508 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXIX. No. 743 



These soils, witli the exception of Nos. 1866, 

 1867, 1870 and 1871, are normal agricultural 

 soils mostly from within a mile of the farm 

 of the North Carolina Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Station and are normally productive 

 though not to be classed as rich soils. No3. 

 1866 and 1867 are soils from the college green 

 house. Nos. 1870 and 1871 are from com- 

 mercial green houses of Raleigh. 



For comparison, samples of soil were 

 secured from New Jersey through Jacob 

 Lipman, Washington, D. 0., from Karl Keller- 

 man, Michigan from W. S. Sayer and Wis- 

 consin from H. L. Eussell. It was requested 

 that soils most promising as to nitrifying 

 power be sent. It is seen from the following 

 table that positive results were secured with 

 each of these soils. 



The positive response of all of these soils 

 and of our own green-house soil serves to 

 doubly emphasize the fact that many of the 

 soils here reported are really lacking in 

 nitrifying power. 



Further study of the quantitative results 

 would emphasize still more the differences, 

 since in many instances the soils which we 

 have reported positively gave only a trifling 

 amount of nitrate as compared with soils 

 which are in vigorous nitrifying condition, 

 t. e., most of the soils which we report here as 

 nitrifiers are, with the exception of Nos. 1866 

 and 1867, very poor nitrifiers as compared 

 with 1866 or with the soils sent to us from 

 distant sources. 



While these data include various soils at 

 various times of the year and under diverse 

 climatic conditions, it is, of course, possible 

 that some of the soils here recorded as non- 

 nitrifiers would have induced nitrification if 

 tested at some other time of the year; indeed 

 there is positive evidence that in some in- 



stances soils change to a very marked extent 

 in nitrifying power, but inasmuch as the tests 

 here reported cover, in many instances, the 

 period of crop production, their agrictdtural 

 bearing would not be materially altered. 



It is obvious that the absence of nitrifying 

 power is a bacteriological condition that must 

 be reckoned with in soil study. Upon its 

 significance we are by no means ready to 

 pronounce. F. L. Stevens, 



W. A. WlTHEES 



NoETH Cabolina Aqeicultubal 

 ExPEBiMENT Station, 

 West Raleigh, N. C, 

 December 8, 1908 



TEE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOB THE 



ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE 



ANTHROPOLOGY AT THE BALTIMORE 



MEETING 

 The joint meeting of Section H of the American 

 Association and the American Folk-Lore Society 

 was held at the Maryland Institute, Baltimore, 

 December 28-31, 1908. 



meetings of the sectional committee 



In the absence of Professor R. S. Woodworth, 

 vice-president of the section, Professor Boas, re- 

 tiring vice-president, acted as chairman of the 

 sectional committee. Officers of the Baltimore 

 meeting were nominated as follows: 



Member of the Council — B. T. B. Hyde. 



Member of the General Committee — G. G. Mae- 

 Curdy. 



Sectional offices were filled by the nomination 

 of Professor William H. Holmes, Washington, 

 D. C, as vice-president for the ensuing year; 

 Dr. George Grant MacCurdy, New Haven, Conn., 

 secretary for five years; and Dr. Geo. A. Dorsey, 

 member of the sectional committee, to serve five 

 years. These candidates were later elected by the 

 association in general committee. Professor W. 

 H. Holmes was also elected president and Dr. 

 George Grant MacCurdy reelected secretary of 

 the American Anthropological Association, the 

 proceedings of which are printed in the American 

 Anthropologist for January-March, 1909. 



ADDRESSES AND PAPEBS 



The address of the retiring vice-president, Pro- 

 fessor Franz Boas, was on " Race Problems in 

 America." " The Mythology of the Central and 



