688 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVIII. No. 4G5. 



The Museums Journal of Great Britain for 

 October contains articles on ' The British 

 Association ' and ' The Mannheim Conference 

 on Museums as Places of Popular Culture,' 

 and the concluding portion of the address of 

 the president, which is illustrated by a num- 

 ber of plates. E. M. Holmes has an article 

 on ' The Preservation of Natural Colours in 

 Dried Plants.' There is the customary niun- 

 ber of important notes concerning various mu- 

 seums and museum matters. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OP SCIENCES. 



The academy held its autmnn meeting at 

 Chicago on November 17, 18 and 19. The 

 event was of special importance owing to the 

 fact that the academy has not hitherto met 

 west of the Atlantic seaboard. Chicago has 

 recently become one of the chief scientific and 

 educational centers of the country, and, apart 

 from the program of papers, there was much 

 to interest the visiting members. The mem- 

 bers of the academy were very generously en- 

 tertained by the president and other officers 

 of the University of Chicago and by the direc- 

 tor of the Yerkes Observatory. Mr. Alexander 

 Agassiz presided, and the following program 

 was presented: 



T. C. Chambeklin : ' Preliminary Report on 

 the Agassiz Data relative to Underground Tem- 

 peratures at the Calumet and Hecla Mine.' 



C. E. Button : ' The Velocities of Earthquake 

 Vibrations and their Significance.' 



A. P. Mathews : ' The Relation between Solu- 

 tion Tension and Physiological Action of the 

 Elements.' Introduced by C. O. Whitman. 



S. VV. WiLLiSTON: ' On the Distribution and the 

 Classification of the Plesiosaurs.' Introduced by 

 T. C. Chamberlin. 



C. 0. Whitman : ' The Evolution of the Wing- 

 Bars in Pigeons.' 



Chas. B. Davenport: ' Evolution without Muta- 

 tion.' Introduced by C. 0. Whitman. 



J. McK. Cattell : ' The Measurement of Sci- 

 entific Merit.' 



J. Stieglitz : ' Stereoisomeric Nitrogen Com- 

 pounds.' Introduced by A. A. Michelson. 



Charles Baskehville: 'On the Recent Investi- 

 gations of the Rare Earths in the Laboratory of 



the University of North Carolina' (by title). 

 Introduced by Ira Remsen. 



E. E. Barnard: 'Some Peculiarities of Comets' 

 Tails, and their Probable Explanation.' Intro- 

 duced by George E. Hale. 



Edwin B. Fro.st: 'Stars of the Orion Class.' 

 Introduced by George E. Hale. 



George E. Hale : ' On the Nature of the Solar 

 Elocculi.' 



Geo. C. Comstock: 'The Relation of Stellar 

 Magnitude to Stellar Distances.' 



A. A. Michelson : ' Spectra of Imperfect Grat- 

 ings.' 



Stephen Moulton Babcock : ' The Relations of 

 Weight and Energy.' Introduced by Charles R. 

 Van Hise. 



C. S. Slighter: 'The Propagation of Ground 

 Water Waves.' Introduced by Geo. C. Comstock. 



William H. Brewer: 'Biographical Memoir of 

 Sereno Watson.' 



Charles R. Van Hise: 'The International 

 Geographical Congress and a Geophysical Labo- 

 ratory.' 



THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE OF ST. LOUIS. 



At the meeting of October 19, 1903, when, 

 for the first time, the academy met in its new 

 building, Professor Nipher gave a verbal ab- 

 stract of the results of his paper on the ' Law 

 of Nebular Contraction,' which has .I'ust been 

 published in the Transactions. Tie also re- 

 marked that the molecular conditions in 

 nebulsE of different gases were being examined, 

 and some very interesting results are at once 

 evident. If a series of nebulae of various 

 gases have the same mass internal to the same 

 radius, the average molecular velocities would 

 be the same for all gases. The velocity which 

 would enable a molecule to escape from the 

 nebula is 2.71 times the average molecular 

 velocity, and this ratio is constant for all parts 

 of the nebula. If the entire solar system 

 formed the core of such a nebula, and the 

 mass of the solar system extended to Neptune's 

 orbit, the density at that distance from the 

 center of the nucleus would be less than that 

 in a Crookes tube. This opens up some very 

 interesting questions concerning the history 

 of such a mass. It would appear that such a 

 gravitating mass would lose some heat by the 

 escape of the more rapidly moving molecules, 

 as well as by radiation. 



