ture." by J. B. Pollock; "Trillium grandiflorum (Michx.) Salisb.: Its Variations, Normal and Teratological," by Charles A. Davis; "Contributions on Wild and Cultivated Roses of Wisconsin and Bordering States," by J. H. Schuette; "A Discussion of the Structural Characters of the Order Pezizineæ of Schroeter," by Elias J. Durand; "The Taxonomic Value of Fruit Characters in the Genus Galium," by Karl M. Wiegand; "The Toxic Action of Phenols on Plants," by Rodney H. True and C. G. Hunkel; "Cellulose Ferment," by Frederick C. Newcombe; "Is the Characteristic Acridity of Certain Species of the Arum Family a Mechanical or a Physiological Property or Effect?" by Charles P. Hart: How Plants flee from their Enemies," by William J. Beal; "Movements of Phyllanthus," by Daniel T. MacDougal; "Stomata on the Bud Scales of Abies pectinata," "Comparative Anatomy of the Normal and Diseased Organs of Abies Balsamea (L) Miller, affected with cidium elatinum (Alb. et Schwein.)," and "On a New and Improved Self-Registering Balance," by Alexander P. Anderson; "The Correlation of Growth under the Influence of Injuries," by Charles O. Townsend; and The Botanical Collection of the Cornell Arctic Expedition of 1896," by W. W. Rowlee and Karl M. Wiegand.

H. Anthropology. The presiding officer of this section was Mr. WJ McGee, of the Bureau of American Ethnology, Washington city. The secretary originally elected for this section was Harlan I. Smith, of New York city, but as he was unable to be present, Dr. Anita N. McGee was chosen to fill the vacancy. Mr. McGee addressed the section on "The Science of Humanity." After discussing the views of students and the definitions of lexicographers, humanity was defined as (1) attributes or characteristics confined to human beings, comprising (a) the condition or quality of being humani.e., of acting, feeling, and thinking after the manner of human beings, (b) the character of being humane, and (c) the character of being well-bred; (2) mankind collectively; (3) secular learning and literature. "The supreme importance of humanity as thus defined is indicated by the fact that it is the foremost subject-matter of thought and speech and literature among all peoples, its prominence increasing from savagery through barbarism and civilization and culminating in enlightenment. Just as living things rise above the mineral world by the possession of vitality, and as animals rise above plants by the possession of motility, so do human beings rise above all other things by the possession of specific attributes rooting in mentality and maturing in the complex activities of collective life; or just as inorganic matter is the basis for the essentially distinct organic existence, so organic matter and processes form the basis for the essentially distinct superorganic activities of human existence." The development of knowledge in general was so set forth as to indicate the scientific method, and the growth of exact knowledge was indicated by a review in which it was shown that science has progressed from the rare to the common, from the remote to the near, from the abnormal to the normal, from the merely qualitative to the quantitative, from the material aspect to the physical aspect, and from primitive faith in fixity to living realization of causal succession. Turning specially to man, it was shown that scientific study began with abnormal aspects and conditions of the human body and developed into a science of the body frequently called somatology; that scientific study, shaped largely by the methods of biology, extended to the races of men or ethnology, and that during recent years research has been concentrated on the human brain and its operations through the mod

ern science of psychology. Noting that these branches of knowledge pertain to the animal side of man, it was shown that human handiwork next received scientific scrutiny, that the science of archæology was based on them, and that archæology and ethnology were long regarded as constituting the whole of anthropology. "At first the products of ancient and alien handiwork were accepted at their token value, much like the chemic elements before Avogadro, the planetary movements before Newton, our sun and others before the doctrine of the persistence of motion, the organic species before Darwin; but within a generation or two it has come to be realized that they possess an innate value as exponents of intellectual activity-as ideals of human creation, collectively attesting the birth and growth of discovery and invention, design and motive, and all other human faculties. . When the anthropologist first saw in the implement of shell or stone an index to the mental operations of the implement maker hardly less definite than the written page to the thought of the writer, the science of man rose to a higher plane with a bound comparable to those marking great epochs in the development of the other sciences." Then the activities were classified, and serve to define five sciences of humanity-viz., the fine arts or æsthetics, giving basis for æsthetology; industries, forming the object matter of technology; organizations or institutions, affording foundation for sociology; language and literature, with their science of philology; and the great plasma of knowledge, forming the object matter of sophiology. These five sciences are sometimes combined under the term demonomy, in contradistinction from physical anthropology; and this system of organized knowledge concerning wholly human things is designated the greater science of humanity.

The following-named papers were read and discussed before the section:" Prehistoric Implements from Charlevoix, Michigan," by H. P. Parmelee; "An Archæological Map of Ohio," by Warren K. Morehead; The Right of Adoption as practiced by the Osage Tribe "and" The Import of the Totem: A Study of the Omaha Tribe," by Alice Fletcher; Micmac Mortuary Customs," by Stansbury Hagar; "Recent Researches, by George Byron Gordon, on the Banks of the Ullva River in Honduras, for the Peabody Museum" and "The Jesup Expedition and the Asiatic-American Problem," by Frederic W. Putnam; "The Tagbanuas of the Philippines," and "The Mangyan of the Philippines," by Dean C. Worcester; "The Significance of John Eliot's Natick," by William W. Tooker; ".A Description of an Ancient Skeleton found in Adobe Deposits in the Valley of Mexico" and "Anthropologic Work of New York State Pathological Institute," by A. Hrdlicka; "The Ethnologic Arrangement of Archæologic Material " and " Popular Anthropology in Museums," by Harlan I. Smith; "An Experimental Analysis of the Relations of Rate of Movement to Certain Other Mental and Physical Processes," by Lightner Witmer; "A Statistical Study of Eminent Men," by J. McKeen Cattell; "A Case of Trepanning in Northwestern Mexico," by Carl Lumholtz; " Decoration of the Teeth in Ancient America," by Marshall H. Saville; "The Artificialization of Animals and Plants," by Otis T. Mason; "The Origin of Art as manifested in the Work of Prehistoric Man," by Thomas Wilson; "The Superstitions, Beliefs, and Practices of the Ancient Mexicans," by Zelia Nuttall; "The Study of Ceremony," by Washington Matthews; "Koreshanity: A Latter-day Cult," by Anita N. McGee; "The Serpent Symbol in Nicaragua and Yucatan" and "Comparison of Cherokee and European Symbolism." by Stephen D. Peet; "Origin of the Week and Holy Day among Primi

tive Peoples," by Robert J. Floody: "Surveys of Ancient Cities in Mexico," by William II. Holmes; An Ancient Figure of Terra Cotta from the Valley of Mexico," by Marshall H. Saville. On the afternoon of Aug. 11 this section met in joint session with Section E, when the following papers were read and discussed: "The Geographical Distribution of a Certain Kind of Pottery in Mexico and Central America." by Marshall H. Saville; "Early Man of the Delaware Valley," by Frederick W. Putnam; "On the Implement-bearing Sand Deposits at Trenton, N. J.," by H. B. Kummel; "Discussion of the Relics from the Sand Deposits on the Lalor Farm," by George F. Wright; "Archæological Researches in the Trenton Gravels," by William H. Holmes; "Report of an Examination of the Trenches dug on the Lalor Farm, July 25-29," by Henry C. Mercer; "Investigation in the Land Deposits of the Lalor Field," by Thomas Wilson; "Geologic Age of the Relic-bearing Deposits at Trenton, N. J.," by Rollin D. Salisbury; and Genesis of Implement Making," by Frank H. Cushing.

1. Economic Science and Statistics.-The presiding officer of this section was Richard T. Colburn, of Elizabeth, N. J., who chose as the subject of his address" Improvident Civilization." At the outset he said: "When we speak of value, equivalency, wealth, risk, trust, distrust, panic, prosperity, we are dealing not with concrete substances like gold pieces, but with states of mind; yet these ideas lie at the foundation of commercial exchanges and monetary science. Have any of you ever imagined what would happen if some modern Rosicrucian should succeed in the turning of base metals cheaply into gold? No one can maintain that this is impossible." Then describing the conditions that would be likely to ensue and making the fact very clear that the present monetary standard was by no manner of means a fixed one, he asked the question, “Shall we have to wait for such an accident for the settlement of a monetary system?" "Our present civilization," he said, is apt to be lopsided; its contour is asymmetrical; it is not abreast of the knowledge of the time, and is not yielding to mankind nearly the amount of comfort and wellbeing it might be made to do. From a great number of social ills and shortcomings, due chiefly to this overlapping of the race upon its adult stages, I select a few of the more serious, which will require many centuries to correct themselves in order to raise the inquiry among you whether it is not within the compass of human endeavor to accelerate a better state, not merely to gratify an altruistic impulse, nor yet in fulfillment of ethical ideals, but as a deliberate choice of diverging policies." The waste of war and constant preparation for war was cited as "a malign heritage that has haunted mankind as far back as can be traced." Continuing, he said: "The abstraction of numbers by warfare and privations of army life do not account for the decline and degradation of the great empires of the past. Is there a natural term of life for races, as for individuals-a cycle of growth, maturity, and senility?" He contended that there was a well-founded suspicion that what is now happening to France will, in due time, happen to other nations from the same causes. "Is the fate of Rome, Carthage, Venice, Thebes to be repeated?" The subjects of pernicious competition, spendthrift, luxury, the blight of parasitism, and the rôle of superstitions were discussed at length. In closing, he said: "The decay of faith and the crumbling of dogma, already giving anxiety to thoughtful men within the ecclesiastical pale, is giving rise to the question, What is to become of morality when its supernatural sanction is lost?""

The following-named papers were read and discussed before the section: "Civil-Service Reform: (1) Conflict with the Spoil System in the State of New York; (2) Relation of the System to the Question of the State and Municipal Ownership of QuasiPublic Works," by William H. Hale; "The Economic Position of Women" and "The Competition of Gratuitous Workers," by Mary Forster; "Labor Restrictions as Potent Factors in Social Evolution," by Charles P. Hart; "Racial Determination: The Increase of Suicide," by Lawrence Irwell; "Wheat Consumption in the United States," by Henry Farquhar; "The True Meaning of the Sugar Schedule of the New Tariff," by Harvey W. Wiley; The United States Idea of Laying out the Public Lands and the Evils resulting therefrom," by Bolton W. DeCourcy: "Contributions to the Development of Meteorology by the Smithsonian Institution," by Marcus Benjamin; "The Promotion of Agricultural Science," by I. P. Roberts; “Weights of Bees, and the Loads they carry," by Charles P. Gillette; "Annual Growth of Forest Trees," by William R. Lazenby; "The Municipal System of Ontario," by Charles C. James; and "A Note on the Silver Question," by Archibald Blue.

Popular Features.-Subsequent to the delivery of the presidential address on the evening of Aug. 9, an informal reception was given by the citizens of Detroit in the rooms of the Central High School, and on Aug. 13 a social reunion and reception was given by the Ladies' Reception Committee. Special excursions were made by the chemical section to the works of Frederick Stearns & Co. and Parke, Davis & Co., on Aug. 11, and by the botanical section to the hothouses of Thomas Berry at Grosse Pointe on Aug. 12, while also on Aug. 12 a large delegation of the association visited the waterworks in response to a special invitation sent them by the commissioners. For each of these excursions special cars were provided and the visitors were entertained with refreshments. The great excursion of the meeting was made on Aug. 14, when the local committee provided a steamboat and conducted the association on a water trip through the United States Ship Canal in Lake Ste. Claire Flats, and through the many islets which have been reclaimed from the shallows of that body of water.

Affiliated Organizations.-Other scientific associations, taking advantage of the gathering of so many members at the meeting of the American Association, have adopted the practice of holding meetings at the same place, and contemporaneous with the American Association, but at such hours as not to interfere with the regular sessions of the larger body. The fifteenth general meeting of the American Chemical Society was held in Detroit on Aug. 9 and 10 under the presidency of Charles B. Dudley, of Altoona, Pa., and with Albert C. Hale, of Brooklyn, N. Y., as secretary. Its meetings were held in joint session with the chemical section of the American Association, and during the days mentioned its president presided, while later the president of the chemical section filled the chair. The regular annual meeting of the Society for the Promotion of Agricultural Science was held on Aug. 10 and 11. Its president was William R. Lazenby, of Columbus, Ohio, and he was succeeded by Byron Halstead, of New Brunswick, N. J., while Charles S. Plumb, of Lafayette, Ind., was continued as secretary. The ninth summer meeting of the Geological Society of America was held on Aug. 10 and 11, under the presidency of Edward Orton, of Columbus, Ohio, and with Herman L. Fairchild, of Rochester, N. Y., as secretary. Like the Chemical Society, it met in joint session with Section E of the association. The Association of Economic Entomologists held its ninth annual meeting in the

Central High School on Aug. 12 and 13, under the presidency of Francis M. Webster, of Worcester, Ohio, and with Charles L. Marlatt, of Washington city, as its secretary. Herbert Osborn, of Ames, Iowa, was elected to the presidency for the ensuing year, and Mr. Marlatt continued in his office as secretarytreasurer. The Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education and the American Mathematical Society met in Toronto during the meeting of the British Association. As usual, during the meeting the Botanical Club of the association held regular meetings, with Samuel M. Tracy, of Agricultural College, Miss., as president and Edward S. Burgess, of New York city, as secretary.

Final Sessions.-The final sessions of the association were held on Aug. 13. At the morning session the time and place of the next meeting as proposed by the council, together with the list of officers nominated by the council, were duly accepted by the association, while at the evening session the usual "thanksgiving" meeting was held, at which the votes of recognition to the local authorities and others were passed. The more important business transacted consisted of a series of amendments to the constitution by means of which the power of the council was considerably extended and also the selection of officers with the naming of the place of meeting was given over entirely to the nominating committee. Section H, on anthropology, was granted permission to hold a winter meeting, and the council recommended to the association the movement to raise funds for a statue of Galileo Ferraris. A grant of $100 from the research fund was made to the marine biological laboratory, Woods Holl. Committees to extend the influence of the association into the secondary schools and to secure uniform nomenclature in scientific terms used in commerce, were appointed.

The meeting was a small one as far as members were concerned, only 291 persons registering, but the success of the event was largely enhanced by the presence of numerous scientists who came to attend the meeting of the British Association. There were 136 persons elected to membership and 50 persons advanced to the grade of fellowship.

The Next Meeting.-The association will celebrate in 1897 the fiftieth anniversary of its foundation, and it was recommended by the council to meet on that occasion in Boston, as that city was the place where in 1847 it was decided to reorganize the American Association of Geologists and Naturalists as the American Association for the Advancement of Science at the meeting to be held in 1848. The date named for the meeting is Aug. 22, 1898. The following officers were chosen: President, Frederic W. Putnam, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. Vice-presidents of sections: A, Mathematics and Astronomy, Edward E. Barnard, Yerkes Observatory, Chicago, Ill.; B, Physics, Frank P. Whitman, Adelbert College, Cleveland, Ohio; C, Chemistry, Edgar F. Smith, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa.; D, Mechanical Science and Engineering, Mortimer E. Cooley, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich.; E, Geology and Geography, Herman L. Fairchild, University of Rochester, Rochester, N. Y.; F, Zoology, Alpheus S. Packard, Brown University, Providence, R. I.: G, Botany, William G. Farlow, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.; H. Anthropology, J. McKeen Cattell, Columbia University, New York city; I, Economic Science and Statistics, Archibald Blue, Director of Bureau of Mines, Toronto, Canada. Permanent secretary, Leland O. Howard, Department of Agriculture, Washington city. General secretary, David S. Kellicott, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. Secretary of the council, Frederick Bedell, Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. Secretaries of the sec

tions: A, Alexander Ziwet, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich.; B, Edward B. Rosa, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn.; C, Charles Baskerville, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N. C.; D, William S. Aldrich, University of West Virginia, Morgantown, W. Va.; E, Warren Upham, St. Paul, Minn.; F, Charles W. Stiles, Department of Agriculture, Washington city; G. Erwin F. Smith, Department of Agriculture, Washington city; H, Marshall H. Saville, American Museum of Natural History, New York city; I, Marcus Benjamin, United States Natural Museum, Washington city. Treasurer, Robert S. Woodward, Columbia University, New York city.

British. The sixty-seventh annual meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science was held in Toronto, Canada, Aug. 18-25. The officers of the association were: President, Sir John Evans. Presidents of sections: A, Mathematics and Physics, A. R. Forsyth; B, Chemistry, William Ramsay; C, Geology, George M. Dawson; D, Zoology, Louis C. Miall; E, Geography, J. Scott

Keltie; F, Economic Science and Statistics, E. C. K. Conners; G, Mechanical Science, George F. Deacon; H, Anthropology, Sir William Turner; I, Physiology, Michael Foster; K, Botany, H. Marshall Ward. General secretaries, A. G. Vernon Harcourt and E. A. Schaefer, but owing to the absence of the latter W. C. Roberts-Austen filled his place. General treasurer, Arthur W. Rucker.

General Meeting.-The association began its proceedings with a meeting of the general committee on Aug. 18. In the absence of Lord Lister, the chair was taken by Sir John Evans, the president-elect. The report of the council was presented by Prof. W. C. Roberts-Austen, who acted as general secretary. It contained a recommendation nominating Sir Donald Smith, High Commissioner for the Dominion of Canada, the Hon. Arthur Sturgis Hardy, Premier of the Province of Ontario, and the Mayor of Toronto, vice-presidents of the association. The council was informed by Mr. Vernon Harcourt that he did not intend to offer himself for re-election as general secretary. had held the office of general secretary for fourteen years, and the council expressed their sense of the invaluable services which he had constantly rendered to the association during that period, and recom

He

scarcer, and that his life in consequence assumed a more nomad character? Then, and possibly not till then, may a series of migrations to fresh woods and pastures new' not unnaturally have ensued, and these following the usual course of westward toward the setting sun' might eventually lead to a paleolithic population finding its way to the extreme borders of western Europe, where we find such enormous traces of its presence."

Proceedings of the Sections. A. Mathematics and Physics.-This section was presided over by Prof. A. R. Forsyth, who fills the Salerian chair of Pure Mathematics in the University of Cambridge. His address consisted of a plea for the unrestricted cultivation of pure mathematics as a science, which he contended was desirable in itself and for its own sake. At the outset the speaker referred to the steps that had been taken by the British Government toward the establishment of a national physical laboratory. He summed up his arguments as follows: "I have tried to show that, in order to secure the greatest benefit for those practical or pure sciences which use mathematical results or methods, a deeper source of possible advantage can be obtained by developing the subject independently than by keeping the attention fixed chiefly upon the applications that may be made. Even if no more were said, it might be conceded that the unrestricted study of mathematics would thereby be justified. But there is another side to this discussion, and it is my wish now to speak very briefly from the point of view of the subject itself, steadily growing and full of increasing vitality. Unless some account be taken of this position, an adequate estimate of the subject can not be framed; in fact, nearly the greater part of it will thus be omitted from consideration. For it is not too much to say that, while many of the most important developments have not been brought into practical application, yet they are as truly real contributions to human knowledge as are the disinterested developments of any other of the branches included in the scope of pure science. It will readily be conceded for the present purpose that knowledge is good in and by itself, and that the pursuit of pure knowledge is an occupation worthy of the greatest efforts which the human intellect can make. A refusal to concede so much would, in effect, be a condemnation of one of the cherished ideals of our race. But the mere pursuit or the mere assiduous accumulation of knowledge is not the chief object; the chief object is to possess it sifted and rationalized-in fact, organized into truth. To achieve this end, instruments are requisite that may deal with the respective well-defined groups of knowledge, and for one particular group we use the various sciences. There is no doubt that in this sense mathematics is a great instrument."

This section, owing to the large number of papers presented before it, divided itself at times into subsections, as follow: On meteorology, on electricity, and on general physics.

Among the more important papers presented before this section were the following: "On the Unification of Time," by J. A. Patterson; “On a Photographic Record of Objective Combination Tones," by Arthur W. Rucker, R. Forsyth, and R. Sowter; On the Determination of the Surface Tensions of Water and of Certain Dilute Aqueous Solutions by Means of the Method of Ripples," by N. E. Dorsey; "On a New Method of determining the Specific Heat of a Liquid in Terms of the In⚫ternational Electric Units," by H. L. Callendar; "On the Behavior of Argon in X-Ray Tubes," by H. L. Callendar and N. N. Evans: "On the Fuel Supply and Air Supply of the World," by Lord

66

Kelvin ; A Canadian and Imperial Hydrographic Survey," by A. Johnson; “On the Specific Heat of Superheated Steam," by Prof. Ewing and Stanley Dunkerley; "New Varieties of Cathode Rays," "An Experiment with a Bundle of Glass Plates," and "A Tangent Photometer," by S. P. Thompson; "On the Spectra of Oxygen, Sulphur, and Selenium," by C. Runge and F. Paschen; "The Influence of Pressure on Spectral Lines," by J. Larmor; "Changes in the Wave Frequencies of the Lines of Emission Spectra of Elements," by W. J. Humphreys; "On the Constitution of the Electric Spark," by Arthur Schuster; "A Reduction of Rowland's Value of the Mechanical Equivalent of Heat to the Paris Hydrogen Scale," by W. S. Day; "A Comparison of Rowland's Mercury Thermometer with a Griffiths's Platinum Thermometer," by F. Mallory and C. W. Waidner; “Monthly and Annual Rainfalls in the British Empire, 1877 to 1896," by John Hopkinson; "On the Temperature of Europe," by Van Rijckevorsel; "The Climatology of Canada," by R. F. Stupart; "The Great Lakes as a Sensitive Barometer," by F. Napier Denison; "Slow Refrigeration of the Chinese Climate," by J. Edkins: “Progress of the Exploration of the Air with Kites," by A. L. Rotch; "Meteorites, Solid and Gelatinous," by Otto Huhn; "November Meteors and November Flood Traditions," by R. G. Haliburton; "On the Solution of the Cubic Equation," by Alexander Macfarlane; "The Historical Development of the Abelian Functions," by Harris Hancock; "On a Notation in Vector Analysis," by O. Henrici; "New Harmonic Analyses," by Albert A. Michelson and S. W. Stratton; "The Multipartite Partitions of Numbers which possess Symmetrical Graphs in Three Dimensions," by P. A. MacMahon; "Kites for Meteorological Uses," by C. F. Marvin; "The Quinquisection of the Cyclotomic Equation," by J. Larmor; "Increase of Segmental Vibrations in Aluminium Violins," by Alfred Springer; "Demonstrations on the Form of Alternating Currents," by Prof. Braun; "Note on an Electrical Oscillator," by Nicola Tesla; "An Electric Curve Tracer," by Edward B. Rosa; "On the Use of the Interferometer in the Study of Electric Waves." by G. F. Hull; "Oscillographs," by W. D. B. Duddell; "On the Calculation of the Coefficient

of Mutual Induction of a Circle and a Co-axial Helix," by J. V. Jones; "On a Determination of the Ohm made in testing the Lorenz Apparatus of the McGill University," by W. E. Ayrton and J. V. Jones; "The Relations between Arc Curves and Crater Ratios with Cored Positive Carbons,' by Mrs. Ayrton; "On the Source of Luminosity in the Electric Arc," by Henry Crew and O. H. Basquin; "On Some New Forms of Gas Batteries and a New Carbon-Consuming Battery," by Willard E. Case; "On the Determination of the State of Ionization in Dilute Aqueous Solutions containing Two Electrolytes," by J. G. MacGregor; "An Apparatus for verifying the Law of Conservation of Energy in the Human Body," by Wilbur O. Atwater and Edward B. Rosa; "The Rate of Decrease of the Intensity of Shrill Sounds with Time," by A. W. Duff; "A New Instrument for measuring the Intensity of Sound," by A. G. Webster and B. F. Sharpe; "Atmosphere in its Effects on Astronomical Observation," by Percival Lowell; "Automatic Operations of Eclipse Instruments," by David P. Todd; "The Cause of the Semiannual Inversions of the Type Solar Curve in the Terrestrial Magnetic Field and "Observations at Toronto with Magnet Watch Integrator," by Frank H. Bigelow; "The Yerkes Observatory," by George E. Hale; "The Effects of Tension and Quality of the Metal upon the Changes in Length produced in Iron Wires by Magnetization," by B.