364 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VIII. No. 194. 



tures in this way, and thereby forming sim- 

 ple conceptions of otherwise complex phe- 

 nomena, was happily brought out. The 

 communication marks a noteworthy ad- 

 vance in the coordination of geographic 

 knowledge. 



Vice-President McGee gave an address 

 on ' The Growth of the United States,' illus- 

 trated by tables and diagrams. It was the 

 purpose of the address to direct the atten- 

 tion of geographers to the more important 

 episodes in the history of the country and 

 the beneficial effect of these episodes on 

 individual and national prosperity. The 

 territorial gi-owth of the United States has 

 been almost unparalleled in the areas ac- 

 quired, and quite unparalleled in the rapid- 

 ity and completeness witli which the new 

 territory and resources have been assimi- 

 lated; no acquisition has been followed by 

 disaster or difficulty, while every accession 

 has stimulated enterprise and quickly re- 

 sulted in increased facilities, augmented 

 population and greatly enhanced individual 

 and collective wealth. The values were 

 shown quantitatively by means of diagrams, 

 which render it clear that the incomparable 

 growth of the United States in enterprise, 

 population, commerce and wealth is di- 

 rectly traceable to that territorial expansion 

 which has been one of the most conspicuous 

 features in the history of the nation. It 

 was pointed out that the Louisiana pur- 

 chase made America a steamboat nation; 

 that the acquisition of Texas and California 

 made America a railway and telegraph 

 nation, and incidentally that the events of 

 1898 must bring America to the front in 

 the only line in which she is backward and 

 feeble, i. e., marine shipping. The address 

 is printed in the September number of the 

 National Geographic Magazine. 



Mr. Mark S. "W. Jefferson presented an 

 illustrated paper on ' Atlantic Estuarine 

 Tides.' His data were derived partly from 

 the reports of the U. S. Coast and Geodetic 



Survey, partly from other sources; they 

 were combined in such manner as to ex- 

 plain the apparent abnormalities in the 

 tides of the middle and northern Atlantic 

 slopes, and to reduce the whole to definite 

 system. The tides of the principal estuaries 

 were tabulated ; the bay type and the river 

 type of tide were distinguished; and the 

 relation between coufigui'ation and other 

 factors and the ebb and flow of the local 

 tide was illustrated by numerous examples. 

 The paper is one of a series on which the 

 author is engaged, some of which are as- 

 signed for early numbei's of the National 

 Geographic Magazine. 



Mr. John Hyde, Statistician of the De- 

 partment of Agriculture, presented a sum- 

 vaary statement of ' Considerations Govern- 

 ing Recent Movements of Population.' 

 Adverting to the marvellous development 

 of transportation facilities within recent 

 decades, the author directed attention to 

 the growing instability of population ; to the 

 habit of seeking new lands and climates 

 where conditions of life were more favor- 

 able, and to the flocking of people to dis- 

 tricts giving promise of material or moral 

 advantage. It is largely to these condi- 

 tions that the enormous immigration to the 

 United States must be ascribed. It is a 

 significant fact that, when the emigration 

 from fatherlands in Europe to the United 

 States and to the colonies of the home gov- 

 ernments is compared, it is found that the 

 greater part of the home-seekers have 

 drifted to America, rather than to the 

 colonies of their own country. This fact 

 indicates that material advantage is but 

 one of the conditions governing movements 

 of population, and that another impres- 

 sively potent factor is the desire for that 

 intellectual freedom guaranteed to the 

 American immigrant by the Constitution 

 and consistent policy of the United States. 



In the absence of the authors, the follow- 

 ing papers were read by title : ' Some New 



