108 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVII. No. 681 



sented by J. T. Willard. A description of a 

 fossil tusk found in Equus beds was given by 

 E. O. Dare. The nomenclature of the car- 

 boniferous, showing the most recent classi- 

 fication as adopted by the Kansas Geological 

 Survey, was discussed by E. Haworth and J. 

 Bennett. The use of a score-card for the com- 

 parison of natural waters with the use of a 

 different rating for surface waters, deep wells 

 and shallow wells was discussed by E. H. S. 

 Bailey. " Some Preliminary Studies on the 

 Moon" was the subject of a paper by F. A. 

 Marlatt. 



The retiring president, J. A. Tates, gave 

 tha presidential address on the " Value of the 

 "Work of the Scientist to Humanity." 



E. H. S. Bailey 



THE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



The 640th meeting was held on December Y, 

 1907, Vice-president Bauer in the chair. In 

 accordance with the by-laws of the society, the 

 evening was devoted to hearing the president's 

 address, which was delivered by Mr. John F. 

 Hayford, on " The Earth, a Failing Struc- 

 ture." 



The full text of this address will soon ap- 

 pear in Volume XV. of the Bulletin of the 

 Philosophical Society of Washington. 



The 37th annual meeting of the society was 

 held on December 21, 1907, and was devoted 

 to the presentation of the usual annual reports 

 and the election of officers. 



The following officers were duly elected for 

 the ensuing year: 



President — L. A. Bauer. 



Vice-Presidents — A. L. Day, E. B. Rosa, C. K. 

 Wead and C. G. Abbot. 



Treasurer — B. R. Green. 



Secretaries — G. K. Burgess, R. L. Faris. 



General Committee — C. Adler, L. J. Briggs, E. 

 Buekingham, W. A. DeCaindry, W. S. Eichel- 

 berger, E. G. Fischer, L. A. Fischer, R. A. Harris 

 and P. 6. Nutting. E. L. FaeiS, 



Secretary 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 

 THE NOBEL PRIZES 



To THE Editor of Science: Incorrect state- 

 ments about the Nobel prizes and the sup- 



posed misappropriation of certain parts of the 

 Nobel funds crop up every year as regularly as 

 the question of the awarding of the prizes. 

 These discussions began several years ago 

 both in scientific journals and in the daily 

 press, especially in America. There seems to 

 be an impression that American scientists and 

 authors are being neglected by the institutions 

 which are distributing the awards. Such an 

 opinion was expressed, for instance, on page 50, 

 Vol. XVI., of the National Geographic Maga- 

 zine. It was stated in regard to the fact that 

 up to that time (January, 1905) no American 

 had received a prize, that " the reason is not 

 lack of appreciation abroad of what we are 

 doing in this country, but the neglect of 

 A mericans to apply for the prizes." This sen- 

 tence was frequently quoted by daily papers, 

 which ruminated the same old question, using 

 in yellow-journal style the most vituperative 

 language against the Scandinavian institu- 

 tions which have to do with the awarding of 

 the prizes. But the papers referred to omitted 

 what is mentioned in the editorial note in the 

 National Geographic Magazine. It is there 

 said, " In the awarding of prizes only those 

 persons are considered who are formally nomi- 

 nated as candidates by some institution, col- 

 lege or scientific society of rank and char- 

 acter." 



The Nobel prizes are not applied for, and 

 those having the nominating power are not 

 confined chiefly to Swedes, as is claimed in an 

 article in the January, 1907, number of The 

 Popular Science Monthly (pp. 91-92). The 

 statutes concerning the distribution of prizes 

 give the right to nominate a candidate for the 

 literary prize competition to " Members of the 

 Swedish Academy and of the Academies in 

 France and Spain, which are similar to it in 

 constitution and purpose; members also of the 

 humanistic classes of other academies and of 

 those humanistic institutions and societies that 

 are on the same footing as academies; and 

 teachers of esthetics, literature and history at 

 university colleges." This certainly gives the 

 nominating power to others than Swedes, and 

 probably America has the lion's share of per- 

 sons with power to nominate candidates. The 

 Swedish Academy has eighteen members, and 



