796 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIX. No. 10:3 



due to weight of years are added like burdens due 

 to disease, Nature can not hope to successfully con- 

 tend with both. Second, confirmed alcoholics. 

 These unfortunates seldom recover from pellagra. 

 Third, cases in which the mentality is seriously 

 impaired. These psychic changes indicate marked 

 destruction of important nerve centers, and render 

 the prognosis doubtful. Fourth, that class of in- 

 tellectual weaklings who have neither the intelli- 

 gence nor pertinacity to faithfully hold to and ob- 

 serve a course of treatment for months or years, if 

 necessary, but who are continually shifting from 

 one to another, or taking the nostrums of quacks 

 and charlatans. Practically all of this fourth class 

 succumb. 



On the other hand, those who are not included 

 in the classes just mentioned, who will zealously 

 and patiently carry out the medicinal, dietetic and 

 hygienic rules of those physicians who are experi- 

 enced in the care of such cases, the hope of ulti- 

 mate ajid permanent recovery may be confidently 

 grasped by the large majority. 



Let me in closing admonish my hearers that the 

 keynote in the treatment of pellagra is optimism. 

 If the patient can be kept in good spirits, and in a 

 consistently hopeful frame of mind, the higher 

 centers, untrammelled by fears or obsessions, can 

 best exert their beneficent intluence over the lower 

 centers, vegetative and otherwise, and with a 

 brighter hope of victory can we combat this 

 dreaded scourge. j^ q Howabd, 



Secretary pro tem. 



THE AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY 

 A REGULAR meeting of the Physical Society was 

 held at the Bureau of Standards, Washington, 

 April 24 and 25, 1914. This was a joint meeting 

 with the eleetrophysics committee of the American 

 Institution of Electrical Engineers. The pro- 

 grams of the two morning and of the Saturday 

 afternoon sessions were in charge of the Physical 

 Society with President Merritt in the chair. The 

 Friday evening session was in charge of the A. I. 

 E. E. with Chairman J. B. Whitehead in the chair. 

 The Friday afternoon session was given to a lec- 

 ture by Sir Ernest Rutherford, F.R.S., of the Uni- 

 versity of Manchester, Eng., "On X-ray and 

 Gamma-ray Spectra, ' ' complimentary to the Amer- 

 ican Physical Society. 



Special features of the meeting were the open- 

 ing of the new electrical building of the Bureau 

 of Standards and an exhibit of physical appa- 

 ratus. This exhibit was arranged under the direc- 



tion of a committee of the American Physical So- 

 ciety with Dr. F. A. Wolff as chairman. It was a 

 large and representative exhibit, participated in by 

 thirty-two manufacturers, importers and industrial 

 research laboratories, ten universities and educa- 

 tional institutions, and eight federal scientific bu- 

 reaus. 



ilembers of the Physical Society were especially 

 invited by the National Academy of Sciences to at- 

 tend the William EUery Hale lectures by Sir Ernest 

 Rutherford, F.E.S., upon "The Constitution of 

 Matter and the Evolution of the Elements." 

 These were given in the auditorium of the National 

 Museum on April 21 and 23, and were attended by 

 a large number of the Physical Society members. 



All in attendance at the meetings were the guests 

 of the scientific staff of the Bureau of Standards 

 at luncheon on both days of the meeting. After 

 the Friday evening session the local branch of the 

 A. I. E. E. gave a smoker which was largely at- 

 tended. 



At a short business session of the Physical So- 

 ciety the following items of business were trans- 

 acted : 



On recommendation of the council, it was voted 

 to establish a new grade of foreign members, to be 

 defined as non-residents of North America, to pay 

 dues of $4.00, with no initiation fee and to re- 

 ceive the Physical Jteview (with Science Abstracts 

 on additional payment of $2.00) and having all 

 rights of regular members in the society. Also, 

 to make such changes in the by-laws as the estab- 

 lishment of this new grade of membership would 

 necessitate. 



On motion it was voted to approve and author- 

 ize an International Congress of Physics to be held 

 in Washington in October, 1915, in case it should 

 appear that it can be properly financed. (A com- 

 mittee of nine was appointed by the Council to de- 

 termine this question). 



It was voted that the president appoint a com- 

 mittee of three to express the deep sense of loss 

 felt by the members of this society in the death of 

 their former president. Professor B. O. Peirce. 



The society voted to express to the director and 

 members of the National Bureau of Standards its 

 high appreciation of the generous hospitality ex- 

 tended to the society throughout the meeting, also 

 to the Washington Section of the American In- 

 stitute of Electrical Engineers for arranging trips 

 and providing guides to various places of scientific 

 interest in the city and its neighborhood. 



The program of scientific papers was as follows : 



"Solenoids," by C. E. Underbill. 



