SCIENCE 



' JUN 2-1917 ^ 



4< 



^^'onzi ^\tt^*^. 



5/ 



Friday, June 1, 1917 



CONTENTS 

 The Function of Mathematics m Scientific Re- 

 search: Professor G. A. Miller 549 



Scientific Events: — 

 Forestry Organisation for the War; Expe- 

 ditions of the Smitlisonian Institution; 

 Appropriations of the General Education 

 Board; The Samsay Memorial Fund 558 



Scientific Notes and News 560 



University and Educational News 563 



Discussion and Correspondence: — 



A Topographic Map of Wisconsin: Pko- 

 FESSOR W. M. Davis and Peopessok Law- 

 rence Martin. Winter Activity of the 

 Brown Bat: Bobert Cushman Murphy. 

 Dr. Hobbs on the History of Science: 

 Thomas F. Woodlock 564 



Scientific BooTcs: — 



Be Fursac and Eosanoff's Manual of 

 Psychiatry : Professor Adolf Meter .... 566 



Special Articles: — 

 A Suggestion regarding the Mechanism of 

 One-sided Permeability in Living Tissues: 

 Professor T. Brailspokd Eobertson .... 567 



The Utah Academy of Sciences : A.O.Garrett. 570 



MSS. Intended for publication and boots, etc., intended for 

 review should be sent to Professor J. McKeen Cattell, Garrison- 

 On-Hudson, N. Y- 



THE FUNCTION OF MATHEMATICS IN 

 SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 1 



Mathematics embodies some of the 

 earliest scientific developments and hence 

 she was practically unrestricted in regard 

 to the selection of her location in what be- 

 came later the domain of science. Did 

 she select for herself the most fertile avail- 

 able land or was she misled by superficial 

 attractions in making her choice, while the 

 richest mines were hidden under other land 

 whose surface presented fewer attractions 

 and whose development demanded more 

 complicated machinery? One might nat- 

 urally expect difi'erent answers to this ques- 

 tion from the members representing the 

 varied interests of this Science Club. 



It is not our purpose to extol the ad- 

 vantages of location with respect to the 

 mathematical mine. This location was 

 pointed out to you in your youth and the 

 imiDressions which it has left on your 

 minds are too deep to be modified mate- 

 rially by a few general remarks. Moreover, 

 some of the tunnels of the mathematical 

 mine are used daily by many of you, who 

 gladly speed through them for the purpose 

 of saving time to employ your energies 

 more effectively in the field of your own 

 choice. 



Notwithstanding these facts, all will agree 

 that the mathematical mine has been devel- 

 oped extensively, and that its developments 

 have been most helpful and are becoming 

 more useful to various other sciences. As 

 the rivers excavated unknowingly for pos- 

 sible railroad lines through the mountains 



1 Eead before the Science Club of the Univer- 

 sity of Wisconsin, April 5, 1917. 



