978 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVII. No. 442. 



on May 11, Professor Bashford Dean presid- 

 ing. Papers were presented by Professor H. 

 F. Osborn, Professor E. L. Thorndike and 

 Mr. C. T. Brues. 



Professor Osborn's paper, ' On Recent 

 Models and Restorations of a JSTumber of 

 Extinct Animals, with a Discussion of their 

 Probable Habits and Mode of Life,' was based 

 upon models and restorations from the De- 

 partment of Vertebrate Paleontology of the 

 American Museum of Natural History, pre- 

 pared by Charles Knight under the direction 

 of the speaker, with the assistance of other 

 members of the department. Numerous 

 models and drawings were exhibited and de- 

 scribed. Of special interest were the follow- 

 ing : Elephas imperiales (Imperial mammoth) ; 

 Trilophodon producius (Miocene mastodon) ; 

 an Ichthyosaurus and young; several Pleisto- 

 cene rhinoceroses; and Diplodocus (a bird- 

 catching dinosaur). 



Professor E. L. Thorndike, on ' Natural ' 

 Selection and Fertility in Man,' reported a 

 study of the size of families of college gradu- 

 ates during the nineteenth century, and of the 

 descendants of a New England family during 

 the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The 

 average number of children in the latter case 

 rose gradually to an acme in the generation 

 born about 1720, and then fell steadily, the 

 figures for eight generations being 5.3, 6.3, 

 7.7, 10.0, 7.2, 5.5, 4.4, 3.8. This rise is in- 

 consistent with the common hypothesis that 

 social custom is the cause of change in the 

 productivity of races. So also is the form 

 of the surface of frequency of family size in 

 the later decades of the nineteenth century 

 (see Popular Science Monthly, May, 1903, p. 

 68). A real decrease in natural fertility 

 would account perfectly for the statistical ap- 

 pearances found; and, if we judge only by 

 them, is the most likely hypothesis. 



Mr. Brues presented a preliminary account 

 of the internal factors of regeneration and 

 reversal of asymmetry in the crustacean Al- 

 pheus. Przibram and Wilson have recently 

 shown that when the larger of the asymmet- 

 rical chelse of these animals is amputated, the 

 smaller one on the opposite side develops into 



a claw of the large type, while a small one 

 regenerates on the stump of the large one. 

 If the nerve of the small claw be severed at 

 the time of removing the large one, reversal 

 does not take place, or only incompletely. 

 Histological examination of animals in which 

 such changes are taking place indicates that 

 the regeneration and remodeling are influ- 

 enced by the nervous system, due possibly to 

 increased nutrition in the ganglion which 

 supplies the small chela. As the nervous 

 system shows no morphological asymmetry 

 corresponding to that of the claws, it probably 

 acts only in a passive way in determining the 

 type of the claw, although it evidently gives 

 the stimuli for the more minute changes 

 which take place in the remodeling of a small 

 chela to form one of the large type. 



M. A. BiGELOW, 



Secretary. 



CLEMSON COLLEGE SCIENCE CLUB. 



At the meeting of March 20, Dr. J. H. 

 James read a paper on ' Some Pacts and 

 Theories in Regard to Dyestuffs.' The his- 

 tory of the processes of dyeing before the lat- 

 ter half of the nineteenth century was briefly 

 told, but the achievements in the preparation 

 of synthetic coloring matters were fully treated. 

 The paper discussed the main points in the 

 synthesis of alizarin and indigo, and the 

 theories relative to the relation between the 

 chemical composition of synthetic dyestuffs 

 and their coloring power. Professor, S. W. 

 Reaves presented ' An Historical Note on the 

 Invention of Logarithms,' at the close of 

 which he illustrated the purpose and useful- 

 ness of logarithms by well chosen examples. 

 Professor W. M. Riggs exhibited the Clark 

 automatic switch board, the utility of which 

 he demonstrated. 



At the meeting of April 17, Professor J. 

 H. M. Beaty presented a paper on ' Some of 

 the More Important Characteristics of the 

 Cotton Fiber.' Professor Beaty spoke of the 

 difiiculties encountered in the manipulation of 

 the cotton fiber, and discussed its behavior 

 when treated with dilute caustic potash be- 

 fore bleaching, and the apparent changes when 

 brought in contact with a concentrated solu- 



