ASSOCIATIONS FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. (AMERICAN.) 



the Black Rot of Cabbage in Europe, by H. A. 

 Harding; A Summary of our Knowledge of the 

 Fig, with Illustrations, by Walter T. Swingle; 

 and The Classification of Botanical Publications, 

 by William Trelease. 



Columbus was the home of William S. Sullivant 

 and Leo Lesquereux, the first and most famous 

 bryologists, and on Aug. 23 the students of 

 mosses and hepatics gathered to honor their 

 name and fame. Their portraits were exhibited 

 and their works were shown. Twelve North 

 American mosses have been named for Sullivant, 

 and specimens from these were loaned from the 

 Sullivant collection belonging to the Gray Her- 

 barium through the courtesy of Dr. Benjamin L. 

 Robinson. Plates from Sullivant's Icones were 

 exhibited with each species. The special exer- 

 cises were as follow: William A. Kellerman read 

 Dr. Asa Gray's tribute to Sullivant from the Sup- 

 plement to the Icones; Mrs. Nathaniel L. Brit- 

 ton gave a brief account of the species named 

 for Sullivant; Charles R. Barnes read a tribute 

 to Leo Lesquereux from the Botanical Gazette; 

 Lucien M. Underwood gave a brief outline of the 

 progress in the study of the hepatics, illustrated 

 by books and pamphlets; the plates illustrating 

 twelve new species of hepatics from California, 

 described by M. A. Howe, were exhibited, and 

 the specimens shown by F. E. Lloyd; Prof. Earle 

 read Some Notes on the Moss Flora of Alabama, 

 by Dr. Charles Mohr; Mrs. Britton gave a brief 

 historical record of the study of mosses, illus- 

 trated by books and pamphlets; Abel J. Grout 

 presented some suggestions for a more satisfac- 

 tory classification of the pleurocarpous mosses, 

 and exhibited a set of his revisions of Pleuro- 

 carpous genera, also a set of The Bryologist; 

 George N. Best exhibited a set of his publica- 

 tions and a summary of his work; William A. 

 Kellerman exhibited a set of drawings and mosses 

 formerly the property of Mr. Schrader, who made 

 the drawings for Sullivant's Icones; Mrs. Britton 

 and Prof. Underwood exhibited a set of 45 pho- 

 tographs of American students and collectors 

 whose names are perpetuated in those of Ameri- 

 can mosses; Mrs. Britton showed a set of maps 

 with starred regions where collections had been 

 made, and lists of the names of collectors; re- 

 ports were received from the Sullivant moss chap- 

 ter, with a list of members from the secretary, 

 Mrs. Annie M. Smith, and also a list of the spe- 

 cies of mosses named by Sullivant; reports were 

 received from Mr. McElwee, of the Philadelphia 

 moss chapter, with lists of collections and books 

 on mosses which may be found in the Academy 

 of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia; and Arthur 

 Hollick gave information as to the publication 

 of the later work of Lesquereux. 



H. Anthropology. This section was presided 

 over by Dr. Thomas Wilson, curator of prehis- 

 toric archaeology in the United States National 

 Museum, Washington city. Dr. Wilson pre- 

 sented to the section an address on Beginnings 

 of the Science of Prehistoric Anthropology. He 

 said in part: "Up to the beginning of this cen- 

 tury the science of prehistoric anthropology had 

 been an unknown one. Prior to that time the 

 origin of man and his first occupation of the 

 earth had belonged either to history or else it 

 was detailed in tradition. In 1806, in Denmark, 

 the beginning of this science took place. The 

 King organized a commission to investigate the 

 surface of the earth in his kingdom. He ap- 

 pointed a zoologist, a geologist, and an archae- 

 ologist, and the three started over the work." 

 After discussing the work in Denmark, he passed 

 to a description of the Swiss lake dwellings, the 



discovery of which at once stimulated a search 

 for similar remains in other parts of Europe. 

 From the discoveries of the dolmens by the com- 

 mission in Denmark and from the works of the 

 lake dwellers described by Kellar investigators 

 soon came to the conclusion that there had been 

 a prehistoric human existence, and thus the sci- 

 ence of prehistoric anthropology was established 

 on a firm basis. Dr. Wilson also described the 

 development of a belief in the prehistoric origin 

 of palseoliths, and mentioned the impetus given 

 to the new science in 1859 by Darwin's publica- 

 tion of the origin of the species by evolution. 

 Continuing his historical summary of the devel- 

 opment of prehistoric anthropology, he referred 

 to the international congresses that have been 

 held since 1872, and alluded, as he reached his 

 close, to the discovery in Java in 1894, by Dr. 

 Dubois, of what he claimed was " a being midway 

 between man and ape, and the missing link so 

 often and long talked of." 



The following-named papers were then read and 

 discussed before the section: In Memoriam: Re- 

 marks on the late Daniel G. Brinton; The Be- 

 ginnings of Mathematics, by W J McGee; Report 

 of the Committee on the White Race in America, 

 The Scientific Societies and Institutions of the 

 United States, and New Anthropometric Methods, 

 by J. McKeen Cattell; Researches in Experiment- 

 al Phonetics, with Demonstration of Results, In- 

 adequacy of the Present Tests for Color Blindness, 

 with Demonstrations of a New Test, Observations 

 on After-images and Cerebral Light, and Obser- 

 vations on the Economy of Sleep, by Edward W. 

 Scripture; Regarding the Evidences of Ancient 

 Prehistoric Man in the Maumee River Basin, by 

 Charles E. Slocum; The Latest Discoveries of 

 Traces of Glacial Man at Trenton, N. J., and the 

 Light thrown upon them by a Comparative Study 

 of the Gravels of the Delaware and Susque- 

 hanna Valleys, by G. Frederick Wright; Recol- 

 lections of M. Boucher de Perthes, by Thomas 

 Wilson; The Aboriginal Quarries and Shops at 

 Mill Creek, Miami Co., Illinois, by William A. 

 Phillips ; The National Diatonic Scale : A Chapter 

 of Musical History, by Charles K. Wead ; A Com- 

 parative Study of the Physical Structure of the 

 Labrador Eskimos and the New England In- 

 dians, by Frank Russell; The Cherokee River 

 Cult, by James Mooney; Extent of Instruction 

 in Anthropology in Europe and America, by 

 George G. McCurdy; Allan Stevenson's Trance 

 and Prehistoric Settlement, Big Kiokee Creek, 

 Columbia Co., Georgia, by Robert Steiner; and 

 Evolution, by Eliza T. Houk. 



I. Social and Economic Science. The presiding 

 officer of this section was Dr. Marcus Benjamin, 

 editor in the United States National Museum, 

 Washington city. In accordance with a request 

 made to Dr. Benjamin at the council meeting held 

 in April, he delivered an historical address on The 

 Early Presidents of the Association. This ad- 

 dress began with a brief history of the forma- 

 tion of the association, in which it was show^ 

 that the organization was a development of the 

 Association of American Geologists and Natural- 

 ists, which was founded in 1840, and which in 

 turn had its beginning in the Geological Society 

 founded in New Haven in 1819. The influence of 

 the National Institute in Washington was also 

 pointed out. Subsequently Dr. Benjamin gave 

 brief but pointed biographies of the first 25 

 presidents. These included William C Redfield, 

 whose theory of storms marked the beginning 

 of the science of meteorology; Joseph Henry, the 

 first secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 

 whose discoveries in physics made possible the 



