216 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLV. No. 1157 



seem, in this field the mahogany roll-top desk 

 is not the greatest thing in the world. 

 Says Professor Fite in the Nation: 



Wherever two or three are gathered together, 

 and even where they are not gathered together, 

 some one is on his way to organize them. In the 

 madness for organization we have long since lost 

 sight of the end in the means; we have forgotten 

 that neither the fruition nor the advancement of 

 human life can take place in the absence of in- 

 dividual freedom and creativeness, and we have 

 come to believe that the sole meaning of life and 

 of culture is — to be organized. 



Individual 



science as contraband 

 To THE Editor of Science: Through the 

 kind ofiices of Professor James Ward the 

 British authorities have consented to release 

 the books sent from Germany to the Psycho- 

 logical Review. The Psychological Review 

 Company desires to express its thanks to 

 Professor Ward. 



For the benefit of other scientists who may 

 be similarly involved it should be stated that 

 the action taken was a pure act of courtesy to 

 Professor "Ward. The taint of contraband still 

 infects scientific literature in the opinion of 

 the procurator general; but he is willing to 

 defer to expert judgment. 



Howard 0. Warren 



PSTCHOLOGICAi EeVIEW Co., 



Princeton, N. J., 

 February 20, 1917 



TRIMMED MAGAZINES AND EFFICIENCY 

 EXPERTS 



To THE Editor of Scienoe: Tour eorre- 

 sjjondent " H. P." waxes somewhat warm in 

 your issue of January 12 on the above subject 

 and evidently prefers his untrimmed. To me 

 it seems " all nonsense " to say that " I have 

 always found that I got more out of an un- 

 opened magazine than an opened one." The 

 contents are of course the same in either 

 case, the difference is in one's mental attitude. 

 I find my weekly copy of Science so interest- 

 ing that I almost invariably read it clear 

 thi'ough, and I do not want to be delayed in 

 getting at its con*ents by having to cut its 

 pages. I find it very irritating to have to cut 

 the pages of an interesting book when I had 



much rather be reading it. Such work is to 

 me a waste of time and energy. Science is 

 read weekly by some 12,000 to 15,000 busy 

 men and women whose time is valuable in the 

 literal as well as in the figurative sense, hence 

 the " general opinion that the copies should be 

 trimmed." This suits the present writer, but 

 it is to be regretted that " H. P." can no 

 longer get his untrimmed. 



E. W. Gudger 

 State Normal College, 

 Greensboro, N. C, 

 February 1, 1917 



QUOTATIONS 



INTELLECT AND THE WAR 



Had not experience amply shown that no 

 subject is so remote as to make it exempt from 

 contact with the workings of the great war, 

 one might expect such immunity in the case 

 of a paper on " The Relations of Mathematics 

 to the N"atural Sciences." As it is, one is not 

 in the least surprised to find that the bearing 

 of the present state of the world on the fu- 

 ture of mathematical research is the theme 

 of the closing remarks in the presidential ad- 

 dress with that title delivered at the recent 

 meeting of the American Mathematical Soci- 

 ety by Professor E. W. Brown, the distin- 

 guished mathematical astronomer of Tale. 

 While the stupendous events of the past two 

 years have caused the need for scientific re- 

 search to be emphasized more strongly than 

 ever before, he says, yet it is to be remembered 

 that in this the practical end alone is con- 

 templated, and the purely intellectual side is 

 little regarded. " The future of research in 

 pure science is in danger as never before," he 

 warns. 



For this fear there is only too much ground, 

 though in our judgment it would be a de- 

 plorable error to accept as inevitable that 

 which is only threatened. 'No man can say 

 what reaction there may be after the war from 

 that state of mind which the appalling de- 

 mands of such a conflict as is now convulsing 

 the world inevitably produce. Everything de- 

 pends on the nature of the peace which is to 

 follow. If it is to be such as wiU compel a 



