764 
the end of the first quarter of the present 
century three chemical societies had been 
founded in this country, while the first 
chemical society of Hurope, the Chemical 
Society of London, was not founded till 
1841. Forty-nine years before this date, 
in 1792, the Chemical Society of Phila- 
delphia was instituted. Its first Presi- 
dent was Dr. James Hutchinson, and at 
his death he was succeeded by Dr. James 
Woodhouse, who was at that time pro- 
fessor of chemistry in the medical depart- 
ment of the University of Pennsylvania. 
Among the best-known members were Dr. 
Joseph Priestley and Robert Hare, the in- 
ventor of the oxy-hydrogen blowpipe. “The 
meeting of October 24, 1801, was made 
memorable by the appointment of a com- 
. mittee for the ‘ discovery of means by which 
a greater concentration of heat might be 
obtained for chemical purposes.’”? On 
this committee was Robert Hare, then only 
twenty years old, and December 10th of the 
same year he reported, on behalf of the 
committee, his great invention. No mem- 
oirs were published by this Society, and 
how much longer it existed is a matter of 
conjecture. In August, 1811, the Colum- 
bian Chemical Society was founded, also 
at Philadelphia. It numbered sixty-nine 
‘Honorary’ (regular) members, of whom 
thirty-one were Europeans, and thirteen 
‘Junior’ (associate) members. Thomas 
Jefferson was patron; James Cutbush, Pres- 
ident, and among the more distinguished 
members were Benjamin Smith Barton, 
Archibald Bruce, Joseph Cloud, Thomas 
Cooper, Robert Hare, James Madison, Ben- 
jamin Rush, Adam Seybert and Benjamin 
Silliman. The foreign members included 
the most distinguished chemists of Eng- 
land and France, and Proust of Madrid. 
No Germans were on the list, nor Berze- 
lius. One volume of memoirs was pub- 
lished in 1813, now a very rare book. In 
his article Dr. Bolton gives interesting ab- 
SCIENCE. 
[N. S. Vou. VI. No. 151. 
stracts of the papers in this volume. Sep- 
tember 6, 1821, there was founded at Delhi, 
New York, the Delaware Chemical and 
Geological Society, a local society of forty 
or fifty members, having ‘ for its object the 
improvement of the members in literature 
and science, especially in chemistry and 
mineralogy.’ Considering ‘‘the limited 
facilities for acquiring chemical knowledge 
in the New World”? (chiefly in the medi- 
eal schools) ‘‘ and the distance of amateurs 
from the European head-centers of learn- 
ing, it is certainly noteworthy that Ameri- 
can chemists combined to form associations 
for mutual improvement and the advance- 
ment of their calling at so early a period.” 
The fourth chemical society in this country 
was the American Chemical Society, found- 
ed at New York in 1876, and broadened in 
its scope in 1892, until it now numbers 
1,106 members, working in nine chartered 
sections, representing forty-seven States 
and Territories, and several countries of 
Kurope, South America, and even Austra- 
lia. J. L. H. 
SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 
WE record, with deep regret, the death at 
Philadelphia, on November 14th, of Dr. Harri- 
son Allen, emeritus professor of comparative 
anatomy in the University of Pennsylvania. 
Tue American Psychological Association will 
meet at Ithaca, in conjunction with ‘The 
Naturalists’ and affiliated societies, on Tues- 
day, December 29th, and the two following 
days, under the presidency of Professor J. 
Mark Baldwin, of Princeton University. It is 
intended to place papers on experimental and 
physiological psychology on the first day and 
on the final day papers having closer relations 
with philosophy. On Wednesday morning 
there will be a discussion on ‘The Psychology 
of Invention,’ which it is expected will be 
opened by Professor Josiah Royce, Harvard 
University; Professor John Dewey, University 
of Chicago, and Professor Joseph Jastrow, Uni- 
versity of Wisconsin. 
A COMMITTEE of the American Chemical So- 
