JANUAET 15, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



87 



ance with the following regulations recently 

 adopted by the president and fellows of Har- 

 vard College, provided suitable candidates make 

 application: (1) Appointments shall be made 

 by the president and feUows on recommenda- 

 tion of the division of mathematics. Each 

 appointment shall be for one academic year 

 and shall carry a remuneration of not less 

 than $1,000 nor more than $1,200. (2) A 

 holder of an instructorship may be a candi- 

 date for reappointment, but no person shall 

 hold an instructorship for more than three 

 years. (3) Each instructor will be expected 

 to teach two and one half elementary courses 

 and one other course which would ordinarily 

 be of an advanced character. (4) Instructors 

 will be permitted to attend without charge all 

 courses of instruction under the faculty of 

 arts and sciences, and to enjoy the same library 

 privileges as other instructors. They will be 

 offered every facility towards the prosecution 

 of original scholarly work, the members of the 

 division being ready to give all possible aid 

 and encouragement. (5) A candidate for an 

 instructorship in any academic year must pre- 

 sent his name to the chairman of the division 

 on or before the first of February of the previ- 

 ous acadeinic year. He should offer at the 

 same time evidence of his capacity as a scholar 

 and a teacher. For this purpose he should 

 present such documents as: (o) a dissertation 

 accepted towards the fulfilment of the require- 

 ments for the degree of doctor of philosophy; 

 (6) published contributions to mathematical 

 science; (c) certificates as to his ability and 

 success as a teacher; (d) personal letters 

 relating to his character and qualifications for 

 the post. 



In amplification of the above regulations it 

 may be pointed out that these newly-estab- 

 lished Benjamin Peirce Instructorships afford 

 an unusual opportunity for young men of good 

 training and ability at or near the beginning 

 of their teaching career. The appointments 

 are made on the basis of an open competition ; 

 Harvard has one of the best mathematical li- 

 braries in the country; the amount of work 

 required is very moderate (the " course " at 

 Harvard being three fifty-five-minute periods 



a week throughout the year) and includes 

 opportunity for advanced teaching. This ad- 

 vanced instruction will be on subjects selected 

 in consultation with the instructor and, so far 

 as possible, in conformity with his wishes. 

 By exception applications will be accepted in 

 1915 as late as February 15. For further in- 

 formation address Professor Maxime Bocher, 

 chairman of the division of mathematics, 

 48 Buckingham Street, Cambridge, Mass. 



COMMERCIAL GEOGEAFEY AND WOBLD 

 POLITICS 

 Dr. Arthur Dix contributes to the Geo- 

 graphische Zeitschrift for June 11 an article 

 with this title indicating a German point of 

 view prior to the outbreak of the war. As 

 summarized in the OeograpMcal Journal he 

 states that the tendency for inland commu- 

 nities to seek an outlet to the sea is becoming 

 so marked that, with rare exceptions, such 

 powers must now be regarded as in a state of 

 unstable equilibrium. Such states in the 

 general case must, in his opinion, either sub- 

 mit to be absorbed by the neighboring power 

 which blocks the road to the sea, or must 

 forcibly seize a stretch of seaboard. He gives 

 Asia as an example of a continent in which 

 independent inland states have now practically 

 ceased to exist, Africa as one in which they are 

 gradually disappearing. The Transvaal and 

 the Orange Free State are given as examples 

 of countries which, as soon as they acquired 

 extensive relations with the world market, fell 

 as booty to a neighboring power. As examples 

 of two inland states which must in the imme- 

 diate future undergo political change he gives 

 Abyssinia, which he regards as being probably 

 destined to fall into the hands of Britain, and 

 Servia, which must, he thinks, fight for her 

 free access either to the Adriatic or the Aegean. 

 Secondly, great powers which have already 

 one outlet to the sea tend to seek a double 

 access. France has of course this double 

 access already, but the founding of the triple 

 alliance, the recent history of the Russian 

 Empire, the opening of the Panama Canal, 

 some of the difficulties among the various 

 powers in Africa, the troubles in the Balkan 



