June 16, 1916] 



SCIENCE 



855 



former chief of the Weather Bureau that the 

 hour of observation be given at the top of the 

 map; and the suggestion was adopted; but the 

 type used is small and at best this is only a 

 makeshift. If the isotherms are to have true 

 comparative value, diurnal corrections should 

 be applied, whatever scale be used to express 

 values. 



At Blue Hill Observatory, no less than three 

 scales have been used and we are now con- 

 sidering a fourth. Beginning with 1891, the 

 Centigrade scale displaced Fahrenheit in our 

 published summaries. In 1914 the Absolute 

 scale displaced the Centigrade, the first of the 

 three figures being written once in tabular work 

 at the head of the column. The use of minus 

 signs for low temperatures, frequent in winter 

 months for surface readings, and in all months 

 with upper air readings, is thus avoided. 



The objection made, however, to the length 

 of the Centigrade division holds also for the 

 Absolute scale and therefore the writer sug- 

 gested^ a scale based on the Absolute system 

 but with the present 273° marked 1,000°. 



For many reasons the freezing point is im- 

 portant. The new scale emphasizes this point. 

 The boiling point is not so definitely marked 

 but the whole system has the advantage of 

 flexibility and consistency. For thermo- 

 dynamic problems it is an ideal arrangement. 

 Alexaistdee McAdie 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 



American Civilization and the Negro. By 0. 

 V. EoMAN, A.M., M.D., LL.D., Editor of the 

 Journal of the JSTational Medical Associa- 

 tion, etc. Philadelphia, F. A. Davis Co., 

 1916. 



This book is obviously prepared and pub- 

 lished as an antidote for Shuf eldt's book on the 

 negro, issued last year by the same firm.^ As 

 such, it is a complete and amusing success. 

 The word " amusing " is used advisedly, for 

 Dr. Eoman has by imitation without comment 

 emphasized many of the weaknesses and de- 

 fects of Dr. Shufeldt's book. Moreover like 

 1 Physical Eeview, N. S., Vol. VI., No. 6, Dec, 

 1915. 

 1 See Science, N. S., Vol. 42, p. 768. 



most of his face. Dr. Eoman has a keen sense 

 of hiunor and real skill in the use of witty 

 phrases, so that many of his aphorisms are 

 exceedingly clever. From the title-page, with 

 its long list of degrees, honors and positions, 

 following the author's name, to the very full 

 glossary at the end of the book, Eoman has 

 taken his cue from Shufeldt, with such good- 

 natured appreciation of the Caucasian author's 

 failings that any one who has read both books 

 can not help but be amused. In no respect is 

 this done better than in the matter of illus- 

 trations. In neither volume is there any par- 

 ticular connection between text and plates, but 

 whereas Shufeldt's figures are deliberately 

 chosen to exaggerate the animal nature of the 

 negro and make him repulsive to the reader, 

 Eoman's illustrations are selected to exaggerate 

 his intellectual and spiritual achievements and 

 make him most attractive. 



Neither voliune is in any real sense a scien- 

 tific book, but whereas Shufeldt's pretends to 

 be, Eoman's makes no such claim. The latter 

 author says truly in his Preface : " This book 

 is written without bitterness and without 

 bias " and in the hope that it " may increase 

 racial self-respect and diminish racial antag- 

 onism." The good nature and seK-control of 

 the author are notable and his evident famil- 

 iarity with the literature of the subject is 

 equally so. There are very few references to 

 Shufeldt, Bean or other negrophobists, but 

 many quotations from Boaz, Murphy and 

 Cable, real and sympathetic students of the 

 race problem. The chief contention of the 

 author is that there is no superior race, but 

 that there are superior individuals, and that 

 the effort of all races should be to increase the 

 number of these superior individuals of what- 

 ever race, while weeding out the inferior. He 

 admits frankly that at the present time, the 

 whites average higher than the negroes but he 

 very properly claims that there is far less 

 difference between the best whites and the best 

 negroes than there is between the better and 

 worse elements of either race. His chief protest 

 is against the utterly unfair and unscientific 

 method of treating all colored people alike be- 

 cause they are colored, and he emphasizes the 



