result from matter or motion. I gain a little perceptual evidence, and say it must be a motion; I gain a little more perceptual evidence, and I say it is not like a longitudinal wave in a spring, it must be something transverse like a water wave, and by rapid methods of reasoning, using the various mental economics of mathematics, I say it must be a certain form of that with which I am otherwise familiar, and if this is true, other things are true because they have been true at other times. Being a wave it must be a wave of something. Now if we assume a something and call it the ether, it must work according to the fact of our real knowledge, else we need not assume it. The only reason we assume it in the first place is in order to permit us to have a tool to think with, and one that will enable us to think in the right direction. J. Clark Maxwell gave us our ether of today. Previously, ethers had been suggested, but with too hard and fast material properties to make them applicable to all conditions. That was Maxwell's accomplishment, to give us a mathematical concept that covered the perfectly general case, upon which rapid development could be made. Maxwell's ether is a reality, that is, it is a concept which has proved its own value, and its own application to physical problems. It is not a reality in the sense in which the term was introduced in this article. It is not perceptually possible, and the modern followers of the action-ata-distance theory would have us believe there is no ether at all. However that may be, Maxwell never intended to answer such universal riddles as to what is ether, matter, electricity, etc.? He only attempted and succeeded in showing us how electricity and matter interact, and that such interactions occur just as if there was an intervening ether which obeyed simple mechanical laws. It was an epochal achievement, and Maxwell's fame will never grow dim. The outline growth of this concept is typical of all. Sometimes a conceptual body approaches closely the border line dividing concept and percept, as the electron has done through brilliant experiments such as Millikan's. But no matter how near it comes it is still a long way off, and other concepts as that of the ether seem no nearer a perceptual justification now than a thousand years ago. It is as if the scientist had climbed to his present height upon a pile of boxes. He cannot quite justify his position, because he made the boxes himself, and he cannot kick out any beneath him for they have put him where he is and the structure would then collapse. The results alone justify the position and the necessary, inseparable connection of all the elements of the structure is apparent.

Such considerations do not discount the value of physics but rather do exactly the opposite, for they enable one to see better just what the science is that he is working with, and just wherein its true value lies. Though the basis of physics exists in sense perception, man has been able through his intellectual power to transcend the limits of the senses. Our knowledge of physical laws and phenomena greatly surpasses perceptual possibility. And though physics as a science does not pretend to be ultimate, it seems at least that through it we are approaching a realization and appreciation of the ultimate universe, and its ultimate laws.

A PLATINUM "FAKE" IN OREGON.

The present shortage of platinum and the consequent greatly increased price of the metal bid fair to result in a considerable increase in the domestic production of platinum during the coming year. At the same time, while legitimate miners are increasing their production and to some extent relieving the country's shortage, other persons are using the interest aroused by the present nation-wide search for the metal to make extravagant claims for utterly worthless deposits, and some honest prospectors are led by false assays, made by inefficient or venal assayers, to believe mistakenly that they have valuable platinum deposits. Reports of platinum in some mythical combination -"volatile platinum" or "colloidal platinum"-should be regarded as sufficient evidence of the incompetence or dishonesty of the assayer.

During the season of 1917 the geologists of the United States Geological Survey, Department of the Interior, spent much time in visiting platinum deposits that proved to be worthless. A notable example is seen in the supposed platiniferous sands of the Deschutes River, near Terrebone, Ore., which were examined by H. G. Ferguson in October, 1917. Claims have been staked for several miles along Deschutes and Crooked Rivers, and as certain volcanic sands along these rivers had been said to contain large percentages of gold and rare metals, particularly metals of the platinum group, Mr. Ferguson visited the localities at which the sands were obtained and took samples for test and analysis.

The material collected, which is exposed in the canyon of the Deschutes River north of Low Bridge in Sec. 15, T. 14 S., R. 12 E., consists of loosely cemented dark volcanic sand and conglomerate interbedded with basalt and volcanic tuff. The black basaltic sand is supposed to have the richest content of gold and platinum, but neither in panning the material in the field nor in the chemical tests made by the Geological Survey could any trace of platinum or other metals of the platinum group be found. Neither was any gold found in the concentrates, and it is concluded that material of this type is very unlikely to contain workable amounts of gold.

In conclusion, the Geological Survey desires to warn prospectors and investors against accepting at their face value any statements in regard to platinum-bearing ores and sands that do not show native platinum when panned. Such material should always be sent to assayers whose reputation is above reproach.

HELP YOUR GOVERNMENT.

You may not be able, for good reasons, to go to the front and fight for your country; but you have often wanted to do something more for your country in time of war, and wondered how you could be of further service.

This letter is to tell you how you may serve your country NOW and all the time, and at the same time help yourself, help your children, and those who are near and dear to you.

The Government has extended the opportunity to aid in the successful financing of the war to every man, woman, and child in the United States. It wants everyone as a partner in the fight for democracy. For this purpose it has devised the WAR SAVINGS plan. Under it you can lend money to your Government by buying Thrift or War Savings Stamps, as little as twenty-five cents, and as much as $1,000—but no

more.

There are two kinds of stamps, $5 War Savings and 25-cent Thrift Stamps. The War Savings Stamps sell from $4.12 to $4.23, according to the month in which purchased. These stamps are now on sale at every post office and sub-post office, most of the banks, and many other agencies. They are easy to buy, and are the most profitable Government loan offered to the public. Their return is equivalent to four per cent interest compounded every three months.

The Government wants you, your children, and all of your household to purchase stamps from your SURPLUS earnings-not what you have accumulated in the past, but what you can save in the future. It asks you to do without some of the things you think you want, and lend it the money you thus save. It wants you to be thrifty, so that you and your country may profit by your thrift.

If you give War Savings Stamps to your children you give something that will not only increase in value, but will induce them to save their pocket money in the coming year, and buy more. You will be teaching them a lesson in thrift, and letting them know that they, too, may serve their country.

If you make presents of these Stamps, besides aiding your country directly, you give indirect aid in that all labor employed in making the articles you think you need and don't, will be released to aid in the work of preparing the things the nation actually needs in the conduct of the

war.

REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR OF THE BUREAU OF STANDARDS.

Standardization is the keynote of the annual report recently made public by the Director of the National Bureau of Standards: "The Bureau occupies somewhat of the same position with respect to the manufacturing interests of this country that the bureaus of the Department of Agricultural do to the agricultural interests. Many industries are just beginning to realize the importance of precise methods of measurement and scientific investigation, which, in practically every case, involve some kind of measurement."

The services of the Bureau are in great demand and many researches have been completed or are in progress on points fundamental to the industries. "It is upon quality as well as upon price that competition must finally depend, whether in domestic or foreign commerce. The use of exact methods and scientific results is the greatest factor in the improvement of quality, efficiency, or the development of new industries. The educational value of the Bureau's work in this respect is almost entirely unknown to the general public, and yet the Bureau receives hundreds of letters, as well as many personal visits from manufacturers, seeking

information as to standards of measurement, how to use them, how to measure the properties of materials, or as to the fundamental, physical, and chemical principles involved; also, what is of even greater importance, how to initiate and carry out scientific investigations and tests on their own account in their particular fields of work."

The bulk of the report is devoted to a description of the investigations completed and in progress in the scientific and technical divisions of the Bureau.

In connection with the testing of railroad track scales the report states: "The Bureau has been cooperating in this work with the state and municipal weights and measures officials, with the weighmasters, manufacturers, railroads, private individuals, and other departments of the Federal Government, and steady progress is being made toward securing adequate standards in railroad track scale testing." Tests were made in twentyeight states. "In these states 325 scales have been tested, of which 201, or 61.8 per cent, failed to pass the tolerance in condition in which they were found. The tolerance used by the Bureau is based on a maximum permissible error of weighing of 200 pounds in weighing a car of 100,000 pounds gross weight."

The Bureau's researches in heat included also important work upon the fire resisting properties of materials to furnish to architects, construction engineers, builders, state and city building bureaus, insurance interests, and others with fundamental engineering data relating to the behavior and safety of various types of building materials and construction when exposed to different conditions met with fires. Fire tests will be made of structural steel columns and reinforced concrete columns. Equipment of unusual interest installed during the year is the panel testing furnace which will be utilized for testing the fire resisting properties of building partitions and walls. In this connection a work of general interest is the investigation and formulation of data as to the building codes of the various states and cities.

The electrical testing included the inspection and testing of 1,250,000 electric lamps, a great variety of light standards, electrical instruments, standards, and materials. A matter of unusual interest has been the investigation and development of an instrument for finding the production of radio signals and using it for promotion of safety at sea.

JOHN C. WINSTON COMPANY, PUBLISHERS.

The John C. Winston Company of Philadelphia announces that it will enter the schoolbook field on the 1st of January. For several years this company has been preparing a series of textbooks under the editorship of Dr. William Dodge Lewis, Principal of the William Penn High School of Philadelphia. James G. Stradling, for many years connected with The American Book Company, will be the salesmanager of this new Educational Department.

In the selection of authors and the treatment of the various subjects, Dr. Lewis has had the advice and active cooperation of a number of leaders in modern educational thought. Among them may be mentioned B. M. Watson, Secretary of the Public Education Association of Philadelphia, former Superintendent of Schools, Spokane, Wash.; Harold Barnes, Principal of the Elementary School, Girard College; and Dr. J. Lynn Barnard of the Philadelphia School of Pedagogy, a member of the National Education Association Committee on Social Studies.

The Winston Company, which in thirty years' experience has acquired a long list of publications, among which are many notable titles, has entered the educational field with a sincere effort to make a distinct contribution to textbook literature.

ROCKS OF THE GRAND CANYON.

The visitor who looks into the Grand Canyon from the vicinity of El Tovar may, when the first overpowering impressions give place to particular observations, note the great series of nearly horizontal rock layers whose varied colors and cyclopean carving give beauty to what might otherwise be a gloomy and terrifying sight. He may perhaps wonder how these beds of rock were formed, how thick they are, and how long it took for them to pile up, inch by inch, on the bottom of a now vanished sea. He is not likely, however, unless he is a trained observer, to have his attention attracted by the dark, less conspicuous rocks in the very bottom of the canyon or to see that these are very different in many ways from the stratified rocks above them. Yet these rocks-mostly tough crystalline granite gneiss and schist-which the river, after cutting through thousands of feet of overlying beds, is now battering and grinding with its boulders, have an interesting story for those who may be able to read it. They are the oldest rocks in the canyon and, in fact, among the oldest in the world. They were in part deposited as sands and muds in a sea, in part accumulated as lava flows, and in part intruded beneath the surface as molten rock. All these materials became solidified, and later they were slowly heaved and crumpled into mountains which were in time worn down by rain, rivers, and perhaps the waves of the sea to a nearly level land surface. This surface finally sank beneath the sea and became the floor on which fresh sediments began to accumulate. Twice at least was this mighty cycle repeated in the Grand Canyon region.

Recently, in an attempt to work out some of the details of this ancient history, L. F. Noble, one of the geologists of the United States Geological Survey, Department of the Interior, studied them at several places on the south side of the river where, often with considerable difficulty, he was able to get down to them. His collections were studied microscopically by another member of the Survey, J. F. Hunter.

ARTICLES IN CURRENT PERIODICALS.

American Botanist, for November; Joliet, Ill.; $1.25 per year, 35 cents a copy: "Fruit of the Potato," Willard N. Clute; "Uses of the Bayberry," Albert A. Hansen; "The Hawaiian Taro," Vaughan MacCaughey. American Journal of Botany, for December; Brooklyn Botanic Garden, New York City; $5.00 per year, 60 cents a copy: "The Phytogeography of Manoa Valley, Hawaiian Islands," Vaughan MacCaughey; "Revision of the Hawaiian Species of the Genus Cyrtandra, Section Cylindrocalyces Hillebr," Joseph F. Rock; "On the Distribution of Abnormalities in the Inflorescence of Spiraea Vanhouttei," J. Arthur Harris.

Geographical Review, for December; New York City, $5.00 per year, 50 cents a copy: "Flanders," Raoul Blanchard; "A Journey on the Rio Zamora, Ecuador," J. L. Hermessen; "The Yuracaré Indians of Eastern Bolivia,' Leo E. Miller; "The Peoples of Hungary," B. Č. Wallis.

Journal of Geography, for January; Madison, Wis.; $1.00 per year, 15 cents a copy: "Humanizing High School Geography," Richard E. Dodge; "A Geographer's Geography Lesson On the Prairies," Albert P. Brigham; "Suggestions for Teaching Elementary Geography" (concluded), R. H. Whitbeck; "Prussianized Germany" (reprinted), Otto H. Kahn; "The Importance of Geographic Factors in the Birmingham, Ala., Iron District," Charles W. Cook; "Measuring the Ability of Children in Geography," E. E. Lackey; "Geography in the Junior High School," James H. Smith.

Literary Digest, for January 5; New York City: "The Government