THE Air Ministry, in an official Notice to Airmen, according to the London Times, details innovations recently introduced in the dissemination of meteorological statistics and forecasts by wireless telegraphy for the use of aircraft. Reports are issued from the Croydon aerodrome on a 900-meter continuous wave each day, including Sundays, at hourly intervals between 7.35 A.M. (G.M.T.) and 4.35 P.M., the data in each consisting of observations made 35 minutes previously at the following places: Felixstowe, Croydon, Biggin Hill, Lympne, Beachy Head, Dungeness, and Botley Hill (North Downs). In addition to the usual information, the messages now include the direction and speed of the low cloud, the character of the sea-swell and the visibility towards the sea is distinguished from that over the land, the latter important feature being observed at various points along the channel coast. A statement is also added regarding the conditions prevailing on the North Downs as viewed from Biggin Hill, while at 8.25 A.M. the complete results of a pilot-balloon ascent at Croydon or Lympne are appended whenever available. Every statement is suffixed by the latest Meteorological Office estimate of the probable weather during the remaining hours of daylight. Reports of a similar character are also issued on the same wave-length from Le Bourget seven times daily, the observations transmitted in this case being derived from St. Inglevert, Abbeville, Maubeuge, Havre, and Le Bourget.

THE department of hygiene and publie health at King's College, London, which offers complete courses of instruction for the various degrees and diplomas in public health, has recently been reorganized under the general supervision of Professor Simpson. Professor Sommerville, lectures on hygiene, sanitary law and administration, sanitation and vital statistics, etc., and Mr. Rhys Charles on the Food and Drugs Acts. Bacteriology and parasitology is taught by Professor Hewlett and Dr. Taylor, and the chemical laboratory work is in charge of Mr. William Partridge. The laboratories are open daily for instruction and research, and arrangements are made

to suit the convenience of those engaged in practise. Weekly demonstrations on sanitary appliances and visits to places of sanitary interest are arranged. A special course on industrial hygiene is given by Dr. Legge (October to February) and courses on school hygiene are given by Dr. Malcolm (October to June).

As the part of the university extension work the Boston Teachers' School of Science will offer this fall courses in botany, geography, geology and zoology. The courses will be given by Professor W. J. V. Osterhout, of Harvard, Professor Elizabeth F. Fisher, of Wellesley; Professor George H. Barton and Professor George H. Parker, of Harvard. The school also announces its autumn course of field lessons in geology as follows: September 11, Baker Bridge; September 18, Andover; September 25, Braintree; October 2, Wayland; October 9, Orient Heights; October 16, Naugus Head; October 23, Roberts; October 30, West Quincy; November 6, Kendal Green.

UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL
NEWS

THE University of Buffalo has received from O. E. Foster a gift of $400,000 for the erection of a chemistry building. It has also received anonymous gifts of $250,000 toward endowment and of a library building.

THE late Dr. J. G. Bartholomew has bequeathed to the University of Edinburgh the sum of £500, to be applied towards the foundation of a chair in geography.

RECENT appointments at Harvard University include those of Richard D. Bell, assistant professor of biological chemistry; W. T. Bovie, Ph.D., '14, assistant professor of biophysics and instructor in bacteriology; Stanley Cobb, '10, assistant professor of neuropathology; Calvin G. Page, '90, assistant professor of bacteriology; Marshal Fabyan, '00, assistant professor of comparative pathology; Joseph C. Aub, '11, assistant professor of physiology; Robert B. Osgood, '89, instructor in orthopedic surgery, and James B. Ayer, '03,

and Lesley H. Spooner, '03, instructors in neurology and bacteriology, respectively.

IN the department of chemistry of the West Virginia University the following additions have been made to the teaching staff: Dr. C. A. Jacobson, professor; Dr. E. C. H. Davies, associate professor; Lily B. Sefton, assistant professor, and A. E. Owens, instructor.

NEW additions to the staff of the division of agricultural biochemistry at the University of Minnesota are: instructors, Arthur K. Anderson, Paul F. Sharp and G. S. Taylor; assistants, Walter F. Hoffman, Earl R. Norris, Martin W. Sandstrom, Clifton W. Ackerson and Edward F. Danielson. S. D. Wilkins, special analyst, recently resigned to enter commercial work and his position has been filled by the appointment of Mr. Arnold H. Johnson.

DAVID F. MCFARLAND, M.S. (Kansas), Ph.D. (Yale), formerly associate professor of industrial chemistry and metallurgy at the University of Illinois, has been appointed professor and head of the department of metallurgy in the school of mines of the Pennsylvania State College.

DR. JOSHUA M. SLEMONS, professor of obstetrics and gynecology in Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, has resigned and is succeeded by Dr. Arthur H. Morse.

DR. ARDREY W. Downs, formerly assistant professor of physiology at McGill University, Montreal, has accepted the chair of physiology in the University of Alberta.

DR. W. S. LAZARUS-BARLOW has been appointed to the university chair of experimental pathology at Middlesex Hospital Medical School, London.

DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE GALILEO'S EXPERIMENT FROM THE LEANING

TOWER

TO THE EDITOR OF SCIENCE: Professor Cajori's article entitled " Aristotle and Galileo on Falling Bodies "1 recalled to mind a question recently asked by a member of the department of science in this school. The question was:

1 SCIENCE, 60, 615, 1920.

"Just what experiment did Galileo perform from the leaning tower of Pisa?" The writer did not know, and endeavored to find out, without success. Some notes he made may be of interest.

66

Poggendorf, "Geschichte der Physik," p. 224, 1879, says Galileo dropped balls of different sizes" and gives no citation of authority.

Rosenberger, "Geschichte der Physik," 1882, Vol. I., p. 141, states that Galileo proved by experiment from the leaning tower of Pisa in 1590 that light bodies fall as fast as heavy bodies. No citation.

The same author in Vol. II., p. 16, states that Galileo let fall stones singly and tied together and they fell in the same time. Also says that Galileo dropped a 100 lb. shot and a lb. shot and that they reached the ground not the width of a hand apart. No citation.

Heller, "Geschichte der Physik," Vol. I., p. 346, 1882, states that Galileo dropped from the leaning tower of Pisa, pieces of wood, lead and marble and that they fell in nearly the same time. No citation.

Cajori2 gives a circumstantial account of the celebrated experiment and says, "One morning before the assembled university, he ascended the leaning tower, and allowed a one pound shot and a one hundred pound shot to drop together. The multitude saw the balls start together, fall together, and heard them strike the ground together." No citation.

Apparently all of the above statements have their foundation in Viviani's "Racconto Istorico di Vita di Galileo Galilei," written some time after 1654, at the request of Leopold of Tuscany. Viviani3 states that Galileo demonstrated by repeated experiments made from the leaning tower of Pisa that bodies of different weights falling through the same medium move with equal velocity. He also states that the experiments were made in the presence of the other readers, philosophers and all the students. Viviani knew Galileo from 2"History of Physics," p. 32, 1899.

"Opere di Gal.," Edizione Nazionale, XIX.,

p. 606.

1639 to Galileo's death in 1642. In 1639 Viviani was seventeen years old.

No account by Galileo himself is to be found in the Edizione Nazionale of his works, if the elaborate index is to be trusted. Further as Gerland, "Geschichte der Physik," p. 316, 1913, points out, Galileo in his treatise "De Motu," which dates from the time of his readership in the University of Pisa, cites experiment from a high tower as proving that wood at the beginning of its fall moves more rapidly than lead, but that a little later the lead will pass the wood and will precede the wood by a great space. Galileo further states, "and on this I have made experiment frequently."4

Renieri (born in 1606, knew Galileo from 1633 to 1642 and during that time wrote Galileo at least sixty letters) wrote a letter to Galileo dated March 13, 1641, in which he gives an account of some experiments performed by Renieri from the leaning tower of Pisa. Renieri dropped a sphere of wood and one of lead the same size; on reaching the ground the lead was three "braccia" ahead of the wood. He also dropped a cannon ball and a musket ball and on reaching the ground the cannon ball was a palm ahead. Renieri makes no reference to Galileo's experiments, which is difficult to explain except on the ground that he had never heard of them.

Realizing the slippery nature of historical deduction, I draw no conclusion except this, that we do not know exactly what experiment Galileo performed from the leaning tower. EDW. A. PARTRIDGE

WEST PHILADELPHIA HIGH SCHOOL

Duncan suggested that we should make him yell. I was sceptical, but both men assured me that the lizard could, and would yell under persuasion. On condition that there should be no cruelty, I consented to a demonstration. They laughed at the idea of cruelty. Andrew picked up a stick and began poking the reptile in the ribs and tickling him under the arm. It stood it for a while, merely squirming closer down in the crevice, then, having had enough of it, blew himself out and emitted a most comically doleful bellow that could be heard several hundred yards away. This he did repeatedly until we had laughed ourselves tired. It was funny, on looking back after we had gone fifty yards, to see the lizard stick his head around the corner to make sure that we had really departed.

I have had for the last four years at my hunting-box on the Naltai River, a tame monitor whom I have called "Joseph" on account of his coat of many colors, and who is the interesting companion of my solitudeand incidentally keeps the snakes away. With the above in my mind, I experimented on him. I found him camped under the bench beneath the window, and irritated him with the end of a stick. He did as the other had done-filled himself with wind and then emitted it in a prolonged bellowing groan. By the way, our "bookbook owl" does much the same thing. He fills himself nearly to bursting in a succession of gasps, and then says "Hoo-hoo hoo" till he has no more breath, then fills up again.

WALTER H. BONE LINNEAN SOCIETY OF NEW SOUTH WALES, SYDNEY

THE BOOMING LIZARD OF AUSTRALIA

IN July, 1913, I was hunting in the Cove's River Ranges with two companions-Andrew and John Duncan, of Megalong. We found a black-and-yellow banded monitor lizard about five feet long concealed in a crevice on the face of a wall. We had no intention of injuring him, but out of mischief Andrew

4 Op. Ed. Naz. I., 334.

5 Op. di. Gal. Ed. Naz., 18, p. 305.

QUOTATIONS

THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION THE British Association begins its annual meeting at Cardiff to-day. Our correspondents report that the increase in railway fares has not reduced the attendance below that of a fair average, and that the arrangements made for the housing of the visitors and the accommodation of the sectional meetings are excellent. By a useful innovation the daily

Journal has been replaced by a single issue covering the whole meeting. Clearly it will be a strenuous time. To-day eleven of the twelve sectional presidents deliver their addresses, on subjects ranging from the constitution of the stars to the intensive cultivation of gooseberry bushes. The detailed proceedings of the sections in the morning and the afternoon should be full of interest. An announcement is to be made as to the third of the three practical tests proposed by Einstein for his new theory of relativity, two having been already successfully passed. The chemists are to consider the production of alcohol for industrial purposes. The geology of the district and the possible effect of the narrow valleys in provoking feelings of imprisonment and isolation on their thronged population are to engage the attention of the geologists and geographers-unfortunately, in two separate sections. The economists are to discuss decimal coinage, the Danish credit system, and the business side of agriculture, while the agriculturists are busy over the growing of potatoes. The importance of psychology, the mental effects of alcohol, and training in citizenship are all on the day's program. In the evening, Professor Herdman, president-elect, will be inducted into the chair, and will discourse on Oceanography and Fisheries. The following days, if not quite so arduous, are at least to be well filled. Since the Association held its first meeting, at York in 1831, there has been a great advance in science, and an increasing specialization of its branches. At first there were only six sections, and the next year, at the Oxford meeting, these were reduced to four, dealing respectively with mathematics and physics, chemistry, mineralogy and electricity, geology and geography, biology. By 1855 they had grown to seven; they are now twelve, and a proposal for still further sub-division is to be discussed. We wonder if it is all gain. The reverse tendency is also at work, and several sections are to combine for occasional joint discussions. There is much to be said in favor of a concentration at the annual meetings on subjects whose problems concern many

different branches of science and require illumination from many points of view.-The London Times.

SPECIAL ARTICLES

EXPERIMENTS IN THE TRANSPLANTATION OF THE HYPOPHYSIS OF ADULT RANA PIPIENS TO TADPOLES

THE writer has for some time past been engaged in experiments upon the extirpation of the hypophysis and the thyroid glands of tadpoles. These experiments have yielded interesting results. Absence of the thyroid gland wholly prevents metamorphosis while the removal of the pars buccalis of the hypophysis, i. e., all but the posterior lobe brings about the following results:

1. Failure to metamorphose.
2. Retardation of growth in size.

3. A striking change in color from black to a silver white.

4. Lowered resistance to unfavorable conditions.

Experiments in transplanting of the hypophysis were undertaken by the writer two years ago, but failed because of faulty technique, and were for the time being abandoned owing to press of other work. This year the experiments were carried through with surprisingly little difficulty and have given such striking results that it seems well worth while to offer a brief and necessarily rather superficial account of them at this time. These experiments are based on 384 operations upon tadpoles.

It is well known that the hypophysis is composed of four elements: the anterior lobe, intermediate lobe, pars tuberalis, and posterior lobe. All but the last named come from the same embryonic anlage-the portion that has been removed in the extirpation experiments mentioned. For the sake of brevity we shall speak of these as "pituitaryless tadpoles. For the present work three out of the four lobes-all except the pars tuberalis-were employed. In each case a fair amount of care is exercised to prevent infection but these precautions are in no case perfect. Greatest reliance is placed upon the remarkable resist

ance of the tadpoles to infection. In each case the portion transplanted is placed in a pocket under the skin above the right eye. A delicate knife made from a needle ground to a cutting edge is used in making the pocket into which the piece of material is thrust.

The chief aim of these experiments is to study the several functions of the different portions of the hypophysis. It is quite easy to separate the anterior lobe from the other portions but the intermediate and posterior lobes are tightly applied together although the difference in texture makes it quite easy to distinguish them. In a large portion of the experiments these lobes were both transplanted together. In other series they were laboriously dissected apart and separately transplanted.

The experiments show in clearest fashion that each part functions quite differently from the others.

1. The anterior lobe transplanted to normal, to pituitaryless, and to thyroidless tadpoles in each case produces a marked acceleration of growth so that the tadpoles thus treated are conspicuously larger than those into which the other parts of the hypophysis have been transplanted. They are larger than normal controls and larger than controls into which muscle tissue has been transplanted in the same way and at the same time as the above operations.

The anterior lobe also produces a marked acceleration in the development of the hind legs. This happens to be most conspicious in the pituitaryless specimens probably because they were the first operated; but at the date of writing-June 14th-the same appears to be true of the normal and the thyroidless specimens into which this lobe has been transplanted. The white pituitaryless.tadpoles into which this lobe has been transplanted show not the slightest tendency to return to the original black color except for a slight temporary tendency at the beginning. This may be due to the adhesion of particles of the intermediate lobe or to a certain amount of secretion that had diffused from the latter. It soon clears up however.

2. Normal tadpoles into which the intermediate lobe is engrafted become much more darkly colored than the controls, while those which have been made to turn white as a result of removal of the anlage of the hypophysis exclusive of the posterior lobe are made to change back from white to black when the intermediate lobe is engrafted into them. There is not the slightest doubt that this lobe is responsible for the conspicious color changes controlled by the hypophysis. This return to the black color takes place slowly, being scarcely completed inside of ten days. Specimens into which the intermediate and posterior lobes together have been transplanted show this phenomenon of deepening of the black pigmentation as well as those into which the intermediate lobe alone has been engrafted.

3. Tadpoles into which the combined intermediate and posterior lobes are transplanted show not only the color change mentioned above but they also suffer a marked contraction of the body walls. Within twelve hours they appear very emaciated. This characteristic gradually disappears, in the course of ten days. These tadpoles show apparent retardation of growth. When the intermediate and posterior lobes are dissected apart and transplanted separately it is seen that this phenomenon is wholly due to the posterior lobe. It is probably caused by the well-known property that this portion of the hypophysis possesses for bringing about muscular contraction. The details of this will need further study. The posterior lobe does not produce a restoration of the black color to pituitaryless tadpoles.

In summing up it may be said that although we have not taken the pars tuberalis into account and can not make a complete analysis of the functions of the different parts of the hypophysis until we do, the following conclusions are justified.

1. The anterior lobe of the hypophysis stimulates growth and metamorphosis.

1

2. The intermediate lobe is very largely if not wholly concerned in regulating such color changes as are controlled by the hypophysis.