912 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XV. No. 



vancement of education and knowledge, we ex- 

 tend to them a hearty welcome." 



It is plain from these resolutions that the 

 clergy of these most orthodox, most order- 

 loving, and church-going cities are not afraid 

 of their scientific brethren. They have even 

 gone a step further, and they extend to the 

 members of the American Association for the 

 Advancement of Science a cordial invitation 

 to occupy so far as possible the pulpits of their 

 churches on the morning and evening of June 

 29. It is sincerely hoped that this invitation 

 will he heeded and that a number of the mem- 

 bers of the Association will avail themselves 

 of the opportunity to present to the large and 

 intelligent audiences, which will greet them, 

 such phases of scientific truth as may be ap- 

 propriately presented before worshiping as- 

 semblies. As Chairman of the Local Executive 

 Committee charged with making arrangements 

 for the coming meeting, and on behalf of the 

 clergy of the city, I desire by special request 

 to urge those who are coming to the meeting 

 to bring with them addresses of such a char- 

 acter as they may feel inclined to present, 

 and if they will notify me in advance — which 

 I hope they will do — of their willingness to 

 address such audiences, we will arrange with 

 the clergy for the assignment of such speakers 

 to various pulpits. Scientific men as well as 

 clergymen have 'barrels,' and I trust that not 

 a few will open up their barrels before coming 

 to the meeting and bring with them from their 

 treasure houses 'things new and old' which the 

 good people of these cities will be glad to 

 hear. 



W. J. Holland. 



8B0RTER ABTIGLE8. 



HENRI FILHOL, PALEONTOLOGIST. 



By the death of Henri Filhol, French 

 paleontology has suffered a severe loss. As a 

 successor of the school of de Blainville and 

 contemporary of Professor Albert Gaudry, he 

 has rendered distinguished service, especially 

 in his originality as an explorer of the famous 

 deposits of the Phosporites du Quercy, termin- 

 ating in his volumes published in 1877, and of 

 the Upper Oligocene, Saint-Gerand le Puy, 



published in 1879. Continuing this line of 

 research he explored the Lower Oligocene of 

 Ronzon, publishing his results in 1880. These 

 larger volumes together with several memoirs 

 and a very numerous series of preliminary 

 papers have greatly enriched our knowledge, 

 especially of the Oligocene fossil fauna of 

 France. 



One of the most important of his discoveries 

 was a complete skeleton of the genus Macro- 

 therium, formerly established upon the claws, 

 proving that this animal was identical with 

 the genus Ghalicotherium, which had been es- 

 tablished upon the teeth. It was thus found 

 to represent an extraordinary combination of 

 dentition afiiliated to that of the ungulates, 

 and feet apparently affiliated to those of the 

 edentates. M. Filhol himself was disposed to 

 regard this animal as a connecting form; but 

 Cope immediately perceived that it represented 

 a new phyla, and proposed for it the name 

 Ancylopoda. 



During the writer's last visit to Paris, he 

 found M. Filhol devoting his time chiefly to 

 building up a great collection of comparative 

 osteology, which had been almost entirely 

 neglected since the time of Cuvier. M. Filhol 

 expressed his purpose as follows : ' I had found 

 it impossible to study comparative osteology 

 in the disordered state of the collections, and 

 I determined that I would devote my time 

 to an entire rearrangement, so that students 

 coming to Paris would enjoy opportunities 

 which had been denied me.' The beautifully 

 arranged hall, presenting all the remarkable 

 variations, especially of the mammalian skele- 

 ton, will therefore be the monument of M. 

 Filhol's later years. 



The superb collections of fossils which he 

 made will, it is hoped, soon be acquired by 

 the state and placed on exhibition in the 

 famous gallery of paleontology in the Mu- 

 seum of the Jardin des Plantes. 



H. F. O. 



CERTAIN PROPERTIES OP NUCLEI. 



In an extended series of experiments, made 

 by shaking dilute solutions of the order of 1 

 per cent., .01 per cent., .0001 per cent, by 

 weight, and a variety of solutes like HCl, 



