586 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVIII. No. 722 



of the Dublin Museum, accommodated the 

 visitors easily — when once they had passed 

 the all too narrow entrance, from which 

 extended long lines of carriages, some of 

 which had been waiting for two hours to 

 discharge their occupants. The scene in 

 the galleries and down the various flights 

 of steps in the museum was as pretty a one 

 as the writer had ever seen. The guests 

 were received by Lord Ardilaun, president 

 of the society (part owner of Guiness's), 

 the Right Hon. Frederick Trench and Sir 

 Howard Grubb. The Lord Lieutenant of 

 Ireland, accompanied by some of his house- 

 hold, arrived later in the evening. 



Friday was occupied with sectional meet- 

 ings, and the conferring of honorary degrees 

 in the afternoon on Mr. Francis Darwin, 

 F.R.S.; Sir David Gill, K.C.B., F.R.S.; 

 Dr. William Napier Shaw, F.R.S. ; Captain 

 Henry George Lyons, F.R.S. ; Professor 

 Horace Lamb, F.R.S. ; Professor Charles 

 Scott Sherrington, F.R.S. ; Professor Ernest 

 Rutherford, F.R.S. ; Professor Archibald 

 Byron Macallum, F.R.S. ; Dr. Albert Kos- 

 sel; Dr. Ambrose Arnold William Hu- 

 brecht; Sir Thomas Lauder Brunton, Bart., 

 F.R.S., and Sir James Augustus Henry 

 Murray. In the afternoon the general 

 committee met and decided to hold the 

 1910 and 1911 meetings at Sheffield and 

 Portsmouth, respectively. Professor J. J. 

 Thomson was elected as President for 1909. 



Friday afternoon was devoted to garden 

 parties at Dunsink Observatory and Saint 

 Patrick's Cathedral. The Dunsink party 

 was limited to 200, and over 700 applica- 

 tions had been received for tickets. A most 

 enjoyable drive through Phcsnix Park and 

 past the Vice-regal Lodge brought the mem- 

 bers to the observatory grounds. An old 

 transit circle, last used in 1860, excited par^ 

 ticular interest. In the evening a crowded 

 audience listened to a lecture by Professor 

 H. H. Turner, F.R.S., on Halley's comet. 



Over 1,000 persons took part in Satur- 



day's excursion, which included the Boyne 

 Valley, Bray, Powers Court, and Kilrud- 

 dery, Glendalough, the Rock of Cashel and 

 the Shannon Valley. The Boyne Valley 

 excursion provided a seven hours' drive in 

 jaunting cars and included the inspection 

 of the old tumuli at Louth and the ruins 

 of Mellifont Abbey. 



Garden parties were given on Monday, 

 Tuesday and Wednesday by Lord Ardi- 

 laun, at the Zoological Gardens, and at the 

 Vice-regal Lodge, but the enforced depart- 

 ure of the writer early Sunday morning 

 on the Lusitania from Queenstown pre- 

 vented his attending them. 



Professor W. M. Davis, of Harvard, gave 

 a lecture on Monday on "The Lessons of 

 the Colorado Canon." 



All the sectional meetings were well at- 

 tended. There were present from this side 

 of the water: Professor W. M. Davis, of 

 Harvard University, vice-president of the 

 geological and geographical sections; Pro- 

 fessor A. L. Rotch, Blue Hill Observatory, 

 Mass., on committee of mathematical and 

 physical section; Dr. Leo F. Guttman, 

 College City of New York, on committee of 

 chemical section; Drs. W. E. Praeger, 

 Kalamazoo College, Mich.; CarroU Dun- 

 ham, Harvard; Elizabeth H. Dunn, Chi- 

 cago University; President E. J. James, 

 Illinois; Dr. W. H. Hale, Brooklyn; N. M. 

 Fenneman, Cincinnati, and Miss M. E. 

 O'Brien, Boston, Mass. 



Subjoined is a report of interesting 

 papers read before some of the sections, 

 together with an account of the discussions 

 thereon. Notes had been taken, and an 

 attempt has been made to faithfully repro- 

 duce the statements of the speakers, but 

 strict accuracy is not claimed for the re- 

 marks quoted. 



Abstract of Address to the Chemical Sec- 

 tion: Professor F. S. Kdpping, D.Sc, 

 Ph.D., F.R.S. 



