SCIENCE 



A ^VEEKLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, PUBLISHING THE 



OFFICIAL NOTICES AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION 



FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 



Friday, June 17, 1904. 



GO'S TEH T8: 



The Continuous Advance of Electrochemistry : 

 Peofessor Joseph W. Richabds 905 



Distribution of Indian Trihes in the Southern 

 Sierra and Adjacent Parts of the San 

 Joaquin Valley, California: De. C. Hakt 

 Mereiam 912 



Scientific Books: — 



The Oryptogamic Botany of the Harrima/ii 

 Expedition: Peofessob Lucien M. Under- 

 wood. Giibons on ' The Eye, its Refraction 

 and Diseases: De. William S. Dennett.. 



Scientific Journals and Articles 920 



Societies and Academies: — 



The Geological Society of Washington: Al- 

 fred H. Brooks. The Philosophical Society 

 of Washington: Chaeles K. Wead. The 

 New York Section of the American Chem- 

 ical Society: De. H. C. Sherman. The 

 Onondaga Academy of Sciences: J. E. Kiek- 

 wooD. The Nebraska Academy of Sci- 

 ences: Dr. R. H. Wolcott 921 



Discussion and Correspondence: — 



Namatogwan or Epigcean? De. Wm. H. 

 Dall. The Blackening of Teeth in the 

 Orient: Peofessor 0. T. Mason. Vegetable 

 Balls : J. Adams 926 



Special Articles: — 



2'/te Mechanism of the Mont PeUe Spine: 

 G. K. Gilbert. A Suggestive Relation Be- 

 Pween the Gravitational Constant and the 

 Constants of the Ether: Dr. Bergen Davis. 



The Royal Commission on Tuberculosis 929 



The International Association of Academies. 930 



Scientific Notes and Neics 931 



University and Educational News 936 



MSS. Intended for publication and books, etc.. intended 

 for review should be sent to the Editor of Science, Garri- 

 son-on-Hudson, N. Y. 



THE CONTINUOUS ADVANCE OF ELECTRO- 

 CHEMISTRY. 

 The field of electrochemical activity 

 covers three distinct lines of endeavor: 

 First, the investigation and classification 

 of electrochemical phenomena — scientific 

 progress; second, the formulation of a 

 satisfactory and all-comprehensive electro- 

 chemical theory— intellectual progress ; and 

 third, the application of these facts to in- 

 dustrial ends — industrial progress. We 

 purpose to discuss briefly this evening the 

 past achievements in each of these lines of 

 endeavor, in order to determine therefrom 

 and to discuss more at length the present 

 bent and probable future direction and ex- 

 tension of each. 



I. THE INVESTIGATION AND CLASSIFICATION 

 OP ELECTROCHEMICAL PHENOMENA. 



This is, properly speaking, the real 

 corner-stone of progress in electrochemical 

 science. "What has been accomplished in 

 this direction in the century and a half 

 since Beccaria ' revivified ' several metals by 

 Leyden-jar discharges may be found scat- 

 tered through the files of our technical 

 .journals and compiled from time to time 

 into compendiums of electrochemical litera- 

 ture. The most pretentious, and in many 

 respects the most timely, of all these works 

 is the ' ausf iihrliches Handbuch, ' which our 

 German friends are at present patiently 

 compiling. A careful study of this work 

 causes surprise both at the large amount 

 of investigation which has been done and 

 at the large gaps which exist in our 

 experimental knowledge. Alongside of 

 splendid researches into the most obscure 

 phenomena of the science exist lacunm in 



