302 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLVI. No. 1187 



tionships between the natural constants 

 which have been found in the study of 

 radiation, as oan be afforded by the orbital 

 atom. If this is granted we may proceed 

 with greater confidence to the further 

 study of the group of atoms which we call 

 the molecule, and to the nature of valence. 

 I can not repeat here the reasons which I 

 have given in another place for believing 

 that it is these very electrons held in rigid 

 positions in the outer shell of the atom 

 which may, in case of chemical combina- 

 tion, become the joint property of two 

 atoms, thus linking together the mutually 

 repellant positive atomic kernels and them- 

 selves constituting the bond which has 

 proved so serviceable in the interpretation 

 of chemical phenomena. In some mole- 

 cules, such as those of nitrogen, the link- 

 ing electrons are held by powerful con- 

 straints. The molecule is inert and incapa- 

 ble of taking part readily in chemical reac- 

 tion. In others, like those of iodine, in 

 which the bond is said to be weak, the con- 

 necting electrons are held by loose con- 

 straints and the molecules are extremely 

 reactive. But whether the bond be weak 

 or strong, we may feel pretty sure that it 

 solely consists of those electrons which are 

 held as the joint property of two atomic 

 shells and constrained to definite positions 

 by forces which we do not at present under- 

 stand, but which do not obey the simple 

 law of inverse squares which character- 

 izes the attraction or repulsion of charged 

 bodies at relatively large distances from 

 one another. Gilbert N. Lewis 



TJniveesity of Calitoenia 



ZOOLOGICAL RESEARCHi 



I SPEAK with mixed emotions. I long ago 

 planned to attend this spring meeting of the 



1 Remarks at the dedication of Stanley Coulter 

 Hall, the new biological buUding at Purdue Uni- 

 versity, during a meeting of the Indiana Academy 

 of Science. 



Indiana Academy of Science, the first I have 

 been able to attend in several years. I was 

 asked to assist at the dedication of a new bio- 

 logical building, and find I am one of the ora- 

 tors on the rare occasion of the unveiling of a 

 monument to a man still alive and present. It 

 is not possible to speak in the presence of so 

 lively a corpse of the appropriateness of having 

 your newest and best building named in honor 

 of Stanley Coulter. If he were not present 

 and listening with such apparent anxiety, I 

 should like to recall his many good qualities 

 and my good fortune in being associated with 

 him for a third of a century. In these years 

 we have traveled together, played together, 

 worked together, fought together and against 

 each other, and I think I am beginning to 

 know him in part. It would make him too vain 

 were I to say aU of the nice things I should 

 feel more than justified in saying, if his family 

 were in mourning. As it is, I can only com- 

 mend the authorities in honoring the teacher, 

 the director of the Indiana Biological Survey, 

 the charter member of the Indiana Academy of 

 Science, the leader in nature study, the in- 

 vestigator, the dean of the school of science of 

 Purdue University, and over and above all, the 

 real human being. 



It wiU not detract from his merits if I tell 

 you in confidence that he deserves but part of 

 the credit for what he has done. The poet 

 truly said : " There is a Divinity that shapes 

 our ends." At least half the credit should go 

 to his wife, who has made him possible, and 

 whom those of us who know her love even more 

 than we do Stanley. I hope, I am sure the 

 Academy as well as Purdue University hope, 

 that they will long be able to work in the build- 

 ing so well named. The best of it is that the 

 building was not needed to perpetuate the 

 memory and influence of our friends. 



The dedication of this, your best building, 

 in part to zoology is a just recognition of the 

 importance of the subject. It is quite proper, 

 therefore, that we should consider what we 

 mean by zoology, for our interpretation de- 

 termines the nature of the work to be done 

 within the walls of Stanley Coulter Hall. 



Zoology is a study of animals. The study of 



