SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 27 
partially restored from a natural source of supply, for every tree, shrub 
and tiny blade of grass is an oxygen maker. 
Like all men of great scientific attainments, Lord Kelvin was richly 
endowed with imagination, and his statements were often tinged with 
poetic fancy. He not only saw with clear mental vision, but he enabled | 
his reader to perceive, with equal cleverness, a molecule, for instance, 
the one hundred millionth of a centimtre in diameter, colliding with its 
fellows 5,000,000,000 times in a second, for observed phenomena, coupled 
with irresistible logic, demonstrates the existence and incessant motion 
of these infinitessimal particles of matter, and the trained imagination 
pictures what the mind predicates. 
Therefore, although his voluminous scientific papers deal with ab- 
struce subjects, intangible materials, occult forces and intricate mathe- 
matical formule, he commands a style so lucid and engaging that his 
works are read with pleasure by any whose tastes lie in that direction. 
These qualities also made Lord Kelvin a favorite lecturer, and he 
addressed many distinguished assemblies on ‘‘The Kinetic Theory of 
Gases,’’ ‘‘The I"unctions of the Six Senses,’’ ‘‘The Nature of Hlectrical 
Phenomena,’’ ‘‘The Marvels of Capillary Attraction,’’ and other themes 
dealing with the mysterious forces of nature. 
WILLIAM H. KNIGHT. 
Report of the Secretary of the Academy for the 
First Half Year, 1907-1908 
The report of the Secretary for the year 1906-1907 went to print for 
the Bulletin of that year before the June meeting of that year was 
held; hence, the meeting for that month is ineludd in the prseent report. 
Being the closing meeting for the year, the reports of the officers 
and sections of the Academy were read, showing very satisfactory 
progress in the growth and work of the Academy during the year then 
closing, which reports were included in the Bulletin of July, 1907. The 
President briefly addressed the Academy on ‘‘Scientifie Bodies Abroad,’’ 
giving a resumé of his observations while visiting scientific institutions 
in Hurope, in 1906. The Academy was also addressed by Mr. B. Fay 
Mills, on the suggestive topic, ‘‘Southern California as a Field for 
Scientific Research and Human Culture,’’ 
lities of this favored spot for promoting all that pertains to the highest 
development in every department of human progress, and indicating the 
showing the unsurpassed faci- 
manifest destiny of this section to be the seat of an all embracing 
aesthetic culture second to that of no place on earth. After music, 
very acceptably rendered by Mr. C. A. Faithful, the leading feature of 
the evening’s program was announced as a lecture by President Baum- 
gardt, on ‘‘Russia, Her Scientific Men and Institutions.’’ Aided by 
