June 8, 1917] 



SCIENCE 



589 



$500 the first year, $750 the second year, and 

 $1,000 the third year. Such fellows will spend 

 half their time in the private clinic of Dr. 

 Todd or Dr. Burch, and the other half in lab- 

 oratory and clinical work and in pursuit of 

 certain courses for specialists in ophthalmol- 

 ogy and otolaryngology at the university. For 

 work done in these private clinics, credit will 

 be given toward the degree granted by the uni- 

 versity in the course of ophthalmology and oto- 

 laryngology given at the University of Minne- 

 sota, to accepted doctors of medicine covering 

 a period of three years wliich prepares the 

 physician for the specialty of ophthalmology 

 and otolaryngology. 



The department of architecture of the Uni- 

 versity of Illinois is pfenning to take a leading 

 part in rebuilding storm-stricken Mattoon. 

 Sixteen architects of this department are to 

 draw up sixteen standard plans for houses, the 

 cost of which will range from $800 to $1,400. 

 This work is being done in line' with the school 

 for city planning now being arranged for the 

 coming summer. Officers of the university 

 have expressed the hope that the institution 

 may have an opportunity to duplicate on a 

 larger scale in France what is now being done 

 in the city of Mattoon. 



Professor G. - H. Clevenger, of Stanford 

 University, has been appointed research pro- 

 fessor in metallurgy and has been released 

 from elementary and routine teaching. 



Professor John R. Allen, head of the de- 

 partment of mechanical engineering of the 

 "University of Michigan, has been offered the 

 deanship of the college of engineering and 

 architecture of the University of Minnesota. 



Miss Pauline H. Dederer, instructor in 

 zoology at Barnard College, has resigned to 

 become assistant professor in biology at the 

 Connecticut College for Women, New London. 



Dr. P. G. H. Boswell, lecturer in geology at 

 the Imperial College of Science and Technol- 

 ogy, London, has been appointed the first 

 holder of the George Herdman chair of geol- 

 ogy in the University of Liverpool. The 

 establishment of a chair of geology in the 

 university has been long delayed, and is now 



possible owing to the generosity of Professor 

 and Mrs. Herdman, who have endowed the 

 chair as a memorial to their son, the late 

 Lieutenant George Herdman. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 



THE PHYSIOGRAPHY OF THE LOWER AMAZON 



VALLEY AS EVIDENCE BEARING ON 



THE CORAL REEF PROBLEM 



The recent revival of the discussion of the 

 origin of coral reefs^ has raised many ques- 

 tions which involve not only the coral isl- 

 ands, but also the displacements of the strand 

 lines of the continents throughout the tropics, 

 for the changes in level of the tropical seas in- 

 voked by Daly must have been recorded on the 

 continents as well as on the islands. It seems, 

 therefore, that a thorough investigation of at 

 least a considerable number of critically situ- 

 . ated continental strands of the tropics must 

 be made before the evidence for or against the 

 acceptance of the glacial control theory may 

 be considered complete. 



Eecently, in his reading, the writer found 

 an account of the physiography of the lower 

 Amazon valley^ to which it seems worth while 

 to call attention for the benefit of any who 

 may undertake an investigation of the evi- 

 dences of strand-line displacements in the 

 tropics. 



A brief abstract of a portion of Smith's 

 paper follows : All of the larger rivers entering 

 the lower Amazon from the south, and the 

 Trombetas entering from the north, have lake- 

 like expanses in their lower courses into which 

 the Amazon, at times of flood, is pouring silt 

 which is gradually filling them up. Meanwhile 

 the upper ends of the estuaries are being filled 

 by their own rivers. Some of the latter, which 

 are muddier than others, have already trans- 



iDaly, E. A., "The Glacial Control Theory of 

 Coral Eeefs," Proc. Am. Acad, of Arts and Sci- 

 ences, Vol. 51, 1915, 157-251. Davis, W. M., "A 

 Shaler Memorial Study of Coral Reef a," Am. Jour. 

 Sci., 4th ser., Vol. 40, 1915, 223-271. Vaughan, T. 

 Wayland, "The Platforms of Barrier Coral 

 Eeefs" (abs.), Am. Geog. Soc. Bull., Vol. 46, 

 1914, pp. 426^29. 



2 Smith, H., ' ' Physical Geography of the Ama- 

 zon Valley," Am. Nat., Vol. XIX., 1885, 27-37. 



