22e 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XII. No. 301 



issued at irregular intervals ; but, as the sources of information are 

 increased, the numbers will appear periodically. The national 

 capital seems to be the natural and appropriate place for an associ- 

 ation of this character, and the aim of the founders has been, there- 

 fore, to form a national rather than a local society. As it is hoped 

 to diffuse as well as to increase knowledge, due prominence will be 

 given to the educational aspect of geographic matters, and efforts 

 will be made to stimulate an interest in original sources of infor- 

 mation. In addition to organizing, holding regular fortnightly meet- 

 ings for presenting scientific and popular communications, and 

 entering upon the publication of a magazine, considerable progress 

 has been made in the preparation of a physical atlas of the United 

 States. The society was organized in January, 1888, under the 

 laws of the District of Columbia, and has at present an active 

 membership of about two hundred persons. But there is no limi- 

 tation to the number of members, and it will welcome both leaders 

 and followers in geographic science, in order to better accomplish 

 the objects of its organization." 



— Lieut. Robert Piatt, U.S.N., has been ordered from the Wash- 

 ington Navy- Yard to command the United States Fish Commis- 

 sion steamer ' Fish Hawk.' 



— As the stormy season on the North Atlantic approaches, the 

 Hydrographic Office at Washington again reminds navigators, in a 

 note on the November Pilot Chart, of the great advantage to be 

 derived from the use of oil to prevent heavy seas from breaking on 

 board. The forcing of the attention of mariners to this subject, so 

 that now no careful master of a vessel goes to sea without provid- 

 ing for the use of oil in storms, has been one of the most impor- 

 tant results of the work of the Hydrographic Office. 



— Prof. Harry King of the Geological Survey has returned to 

 Washington from Clark County, where he has been roughing it, 

 much improved in health. 



— In the summary of Mr. J. W. Osborne's paper on ' Substances 

 Feebly Sensitive to Light,' which appeared in Scie7ice of Oct. 26, the 

 fact that it was read before the Washington Philosophical Society was 

 accidentally omitted. In the same issue, by some slip of the pen 

 or types, Mr. J. B. Smith was represented as saying that he had 

 captured and identified /t7K/- distinct species of June-bugs in the 

 District of Columbia. The number was really twenty. 



— The titles of the papers read at the meeting of the Biological 

 Society of Washington, Nov. 3, were, ' Fossil Wood and Lignites 

 of the Potomac Formation,' by Mr. F. H. Knowlton ; ' Observa- 

 tions on the Modifications of the Gill in Univalve Mollusks,' by W. 

 H. Dall ; ' Characteristics of the Scatophagidce' by Dr. Theo. Gill ; 

 'Description of a New Species of A}-vicola Ixovn the Black Hills 

 of Dakota,' by Dr. C. Hart Merriam. Some notice of the first of 

 these papers will be given in a future number^ of Science, if space 

 permits. 



— At the second meeting for the season of the National Geo- 

 graphic Society at Washington, Nov. 2, the paper of the evening 

 was presented by Mr. Marcus Baker, on ' Classification of Surveys.' 

 Science hopes to give an abstract of this paper in an early issue. 



— The Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science 

 held its first meeting in August of this year. The formation of the 

 association was first suggested by Professor Liversidge of the 

 Sydney University, during the exhibition in Sydney in 1879; but, 

 matters at that time not being considered quite ripe for it, the for- 

 mation of the association was again brought forward through the 

 press in the year 1884. It was then suggested that the first general 

 meeting should be held in Sydney on the one hundredth anniversary 

 of the foundation of the colony, as it was at that time thought there 

 would be an international exhibition in Sydney to celebrate that 

 event. In furtherance of the project, a preliminary meeting of 

 delegates from various scientific societies was held in Sydney in 

 1886 (November), the project having thus early met with the ap- 

 probation and support of the majority of the learned and scientific 

 societies of Australasia. At this meeting the formation of the 

 Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science was 



agreed to unanimously, the rules of the British Association being 

 adopted until the first general meeting. In accordance with a 

 resolution passed at the meeting of delegates, the election of officers 

 for the year 1888 took place in Sydney in March of the present 

 year : Mr. H. C. Russell, B.A., F.R.S., government astronomer of 

 New South Wales, being elected president ; Sir Edward Strickland, 

 K.C.B.. F.R.G.S., honorary treasurer ; and Professor Liversidge, 

 M.A., F.R.S., and Dr. George Bennett, F.L.S., honorary secretaries. 

 The formation of the general council was afterwards proceeded 

 with, each society electing one representative for every hundred of 

 its members. Practically every society coming within the scope of 

 the association has one or more representatives on the general coun- 

 cil. The association is thoroughly Australasian in its character 

 and members, and the succeeding general meetings are to take 

 place in turn in the capitals of the other colonies, the executive of- 

 ficers being elected year by year by the colony in which the meet- 

 ing is held. It has been decided, however, that Sydney shall be the 

 permanent headquarters of the association, and that Professor 

 Liversidge shall be the permanent honorary secretary. The first 

 general meeting was held at the Sydney University, the opening 

 ceremony taking place on Tuesday evening, Aug. 28, when the 

 presidential address was delivered. On the following day the sec- 

 tional meetings commenced ; and all the sections, with one exception, 

 brought their proceedings to a close with the end of the week. 

 About a hundred and ten papers were sent in by gentlemen of dis- 

 tinction in the various branches of science, literature, and art in the 

 different colonies, and a considerable number of the papers are to 

 be published in full in the first volume, soon to be issued by the as- 

 sociation. It may therefore be anticipated that the work done by 

 the association during the first year of its existence is of a highly 

 important and useful character. The more solid work of the meet- 

 ing was lightened by excursions to various places of interest to 

 geologists, botanists, and others, and every effort was made to 

 provide for the entertainment and comfort of visiting members, 

 numerous entertainments being given by leading citizens. It has 

 been decided that the next meeting shall be held in Melbourne, and 

 Baron Sir Ferdinand von Mueller, the government botanist of Vic- 

 toria, is the president-elect for the year. In 1890 the association is 

 to meet in New Zealand. The rules are practically the same as 

 those of the British Association, and, at the time of the meeting, the 

 new association numbered about 850 members. It is confidently 

 anticipated that this number will be considerably augmented, if not 

 actually doubled, by the time the next general meeting is held. 



— " The learning peculiar to the pedagogue ofttimes brings the 

 pedagogue to contempt." In the ' Second Lessons in Arithnrietic * 

 (Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.) we are glad to note that the object of 

 the editor, Mr. H. N. Wheeler, has been to prepare a text-book 

 which, by its method of developing the mind of the learner, by the 

 emphasis that it places on fundamental pruiciples, and by the omis- 

 sion of useless subjects and arithmetical terms known only in the 

 school- room, will meet the wants of those teachers and business- 

 men throughout the United States who demand that the essentials 

 of arithmetic shall be better taught than heretofore, and that the 



non-essentials shall be omitted. Mr. Waiter Besant has written 



a biography of the author of the ' Gamekeeper at Home ' and the 

 ' Amateur Poacher ; ' and this ' Eulogy of Richard Jefferies ' will 

 be shortly published in New York by Longmans, Green, & Co. 

 Mr. Besant has a sympathetic and tender touch, and his account of 

 the struggles of unfortunate Jefferies is pathetic and affecting. 



— The late Prof. Edward Tuckerman made a choice collection 

 of books and papers relating to lichens, some four hundred num- 

 bers in all, which has been presented by Mrs. Tuckerman, in ac- 

 cordance with his own wish, to Amherst College Library. It is 

 proposed to keep the collection by itself, under the name of the 

 ' Tuckerman Memorial Library,' and to make it worthy of the name 

 by making it as complete as possible in its own department. Sup- 

 posing that some persons interested in this specialty might like to 

 assist in maintaining and completing the collection (with the under- 

 standing that it is always available to public use), the librarian of 

 Amherst College, William I. Fletcher, has issued a circular giving 

 opportunity for any who care to do so to contribute, either in money 

 or in material (especially rare monographs that may have escaped 



