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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



return, as they not only receive the 

 volume of the proceedings, but also the 

 weekly journal Science. But even 

 apart from these practical advantages, 

 it is desirable that all those who wish 

 to further the advancement of science 

 in America should ally themselves with 

 the association. Information in re- 

 gard to the conditions of membership 

 may be obtained from the permanent 

 secretary, Dr. L. O. Howard, Cosmos 

 Club, Washington, D. C. 



PRESIDENT ASAPH HALL. 

 One of the greatest of the world's 

 astronomers will preside over the 

 Pittsburgh meeting of the American 

 Association. Dr. Hall has obtained a 

 wide reputation by the discovery of 

 the satellites of Mars, and among as- 

 tronomers his continuous observations 

 at the Naval Observatory from 1863 

 onward are recognized as of the high- 

 est value. He has also taken part in 

 a number of important government 

 expeditions, including one to Bering 

 Straits in 1869 to observe the eclipse 

 of the sun — to Sicily in 1870, and to 

 Colorado in 1878 for the same purpose; 

 and to observe the transit of Venus 

 in Siberia in 1874 and in Texas in 

 1882. While the life of a man of sci- 

 ence is usually uneventful, Dr. Hall's 

 early career is full of interest. His 

 father died when he was thirteen years 

 old, and he took charge of the farm. 

 He then became a carpenter; and, 

 having saved a little money, at the age 

 of twenty-five years went to a small 

 college in New York State. There he 

 married one of his fellow students. 

 He taught school and studied at the 

 University of Michigan, where he be- 

 came interested in astronomy under 

 Professor Briinnow. In 1857, when 

 he was twenty-eight years old, he ob- 

 tained a position in Harvard College 

 Observatory under Professor Bond, 

 with a salary of $3 a week. Appointed 

 professor of mathematics in the U. S. 

 Navy at the beginning of the year 

 1863, he worked first with the 9y 3 - 



inch equatorial; from 1868 to 1875 he 

 was in charge of the small equatorial, 

 and from 1875 until his retirement in 

 1891 he was in charge of the 26-inch 

 equatorial. Dr. Hall was professor of 

 astronomy at Harvard University from 

 1895 until last year. He is vice-presi- 

 dent of the National Academy of Sci- 

 ences and a member of many foreign 

 scientific academies. He has received 

 the gold medal of the Royal Astro- 

 nomical Society, and the Lalande prize 

 and the Arago medal of the Paris 

 Academy of Sciences; he has received 

 the degree of LL.D. from Yale and 

 Harvard Universities and many other 

 honors. A recent portrait of Dr. Hall 

 is given as a frontispiece; an earlier 

 portrait and an extended biographical 

 sketch will be found in the issue of 

 The Popuxab Science Monthly for 

 October, 1894. 



AN AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOG- 

 ICAL SOCIETY. 



While we have in this country so- 

 cieties for nearly all the sciences, a 

 society for anthropology has not hith- 

 erto been established. The section of 

 the American Association representing 

 anthropology has to a certain extent 

 filled the function of a special society, 

 having in recent years held a separate 

 meeting in mid-winter. The time, 

 however, appears to have come when a 

 national anthropological society can 

 be established to advantage, and the 

 formation of such a society is now 

 under discussion. Professor Franz 

 Boas, in a paper read before the An- 

 thropological Soeiety of Washington, 

 presented very clearly the need of 

 such a society and the precautions that 

 should be taken in its establishment. 

 He points out that anthropology is one 

 of the subjects in which there is a 

 considerable popular interest, without 

 a very large body of well-trained spe- 

 cialists, and that there would be some 

 danger in establishing a society to 

 which every one would be admitted. 

 Not only might the meetings of such 



