SCIENCE 



Editorial Committee : S. Newcomb, Mathematics ; E. S. "Woodwaed, Mechanics ; E. C. Pickering, 



Astronomy; T. C. Mendenhall, Physics ; E. H. Thurston, Engineering; Ira Eemsen, Chemistry; 



J. Le Conte, Geology; "W. M. Davis, Physiography; O. C. Marsh, Paleontology; W. K. Brooks, 



C. Hart Merriam, Zoology; S. H. Scudder, Entomology; C. E. Bessey, N. L. Britton, 



Botany; Henry F. Osborn, General Biology; C. S. Minot, Embryology, Histology; 



H. P. BowDiTCH, Physiology; J. S. Billings, Hygiene; J. MoKeen Cattell, 



Psychology; Daniel G. Brinton, J. "W. Powell, Anthropology. 



Friday, Febeuaby 25, 1898. 



CONTENTS: 



The WasJiington Academy of Sciences 253 



The Smithsonian Institution 255 



Harrison Allen [with Plate) : Burt G. Wilder.. .262 



High School Botany : Charles E. Bessey 266 



Extra-organic Evolution : Arthur Allin 267 



Binocular Factors in Monocular Vision : Chas. H. 



JUDD 269 



A New Name for the Nova Scotia Fox : Outeam 



Bangs 271 



The American Chemical Society : J. L. H... 272 



Current Notes on Physiography :^ 

 Special Features of Dissected Plateaus; Artesian 

 Wells of Coastal Plains; Drumlins in North Ger- 

 many ; The Vernagt Glacier: W. M. Davis 273 



Current Notes on Anthropology : — ■ 



Quipu Beading ; Etruscan Studies ; The Huichola 



Tribe: D. G. Brinton 274 



Notes on Inorganic Chemistry: J. L. H 275 



Scientific Notes and News 276 



University and Educational News 279 



Discussion and Correspondence : — 



President 31cKinley's Appointment of a Fish Com- 

 missioner : J. W. Powell. A Character Regu- 

 larly Acquired hut never Inherited : F. H. Her- 

 EICK. The Third Internationa?. Congress of 

 Applied Chemistry: H. W. WiLEY. Elizabeth 

 Thompson Science Fund: CHARLES S. Minot.. .279 

 Scientific Literature: — 



Speyer's Text-book of Physical Chemistry : FERDI- 

 NAND G. WiECHMANN. Howe's Bibliography of 

 the Metals of the Platinum Group : H. Carring- 

 TON Bolton. Morgan on the Development of the 

 Frog's Eggs : HERBERT S. JENNINGS. Geologic 



Atlas of the United States 281 



Societies and Academies : — 



Biological Society of Washington : F. A. Ldcas. 

 The Academy of Science of St. Louis: Wil- 

 liam Trelbase. American Chemical Society: 



DuEAND Woodman 287 



New Books 288 



MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended 

 lor review sliould be sent to the responsible editor, Prot. J. 

 McKeen Cattell, Garrlson-on-Hudson, N. Y. 



THE WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 

 The scientific community of Washington 

 is engaged in modifying its organization. 

 The matter is of general interest, not only 

 because of the importance of the body of 

 investigators there assembled, but because 

 the problems they are attempting to solve 

 are analogous to the problems which con- 

 front the national scientific associations. 

 There was a time when the American As- 

 sociation was the only scientific body of 

 national scope, and, though it began as an 

 association of geologists only, it gradually 

 expanded in respect to subject-matter so as 

 to provide sections for all important 

 branches of scientific work. Of late years 

 there has been a strong tendency toward 

 independent organization of bodies of work- 

 ers in various fields, and a score of national 

 societies devoted to special subjects have 

 sprung into existence, with the result that 

 interest in and attendance on the meet- 

 ings of the American Association have 



In Washington the original organization 

 was the Philosophical Society (1871), and 

 its scope was as broad as science. Owing 

 to peculiarities of its rules and customs, 

 differentiation could not readily be accom- 



