SCIENCE 



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

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

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

 Invertebrate Zoology ; C. Hart Meeriam, Vertebrate Zoology ; S. H. Scuddek, Entomology ; 

 N. L. Beitton, Botany ; Henry F. Osborn, General Biology ; H. P. Bowditch, 

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

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



Friday, December 27, 1895. 



CONTENTS: 



Tendencies of Electrical Besearch: M. I. PUPIN ...861 



The Berne Physiological Congress (II.) 880 



Current Notes on Physiography {XXI. ) •' — 



The Moors of Northwest Germany ; The Islands of 

 East Eriesland; Physiographic Notes from Ice- 

 land; Sable Island; The Physical Features of 

 Mauritius: W. M. DAVIS 885 



Current Notes on Anthropology : — 

 The Cradle of 3Iayan Culture; Ancient Mexican 

 Highways: D. G. Brinton 887 



Scientific Notes and News : — 



Harvard College Ohservatory ; Swedish Marine Zo- 

 ological Station ; 'Timber;' General 888 



University and Educational News 892 



Discussion and Corresponde)iee : — 



An Easy Method of Malcing Line Draioings: E. E. 

 Slosson. The Sleaswrement of Colors : C. L. F...893 



Scientific Literature : — ■ 



On the Structure of Protoplasm : E. A. An- 

 drews. Wiedersheim' s Structttre of 31an : HAR- 

 RISON Allen. Haddon's Evolution in Art ; Mer- 

 cer's Hill Caves of Yucatan: D. G. Brinton. 

 Remsen and Wyatt's Chemical Experiments : E. H. 

 Keiseb 893 



Societies and Academies : — 



Boston Society of Natural History: Samuel 

 Henshaw. Neio York Academy of Sciences: 

 William Hallock. Tlie Torrey Botanical Club : 

 H. H. Rusby. Geological Conference of Harvard 

 University: T. A. Jaggae, Jr 902 



New Books 904 



MSS. intended for publication and books etc., intended 

 for review sliould be sent to the responsible editor, Prof. J. 

 McKeen Cattell, Garrison on Hudson, N. Y. 



Subscriptions and advertisements sbould be sent to Science, 

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



TENDENCIES OF MODERN ELECTRICAL 

 RESEARCH. 



Modern electrical research may be di- 

 vided into two principal groups . Faraday 's 

 discoveries in electro-chemistry form the 

 central part of the first group. The char- 

 acteristic feature of the second group is 

 Faraday's view of electro-magnetic phe- 

 nomena, the view, namely, that electric and 

 magnetic forces between material bodies 

 act contiguously, that is from point to 

 point through the intervening medium, the 

 lumeniferous ether. These two groups are 

 the foundation pillars which support the 

 splendid edifice of the modern science of 

 electricity. Faraday laid its foundation 

 and he also raised the most essential parts 

 of its splendid structure. But this struc- 

 ture bears to-day so many marks of the ge- 

 nius of Maxwell, Thomson, Helmholtz and 

 Hertz that in our admiration for the exqui- 

 site detail which we owe to these great fol- 

 lowers of Fai'aday we often forget the orig- 

 inal design and the designer. Even so emi- 

 nent a mathematical physicist as Poincare 

 can write profound mathematical treatises 

 on modern electro-magnetic theory with 

 scarcely a mention of Faraday's name. 



A broad view of the tendencies of modern 

 electrical research is obtained by comparing 

 the fundamental concepts concerning elec- 

 tric and magnetic phenomena- which pre- 



*An address delivered before the New York 

 Academy of Sciences, April 28, 1895. 



