796 



SCIENCE. 



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



ground water above the edge of that clay mass, 

 less the loss in transmission. 



3. The dip of the strata is, therefore, im- 

 material, and flows, in many cases, are pro- 

 duced against or up the dip. 



4. The slope of this ground water table is 

 so precipitous at the heads of many of the 

 deep reentrant bays on the north shore that 

 a slight difference in porosity is sufficient to 

 determine an artesian horizon, and wells in 

 such situations and which penetrate nothing 

 but sand and gravel are frequently artesian. 



Alfred H. Brooks, 



Secretary. 



THE PHILOSOPHIOAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON". 



The five hundred and eighty-fifth meeting 

 was held April 22 and 23 jointly with the 

 American Physical Society. Reports of the 

 papers read during the day sessions will ap- 

 pear in the proceedings of that society. 



On Friday evening Mr. Alexander Graham 

 Bell delivered a lecture on ' Tetrahedral Kites,' 

 exhibiting numerous small kites and the cells 

 out of which large structures are built up, 

 and many lantern views of the large kites he 

 has flown at his experiment station in Nova 

 Scotia. The noteworthy features developed 

 by the experiments were the great strength 

 combined with lightness of the kites for a 

 given lifting power; their ability to rise more 

 nearly vertically above the point of attach- 

 ment at the ground than other forms of kites; 

 and their remarkable steadiness, especially 

 when the broadside is toward the wind. The 

 speaker intends to carry on his experiments 

 during the coming summer. 



Charles K. Wead, 



Secretary. 



THE ASSOCIATION OF OHIO TEACHERS OF 

 MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE. 



The association was organized at a meeting 

 held in Columbus, April 2, 1904. At this 

 meeting the following papers were read and 

 discussed : 



Pres. Charles S. Howe, The Case School of 

 Applied Science, Cleveland : ' The Effect of En- 

 trance Examinations upon the Mathematical Work 

 of the Preparatory School and the College.' 



Dr. George Bruce Halsted, Kenyon College, 

 Gambler : ' The Value of Non-Euclidean Geometry 

 to the Teacher.' 



Professor Franklin I. Jones, University 

 School, Cleveland : ' The Laboratory Method in 

 High School Mathematics.' 



In his paper Dr. Halsted pointed out that 

 the results of the recent studies on the founda- 

 tions of geometry now permit a simple and 

 rigorous treatment of elementary geometry 

 without the introduction of either continuity 

 or limits. The constructions of elementary 

 geometry are possible without the compasses 

 by means of the rules alone. 



THE northeastern SECTION OF THE AMERICAN 

 CHEMICAL SOCIETY. 



The fifty-second meeting of the section was 

 held Friday evening, April 22, at Hunting- 

 ton Hall, Massachusetts Institute of Technol- 

 ogy, Boston, with President W. H. Walker 

 in the chair. About 650 members and friends 

 were present. Professor W. P. Bradley, of 

 Wesleyan University, gave an address on ' Effi- 

 ciency Tests of the Wesleyan Liquid Air 

 Plant and Demonstration of Liquid Air,' in 

 which he described, and illustrated with lan- 

 tern slides, the plant at Wesleyan University 

 for the manufacture of liquid air, while the 

 latter part of the lecture was devoted to a 

 description of the properties of liquid air, 

 which were demonstrated by numerous ex- 

 periments. Arthur M. Comey, 



Secretary. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 

 ELLIPTICAL HUMAN ERYTHROCYTES. 



I WAS much interested in a note by Professor 

 Melvin Dresbach, of the Ohio State Univer- 

 sity, published in Science, March 18, 1904, 

 giving an account of examinations of human 

 blood, in which about ninety per cent, of the 

 red corpuscles were oval. What rendered this 

 observation remarkable — and indeed unique — 

 was the statement that: 



The student in whose blood these corpuscles 

 were found was a healthy mulatto about twenty- 

 two years of age. His brother, who attended the 

 university a few years ago, had normal red blood 

 cells. Other than this no family history is at 

 hand. 



