OcTOBER 20, 1899. ] 
minutes of the previous meeting were read and 
approved. The following persons were nomi- 
nated for membership in the Academy: Mr. 
Maurice A. Bigelow, of Teachers College; Dr. 
Edward L. Thorndike, of Teachers College, Mr. 
R. S. Woodworth, of University and Bellevue 
Hospital Medical College, and Dr. W. Golden 
Mortimer, 504 W. 146th Street, New York City. 
The evening was devoted to reports of the 
"past summer’s work by a number of members. 
Professor H. F. Osborn gave an account of 
the exploration by the American Museum party 
in the Como beds of Southern Wyoming, and of 
further work in the Bone Cabin Quarry, which 
resulted in the discovery of a large number of 
the remains of Dinosaurs. Four miles distant 
a Brontosaur skeleton was found. Parties were 
also sent to the Freeze Out Mountains and north 
to the Rattlesnake Mountains, but without suc- 
cess. 
Professor E. B. Wilson reported upon his 
search in Egypt for Polypterus, which resulted 
in the obtaining of a few fine females, but with 
unripe ovaries; this was in winter, between 
Assuan and Mansourah. Professor Wilson re- 
ported, also, the rediscovery by him of the gill- 
bearing earthworm, Alma. 
Professor Bashford Dean reported on the work 
of the second Senff expedition to the Nile, and 
spoke of the death of Nathan Russell Harring- 
ton, the senior member of the party. Mr. Har- 
rington had for four years identified himself with 
the Biological Section, and had left with it an en- 
viable example of energetic and persistent effort 
to complete an important research and of sacri- 
fice and devotion to a life work. 
Professor Dean further reported on his work 
ou the California coast while a guest of Stanford 
University. He was successful during the pres- 
ent summer in obtaining a number of freshly 
hatched young of Bdellostoma, and many de- 
velopmental stages of Chimxra Colliei. 
Dr. G. N. Calkins reported the passing of a 
successful summer at the Marine Biological 
Laboratory at Woods Hole, where he was at 
work upon the Protozoa. 
Professor F. E. Lloyd gave a brief account of 
a collecting trip in Vermont, embodying some 
remarks upon certain species of Lycopodium 
found there. He also reported upon the marked 
SCIENCE. 
579 
success of the Biological Laboratory at Cold 
Spring Harbor during the summer. 
Professor F. S. Lee spoke on the continuation 
of his experimental work upon the lateral line 
in fishes, conducted at Woods Hole. 
Francis E. Luoyp, 
Secretary. 
DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 
‘THE PERCEPTION OF HORIZONTAL AND OF VER- 
TICAL LINES.’ 
To THE EDITOR OF SCIENCE: In connection 
with Professor Peirce’s article on ‘ The Percep- 
tion of Horizontal and of Vertical Lines’ 
(SCIENCE, September 29, 1899), it may be appro- 
priate to call attention to a study of the same 
question made in the Psychological Laboratory 
of the University of Wisconsin and published in 
the American Journal of Psychology in 1893 (Vol. 
V., pp. 214-223). Our method consisted in seat- 
ing the observer under a parasol-like canopy, 
which completely screened from him all the hori- 
zontals and verticals of floor and walls; in then 
placing opposite him under the canopy a large 
black disc, upon which was centered a smaller 
white disc bearing upon it a single line; and in 
requiring the observer to set this line (by means 
of strings manipulated by his hands which were 
outside the canopy) so that it appeared horizon- 
tal or vertical. The observer is thus every- 
where surrounded by curved outlines, and has 
no standard to guide him except the ideal one 
which he carries in his mind. So far as the re- 
sults of the two investigations are comparable 
they agree very well, both emphasizing the 
great accuracy of such ‘mental’ judgments. 
Our estimations were made binocularly under 
circumstances approximating those of the ordi- 
nary use of the eyes; Professor Peirce’s sub- 
jects in the first group of experiments used each 
eye separately. If we may assume that the 
average setting of the two eyes used separately 
is equivalent to the binocular setting of the 
lines, and further allow that the two methods 
used are fairly comparable, we find for the 
mean deviation for Professor Peirce’s subjects 
(average of ten subjects) for the horizontal 
+ .25°, for my ten subjects + .12°; for the 
vertical —.39° and + .23°. It is better, how- 
ever, to compare my results with Professor 
