November 18, 1921] 



SCIENCE 



487 



shown that it is at least a thousand times 

 larger than it was thought to be before the 

 distances to the clusters were measured. Dr. 

 Shapley has discovered, furthermore, that the 

 sun is not at the center of the sidereal uni- 

 verse, as was formerly supposed, but several 

 hundred quadrillion miles away from it. 



Dr. Shapley's studies of the famous star- 

 cluster in Hercules known as " Messier 13 " 

 have proved that this cluster has a diameter of 

 more than two and a half quadrillion miles, 

 and contains probably more than 50,000 stars, 

 each of them intrinsically brighter than the 

 sun. His researches have also played a large 

 part in establishing the fact that the great 

 star-clusters are found only at immense dis- 

 tances from the plane of the galaxy, or Milky 

 Way, but appear to be falling into it. Dr. 

 Shapley's hypothesis is that the Milky Way 

 itself may be composed of former star-clusters 

 which have dissolved. 



Dr. Shapley is also known as an entomolo- 

 gist, and has done interesting work in investi- 

 gating the ants of the California mountains. 

 He discovered that the speed at which these 

 creatures move depends on the temperature, 

 and that for some species the time of run- 

 ning through a " speed-trap," as shown by the 

 stop-watch, gives the temperature of the sur- 

 rounding air within one degree. He found 

 that the ants went twelve times as fast at 100 

 degrees as at 60 degrees. 



Professor Solon I. Bailey, who has been as- 

 sociated with the Harvard Observatory for 

 more than thirty years and has been Acting 

 Director since the death of Professor Picker- 

 ing, expects to leave Cambridge within a few 

 months for Arequipa, Peru, to take charge of 

 Harvard's South American astronomical sta- 

 tion there and place it again on a productive 

 basis after a period of dormancy due to war 

 conditions. He will resume his observations 

 on the variable stars in southern clusters. 



A SOUTHERN FOREST EXPERIMENT 

 STATION 



During July a new forest experiment sta- 

 tion was established by the Forest Service of 

 the TJ. S. Department of Agriculture, with 



headquarters, for the present, at New Or- 

 leans, La. Experiments will be conducted in 

 the large and important timber region extend- 

 ing from eastern Texas, through Louisiana, 

 Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, 

 Florida, to the Carolinas. Mr. E. D. Forbes, 

 until recently superintendent of forestry for 

 the Conservation Commission of Louisiana, 

 has accepted the directorship of the station. 

 Mr. Lenthall Wyman, formerly a member of 

 the Forest Service in Arizona and Montana, 

 and more recently in the State Forester's of- 

 fice in Texas, will be one member of the staff. 

 Mr. W. R. B. Hine, a recent graduate of the 

 Cornell School of Forestry, is the second mem- 

 ber. One vacancy in the technical staff re- 

 mains to be filled. 



The importance of this region, in which 

 large areas of land are suitable only for grow- 

 ing timber, makes the establishment of this 

 station, to work out the best methods of 

 producing, growing, and protecting the for- 

 ests, particularly opportune. Such important 

 and valuable species as longleaf, shortleaf and 

 loblolly pines, and cypress amply justify a 

 considerable outlay to insure their perpetu- 

 ation and increase their production. 



The establishment of the Southern Forest 

 Experiment Station was made possible by a 

 small increase in the appropriation for the 

 investigative work of the Forest Service for 

 the present year. It is not sufficient to per- 

 mit the construction of buildings and labora- 

 tory facilities, and it is planned for the first 

 year to concentrate on field work in the most 

 urgent problems. 



ORGANIZATION FOR RESEARCH AT THE 

 PENNSYLVANIA STATE COLLEGE 



The members of the American Association 

 for the Advancement of Science at the Penn- 

 sylvania State College, State College, Pa., 

 held a meeting on November 2. Dinner was 

 served at the University Club to about thirty 

 members. The speaker was Dr. L. E. Jones, 

 professor of plant pathology of the Univer- 

 sity of Wisconsin and chairman of the Di- 

 vision of Biology and Agriculture of the Na- 

 tional Eesearch Council. His theme at this 



