768 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVII. No. 698 



functions are expanded into power series 

 in X by the multinomial theorem, by Mae- 

 laurin's series, or by La Grange's series. 

 If, in these power series, x is made unity, 

 the resulting series, if convergent, deter- 

 mine the roots of the given equation. The 

 eonvergency conditions determine in ad- 

 vance in which two terms of the given equa- 

 tion the factor x is to be omitted. 



It is shown that all roots of the given 

 equation can be determined by means of 

 infinite series, derived by that method. 



The Completion of the Lunar Theory and 

 the Tables of the Moon's Motions to he 

 made therefrom: Ernest W. Brown, of 

 Yale University. (Read by title.) 



Problems of Three Bodies on Surfaces: 

 Edgar Odell Lovett, of Princeton Uni- 

 versity. (Read by title.) 

 Other papers of a general nature read at 



this meeting were the following: 



The Law of Oresme, Copernicus and 

 Gresham: Thomas Willing Balch, of 

 Philadelphia. 



The Dramatic Function of Cassandre in 

 the Oresteia of ^schylus: William A. 

 Lamberton, of the University of Penn- 

 sylvania. 



Goethe's Private Library as an Index of 

 his Literary Interests: Waterman T. 

 Hevstett, of Cornell University, Ithaca, 

 N. T. 



Art and Ethnology: Edwin Swift Balch, 

 of Philadelphia. 



A Vedic Concordance: Professor Maurice 

 Bloompield, of Johns Hopkins Univer- 

 sity. 



On the Lost Tribes of Israel and the Aryan 

 Ancestry of Jesus and His First Dis- 

 ciples: Paul Haupt, of Johns Hopkins 

 University. 



The Sign and Name for Planet in Baby- 

 lonian: Morris Jastrow, Jr., of the 

 University of Pennsylvania. 



Medieval German Sculpture in the Ger- 

 manic Museum of Harvard TJiviversity: 

 KuNO Francke, of Harvard University. 



Notes on Greek Vases in the Museum of 

 Science and Art of the University of 

 Pennsylvania: Professor William N. 

 Bates, of the University of Pennsyl- 

 vania. 



The balloting for new members took 

 place on Saturday morning, April 25, and 

 those were elected whose names were 

 printed in the last issue of Science. 



The meeting concluded with a dinner at 

 the Bellevue-Stratford, at which Vice- 

 president William B. Scott, of Princeton, 

 presided, and toasts were responded to by 

 His Excellency, Mr. Wu Ting-fang, Dr. 

 Horace Howard Furness, Professor Wil- 

 liam Gilson Parlow, Dr. Harvey W. Wiley 

 and Hon. Hampton L. Carson. 



TBE APPLICATIONS OF PHYSICAL CHEM- 

 ISTRY TO ORGANIC CHEMISTRY "^ 



To do justice to the subject, the "Ap- 

 plications of Physical Chemistry to Or- 

 ganic Chemistry, ' ' one would have to touch 

 on all the chapters of organic chemistry: 

 there is no branch of it that can not be 

 put into more precise and therefore clearer 

 terms with the aid of physico-chemical 

 ideas. In the time at our disposal to-day 

 it will be necessary for me to limit myself 

 to a few illustrations. 



We might begin with the simple device 

 which we owe to physical chemistry of iden- 

 tifying a solid substance most positively by 

 taking a melting-point not only of the sub- 

 stance itself, but also of a mixture of it 

 and the compound it is suspected of being : 

 this device Avas hardly known or used 

 fifteen years ago and is now considered a 

 more reliable and, certainly, a more rapid 

 identification test than an exact ultimate 

 analysis: I recall that in an investigation 

 ' Address before the American Chemical Society, 

 December, 1907. 



