424 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLV. No. 1166 



case would probably say that such an ad- 

 mission is a psychological error, but I am 

 sure that it warms the heart of every scien- 

 tific man to find a man who has the courage 

 to tell the unvarnished truth, however 

 much he may regret the necessity of it. 

 And we shall have to follow this course and 

 no other in dealing with earthquakes. In 

 this spirit we need the cooperation and sup- 

 port of all men of science, and we feel that 

 we are justly entitled to such support. "We 

 also need the support of business men, and 

 we feel that we are equally entitled to it. 



Very likely some of you may feel that 

 you do not like to have this or any of these 

 local problems flung at your heads in this 

 brusque fashion. But, my friends, nature 

 has already flung these problems, not only 

 at our heads, but in our very faces. Is it 

 not for us to wake up and be equal to our 

 opportunities? Unless we take hold of the 

 problems of seismology that are so conspicu- 

 ously our problems here on this coast we 

 shall stand justly discredited in the minds 

 of our colleagues in other parts of the 

 world. The Portuguese have a proverb 

 about people who "fetch water after the 

 house is burned up." Let us see if we 

 can't fetch the water in season. 



And while I am using plain language 

 about disagreeable things, I may as well 

 refer to one more unpleasant subject, and 

 have done with it, and that is the necessity 

 of financial backing. Men of science can 

 do the work of science, but they can not 

 foot the bills. For that part of this under- 

 taking we must look to business men. And 

 we look to them with confidence that they 

 will cheerfully do their part. And if we 

 will all pull together and keep up our cour- 

 age, I feel confident that the day will come 

 when earthquakes will have lost most of 

 their terrors, not only for us on this coast, 

 but for the human race. 



Let me end with the words of a California 



author (Edward Eowland Sill) on oppor- 

 tunity : 



OPPORTUNITY 



This I beheld, or dreamed it in a dream: 

 There spread a cloud of dust along a plain; 

 And underneath the cloud, or iu it, raged 

 A furious battle, and men yelled, and swords 

 Shocked upon swords and shields. A prince's 



banner 

 Wavered, then staggered backward, hemmed by 



foes. 

 A craven hung along the battle's edge. 

 And thought, ' ' Had I a sword of keener steel — 

 That blue blade that the king 's son bears, — but this 

 Blunt thing — ! " he snapt and flung it from Ms 



hand, 

 And lowering crept away and left the field. 

 Then came the king's son, wounded, sore bestead, 

 And weaponless, and saw the broken sword, 

 Hilt-buried in the dry and trodden sand. 

 And ran and snatched it, and with battle-shout 

 Lifted afresh he hewed his enemy down. 

 And saved a great cause that heroic day. 



John Casper Beannek 



Stanford XJNrvERSiTT 



SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 



THE USE OF PRIMITIVE ART IN TEXTILES 



In answer to the demand of the American 

 textile industry for designs inspired by the 

 primitive art of this continent, the American 

 Museum of Natural History of New York 

 City on April 16 sent Dr. Herbert J. Spin- 

 den, of its department of anthropology, to 

 make special researches in Central American 

 countries. His mission is a development of 

 the policy of the institution to exert a forma- 

 tive influence on modern industry. The Euro- 

 pean War placed manufacturers of textiles 

 largely on their own resources, as far as de- 

 signs were concerned. Previously they had 

 been guided largely by the traditions and ex- 

 ample of Paris. The museum, recognizing 

 this condition, placed all of its resources and 

 research material at the command of the 

 American looms, and its collections were 

 studied by designers from all parts of the 

 United States. The recent exhibition of fig- 

 ured textiles in the museum conveys an idea 

 of the success which has attended the intro- 



