66 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIV. No. 341. 



The successive sheets were revised by him and 

 printed off under liis direction ; but at his 

 death some intended articles remained unwrit- 

 ten, although everything up to them had been 

 revised and printed off. Professor Joly testi- 

 fies in his preface that he has found extraordi- 

 nary accuracy both of matter and of printing 

 in the first edition. To the new edition he has 

 added a preface, an index, an analysis of each 

 article in the table of contents, footnotes and 

 an appendix containing more lengthy notes on 

 the following subjects : ' Quaternion Determi- 

 nants,' 'Miscellaneous Properties of Two Lin- 

 ear Vector Functions,' 'The Strain Function,' 

 ' On the Specification of Linear Vector Func- 

 tions,' ' On the General Linear Transformation 

 in Space,' ' On the Theory of Screws,' ' On Fi- 

 nite Displacements,' ' On the Kinematical Treat- 

 ment of Curves,' 'On the Kinematical Ti'eat- 

 ment of Surfaces,' 'On Systems of Eays,' 'On 

 Hamilton's Operator v.' 



It was Abel who said that if one wished to 

 make progress in mathematical science he 

 ought to study the original work of the master 

 rather than the presentations of his pupils. 

 This maxim applies especially to quaternions ; 

 and for facilitating the study of Hamilton's 

 great work the Printing Board of Trinity Col- 

 lege, Dublin, and the editor, Professor Joly, de- 

 serve the thanks of the mathematical World. 

 Alexander Macfarlane. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADE3IIES. 



THE RESEARCH CLTJB OF THE UNIVERSITY OF 

 MICHIGAN. 



The Eesearch Club of the University of 

 Michigan was organized two years ago, its 

 membership being made up from the University 

 Faculties, and its aim being the promotion of 

 research. During the year just closed, the Club 

 has met six times, and its proceedings may be 

 briefly summarized as follows : 



At the fii'st meeting, held in October, 1900, 

 the theme for discussion was ' The Promotion 

 of Research at the University of Michigan.' 

 Dr. Vaughan, President of the Club, addressed 

 the members on the organization and objects of 

 the Club, and closed with remarks on the topic 

 of the evening. Professors Wenley, Ziwet, 



Adams and Reighard spoke by appointment, and 

 they were followed ex tempore by Dr. Hulett, Dr. 

 Bigelow and Dr. Dock. 



At the second meeting, November, 1900, the 

 speakers were Professors Hempl and New- 

 combe. Professor Hempl spoke on the forma- 

 tion of dialect districts in the United States, 

 showing with the help of charts the boundaries 

 of various dialectic differences. The speaker 

 gave concrete examples of variation in the use 

 and iDronunciation of words and phrases, and 

 made some attempt to trace the historical de- 

 velopment of these variations. 



Professor Newcombe narrated his experiments 

 on the sensitive curves made by roots in response 

 to the streaming of water, and in response 

 to contact with a foreign body. It was shown 

 that about one-half of the thirty-three species 

 of plants tested are sensitive to the water-cur- 

 rent, and that of the four water-plants used, 

 none is sensitive. So far as tested, all those 

 plants responding to the water-current re- 

 sponded to the contact of a foreign body, and 

 those not responding to one did not resi:)ond 

 to the other. Hence it is supposed, though not 

 demonstrated, that the response in both cases 

 is response to one-sided pressure. A summary 

 of these results may be found in Science, XIII. 

 (1901), p. 250. 



The third meeting came in January, 1901. 

 Professor Gomberg detailed the experiments 

 which led to his discovery of the trivalency of 

 carbon. Accounts of this work may be found 

 in Jour. Amer. Chem. Soc, 22, 757 ; Ber. d. d. 

 Chem. Gesellsch., 33, 3150; Amer. Chem. Jour., 

 25, 317. Dr. H. S. Jennings stated his results in 

 studying the reactions of infusoi'ia to external 

 stimuli, illustrating his summary with experi- 

 ments, made visible to all present by projection 

 with a lantern. The researches of which Dr. 

 Jennings gave an account have been published 

 in full in various journals, and an abstract ap- 

 peared in Science for January 11, 1901 (XIII., 

 74), in the report of the Zoological Journal Club 

 of the University of Michigan. 



The February meeting listened to papers by 

 Dr. George Dock and Professor W. B. Pills- 

 bury. Dr. Dock described the method of teach- 

 ing internal medicine in the University. The 

 limited time in the medical course makes it 



