December 5, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



807 



An interesting and vigorous discussion fol- 

 lowed on all the papers presented to the con- 

 gress. Special interest was taken in the report 

 of Laue on the interference phenomena ob- 

 served in crystals with X-rays. A valuable 

 contribution was made by Professor Bragg on 

 selective reflection of X-rays by crystals, and 

 on the information afforded by this new method 

 of research on crystalline structure. The re- 

 port of Mr. Barlow and Professor Pope on the 

 relation between crystalline structure and 

 chemical constitution was illustrated by a 

 number of models, and was followed with much 

 interest. A report on the papers and discus- 

 sions at the conference will be published as 

 promptly as possible. 



The arrangements for the meeting, which 

 was successful in every way, were admirably 

 made by Dr. Goldschmidt. All the members 

 stayed at the same hotel, and thus were afforded 

 the best of opportunities for social intercourse 

 and for the interchange of views on scientific 

 questions. During the meeting, the members 

 were very hospitably entertained by Mr. Sol- 

 vay and Dr. Goldschmidt, while a visit was 

 made to the splendid private wireless station 

 of the latter, which is one of the largest in 

 the world, capable of transmitting messages to 

 the Congo and Burmah. 



The committee of the International Phys- 

 ical Institute, who were present at the confer- 

 ence, held meetings to consider the applications 

 for grants in aid of research, made possible 

 by the sum set aside for this purpose by Mr. 

 Solvay at the foundation of the institute. 



It was arranged that the next meeting of 

 the Conseil de Physique should be held in 

 three years' time at Brussels, when there will 

 be a new program of subjects for discussion. 

 In order to extend the scope of the congress, 

 and to make it as representative as possible, 

 it has been arranged that the original members 

 will retire automatically at intervals, while 

 their place will be taken by new members, who 

 will be specially invited to take part in discus- 

 sion of definite scientific topics. 



E. EUTHERFORD 



THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMEBICA 



The twenty-sixth annual meeting of the 

 Geological Society of America will be held in 

 Princeton, N. J., on December 30, 1913, to 

 January 1, 1914, inclusive. The sessions of 

 the Society will be held in Guyot Hall and 

 the council is going to continue the plans 

 adopted for the management of last winter's 

 meeting. The morning sessions will be devoted 

 to papers that promise to be of general inter- 

 est; the noon recess will be long in order to 

 give some time for social intercourse, group 

 discussions and the examination of special ex- 

 hibits; the afternoon sessions will be some- 

 what short and will be given over to sectional 

 meetings and to papers of less general scope. 

 A special room (or more than one, if needed) 

 will be provided for the display of specimens, 

 the hanging of charts not needed in the public 

 reading of papers, and for similar purposes. 

 The smoking and general conversation room 

 or rooms will be independent of the foregoing. 



The annual address of the retiring president. 

 Professor E. A. Smith, will be delivered on the 

 evening of Tuesday the 30th. Dr. Arthur L. 

 Day, director of the Carnegie Institution's 

 geophysical laboratory has consented to give an 

 illustrated lecture on " Kilauea During the 

 Tear 1912," which was the most active period 

 of the volcano within historic times. Dr. Day 

 will include in his address a statement of the 

 results of the work done at the geophysical 

 laboratory on the gases and other material col- 

 lected, at Kilauea. The lecture will be given 

 at a time to be announced later. 



The council respectfully urges the fellows to 

 consider the following points in the prepara- 

 tion and presentation of their papers : 



1. Subjects selected for presentation should 

 include, as far as possible, matters of general 

 interest and wide application. Details of local 

 problems seldom hold the attention of the audi- 

 ence so closely as the new aspects of general 

 considerations which such details may exem- 

 plify. 



2. The time required for presenting a paper 

 should be not more than twenty minutes, or at 

 the outside thirty minutes. If the speakers 

 will carefully estimate the time actually needed 



