The New York herald., 1921-12-31
SCIENTISTS DISCUSS
TURTLE AND SHARK
Tortoise Travels Mile in Four
Years-Shark Has DOu-
BILE Brain.

TORONTO, Dec. 30-The American AS
sociation for the Advancement of Science
had many sided session to-day, elect
ing officers, homologating n new speed
record. discussing a double Drained
shark and debating what language man
should use.
The new speed record which was
homologated--a mile and a fraction in
three years eleven months and nineteen
days-was made by one of 166 turtles
tagged and turned loose by Prof. A. A.
Pearse of the University of Wisconsin.
who is engaged in studying the shell
backs. The record was authenticated in
his report, which also set forth that the
166 entrants In a five month period
achieved ar average distance of 115
yards. The race was run on the swampy
shores of Lake Mendoza, at Madison.
Wis. where Prof Pearse had computed
there are five to twenty-five turtles an
acre.
Competing with the turtles for popular
interest was rare specimen of shar,.
or dogflsh exhibited to the scientists by
Prof. Edward E. Prince. Canadian Com
missioner of Fisheries. Well equipped
for this era OF advanced thought was
this shark, for Prof. Prince deduced
from the construction of its head that 1t
possessed double brain.
Just as in the war the. airplane sowed
death and destruction upon the earth
below, so in peace may 1t be used. sci
entists explained to-day, to spread the
poison Of death upon areas devastated
by diseases or insects. A striking in
stance of this use of the flying machine
was given before the economic" ento-
mology section by j. S. Houser and c.
r. Nellie.
A six acre catalpa grove at Troy,
Ohio. which contained 1916 trees. rang
ing in height from twenty TO thirty feet,
they said, was being destroyed by the
catalpa sphinx, which was stripping the
trees Of their foliage, An airplane car
rying the poison was only fifty-four Sec
onds in spreading an insect poison, doing
It go effectively, they said, that 80 per
cent OF the caterpillars were destroyed
While statisticians. were computing
that approximately 100000 words had
been spoken during the five day conven-
tion OF the association the scientists
plunged into the question of what Ian
guage man should use. The association
had been asked by a special committee
headed by S. w. Stratton. director of the
United States bureau of standards. to
come out in favor of an international
auxiliary language" to supplement the
native American, Asiatic, European and
Polynesian tongues. 1t was suggested
that the task be split up so that the
American Physical Society might study
the problem of producing standard sound
waves representing an alphabet while
the American Philiogical Society might
grapple with vocabularies.
Prof. James Playfair McMurrich of
the University of Toronto was elected
president of the association. which will
hold it's 1922 convention in Boston.
The vice-presidents and chairmen Sc
lected for the different sections follow
Mathematics. A. A. Miller. University
of Illinois physics, Fred A, Saunders,
Harvard chemistry, w. Lash Miller.
University of Toronto; geology and
geography. Charles p. Becky. Columbia (:
geological sciences. Mainard NJ. Met
calfe. Oberlin botany, Frances T.. Lloyd.
McGill psychology, Raymond Dodge.
Wesleyan: social and economic service,
Henry S. Graves. Washington. ID. G. (;
historical and pathological services, w
b. Lacy, Northwestern University; engi-
neerng, George +. Swayne. Harvard +;
medical science, Frances w. Peabody,
Harvard Medical School: agriculture. r.
w. Thatcher. University of Minnesota.
Newly elected council members were
+. G.. Cottrell. Washington, ID. c.: I.
Mex. Cattrell. Harrison. N. v; Henry
C. Cowles, University of Chicago; I. c.
Merriam. Carnegie Institute of WASH
ington. Washington, ID. G.
Newly elected members of the execu-
tive committee were Simon Flexner.
Rockefeller Institute for Medical Re-
search. New York. and w. J. Humphrey.
United States Weather Bureau.
The committee on grants for scientific
research includes f. r. Moulton. Chi
cago; Edward l.. Nichols, Cornell. and
Edwin G. Conklin. princeton.