Apbil 16, 1909] 



SCIENCE 



631 



" ' Hawaii is an important point for observa- 

 tions of this kind, but how much can be done in 

 this direction is a question. I shall be glad to 

 give what encouragement I can in this matter. 

 The federal government now has a magnetic ob- 

 servatory here, which also contains a seismo- 

 graph.' 



" Wm. Johnstone, Esq., colonial secretary of Ja- 

 maica, writes: 



" ' In reply I am to state for the information 

 of the society that the Weather Service of Jamaica 

 has already in use two seismometers in this island, 

 one at Kingston and one at Chapelton, about the 

 center of the island, and that there are now being 

 constructed here about a dozen seismometers on 

 an improved principle.' 



" Col. Geo. W. Goethals, chairman and chief 

 engineer of the Isthmian Canal Commission, 

 writes : 



'■' ' We have now at Ancon, Canal Zone, an ob- 

 servatory equipped with a complete assortment of 

 modern, self-recording meteorological instruments, 

 i. e., barograph, air and water thermograph, hy- 

 drograph, baragraph a poid, triple register (wind 

 direction and velocity, rainfall and sunshine) and 

 the standard instruments necessary properly to 

 correct their records. We expect shortly to erect 

 two horizontal pendulum Bosch-Omori seismo- 

 graphs — one a hundred-kilogram pendulum instru- 

 ment (tromometer), which will enable us to ob- 

 tain registered records on smoked paper of all 

 movements of a telluric nature, either seismic or 

 otherwise, near or distant, and also the variations 

 of the vertical line. The magnification is 100, 

 and the period of oscillation of the tromometer 

 can be extended to forty seconds. Attached to 

 this instrument is an air-damping apparatus, by 

 which the oscillations may be reduced, or even 

 rendered aperiodieal. Owing to its sensitiveness, 

 tnis instrument is well adapted to the registration 

 of earth tremors, pulsatory oscillations, and com- 

 paratively quick period earthquake vibrations. 



" ' The proposed new equipment, therefore, will 

 be such as to enable us to make observations in 

 connection with earthquakes, whether of a tectonic 

 nature, or produced by volcanic action, as well 

 as of other physical phenomena, such as earth 

 tremors and pulsations, which may, as premoni- 

 tory signs, have a bearing on the prediction of 

 earthquakes. We are also prepared to Audy the 

 relations that may exist between seismic disturb- 

 ances, pressure and temperature. 



" ' While we can not make our studies cover the 

 entire field of seismology, we believe our observa- 

 tions will be of considerable utility in the work 



that the Geological Society of America has under- 

 taken.' 



" The chairman of your committee has to report 

 for his own district that, through the efforts of 

 Professor J. B. Woodworth, Harvard University 

 has installed a seismograph which is in active 

 operation, and that money has been given by cit- 

 izens of Boston whereby another Bosch-Omori in- 

 strument has been secured, and plans and draw- 

 ings are now under consideration with a view to 

 the building of a geophysical observatory near 

 Boston which will be tmder the direction of the 

 department of geology of the Massachusetts Insti- 

 tute of Technology." 



The secretary reported from the council the 

 constitution of W. B. Clark, H. E. Gregory, C. W. 

 Hayes, J. M. Clarke and E. 0. Hovey a committee 

 to confer as to details with a committee of organ- 

 ization which had been chosen by certain paleon- 

 tologists desiring to form a Paleontological So- 

 ciety as a section of and in close affiliation with 

 the Geological Society of America, the council 

 heartily commending the project. On motion the 

 action of the council was endorsed and the com- 

 mittee given authority to act for the society. 



The society then divided into two sections, as on 

 Wednesday afternoon, and the following papers 

 were presented under the chairmanship of Presi- 

 dent Calvin: 

 A Classification of Crystals based upon Seven 



Fundamental Types of Symmetry: Charles K. 



SwARTZ, Baltimore, Md. 



A new and elementary development of the 32 

 groups of crystals was given, showing that all 

 crystals fall into seven fundamental divisions 

 based upon symmetry which are independent of 

 the seven systems of crystals. Each of these types 

 was characterized and a classification of crystals 

 upon this basis was proposed. It is believed that 

 the recognition of these divisions greatly simplifies 

 the presentation of the subject of crystallography. 



This paper was discussed by Professors W. H. 

 Hobbs, E. H. Kraus, W. N. Rice and H. B. Patton. 



The following paper was presented by title: 



The Use of " Ophitic " ami Related Terms in 

 Petrography : Alexander N. Winchell, Madi- 

 son, Wis. 

 Then was read: 



Chemical Composition as a Criterion in Identify- 

 ing Metamorphosed Sediments: Edson S. Bas- 

 TIN, Washington, D. C. (Introduced by G. O. 

 Smith.) 

 This paper called attention to the small number 



of definite statements, even of a qualitative char- 



