this magazine, place a 1 cent stamp on this notice, mail the magazine, and it will be placed in the SOCIAL AMELIORATION AND EUGENIC PROGRESS. PROFESSOR S. J. HOLMES 16 THE LOCALIZATION OF INDUSTRY. DR. MALCOLM KEIR THE NORTH SLESVIG OR DANO-GERMAN QUESTION. PROFESSOR C. C. ECK- The Convocation-week Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; American Experts at the Peace Conference; Use of the Metric System in 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 BARB, 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 THE SCIENTIFIC MONTHLY JANUARY, 1919 WEATHER CONTROLS OVER THE FIGHTING DURING THE AUTUMN OF 19181 By Professor ROBERT DeC. WARD HARVARD UNIVERSITY HE Allied advance on the western front, which began on July 18, continued into the autumn with remarkable success until the ending of the war. Almost every day brought the news of a gain of territory; of the recapture of towns and villages; of the taking of prisoners and of guns. It seemed as if weather conditions, however unfavorable, could hardly make any difference in the carrying on of so aggressive a campaign, yet the autumn of 1918 was, in many respects, the most critical season, meteorologically, of any period of equal length during the whole war. It is easy to understand why this was the case. In the preceding years of the war, the winter storms, and cold, and mud on the western front necessitated a decided slackening of military operations between about the middle of November and early December. This happened in spite of emphatic Continued from THE SCIENTIFIC MONTHLY for October, 1918, p. 298. Author's Note.-This series of papers on the weather factor in the Great War comes to a conclusion with the signing of the armistice by Germany. In the preparation of these articles, published in THE SCIENTIFIC MONTHLY and elsewhere, the writer had two things in mind. It was his belief that, as a part of the scientific history of the Great War, as full an account as possible should be kept of the meteorological conditions which affected the operations on all the battle-fronts. The other object was a practical one. It was felt that a discussion of the climatic conditions of the various war zones, and of the meteorological difficulties which were likely to affect, and which did affect, military operations, might be of some help in our own preparation for and conduct of the war. The facts set forth in these papers were collected from all available, reliable sources of information, chiefly the official headquarters' despatches, and the letters of well-known war correspondents. Later, and more complete, information may indicate that some of the statements which the writer has made should be modified, but it is his belief that what has been included is essentially complete and essentially correct. 340672 predictions, previously made by the military commanders, that the fighting would "continue as usual throughout the winter." The 1918 summer and autumn campaign on the part of the Allies was perfectly clearly a neck-and-neck race with the weather. It was the business of the Allies to force an overwhelming defeat of the German armies during the few remaining weeks of "fighting weather," and to make it impossible for the enemy to postpone the final decision until after another winter of relative inactivity. Again, in case a definite military decision should prove unattainable before winter, it was clearly to the advantage of the Allies to push on, beyond the area of destruction and desolation left by the Germans during the earlier part of their retreat, where there were no houses or shelters of any kind and no fuel, to the towns and large cities of eastern France and Belgium. Here adequate provision for billeting the soldiers could be made. The Hindenburg Line itself, with its elaborate concrete shelters and dugouts, was an important objective before winter, for this same reason. Mr. Charles H. Grasty, the well-known New York Times correspondent, in a cabled despatch from Paris, dated September 11, reported having asked a French military authority why the Allied troops did not rush ahead and crush the Germans at once. The reply was: There's one Generalissimo whom all belligerents take orders from, General Mud. If we could continue summer weather conditions another three months, we might get a decision. But it's unsafe to reckon on more than five weeks of good offensive weather. From the Somme to the Channel the character of the soil renders the mud the worst in all creation after the autumn rains begin in good earnest. The Germans, on their part, had every reason for prolonging the fighting until the advance of winter should delay the enemy pursuit, and bring a cessation of active operations. Germany would then be in a position to rest and to reorganize her forces, and to suggest peace negotiations on the basis of a stalemate on the western front. Both sides were thus fighting with the strongest possible meteorological pressure behind them. For both sides, everything depended on the time of the setting in, and upon the severity, of the winter. During the first days of September, the despatches mentioned the "unprecedented dryness" of the season as having been remarkably favorable for the movement of the Allies' troops, guns, tanks and supplies. In the absence of direct meteorological records from overseas, it is impossible to determine whether the term "unprecedented dryness" was war |