EDITOR'S TABLE. 



6 93 



nerves of feeling in the sensations of heat 

 and cold, in agues, chills, etc. ? And may 

 not this same condition of the optic nerves 

 explain the various enigmas of optical illu- 

 sions ? Indeed, may not the nerves of each 

 and all of our senses be subject to abnormal 

 conditions, and thus become unreliable ? 



These queries, affirmatively answered, 

 would enable us, in the mass of contradic- 

 tory testimony of different individuals as to 

 fads, to transfer the charge of much moral 

 to physical obliquity. 



A. L. Child. 



Plattsmoutii, Nebraska, August 5, 1880. 



EDITOR'S TABLE. 



THE AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIA- 

 TION. 



THE American Association for the 

 Advancement of Science will hold 

 its twenty-ninth annual meeting in 

 Boston, commencing Wednesday, Au- 

 gust 25th, and continuing perhaps a 

 week. It is expected that this will be 

 the largest and probably the most im- 

 portant scientific gathering yet held in 

 this country ; and ample arrangements 

 have been made, by a large and efficient 

 local committee, both for the business 

 accommodation of the body in all its 

 departments and for the convenience 

 and pleasant entertainment of the mem- 

 bers and guests who may be present. 



The purpose for which this Asso- 

 ciation was established is very well 

 known, hut to strangers, who propose 

 attending it, it may be well to say that 

 it is devoted to original researches, 

 which are generally of interest to those 

 only who have paid some attention to 

 special scientific branches. Neither the 

 papers read nor the discussions that 

 follow them are usually of a popular 

 character. They are necessarily dry 

 and unintelligible to those unfamiliar 

 with the subjects ; but, to those who 

 have some preparation in science, even 

 though it be of a general sort, there is 

 much in the proceedings of this society 

 that will be found very instructive. 

 It is broken up into a large number of 

 sections, each devoted to a division of 

 science, such as astronomy, physics, 

 chemistry, zoology, botany, physiology, 

 geology, anthropology, etc., and pro- 

 grammes are published every morning 

 giving lists of the papers to be read 



during the day in each section. Though 

 technical, and addressed to specialists, 

 these papers represent the advances in 

 each branch of inquiry, and the pro- 

 ceedings of the successive meetings 

 may be looked upon as comprehensive 

 reports of the annual progress of scien- 

 tific research. 



Any person may become a member 

 of the Association upon recommenda- 

 tion in writing by two members, and 

 subsequent election by a majority of 

 the session. The initiation fee is five 

 dollars, and the subsequent annual dues 

 three dollars; and these payments en- 

 title each member to receive the annual 

 volume of proceedings. New members 

 are usually elected daily during the 

 meeting, but many apply earlier to the 

 permanent Secretary, Mr. F. W. Put- 

 nam, Cambridge, Massachusetts. More 

 than two hundred members had been 

 proposed for the Boston meeting a 

 month before it begins. 



The sessions of the Association will 

 be held in the Massachusetts Institute 

 of Technology. The address of the 

 retiring President, Professor George 

 F. Barker, of Philadelphia, will be given 

 on the first day, and the new President- 

 elect, Dr. Lewis H. Morgan, of Roch- 

 ester, will be the presiding officer of the 

 Boston meeting. 



SEWAGE IN COLLEGE EDUCATION. 



At the College of New Jersey, in 

 Princeton, a considerable number of 

 students were recently attacked by a 

 malignant fever, of which several of 

 them died. It turned out that the cause 



