FEBRUARY 1, 1901.] 
THE LAS VEGAS SCIENCE CLUB. 
THE second meeting of the Las Vegas Science 
Club was held January 8th. Mr. Frank Springer 
exhibited and commented upon some crinoids 
from the Burlington Limestone at Lake Valley, 
New Mexico. He alsoexhibited and discussed 
specimens of Uintacrinus socialis, Grinnell, 
which he had found beautifully preserved in 
the cretaceous of Western Kansas. He showed 
a number of plates to illustrate a memoir on 
this species, which will shortly be published 
in the Memoirs of the Museum of Comparative 
Zoology. The abundance and excellent preser- 
vation of the material had permitted him to de- 
termine many new facts regarding Uintacrinus ; 
and after tabulating the characters of over 600 
individuals it became evident that U. socialis 
of America and U. westfalicus of Europe were 
identical, the supposed specific distinctions be- 
ing due to age and variation. 
Mr. HB. L. Hewett spoke on the ancient 
cliff-dwellings and communal buildings of the 
Pajarito district, New Mexico. He had for 
some years been engaged in the investigation 
of these, and presented a map showing their 
distribution, a number of plans and photo- 
graphs, and a collection of objects obtained 
from the dwellings and burial mounds. The 
communal buildings of the Tchrega, Tsankiwi, 
Navakwee and Otow ; mesas were described ; 
the first of these was estimated to have con- 
tained nearly 1,500 rooms, being much larger 
than the buildings still in use at Taos. Mr. 
Hewett referred to the importance of preserv- 
ing these ruins for systematic and careful ex- 
amination, and the desirability of retaining as 
public property such important evidences re- 
garding the early man of America as abounded 
throughout the district. To this end a bill is 
now pending in Congress, which provided for 
the retention of the district as a National Park. 
40, IDs de Oh 
NEW YORK SECTION OF THE AMERIOAN CHEM— 
ICAL SOCIETY. 
A STATED meeting was held at the Chemists’ 
Club, 108 West 55th Street, on January 11th, 
Dr. C. A. Doremus, presiding, and 53 members 
present. 
SCLENCE. 
191 
Dr. Parker reported progress for the Com- 
mittee appointed to confer with the Bureau of 
Combustibles in regard to the storage of acids. 
The Chair reported that the revision of the 
By-Laws was in the hands of the Executive 
Committee in accordance with the action taken 
at the November meeting. A resolution offered 
by A. C. Hale was then read as follows : 
Resolved, That the New York Section of the 
American Chemical Society herewith extends a 
most cordial invitation to the Society to cele- 
brate the 25th anniversary of its foundation 
next April in New York City, and the Chair- 
man of the New York Section is hereby author- 
ized and directed to appoint such local com- 
mittees as he may deem expedient in order to 
aid in perfecting arrangements for such celebra 
tion.”’ 
The resolution was unanimously approved 
and the Secretary was instructed to formally 
extend the invitation to the Society at large. 
Dr. T. O’Connor Sloane then read his paper 
entitled, ‘ Notes on Spheroidal State Evapora- 
tion,’ with experiments. 
Dr. McMurtrie made a report on the Mid- 
winter meeting just held in Chicago, to the 
effect that it had been very successful, and the 
visiting members were well entertained. One 
hundred and thirty-nine members were regis- 
tered. Numerous applications for member- 
ship in the Society had been entered as a re- 
sult of the interest aroused. 
DURAND WoopDMAN, 
Secretary. 
DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 
NOTE ON VEGETO-ELECTRICITY. 
In ScreNcE, September 8, 1900, is an abstract 
of a paper, by Dr. Waller, on ‘The Electrical 
Effects of Light upon Green Leaves,’ which 
recalls an experience noted in 1888 in my phys- 
ical laboratory work. In June of that year I 
asked a student to determine the magnetic ele- 
ments at a certain place, just under the outer 
ends of the long branches of a low Norway 
maple. He reported that the magnetometer 
was in such continual tremor and slight shifting 
about that it was impossible to make accurate 
readings. This continued for hours; and was 
quite noticeable again some days subsequently 
