626 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVII. No. 694 



The meteor was following and overtook tlie 

 earth, the angle between its path and the direc- 

 tion toward the apes of the earth's motion 

 being 132°. The elements of the orbit with 

 reference to the sun are: 

 fi 273° 22' longitude of ascending node, 

 i 9° 28' inclination to the ecliptic. 



IT 150° 12' longitude of the perihelion, 

 log q 9.7937 logarithm of the perihelion distance, 

 log e 0.6329 logarithm of the eccentricity. 



Professor Peck's paper will be printed in 

 full in the Monthly Weather Beview. 



E. L. Paris, 

 Secretary 



THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



At the meeting of February 18, Miss 

 Frances Densmore read a paper entitled 

 " Music of the Chippewa," and used as" illus- 

 trations many phonographic records secured 

 by her during a season's work for the Bureau 

 of American Ethnology among the Chippewa 

 of Minnesota. Miss Densmore said that the 

 music of the Chippewa is an echo from the 

 land of the pine trees, the lakes and the little 

 hills. All their life is intertwined with 

 music; from babyhood to death the songs of 

 the people express the joys and sorrows of life, 

 the exultation of war, the solemnities of their 

 religion, the tenderness of love and the cradle 

 songs, farewells to the warrior and dirges for 

 the departed. Miss Densmore gave a cradle 

 song, the invitation to a ceremony, a plaintive 

 love song, the requiem of Chief Platmouth, 

 the song of Wain-ah-bo-zho (who wrung the 

 ducks' necks), and a series of songs of initia- 

 tion into the Grand Medicine Society, which 

 latter ceremony was described in some detail. 

 At the close of Miss Densmore's paper three 

 Chippewa Indians visiting Washington gave a 

 representation in costume of the initiation of 

 a candidate for membership in the medicine 

 lodge, and the effect of the songs accompanied 

 with the rattle and tom-tom was very striking. 

 The chief also made a speech laudatory of 

 his white friends in Washington, Rev. J. W. 

 Gilfillan interpreting. The paper was dis- 

 cussed by Miss Fletcher and Mr. Wead, and 

 Miss Densmore answered a number of in- 

 quiries. Walter Hough, 



General Secretary 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 



TOXICITY AS A FACTOR IN THE PRODUCTIVE 



CAPACITY OF SOILS 



The TJ. S. Department of Agriculture in 

 1903 promulgated, through its Bureau of 

 Soils, in Bulletin 22, the teaching (1) that 

 practically all agricultural soils contain suffi- 

 cient plant food for good crop yields and that 

 this supply will be indefinitely maintained; 

 (2) that not only is the soil moisture a 

 natural nutritive solution, but that it has sen- 

 sibly the same concentration in productive and 

 unproductive soils; (3) that this concentra- 

 tion is by natural processes constantly main- 

 tained of sufficient strength to meet the needs 

 of crops giving good yields; and (4) that the 

 good effects observed in all parts of the world 

 to follow the practise of proper rotation of 

 crops, the application of stable and green 

 manures and of mineral fertilizers, must be 

 due to some other mode of action than that of 

 supplying the crop on the ground with needed 

 additional plant food. 



During the four years since the publication 

 of these views the Bureau of Soils has de- 

 voted much of its time, energy and funds to 

 an attempt to show (1) that crops excrete 

 through their surfaces, and leave in the soils 

 or upon the field toxic substances which, when 

 tilth and climatic conditions are right, are the 

 chief cause of reduced yields and runout lands ; 

 and (2) that proper crop rotations, stable and 

 green manures and mineral fertilizers owe 

 their observed good effects on crop yields to 

 destroying or removing these toxic principles 

 rather than to contributing plant food to the 

 crops. 



In the support and promulgation of these 

 views there have now been published four other 

 bulletins from the Bureau of Soils and one 

 circular from the office of the Secretary of 

 Agriculture in reply to adverse criticisms made 

 upon them. It is the purpose here to discuss 

 broadly but concisely what basis there may be 

 for these views. 



Amount of Plant Food Carried hy Soils. 



When no distinction is made between the 

 amount of plant food proper and the amount 

 of the elements and substances from which 



