June 3, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



879 



were shown describing measures of this kind 

 which had recently been secured. An account was 

 also given of the discovery of a very close double 

 star during its occultation by the moon. 

 Radioaotion in the Seavenly Bodies: Monboe B. 



Sntdeb, Philadelphia. 

 Radioaction the Cause of Bale's Anomalous Solar 



Spectrum: Moneoe B. Sntdeb, Philadelphia. 

 Certain Singularities in the Proilem of Several 



Bodies: Edgae Odell Lovett, Houston, Texas. 



(Read by title.) 

 Groups Generated by two Operators, each of which 



Transforms the Square of the Other into a 



Power of Itself: Geoege A. Milleb, Illinois. 



(Read by title.) 

 The Origin of our Alphabet and the Race of the 



Phenicians: Paxtl Hattpt, Baltimore. 



The Phenicians were not of Semitic stock, but 

 colonists probably from Crete or Cyprus. The 

 origin of the alphabet can hardly be ascribed to 

 them as the derivation of the letters points to 

 their having originated among a more agricultural 

 community. 



HoBACE Claek Richaeds 



THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE 



ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE 



SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC SCIENCE'- 



FouE sessions of the Section of Social and 

 Economic Science were held at the Boston meet- 

 ing, including the first, at which the vice-presi- 

 dential address was the feature; the second, at 

 which social questions, such as divorce, immigra- 

 tion and public baths, were discussed and papers 

 read; an economic and statistical session with 

 papers on costs of public works, methods of assess- 

 ments in taxation and general economic progress; 

 and a final session at which were considered the 

 tariff in its more scientific phases, timber grow- 

 ing, economic clubs, racial studies and the mathe- 

 matical measurements of the economic earning 

 power of the individual man. Out of fourteen 

 assignments on the program, twelve of the au- 

 thors were present and read their papers in 

 person. 



The vice-presidential address, by Byron W. 

 Holt, on " The Gold Question " was published in 

 the January number of Moody's Magazine, and 

 J. F. Crowell's paper, on " Some Consequences of 

 Aavancing Prices," in the February issue of the 

 same periodical. 



'■ Boston meeting, December, 1909. 



Among the papers of special scientific merit, 

 embodying the results of research, were those of 

 Harrison P. Eddy, C.E., on the " Desirability of 

 the Contract System of Constructing Public 

 Works," in comparison with other methods em- 

 ployed in municipal administration; and of A. C. 

 Pleydell, secretary of the New York Tax Reform 

 Association, on " The Need for More Scientific 

 Methods of Assessment." The latter paper dealt 

 with the conditions of corporate assessment under 

 liability to local government units. Professor 

 Lazenby's paper on " Timber Trees of Ohio " gave 

 an instructive account of the growth of timber 

 to meet specific commercial needs. 



Under " Phases of Economic Progress in the 

 United States," Col. Albert Clarke summarized 

 the achievements in the following fields: aero- 

 nautics, automobiles, agriculture, hydro-electrics, 

 canal construction and irrigation during the past 

 ten years. 



Fred C. Croxton, of Washington, outlined some 

 of the results of the work of the United States 

 Immigration Commission, with special regard to 

 the adjustment of the immigrant to the various 

 industries and occupations. 



William H. Hale, of Brooklyn, described the 

 work of the public baths administration in that 

 city as evincing a tendency to look upon it as a 

 public necessity, and reported that over 2,274,000 

 people had availed themselves in the eleven 

 months ending November 30, 1909. 



J. W. Beatson, of the National Economic 

 League, Boston, reported on the extension of 

 economic clubs in New England and eastern 

 cities, with memberships ranging from 200 to 

 1,500 each, where nearly 500 subjects had been 

 discussed. 



Seymour C. Lewis, of New Haven, Conn., de- 

 scribed the purpose and limitations of the tariff 

 board as the first step in the direction of a 

 scientific mastery of the tariff problem. 



Samuel W. Dyke, Auburndale, Mass., summar- 

 ized the present status of the divorce question in 

 the United States, stating that the present ratio 

 of divorce to marriage was about one to twelve; 

 that the average length of married life before 

 divorce for the past twenty years was 9.9 years, 

 and that separation in 27 per cent, of the known 

 cases occurs within less than two years of mar- 

 ried life. 



Dr. E. E. Holt, of Portland, Me., presented a 

 paper on the mathematical formula of the normal 

 earning ability of the individual, defining the 



