998 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIV. No. 365. 



A notable change has taken place in the 

 character of the meetings of the Associa- 

 tion of OiBficial Agricultural Chemists, which 

 at first was organized chiefly for the unifi- 

 cation of methods of the analysis of com- 

 mercial fertilizers. This branch of the work 

 has now reached such perfection as to require 

 little or no attention. The great work of the 

 Association is now directed toother subjects, 

 especially to investigations, researches and 

 studies of foods and food adulterants. 



The two most important events of this 

 meeting were the reports of the committee 

 on uniform methods of food investigation, 

 of which Dr. W. D. Bigelow, of the Bureau 

 of Chemistry, of the U. S. Department of 

 Agriculture, is chairman, and of the com- 

 mittee on food standards, of which Dr. Wm. 

 Frear, of the State College of Pennsylvania, 

 is chairman. Since nearly all the States 

 have pure food laws, it is of the utmost 

 importance, from both a scientific and a legal 

 standpoint, that uniform methods of inves- 

 tigation be followed and that some definite 

 standards may be fixed whereby the court 

 and jury may follow a uniform method in 

 determining variations from the normal. 



The officers elected for the ensuing year 

 are Dr. H. J-. "Wheeler, Chemist of the 

 Ehode Island Experiment Station, Kings- 

 ton, E. I., president ; Professor R. J. David- 

 son, Chemist of the Virginia Agricultural 

 Experiment Station, Blacksburg, Ya., vice- 

 president ; Dr. H. W. Wiley, Chief of the 

 Bureau of Chemistry, U. S. Department of 

 Agriculture, Washington, D. C, secretary ; 

 Dr. C. G. Hopkins, Chemist of the Illinois 

 Agricultural Experiment Station, Urbana, 

 and Mr. Fred. D. Fuller, Assistant Chemist 

 at the Agricultural Experiment Station of 

 New York, at Geneva, additional members 

 of the executive committee. 



The next meeting of the Association will 

 be held in Washington, at the call of the 

 executive committee, probably in Novem- 

 ber, 1902. H. W. Wiley. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. 

 Tierlehen der Tiefsee. Von Oswald Seeliger, 



Professor der Zoologie an der Universitat 



Rostock. Leipzig,Verlag von Wilhelm Eng- 



elmann. 1901. Pp. 44, 



While it can hardly be claimed that this 

 work is a distinct addition to our knowledge of 

 deep-sea life, it nevertheless serves an impor- 

 tant purpose in presenting a compact resum6 of 

 the more notable facts relating to the animals of 

 the deep and the conditions under which they ex- 

 ist. The author has been fortunate in his method 

 of treatment, which is popular rather than 

 technical, and covers the field as well as could 

 reasonably be expected in the space occupied. 

 There is hardly any 'padding,' and the more 

 technical parts of the work are wisely segre- 

 gated under the heading ' Anmerkungen' at the 

 end. 



An introductory sketch of the development 

 of deep-sea investigation, from the ancient pearl 

 fisheries of the Indian Ocean to the recent Ger- 

 man deep-sea expedition, includes notices of the 

 work of John Ross, Edward Forbes, Michael 

 Sars, Loven, the cable surveys and the result- 

 ant discoveries of animal life in abyssal re- 

 gions, and the expedition under the direction 

 of the naturalist Chun. It is, to say the least, 

 unexpected to find no mention whatever of 

 such notable expeditions as those of the Porcu- 

 pine, Challenger, Travailleur, Blake and Albatross. 

 A similar surprise awaits the reader who pe- 

 ruses the pages devoted to a description of 

 methods and instruments of deep-sea research 

 without finding the slightest mention of the 

 many instruments of precision invented by 

 British and American investigators, such as 

 Sir William Thomson, Alexander Agassiz, Pro- 

 fessor Brooke, and Captains Sigsbee and Tanner 

 of the U. S. navy. 



The discussion of the physical conditions of 

 the deep sea includes a presentation of the more 

 important facts regarding temperature, but pre- 

 sents to greater length the matter of pressure. 

 The author estimates that the total pressure 

 exerted on a human body, if sunk to a depth 

 of 4,000 m. , would equal the weight of ten loaded 

 freight trains, each consisting of an engine, 

 tender and 32 cars. The American reader 

 should remember, however, that these are con- 



