SCIENCE 



Friday, June 16, 1916 



CONTENTS 

 The American Chemist and the War's Prob- 

 lems : Pkopessob James R. Withrow 835 



Death Bates and Expectation of Life 843 



The Iroquois Indian Groups of the New YorTo 

 State Museum 844 



Scientific Notes and News S46 



University and Educational News 850 



Discussion and Correspondence : — 



Public Health Work and Medical Practise: 

 Pkopessor C. R. Bardben. Nomenclatorial 

 Consistency: A. N. Catjdell. The Current 

 ' ' Definitions ' ' of Energy : Professor H. M. 

 Dadourian. Units of Force: Paul Cloke. 

 Thermometer Scales: Professor Alexander 

 McAdie 850 



ScientifiG BooTcs : — 

 Soman on American Civilization and the Ne- 

 gro: Dr. Hubert Lyman Clark. Popple- 

 well on the Elements of Surveying and 

 Geodesy: William Bowie. Diabetes Mel- 

 litus : Professor Graham Lusk 855 



Special Articles: — 

 Permeability and Viscosity: Professor W. 

 J. V. OsTERHOUT. Pollen Sterility in Re- 

 lation to Crossing: Drs. R. R. Gates and 

 T. H. GoODSPEED 857 



Anthropology at the Washington Meeting: 

 Pbofessob George Grant MacCurdt 861 



MSS. intended for publication and books, etc.. intended for 

 review should be sent to Professor J. MoKeen Cattell, Qarrison- 

 On-Hudson. N. Y. 



THE AMERICAN CHEMIST AND THE 

 WAR'S PROBLEMS 1 



A VOLUME could be written upon this 

 subject if one possessed the power to as- 

 semble the material. The new problems 

 which have arisen ; the old ones which have 

 become acute because of changed condi- 

 tions ; the splendid way in which the prob- 

 lems have been met where they were a 

 matter of invention or skill ; the new meth- 

 ods and processes which have sprung up 

 as though born fullgrown; the many old 

 ones which have been improved, altered and 

 utilized in new connections; the way in 

 which the chemists of the country have 

 risen to emergencies which have compelled 

 them to manufacture products in whose 

 manufacture they had had no prior experi- 

 ence, would easily fill entire chapters in 

 such a volume. Even so, no earthly prog- 

 ress, achievement or consideration can lift 

 the pall which settles over us when we per- 

 mit our minds to dwell upon the spectacle 

 of this war. And whose mind can be di- 

 verted from it for any length of time 1 He 

 must indeed exist far below the kindling- 

 point who does not resent and despise with 

 all his soul the philosophy and ideals which 

 made it possible. It would be out of place 

 therefore to consider our subject from the 

 point of view of achievement, or felicita- 

 tion, on any alleged good which has come 

 to the science of chemistry because of the 

 war. Surely no one would want progress 

 at such a cost to his fellow man. We ap- 

 proach the subject rather in a spirit of 

 thankfulness that we have been enabled to 



1 Address before Section C, American Associa- 

 tion for the Advancement of Science, Columbus 

 meeting, December 30, 1915. 



