516 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. LV, No. 1428 



way represented a federal, state or municipal 

 organization. 



Mr. Halsey refers to a report issued in 

 October, 1921, as confirmation of all his con- 

 tentions. It is amusing to find that this report 

 •was drawn up under the guidance of a com- 

 mittee of five men: the gage manufacturer re- 

 ferred to above, two others associated with him 

 in his fight to kill the metric system, and an 

 impotent minority of two good metric advo- 

 cates. 



However, the use of metric weights and 

 measures, legal for all transactions in the 

 United States since July 28, 1866, is above 

 personalities. As a nation we find ourselves 

 to-day endeavoring to bring about mutual 

 understanding and world-wide trade. At least 

 46 countries have officially adopted the metric 

 system for general use. Partly through the ex- 

 cellent work of the Decimal Association of 

 London, England has already left America be- 

 hind in the use of metric weights and measures. 



The hearings are over on the Britten-Ladd 

 Bill. The campaign to put this bill, or a modi- 

 fied form of it, through Congress is before our 

 association. At the same time we are co- 

 operating with the Toronto and other sections 

 of the American Metric Association, and an 

 ever increasing number of men and women in 

 North America are using metric weights and 

 measures. We ask for the cooperation of all 

 in the United States and Canada. 



HovTAKD Richards, 



Secretary, 

 American Metric Association 



April 25, 1922 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 



THE BIOLOGICAL RESEARCHES OF 



GUSTAF RETZIUS 



Volume XIX, Neue Folge, of the Biologische 

 Untersuchungen of Gustaf Retzius completes 

 the scientific works of the great anatomist and 

 anthropologist who died in the summer of 1919. 



This posthumous volume has been edited and 

 compiled at the request of Madame Retzius by 

 Professor Carl Turst, of the University of 

 Lund. Professor Furst is the oldest living 



friend and colleague of Retzius, and was well 

 equipped, both by virtue of long acquaintance 

 and collaboration with the author, and by 

 familiarity with his work, to edit for publica- 

 tion the series of technical papers which com- 

 prise the volume. These papers are seven in 

 number, and are accompanied by twenty-one 

 beautiful plates of folio size. 



The first contribution, under the title, 

 "Weitere Beitrage zur Kenntnis von dem Bau 

 und der Anordnixng des Ependyms und der 

 samtlichen Neuroglia, besonders bei den niede- 

 ren Vertebraten" (Taf. I-XVI), describes the 

 neuroglia and ependjona of various vertebrates 

 in four sections, viz. : A. Amphioxus ; B. 

 Myxine; C. Petromyzon; and D. Selachians, 

 Teleosts, Amphibia, Birds and Mammals. The 

 text of section D has been inserted by the editor 

 from a translation into German of an article 

 originally published elsewhere by Retzius in 

 Swedish. The editor states : "Wir bekommen 

 dadurch von Retzius selbst eine Erklarung 

 einiger wichtiger, hier mitgeteilten Figuren. 

 Gustaf Retzius hat mehi-mals friihere Arbeiten, 

 die in schwedischer Sprache herausgegeben 

 waren, spater in Biol. Unter. in deutscher 

 Ubersetzung aufgenommen. Wenn ich diese 

 Abhandlung aus der Miillerschen Festschrift 

 einsetze lasse ich doch grossteils die historische 

 Einleitung der Abhandlung aus. Der Inhalt 

 dieses Historik ist niimlich in den hier oben 

 mitgeteilten Abhandlung ausfiihrliehen mit- 

 geteilt." 



The second paper, "Einige Beitrage zur 

 Kenntnis der Structur der Ependym — und 

 Nervenzellen im Riickenmark der Cyclostomen" 

 (Taf. XVII, Fig. 1-24), describes a type of 

 cell among the ependyma cells of the spinal 

 cord of cyclostomes which has been called 

 "inneren Sinneszellen" by several investigators, 

 but which Retzius concludes are modified 

 ependjnna cells. The second part of this article 

 considers the fibrillar structure of nerve cells 

 of the spinal cord in this lowly group of verte- 

 brates. 



Nine of the folio pages and one plate (Taf. 

 XVIII) describe certain phases of the struc- 

 ture of the lens of the eye, under the title 

 "Zur Kenntnis des Baus des Glaskorpers im 

 Auge des Menschen." 



