SCIENCE 



A WEEKLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, PUBLISHING THE 



OFFICIAL NOTICES AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION 



FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 



Editorial Committee : S. Nkwcomb, Mathematics ; K. S. Woodward, Mechanics ; E. C. Pickering, 

 Astronomy ; T. C. Mendenhall, Physics ; K. H. Thurston, Engineering ; Ira Remsen, Chemistry ; 

 Charles D. Walcott, Geology ; W. M. Davis, Physiography ; Hbnry F. Osborn, Paleon- 

 tology ; W. K. Brooks, C. Hart Merriam, Zoology ; S. H. Scudder, Entomology ; C. E. 

 Bessey, N. I.. Britton, Botany ; C. S. Minot, Embryology, Histology ; H. P. Bow- 

 ditch, Physiology; J. S. Billings, Hygiene; William H. Welch, Pathol- 

 ogy ; J. McKben Cattell, Psychology ; J. W. Powell, Anthropology. 



Friday, July 25, 1902. 



CONTENTS: 



The American Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science: — 



;So?ne Recent Applications of Function 

 Theory to Physical Problems : Pro- 

 fessor James McMahon 121 



Section A, Mathematics and Astronomy: 



Professok Edwin S. Ceawley 131 



Section G, Botany: Hermann von 



Scheenk 136 



Assignments of Geologic and Paleontologic 

 Parties 141 



Scientific Books: — 



Korschelt and Heider's Lehrhuch der ver- 

 glcichenden Enticicklungsgeschichte . der 

 wirbellosen Thiere: J. P. McM. Job's 

 Among the Water-fotol: F. A. L. Schmidt 

 and Weis on Bacteria: Professor H. 

 W. Conn. Nelson's Analytical Key to some 

 of the Common Flowering Plants of the 

 Rocky Mountain Region: Professor 

 Francis Ramaley 144 



Scientific Journals and Articles 147 



Societies and Academies: — 



The Anthropological Society of Washing- 

 ton: Dr. Walter Hough 149 



Discussion and Correspondence : — 



Zoological Nomenclature: Dr. Wm. H. 

 Dall. Range of the Fox Snake: Arthur 

 Erwin Brown 150 



Shorter Articles: — 



Preliminary Note on a Neio Organism pro- 

 ducing Rot in Cauliflower and Allied 

 Plants : F. C. Harrison 152 



Recent Museum Reports 152 



Notes on Entomology : Nathan Banks 154 



Botanical Notes: — 



Two Text-books of Botany; Further Studies 

 of Cellulose; Studies of the Structure of 

 Mosses; The Ignoring of Beginners and 

 Amateurs: Professor Charles E. Bessey. 156 



Scientific Notes and Neics 157 



Vniversity and Educational Neics 159 



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

 for review sliould be sent to the responsible editor. Pro- 

 fessor .7. McKeen Cattell, Garrison-on-Hudson, N. Y. 



SOME RECENT APPLICATIONS OF FUNC- 

 TION THEORY TO PHYSICAL 

 PROBLEMS* 



It has seemed appropriate that the ad- 

 dress of the retiring chairman should 

 draw attention to some of the most recent 

 developments in those sciences which it is 

 the object of this Section of the Association 

 to promote, especially to some problems 

 that seem to be making but slow headway, 

 and to others that are at a standstill for 

 want of appropriate modes of mathe- 

 matical expression. 



In selecting a particular group of prob- 

 lems I have been guided by the thought that 

 there is one field of work which touches the 

 domain of every member of this Section, 

 whether his or her iixunediate interests lie 

 in abstract mathematics, in physical mathe- 

 matics or in astronomy. I mean the great 

 field of the theory of functions of a com- 

 plex variable. 



The physicist or astronomer who wishes 

 to understand the true nature of any func- 

 tion which he deals with must study its be- 

 havior on the complex plane, its zeros, its 

 poles, its singularities and perhaps its 

 Riemann surface. Moreover, in dealing 

 with such important questions as stability 



* Address by the retiring Vice-President and 

 Chairman of Section A — Mathematics and As- 

 tronomy — of the American Association for the 

 Advancement of Science, Pittsburgh meeting, 

 June 28 to July 3, 1902. 



