Decembeb 11, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



833 



THE SECTIONAL MEETINGS OF THE AMER- 

 ICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCE- 

 MENT OF SCIENCE 



Section A — Mathematics and Astronomy — 

 will meet for organization on Monday morn- 

 ing, December 28, immediately after the first 

 general session of the association. Monday 

 afternoon wiU be devoted to astronomical 

 papers of general interest, beginning with the 

 address of the retiring vice-president, E. O. 

 Lovett, president of the new William M. Eice 

 Institute for the Advancement of Literature, 

 Science and Art, of Houston, Texas. The sub- 

 ject of this address is " On the problem of 

 three bodies." On Tuesday the section will 

 hold two sessions which will be devoted ex- 

 clusively to astronomical papers. 



As the American Mathematical Society will 

 hold its annual meeting in affiliation with the 

 association, all the mathematical papers are 

 expected to appear on its program. The ses- 

 sions of this society wiU begin on Wednesday 

 morning and extend through Thursday. The 

 retiring president. Professor White, of Vassar 

 College, will give an address on " Bezont's 

 theory of resultants and its influence on 

 geometry," which will be of general interest to 

 scientific men. The complete program of this 

 society and that of Section A of the associa- 

 tion will be distributed on Monday morning. 



It is hoped that many of the astronomers 

 may attend the meetings of the American 

 Mathematical Society and that many members 

 of this society may avail themselves of the 

 opportunity to listen to the astronomical 

 papers to be read before Section A on the days 

 immediately preceding those of their own 

 special meetings. Titles and abstracts for the 

 Mathematical Society program should be sent 

 to Professor P. N. Cole, Columbia University, 

 while those intended for Section A may be 

 sent to the secretary. Professor G. A. Miller, 

 University of Illinois. Abstracts should be 

 in a form immediately available for publica- 

 tion, and should be accompanied by detailed 

 explanations in case the importance of the 

 results can not he readily determined from the 

 abstract alone. 



The usual arrangement for joint meetings 



of Section B and the Physical Society for the 

 reading of papers wiU doubtless be made. The 

 last annual meeting at Chicago was a great 

 success and a still larger one is expected at 

 Baltimore. The presiding officer of Section B 

 is Professor Karl E. Guthe, of the State Uni- 

 versity of Iowa, and the address of the retiring 

 vice-president will be given by Professor 

 Dayton C. Miller, of the Case School of Ap- 

 plied Science. It is probable that one session 

 will be devoted to a program of general in- 

 terest to all scientists. 



The program of Section D — Mechanical 

 Science and Engineering — includes papers by 

 the following: G. M. BriU, Chicago, HI., L. F. 

 Moody and A. M. Greene, Jr., Troy, N. T., 

 J. E. Hayford, Washington, D. C, W. G. Ray- 

 mond, Iowa City, Iowa, N. C. Bicker, Urbana, 

 111., J. J. Flather, A. E. Haynes and B. F. 

 Groat, Minneapolis, Minn., 0. M. Woodward, 

 St. Louis, Mo., A. H. Blanchard, Providence, 

 R. I., G. W. Bissell, East Lansing, Mich., and 

 the possibility of three or four other papers. 

 The vice-presidential address will be given by 

 Professor 0. H. Landreth, of Union College, 

 Schenectady, N. T. 



The meeting of Section E — Geology and 

 Geography — this year will be one of special 

 interest to all geologists and geographers. The 

 president of the association is Professor T. C. 

 Chamberlin, one of our most distinguished 

 geologists. The vice-president of Section E 

 has prepared a most interesting syraposium 

 on correlation. The Geological Society of 

 America and the Association of American 

 Geographers will both meet in affiliation with 

 the American Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science, and it is proposed to hold a 

 joint meeting of the three organizations to 

 discuss their mutual relations, in order that 

 the officers of the three may be able to plan 

 future meetings for the reading of papers and 

 for field excursions, so that the needs and 

 wishes of all geologists and geographers may 

 be met as fully as possible. 



The sessions of Section G — Botany — ^wiU 

 convene under the vice-presidency of Dr. H. 

 M. Richards, in the rooms of the botanical 

 department of the Johns Hopkins University, 



