i8o 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XII. No. 297 



Five chapters were admitted to membership. The first day of the 

 convention was devoted to committee-meetings, addresses, and 

 reading of papers. In the evening a reception and banquet was 

 tendered to the delegates by Chapter 700, at the home of Miss 

 Crane. The second morning was given to the president's address, 

 competition for diplomas, reading of papers on modes of work, and 

 exhibition of specimens. In the afternoon the assembly visited the 

 Iowa State Hospital for the Insane, and were shown through the 

 institution by Dr. F. P. Peck, who in the evening delivered before 

 the assembly a very interesting and profitable lecture entitled 

 ' Notes on the Anatomy of the Brain.' The usual convention 

 picture was taken durmg the afternoon. The third and last day of 

 the convention was devoted, in the morning, to the reading of 

 papers, debate, and miscellaneous business ; in the afternoon, to 

 awarding the diplomas, general business, and election of officers. 

 Diplomas awarded for the best records of work done during 1887- 

 88 were as follows : first, to Chapter 653, of Oskaloosa ; second, to 

 Chapter 20, Fairfield : third, to Chapter 812, Davenport. Oflicers 

 elected were: John G. Speilman, Chapter 20, Fairfield, president; 

 Fred B. Palmer, Chapter 653, Oskaloosa, vice-president ; Fred M. 

 Irish, Chapter 285, Dubuque, 2d vice-president ; Miss Olive Cole, 

 Chapter 700, Mount Pleasant, secretary ; Belmont A. Goam, Mount 

 Pleasant, continuing in office as treasurer. Oskaloosa was chosen 

 as the place of the next convention. Enough praise cannot be 

 given to the members of the entertaining chapter, A. A. 700, for 

 their hospitality and good management, which has made the fifth 

 annual convention of the Iowa Assembly of the Agassiz Associa- 

 tion a meeting which will never be forgotten. 



— The Congress of Americanists, devoted to researches into the 

 pre-Columbian history of this continent and into the languages and 

 character of its aboriginal tribes, met in Berlin on the 2d instant. 

 We may be able to give some account of the proceedings in a 

 future number. The next meeting will be held in Paris in 1889. 

 It is hoped that arrangements may be made for a meeting of this 

 learned body in the United States. An error occurred in the tele- 

 graphic announcement of the opening, last week, which mentioned 

 " Horatio Hale of Clinton, Ontario," as among the members present. 

 Mr. Hale was not able to be present, but sent a communication to 

 be read by another member. The appearance of his name in the 

 printed list of contributors doubtless led to the error. 



— One of the annoyances connected with the use of instruments 

 containing lenses, in the e.\amination of the cavities of the body, is 

 due to the fact that they become dim by the deposition of moisture. 

 Dr. Stocquart claims that this can be prevented by spreading a 

 drop of glycerine on the lens. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 

 A Notable Evolution. 

 Your number of Sept. 7 coming to hand yesterday, I find in it a 

 letter under the above title, from Mr. E. P. Powell, that seems 

 likely to mislead those not informed on the subject. After the 

 statement that " every one knows what a clumsy singer " the robin 

 is, it goes on to describe the peculiar musical powers now noted in 

 some few individuals. The mere fact of such great rapidity occur- 

 ring in the robin's musical evolution would of itself cause suspicion 

 that the former state had not been well observed. Now, the fact 

 is, that the robin is not, and for several years has not been, a 

 clumsy singer, when it wishes to exert itself. That it is not as con- 

 stant a songster as the majority of song-birds may be accounted 

 for by its lazy habits, remarked by Mr. Powell. It is quite true 

 that its more common notes are quite unmusical in character, but 

 in noting any song-evolution it will not do to overlook its other, not 

 infrequent song. It is now some fourteen years since I first began 

 to collect birds and study them in a practical manner. I am posi- 

 tive that at the beginning of that time the robin was no mean song- 

 ster. From five to seven o'clock in a summer or early fall evening 

 it is an almost daily occurrence for them to take their stand on the 

 topmost bough of some tall tree, and for an hour or more pour forth 

 a flood of melody. This song isn't a repetition of a " rough seesaw 

 note," but a variety of very liquid notes rendered in a most musi- 

 cal manner. Nor is this song confined alone to the evenings, but 



may often be heard dunng the day. Such, at least, were the rob- 

 ins of Rochester, N.Y., and many other localities with which I was 

 familiar for the past fourteen years. Whether any change has taken 

 place there within the past year, 1 cannot say, for I have not been 

 within hearing distance of a robin for that time. 



Mr. Powell's stricture on Professor Baird's remark about the 

 catbird strikes me as a trifle unfair. It can't be supposed that 

 Professor Baird was unacquainted with the mimicking-powers of 

 this bird. The merest tyro in ornithology, who lives anywhere in 

 their vicinity, must be acquainted with this. What Professor Baird 

 stated was perfectly true as far as it went ; for their ' mewing ' is 

 the characteristic note : hence the name ' catbird.' 



Henry L. Ward. 



Tacubaya, D.F., Mex., Sept. 20. 



The Zodiacal Light. 



A DISCUSSION of the long series of observations on the zodiacal 

 light by Heiss and Weber (1843-83), and also a ten-year series by 

 Backhouse, having shown a clear connection between the extent of 

 the zodiacal light and the condition of the solar surface, as is shown 

 in the following curves drawn from observations made by Back- 

 house, in which the heavy line indicates the mean yearly elongation 



of the zodiacal light, and the light line the course of Wolf's relative 

 sunspot numbers, I am, for the sake of other connections foreshad- 

 owed, anxious to obtain as many observations of the zodiacal light 

 as possible. The material is, however, badly scattered, and com- 

 pels me to ask through your columns that any who know the 

 whereabouts of such observations would kindly call them to my 

 attention. O. T. SHERMAN. 



Baltimore. Md., Sept. 29. 



Periodicity of Thunder-Storms. 



The researches of Von Bezold in regard to a periodicity of thun- 

 der-storms corresponding to the time of the rotation of thf sun, 

 referred to in Science for Oct. 5, on p. 167, corroborate the results 

 secured by the writer. In certain years this periodicity becomes 

 more evident. In 1886 for months together it was very plainly ap- 

 parent upon the most cursory examination. In other years more 

 complete information from wider areas has been necessary in order 

 to bring it out clearly. It seems to me strange that any one should 

 ignore facts because their full significance may not be clearly un- 

 derstood at present. The note which you publish in regard to Von 

 Bezold shows that he was inclined to do this, and this tendency ap- 

 pears to be specially difficult to overcome in the investigation of 

 this subject. M. A. Veeder, 



Lyons, NY., Sept. 8. 



