142 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VII. No. 161. 



Member of Publication Committee — Dr. S. Belle 

 Craver, Toledo. 



Raymond Osbubn, 



Press Reporter. 



THE WISCONSIN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, 

 ARTS AND LETTERS. 



The Academy held its 28th annual meeting 

 at Milwaukee, December 27th-29th. The fol- 

 lowing were the principal scientific papers pre- 

 sented : 



Eeports of oiScers and other general business, 9:00 

 -to 9:30 o'clock. 



Reading of papers, 9:30 o'clock. 



' Keport on the progress of the Geological and 

 Natural History Survey of Wisconsin,' Professor C. 

 Dwight Marsh, President of the Academy, and Pro- 

 lessor E. A. Birge, Director of the Survey. 



'The Fresh- water Sponges of St. Louis Bay,' Mr. 

 N. A. Harvey. 



'The Eelation of Motives to Freedom,' Professor 

 E. H. Merrell. 



'The Duration of School Attendance in Chicago 

 and Milwaukee,' Professor Daniel Fulcomer. 



' On the Meaning and Function of Thought-con- 

 nective,' Professor E. T. Owen. 



'The Psychology of the Sense of Injury,' W. F. 

 Becker, M.D. 



' The Succession-period of Generations, ' Professor 

 Chas. H. Chandler. 



'On the Relation of Joints to the Forces which 

 produce them,' Professor C. E. Van Hise. 



' The Origin of Conglomerates, ' Professor G. L. 

 ■Collie. 



'Notes on the Itasca Basin,' Mr. F. E. Lurton. 



' On a plan to gather Information Concerning Wis- 

 consin Diamonds,' Professor Wm. H. Hobbs. 



' Eecent Investigations to Determine the Eelation 

 of Crystal Forms to Chemical Composition,' Professor 

 Wm. H. Hobbs. 



'Observations of Nature and People in Eastern 

 Siberia,' Isidor Ladoff. 



' Observations on the Nocturnal Flight of Migra- 

 ting Birds,' Dr. O. G. Libby. 



' Unsteady Motion in Capillary Tubes, ' Mr. H. C. 

 Wolff. 



'Theoretical Investigation of Motion of Ground- 

 waters,' Professor C. S. Slichter. 



' Pressures within a Heterogeneous Spheroid, ' Pro- 

 fessor C. S. Slichter. 



' Eecent Developments in the Electro-magnetic 

 Theory of Light, ' J. E. Davies. 



' The Action of Dilute Solutions of Electrolytes on 

 the Sense of Taste, ' Dr. Louis Kahlenberg. 



' Several Nitrogen addition products of Caryophyl" 

 lene, ' Professor Edward Kremers. 



'A New Model of the Lobule of the Lung,' Pro- 

 fessor W. S. Miller. 



'A Study of the Variation in the Bileducts of the 

 Cat, ' Professor W. S. Miller. 



In regard to the State Survey, Professor 

 Marsh referred to the fact that $5,000 had been 

 appropriated by the Legislature for each of two 

 years, which was sufficient to pay the actual 

 expenses incurred, while Professor Birge gave 

 his services as Director free. Mr. E. R. Buck- 

 ley is preparing a report on building stone, and 

 Mr. Samuel Weidman on the geology of the 

 vicinity of Merrill. Seven bulletins will be 

 published during the coming year by the Sur- 

 vey, but that rate of publication cannot be 

 maintained on the present revenne, since the 

 Commission is availing itself of a large amount 

 of work already done by individuals. 



Professor Van Hise spoke at some length, fol- 

 lowing Professor Slichter' s second paper, which 

 the latter had worked out in response to geo- 

 logical queries. Professor Van Hise gave it as 

 his conviction that vulcanism and the increas- 

 ing heterogeneity of the earth had been by 

 far the greater causes of the folding of the 

 strata, and that computations concerned with 

 the secular cooling of the earth were of slight 

 value from a geological point of view. 



A. S. Flint. 

 Secretary. 



PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 



The 477th meeting was held Saturday even- 

 ing, January 8th. 



Mr. J. E. Watkins presented a paper on 

 ' The Transportation and Lifting of Heavy 

 Bodies by the Ancient Engineers.' The pur- 

 pose of the paper was to show how many of the 

 structures regarded as remarkable by expert 

 engineers of the present day, and which some 

 archseologists declare must have required in 

 their erection the use of immense machines, 

 could have been constructed by primitive tools 

 and simple methods. 



By means of diagrams the speaker explained 

 how inclined planes of earth, etc., could be 

 used in placing in position stone blocks or slabs 

 of enormous weight, levels and pry-bars being 



