SCIENCE 
EDITORIAL COMMITTEE: S. NEWCoMB, Mathematics; R. S. WooDWARD, Mechanics; E. C. PICKERING, 
Astronomy ; T. C. MENDENHALL, Physics ; R. H. THURSTON, Engineering ; IRA REMSEN, Chemistry ; 
JosEPH LE ConTE, Geology ; W. M. Davis, Physiography ; HENRY F. OsBORN, Paleontology ; 
W. K. Brooks, C. HART MERRIAM, Zoology ; S..H. ScuppER, Entomology ; C. E. BESsEY, 
N. L. Brirron, Botany; C. S. Minot, Embryology, Histology; H. P. BowpircH, 
Physiology; J. S. Brnurnes, Hygiene; Wi~LIAmM H. WELCH, Pathology ; 
J. MCKEEN CATTELL, Psychology ; J. W. PowELL, Anthropology. 
Fripay, JANuUARY 4, 1901. 
CONTENTS: 
The Naval Observatory Report :— 
Editorial Comment........ ppoanasoenassoDaD9babo0HNAc0000 1 
Extracts from the Report of the Superintendent... 5 
Aims and Methods of Study in Natural History: 
PROFESSOR EDMUND B. WILSON............2..+:+ 14 
Scientific Books :— 
Report of the U. S. Commission of Fish and Fish- 
eries: PROFESSOR H. C. BUMPUS. Report on 
the International Cloud Observations :. PROFESS- 
oR R. DEC. WARD. Murray on Plane Trig- 
onometry: DR. C. J. KEYSER. Books Received. 23 
Scientific Journals and Articles...........2..0.00010.00 25 
Societies and Academies :— 
Biological Society of Washington: F. A. Lucas. 
Torrey Botanical Club : PROFESSOR EDWARD 8S. 
BurRGEsS. The Academy of Science of St. Louis : 
PROFESSOR WILLIAM TREALEASE..........,..... 26 
Discussion and Correspondence :— 
The Electrical Theory of Gravitation : PROFESSOR 
R. A. FESSENDEN. A Bibliographic Catch Title ~ 
for the Years 1900 to 1999. PROFESSOR E. L. 
MARK. Astronomischer Jahresericht: DR. HER- 
MAN §. Davis. Diffraction Gratings for Gra- 
twitous Distribution: PROFESSOR R. W. Woop. 28 
Notes on Inorganic Chemistry :— 
Argon and its Companions: J. L. H..............08 33 
The Resignation of President Mendenhall... 34 
Thomas A. Williaims.......022.0ec0eereeceseeeeeee cone NO 
The American Society of Naturalists.............++.+++ 36 
The American Association for the Advancement of 
SIRICTHE Gacbobionpnennodonosnaccde boSnO RD EEOC EER eee RCobCsasINer 37 
Scientifie Notes and News............. noon BIL 
University and Educational News.,........++.+-ss0ee.0+ 40 
MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended 
for review should be sent to the responsible editor, Pro- 
fessor J. McKeen Cattell, Garrison-on-Hudson, N. Y. 
THE NAVAL OBSERVATORY REPORT. 
Tue first impression of our readers on 
glancing at the annual report of the Naval 
Observatory, of which the essential portions 
are reprinted in our columns, will be one of 
pleasure that the head of the Observatory 
has deemed it appropriate to review the con- 
clusions of the board of visitors appointed 
by the Secretary of the Navy in 1899. But 
pleasure will be changed to disappointment 
at what the review omits. It maintains 
with an energy of expression quite unusual 
in an official paper that a majority of the 
board was hostile to the Observatory ; that 
it failed to report on the main points sub- 
. mitted, and that the measures which it pro- 
posed are ‘preposterous’ and ‘ only ridicu- 
lous.’ But not a word is said in reply to 
the destructive criticism of the management 
of the institution ‘ during almost the entire 
period of its existence,’ which is one of the 
most important features of the report. 
Had these strictures been now heard of for 
the first time some reason might have been 
found for ignoring them. But they are 
little more than an echo of strictures ema- 
nating from or endorsed by Secretaries 
of the Navy, the National Academy of Sci- 
ences, at least one distinguished naval offi- 
