46 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXIII. No. 576. 



At 9:30 P.M. general reception by the recep- 

 tion committee in the Palm Garden, St. Charles 

 Hotel. 



MONDAY, JANUABY 1, 1906. 



Meeting of the council at 9 A.M. 



Meeting of the sections at 10 a.m. 



At 2:30 P.M. address of vice-president as 

 follows : 



Vice-president Jacobus, before the Section of Me- 

 chanical Science and Engineering, Gibson Hall. 

 Title, ' Commercial Investigations and Tests in 

 connection with College Work.' 



At 8 P.M. public lecture complimentary to the 

 citizens of New Orleans, at Sophie Neweomb Col- 

 lege, by Elivood Mead, U. S. Department of Agri- 

 culture. Subject, ' Irrigation.' 



At 9:30 P.M. meeting of the general committee, 

 at St. Charles Hotel. 



TTJESDAY, JANUABY 2, 1906. 



* Meeting of the council in the assembly room, 

 Gibson Hall, 9 a.m. 



Meetings of the sections at 10 a.m. 



Excursions to the Kenilworth Sugar Plantation 

 and to the power plants and pumping stations 

 and sewerage plants of New Orleans. 



At 6:30 P.M. banquet of the Sigma Xi at 

 Antoine's. 



WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 3, 1906. 



Meeting of the council, Gibson Hall, 9 A.M. 



Closing general session, Gibson Hall, 10 a.m. 



Trolley ride to all points of interest compli- 

 mentary to members of the association, at 3 p.m. 



The courtesies and privileges of the Boston Club, 

 the Pickwick Club, the Chess, Checkers and Whist 

 Club, the Young Men's Gymnastic Club, the 

 Country Club and the Round Table Club were ex- 

 tended to members of the association during their 

 stay in New Orleans. 



REPORTS OF COMMITTEES. 



On the Study of Blind Invertebrates. 



Mr. A. M. Banta continued his work on the 

 fauna of Mayfleld's cave during last winter and 

 through the entire summer. I have passed on 

 his paper ' Mayiield's Cave as a Unit of Environ- 

 ment and the Ecological Relation of its Inhabit- 

 ants,' which is now Veady for the printer. It is 

 a unique and comprehensive work on the fauna 

 of this cave. The worlc was completed without 

 calling on the appropriation made at the last 

 meeting for the work of the committee. 



It was the plan to have Mr. Banta visit the 

 region in Pennsylvania where Professor Cope, 



years ago, secured his blind catfish which has not 

 been found again. The finishing of his Mayfield 

 Cave paper delayed him so that he was not able 

 to do this before going to Harvard University, 

 where he holds a fellowship. He is at present 

 at Harvard, working on the reactions of cave ani- 

 mals. Live specimens have been sent him from 

 time to time. 



Mr. Banta will visit How's Cave in central New 

 York during this week. This cave being in the 

 glaciated region ought to have a much newer 

 fauna than the Indiana, Kentucky and Missouri 

 caves, all of which are south of the drift region. 



For unavoidable reasons I have not been able 

 to go into the field myself. 



The entire appropriation made for this work at 

 tlie last meeting of the association is available for 

 the future work of your committee. 

 Respectfully submitted, 



(Signed) C. H. Eigenmann, 



Recorder. 



REPORT OP COMMITTEE ON ELECTROCHEMISTRY. 



A study has been made of the behavior of 

 platinum and iridium in chlorine water and in 

 dilute hydrochloric acid. Smooth platinum foil 

 brought about no evolution of gas even after 

 standing 168 hours in chlorine water. Under 

 precisely similar circumstances an iridium foil 

 caused an evolution of 44.4 of gas, 55 per cent, 

 of which was oxygen. The oxygen results from 

 the reaction 



CL + H,0 = 2HC1 + 0, 



while the chlorine came from the solution, the 

 original vapor pressure having been about lialf an 

 atmosphere. This series of experiments sliowed 

 that iridium was a more powerful catalytic agent 

 than platinum. A niimber of electrolj'tic experi- 

 ments were made witli hydrocliloric acid of dif- 

 ferent concentrations. In all cases more oxygen 

 was evolved from the iridium anode than from the 

 platinum anode. The question as to the final 

 equilibrium is still in doubt. 



It was hoped that a tantalum anode could 

 be secured for this work, but this proved im- 

 possible and the money appropriated for the year 

 1905 was not drawn from the treasury. The com- 

 mittee asks that this unexpended balance be left 

 available for the coming fiscal year. 



Wilder D. Bancroft, 

 Edgar F. Smith, 

 L. Kahlenberg. 

 Verbal reports of progress were made by the 

 committees on ' The Relation of Plants to Climate ' 

 and of ' Anthropometric Measurements.' 



