354 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vot. II. No. 38. 



(20 m.), by C. D. Child. A Kighi vi- 

 brator and a tinfoil receiver were used to 

 study the dififraction of electric waves by a 

 tinfoil grating. The apparatus worked 

 quite well and the resulting wave-length 

 determinations were satisfactory. 



24. The Effect of Age upon the Molecular 

 Structure of Bronze, Glass and Steel (10 m.), 

 by Wm. a. Rogers. As a result of com- 

 parisons extending over a period of five 

 years, the author concludes that our fear as 

 to the molecular changes of length of our 

 standards is not well founded. 



25. A New Deterhiination of the Relative 

 Length of the Yard and Metre (8 m..), by 

 "William A. Rogers. A new determina- 

 tion gives the meti-e as equal to 39.37015 

 inches, slightly different from the accepted 

 international value, 39.3700, which, how- 

 ever, is being reviewed by the Bureau 

 which may confirm the author's value. 



The following papers were read by title : 



26. California Electric Storins (20 m.), by 

 John D. Paekee. 



27. A New Formulation of the Second Law 

 of Thermodynamics, by L. A. Bauer. 



28. The Method of Reciprocal Points in the 

 Graphical Treatment of Alternating Currents, 

 by Feedeeick Bedell. 



It will be seen that the papers were of 

 unusual interest, and they provoked much 

 careful discussion. The attendance was 

 large, ranging from 40 to 60, and the 

 number of specialists present was remark- 

 able. 



A motion by William Orr, Jr., of Spring- 

 field, resulted in the appointment by the 

 Council of the following committee to con- 

 sider standard colors and color nomencla- 

 ture ; O. N. Rood, chairman ; W. Le Conte 

 Stevens and W. Hallock. Similarly a mo- 

 tion by H. S. Carhart, of Ann Arbor, re- 

 sulted in the appointment of a committee 

 upon electrical and other standards, con- 

 sisting of T. C. Mendenhall, chairman; 

 "William A. Rogers, H. A. Rowland, H. S. 



Carhart, E. L. Nichols and R. S. Wood- 

 ward, with power to add a seventh. 



William Hallock. 



SECTION C. CHEMISTEY.-^ 



The address of the Vice-President of the 

 Section, Dr. William McMurtrie, of Brook- 

 lyn, has been already printed in Science, 

 September 6th. Owing largely to the efforts 

 of the Vice-President and of others under 

 his direction in preparing for the meeting, 

 the attendance at the sessions of the Sec- 

 tion was large and the papers presented 

 were of more than usual interest. 



FRIDAY MOENING, AUGUST 30. 



The first paper was by Professor W. P. 

 Mason, of Troy, N. Y., 8 on ' Foreign Labor- 

 atory Notes.' He spoke of recent experi- 

 ments in Paris showing the effect of the Uver 

 in stopping poisons in the organism ; also 

 that it has been shown that urea is not toxic 

 in action. Diagrams were distributed 

 showing the way in which the number of 

 deaths of children corresponds to the per- 

 centage of samples of bad milk found by 

 the public analysts. 



New methods used in Paris for the exam- 

 ination of potable waters were spoken of 

 and Miquel's theory of the auto-contami- 

 nation of waters was refered to. 



Mrs. Ellen H. Richards and J. W. Ellms, 

 of the Massachusetts Institute of Technol- 

 ogy, read a paper on ' The Coloring Matter 

 of Natural Waters, its Source, Composition 

 and Quantitative Measurement.' The 

 colors appear to be formed by the partial 

 carbonization of organic matter. A series 

 of natural waters furnishes the best second- 

 ary standard. Such standards fade and 

 must be replaced at least once in six months. 

 The tintometer is verj' satisfactory for mak- 

 ing the comparison. The colors obtained 



* Reported )iy AV. A. Noyes, A. H. Gill and 

 Francis C. Phillips. 



