986 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVII. No. 704 



logical reaction. Always direct, terse, clear, 

 explicit, the directions lead unmistakably to 

 the illustration of principles. No more suit- 

 able treatment for the purpose in view could 

 be wished for. Its only fault is freely ad- 

 mitted: the selection of experiments in part 

 for their ease of execution without facilities, 

 and hence a rather uneven range of im- 

 portance and significance. For beginners' 

 courses in psychology of modest scope the 

 manual may be warmly recommended. 



J. J. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

 THE IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



The twenty-second annual meeting of the 

 Iowa Academy of Science was held at the 

 State Normal School at Cedar Falls on Fri- 

 day and Saturday, May 1 and 2, with twenty- 

 seven members in attendance. 



The president of the academy. Professor 

 John L. Tilton, of Simpson College, gave the 

 presidential address on the subject, " Science 

 required for a General Education." The 

 evening lecture was given by Professor Moul- 

 ton, of Chicago University, on " Old and New 

 Theories of the Formation of the Earth." 

 The lecture was a critical comparison of 

 theories and was illustrated by most excellent 

 stereopticon slides. 



Friday afternoon and Saturday forenoon 

 were devoted to the reading and discussion of 

 papers. A few of the papers were read by 

 title while the others were read in full and 

 quite thoroughly discussed. 



Resolutions were adopted with reference to 

 the death of Lord Kelvin, and also with refer- 

 ence to the use of the metric system of weights 

 and measures. The latter resolution is as fol- 

 lows: 



Whereas, the metric system possesses great 

 advantages over the system now in common use 

 and is being adopted more and more throughout 

 the world, and is used without difficulty, with 

 facility and satisfaction, in American shops upon 

 foreign work, be it 



Resolved, That the Iowa Academy of Science 

 again express its conviction that the exclusive use 

 of this system for all public transactions is highly 

 desirable, and be it 



Resolved, That Congress be urged to pass legis- 

 lation looking towards the introduction of the 

 metric system for general use in the United States 

 at as early a date as possible. 



Officers elected for the ensuing year are: 



President — Samuel Calvin, State University of 

 Iowa. 



First Vice-president — Frank F. Almy, Iowa 

 College. 



Second Vice-president — S. W. Beyer, Iowa State 

 College. 



Secretary— L. S. Ross, Drake University. 



Treasurer — H. E. Summers, Iowa State College. 



Elective Executive Committee — D. W. More- 

 house, Drake University; K. B. Wiley, State Uni- 

 versity of Iowa; Louis Begeman, Iowa State Nor- 

 mal School. 



The program as presented is given below. 

 The brief abstracts accompanied the papers at 

 time of presentation. 



Review of Solar Ohservations made at Alia, 

 Iowa, during the Past Five Years: David 

 E. Hadden. 



A brief review of sunspot observations dur- 

 ing the years 1903 to 1907. 



The Vitality of Weed Seeds under Different 

 Conditions of Treatment and a Study of 

 their Dormant Periods: H. S. Fawcett. 

 The object of the investigation recorded in 

 this paper is to make a comparison of via- 

 bility of different species of weed seeds, espe- 

 cially those found in cultivated fields and 

 pastures, and to study their dormant periods 

 in order to determine possible means of de- 

 stroying these weeds. Plantings were made 

 under out-door and in-door conditions. Con- 

 clusions: that seeds require a rest period; 

 that natural conditions shorten this dormant 

 period; that best germination indicates fall 

 and spring as the two natural periods; that 

 in general, percentage of germination was low. 

 The paper is accompanied by tables summar- 

 izing the experiment. 



Some Seeds of the Genus Pyrus: L. H. Pam- 



MEL. 



A brief study of the minute morphology of 

 the seeds of the more common cultivated ap- 

 ples along with the specific gravity. The dif- 

 ferences in some of the forms is quite marked, 



