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, November 11, 1904. 



COHfTEWTS: 

 Development of Morpliological Conceptions: 

 Peofessor John M. Coultee 617 



The Concepts and Methods of Sociology : Pro- 

 FESSOE Franklin H. Giddings 624 



Recent Advances in the Analysis of the 

 Earth's Permanent Magnetic Field: Dr. L. 

 A. Batjek 634 



Scientific Books: — 



Thorndike's Educational Psychology : Pro- 

 fessor H. Austin Aikins. Some Recent 

 Literature on the Stony Corals: Dr. T. 

 Wayxand Vaughan 644 



Societies and Academies: — 



The New York Academy of Sciences, Sec- 

 tion of Biology: De. M. A. Bigelow 648 



Discussion and Correspondence : — 



The Earliest Mention of Fossil Fishes: 

 Dr. C. R. Eastman. Paleontologia Uni- 

 versalis: Professor Charles Schuchert. 

 A Proposed Geographic Dictionary: Dr. 

 Cleveland Abbe, Jr. Amoehce for the 

 Laboratory: Dr. A. W. Wetsse. Do 

 Rhisopods die a Natural Death? Professor 

 L. C. WooSTER. Body Temperature: C. P. 

 Langwoethy. Mathematics and Metar 

 physics : Peofessoe A. Hall 648 



Special Articles: — 



What is an Electric Current 9 Professor 

 Francis E. Nipher 651 



Scientific Notes and News 652 



Educational Notes and Neics 655 



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

 foT review should be sent to the Editor of Science, Garri- 

 so '-nn-Hndson, N. Y 



DEVELOPMENT OF MORPHOLOGICAL 



CONCEPTIONS.* 



Any outline of the progress of biology 

 during the century commemorated by this 

 exposition that is compressed within a sin- 

 gle address must be either inadequate or 

 must restrict itself to some single point of 

 view. The latter alternative must be the 

 one chosen, not only on account of the 

 vastness of the material, but chiefly that 

 personal experience may give some value 

 to the presentation. In the present ad- 

 dress, therefore, certain limitations become 

 necessary, and in this case they are very 

 natural. 



In the first place, it would be presump- 

 tuous in me to include zoology in any re- 

 view of progress, for botanists, as a rule, 

 are strictly limited by their material, and 

 have never confounded botany with biology. 

 It is true that such subjects as morphology 

 and physiology are not to be limited by 

 any barrier that may be set up between 

 plants and animals, but it is also true that 

 the material and literature with which one 

 is familiar do not often cross this barrier. 

 At the same time, I think it must be recog- 

 nized that botany and zoology have been 

 mutually stimulating, every real advance 

 in the one having given an impetus to the 

 other, and that, as a consequence, their 

 progress has been largely along parallel 

 lines. Hence a review of any phase of the 

 progress of the one may serve as an indica- 

 tion of the progress of the other. 



* Addi-ess delivered at the International Con- 

 gress of Arts and Science, St. Louis, September, 

 1904. 



