288 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VII. No. 165. 



man and the lower animals by the biogenetic 

 law of Haeckel. He also made some sugges- 

 tions about the best method of studying and of 

 teaching anatomy. It was claimed that in the 

 biogenetic law of Haeckel a scientific back- 

 ground, or rather a working hypothesis, was 

 given, by means of which the recorded facts of 

 zoology, botany, paleontology, etc., were made 

 understandable and really became useful to 

 science. He also gave a definition and illustra- 

 tion of the meaning of the term diiferentiation 

 as used in biology. 



Three new members were elected. 



At the meeting of February 7, 1898, fourteen 

 persons present, a paper by Professor A. S. 

 Hitchcock, on the ecological plant geography 

 of Kansas, was presented and referred to the 

 Council for publication. Professor L. H. Pam- 

 mel spoke on the anatomical characters of 

 seeds from the standpoint of systematic botany, 

 presenting in abstract the results of an extensive 

 study of the subject, on which he has been 

 engaged for some years past. 



Twenty-four new members were elected. 

 William Teelease, 

 Recording Secretary. 



AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY. 



The regular meeting of the New York Section 

 of the American Chemical Society was held on 

 Friday evening, February 4th. Dr. Wm. Mc- 

 Murtrie presided, and seventy-two members 

 and vistors were present. 



The chairman opened the meeting with a very 

 interesting surprise in the announcement that 

 he had just received a half-gallon of liquid air 

 from Mr. Tripler, and the first half-hour was 

 occupied in an exhibition of its properties. 



The liquid was ladled out of a covered recep- 

 tacle packed in several thicknesses of felt, very 

 much as if it had been ordinary ice water, but 

 on pouring it into any glass, porcelain or iron 

 vessel it boiled with great violence until the 

 container cooled to the temperature of the in- 

 tensely cold liquid, which means about — 310° F. 



Drops falling on the lecture table immedi- 

 ately took the spheroidal form and ran about 

 exactly as drops of water on a hot stove. 

 Placed in a glass beaker the liquid first boiled, 

 then became clouded with a crystalline precipi- 



tate of carbon dioxide, which was present as an 

 impurity, and from which it was separated by 

 filtration through an ordinary paper filter, and 

 the clear liquid was caught in a double-walled 

 glass cylinder. The space between the walls, 

 having been exhausted, to produce a vacuum, 

 the clear, slightly blue liquid air remained in 

 the tube for over an hour before complete 

 evaporation. Among other experiments, alco- 

 hol was quickly frozen, rubber tubing was hard- 

 ened by the low temperature so as to break 

 when struck by a hammer almost like glass, 

 and a piece of thin sheet iron, after immersion 

 in the cold liquid, became very brittle. 



The following papers were read : ' Determi- 

 nation of Boric Acid,' T. S. Gladding; 'Re- 

 cent Progress in the Chemistry of the Leather 

 Industry,' J. H. Yocum ; 'Review of Chem- 

 ical and Physical Methods for Examining Docu- 

 ments and Handwriting,' C. A. Doremus. 



The next meeting will be held on March 11th. 

 DxTEAND Woodman, 



Secretary. 



NEW BOOKS. 



Text-Book of Zoology. T. Jeffery Parker and 

 William A. Haswell. London and New 

 York, The Macmillan Company. 1897. Vol. 

 I., pp. XXXV + 779. Vol. II., pp. XX + 683. 

 $9.00. 



Lehrbuch derEntivicklungsgeschichtedes Mensehen. 

 J. Kollmann. Jena, Gustav Fischer. 1896. 

 Pp. xii + 658. 15 Marks. 



Organographie der Pflanzen. K. Goebel. 1st 

 Part, Allgemeine Organographie. Jena, 

 Gustav Fischer. 1898. Pp. ix + 232. 6 

 Marks. 



Laboratory Experiments on the Class Reactions and 

 Identification of Organic Substances. Arthur 

 A. Noyes and Samuel P. Mulliken. Fas- 

 ten, Pa., Chemical Publishing Co. 1897. 

 Pp. 28. 50 cts. 



The Freezing Point, Boiling Point and Conductivity 

 Methods. Harry C. Jones. Easton, Pa., 

 Chemical Publishing Co. 1897. Pp. vii + 

 64. 75 cts. 



Garden Making. L. H. Bailey. New York 

 and London, The Macmillan Company. 1898. 

 Pp. vii + 417. $1.00. 



