the United States. The search. same support from the Admirality through designations are carried out through the Board of Invention and Reall the bars. One peculiarity will be noticed in the bars for the countries which have only recently begun to send large numbers of their natives to the United States. Of Germany, Ireland, Canada and England, the foreign white stock includes a large number of one parent born in the specified country and one in the United States. The bar for Russia and Finland, as well as those for Italy, Austria and Hungary, have a very small proportion in this class. THE USE OF HELIUM FOR AN article in Nature states that shortly after the commencement of the war it became evident that if helium were available in sufficient quantities to replace hydrogen in naval and military airships, the losses in life and equipment arising from the use of hydrogen would be enormously lessened. Helium, as is known, is most suitable as a filling for airship envelopes, in that it is non-inflammable and non-explosive, and, if desired, the engines may be placed within the envelope. By its use it is also possible to secure additional buoyancy by heating the gas (electrically or otherwise), and this fact might possibly lead to considerable modifications in the technique of airship maneuvers and navigation. The loss of gas from diffusion through the envelope is also less with helium than with hydrogen, but, on the other hand, the lifting power of helium is about 10 per cent. less than that of hydrogen. Proposals had been frequently put forward by men of science regarding the development of supplies of helium for airship purposes, but the first attempt to give practical effect to these proposals was initiated by Sir Richard Threlfall, who received It was known that supplies of natural gas containing helium in varying amounts existed in America, and it became evident from the preliminary investigations as to cost of production, transportation, etc., that there was substantial ground for believing that helium could be obtained in large quantities at a cost which would not be prohibitive. In the course of the investigations, which were carried out with the cooperation of L'Air Liquide Co., it was found that large supplies of helium were available in Canada, which could be produced at a cost of about one shilling per cubic foot. In the summer of 1917, when the United States of America had entered the war, and after the investigations referred to above were well under way, proposals were made to the Navy and Army and to the National Research Council of the U. S. A. to cooperate by developing the supplies of helium available in the United States. These were made, on behalf of the Admiralty, through the Board of Invention and Research by Sir Ernest Rutherford and a special Commission consisting of Commander Bridge, R.N., Lieutenant-Colonel Lowcock, and Professor John Satterly. The authorities cited agreed to cooperate with vigor in supporting these proposals, and large orders were at once placed by them with the Air Reduction Co. and the Lynde Co. for plant, equipment, cylinders, etc. The Bureau of Mines also cooperated in developing a new type of rectifying and purifying machine. By July, 1918, the production of helium in moderate quantities was accomplished, and from that time onward the possibility of securing large supplies of helium was assured. Concurrently, all practical details of the production of helium-borne SCIENTIFIC ITEMS Flower professor of astronomy, emeritus, at the University of Pennsylvania and director of the Flower Obervatory; of John Wallace Baird, professor of experimental psychology in Clark University; of Captain Theodore de Booy, the archeologist and explorer; of G. Carey Foster, formerly principal of University College, London, and previously airships and of the navigation of of Charles Leander Doolittle, this type of craft were developed by the airship production section of the Navy. At the same time, under the direction of Professor McLennan, plans were prepared and steps taken to erect and equip a station for purifying the helium which might become contaminated in service. Experimental investigations were also initiated with the object of developing the possible technical professor of physics there, and of and scientific uses of helium. In R. A. E. Blanchard, professor of particular, balance and spectro- parasitology in the faculty of mediscopic methods for testing the cine, University of Paris. purity of the gas were worked out, studies on the relative permeability of balloon fabrics to hydrogen and helium were commenced, and experiments were begun to exploit the use of helium in gas-filled incandescent lamps, gas-filled arc lamps, and thermionic valves. The equipment provided for the purification of contaminated helium in large quantities supplied the major portion of the apparatus required to liquefy helium, and arrangements were therefore made to produce this gas in a liquid form. The advances already made by the time the armistice commenced warrants the opinion that at the end of another year large supplies of helium would have been produced within the empire at a low cost, helium-filled aircraft would have been in service, and great progress would have been made in exploiting the technical and scientific uses of this gas. DR. WILLIAM WILLIAMS KEEN, the distinguished surgeon, had conferred on him the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws by the University of Pennsylvania on University Day. Dr. Keen is the only commissioned officer in the present war who was a commissioned officer during the Civil War.-Dr. Livingston Farrand has resigned the presidency of the University of Colorado to become the executive head of the American Red Cross. Dr. Farrand was formerly professor of anthropology at Columbia University. THE work on volcanology at Kilauea has been placed under the U. S. Weather Bureau. The transfer was effective on February 15 and the appointment of the Director Professor T. A. Jaggar has been approved. An appropriation of $10,000 for the year is made by the government for continuing the work heretofore maintained by the Volcano Research Association. 385 BIOMETRIC STANDARDS FOR ENERGY REQUIREMENTS IN HUMAN NUTRI- . PROFESSOR J. CHESTER BRADLEY 403 PSYCHO-PHYSICAL TESTS OF AVIATORS. PROFESSOR GEORGE M. STRATTON 421 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF DEMOCRACY IN PUBLIC EDUCATION. PROFESSOR DAVID SPENCE HILL 442 NERVOUS AND OTHER FORMS OF PROTOPLASMIC TRANSMISSION. THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE: PROFESSOR RALPH S. LILLIE 456 Education for American Soldiers in France; The American Museum of Natural 475 Barber's First Course in General Science 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 plerof 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, bas 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 THE SCIENTIFIC MONTHLY MAY, 1919 BIOMETRIC STANDARDS FOR ENERGY NUTRITION By Dr. J. ARTHUR HARRIS and Dr. FRANCIS G. BENEDICT Ο CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON NE of the primary requisites in all of the exact sciences is the establishment of standard bases of comparison. For a decade the Nutrition Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution of Washington has been engaged in the precise investigations which must underlie the establishment of such standards in human nutrition. This is an undertaking of the greatest practical importance. In times of peace, industrial efficiency and the physical wellbeing of the population demand exact knowledge of the amount and proportion of the different kinds of food which should be taken by the individual. If communities or nations are to be stringently rationed during periods of emergency, it is also necessary to know the minimum amounts of food required to maintain health and efficiency. The problem is also one of great complexity. Aside from all questions concerning the chemical composition, digestibility and other physiological properties of the various foods, there are a large number of problems concerning the characteristics of human individuals which must be taken into account. For example, it is obvious that those who are engaged in severe muscular work must consume larger quantities of food supplying energy than those who are less active. It might seem reasonable to suppose that larger individuals would require more food to carry on their normal activities than those who are physically smaller. It is a matter of common observation that older men and women demand smaller rations than those in the earlier stages of life. VOL VIII.-25. |