studying in the department of chemistry, or chemical engineering, shall have courses in algebra, analytical geometry, and calculus. Many of the leading colleges are adopting courses in unified mathematics which treat those subjects in an elementary way, and at the same time show their relations to practical prohlems. Though an elementary knowledge of mathematics may su0ice for the intelligent reading of most of the articles included in these publications, this is altogether inadequate for those who are engaged in the research work which produces them. The men who meet the mathematical problems presented by physical and chemical phenomena need adequate mathematical training. In some cases even this training is not sufficient, and the problems remain unsolved until some genius attacks them. The method generally employed in universities for the solution of difficult mathematical prohlems seems to he that of referring them to the mathematics department. Several instances of this were evident in the journals. I t might he well to consider the needs of the beginning student in chemistry. I t seems to me that his needs could easily he met by an elementary knowledge of algebra. In general the formulas given in beginning textbooks require only sufficient knowledge of algebra to enable the student to substitute numbers for letters in equations. However useful mathematics may he to the chemist, it is not absolutely necessary. Many nou-mathematical chemists have done brilliant work, and, as the tables show, many of the articles in the periodicals contain no mathematics. Knowledge of mathematics enables a man to correlate and interpret his own results. The function of mathematics is to express clearly and concisely what cannot be expressed in any other way. A mathematical statement is already correlated and digested. I t needs only to be applied.
Element Found by Mme. Curie M a y Help Cure Syphilis. Salvarsan may have a rival in polonium, the radio-active element isolated by Madame Curie, which is how beha .tried out'in treatment of smhilis. ~. This very active element closely resembles hismuth which is a recent and important addition to the list of drugs that have a specific action againlt syphil~s. Its valunhle properties suggested to 1)r. C. Levaditi of the Pastcur Institute the possibility of tryina . the effectsuf the allied element on animals inoculated with this disease. X-ray examination of the rabbits used by Dr. Levaditi and his students showed large quantities of polonium concentrated around the syphilitic lesions though the organism that caused the disease was not killed by the injection of the drug into the blood stream. This may indicate that the injected polonium was being marshaled into serviee along with the white soldier cells of the blood and helps hold the disease in check.-Sciencc Sen&
