154 



NATURE 



[June 14, 1694 



The preliminary programme of the- forty-third meeting of 

 the American Association for the Advancement of Science, to 

 be held in Brooklyn, from August 15 to 24, under the presi- 

 dency of Dr. D. G. Brinton, has been issued. The officers of the 

 various sections are as follows : — Section .■V (Mathematics and 

 Astronomy) : Vice-President, Prof. George C. Comstock ; 

 Secretary, Prof. Wooster C. Beman. Section B (Physics) : 

 Vice-President, Mr. William A. Rogers ; Secretary, Mr. Benj. 

 W. Snow. Section C (Chemistry) : Vice-President, Mr. 

 Thomas H. Norton ; Secretary, Prof. S. M. Babcock. Section 

 D (Mechanical Science and Engineering) : Vice-President, Mr. 

 Mansfield Merriam ; Secretary, Mr. John H. Kinelay. Section 

 E (Geology and Geography) Vice-President, Mr. Samuel 

 Calvin ; Secretary (vacancy to be filled). Section F (Zoology) : 

 Vice-President (vacancy to be filled) ; Secretary, Prof. William 

 Libbey. Section G (Botany): Vice-President, Mr. Lucien M. 

 Underwood ; Secretary, Prof. Charles R. Barnes. .Section H 

 (Anthropology) : Vice-President, Mr. Franz Boaz ; Secretary, 

 Mr. Alex. F. Chamberlain. Section I (Economic Science and 

 Statistics) : Vice-President, Mr. Henry -Farquhar ; Secretary, 

 Mr. Manly Miles. The following subjects of addresses by the 

 Vice-Presidents are announced : — Physics : " Obscure Heat as 

 an Agent in producing Expansion and Contraction in Metals." 

 Anthropology: "Human Faculty as determined by Race." 

 Geology and Geography : " Some Points in Geological History 

 illustrated in North-Easlern loiva." Economic Science and 

 Statistics: " A Stable Monetary Standard." Mathematics and 

 Astronomy: "Binary Stars." Botany: "The Evolution of 

 the Hepatic^." Chemistry : " The Battle with Fire." Me- 

 chanical Science and Engineering : " Paradoxes in the Resist- 

 ance of Materials." 



The affiliated societies holding meetings during the 

 meeting of the Association arc : — The Geological Society 

 of America (President, Prof. T. C. Chamberlain ; Sec- 

 retary, Prof. H. L. Fairchild) ; Society for Promotion of 

 Agricultural .Science (President, Mr. L. O. Howard ; Secre- 

 tary, Mr. William Frear) ; Association of Economic Ento- 

 mologists (President, Mr. L. O. Howard; Secretary, Mr. C. 

 P. Gillette); .Vssociation of Slate Weather .Service (Secretary, 

 Mr. Robert E. Kerkham) ; Society for Promoting Engineering 

 Education (President, Prof. De Volson Wood ; Secretary, Prof. 

 J. B. Johnson) ; American Microscopical Society (President, 

 Dr. Lester Curtis ; Secretary, Dr. W. H. Seaman) ; American 

 Chemical Society (President, Prof. H. W. Wiley; Secretary, 

 Prof, .\lbert C. Hale); American Forestry Association (Presi- 

 dent, Prof. B. E. Fernow ; Secretary, Mr. J. D. W. French) ; 

 the Botanical Club (President, Prof. William P. Wilson ; 

 Secretary, Mr. Thomas H. McBride) ; the Entomological 

 Clnb (President, .Mr. C. J. S. Bethune ; Secretary, Mr. 

 C. L. Marlett). Geological, mincralogical, botanical, zoo- 

 logical, and engineering excursions have been organised, 

 and arrangements arc being made by the American Forestry 

 Auociation to enable members to proceed from Brooklyn at the 

 close of the session to the White Mountains to attend a Forestry 

 Congress. Special invitations have been extended to distin- 

 guished European men of science, and it is announced that 

 properly-.iccrediled members of all National Associations for the 

 Advancement of Science attending a meeting of the American 

 Association are entitled to register without fee as members for 

 the coming meeting. There is every prospect that the meeting 

 will be a very successful one. Information relating to member- 

 ship and papers can be oblained from Mr. F. W. Putnam, Per- 

 manent Secretary, Salem, Mass. .Ml matters relating to local 

 airangcmenis are managed by Prof. George ;W. Plympton, 

 l.ocal Secretary, 502 I''ulton Street, Brooklyn, N. V. 



NO. 1285. VOL. 50J 



The revival of exploration by Frenchmen has led to the 

 establishment of a series of lectures on scientific subjects to 

 intending travellers at the Natural History Museum in Paris, of 

 which the most recent, a discourse on comparative anatomy, by 

 M. H. Beauregard, appears in the current number of the 

 Revue Siieitii/it/uc: This lecture was originally undertaken 

 by Prof. Georges Pouchet, whose untimely death deprives the 

 French scientific world of one of their most laborious and 

 successful travelling naturalists. The lecturer attributed the 

 lack of attention to comparative anatomy on the part of most 

 travellers to the fact that in making collections they aimed 

 rather to supply museums with attractive specimens than to pro- 

 vide specialists with the material for study and research. 



A PLAN of Timbuktu, sent by an officer of the French ex- 

 pedition, was presented to a recent meeting of the Paris Geo- 

 graphical Society, and is reproduced in the last number of the 

 Comptes /"sWkj of that Society. The town has about 12,000 

 inhabitants, but its commercial prosperity has been destroyed 

 by recent Tuareg raids, many of the buildings being in ruins, 

 although from a distance its large pyramidal mo.'^ques give it an 

 imposing appearance. The town is surrounded outside the 

 walls by mounds of dried filth and putrefying animal remains. 

 The desert lies all round, but on the west side there is an ex- 

 tensive pond gradually undergoing desiccation, and several 

 I small pools whence the water-supply is obtained. 



\ The Ethnological Museum at Berlin has just published the 

 second part of Mr. Hrolf Vaughan Stevens' great study of the 

 people of the Malay Peninsula, under the title " Materialen 

 zur Kenntniss der wilden Slamme auf der Halbinsel Malaka," 

 edited by Albert Griinwedel. This part contains a short 

 account of the Negritoes of the Malay peninsula, and a full dis- 

 cussion of the mythology and religion of the Orang Panggang, 

 illustrated by numerous drawings of ceremonial accessories, and 

 particularly the curiously inscribed bamboo-rods called penitah, 

 which are buried with the dead to serve as passports in the 

 other world. A long glossary of the Orang-hutan dialects 

 is given in conclusion, being compiled from the records of 

 all travellers who have studied the Malay languages. The 

 value of this glossary is enhanced by the actual renderings of 

 the various authorities being preserved in the different European 

 languages in which they wrote. 



The Weather Bureau of the United States has published its 

 first volume of results of meteorological observations for the 

 years 1891 and 1892, continuing the scries formerly published 

 by the Signal Service, together with other climatological tables 

 and special reports of general interest. I'he work contains 528 

 large quarto pages, with illustrations and plates, and includes 

 hourly means for 28 stations, with comprehensive and plainly 

 printed monthly and annual summaries at about 170 stations. 

 Prof. C. F. Marvin gives a very full description of the various 

 instruments in use, and Prof. C. .\bbe contributes a paper on 

 instrumental corrections and methods of reduction. Both these 

 reports supply much valuable information which will be found 

 very useful to the general public. The work will be widely 

 distributed, as wc see that no less than 9000 copies have been 

 primed. 



Wi-; believe it is generally known that the Central Obser- 

 vatory of Moncalieri has for many years published a Bollettino 

 Mentiiale, which is the recognised organ of the Italian Meteoro- 

 logical Society. The bulletin contains the niontlily results of 

 a large number of meteorological stations in the ,\lps, the 

 Appennincs, and other parts of Italy, summaries of the pro- 

 ceedings of the Italian and other meteorological societies, and 

 bibliographical notices. In addition to the above, there are 



