576 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LIV. No. 1406. 



ical optics, has never been translated into Eng- 

 lish, is a reproach to both Great Britain and 

 America. To make its valuable contents acces- 

 sible to those who do not find it easy or con- 

 venient to read a foreign language will be con- 

 ferring a boon on many scientific investigators 

 in the vast and expanding territory which this 

 book was originally intended to cover. 



Incidentally, the proposed English edition 

 will be a memorial of the hundredth anniver- 

 sary of the birth of Hermann von Helmholtz, 

 whose influence on modern scientific thought 

 in nearly every direction has perhaps been as 

 widespread and permanent as that of any of his 

 great contemporaries in the nineteenth cen- 

 tury. 



It is estimated that the cost of translating, 

 editing, and publishing this memorial volume 

 (or volumes) will be $5,000 or more. It is par- 

 ticularly desired that every individual who is 

 interested in the success of this project and in 

 the advancement of the science of light and 

 vision in this country will have an opportunity 

 of contributing towards it. 



Contributions, no matter how small, may be 

 sent to Adolph Lomb, Esq., treasurer of the 

 Optical Society of America, care of Bausch & 

 Lomb Optical Company, Eochester, New York. 

 Make cheques payable to " Adolph Lomb, 

 Treasurer." 



Any one subscribing as much as $15 will 

 receive a copy of the complete work when it 

 is issued. 



James P. C. Southall, 



President, Optical 

 Society of America 



Department of Physics, 

 Columbia University, 

 November 28, 1921 



THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF NATURALISTS 



The thirty-ninth meeting of the American 

 Society of Naturalists, as has been noted in 

 Science, is to be held in Toronto on Decem- 

 ber 29 and 30, with two symposiums of un- 

 usual interest — one on genetics and variation, 

 by the zoologists, the other on orthogenesis, 

 in which Henderson, Osborn, Bateson and 

 others will take part. 



It is interesting to recall that for the first 



three years the society was under a paleon- 

 tologist, Alfred Hyatt; for the two succeeding 

 years under a zoologist. Grove K. Gilbert; then 

 for two years under a comparative anatomist, 

 Harrison Alien. Then in turn the society 

 was presided over by the botanist Goodale, 

 the physiologist Martin, the geologist Rice, 

 the paleontologist Osborn, and a succession 

 of paleontologists and zoologists until 1902, 

 when the psychologist Cattell presided, since 

 which time it has been chiefly under the 

 guidance of zoologists. 



The keynote to the success of the Society 

 of Naturalists was the discovery that a more 

 representative body of scientific men can be 

 assembled at a winter meeting than at a sum- 

 mer session. This society has proved to be 

 the mother of societies, because from its 

 broad original organization have gone forth 

 the six national American societies of Ge- 

 ology, Anatomy, Physiology, Botany, Zoology, 

 and Paleontology, all holding winter meet- 

 ings in various parts of the United States, 

 from the eastern seaboard to Chicago. The 

 zoologists alone cling to the mother Society 

 of Naturalists and hold their meetings in the 

 same time and place. 



Of the founders of the Naturalists in the 

 year 1883 there now survive the following: 

 Libbey, Osborn, Scott, Eice and Clarke, the 

 latter. Professor Samuel F. Clarke of Wil- 

 liamstown, being one of the first to answer 

 the call. 



Henry Fairfield Osborn 



the program of the section of botany 

 for the toronto meeting 



Arrangements have been completed to hold 

 the Section G program on "Wednesday after- 

 noon, December 28. Since this program will 

 be of interest to others than the members of 

 this Section the speakers are given below. 



Address of the Retiring Vioe-President, Dr. Rod- 

 ney H. True, ' ' The physiological significance of 

 calcium for higher green plants. ' ' 



Symposium on " The Species Concept " 

 Prom the viewpoint of the systematist: Dr. 



Charles P. Millspaugh. 

 Prom the viewpoint of a geneticist: Dr. George H. 



ShuU. 



