SCIENCE 



Editoeial Committee : S. Newcomb, Mathematics ; E. S. Woodward, Mechanics ; E. C. Pickering, 



Astronomy; T. C. Mendenhall, Physics; R. H. Thurston, Engineering; Ira Remsbn, Chemistry; 



J. Le Conte, Geology; W. M. Davis, Physiography; O. C. Marsh, Paleontology; W. K. 



Brooks, C. Hart Meeriam, Zoology; S. H. Soudder, Entomology; N. L. Beitton, 



Botany ; Henry F. Osborn, General Biology ; H. P. Bowditch, Physiology ; 



J. S. Billings, Hygiene ; J. McKeen Cattell, Psychology ; 



Daniel G. Brinton, J. W. Powell, Anthropology. 



Fbidat, January 22, 1897. 



CONTENTS: 

 Chemistry in the United States : P. W. CLAEKE....117 

 The American Physiological Society : Frederic S. 

 Lee 129 



Electrification of Air iy Eontgen Bays : Lord Kel- 

 vin, J. G. Bbattie, M. Smoluohowski de 

 Smolan 139 



Current Notes on Anthropology : — 



Origin of Sock Paintings ; The Meaning of Mourn- 

 ing ; Primitive Travel and Transportation : D. G. 

 Beinton 141 



Scientific Notes and News : — 



Modern Army Bifles; General 142 



University and Educational News 146 



Discussion and Correspondence : — 



A National Department of Science : Washingto- 

 NIAN. The Jurassic Wealden ( Tithonian) of Eng- 

 land : Jules Maecou. Compliment or Plagiar- 

 ism : George Bruce Halsted. A Meteorologi- 

 cal Conference at Paris : A. LAWRENCE EOTCH. 

 The Study of Fear: "Wesley Mills. Glosso- 

 phaga truei : HARBISON Allen 147 



Scientific Literature : — , 



Dwelshauvers-Dery' s Elude de Huit Essais de 

 Machine cl Vapeur : R. H. THURSTON. Hutch- 

 inson on Prehistoric Man and Beast : D. G. Bein- 

 TON. Hart's Chemistry for Beginners. JAS. 

 Lewis Howe. Lassar Cohn on Die Chetnie im 

 Tdglichen Leben : W. R. 153 



Scientific Journals : — 



TIte American Chemical Journal: J. Elliott 

 Gilpin 157 



Societies and Academies : — 



Nebraska Academy of Sciences : G. D. SwEZEY. 

 Biological Society of Washington : F. A . Lucas. 

 The Academy of Science of St. Louis : William 

 Trelease. Northwestern University Science Club : 

 A. E. Ceook. University of Wisconsin Science 

 Club: Wji. S. Marshall 158 



MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended 

 for review should be sent to tlie responsible editor, Prof. J. 

 MoKeen Cattell, Garrison-on-Hudson, N. Y. 



CHEMISTRY IN THE UNITED STATES.* 

 In the history of science, from whatever 

 point of view we may consider it, the sev- 

 eral branches develop according to a natural 

 order. The more obvious things attract 

 attention first ; the less obvious are recog- 

 nized later. Plants, animals, stones and 

 stars are studied even by savages; but the 

 hidden forces of nature, governed by laws 

 which can be utilized for man's benefit, 

 escape discovery until civilization is far ad- 

 vanced, and even then are revealed but 

 slowly. At first each department of 

 knowledge is purely empirical, a mass of 

 facts without philosophical connection; but 

 sooner or later speculation begins, the scat- 

 tered evidence is generalized, and an organ- 

 ized science is born. The study of concrete 

 facts, the recognition of our surroundings, 

 precedes the study of relations. 



Among the sciences, chemistry is one of 

 the youngest. As an organized branch of 

 systematic knowledge it has little more 

 than completed its first century. Before 

 the time of Robert Boyle it was hardly 

 better than empiricism. At first a few scat- 

 tered facts were recognized, involving trans- 

 formations of matter. Some of these were 

 applied in the arts, as in metallurgy and in 

 medicine ; and their generalization led 

 simply and naturally into alchemy, with its 

 search for the philosopher's stone, the uni- 



* Presidential address, Philosophical Society, Wash- 

 ington, December 12, 1896. 



