SCIENCE 



EniTOEiAL Committee : S. Newcomb, Mathematics ; E. S. Woodwaed, Mechanics ; E. C. Piokkeinq ; 



Astronomy; T. C. Mbndenhall, Physios; R. H. Thueston, Engineering; lEA Eemsen, Chemistry; 



J. Le CONTE, Geology; W. M. Davis, Physiography; Heney F. Osboen, Paleontology; W. K. 



Beooks, C. Haet Meeeiam, Zoology; S. H. Scuddke, Entomology; C. E. Bessey, N. L. 



Beitton, Botany; C. S. Minot, Embryology, Histology; H. P. Bowditch, Physiology; 



J. S. Billings, Hygiene ; J. McKeen Cattkll, Psychology; 



J. W. Powell, Anthropology. 



Feidat, January 19, 1900. 



CONTENTS: 



The Century' s Progress in Applied ifathematics, II. : 

 Peofessoe R. S. Woodwaed 81 



Cruise of the Albatross, II. : Dr. A. Agassiz 92 



The Twelfth Annual 3Ieeting of the Geological So- 

 ciety of America, I. : Peofessoe J. F. Kemp.. 98 



Scientific Books : — 



Serschel on Frontinus and the Water Supply of 

 the City of Borne : Peofessoe Mansfield 

 Meeeiman. Blatchley's Gleanings from Na- 

 ture : S. H. S. The Liverpool 3Iarine Biological 

 Committee's Memoirs : Peofessoe Wm. E. 

 RiTTEE. General 106 



Scientific Journals and Articles 109 



Societies and Academies : — 



Section of Geology and Mineralogy of the New 

 York Academy of Sciences : Db. Alexis A- 

 JULIEN. 27(6 Anthropological Society of Wash- 

 ington : Db. J. H. McOoemick 110 



Discussion and Correspondence : — 



Homologies of the Wing-veins of Hymenoptera : 



CHAELES ROBEBTSON 112 



Notes on Inorganic Cliemistry : J. L. H 113 



Current Notes on Meteorology : — 



The West Indian Hurricane of August, 1899 ; Re- 

 cent Publications : E. Dec. Waed 114 



Recent Zoopaleontology : — 

 Adaptive Radiation of the Camels and Llamas ; 

 Pliocene Hyrax ; Exploration for Dinosaurs ; Ear 

 Bones of Marsupials ; The Fins of Ichthyosaurus : 



H. F. 115 



Agricultural Experiment Stations 116 



Scientific: Notes and News 117 



University and Educational News 119 



MSS. Intended for publication and book!, etc., intended 

 for review should be sent to the responsible editor, Profes- 

 8or J. McKeen Cattail, Garrison-on-Hudson, N. Y. 



THE CENTURY'S PROGRESS IN APPLIED 



MATHEMATICS. 



II. 



Another question of widely general, and 

 of peculiar mathematical interest, is the 

 problem first attacked by Fourier, of the 

 distribution and consequent effects of the 

 earth's internal heat. The most interest- 

 ing phase of this question is that which re- 

 lates to the time that has elapsed since the 

 crust of the earth became stable and suffi- 

 ciently cool to support animal life. It is 

 now nearly forty years since Lord Kelvin* 

 startled geologists especially by telling them 

 that Fourier's theory of heat conduction for- 

 bids anything like such long intervals of 

 time as they were in the habit of assigning 

 to the aggregate of paleontological phe- 

 nomena. On several occasions since then 

 Kelvin has restated his arguments with a 

 cogency that has silenced most geologists if 

 it has not convinced most mathematicians. 

 Quite recently, however, the question has 

 become somewhat less one-sided, since ge- 

 ologists and paleontologists are beginning 

 to defend their positionsf while that of 



* In a memoir ' On the secular cooling of the 

 earth,' Trans. Royal Society of Edinburgh, 1862. 

 Republished in Kelvin and Tait's Treatise on Na- 

 tural Philosophy, appendix D. Kelvin's latest paper 

 on this subject is entitled ' The age ot the earth as 

 an abode fitted for life,' and is published in Philo- 

 sophical Magazine, January, 1899 ; also in Science, 

 May 12, 1899. 



t See Professor!'. C. Chamberlin's paper, "Lord 



