40 



ASSOCIATIONS FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. (BRITISH.) 



the Mackerel " and " A Proposed Biological and 

 Physical Investigation of the British Channel," by 

 Walter (iarstang; " Phylogcny of the Arthropod 

 Amnioii," l>y Arthur Willey: " Microcheinistry of 

 the Cells " and "Tin- Detection of Phosphorus in 

 TN-nt -." l>y Alexander B. Macallum; "A Race of 



Erotectively Colored Mice from North Bull," by H. 

 yster Jameson : "The Life Conditions of the Oys- 

 ter. Normal and Abnormal." by William A. Herd- 

 man: "An Experimental Inquiry into the Struggle 

 for Existence by Certain Insects," by Edward B. 

 Poiilton and Miss Cora B. Sanders; "An Account 

 of the Methods and Apparatus adopted for rearing 

 Larva- to produce Pupa> of Different Shades," by 

 Miss Cora B. Sanders; "Animal Intelligence as an 

 Experimental Study." by C.Lloyd Morgan; "On 

 the Families of Saurepodous Dinosauria," by Oth- 

 niel C. Marsh, of Yale University, New Haven, 

 Conn.; "So-called Fascination of Snakes," by A. J. 

 Harrison : " A New Theory of Retrogression," by 

 Charles II. Read; "A Circulating Apparatus for 

 Use in Researches in Color Physiology," by F. W. 

 Gamble and W. F. Keeble ; " Scientific Experiments 

 to test the Effects of Trawling in the Waters of Scot- 

 land, 1886-1897," by W. C. Mclntosh; "Musical 

 Organs in Spiders," by R. J. Pocock ; " The Origin 

 of the Vertebrate Notochord and Pharyngeal 

 Clefts," by A. T. Masterman ; " Le Developpement 

 du Coeur chez les Tuniciers ; Quelques Considera- 

 tion sur la Phylogenie des Ascidies Simples," by 

 Charles Julin ; " The Classification of the Pelma- 

 toza," by Francis A. Bather : " A Demonstration of 

 Dr. Ffeld's Card Catalogue of Zoological Litera- 

 ture.'' by William E. Hoyle. 



Also a " Report of the Committee on the Physio- 

 logical Effects of Peptone and its Precursors when 

 introduced into the Circulation " and a " Report on 

 Caves in the Malay Peninsula" were read and dis- 

 cussed. 



E. Geography. Over this section Col. George Earl 

 Church, a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, 

 presided. The subject of his address was " Argentine 

 Geography and the Ancient Pampean Sea." 



lie said in opening: "Instead of addressing you 

 upon geography as a science or summarizing the 

 triumphs of explorers during the past year, I shall 

 invite you to accompany me to southern South 

 America a step toward the antarctic regions 

 and let me try to add to your knowledge of Argentine 

 geography and the ancient Pampean Sea." Then, 

 after discussing in many of its phases the conditions 

 and extent of the Pampean Sea, which he estimated to 

 have covered an area of about 600,000 square miles, 

 and to have been about 1,400 miles long, with an aver- 

 age width of about 400 miles during its existence 

 some seventy thousand years ago, he referred to the 

 climatic conditions of that time and said: "To the 

 west, the Andes served as a lofty condenser, which, 

 for a distance of over '-.>.."><)<) miles, guided the cold 

 polar currents toward the equator find safeguarded 

 their vigor. Similarly, the Brazilian highlands 

 largely confined them to the great valleys as they 

 swept northward to do battle in the heari of South 

 Am.-rica with the warm vapors generated from the 

 Pampeao Sea and ancient lake, and the steaming, 

 tropical basin o| the Amazon. The rainfall over the 

 inter-Andean region must have produced many large 

 lakes similar to Lake Titicaca, and a great river sys- 

 tem, which, tributary to the Colorado, swelled it into 

 a stream of the first'rank. pouring into it the sand 

 and silt which have completely tilled the enormous 

 estuary, the outline of which is still traceable. One 

 may U'lieve that an increased rainfall gave a luxu- 

 riant vegetation, where herds of gigantic mammalia 

 found feeding ground ; from which, from time to 

 time, they were swept, by storm or swollen river, 

 into the Pampean bea, where also they may have 



lost their lives in other ways, their remains being 

 distributed over it by the currents. To a minor 

 degree the ancient sea and lake must have affected 

 the inter-Andean climat^ from Cuzco to the south, 

 throughout the lacustrine basin of Titicaca, giving 

 it greater rainfall and fertility than it now has. 

 Geological examinations show that Titicaca was 

 once one of the large lakes of the world, and that it 

 has slowly been drying up. Savage man may have 

 lived in South America on the mountain slopes 

 round the ancient sea. If so, he possibly hunted the 

 mastodon, the megatherium, and numerous other of 

 the gigantic fauna which probably were co-existent 

 with him. His only highway, between the eastern 

 and western halves of the continent, must have 

 crossed the elevated region at the head of the Pam- 

 pean Sea, lying between 17 and 19 south latitude, 

 which is still the only route in use for communica- 

 tion by land between Bolivia and Matto Grosso." 



The following-named papers were read and dis- 

 cussed before the section : " On Waves," by Vaughan 

 Cornish; "The Temperature and Salinity of the 

 Surface Waters of the North Atlantic," by H. N. 

 Dickson; "The Oceanographical Results of the 

 Austro-Hungarian Deep Sea Expeditions of 1890-'96," 

 by K. Natterer ; " On the Distribution of the Oceans 

 and Continents," by J. Walter Gregory ; " On Earth- 

 quake Study," by John Milne; "The Valley of the 

 Yang-tsze," by Mrs. Isabella L. Bishop ; " A Descrip- 

 tion of the Great Assam Earthquake of June 12, 

 1897," by R. D. Oldham ; " A Journey across the 

 Sierra Mad re from Mazatlan to Durango," by 0. H. 

 Howarth ; " On Political Geography," by J. Scott 

 Keltic ; " The Prospects of Antarctic Research," bv 

 Hugh R. Mill; "National Photographic Record,'' 

 by Sir Benjamin Stone; "On Sokotra," by Mrs. 

 Theodore Bent ; " On the Upper Nile," by Sir C. W. 

 Wilson ; " Twenty-eight Years in Central Australia," 

 by Louis de Rougemont; "On Tirah," by Sir T. 

 Hungerford Holdich ; "Christmas Island in the 

 Indian Ocean," by Charles W. Andrews; "A Visit 

 to Northeastern Kamchatka," by G. E. H. Barrett 

 Hamilton ; " The Approaching Economic Revolution 

 in China," by G. G. Chisholm ; " On t he Great Globe," 

 by E. Reclus ; and " The Outlook Tower, Edinburgh," 

 by Patrick Geddes. 



Also a " Report of the Committee on the Clima- 

 tology of Africa " was read and discussed. 



F. Economic Science and Statistics. This sec- 

 tion was presided over by Dr. James Bonar, who de- 

 livered an address on " Old Lights and New in Eco- 

 nomic Study." He referred to the Bristol meetings 

 held in 1836 and 1875, at the last of which Jevons 

 called attention to the diminishing of the coal sup- 

 ply in England, concerning which he said: "The 

 lessened growth of population makes that reduc- 

 tion less marked, but it gives us at least a slightly 

 better prospect of moderating our own inroads 

 on our coal and iron, while the United States, out- 

 principal rivals, will soon need all the warnings 

 that our national candor has so freely bestowed on 

 ourselves." He found that some earnest students, 

 " especially among our more cautious and prudent 

 philanthropists, lament that they can not feel at 

 home with the older economists, while, nevertheless, 

 they think they owe more to the older than to the 

 new." This he explained as due to the fact that 

 "we live in a world that has been much altered 

 since they left it. This is a phenomenon we can 

 observe in our own half of the century," and also 

 for the reason that "the imperfection" of all hu- 

 man records can not fail to make the judgment of 

 the past somewhat more fallible than of the present. 

 Presumably a man puts his best thoughts into his 

 books ; but he does not always tell us there how he 

 arrived at them and unless he is a living author he 

 can not be cross-examined." He reviewed the work 



