40 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVII. No. 940 



short lecture courses. Only thirty reported a 

 regular program of evening observations, twelve 

 some daytime exercises, ten some review of the 

 elements of spectrum analysis as a basis for study 

 of stellar classification, fourteen gave some library 

 work, the rest gave only lectures with no labora- 

 tory work by the student. But two institutions, 

 Harvard and Wellesley, reported two hours of 

 daytime laboratory work by the students as in 

 other sciences, and this in addition to evening 

 work. 



The numbers in the colleges electing an ele- 

 mentary course would be more significant if they 

 could be reported in percentages, but this was not 

 possible. That only eight universities and colleges 

 reported a hundred and more in the first-year 

 classes, three, 70-100, six, 50-70, and sixty-five 

 mostly less than twenty-five, shows that a very 

 small proportion of college men and women know 

 much about anything off this little planet. 



Special interest in the movement was emphatic- 

 ally expressed in more than half the replies, and 

 the hope that the society can in some way bring 

 its influence to bear to secure greater place for 

 elementary astronomy in the programs of study, 

 better methods of teaching elementary classes, and 

 aid the teachers to secure better equipment and 

 adequate assistance. 



The leaders of the great research observatories. 

 Harvard, Lick, Yerkes, IVIt. Wilson, all expressed 

 sympathy in the objects of the committee and the 

 hope that astronomy would not long lag behind 

 other sciences, taken up in liberal education. Sev- 

 eral called attention to the fact that teachers of 

 elementary astronomy should be trained as teachers 

 of physics are trained. Colleges should be urged 

 to understand that an observatory for the train- 

 ing of experts is not the entire equipment neces- 

 sary for the work of a department of astronomy. 

 Some replies, however, state the issue clearly from 

 the standpoint of the heads of the departments of 

 astronomy. In the choice between using the ob- 

 servatory for instruction or for research, the 

 research problems have the stronger claims. As 

 in other cases, the professor should be provided 

 with adequate assistance. 



The committee has brought the facts before the 

 Society and calls for the assistance of the Society 

 in constructive plans. The committee has no 

 plan as yet formulated, but requests that it be 

 continued. 



Philip Fox, 

 Secretary 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



THE NEW ORLEANS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



On Tuesday, November 12, there was held at 

 the Public Library the first regular meeting of 

 the newly reorganized New Orleans Academy of 

 Science. The New Orleans Academy of Science 

 was founded in the year 1853, and was a vigorous 

 society until the war, when its activities were sus- 

 pended. It was revived again for a brief period 

 soon after the war and then again in 1885, when 

 it met regularly for about five years and published 

 several volumes of transactions. Since 1890 the 

 academy has been dormant. 



As now reorganized it consists of sixteen sec- 

 tions with chairmen for each section as follows: 



Biology and Physiology, Gustav Mann. 



Botany and Bacteriology, C. W. Duval. 



Zoology, George E. Beyer. 



Anthropology and Ethnology, E. B. Bean. 



Philology, Eobert Sharp. 



History and Biography, Pierce Butler. 



Education, J. M. Gwinn. 



Economics and Sociology, A. P. Howard. 



Chemistry, Miss Ann Hero. 



Geology and Mineralogy, B. V. B. Dixon. 



Astronomy and Mathematics, A. B. Dinwiddle. 



Geogi-aphy and Meteorology, J. A. Lyon. 



Engineering, W. H. P. Creighton. 



Physics, H. Clo. 



Philosophy, W. B. Smith. 



The officers of the newly organized academy 

 are: 



President — William Benjamin Smith, professor 

 of philosophy, Tulane University of Louisiana. 



First Vice-president — Dr. Max Heller. 



Second Vice-president — Dr. Isadore Dyer, dean 

 of the medical department, Tulane University of 

 Louisiana. 



Treasurer — ^Dr. A. L. Metz, professor of chem- 

 istry, Tulane University of Louisiana. 



Secretary — E. S. Cocks, professor of botany, 

 Tulane University of Louisiana. 



Librarian and Curator — Dr. Creighton Wellman, 

 professor of tropical medicine and hygiene, in- 

 cluding preventive medicine, Tulane University of 

 Louisiana. 



At the inauguration meeting there were ad- 

 dresses by the president and the two vice-presi- 

 dents. The academy will meet hereafter the 

 second Tuesday of each month. 



E. S. Cocks, 

 Secretary 



