July 3, 1914] 



SCIENCE 



27 



so when the remains are not uncommon and 

 well preserved. One of the writer's students, 

 Mr. Carl Owen Dunbar, has recently dis- 

 covered a new locality for vertebrates of this 

 period. It is situated near the city of Law- 

 rence and lies at the base of the Lawrence 

 shales. The fossils occur in oblong or spher- 

 ical siliceous nodules of which nearly one 

 third contain bones and shells of value. Some 

 are filled with small masses of many kinds of 

 organic material and such are interpreted as 

 coprolites, while others contain remains of 

 fishes, Crustacea, cephalopods and wood. 

 There are no leaves and few invertebrates. 

 The interesting and remarkable fact con- 

 nected with the occurrence is the abundance of 

 well-preserved vertebrate fossils. No less than 

 eighteen partial or complete skulls have been 

 collected and such have been found on the 

 occasion of each visit. Three of the skulls 

 show well-preserved casts of the brain. In 

 addition there are many other complete bones, 

 spines and scales. 



The description of the vertebrates has been 

 entrusted to Dr. E. L. Moodie, while the in- 

 vertebrate and stratigraphic phases will be 

 elaborated by Mr. Dunbar and the writer. 



W. H. TWENHOFEL 



TJniveesitt of K>nsas 



existence of crown gall of alfalfa, caused 

 by urophlyctis alfalf.e, in the salt 

 lake valley, utah 

 On May 3 of this year, the writer found 

 several typical specimens of alfalfa crown 

 gall, caused by Urophlyctis alfalfce (v. Lagerh.) 

 P. Magnus, in the Salt Lake Valley, Utah. 

 This disease, so far as the writer has noted, 

 has been reported by Smith^ in California, 

 MeCallum^ in Arizona, and the writer^ in 

 Oregon. The presence of this disease in Utah 

 may be of considerable importance in ex- 

 plaining many difficulties which alfalfa grow- 



1 Science, N. 8., Vol. XXX., No. 763, August 

 13, 1909. 



2 Experiment Station Hecord, Vol. 23, No. 7, 

 December, 1910. 



3 Science, N. S., Vol. XXXVI., No. 928, Oc- 

 tober 11, 1912. 



ers have had in maintaining profitable stands. 

 In looking over the literature I do not note any 

 report of its occurrence in the state of Utah, 

 and, therefore, this note is published in order 

 to record the presence of the disease in an- 

 other locality. It is not yet known to what 

 extent the disease has been injurious to alfalfa 

 in the Salt Lake Valley, as its distribution has 

 not been investigated. 



P. J. O'Gara 

 Labokatoet op Plant Pathology, 

 American Smelting and Eeeining Co., 

 Salt Lake City, Utah, 

 May 14, 1914 



religious training at a university 

 The article on this subject on page 722 of 

 Science for May 15 ought not to pass without 

 a protest. The primary function of religion, 

 as most thoughtful men see it, is not worship 

 but the development of right purposes and 

 right ideals in the conduct of life — especially 

 the development of the ■ ideal of service. 

 jSTothing stands out more clearly in the teach- 

 ings of Christ than the thought that worship 

 and ritual are worse than useless unless they 

 contribute to this end. 



The statement that " a few are interested in 

 religion, but all of us in education " is, to say 

 the least, misleading. Educational men are 

 apt to be very reticent about religious matters 

 and superficial observers are liable to conclude 

 that their opinions are colorless, but a little in- 

 quiry will reveal the fact that a large propor- 

 tion of both students and faculty are mem- 

 bers of Christian churches. In the state uni- 

 versity with which I am best acquainted 45 

 per cent, of the students are members of such 

 churches and 79 per cent, register as adher- 

 ents of some church. A large majority of the 

 faculty are adherents of churches. 



It is true that the fundamental virtues have 

 been long known, as Buckle says, but many of 

 us think that it is also true that there is great 

 need of bringing these virtues forcibly to the 

 attention of men and women at frequent inter- 

 vals throughout their lives. As our civiliza- 

 tion is now constituted the agency which per- 



