NOVEMBER 17, 1899. ] 
Commission. The paper presents the most 
complete summary of the Alaskan boundary 
dispute thus far made. Mr. Foster states that 
the dispute really dates from 1898, when it was 
presented without previous warning before the 
Joint High Commission which had assembled in 
Quebec. A number of maps which are offered 
as testimony show that on all the principal 
English maps the boundary line is as given on 
the American maps. Professor Alfred P. Den- 
nis concludes his description of ‘ Life on a Yu- 
kon Trail,’ begun in the October number. An 
article by Professor W. M. Davis, of Harvard 
University, on ‘The Rational Element in 
‘Geography,’ is the first of a series on methods 
of teaching and studying geography. There 
has been a steadily growing demand in the last 
few years for the better teaching of geography, 
and as earnest an effort on the part of many 
teachers to meet that demand. The National 
Geographic Magazine proposes to aid the work 
by presenting in its pages a series of articles by 
those most fitted to speak—able geographers 
who are also teachers of renown. The article 
by Professor Davis will be followed by a second 
from him on field and laboratory methods of 
teaching geography. Commissioner Harris, of 
the Bureau of Education, will treat the subject 
in several of its aspects, and a number of other 
equally prominent educators have promised 
articles which are to appear in the magazine 
within the next few months. 
THE Chicago University Press has added to 
its publications the Manual Training Magazine, 
the first number of which was issued on Octo- 
berjist. It is edited by Mr. Charles A. Ben- 
nett, of the Bradley} Polytechnic Institute, 
Peoria. 
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 
{ THE NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 
SECTION OF ASTRONOMY AND PHYSICS. 
THE first meeting since the spring of the Sec- 
tion was held on 2d October, 1899, at 12 West 31st 
Street. Professor William Hallock read a paper 
on ‘Compound Harmonic Vibrations ofa String.’ 
He said that some German experimenters have 
determined experimentally by photography the 
motions of different points of a vibrating string. 
SCIENCE. 
735 
The vibration varies, of course, according to 
the part of the string bowed, the speed, the 
kind of bow, etc. His paper, however, con- 
sisted essentially of a set of curves, calculated 
from the theoretical formule, showing the suc- 
cessive positions of a string vibrating under the 
influence of a fundamental and the first seven 
overtones. Each curve shows the position of 
the string ata particular instant. Sixteen such 
curves are shown for the first sixteen sixty- 
fourths of a complete period of the funda- 
mental. The amplitude of the component is 
proportional to the wave-lengths, in each case. 
Thirty-two points were computed for each 
curve. Each curve is computed from the 
formula 
y=a sin ort sin 27 = 
i GR hh 
: tie co 
+bsin 27 — sin 27— + ete. -- 
iB i, 
9 idee Ky 
+h Sinan 7, sn eae 
a= 2b = 3c = 4d = 5e= 6f = 79 = Bh, 
T, =2T, = 8T, = 47, —5T, =6T,=7T, =87,. 
In the discussion Professor Pupin said that it 
would be interesting to photograph the vibra- 
tion of a string loaded, and also unloaded. 
Such a study might help our theories of elec- 
trical waves along a cable. 
Wm. S. Day, 
Secretary. 
SECTION OF GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY. 
Avr the meeting of October 16th, after 
Mr. Geo. F. Kunz, the Chairman, had ex- 
hibited certain specimens, the regular paper 
of the evening was presented by Professor J. J. 
Stevenson on ‘The Section at Schoharie, N. 
Y.’ The Schoharie Valley is an indentation 
in the Helderberg Mountains, about 35 miles 
southwest from Albany, N. Y. It is of interest 
as showing a section from the Hudson to the 
Hamilton, with almost continuous exposures at 
various localities. This was examined during 
last summer with the view of making com- 
parisons with conditions observed in parts of 
the Appalachian region within Pennsylvania 
and Virginia. There are some notable con- 
trasts between the northern and the southern 
sections. At Schoharie, the Medina is wanting 
