908 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVII. No. 440. 



fessor Trelease, contained 62.5 per cent, of 

 silica, according to the analysis of Mr. W. M. 

 Chauvenet 



An amendmetit to the by-laws was adopted, 

 • providing that the home recently presented 

 to the academy shall not be mortgaged or 

 voluntarily encumbered and shall not be sold 

 except with the consent of two thirds of the 

 members, obtained by letter ballot, and, if 

 sold, the proceeds, or so much thereof as may 

 be necessary, are to be used to provide another 

 home for the academy. 



At the meeting of May 18, 1903, Dr. C. 

 Barck gave a detailed account of the Grand 

 Canon of the Colorado, with lantern illustra- 

 tions. After an outline of the geology, past 

 and present, of the plateau province and the 

 canon district, he gave a description of the 

 latter and added a report of its first deliberate 

 crossing. This was made by Mr. James and 

 himself in 1901. They started from Bass's 

 camp, about twenty-four miles west of the 

 Bright Angel Hotel. Their point of destina- 

 tion, ' Point Sublime,' on the northern rim 

 of the canon, was reached, after some difficult 

 traveling, on the fifth day; the return took 

 three days. 



One person was elected to active member- 

 ship. 



William Teelease, 

 Secording Secretary. 



AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY. . NORTHEASTERN 

 SECTION. 



The forty-fifth regular meeting of the sec- 

 tion was held on Friday, May 22, at 8 p.m., at 

 the Technology Club, Boston, Vice-President 

 Henry Howard in the chair. Thirty-five 

 members were present. 



Professor S. W. Stratton, of Washington, 

 D. C, gave an address on ' The National 

 Bureau of Standards,' in which he first gave ' 

 a historical introduction describing the legal 

 standards of length and weight used in this 

 country from 1776 to 1901, when the National 

 Bureau of Standards was established by act 

 of Congress. The functions of this bureau 

 are briefly the comparison of the standards 

 used in scientific investigation, engineering, 

 manufacturing, commerce and educational 



institutions with the standards adopted or 

 recognized by the government, the construc- 

 tion when necessary of standards, their multi- 

 ples and subdivisions, the testing and calibra- 

 tion of standard measuring apparatus, the 

 solution of problems which arise in connec- 

 tion with standards, the determination of 

 physical constants and the properties of ma- 

 terials. The bureau is authorized to exercise 

 its functions for the government of the 

 United States, for state and municipal govern- 

 ments within the United States, for scientific- 

 societies, educational institutions, firms, cor- 

 porations or individuals. Temporary quar- 

 ters are now occupied by the bureau, and two 

 permanent buildings in the outskirts of Wash- 

 ington are in process of erection, one of which, 

 the mechanical laboratory, is now nearly com- 

 pleted, and will contain the mechanical and 

 electrical plant, instrument shop and labora- 

 tories for experimental work or testing requir- 

 ing considerable power or large currents. The 

 second building is a physical laboratory and 

 will be of extra heavy construction, and will 

 contain laboratories for testing and investiga- 

 tion in connection with problems concerning 

 length, mass and capacity. A large space is 

 to be devoted to electrical measurements of all 

 kinds, and the upper floors are to be used as 

 chemical laboratories. The buildings are con- 

 nected with a tunnel, part of which will b.e 

 used as a laboratory for experiments requiring 

 a long distance. 



The lecturer described the present work of 

 the bureau in verifying standards of length, 

 mass and capacity, electrical resistance and 

 capacity, electromotive force, photometry, 

 temperature standards, calibration of chem- 

 ical glassware, etc., and showed several lan- 

 tern slides of plans of the buildings under 

 construction. 



Abthur M. Comey, 



Secretary. 



MEETING OF THE BEEZELIUS SOCIETY. 



The eighty-fifth monthly meeting of the 

 Berzelius Chemical Society was held in the 

 Department of Agriculture Laboratory, Mon- 

 day, May 4:. The program was filled by Mr. 

 J. W. White, student in dyeing at the A. k 



