August 7, 1914] 



SCIENCE 



207 



marked gains almost without exception. Thus 

 1913 was the banner year for cement, which 

 gains more than 11 per cent, over 1912, and 

 record outputs are also shown for lime, build- 

 ing sand and gravel, sand-lime brick and glass 

 sand. Other mineral products for which 1913 

 was a record-breaking year, are bauxite and 

 aluminum, sulphuric acid, feldspar, mica, 

 pottery, and talc and soapstone, while sub- 

 stantial increases are reported for gypsum, 

 phosphate rock, abrasives, barytes, slate and 

 salt. These production figures all express well- 

 maintained activity in mines, smelter, furn- 

 ace and mill, and prove that the American 

 people are utilizing more of the nation's great 

 natural resources than ever before. A few 

 weeks later when figures are at hand for all of 

 the mineral products, it is expected that 1913 

 will be found to have overtopped both 1912 

 and 1907 which have hitherto held the record. 



UNIVEBSITT AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 

 Mr. Asa G. Chandler has given $1,000,000 

 and citizens of Atlanta have guaranteed $500,- 

 000 for the establishment of an Atlanta Uni- 

 versity, under the auspices of the Methodist 

 Church. It is said that a theological school 

 will be the first to be opened. 



BowDOiN College has received a gift of $15,- 

 000 from the estate of Dr. Frank Hartley, of 

 New York, to establish a scholarship fund as a 

 memorial to the testator's father, John Fair- 

 field Hartley, of the class of 1829. 



The following changes take effect in the bo- 

 tanical department of the Michigan Agricul- 

 tural College, September 1: Mr. E. F. Wood- 

 cock, of the botanical department of West 

 Virginia University, has been appointed in- 

 structor in botany to succeed Dr. R. F. Allen, 

 who has recently accepted a similar position at 

 Wellesley. Professor H. T. Darlington, of 

 Washington State College, has been appointed 

 assistant professor of botany and will have 

 especial charge of the botanical garden and 

 herbarium. An industrial fellowship in cu- 

 cumber diseases has been established by the H. 

 J. Heinz Pickle Company, and is filled by Mr. 



S. P. Doolittle, who graduated from the insti- 

 tution this year. 



In the law department of Tulane University 

 of Louisiana, Mr. C. P. Fenner, professor of 

 Louisiana practise and acting professor of civil 

 law, has been appointed dean of the department 

 to succeed Mr. D. O. McGovney, who has been 

 called to the University of Missouri. 



Dr. Nathan Fasten, Ph.D. (Wisconsin), 

 has been appointed instructor in zoology at the 

 University of Washington, Seattle. 



Mr. Frederick Soddy, lecturer in physical 

 chemistry in the University of Glasgow, has 

 been appointed to the chair of chemistry at the 

 University of Aberdeen, in succession to Pro- 

 fessor F. E. Japp. 



Professor J. S. Macdonald, professor of 

 physiology in the University of Sheffield since 

 1903, has been appointed Holt professor of 

 physiology in the University of Liverpool, in 

 succession to Professor 0. S. Sherrington. 



Mr. G. N. Watson, M.A., fellow of Trinity 

 College, Cambridge, has been appointed a 

 member of the staff of the department of pure 

 mathematics at University College, London, 

 for the next year to fill the vacancy created by 

 the resignation of Dr. A. N. Whitehead. 



Mr. T. B. Johnston, M.B., lecturer on anat- 

 omy in the University of Edinburgh, has been 

 appointed to the newly-created office of lecturer 

 and demonstrator in anatomy at University 

 College, London. 



DISCUSSION AND COBBESPONDENCE 



THE problem op GRAVITY 



To THE Editor of Science : Some recent pub- 

 lic utterances from sources that command at- 

 tention and respect in the scientific world as 

 well as among the general public illustrate 

 rather forcibly the crude and confused state of 

 thought on this subject that continues to pre- 

 vail up to the present day. These also suggest 

 that the ordinary and obscure thinker need 

 not be deterred from attempting a contribu- 

 tion that may possibly be helpful by the feel- 

 ing of greatly superior attainments in this 



