234 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXV. Ko. 632 



cuneiform numerals, a piece of ancient Egyp- 

 tian pottery with the zodiacal signs, Roman 

 coins illustrating certain unusual forms in 

 the ancient numeral system, some English 

 tally sticks of 1296, two Renaissance compotus 

 medals, and a celestial sphere of the sixteenth 

 century. 



The bibliographical curios include one of 

 the few copies saved from the fire which de- 

 stroyed most of the first edition of Libri's 

 'Histoire des Mathematiques ' (Vol. I.), with 

 Libri's autograph marginal notes. There are 

 also autograph presentation copies of La- 

 place's ' Theorie des Probahilites ' and of 

 Halliwell's ' Rara Mathematica,' over a hun- 

 dred unpublished autograph letters of Prince 

 Boncompagni on the history of mathematics, 

 numerous first or early editions of works by 

 such writers as Newton, Descartes, Tartaglia, 

 Cardan, Bombelli, Paciuolo, Euler and Bar- 

 row, a number of the earliest editions of 

 Euclid, an unpublished French translation of 

 Cantor's ' Mathematische Beitrage zum Kul- 

 turleben der Volker,' from the library of 

 Chasles, and various similar works of biblio- 

 graphical interest. 



THE COMMITTEE OF ONE HUNDRED 

 At the meeting of Section I of the Ameri- 

 can Association for the Advancement of Sci- 

 ence held in New York on December 29, 1906, 

 Professor Irving Fisher, of Tale University, 

 reported for the ' Committee of One Hun- 

 dred ' of which he is chairman. This com- 

 mittee was appointed in accordance with a 

 vote of Section I at its meeting last July, in 

 Ithaca, its purpose being to consider the best 

 methods of securing the establishment of a 

 national department or bureau of health. 

 This vote was taken in consequence of a paper 

 on this subject read at the Ithaca meeting by 

 Professor J. P. Norton. There had been 

 previous attempts to secure a national depart- 

 ment of health, notably those of the American 

 Medical Association, which for twenty years 

 has reported favorably on the subject, but has 

 been unable to secure a large interest in the 

 project, outside of the medical profession. 

 The present movement is not a medical move- 

 ment, although the medical profession is fully 



represented in it. The movement was en- 

 dorsed on December 13 by the joint conference- 

 at Washington of the legislative committee of 

 the American Medical Association and the- 

 National Council on Medical Legislation be- 

 fore which the first draft of a bill was read 

 prepared by Representative Barchfeld to estab- 

 lish a national department of health. The 

 following is the list of the committee of one 

 hundred as at present constituted: 



COMMITTEE OP ONE HUNDBED OF SECTION I. OF THE- 



AMEBICAN ASSOCIATION FOE THE ADVANCEMENT 



OF SCIENCE, APPOINTED TO CONSIDEB 



METHODS OF ESTABLISHING A 



NATIONAL DEPABTMENT 



OF HEALTH 



Appointed from the A. A. A. S. 



Dr. Wm. H. Welch, pres. A. A. A. S. and of 

 State Bd. of Health of Maryland; professor of 

 pathology, Johns Hopkins University. 



L. 0. Howard, secretary of the A. A. A. S. j 

 chief bureau of entomology, U. S. Dept. of Agric, 



Professor Irving Fisher, chairman of the com- 

 mittee of 100, and of the Economic Section of A^ 

 A. A. S. ; prof, of political economy, Yale Uni- 

 versity. 



J. Franklin Crowell, Sec. of Economic Sectionf 

 of A. A. A. S. ; Editor of Wall Street Journal. 



Professor J. P. Norton, author of paper OB 

 national health department read before the Ameri- 

 can Association for the Advancement of Science,, 

 on the basis of which the committee was ap- 

 pointed; prof, of political economy, Yale Uni- 

 versity. 



Professor James McKeen Cattell, editor, Sci- 

 ence, the official organ of the A. A. A. S. ; profi 

 of psychology, Columbia University. 

 Appointed from the United States Government. 



Dr. Robert M. O'Reilly, surgeon general, U. Sv 

 Army. 



Dr. P. M. Rixey, surgeon general, U. S. Navy. 



Col. William C. Gorgas, sanitary officer. Isth- 

 mian Canal. 



H. W. Wiley, chief, bureau of chemistry, Dept. 

 of Agric. 



Dr. Cressy L. Wilbur, chief statistician. Vital' 

 Statistics, U. S. Census. 



A. C. True, director, office of experiment sta- 

 tions, Dept. of Agric. 



Chas. P. Neill, commissioner of labor, Dept.. 

 Commerce and Labor. 



James R. Garfield, chief bureau of corporations,. 

 Dept. Commerce and Labor. 



