November 18, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



721 



tion. Still another specimen of the same 

 tumor, on being measured twenty-four hours 

 after inoculation was found to have increased 

 in size fourteen fold, and after forty-eight 

 hours twenty-two fold, the changes being 

 plainly visible to the naked eye. 



It is impossible at the present time to esti- 

 mate the value of these observations. From 

 the view point of the biologist the production 

 of active manifest life — for where there is cell 

 proliferation and growth there is manifested 

 an active life process — is of infinite academic 

 interest. From the philosophical standpoint 

 a new factor is added to the great problem of 

 life and death. To the mind of the experi- 

 mental worker in medical science an en- 

 tirely new field of possibility is thrown open 

 for the study of cancer. Now that it is pos- 

 sible actually to see tumor cells grow and to 

 study directly the various factors which stim- 

 ulate or retard that growth, it is not extrava- 

 gant to say that a gigantic stride has been 

 taken toward the discovery of the cause of 

 cancer and the ultimate goal of its prevention 

 and cure. 



T. Wood Clarke 



Utica, N. Y. 



A yEW LABTRINTSODOWT FROM KANSAS 

 The National Museum has recently sent the 

 writer, through the courtesy of Mr. C. W. 

 GUmore, two specimens which represent a 

 new form of the labyrinthodont amphibia. 

 The specimens comprise a nearly perfect left 

 mandible and a portion of the left side of the 

 face of possibly the same individual. The 

 material comes from " The Coal Measures of 

 Washington County, Kansas." It was among 

 the collections of Dr. Gustav Hambach, now 

 the property of the National Museum. 



The stereospondylous amphibia have been 

 suggested in the Carboniferous of North 

 •\merica by several discoveries, notably the 

 two vertebne described by Marsh as Eosaurus 

 canadensis and the tooth from the Coal 

 Measures of Kansas referred by Williston to 

 Mastodonsaurus. This is, however, the first 

 actual discovery of any considerable laby- 

 rinthodont material from the Carboniferous 



( ? Lower Permian) and as such it is of great 

 interest. 



The anatomical characters are so similar to 

 those of Anaschisma described by Branson 

 from the Triassic of Wyoming that the species 

 is ascribed without hesitation to the Stereo- 

 spondylia. The difFerences between the forms 

 are of generic significance, although the dis- 

 tinctions are not so great as we should expect 

 in forms which are so widely separated strati- 

 graphically. No character in mandible, skull 

 or ribs is primitive. The form will be de- 

 scribed and figured soon as a new member of 

 the Labyrinthodontidse. Eoy L. Moodie 



The UNrreBsiTT or Kaksas, 

 October 24, 1910 



/„ 



SPECIAL ARTICLES 



THE SUPPOSED RECENT SUBSIDENCE OF THE 



MASSACHUSETTS AND NEW JERSEY 



COASTS 



Much evidence has been adduced in sup- 

 port of the theory that various portions of the 

 Atlantic coast have been recently undergoing 

 a gradual subsidence, and this movement is 

 believed by many to be still in progress. The 

 rate of subsidence has been calculated as one 

 foot per century for the Massachusetts coast, 

 and from one to two feet per century for the 

 New Jersey coast. Among the lines of evi- 

 dence which appear to support the theory are 

 the following : Indian shell heaps are found 

 below high-tide level; stumps of trees are 

 found in place in salt marshes, showing that 

 the trees were killed by the invasion of salt 

 water; peat formed by salt-water vegetation 

 is found overlying fresh-water peat; familiar 

 landmarks are covered by high tides to greater 

 depths than formerly; land owners along salt 

 marshes find that the marsh areas have re- 

 cently encroached upon the upland areas; the 

 tides have increased in height to such an ex- 

 tent that certain tidal mills can no longer be 

 operated as effectively as formerly; dykes 

 erected to keep the tides out of certain salt- 

 marsh meadows are themselves submerged by 

 the rise of the tides; accurate measurements 

 show that a bench-mark established at Bos- 

 ton three quarters of a century ago is now 



