Febeuaet 1, 1907] 



SCIENCE 



183 



The Volcano Aso, in Kiushiu, Japan: Robert 



Anderson. 



The volcano Aso-san is situated in the cen- 

 tral part of the island Kiushiu in southern 

 Japan. It has an active, modern crater a 

 mile and a half in circumference which has 

 been in eruption frequently during the past 

 century, but its chief geological interest lies 

 in the fact that it has an ancient crater ten 

 or eleven by fourteen miles in diameter, larger 

 than any other known crater. The crater 

 basin, occupying an area of about one hun- 

 dred square miles, is contained within 

 sheer walls of andesite that rise on the aver- 

 age to a height of two thousand feet above 

 the floor. A range of volcanic mountains, 

 probably of subsequent origin, extends dia- 

 metrically across the old crater and rises out 

 of it over four thousand feet to a maximum 

 altitude of five thousand six hundred feet 

 above the sea. The vast crater of Aso-san is 

 thought to have been formed either by the 

 blowing off of the overlying mountain mass, 

 or by the subsidence to a depth of three thou- 

 sand feet or more of the oval region now occu- 

 pied by the great bowl. 



Fred E. Wright, 



Secretary 



THE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



The 623d meeting was held on November 

 24, 1906, President Abbe in the chair. 



Mr. Bigelow presented a request from a 

 central committee in Geneva that this society 

 approve and use in its publications the auxili- 

 ary language Esperanto. 



Mr. Cyrus Adler presented a very interest- 

 ing and felicitous memorial address on the 

 late Professor Samuel P. Langley; his most 

 notable services were, the establishment of 

 uniform time, the study of the sun and its 

 infra-red spectrum, and the researches in aero-- 

 dromics, which for the first time ' made the 

 subject respectable.' 



Mr. P. W. Clarke spoke on ' The Quadri- 

 Centennial at Aberdeen,' at which he repre- 

 sented the Smithsonian Institution, describ- 

 ing briefly the magnificent new buildings and 

 elaborate ceremonials. 



Mr. E. Buckingham then discussed ' The 



Thermodynamic Scale of Temperature.' Since 

 temperatures are not quantities in the ordi- 

 nary sense of the word and are not additive, 

 a scale of temperatures is an arbitrary thing 

 and scales founded on the properties of dif- 

 ferent materials will not agree. In attempt- 

 ing to reconcile the readings of different gas- 

 thermometers and reduce them to a theoretical 

 thermodynamic scale, reliance has been placed 

 on the observations on the change in tempera- 

 ture of gases forced through a porous plug, 

 and excessive extrapolation has been neces- 

 sary. The speaker has attempted to coordi- 

 nate the discordant results by applying the 

 ' law of corresponding states ' and finds the 

 discrepancies are very much reduced. 



The 624th meeting was held on December 

 8, 1906, Vice-President Bauer in the chair. 



The evening was devoted to the annual 

 address of the president, Professor Cleveland 

 Abbe. His subject was ' The Progress of Sci- 

 ence as exemplified by Meteorology.' He gave 

 a rapid sketch of the history of the science 

 with references to the Americans who had con- 

 tributed to its advancement, and in conclusion 

 exhibited a number of lantern-views of a 

 water-spout photographed by numerous ob- 

 servers last summer near Marthas Vineyard, 

 Mass., and thoroughly studied by Professor 

 Bigelow. 



The 625th meeting, the 36th annual meet- 

 ing, was held on December 22, 1906. 



The report of the secretaries showed a resi- 

 dent membership of 130 ; fifteen regular meet- 

 ings have been held; Vol. XIV. of the Bulletin 

 has been completed and distributed. 



The treasurer's report showed a sound finan- 

 cial condition. 



The following officers were elected for 1907: 



President — John F. Hayford of the Coast and 

 Geodetic Survey. 



Vice-Presidents — L. A. Bauer, A. L. Day, E. B. 

 Rosa, C. K. Wead. 



Treasurer — B. E. Green. 



Secretaries — G. K. Burgess, E. L. Faris. 



General Committee — C. G. Abbot, C. Adler, L. 

 J. Briggs, W. A. DeCaindry, W. S. Eichelberger, 

 L. A. Fischer, R. A. Harris, J. Page, I. Winston. 

 Charles K. Wead, 



Secretary 



