September 6, 1901.] 



SCIENCE. 



353 



hundred dollars additional, to aid Mr. Adams in 

 this his final summer's work on this topic. 



The Committee is glad to report an increasing 

 interest in the quantitative study of variation, and 

 especially the establishment by Professors Pearson 

 and Weldon of a new journal — Biometrica — devoted 

 to the results of such study. 



[Signed] Feanz Boas, Chairman, 

 Charles S. Minot, 

 J. McK. Cattell, 



C. H. ElGENMANN, 



C. B. Davenport, Secretary. 



REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE RELA- 

 TION OF PLANTS TO CLIMATE. 



The investigations conducted under the guidance 

 of the committee have been directed toward a study 

 of the thermal relations of vegetation ; an examination 

 of the prevailing methods of meteorological observa- 

 tion in obtaining thermometric data has been made, 

 and it is found that the data so obtained are incapable 

 of direct application in the consideration of the sea- 

 sonal development and distribution of plants. 



As the result of two seasons of thermographic ob- 

 servation in the New York Botanical Garden and in 

 the field in Montana and Idaho, a new method of 

 calibration of the temperature exposures of plants has 

 been formulated. This method is based upon a pro- 

 posed hour degree-unit of temperature. Such unit of 

 temperature may be defined as consisting in a de- 

 parture of one degree Centigrade above or below zero 

 for the period of one hour. The estimation of the 

 number of such units affecting a plant in any given 

 locality is obtained by the measurement of the areas 

 enclosed by the thermographic curve above and below 

 the zero line. 



The number of such units of exposure to which the 

 plants of two localities are subjected have already 

 been estimated, and with incidental results will be 

 presented to this Section at an early session. Thus, 

 for instance, a meadow carpet in the New York 

 Botanical Garden received 78,836 hour-degrees of 

 heat during the year ending April 1, 1901, while the 

 carpet in an adjacent hemlock forest received 68,596 

 hour-degrees of heat during the same period. 



It is believed that the method of procedure out- 

 lined above will afford an exact method of dealing 

 with the relation of plants to the temperatures of 

 their environment, but it will be necessary to extend 

 the observations over a number of years in the same 

 locality in order to establish its usefulness and define 

 incidental amendments. 



The work involved in such observation entails con- 

 stant observation by means of thermograph and 

 much time in the calibration of thermographic curves. 



Your committee asks a further grant of $50 for the 

 furtherance of this work, it being proposed that the 

 sum named shoukl be expended in clerical and me- 

 chanical assistance. A further sum of ^10 is asked 

 for the repair of a thermograph wrecked in some recent 

 field work in this connection, making a request for a 

 total grant of $60. 



The following items of expenditure are presented 

 against the grant of $50 made by the Association to 

 this committee at the meeting of 1900. 

 To freight charges on outfit from New York to 



Priest River, Idaho $24.86 



To hauling same to camp on Priest River, to 



Priest Lake and return 25.00 



To making temporary instrument shelters 



(partial account) H 



Total $50.00 



[Signed] Wm. Trelease, 



John M. Coulter, 

 D. T. MacDougal, 



Committee. 



REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE TEACHING 

 OF ANTHROPOLOGY IN AMERICA. 



To the Council of the A. A. A. S. : Your com- 

 mittee beg to report careful consideration of the 

 matter committed to them. Two meetings have been 

 held since the last report, and one of the committee 

 (Dr. George Grant MacCurdy)has, by authority, pre- 

 pared an account of anthropologic teaching in 

 America during the past year to be presented as a 

 paper before Section H. It is recommended that the 

 committee be continued and empowered to issue 

 circulars relating to the introduction of anthropology 

 in American universities and colleges, provided such 

 circulars have the approval of the Permanent Secre- 

 tary and be issued without cost to the Association. 

 [Signed] W J McGee, Chairman, 



George Grant MacCurdy, 



Frank Russell. 

 August 27, 1901. 



COMMITTEE ON THE ' EMMONS HOUSE 

 MEMORIAL. ' 



The American Association for the Advancement of 

 Science was organized in 1847. It was the organic 

 descendant and enlarged outgrowth from the Associa- 

 tion of American Geologists and Naturalists. The 

 latter body was created in 1842 by the incorporation 

 of the Naturalists within the Association of American 

 Geologists. The Association of American Geologists 

 is therefore to be looked upon as the legitimate or- 

 ganic ancestor of the American Association for the 

 Advancement of Science. 



The circumstances which led up to the organization 

 of the Association of American Geologists are as 

 follows : 



