SCIENCE 



Editoeial Committee ; S. Nkwcomb, Mathematics ; E. S. Woodwaed, Mechanics ; E. C. Pickeejng. 



Astronomy; T. C. Mendenhall, Physics; R. H. Thueston, Engineering; Iea Kemsen, Chemistry; 



J. Le Conte, Geology; \V. M. Davis, Physiography; O. C. Marsh, Paleontology; W. K. Brooks, 



C. Haet Meeeiam, Zoology; S. H. Scuddee, Entomology; C. E. Bessey, N. L. Bkitton, 



Botany; Hkney F. Osboen, General Biology; C. S. Minot, Embryology, Histology; 



H. P. BowDiTCH, Physiology; J. S. Billings, Hygiene; J. McKeen Cattell, 



Psychology; Daniel G. Bkinton, J. W. Powell, Anthropology. 



Friday, November 25, 1898. 



CONTENTS: 



Progress in Physical Chemistry: PROFESSOR THEO- 

 DORE W. ElCHAEDS 721 



A Century of Personal Equations : Peofessoe 

 Teuman Heney Saffoed 727 



Some Dangers of the Abuse of Chemical Formulas: 

 Professor F. P. Venable 732 



Tlie Vettern Escarpments of Southern Sweden : J. 

 Edmund Woodman 735 



Life Conditions of the Oyster: Normal and Ahnormal..13G 



Notes on Inorganic Chemistry : J. L. H 740 



Ourrent Notes on Anthropology : — 



Egyptian Origins ; Yucatecan Ruins ; Slavic Anti- 

 quities ; Ancient Labor Unions: Peofessoe D. 

 G. Beinton 741 



Scientific Notes and News : — 



Bulletin of the U. S. Geological Survey descriptive 

 of the Educational Series of Sock Specimens : W. 

 F. M. The German Deep-sea Expedition; Gen- 

 eral 742 



University and Educational News 748 



Discussion and Correspondence : — 



Measurements of Pncision: PROFESSOR A. G. 

 Webster. A Trip to the Tertiary Formations of 

 Wyoming and Colorado : S. Waed Loper. The 

 Proposed Catalogue of Scientific Literature : AL- 

 FRED Tuckeeman 749 



Scientific Literature: — 



Poulton on Charles Darwin and the Tlieory of Nat- 

 ural Selection: Peofessoe A. S. Packaed. 

 Delage on La structure du protoplasma : PEOFES- 

 SOE Chaeles S. Minot. Venable and Hmve's In- 

 organic Chemistry according' to the Periodic Law : 

 E. B. Worcester on The Philippine Islands and their 

 People : PROFESSOR WILLIAM LiBBEY. General..l52 



Scientific Journals 758 



Societies and Academies : — 



The National Academy of Sciences. The New York 

 Section of the A merican Chemical Society : De. 

 Ddeand Woodman. Chemical Society of Wash- 

 ington : William H. Krug. Students' Geolog- 

 ical Club and Conference of Harvard University : 

 J. M. Boutwell ...758 



New Books 760 



PBOGBESS IN PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY* 

 In these days of far-reaching specializa- 

 tion the would-be speaker upon any sub- 

 ject is between a new Scylla and a new 

 Charybdis. In order that his production 

 should be comprehensible to those outside 

 of the specialty it must almost inevitably 

 be made'' boresome to those within the fold ; 

 but, on the other hand, that which is new 

 to the specialist in his own topic is apt to 

 be quite too new to the layman. Either 

 popularizing or specializing is likely to 

 wreck the speaker's purpose by inducing 

 at least a part of his audience to slumber, 

 and this danger is especially imminent after 

 dinner on a hot day which has been filled 

 with mental effort. In this brief address, 

 which Professor Smith has entrusted to my 

 care, I shall probably run foul of both ob- 

 structions ; but this irregular course will 

 have the great concomitant advantage of 

 permitting each class of hearers to obtain a 

 few minutes of much needed repose. 



We are rather accustomed to look upon 

 physical chemistry as being a very modern 

 invention, and in one sense we are not 

 wrong in so doing. But after all, many of 

 the fundamental generalizations of physical 

 chemistry are by no means recent, and 

 some of them are really old. Leaving out 

 of account the probable discoveries in the 



* Address before Section C — Chemistry — of the 

 American Association for the Advancement of Sci- 

 ence, August, 1898. 



