NOVEMBER 24, 1899.] 
and 45 distinct species of insects have been 
reared from the excrement in which they passed 
their larval stages, and these include 35 distinct 
species of Diptera. Similar collections and 
observations have been made upon flies fre- 
quenting kitchens and dining rooms in different 
parts of the country. All of the material has 
been studied and specifically determined. The 
investigation will bewontinued and the results 
published next year. 
Mr. Wm. H. Dall gave some informal ‘ Notes 
on Honolulu and the Hawaiian Islands,’ from 
observations made there during a recent visit. 
He described the physical features of Oahu and 
their effects upon the climate, the characteristics 
of the flora and fauna of the city of Honolulu, 
laying particular stress upon their almost ex- 
clusively exotic character, and gave an account 
of the Bishop Memorial Museum, an institution 
reflecting the greatest credit upon the founder 
who endowed it, the board who have managed 
the investments, and the Director, Dr. W. T. 
Brigham, to whose energy, efficiency and wide 
knowledge is largely due the fact that Honolulu 
now has a Museum of Polynesian Ethnology 
and Natural History in many respects unique 
and which would be a credit to any city in 
either hemisphere. 
Mr. G. K. Gilbert described the state of pres- 
ervation of the celebrated ‘Submerged forest of 
the Columbia River,’ between the Dalles and 
the Cascades. From data connected with the 
geological history of the region he inferred that 
the submergence had taken place at least three 
hundred and fifty years ago. Since that time 
the roots of the trees, whose stumps still stand, 
have been continuously under water, but the 
upper portions of the shafts have been annually 
bared at low water and covered during flood. 
Despite this alternation of condition, which 
generally induces rot, the trunks are sound. 
The bark has disappeared, and several inches 
of the wood have wasted away, but what re- 
mains is firm and retains its naturalcolor. Mr. 
Gilbert suggested that the continuous submer- 
gence of the roots may have operated in some 
way as a favorable condition, but it was the 
opinion of botanists present that the roots must 
have ceased to function immediately upon the 
death of the tree, and that the preservation of 
SCIENCE. 717 
the trunks was merely an extreme illustration 
of the durability of the wood of the species 
Pseudotsuga douglasit. O. F. Coox, 
Secretary. 
THE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 
THE 505th meeting of the Philosophical So- 
ciety of Washington was held October 28th, at 
the Cosmos Club. Informal communications 
were made by Dr. Artemas Martin, on a 
method of extracting roots by successive sub- 
tractions and by Mr. C. K. Wead, on Museum 
Labels. The Director of the Geological Survey, 
Mr. C. D. Walcott, gave the results of his ob- 
servations on a recent ‘Geological Trip to 
Newfoundland,’ and Mr. C. K. Wead described 
‘Some Arab Musical Scales.’ The facts pre- 
sented were made accessible by Land’s French 
Translation of Al Farabi’s ‘ Treatise on Music,’ 
and confirmed in part by other authorities. 
The principal scale for the Lute was shown to 
be peculiarly dependent on the length of the 
neck of the instrument in comparison with the 
size of the player’s hand: the five strings 
were tuned in fourths, and the frets were lo- 
cated partly by geometrical principles, and 
partly by bisections of distances ; so ten notes 
were provided on each string, giving twenty- 
two to the octave. Later theorists reduced 
these numbers to seven and the much-discussed 
seventeen. The Modes each consisting of a 
selection of seven or eight of these notes were 
also dependent on the structure of the lute. 
Some long-necked Tambours had entirely dif- 
ferent scales tuned by the use of two strings, 
being built up by musical addition or subtraction 
of equal intervals, 7. e., by a step-by-step 
method—these scales had seven to ten notes at 
intervals of about half a semitone. Our cur- 
rent theories of the scale are utterly inappli- 
cable to these facts. 
E. D. Preston, 
Secretary. 
DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 
THE NEED FOR A CLASSIFICATION OF PRIHIS- 
TORIC IMPLEMENTS. 
ABOUT a year ago Mr. A. E. Douglas, of the 
American Museum of Natural History, pub- 
lished a paper in which he urged the need of an 
