SCIENCE 



A ■WEEKLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, PUBLISHING THE 



OFFICIAL NOTICES AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION 



FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 



Friday, August 26, 1904. 



CONTENTS: 

 Reflections suggested by the Neio Theory of 

 Matter: The Eight Hon. A. J. Balfour. . 257 



Science and the People: Professor Chas. 

 Baskerville 266 



Deflection of the Mississippi : Isaiah Bowman 273 



Scientific BooJcs: — 



Ghicolson's Lehrbuch der Physik: Pro- 

 fessor W. Le Conte Stevens 277 



Discussion and Correspondence: — 

 Paleozois Seed Plants: Professor Lester 

 F. Ward. The Soufriere of St. Vincent in 

 July, 190Jf : Dr. Edmund Otis Hovey 279 



Special Articles: — ■ 



The hiheritance of Song in Passerine 

 Birds : William E. D. Scott 282 



Current Notes on Meteorology : — 



Utilization of Fog; Climate of South 

 Africa; Climate of Sierra Leone; Thunder- 

 storms and Pressure; Sirocco in Tunis; 

 Bird Migration in England; The Wind: 

 Professor R. DeC. Ward 283 



A Station for the Study of Bird Life 284 



Scientific Notes and News 285 



University and Educational News 288 



MPS. Iiitfuded for puhlicatiou aud books, etc.. Intended 

 for revi..'w nhould be sent tn the Elitor of Science, Garri- 

 90T-on-H'id8on, N. Y. 



REFLECTIONS SUGGESTED BY THE NEW 

 THEORY OF MATTER* 



The meetings of this great society liaye 

 for the most part been held in crowded 

 centers of population, where our surround- 

 ings never permit us to forget, were such 

 forge tfulness in any case possible, how 

 close is the tie that binds modern science 

 to modern industry, the abstract researches 

 of the student to the labors of the inventor 

 and the mechanic. This, no doubt, is as 

 it should be. The interdependence of 

 theoi-y and practice can not be ignored 

 without inflicting injury on both; and he 

 is but a poor friend to either who under- 

 values their mutual cooperation. 



Yet, after all, since the British Associa- 

 tion exists for the advancement of science, 

 it is well that now and again we should 

 choose our place of gathering in some spot 

 where science rather than its applications, 

 knowledge, not utility, are the ends to 

 which research is primarily directed. 



If this be so, surely no happier selection 

 could have been made than the quiet courts 

 of this ancient university. For here, if 

 anywhere, we tread the classic ground of 

 physical discovery. Here, if anywhere, 

 those who hold that physics is the true 

 Scientia Scientiarum, the root of all the 

 sciences which deal with inanimate nature, 

 should feel themselves at home. For, un- 

 less I am led astray by too partial an affec- 

 tion for my own university, there is no- 

 where to be found, in any corner of the 



* Address of the President of the British Asso- 

 ciation for the Advancement of Science, Cam- 

 bridge, 1904. 



