^1^ \^ A XZtf i 1 \^ XL 



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



Astronomy ; T. C. Mendenhall, Physics ; R. H. Thurston, Engineering ; Ira Eemsen, Chemistry ; 



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



W. K. Brooks, C. Hart Mebriam, Zoology ; S. H. Scudder, Entomology ; C. E. Bessey, 



N. L. Britton, 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. 



Feiday, September 14, 1900. 



CONTEXTS: 



Address of the President iefore the British Associ- 

 ation for the Advancement of Science (II. ): SiH 

 William Turner 385 



Original Investigations by Engineering Schools a 

 Duty to the Puhlic and to the Profession : Pro- 

 fessor A. Maeston 397 



Ihe Development of the Conger Eel : Professor 

 Carl H. Eigenmann 401 



Heat-engine Diagrams : PROFESSOR R. H. THURS- 

 TON 402 



Herman Andreas Loos: Db. Milton C. Whi- 

 TAKER 403 



Scientific BooJcs : — 

 Stine on Photometrical Measurements: Professor 

 Frank P. Whitman. Liverpool Marine Bio- 

 logical Committee's Memoirs: Professor Wm. 

 E. Eittee 403 



Scientific Journals and Articles 405 



Discussion and Correspondence : — 

 Note on the Siluro-Devonic Boundary : Profes- 

 sor John M. Clarke. Tlie Problem, of Color : 

 C. Ladd Franklin. A Large Crystal of Spo- 

 dumene: Professor Henry Montgomery.... 406 



Units at the International Electrical Congress 410 



The Proposed National Standards Bureau 412 



Scientific NotesandNews 413 



University and Educational News 416 



MSS. intended for publication and bookg, etc., intended 

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

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



ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT BEFORE THE 

 BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE AD- 

 VANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 



II. 



FUNCTION OF CELLS. 



It has already been stated that, when new 

 cells arise within pre-existing cells, division 

 of the nucleus is associated with cleavage of 

 the cell plasm, so that it participates in the 

 process of new cell-formation. Undoubt- 

 edly, however, its role is not limited to this 

 function. It also plays an important part 

 in secretion, nutrition, and the special 

 functions discharged by the cells in the 

 tissues and organs of which they form mor- 

 phological elements. 



Between 1838 and 1842 observations 

 were made which showed that cells were 

 constituent parts of secreting glands and 

 mucous membranes (Schwann, Henle). In 

 1842 John Goodsir communicated to the 

 Royal Society of Edinburgh a memoir on 

 secreting structures, in which he estab- 

 lished the principle that cells are the ulti- 

 mate secreting agents ; he recognized in the 

 cells of the liver, kidney and other organs 

 the characteristic secretion of each gland. 

 The secretion was, he said, situated be- 

 tween the nucleus and the cell wall. At 

 first he thought that, as the necleus was the 

 reproductive organ of the cell, the secretion 

 was formed in the interior of the cell by the 

 agency of the cell wall ; but three years 

 later he regarded it as a product of the 



