August 31, i888.] 



SCIENCE 



105 



tain that we have their descendants in the Eskimo, and that they 

 were finally driven north, after contact with the Indians, who, as is 

 conceded by all students, migrated hither, at, archasologically con- 

 sidered, a not exceedingly remote period. The Indian traditions 

 assert that they found the region occupied ; and for once, at least, 

 we have evidence which confirms tradition. 



However others may be impressed by what I have now presented, 

 for myself, as I wander along the pleasant shores of the Delaware 

 River, seeing it but a meagre stream between high banks in mid- 

 summer, or in winter swollen and choked with ice until these 

 are almost hidden, I recall wliat time this same stream was the 

 mighty channel of glacial floods, pouring seaward from the moun- 

 tains beyond, and picture the primitive hunter of that ancient time, 

 armed with but a sharpened stone, in quest of unwary game. And 

 later, when the floods had abated and the waters filled but the 

 channel of to-day, I recall that more skilful folk who with spear and 

 knife captured whatsoever creature their needs demanded, — the 

 earlier and later chippers of argillite. 



These pass ; and the Indian, with his jasper, quartz, copper, and 

 polished stone, looms up as the others fade away. His history, 

 reaching forward almost to the present, I leave in the hands of 

 others to record. 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS IN WASHINGTON. 



A Great Medical Meeting m be held in W.ashington. — Intere.^ling to 

 Mariners : a Simple Method of computing a Ship's Course and as- 

 certaining her Distance sailed on die Great Circle between the Point 

 of Departure and the Point of Destination, about to be published 

 by the Hydrographic Office : a Valuable Set of Charts nearly com- 

 pleted. — Terrible Death Rates in India. 



The First American Medical Congress. 



THli first triennial meeting of the Congress of American Physi- 

 cians and Surgeons will begin in Washington, Sept. i8, and will 

 continue three days. Three years ago one of the societies consti- 

 tuting the congress conceived the idea of bringing together once in 

 three years representatives of the great medical societies of the 

 country. The plan was presented to all of them, and indorsed by 

 ten. These eleven societies, in accordance with the general plan 

 suggested, each appointed one of their number to constitute an ex- 

 ecutive committee. The committee met, and decided that an asso- 

 ciation should be formed with the name given above. 



This committee is composed as follows, the names of the socie- 

 ties they represent being appended : C. M. Martin, Mobile, Ameri- 

 can Surgical 'Association ; John P. Bryson, St. Louis, Genito-Urin.?.ry 

 Surgeons; J. Soils Cohen. Philadelphia, American Laryngological 

 Association ; A. L. Loomis, New York, American Climatological 

 Association ; William Pepper, Philadelphia, Association of Ameri- 

 can Physicians ; William H. Carmalt, New Haven, American Oto- 

 logical Society ; William F. Norris, Philadelphia, American Ophthal- 

 mological Society; L. C. Gray. New York, American Neurological 

 Association ; J. E. Atkinson, Baltimore, American Dermatological 

 Association ; H. P. Bowditch, American Physiological Society ; 

 N. M. Shaffer, New York, American Orthopedic Association. 



The comtnittee also determtned that a meeting should be held in 

 this city once in three years : the September session will therefore 

 be the first. It is also proposed that the several societies constitut- 

 ing the congress shall bold their annual meetings at the same time, 

 each being conducted according to its own special programme. 

 This will make the occasion one of the most important to the 

 medical profession of the United States that has ever occurred. 

 The separate societies will each hold meetings twice a day, while 

 the meeting of the congress will take place on Tuesday, Wednes- 

 -day, and Thursday evenings. 



The topics for discussion at the three meetings of the congress 

 will be as follows ; on Tuesday evening, ' Intestinal Obstruction in 

 its Medical and Surgical Relations ' (Drs. R. H. Fiiz of Boston, and 

 Nicholas Semm of Milwaukee, will open the discussion, and they 

 will be followed by others whom the executive committee may 

 designate); on Wednesday. 'Cerebral Localization in its Practical 

 Relations' (Dr. Charles H. Mills of Philadelphia, and Dr. Roswell 

 Park of Buffalo, will open the discussion, and they will be followed 



by Mr. Victor Horsley and Professor Ferrier, of London, Eng.) ; 

 on Thursday evening the congress will meet in the hall of the Na- 

 tional Museum, and Dr. John S. Billings, U.S.A., of Washington, 

 president of the congress, will deliver an address on ' Medical Mu- 

 seums.' At the close of this session a reception will be given in the 

 Army Medical Museum building, to which members and invited 

 guests, their wives and daughters, will be invited. 



In addition to the reception on Thursday evening, a complimen- 

 tary dinner will be given to the guests of the congress by the mem- 

 bers, on Monday evening, at Willard's Hotel. .Some of these invited 

 guests are as follows : Sir Spencer Wells ; Sir Andrew Clark ; Sir 

 William McCormac ; Drs. W. O. Priestly, William Ord, and Grain- 

 ger Stewart ; Mr. Lawson Lait ; Mr. Victor Horsley ; Mr. Thomas 

 Bryant; Mr. Thomas Annandale; Professors Ferrier, Esmarch, 

 and Gerhardt ; Drs. Rafael Lavista of Mexico, J. L. Reverdin of 

 Geneva, O. W. Holmes and H. J. Bowditch of Boston, Joseph 

 Leidy of Philadelphia, W. Kingston and Eccles of Canada. 



An informal collation will also be served at Willard's Hotel from 

 ten to twelve o'clock Tuesday evening, to which only members of 

 the congress, and other physicians who may be in the city, will be 

 invited. The following-named gentlemen compose the committee 

 of arrangements for the meeting: Samuel C. Busey (chairman), J. 

 Ford Thoinpson, R. T. Edes, E. C. Morgan, W. W.Johnston, and 

 S. O. Ricbey. of Washington; J. E. Atkinson, H. Newell Martin, 

 and Samuel Theobald, of Baltimore ; A. Sydney Roberts of Phila- 

 delphia; and A. T. Cabot of Boston. 



Neither the congress nor the individual societies will transact any 

 business during the meeting. The object of the congress and of 

 the several societies is the consideration of subjects pertaining to 

 medical science. The discussion of medical ethics and kindred 

 topics, even, is excluded. The congress will not even elect officers. 

 Dr. Billings has been chosen by the executive committee to preside, 

 and the presiding officer of the next congress will be selected by 

 one of the societies represented in the congress. The object of the 

 gathering may be more definitely stated to be to consider and dis- 

 cuss professional topics of a scientific nature, and nothing else will 

 be brought to the attention of the members. The expenses of the 

 congress will be paid by the members, whcse contributions will all 

 be voluntary. Headquarters for the registration of members will be 

 opened at Willard's Hotel on the Saturday preceding. Dr. Busey 

 expects that there will be an attendance of about five hundred 

 members. Three other medical societies not connected with the 

 congress will hold their annual sessions in Washington at the same 

 time. They are the American Gynecological Society, the Ameri- 

 can Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the Pedia- 

 tric Society. 



' Recent Developments in Great -Circle Sailing.' 



In view of the increasing recognition among mariners of the 

 sound principle of conducting a ship along the arc of the great cir- 

 cle joining the points of departure and destination, and of the great 

 advantages to be gained by a knowledge of this branch of nautical 

 science, a work bearing the above title has been prepared in the 

 Hydrographic Office, which has for its object the collection into one 

 volume of all the analytical processes, and a description of all charts 

 and devices which have been constructed, for the navigation of the 

 great-circle track. It thus forms a'history of the development of 

 methods of great-circle navigation, and reveals the present state of 

 the science, and is also a treatise on the subject, so arranged as to 

 give a clear conception of each method, and to form a directory to 

 sources where more extended information may be found. 



The work presents the methods, among others, of Towsen, Airy, 

 Chauvenet, Lieutenant Hilleret (French Navy). Commander C. D. 

 Sigsbee, U.S..'\., and Mr. Gustave Herrle of the United States Hy- 

 drographic Office. The latter method is undoubtedly the simplest 

 yet found for practical use in great-circle sailing. 



The simplicity of the methods necessary for navigating the really 

 circuitous track of the Mercator projection, and the long duration 

 of its usage, have so popularized them with seamen, that no method 

 of handling charts dissimilar to them will be received with favor. 

 Another essential consideration in the construction of great-circle 

 sailing-charts is a method that enables one to measure the course 

 and distance, from the actual position of the vessel, independently 



