736 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVIII. No. 725 



the American Association for the Advancement of 

 Science. 



The following papers were read at this meeting: 



E. D. Carmichael : " On the theory of functions 

 of a triple variable." 



E. D. Carmichael : " Notes on the simplex the- 

 ory of numbers." 



Edward Kasner : " Conformality and functions 

 of two or more complex variables (second paper)." 



G. A. Miller : " On groups generated by two 

 operators satisfying the equation SiSj^s^Si ." 



E. B. Wilson : " The number of types of collinea- 

 tions." 



Frank Irwin : " The invariants of linear differ- 

 ential expressions." 



A. E. Landry: "A geometrical application of 

 binary syzygies." 



The Southwestern Section of the society will 

 hold its second regular meeting at the University 

 of Kansas, on Saturday, November 28. The Chi- 

 cago Section will meet at the University of Chi- 

 cago on Friday and Saturday, January 1-2. 



At the annual meeting of the society at Balti- 

 more President White will deliver his retiring 

 address on " Bezout's theory of resultants and its 

 influence on geometry." F. N. Com;, 



Secretary 



THE AMERICAN CHEMICAI, SOCIETT 

 NEW YOEK SECTION 



The second regular meeting of the session of 

 1908-9 was held at the Chemists' Club on No- 

 vember 6. 



The Nichols medal, awarded annually for the 

 best paper read before the section, was presented 

 to W. A. Noyes and H. C. P. Weber for their 

 paper on " The Atomic Weight of Chlorine." 



Dr. L. H. Baekeland, chairman of the section, 

 spoke as follows: 



" A few years ago our distinguished fellow 

 member, Dr. W. H. Nichols, donated to this sec- 

 tion of our society a fund wherewith to offer a 

 gold medal every year for the best paper read 

 at our meetings. 



" I remember that, when this generous offer was 

 made, I felt somewhat uncertain about the ulti- 

 mate result. I knew that in this country of 

 unbounded generosity it was easy to find a warm- 

 hearted donor; I knew that it was easy enough to 

 find an artist to make the medal an undoubted 

 work of art; but I knew also that the Nichols 

 medal would only be consecrated to its proper 

 value, not in relation to the amount of gold it 

 contains, nor in relation to its artistic value, but 

 solely and exclusively by the quality of the work 

 rewarded by it. 



" Last year our section was unusually fortunate 

 in the variety and the quality of the papers which 

 were read before its meetings. 



" Among several excellent papers, four attracted 

 special attention: 



"'The Atomic Weight of Chlorine,' H. C. P. 

 Weber and W. A. Noyes. 



" ' The Extraction of Potash from Feldspathic 

 Eocks,' A. S. Cushman. 



'■ ' The Ignition Temperature of Gaseous Mix- 

 tures,' K. G. Falk. 



" ' Drop Weights and the Law of Tate. The 

 Determination of the Molecular Weight in the 

 Liquid State by the Law of Tate,' J. L. E. Morgan 

 and Eeston Stevenson. 



" Every one of these papers was fully worthy 

 of the Nichols medal. Yet it was the general 

 verdict as decided by vote that the paper of Weber 

 and Noyes should be classed first. 



" When I wrote to these gentlemen the an- 

 nouncement of the result, they acknowledged my 

 letter and showed their equanimity by stating 

 that they would have considered it an honor even 

 if their work had been classed second to the three 

 other excellent papers. 



" To those here present who remember the 

 struggling times of our society, when not so 

 many years ago it was hard to get a dozen of us 

 together at a meeting; when original research 

 work in America was very scarce and weak in 

 almost all departments of science, it certainly 

 must appear as an inspiring symptom of fully 

 awakened scientific activity that so many papers 

 read before the New York Section alone should 

 have been worthy of consideration for the Nichols 

 prize. 



" And now that the donor of the medal has 

 done us the honor to-night of being among us, 

 I request him to add to the luster of the occasion 

 by presenting the medal himself." 



Dr. Nichols, after giving a short accoimt of the 

 circumstances attending the foundation of the 

 medal fund, presented the medals to the two 

 successful autnors. 



Dr. Noyes in reply expressed the appreciation 

 of himself and Dr. Weber of the honor conferred 

 upon them and gave a brief rfisumS of the prize 

 paper. He was followed by Dr. Weber, who spoke 

 of some further work along the same lines on the 

 atomic weight of bromine. 



The remainder of the evening was devoted to 

 a paper by Dr. J. E. Teeple on "An Enzyme 

 Splitting Sugar into Acids." C. M. Joyce, 



Secretary 



