524 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. V. No. 117. 



gravitational, thermal and capillary, due respec- 

 tively to fluid pressure, osmotic pressure and sur- 

 face tension. Charts were presented constructed 

 from automatic, oontiuuous records, showing 

 that the ground water is constantly in a state of 

 oscillation which may extend over a long period, 

 may be seasonal, or may correspond with the 

 high and low barometric waves associated with 

 the movements of storms. The records pre- 

 sented show that the surface of the ground 

 water in a well is much more responsive to at- 

 mospheric changes of temperature than the 

 barometer itself, and during stormy weather 

 the movements of the water surface are so com- 

 plex and so short in period that a rapidly mov- 

 ing chronograph is required to separate them. 

 Data from different wells and springs strongly 

 suggest the existence of a lunar ground-water 

 tidal disturbance. The variations in the rate 

 of discharge of water from springs under baro- 

 metric changes is very great, and the surface 

 of Lake Mendota has been shown, even in 

 winter when covered with ice, to be subject to 

 extremely complex oscillation, some of which 

 appear to be barometric. Professor C. R. 

 Barnes, speaking on ' An Evolutionary Failure,' 

 first discussed the meaning of the title, hold- 

 ing it applicable to those groups of organisms 

 which do not give rise to higher forms. The 

 evolutionary history of the mosses was briefly 

 traced, showing that their ancestors diverged 

 along two lines, one of which culminated in the 

 mosses and the other in the seed plants. The 

 . cause of failure in the first case seems to have 

 been due to the retention from lower stages of 

 the two most important functions, nutrition 

 and sexual reproduction, by the gametophyte ; 

 while success was attained in the other line by 

 specializing the sporophyte for nutritive work. 

 W. S. Marshall, 



Secretary. 



THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE OF ST. LOUIS. 



At the meeting of the Academy of Science of 

 St. Louis on March 15, 1897, President Gray in 

 the chair, present also thirty-five members and 

 guests, a portrait of Dr. Enno Sander, who for 

 the past thirty-five years has served uninter- 

 ruptedly as its Treasurer, was presented to the 

 Academy. Dr. Hambach spoke entertainingly 



and instructively on what a geologist may find of 

 interest about St. Louis, exhibiting specimens 

 of the principal fossils and minerals character- 

 istic of the local deposits, and indicating the 

 best localities for the collection of certain speci- 

 mens. One person was admitted to active 

 membership. 



William Tbelease, 



Secretary. 



SCIENCE CLUB OF NOETHWESTEEN UNIVERSITY. 



At a meeting of the Club held March 5th, Pro- , 

 fessor William Locy read a paper on the ' Primi- 

 tive Sense-Organs of Vertebrates and their Re- 

 lations to the Higher Ones,' of which the fol-. 

 lowing is a synopsis : 



The sense-organs differ from one another 

 mainly in degree of differentiation and speciali- 

 zation. They may be regarded as forming a 

 series at the lower end of which are the sim- , 

 plest sensory papillse, and at the upper end the 

 highest developed sense-organs. From the', 

 combined results of investigations on both in- 

 vertebrates and vertebrates it seems probable 

 that the higher sense-organs have been derived . 

 from those of a lower order, and that they have 

 all been differentiated from a common sensory 

 basis, and, therefore, are related in a direct way. 



In vertebrates the sense-organs of the lateral- 

 line system are the most generalized, and it 

 seems probable that from these most of the ; 

 others have been derived. Especial attention 

 was directed to the earliest rudiments of the . 

 vertebrate eye, and the bearing of the facts on the . 

 phylogenetio history of the eye, was discussed. : 

 Thomas F. Holgate, 



Secretary. 



NEW BOOKS. 

 A Treatise on Bocks, Bock-weathering and Soils. ■ 



G. P. Meeeill. London and New York, 



The Macmillan Company. 1897. Pp. xx+ 



411. $4.00. 

 An Outline of Psychology. EdwAed Beadfoed . 



TiTCHENBE. New York, The Macmillan 



Company. 1897. Second Edition. Pp. xiv 



-f352. $1.50. 

 The Aurora Borealis. Alfred Angot. New 



York, D. Appleton & Company. 1897. Pp. • 



xii-l-264. 



