854 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



pheus: Report as Curator of the Boston Society 

 of Natural History. Pp 26.— JVIinot, C. S.: On 

 the Veins of the Wolflian Bodies in the Pig. 

 (Boston Society of Natural History.) Pp. 13, with 

 plates.— Storer, F. H.: Bussey Institution. Lab- 

 oratory Notes and On the Systematic Destruction 

 of Woodchucks. Pp. 16 — Wadsworth. M. E., 

 Houghton, Mich.: The Mechanical Action of the 

 Divining Rod. P. 1. 



Sheerin, Robert, M. D., Editor. The Siiggest- 

 er and Thinker. Monthly. Vol. T, No. 1. July, 

 1898. Cleveland, Ohio. Suggester and Thinker 

 Company. Pp. .30. 10 cents; $1 a year. 



Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections. No. 

 1076. A Catalogue of Scientific and Technical 

 Periodicals. 160.'5 to 188.5. Together with Chro- 

 nological Tables and a Library Check List By 

 H. C. Bolton. Second edition. Pp. 1247.— An 

 Investigation of the Influence of Impure Atmos- 



phere on the Resistance of Animals to the Organ- 

 isms of Disease. Bv D. H. Bergey, M. D. Pp. 10. 

 — Contributions to Knowledge. Ratio of Specific 

 Heats at Constant Pressure and Constant Volume 

 for Air, Oxygen, Carbon Dioxide, and Hydrogen. 

 By O. Lummer and E. Pringsheim. Pp. 29. 



Udden. J A. The Mechanical Composition of 

 M'ind Deposits. Augustana Library Publications. 

 Rock Island, 111. Pp. 69. 



Vocke, William. The Relations of the People 

 of the LTnited States to the English and the Ger- 

 mans. Pp. 20. 



Von Nagelli, CarL A Mechanico-Physiological 

 Theory of Organic Evolution. Summary. Chi- 

 cago: The Open Court Publishing Company. 

 (Religion of Science Library.) Pp. 53. 



Wilson, Woodrow. The State. Elements of 

 Historical and Practical Politics. Revised edi- 

 tion. Boston: D. C. Heath & Co. Pp. 656. $2. 



■ragmetits of ^cijewtje. 



Growth of Astronomical Photography. — 



Reviewing the history of astronomical pho- 

 tography in his address as vice president be- 

 fore the Astronomical and Mathematical Sec- 

 tion of the American Association, Prof. E. 

 E. Barnard credited the inception of the 

 idea to the Rev. Thomas Dick, author of a 

 series of astronomical works formerly much 

 read, who, shortly after Daguerre's discov- 

 ery was announced, speculated upon the 

 practicability of applying it to the moon ; 

 thought the planets would prove easy sub- 

 jects to the new process, and that something 

 might perhaps be discovered about the nebu- 

 lae ; and suggested that objects not visible 

 to the eye might be found depicted on the 

 plates. While much excellent photographic 

 work has been done on the nebula?, the pho- 

 tography of the planets seems to-day no 

 nearer realization than in Dr. Dick's time. 

 In 1839, Arago addressed the French Acad- 

 emy on the subject of photographing the 

 skies, and within a year from that time Dr. 

 Draper, in New York, had succeeded in get- 

 ting a picture of the moon. Five years later 

 Harvard College began its photographic 

 work, and pictures of the moon were se- 

 cured with the fifteen-inch equatorial. Since 

 then this work has made great advances, to 

 which American investigators have contrib- 

 uted materially. The completion of the 

 Lick Observatory marked a decided advance 

 in study. In photographic work on the sun, 

 detail on the surface was first sought; the 

 prominences next became objects of exami- 



nation, and the corona was then taken up. 

 With the application of the dry plate, stu- 

 dents have gone back to detail on the sur- 

 face and within the sun spots. A most im- 

 portant branch of investigation is that of 

 stellar photography, which dates from 1882, 

 when the astonishing number of stars shown 

 on Dr. Gill's photograph of a comet at the 

 Cape of Good Hope attracted attention. The 

 work has been taken up with energy by 

 many observatories, and most excellent re- 

 sults have been accomplished. 



Officers of the Amerioaii Association. — 



The Council of the American Association for 

 the Advancement of Science chose Prof. 

 Edward Orton, State Geologist of Ohio, and 

 President of Ohio State University, to be 

 president of the association for 1899, and 

 Columbus, Ohio, as the place of the meet- 

 ing. The following other officers, and sec- 

 tional vice-presidents and secretaries, were 

 chosen : General Secretary, F. Bedell. Sec- 

 retary of the Council, Charles Baskerville. 

 Treasurer, R. S. Woodward. Vice-Presi- 

 dents : Section A, Alexander MacFarlane ; 

 Section B, Elihu Thomson ; Section C, F. P. 

 Venable ; Section D, Storm Bull ; Section 

 E, J. F. Whiteaves; Section F, Simon H. 

 Gage ; Section G, Charles R. Barnes ; Section 

 H, Thomas Wilson ; Section I, Marcus Ben- 

 jamin. Secretaries : Section A, John F. 

 Hayford ; Section B, William Hallock ; Sec- 

 tion C, H. A. Weber ; Section D, James M. 

 Porter; Section E, Arthur Hollick; Section 



