48 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. ToL. XXXVIII. No. 967 



istry since 1898, and acting-president since 

 1911, has been elected president of the univer- 

 sity. "William H. Whitcomb has been ad- 

 vanced from associate professor to professor 

 and head of the department. James E. Egan, 

 Ph.D. (Illinois, 1912), has been elected assist- 

 ant professor to fill the vacancy caused by the 

 resignation of Harvey C. Brill, Ph.D. (Michi- 

 gan, 1911), to enter the government service in 

 the Philippine Islands. 



Dr. Geo. T. Hargitt, instructor in zoology 

 at Northwestern University, has been ap- 

 pointed assistant professor of zoology at Syra- 

 cuse University to fill the position made va- 

 cant by the transfer of Dr. Blackman to the 

 School of Forestry. 



Mr. Maurice Picard, M.A. (Columbia, '11), 

 has been elected assistant professor of botany 

 in Middlebury College. 



At the University of Wyoming Mr. C. J. 

 Oviatt, of the Michigan Agricultural College, 

 becomes extension professor of agriculture and 

 state leader in farm management and demon- 

 stration; Mr. A. E. Bowman, of the Utah 

 Agricultural College, becomes extension pro- 

 fessor of agriculture and assistant state leader 

 in farm management and demonstration; re- 

 search chemist, S. K. Loy, becomes professor 

 of chemistry and research chemist ; engineering 

 chemist, Karl Steik, becomes assistant pro- 

 fessor of chemistry and engineering chemist. 



Mr. H. Clay Lint, of the Kansas Agricul- 

 tural College, has accepted the industrial fel- 

 lowship in plant pathology recently estab- 

 lished in Eutgers College. He will begin work 

 on July 15. 



The General Board of Studies of Cambridge 

 University have made the following appoint- 

 ments: Dr. Baker to be Cayley lecturer, and 

 Dr. F. Hi A. Marshall to be university lec- 

 turer on animal physiology, each for five 

 years; and Mr. F. J. M. Stratton, M.A., Caius, 

 to be university lecturer in astrophysics until 

 March 31, 1918. 



Professor Emil Abderhalden, professor of 

 physiolog-y in the University of Berlin, has de- 

 clined the call to Vienna as the successor of 

 Professor Ludwig. 



DISCUSSION AND COBEESFONDENCE 



THE COMPLEXITY OF THE MICROORGANIC POPULA- 

 TION OF THE SOIL 



Mr. E. J. Russell, of Eothamsted Experi- 

 ment Station, has contributed a very interest- 

 ing article in Science, under date of April 4, 

 1913. 



In his opening sentence Mr. Russell says: 



During the last few years a series of experi- 

 ments have been carried out in this laboratory by 

 Dr. Hutchinson and myself which we can only 

 interpret as showing that bacteria are not the 

 only active inhabitants of the soil. 



I write to say that I agree with this conclu- 

 sion. I also agree fully with most of his state- 

 ments of fact in paragraphs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 

 6, and also with his paragraphs 7, 8, 9 and 10 — 

 in so far as they apply to the results obtained, 

 though of course I can see no necessity of as- 

 suming that the protozoa constitute the " lim- 

 iting factor " which is extinguished through 

 partial sterilization. Mr. Russell is possibly 

 right when he says : 



It is evident that the factor limiting bacterial 

 numbers in ordinary soils is not bacterial, nor is 

 it any product of bacterial activity, nor dees it 

 arise spontaneously in soils. 



Though from their experiments, I see no 

 necessity of assuming that the protozoa bring 

 about this limitation. 



In my article entitled " Interpretations of 

 Results Noted In Experiments Upon Cereal 

 Cropping Methods After Soil Sterilization," 

 in Science, under date of February 10, 1912, I 

 called attention to the thought that it might 

 clarify matters to see what would happen in 

 the case of " actual sterilization " of the soil. 



I now call attention to the fact that in the 

 Russell-Hutchinson experiments the sort of 

 sterilization mentioned as being " partial " is 

 just as liable to be effective against a large 

 number of saprophytic fungi as it is to be ef- 

 fective against encysted amceboid types and 

 that such saprophytic or semi-saprophytic 

 fungus organisms are known to be as great 

 reducers of organic matter, at least in its pre- 

 paratory stages for bacterial activity, as some 

 of the bacteria themselves. 



If Messrs. Hutchinson and Russell are only 



