May 20, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



J91 



Officers for the ensuing year were elected 

 as follows : 



President — B. Shimek, Iowa City. 



First Vice-President — L. H. Pammel, Ames. 



Second Vice-President — M. F. Arey, Cedar Falls. 



Secretary — T. E. Savage, Capitol Building, Des 

 Moines. 



Treasurer — H. W. Norris, Grinnell. 



H. W. Norms, 



Secretary. 



THE RESEARCH CLUB OP THE UNIVERSITY OP 

 MICHIGAN. 



The following papers unreported in Science 

 have heen read at recent meetings of the club : 

 At the December meeting Dr. A. B. Preseott 

 gave an account of work upon the ' Organic 

 Perhalides ' done in his laboratory from 189.5 

 to 1900. He had been attracted to this field 

 (1) from the interest of the relations be- 

 tween perhalides and the double halides, (2) 

 because of the molecular significance of super- 

 compounds as such, (3) by reason of the re- 

 markable role of iodine in the iodonium bases 

 made known in 1894, (4) on account of the 

 sing-ular individuality of the periodides of 

 the organic bases formed by nitrogen, and (5) 

 in order to pursue the question, what sort of 

 basal constitution is necessary to a perhalide. 

 The systematic production of all perhalides of 

 pyridine was entered upon, followed by those 

 of the ijieolines, quinoline and the common 

 vegetable bases, as has been published from this 

 work up to 1901. In continuation the author 

 desires to so extend the study as to find some- 

 thing of whatever value perhalide formation 

 possesses as a distinguishing measure of chem- 

 ical character, and whether or not confined to 

 ' salt-forming bases.' 



At the same meeting Dr. A. S. Warthin gave 

 a summary of his most recent work on the 

 hsemolymph glands as he had found them in 

 man and other animals. 



At the February meeting Professors Asaph 

 Hall and F. C. Newcombe gave an account of 

 their researches. After explaining various 

 methods employed in detecting errors of 

 division in circles, Professor Hall submitted 

 a table showing the division errors of the Lick 

 meridian circle constructed by the Eepsolds, 



of that at Washington by Pistor and Martins, 

 and of that at Ann Arbor, also by Pistor and 

 Martins. 



For the first two instruments the errors 

 were obtained by keeping one circle fixed on 

 the axis and continually shifting the other. 

 For the Ann Arbor circle the errors were 

 found by the methods of Bessel for the deter- 

 mination of special marks giving the follow- 

 ing values for the ten degree divisions : 



Professor Newcombe stated that the roots of 

 many species of plants are known to bend 

 against the current of a stream of water in 

 which they may be placed. This rheotropic 

 response was shown to be really a response to 

 one-sided pressure, since the roots showed 

 similar curves when they were wholly shielded 

 from the stream of water by covering them 

 with tubes of very thin collodion. The thig- 

 motropism must be called forth either by the 

 large extent of surface stimulated by the water 

 stream, or by long continued irritation of the 

 same cells in the sensory region, conditions 

 which will rarely if ever be fulfilled in nature. 

 The conclusion was drawn that, contrary to 

 the general belief, terrestrial roots are not 

 responsive to one-sided pressure such as they 

 meet in nature. 



At the March meeting Professor Wenley 

 spoke on the relation of Plato's writings to 

 modern research, and Professor Cushny dis- 

 cussed ' The Secretion of Acid by the Kidney.' 

 Professor Cushny assumed that the renal 

 tubules are chiefly engaged in absorbing some 

 of the constituents of the glomerular fluid. 

 By the intravenous injection of most neutral 

 salts the urine was found neutral or feebly 

 acid to phenolphthalein, while it was neutral 

 or alkaline to litmus. The intravenous injec- 

 tion of phosphate rendered the urine acid to 



