694 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXIV. No. 622. 



serve to show is the case, then what of it from 

 the university standpoint? No one would 

 question that many government publications 

 are abundantly worthy of the honor, but con- 

 sider first the usually composite authorship 

 which makes it exceedingly difficult to at- 

 tribute to any single individual his due share 

 of the work or to stamp it in any sense as 

 research on his part; add to this the full 

 financial and legal responsibility of the partic- 

 ular government bureau for the character and 

 scope of this piece of: investigation. Con- 

 sider further the absolute lack of control on 

 the part of the university over the correctness 

 of the results reached, together with the omis- 

 sion of even its name from the text of the 

 paper, and it is hard to say wherein this pro- 

 cedure differs from granting the degree purely 

 honoris causa. After all, there are many men 

 in actual work to-day who achieve results 

 which per se would warrant granting them a 

 doctorate. The best elements in university 

 circles unite in agreeing that such a practise 

 is dangerous, subversive of the best interests 

 of graduate work and tending to break down 

 the real university which we are now striving 

 to build up in this country. This new tend- 

 ency is equally disastrous and if seen in its 

 true light is only another form of the ancient 

 error against which university men should be 

 on their guard. X. 



AN INTERMITTENT FLOWING WELL. 



Some months ago the city of Albany, 

 Georgia, in order to get rid of an objection- 

 able pond of water in the suburbs, attempted 

 to drain it off underground by boring a well 

 to a cavernous limestone, ninety or one hun- 

 dred feet below the surface, when this rather 

 singular phenomenon was discovered. Mr. 

 Charles Tift, former city engineer, and a very 

 accurate observer, gives the following descrip- 

 tion of the well: 



A low place in the city requiring drainage 

 and there being no natural outlet, it was 

 decided to bore an eight-inch well to the 

 cavernous limestone, by which method other 

 ponds in the city had been drained. This 

 special pond covered an area of about one 

 half of an acre, the water having an average 



depth of eighteen inches. The well was bored 

 at the edge of the pond, a small dam having 

 been previously made to keep back the water. 

 At the depth of ninety feet, the drill dropped 

 some six or eight feet into a cavity. The 

 drill was then withdrawn and the dam re- 

 moved. The water at once began to run very 

 rapidly into the well, not completely filling 

 the bore hole, however. In six and one half 

 minutes the well filled and the water began 

 to bubble and almost immediately thereafter 

 the entire column of water was ejected with 

 considerable violence to an estimated height 

 of about thirty feet. When the ejecting force 

 spent itself, the water again commenced to 

 flow into the well, and the same phenomenon 

 was again repeated. 



For about an hour the ejections continued, 

 but with gradually decreasing violence and at 

 longer intervals, but ceased entirely only when 

 the static head of the water in the pond be- 

 came greatly reduced. This well is said to 

 repeat its geyser-like action whenever a heavy 

 rainfall fills the pond. 



S. W. McCallie. 



Geobgia School of Technology, Atlanta. 



' the wireless telegraph and aurora.' 



Some time ago I conceived the idea that the 

 wireless telegraph might give assistance in un- 

 ravelling the mystery of the aurora. The 

 result was not exactly what I expected, and at 

 the present time seems to add more complica- 

 tion to what was already complicated. 



I have a record of observation by the wire 

 on six nights during the last year, grouped 

 in three, one and two, respectively, giving 

 what are known as ' freak distances,' during 

 spells of aurora, or the brilliant clear weather 

 associated with aurora. During these three 

 periods we received signals and read messages 

 over abnormal ranges of 700 to 1,600 miles 

 with an apparatus that ordinarily will not 

 operate over more than 250 miles. 



The apparatus could receive, but not send, 

 and directly the aurora ceased or diminished, 

 in at least four cases, the long distance mes- 

 sages also ceased to reach our wire. 



My facilities are woefully inadequate, and 

 I hope some weather service station with 



