JANUABT 13, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



65 



days we see how much is lost. These same 

 objections of course apply; but with less force, 

 to the scheme of Reininghaus, July 29. 



Professor Chamberlin's plan would cause the 

 month to be abandoned as a unit of time for 

 business, and force us to use the week or day. 



It is true that the same objections may be 

 raised to the 13-month system if we use a 

 quarter as a unit, that is, a quarter from 

 February 15 would be May 22, two quarters, 

 August 1 (assuming the extra month in the 

 middle of the year). But withal this is 

 simpler. Moreover, when we compare the 

 amount of business done by the quarter with 

 that done by the month and day we see which 

 should have the greater consideration in con- 

 structing a simple calendar. 



I feel sure that these objections could not 

 have occurred to Professor Chamberlin. 



Samuel G. Barton 

 Claekson School of Technology, 

 November 29, 1910 



INTERNATIONAL CONGRESSES 



To THE Editor of Science: At the request 

 of the Swedish geologists the International 

 Geological Congress took place this year in- 

 stead of 1909. This year was also that in 

 which the International Zoological Congress 

 naturally fell to be held. Since, for the con- 

 venience of university workers, these con- 

 gresses are usually held at the same time of 

 year, and since they, with their excursions, 

 now extend over a considerable period, espe- 

 cially in the case of the Geological Congress, 

 it was almost inevitable that the times of the 

 meetings should clash. This may not affect 

 a large number of participants, but it is 

 rather hard on paleontologists, whose interests 

 lie in both camps, and who, even with the aid 

 of the aeroplane, can not be in two places at 

 once. I should not trouble you with a com- 

 plaint about what appeared to be inevitable 

 this year, were there not signs of the same 

 difficulty recurring in perpetuity, unless a 

 protest is at once raised. As a matter of 

 fact, the committee of " Paleontologia Uni- 

 versalis," when it met at Stockholm, forwarded 

 to the council of the coungress a request that 



this interference should be avoided in future. 

 That protest seems to have been without re- 

 sult. If so, in 1913 the paleontologist will 

 again find himself summoned either by duty 

 or desire to opposite quarters of the globe. 

 P. A. Bather 



/ 



8CIENTIFI0 BOOKS 

 Monograph of the Ohapi. By Sir E. Bay 



Lankester, K.C.B., M.A., D.Sc, F.E.S., etc. 



Atlas (of 48 plates). London, printed by 



order of the Trustees of the British Museum. 



1910. 4to, pp. i-viii, plates 1-48. 



Few events of recent years have aroused the 

 interest of naturalists so much as the discov- 

 ery of the okapi. It was sufficiently surpris- 

 ing that so large and strikingly marked an 

 animal should have remained undiscovered 

 for so many years; that it should prove to be 

 related to a group now extinct increased the 

 interest in the okapi and the known facts re- 

 lating to it were promptly given in papers of 

 scientific or popular interest, and more com- 

 prehensive memoirs were planned by those for- 

 tunate enough to be in the way of securing 

 material. Among them was the present mono- 

 graph, commenced by E. Bay Lankester while 

 he was director of the British Museum and 

 which having been delayed by many causes is 

 a monograph in name only. It consists of 48 

 plates without text and it is stated in the 

 preface that it is doubtful if the accompany- 

 ing text will be issued, the need for any hav- 

 ing been lessened by the appearance of Frai- 

 pont's monograph in 1907, and de Eothschilds 

 and Neuville's paper during the present year, 

 1910. Fraipont's memoir, by the way, was be- 

 gun by Forsyth Major, whose interest seems 

 to have flagged after having had a number of 

 illustrations prepared. The plates in Lan- 

 kester's monograph comprise dorsal, lateral 

 and palatal views of various skulls, drawn on 

 a liberal scale, one third to one half natural 

 size, and these are sufficient to afford good 

 terms of comparison with other material. 

 There are also views of the entire animal in- 

 cluding one of a living calf, and plates illus- 

 trating variations in the vertebrse. As the 

 explanations of the plates are very full a 



