SCIENCE 
EDITORIAL CoMMITTEE: S. NEwcoms, Mathematics; R. 8S. WooDWARD, Mechanics; E. C. PICKERING, 
Astronomy; T. C. MENDENHALL, Physics; R. H. THURSTON, Engineering; IRA REMSEN, Chemistry; 
J. LE Conte, Geology; W. M. Davis, Physiography; O. C. MARsH, Paleontology; W. K. Brooks, 
C. Hart Merriam, Zoology; S. H. ScuDDER, Entomology; C. E. Brssry, N. L. Brirron, 
Botany; Henry F. Ossorn, General Biology; C. 8. Minor, Embryology, 
Histology; 
H. P. Bowpitcu, Physiology; J. S. Brnnines, Hygiene; J. MCKEEN CATTELL, 
Psychology; DANIEL G. BRINTON, J. W. POWELL, Anthropology. 
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1897. 
CONTENTS: 
The Groundwork of Dynamics: JOHN GALBRAITH..457 
Mathematics and Physics at the British Association : 
HUGH L. CALLENDAR........00.c00scensceseseeecneseee 464 
The Botany of the British Association: D. P. P....472 
Marine Biological Laboratory ...........s.escseseeeeresees 475 
W. M. L. Copnin........476 
Dil (HY ee tesciscecces 478 
A New Laboratory Dish : 
Notes on Inorganic Chemistry : 
Scientific Notes and News :— 
Meeting of the Trustees of the Marine Biological 
Laboratory ; The Johns Hopkins Biological Station 
in Jamaica; The Conference on the Seal Fisheries ; 
(GRIGIRET eceaccecnenedoocaboqqcausadatoconScouanscooconcEAiadsad 479 
University and Educational News...........00sseesecees 485 
Discussion and Correspondence :-— 
Types in Natural History and Nomenclature of Ro- 
dents: OLDFIELD THomAS. Marriage by Cap- 
ture in Arabia: EDWARDS. HOLDEN............ 485 
Scientific Literature :-— 
Russell on the Foundations of Geometry: GEORGE 
BrRucE HALSTED. Le Conte on Sight: J. 
MCKEN CATTELL......00.c00:ccesscsercssensscsesssoone 487 
MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended 
for review should be sent to the responsible editor, Prof. J. 
McKeen Cattell, Garrison-on-Hudson, N. Y. 
THE GROUNDWORK OF DYNAMICS.* 
Tue subject of dynamics is too often 
treated as if its chief value consisted in 
the opportunities it affords for familiarizing 
the student with the operations of the dif- 
* Address by the Vice-President before Section D. 
of the Detroit Meeting of the American Association 
for the Advancement of Science. 
ferential and integral caleulus. It is re- 
garded as a department of applied mathe- 
matics rather than of mechanical science. 
That this should be the case is unfortunate; 
at the same it is not in the nature of things 
altogether avoidable. The student cannot 
afford the time involved in deferring the 
study of dynamics until he has acquired a 
working knowledge of the calculus. Asa 
consequence he becomes confused respect- 
ing the origin of his difficulties, and pos- 
sibly attributes to his ignorance of mathe- 
matics misconceptions the nature of which 
may be purely dynamical. It would be of 
great benefit to him to have the oppor- 
tunity of attending, before the close of his 
studies, a short course of lectures on the 
fundamental principles of the subject, that 
is to say, the conceptions springing directly 
from experience, upon which the science is 
founded. The mind of the individual re- 
sembles in its mode of growth tha mind of 
the race. The study of the historical de- 
velopment of mechanical ideas will go a 
great way in clearing up difficulties which 
arise from adhering too closely to one line 
of thought. Many of the greatest advances 
in science are the result of changes of the 
point of view. Such changes correspond in 
some measure with the process known to 
the mathematician as the transformation of 
coordinates, a process which often trans- 
forms a mass of brain-wearying symbols 
into ordered groups, instinct with life and 
