Januakx 29, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



191 



being a study of those who appear in 'Who's 

 Who in America.' Authors are in the great 

 majority, and, save in science, those educated 

 in private schools exceed in number those 

 educated in public schools. D. D. Wallace 

 presents the case of ' Southern Agriculture : 

 Its Condition and Needs,' the latter being bet- 

 ter trained labor, credit at reasonable rates 

 and a more suitable education for his work. 

 Wm. Scheppegrell describes ' Voice, Song and 

 Speech,' and there is a reprint of Herbert 

 Spencer's 'What Knowledge is of Most 

 Worth ? ' ' The Progress of Science ' contains 

 a criticism of what the Carnegie Institution 

 has not accomplished. 



S0GIE.TIE8 AND ACADEMIES. 



THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE AND ART OF PITTSBURG. 

 SECTION OF BIOLOGY. 



The regular monthly meeting of the section 

 was held on December 1, in the lectiire hall of 

 the Carnegie Institute. Doctor E. G. Matson, 

 city bacteriologist of Pittsburg, discussed with 

 the members, the germ theory and the zymotic 

 theory of epidemic diseases; the discovery of 

 bacteria, their form, structure and office in the 

 economy of nature, evidence upon which rests 

 the doctrine that they are the causes of dis- 

 eases, the advantages of having the specific 

 agents of these diseases for practical purposes, 

 and at the same time the possibility of getting 

 on without this knowledge; the individuality 

 of contagion and the necessity of taking this 

 into account in the attempt to prevent epi- 

 demics, such as smallpox, typhoid fever and 

 yellow fever; how the bacteria make their 

 attack; toxin, antitoxin and the immunity 

 problem. 



The malarial mosquito received some atten- 

 tion, and considerable valuable information 

 was given regarding the epidemic of typhoid 

 fever which has been raging for several weeks 

 in Butler, Pa. There have been about 1,800 

 cases, with 84 deaths, representing a fatality 

 of a little more than 10 per cent. 



Many thousands of dollars have been gen- 

 erously contributed from various sources. 



The infection of the water supply of the 



city seems to have been responsible for the 

 general spread of the disease, two cases being 

 discovered not far from the city's reservoir. 



Feedehio S. Webster, 

 Becretary-Treasuner. 



WISCONSIN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, ARTS AND 

 LETTERS. 



The thirty-fourth annual meeting of the 

 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and 

 Letters was held in the State Normal School 

 Building in Milwaukee, Tuesday and Wednes- 

 day, December 29 and 30, 1903, President J. 

 J. Davis in the chair. The program contained 

 thirty-six titles, nearly every field of science 

 being represented, although physical papers 

 were entirely absent. Several excellent papers 

 were presented upon philosophical, pedagogical 

 and literary subjects. The program was 

 notable in that so many sections of the state 

 and so many different institutions were rep- 

 resented. The number of papers coming from 

 the university, from the colleges and from the 

 normal schools was nearly equal. Volume 

 XIV., part 1, of the Transactions of the acad- 

 emy, containing fifteen papers, has just been 

 published. 



E. B. Skinner, 



Secretary. 



NORTHEASTERN SECTION OF THE AMERICAN 

 CHEMICAL SOCIETY. 



The 48th regular meeting of the section 

 was held Friday, December 18, 1903, at 8 

 P.M., at the Tech Union, Boston, President 

 W. H. Walker in the chair. Sixty members 

 were present. 



Dr. Carl Otto Weber, of Manchester, Eng- 

 land, addressed the section on the ' Applica- 

 tion of Scientific Data to Technical Problems 

 in India Rubber Manufacture,' in which he 

 discussed the various steps in the evolution 

 of a scheme for rubber analysis, and the 

 methods of applying the results to the theoret- 

 ical and practical consideration of the chem- 

 istry of India rubber. 



Arthur M. Comey, 



Secretary. 



