July 7, 1898] 



NATURE 



■n 



THE AMERICAN ASSOCIA TION. 

 'T'HE preliminary programme of the fiftieth meeting of the 

 American Association for the Advancement of Science, to 

 be held at Boston August 22-27, has just, been issued by the 

 local committee. 



Some changes have been made in the officers of the Asso- 

 ciation by death and resignation. The revised list is : — 

 ■ 'resident: Frederick W. Putnam. Vice-Presidents: Section 

 A (Mathematics and Astronomy) : Edward E. Barnard. 

 Section B (Physics) : Frank P. Whitman. Section C 

 (Chemistry): Edgar F. Smith. Section D (Mechanical Science 

 and Engineering) : Mortimer E, Cooley. Section E (Geology 

 and Geography) : Horace L. Fairchild. Section F (Zoology) : 



Ipheus S. Packard. Section G (Botany): W. G. Farlow. 



ction H (Anthropology) : James M. Cattell. Section I 

 >i)cial and Economic Science) : Archibald Blue. Permanent 

 ■secretary : Leland D. Howard. General Secretary : James 

 McMahon, to fill vacancy caused by the death of David S. 

 Kellicott. Secretary of the Council : Frederick Bedell. 



The meetings will be held at the Massachusetts Institute of 

 Technology, the Harvard University Medical School, and the 

 Boston Society of Natural History. Association headquarters 

 will be at the Rogers Building of the Institute of Technology 

 (named after Prof. Wm. B. Rogers, last president of the Society 

 '>f American Geologists and Naturalists, from which the 

 American Association was organised fifty years ago). The 

 hotel headquarters will be at the Copley Square Hotel. 

 ^ The general programme begins with the meeting of the 

 Council on August 20. The first general session of the Asso- 

 ciation will be held on Monday, August 22, at 10 a.m., at 

 Huntington Hall in the Rogers Building. The retiring president, 

 I'rof. Wolcott Gibbs, will introduce the president-elect. Prof. 

 1'. W. Putnam, of Harvard University. Addresses of welcome 

 will be delivered by Goveinor Roger Wolcott, of Massachusetts ; 

 Mayor Josiah Quincy, of Boston ; and President James M. 

 Crafts, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. President 

 Putnam will reply. The several sections will then commence 

 their sittings. 



The addresses of the several vice-presidents will be given on 

 Monday afternoon as follows : — 



At half-past two o'clock : Vice-President Whitman, before the 

 section of physics, " On the Perception of Light and Colour" ; 

 \ ice-President Cattell, before section of anthropology, on " The 

 Advance of Psychology " ; Vice-President Farlow, before section 

 i>f botany, on " The Conception of Species as affected by Recent 

 Investigations on Fungi." 



At half-past three o'clock : Vice-President Barnard, before 

 section of mathematics and astronomy, on " Development of 

 Astronomical Photography " ; Vice-President Blue, before 

 section of social and economic science, on "The Historic 

 Method in Economics" ; Vice-President Packard, before section 

 of zoology, on "A Half-century of Evolution with Special 

 Reference to the Effects of Geological Changes on Animal 

 Life." 



At half-past four o'clock : Vice-President Smith, before 

 -ft ion of chemistry (subject to be announced) ; Vice-President 



iichild, before section of geology and geography, on " Glacial 

 logy in America" ; Vice-President Cooley, before section of 

 iuechanical science and engineering (subject to be announced). 



The address of the retiring president, Prof. Wolcott Gibbs, on 

 Monday evening, will be "On some Points in Theoretical 

 Chemistry," after which will be a reception to the Association 

 and invited guests. 



The meetings of the several sections for the reading of papers 

 will be held on Tuesday and Thursday, morning and afternoon ; 

 and some sections will also hold meetings at Cambridge on 

 Friday. Sections F and H will meet on Tuesday evening at the 

 1 larvard Medical School, when Dr. Thomas Dwight will lecture 

 on " Variations in Human Bones." 



Wednesday will be " Salem Day," and will be devoted to an 

 excursion to Salem, where the museum of the Association is 

 located. On the return, in the evening, lectures will be given 

 in Huntington Hall on the Boston Park System and the Metro- 

 liolitan Water Supply and Sewerage System. 



Friday, Cambridge Day, will be spent at Harvard University, 

 :ind an address will be made in the evening at Sanders Theatre 

 by President Charles W. Eliot. 



The general closing session will be held on Saturday morning 

 at 10 o'clock ; and the concluding meetings and adjournment of 

 the sections in the evening. 



NO. 1497, VOL. 58] 



Besides the excursions to Salem and Cambridge, an excursion 

 will be made on Tuesday afternoon, under the auspices of the 

 American Forestry Association, to Middlesex Fells ; on Thursday 

 afternoon to the Arnold Arl)oretum and the Blue Hill Meteor- 

 ological Observatory ; and on Saturday a choice between (a) 

 Wellesley College, (<5) Concord and Lexington. 



On the following Monday, August 29, excursions will start to 

 the following places :— White Mountains, Plymouth, Province- 

 town (ocean excursion to Cape Cod), Wood's Holl (the Marine 

 Biological Laboratory and the United States Fish Commission), 

 Newport, Clinton (the new Metropolitan Water Supply), 

 Lawrence Experiment Station (of special interest to chemists! 

 biologists and students of public hygiene). 



The foreign guests at the Boston meeting will be entertained 

 by the City of Boston. The officers of the committee on foreign 

 invitations are Dr. Henry P. Bowditch, chairman ; Mr. A. 

 Lawrence Rotch, secretary. 



The local secretary for the Boston meeting is Prof. H. W, 

 Tyler, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to whom 

 all correspondence should be addressed. 



Meetings of affiliated societies will begin on August 18, in- 

 cluding American Forestry Association, Geological Society of 

 America, American Chemical Society, Society for the Promotion 

 of Agricultural Science, Association of Economic Entomologists, 

 Botanical Club of the Association, American Mathematical 

 Society, Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education, 

 American Folk-Lore Society, National Geographic Society, 

 Botanical Society of America, and conference of Astronomers 

 and Physicists. 



FOLK-MEDICINE IN ANCIENT INDIA. 

 " 'T'HE most primitive witchcraft," says Sir Alfred Lyall, 

 " looks very like medicine in the embryonic state." 

 This is preeminently the case in ancient India, where it is not 

 difficult to trace the history of medical science — such as we find 

 it in scientific works on medicine, like the Charaka or Siisrnta 

 —back to its early beginnings in the charms and witchcraft 

 practices of the Atharva-veda, the most ancient compendium of 

 sorcery. 



In India, as elsewhere, the general doctrine of disease pre- 

 vails that all abnormal and morbid states of body and mind are 

 caused by demons, who are conceived either as attacking the 

 body from without, or as temporarily entering the body of man. 

 The consequence is that primitive medicine consists chiefly in 

 chasing away or exorcising these hostile spirits. This is done, 

 in the first instance, by charms. The spirit of disease is 

 addressed with coaxing words and implored to leave the body of 

 the patient, or fierce imprecations are pronounced against him, 

 to frighten him away. But these charms, powerful as they are 

 (in fact, there is nothing more powerful to the primitive mind 

 than the human word, the solemn blessing or curse), are yet not 

 the only resource of the ancient physicians or magicians. 



From the earliest times people had become aware of the 

 curative power of certain substances in nature, especially of 

 herbs. This knowledge was first gained by experience, and, 

 after it had once been obtained, people began to ascribe similar 

 curative power to plants, as well as to animal and mineral sub- 

 stances for various other reasons. Analogy or association of 

 ideas serves to explain not only many of the practices of primi- 

 tive medicine, but also accounts in many cases for the belief in 

 the curative power of certain substances. The principle that 

 similia similibtis airanttir prevails throughout the whole range 

 of folk-medicine. Thus dropsy is cured by water. A spear- 

 amulet is used to cure colic, which is supposed to be caused by 

 the spear of the god Rudra. The colour of a substance is of no 

 small importance in determining its use as a medicine. Thus 

 turmeric is used to cure jaundice. Red, the colour of life- 

 blood and health, is the natural colour of many amulets used to 

 .secure long life and health. A black plant is recommended for 

 the cure of white leprosy. But even the name of a substance 

 was frequently a reason for ascribing to it healing power. One 

 of the most powerful medicinal or magical plants is called ir> 

 Sanskrit afiimdrga (Achyratithes aspera), and it owes its sup- 

 posed power essentially to its etymological connection with the 

 verb " apamarj," meaning " to wipe away," and in Hindu charms 

 the plant is constantly implored to wipe away disease, to wipe 

 out demons and wizards, to wipe off sins and evils of all kinds. 



To wipe a disease away, is a very common and a very natural 



