Evening Star Newspaper, August 19, 1891, Page 6

- THE EVENING STAR: WASHINGTON. D.C... WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19, 1891. VOTARIES OF SCIENCE. The Great Association That Begins Its Sessions Today. POINTS FROM ITS HISTORY. The Thirty-nine Previous Mectings—Men Who Have Presided Over It—The Present Oficers—The Sections and the Men at Their Head. Dating from the organization of the parent society, the American Association of Geologists and Naturalista, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, which began its sessions in this city today, is only ten years anger than the British association, which is w also holding its ann val » jon. The Amer- jean association, like the British, has accom- plished much in the way of promoting scientific inquiry and spreading scientific knowledge. By reason of its widespread membership, it is | thoroughly representative of acientific work and scientific thought of America. Its honors are sought by scientific men as azaong the highest that be conferred upon them. The pres- ent membership is over 2,200, embracing nearly every scientific man in the United States, but the actual attendance at meetings does not usu- ally exceed 700. The official time given for the association meeting is from August 17 to September 2. These dates have been fixed in order to allow members to anite with and attend the meet- ings of other scientitic societies, ineluding that of the international congress of geologists, which will hold its first meeting ta th: during the last week in August The nerel sessions of the association, however, Qeein today, and will be concluded next Satur- be Feo ‘evening's session the address of the retiring president, Prof. George Lincoln Goodale, will be delivered, and following that a reception to the members of the association be given at the Arlington Hotel by the Doard of trade of Washington. SOMETHING OF ITS HISTO! ‘The American Association for the Advance- ment of Science began its existence under that | name from September, 1847, when it was formed by the American Association of Geolo- | 5 gists and Naturalists, which held its first meet- ing in 1840. The great feature of the associ # the 1 meetings membe at) those who have made efies or added to scientific search or experiment during the year present | the matter to the ass on in the form of a{ er. Members engaged in the same depart- Peet of actonce listen toand disctse the papers, and the reports of the annual meetings. into | ers are gathered, form an which all these pay : able record of the progress interesting and ¥ of science in Ame tion was incorporated in the ye 1874 by the general court of the commonwe of Massachusetts. the incorporators name the act being Joseph Henry of Washington, Benjamin Pierce of Cambridge, James D. Dana din of New Hav mes Hall of Albany, Alexis Caswell of Providence, Stephen Alexander of Princeton, Isaac Lea of Philadelphia, F. A. F Barnard of New York, Jon 8. Newberry of Cleveland, B. A. Gould of Cambridge, T. Sterry | Hunt of Boston, Asa Gray of Cambridge Lawren: Louisville, Joseph Lovering | j- of Cambridge and Job: ‘oute of Philadel- phia. The objects of the the constitution are §ratory meetings to pr tween thove who in different parts of America, to give stronge and more generel impulse systematic | direction to see to procure | for the Inbors of s« creased facili- | ties and a wider usefulne THE MEMBEREIP. The association cousists of members, fellows, | patrons and honorary fellows. Any person may besome a member of the association upon | recommendation in writing of two members or fellows and election by the council. Fellows | are elected by the council from such of the members as are wily engaged in science or have by their labors aided in auvane- ing science. Any person paying to the asso- ciation the sum of £1,000 shall be classed asa patron and be entitled to all the privileges of a member. Honorary fellows, not exceeding three for each section, may be elected. The nomination must be made by the council and approved by ballot in the respective sections before election by ballot in general session. ‘The officers of the association are chosen from among the fellows. The association list at the Indianapolis meeting last year contained t names of three patrons, 1,213 members, one honorary fellow and 725 fellows, making a total membership at that time of 1,44. Since then nearly 300 members have been elected. The American Association for the Advance- ment of Science grew, us stated above, out of | the American Association of Geologists and Naturalists, which held its first meeting in Philadelphia April 2, 1840, presided over by Eaware Hitchcock, ‘The other annual meeting places of the parent organizationand the chair- Then for each year were as follows: 1941, Phila- delphis, Benjamin Silliman; 1542, Boston, 5. G. Morton; 1513, Albany, Henry D. Washington,Jobn Locke; . B. Rogers; 1s46, New York, C. Boston, Wm. B. Rogers. The Boston meeting in 1947 was the last meeting of the old association. The new asso- ciation, the American Association for the Ad- Yancement of Science, was formed by the ac- tion of this meeting. Prof. Kogers, as chair- man of this last meeting, called the first meet- ing of the new association to order and pre- sued until it was fully organized. For that | on the association is attended to by a body sociation, of ‘which body he has been per- manent seeretary wince 1873, _ following | Prof. Baird and Prof. Lovering in this | part Jose! L Homes, ‘The various sections and their present officers are as follows: resi dent, E. W. Hyde, Cincinnati; socretary, & D. Pr Washington, D. C. ; secretary, A. McFarlane, Austin, Tex. ice president, R. C. Kedzie, rton, Cincinnati .. Mechanical science and engineering—Vice tary, William Kent, New York. Geology and geography—Vice president, MeGee, Washington, D. C. F. Biology—Vice ‘President, J. M. Coulter, Agricultaral College, Mich. Hi. Anthropology—Vice president nm, D.C. pmic science and statistics—Vice secretary, B. E. Fernow, Washington, D. C. THE couNcrL. A. Mucbematics and astronomy—Vice ysies—-Vice president, F. E. Nipher, St. Agricultural College, Mich.; secretary, T. H. president, Thomas Gray, Terre Haute, Ind.; J. J. Steven-on, New York; secretary, W. J. Crawfordsville, Ind.; secretary, A.J. Cook, Jastrow, Madison, Wis. ; secretary, W. President, Edmund J. James, Philadelphia; All the details of business necessary to carry known as the council, which prepares the pro- York from 1871 to geological survey’ in the 1872 and 1874; United States rado and New Mexico on explorations west of one hundredth meridian, 1873, 1874. 1878, 1879, 1860: guologist on second, geological survey of Penns} in_ charge of southwestern coal areas, 1875 to 1878 and 1881 and 1882; was one of the founders of the Geological Society of America and its secretary during its first two 3 publications have been almost wholly ‘on geology and, with the exception of about 500 pages of brief memoirs, are reports of official surveys; is member of American Philo- sophical Society, of the Imperial Society of turalists at Moscow and correspondent of the royal academies at Palermo, Padua and Breslau, as well as of numerous other societies in Eurupe and America. The secretary, Prof. W. J. McGee, is well known in. this city where he has spent @ number of years and where his home is lo- cated. He was born April 17, 1853, near Far- ley, Dubuque county, Towa. His ancestorsare Scotch-trich and Vir- grams, exercises a sort of censorsl over the ch \d fellows and iri fact * erything that comes } . Thiscouncil consists of [Mt Presidents'and the vice, presidents of the last meeting, together with the officers of the current meeting, with the addition of one fellow elected from each section by ballot. TBE PERMANENT SECRETARY. The executive officer of the council, and the only permanent officer of the association, is the Permanent secretary, who is elected for five This office has been filled since 1873 by Prof. F. | ginian. He received only a common school education, ax, when youth, his health wa: not good enough to warrant undertaking a college course. But by care and training he became unusually robust, For twenty-five years it was taught that licht was an cate Pulsation in an incompressible jelly-like medium. Some of the mathematical deductions of Green he could only reconcile with the observed phenomena by making the ether incoraprensible. In 1865 Maxwell proposed his theory that light was an electric displacement in a plane at right angles to the line of propagation. Max- well's theory met with great favor. It afforded which had previously been clouded by rather strained assumptions. Twenty-three years later, in 1888, Sir Wm. ‘Thomson brought a powerful reinforcement to the elastic theory. He showed, as did Green, that the compression wave, which theory called for and which did. not exist. in fact, mi ht be got rid of in the theory by making the velocity of the compression wave zero instead of in- finite. Thomson found what had esc: aped Green, that this assumption did not invdive an un- stable condition of the medium, and that there- fore it was admissible. It was’ also shown at once by Thomson, Willard Gibbs and Fitz- gerald that this new and rather startling sug- gestion placed the elastic and electric theorivs on the same logical basis if the ether was con- sidered incompressible in the electric theory | wave in the elastic theory. It is, in fuct, worthy | of remark, as a matter of congratulation, show- ing how far scientific men have emerged from | the intellectual pugilism of last century, that Thomson's audacious departure was met wit pleased surprise instead of with angry polemics against a new heresy. ‘The showing up of lightin space occupied by matter shows that the ether within must either and by study of books and nature he gained without aid a thorough and liberal education. For several years ho spent part of his time in business pursuits, the remainder being utilized in pedestrian trips through Iowa. — Hie firet | | acquaintance with scientific men war at the! 1 meeting of the American Association for the W. Putnam, to whose en- ergy and ‘good manage- #E] ment the association owes! B rr & Prof’ Frederic | , Ward Putnam, permanent secretary of the American | jon for the Ad-| vancement of Science, is | professor of American | archwo.ogy and ethnology | in Harvard University, and | ix curator of the Peabody ; iuseum of American PROF. ¥. W. PUTNAM. archeology and ethnology { in Cambridge, He was born in Salem, | April 16, 1839, of the best stock in New Eng- land. From early youth he har been enthu- siustically devoted to natural history and had so distinguished himeclf in 1856, m his seven- teenth year, as to be elected _a member of the ty of Natural History. In the rhe entered the Lawrence Scientific special student under Prof. Agassiz, ing also under Jefiries Wyman and Asa with the plan of entering the medical school. That year he joined the American as- AN ‘Aseoci The growth of the association from a hip of 509 te 2,000 in the past sixtecen largely attributable to Prof. Putnagn's zeal and executive ability. In 1837 he became assiz and until 1864 In 1864 he returned um of the 1867 he was made superin- tof the East India Society's museum. When these two institutions were incorporated as the Peabody Academy of Sciences Prof. Putnam was made director. On the death of Prof. Jeffries Wyman, in 1874, he was called to sume the curatorshipof the Peabody Museum at Cambridge, and in 1896 he was appointed to the new chair of American archwology and jogy ut Harvard. He aided in founding rican Naturalist in 1867 and was one of | In 1876 the engimeer de- nt of the United States army «ppointed him to take charge of and report upon the archwological collections made by the attaches of the geographical and geological surv of the 100. meridian, under Lieut. G. M. | Wheeler. ‘ihe report was finished in 1879 and | is volume Vil of the publicatione of that survey. was Prof. Putnam's interest in archwology awakened early, and he bas portant contributions to this bra In 1582 he | appointed a commissioner of the inland | archeologist. fisheries of Massachusetts for five yeara. By | special act of the state legi-lature he was made | commissioner of fish and gxme and continued in the office for seven years. The professor's contributions to scieutiiic iterature—zoological | and archaological—numnber over 200 up to the present date. For three years Prof. Putnam | was president of the Boston Society of Natural History and for many years he bas been vice | wex Institute, He is a mem- an Academy of Arts Sciences, of the nal Academy of of the anthropological societies of Washington, Paris, London aud Brussels, of the American Antiquarian Society, of the historical societies of Massachusetts, Maine and Ohio, of the acad- emies of science of Philadelphia, New York, San Francisco, and of various other scien- tific, historicat and literary —_societie In 1489 the Boston Association of the American Folk-lore Society was organized and Prof. Put- nam was made president. In February, 1891, he was officially appointed by Director General George Ii. Davis us chief of the department of ethnology, &e., of the world’s Columbian ex- position to be ield in Chicago in 1893. He has entered into this work with great enthusiasm and is superintending expeditions in all parts of America for the pu of obtaining ma- terial for as thorough an exhibition of the native people of America as time will permit. Prof. Putuam seems to have been designed on purpose to be secretary to the American Asso- Ciation. His scientific sympathies are of the widest, bis working power is extraordinary, his Patience knows no limit. ‘THE GENERAL SECRETARY. The general secretary of the association, Harvey W. Wiley, is well-known in Washington, having filled the office which he now holds, that of chief chemist of the Department of Agriculture, fora num- reason uie name is placed at the head of the lust of past presidents of the association. ‘MEETINGS AND PRESIDENTS. The list of places of meeting of the associa- tuon and the presidents since the organization in 14S have been as follows: Year. Place. President. 1. 1845. Philadelphia. .....W. C. Redtield. 2 ISty. “Cambridge, Mass. Joseph Henry. & 1850. Charleston, $C... D. Bache. 4 Haven. ALD. Bache. 5. A.D. Bache. & Louis Agassiz. 7 .-.-Benjamin Pieree. & -Washingtoa 22.23. D. Dawa. % Providence 10. Albany. ne Montreal. | xis Caswell. aw Baltimore .......-Alexis Caswell. 1s. Springtield, Mass. Stephen Alexander i“ «++ deawe Lea. we 16. J. W. Foster. 8. Hunt, <4, Lawrence Smith, loseph Lovering. ae isco Hilgard. W. B. Rogers. S. Newcomb. 0. C. Marsh. . A. Young. J. P. Lesley. Newton. : Biorse. S. P. Langley. W. Powell. - C. Mendenhall. eo. L. Goodale. ‘This is the forty-fourth year of the existence of the association under its present name, but the meeting in Washington is oniy the fortieth. ‘This discrepancy is due to the fact that the fif- teenth meeting, which was appointed for April 17, 1861, at Nashville, was postponed in conse- of the civil war and was not finally held Until 1566, when the association assembled in jo. Two meetings each were held in the Years 150 and 1851 and none in 1852. TRE OFFICERS. ‘The officers elected for the present meeting are as follows: President, Albert B. Prescott, Ann Arbor; permanent secretary, F. W. Put- nam, Cambridge; general secretary, Harry W. Wiley, Washington; secretary of the council, Amon W. Batler, Brookville, Ind.; treasurer, on. Wa. Lilly, ‘Mauch Chunk, Pa. EPSPPEREESERNRRERNE BER ._Indianapolis.. association is divided into cight sections, | covering the various departments of science, each of which meets separately and is presided over by an officer having the rank of vice president of the association. Exch section per- fects its own organization by electing a fellow to represent it in the council, a sectional com- mittee of three fellows, a fellow or iuember to the nowainating committee and a committee of ‘three members or fellows to nominate ollicers Of the section for the next meeting. The seedings of the first day are usually confined fe organization and the delivery of the vice (eesileatial addresses ber of years. He was born in Jefferson county, Ind, and brought up on a farm. He was educated at Hanover College, Har- vard University and the University of Berlin. At the opening of Pur- University (the ultural college of Indiana) in 1874, was made a profesor v in that institution. He WILEY. was appointed state chemist of Indiana when that office was establi-hed in 1881. In 1343 he came to this city, having been appointed chief chemist of the Department of Agriculture. He joimed the American Association in 1872, at the Dubuque me nd has attended ever; mecting since with the exceptions of Hartford, 1574; St. Louis, 1878, and Montreal, 1882. Prof. Wiley was secretary of the chemical section in president of chemicai section and vico esident of the association in 1586, secretary of council in 184), and was elected general secretary for the 181 meeting. THE TREASURER. The treasurer is Gen. William Lilly of Mauch Chunk, Pa. Gen. Lilly is now past seventy years of age and has been an active business an all his life. He is an esteemed member of the community in which he resides and well known all over the country. While not a scientist, he has taken an active interest in i work and en- in many a life mem- ber of the association and one of the three whose names appear in the list of “patrons” on account of their mu- GEN. Wa LILLY. __nificeut donations to the association. His interest in the work of | the association was recognized in 1883 by his | election as treasurer to succeed the late W. & | and the Advancement of Science at St Louis in 1878, when Prof. Simon Newcomb (afterward bir father-in-law) was retiring president Here he ; ‘osperous | rend papers before the section of geology cov- | The field of a steel magnet is ering the results of his journeys in tows which racted the attention of geologists to kim. Continued work and papers presente? at loter meetings of the association resulted in his ap- ointment a assistant geclogist on the United tates zeologtcal survey in the summer of he following year was spent in Utah, Nevada and California, since when his office work has all been done in Washington. Here his pro- motion hax been rapid, his present porition being that of chief of the Potomae division of geology. great work on the geology of Towa is now in the hands of the government rintera. His most recent work is on the At- lantic aud gulf siopes. Mr. MeGee is editor of the bulletins of the Geological Society of Amer- ica and also of the National Geographic Maga- zine. PRESIDENT STEVENSON’S ADDRESS. At the afternoon session the address of Presi- dent Stevenson was on “The Relations of the Chemung and Catskill on the Eastern Side of the Appalachian Basin.” ‘The speaker prefaced his address with some historical notes respecting carly studies of these groups, especially referring to the sur- veys of Virginia, Peunsyivania and New York, which were conducted during the years 1837 to 1341. He traced the groups along the eastern out- crop from Tennessee into New York, across southern and western Pennsylvania and east- | ward through northern Pennsylvania again into New York, using the work of Prof. White and Messrs. Carll and Ashburne in Pennsylvania and of Prof. Stevenson in Virginia and Penn- sylvania, incidentally referring to the work of Profs. Hall and Williams in New York. In this way the continuity of the section was shown nsiguiticance of the variations was in- sisted upon strong An area in southeastern New York and north- eastern Pennsylvania in which the Chemung group is almost without trace of animal or vegetable life through the greater part of thickness was described. ‘The absence of life was thought to be due not to fresh water, but to turbidity of the water in @ shallow basin | near the land. The facts that the horizons of | fish remains are much lower in the column th: had been supposed, and that the plant remains come in like manuer from the home group, were thought to be of especial interest and im: portance. ‘The conclusions to which the speaker was led 1. That the series, from the beginning of the Portage to the end of the Catskill form but one period, the Chem: which should be divide e Portage, the Chemung 2. That the disappearance of animal and vegetable life on so great a part of this area toward the close of the period was due simply to gradual extensiou of conditions existing, perhaps, as early as the Hamilton period im southeastern New York. 3. That the deposits were not made ina closed sea, but that the influx of great rivers with their load of debris made conditions in the shullow basin such that animal life could not exist. 4. That in the present state of our knowl- edge we are not justified in including the Che- mung period in the carboniferous age. Physics. The section of physics was organized today, Vice President J. F. E. Nipher of St. Louis pre- siding. Prof. Nipher has published many val- | uable papers on physics. He is author of | heory of Magnetic Movements,” with an | appendix on the methods of least square. Ho | was born in New York state in 1847. In 1870he | graduated from the State University of Iowa | and was fora while assistant in physical seience. | In 1874 he took the chair of physics at Wash ington University, St. Louis. He organ and for ten yeary maintained, independent of oficial support, the state weather service of | Missouri. He Conducted the magnetic survey | of Missouri from 1874 to 1583. | has been president of the St. Louis Academs | of Science. The secretary of this section, A. McFarlane, | of Anstin, Tex., is the author of some valuable works in physics. His first distinction in the field of intellectual en- deavor was as a classical stadent. A poor boy, his talents attracted attention to him and led to his being given opportunities to ac- quire an education. He took to the classics and while prosecuting his studies labored as teacher and became something of a linguist. At eighteen he took the bold step of going to the University of Edin- burgh without means, but trusting to hi provide for himself work. In this he sue He became inicrested in logie and philos and mathematics, and as a result of his xtudic attained high distinction. While a student of | logic he became satisfied that the formal part | of the science was only fragmentary, and that what is in logic and philosophy is a greater infusion of the scientific krowledge | and methods of the present age. To gain this knowledge he began the serious study of mathe- matics and physics with the view of gaiaing a thorough knowledge of their principles; and the most suitable course of study was that for the degree of doctor of science in mathematics and physics. H ntitic ardor came under the notice of Prof. Tait, the professor of natural philosophy, then and Still the most eminent rofesior in the university. He had the privi- lege of working in Prof. Tait’s laboratory, and was for two years an instructor in physica. He worked mostly at electricity and his thesis for the degree of doctor of science consisted of an elaborate investigation of the conditions gov- erning the discharge of electricity through gases and fluids. ‘This paper came under the notice of Clerk Maxwell and he recommended it to be printed in the transactions of the Edinburgh Society, and made various sug- estions for a continuation of the experiments. fic then wrote a work. on formal logic unter the title “Principles of the Algebra of Logi read the memoir before the Edinburgh Society, and published it as a book. which has now gained a position in the history of the science of logic. This was followed bya series of papers on the “Algebra of Relationship.” and Bnally developed an “‘Analysis of the Relation- ships of Consanguinity and Afinity,” which has been used us a basis of a nomenclature by Gal- | Vaux. Geology and Geography. The array of distinguished men that met | today in the room set apart for the sessions of the section of geology and geography was a sufficient indication of D | the interest taken in those departments of |weientific work by the members of the associa- tioh. Presiding over their deliberations was Prof. Johu James Steven- son of New York city. His career has been an interesting one and is thus suceinctly set forth: | He was bora in New York city October 10, | stl. Was graduated at the University of the City of New York A B. in 1863 and Ph. D. in 1367. 3. 3. STEVENSON. Professor of chemistry and natural his- tory in West Virginia University, 1869 to 1871; of geology im the Cuiveraity of the City of New ton in his works ou “Heredity,” and by papers on the “Algebra of Imaginariew” contributed to the Edinburgh itoyal Society and the Educa- tional Times of London. He also applied math- ematics and algebra to physical qualities ina book entitled “Physical Aritametic,” and asa sequel to these investigations he contributes to this meeting @ paper on the Algebra of Space. Atthe semi-centennial of the University of Michigan he was houored with the degree of LL.D. VICE PRESIDENT NIPUER'S ADDKESS. Vice President Nipher's address to the sec- tion today treated of “Functions and Nature of the Ether of Space.” In former days, he said, many reasons giv for the existence of the ether do not seem con- elusive now. We could hardly subscribe to the sentiment that there must be an ether or na- ture wouid be disgusted with the greater por- tions of space auc the planets and stars would fall to the ground. | of algebra.” | The earliest traces of algebraic know be more sense (as Fresnel believed) or less clastic than that existing in free space. It is certainly very difficult to understand what there can be in the molecules of matter which can increase the density of an incompressible medium. ‘The beautiful experiment of Michel- son and Morley shows apparently that the ether at the surface of the earth moves with it. It is dragged along as if it were a vivid liquid. however, x rota~ ional phenomenon. It is & spin which is iuaintained permanently without the expend- iture of energy. It seems therefore that the re- sistance to shear which shows itself in the adhe- sion of the ether to the moving earth must be s rigility due in some way to motion. Other experiments of Michelson and Moriey on the motion of light in moving columns of water have been taken as proof that the ether in water is condensed to nine-sixteenths of its volume in air. ‘The ether in water certainly behaves as if it were more dense, but it is another matter to say that it isso. It seems improbable. It is still a mathematical fiction which covers. gup in our knowledge of the ether. ‘The speaker thought that the experi- | ment should be repeated with water at rest | within a tube which should be mounted on clastic supports in a moving railway car. T Water tube and observer's seat should b rigidly connected and swung on dampened spring supports from the top and sides of the car. “he question to be settled is whether the r oF any part of it isat rest in space and does it sweep through the interior of bodies which move through it as wind sweeps through the leaves and branches of a tree. This form of the experiment is the one contemplated b; Fisenlobr's analysis leading to Fresnel’ formula, and it is capable of great variations in the conditions of experiment. It is, how- ever, more dificult and more expensive than the one so well executed by Michelson and Morley. Whatever its results may be it promises to add greatly to our knowledge of the physics of the ether. Mathematics and Astronomy. One of the first sections formed when the as- sociation was reorgunized into its present form was the section of mathematics and astronomy. As with the ancients, so in these days mathe- matics and astronomy are eo closely related as to be studied together in great measure, and it atural that when the present sectional ganization of the association was formed two great sciences hould grouped together as section A. ually mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, physics and such sciences were included in x tion A of the association, and geology, botany and the other natural eciences in section B. As the association grew in numbe1 new sections were formed from time to time and the section of mathematics was one of the first of them. At the Indianapolis meeting last E. W. Hyde, who ably fills the chair of mathe. matics in the University of Cincinnati, was elected president of Section A. Prof. Hyde is known all over ‘the country as an ardent and skillful follower of the science of mathe- matics. He is a tall, large-framed man of about forty-eight years, deliberate in action and language and, as his manner and appearance show, a man of studious habits and much thought. He was born in Michigan and is an 3 | simple and naturalexplanations for phenomena | and to have a rigidity zero for a compression | T! pkuown, he said, to need even. brief its first knowledge of mathematics. In con- clusion Prof. Hyde said, referring particularly to the future of algebra: “We have now traced the development of our subject from ite earliest beginning, then along the ancient period when it was in the rhetorical stage, approaching at intervals here and there the syncophated, then on to the revival of learning after the’ dark ages. We have seen the comparatively rapid progress through the syncophated stage to the purely aymbolical stage, where it was at last. in 4 shape suitable for the astounding progress of the last two hundred years. Finally, in the present century, we have noted the approach of multiple algebra from different and in- Gependent sources, whose value is the glorious Biology. The section devoted to subjects pertaining to the science of biology is one of growing im- portance and interest. At its head is » man Young in years but old in scientific research, who brings to bear upon the duties of his position the enthusiasm which hes marked his career. he vice president is John M. Coulter, the resident of Indiana University. He is the eldest of the two sons of Moses and Clara Coulter, twozealous Presbyterian missionaries. He was born November 20, 1851, : at Ningpo, China. When gonx m. coviteR. only «little more than a year old his father died, and the mother returned with her two sons to this country, taking up their residence at Hanover, Ind. At the age of thirteen he entered Hanover College, founded by hisgrand- father, Dr. J. F. Crowe, from which institution 1870. He taught at Logans- until the spring of 1872, when he be- came botanist of the Hayden geological survey. ‘The winters of 1872-73 were spent in Wash: ington, D.C., naming and describing the plants collected during the previons season. He waa rofessor of natural science in Hanover Col- lege, 1874 to 1879; professor of botany, Wabash College, Crawfordsville, Ind., 1879 to 1891, and has just succeeded Dr. D. 8. Jordan as pres- ident of Indiana University, In the matter of publications in 1875 Prof. Coulter founded the Botanical Gazette, which has grown in import- ance until it is now the leading botanical jou nal of the country. In 1873 he was associated with Prof. Porter in publishing the Flora of Colorado. In 1885 appeared his “Manual of Rocky Mountain Botany,” belonging to. the series of Gray's text, books. The “Handbook of Plant Dissection” is an extensively used luboratory guide in botanical work, written by Prof. Coulter in connection with his associates on the Gaze, Drs. Arthur and Barnes. In 18s4 both the Indiana State University and his alma mater conferred upon him the degree of doctor of philosophy. In 1887 he was pres- ident of the Indiana Academy of Science. Numerous families of plants have been mon- ographed by him and published in the various scientific periodicals, and at this time he is employed by the Department of Agriculture in monographing the cactacee of the United States. “An connection with Dr. Wateon of Cambridge he prepared the recent re “Gray’s Manual of Botany.” a “Manual of Texan Botany from the government pre: tributions From the } Herbarium,” being the work of Prof. Coulter in connec- tion with working up the government material from Texas. Asa lecturer he has a wide rep- utatior ‘The secretary, Prof. A. J. Cook, is widely and favorably known in scientitic circles. He is connected with the Michigan Agricultural Col- lege, where he has held the chair of entomology for twenty-five years, He is chairman Of the entomological section of the Association of Agri- cultural Colleges and Experiment — Stations, His name and work are very familiar to all in- terested inapplied ento- mnology, and his reputa~ tion us a student and author in apiculture is $ world wide. He has PROF. A. 3. cook. published several works, +h have had a very large demand. His “Manual of the Apiary” has appeared in many editions. ‘The department of entomology over whic: he presides takes high rank. ‘The col- jections and equipment are umoug the first in the country. VICE PRESIDENT COULTER’S ADDRESS. The address of Vice President Coulter at the afternoon session was on the theme of “The Future of Systematic Botany.” It was a de- parture from the custom of presenting either an interesting bit of research or a summarized view of information concerning some subject. | The speaker invited the attcntion of the section | toan ancient department of work. The cient history of systematic botany is too well petition, ‘but the one desire which runs with increasing force through it all is to reach eventually a ex-soldier,havingserved three years in the army | during the late war. | returning to his home and pur- | ies, he fitted himself for college | entered Cornell University. Three | | venrs later he graduated with the degree of B.C.E., and two years later, in 1874, he | took a post-gradita degree of C. E.| Meanwhile ho had, in 1871, been ap-! pointed instructor m engineering at Cornell, | and he held this place for two years, when he «ned to become professor of mathe Military Academy, where F In April, 1875, Prof. Hyde elected prof hematies by the Uni- versity of Cincinnati, and he has been in that osition ever since. of | papers he has contributed to the engin nd mathematical engineering journals. Prot. Hyde is the author of a work’on “Directional “ founded on the methods of Herman “Ausdehmungsiehre.” ‘The first business of the mathematics and astronomy section today was to. ele . D. Preston of this city, the sec- at Indianapolis, being away. PRESIDENT BYDE'S ADDRESS. At4o'clock section A assembled again to hear Vice President Hyde's annual address. ‘The professor's subject was “The Evolution He talked rapidly and yet dis- tinetly, and hiv address was a concise presenta- tion of Algebra’s history, extending from be- fore the Christian era to the present time, and even projecting the future of the science. dge we , are in ancient Egyptian manuscripts, Records of an early, almost pre- historic, Egy athematician named Abmes, who lived and figured and died some hundred years before Christ, as nearly as can be found out, were referred to as showing that this pioneer in algebra had left behind” him documentary evidence that he had performed a few geometrical and some algebraical prob- lems. “Scarcely anything was known to mod- ernsof the mathemativs of ancient Egypt. Among the early Greeks, long before’ tie dawn of the Christiar. era, geometry was culti- vated extensively, but very little in the way of | algebra was done till about 400 A. D. Then the | foundation of the algebraic science was laid by | Diophantus of Alexandria. He wrote in Greek, | though little is known either of the man or bis | methods. Algebra has been classified by Nes- | selmann as rhetorical. ayncophated and sym- | bolical. In the first stage algebraic work was | purely by reasoning in words. Tn the «ynco- phatic method abbreviations were introduced and used instead of words. The symbolical stage is the stage of the present. Arbitrary characters represent what wasonce represented by spoken words and later by ubbreviations of written words Most of the work of the early algebraists was in the rhetorical stage. Diophantus made use, to a certain exten: of syncophated methods. He used particular characters for unknown qnan- tities, a _ chara for “minus,” — and represented addition by juxtaposition. | ‘The square and cube of the unknown quantity | were represented by contractions of the words ; “power” and “cube.” Here the speaker illus- | trated by writing on the blackboard analgebraic | ‘equasion as Diophantus_ would have written it. | He went on to say that Diophantus was greatly hampered by having but one character to represent the unknown quantity, though he accomplished truely remarkable results by his ingenuity and the skill with which he made the necessary combinations. Diophantus had no successor among the Greeks as an algebraist. Algebra was cultivated at a very early period in can find, he Indi The first Indian methods of which m ‘ns know were those of Arya Bhatta, who | live ix centuries before Christ. He wrote works on arithmetic, algebra, geometry. trig- onometry and astronomy, stating rules and propositions in verse. . All his work was purely of the rhetorical style. ‘Tho only other sncient Indian mathematician of whom moderns know was Brahma Gupta, whose period yras about A. D. 700. He: also figured in verse, the name of his work, En- Glued, being "The 8 of Brahma in Astronomy. Prof. ‘de said that these in writings were interesting as being the source from which the Arabs derived their first knowledge of algebra. ‘They absorbed trom the Greeks the translations of Euclidand others a knowledge of geometry, We have other needs for an ether, which to us seom important and p: still we may — wonder occasionally, with Theophratus what kind of honrpipe we are nor Cong mete pe eel but there seems to have beer translation of the works of Diophantos till after they themselves had natural system of classificatior.. At first, from necessity, plants were simply systematically pigeon-holed for future reference, and_ those Who could thus dispose of plants were known as “systematic botanists,” an appellation proper enough, but one “unfortunately not ving sufficiently outgrown its original appli- cation. The unfortunate result of this early necessity of so,rigidly systematizing facts and thus rendering them accessible was to make the pigeon holes as permanent as the facts they were intended temporaril: i As soon as knoWwledge justified the attemy “natural systems” of classification began to proposed; ‘and one natural arrangement has succeeded another, from that day to this, until inthose of today we have presented simply what the earliest contained, viz., the expression of man’s hnowledge of attinity,’ the difference being aslowly diminishing amount of artificial padding, Systematic botany, as formerly understood, has probably done all that it could, unaided, in the natural arrangement of plants. It could indefinitely juggle with sequences and nomen- clature, but this is of secondary importance when the real purpose of systeniatic botany is considered. But it was not left without aid, anda group of new departments was made possible by the microseopeand the unexampled progress of powers and manipulation. Ihe study of the cell andof nascent and mature or- guns, and the recognition of plants as living things that are the resultant of the interplay of internal and external forces, have revivitied the ancient mummy called botany, and have made it a living thing, capable of ‘endless de- velopment. Some one has said that “the highest reach of the human mind is a natural system of classifi- cation.” ‘This simply means that when the re- sults of all departments of botanical work are Well in hand, then the systematists will be ina position to put on a sure foundation the struc- ture they have always been planning. The real systematic botany, therefore, is to sum up and utilize the resulta of all other departments and its work is well-nigh all in the future. It | is bound to be the last expression of human thought with reference to plant life, just as it was the first. The systematic botany which deals with genetic characters and recognizes the fact that every plant is a living thing, with a history and all degrees of consanguinity, and that the final fort of every natural clasei- fication must be to approximate to the order of descent, is in its early in faney. ‘Tue position then taken by the speaker was that for the systematists of today and of the future there must be three distinct lines of work, related to each other in natural sequence in the order presented, and each turning over its completed product to the next. 1. TUE COLLECTION AND DESCRIPTION OF PLANTS. ‘This preliminary phase of systematic botany is that which’ most frequently stands for the whole in the popular mind. ‘The speaker ex- pisized, the disrepute into which it soem to ave fallen in certain scientific quarters by the fact that this popular impression was reeeited. He spoke of the inspiring nature of the pursuit, after new species and that it sometimes became almost @ mania or too attractive to the incom- petent. But even this ancient kind of work sadly needs improvement. Many things be- sides the mere sporadic collection and record- ing of species should be included aslegitimatel belonging to this line of research. A plant too often a text without any context and is thus robbed of much of its significance. Nothing seems more unsystematic than field work in systematic botany. All information that can be obtained in the field concerning species is the province of the collector to procure and of the wxonomist to record. The speaker protested against the search for species as for diamonds, as things solely valuable in themselves apart from their surroundings, and he e conversion of collecting trips into bi surveys. He expressed great gratitude to the noble army of self-denying pioneer but claimed that the time had now come when the same amount of labor could be expended to better advantage, and that a race of race of topographers. In this center of pul sclentifie work in which wo have met, doreca to obtaining the largest amount of tion in regard to our material possessions, aud with means commensurate with the largest at seems an approp! to Ths hor cto new one hee f made considerable it was from the Arabs that western Europe derived —— beam, done in ae a direction, end tn urging that the organiza made more General and extensive. 9 In reference to the work of description the er read an unpublished note of Prof. Asa ray, in which that distinguished botanist lamented the work of those who were incompe- tent. |The spenker aleo expressed the opinion that the exclusive use of gross organs in the description of higher plants would be and that the more stable, minute chars would prove valuable aids in steadying 10- sis. A danger in the use of these minute char- acters was pointed out, viz., the tendency to use asingie set of minute characters too far and to make the fabric of a whole group con- form to it. The character of a species isan extremely composite affair and it must stand or fall by the sum total of its peculiarities and not by a'single one. There is nothing that tn- Yolves a broader grasp of facts—the use of an ‘him to pros jin Europe, taking the j Bert inspiration rather than arule—than the proper discrimination of species. m the work of collec- Thave dwelt thus upoi tion ‘and description both to magaify it and position is that of a to indicate that its proper ete phase in be study of systematic ‘I. THE STUDY OF LIFE HISTORIES. The work of searching for the aftinities of reat groups is the crying need of systematic botany today. The speaker called attention to the danger of magnifying the importance of certain periods or organs in indicating afin ties, and summed up what was said under this general head as follows: “I have thus spoken of the study of life histories to indicate that its chief function lies in the field of systematic botany: tosuggest that it take into account de- velopment at every period and of every organ, and so obtain a mass of cumulative evidence | Highest of all in Leavening Power.—Latest U. S. Gov't Report. Re | SEOs Baki Powder ABSOLUTELY PURE Mr. Gray returned to the University of Glas- gow and acted as private assistant to Sir Wil- iam Thomson until August, 1888, when he pro- ceeded to America to take un the post of pro- feesor of dynamic engineering in the Lose Polytechnic Institute, to which he had some time previously been appointed. Mr. Gray is the inventor of several forms of apparatus for the observance of earthquake phenomena, and is the author jointly with Prot. Milne, of several Papers on that subject. He has also carried out several engineering physical investigations, notably along series of experiments on elec- of silver and copper solutions, and is an authority on the subject of electrical meas- Urement, on which he has written several pa- Pers in the technical journals. He is the author of the article on earthquake observation in the latest edition of the British “Admiralty Manual tific Inquiry,” and of thearticles “*Tele- md “Telephone” in the lately com- for safe generalization, and to urge upon those not thoroughly equipped great caution in pub- lication.” MI. THE CONSTRUCTION OF A NATURAL SYSTEM. The speaker spoke of the necessity of con- structing a natural system with easy advance in the knowledge of affinities, as @ convenient summary of ‘mation, a sort of mile-post, to tell of progress and to direct fature effort. The concluding summary was as follows: “The points presented in this consideration of the third phase of systematic botany are that the last and highest expression of systematic work is the construction of a natural system, based upon the accumulations of those who collect and describe, and those whostudy lite histories; that this work involves the completest com- mand of literature and the highest powers of Reneralization; that it is essential to progress for a natural system to be attempted with every advance in knowledge, and that all the known facts of affinity, thus brought within reach, should be expressed in all systematic literature. In conclusion, Ihave but to say that I have attempted to indicate the true relation which exists among the different phases of systematic botany; to point out an aitinity which there is danger of ignoring, and to maintain that all these departments of work, looking to the same end, are equally important, equally honorable. Chemistry. The division of chemistry, which 1 one of the most interesting divisione to the general public and has accomplished and is still per- forming valuable work, war presided over to- day by Dr. R. Kedzie Michigan, vice president of the as- sociation. Dr. Kedzie has attained eminence asa chemist, devoting himself largely to chem- istry in connection with agriculture. He is fore- most among scieutifie investigators in agri- culture, and he oc- enpies ' the chair of chemistry at the Michi- DR. R.C. KEDZIE. gan Agricultural Col- lege. He was born of Scoteh-American parents at Delhi, N. Y., in 1823, His attainments he owes to natural talents and an unusualamount of pluck and determmation while a boy. With but little early training at public school as a boy he began his career at college with a cash capital of $25, all but three shillings of which was expended for books and a wash bowl and pitcher for bis room. By teacRin he earned small sums of money which enabl te his studies, and he attained his degree in 1847. Four years later he grad- uated from the medical department of the Uni- versity of Michigan with hign honors. He practiced his profession in Michigan until the outbreak of the war in 1861, when he enlisted asa surgeon in ‘he twelfth Michigan infantry. In 1863 he wat eected to fill the chair of chemistry in the Michigan Agriculturai Col- lege, which he nov fills. ‘In. 1864 ie was preni- dent of the Michigar Medical Society, He was & member of the legislature in 1867 and in 1876 he was chairman of the section on state medi- cine and public hygiene of the American Medical Association Fora number of years he was a member of the state board of health and did valuable work on the committee inves- Ugating poisons, explosives, chemirals, acci- dents and special sources of danger ‘is in- vestigations in chemistry in connection with agriculture have been of great value. ‘The eecretary of thi section, Prof. T. H. Nor- ton, is professor of chem- istry of the University of Cincinnati. He isanative of New York state, where he was born in 1851. After taking his degree at Hamilton College in °73 he studied chemistry degree of Ph D. from / the University of Heidel- berg in ‘75. He wasafter- f9//, ward assistant in chemis- CF try at the Univers: y of and from 1878 to (7 1853 was manager of the \\ chemical works in Paris. In 83 he returned tothe — 1. . Sortox. United States aud took the position of professor of chemistry at the University of Cincinnati. He enjoys the distinction as a pedestrian of having traveled 12.000 miles. on foot through Europe and western Asia. He is a member of the chemical societies of Berlin, London, Paris and St. Petersburg, the only American in the latter society. He has contributed to science various discourses in organic chemistry and researches on the | metals of the cerium group, besides other valu- | able work. He ix author of the report on chemical industries at the Paris exposition in 1878 for the United States government. He is president of the Cincinnati Chemical Society, chairman of the committee on the spelling and pronunciation of chemical terms of the Ameri- can Association for the Advancement of Science and member of the committec with regard to the establishment of a national chemical society. Mechanical Science and Engineering. At the Philadelphia meeting of the Associa- tion for the Advancement of Science in 1884, section D for mechanical science and engineer- ing was formed. Its scope is broad and its field a very important one, including, as it does, mechanical science, civil and mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and, per- haps most important of all, steam engineering and its myriad kindred subjects. Though civil engineering is included within its scope, this science has never been very prominent in the section, civil engineers not being very numer- ‘ous among its members. A great deal of atten- tion is being given by the section to steam and electrical engineering matters, and the sessions are expected to be interesting and important. ‘The vice president of the association, who resides over section D, as it is identified on ofticial program, isan interesting person- age in himself. " Every line of his face, even his black beard, seems to abound in e1 . He is Prot. Thomas Gray of the Rose Polytechnic In- stitute at Terre Haute, Ind., and is in Aftera classes of the niversity of Glasgow, where distinctions as a student, pleted edition of the “Encyclopedia Britannica.” The secretary of this section is a scarcely lees interesting scientist than is the chairman. He ps is Mr. William Kent, mechanical engineer and associate editor of Appleton’s Eneyclope- dia. Mr. Kent was born in Philadelphia forty years ago. He was edu- cated in the city’s pub- lic schools, graduating from the High School in 1868. Not all of his life has he been # scientist. After leaving school he was a clerk in @ coal shipping office for « Y ear, and then a clerk WILLIAM KENT. for the Jersey City Gas Company for two yeare. While working for the gas company in Jersey City Mr. Kent used to 0 over to the Cooper Union classesin New York | tive nights a week, taking the scientific courses of the highest classes. In 1! he graduated and the two years following he was bookkeeper for the Ringwood (N. J.) iron works. At the same time be was engaged in aland survey, and in taking private instruction in analytical chemistry in January, 1875, he entered Stevens Institute of Technology as ® special student chemistry of iron, and alsc took the engineer- ing studies of the junior year. The next term he entered the renior class and graduated in 1876. He remained in Stevens Institute till April, 1877, in charge, under direction of Prof. i. H. Thurston, for the United States iron and steel testing board of a scientific research into the properties of the alloys of copper and tin and copper and zine. In 1877 he went to Pitts- burg as draftsman in an iron-works con- struction concern. From 1877 to 1879 he was editor of the American Manufacturer and Iron World of Pittsburg. Then for three years he was superintendent of the steel departinent for Shoenberger & Co., Pittsbu ‘hen he re- signed on account of failing and went to Europe. He visited iron and steel works and corresponded with American technical journals. From 1882 till 1885 he was with the Babcock & WilcoxCompany of NewYork, steam boiler man- ufacturers, acting as engineer of tests and sales agent. From 1855 to 1839 he was general man- er of the Springer Torsion Balance Company, developed the invention of the balance and built and equipped a factory for its manufac- ture. For a year past he has had an oftice bus- iness as consulting engineer and has been a special agent for the cexsus on statistics of gold and silver. He was chief assistant to the special agent in charge. Now he is engaged in editorial work for the new volume of Apple- ton's Cyclopedia of Mechanics, and as an ex- pett before the courts in mechanical cases. He been a member of the American Society of Dlining Engineers since 1876, having been ite vice president. Hehas for fourteen years been @member of the Association for the Advance- ment of Sciences and a fellow since 1883. For two years he has been secretary of section B of that association. Vice President Gray's address was a carefully prepared and valuable discourse on “Problems in Mathematical Science.” It was quite tech- nical in character and dealt with the teachings of mathematics and physics in their application in manual training schools, trade schools and technical schools and the objects sought to be attained by training in such schools. He said | that good results had followed the adoption of manual training for boys and girls, but be deprecated the idea of teaching a trade ina trade school. He said it could be far better done in a workshop, where the actual practice could behad by thelearner. He favored the old idea of apprenticeship as better in every way. He spoke warmly of the good results that have followed higher education of every sort in technological colleges and outlined the great benefits that will accrue to mechanical science from this source. He strongly advocated teachings of @ more practical character, both in mathematics and theoretical dynamics, as very desirable for technical colleges and simi- jar institutions. He named some of the direc- tucnt in which technical research should be pusied, expecially in the technical schools, re- ferring chiefly to the properties of steam’ and its behavior in steam engines. “I predict,” he eaid, “great results from the rect combustion of fucl im the engine cylinder itself, after the manner in which it is accom- plished in the gas engine.” In closing he referred to the very great de- velopment of electrical engineering. especially in its application to streetand other motors tnd to the distribution of power. He closed by speaking of the great field for all branches of rescarch anda reference to what the past bas even accomplished. Anthropology. ‘The proper study of mankind being man, the anthropologists, who are meeting in class room 14, are, perhaps, the most proper of all the dozen or 80 scientific bodies meeting here. This eection was formed in 1878, early in the the most important bodier init. Though of rather lean to the newer phase of archwological research which has for its scope the study of avchwological man, just as any animal would be studied, taking into consider- tion his physical and mental condition and environment. The head of this rec- tion is Prof. Jacob Justrow of Madison, Wisconsin. He was born in Europe twenty- eight years ago, but came to America when @ mere child. “His parents went to Philadelphia, = where he hie youth and received his education, graduati from the University Pennsylvania in 1862. Johns Hopline Catver niver- sity for special study in psychology. He was made a fellow in_psy- chology at Johns Xing and took the bach- lor's degree 1886. ‘Two years later he went to the University of Wisconsin and since has continuously occupied the chair st le ry i i ty efi 4 ee i i E to engineering. He discussed the instruction | history of the association, and is now one of | course this section is not unanimous there is a! preponderance of members on its lists who j after which for several years bis work was 4i- Vided between the field in the far west and the Washington office. In Iss? Mr. Holmes was transferred by Diree- tor Powell to the bureau of ethnology and was given charge of the archwologic field work of thet bureau. He it now actively eng that work, the present » ang de archmologic and antiquarian study o! and Virginia. ¥ PRESIDENT JASTROW'S ADDRESS. Vice President Jastrow’s annual address was entitled “The Natural Ristory of Analogs He aoseribed the study of analogy in ite bear- ings on various forms of culture and went on to indicate that this form of argument it» predominant Primitive people. by speaking of of resemblance degree of resemisiance. he various types of agreement differing lightly from the standard were also treated. In a:most all sava, ms and beliefs, the profesor said, abundant instances of reasoning by an- alogy were to be found. In medicinal practices and so toms striking instances of an abounded. he Zulu who to soften the heart of the nu ‘an ox from, th: stick id kept up or allow atop. who performs incantations over sume personal belonging of his victim or by the use of OUt-ol-the-way drugs—all theme were instanced as the results of analogy or a feeling of analogy. Similar traite in children were described and illustrated. He said that an abundant field of illustration found wants to buy by whether & war shall be the medicine man in the popular superstitions, folk lore and customs that have survived from « lower to a higher culture. The modern dream book, Lousehold med: charms and, in the more e: details of astrolo; the doctrine of sympathies and kindred pseudo ecionces were the tivids from which Le took his illustration 1 this, progressive scientific thought ha reach its present place instead of the shiftin: tion once occupied by the argume: That which Was serious reason: fathers,” he suid, in conclusion, “how takes ite Place asa proper instrument for amusement and lies at the basis of « of our rece 7 wd Economic Science and Statistics. In ite bearing on a great many of the import Ant and practical questions of the day, the #ec- Agreat deal of the popular interest which centers about the annual meeting of the American Asso- ciation for the Advancement of Science. The character of the men connected with this se tion and their able presentation of the te which are discussed are features which serves additional importance to the meeting. axsocintiv over the this sectic mund J. Ja born May 21, 1 sonvilic, Ml.” i for college in Illinois State Normal School at Lloom- ington, Ill. Attended eol- lege at the Northweates University and later at Harvard. Visited for pur- poses of study the uni- ‘vVervities of Berlin, Leipmo 5.5. 3ames, and Halle, taking the dvc- tor's degree at the last mentioned in 1477. Taught for #wo years in public rchool work and four more in State Normal School in Illinois. Was called to chair of public tinance and ad- ration in the Wharton School of Finance and Economy, University of Fenn«ylvania the fall of 1883, the only chair of the kind im the United States. The practical direction of this school was put in bis Laude and at hae tracted world-wide attention at the ouly i tution in the world which aims to gi tical education of university grade for business men. The school under Prot. James’ direct has also become widely known as the nursery of the political and social sciences, Beginn eight years ago with one proiessor, the faculty now includes ten men instructing in history and p Ellis Thompson, John Bach M-Master, N. Patten, &e. Prot. Jamer was one of the founders of the American tion and for several years a vice president of that body. He ix alxo president can Academy of Political and Social Sciene the leading organization for the promotion of world. It has now nearly including leading writers « economics and polizics in Europe and Asia, as ell as in North and South America. Prof. mes is also director of the A n Social Science Association, tellow of the American Stat istical Association, dc. He was elected chairman } of the section for economics and statintics at the Indianapolis meeting of the American Asociation for the Advancement of Science He was chosen by acclamation in open meeting of the general assocatzon, a rare event in the history of this body. I js the author of numerous manuscripis yomical and politicalrubjects. written expecially the economic aspects of railroad and en transportation, on municip:l strauon and on a wide ‘range of educational qu Although called toa professorship in economy at Harvard and twice called to the presidency of large wi ; bas preferred to remain in Phi has recently been chosen president of the American Society for the Eateusion of Uui- versity Teaching, an organization des aid in the great movement for popular e tion, which involves the utilizing of college and university faculties as itinerant ministers of instruction. In its secretary the section has in the person of Mr. Bernhard E. Fernow s man who is versatile, but wie ie qhorousll . equipped in the science to which be has devoted ) special attention. He is the chief of the forestry division in the Agricul- tural Department and a Prussian by birth. Af- ter graduating from @ yInusium be entered @ profession of for- estrs, which in Prussia B. E. FERNow. requires: 1. One year's preliminary life in the woods, simply to get acquainted, under the guidance of » t officer, with the general scope of the work in forest management. 2. Studies for two and a half years ate forest academy, and of law for two years at @ univer- ity. “'E. Practical work for two years in the woods, ducing which time, for nine months at least, ployment in this country as a forest expert and ovis benarmnrey lenges 2 Ym yy = came ‘of that ansociation and after five of unremunerative labor. In the fall of 1885 the ‘us chief of the