the future. Let us 

 therefore apply his methods to the general 

 field of science and view in retrospect the 

 past and attempt to postulate the future. 



When science actually began will probably 

 never be known. It probably began in a rudi- 

 mentary form soon after man evolved into 

 a more or less intelligent being, for the dis- 

 covery of the art of making fire was a scien- 

 tific discovery of exceedingly great value to 

 the human race. The recording of scientific 

 observations probably goes back nearly to the 

 beginning of written history, and when one 

 contemplates the contributions of some of the 

 earlier workers to science, one wonders whether 

 or not we ourselves have actually progressed 

 very far. We are accustomed to ascribe to 

 Copernicus and his school the belief that the 

 earth was not flat but a sphere and that it 

 revolved about the sun and yet 1800 years 

 before Copernicus was born Heraclites of 

 Pontus (about 376 B.C.) stated that the earth 

 revolved on its axis from west to east once 

 in twenty-four hours and that the earth. 

 Mercury and Venus revolved about the sun. 

 Aristarchus of Lamos (about 270 B.C.) found 



1 Presidential address, University of Minnesota 

 chapter of Sigma Xi, June 13, 1921. 



