410 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVIII. No. 456. 



alone for his view, credit is given and the 

 literature cited. 



In the general part, the incompleteness of 

 the chapter on ' Organology ' is noticeable. 

 While in many respects the material has not 

 been sufficiently worked up, in other respects 

 it has been carried beyond the borders of 

 comparative histology. In the general part, 

 the chapter on ' Architectonics,' the different 

 planes of organization of the Metazoa have 

 been discussed, and at the close of the chap- 

 ter a system (page 238) has been devised 

 which is the key to the systematic arrange- 

 ment of the special part. 



Histology, in this book, is not considered 

 entirely in the sense of microscopic anatomy, 

 but primarily as morphological cytology. Tis- 

 sues are associations of cells of the same sort. 

 In discussing tissues the author concerns him- 

 self first with their structural characteristics, 

 but secondly, also with their relation to the 

 composition of the entire organism. 



The dividing of the Metazoa into two prin- 

 cipal groups, the Pleromata and the Coelen- 

 terata, is based, for a great part, on histo- 

 logic grounds. 



It is very evident the author has worked 

 with a plan or outline in hand which has 

 enabled him to produce a well-written, usable ' 

 book. Of the 691 illustrations many are ex- 

 cellent, while only a few give one the feeling 

 that the work was done under pressure. As 

 a work of reference the book is very valuable, 

 for it embodies not only much that is origi- 

 nal, but the results of hundreds of investiga- 

 tors have been worked over and embodied in 

 the text. As a text-book it is, of course, en- 

 tirely too bulky to be considered. Still when 

 one considers the remarkable activity in Ger- 

 many in the field of microscopic anatomy as 

 illustrated in Oppel's ' Vergleichende Mikro- 

 skopische Anatomic der Wirbeltiere,' three 

 large volumes with a total of 2,400 pages in 

 which the author has but completed his con- 

 sideration of the alimentary tract, one is led 

 to feel that in another decade Schneider's 

 work may be a primer. 



Burton D. Myers. 



Indiana University, 

 Bloomington, Indiana. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 AMERICAN MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY. 



The tenth summer meeting and fourth 

 colloquium of the American Mathematical 

 Society were held at the Massachusetts Insti- 

 tute of Technology during the week August 

 31 to September 6, 1903. rort.y-seveii members 

 of the society attended the sessions of the 

 regular meeting, which occupied the first two 

 days of the week. The colloquium opened on 

 Wednesday morning, with a total attendance 

 of thirty-one. Three courses of lectures 

 were given, as follows: Professor E. B. Van 

 Vleck, of Wesleyan University, six lectures 

 on ' Selected Topics in the Theory of Diver- 

 gent Series and of Continued Fractions ' ; 

 Professor H. S. White, of Northwestern Uni- 

 versity, three lectures on ' Linear Systems of 

 Curves on Algebraic Surfaces ' ; Professor F. 

 S. Woods, of the Massachusetts Institute of 

 Technology, three lectures on ' The Con- 

 nectivity of Non-Euclidean Space.' 



The following persons were elected to mem- 

 bership in the society: Professor D. P. Bart- 

 lett, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; 

 Professor G. E. Comstock, Bradley Polytech- 

 nic Institute, Peoria, 111. ; Mr. H. N. Davis, 

 Harvard University; Mr. W. J. Graham, New 

 York, N. Y. ; Mr. N. J. Lennes, Chicago, 111. ; 

 Mr. T. J. McCormaek, La Salle, 111.; Dr. L. 

 I. Neikirk, University of Pennsylvania ; Dr. 



A. B. Pierce, University of Michigan ; Pro- 

 fessor W. J. Rush, Iowa College; Miss M. 

 E. Trueblood, Mt. Holyoke College; Mr. C. 



B. Upton, Columbia University; Dr. Oswald 

 Veblen, University of Chicago; Mr. R. H. 

 Williams, Columbia University. Seventeen 

 applications for membership were received. 



The committee on definitions of college en- 

 trance requirements in mathematics, appointed 

 at the summer meeting of 1902, presented a 

 report, which was received and recommended 

 for publication. The report will appear in 

 the Educational Review and in the Bulletin 

 of the society. A committee was appointed 

 to prepare for the October meeting a list of 

 nominations of officers and members of the 

 Council for the year 1904. 



