March 14 1902 ] 



SCIENCE. 



427 



Ernest Merritt and 0. M. Stewart. Curves 

 were shown giving the observed relation 

 between current and potential difference for 

 different degrees of incandescence and for 

 different air pressures. At low pressures 

 (0.05 Dxm. or less) these curves were similar 

 to the 'saturation' curves observed in the case 

 of conduction due to Eontgen rays, etc. 

 With increasing potential difference the cur- 

 rent at first increased, reached a maximum, at 

 about sis volts, and then remained practically 

 unaltered for higher potentials, even up to 

 120 volts. At pressures in the neighborhood 

 of one millimeter the curves were of the same 

 character at low potentials; but instead of 

 remaining constant throughout the whole 

 range from six volts to 120 volts, the current 

 remained unaltered until a potential diiier- 

 enee of about thirty volts was reached, and 

 then increased rapidly for higher voltages. 

 The authors suggest that the result may be 

 explained by the ionization of the residual 

 gases by the negative ions from the incandes- 

 cent carbon. 



The Society voted to request the Council to 



arrange for a summer meeting of the Society 



in connection with Section B of the American 



Association for the Advancement of Science. 



Ernest Merritt. 



AltEEIC.iN JIATHEJIATICAL SOCIETY. 



A REGULAR meeting of the American Mathe- 

 matical Society was held at Columbia Univer- 

 sity on Saturday, February 22. Vice-Presi- 

 dent Maxima Bocher occupied the chair. 

 Thirty members were in attendance at 

 the two sessions. The Council announced 

 the election of the following persons to 

 membership in the Society : Professor Edward 

 Brand, Howard College, Ala.; Mr. D. 

 R. Curtiss, Harvard University; Miss Alice 

 B. Gould, Boston, Mass. ; Dr. Carl Gunder- 

 sen, Columbia U;iiversity; Mr. A. F. van der 

 Heyden, Middlesbrough, Eng. ; Eev. Jean de 

 Seguier, S. J., Paris, France; Mr. J. W. 

 Young, Cornell University. Fourteen appli- 

 cations for membership were received. 



The term of Professor T. S. Fiske as mem- 

 ber of the editorial board of the Transactions 

 having expired, he was reelected for a term of 



three years. Dr. Edward Kasner was reelected 

 assistant secretary. It was decided to hold 

 the next summer meeting of the Society at 

 Evanston, 111., about the end of August. 



The organization of a Pacific Section of the 

 Society is now under consideration. The 

 activity and number of members on the Pacific 

 slope would appear to justify the Council in 

 granting the desired authorization. The Chi- 

 cago Section, founded in 1898, has proved a 

 gratifying precedent. 



The Annual Register of the Society has 

 recently appeared, containing the list of offi- 

 cers and members, annual reports, constitu- 

 tion and by-laws, and a complete list of all 

 periodicals now in the Society's library. The 

 total membership of the Society is now 379, of 

 whom 18 are life members. The treasurer's 

 report shows a credit balance of over $2,000, 

 in the face of a considerable expenditure for 

 the Transactions and the Bulletin. 



The following papers were read at the Feb- 

 ruary meeting: 



Dr. E. V. HtJNTlKQTON : ' A complete set of 

 postulates for the theory of absolute continuous 

 magnitude,' ' Complete sets of postulates for the 

 theories of positive integral and positive rational 

 numbers,' and ' A simplified definition of a group.' 



Dr. M. B. PoKTEE : ' On the arithmetic nature 

 of the zeros of Bessel functions.' 



Dr. W. B. FiTE : ' On a property of groups of 

 order p '".' 



Professor L. E. Dickson : ' The groups of 

 Steiner in problems of contact.' 



Dr. Virgil Snyder: ' On the forms of quintic 

 scrolls.' 



Mr. Peecival Lowell : ' On the capture of 

 comets by Jupiter.' 



jMr. H. L. EiETZ : ' On primitive groups of odd 

 order.' 



Professor Maxime Bochek : ' On systems of 

 linear differential equations of the first order.' 



Dr. E. J. WiLCZYNSKi: ' Covariants of systems 

 of linear dift'erential equations.' 



Professor James Maclay' : ' On some asso- 

 ciated surfaces of negative curvature.' 



Professor E. W. BrowjN": ' On the small divisors 

 in the lunar theory.' 



Mr. Otto Dunkel: ' Some applications of 

 Green's theorem in one dimension.' 



Mr. J. W. Young : ' On a certain group of 

 isomorphisms.' 



