April 19, 1907] 



SCIENCE, 



605 



maintain the department of street cleaning. 

 In no other comparable city in the civilized 

 •world is this question in such unsatis- 

 factory shape or so difficult to cope with, 

 under the practical conditions which exist, 

 as in the metropolitan district which we 

 are considering. 



The time will come when New York City 

 will insist upon clean streets and find a 

 way to have them. Eventually the public 

 will demand that the refuse from our 

 tables, kitchens and factories shall be dis- 

 posed of at a minimum of offense and a 

 maximum of economy and despatch. But 

 until this problem is made the subject of 

 competent study and a broad, comprehen- 

 sive plan of administration and procedure 

 is laid down, we may expect slow improve- 

 ment in the primitive methods which have 

 always been an offense to the eyes and 

 nose in New York City. 



The solution of this problem is probably 

 far beyond the unaided capacity of any 

 person who may be placed at the head of 

 the street-cleaning department, and these 

 remarks, therefore, reflect in no wise upon 

 the ability of any official of the city, past, 

 present or future. If it can be solved at 

 all, and there is a very general impression 

 that it can, the problem can be solved only 

 as the other great sanitary engineering 

 problems of New York have been, and are 

 being, solved. That is, with the help of 

 qualified experts, acting without prejudice, 

 . political bias or other ambition than to 

 serve the best interests of the city. 



Geoege a. Sopeb 



THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE 



ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE 



SECTION A— MATHEMATICS AND 



ASTRONOMY 



Vice-president — Dr. Edward Kasner, Columbia 



University, New York City. 



Secretary — Professor L. G. Weld, State Univer- 

 sity of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa. 



Member of the Council— Proiessor G. B. Hal- 

 sted, State Normal College, Greeley, Colorado. 



Sectional Committee — ^Dr. Edward Kasner, vice- 

 president, 1907; Dr. W. S. Eichelberger, vice- 

 president, 1906; Professor L. G. Weld, secretary, 

 1904-1908; Professor Ormond Stone, one year; 

 Professor E. B. Frost, two years; Professor E. 0. 

 Lovett, three years; Professor Harris Hancock, 

 four years; Professor A. N. Skinner, five years. 



Member of the General Committee — Professor 

 James McMahon, Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. 



Press Secretary — The secretary of the section. 



Professor E. 0. Lovett, of Princeton 

 University, was elected vice-president for 

 the year 1908. 



The following mathematicians and as- 

 tronomers were elected to fellowship in the 

 association : 



Baker, R. H., Maclay, James, 



Brown, G. L., Manning, H. P., 



Dugan, R. S., Olds, G. D., 



Faught, J. B., Plimpton, G. A., 



Gates, Fannie C, Poor, C. L., 



Glenn, O. E„ Riggs, N. C, 



Graham, W. J., Schultz, L. G., 



Granville, W. A., Smith, F. H., 



Hadley, S. M., Washbume, A. C, 



Leavitt, Henrietta L., Wilson, N. R., 



Lowell, Peroival, Young, Anna S. 



The address of the retiring vice-presi- 

 dent. Dr. W. S. Eichelberger, entitled 

 'Clocks, Ancient and Modern,' was pre- 

 sented on the afternoon of Thursday, 

 December 27, in Fayerweather Hall of 

 Columbia University. This address has 

 already been published in Science for 

 March 22 of the current year. 



A joint session of Section A with the 

 American Mathematical Society and the 

 Astronomical and Astrophysical Society of 

 America was held on Friday forenoon, De- 

 cember 28, in Schermerhorn Hall. The 

 chair was occupied by Professor Simon 

 Newcomb, past president of each of the 

 participating societies. This was perhaps 

 the most largely attended and the most 

 generally interesting of any of the meetings 

 in which any of the participating societies 

 had a part. The following program was 



