November 26, 1920] 



SCIENCE 



519 



Turner, University of Illinois. Four appliea- 

 cations for membership in the society were 

 received. 



A committee was appointed to audit the 

 accounts of the Treasurer for the current 

 year. A list of nominations of officers and 

 other members of the council was adopted 

 and ordered printed on the official ballot for 

 the annual meeting in December. The treas- 

 urer of the society to be elected at the annual 

 meeting- was made curator of all property be- 

 longing to the society. 



It was announced that the next summer 

 meeting of the society will be held, in con- 

 junction with that of the Mathematical Asso- 

 ciation of America, at Wellesley College. 



The following papers were read at the 

 October meeting: 



H. S. Vandiver : " On Kummer's memoir of 

 1857 concerning Format's last theorem." 



E. L. Borger : " On total differentiability." 



Elizabeth LeStourgeon: "Minima of func- 

 tions of lines." 



Joseph Lipka : " Complete geometric char- 

 acterization- of the dynamical trajectories on 

 a surface for any positional field of force." 



Joseph Lipka: "Complete geometric char- 

 acterization of the brachistrochrones, cate- 

 naries, and velocity curves on a surface." 



Dunham Jackson : " On the convergence of 

 certain polynomial approximations." 



J. F. Ritt : " On algebraic functions which 

 can be expressed in terms of radicals." 



A. A. Bennett : " The Schwarz inequality 

 for a given symmetrical convex region and 

 given bilinear form." 



Edward Kasner : " Determination of an 

 Einstein gravitational field by means of the 

 paths of free particles." 



O. E. Glenn : " An algorism for differential 

 invariant theory." 



T. H. Gronwall : " Some inequalities in the 

 theory of functions of a complex variable." 



W. L. G. Williams : " Fundamental systems 

 of formal modular semi-variants of the binary 

 cubic." 



The Southwestern Section will meet at the 

 University of Nebraska on ISTovember 27. 

 The annual meeting of the society will be 



held in New York, December 28-29. Its 

 western meeting will be held at Chicago, 

 December 29-30. F. IST. Cole, 



Secretary 



THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF 

 SCIENCES 



The program of the autumn meeting, held at 

 Princeton University, was as follows: 



TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 16 



Morning Session 



' ' Some approximate computations of x-ray 

 wave-lengths, ' ' by W. Duane. 



"The Peltier effect," by E. H. Hall. 



' ' New facts bearing on the structure of the 

 helium atom, " by R. A. Millikan. . 



' ' The measurement of the ionizing potential of 

 metallic surfaces," by R. A. Millikan. 



"Further progress in the extreme ultra-violet," 

 by R. A. Millikan. 



"Pluorescence and chemical change in very in- 

 tense light fields, " E. W. "Wood. 



' ' A high speed photographic recording galvan- 

 ometer for laboratory or technical use," by A. 

 Trowbridge. 



"Explosions of mixtures of coal gas and air 

 under constant volume conditions," by A. Trow- 

 bridge. 



Excursion to the Eockefeller Institute (depart- 

 ment of animal pathology) . Inspection of grounds 

 and buildings, followed by luncheon as guests of 

 the institute. 



Afternoon Session 



"A post-war use of war material," by L. O. 

 Howard. 



' ' The investigation of the flora of northern 

 South America by the United States National Mu- 

 seum, the Gray Herbarium of Harvard University 

 and the New York Botanical Garden," by N. L. 

 Britton. 



"The segregation and control of the light pro- 

 ducing substances in organisms, " by U. Dahlgren 

 (introduced by E. G. Conklin). 



"Rose Atoll, Samoa," by A. G. Mayor. (By 

 title.) 



"The tectonic conditions accompanying the in- 

 trusion of basic and ultrabasic igneous rocks," by 

 W. N. Benson (introduced by Arthur L. Day.) 

 (Read by title.) 



"The oldest forest," by John M. Clarke. 



"The evolution of the Proboscidea, " by H. F. 

 Osborn. 



