December 23, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



919 



gram was announced, of which the following 

 papers were read : 



' Preliminary Note on proposed Patent Leg- 

 islation in its Relation to American Chemists, ' 

 C. C. Parsons. 



'Atomic Weights as a Cyclic Function,' 

 Thomas Bayley, England. 



'Eecent Progress in Photo-Chemistry,' L. H. 

 Friedburg. 



' The Commercial Electrolysis of Salt in the 

 United States,' H. Carmichael. 



'Notes on the Electrolysis of Salt,' J. D. 

 Pennock. 



On motion the Chair was authorized to ap- 

 point a committee of three to consider what 

 action should be taken on proposed patent leg- 

 islation. 



The Chairman reported that the Chemists' 

 Club had been duly organized and the rooms 

 leased, and it was expected that all necessary 

 furnishing would be completed in time for the 

 meeting of the general Society in the Holiday 

 week. 



The announcoment was made that the mem- 

 bership of the Section has passed the 300 mark, 

 which, in accordance with the provisions of the 

 new constitution, allows the Section fovir repre- 

 sentatives on the Council. 



The Secretary was, therefore, directed by 

 unanimous vote to cast a ballot electing the 

 following gentlemen to represent the Society : 

 William McMurtrie, A. A. Brenemau, C. A. 

 Doremus and A. H. Sabin ; and in the event of 

 any of these being elected Councillors-at-Large, 

 Durand Woodman, J. B. F. HerreshofF, E. G. 

 Love, E. E. Smith, Geo. C. Stone and C. B. 

 Voorhees as alternates in the order named. 



The Executive Committee decided to post- 

 pone the next regular meeting of the Section to 

 Friday, January 13th, to avoid following the 

 midwinter meeting too closely. The General 

 Secretary reports a number of papers already 

 promised for the midwinter meeting, and all 

 arrangements progressing favorably. 



Durand Woodman, 



Secretary. 



NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES — SECTION OP 

 PSYCHOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY. 



The Section of Psychology and Anthropology 



of the Academy is now in its third year. Six 

 meetings have been arranged for the current 

 season. The Section meets on the fourth Mon- 

 day evening of the month at 12 West 31st Street. 



At the first meeting, which was held October 

 24th, Professor Cattell presented a paper upon 

 anthropological tests and instruments, outlining 

 the advance which has been made in methods 

 and apparatus in the psychological measure- 

 ments of Columbia students. 



Reports of summer field work in anthropology 

 were made by Dr. M. H. Saville and Dr. Carl 

 Lumholtz, speaking of work in Mexico, and by 

 Dr. Farrand and Mr. Harlan I. Smith, whose 

 work was on the Northwest coast, principally in 

 Washington. 



The program of the second meeting, Novem- 

 ber 28th, included a paper by E. G. Dexter, ou 

 ' The Influence of the Weather on the Mental 

 Activities of Children,' and one by Geo. V. 

 Dearborn, on 'Involuntary Reactions to Pleas- 

 ant and Unpleasant Stimuli.' Anthropological 

 papers were contributed by Stausbury Hagar, 

 on 'The Water Burial,' and by A. Kroeber, on 

 'The Eskimos of Cumberland Sound.' 



C. B. Bliss, 



HARVARD university : STUDENTS' GEOLOGICAL 

 CLUB, NOVEMBER 22, 1898. 



Mr. H. F. Kendall offered an explanation 

 for the formation of an over-hanging, rock cliff 

 on the eastern flank of Mt. Passaconaway, N. 

 H. Mr. H. T. Burr traced the evolution of 

 explanations for the 'Origin of Eskers,' and 

 concluded that this form of ice records is of 

 sub-glacial origin. 



Geological Conference, November 39, 1898. — 

 Dr. R. A. Daly presented results obtained ,in 

 connection with an attempt to express, mathe- 

 matically and graphically, the optical charac- 

 ters of the vertical zone of amphiboles and 

 pyroxenes. A formula was deduced, which 

 showed the variation in the extinction-angle 

 (read against the cleavage- trace) characteristic 

 of a plane revolved in the vertical zone from 

 the position (010) to the position (100). This' 

 formula is a special case of Michel Levy's gen- 

 eral expression for the extinction in any zone. 



