370 SCIENCE. 
The report of the referee on foods and 
feeding stuffs, by Thorn Smith, was read 
by the Secretary, in the absence of the 
referee and his associate. 
The report of the referee on insecticides 
and fungicides was read by Mr. L. A. Voor- 
hees, the associate referee, and was a very 
interesting contribution to a branch of 
chemistry which, so far, has received com- 
paratively little attention. 
The report on dairy products was read by 
the referee, Mr. J.B. Weems,and added much 
to that branch of agricultural chemistry. 
The referee on phosphoric acid, Mr. E. G. 
Runyan, presented a report summarizing 
the progress which had been made in the 
methods of determining phosphoric acid 
during the fifteen years of the existence of 
the Association. Especial attention was 
given to the development of the volumetric 
method, whereby the processes for esti- 
mating phosphoric acid in its usual forms 
are greatly shortened without any impair- 
ment of accuracy. 
A similar paper relating to the determi- 
nation of nitrogen was presented by Mr. F. 
8. Shiver, the referee on this subject. 
The report of the committee on food 
standards was read by Mr. Frear. The re- 
port shows the method in which the work 
has been divided among the various sub- 
committees and the character of the sub- 
jects assigned to each committee. Great 
progress has already been made in the study 
of the data which must be considered in 
fixing food standards, and, from the amount 
of work which has already been accom- 
plished, it is evident that in a very short 
time the Association will be in possession 
of a series of food standards which are 
based upon the most reliable data obtaina- 
ble. The value of such a set of standards, 
especially from a legal aspect, is extremely 
great. One great difficulty in the enact- 
ment of pure food laws heretofore has been 
the incompleteness in the standards of 
[N. S. Vou. K. No. 246. 
purity. The final result of the work of the 
Association in this respect will be such as 
to warrant the acceptation and the adop- 
tion of these standards in the municipal, 
State and national legislation enacted in 
the interest of pure food. 
The officers which have been elected for 
the ensuing year are : 
President: Mr. B. W. Kilgore, North 
Carolina. 
Vice-President: Mr. L. D. Van Slyke, 
New York. 
Secretary: Mr. H. W. Wiley, Washing- 
ton, D. C. 
Additional members of the Executive 
Committee : Messrs. M. E. Jaffa, California ; 
Arthur Goss, New Mexico. 
H. W. WILEY. 
A CARD CENTRALBLATI OF PHYSIOLOGY. 
In Scrence for September 1, 1899, it is 
stated ‘that the Boston Public Library will 
undertake the printing of a card catalogue 
of physiology, the cards to contain not only 
the ordinary bibliographical information, 
but also brief abstracts of the papers. The 
plan originated in the physiological depart- 
ment of the Harvard Medical School, and 
Professor W. T. Porter will be responsible 
for securing or preparing the abstracts.” 
This statement is inexact, and if allowed 
to go uncorrected would be certain to harm 
a useful undertaking. For this reason it 
seems best to give at once the details of the 
proposition now being considered by the 
Trustees of the Boston Public Library. I 
am the more concerned to have these de- 
tails correctly understood, because the pro- 
posed method of making the literature of 
physiology more accessible is not limited to 
that science, but may be extended to all 
sciences, the literature of which is suffi- 
ciently compact to warrant the publication 
‘of a Centralblatt. 
The need of rapid and easy access to the 
stores of science increases daily. The in- 
