SCIENCE 



Friday, September 16, 1910 



CONTENTS 

 Address of the President of the British Asso- 

 ciation for the Advancement of Science: 

 Professor T. G. Bonney 353 



The Fertility of the Soil: A. D. Hall, F.R.S. 363 

 The International Esperanto Congress: J. D. 



Hailman 371 



Scientific Notes and News 373 



Vniversiti/ and Education A News 376 



Discussion and Correspondence: — 



The Teaching of Elementary Physics: Pro- 

 fessor John C. Shedd 376 



Scientific Books: — 



St opes on Ancient Plants: Dk. Edward VV. 

 Berry. Holder and Jordan's Fish Stories, 

 Eggeling and Ehrenberg on the Fresh-water 

 Aquarium ; R. C. 377 



Scientific Journals and Articles 380 



■Opinicms rendered J>y the International Com- 

 mission on Zoological Nomenclature: Dr. 

 J. A. Allen 380 



Special Articles: — 



Notes on a Little-known Species of Snake: 

 Dr. C. H. Richardson, Jr. A New Variety 

 of the Sunflower: Professor T. D. A. 

 Cockerell 383 



MSS. intended for publication and books, etc.. intended for 

 review should be serjt to the Editor of Science, Garrison-on- 

 Hudson, N, Y. 



ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE 

 BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE AD- 

 VANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. II 



Siieh, then, are the facts, which call for 

 an interpretation. More than one has been 

 proposed; but it will be well, before dis- 

 cussing them, to arrive at some idea of the 

 climate of these islands during the colder 

 part of the Glacial epoch. Unless that 

 were associated with very great changes in 

 the distribution of sea and land in northern 

 and northwestern Europe, we may assume 

 that neither the relative position of the iso- 

 therms nor the distribution of precipitation 

 would be very materially altered. A gen- 

 eral fall of temperature in the northern 

 hemisphere might so weaken the warmer 

 ocean current from the southwest that our 

 coasts might be approached by a cold one 

 from the opposite direction.^'* But though 

 these changes might diminish the difference 

 between the temperatures of London and 

 Leipzig, they would not make the former 

 colder than the latter. At the present day 

 the snow-line in the Alps on either side of 

 the Upper Rhone Valley is not far from 

 8,000 feet above sea-level, and this corre- 

 sponds with a temperature of about 30°. 

 Glaciers, however, are not generally formed 

 till about 1,000 feet higher, where the tem- 

 perature is approximately 27°. Penck and 

 Briickner place this line during the coldest 

 part of the Ice Age at about 4,000 feet.^" 



'' Facts relating to this subject will be found in 

 " Climate and Time," by J. Croll, ch. II. and III., 

 1875. Of course the air currents would also be 

 affected, and perhaps diminish precipitation as 

 the latitude increased. 



" hoc. cit., p. 580, et seq. They say the snow- 

 line, which would mean that the temperature was 

 only 12° lower than now; but as possibly this line 



