January 5, 1917] 



SCIENCE 



19 



decidedly in favor of acid phosphate as com- 

 pared with either bone meal or phosphate 

 rock. In Dr. Hopkins's article omission was 

 made of the fact that in the table referred to 

 — Bulletin 90, p. 89, Tennessee Agricultural 

 Experiment Station — every $1.00 invested in 

 acid phosphate gave on the average a calcu- 

 lated profit of $4.28 where the cowpea crops 

 were turned under, and of $5.42 where they 

 were removed for hay. Phosphate rock, on the . 

 other hand, gave by a similar calculation a 

 profit of only $2.58 where the pea crops were 

 turned under and the same amount where they 

 were removed for hay. These results are the 

 average of three series of experiments, one 

 conducted for five years at the Knoxville Sta- 

 tion, another conducted for four years at the 

 Ford farm in Knox County and the third con- 

 ducted for three years at the Weaver farm in 

 Warren County. 



C. A. MOOEES 



Ageioultusal Experiment Station, 

 TjNrvEESiTT OP Tennessee 



SOIL SOLUTION 



In an article on "Acidity and Adsorption 

 in Soils as Measured by the Hydrogen Elec- 

 trode,'"- Sharp and Hoagland truly say, as far 

 as the literature is concerned, " Our present 

 methods do not enable us to study the soil solu- 

 tion itself" (p. 127), but the writer hopes that 

 the Van Suchetelen and Itano method as devel- 

 oped in this laboratory will forward this study. 

 Description of this method will be published 

 soon by this station. The soil solution thus 

 obtained is considered as closely representing 

 the one in the soil. The writer is using this 

 soil solution for bacteriological studies of soils 

 and sees no reason why it should not be used 

 in the study of other soil conditions. This 

 method by which sufiicient solution can be ob- 

 tained for the study of chemical composition, 

 physical properties, etc., should be an aid in 

 the study of soil fertility. 



J. Eranklin Morgan 



Agkicdltukal College Experiment 

 Station, 

 East Lansing, Michigan 



1 Journal of Agricultural Eesearch, Vol. VII., 

 No. 3, 1916, pp. 123-143. 



OLIGAEROBE, HISTANAEROBE 



There has lately come into use the word 

 microaerophilic^ to designate the oxygen re- 

 quirements of a class of microorganisms 

 {Meningococcus, Gonococcus, Bacillus abor- 

 tus) that require free oxygen for their growth, 

 but which succeed best only when the oxygen 

 is in less amount than it is in the atmosphere. 



Erom the etymologic standpoint, the word 

 appears fairly satisfactory, although ^t^pos is 

 more applicable to smallness of size than 

 quantity. It seems unfortunate that a word 

 based on the form of the well-established 

 aerobe and anaerobe was not coined. In its 

 place I would suggest the word oligaerobe, 

 from '0X1705, meaning few, with special refer- 

 ence to number or quantity. 



Eor organisms like Treponema ■pallidum 

 that require a small piece of sterile tissue 

 added to the medium in addition to anaerobic 

 conditions, the word histanaerobe would ap- 

 pear to be a suitable designation. 



M. W. Lyon, Jr. 



George Washington Univeesity 



fileable announcements of new books 

 To the Editor of Science : One who receives 

 the numerous advertising circulars of book 

 publishers is often at a loss to decide how 

 much of this material to keep and how to file 

 it, and the result is that when some particular 

 information is wanted it is not always easy to 

 get at it quickly. Having found the card sys- 

 tem such a time and labor saver for such data 

 as needs filing in a chemical laboratory, I 

 have long wished that I might have a catalogue 

 of all new books bearing on the subjects in 

 which I am interested. It has seemed to me 

 that the publishers in general would gain much 

 if, instead of sending out the usual leaflets and 

 circulars which vary in size and make-up as 

 widely as the territory over which they are 

 scattered, they would send out 3X5 cards 

 giving the complete title, name of author, size 

 of book, number of pages and of illustrations, 

 table of contents, and a short paragraph indi- 

 cating the scope of the work. If all publishers 

 1 Borland, The American Illustrated Medical 

 Dictionary, p. 580, 1916. Cohen and Markle, Jour. 

 Amer. Med. Ass., Vol. 67, p. 1302, October 28, 1916. 



