426 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIII. No. 1108 



of these objects, for in this way we may widen 

 the scope and usefulness of paleontology. 



The most notable advance, so far as I am 

 aware, which has been made in this direction, 

 is the work of B. Eenault, who, in his large 

 work " Microorganismes des combustibles fos- 

 siles "^ has described and figured the bacteria, 

 fungi and other pathogenic forms in the copro- 

 lites of fishes and in the coal of the Autun 

 basin. I wish here to call attention to this 

 really epoch-making work, with the thought 

 that there might be others like myself, who 

 were not aware of the existence of this impor- 

 tant memoir. I am indebted to Mr. David 

 White for calling my attention to this work 

 and for loaning the volumes containing the 

 memoir. The work is illustrated by 20 folio 

 plates of untouched photomicrographs of bac- 

 teria, fungi, etc., and so conclusive is the evi- 

 dence found there that no one can doubt 

 Renault's conclusions. It is to the eoprolites, 

 or fossil feces, that the medical man would turn 

 for evidences of disease and our author has 

 figured and described in eoprolites from the 

 fishes of the Autun formations, many interest- 

 ing colonies of bacteria, fungus growths, cul- 

 tures of bacilli, organisms analogous to those 

 producing caries of the teeth and many other 

 important features of Mesozoic bacteriology. 

 Some photomicrographs of fossil bone, obtained 

 from the eoprolites, showing the ravages of 

 bacteria in the canaliculi, and bone corpuscles, 

 are especially interesting. 



So far as Mesozoic pathology is concerned 

 the writer will describe and figure elsewhere 

 a pathological growth involving two caudal 

 vertebrae of a sauropodous dinosaur from the 

 Como Beds of Wyoming. The original speci- 

 men belongs to the University of Kansas and 

 I am indebted to Mr. H. T. Martin for the 

 privilege of studying it. The growth looks 

 remarkably like recent bone growths due to 

 chronic osteomyelitis, or a bone tumor, or a 

 callous growth possibly due to a fracture of 

 the tail. 



1 Bulletin de la Sociite de I 'Industrie min4rale 

 Saint-Etienne, S6rie III., 1899, Tome 13, pp. 865- 

 1,161; 14 (1-2), pp. 5-159, 1900, with Atlas 

 1898-99, PI. X.-XXV.; Atlas 1900-01, PI. I.-V. 



Williston- has figured the bones of the arm 

 of a mosasaur showing pathological growth and 

 synostosis of the carpals, possibly due to some 

 infection. In the museum of the University 

 of Kansas there is a mosasaur paddle showing 

 extensive synostoses due either to disease or 

 fracture. 



It is interesting to note the possibilities open 

 to paleontologists for the study of fossil re- 

 mains. It is too early to say that a new field 

 of research is opened up which will yield impor- 

 tant results, but certainly such discoveries as 

 may be made in this field of study will be of 

 the greatest interest to those who are studying^ 

 the activity and nature of modern diseases. 

 eoy l. moodie 



University op Illinois, 

 Department of Anatomy, 

 Chicago, III. 



efficient summer vacations 

 The late Mr. Taylor, efficiency expert ex- 

 traordinary, once suggested that the pupils of 

 technical schools be required to spend at least 

 one year in commercial shop employment be- 

 fore they graduated. The opening, by Pro- 

 fessor Eiesman,^ of the question of what to do 

 with the summer vacation makes this an op- 

 portune time to suggest that the idea of com- 

 pulsory practical experience is too good a one 

 to go by default. But, three periods of three 

 months each, in different plants and in posi- 

 tions of responsibility increasing with the 

 growth of the student, seem to have many 

 superior advantages and I venture to suggest 

 the university control of its students during 

 the summer period and a cooperation between 

 educational and industrial institutions that 

 shall furnish each student with a summer's 

 work complementing that of the school year. 

 It should be as impossible as it is unneces- 

 sary for any student enrolled in a technical 

 or scientific school to waste three months each 

 summer. The graduates who go to work " in 

 the South and Mid- Atlantic region " wiU not 

 be excused by their employers from work dur- 

 ing the simomer because it is " out of the 



^Geol. Surv. Kansas, Vol. IV., Plate LVI.^. 

 rigs. 3 and 5, 1898. 



1 Science^ February 25, 1916, p. 277. 



