452 



SCIENGE. 



[N. S. Vol. IX. No. 321. 



Anatomy,' and Horace D. Arnold one on the 

 ' Weight of the (Normal) Heart in Adults, ' 

 the conclusion being that the average weight 

 for males is 290 grams and for females 260 

 grams. The final article, 'A Study of the Encap- 

 sulated Bacilli,' by Lawrence W. Strong, finds 

 that the gas production of these bacilli affords 

 a valuable aid for their study and identification. 



The Electrical World and the Electrical Engi- 

 neer will be issued, hereafter, as one publication, 

 to be known as the Electrical World and Engi- 

 neer, under the editorship of T. Commerford 

 Martin and W. D. Weaver. W. J. Johnston, 

 former editor of the Electrical World, has retired. 



De. W. p. Wynne, F. B. S. , has been elected 

 editor of the Journal of the British Chemical 

 Society. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE NEW YOEK 

 ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, FEBRUARY 27, 1S99. 



After the reading of the minutes of the last 

 annual meeting, the reports of the oflicers for 

 the year just closed were called for by the Pres- 

 ident, Professor Henry F. Osborn. 



The Corresponding Secretary reported briefly 

 that he had succeeded in correcting and revis- 

 ing the list of honorary and corresponding 

 members, after a considerable amount of cor- 

 respondence, and that the corrected list would 

 be published in Part I. of the volume of Annals 

 for 1899. The Recording Secretary then pre- 

 sented the following report, summarizing the 

 progress and work of the Academy during the 

 preceding year : 



The last year of the Academy has been ex- 

 tremely satisfactory, and its affairs are in a 

 much more promising condition than heretofore. 

 Interest in our meetings has increased during 

 the year, and the number of people cooperating 

 in our work is much larger than ever before. 



During the last fiscal year there have been 

 thirty-one meetings of the several sections, 

 three public lectures and one public reception. 

 The sections now organized are those of As- 

 tronomy and Physics, Biology, Geology and 

 Mineralogy, and of Anthropology, Psychology 

 and Philology. The latter section has been 



divided into two sub sections, for economy of 

 effort. Particular mention should be made of 

 the good work and increased interest in the 

 sub-section of Anthropology and Psychology, 

 largely due to the personal and persistent ef- 

 forts of Dr. Boas. 



During the year a total of ninety-four papers 

 has been presented before the Academy, thirtj^- 

 seven new members have been elected, twelve 

 have resigned, leaving a total of three hundred 

 and thirty-five on the Secretary's list, including 

 six new life members. The Fifth Annual Recep- 

 tion held in April last was in some ways the 

 most successful in the history of the Academy. 

 During the year the by-laws have been very 

 completely revised, simplified and made work- 

 able, particularly in such a way as to give the 

 individual sections and sectional oflicers more 

 importance in the program, and so as to reduce 

 the number of business meetings at which the 

 Academy must be formally organized for gen- 

 eral business to one each month. The public 

 lectures have been more flrmly established than 

 heretofore, and have been assigned to the 

 various sections so that each department may 

 be popularly represented. The printed pro- 

 gram of the year's meetings has been an- 

 nounced in advance, and has been found very 

 helpful. 



The publications of the Academy have been 

 greatly improved as to quality, appearance and 

 dignity, by the change incorporated in January 

 last, when the Transactions were abolished. 

 The thanks of the Academy are certainlj^ due 

 to our enthusiastic and very careful editor, 

 Mr. van Ingen, for the great amount of woit 

 and care that he has put upon the publications. 

 It is through the publications only that we are 

 known abroad in the world, and it is very nec- 

 essary that we should thus appear in the most 

 favorable manner possible. 



The Academy is in great need of more money 

 for publication, and our efforts should be de- 

 voted as fully as possible to the securing of 

 contributions for such work. We are con- 

 tinually obliged to decline valuable scientific 

 papers by our members because of a lack of 

 funds for printing. This is a condition of af- 

 fairs which should not be allowed to continue 

 long. 



