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, September 1, 1905. 



CONTENTS. 

 Address hy the President of the British Asso- 

 ciation for the Advancement of Science, II : 

 Professor G. H. Darwin 257 



Scientific Boolcs: — 



Christensen's Index Filicum: William R. 

 Maxon 267 



Scientific Journals and Articles 269 



Societies and Academies: — 



Organization of a National Society of 

 Teachers of Mathematics and Science 269 



Discussion and Correspondence: — 



The Bolyai Prize: Professor George Bruce 

 Halsted 270 



Special Articles: — 



On the Prohable Origin of Certain Birds: 

 William E. D. Scott 271 



Botanical Notes: — 



North American Flora; New Edition of 

 Britton's Manual; A New Tropical Flora; 

 The Teaching of Botany: Professor Chas. 

 E. Bessey 282 



Current Notes on Meteorology : — 



Foehn Winds in the Antarctic; Low Tem- 

 perature in the Sahara; Notes: Professor 

 R. Dec. Ward 284 



The Report of the Council of the British Asso- 

 ciaton for the Advancement of Science.... 284 



Scientific Notes and Neivs 285 



University and Educational Neios 288 



MSS. inteudedfor publicatiou mid books, etc., intended 

 JOT review should be sent to the Editor of Science, yarri- 

 son-on-Hudson, N. Y. 



ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE 

 BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE AD- 

 VANCEMENT OF SCIENCE.'- 



II. 



At Gape Town I attempted to make a 

 general survey of evolution in its various 

 branches, and laid down certain general 

 propositions as to what seems common to 

 all of them. 



I then went on to consider how these gen- 

 eral laws found an application in the most 

 recent speculations as to the constitution 

 of matter. The atoms of the elements and 

 the moleijules of chemical combinations are 

 constructed on so minute a scale that it is 

 no easy task to picture them to our minds. 

 On the other hand, we see in the heavens 

 arrangements of matter on a scale so vast 

 that it is equally difficult to grasp. Both 

 the inconceivably small and the inconceiv- 

 ably large should fall under a general law, 

 if it is a true one; and the history of 

 satellites, planets and stars presents at least 

 as great an interest as that of atoms and 

 molecules. Accordingly the transition 

 from the small to the large seemed to afford 

 a convenient halting place in my address, 

 and I propose to-night .to resume the dis- 

 cussion by considering various theories of 

 celestial evolution. But I will first try to 

 render the point of view intelligible which 

 I desire to take. A short preliminary . ex- 

 planation for those who were not at Cape 

 Town thus becomes necessary. 



I desire to present the essential features 

 which are common to evolution in all its 

 branches, and this may be done most easily 



\Tohannesbiirg, South Africa, Auoust 30, 1905. 



