September 25, i8yoJ 



NA TURE 



529 



iheir development, in each of the principal tissues and organs of 

 inner, middle and outer layer of the body, the cells composing 

 them show the same peculiarity, namely, that in their young 

 condition they contain only a small amount of protoplasm, and 

 in the adult condition a very much larger amount, so that the 

 proportion of protoplasm to nucleus increases with the age of 

 the organism. The conclusion is that development of protoplasm 

 is associated with loss of vitality. So that instead of speaking 

 of protoplasm as the physical basis of life, we might term it the 

 physical basis of advancing decrepitude, or in other words, the 

 physical basis of death. The reverse development is seen in 

 generation, where the first process which the fecundated ovum 

 undergoes is segmentation into numerous nuclei, with attendant 

 decrease in the proportion of protoplasm to nucleus, and pre- 

 cisely the same phenomenon is noted in animals which multiply 

 by fissure, the tissues at the point of fissure becoming greatly 

 segmented. 



Dr. Frank Baker, of Washington, addressed Section H 

 (Anthropology) on the ascent of man, in which he traced 

 with much detail the modifications which the body has under- 

 gone in ages of development, the more striking modifications 

 being those connected with the limbs, the change from quadru- 

 pedal to erect posture and the segmentation of the body, and 

 indications of change being left as vestigial organs. The erect 

 position is gradually acquired, and the difficulty that an infant 

 experiences in learning to walk erect is strong evidence that it is 

 an accomplishment acquired by the race late in its history. The 

 human body gives evidence of a previous semi-erect position. 

 The special changes of structure which secure the erect position 

 are less marked in children and in the lower races. In the 

 course of evolution of these changes, there is a period of struggle 

 before the body becomes thoroughly adapted to them. Such 

 struggle is still going on, the adaptation being far from complete. 

 Hence the liability of man to certain deformities and diseases, 

 to which quadrupeds are not so much disposed. It is in just this 

 line that is to be found the explanation of the greater difficulty 

 and dangers of parturition in the human family, and of the fact 

 that woman in her entire organism has suffisred more than man 

 in the upward struggle. The increased influence of gravity also 

 explains the greater tendency to certain disturbances of the 

 circulatory organs. Study of the bony skeleton gives, in man, 

 evidence of his relationship, in origin to the lower animals, as in 

 the persistence of relics of ribs, and in unmistakable signs that 

 the skull is composed of segmented pieces like the vertebrae. 

 The evidence of such relationship has come, and is coming from 

 all sides, from the study of comparative brain weight and 

 structure, of the facial angle, the face bones and teeth, with 

 their resulting changes in expression from brute or brutal man to 

 the highest types, in which the brain shows its rulership in the 

 countenance 



Prof. J. R. Dodge, of Washington, addressed Section I 

 (Economic Science and Statistics) on the standard of living in 

 America. Prof. Dodge is chief of the agricultural bureau of 

 statistics of the United States, and his report of the condition 

 of growing crops on the loth of every month is always eagerly 

 awaited, and has a great effect on market prices of agricultural 

 produce of all kinds. The American standard of living is the 

 highest known. To maintain it, wages are and should remain 

 high. Production is not thereby diminished because of the brain 

 power of the American people and our utilization of labour- 

 saving machinery, so that in many articles exportation increases 

 enormously despite high wages. Our woods are tougher than 

 those of Europe, and we would not accept European tools if 

 given to us. 



His most important conclusions are : The question arises. 

 Shall the present standard of living be maintained ? It is a 

 point upon which hangs " the future education, enterprise, in- 

 dependence, and prosperity of the people" of the United States. 

 It depends on the industry of the producing classes, and wisdom 

 in the distribution of their labour for a production that shall meet 

 their wants. If idleness shall be encouraged, production limited, 

 importation enlarged, and dependence on foreign countries 

 fostered, wages will be reduced, and the ability to purchase as 

 well as the volume of production will decline. If the advice of 

 jjubiic and private teachers of repressive economy to buy every- 

 thing abroad, and sit down in'the enjoyment of the luxury of 

 idleness at home, shall become the law of the land, short rations 

 will follow, and high prices will only be abated by the inability 

 of our people to purchase for consumption. 



Unless the largest variety of production shall be encouraged, 



NO. 1091, VOL. 42] 



I and the highest skill shall be stimulated in the endeavour to- 

 I meet all the wants of our people by the results of our own 

 labour, it will be impossible for us to have a surplus for export. 

 It is a matter of time, of determined effort, of high endeavour ta 

 render high wages consistent with large exportations of surplus, 

 but the luture will accomplish it, if the present scale of living 

 and rate of wages of the American people shall be maintained. 



Wednesday evening was taken up with the address of 

 the retiring president. Prof. T. C. Mendenhall, chief of the 

 United States Geodetic and Coast Survey, who spoke on the 

 relation between men of science and the commimity. He 

 began by calling attention to the fact that this association is the 

 outgrowth of the Association of American Geologists and 

 Naturalists organized just fifty years ago. He spoke of the 

 duty assigned the retiring president to present an address as 

 giving an opportunity to dismiss the relationship between 

 members of the Association and the general public whose 

 interest is ofien born of curiosity rather than intelligent ap- 

 preciation. The meetings of this Association have been the 

 means of disseminating proper methods of investigation and 

 study throughout the land. He considered various elements of 

 weakness in scientific men such as assumption of superior 

 knowledge in lines of investigation outside of their own 

 specialties, lack of a proper amount of utilitarianism, as well 

 as lack of interest in political affairs, contrasting this spirit 

 with the distinguished service rendered to mankind by such 

 scientific men as Newton, Watt, and Franklin. The ideal of duty 

 which ought to be present in the mind of every man of science 

 may well be higher than that growing out of mere selfislv 

 pleasure in the acquisition and possession of knowledge. 



The remaining days of the session — ^Thursday, Friday, Mon- 

 day and Tuesday — were devoted to general business and the 

 reading of papers in the sections. On Friday evening Dr. 

 H. C. Hovey lectured on Mammoth, Marengo, and Wyandotte 

 caves, and on Monday evening Prof. C. Leo Mees lectured on 

 electricity. 



The general business included an appropriation of 250 dollars to 

 Prof. E. W. Morley for the further prosecution of his researches 

 in the velocity of light in a magnetic field ; resolution of thanks 

 to tw o Brazilian gentlemen for removing to the museum at Rio 

 the largest meteor ever found, weighing five tons ; resolution 

 requesting Congress to provide fire-proof quarters for the 

 botanical collection at Washington, and another urging pro- 

 tection of the forests ; resolution favouring the use of the metric 

 system at Custom houses in the United States. 



It was decided to hold the next annual meeting at Washington, 

 and invitations were sent to other governments on the American 

 continent to send delegates, thus giving to this meeting, which 

 is the only one held at Washington in recent times, an inter- 

 national character. 



The Association adopted the report of the committee of 

 anatomical nomenclature, which recommends the following 

 changes, with special reference to the brain: "That the 

 adjectives dorsal and ventral be employed in place of posterior 

 and anterior, as commonly used in human anatomy ; and, in 

 place of upper and lower as sometimes used in comparative 

 anatomy ; that the cornua of the spinal cord and spinal nerve 

 roots be designated dorsal and ventral rather than posterior and 

 anterior ; that the costiferous vertebras be called thoracic rather 

 than dorsal ; that the hippocampus minor be called calcar ; that 

 the hippocampus major be called hippocampus ; the pons 

 variolii, pons ; the insula Reilii, insula ; pia mater, pia ; dura 

 mater, dura." 



Two hundred and fifty-nine papers were read, of which the 

 largest number, fifty- one, were in the section of physics, and 

 the next largest, forty-eight, in biology. It is difficult to attempt 

 a selection without doing injustice, but a few of the papers de- 

 serve mention, while perhaps others, equally meritorious, may 

 be overlooked. Prof. Cleveland Abbe read papers by himself 

 on kinematic methods of determining the altitudes and motion 

 of the clouds, and, by Frank N. Bigelow, on further study of the 

 solar corona, and on terrestrial magnetism. The corona is 

 deemed to consist of matter streaming out from the sun in zones 

 about 32° distant from the poles, and falling back into the 

 region of sun-spots, which are, probably, thus caused. It is 

 regarded as similar to the earth's aurora, though of denser 

 matter. 



Prof. T. C. Mendenhall, in his paper on the use of the 

 magnetograph as a seismoscope, showed that earthquakes are 

 caused by the tidal stress of sun and moon upon the earth's- 



