June 19, 1914] 



SCIENCE 



919 



lot was placed in. pond water without any food 

 except for such minute particles as may have 

 been suspended in the water. They were fed 

 daily some two grain Parke Davis & Co. sheep 

 thyreoid tablets. The tablets were eagerly 

 eaten by the tadpoles and except for appearing 

 rather sluggish their behavior was normal. At 

 the end of seventeen days the hind legs had 

 developed much more and the fore left leg 

 had come through and begun to joint. There 

 seemed to be a slight development of the right 

 forelimb, but it did not come through the 

 operculum. The control lot which had been 

 under the same temperature and light condi- 

 tions and furnished with plenty of fresh pond 

 water and food showed a slightly increased 

 development of the hind limbs but no signs of 

 any fore limbs. It became necessary at this 

 stage to stop the experiment and the specimens 

 were preserved in formalin. Unfortunately 

 during moving all except a half dozen of the 

 thyreoid fed lot and a few of the control were 

 lost, but these have been photographed and are 

 in good condition. I cut open the opercular 

 wall on the right side of one of the thyreoid 

 tadpoles and found a fore leg which had begun 

 to develop but was much shorter and less 

 advanced than on the left side where the limb 

 broke through of its own accord. This experi- 

 ment was too incomplete to have much signif- 

 icance, but it was interesting to note that the 

 right fore limb only completely developed in 

 every case of the thyreoid fed tadpoles and in 

 the control lot neither fore leg developed at all. 

 This experiment may be worth while by sug- 

 gesting more thorough and complete work 

 along this line. It may possibly also be sug- 

 gestive of a method for right-handed people 

 to become ambidextrous by eating sheep 

 thyreoid. 



Paul Ashley West 

 Baltimore, Md. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



THE BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



The ninety-seventh regular meeting of the Bo- 

 tanical Society of Washington was held in the 

 Assembly Hall of the Cosmos Club, at 8 p.m., 

 Tuesday, May 5, 1914. Messrs. P. V. Cardon, G. 



P. Van Esseltine and A. B. Clawson were unan- 

 imously elected to membership. 



The scientific program was as follows : 



Professor Chas. O. Appleman, ' ' The Physiol- 

 ogy of the Rest Period in the Potato Tuber" 

 (with lantern). To be published as a Maryland 

 State Experiment Station Bulletin. 



Dr. H. B. Humphrey, ' ' A Recently Discovered 

 Loose Smut of Rye" (with lantern). To be pub- 

 lished in Fhytopailiology. 



Mr. L. H. Dewey, ' ' The Ctommon Names of 

 Plant Fibers." 



Confusion in the names of textile fibers of veg- 

 etable origin causes uncertainty, financial loss and 

 injury to the trade. The name ' ' hemp ' ' and its 

 forms in other languages is the oldest name used 

 to designate a plant fiber. This name is now used 

 in many languages as a specific term to designate 

 the true hemp, Canfmbis sativa, to which in all 

 instances it was first applied, and also as a generic 

 term to designate all long fibers. This double use 

 is confusing. The name sisal is also being used 

 in a similar double sense. The following suggestions 

 are made regarding the choice of names of fibers: 

 (1) Names in most general use are to be pre- 

 ferred, providing they are not misleading. (2) 

 The same term should not be used to designate 

 fibers from different kinds of plants. (3) One 

 name should be used to designate the fiber from 

 one kind of plant, irrespective of the country 

 where the plant is cultivated, or the manner in 

 which the fiber is prepared. (4) Geographic names 

 are objectionable in general terms. (5) Names 

 that may be adopted directly in all languages are 

 desirable. (6) Single words of not more than 

 three syllables are best. P. L. Ricker, 



Corresponding Secretary 



ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



At a special meeting of the Society held March 

 3 at the National Museum, Mr. W. E. Safford 

 read a paper on ' ' The Pan-Pipes of Ancient 

 Peru. ' ' Mr. Safford became interested in the 

 musical instruments of the Peruvians during a 

 cruise along the west shore of South America in 

 1887. At Arica, near the northern boundary of 

 Chile, he found in a prehistoric grave two sets of 

 pan-pipes made of graduated reeds closely resemb- 

 ling the syrinx, or fistula, of the ancient Greeks 

 and Romans. On terra-cotta vases were depicted 

 men playing these instruments. Similar pipes made 

 of bone were also found in Peru and northern 

 Chile. Afterwards an entire orchestra composed 

 of pan-pipes was observed. These were played in 

 pairs, each performer having a mate with a com- 



