792 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIX. No. 490. 



Ijhenolphthalein, while it was feebly acid or 

 neutral to litmus; obstruction of one ureter 

 now rendered the urine of that side more 

 strongly acid. This was interpreted as indica- 

 ting that the normal acidity of the urine is due 

 to the absorption of sodium and hydroxyl or 

 carbonate ions in the renal tubules. For the 

 secretion of acid urine two conditions must be 

 fulfilled: (1) There must be present in the 

 blood and glomerular fluid a hydrolytically dis- 

 sociated salt whose anion can not permeate the 

 epithelium of the tubules, while the cation 

 can permeate readily; (2) there must be an 

 active absorption in the tubules. 



Feedeeick C. Wewcombe, 



Secretary. 



THE AMERICAN IIATHEMATICAL SOCIETY. 



During the month of April the American 

 Mathematical Society held three meetings. 

 The Chicago Section met at Northwestern 

 University on April 2, the San Francisco Sec- 

 tion at Stanford University on April 30, and 

 a regular meeting of the society was held at 

 Columbia University, also on April 30. Re- 

 ports of the sectional meetings will appear 

 later in Science. 



About fifty members attended the regular 

 meeting in New York. The president of the 

 society. Professor Thomas S. Fiske, occupied 

 the chair. The following persons were 

 elected to membership : J. J. Browne, Colorado 

 School of Mines; C. E. Dimick, University of 

 Pennsylvania; Wm. Gillespie, Princeton Uni- 

 versity; Clifford Gray, Columbia University; 

 Louis Ingold, University of Missouri; Myrtle 

 Knepper, State Normal School, Cape Girard- 

 eau, Mo.; F. M. Morrison, Buchtel College; 

 G. W. Myers, University of Chicago; Elijah 

 Swift, Harvard University. Eight applica- 

 tions for admission to membership were re- 

 ceived. 



During the past year two important reports 

 have been prepared by committees of the so- 

 ciety and published in the Bulletin. The re- 

 port of the committee on college entrance 

 requirements has been adopted by the College 

 Entrance Examination Board as the basis of 

 its examinations in mathematics on and after 

 June, 1905. The second report, prepared by 



a committee of the Chicago Section, presents 

 a unified scheme of requirements for the mas- 

 ter's degree for candidates offering mathe- 

 matics as the major subject. The society has 

 also exerted, through its committee on rela- 

 tions to elementary mathematics, a guiding 

 influence in the formation of associations of 

 teachers of mathematics throughout the coun- 

 try. Several of these associations have 

 already been organized under very favorable 

 prospects, and others are already planned. 



The following papers were read at the April 

 meeting : 



H. F. Steckee: 'Certain differential equations 

 in relation to non-euclidean geometry.' 



C. J. Keyser: ' Certain line and plane quintic 

 configurations in point 4-space, and their sphere 

 analogues in ordinary space.' 



E. V. Huntington : ' A set of independent postu- 

 lates for the algebra of logic (third paper).' 



0. D. Kellogg : ' Sets of functions with pre- 

 assigned singular points and monodromic group.' 



J. M. Peibce : ' On certain complete systems of 

 quaternion expressions and on the removal of 

 metric limitations from the calculus of quater- 

 nions.' 



E. 0. LovETT : ' Singular trajectories in the 

 problem of four bodies.' 



E. 0. LovETT : ' Systems of periplegmatic or- 

 bits.' 



M. BoCHEE: 'The Gauss-Stieltjes equilibrium 

 problem and the roots of polynomials.' 



J. PlEKPONT: 'On multiple integrals.' 



E. L. DoDD : ' Multiple sequences.' 



V. Snyder : 'On developable and tubular sur- 

 faces having spherical lines of curvature.' 



C. H. SiSAM : ' On self -dual scrolls.' 



E. Kasner : ' The general transformation theory 

 of difi'erential elements.' 



E. J. WiLCZYNSKi : ' General theory of curves 

 on ruled surfaces.' 



H. Taber : ' On real hypercomplex number sys- 

 tems.' 



For the evening the usual dinner was ar- 

 ranged; twenty-five members attended this 

 agreeable diversion. 



The summer meeting of the society will be 

 held at St. Louis on September 16-17. The 

 San Francisco Section will also meet in Sep- 

 tember. The next meeting of the Chicago 

 Section will be held at the Christmas holi- 

 days. F. N. Cole, 



Secretary. 



