A. A. A. S.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science concluded its congress at Cincinnati (TIME, Dec. 31, Jan. 7).

Important events and disclosures:

Mathematician Wins. A $1,000 prize, for the most valuable contribution to science presented at the current meetings, was awarded to Dr. Leonard E. Dickson, Professor of Mathematics at the University of Chicago. His achievement was a general mathematical theory including as special cases certain fundamental branches, such as quaternions and vector analysis. It is comparable in importance to the so-called calculus of Ricci and Levi Civita, which formed the mathematical basis for Einstein’s general relativity theory. Unfortunately, these theories are so abstruse that only the trained mathematician can penetrate their mysteries. Laymen must take on faith the fact that all branches of modern science depend upon highly complex mathematical tools, as is evidenced by the judgment of the committee on award, which represented several sciences.

Dr. Dickson, aged 49, studied at Texas, Chicago, Leipzig, Paris, is internationally known. He is the only American mathematician who is a corresponding member of the French Academy of Science.

High Altitude Rocket. Dr. Robert H. Goddard, Professor of Physics at Clark University, declaring that the discharge of a rocket which might reach the moon or a planet is entirely feasible on the basis of experiments already made, called for support in order that actual trial flights may be made this coming year, and that America may retain her lead in meteorology.

The rocket offers great opportunities for making photographs and meteorological records above the 20-30 mile stratum beyond the range of airplanes. Once it gets free of the earth’s atmosphere moreover, it would operate still better, as its maximum efficiency is in a vacuum. Dr. Goddard makes no Jules Verne predictions for future interplanetary communication by passenger-carrying cars, but he does definitely aver that there are no insuperable obstacles to this first modest mechanical attempt to reach other worlds than our own.

Vitamins. Two new vitamins, “Bios I” and “Bios II,” have been found by Dr. W. Lash Miller, Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Toronto. A substance called bios (life) was discovered 20 years ago by a Belgian professor at Louvain University, but Dr. Miller, in experimenting on yeast, found that minute quantities of this substance greatly stimulated the growth of cells. In attempting to extract it from wort, he found that it could be split into the two new compounds.

Isotopes. Dr. W. D. Harkins, Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Chicago, who earlier in the week had announced his discovery of Zeta rays, described his original work with isotopes, or elements having the same chemical structure but different atomic weights. Another American, Professor McCoy of Chicago, first discovered that chlorine, mercury and zinc are not unitary elements, but can be separated into isotopes. Dr. Harkins has split all three of them into their components, obtaining his most successful results by the use of liquid air, which is too costly to use for laboratory purposes.

Bacon. The 300th anniversary was fittingly observed of the publication of the Novum Organum, the master work of Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626), who, while not a great investigator himself, laid the foundation of modern scientific research by his insight into the true spirit and method of science. Dr. Harry Elmer Barnes, of Smith College, Dr. Mark Liddell, of Purdue University, and other scientific historians paid tribute to Lord Bacon’s vast influence over subsequent thought.

Mental Deficiency. Conditions of mental retardation, delinquency, dwarfism, gigantism and other defects, were definitely improved by glandular therapy under the oversight of Dr. Burtis B. Breese, Professor of Psychology at the University of Cincinnati, and Dr. Louis Lurie, Director of the Psychopathic Institute of the Jewish Hospital, Cincinnati. Eight children were shown as exhibits. They suffered from deficiency in the pituitary glands, were treated by pituitary extracts. One lad of seven, apparently hopelessly feebleminded, had advanced four school grades in three years. Others, dwarfs and giants, were made to develop properly.

Brain Capacity. Data, derived from brains dissected at a Cleveland medical school, revealed marked correlations with certain social phenomena, according to Dr. T. Wingate Todd, Professor of Anatomy at Western Reserve University. Subjects for dissection usually come from among suicides, paupers, drunkards, criminals and other “social ineffectives.” The average brain capacity in the dissecting rooms during the prosperous year of 1918 was 1,330 cubic centimeters. From 1913 to 1917, the average was 1400 c.c. In the acute depression of 1921, men of an average brain capacity of 1470 c. c. failed to survive. The average normal brain ranges from 1480 to 1500 c. c. while 1530 indicates high intelligence. Very low grade brains have almost disappeared from the dissecting room since 1919, which Dr. Todd ascribes to the restriction of immigration. Relief statistics of the Cleveland Associated Charities harmonized closely with the record of the skulls.

Intelligence Tests. Dr. J. McKeen Cattell, President-elect of the Association, led a symposium on the interpretation of intelligence tests. The existing tests foretell with great accuracy the probable accomplishment of children in school and college. They do not, however, measure elements of emotion or willpower, which have much to do with large public success. To be a Phi Beta Kappa or an Alpha plus man may be an introduction to Who’s Who and a salary of $5,000, but it is no guarantee that one will build railways, manage industries, or be a maker of a President.

Kammerer. The weight of biological opinion at Cincinnati, as voiced by Dr. Daniel T. MacDougal, Director of Botanical Research at the Carnegie Institution, and General Secretary of the A. A. A. S., was, on the whole, opposed to the claims of Professor Paul Kammerer, of Vienna (TIME, May 12, June 18, Dec. 10), who believes he has experimental proof of the inheritance of acquired characteristics. Dr. Kammerer, though now in this country, was not invited to Cincinnati. Most American biologists, while recognizing that animals or plants may have experiences (poisons, for instance), which affect the germ plasm in such a way as to cause changes in the progeny, say that Dr. Kammerer’s methods have not met sufficiently critical tests to justify his conclusions. Replying to MacDougal from New York, Kammerer questioned the open-mindedness of American biologists.

Dr. MacDougal (no relation to Professor William McDougall, the Oxford-Harvard psychologist), is in charge of desert laboratories at Tucson, Ariz., and Carmel, Calif., for discovering the processes by which plant life takes energy from the air and the sun. He aims to supplement both the food and the fuel supply eventually, by obtaining carbon from the atmosphere without waiting for the slow vegetable process.

International Language. A new international language was urged by several philologists, who met in a section of their own for the first time. Dr. J. W. Hamilton, of St. Paul, Minn., pled for “Cosmo English,” a sort of secondary language to be used only for international communication, which would in no way interfere with existing English.

American Psychological Association. A representative body of American psychologists, meeting at Madison, Wis., heard a varied program which included papers by the following:

1) Prof. Walter V. Bingham, of the Carnegie Institute of Technology, tested 100 successful business men and secured results corroborating Dr. Cattell’s statements. No significant relation was found between intelligence, as measured by the Army tests, and relative success in business, though 83% of the group made first-class scores. Two of the lowest scores were made by presidents of large concerns.

2) Dr. Thomas R. Garth, of Denver University, in a survey of Indian mentality, found that five racial groups could be differentiated in resistance to mental fatigue. Western nomadic Indians showed the best resistance.

American Chemical Association. Meeting in New York, the American Chemical Society elected to its presidency Dr. Leo Hendrik Baekeland, Chemical Enterpreneur and Honorary Professor of Chemistry at Columbia University. Dr. Baekeland, a Belgian by birth, is an American by adoption. He is best known for his invention of “bakelite,” the synthetic substitute for hard rubber and amber, widely used in pipe-stems, billiard balls, fountain pens, etc.