Mat 18, 1906.] 



SCIENCE. 



783 



the newest and best text-books of organic 

 chemistry has its contents divided into the 

 three sections of aliphatic, alicyclie and 

 aromatic. 



The author of a successful monograph must 

 not only be an authority and expert in the 

 subject, but he must make his collection of 

 material as exhaustive as possible, arrange it 

 clearly and systematically and indicate fresh 

 lines of research; if, in addition, he possesses 

 an attractive and concise style, such as is 

 often not found in works of this kind pub- 

 lished in the German language, the result of 

 his labors is certain to be more than valuable. 

 Professor Aschan's book amply fulfils all these 

 requirements, and therefore the thanks of 

 chemists are due to him for his exertions, and 

 their congratulations on the manner in which 

 he has discharged his task. Some idea of its 

 magnitude will be gained when it is men- 

 tioned that more than 5,000 citations are em- 

 bodied in the 1,200 pages which the book 

 contains. These references to the literature 

 of the subject are brought down to August, 

 1905. Only an extended use of the work will 

 show how free it may be from error; as yet 

 the reviewer has failed to detect any. 



The book should certainly be obtained by all 

 workers in organic chemistry, because they 

 will find it most useful and interesting. Very 

 appropriately, the author has dedicated it to 

 Professor Adolf von Baeyer, in commemora- 

 tion of his seventieth birthday. 



J. Bishop Tingle. 



of the papers dealing with the ' History of the 

 Museum.' There seems good reason to hoi)e 

 that the museum may obtain larger and more 

 suitable quarters in the building knovni as the 

 Thomson Auditorium. 



SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. 



The Museum News of the Brooklyn Insti- 

 tute for April contains articles on ' How In- 

 sects are Protected ' and ' How to Collect and 

 Preserve Insects,' besides various shorter 

 notes, one of which records the acquisition of 

 a specimen of the rare African water-shrew, 

 Potamogale. The collection of shells at the 

 Children's Museum has been rearranged with 

 a view to add to its interest and attractiveness. 



The Bulletin of the College of Charleston 

 Museum contains a brief sketch of Dr. Shecut 

 and the origin of the museum, this being one 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



THE AMERICAIT MATHEMATICAL S0C3IETY. 



The one hundred and twenty-eighth regular 

 raeeting of the American Mathematical So- 

 ciety was held at Columbia University on 

 Saturday, April 28, 1906. President W. F. 

 Osgood occupied the chair. Fifty members 

 attended the two sessions. The council an- 

 nounced the election of the following ten per- 

 sons to membership in the society : Rev. E. D. 

 Carmichael, HartseUe, Ala.; Mr. F. L. Griffin, 

 University of Chicago; Mr. W. E.. Longley, 

 University of Chicago; Mr. W. D. MacMillan, 

 University of Chicago; Mr. F. W. Owens, 

 Evanston Academy; Dr. J. J. Quinn, High 

 School, Warren, Pa.; Mr. W. J. Eisley, Uni- 

 versity of Illinois; Dr. E. P. Stephens, Wes- 

 leyan University; Mr. J. D. Suter, Iowa State 

 College; Mr. A. M. WUson, McKinley High 

 School, St. Louis, Mo. Eighteen applications 

 for membership were received. The total 

 membership of the society is now five hundred 

 and thirty. 



Professor W. F. Osgood was appointed a 

 member of the editorial committee of the 

 Transactions, to succeed Professor E. W. 

 Brown, who retires after seven years' service 

 covering the entire period of existence of that 

 journal. 



The by-laws were amended to provide that 

 only members of at least four years' standing 

 shall be permitted to compound life member- 

 ship. 



The following papers were read at the 

 meeting : 



G. A. MiLLEE: 'Groups in which all the opera- 

 tors are contained in a series of subgroups such 

 that any two of them have only identity in 

 common.' 



W. H. RoEVEB : ' Lines of force illustrated by 

 rotating carriage wheels.' 



W. H. RoEVEB : ' Systems of lines of force whose 

 differential equations take Bernoulli's form in 

 polar coordinates.' 



