September 26, 1902.] 



SCIENCE. 



511 



between the author's 'Elements of Astronomy' 

 and his 'General Astronomy.' 



It is perhaps an open question whether the 

 fact that a text-book contains more matter 

 than can be mastered in the time allotted to 

 the subject constitutes a valid objection to its 

 use, or a legitimate demand for a book of less 

 dimensions. To bring home to the student in 

 this practical way the fact that some things 

 still remain to be learned undoubtedly has a 

 salutary effect in some cases. 



Be that as it may, we have here an excellent 

 book. To those acquainted with the author's 

 'General Astronomy,' the pages present a fa- 

 miliar appearance, suggestive of a simple 

 abridgment of the larger work. A more care- 

 ful examination, however, shows that we have 

 much more than this. No inconsiderable por- 

 tion has been rewritten with the introduction 

 of new matter and illustrations and all 

 brought strictly up to date. We mention a 

 few of the many cases in point. The very 

 satisfactory account of the planet Eros; the 

 reference to Belopolsky's spectroscopic re- 

 searches on the rotation period of Venus; the 

 application of the results of the investiga- 

 tions of Nichols, Hall and Lebedew on the 

 repulsive action of the solar radiation to the 

 formation of comets' tails, and the story of 

 the Nova Persei. 



If any mistakes or errors exist they have 

 escaped the notice of the reviewer. 



C. L. D. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 AMERICAN MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY. 



The Ninth Summer Meeting of the Ameri- 

 can Mathematical Society was held at North- 

 western University, Evanston, 111., on Tuesday 

 and Wednesday, September 2-3, 1902. About 

 fifty persons were in attendance, including 

 thirty-nine members of the Society. Two 

 sessions were held on each day. The Presi- 

 dent of the Society, Professor Eliakim Hast- 

 ings Moore, occupied the chair at the opening 

 session, being succeeded by Professor T. S. 

 Fiske and Professor H. S. White. The fol- 

 lowing persons were elected to membership in 

 the Society: Professor T. J. I'a. Bromwich, 

 Queen's College, Galway, Ireland; Mr. J. S. 



Brown, New York City; Professor G. C. 

 Edwards, University of California, Berkeley, 

 Cal. Eight applications for membership in 

 the Society were received. 



A committee consisting of Professors H. W. 

 Tyler, T. S. Fiske, W. E. Osgood, J. W. A. 

 Young and Alexander Ziwet was appointed 

 to consider and report on standard definitions 

 of requirements in mathematical subjects for 

 admission to college and scientific schools. 

 This committee will cooperate with those re- 

 cently appointed by the National Educational 

 Association and the Society for the Promotion 

 of Engineering Education. 



President Moore, Professor F. Morley and 

 Dr. Emory McClintock were appointed a com- 

 mittee on the nomination of ofScers of the 

 Society for the coming year. 



The recently organized Pacific Section of 

 the Society received the official designation of 

 the ' San Francisco Section.' 



Pleasant social features of the meeting were 

 the dinner at Northwestern University on 

 Tuesday evening and a gathering in Chicago 

 on Wednesday evening. Resolutions appre- 

 ciative of the hospitality of the University 

 were ad^ted at the close of the meeting. 



The scientific program comprised the fol- 

 lowing thirty-two papers: 



( 1 ) Dr. F. R. MouLTON : ' A method of con- 

 structing general expressions for the elements of 

 the planetary orbits which are valid for a definite 

 time.' 



( 2 ) Professor A. S. Hatha WAT : ' The quater- 

 nion treatment of the problem of three bodies.' 



(3) Dr. J. V. Collins: 'A general notation 

 for vector analysis.' 



( 4 ) Professor L. E. Dickson : ' Definitions of 

 a linear associative algebra by independent pos- 

 tulates.' 



(5) Professor L. E. Dickson: 'Two definitions 

 of a field by independent postulates.' 



(6) Dr. E. V. Huntington: 'Definitions of a 

 field by sets of independent postulates'.' 



(7) Dr. Otto Dunkel: 'Regular singular 

 points of a system of homogeneous linear difl'eren- 

 tial equations of the first order.' 



(8) Professor Oskak Bolza: 'Some instruc- 

 tive examples in the calculus of variations.' 



(9) Professor J. B. Shaw: 'On linear associa- 

 tive algebras.' 



