Mabch 9, 1906.] 



SCIENCE. 



387 



independent students for the advancement of 

 knowledge and the sympathetic study of man's 

 instruments of musical expression. It is al- 

 ready clear that the problems are not so simple 

 as would appear from the ordinary presenta- 

 tion of Helmholtz's theories ; for the materials 

 accumulated in the forty years since he wrote 

 require an ampler framework. 



Charles Karson Wead. 



SGIENTIFIG JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. 



The February number (volume 12, number 

 5) of the Bulletin of the American Mathe- 

 matical Society contains the following ar- 

 ticles: Report of the Twelfth Annual Meet- 

 ing of the American Mathematical Society, 

 by F. N. Cole ; ' Note on Certain Groups of 

 Transformations of the Plane into Itself,' by 

 Peter Field; Report of the Meran Meeting of 

 the Deutsche Mathematiker-Vereinigung, by 

 E. A. Miller and Elijah Swift; 'The Present 

 and the Future of Mathematical Physics,' by 

 Henri Poincare (translated by J. W. Young) ; 

 Shorter Notices (Konigsberger's Jacobi Fest- 

 schrift, by James Pierpont; Schlomilch's 

 Uebungsbuch zum Studium der hoheren An- 

 alysis, by James Pierpont; Hedrick-Goursat's 

 Course in Mathematical Analysis, by Wm. F. 

 Osgood; Willis's Elementary Modem Geom- 

 etry, Part I., by Virgil Snyder; Classen's 

 Zwolf Vorlesungen iiber die Natur des Lichtes, 

 by E. B. Wilson) ; Notes ; New Publications. 



The March number of the Bulletin eon- 

 tains : Report of the December Meeting of the 

 Chicago Section of the American Mathemat- 

 ical Society, by T. F. Holgate ; ' The Groups 

 Containing Thirteen Operators of Order 

 Two,' by G. A. Miller; Review of Hunting- 

 ton's Types of Serial Order, by Oswald Veb- 

 len; Review of Fine's College Algebra, by 

 E. V. Huntington; Review of Freund's Trans- 

 lation of Ball's History of Mathematics, by 

 D. E. Smith; Shorter Notices (Abhandlungen 

 zur Geschichte der mathematischen Wissen- 

 schaften, by D. E. Smith; Bucherer's Ele- 

 mente der Vektor- Analysis, by E. B. Wilson; 

 Annuaire du Bureau des Longitudes pour 

 I'An 1906, by E. W. Brown; Jordan's As- 

 tronomical and Historical Chronology, by E. 

 W. Brown) ; Notes ; New Publications. 



The Museums Journal of Great Britain for 

 January has for its leading article a paper on 

 * The Relation of Provincial Museums to 

 Local Institutions,' by John Minto. While 

 the subject is one that appeals to foreign 

 museums rather than to those of this country, 

 yet the article itself is a most excellent essay 

 on the objects of museums and fairly teems 

 with good things. Most museum ofiicials will 

 appreciate such sayings as " Most of our mu- 

 seums, I regret to say, are lamentably deficient 

 in storage accommodation." " Each group of 

 objects (in a teaching collection) should have 

 in view the teaching of some definite lesson." 

 " There are many instances of museums 

 which, having secured the services of local 

 enthusiasts for a period of years * * * have 

 on the severance of the connection fallen upon 

 evil days," and (this should be in large type) 

 " It will take years to do away with the idea 

 of museums still entertained by many * * *, 

 as storehouses of curiosities. * * *" The 

 many notes show that, aside from the Man- 

 chester Museum, there seems to be a liberal 

 and growing support of such institutions in 

 England. As for the Manchester Museum, 

 those who know the extent and high standard 

 of its work will be surprised to learn from its 

 report the mere pittance that it receives for 

 its support. In discussing Dr. Holland's re- 

 cent article on ' Museums and Outside Ex- 

 perts,' the comment is made : " Needless to 

 say, all type-specimens should invariably be 

 returned to the museum, but it is usual to 

 allow the expert to retain a selection of dupli- 

 cate specimens. In our opinion, however, 

 nothing should be handed over to the expert 

 until all the material has been returned by 

 him to the museum." 



A journal entitled Annales de Paleontologie 

 has been established at Paris, under the editor- 

 ship of M. Boule, professor in the Museum of 

 Natural History. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



THE NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. SECTION 

 OF GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY. 



Meeting of October 9, 1905. — In the absence 

 of Vice-President Hovey, President J. F. 



