700 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVIII. No. 985 



A. H. Pfund: Measurement of Stellar Badia- 



Hon. 



Using a compensating vacuum-thermo- 

 couple with evacuator — both of new design — 

 in conjunction with the 30-inch Keeler Mem- 

 orial Reflector at the Allegheny Observatory, 

 the radiation from Vega, Jupiter and Altair 

 was observed. The sensibility of the apparatus 

 corresponded to a deflection of 2,400 mm. for 

 a meter- — Hefner. The results for the evening 

 of September 22, 1913, were: 



(The smallness of the deflection occasioned 

 by Jupiter is due to the circumstance that the 

 image had more than seven times the area of 

 the blackened disc of the thermo-junction.) 



J. A. Anderson : A Method for Testing Screws. 

 The instrument used is the Fabry and Perot 

 interferometer, and the method is applicable 

 to any screw which has been ground. Periodic 

 errors, errors of run, straightness of the axis, 

 and coincidence of the axis of the screw 

 with that of its pivots can all be determined 

 with a high degree of accuracy. The method 

 has been used in testing the screws for Row- 

 land's ruling machines with success. 



J. B. Watson: An Experimental Study of 



This report wiU discuss briefly four of the 

 more important theories of homing, viz., the 

 " law of counter return " ; the theory of return 

 by the aid of " visual land-marks " ; the theory 

 of " direct perception of goal " (by the aid of 

 infra-red rays) ; and the " Spiirsinn " of Cyon. 

 The result of three years of experimental 

 work in the Dry Tortugas on homing in the 

 noddy and sooty terns will be given; special 

 emphasis was placed upon the results obtained 

 during the past spring. In brief, the experi- 

 menters were able to obtain thirteen returns 

 over open water from distances ranging from 

 five hundred to approximately one thousand 

 miles. 



On the afternoons of both the days of the 



meeting opportunity will be given for visits to 

 several of the laboratories of the Johns Hop- 

 kins University, besides the Physical Labora- 

 tory in which the meetings wiU. be held. 



In the laboratories of anatomy, plant physi- 

 ology, zoology and chemistry special demon- 

 strations will be given of the researches in 

 progress. 



There will be the usual social functions, 

 including a reception by Dr. and Mrs. Eemsen 

 and a dinner at the Maryland Club to which 

 the Academy is invited by the members resi- 

 dent in Baltimore. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 



Alfred Eussel Wallace, the great English 

 man of science, author of works on natural se- 

 lection, geographical distribution and a wide 

 range of biological and social subjects, died 

 on November 1, in his ninety-first year. 



Sir William Preece, the distinguished Brit- 

 ish electrical engineer, died on November 6, at 

 the age of seventy-nine years. 



Dr. Charles McBurney, formerly demon- 

 strator of anatomy and professor of surgery in 

 the College of Physicians of Columbia Uni- 

 versity, died on November 6, aged sixty-eight 

 years. 



A MARBLE bust of Lord Kelvin by Mr. Shan- 

 non, A.E.S.A., the gift of Lady Kelvin, was 

 presented to the Eoyal Society of Edinburgh 

 on October 28, by Professor Crum Brown, on 

 her behalf. Principal Sir William Turner, 

 who presided over a large gathering, said Lord 

 Kelvin had been sixty years a fellow of the so- 

 ciety, and was occupying the post of president 

 for a third term of five years when he died in 

 1907. 



At the annual meeting of the American 

 Mathematical Society, to be held at Columbia 

 University on December 30-31, Dean H. B. 

 Fine, of Princeton University, will deliver his 

 presidential address on " An Unpublished 

 Theorem of Kronecker Eespecting Numerical 

 Equations." 



At the dedicatory exercises of the new $100,- 

 000 laboratory building of the college of medi- 

 cine of the University of Nebraska, held in 



