Decembee 16, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



863 



tude of the pole star, and altogether nearly 

 200 altitudes by aneroid were determined, the 

 meteorological station at Beirut supplying a 

 record of the daily march of the barometer for 

 purposes of comparison, while the leveled line 

 of railway gave a reference to sea-level. The 

 map, like Dr. Musil's previous one of Arabia 

 Petrffia, has been plotted on the scale of 

 1:300,000, but it will be published on a 

 smaller scale. The results of the journey will 

 be issued by the Vienna Academy of Sciences. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 



Columbia Uxn'ERSiTY has received $100,000 

 to be ultimately used for promoting cultural 

 relations between Germany and the United 

 States, and $30,000 from Mr. E. D. Adams, to 

 buy and equip a Deutsches Haus for the uni- 

 versity. In addition to several other gifts, a 

 farm of 320 acres, valued at $15,000 has been 

 given for an experiment station in connection 

 with projected instruction in agricultural 

 engineering. 



Annouxcement is made of a gift of $100,- 

 000 to the Johns Hopkins University endow- 

 ment fund by Mr. R. Brent Keyser, chairman 

 of the board of trustees. The university must 

 raise $750,000 in order to secure $250,000 from 

 the general educational board. 



The University of Pittsburgh has received 

 from Mr. Joseph C. Trees, '93, a gift of $100,- 

 000, to be applied toward the construction of 

 a new gymnasium and athletic field. 



Mr. Frederick Weyerh.wser, of St. Paul, 

 has promised to erect a $150,000 auditorium 

 and conservatory building for Augustana Col- 

 lege at Eock Island, LI. 



The dedication of the new Science Hall at 

 Howard University, Washington, took place 

 on December 13. The principal addresses 

 were given by Dr. Henry S. Pritchett, presi- 

 dent of the Carnegie Foundation, Dr. William 

 H. Welch, of Johns Hopkins University, and 

 Dr. Booker T. Washington, principal of 

 Tuskegee Institute. 



Professor Frederic S. Lee has been ap- 

 pointed to the directorship of the department 

 of physiology of Columbia University. It is 



expected that the staff of the department will 

 be increased beyond its present membership by 

 the appointment of several additional trained 

 physiologists. 



Dr. Edward Martin, professor of clinical 

 surgery at the University of Pennsylvania, has 

 been elected to the John Ehea Barton pro- 

 fessorship of surgery to succeed Dr. J. Wil- 

 liam White. 



Dr. F. Lyman Wells, formerly assistant in 

 pathological psychology in the McLean Hos- 

 pital, has entered upon the duties of assist- 

 ant in experimental pathology in the Psy- 

 chiatric Institute of the Xew York State 

 Hospitals, and lecturer in psychology in Co- 

 lumbia University. 



Among recent appointments in botany at the 

 Michigan Agricultural College are the fol- 

 lowing: Dr. Wm. H. Brown, Ph.D. (Hopkins), 

 to be research assistant in plant physiology 

 under the Adams fund, at the Agricultural 

 Experiment Station, for three fourths of his 

 time, the remainder to be devoted to teaching 

 advanced plant physiology in the botany de- 

 partment of the college. Dr. Brown comes 

 from the Desert Laboratory, Tucson, Arizona, 

 where he has been spending some months in 

 research. Professor G. H. Coons to be re- 

 search assistant in plant pathology at the Ex- 

 periment Station, devoting one fourth of his 

 time to teaching plant pathology at the col- 

 lege. Professor Coons is now assistant pro- 

 fessor of agricultural botany at the University 

 of Nebraska. He will assume his duties at the 

 Michigan Agricultural College on January 

 first. 



M. Maurice Leriche, of Lille, has been ap- 

 pointed professor of geology at the University 

 of Brussels. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 



IS this a DYNAMIC.1L proof of the PYTHA- 

 GOREAN THEOREM? 



As indicated in the figure, — p is as- 

 sumed to be a rod without mass which can 

 revolve in the plane of the paper about as 

 center. 1 — 2 is also assumed to be another 

 rod without mass which lies in the plane of 



