OCTOBEE 21, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



533 



PJioiographie Studies of the Electric Arc. By 

 N. H. Brown, Ithaca, N. Y. 



On the Efficiency of Condensers. By Peo- 

 FESSOR E. B. EosA and Arthur W. 

 Smith, Middletown, Conn. 

 The authors give results determined by 

 their resonance method, which was de- 

 scribed at the Detroit meeting. 



A Calorinietric Determination of the Energy 

 Dissipated in Condensers. By Professor 

 E. B. EosA and Arthur "W. Smith. 



The Effect of Fibrous Structure in Iron on its 

 Change of Length when Magnetized. By E. 

 Ehoads, Ph.D., Baltimore, Md. 



Notes on the Effect of Silicon on the Magnetic 

 Permeability of Iron. By Professor P. 

 C. Caldwell, Columbus, Ohio. 

 It was found that the permeability in- 

 creases with the amount of silicon present 

 in the iron. 



0?i the Measurement of Electrical Oscillations 

 of Short Period and their Absorption by 

 Water. By Professor A. D. Cole, Gran- 

 ville, Ohio. 

 This is a continuation of the work which 



was reported by Professor Cole to Section 



B at Buffalo. 



An Acoustical Micrometer. By J. O. Eeed, 



Ph.D., Ann Arbor, Mich. 



Its principle consists in measuring the 

 amplitude of vibration of a stretched mem- 

 brane. 



Polarization in the Zn — HoSO^ Cell. By 

 Professor W. A. Anthony, New York 

 City. 



After an extended research into the effect 

 of saturating the acid with hydrogen, oxy- 

 gen and carbon dioxide. Professor Anthony 

 concludes that what is called polarization 

 is not due to the accumulation of hydrogen, 

 but to the fact that the oxygen originally 

 dissolved in the acid and condensed on the 

 plates has been used up. 



The Heat of Fusion of Ice Determined in Elec- 

 trical Units. By Professor E. L. Nichols, 

 Ithaca, N. Y. 



The Electrical Resistance of Lead Amalgams at 

 Low Temperatures. By G. W. Gressman, 

 Ithaca, N". Y. 



The most striking fact reported in this 

 paper is the sudden decrease in resistance 

 upon solidification, the resistance of the 

 solid amalgam being sometimes as low as 

 one-fifth of the resistance of the fluid amal- 

 gam at its freezing point. If the thermo- 

 electrical explanation — based on hetero- 

 geneity — of excessively high resistance of 

 alloys is correct one would expect an in- 

 crease of resistance upon solidification, for 

 it is then that the alloy becomes hetero- 

 geneous. 



N. Ernest Dorsey, 



Press Secretary. 



THE ADVANCE OF PSYCHOLOGY.'^ 

 The American Association for the Ad- 

 vancement of Science, when it first met 

 fifty years ago, had no place for anthropol- 

 ogy nor for psychology. Science has its 

 origin in the practical needs of society. In 

 a new country of great area and rich re- 

 sources the energies of its peof)le were 

 directed to invention and exploration. The 

 spirit of Franklin led to the development 

 of railways, steamboats and telegraphy, to 

 the building of cities and the search for 

 mines. 



But not only in America and in the case 

 of the anthropological sciences have fifty 

 years brought great changes. Science has 

 become a leading factor in modern life by 

 the rapidity rather than by the duration of 

 its growth. Our own revered Dr. Hall might 

 have talked with Herschell, who could al- 

 most have touched the hand of Newton. 

 Newton was born the year that Galileo 



*Address of the Vice-President of Section H — An- 

 thropology — of the American Association for the Ad- 

 vancement of Science, August, 1898. 



