Febedaey 2, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



189 



or represented by few examples and these re- 

 duced in size and starved. 



J. W. Daniels described ' Zoological Collect- 

 ing in Cuba ' speaking of the richness of the 

 fauna and the diflBculties that attended the work 

 owing to the thickness of the vegetation. 



E. L. Morris presented ' a Kevision of the 

 Species of Plantago, commonly referred to P. 

 Patagonica Jacq.' stating that a number of dis- 

 tinct species had been combined under this 

 name or its variety gnaphatioides, some of which 

 were as yet undescribed. The species could 

 be divided into two groups, distinguished by 

 the form of the bracts, Plantago Patagonica, the 

 speaker stated did not occur in North America. 

 T. W. Stanton, 



Secretary. 



WASHINGTON CHEMICAL SOCIETY. 



The regular meeting was held on January 

 11, 1900. The following officers were elected 

 for the ensuing year : ' President, Dr. H. C. 

 Bolton ; Vice-Presidents, Mr. V. K. Chesnut, 

 Dr. Peter Fireman ; Secretary, Mr. William H. 

 Krug ; Treasurer, Mr. W. P. Cutter ; Executive 

 Committee, the above oiBcers and Messrs. Wirt 

 Tassin, E. E. Ewell, H. N. Stokes, F. K. 

 Cameron and W. F. Hillebrand. 



William H. Keug, 



Secretary. 



THE NEW YORK SECTION OF THE AMERICAN 

 CHEMICAL SOCIETY. 



In addition to the program as announced 

 for the January meeting of the New York Sec- 

 tion of the American Chemical Society, Dr. 

 George F. Barker, of the University of Penn- 

 sylvania and a past president of the Society, 

 was present and made a very interesting ad- 

 dress on the more recent developments growing 

 out of the Rontgeu ray investigations, describ- 

 ing and exhibiting a sample of radium or 

 ' Radio- Active Substance A,' as named by the 

 German chemists who are working on the sub- 

 ject. Tbis substance emits rays which cause an 

 impression of feeble phosphorescence to the eye, 

 but which are not light. In other words, they 

 are rays which cannot be reflected nor refracted. 

 Nor can they be prevented from acting on a 



photographic sensitive plate by three thick- 

 nesses of black paper added to as many thick- 

 nesses of orange yellow paper ; and images 

 were shown on a plate which had been made 

 through all this thickness of protective cover- 

 ing. 



Few people have had the opportunity of see- 

 ing this substance, and Professor Barker's ad- 

 dress was listened to with the closest attention. 



Mr. Allen Hazen exhibited lantern slides 

 ' Illustrating Filters for Purifying Public Water 

 Supplies,' many of them taken in diflerent for- 

 eign cities, but the largest number showing the 

 process of construction and the finished work of 

 the immense covered filter beds at Albany, 

 which are capable of delivering about 9,000,000 

 gallons a day. 



J. A. Mathews read a paper on ' Laboratory 

 Method for Continuous and Uniform Generation 

 of Acetylene audits Purification' and 'Upon 

 the Carbide of Gold'; C. W. Volney, 'On the 

 Reactions of Alkalis with the Cellulose Nitrates. 



Dr. McMurtrie, the recently elected presi- 

 dent of the society at large, was present, and 

 made a short address, expressing his apprecia- 

 tion of the honor conferred by his election, and 

 the hope that he would receive the hearty co- 

 operation of all the Sections of the Society. 



Nearly one hundred members and friends 

 were present, and the first meeting of the new 

 year gives promise of increasing interest and 

 enthusiasm in the work of the Section and of 

 the Chemists' Club, the rooms of which prove so 

 satisfactory for the purposes of the Club as well 

 as for the meetings. 



DuEAND Woodman, 



Secretary. 



ZOOLOGICAL CLUB, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO. 

 MEETINGS OF OCTOBER AND NOVEMBER, 1899. 



At the first session of the Club on October 

 18th a paper entitled, " The Significance of the 

 'Spiral Type' of Cleavage'' was read by Mr. C. 

 M. Child. The paper was the result of ob- 

 servations upon the cleavage of Arenicola and 

 Sternaspis supported by a comparison with the 

 cleavage of other forms which show the same 

 type. The principal points urged are briefly 

 as follows : the cleaving egg must be re- 

 garded as an organism, not merely as a cell 



