Reed College - Griffin Yearbook (Portland, OR)

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REED COLLEGE ANNUAL ;. 1 9 l 5 11611 SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH For some of the Reed students the most distinctiv achiev- ments of their college courses wil be papers embodying the results of original investigations, ritten in connection with their scientific courses. The undergraduates ar expected to obtain much of their material from their own observations, and hav shown that they can, with a little direction, make investiga- tions. The lack of tecnical experience, added to a more or les partial knoledge of general subjects may hav handicapt but has not eliminated the undergraduate from research. In the newer sciences there ar problems awaiting solution which do not require a tecnic difficult of mastery. Some of these prob- lems hav alredy been undertaken in connection with courses other than seminars, and papers haV appeard in varius publica- tions dealing with the subjects of biology, fysics, and sociology. In the foIloing pages ar sketcht the details of some of the research that has recently been attempted. The Role of Random iWovmtzmzts m the Orientation of Porcellio Scaber to Light, by Dr. Torrey and Grace Hays, and The Earthworm and the JVIethod of Trial, by Linus Bittner, Glenn Johnson, and Dr. Torrey, ar papers which ap- peard in the 11mm! of Animal Behavior for March-April, 1914, and January-February, 1915. These papers, as wel as one by Marvin Howes and Dr. Torrey which is now being prepared for publication, deal with the problem of the interpretation of the reactions of organisms to light. The question of whether there is a forst movement depending on an underlying mecan- ism, or whether there is the factor of selection on the part of the organism, has been the crux of a controversy lasting for several years. The evidence in all three papers indicated a forst reaction explainable on a mecanical basis. TWO papers, Feeding the Fingerhng 501112011, by Dr. Torrey, printed in the Oregon Sportsman of September, 1914, and Notes 0n the Rearing of Salmon, by Dr. Torrey and Donald Lancefield, printed in the Transactions of the American Fisheries Society of March, 1915, embody the results of ex- periments carried on by Mr. Lancefield under the direction of Dr. Torrey at the fish hatchery. The results shoed the food value of cookt beef liver and the influence of the volume and shape of the body of water on the development of the fish. Regulation in Vortz'cclla, by Milton Runyan and Dr. Tor- rey was printed in the Biological Bulletin for December, 1914. This paper shoed that the presence of one part of an animal definitly modified the growth of another part, so that the removal of one resulted in a definit change of the other. Glenn Johnson, who has spent two summers in helping to stock the different lakes and streams of Oregon with fish, rote an article for the Oregon Sportsman for September, 1914, the title of which is The Stocking 0f the Cascade Alozmtain Lakes.

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l162l R E E D COLLEGE ANNUAL 4- 1915 Liiidsley Ross, under the direction of Dr. Compton, is studying pseudo-contact differences of potential folloing X-ray discharges, The fenomenon has been observd that if two con- ductors of different materials at brought into contact and then separated they wil hav a difference of potential between them. If the conductors ar used as the electrodes of an X-ray dis- charge in apparatus containing wax the difference is magnified about five hundred times. The experiment is to explain, if possible, this fenonienon. An explanation of the function of rectifying crystals in wireless telegrafy may be developt. Experiments with the DeForest hAudion, an instrument to detect thermionic currents in wireless telegrafy hav been carried on by Joyce Kelly in the fysics department. The object of his experiments was to improve the sensitivness of this in- strument, and thus make possible wireless communication over a greater distance. Altho no definit results hav as yet been workt out, the information at hand seems to indicate that the desired improvements can be made. In the Fysical Review for February, 1915, there appeard the results obtaind by Dr. Compton and Dean XVebster in the development of a method of testing Lord Kelvinis the- oretical formula indicating the amount of heat generated in suddenly stretching a piece of wire. The closest previus ap- proximations to the theoretical result had been with an error of 2.54 percent. By their method the range of error was reduced to .07 percent. The significance of the work was in finding a more accurate method of mesuring heat energy. An experimental test of the molecular theory of magnetism was made by Everett Trousdale tworking with Dr. Comptom in the fysics laboratory. The test consisted of recording X-ray reHections from magnetite and haemitite crystals on foto- grafic plates. No difference was found between the rays reflected from magnetized crystals and non-niagnetized ery- tals, thus disproving a main assumption of the molecular theory that a rearrangement of molecules takes place when a sub- stance is magnetized. Ellis Jones experiment deals with the relation between therino-electromotiv force and contact difference of potential. Dr. Compton has shown from a comparison of certain formulas that a certain relation must hold. The experiment is designd to test this point, rather complicated apparatus being used in order to get exact mesurements of the contact difference of potential between different metals. About a hundred twenty- five dollars worth of radium is being used to ionize the air between the metals. Even if the relation supposed to hold is not proved by the investigation, the results wil probably ad to the experimental knoledge in this comparativly new field of fysics. Probably the most important work of the psycology de- partment is that of giving metal tests to all the college students. The aim is to arrange a set of tests which wil indicate the mental ability of the student, also to determin whether superi-