Friday, December 27, 1912 



CONTENTS 

 The Artificial Ripening of Bitter Fruits: 

 Professok Francis E. Lloyd 879 



University Registration Statistics: Profes- 

 sor ElTDOLF TOMBO, Jr 887 



The Fur Seal Census: George Archibald 

 Clark 894 



The Fur Seal Mortality of the Pribilof Soolc- 

 eries in the Absence of Pelagic Seali/ng: M. 

 C. Mabsh 897 



Memorial of a Centenary 898 



Scientific Notes and News 900 



University and Educational News 902 



Discussion and Correspondence: — • 



Philippine Sharks: Dr. H. M. Smith. Ber- 

 ardius Bairdii in Japan: Dr. Boy C. An- 

 drews. On Citing the Types of New 

 Genera: Professor T. D. A. Cockerell. 

 In the Interests of Better Speahing : 

 X. Y. Z 902 



Scientific Books: — 



Moore's Principles of Microbiology : Pro- 

 fessor F. P. GoRHAM. Conn's Biology: 

 M. M. Frans's Handbook of Mental Ex- 

 amination Methods: F. L. W. Bies on 

 Building Stones and Clay Products: Dr. 

 Geo. p. Merrill 904 



Special Articles: — 

 The Relationships of the Chestnut Blight 

 Fungus : Dr. G. P. Clinton 907 



The Convocation Week Meeting of Scientific 

 Societies 914 



MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended for 

 reyiew should be sent to Professor J. MoKeen Cattell, Ga 

 on-Hudson, N. Y. 



TEE ARTIFICIAL RIPENING OF BITTER 

 FRUITS 1 



This subject has been ebosen not only be- 

 cause of a certain intrinsic interest which 

 I trust will presently be admitted, but be- 

 cause also it serves to illustrate the im- 

 portant contention that the problems of 

 pure and applied science go back for their 

 solution to the same fundamental prin- 

 ciples. It is true that empiricism has 

 solved, in a measure, many practical prob- 

 lems, and that, indeed, science has grown 

 oiit of empiricism. But science in her turn 

 leads more rapidly and surely to the goal 

 which is sought, for the simple reason that 

 she explains why things happen as they do. 

 For a single and almost overworked ex- 

 ample, the ancients knew that peas and 

 clovers enriched the soil, and this knowl- 

 edge led to the practise of rotation in the 

 planting of crops. But it is very recent 

 knowledge that this behavior is due to the 

 peculiar relations of certain bacteria to a 

 limited group of the higher plants known 

 collectively as the legumes, by which the 

 free nitrogen of the air is made available 

 to the latter. The economic salvation of 

 immense areas, yet to be accomplished, may 

 now be compassed with this knowledge — a 

 very practical outcome. On the other 

 hand, the understanding of the nitrogen 

 relations of plants has stimulated the chem- 

 ist to discover a method, and if possible an 

 economical method, of fixing atmospheric 

 nitrogen, so that this vast storehouse of ma- 

 terial may be rendered more available, the 

 solution of which problem could not by 

 any chance have been attained except by 



' The university lecture, October 8, 1912. 



