August 14, 1914] 



SCIENCE 



235 



quite so complete, direct and obvious in their 

 structural change as the Equidae. But the re- 

 sults obtained by a careful consideration of the 

 phyla of Camelidse, Rhinoeeridse, Tapiridae, 

 Canidas, etc., do not appear to me to differ 

 materially. 



It is only in a very general and tentative 

 way that we can apply these standards to the 

 Mesozoic. A .comparison of the amount of 

 evolution in vertebrates between the end of the 

 Permian and the end of the Cretaceous in 

 comparison with the maximum change from 

 the end of the Cretaceous to the present day, 

 gives in turn the impression of a distinctly 

 higher order and more fundamental quality of 

 change. My impression would be that each of 

 its four periods, Triassic, Jurassic, Comanchic, 

 Cretacic witnessed structural changes in ver- 

 tebrate phyla as extensive and profound as 

 those that took place in the Mammalian phyla 

 during the Tertiary. As to the Palsezoic, I 

 have no basis for an opinion. It should be re- 

 membered that it is the maximum rate of 

 change that is used as a measure. Many races, 

 more often many characters in a race, changed 

 slowly or not perceptibly. 



It will be obvious that, if these proportions 

 hold true, an estimate of the length of the 

 Pleistocene will afford a measure of the length 

 of the Tertiary and older periods in years. But 

 the estimates of Pleistocene time differ enor- 

 mously. The lowest estimate is perhaps by G. 

 F. Wright, who will not allow more than 25,- 

 000 years. At the other extreme stand Penek 

 and other authorities with estimates of 1,500,- 

 000 years or more. The more moderate figures 

 of 50,000 to 200,000 years generally adopted 

 seem more probable than either extreme. Ac- 

 cording to the proportions above estimated of 

 Tertiary to Pleistocene time, we should have 



Pleistocene Tertiary Mezozoio 



25,500 years (Wright) 2J million 10 million 



100,000 years (Walcott) 10 million 40 million. 



1,500,000 years (Pencil) 150 million 600 million 



If the proportions usually assigned to the 

 Paleozoic be correct, it was as long as or 

 longer than Mesozoic and Tertiary combined. 

 This would give twenty-five million years for 

 the whole of the fossiliferous record upon the 



extreme figures of Professor Wright; on Wal- 

 cott's estimate over 100 million, and on Penck's 

 over 1,500 million years. For various reasons 

 I am disposed to believe that the relative 

 length of the Paleozoic should be revised up- 

 ward, but the estimate of ten million years for 

 the Tertiary and forty for the Mesozoic does 

 not seem unreasonable. 



W. D. Matthew 

 American Museum op 

 Natural History 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 

 Among the large numbers of American 

 scientific men and university professors now 

 detained on the continent and in England, 

 probably the most serious inconvenience is 

 suffered by the surgeons who attended the re- 

 cent congress in London, some nine hundred 

 of whom are said to be unable to obtain pas- 

 sage home. The only serious difficulty so far 

 reported is the arrest and imprisonment of 

 Mr. and Mrs. Archer M. Huntington in 

 IsTuremburg, Bavaria. Mr. Huntington is 

 president of the American Geographical So- 

 ciety, and it is said was making a study of 

 aeronautical routes. 



Professor Elie Metchnikopp, assistant di- 

 rector of the Institut Pasteur, 'will next year 

 celebrate his seventieth birthday and the 

 fiftieth anniversary of his doctorate. A com- 

 mittee has been formed, under the presi- 

 dency of Dr. Eoux, director of the Institut 

 Pasteur, for the celebration of the anniver- 

 sary which will include the publication of a 

 " Festschrift." 



Mr. Marconi has had the order of the Hon- 

 orary Grand Cross of the Victorian Order con- 

 ferred upon him. 



Among those upon whom the TJniversity of 

 Aberdeen conferred honorary degrees at the 

 recent meeting of the British Medical Associa- 

 ation were Mr. W. T. Hayward, Mr. T. J. 

 Verrall, Sir Victor Horsley, Dr. Archibald 

 Garrod and Sir John Bland-Sutton. 



The first presentation of the Saville medal, 

 established by the West End Hospital of Nerv- 

 ous Diseases, London, in memory of the late 



