November 8, 1901.] 



SCIENCE. 



717 



used simultaneously may be able to accom- 

 plish what no one of them could do. Tliis 

 is beautifully illustrated in a theory com- 

 municated to me by F. W. Franklaud, using 

 a cosmic medium in which small regions of 

 elliptic and hyperbolic space alternate, given 

 a strain toward parabolic space which pro- 

 duces an elasticity or resilience simulating 

 the properties with which physicists have 

 endowed their hypothetical ether. 



George Bruce Halsted. 

 University of Texas. 



THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOB THE 

 ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 



SECTION H, ANTHROPOLOGY. 



The effect of environment on the success 

 of a meeting was well demonstrated at Den- 

 ver. Local interest in the Section of An- 

 thropology, fostered by the Colorado Cliff 

 Dwellings' Association, had reached such 

 a pitch even in advance of the opening ses- 

 sion that the small room originally intended 

 for the Section was abandoned for one with 

 a seating capacity of 200. This large room 

 was converted into a bazaar of rare aborig- 

 inal ceramics, Navajo blankets, basketry 

 and pictures of Indian scenes by a commit- 

 tee from the Cliff Dwellings Association 

 consisting of Mrs. J. D. Whitmore, Mrs. G. 

 T. Sumner and Mrs. W. S. Peabody, all of 

 Denver. 



The meeting was memorable for sus- 

 tained interest. The attendance was un- 

 precedented, averaging at least 150 for the 

 morning sessions ; the afternoon audiences 

 were also large. 



Section H was organized on Monday 

 morning, August 26, after the adjournment 

 of the General Session, in accordance with 

 the provisions of the constitution. The 

 officers for the Denver meeting were as fol- 

 lows : 



Vice-President, J. Walter Fewkes. 

 Secretary, George Grant MacCurdy. 



Sectional Committee: A. W. Butler, vice-president, 

 Sectiou H, 1900 ; Frank Russell, secretary, Section 

 H, 1900; J. Walter Fewkes, vice-president. Section 

 H, 1901 ; George Grant MacCurdy, secretary, Section 

 H, 1901 ; Mrs. M. L. D. Putnam, Frank W. Black- 

 mar, G. A. Dorsey. 



SInnber of Council, W J McGee. Memier of General 

 Committee, Mrs. W. S. Peabody. 



Retiring Vice-president Butler's address, 

 entitled, ' A Notable Factor in Social De- 

 geueracy,' was delivered Monday afternooQ. 

 It was printed in Science of September 20. 



The titles of papers presented before the 

 Section are accompanied by brief abstracts 

 in so far as it has been possible to secure 

 these from the authors. 



1. ' Exhibit of Curves of Speech ' : E. W. 

 Scripture. 



An exhibit of a series of plates containing 

 the curves of vibration traced from a gram- 

 oplume plate containing Rip Van Winkle's 

 Toast spoken by Joseph JeffersOn. In the 

 absence of the author, the paper was pre- 

 sented by Mr. MacCurdy. It will be printed 

 in Scripture's ' Elements of Experimental 

 Phonetics.' 



2. 'Influences of Racial Characteristics 

 on Socialization': Frank W. Blackmar. 



Racial characteristics are the great 

 barriers that prevent a complete sociali- 

 zation of the human race ; the race idea, 

 or consciousness on the part of two groups 

 of people that they are different in origin 

 and structure is a detriment to perfect 

 social union ; a transition from the old 

 family, or ethnographic, status to the 

 modern, or demographic, society has been 

 exceedingly difficult ; the race idea has 

 been the hindering cause in the progress of 

 democracy ; the historical examples of the 

 social difficulties of Greece, Rome the Iro- 

 quois tribes and the Aztec federation ; the 

 difficulties of socialization appear in the 

 development of homogeneous society in 

 large cities ; difficulties arising from an 

 attempt to socialize widely divergent races ; 

 when common marriage relations are pro- 



