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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



mans of non-hygienic characters for 

 their type . . . renders all comparisons 

 of English and German conditions un- 

 profitable." One might suppose, on the 

 contrary, that this comparison would 

 indicate that progressive myopia is due 

 to environment rather than to heredity. 

 Cohen indeed found that of 1,000 near- 

 sighted children only 2.7 per cent, had 

 a near-sighted father or mother. 



Professor Pearson may be correct in 

 urging that " the first thing is good 

 stock, and the second thing is good 

 stock, and the third thing is - good 

 stock," but it does not appear that 

 this conclusion can be deduced from 

 what is known in regard to defective 

 eyesight. There is danger that an atti- 

 tude such as Professor Pearson's may 

 lead to neglect of those factors of the 

 environment which we can improve. 

 When he says : " Pay attention to 

 breeding, and the environmental ele- 

 ment will not upset your projects," he 

 rather neglects to emphasize the fact 

 that paying attention to breeding does 

 not under what Galton calls " the 

 existing conditions of law and senti- 

 ment " give us much chance to improve 

 the racial stock in man. We can not 

 breed a race immune to myopia, but 

 we can refrain from producing a gen- 

 eration of myopic school children. 



SCIENTIFIC ITEMS 

 We regret to record the death of 

 Dr. R. E. C. Stearns, of Los Angeles, 

 known for his work on the Mollusca; 

 of John Morse Ordway, until recently 

 professor of metallurgy at Tulane Uni- 

 versity; of Mr. Lefferts Buck, a lead- 

 ing New York engineer; of Dr. T. W. 

 Bridge, professor of zoology at Birm- 

 ingham, and of Dr. V. R. Matteucci, 

 director of the Observatory on Mt. 

 Vesuvius. 



Professor R. C. Allen, of the Uni- 

 versity of Michigan, has been ap- 

 pointed state geologist of Michigan, to 

 succeed Dr. A. C. Lane, who has be- 

 come professor of geology in Tufts 

 College. — Dr. C. Gordon Hewitt, lec- 

 turer in economic zoology in the Uni- 

 versity of Manchester, has been ap- 

 pointed entomologist to the Dominion 

 of Canada in succession to the late 

 Dr. James Fletcher. 



Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker cele- 

 brated his ninety-second birthday on 

 June 30. His scientific career began 

 seventy years ago, when he went out 

 as surgeon and naturalist with Sir 

 James Ross's" Antarctic expedition. — 

 Dr. C. Lloyd Morgan, F.R.S., known 

 for his contributions to comparative 

 psychology, has resigned the office of 

 vice-chancellor of the University of 

 Bristol. 



The French Association for the Ad- 

 vancement of Science will meet this 

 year at Lille on August 2-7, under the 

 presidency of Professor Landouzy, dean 

 of the faculty of medicine in the Uni- 

 versity of Paris. The gold medal of 

 the association, which was instituted 

 last year, is to be awarded to Professor 

 H. Poincare, who will deliver a lecture 

 during the course oi the meeting. 



The heirs of the late Herr Heinrich 

 Lanz, head of the Mannheim engineer- 

 ing firm, have given a million Marks 

 for the establishment of an academy 

 of science at Heidelberg.— M. Henry 

 Deutsch has given 500,000 francs, and 

 promises in addition an annual grant 

 of 15,000 francs, towards the creation 

 of an aerotechnical institute in the 

 University of Paris. M. Basil Zakaroff 

 has given 700,000 francs for the foun- 

 dation of a chair of aviation in the 

 faculty of sciences of the university. 



