690 



SCIENCE 



[N. S Vol. XLII. No. 1089 



of lead poisoning whicli occurred in 1914 

 among the rubber workers in the United 

 States. Cases were also found of naphtha 

 poisoning, and of poisoning from carbon di- 

 sulphide, carbon tetrachloride and aniline oil. 

 The dangerous nature of some of the com' 

 pounds used in the rubber industry is not as 

 yet commonly known, so that cases of indus' 

 trial poisoning may occur without being recog- 

 nized as such and ascribed to their true cause. 

 Also, in the case of some of the compounds, 

 the symptoms of poisoning may be obscure or 

 may not develop until some time after the ex- 

 posure has taken place, so that again the re- 

 sulting harm may not be ascribed to its true 

 cause. The investigation on which the bu- 

 reau's report is based covered 35 rubber fac- 

 tories, located in fifteen cities or towns in nine 

 states. Practically every branch of the rubber 

 industry was included among the activities 

 of these factories. The processes of rubber 

 manufacturing are many and various and 

 there is a great difference in the extent to 

 which men and women employed in the differ- 

 ent branches are exposed to the danger of 

 poisonous dusts and fumes. 



UNIVEBSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 

 By the will of the late A. F. Eno, his resid- 

 uary estate, which may be very large, is be- 

 queathed to Columbia University. 



The American Association of University 

 Professors will hold its annual meeting in 

 Washington, D. C, on Friday, December 31, 

 1915, and Saturday, January 1, 1916. Besides 

 routine business, the principal matters to come 

 before the association at this meeting will be 

 the final adoption of the constitution, and the 

 presentation and discussion of the general re- 

 port and declaration of principles of the Com- 

 mittee on Academic Freedom and Tenure of 

 Office. 



Professor Cornelius Betten, formerly with 

 Lake Forest College, Illinois, is now on the 

 faculty of the ISTew York State Agricultural 

 College, Cornell University. 



Herman J. Muller, a student in the depart- 

 ment of zoology of Columbia University, has 



been appointed instructor in biology at the 

 Eice Institute, Houston, Texas. 



Dr. George von Pullinger Davis has gone 

 to Salt Lake City as professor of physiology in 

 the University of Utah. 



Dr. Leo Loeb has been appointed professor 

 of comparative pathology in the medical school 

 of Washington University. 



DISCUSSION AND COSBESPONDENCE 



THE POSITION OF REFERENCES IN JOURNAL 

 ARTICLES 



To THE Editor of Science: The subject of 

 Mr. Heyward Scudder's letter in Science for 

 October 1 (p. 454) is one that has long inter- 

 ested me as author, as editor and as secretary 

 of the British Association Committee on 

 Zoological Bibliography and Publication. I 

 therefore venture a few comments on his pro- 

 posals. 



It happens that I have just had to see 

 through the press an article furnished with 

 references in the precise manner desired by 

 Mr. Scudder. The article, however, was so 

 long that it had to be spread over three 

 monthly parts of the periodical to which it was 

 sent. Thus, on the proposed plan, the reader 

 of the first two parts would have to wait one 

 or two months for the references — a course 

 that was quite inadmissible. This illustrates 

 one frequent objection to the proposals. Mr. 

 Scudder himself admits others, even when the 

 article is less lengthy. 



There are two sets of people to be con- 

 sidered: on the one hand, the editor and pub- 

 lisher ; on the other, the author and his readers. 

 Mr. Scudder's main argument is the saving to 

 the former, but the utmost saving that he 

 claims does not amount to one per cent., and 

 the average of all his actual instances shows a 

 less saving than half a page in a hundred. 

 That amounts to 31 sheets in an edition of 

 1,000 in octavo. The total pecuniary saving 

 from the paper bill and the printer's bill would 

 thus be about two dollars, which equals one 

 fifth of a cent per copy. The more important 

 journals, which begin each article on a fresh 

 page, would rarely effect any saving in paper. 



