880 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVIII. No. 729 



seums and other Scientific Institutions, Physicians 

 and others, who have essentially promoted the 

 Natural History Sciences by original contributions 

 of any kind. Any member may present to the 

 Executive Committee of the Society or of the 

 Branch to which he belongs names of candidates 

 for membership, and those candidates who are 

 approved by the Committee may be elected to 

 membership in the Society by a majority of the 

 members present at any meeting of the Branch. 



Annual dues, $1.00. 

 This December Meeting — December SI, 1908 



The next meeting of the American Society of 

 Naturalists will be held in Baltimore, Md., at 

 Johns Hopkins Medical School, in the auditorium 

 of the Physiological Building, Thursday, December 

 31, 1908, at 3 p.m. The address of the President, 

 Professor B. P. Penhallow, of McGill University, 

 will be on " The Functions of the American So- 

 ciety of Naturalists." There will then be a brief 

 discussion in which matters of much importance 

 to the Society will be brought up. Speakers will 

 be limited to ten minutes. Several prominent in- 

 vestigators have already agreed to take part. The 

 annual business meeting will follow. 



The coming meeting is important. It has be- 

 come necessary to secure positive action from its 

 members if the integrity of the society is to be 

 maintained. Shall the Society be permitted to 

 dissolve ? No other association emphasizes so well 

 the distinctively scientiiic interests of this group 

 of special societies as does the Society of Natural- 

 ists. It should, therefore, be made more repre- 

 sentative of those societies for which it stands. 

 Its affiliated societies should always retain com- 

 plete independence, and yet will be able to accom- 

 plish more for science by establishing more prac- 

 tical machinery for cooperation. The Naturalists 

 will then be able to act together eflfectively in 

 dealing with general problems or with other more 

 general societies. 



The usual annual dinner will this year be 

 merged with the Darwin dinner of the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Science, to be 

 held on the evening of January 1, 1909. This 

 Society has also been invited to attend the Darwin 

 Memorial Exercises on January 1, organized under 

 the auspices of the American Association. 



Members are requested to send their correct 

 addresses, etc., to the secretary at once, so that 

 an accurate membership list may be printed. 



For particulars of the arrangements of rates, 

 hotels, etc., for the Baltimore meeting consult the 



Announcement of the American Association, or 

 Dr. L. O. Howard, Smithsonian Institution, Wash- 

 ington, D. C. 



By order of the Executive Committee: 



D. P. Penhaixow, President. 



T. H. MoEGAN, Vice-President and 

 Chairman of the Eastern Branch. 



E. A. Habpeb, Vice-President and 

 Chairman of the Central Branch. 



Thos. G. Lee, Secretary of Central 



Branch. 

 ri. VON ScHEENK, Treasurer. 

 O. W. Caldwell, "> Members of Execu- 

 W. E. CoE, / tive Committee. 



H. McE. Knoweb, Secretary, 



Johns Hopkins Medical School, 



Baltimore, Md. 

 December 1, 1908 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEVi^S 

 According to a cablegram to the daily 

 papers from Stockholm, King Gustaf dis- 

 tributed the Nobel prizes on December 10. 

 The awards, not identical in the cases of 

 physics and literature with those cabled to this 

 country last week, are as follows : Literature, 

 Dr. Rudolf Eucken, professor of philosophy 

 at Jena; physics. Professor Gabriel Lippman, 

 of the University of Paris; chemistry. Pro- 

 fessor Ernest Rutherford, director of the 

 physical laboratory of the University of Man- 

 chester, England; medicine, divided between 

 Dr. Paul Ehrlich, of Berlin, and Professor 

 Elie Metchnikoff, of the Pasteur Institute, 

 Paris; the promotion of peace, K. P. Arnold- 

 son, of Sweden, and M. F. Bajer, of Denmark. 



The Paris Academy of Sciences has divided 

 the LaLande prize between Professor W. L. 

 Elkin, director of the Tale Observatory, and 

 Dr. F. L. Chase, assistant astronomer in the 

 observatory, for their papers on " The Paral- 

 laxes of 163 Stars." Mr. M. F. Smith, as- 

 sistant in the observatory, was given honorable 

 mention in the award. 



Professor George Davtdson, head of the 

 geographical department of the University of 

 California, has been presented with the 

 Charles P. Daly medal of the American 

 Geographical Society. 



Dr. John G. Curtis, professor of physiology 

 in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of 



