386 SCHOOL SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS

can be seen from the picture, mathematics is the foundation and thevitalizing energy for the basic sciences such as astronomy, botany,chemistry, geology, and physics and together with them furnishesstrong support for the applied sciences in the higher branches, suchas the social studies like economics and sociology, and engineering ofvarious kinds. A copy of this mural should be hung in every mathe-matics classroom.The fact that mathematics is so important is not surprising to one

who is properly informed with respect to the contributions mathe-matics has made to the other great fields of knowledge and to civili-zation, but many citizens, including a number of educators, are stillunaware of the strategic place mathematics really occupies in worldaffairs today. It should be the business of those of us who are interestedprimarily in mathematics to help make clear just where and howmathematics can be of real sercice, and what can be done to securethis service by teaching mathematics better in the secondary school.

each or 50i per dozen. Larger copies for the classroom 25^X38"’ in colors may be obtained for 30^ each postpaidfrom the Business Manager of The Museum of Science and Industry, Jackson Park, Chicago, Dlinois.

CLAMS DON’T "CLAM UP"; GIVE UP SCIENTIFIC SECRETS

The clam has always enjoyed a reputation for reticence�but now it is givingup secrets of considerable interest to science.So says Dr. K. P. Rao, marine zoologist from India who is doing research at

the University of California at Los Angeles on the "living rate" of shellfish. Hedefines living rate as "the efficiency in utilization of elements taken in by theanimal."

Dr. Rao has found that clams live "faster" at high tide than at low tide andthat this variation continues at periods corresponding to tide levels even when theclam is placed in a laboratory aquarium.He has also found that clams live "faster" at lower depths than nearer the

surface and that northern clams live "faster" and have thicker shells than thosein southern waters.The variation in living rate with tide levels is still somewhat of a puzzle. One

theory is that clams become conditioned to changes in water pressure due tothe tides, and this response continues regardless of environment.There is, however, a clue to the shell thickness differences. Clams can take in

calcium, much of which is deposited in the shell, directly from sea water, It isknown that calcium ions are more available in cold water than warm water.Perhaps for this reason the colder the water the thicker the shell, says the Indianzoologist.

New refrigerator freezes ice "cubes" without trays and stores them in a basket,automatically replacing them as they are used. Actually crescent-shaped bits ofice, the "cubes" are said to be drier than the ordinary ice cubes and will not sticktogether in the storage basket.