148 



POPULAR SCIENCE NEWS. 



[October, 1S89. 



[Specially Reported for The Popular Science -STcws.] 

 THE TORONTO MEETING OF THE AMERI- 

 CAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCE- 

 MENT OF SCIENCE. 



For the third time in its historj, the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Science has 

 met on British soil. Twice already has Montreal 

 claimed a right of hospitality, and now Toronto has, 

 in its turn, shown that Canada abounds in every 

 resource that can ensure success to this yearly 

 gathering. The University building found ample 

 space for six of the eight sec tions of the Association , 

 besides rooms for writing, conversation, the press, 

 post, telegraph, and telephone. The section of 

 chemistry, though relegated to the School of 

 Science, was on one side of the University grounds, 

 and that of biology in the spacious new Biological 

 building on the other. A lunch, free to all mem- 

 bers of the Association, was provided daily in the 

 main building of the University, and, besides more 

 than one entertainment by the city, many of the 

 citizens held receptions in their own homes. 

 Indeed, the hospitality of the ladies of Toronto 

 was a marked feature of the meeting, and their 

 kindness in providing each day carriages for those 

 who wished to see something of the city and its 

 inhabitants, will long be gratefully remembered. 

 The diiferent railway and steamboat companies 

 offered very liberal rates to almost any part of the 

 Dominion, and for Saturday the local committee 

 provided two entirely free excursions, — one to 

 Niagara, and the other to any point among the 

 romantic islands of Muskoka. 



The member who sought in these meetings more 

 than intellectual recreation and companionship, 

 began his work on the afternoon of Wednesday, 

 August 28, when the vice-presidents delivered the 

 addresses which open the sessions of the various 

 sections. Professor Garrick Mallery, of Washing- 

 ton, endeavoured to establish a strong similarity 

 between the Indian and Israelite races, an examina- 

 tion of both having shown him that they are on 

 parallel planes of culture. To judge from the small 

 audience present, very little interest was excited in 

 this topic, and a "Prospective Consideration of the 

 Economic and Sociologic Relations of the United 

 States and Canada," by Colonel Charles S. Hill, 

 attracted scarcely anyone unconnected with the 

 press. The address of William L. Dudley on 

 ' "Amalgarhs," though of a closely technical nature, 

 interested the chemists greatly. Mr. R. S. Wood- 

 ward, modestly claiming the earth as the exclusive 

 property of the section of mathematics and astron- 

 omy, discussed such topics as its shape and size ; 

 constitution and distribution of its mass ; its inter- 

 nal heat, and the effects of secular cooling, with the 

 geological phenomena of crumpling and crust move- 

 ments ; its liquidity, solidity, and rigidity, and 

 theories of cosmogony. Professor Charles White, 

 on the other hand, confined the attention of geolo- 

 gists to a consideration of the special portion of the 

 earth's history as exhibited on this continent by the 

 Mesozoic division of rocks. The two addresses that 

 excited the widest interest were those of Professor 

 Carhart, of Ann Arbor, and Professor Goodale, of 

 Harvard. The former gentleman, reviewing theo- 

 ries of electrical action, from those of Faraday to 

 those now based on the recent discoveries of Hertz 

 of Carlsruhe, concluded with the statement that yet 

 fuller experiments have proved that electro-magnetic 

 waves are not only like light, but are light; or, to 

 speak more correctly, all radiant energy is trans- 

 mitted as electro-magnetic waves in luminiferous 

 ether. Professor Goodale gave a like comprehen- 

 sive review of t'ue state of our knowledge of proto- 

 plasm, showing that recer;t investigations have 

 discovered among the cells of plants, a system of 



delicate connecting threads of protoplasm, forming, 

 apparently, a means of communicatipn from one to 

 another. He also dwelt on cell multiplication, 

 stating, on the authority of recent experiments, 

 that, besides the division of the nucleus that always 

 precedes the process, a similar change takes place 

 in the granules in the cell, and that the cell is at any 

 time ready to transform its contents according to 

 the need of the plant. 



The evening of Wednesday was devoted to the 

 address of the retiring president of the Association, 

 Major Powell, chief of the United States Geological 

 Survey, who was, unfortunately, not present. The 

 pavilion of the Horticultural Gardens was brilliantly 

 decorated, without by circles of lights, and within 

 by an effective distribution of flags, bunting, and 

 exotic plants. Thousands of citizens, of all classes 

 and all ages, thronged the gardens, and thousands 

 more were seated in the galleries and body of the 

 hall. To be heard by such an assemblage demanded 

 a voice of no ordinary strength, and such a one was 

 found in Mr. G. K. Gilbert, who rendered with 

 great rhetoric skill the flowery periods and poetic 

 language in which his chief traced the growth of 

 music, from the barbaric dance to the modern sym- 

 phony. 



The sessions of Thursday offered little to the gen- 

 eral member. The importance of giving due place 

 to the science of chemistry in the programmes of 

 the secondary schools, was urged by Professor Sea- 

 man in his report to the chemical section. Mr. 

 Edward S. Holden, director of the Lick Observatory, 

 dealt with the astronomical observations made with 

 the great telescope since it was set up in June, 18S8. 

 Mr. H. Carrington Bolton illustrated his researches 

 on sonorous sand in the peninsula of Sinai with 

 magic lantern views of the localities in which it 

 occurs. Mr. Walter Hough, of the United States 

 National Museum, gave a practical demonstration 

 of aboriginal fire-making, developing a satisfactory 

 tiame from a small heap of charred dust, accumu- 

 lated in about twenty seconds by twirling one semi- 

 decayed stick upon another. The section of geology 

 held no session this day, all geologists being 

 attracted to the meeting of the Geological Society 

 in the Normal School, presided over by James 

 Hall, and addressed by Dana, Sir William Dawson, 

 and other veterans of the science. The biologists 

 adjourned for the afternoon, to take part in the 

 botanical excursion to Scarborough Heights, which 

 proved a pleasant and profitable reunion of kindred 

 spirits. Another opportunity for social intercourse, 

 and on a larger scale, was afforded in the evening, 

 at the Horticultural Gardens, when the whole city 

 seemed to be promenading under lines of Chinese 

 lanterns radiating from the fountain, which was 

 itself decorated with circles of tiny colored lights. 



Many able papers were read to the sections on 

 Friday. Of these, two were of general interest, — 

 one both for its matter and manner of delivery by 

 Mrs. Nellie Kedgie, on the importance to all house- 

 wives of a knowledge of the requisite elements to be 

 sought in food, and of the best methods of preparing 

 that food in order to obtain from it all the benefit 

 possible ;_ the other, because the subject, in itself 

 diflScult to all but palseobotanists, became easy to 

 everyone in the hands of Sir William Dawson. A 

 very graphic picture he drew of the forests of the 

 Erian and Carboniferous periods, in which equise- 

 tums and lycopods grew with the dimensions of 

 trees, giving way as time passed on to the sigilarias 

 and Icpidodendrons, which foreshadowed the gym- 

 nosperms ; and, as these latter became more numer- 

 ous and more highly specialized, dwindling to the 

 humble plants we now find them, the tree-ferns 

 from first to last holding their own, as they do now 

 in certain localities. An evening lecture, illustrated 



by maps and diagrams, and giving an admirable 

 summary of the history of the Niagara River, 

 brought Friday to a satisfactory close. 



The excursion to the granite islands and clear 

 waters of the Muskoka Lakes delighted all who 

 undertook it, even though they were unable to 

 return to the sessions of Monday. The botanists 

 were especially happy in the discovery of rare 

 plants, and of one or two that may prove entirely 

 new species. 



Monday was, however, found interesting by those 

 who, either by compulsion or choice, preferred the 

 work of section rooms to the enjoyment of rest, 

 quiet, and scenery of exceptional beauty. All mem- 

 bers, however, had the opportunity of attending 

 Mr. H. Carrington Bolton's evening lecture on 

 Mount Sinai, accompanied with magic lantern views. 



The first attraction of Tuesday was found in the 

 anthropological section, where Professor F. W. 

 Putnam gave the results of his explorations about 

 the serpent mound of Adams County, Ohio, con- 

 vincing all who heard his story of patient, intelli- 

 gent labor, that the grant of money made by the 

 Association is being well expended. The general 

 form of the mound was clearly exhibited by draw- 

 ings and photographs. Professor Putnam described 

 the manner in which the mound must have been 

 made, and the graves that he has opened around it. 

 These he found to be of two distinct periods, — the 

 one comparatively recent, the other reaching back 

 to the greatest antiquity of which he has yet seen 

 traces, and containing evidences of serpent worship, 

 connecting the ancient remains with southern 

 races. The economic section offered an attractive 

 programme, but, owing to the absence of the 

 writers of the papers, little interest was manifested 

 in their contents, and more than one was read to 

 an audience of four or five. Mr. C. M. Woodward, 

 of St. Louis, sent an exceedingly able and valuable 

 contribution on the "Relation of Manual Training 

 to Body and Mind," which would have elicited a 

 lively discussion had he himself been present. As 

 it was, it was satisfactory to note the unanimous 

 testimony of the parents of the boys in his manual 

 school, to the growth and development of mind and 

 body, habits of application and accuracy, faculty of 

 thinking about means and methods, power of gen- 

 eralization, concentration, and endurance, fostered 

 by the simultaneous education of hand and brain. 

 Mr. Atkinson's paper on the scientific application 

 of heat to the cooking of food, suffered by the 

 writer's absence, and many — ladies especially — were 

 disappointed that his oven and steam-cooker were 

 not exhibited. The questions of "Desert Land" and 

 the "Protection of Forests" drew out a discussion, 

 in which Charles Smiley, of Washington, and other 

 able thinkers took good part. The geological sec- 

 tion, after all, proved of greatest interest to the 

 greatest number, even though the seats appeared to 

 be arranged for the torture rather than the repose 

 of the occupant. Many technical papers were 

 closely followed by ladies, in spite of physical dis- 

 comfort, which was entirely forgotten when Profes- 

 sor J. S. Newberry and Sir William Dawson dis- 

 cussed the history of the formation of the Great 

 Lakes, with the theories of glaciation involved. 



A garden party in the beautiful grounds of Gov- 

 ernment House gave the occasion for leave takings 

 between friends and co-workers, while at the public 

 meeting in the evening the heartfelt thanks of all 

 were rendered to everyone who had contributed to 

 the success of this Toronto meeting. C. 



The Plumber. — The Sanitary News is at pains to 

 deny that there is no good plumber but a dead one; 

 it offers arguments of considerable weight in sup- 

 port of its view. 



