Apeh 3, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



543 



In the region in which the writer has studied 

 these plants, Dryopteris is represented by six 

 specific units which seem to hybridize more 

 or less readily, representing a total of fifteen 

 possible combinations of two species. Of these 

 fifteen, two are already described. Of the 

 remaining, probably eleven have been found, 

 and descriptions for most of these are in 

 preparation, some by Miss Slosson, some by 

 Dr. Philip Dowell and some by Mr. Benedict. 



Both papers were discussed at length. 



0. Stuart Gager, 



Secretary 



THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY 

 NEW YORK SECTION 



The sixth regular meeting of the session 

 of 1907-8 was held at the Chemists' Club, 

 108 West 55th Street, on March 6. 



The annual election of officers, to assume 

 their duties at the close of the June meeting 

 following, was held with the following result: 



Chairman — Leo H. Baekeland. 



Vice-chairman — F. J. Pond. 



Secretary and Treasurer — C. M. Joyce. 



Executive Committee — ^H. C. Sherman, Geo. C. 

 Stone, Morris Loeb, Arthur B. Lamb. 



The following papers were read: 



" The Electrolytic Determination of Bismuth," 

 by F. J. Metzger and H. T. Beans. 



" Some Principles in Laboratory Construction," 

 by Chas. Baskerville. 



" A Method of Analyzing Shellac," by P. 0. 

 Mcllhiney. 



" Studies in Nitration, IV. : Melting-point 

 Curves of Binary Mixtures of Ortho-, Meta- and 

 Paranitranilines : A New Method for the Deter- 

 mination of Such Mixtures," by J. Bishop Tingle 

 and H. F. Rolker. 



0. M. Joyce, 

 Secretary 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 

 COOPERATION IN SCIENTIFIC BBBLIOGKAPHY 



The recent report of Dr. H. H. Field, 

 founder of the Concilium Bibliographicum of 

 Zurich, Switzerland, contains a discussion of 

 the relations which this central international 

 agency for recording and making accessible 

 information regarding publications in certain 



sciences bears to publishers and editors in 

 these fields, which is of wide interest to all 

 who wish to forward the success of this most 

 valuable aid to science. 



This bibliographical institute was founded 

 officially by the International Congresses of 

 Zoology and Physiology and for a decade has 

 been subsidized by the Swiss Confederation, 

 the city and canton of Zurich, the Swiss 

 Bureau of Education, the French Zoological 

 Society and learned societies in other coun- 

 tries. It is the work of the Concilium to 

 examine the scientific periodical literature of 

 the world, and also that which appears in 

 reports, memoirs, bulletins of irregular and 

 discontinuous publication, as well as the for- 

 mal volumes of the regular book trade, and 

 prepare accurate bibliographical lists of the 

 same. The Concilium issues at present a 

 series of bibliographical cards in zoology and 

 another in physiology. The cards in zoology 

 cover also the fields of general biology, micro- 

 scopy, paleontology and anatomy. To these 

 sciences which lie on the dividing line between 

 medicine and the natural sciences it is intended 

 to add progressively new branches. Move- 

 ments have been started looking toward the 

 extension of this work into other fields of 

 science and the Concilium has come to be 

 considered as the natural center about which 

 all work of this nature tends to group itself. 

 Alliances are even now being sought by the 

 leading bibliographies in botany, anthropol- 

 ogy, geology and mineralogy. Further exten- 

 sions into the field of medicine are also sought, 

 while negotiations regarding forestry and elec- 

 tro-chemistry are pending. Dr. Field very 

 justly calls attention to the fact that the use- 

 fulness of the Concilium in making known 

 new publications is not limited to printed mat- 

 ter appearing under its immediate editorship; 

 to wit, in the " Bibliographia Zoologica " and 

 " Physiologica " and the bibliography cards 

 founded thereon. The work here done is the 

 starting point for the reviews and summaries 

 which appear later in the Zoologischer Jahres- 

 hericht and the much belated Archiv fur 

 Naturgeschichte. The recorders of Zoolog- 

 ical Record and the Annie Biologique depend 

 also to no small degree upon the Concilium 



