546 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIX. No. 1275 



ment of science and State Museum, Albany, New 

 York. 

 Detection of ocean currents iy their alhalinity (il- 

 lustrated) : Alfred G. Mayor, director of de- 

 partment of marine biology, Carnegie Institution 

 of Washington, Princeton, N. J. 

 Ocean currents moving from warm into cold re- 

 gions are relatively alkaline and their surface 

 waters absorb CO. from the atmosphere so slowly 

 that they remain more alkaline than one would 

 expect from their temperature. Conversely cold 

 currents moving into warmer regions retain their 

 relative acidity and part with their CO. at so slow 

 a rate that they become warmer than would be ex- 

 pected from their low alkalinity. In tropical re- 

 gions of the Pacific the surface currents some- 

 times observed ■ setting toward the eastward, 

 against the prevailing westerly drift, are relatively 

 acid and contain more CO. than we would expect 

 from their temperature. The hydrogen-ion con- 

 centration of sea water can so easUy be detected 

 by using such indicator as thymolsulphonephtha- 

 lein that the method may prove of service to navi- 

 gation in detecting the presence of counter cur- 

 rents before the ship has been deflected from its 

 course. 



Some oceanographieal results of the Canadian 

 Arctic expedition 1913-18: Vilhjalmdk Ste- 

 PANSSON, commander of Canadian Arctic Expe- 

 dition. (Introduced by Mr. Henry 6. Bryant.) 

 Evolution and mystery in the discovery of Amer- 

 ica: Edwin Swift Balch, of Philadelphia. 

 Benjamin Franklin's art as applied to hooJcs for 

 elementary teaching (illustrated) : Charles E. 

 Lanman, professor of Sanskrit, Harvard Univer- 

 sity. 

 The energy loss of young women during light 

 household muscular activities (illustrated) : 

 Francis G. Benedict, director of Nutrition 

 Laboratory (Boston) of Carnegie Institution of 

 Washington, and Alice Johnson. 

 To supply exact information regarding the 

 energy requirements for light household work, the 

 Nutrition Laboratory has begun a study of the 

 heat of women engaged in various domestic 

 activities. The subjects thus far studied have 

 been young women from the domestic science 

 department of Simmons College, approximately 

 200 women taking part in the experiments. The 

 apparatus used for determining the carbon-dioxide 

 production was a large respiration chamber in 

 which 25 or more individuals could be studied 

 simultaneously. The chamber was well ventilated 



by forcing outdoor air in at one end and with- 

 dravring the chamber air from the other. A cer- 

 tain proportion of the outcoming air was passed 

 through purifiers which absorbed the carbon di- 

 oxide. By noting the gain in weight of these ab- 

 sorbers, a measure of the carbon dioxide given off 

 by the young women could be obtained. The heat 

 production or energy loss was then calculated from 

 the carbon-dioxide production. In all, 12 experi- 

 ments were made, covering 50 periods 20 or 25 

 minutes in length. To provide a standard for 

 computing the increase in energy required for the 

 particular household occupation studied, the energy 

 loss of the groups of young women while sitting 

 quietly reading two hours after a light breakfast 

 was determined at the beginning of every experi- 

 ment in from 1 to 3 periods. As a result of 23 rest 

 periods on 12 experimental days, it was found that 

 the average heat output per kilogram per hour was 

 1.12 calories. This average figure of 1.12 calories 

 has a specific interest in that it indicates the prob- 

 able heat production of women sitting quietlj 

 under ordinary living conditions with a moderate 

 amount of food in the stomach. 

 The relative contribution of the staple commodities 

 to the national food consumption: Eaymond 

 Pearl, professor of biometrics, school of hygiene 

 and public health, Johns Hopkins University. 

 Hygiene and sanitation as improvised in tlie zone 

 of operations during the Great War: Bailey K. 

 AsHPORD, surgeon, U. S. Army. (Introduced by 

 Dr. W. W. Keen.) 

 Bloodless removal of foreign bodies from the lungs 

 through the mouth by bronchoscopy (illus- 

 trated) : Chevalier Jackson, attending laryn- 

 gologist, Jefferson Medical College, Philadel- 

 phia. (Introduced by Dr. W. W. Keen.) 



Friday, April S5, 10 o 'clock 

 William B. Scott, D.Sc, LL.D., president, in the 



chair 

 The new discoveries of extinct animals in the West 

 Indies and their hearing on the geological history 

 of the Antilles (illustrated) : William D. 

 Matthew, curator of American Museum of Nat- 

 ural History, New York. 



During the last ten years, explorations in Porto 

 Eico and Cuba have secured the fossil remains of 

 various extinct animals from cave and spring de- 

 posits on the islands. Quite large collections have 

 been obtained and it has been possible to recon- 

 struct the entire skeleton of the largest animal 

 found, a ground sloth about the size of a black 



