434 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIX. No. 480. 



Personally, I desire frankly to say, that, as 

 between staying at home at such a time in 

 the cheerful society of my family and friends, 

 and going to a distant city to endure the 

 doubtful comforts of even the best hotel in 

 the town, for the purpose of discussing the 

 best method of combating the San Jose scale- 

 bug, of collecting dinosaurs, or discovering the 

 fossil fig-leaf aprons of Adam and Eve in the 

 kitchen middens of Kilat-i-ghiljie, I will elect 

 every time the former alternative, and I think 

 I represent the sentiment of a very large num- 

 ber of gentlemen, who are honored by mem- 

 bership in the American Association for the 

 Advancement of Science. We do not yield to 

 any of our brethren in our devotion to science, 

 but at the same time we have not yet come 

 to that point where we are willing to sacrifice 

 our known duty to our wives and children for 

 the somewhat vague benefits of attendance 

 upon meetings where at best we shall not 

 learn much. I am told by one of the officers 

 of the late meeting at St. Louis that very few 

 persons were present at the meeting coming 

 from a distance, except those who stood in 

 some official relationship to the body, and who, 

 therefore, felt compelled to be on hand. Those 

 who were present, besides the official member- 

 ship of the society, largely represented the 

 local constituency. The reason for this is 

 perfectly plain to my mind in view of what 

 I have already stated. If the American Asso- 

 ciation insists upon meeting in the last week 

 of the dying year the gatherings are likely to 

 reveal moribundity as the years die in suc- 

 cession. W. J. Holland. 

 CAENEGns Institute, 

 Pittsburgh, Pa., 

 February 25, 1904. 



THE RAPHIDES of CALCIUM OXALATE. 



To THE Editor of Science: In your issue 

 of July 24, 1903, I gave a description of a 

 phenomenon observed by Mr. B. J. Howard, 

 of this bureau, showing the collection of the 

 crystals of oxalate of lime in bomb-like 

 cells in certain acrid plants, such as the 

 Indian turnip. I beg to call attention to the 

 fact that Dr. H. A. Weber in the Journal of 

 the American Chemical Society, Vol. 13, No. 



7, published some interesting data regarding 

 the cause of acridity in certain plants. As 

 the conclusion of his experiments he stated: 

 ' These experiments show conclusively that the 

 acridity of the Indian turnip and calla is due 

 to the raphides of calcium oxalate only.' 

 Dr. Weber's explanation of the destruction 

 of acridity in certain cases where calcium 

 oxalate crystals are found is interesting. He 

 ascribes it to the presence of a thick mucilage, 

 or in cases where starch is present and where 

 boiling destroys the acridity he ascribes this 

 loss of acridity to the production of starch 

 paste. The mucilage and the starch paste 

 serve to restrain the activity of the crystals 

 and prevent them from entering the surface 

 of the tongue and mouth. 



Mr. Howard has found that the colocasia 

 leaf, which contains but little starch, retains 

 its acridity when boiled until the acicular 

 crystals are destroyed. The same observation 

 applies to the Indian turnip, which contains 

 a notable percentage of starch. It is probable 

 therefore in all cases that the acridity con- 

 tinues as long as the needle-like crystals are 

 intact. On recrystallization in these cases the 

 lime oxalate assumes the octahedral form and 

 the acridity is not restored. It is only in 

 case the crystals - are very fine and sharply 

 pointed that acridity is pronounced. Large 

 and more bluntly pointed crystals produce 

 little or no effect. 



Dr. Weber describes also the investigations 

 of Professor W. R. Lazenby on the occurrence 

 of crystals in plants, and states that Professor 

 Lazenby is of the opinion that the acridity of 

 the Indian turnip is due to the presence of the 

 crystals of calcium oxalate. It seems only 

 proper in this connection to call attention to 

 these earlier observations which the experi- 

 ments described in my letter of the above date 

 fully confirm. H. W. Wiley.' 



THE term ' BEADFORDIAN.' 



To THE Editor op Science: On page 24 of 

 the current volume of Science, January 1, 

 1904, Dr. G. H. Girty is reported as having 

 proposed the term Bradfordian for transition 

 beds between Devonian and Carboniferous. It 

 is not quite clear whether he intends the term 



