ASSOCIATIONS FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. (AMERICAN.) 



omy," in which he called attention to certain 

 branches of astronomy that had not been worked 

 up, and dwelt with special emphasis on the im- 

 portance of fundamental work in determining 

 star places a line of routine work that had been 

 passed over in the struggle after more brilliant 

 results in astronomical research. 



The following-named papers were then read 

 before the section : 



" On the Conflict of Observation with Theory as to 

 the Earth's Rotation," by Seth C. Chandler; "Me- 

 teorological Observations made in April, 1890, 1891, 

 1892, in the Totality Path of the Eclipse of 1893, 

 April 16," by David P. Todd ; "List of Thirty New 

 Proper Motion Stars " and " Latitude of the Sayre 

 Observatory," by C. L. Doolittle ; " The Secular Mo- 

 tion of a Free Magnetic Needle," by Louis A. Bauer ; 

 " On the Discriminators of the Discriminant of an Al- 

 gebraic Equation," by Mansfield Merriman ; " Forms 

 of Solar Faculse " and " The Spectroheliograph of the 

 Kenwood Astro-physical Observatory, Chicago, and 

 Results obtained in 'the Study- of the Sun," by George 

 E. Hale ; " Models and Machines for showing Curves 

 of the Third Degree," by Andrew W. Phillips; 

 " Least Square Fallacies " and " Differential Formulae 

 for Orbit Corrections," by Truman H. Satt'ord ; " On 

 the Imaginary of Algebra," by Alexander Macfarlane ; 

 " The Iced-bar Base Apparatus of the United States 

 Coast and Geodetic Survey," by R. S. Woodward ; 

 " On the Construction of a Prime Vertical Transit 

 Instrument for the Determination of the Latitude 

 of Harvard College Observatory," by William A. 

 Rogers ; " Lineo-linear Vector Functions," by Arthur 

 S. Hathaway ; "Thermal Absorption in the Solar 

 Atmosphere," by Edwin B. Frost; "Electric Lights 

 for Astronomical Instruments," by Jefferson E. Kersh- 

 ner ; " European Observations," by John A. Brashear ; 

 " Proper Motions of Eighty-nine Stars within 1.0 of 

 the North Pole, with Remarks on the Present State 

 of the Problem of the Solar Motion," by Truman II. 

 Satt'ord ; " Concerning a Congruence Group of Order 

 360 contained in the Group of Linear Fractional Sub- 

 stitutions," by E. Hastings Moore ; " On the Intersec- 

 tion of an Equilateral Hyperbola and the Sides of a 

 Plane Triangle a Question in Trilinears," by Will- 

 iam Hoover ; " Practical Rules for testing whether a 

 Number is divisible by Seven, or any other Small 

 Prime, and if not divisible, to ascertain the Re- 

 mainder," and " Increase in Constant for Addition in 

 testing for Integral Values in the Equation of Quarter 

 Squares," by James D. Warner; and " On the Gen- 

 eral Problem of Least Squares," by R. S. Woodward. 



B. Physics. This section was presided over 

 by Prof. Benjamin F. Thomas, who holds the 

 chair of Physics in the Ohio State University, in 

 Columbus, Ohio. His address had to do with 

 " Technical Education in High Schools and 

 Universities." After reviewing the present very 

 creditable position attained and occupied by the 

 schools along technical lines, he suggested some 

 improvements which he considered might be 

 made, by eliminating certain of the less impor- 

 tant branches now pursued and inserting others. 

 After insisting on certain important modifica- 

 tions, he dwelt on the literary branches and re- 

 viewed them also, as subjects which have a prac- 

 tical bearing on the life of the engineer. Train- 

 ing in political science and history was consid- 

 ered of great importance, and the production of 

 good citizens deemed equally important with 

 the training of good engineers. 



The following-named papers were then pre- 

 sented before the section : 



" A Photographic Method of Mapping the Magnetic 

 Field," by Charles B. Thwing ; " Constancy of Vol- 



ume of Iron in Strong Magnetic Fields " and " Note 



Spectrum of the Eye and the Image presented to the 

 Brain," by Georg'e W. Holley; "Description of a 

 Contrivance intended for the Study of Perception at 

 Definite Distances," by Charles A. Oliver ; " Note on 

 the Photography of tne Manometric Flame and the 

 Analysis of Vowel Sounds," by Ernest Merritt ; " On 

 the Sensitiveness of Photographic Plates," by George 

 W. Hough ; " E. M. F. between Normal and Strained 

 Metals in Voltaic Cells," by William S. Franklin, 

 " Influence of the Moon on the Rainfall," by Mans- 

 field Merriman ; " On the Mechanical and Physical 

 Means of Aerial Transit without a Propeller," by 

 David P. Tpdd ; " Further Experiments on the Spe- 

 cific Inductive Capacity of Electrolytes," by Edward 

 B. Rosa; "A Mechanical Model of Electro-magnetic 

 Relations," by Arnos E. Dolbear; "An Experimental 

 Comparison of Formulae for Total Radiation between 

 15 C. and 110 C.," by W. Le Conte Stevens ; " On the 

 Dispersion of Radiations of Great Wave Lengths In 

 ROCK Salt, Silvite, and Fluorspar," by II. Rubens and 

 Benjamin W. Snow ; " The Distribution of Energy in 

 the Spectrum of the Glow-lamp," and "Absorption 

 Spectra of Certain Substances in the Infra-red," by 

 Edward L. Nichols ; " On the Distribution of Energy 

 in the Arc " and " On the Infra-red Spectra of the 

 Alkalies." by Benjamin W. Snow ; and " On the Me- 

 chanics of the Three States of Aggregation," by Gus- 

 tavus Hinrichs. 



C. Chemistry. The vice-president in charge 

 of this section was Dr. Alfred Springer, of Cin- 

 cinnati, Ohio. He chose as the subject of his 

 remarks " The Micro-organisms of the. Soil." 

 After a brief resume of the advances and discov- 

 eries made in chemistry during the year, he took 

 up the special topic of his address, and discussed 

 the investigations in England and this country 

 concerning the working of micro-organisms and 

 as to the possibility of nitrogen starvation, which 

 was the essential element in his address. He ar- 

 gued that it was an impossibility. 



The following papers were subsequently read 

 and discussed before the section : 



The report of Committee on indexing Chemical 

 Literature; "A Select Bibliography of Chemistry," 

 by H. Carrington Bolton ; " Notes on a Bibliography 

 of Mineral Waters," by Alfred Tuckerman; "Copper 

 Sulfate as a Material for standardizing Solutions," by 

 Edward Hart; " An Effective Condenser for Volatile 

 Liquids and for Water Analysis" and " Di-ethyl- 

 carbinamin and its Conduct tOvvard Nitrous Acid," 

 by William A. Noyes ; " The lodomercurates of Or- 

 ganic Bases," by Albert B. Prescott ; " Tri-methyl- 

 xanthin and its Derivatives," by Moses Gomberg; 

 " Some Points in connection with the Composition of 

 Honey " and " A Method of Polarimetric Observation 

 at Low Temperatures," by Harvey W. Wiley ; " Note 

 on the Effect of Fertilizers upon the Juice of the 

 Sugar-cane," by Clinton P. Townsend ; " The En- 

 zyiiis or Soluble Ferments of the Hog-cholera Germ," 

 by Emil A.dc Schweinitz; " Catalytic Influence of Am- 

 monia on Amorphous Substances to induce Crystal- 

 lization," by Edward Goldsmith ; " Post-mortem Im- 

 bibition of Arsenic," " Effect of Sedimentation upon 

 Self-purification of Running Streams," and " The 

 Value of a Water Analysis." by William P. Mason ; 

 " Presentation of Samples from the Salt Mines of Now 

 York," by S. A. Lattirnore ; " On the Mechanical 

 Determination of the Stcreographic Constitution of 

 Organic Compounds," by Gustavus Hinrichs; "On 

 the Decomposition of Acetone with Concentrated 

 Sulfuric Acid," by William R. Orndorff ; " Itacolu- 

 mite from North Carolina," by Laura Osborne Talbott ; 

 and " The Albuminoids of Maize," by George Arch- 

 bold. Also a discussion upon the practical adoption 



