ISSN 0036-8075

23 March 1979Volume 203, No. 4386

LETTERS Nickel Carbonyl: Prenatal Exposure: J. S. Warner; Good Menus and Fine Recipesfor Absent Cooks: S. Dedijer; Review of Rasmussen Report:B. L. Welch; Sudden Infant Death: E. F. Rogers; PredictiveCoding Techniques: S. Treitel ......................... 1194

EDITORIAL Can Meritocracy in Academe Be Saved?: J. D. Palmer .

ARTICLES Dating and Context of Rock Engravings in Southern Africa:K. W. Butzer et al.

Economic Feasibility of Solar Water and Space Heating: R. H. Bezdek,A. S. Hirshberg, W. H. Babcock .........................

NEWSANDCOMMENT

RESEARCH NEWS

BOOK REVIEWS

Institute of Medicine Report Recommends Complete Overhaulof Food Safety Laws .............. ........ .... . . . . . 1221

Briefing: Gene Splicers Simulate a'"Disaster," Find No Risk;AIP Wins Case with IRS-Other Groups Seek Relief. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1222

On Centennial Fever and Its Ironies .1225The Solar Institute: Hobbled by DOE? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1226

Theoretical Physics Institute Gets Go Ahead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1229

Birds Fly. Why Can't I? ................ ............ . . . . 1230

Extinction and Survival in Human Populations, reviewed by N. Howell;Environmental Stress, J. M. Hanna; Wood as an Energy Resource,J. 1. Zerbe; Books Received. 1235.... .. 1235

REPORTS Tropopause Detection by Partial Specular Reflection with Very-High-Frequency Radar: K. S. Gage andJ. L. Green . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1238

Climatic Ice Core Records from the Tropical Quelccaya Ice Cap:L. G. Thompson, S. Hastenrath, B. M. Arnao .... . . . . . . . .. . ... . 1240

L Amino Acids and D-Glucose Bind Stereospecifically to a Colloidal Clay:S. C. Bondy and M. E. Harrington . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1243

Circadian Rhythm of Serotonin N-Acetyltransferase Activity in Organ Cultureof Chicken Pineal Gland: T. Deguchi. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1245

Mitochondrial DNA Analyses and the Origin and Relative Age of ParthenogeneticLizards (Genus Cnemidophorus): W. M. Brown and J. W. Wright . . . . . . . . 1247

Modified Bases Characterized in Intact DNA by Mass-Analyzed Ion KineticEnergy Spectrometry: A. E. Schoen, R. G. Cooks, J. L. Wiebers . . . . . . . . 1249

Premature Senescence in Cultured Skin Fibroblasts from Subjects withCystic Fibrosis: B. L. Shapiro, L. F.-H. Lam, L. H. Fast .... . ...... 1251

Methane Efflux from Lake Sediments Through Water Lilies: J. W. H. DaceyandM . J. Klug . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1253

Hydrogenase in Rhizobium japonicum Increases Nitrogen Fixation byNodulated Soybeans: S. L. Albrecht et al .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1255

Ammonia Volatilization from Senescing Leaves of Maize: G. D. Farquhar,R. Wetselaar, P. M. Firth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1257

Mediatory Role of Calcium and Guanosine 3',5'-Monophosphate inAdrenocorticotropin-Induced Steroidogenesis by Adrenal Cells:J.-P. Perchellet andR. K. Sharma ...... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1259

Narcotic Analgesia: Fentanyl Reduces the Intensity but Not the Unpleasantness ofPainful Tooth Pulp Sensations: R. H. Gracelb, R. Dubner, P. A. McGrath . . . 1261

Possible Mechanism for Pressurized-Liquid Tank Explosions or BLEVE's:R . C. Reid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1263

Technical Comments: Noradrenaline and Seizures: S. T. Mason andM. E. Corcoran ;B. Tabakoff, J. Yanai, R. F. Ritzmann; Carbon'sHigh-Temperature Behavior: H. L. Strauss: A. G. Whittaker . . . . . . . . . . 1265

PRODUCTS AND Automated Analysis of Particle Size Distribution; Bench-Top Centrifuge;MATERIALS Pipette Tips Free of Trace Metals; Titrator; Standards for Liquid

Scintillation Counting; Photomicrograph Scale Marker; ImplantableMicroprobe for Thermometry; Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . 1268

COVER

Fifty-meter ice cliff near the margin ofthe 5650-meter tropical Quelccaya icecap which is located in the southeast-ern Peruvian Andes. The individuallayers, representing annual incrementsof accumulation, average 0.75 meter inthickness. This marked stratigraphy of-

~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~ers the prospect of the first climaticrecord from a tropical ice core. Seepage 1240. [Lonnie G. Thompson, In-stitute of Polar Studies, Ohio StateUniversity, Columbus]

23 March 1979, Volume 203, Number 4386

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SCIENCE

Meritocracy in Academe Be Saved?it curious that anti-intellectualism is so common among educators? Ithe dismal ebbing of standards that we have permitted to occur at allof American education, especially during the last decade and a half.rather than performance, is now so well rewarded that the most com-ade given in many of our universities is an A. Full credit can bed even though nothing may have been learned and no intellectualattained. Courses such as candle making, yoga, and fly fishing oftenie same college credit as quantum mechanics, cell physiology, andI chemistry.Superintendent of Schools for Hawaii announced that a diplomabe given on attendance-only. When a guerrilla group of educatorsd a county school system in Virginia to a promotion on achievementsis, shocked newsmen called it a "new idea" and "an experiment,"orted that educators from all over the country were seeking informa-out this innovative program. The once great City College of Newvhich for 54 years produced more graduates who went on to earnLtes than all but one other American college, dropped all entranceds in 1969. Now, in a struggle to regain some of what they volun-ave away, they demand from entrants a ninth grade ability in math.the professionalism is gone from our profession. To rectify our fol-restore the public's confidence in us are our most pressing tasks

vay to restore our credibility is to reverse grade inflation-a sicknessreached epidemic proportions. For the past 15 years, as Scholastic

[e Test scores have steadily fallen, the number of high grades given iny every university in the country has steadily increased. The eclipse[lence in education is widely recognized and universally criticizedn cartoon form) by responsible journalists. This false certification injal classrooms culminates in the graduation of uneducated studentsrts and science programs and nonjourneymen from professionalArmed with only leatherette sheepskins, many cannot hold down

eserved" for graduates. The truly worthy graduates-whose gradesn indistinguishable from those of the inept-are disillusioned whenWtive employers are unimpressed with their credentials.stories call attention to the poor job market for college graduatesnumber ofgraduates working in positions previously filled by peopled not attended college. In how many of these cases is the mismatchn the graduate and the diploma, rather than the graduate and the job?e already transferred some of our responsibility to postgraduate em-and to the school of hard knocks. Unless we reverse this trend, evenour graduates will have to be evaluated by business and governmentfore they-and we-are certified competent. Businesses are alreadyig millions to provide the training that we have failed to give theirirce. Although our students are not receiving failing grades, we are.nost important task ahead for all educators is that of reinstating stan-tnd reestablishing credibility with the public. Accomplishing thewill result in the latter. Of all the academic disciplines, the sciences,ineering have relaxed their standards the least. It is logical then thatup could most easily become the initiating force in an effort to re-i academic meritocracy. I hope that in every academic institution abntists will rise and lead the rest of their colleagues in returning integ-pedagogy.-JOHN D. PALMER, Chairman, Department of Zoology,ity of Massachusetts, Amherst 01003