SCre NCE 
EDITORIAL CoMMITTEE: S. NEwcomB, Mathematics; R. S. WoopwARD, Mechanics; E. C. PICKERING, 
Astronomy; T. C. MENDENHALL, Physics; R. H. THuRsToN, Engineering; IRA REMSEN, Chemistry; 
J. LE ContTE, Geology; W. M. Davis, Physiography; O. C. MARsH, Paleontology; W. K. Brooks, 
C. Hart MEeRRIAM, Zoology; S. H. ScupDER, Entomology; C. E. Brsspy, N. L. BRITTON, 
Botany; Henry F. OsBorn, General Biology; C. S. Minor, Embryology, Histology; 
H. P. BowpircH, Physiology; J. S. Brnuines, Hygiene; J. MCKEEN CATTELL, 
Psychology; DANIEL G. BRINTON, J. W. POWELL, Anthropology. 
Fripay, NovEMBER 19, 1897. 
CONTENTS: 
The Importance of Astrophysical Research and .the 
Relation of Astrophysics to other Physical Sciences: 
JAMES HE. KWELER, 22.2... .c:.ccceecccesecsensconrees 745 
Mathematics and Astronomy at the American Asso- 
.. ciation for the Advancement of Science: JAMES 
INIA UNE IOINS saq0ssoasqoncoasenosonoabgscoscesocseescooss60c. 750 
Singular Stress Strain Relations of India Rubber : 
R. H. THURSTON............ asopocoacnanoDacssH9A0500000 758 
Fifteenth Annual Report of the Committee on Index- 
ing Chemical Literature. ......s.csecscceceeeeenceeencseees 761 
Current Notes on Anthropology :— 
The Sione Age of Phoenicia; Archzxological Sur- 
vey of Ohio: D. G. BRINTON. ........0...--seceeeeees 762 
Notes on Inorganic Chemistry : 
Scientific Notes and News ...........++..0++ -cenoncadoocased 764 
University and Educational News. .......++-+.sssssesesees 769 
Discussion and Correspondence :— 
Determinale Variation and Organie Selection: J. 
MARK BALDWIN. Amphibia vs. Batrachia: O. 
P.HAy. The Britishand American Associations : 
MARCUS BENDAMIN. ............0-.2-0sc0scescereastnses 770 
Scientific Literature :-— 
Boletin del Instituto Geologico de Mexico: J. J. 
STEVENSON. Geologic Atlas of the United States. 
Williams’ Inorganic Chemistry and Elements of 
Chemistry: J. E.G. Congreso Internacional de 
Americanistas: D. G. BRINTON. Phillips on 
Totem Tales: FRANZ BOAS.......0.ce-s0scesseeseseneee 775 
Societies and Academies :— 
New York Section of the American Chemical So- 
ciety: DURAND WoopMAN. The New York 
Academy of Sciences, Section of Anthropology and 
JAY GbUMGS (Cb 15 ISTHE, cososancsscossnccadessscoccoos 779 
Scientific Journals... ce 
ANGI DODD: :comsoceqcenanoconcangocoasconeeaseonnes ieapocaceanse 
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 IMPORTANCE OF ASTROPHYSICAL RE- 
SEARCH AND THE RELATION OF AS- 
TROPHYSICS TO OTHER PHYS- 
ICAL SCIENCES* 
Tur domains of the physical sciences are 
not, like the political divisions represented 
on a map, capable of being defined by 
boundary lines traced with mathematical 
precision. They pass into one another by 
imperceptible gradations, the unity of na- 
ture opposing itself to rigid systems of 
classification. Thus there often exists 
between two allied sciences a broad 
ground, belonging to each, yet exclusively 
the property of neither, which may be so 
extensive and fertile as to justify the de- 
velopment of a new science for its special 
cultivation. And such a science not only 
subserves the purpose for which it was 
created, but it has the further special im- 
portance that, by promoting an exchange 
of knowledge between its previously estab- 
lished neighbors, by investigating the cause 
of disagreements between them, by compar- 
ing their methods, and possibly by detect- 
ing errors in their results, it tends to bring 
them into more perfect coordination. 
Such is the nature of the science which 
Professor Langley has called the new as- 
tronomy, and which is also, and perhaps 
more generally, known as astrophysics. Its 
*Address delivered at the dedicatory exercises of 
the Yerkes Astronomical Observatory, of the Uni- 
versity of Chicago, Williams Bay, Wis., Thursday, 
October 21, 1897. 
