showing all the phenomena observable in the passage of X-rays through crystals. By using short electromagnetic waves (from 4 to 6 centimetres) it becomes possible to verify the theory of crystal structure, including the disposition of the atoms by the use of artificial models. Potapenko is investigating the spectra of short electromagnetic waves ranging from 25 to 50 centimetres, in organic substances. Theodorovich is conducting a similar research on similar waves 10 to 30 metres in length. W. H. Bragg reports on the crystal structure of organic substances by X-ray analysis. In spite of their molecular complexity, it is possible to obtain results by assuming that the benzine or naphthalene ring has a definite existence, size, and shape, and that the ring is built into the molecule as a whole. His results are quantitative and open up a vast and interesting field of research directed to finding the linear dimensions of organic crystals, assuming the benzine and naphthalene to be fixed building units of the compound series. The idea tallies well with Langmuir's work on surface films and experimental work of others. The metallurgical congress at Moscow took the most intense interest in the new work of Uspensky and Konobeievsky on the microcrystallic structure of rolled lamina of metals, using the diffraction of X-rays as the method. This opens up a distinct departure in the micro-study of metals. Duane, Palmer, and Chi-Sun Yeh have determined the value of h, the universal constant of action, as 6.556 (= h x 1027) with a probable error in h about .009, using the method of the X-ray spectrum and the quantum law Ve = Hv. Sommerfeld reviewing Bohr's theory as to the quantum relations of the series lines substitutes planetary elipses for the circular orbits, applying relativity mechanics, and working out the structure of the hydrogen atom only. The helium atom is in doubt. Mohler and Foote have studied the photoelectric effect of radiation on two electrodes entirely shielded from ions produced in the arc. The photoelectric current has almost a linear relation and change of slope at critical potentials, when plotted in terms of exciting voltage. As these increase, successive changes occur in the spectrum excited by electron impact. The highest frequency of each additional group of lines has the quantum relation Ve = hv. Professor Vegard concludes that light is emitted both when the positively charged atom is neutralized and when the neutral atom collides with the molecules of the gas. In a recent experiment by Anderson at Mt. Wilson Observatory, the spectra of the explosion of fine wires from condenser discharge was studied. The intrinsic brightness produced was about a hundred times that of the solar surface, a black body temperature being attained of twenty thousand degrees Centigrade. The problem of light production is in a promising status. The success of the Sperry arc in producing 900 candlepower per square millimetre has created a new era in motion picture studio lighting. Dubois and Harvey have extracted "luciferose and luciferine," two substances supposed to be the cause of animal light. Luciferine emits no light on agitation, but luciferose bursts into a momentary brilliancy if shaken. When mixed the two substances emit continuous light, apparently requiring moisture or oxygen. G. A. Percival has made a fluorite lamp, experimentally, which gives light at 150 degrees Centigrade, using the property of thermoluminesence. The efficiency was high since a large part of the total energy was made luminous. The knowledge that nine-tenths of the energy used in light production is wasted raises a problem worthy of the most intensive efforts in physical research. Remarkable progress has been made in X-ray photography. Baker and Levy report a new calcium tungstate plate for the purpose, 30 times more efficient and cheaper than the usual highspeed plate. The need for such high speed is in connection with the photography of moving objects such as the lungs and heart. The tungstate fluoresces, affecting the plate by shorter exposure, the fluorescence affecting the deeper silver bromide layer. Oliver Lodge discusses the supposed weight and ultimate fate of radiation, assuming that light unable to escape would accumulate near the boundary of a system. If liberated by an expansion or other catastrophe of the system, for example through a gradual growth of instability, it would burst forth in a blaze. If light has weight in a real sense he is tempted to treat it as a gas of great velocity and low molecular weight. The density of solar radiation at the earth's distance can be measured from the pressure and equals about 10-25 g/cc. He asks "What becomes of all the radiation poured into space by innumerable suns through incalculable ages? Is it possible that some of it is trapped, without absorption, by reservoirs of matter lurking in the depths of space, and held until they burst into new stars?" He also asks "Does such energy become stored in rotational form, tie itself into electrons and add to the mass of the body?" The density of ordinary sunshine near the earth is such that 10 cubic millimetres of earth's sunshine, the equivalent of 1/4600 mm3 could be checked and condensed until its density is 1012 and converted into an electron of mass 10-27 gram. Herbert Dingle in Science Progess reviews the status of spectroscopy in a manner worthy of following for other fields. Saunders reviews the status of the series in the spectra of the elements, recounting the two new laws (stated by Kossel and Sommerfeld), the first that the spectrum of an ionized element (lacking 1 electron) is like that of the element in the next column to the left in Mendelejeff's table, though shifted toward higher frequencies; ionized Ca (Ca+) gives a spectrum very like that of K as would be expected since each have but one external electron. The second law is that the spectra alternate in character in passing across Mendelejeff's table. Na and Al consist of a pair series resembling each other closely, N is probably similar. Saunders considers that this indicates that when electrons are added to the outside of an atom in passing from left to right across the table, the electrons unite into inactive pairs. The aluminum spectrum is due to a single external electron, though three are present, but apparently two are bound so closely that they emit no light. This pairing tendency of electrons tallies Langmuir's theory based on quite different evidence. A real contribution to labor-saving methods is contributed by W. P. Davey in his new apparatus for taking X-ray diffraction patterns of 15 dif ferent powdered crystals at once. A direct reading scale gives the distance (in Angstrom units) between the planes in a crystal, and may be read directly from the diffraction pattern. The apparatus is valuable for research and for factory control work. For certain classes of crystals, the atomic structure may be easily found by using logarithmic plots of the diffraction patterns. W. F. Meggers gives tables of standard determinations of the wave lengths of the inert gases helium, neon, argon, krypton, and xenon, the latter three being just published. The work of the Bureau of Standards is now the basis for correcting the wave lengths measured in air, proper correction tables having been prepared on the basis of some 1200 measurements of the index of refraction of air for wave lengths from the extreme ultra-violet through the visible spectrum and in the infra-red. For the first time spectroscopy has had the full fundamental data to make its results free from ambiguity due to the air of vacuum reductions. Ames describes the systems of color standards defined as to hue (wave length), chroma (saturation), value (brightness), suggesting as essential 50 to 80 steps in hue, 70 to 100 steps in value, and 35 to 50 steps in chroma (13,000 cards in all) in order to express any given color. Priest suggests a method and gives precise specifications for producing radiant energy having the visible spectral distribution of a theoretically complete radiator (by Planck's formula c2 = 14,350). Priest's work on the spectral distribution of energy required to evoke the gray sensation, is of first importance. He finds that the average results of his observers indicate that "white light may be represented: (1) theoretically, by the light from a Planckian radiator at a temperature of 5200° absolute; (2) practically, to a fair approximation, by average noon sunlight at Washington." Forsythe finds that experienced observeis can set for color match within 3 degrees K at an illumination of 5.1 foot candles. Ives suggests a colorimetric method consisting essentially of the spectrophotometry of adjacent patches of the spectrum, the width of each patch being inversely as the hue sensibility, the number of patches depending upon the kind of color and degree of accuracy required. He suggests an instrument for using the method. Houstoun, studying the color vision of 1000 students, finds no satisfactory definition of a homogeneous population, and finds a very good Gaussian distribution on the red-green test for men, and that normal variation plays a larger rôle than thought probable. Anderson and Haas report on illumination, and traffic accidents, find a steady increase from 1906 to 1920, that October has most cases, and that the daily accidents are a maximum between 5 and 6 p. m., and a minimum between 3 and 4 a. m. They suggest plans for distributing three or four times as much light on the road surface as the usual fixtures afford. They report that proper lighting eliminated fatal accidents on a road near Schenectady where 70 serious accidents had occurred in eleven months. Ames and Proctor in an interesting study of the dioptrics of the eye describe the important characteristics, spherical aberration, chromatic aberration, oblique astigmatism, and distortion. The same authors are making a photographic lens with which by the use of the three-color process a substantial reproduction of the retinal picture can be obtained. Margaret Shields finds that abnormal visibility function is not necessarily associated with color function, but that color defect modifies the visibility function. The brightness sense is probably not lowered by color defects, contrary to the Young-Helmholtz theory. Dr. A. G. Webster has summarized his studies on sound including his instrument for measuring in absolute units the sound intensity at any point. The extreme minuteness of the forces and energies involved makes this a difficult problem. He finds that 10,000,000 cornets playing fortissimo would emit only one horsepower of sound. The speaker's voice produces pressure variations only of less than a few millionths of an atmosphere. His phonometer, however, is able to measure displacements of his glass and mica diaphragm not greater than 1/24,000 of 1 millimetre. V. Cheval assigns reasons for the audibility limits, showing from the anatomy of the human ear that less than 16 complete vibrations per second will not give a musical note and that more than 32,760 will be inaudible. The latter has a half wave length of about 26 mm. (the length of the basilar membrane). The speed of sound in the liquid of the inner ear is assumed as 1700 metres per second. Danilevsky has designed a direction indicator for sounds, such that the electrical rhythm is zero when the indicator points toward the sound. It is expected to apply the system to reading fog signals. J. H. Coblin has devised a photochronograph for measuring very small intervals of time. A film moves at right angles to the vibration plane of the tuning fork. The source of light is intermittent, the sine wave, its amplitude, and the interval between two images give the phase at the beginning and end of each flash. The clocktime scale is accurate to 1/80,000 second and by adding a rotating mirror on an axis at right angles to the film movement, the traces are reflected and recorded on the film, giving a precision of 1/2,400,000 second. Coblin ingeniously suggests the use of this apparatus to determine the FitzgeraldLorentz contraction. Two tuning forks set to vibrate at right angles, mounted on a plate containing the direction of contraction, Lissa jous figures are formed and Coblin estimates that if the contraction exists it should be perceptible by a phase difference within ten seconds. On the whole it has been an interesting year in physics. No new or startling ideas stand out, but a rapid development of many fruitful lines of research characterizes current work in physics. The most striking fact of current physics is the closing in upon the problem of atomic structure and the correlation of such structure with the properties of the elements. PHYSIOLOGICAL BOTANY. See BOTANY. PHYSIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY. See CHEM early years of the republic he took an active part in political affairs but later applied himself to journalism and industrial interests. He was president of the Jornal de Brasil, one of the chief dailies of the capital. PIPER, OTTO. See NECROLOGY. PITTSBURG, UNIVERSITY OF. An institution of the higher learning at Pittsburg, Pa.; founded in 1819 under the name of Western University of Pennsylvania, which was changed to the present name in 1908. The enrollment for the fall of 1921 was 3194 classified students and 1905 special students; and for the summer session 1396. The faculty numbered 590. The income was $738,780. The library contained 100,000 volumes. Chancellor, John Gabbert Bowman, LL.D. PLANT BREEDING. See BOTANY. PLANT DISEASES. See BOTANY. PLANT PHYSIOLOGY. See BOTANY. PLATINUM. Estimates of the production of crude placer platinum in the United States in 1920 give Alaska, 27 ounces; California, 656 ounces; Oregon, 23 ounces; and Washington, 8 ounces. Refiners reported a production of 41,544 troy ounces of new platinum metals in 1920, of which 36,015 ounces were platinum, 418 ounces iridium, 409 ounces osmiridium, 4309 ounces palladium, and 393 ounces of the minor metals including rhodium and osmium. This represents a decrease of 3565 ounces, as compared with the production in 1919. There were also produced 57,710 ounces of secondary platinum metals in 1920, of which 51,255 ounces were platinum, 3355 ounces iridium, and 3100 ounces palladium. This represents a decrease of 3806 ounces, as compared with the production in 1919. The platinum metals imported for consumption in 1920 included 80,955 ounces of crude platinum and unmanufactured ingots, bars, sheets, etc., of which approximately 58,009 ounces are believed to be refined metal; 4718 ounces of iridium; 4473 ounces of osmiridium; 6944 ounces of palladium; 2675 ounces of the minor metals; and 781 ounces of manufactured platinum ware. The imports of platinum for consumption in 1920 were 32,492 ounces greater than in 1919. The consumption of platinum metals in the United States in 1920 was 141,041 ounces, of which the jewelers took 57 per cent, the electrical industry 19 per cent, the dental industry 11 per cent, the chemical industry 10 per cent, and miscellaneous uses 3 per cent. The stocks of platinum metals at the end of 1920 amounted to 67,508 ounces, which is an increase of 55 per cent, as compared with the stocks at the end of 1919. Colombia was the leading source of platinum received in the United States during 1921 and there was every indication that this production would continue to increase. Russia with its extraordinary mines and rich deposits continued to neglect its opportunities and refused to begin working. In Canada the nickel smelters were closed so that several hundred ounces of platinum and palladium from this source were not available. As stated, the United States derived more than half of its crude platinum from Colombia, but England and France also shipped considerable amounts. Japan on the other took platinum from the United States and placed an embargo on its export with the evident plan of establishing a reserve of the metal. In the United States the stocks of platinum at the beginning of 1921 were 46,747 ounces, nearly 75 per cent greater than in 1920. Imports for the first nine months of 1921 were 52,200 ounces, or slightly lower than in 1920. There were, however, in the jewelry and other industries decreased demands for platinum so that its price continued to decrease until the low mark $65 per ounce was reached in July, from which there was an increase until by mid-November a maximum of $85 was secured for small lots. The range of prices during the year is shown in the accompanying table: PLATNER, JOHN WINTHROP. Educator and church historian, died at Cambridge, Mass., March 18. He was born at Lee, Mass., May 15, 1865; graduated at Yale in 1885; studied at Union Theological Seminary from 1890 to 1893; and at the University of Berlin from 1893 to 1895. He became an instructor in the Union Theological Seminary in 1895; was assistant professor of church history at Harvard from 1896 to 1901; and professor of church history at the Andover Theological Seminary after 1901, becoming president of the faculty in 1919. After 1908 he was also Andover professor of church history at Harvard. He was a contributor on his subject to the various historical and church reviews and to the first edition of the NEW INTERNATIONAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. PLATNER, SAMUEL BALL. Classical scholar and university professor, died, August 20. He was born at Unionville, Conn., Dec. 4, 1863, and graduated at Yale in 1883. He entered the faculty of the Western Reserve University in 1885 and after 1892 was professor of Latin. He wrote Topography of Ancient Rome (1904) and edited Greek and Roman Versification and the letters of Pliny. PLATOON SCHOOL ORGANIZATION. See EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES. PLAYGROUND AND RECREATION ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA. An organization established in 1906; has been active in helping communities throughout the United States to establish year-round municipal recreation systems. During 1921 the association sent field workers into communities desiring their services to help plan the work, and to secure municipal appropriations, published a number of pamphlets and a monthly magazine, The Playground, answered through correspondence and personal conferences thousands of inquiries regarding various phases of community recreation, and maintained an employment department for the service of recreation officials and workers throughout the country. It devastated and the country being almost entirely also established a continuation service, through deprived of artificial fertilizers and losing many of which cities already having recreation systems its farm animals. During the first three years might receive help and advice in their recreation under the new government there was, as a result problems from workers who have had valuable of these conditions, a serious food shortage, experience in the recreation field. The National which necessitated the importation of large Physical Education Service, inaugurated in 1919, quantities of breadstuffs. The new government helped during 1921 to secure adequate compulsory requisitioned grain and fixed prices, which tended physical education laws for a number of states to check the restoration of agriculture. In 1919 and worked toward the passage of a federal and the first half of 1920 grain imports were physical education bill. Officers during 1921 largely furnished on credits from the United were as follows: President, Joseph Lee; treasurer, States government. In 1920 the acreage planted Gustavus T. Kirby; secretary, H. S. Braucher. showed a considerable increase over the two preceding years, but the Bolshevist invasion at the time of the harvest reduced the output. The grain crop of 1921 according to the official esti mates was considerably larger than that of 1920. The imports of breadstuffs for 1920 and 1921 made up only one-tenth of the domestic production though an important item in the trade balance. It was expected that grain production in 1921 would render importation of grain unnecessary. Food though still short in 1921 was far more abundant than during the war and observers reported a great improvement in the physical condition of the people. The number of children requiring charitable care through American relief administration decreased during the year from 1,500,000 to 700,000. Beet sugar was one of the chief industries before the war and was largely exported. In 1913-14 there were 91 sugar factories in what is now Poland; in 1920-21 there were 61. POCH, RUDOLF. See NECROLOGY. PODOLIA. Formerly a government of the Russian empire, but after the revolution comprised within the territory of the Ukrainian republic; situated to the east of Galicia, and between Volhynia and Bessarabia. Area, 16,224 square miles; population estimated, Jan. 1, 1915, 4,127,600. Capital, Kamenets-Polsk, with a population, estimated before the war at 52,000, of whom one-half were Jews. POE, Sir EDMUND SAMUEL. British admiral, died in England early in April. He was born, Sept. 11, 1849, and entered the navy in 1862. Two years later he barely escaped from the battleship Bombay which was destroyed by fire off Montevideo. He reached the rank of captain in June, 1888, and rear-admiral in September, 1901, and was appointed second in command of the Home Fleet on its formation in 1903. After September, 1905, he was for three years in command of the East Indies and on the Cape of Good Hope Station, serving in that capacity with distinction and being appointed vice-admiral. He retired, Sept. 11, 1914. POETRY. See LITERATURE, ENGLISH AND AMERICAN; also articles on French, German, and Spanish literature. POLAND. A European republic established as a result of the war, and comprising the territory formerly divided among the three great powers Austria-Hungary, Russia, and Prussia, after the three partitions of Poland in 1772, 1793, and 1795; boundaries to be defined under the treaty with Russia and Lithuania and under the award of the League of Nations in respect to the plebiscite, in Upper Silesia. An estimate of the area at the beginning of 1921 placed it at 149,042 square miles; and in 1920 an estimate of population placed it at 24,272,349. See UPPERSILESIA; RUSSIA; and WAR OF THE NATIONS. Capital, Warsaw, with a population of about 980,000. Other large cities with estimates of populations are: Lodz, 429,775; Lemberg, 206,113; Cracow, 176,463; Posen, 156,691. Before the war Russian Poland had an area of 43,946 square miles; and a population estimated, Jan. 1, 1915, at 12,247,600, of whom about 70 per cent were Poles and about 75 per cent Roman Catholics. AGRICULTURE. About 85 per cent of the total area has been estimated as productive and about 50 per cent under cultivation. Agriculture is the main occupation. The chief crops are wheat, rice, barley, oats, and sugar beets. Before the war the territories now united in the Polish state, produced a surplus of food exporting especially potatoes, potato alcohol, and sugar, for the most part to Germany. Agricultural production was greatly reduced by the war, extensive areas being Statistics for agricultural production were not complete, but the following figures were supplied in 1921 for the area and crops of the chief agricultural products in 1920: Wheat, area, 827,000 hectares, and 697,000 metric tons; rye, 3,303,000, and 2,085,000; barley, 841,000, and 878,000; oats, 1,645,000, and 1,870,000; potatoes, 1,671,000, and 19,138,000. In 1921 measures were being taken to put into practice the laws passed by parliament, July 16, 1920, for limiting the size of the large estates and reducing the size of holdings in the neighborhood of cities. The 1921 crop of bread grains, wheat, and rye combined, was put at 4,436,000 metric tons, as compared with 2,782,000 tons in 1920-an increase of nearly 60 per cent. The total yield for 1921 of the four principal crops (wheat, rye, barley, oats) was placed at 7,537,000 metric tons, as against 5,530,000 tons in 1920 and 6,137,000 tons in 1919. MINERAL PRODUCTION. The chief minerals are coal, petroleum, and salt. Before the war the present Polish territories produced an annual average of about 9,000,000 tons of coal which provided for about one-half of the consumption, the rest coming mainly from Upper Silesia. The government made serious efforts to increase the coal output in 1919 and there was a moderate increase in 1920. The total amount of coal produced in Poland in 1920 was 6,658,347 tons, of which 5,114,905 tons were from the Dombrowa Basin and 1,543,442 tons from Galicia. The mines of the Dombrowa furnished pit coal to the amount of 4,873,437 tons and brown coal to the amount of 241,468 tons, while Galicia furnished 1,532,982 tons of pit coal and 10,460 tons of brown coal. In 1921 the increase was very considerable and the output in April of that year was nearly up to the monthly average of 1913. In oil production Poland reached the maximum during 1909 but declined even before ECONOMIC CONDITIONS. The industries of Poland suffered severely during the war and afterwards. The chief recent obstacles have been the lack of coal, lack of railway cars, and the difficulty of getting raw materials. Some progress had been made toward overcoming these obstacles in 1920, the industries showing a considerable advance over the previous year. So far as data were available for comparison, the advance appeared to be continuing during the first half of 1921. Coal during that period showed an output of 3,627,619 metric tons, alcohol a production of 40,000,000 litres of which 30,000,000 would be exported, and cement production about 40 per cent of its prewar output. In the textile industry, production was hampered by the unfavorable exchange. In 1920 the industry was producing at the rate of about 40 per cent to 50 per cent of its prewar capacity in cotton goods and 19 per cent to 26 per cent in woolen goods. In May, 1921, production had risen to 65 per cent in cottons and a little over 40 per cent in woolens and this continued down to the latter part of July when it was checked by labor troubles and difficulties in getting raw materials. There was a marked increase in the production of salt during the first six months of 1921. As to the mining and smelting industries the following table shows the output during the first half of 1921: MINING AND SMELTING DATA, JANUARY-JUNE, Production In Poland there was a better adjustment of wages and living conditions to the increase of prices. Depreciation of the currency seemed to bring less hardship there than in any of the other countries. Wages rose nearly in proportion with the rise of prices; and in the leading industries of the country production was considerably above what it had been during the three preceding years, Cost of living rose during the summer at an exceptional rate after the government abandoned its policy of price control over grain and grain products. This led to strikes for increased wages and to a demand for severe measures against profiteering. There were indications of a great change in foreign trade conditions toward the close of the year. Until that time the value of the imports was many times as great as that of the exports; but during the last six months of the year the proportion was rapidly changing, and estimates indicated that instead of having to import large quantities of grain, the country would be able to export a considerable quantity from the crop of 1921. The annexation of the coal mines of Upper Silesia also exercised a favorable effect on the balance of trade. The exchange value of the mark fell from about $.0005 at the beginning of July to $.00015 at the close of September; rising rapidly to a maximum of about $.00038 early in November, it stood about $.0003 in December. The amount of currency a little more than doubled between July 1 and December 1, standing at the latter date at 207 billions of marks. The new Finance Minister, Dr. Michalski, in October, proposed legislation increasing very greatly the existing taxes, the plan in his opinion being adequate, if adopted, to balance the budget. The Bill was still under discussion at the close of the year. During the summer, the government abandoned its control of food prices and prices rose with more than usual rapidity, the index of the cost of food for a working man's family rising from 1003 on June 30 to 1078 on September 30. COMMERCE. In regard to the general commercial situation the United States Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce supplied the following information: Approximately complete data regarding the weight of goods moving in foreign trade were published for the year 1920, but there were no figures for earlier years as a basis of comparison. During 1920 the reported imports totaled 3,530,000 metric tons and exports 620,000 tons. Over 2,600,000 tons of the imports represented coal from Germany (Upper Silesia). The next most important import was food products, chiefly grain, of which the United States supplied over 100,000 tons besides part of the more than 100,000 tons reported as imported from Dantzig. 342,287 Fuel, part coal and part oil, shipped to Austria accounts for 142,000 tons of the exports. Plant raw materials, chiefly lumber, to the amount of 38,408 about 85,000 tons, were sent to Germany, Dantzig, 6.000 England, and Holland. Food products, mostly potatoes, weighing 107,000 tons, were sent to 47,000 Germany. 3,500 FINANCE. The total expenditures for the 1,000 budget of 1921 were about 209,000,000,000 marks and the receipts about 135,000,000,000 marks, thus leaving a deficit of about 74,000,000,000 marks. in metric 2 Figures for Congress Poland are not yet available. 129 125,786 27,800 300 For first four months of 1921 only; data for May and June not yet available. Seven blast furnaces are operated in the 16 smelting of the Polish railways was being undertaken in RAILWAYS. The rehabilitation and equipment plants. |