SCIENCE 



Edixoeial Committee : S. Newcomb, Mathematics ; E. S. Woodward, Mechanics ; E. C. Pickering, As- 

 tronomy ; T. C. Mendenhall, Physios ; E. H. Thurston, Engineering ; Ira Eemsen, Chemistry ; 

 J. Le Conte, Geology; "W. M. Davis, Physiography; 0. C. Marsh, Paleontology; W. K. Brooks, 

 Invertebrate Zoology ; C. Hart Merriam, Vertebrate Zoology ; S. H. Scudder, Entomology ; 

 N. L. Britton, Botany ; Henry F. Osbobn, General Biology ; H. P. Bowditch, 

 Physiology ; J. S. Billings, Hygiene ; J. McKeen Cattell, Psychology ; 

 Daniel G. Bkinton, J. W. Powell, Anthropology. 



Friday, October 18, 1895. 



CONTENTS: 



Geology at the British Association : W. W. "Watts. .493 



A Course of Astronomy for Engineering Students : 

 George C. Comstock 502 



How Far shall the Periodic Law be Followed in 

 Teaching Chemistry? F. P. Venable 506 



Tlie Status of the Solar Magnetic Problem : Frank 

 H. Bigelow '. 509 



Current Notes on Physiography {XVI.) : — 514 



Pussell's Lalces of North America ; A Seiche in 

 Lake Superior ; Bathymetry of the English Lalces ; 

 Diurnal Variation of River Volume and Velocity ; 

 Geography in Normal Schools : W. M. Davis. 



Scientific Notes and News: — 516 



The Ipswich Meeting of the British Association; 

 The Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences; Gen- 

 eral. 



University and Educational News 520 



Correspondence: — 521 



Professor Brooks on Consciousness and Volition; 

 E. D. Cope. Absorption of Terrestrial Badia- 

 tions by the Atmosphere: W. Hallock. A 

 Reply : GEORGE Beuce Halsted The Rudolf 

 Leuckart Celebration: Ch. Wabdell Stiles. 

 To Those Interested in Quartei-nions and Allied 

 Systems of Mathematics : P. Molenbeoek and 



S. KiMUEA. 



Scientific Literature: — 525 



Proceedings of the International Electrical Con- 

 gress, Chicago : Henry S. Carhaet. The 

 Alps from End to End. W. M. D. Merriman's 

 Handbook for Surveyors. 



Scientific Jou rnaU : — 527 



The Monist. The Journal of Comparative Neu- 



■ rology. 



Societies and Academies: — 528 



The New York Academy of Sciences: J. F. 

 Kemp. The Texas Academy of Science. 



MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended 

 for review should be sent to the responsible editor. Prof. J. 

 McKeen Cattell, Garrison on Hudson, N. Y. 



Subscriptions and advertisements should be sent to Science 

 41 N. Queen St., Lancaster, Pa., or 41 East 49th St., New York! 



GEOLOGY AT THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION, 



1895. 



The British Association for tlie Advance- 

 ment of Science held its sixty-fifth meeting 

 this year at Ipswich, the chief town in Suf- 

 folk, in the east of England, the district in 

 which the Pliocene rocks of the country are 

 best developed. The Section of Geology 

 was presided over by Mr. W. Whitaker, 

 who was engaged for many years in map- 

 ping these rocks for the Geological Survey. 

 The address delivered by this gentleman on 

 the opening day, September 12th, naturally 

 dealt with local problems, and especially 

 those raised by the numerous deep borings 

 for coal and water which have been put 

 down through the rocks of eastern Eng- 

 land. 



Neglecting deposits newer than the Gault, 

 the variations of which are slight and of but 

 little consequence, he notes that the Lower 

 Greensand has only been met with in one 

 boring, that of Culford, where it is 32 feet 

 thick and of anomalous character, prepar- 

 ing us for the thinning out which occurs 

 elsewhere. Jurassic rocks are only present 

 in the southern borings and do not occur in 

 Suffolk. Under the Jurassic or Cretaceous 

 rocks the Trias is supposed to occur in one 

 case and in the others strata belonging to 

 the Carboniferous, Devonian and Silurian 

 Systems. In five bores out of ten put down 

 under the London Basin the determination 

 of the age of the rocks is aided by fossil 



