806 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXII. No. 831 



gave them critical examination. Under date 

 of June 14, he writes : 



In regard to the Larix rust, I am convinced that 

 you are right in both cases. As you will note 

 from the " North American Flora " which we have 

 published, the Salix and Populus forms are very 

 similar. Since your material came in, I have gone 

 over it very carefully and I feel sure that they do 

 have some fundamental differences. The Larix 

 rust associated with Salix has been collected be- 

 fore, once in Alberta and once in Wisconsin. The 

 one associated with Populus has been proven by 

 cultures, but not before collected. 



H. H. Whetzel, 

 D. Eeddiok 



Depaetment of Plant Pathology, 



COENELL UnIVEBSITT 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



The academy met at St. Louis from November 

 S to 10, when the following program was pre- 

 sented: 



Tuesday, 'November S 



" Some Problems of Stellar Motion," George C. 

 Comstock. 



" Preliminary Note on the Sun's Velocity with 

 Respect to Stars of Spectral Type A," Edwin B. 

 Frost. 



" On the Origin of Binary Stars," Forest R. 

 Moulton. 



" The Cycadophytes," John M. Coulter. 



" A Monograph of Agave in the West Indies," 

 William Trelease. 



" The Mode of Chromosome Reduction," Regi- 

 nald R. Gates (introduced by Mr. Trelease). Fol- 

 lowed by a demonstration under the microscope. 



Visit to Washington University and demonstra- 

 tion of Professor Nipher's experiments on wind 

 pressure and the electric discharge. 



Evening lecture in the Central High School 

 auditorium (Grand Avenue and Windsor Place) — 

 " China," Thomas C. Chamberlin. 



Wednesday, Novemher 9 



" The Front Range of the Rocky Mountains in 

 Colorado," William M. Davis. 



"Mutualism, Parasitism and Symbiosis," George 

 T. Moore (introduced by Mr. Trelease) . Followed 

 by a laboratory demonstration. 



Visit to the G. Cramer Dry Plate Works, under 

 the guidance of Mr. Cramer and Dr. Wallace. 



ThursdMy, November 10 



" Sugar Chemistry from the new Chemico-phys- 

 ical Standpoint, or the Behavior of the Sugars 

 toward Enzymes, Alkalies and Oxydizing Agents," 

 John U. Nef. 



" Molecular Rearrangements in the Camphor 

 Series: Isocamphoric Acid," William A. Noyes 

 and Luther Knight. 



Inspection of the river front, bridges, electric 

 power plants and municipal waterworks, under 

 the guidance of the Hon. Maxime Reber, president 

 of the board of public improvements of the city 

 of St. Louis. 



the philosophical society of WASHINGTON 



The 682d meeting of the society was held on 

 October 22, 1910, President Woodward in the 

 chair. Two papers were read: 

 Present High Temperature Work Abroad: Dr. A. 



L. Day, of the Geophysical Laboratory of the 



Carnegie Institution of Washington. 



The paper dealt with the speaker's observations 

 while recently visiting the three principal physical 

 laboratories of Europe, in France, Germany and 

 England, with special reference to the present 

 status of high temperature work now in progress 

 in those countries. The reasons why none of these 

 countries are at present active in high tempera- 

 ture work was explained, and it was also stated 

 that such work would soon be resumed by them. 



At the Reichsanstalt good activity was found in 

 vapor tension and absolute temperature deter- 

 minations and radiation measures at these temp- 

 eratures. In this connection Nernst's spectro- 

 bolometric measures were mentioned. 



The speaker told of his efforts to calibrate a 

 thermoelement by means of the boiling point of 

 sulphur, and of finding a difference of about one 

 and one half degrees from the gas thermometer. 

 This led him to inquire into the previous deter- 

 minations of the sulphur boiling point and of the 

 conditions surrounding them. The difficulties of 

 making such determinations were explained at 

 some length. 



Weather Proverbs and their Justification: Dr. W. 



J. Humpheeys, of the U. S. Weather Bureau. 



The paper dealt especially with the causes of 

 the phenomena described by some of the useful 

 proverbs and the relation of these phenomena to 

 others they precede. 



Weather conditions have always exerted great 

 influence upon human affairs, and due to which 



