\Z5 \^ A JCrf X^ \ta-^ XIL 



Editorial Committee : S. Newcomb, Mathematics ; E. S. Woodwaed, Mechanics ; E. C. Pickkeino, 



Astronomy ; T. C. Mendenhall, Physics ; E. H. THnRSTON", Engineering ; Iea Remsen, Chemistry ; 



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



W. K. Beooks, C. Haet Meeeiam, Zoology ; S. H. Scuddee, Entomology ; C. E. Bessby, 



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. 



Friday, Septembee 21, 1900. 



CONTS^VTS: 



The Address of the President of the Section of Mathe- 

 matics and Physics of the British Association for 

 the Advancement of Science : De. Joseph Lae- 



MOE '. 417 



Inland Biological Laboratories 436 



T/ie Colorado Potato Beetle : De. W. L. To wee... 438 

 The Eighth International Geological Congress at 



Paris: H. F. 440 



Scientific Books : — ■ 



Tlie Davenports^ Introduction to Zoology : De. 

 Maueicb a. Bigelow. Herdman and Boyce 

 on Oysters and Disease: De. H. F. Mooee. 

 Belzung's Anatomic et physiologic tegetale : De. 

 D. T. MacDodgal. Report of Competitive 

 Tests of Street Car Brakes : Professor E. H. 

 Thurston. Zenker's Lehrbnch der Photochro- 

 mie: Peofessok R. W. Wood. Books Re- 

 ceived 442 



Societies and Academies : 



Section of Geology and Mineralogy of the New 

 York Academy of Sciences : Dr. Theodoeb G. 



White 446 



Discussion and Correspondence : — - 



3Ir. Teslaandthe Universe 447 



Botanical Notes : — 



A Neio Laboratory Manual ; Origin of the Higher 

 Fungi; Supplement to Nicholson's Dictionary of 

 Gardening ; Neiv Edition of PrantVs Lehrbuch : 



Peofessoe Charles E. Bessey 451 



The Coal Fields of China 452 



Scientific Notes and News 453 



University and Edticational News 456 



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. 



ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE 

 dlATHEBIATICAL AND PHYSICAL 

 SECTION OF THE BRITISH AS- 

 SOCIATION FOR THE AD- 

 VANCEMENl OF 

 SCIENCE. 



It is fitting that before entering upon the 

 business of the Section we should pause to 

 take note of the losses which our depart- 

 ment of science has recently sustained. 

 The fame of Bertrand, apart from his oflQ- 

 cial position as Secretary of the French 

 Academy of Sciences, was long ago univer- 

 sally established by his classical treatise on 

 the 'Infinitesimal Calculus ': it has been of 

 late years sustained by the luminous expo- 

 sition and searching criticism of his books 

 on the 'Theory of Probability' and 'Thermo- 

 dynamics' and 'Electricity.' Thedebtwhich 

 we owe to that other veteran, G. Wiede- 

 mann, both on account of his own re- 

 searches, which take us back to the modern 

 revival of experimental physics, and for his 

 great and indispensable thesaurus of the 

 science of electricity, cannot easily be over- 

 stated. By the death of Sophus Lie, follow- 

 ing soon after his return to a chair in his na- 

 tive country Norway, we have lost one of 

 the great constructive mathematicians of the 

 century, who has in various directions fun- 

 damentally expanded the methods and con- 

 ceptions of analysis by reverting to the 

 fountain of direct geometrical intuition. In 

 Italy the death of Beltrami has removed 



