822 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVII. No. 438. 



Professor M. D. Learned, of- the University 

 of Pennsylvania, read a paper entitled ' An 

 Ethnological Survey of the United States.' 

 Professor Learned noticed the efforts of the 

 Germans, English and Americans in this mat- 

 ter, and announced that a bill for an ethno- 

 graphic survey of Pennsylvania is pending in 

 Harrisburg. This bill grevr out of a test sur- 

 vey called the Conestoga Expedition of 1902, 

 through which a great mass of valuable ma- 

 terial was gathered. Professor Learned said 

 that the character of the investigation should 

 be a culture census of the American people, 

 and agreed that, owing to the magnitude of 

 the task, it should be undertaken by the census 

 office. The paper was discussed by W. H. 

 Babcock, Dr. H. C. Bolton, George E. Stetson, 

 Professor Alexander G. Bell, Mrs. M. G. Ste- 

 venson, Dr. D. S. Lamb and E. S. Hallock. 



The paper by Dr. I. M. Casanowiez, entitled 

 ' Graeco-Eoman Papyri in the United States 

 National Museum,' described the making of 

 paper from the papyrus reed, the size of the 

 books in the collection, their character as ac- 

 counts, ledgers, letters, etc. Translations of 

 a number of these Eayum papyri were given. 



At the meeting of March 31 the president 

 announced that Professor Brigham, of Hono- 

 lulu, had succeeded in taking phonographic 

 records of the intoned ' olas ' or sagas of the 

 Hawaiians, from the few old men who pre- 

 served these sacred chants. 



The paper of the evening, ' Indian Baskets : 

 What they are and What they mean,' was 

 presented by Dr. C. Hart Merriam. The 

 subject was illustrated with numerous speci- 

 mens from Dr. Merriam's large collection and 

 by many lantern slides. It was pointed out 

 that the basket-making tribes to-day are con- 

 fined to the regions west of the Eocky Moun- 

 tains. The materials, the forrhs and uses of 

 baskets, the environment, the state of the art 

 and other topics were discussed and the pat- 

 terns, so far as they have been determined, 

 were explained. Dr. Merriam said that he 

 had found the butterfly pattern in use among 

 widely separated tribes, who give it the same 

 meaning. Walter Hough, 



Secretary. 



AMERICAN MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY. 



A REGULAR meeting of the American Mathe- 

 matical Society was held at Columbia Uni- 

 versity, Saturday, April 25. About fifty 

 persons, including forty members of the so- 

 ciety, attended the two sessions. The presi- 

 dent of the society. Professor Thomas Scott 

 Fiske, occupied the chair. The following 

 new members were elected: Professor Wil- 

 liam N. Ferrin, Pacific University, Forest 

 Grove, Ore.; Mr. Ernest H. Koch, Jr., Mac- 

 kenzie School, Dobbs Ferry, N. Y. ; Professor 

 Norman C. Eiggs, Armour Institute of Tech- 

 nology, Chicago, 111.; Mr. K. D. Swartzel, 

 Harvard University. Twelve applications for 

 membership were received. 



Sectional meetings of the society were held 

 at Northwestern University, April 11, and at 

 Stanford University, April 25. Eeports of 

 these meetings will appear separately in 

 Science. 



The university subscriptions in support of 

 the Transactions which have expired have 

 been renewed, except that Wesleyan Univer- 

 sity now takes the place of Princeton in the 

 list of supporting institutions. 



Wliile the activities of the society are con- 

 centrated on the promotion of mathematics as 

 a science, it is inevitable that through its 

 large and representative membership it should 

 ultimately exert a considerable and beneficial 

 influence on the teaching of mathematics in 

 schools and colleges. As a scientific body, 

 the society does not promulgate official views 

 on any subject, but merely furnishes a forum - 

 for discussion. That it does not endorse any 

 particular conclusion is not, however, by any 

 means inconsistent with the collection and 

 digestion of useful information. At present 

 three several committees of the society are 

 actively engaged in the preparation of reports 

 on requirements in mathematics for the 

 master's degree, on college entrance require- 

 ments in mathematics, and on desirable rela- 

 tions of the society to the teaching of element- 

 ary mathematics, respectively. The society 

 has recently been greatly interested in a move- 

 ment, foreshadowed in Professor E. H. Moore's 

 presidential address (vide Science, current 



