October 21, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



537 



ten a brief account of ' The Spores of Cer- 

 tain Coniferse,' describing certain features of 

 tbe male gametophyte and the megaspore. — 

 G. J. Peirce has published a preliminary notice 

 of ' Artificial parasitism,' giving an account 

 of his experiments in growing a pea on a 

 plant of horse bean, the pea blossoming and 

 setting seed. — Albert C. Herre records the re- 

 markable growth of the thallus of Ramalina 

 reticulata. 



Professor Burton-Opitz, of Columbia Uni- 

 versity, has undertaken the charge of the 

 abstracts of American publications on the 

 relations of medicine and chemistry for the 

 Biochemische GentraTblatt. Authors are re- 

 quested to send him reprints. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 CLEMSON COLLEGE SCIENCE CLUB. 



The first regular meeting of the club for the 

 year was held on September 29, at 8 p. m., in 

 the lecture room of the Electrical Laboratory 

 of Clemson College. Professor W. M. Eiggs 

 discussed ' Recent Advances in Electrical 

 Engineering.' Dr. E. N. Brackett presented 

 a paper on ' The Present status of the Nitro- 

 gen Problem.' Haven Metcalf, 



Secretary. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 



VARL^ AUCTORITATIS. 



To THE Editor of Science: In looking over 

 the numbers of Science on my return from 

 my summer's work in the Rocky Mountains I 

 find in your issue for August 12 a communi- 

 cation from Dr. C. R. Eastman entitled 

 ' Varise Auctoritatis,' in which ha complains 

 of the carelessness of scientific writers in 

 citing ancient authorities, and brings me in 

 at the head of his list of offenders quoted. 



While agreeing with Professor Eastman in 

 the general principle laid down by him, his 

 remarks with reference to me seem to flavor of 

 a certain disingenuousness. 



He refers to my paper on ' The Theories of 



Ore-deposition Historically Considered,' in 



which, on page 2, I am made to say that ' It 



is said that as early as Origenes, 600 B. C, 



■ etc.,' whereas Origenes flourished about 200 



A. D. Dr. Eastman very courteously pointed 

 out this error in a personal letter to me in 

 June last, and in reply I stated that this was 

 something that had escaped my notice in 

 proof-reading, and that the sentence should 

 have read, ' Thus it is said by Origenes that 

 as early as 600 B. C, etc., etc.,' at the same 

 time referring him to my authority, Professor 

 K. von Zittel, who, on page 3 of his ' History 

 of Geology and Paleontology ' says, ' Origenes 

 reports of Xenophanes of Colophon that he 

 had observed sea shells on mountains, etc., etc' 

 With regard to his second criticism, I am 

 unwilling to admit any error in my words as 

 published. In opening my section on the 

 ' Scientiflc Period ' I remark that ' Up to this 

 time (the close of the eighteenth century) even 

 the name geology had hardly been recognized, 

 natural history or mineralogy being the title 

 usually given to works that treated of it.' 

 Later, in speaking of De Saussure's work I 

 say, 'He also appears to have been the first 

 to use the name geology for his science.' 

 Dr. Eastman says that my statement is in- 

 correct, inasmuch as Richard de Bury spoke 

 of Geologia as the ' earthly science ' in 1344. 

 That this learned prelate, or some other philo- 

 sophical writer of an even earlier date, may 

 have used the word does not disprove the cor- 

 rectness of my statement that De Saussure 

 was the first (geologist) to use this term for 

 his science. My statement does not neces- 

 sarily imply that he was the first man who 

 ever used the word, and I should have consid- 

 ered it a useless waste of time to have 

 searched all ancient literature to find out by 

 whom it was first used, for I do not feel at all 

 sure that de Bury is entitled to that credit. 



S. F. Emmons. 



THE swallowing OF STONES BY SEALS. 



To THE Editor of Science: So far as I am 

 aware no satisfactory reason has been ad- 

 vanced for the swallowing of stones by seals, 

 and this statement may probably be extended 

 to other animals. They are not taken in for 

 ballast, for the empty seals keep down as easily 

 as the others; they are not swallowed for the 

 purpose of grinding up food, for they occur in 

 the stomachs of nursing pups; they are not 



