352 



SCIENCE, 



[N. S. Vol. XI. No. 270. 



guidance into the micropyle to such stimulus. 

 Dr. MacDougal remarked upon recent conclu- 

 sions that pollen tubes show negative reactions 

 to oxygen, but positive to sugars, and to albumi- 

 noid substances in the ovary or near the em- 

 bryo-sac. Edwaed S. Buegess, 



Secretary. 



THE NEW YORK SECTION OF THE AMERICAN 

 CHEMICAL SOCIETY. 



The February meeting of the New York 

 Section of the American Chemical Society was 

 held at the Chemist's Club, 108 West 55th 

 street, on Friday evening, the 9th inst., Dr. C. 

 F. McKenna presiding. After consideration of 

 a series of resolutions submitted by the Com- 

 mittee on Standards for Instruments of Meas- 

 ure, the following papers were read : ' The 

 Technical Analysis of Rope and Twine,' by 

 Durand Woodman ; 'A New Synthesis in the 

 Phen-Miazin Series,' by Marston Taylor Bogert; 

 ' On the History of Photo-Chemical Improve- 

 ments,' by Maximilian Toch. 



Dr. Woodman described the chief commercial 

 grades of Cordage, 'oiled' and 'unoiled,' 'tar- 

 red,' ' plumbagoed,' etc., and exhibited samples 

 of manila, sisal and jute fiber with analyses; 

 also analyses of the different grades of rope 

 above mentioned. 



Dr. Bogert described a new method of pre- 

 paring the salts of the Phen-miazin series as 

 developed in the organic laboratories of Co- 

 lumbia University, which consists in heating 

 anthranilic acid with any nitrile in a sealed 

 tube for several hours at a temperature of 200 

 degrees to 250 degrees C, according to the 

 nitrile used. Since many foreign chemists, as 

 well as several in this country, are workiug on 

 this same subject, it is very gratifying to have 

 a successful result on a new line of experiment 

 from the University in this city. 



Mr. Maximilian Toch described chiefly the 

 progress in photo-chemistry, and illustrated the 

 method of printing and developing some of the 

 more rapid bromide papers. His paper was 

 listened to with great attention and was fol- 

 lowed by remarks and reminiscences from sev- 

 eral members dueand Woodman, 



Secretary. 



the academy of SCIENCE OF ST. LOUIS. 



At the meeting of the Academy of Science of 

 St. Louis of February 5, 1900, some 250 per- 

 sons were given a demonstration of the use of 

 the microscope in the sciences, arts and indus- 

 tries, by experts, under the direction of Dr. H. 

 M. Whelpley, as follows : 



Anatomy, Dr. R. J. Terry ; Bacteriology, Dr. 

 Amand Ravold ; Blood examination, Dr. Ludwig 

 Bremer ; Botany, Mr. H. F. Roberts ; Diseases 

 of forest trees, Dr. H. von Schrenk ; Drng adul- 

 terations, Mr. O. H. Elbrecht ; Flour inspection, 

 Mr. Victor Goetz ; Insects parasitic on man, 

 Mr. C. F. Baker , Living protoplasm. Dr. Otto 

 A. Wall, Jr. ; Microphotography, Mr. Robert 

 Benecke ; Mineralogy, Dr. G. Hambach ; Photo- 

 graphic dry plate testing, Mr. Robert Benecke ; 

 Photomicography, Dr. Adolph Alt ; Physiology, 

 Dr. Hartwell N. Lyon ; Seed adulterations, Mr. 

 F. W. Maas ; Spice adulterations, Mr. William 

 K. Ilhart ; Textile fibers, Mr. Peter J. Weber, 

 Jr. ; Trichina, Dr. G. C. Crandall. 



Through the courtesy of the Historical So- 

 ciety, the rooms of that Society were thrown 

 open to the members of the Academy and their 

 guests, and the Society's important collections, 

 as well as the demonstration offered by the 

 Academy, proved a source of interest and in- 

 struction to the ladies and gentlemen present. 

 William Trelbase, 

 Recording Secretary. 



NOTES ON PHYSICS. 

 drude's annalen. 

 A NEW series (the fourth series) of the An- 

 nalen der Physik, begins with the current num- 

 ber, January, 1900, under the editorship of 

 Paul Drude. This great periodical will now be 

 known as Drude's Annalen. The third series, 

 the Annalen der Physik und Chemie, edited by 

 G. and E. Wiedemann, contains sixty-nine vol- 

 umes. The entire series, 305 volumes to date, 

 represents a large part of the progress of the 

 physical sciences during the eighteenth and 

 nineteenth centuries. 



EADIANT heat. 



Professoe Max Planck gives, in Drude's 

 Annalen, January, 1900, a reprint of his elec- 

 tro-magnetic theory of radiation which was com- 



