302 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVIII. No. 453. 



the academy and expert engineer to the State 

 Railroad Commission, delivered an illustrated 

 lecture upon ' Mechanical Interlocking Devices 

 at Eailroad Crossings.' Fifty views taken 

 in various parts of the United States were 

 used to show the value of these mechanisms 

 in the matter of safety to trains and in the 

 gain of time — factors of the greatest impor- 

 tance in modern railroading. Dr. Eugene P. 

 Schoch, instructor in chemistry in the uni- 

 versity, explained from a recent point of view 

 ' The Effect of Carbon upon Steel.' 



The second formal meeting of the year was 

 held in the Chemical Lecture Eoom of the 

 university on June 10, 1903, at 3:30 p.m. 

 The program on this occasion was as follows : 



Dr. Habrt Yandell Benedict, Associate Pro- 

 fessor of Mathematics in the University of Texas : 

 ' An Ideal History of Experiments on the Regular 

 Pentagon.' 



Dr. Eugene P. Schoch, Instructor in Chemistry 

 in the University of Texas: 'Two New Lecture 

 Experiments in Physical Chemistry.' 



Thomas U. Taylor, Professor of Applied Math- 

 ematics in the University of Texas: 'The North- 

 west Boundary of Texas.' 



Augusta Rucker, M.A., Instructor in Zoology 

 in the University of Texas: 'A New Texan 

 Kcenenia' (by title). 



Dr. William L. Brat, Associate Professor of 

 Botany in the University of Texas : ' The Vegeta- 

 tion of the Sotol Country' (by title). 



A. M. Ferguson, M.S., Instructor in Botany in 

 the University of Texas : " Some Recent Dis- 

 coveries Concerning the So-called Ant ' Mushroom 

 Gardens'" (by title). 



Dr. Frederic W. Simonds, Professor of Geology 

 in the University of Texas: 'Notes on the To- 

 pography of Texas' (by title). 



The ballots having been counted, the follow- 

 ing officers were declared elected for the year 

 1903-4: 



President — ^Dr. Edmund Montgomery, Hemp- 

 stead. 



Vice-President — Dr. William L. Bray, Austin. 



Treasurer — ^Mr. R. A. Thompson, Austin. 



Secretary — ^Dr' H. Y. Benedict, Austin. 



lAirarian — Dr. William T. Mather, Austin. 



Memiers of the Council — Hon. Arthur Lefevre, 

 Superintendent of Public Instruction; Dr. H. L. 

 Hilgartner and Dr. S. E. Mezes. 



Frederic W. Simonds. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 



THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF ARTS .\ND 

 SCIENCE. 



To THE Editor of Science : I have read with 

 much interest the letter of Professor Dewey 

 with respect to Professor Miinsterberg's classi- 

 fication of the sciences. Several months 

 ago there fell into my hands the enclosed copy 

 of a ' Preliminary Program for the Official 

 Addresses at the International Congress of 

 Arts and Science ' of the forthcoming exposi- 

 tion at St. Louis in 1904. Since this remark- 

 able document is marked ' Confidential, Proof 

 under Eevision,' it has been so treated by me 

 up to the present date. 



In the meantime, Professor Miinsterberg, 

 in an article on ' The St. Louis Congress 

 of Arts and Sciences,' published in the 

 Atlantic Monthly for May, 1903, has ac- 

 knowledged himself as the author of the 

 classification of the sciences set forth in the 

 ' Program ' and has led his readers to infer 

 that this classification has been provisionally 

 if not defijiitely accepted by the congress. He 

 writes as a member of the ' Committee on 

 Plan and Scope' of the congress and as the 

 special representative of the ' philosophical 

 sciences.' To quote his own words, he ' steps 

 up to the honored platform of Park Street,' 

 wherever that may be, ' and tells a wider cir- 

 cle what those plans are, and why they ask 

 for interest and favor.' 



We may perhaps doubt whether Professor 

 Miinsterberg speaks for the entire committee 

 referred to, but since his explanation and de- 

 fense of the ' Program ' has been thus before 

 the public for upwards of three months, it 

 seems proper to assume that he invites criti- 

 cism of his scheme of classification of the sci- 

 ences from a larger circle of thinkers than 

 that which centers in Park Street. I beg, 

 therefore, to second Professor Dewey's invita- 

 tion of the attention of the readers of Sci- 

 ence to this matter and to submit a few brief 

 remarks thereon. 



The criticism which Professor Miinster- 

 berg's classification of the sciences seems to 

 require is aimed not so much at the scheme 

 itself as at the extraordinary claims he makes 



