TEE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. 



185 



tant since the government employs 

 scientific experts in all departments, 

 and is likely to apply to them rather 

 than to the Academy for advice. The 

 second function has also become less 

 essential than formerly, owing to the 

 development of special societies for 

 each of the sciences. . The third object 

 has consequently become perhaps the 

 most important. The annual elections 

 are a recognition of scientific merit, 

 and it is well that our leading scien- 

 tific men should have the opportunity 

 of meeting together to become ac- 

 quainted with each other and with the 

 work being carried on in different 

 sciences and in different parts 

 of the country. The program at 

 Washington was of considerable inter- 

 est. Mr. Alexander Agassiz, who was 

 last year elected president of the 

 Academy, reported on his recent expe- 

 dition to the coral reefs of the Maldive 

 Islands, and the evidence presented, in 

 addition to that which he had already 

 collected, seems definitely to negative 

 Darwin's theory of the origin of coral 

 reefs. This theory, it will be remem- 

 bered, explains the atolls as due to the 

 gradual subsidence of the floor of the 

 ocean, the insects building the reefs 

 as the floor sank. Mr. Agassiz has 

 discovered a great number of facta 

 which seem to be entirely incompatible 

 with this theory. As is usual at the 

 meetings of the Academy, astronomy 

 was well represented. Dr. Seth C. 

 Chandler offered a paper on the con- 

 stant of aberration, which, however, 

 was only read by title. Professor E. 

 C. Pickering presented facts regarding 

 the relations of the planet Eros to the 

 solar parallax and its variations in 

 brightness. Professor Asaph Hall de- 

 scribed the disintegration of comets. 

 Papers on chemistry and physics were 

 presented by Professor Theodore W. 

 Richards dealing with the atomic 

 weight of caesium and the significance 

 of changing atomic volume; by Pro- 

 fessor James M. Crafts on catalysis; 

 by Professor E. W. Morley on the 



weight of the vapor of mercury, and 

 by Professor E. L. Nichols on the 

 optical properties of asphalt. Paleou- 

 tological papers were presented by 

 Professor H. F. Osborn and Professor 

 A. S. Packard; psychological papers 

 by Mr. C. S. Peirce and Professor J. 

 McKeen Cattell, and an illustrated 

 account of the physiological station on 

 Monte Rosa by Professor H. P. Bow- 

 ditch was given by Professor C. S. 

 Minot. Mr. William Sellers read a 

 paper adverse to the compulsory intro- 

 duction of the metric system. Bio- 

 graphical memoirs of William A. 

 Rogers, J. G. Barnard, Francis A. 

 Walker and J. S. Newberry were pre- 

 sented, respectively, by Professor K. 

 W. Morley, General Henry L. Abbot, 

 Dr. John S. Billings and Dr. C. A. 

 White. The new members elected 

 were: William W. Campbell, director 

 of Lick Observatory, Mount Hamilton, 

 California; George E. Hale, director of 

 Yerkes Observatory, Williams Bay, 

 Wisconsin; C. Hart Merriam, chief of 

 the Division of Biological Survey, U. 

 S. Department of Agriculture, Wash- 

 ington, D. C. ; William Trelease, direct- 

 or of the Missouri Botanical Garden, 

 St. Louis; Charles R. Van Hise, pro- 

 fessor of geology, University of Wiscon- 

 sin, Madison. 



THE METRIC 8TSTEM IN THE 

 UNITED STATES. 



A bill is now before Congress adopt- 

 ing the metric system of weights and 

 measures as the standard in the 

 United States. Though it does not 

 seem likely that the bill will be passed 

 during the present session it has been 

 recommended by the committee on 

 coinage, weights and measures, and the 

 chances of its adoption seem more 

 favorable than ever before. The bill 

 requires the departments of the gov- 

 ernment to use the metric system after 

 the beginning of the year 1904 and 

 makes it the legal standard in the 

 United States after January 1, 1907. 

 The house committee has given a num- 



