January 13, 1922] 



SCIENCE 



41 



.for her original research work in biology. She 

 was an inspiration to her students and also 

 found means of helping them in many prac- 

 tical ways, unknown to any but herself. 



Miss Thompson did original research work 

 in biology in connection with the marine lab- 

 oratories both at Naples, Italy, and Woods 

 Hole, Mass. Her most noted work was on the 

 biology of termites — the most destructive of 

 the social insects. She has been a collaborator 

 of the Branch of Forest Entomology, Bureau 

 of Entomology, U. S. Department of Agricul- 

 ture, since March, 1917. 



191.6 saw Miss Thompson's first paper on 

 termites. It was an original piece of research 

 on the brain and frontal gland of a common 

 termite of eastern United States. She dis- 

 covered that there was very little differentia- 

 tion between the brains of the different castes 

 of this termite and none between the sexes, the 

 most marked difference being in the optic 

 apparatus. Miss Thompson suggests that the 

 frontal gland may have arisen phylogenetically 

 from the ancestral median ocellus now lacking. 

 This work was of considerable importance, 

 since the frontal gland is of great taxonomic 

 Yalue. 



In 1917, a paper on the origin of the castes 

 of a common termite revolutionized the atti- 

 tude taken by students of termites. Hitherto 

 the attitude had been almost entirely anthropo- 

 centric; Dr. Thompson disproved that the 

 ■'complementary" or "substitute" queens or 

 reproductive forms of termites could be manu- 

 factured through feeding by workers. She 

 definitely proved that the origin of all castes 

 is due to intrinsic causes. Thus, by careful 

 scientific study, much of the mystery of the 

 "complex" social system of the termites — 

 which has led to admiration by man of these 

 insects — has been proved a myth. Pacts now 

 supplant the older fantastic theories, so dear 

 to writers of the eighteenth and nineteenth 

 centuries. 



Another paper in 1919 discussed the phyl- 

 ■ogeny of the termite castes and outlined breed- 

 ing experiments which were in progi'ess at the 

 time of her death. It was hoped to work out 

 a genetic formula for termites. 



These papers were followed by several others 



on the development of the castes and repro- 

 ductive forms of species of many genera of 

 termites. 



Work on the development of the castes of 

 the honey bee had been planned and material 

 fixed ready to section. It is to be regretted 

 that ill health and other duties interfered. Miss 

 Thompson was undertaking this work as she 

 ever did with an open mind — realizing that very 

 careful work had been done on the honey bee 

 and that no generalizations could be made in 

 advance. The social insects often radically 

 differ in habits. What might be an anthropo- 

 centrism in ease of the termites, might be a 

 fact in the biology of the honey bee! 



With two other co-workers, Miss Thompson 

 was working on a more or less popular book 

 on termites and her share was to be the internal 

 anatomy of termites as well as phylogeny and 

 genetic work. 



A kindly, helpful spirit, of keen mind, but 

 modest — Miss Thompson will be long remem- 

 bered by her students and co-workers in 

 science. A striking point in Dr. Thompson's 

 personality, in fact its key note and which sig- 

 nalized her as an investigator and as a teacher, 

 is that with all her splendid training and her 

 admirable technique she was not biased by the 

 current fashions of the school in which she 

 was trained, but struck out into new fields. 

 Her own research work will endure forever! 



T. E. S. 

 Washington, D. C. 



December 10, 1921. 



SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 



THE HECKSCHER RESEARCH FOUNDATION 

 The following grants have been made during 

 the year 1921 by the Heckscher Research 

 Foundation for the support of investigation 

 at Cornell University: 



1. To Professor J. Q. Adams a sum sufficient 

 to secure his release from the duties of teaoMng 

 for the first term of the year 1921-1922, to enable 

 him to complete his book on "The Life of 

 Shakespeare. ' ' 



2. $2,000 to Professor C. C. Bidwell to enable 

 him to carry on cryogenic measurements, and to 

 study the relation between electrical conductivity 

 and temperature for so-called ' ' variable ' ' con- 

 ductors. 



