Copyright by Committee on Public Information. AN AMERICAN FIELD SIGNAL BATTALION TELEPHONE SWITCHBOARD IN OPERATION ON THE ST. MIHIEL SALIENT. Some of the equipment had been captured from the Germans which is indicated by the German Eagle, stamped on one of the telephones in the background. Copyright by Committee on Public Information. MEMBERS OF A FIELD SIGNAL BATTALION SIGNALLING BY WIRELESS TO AEROPLANES. T ganization. Every scientific worker and all those who appreciate the fundamental place of science in national welfare should unite to do their part through our scientific organizations. They should be members, and active members, of the special society in their field, of their local society or academy, and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The next meeting of the American Association and its affiliated societies will be held in St. Louis, beginning on December 29, 1919. The occasion should be taken to strengthen the association and its work in the central states, which have in recent years assumed such leadership in scientific research. We may be sure that the scientific men of Washington University and the City of St. Louis will do their part. It would be well if the meetings might be celebrated by the affiliation with the association of the strong state and city academies of the Central States and the organization of a central branch of the association on the lines that have proved so successful on the Pacific Coast. THE INTERALLIED CONFERENCE ON INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC ORGAN IZATION AT a meeting of representatives of scientific academies of the allied countries and the United States, held in London on the invitation of the Royal Society in October, a committee of enquiry was formed, which met in Paris at the end of November. The delegates in attendance were: Belgium-MM. Lecointe, Massart, de la Vallée Poussin; Brazil-M. de Carvalho; France -MM. Painlevé, Guignard, E. Picard, A. Lacroix, Lippman, E. Perrier, Roux, Haller, Bigourdan, Baillaud, Lallemand, Moureu, Flahault; Italy-Sen. V. Volterra, Professors Reina, Nasini, Ricco, Fantoli; Japan-Professors Tanakadate and Sakurai; Poland-M. L. Mickiewicz; Rumania - MM. Soutzo, Hurmuzeco, Mrazzee, Marinesco; SerbiaMM. Zujovio, Petrovitch, Jopovitch; United Kingdom-Professor Schuster, Mr. J. H. Jeans, Sir Frank Dyson, Sir E. Sharpey Schafer, Professors Frankland, Sherrington, and Starling, Col. Lyons, Dr. Knott; United States of America-Professor Bumstead, Col. Carty, Drs. Durand, Flexner, Hale, Noyes. An International Research Council was formed, and a committee of five was elected consisting of MM. Picard (chairman), Volterra, Lecointe, Hale, and Schuster. The seat of the bureau is to be in London. It is understood that the organization and arrangements are provisional, to be confirmed later by the academies and societies which enter the movement. One of the organizations planned is an International Geophysical Union, which is intended to be controlled by an international committee consisting of representatives of international councils and of delegates appointed by the governments. The number of delegates is to be proportional to the size of the nation, as is the contribution by each. Only those nations that have been at war with Germany may enter the union, but arrangements may later be made for the admission of neutral nations. SCIENTIFIC ITEMS WE record with regret the death of Wallace Clement Sabine, professor of physics at Harvard University and formerly dean of the Lawrence Scientific School; of Rossitier Worthington Raymond, the wellknown mining engineer, and of Robert John Pocock, director of the Nizamiah Observatory, Hyderabad. DR. P. G. NUTTING 207 PROFESSOR A. S. HITCHCOCK 216 A BOTANICAL TRIP TO MEXICO Edward C. Pickering; A National Department of Education; Storage Reservoirs in the Adirondacks and Water Conservation in New York; Scientific Items . THE SCIENCE PRESS 284 Barber's First Course in By FREDERICK D. BARBER, Professor of Physics in the Illinois State Nor- A recent notable endorsement of this book occurred in Minneapolis. A Committee on General Science, representing each High School in the city, was asked to outline a course in Science for first year High School. After making the outline they considered the textbook situation. In this regard, the Committee reports as follows: "We feel that, in Science, a book for first year High School use should be simple in language, should begin without presupposing too much knowledge on the part of the student, should have an abundance of good pictures and plen of material to choose from. Barber's First Course in General Science seems to us to bes. meet these requirements and in addition it suggests materials for home experiments requiring no unusual apparatus, and requires no scientific measurements during the course. We recommend its adoption." Other Interesting Opinions on the Book Follow: SCHOOL SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS:—It is one of the very best books on general science that have ever been published. The biological as well as the physical side of the subject is treated with great fairness. There is more material in the text than can be well used in one year's work on the subject. This is, however, a good fault, as it gives the instructor a wide range of subjects. The book is written in a style which will at once command not only the attention of the teacher, but that of the pupil as well. It is interesting from cover to cover. Many new and ingenious features are presented. The drawings and halftones have been selected for the purpose of illustrating points in the text, as well as for the purpose of attracting the pupil and holding his attention. There are 375 of these illustrations. There is no end to the good things which might be said concerning this volume, and the advice of the writer to any school board about to adopt a text in general science is to become thoroughly familiar with this book before making a final decision. WALTER BARR, Keokuk, Iowa:-Today when I showed Barber's Science to the manager and department heads of the Mississippi River Power Co., including probably the best engineers of America possible to assemble accidentally as a group, the exclamation around the table was: "If we only could have had a book like this when we were in school." Something similar in my own mind caused me to determine to give the book to my own son altho he is in only the eighth grade. G. M. WILSON, Iowa State College:-I have not been particularly favorable to the general science idea, but I am satisfied now that this was due to the kind of texts which came to my attention and the way it happened to be handled in places where I had knowledge of its teaching. I am satisfied that Professor Barber, in this volume, has the work started on the right idea. It is meant to be useful, practical material closely connected with explanation of every day affairs. It seems to me an unusual contribution along this line. It will mean, of course, that others will follow, and that we may hope to have general science work put on such a practical basis that it will win a permanent place in the schools. Henry Holt and Company NEW YORK BOSTON CHICAGO |