584 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLII. No. 1086 



There was considerable discussion of this im- 

 portant disease by a number of those present. 



The sessions were presided over by Dr. 

 Haven Metcalf in the absence of the president 

 and vice-president of the American Phyto- 

 pathological Society, and Professor E. E. 

 Smith, president of the Pacific Division, and 

 Professor H. S. Jackson, newly elected presi- 

 dent of the Pacific Division, respectively. The 

 attendance at these sessions varied from forty 

 to fifty. 



Wednesday, August 4, was spent with the 

 botanists at Stanford University, and the plant 

 pathologists joined the biologists in a dinner 

 in San Francisco in the evening. 



Following the reading of Dr. Shear's paper 

 a motion was adopted directing the chairman 

 to appoint a committee for the purpose of con- 

 sidering the question of the establishment of a 

 culture supply laboratory. C. L. Shear, chair- 

 man, and L. E. Jones were appointed, with 

 power to select a third member. 



In the intermission between the second and 

 third sessions, a business meeting of the Pacific 

 Division was held, in which a report was made 

 by the secretary-treasurer as to the activities 

 of the society and its financial condition. 

 Ofiicers for the ensuing year were elected as 

 follows: H. S. Jackson, president; J. T. Bar- 

 rett, vice-president; W. T. Home, secretary- 

 treasurer. The question of affiliation with the 

 Pacific Division of the American Association 

 for the Advancement of Science was reported 

 on and the matter of the nest meeting was left 

 until the next meeting of that society should be 

 decided. The matter of relation to the parent 

 society was then taken up and the report of 

 the joint committee was adopted. The adop- 

 tion of this report changes the name of the 

 local society to the American Phytopathologieal 

 Society, Pacific Division, and also reestablishes 

 the distinction originally made between asso- 

 ciate and active members, active members being 

 those who are also members of the parent 

 society. 0. L. Shear, 



Secretary-Treasurer J 

 W. T. HORNE, 



Secretary-Treasurer, 

 Pacific Division. 



THE AMEBICAN ASSOCIATION FOB TEE 



ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, 



SECTION B, PHYSICS 



The recent, August 2-7, California meetings of 

 Section B of the American Association for the 

 Advancement of Science were pleasant and prof- 

 itable in every particular. The programs for 

 three days, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, 

 had been amply provided for by a special com- 

 mittee of the Pacific Coast Division, of which 

 Professor Fernando Sanford was chairman. These 

 sessions, presided over by Vice-president Lewis 

 were devoted to the presentation of rather full, 

 invited papers and demonstrations on spectroscopy, 

 high tension electric currents, and physics of the 

 atmosphere. Friday's meetings, at which many 

 brief papers were presented, were in charge of the 

 American Physical Society, with President Mer- 

 ritt presiding. 



All these meetings, however, were regarded as 

 joint meetings between Section B and the Physical 

 Society. Abstracts of the papers presented there- 

 fore will appear in the Physical Seview. 



Wednesday's meetings were held at the Stanford 

 University, and given over entirely to a "Discus- 

 sion and Demonstrations of High Potential Elec- 

 tric Currents" by Professor Harris J. Ryan. To 

 say that these demonstrations, made in a building 

 constructed especially for this purpose, were re- 

 markable, is but to echo the statement of every one 

 fortunate enough to see them. 



But not all the meetings were for the presenta- 

 tion of scientific papers. Tuesday's luncheon 

 given by Professors Lewis, Haskell and Leuschner 

 at the Faculty Club, University of California, 

 Wednesday's dinner at the Jules CafS, San Fran- 

 cisco, and Saturday's excursion to the Lick Ob- 

 servatory were some of the most important meet- 

 ings of the entire week, important because they 

 contributed, as scarcely anything else could have 

 contributed, to the perpetuation of old friend- 

 ships and the beginning of new ones. 



The vote of thanks, therefore, extended at the 

 last session to the Pacific Coast Committee, to the 

 University of California, to the Stanford Univer- 

 sity and especially to the physicists of the two 

 institutions for making these meetings of Section 

 B and the Physical Society so thoroughly success- 

 ful was amply deserved and most heartily given. 



W. J. Humphreys, 

 Secretary, Section B 



