540 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIV. No. 353. 



Glasgow meetings of 1855 and 1876, the Glasgow 

 Exposition and the previous meeting of the In- 

 ternational Engineering Congress having appar- 

 ently interfered with the number of new annual 

 members and associates. 



The following grants for scientific purposes 

 amounting to £1,000 were made : 



Mathematics and Physics.— 'Eleotncal standards, 

 £40 ; seismological observations, £35 ; investigation 

 of the upper atmosphere by means of kites, £75 ; mag- 

 netic observations at Falmouth, £80. 



Chemistry. — Relation betvreen absorption spectra 

 and constitution of organic substances, £20 ; wave 

 length tables, £5 ; properties of metals and alloys af- 

 fected by dissolved gases, £40. 



Geology. — Photographs of geological interest, £5 ; 

 life zones in British carboniferous rocks, £10 ; explo- 

 ration of Irish caves, £45. 



Zoology. — Table at the Zoological Station, Naples, 

 £100 ; index generum et specierum animalium, £100 ; 

 migration of birds, £15 ; structure of coral reefs of 

 Indian region, £50 ; compound sascidians of the Clyde 

 area, £25. 



Geography. — Terrestrial surface vraves, £15. 



Economic Science and Statistics. — Legislation regu- 

 lating vForaen's labor, £30. 



Mechanical Science. — Small screw-gauge, £20 ; re- 

 sistance of road vehicles to traction, £50. 



Anthropology. — Silchester excavation, £5 ; ethnolog- 

 ical survey of Canada, £15 ; age of stone circles, 

 £30 ; anthropological teaching, £3 ; exploration in 

 Crete, £100 ; anthropometric investigations of native 

 Egyptian s.oldiers, £15 ; excavations on the Roman 

 site at Gelligaer, £5. 



Physiology. — Changes in hsemoglobin, £15 ; work of 

 mammalian heart under influence of drugs, £20. 



Botany. — Investigations of the cyanophycene, £10 ; 

 the respiration of plants, £15. 



Educational Science. — Reciprocal influence of uni- 

 versities and schools, £5 ; conditions of health es- 

 sential to carrying on work in schools, £2. 



TEE FRENCH ASSOCIATION FOB THE AD- 

 VANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 



Information in regard to the annual meet- 

 ings of the French Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science is not easy to obtain. The 

 secretaries do not answer letters addressed to 

 them, and the French journals contain very in- 

 adequate reports of the proceedings. The 

 Bevue Scientifique does indeed publish annually 

 the address of the president and the reports of 

 the secretary and treasurer. None of the 



French" journals, however, gives the programs^ 

 and officers, or similar information. 



The meeting this year was held at Ajaccio, 

 in the Island of Corsica — the date is not given 

 in any of the French journals at hand — and the 

 president was M. E. T. Hamy, whose address 

 was on ' The Beginnings of Anthropology in 

 France. ' The report of the secretary contains 

 practically nothing but a list of the more emi- 

 nent members who have died during the year, 

 and a list of those on whom prizes and honors 

 have been conferred. The report of the treas- 

 urer is the only document that gives us in- 

 formation in regard to the workings of the 

 Association. This bears witness to transactions 

 of considerable magnitude. The permanent 

 funds of the Association amount to about 

 $270,000. They were increased last year by 

 three legacies amounting to $6,500, and two 

 legacies have already been received this year, 

 one of which amounts to $6,000, It seems 

 strange that in France, where comparatively 

 so little is given or bequeathed for public 

 purposes, the French Association has been 

 given a considerable endowment which is 

 continually increased, whereas the American 

 Association receives practically no part of 

 the large sums that are annually given or 

 bequeathed for educational and scientific 

 purposes. It seems almost certain that if 

 those who give money understand the needs of 

 our Association, and the fact that the French 

 Association from the income of its invested 

 funds is able to support over fifty researches, 

 the American Association will soon be placed 

 in the same condition. As regards current in- 

 come from the members and its relation to the 

 expenses, the American Association compares 

 favorably with that of France. Though the 

 French Association carries on its books a very 

 large number of members, many of them ap- 

 parently do not pay the annual fees, for the 

 total receipts are only $9,000, whereas the ex- 

 penses of administration and publication are 

 over $10,000, and the cost of the meeting last 

 year was $3,000. For this meeting the City of 

 Paris made a special subsidy. 



Among the researches for which the largest 

 appropriations have been made are : M. Tur- 

 pan, for work on Hertzian waves ; M. Cheval- 



