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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Life-Saving Service of the United States. An- 

 nnal Report of, for Year ending June 30, 1835. 

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Mach, Ernst. Popular Scientiflc Lectures. 

 (The Religion of Scit-nce Library, No. 21.) Chi- 

 cago: The Open Court Pubiishing Company. Pp. 

 313. 35 cents. 



Oxford, Henry. Modem Optical InPtruments. 

 New York: Macmillan. London: Whittaker & 

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Reprints. Bolton, H. Carrinjfton: Bad Features 

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 ^ene as a Coniplication and Sequel of the Con- 

 tinued Fevers (Boston Medical and Surgical Jour- 

 nal, July 2 and 9, 189fi), and The Treatment of 

 Traumatic Lesions of the Kidney (Annals of Sur- 

 gery, August, 1886). Keyes, Charles R.: The 

 Hcthany Limestone of the Western Interior Coal 

 Field (American Journal of Science, September, 

 1896) Old South Leaflets: No. 07. The Boston 

 Ebenezer, by Cotton Mather: No. (39. Description 

 of the New Netherlands, by Adrian Van der 

 Donck ; No. 71. Columbus's Memorial to Ferdi- 

 nand and Isabella; No. 73. The Battle of Quebec. 



Sizer, Nelson. Uncle Sam's Letters on Phre- 

 nology. New York: Fowler & Wells. London: 

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Smithsonian Publications. Bendire, Charles: 

 Life Histories of North American Birds. 111., pp. 

 518. Goode, George Brown, and Bean, Tarleton H. : 

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 123. Hodgkins Fund Publications. 1033: Argon, 

 a New Constituent of the Atmosphere, by Lord 

 Rayleigh and Prof. William Ramsay, and Methods 

 for the Determination of Organic Matter in Air, 

 by David Hendricks Bergey. 



Thorpe, T. E. Humphry Davy, Poet and Phi- 

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White, Andrew D. Fiat Money Inflation in 

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"gxvLQvxtutB 0f Jictjetice. 



Jfotes froia the American Association. 



The attendance at the Buffalo meeting of 

 the American Association three hundred 

 and thirty was the smallest in its recent 

 history. A curve with very marked inden- 

 tations published in Science shows that the 

 attendance on the meetings has steadily de- 

 creased since it reached its maximum iu 

 1880 to 1884. The curve further shows that 

 it was very much greater when the associa- 

 tion met in the larger Eastern cities Boston, 

 Montreal, Philadelphia, New York, Washing- 

 ton, and Brooklyn though declining in them 

 too, than in the cities farther west. Among 

 the resolutions passed by the association 

 were, one urging upon Congress the desira- 

 bility of further legislation looking to the 

 early adoption of the metric system; one 

 authorizing the construction of authentic 

 standards of electrical measurement, to be 

 the property of the association ; a resolu- 

 tion approving the proposition to create the 

 office of Director-in-Chief of Scientific Bu- 

 reaus and Investigations in the Department 

 of Agriculture, " to be tilled by a broadly 

 educated and experienced scientific man, 

 provided that such appointment shall be 

 made only on the nomination of the National 

 Academy of Science, the legally constituted 

 adviser of the Government in matters relat- 

 ing to science " ; and a protest to Congress 



against legislation on vivisection. In this 

 protest the association declared that experi- 

 ments on animals " have effected a saving of 

 many millions of dollars in animal property, 

 and are the basis of our knowledge of hy- 

 giene and preventive medicine, and, in part, 

 of surgery " ; and affirmed that, " while dep- 

 recating cruelty and needless vivisection ex- 

 periments in the public schools, this associa- 

 tion believes that those who are trained to 

 biological research are the ones who are best 

 able to decide as to the wisdom and utility of 

 animal experimentation." A committee was 

 appointed to consider the matter of institut- 

 ing a study of the white race in America. 

 Grants were made of one hundred dollars for 

 a table at the Biological Laboratory at Wood's 

 Hole, Mass. ; fifty dollars to Francis E. Phil- 

 lips for investigations on the properties of 

 natural gas ; and fiifty dollars to L. A. Bauer 

 for investigations on terrestrial magnetism 

 in connection with the magnetic survey of 

 Maryland. A happy adjustment was sug- 

 gested, and partly carried out in the case of 

 one of them, of the relations of the special 

 societies to the association, under which, 

 after the formal meeting of the special so- 

 ciety, the papers contributed by members 

 shall be held over to be read in the meetings 

 of the association. The societies, by follow- 

 ing this plan, may be made to contribute to 



