SCIENCE 



Friday, January 3, 1919 



CONTENTS 

 The American Associ^itwn for the Advance- 

 ment of Science: — 



The Problem of Eadioattive Lead: Pro- 

 rEssoB Theodore W. Richards 1 



The Baltimore Meeting: Professor O. E. 

 Jennings H 



Scientific Events: — 



The Eatmai National Monument; Agricul- 

 tural Production in the United States; The 

 Edward K. Warren Foundation and Two 

 Wild Life Seservations in Michigan; The 

 Organization of Tale University amd the 

 Sheffield Scientific School 15 



Scientific Notes and News 19 



University and Educational News 22 



Discussion and Correspondence: — 



Lantern Slides of Northern France: Pro- 

 fessor W. M. Davis. Biological Literature 

 in English: Frank A. Spragg. A Flowing 

 Artesian Well at Winslow, Maine: Pro- 

 fessor Homer P. Little 23 



Scientific Boohs: — 



Klein on Principles and Practise of Milk 

 Bygiene : Professor Leo F. Eettger .... 25 



Special Articles: — 



The Oviposit ion Habit of Gastrophilus 

 nasalis L. : A. E. Cameron 26 



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

 review should be sent to The Editor of Scienfie, Garrison>on- 

 Hudson, N. Y. 



THE PROBLEM OF RADIOACTIVE 

 LEADi 



We meet to-day with happiness which six 

 months ago would have seemed beyond the 

 bomids of reasonable hope. After anxious 

 months, the confidently awaited victory, which 

 last spring still seemed far away, has crowned 

 the cause of justice, truth and liberty. We 

 in America rejoice that this cause is our 

 cause, and that at the most critical time we 

 were able to render effective help to the 

 staimeh and brave allied forces which had 

 fought so long and so nobly. 



The object of this address is not, however, 

 to appraise the military issues of the great war 

 so fortunately ending, nor to deal with the 

 weighty international problems now faced by 

 the world, but rather to bring before you 

 other considerations, having to do with the 

 advancement of science. 



The particular subject chosen, namely, the 

 problem of radioactive lead, is one of peculiar 

 and extraordinary interest, because it involves 

 a readjustment and enlargement of many 

 rather firmly fixed ideas concerning the chem- 

 ical elements and their mutual relations, as 

 well as the nature of atoms. 



Within the last twenty years the definition 

 of these two words, " elements " and " atoms," 

 has been rendered somewhat uncertain, and 

 bids fair to suffer even further change. Both 

 of them are ancient words, and both even a 

 century since had acquired meanings different 

 from those of long ago. Thalcs thought of 

 but one element, and Aristotle's elements — - 

 earth, air, fire, water and the quintessence, 

 derived perhaps from yet more ancient phi- 

 losophy — were not plentiful enough to account 

 for all the manifold phenomena of nature. 

 Democritus's old idea of the atom was asso- 



1 Address of the President of the American Asso- 

 ciation for the Advancement of Science, Baltimore, 

 December, 1918. 



