660 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S, Vol. XIX. No. 



Angell), ' An Outline of an Experiment In- 

 vestigating the Interrelations of Taste and 

 •Smell'; Mr. C. E. Galloway, 'Fluctuations of 

 Attention and Vasomotor Waves ' ; Professor 

 E. B. Titchener, " The 'Psychophysical Series' 

 as a Training Experiment : .Methods, Results 

 and Computation " ; and ' Type vs. Instruction 

 ■in Psychophysical Work.' 



It was decided that a similar meeting should 

 ■ be held in 1905; and Professor Miinsterberg's 

 invitation to the psychological laboratory of . 

 Harvard University was gratefully accepted, 

 with the understanding that the meeting 

 should be transferred to Clark University in 

 case of any interference with Professor 

 Miinsterberg's plans. 



PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 



The 582d meeting was held March 12, 1904. 



Dr. A. E. Zahm continued his paper begun 

 at the previous meeting, discussing several 

 specific problems in aerodynamics in the light 

 of the constants he had determined experi- 

 mentally; he pointed out that some of the 

 forms of flying machines of noted experi- 

 menters had an excessive amount of skin 

 friction, and showed some of the conditions 

 of maximum efficiency in such machines. 



Mr. G. K. Gilbert spoke on ' The Feasibility 

 of Measuring Tides and Currents at Sea.' 

 This problem appeals to the geologist as well 

 as to the hydrographer. It was suggested that 

 a hollow vessel might be anchored at some 

 distance below the surface of the sea, con- 

 taining a registering pressure gauge on which 

 the superincumbent column of water acted. 

 Various forms of gauges were discussed as to 

 their range, sensibility and adaptability. 

 Charles K. Wead, 



Secretary. 



THE academy OF SCIENCE OF ST. LOUIS. 



At the meeting of the Academy held on 

 March 21, Professor W. L. Eikenberry de- 

 livered a lecture on the ' Principles of Ecology 

 and the Development of Plant Societies.' 

 He showed that the science of botany had 

 been greatly advanced by the study of plant- 

 ecology or plant-sociology, i. e., by the study 

 of plants in their external relations to each 



other, and the adjustment of plants and their 

 organs to their physical surroundings. For- 

 merly taxonomy, or the determining of a 

 plant's position in a scheme of classiiication, 

 was the aim of all students and teachers. Now 

 the study of botany is pursued on a broader 

 scale, plants being studied as living things, 

 which are not scattered at haphazard over the 

 globe, but are organized into definite com- 

 munities, determined by the conditions under 

 which certain plants can live. Ecology, since 

 it considers plants and their environments, 

 takes the student directly into the field, instead 

 of confining him to herbarium specimens. 

 Systematic botany, while very essential, should 

 always be made one of the means, and not 

 the final end of botanical study. 



By a series of lantern slides Professor Eiken- 

 berry showed the transition from a pond so- 

 ciety to a swamp-forest. First we have a lily- 

 pond with sedges at the margin of the water. 

 As the lily-pond loses its water, the sedges and 

 swamp-grasses crowd in. This swamp-moor 

 is followed by shrubs, and finally by a swamp- 

 forest, such as tamarack, pine and hemlock. 

 Professor Eikenberry also traced the develop- 

 ments of plant societies adapted to dry air 

 and soil. Various plants, such as lichens, 

 mosses and small crevice plants, are able to 

 live upon bare rocks. As these exposed rocks 

 are weathered away the crevices become larger, 

 and seeds of small plants find lodgment 

 there. As time goes on, the fissiires increase 

 in size, more soil is formed, and shrubs and 

 finally trees root there, resulting ultimately in 

 forests. 



CLEMSON COLLEGE SCIENCE CLUB. 



At the regular monthly meeting held Feb- 

 ruary 26, 1904, Dr. H. Metcalf presented a 

 paper entitled ' A Contribution to Culture 

 Methods.' The speaker gave a description 

 and exhibition of special apparatus for cul- 

 tural work in plant pathology, as published in 

 the Journal of Applied Microscopy for Sep- 

 tember, 1903. This was preceded by a .dem- 

 onstration of various bacterial and fungus 

 colonies through the projecting microscope. 

 Professor P. T. Brodie gave a paper entitled 

 ' Engineering Features of the Isthmian Canal.' 

 The speaker discussed his subject under the- 



