Apml 19, 1907] 



SCIENCE 



625 



suppressed, i. e., there will be emission minima 

 where there are reflection maxima (Aschki- 

 nass, Eoseuthal). But the radiation from the 

 moon can not be detected except when it is 

 illuminated by the sun. The result is that if 

 the surface is composed of silicates, then the 

 observed energy curve will be the composite 

 of the selectively emitted energy of the moon, 

 and the selectively reflected energy ox the sun. 

 The selectively reflected energy of the sun will 

 to a certain extent fill up the minima in the 

 lunar emission curve. Atmospheric absorp- 

 tion will decrease the intensity of the radia- 

 tion, so that it is almost too much to hope to 

 study the composition of the various parts of 

 the lunar surface by the identification of the 

 selective reflection bands in its energy spec- 

 trum. E. L. Faris, 



Secretary 



CLEMSON COLLEGE SCIENCE CLUB 



The regular meeting of the club was held 

 on the evening of January 18, at which time 

 Dr. r. H. H. Calhoun gave an illustrated lec- 

 ture on ' Geological Changes as Factors in 

 Life Development.' The varying relations be- 

 tween the extent of the land masses and the 

 sea was a powerful factor in the life develop- 

 ment. When land rose, restricting the habitat 

 of the life of the sea, the weaker ones were 

 compelled to adapt themselves to a different 

 environment or to perish. Again when there 

 was a sinking of the land, the faunae of the 

 continents were forced to find some avenue of 

 escape for themselves. The various problems 

 which the succession of changes caused were 

 considered in turn, but the main portion of 

 the address was devoted to the development of 

 the vertebrates, especially that of the reptilian 

 dynasty. It seemed less a coincidence that a 

 great geological change was always accom- 

 panied by a variation in the flora and faunae, 

 than that they held the relation of cause and 

 effect. S. B. Earle, 



Secretary 



THE ELISHA MITCHELL SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY OF 

 THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA 



The lYlst meeting was held in the main 

 lecture room of Chemistry Hall, Tuesday, 



March 19, 7:30 p.m., with the following pro- 

 gram: 



Professor J. E. Latta : ' New Developments in 

 Electric Traction.' 



Mr. N. C. Curtis : 'Architectural Composition.' 

 Alvin S. Wheeler, 

 Recording Secretwry 



THE ST. LOUIS CHEMICAL SOCIETY 



At the meeting of the St. Louis Chemical 

 Society, on March 11, the president. Dr. H. 

 A. Hunicke, opened the proceedings with a 

 brief but feeling encomium on the illustrious 

 chemists, lately passed away in such close 

 succession — ^Beilstein, Mendeleef, Menchutkin, 

 Eoozeboom, Moissan. The society honored 

 the memory of the great ones by rising. Mr. 

 J. J. Kessler presented a paper entitled 'The 

 Chemistry of Electrical Engineering.' Mr. 

 Carl Hambuechen then presented a paper on 

 the cognate subject ' Electro-Chemistry in the 

 Industries.' The latter paper was profusely 

 illustrated with lantern slides. 



C. J. BORGMEYER, 



Corresponding Secretary 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 

 THE FIRST REVISER AND ELIMINATION 



If the present discussion of the rules and 

 regulations governing zoological nomenclature 

 shall result in a greater degree of uniformity 

 among the workers in this field, the space that 

 has been devoted to the subject in the pages 

 of Science will not have been wasted. Few 

 things have resulted so injuriously to the best 

 interests of natural history as the lack of uni- 

 formity in regard to the names employed by 

 different writers, following the radical differ- 

 ence in their methods of procedure. 



Even at the present time, however, it ap- 

 pears that certain writers in our midst have 

 not a clear idea of the method of elimination 

 as applied to the settling of the question of 

 the true type species of the earlier genera, 

 apparently laboring under the mistaken im- 

 pression that it is distinct from, or even op- 

 posed to, the first reviser method. As a mat- 

 ter of fact, it is an integral part of this 

 method. Thus, the author who first elim- 



