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of local developments in shaping customs and beliefs and giving them their distinctive characteristics. What I object to on the part of ethnologists is not the use of psychological arguments, which are necessarily at the root of the whole matter, but the resort to an effete system of psychology which is utterly repudiated by practically all real psychologists, except Wundt and his disciples.

When a small band of immigrants, intent upon exploiting the mineral wealth, forces its way into a barbarous country, and, in virtue of its superiority of weapons or of skill and knowledge, is able to dominate the local people, and compel it to work for them, the stamp of the alien civilization, its practises, its customs and beliefs, can be imprinted upon a large servile population. Nor must it be assumed that the new learning is adopted wholly and without change. For every people has its own cherished beliefs and customs which no power can wholly eradicate. What happens in such cases is that the new practises are blended with the old; and in course of time, as the mixture becomes more and more intimately rationalized, a new and distinctive cultural compound is developed, which can not strictly be regarded either as the indigenous or the introduced culture, but a new structure which has been built up by the spirit of the local population out of the new and the old materials. Thus even when the same elements of a new culture are introduced into a series of localities the resultant civilizations are not identical; but each takes on its distinctive characters, which are determined partly by the circumstances under which the new leaven has been impressed, and partly by the nature of the preexisting culture, and possibly to some extent by the character and abilities of the people of the country. For a people's aptitude and inclination to adopt alien practises clearly counts for a good deal in this process. Essentially the same external influences were brought to bear, in varying ways and in different degrees, upon India, Indonesia, Australia, eastern Asia, Oceania and America; but how strikingly different were the results in each of these domains!

The subject, however, is much too vast and intricate profitably to be discussed in a letter. I have already collected enough material for several large volumes on the part played by the working of the human mind" in the history of civilization. All that I aim at achieving at present is to persuade ethnologists to do what is constantly being done in every true science, namely, impartially to examine the foundations upon which its theory rests. If they will consent to do this I have no doubt as to the outcome.8 G. ELLIOT SMITH

THE UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTer, Eng.

THE AMERICAN PHYSIOLOGICAL

SOCIETY

THE American Physiological Society held its 29th annual meeting in association with the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology and the American Association for the Advancement of Science in New York City December 27, 28, 29 and 30. The meetings were all held at the Cornell Medical College buildings where convenient arrangements had been provided also for the other societies of the federation. One of the most pleasant features of the meeting was the arrangement for luncheon, which brought together the members of the different societies.

On December 28 the annual federation banquet was held at the Hotel McAlpin with a large attendance. A similar dinner was held at the Chemist Club December 29.

The new members elected to the society were: William T. Bovie, Harvard Medical School, Boston.

William John Crozier, Bermuda Biological Station
for Research, Agars Island, Bermuda.
Admont H. Clark, Johns Hopkins Medical School.
Frank A. Hartman, University of Toronto.
S. H. Hurwitz, Hooper Foundation, San Francisco.
R. W. Keeton, Northwestern University.
Edward C. Kendall, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn.
Charles E. King, University of North Dakota.
Dean de Witt Lewis, Rush Medical College.
David I. Macht, Johns Hopkins Medical School.
Frank C. Mann, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn.
Victor C. Myers, New York Post-graduate Hospital
Medical School.

Oscar H. Plant, University of Pennsylvania.

8 I think it is only right that your readers should be informed that my article in SCIENCE, August 11, 1916, was written in May, 1915, and that by a careless mistake, the uncorrected stenographer's copy was sent to you.

W. C. Quinby, Harvard Medical School.
J. M. Rogoff, Western Reserve Medical School.
C. L. Von Hess, University of Chicago.
Rosaline Wulzen, University of California.

The program of scientific papers and demonstrations was as follows:

IN MEMORIAM

Isaac Ott, A.M., M.D., by Albert P. Brubaker. Joseph Hoeing Kastle, Ph.D., by A. S. Loevenhart.

Allen M. Cleghorn, M.D., C.M., by Shepherd Ivory Franz.

Thomas Gregor Brodie, M.D., F.R.S., by A. B. Macallum.

"The Fate of Intravenously Injected Dextrose,'' by J. J. R. Macleod.

"The Diastatic Activity of the Blood in Diabetics," by V. C. Myers and J. A. Killian (by invitation).

"Observations Concerning Fat Feeding," by F. M. Allen (by invitation).

"The Cause of the Increased Heat Production following Pancreatectomy in the Dog," by J. R. Murlin.

"The Use of Cotton Seed as a Food," by Thomas B. Osborne and Lafayette B. Mendel.

"Primary Scrotal Syphilis of the Rabbit and its Utilization in Chemotherapeutic Experiments," by W. H. Brown and L. Pearce (with lantern demonstration).

"The Action of Some Optic Isomers on the Ureter," by D. I. Macht.

"The Influence of Certain Conditions on the Rate at which Epinephrin is Liberated from the Adrenals into the Blood," by G. N. Stewart and J. M. Rogoff (by invitation).

"The Blood Lipoids in Nephritis," by W. R. Bloor.

"Concerning the Lipoids of the Blood in Renal Conditions, with Special Reference to the Cholesterol Content," by Albert A. Epstein and Marcus A. Rothchild (by invitation).

"Observations of Acid Base Equilibrium in the Blood," by John Howland and W. McKim Marriott.

"The Inorganic Composition of Thoracic Duct Lymph," by A. B. Macallum. (Read by title.)

"The Movements of the Artery within the Compression Chamber During Indirect Estimations of the Blood Pressure," by Joseph Erlanger.

"The Time Relations of the Fundamental Heart Sounds," by Carl J. Wiggers and A. Dean, Jr. (by invitation).

"The Veno-pressor Mechanism," by Yandell Henderson.

"Further Observations on the Distribution of Blood in Shock," by H. C. Jackson and H. H. Janeway (by invitation). (Read by title.)

"The Effect of Pneumothorax in the Dog and Cat," by H. C. Jackson and C. J. Imperatori (by invitation).

"A Comparison of the Effects of Food and of Caffeine on Work in the Athlete and an Untrained Subject," by C. B. Root (by invitation) and H. Curl (by invitation). (Read by title.)

"Effects of Physical Training on Pulse and Blood Pressures During Activity and During Rest," by Percy M. Dawson.

"Some Electrical Phenomena of Animal Tissues," by Robert A. Gesell.

"Experiments on the Relation of Blood Pressure to Urine Formation," by A. N. Richards and O. H. Plant (by invitation).

"The Fate of Sulphophenolphthalein when Injected into the Animal Organism: Factors other than the Kidney Influencing its Retention," by E. C. Kendall (by invitation).

"Action of the Diuretics on the Denervated Kidney," by Wm. C. Quinby (by invitation).

"On the Movements of the Isolated Ureter of the Dog," by George B. Roth.

"The Stimulating Action of the Bromide Ion on Smooth Muscle," by T. K. Kruse (by invitation). "The Physiology of the Chromatophores of Fishes-II. Responses to Alkaline Earths and to Certain Neutral Combinations of Electrolytes," by R. A. Spaeth.

"The Absorption of Fat in Depancreatized Dogs," by Joseph H. Pratt, C. W. McClure (by invitation) and Beth Vincent (by invitation).

"On the Toxemia of Intestinal Obstruction," by L. R. Dragstedt (by invitation), W. Burby (by invitation) and A. J. Carlson.

"The Visible Structure of Cell Protoplasm, and Death Changes," by Robert Chambers, Jr. (by invitation).

"The Effect of a-Amino Acids, Dipeptids and Peptones on the Growth of Cells in Vitro," by Clarence A. Neyman (by invitation) and Montrose E. Burrows (by invitation);

"Muscular Irritability, by C. C. Guthrie. "Studies in Muscular Power and Fatigue,'' by A. H. Ryan and J. H. Agnew (by invitation).

"A Comparison of the Amount of Catalase in the Muscles of Active and Inactive Animals," by W. E. Burge. (Read by title.)

"A Study of the Total and Preformed Creatinin in Various Muscles of the Cat," by Ernest L. Scott and Adelaide Spohn (by invitation).

"The Cardio-skeletal Quotient," by W. L. Mendenhall.

"Hunger and Appetite in Fever," by A. J. Carlson, J. Mayer (by invitation) and J. R. Rupp (by invitation).

The Influence of Temperature on the Gastric Hunger Contractions of Some of the Lower Animals," by T. L. Patterson.

"The Mechanism of the Regulation of the Intraabdominal Pressure,'' by Helen C. Coombs (by invitation).

"Preliminary Report of Cardiogram and Blood Pressure Records, showing the Effect of Music,' by Ida Henrietta Hyde. (Read by title.)

"Further Observations on the Existence of a Cerebral Heat Center," by Ernest Sachs and P. P. Green (by invitation).

"An Application of Boyle's Law and Avogadro's Hypothesis to the Oscillations of the Mercury Manometer, by Albert M. Bleile (by invitation).

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"The Action of an Oxidizing Substance on the Catalase Value of the Blood," by Aaron Arkin.

"The Hydrolytic Products of Chitin," by S. Morgulis. (Read by title.)

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"Water Vaporization in Health and Disease, by Eugene F. Du Bois and G. F. Soderstrom (by invitation).

"Some Considerations of the Isolated Bone

Marrow," by Cecil K. Drinker, Henry A. Kreutzman (by invitation), and John R. Paul (by invitation).

"Some Physiological Disturbances Induced in Animals by Nitrobenzol Fumigation," by Melvin Dresbach and W. L. Chandler (by invitation).

"Physiological Effects of Ingestion of Ethyl Alcohol by Rectum, with Special Reference to the Gaseous Exchange," by T. M. Carpenter.

"On the Reflex Control of the Vagus Tonus," by F. T. Rogers (by invitation).

"An Instance of Apparent Anesthesia of a Solution," by E. N. Harvey.

"Labyrinthine Reactions in Kittens, with Demonstration, by A. L. Prince.

"Minimal Variations in Spinal Reflex Thresholds," by Eugene L. Porter.

"Possible Periodic Variations in the Knee Jerk in Women," by Jessie L. King.

"The Combination of Thrombin by the Antithrombin of the Blood Serum,' " by H. S. Gasser. "The Transformation of the Plasma Clot," by George A. Baitsell. (Read by title.)

"Inhibitory Effects of Adrenalin upon the Sphincter of the Iris," by Don R. Joseph.

"Changes in the Percentage Composition of Muscle Protoplasm during Prolonged Fasting with Work," by C. W. Greene.

"Some Observations on the Conditions of Activity in the Adrenal Glands," by W. B. Cannon and H. F. Pierce (by invitation).

"Further Studies on the Effects of Adrenalin on Muscular Fatigue and Limb Circulation, Chas. M. Gruber.

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"Anti-Neuritic Substances from Egg Yolk," by H. Steenbock.

"Endermic Reactions," by J. D. Pilcher and T. Sollman.

"The Active Constituent of the Thyroid; Its Isolation, Chemical Properties, and Physiological Activity," by E. C. Kendall (with lantern demonstration).

"On the Mechanism of Blood Coagulation," by G. H. A. Clowes.

"The Perfusion of the Mammalian Medulla: The Effect of Carbon Dioxide and other Substances on the Respiratory and Cardiovascular Centers,' by D. R. Hooker and D. W. Wilson.

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'Recovery Experiments Following Removal of the His Auricular Node in the Dog's Heart," by J. A. E. Eyster and W. J. Meek.

"The Effects of Temperature Change on Rhythm in the Human Electromyogram," by Alexander Forbes and W. C. Rapleye (by invitation).

"The So-called Experimental Streptococcic Poliomyelitis," by C. G. Bull (by invitation) (with lantern demonstration).

"Experimental Studies in Poliomyelitis," by E. C. Rosenow and G. W. Wheeler (by invitation). "Experimental Poliomyelitis in the Monkey," by E. C. Rosenow and E. B. Towne (by invitation). "The Relation of the Velocity of the Pulse Wave to Blood Pressure,'' by Percy M. Dawson. (Read by title.)

"Does the Myelin Sheath Function as an Insulator Broken only at the Nodes of Ranvier?" by J. F. McClendon. (Read by title.)

"The Oxygen Pressure Necessary for Cellular Activity," by Montrose T. Burrows (by invitation). (Read by title.)

"The Cause of Cataract," by W. E. Burge. (Read by title.)

"The Attenuation of the Toxic Action of KSCN

by Elevated Temperature, " by R. A. Spaeth. (Read by title.)

"A Signal Magnet which Writes Either Upwards or Downwards,'' by W. Hale.

"Some New Apparatus," by D. E. Jackson. "An Improved Lever for Frog's Heart and Muscle Strips," by A. H. Ryan.

"The Inhibitory Effect of Stimulation of the Central End of the Vagus Nerve upon the Contractions of an Active Expiratory Muscle in the Chicken," by A. L. Meyer (by invitation).

"Demonstration of a Gas-Analysis Apparatus,' by Yandell Henderson.

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"The Motion Picture as an Aid in Teaching Physiology," by J. A. E. Eyster and W. J. Meek. "Pathescope Films used to Illustrate Physiological Demonstrations to Students," by Alexander Forbes.

"Motor Phenomena of the Stomach and Cap as Observed Roentgenographically," by Gregory Cole (by invitation).

"Photographs Representing the Growth of Chickens Fed with Definite Mixtures of Foodstuffs under Laboratory Conditions which have heretofore not Led to Success," by Thomas B. Osborne and Lafayette B. Mendel.

"A Convenient Form of Non-Polarizable Electrode for Class Use," by Theodore Hough.

"Microscopic Demonstration of Absence of Chromatolytic Change in the Central Nervous System of the Woodchuck (Marmota monax)," by A. T. Rasmussen (by invitation) and J. A. Myers (by invitation).

"Glycogen in the Blood Vessels of the Liver,'' by G. Carl Huber and J. J. R. Macleod.

"A Method of Recording Fundamental Heart Sounds Directly from the Heart," by Carl J. Wiggers and A. Dean, Jr. (by invitation).

"Exhibit of Photographically Recording Apparatus for Studying the Dynamics of the Circulation," by Carl J. Wiggers.

The final joint meeting of Saturday afternoon proved to be of unusual interest, especially as regards a group of papers on the subject of poliomyelitis, or infantile paralysis. This discussion brought out the largest attendance of the entire scientific series of meetings.

The annual session adjourned with very kindly feelings of the membership for the local committee and the staff of the Cornell Medical College for the convenient and genial arrangements providing for the physical comforts of the session. CHAS. W. GREENE, Secretary

COLUMBIA, Mo.

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Scientific Notes and News

254

256

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University and Educational News

Discussion and Correspondence:

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THE STATE GEOLOGIST AND

CONSERVATION 1

By conservation now-a-days is meant the best use of our natural resources, without waste. Probably the responsibility of conservation rests more upon the state geologist than any other state official, because he is the one, more than any other, whose duty it is to study and inform the public upon the occurrence, quality, quantity and uses of the natural resources of the state he serves.

INEXHAUSTIBLE RESOURCES

Natural resources may be divided into two kinds: Those that are inexhaustible and those that are exhaustible. Of the former are such as sand, clay, road materials, building stone and water power. But while these and others are inexhaustible in quantity, they do not occur universally, so may become, and in most places do become, products upon which it is vitally important that the public be informed.

Here it might be well to call attention to the fact that geologists somewhat, and the public to a large extent, lose sight of the common things, in their anxiety to discover and develop the rare ones. Often a bed of shale for brick making, sand for building, gravel for concrete, or limestone for cement, fertilizer, or other purposes, is of more local importance than a bed of coal, iron ore, or some other of the less common products. A bluff of stone may stand unused for years, before some one will see its value, perhaps for railroad ballast or con

1 Read before the American Mining Congress, Chicago, November 16, 1916.

crete work, and not only realize from it a fortune himself, but supply a needed commodity to industry. In studying these inexhaustible materials, as well as the exhaustible ones, the state geologist must consider their quantity and quality, and the possible uses to which they can be put.

This involves such things as the conditions of supply and demand; mining or quarrying; transportation facilities for getting out the raw material, and those of converting it into the manufactured product; and such other things as bear upon its profitable utilization. The state geologist must carefully determine whether on the whole these conditions are favorable or unfavorable, for his conclusion may decide whether or not a deposit that can be worked with profit will be used at once or left unused for many years to come. It is sometimes tempting for the geologist, whether acting as an official for the public or an expert for a company, in those cases where he is doubtful as to the value of a deposit, to take the easiest way out and report unfavorably. May it not be that good property is often thus condemned? Should we not, when placed where we must pass judgment upon deposits of doubtful value, intensify our investigations to the limit of time and means and make sure of our ground, if possible? If the value can not be determined with certainty, then the favorable and unfavorable features should be fully presented.

EXHAUSTIBLE RESOURCES

In studying the exhaustible materials, the state geologist has a double duty. In the first place, it is a part of his work to make known the areas in which such actually, probably or possibly occur, to indicate their quality and character, and to make suggestions as to their development. This part of the state geologist's work has been

heretofore and is yet considered his main duty. But with the probability of some of our most important products becoming exhausted in the not distant future, the geologist's duty in conserving known material is next in importance to discovering what is unknown. unknown. To this end, he should exercise the powers of his office to prevent waste of exhaustible raw material of all kinds. For example, if there is no other bureau whose duty it is to see that the least amount of coal consistent with good mining is left in the ground as pillars, etc., it plainly is the duty of the state geologist to exert himself toward bringing about mining methods by which the largest possible amount can be recovered. The same line of action will apply to oil, natural gas, the metalliferous ores, and all other exhaustible material.

Again, the state geologist should, at least to a reasonable degree, be alive to the use of by-products. This, to be sure, will take him into the field of metallurgy and chemistry, but most geologists are informed on the elements of these subjects, if they are not experts in them. We can hardly remain unconcerned and permit by-products to be wasted, on the assumption that those operating the mines should employ experts to get the most out of the raw material. If the experts are not employed, the duty of the geologist becomes all the more incumbent, for the loss, while one to the operating company, may be primarily one to the public. It may mean the waste of valuable material the public can ill afford to spare.

Recently there has been impressed upon me the lesson that it is a duty of the state geologist to look carefully into developed mines, not only to ascertain if there is not a waste of the ore for which the mine is worked, or of some possible by-product, but of material that is too important to be classed as a by-product. In the case of the

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