SCIENCE 



Editorial Committee: S. Newcomb, Mathematics; E. S. Woodward, Mechanics"; E. C. Pickering, 



Astronomy ; T. C. Mendenhall, Physics ; E. H. Thurston, Engineering ; Iea Eemsen, Chemistry ; 



Joseph Le Conte, Geology ; W. M. Davis, Physiography ; Henry F. Osboen, Paleontology ; 



W. K. Brooks, C. Hart Meeeiam, Zoology ; S. H. Scuddee, Entomology ; C. E. Bessey, 



N. L. Beitton, Botany ; C. S. Minot, Embryology, Histology ; H. P. Bowditch, 



Physiology ; J. S. Billings, Hygiene ; William H. Welch, Pathology ; 



J. McKeen Cattell, Psychology ; J. W. Powell, Anthropology. 



Fkidat, August 10, 1900. 



CONTENTS: 



Certain recent Attempts to test the Nebular Hypoth- 

 esis : Professor T. C. Chambeelin, De. F. 

 E. Modlton 201 



The Illusory Diist Drift — A Curious Optical Phe- 

 nomenon: Peofessoe a. H. Pieece 208 



Bafinesque's Western Minerva, or American An- 

 rials of Knowledge and Literature: Wm» J. 

 Fox 211 



The International Catalogue of Scientific Literature.. 215 



Tfie American Microscopical Society: Peofessoe 

 Henry B. Ward 222 



Scientific Books : — 



Meyer and Wiglesworth on the Birds of Celebes : 

 Dr. J. A. Allen. A Monograph of Christmas 

 Island : Dr. W. H. Dall. The Humanities in 

 Horticulture: W. T 223 



Scientific Journals and Articles 227 



Societies and Academies : — ■ 



Zoological Club of the University of Chicago : De. 

 C. M. Child. The Botanical Club of Canada : 

 H. M. A 228 



Discussion and Correspondence : — 



Hermaphroditism among the Docoglossa : Peo- 

 fessoe M. A. WiLLCOX 230 



Some Beeent Reports of Foreign Museums : F. A. L. 231 



Recent Progress in the Examination of Foods and 

 Drugs; New Plants and Drugs; Plant Con- 

 stituents : De. Henry Kraemee 232 



President's Address before the Society of Chemical 

 Industry 234 



The Jesup North Pacific Expedition 235 



Scientific Notes and Nexus 236 



i Educational News 240 



MSS. Intended for publication and books, etc., intended 

 for review should be sent to the responsible editor, Profes- 

 sor J. McKeen Cattell, Garrison-on-Hudson, N. Y. 



CERTAIN RECENT ATTE3IPTS TO TEST THE 

 NEBULAR HYPOTHESIS.'' 

 It is a far cry from the glacial period to 

 the nebular hypothesis, but yet it is not 

 beyond the view hulloa of logic. Glacial 

 periods have certainly been dependent on 

 atmospheric states, whatever else may have 

 been concerned in causing them. Surely 

 no one will imagine glaciation in the air of 

 the putative molten earth, nor in the warm 

 dense atmosphere currently assigned to the 

 early ages, nor yet in the later periods when 

 figs and magnolias grew in Greenland. If 

 carbon dioxide has the thermal qualities 

 which eminent physicists assign it, conti- 

 nental glaciation could scarcely have oc- 

 curred while it was a large constituent of 

 the atmosphere. ISTow the atmosphere has, 



* This paper, prepared at the request of the editor 

 of Science, is little more than an abstract of the fol- 

 lowing three papers : 



I. ' A Groap of Hypotheses bearing on Climatic 

 Changes, ' by T. C. Chamberlin ; Journal of Geology, 

 Vol. v., No. 7, 1897, pp. 653-683. 

 - II. 'An Attempt to test the Nebular Hypothesis 

 by the Eelations of Masses and Momenta,' by T. C. 

 Chamberlin ; Journal of Geology, Vol. VIII., No. 1, 

 January-February, 1900, pp. 58-73. 



III. ' An Attempt to Test the Nebular Hypothesis 

 by an Appeal to the Laws of Dynamics, ' by F. E. 

 Moulton ; Aslrophysical Journal, Vol. XI., No. 2, 

 March, 1900, pp. 103-130. 



By ' nebular hypothesis ' the gaseous hypothesis of 

 Laplace is always to be understood in this article. 

 The arguments, for the greater part, apply also to 

 all spheroidal hypotheses in conveotlve equilibrium, 

 whether gaseous or meteoroidal. 



