302 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VIII. No. 192. 



Wooten has been appointed professor of botany, 

 and T. D. A. Cockerell lias been appointed 

 professor of entomology in addition to being 

 Station Entomologist. 



Robert B. Owens, for the past seven years 

 professor of electrical engineering in the Uni- 

 versity of Nebraska, has resigned in order to 

 accept a similar position in McGill University, 

 Montreal. His successor has not yet been ap- 

 pointed. 



T. Proctor Hall has been appointed pro- 

 fessor of physics in Kansas City University. 



Dr. Blochman, professor of zoology in the 

 University of Rostock, has been called to Tii- 

 bingen as successor to the late Professor Eimer; 

 Dr. Fritsch has been appointed Director of the 

 Botanical Museum of the University of Vienna; 

 Dr. D. K. Morris, lecturer in technical electricity 

 in the Mason University College, Birmingham ; 

 Dr. D. Frazer Harris, lecturer in physiology in 

 the University of St. Andrew's. Dr. Kerschner, 

 of the University at Innsbruck, has been pro- 

 moted to a full professorship of histology ; 

 Dr. Reitzenstein, of the University of Miihl- 

 hausen, has qualified as docent in chemistry in 

 the University at Wiirzburg ; Dr. Kolkwitz, 

 in botany in the University of Berlin ; Dr. 

 Klingenberg, in mechanical engineering, in the 

 Polytechnic Institute of Berlin ; Dr. Schroter, 

 in botany, in the University at Bonn, and Dr. 

 Rothmund, in physical chemistry, in the Uni- 

 versity of Munich. 



pecial interest in bridging over a large gap in the 

 distribution of so cosmopolitan a form. Doubt- 

 less it has also been introduced there, where so 

 much of the vegetation is of foreign origin.* 



The writerf has recorded the occurrence of 

 this species in the United States at Cambridge, 

 Mass, and has since received specimens from 

 Baltimore, Md.; Pittsburg and Allegheny, Pa., 

 and Springfield, Ohio, in every case from green- 

 houses. Outside of the tropics the form has 

 been taken only in plant houses. The writer 

 would be grateful for any specimens or informa- 

 tion from the Pacific Coast. 



W. MCM. "WOODWORTH. 



Museum of Comparative Zoology, 

 Cambridge, Mass., August 15, 1898. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 



ON THE OCCURRENCE OF PLACOCEPHALUS (BIPA- 



lium) kewense in the sandwich islands- 

 Two specimens of land-planarians from the 

 Sandwich Islands were sent to the writer from 

 the National Museum for identification which 

 proved to be the interesting Placocephalus (Bi- 

 palium) Kewense. They were taken by Dr. 

 Steiniger in November, 1896, on the island of 

 Oahu, at the top of the Pali, near Honolulu. 

 The specimens were small ones, and in the 

 living condition could not have exceeded 150 

 mm. in length. If we except New Zealand, 

 this form has been known in the Pacific only 

 from Upolu, one of the Samoan Islands, and its 

 occurrence in the Sandwich Islands is of es- 



SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 

 La Theorie Platonicienne des sciences. Par Elie 



Hal^VY. Paris, Felix Alcan. 



It is to be feared that Mr. Halevy and his 

 reviewer have gained admission to the pages 

 of Science under cover of an equivoque. The 

 word ' sciences ' in Mr. Halevy's title has per- 

 haps a somewhat broader meaning than that 

 it bears in ordinary English usage. It is rather 

 'knowledge' than 'science.' Mr. Halevy's 

 book is not an account of Plato's supposed 

 contributions to mathematics and astronomy, 

 or a discussion of his casual utterances concern- 

 ing the inchoate physical sciences of the fourth 

 century B. C. It deals rather with epistemol- 

 ogy than with physical science. Its main thesis 

 is that the Platonic philosophy is the result 

 of a dialectical analysis of the epistemological 

 conditions of the sciences — of the ' knowledges,' 

 of the certainty of human knowledge. The 

 arts and sciences exist. What are the logical 

 presuppositions of their existence and of our 

 sense of certainty regarding them ? Whatever 

 philosophy of ideas is involved in the very ex- 

 istence of a body of arts and sciences must be 

 a true philosophy. In constructing such a 

 philosophy out of Plato's dramatic dialogues 

 Mr. Halevy displays great ingenuity and power 

 of consecutive logical thought. He over-refines, 



* For the distribution of this interesting form see 

 Colin, A. Sitzungsb. Gesell. nature f. Freunde, Berlin, 

 Jahrg., 1892, No. 9, p. 164. 



-f American Naturalist, Vol. XXX., p. 1046, 1896. 



