500 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. 2LV. No. 1169 



voltage laboratory, in whieli pressures as liigh 

 as 500 kv. can be obtained. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 NEWS 



Steps have been taken to insure the erection 

 of a new building for the Indiana University- 

 School of Medicine on a site near the Eobert 

 W. Long Hospital, Indianapolis. 



Professor Egbert M. Terkes, of Harvard 

 University, has been appointed head of the de- 

 partment of psychology at the University of 

 Minnesota. 



At the Johns Hopkins University, Professor 

 Edward W. Berry, associate professor of pale- 

 ontology, has been advanced to be professor of 

 paleontology, and Associate J. T. Singewald, 

 Jr., to be associate professor of economic geol- 

 ogy- 



At the Massachusetts Institute of Technol- 

 ogy, Dr. Charles L. Norton has been appointed 

 professor of industrial physics. Promotions 

 from instructor to assistant professor have 

 been made as follows: Mathematics, Joseph 

 Lipka and Prank B. Hitchcock; physics, Her- 

 bert P. Holnagel; drawing, Arthur L. Good- 

 rich. 



Dr. H. H. Newman, dean of the college of 

 science of the University of Chicago (medical 

 and premedical students), has been promoted 

 from an associate professorship in zoology to 

 a professorship in that department. 



In the botanical department of the Michi- 

 gan Agricultural College Dr. G. H. Coons has 

 been promoted to associate professor, and Dr. 

 E. P. Woodcock to assistant professor. Begin- 

 ning with July 1, Mr. Ezra Levin, at present 

 instructor in botany at the Kalamazoo High 

 School, takes up his work as extension agent 

 in plant diseases, for half his time, and assist- 

 ant pathologist in the Experiment Station for 

 the other half. 



Dr. Pierre Marie has been appointed to the 

 chair of clinical neurology in the University 

 of Paris in succession to the late Professor 

 Dejerine. 



Praulein a. M. Curtius has been appointed 

 lecturer in Prench at Leipzig. She is said to 



be the first woman on the staff of a German 

 university. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 



SURFACE TENSION, CAPILLARITY AND 

 PETROLEUM POOLS 



While surface tension and capillarity^ are 

 being discussed, the writer would like to raise 

 the question of whether or not the material 

 composing the tube makes any difference in 

 the height to which the liquid rises. 



It is surprising that it is not possible to 

 settle this apparently elementary question at 

 once by reference to any one of a score of 

 good treatises on physics; physics is an old 

 science, the subject of intermolecular attrac- 

 tion is fundamental, capillarity is discussed 

 at length and the deductions carry conviction 

 born of impressive formulse. As a matter of 

 fact, statements bearing on the point in ques- 

 tion seem inharmonious and many of them 

 lack clearness. One of the most convincing 

 that the writer has seen is that of Bigelow and 

 Hunter,^ who say : " We have demonstrated 

 that capillary ascension of water (and benzene) 

 is different in tubes of different substances," 

 and they base the assertion on experimental 

 evidence. 



This declaration accords with the writer's' 

 concepts concerning capillarity. Since he is 

 not a physicist, these concepts should come 

 from the conclusion of physicists concerning 

 the point or at least from well-known and un- 

 questioned principles of physics, but as a 

 matter of fact they are based partly upon such 

 conclusions and principles, partly upon sev- 

 eral years of cogitation, and partly upon the 



1 Patrick, W. A., Ostwald 'a ' ' Handbook of Col- 

 loidal Chemistry, ' ' Science, N. S., Vol. XLV., No. 

 1,143, pp. 750-751, November 24, 1916. Kam- 

 ball, Arthur L., "Negative Surface Tension," 

 Science, N. S., Vol. XLV., No. 1,152, p. 75, Jan. 

 26, 1917. Becker, Geo. F., "Propulsion by Surface 

 Tension," Science, N. S., Vol. XLV., No. 1,153, 

 p. 115, Feb. 2, 1917. 



2 Bigelow, S. L., and Hunter, F. W., ' ' The Func- 

 tion of the Walla in Capillary Phenomena," Jour. 

 Phys. Chem., Vol. 15, p. 380, 1911. 



s Shaw, E. "W., "The Eole and Fate of Connate 

 Water in Oil and Gas Sands" (discussion), Am. 

 Inst. Min. Eng. Trans., Vol. 51, p. 601, 1916. 



