SCIENCE 



A Weekly Journal devoted to the Advancement 

 of Science, publishing the official notices and 

 proceedings of the American Association for the 

 Advancement of Science, edited by J. McKeen 

 Cattell and published every Friday by 



THE SCIENCE PRESS 



I 1 Liberty St., Utica, N. Y. Garrison, N. Y, 



New York City: Grand Central Terminal 



Single Copies, IS Cts. Annual Subscription, $6.00 



Application made for transler of entry to Utica, N. Y., as 

 second-class matter. 



VoL.LV January 27, 1922 No. 1413 



Tlie American Association for tlie Advance- 

 merit of Science : 

 The Trend of Earth History: De. Eliot 

 Blackwelder 83 



On the Differential Effects of the Influenza 

 Epidemic among Native Peoples of tlie 

 Pacific Islands: Professoe Henry E. 

 Ckampton 90 



Presentation to Professor Emerson: John 

 M. Claeke .• 02 



Scientific Events: 



Dr. White's Gift to Morgantown and the 

 University of Virginia; Expeditions of the 

 Field Museum of Natural History; The 

 American Engineering Council; Associate- 

 ship in the American Association for the 

 Advancement of Science 93 



Scientific Notes and News 96 



University and Educational Notes 99 



Discussion and Correspondence : 



Discovery of Gigantic Footprints in the 



Coal Measures of Kansas: H. T. Martin. 



Liesegang Eing Formation: De. Hugh A. 



McGuiGAN 99 



Special Articles: 



The Identity of Certain YeUoio Pigments 

 in Plants and Animals: PRorESSOR Geoege 

 B. RiGG. Bate and Mode of Soil Deposi- 

 tion in the Palouse Area of Washington 

 and Idaho: Peofessoe P. P. Peterson 101 



The American Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science : 

 Report of the Treasurer ; Financial Eeport 

 of the Permanent Secretary 103 



The American Society of Naturalists: Pro- 

 fessoe A. Feanklin Shull 105 



THE TREND OF EARTH HISTORYi 



Some years ago a witty member of the min- 

 ing engineering profession read a paper be- 

 fore the Canadian Institute of Mining Engi- 

 neer.?, picturing geologists, and particularly 

 historical geologists, as a group of romancers — 

 the lineal descendants and heirs of the old pro- 

 fessional story-tellers of the middle ages. He 

 accounted for the general popularity of the 

 subject of geology by the fact that every one 

 loves a story-teller, while but few people are 

 interested in questions of cold fact. 



Nearly all opinions, correct or otherwise, 

 are based upon a modicum of fact; and so, for 

 this impression of historical geologists as 

 dreamers and story-tellers, there is a certain 

 foimdation in reality. It will scarcely do, how- 

 ever, to accept so distorted a picture as even 

 an approximation to the truth. 



Are the data with which the student of 

 Earth history works so obscure, so fragmen- 

 tary and so equivocal that his conclusions are 

 not entitled to confidence? In part, Yes; but 

 in large measure. No. They are in fact much 

 like the data of human historj', and particu- 

 larly of archeology. That they are not exact 

 quantitative e\'idence is true, and this tends to 

 make them seem untrustworthy in the eyes of 

 the student of the more exact sciences. Never- 

 theless, the data are real, and safe conclusions 

 may be drawn from them if care and due cau- 

 tion are applied to the operation. Further- 

 more, the solving of one problem often leads 

 to the solution of another which had previously 

 resisted all attempts at interpretation. la 

 spite of the obvious incompleteness of the geo- 

 logic record, we nevertheless have a large 

 number of clearly ascertained facts about the 

 physical and biologic history of the earth, and 



1 Address of the Vice-President and Chairman 

 of Section E — Geology and Geography-, American 

 Assoeiation for the Advaneeincnt of Science, 

 Toronto, December 28, 1921. 



