360 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLVI. No. 1189 



its annual meeting at the State University of 

 Iowa on ISTovember 8, 9 and 10. 



The Eev. Dr. Anson Phelps Stokes, secretary 

 of Yale University, has been chosen principal 

 of Hampton ISTonnal Institute, to succeed the 

 late Dr. V. B. Frissell. 



Dr. William B. Meldrum, of Vassar Col- 

 lege, has been appointed assistant professor of 

 chemistry at Haverford College, taking the 

 place of Lyman B. Hall, professor of chemistry, 

 who resigned at the retiring age after thirty- 

 seven years of service. 



The following changes have been made 

 during the summer in the stafF of the depart- 

 ment of geology at the University of Ulinois : 

 Professor C. W. Eolfe has retired as pro- 

 fessor emeritus. Mr. Fred H. Kay, lecturer 

 on petroleum geology, has gone into the ser- 

 vice of the Sun Oil Company; Dr. P. M. Van 

 Tuyl, instructor, has resigned to accept the 

 assistant professorship of geology in the Colo- 

 rado School of Mines; Dr. C. W. Tomlinson, 

 A.M. (Wisconsin), Ph.D. (Chicago), has been 

 appointed associate in structural and general 



Mr. F. a. C. Perrine has resigned as as- 

 sistant professor of psychology at the Uni- 

 versity of Pittsburgh to accept the position of 

 adjunct professor of psychology at the Univ- 

 ersity of Texas. Mr. Jos. U. Tarbrough was 

 made an instructor in i)sychology at the Uni- 

 versity of Texas. 



Dr. J. W. Beede, associate professor of 

 geology at the Indiana University, has ac- 

 cepted a position in the bureau of economic 

 geology and technology, in the University of 

 Texas. 



At Cornell University, Bernard A. Chand- 

 ler has been appointed assistant professor of 

 forest utilization for 1917-18, in place of 

 Professor A. B. Eecknagel, who is absent on 

 leave. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 



INTERNATIONAL UNITS AND SYMBOLS IN 

 AEROGRAPHY 



To THE Editor of Science: In the some- 

 what appreciative review of the text-book on 



"Aerography" in Science, September 14, 

 1917, on p. 265 is the statement " the student 

 may be confused in having absolute pressure 

 units presented as ' kilobars ' when they are 

 commonly known as ' millibars.' " The re- 

 viewer underestimates the intelligence of uni- 

 versity men; because the reasons why kilobar 

 is preferable are given at length on page 30. 

 Kilobar is as natural as kilogram. It may 

 also be added that those who persist in advo- 

 cating the retention of millibar are evidently 

 not aware that V. Bjerknes expressly states 

 that in his system the C.G.S. unit will be the 

 microiar. 



Again, the statement of the reviewer that 

 " kilobar has historic preference over milli- 

 bar but millibar is the internationally accepted 

 term " is both inaccurate and misleading. 

 Millibar is the earlier term and it has inter- 

 national acceptance only because there has 

 been no opportunity to have the mistake cor- 

 rected by international agreement. Moreover 

 it is extremely problematical if the Interna- 

 tional Congress will ever meet again. But 

 is it good form in scientific work to continue 

 the use of an erroneous term because an offi- 

 cial disclaimer is lacking? There are some 

 other matters which are of perhaps greater 

 moment. It is a strange commentary upon 

 the work of the International Meteorological 

 Congress that while giving us symbols for no 

 less than 23 conditions varying from haze to 

 aurora, there are no symbols for bright and dif- 

 fused sunshine, mountain and valley winds, 

 temperature inversion and sea-breeze. For the 

 last named, the sea-breeze, we have been using 

 at Blue Hill, three arrows on a vertical staff, 

 to represent the characteristic changes in cir- 

 culation. As the sea-breeze is a frequent and 

 very important aerographic condition, any 

 suggestion for a more fitting sjTnbol will be 

 appreciated. 



Alexander McAdie 



Blue Hill Observatory, 

 Eeabville, Mass. 



SYMBOLS 



I AM confident that there is not a worker 

 in the wide domain of physical science who 



