SCIENCE 



A WEEKLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, PUBLISHING THE 



OFFICIAL NOTICES AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION 



FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 



Friday, July 21, 1905. 



CONTENTS. 

 The Organization and Administration of Na- 

 tional Engineering Societies: John W. 

 LlEB, Jr 65 



The Thirty-second General Meeting of the 

 American Chemical Society: De. Austin 

 M. Patterson 74 



Scientific Books: — 



Fullerton's System of Metaphysics: Pro- 

 fessor A. E. Taylor. 84 



Societies and Academies: — 



The Neio York Section of the American 

 Chemical Society: F. H. PouGH 86 



Discussion and Correspondence : — 



On the Spelling of 'Clon': Charles Louis 

 Pollard 87 



Sj)ecial Articles : — 



Prelinmiary Note on the Araucarinece : 

 Robert Boyd Thomson. The Death (?) of 

 an Amoeha: Edwin Linton. The Homing 

 of Fissurella and Siphonaria: Professor 

 M. A. WiLLCOX. Machine-made Line Draw- 

 ings for the Illustration of Scientific 

 Papers : R. A. Daly 88 



The Meeting of the British Association in 

 South Africa 93 



Scientific Notes and Neios 94 



University and Educational Neios 96 



MSS. inteudedfor publication aud books, etc., intended 

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

 son-on-Hudson, N. Y. 



THE ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION 

 OF NATIONAL ENGINEERING SOCIETIES* 



The most important factors in promoting 

 the advance of the engineering profession 

 and in disseminating and rendering avail- 

 able to the world the valuable experience 

 and data accumulated by engineers in the 

 practise of their profession, are the pro- 

 fessional associations of national engineer- 

 ing societies. The importance of the inter- 

 change of data and results of observation 

 and experience was recognized by engineers 

 long before the practise of engineering had 

 been exalted to the dignity of a profession. 



While military engineering was recog- 

 nized from the earliest times and great mili- 

 tary engineers such as Vauban, and bridge 

 and highway engineers such as Perronet, 

 had achieved eminence, it was manifestly 

 impracticable for military officers to organ- 

 ize for the purpose of interchange of in- 

 formation, on the very secrecy of which the 

 military establishments of nations were de- 

 pendent for their offensive and defensive 

 efficiency. The first important step in the 

 association of engineers into a professional 

 body was taken when in 1828 Thomas Tel- 

 ford, in the name of 156 of his colleagues — 

 some of whom had already formed a society 

 as early as 1818 — applied for royal charter 

 for the Institution of Civil Engineers (of 

 Great Britain). The original charter re- 

 cites that the body is formed ' ' for the gen- 

 eral advancement of mechanical science, 

 and more particularly for promoting the 



* Presidential address, American Institute of 

 Electrical Engineers, twenty-second annual con- 

 vention, Asheville, IST. C, June 19, 1905. 



