THE REDISCOVERY OF PUERTO RICO 359 



"Regarding the Evidences of Ancient Prehistoric Man in the 

 Maumee River Basin," by Charles E. Slocum ; "The Latest Dis- 

 coveries of Traces of Glacial Man at Trenton, N. J., and the 

 Light Thrown upon Them by a Comparative Study of the 

 Gravels of the Delaware and Susquehanna Valleys," by G. Fred- 

 erick Wright; '" Report of Committee on White Race in Amer- 

 ica," by J. McKeen Cattell ; " The Beginnings of Mathematics," 

 by W J McGee. Among other papers of especial note may be 

 mentioned : "Some Experimental Illustrations of the Electrolytic 

 Dissociation Theory," by A. A. Noyes; " Some New Products of 

 Maize Stalks," by H. W. Wiley and W. H. Krug; "On Some 

 Piratine Bugs, which may be Responsible for So-called 'Spider- 

 bite ' Cases," by L. 0. Howard. 



A gratifying feature of the meeting was the generous gift of 

 $1,000 by Mr Emerson McMillin, of New York City, who thus 

 becomes a patron of the Association. The Association was ex- 

 tremely fortunate in its entertainment, for the local committee 

 that had the arrangements in charge did everything in their 

 power to contribute to the success and pleasure of the delegates. 



G. H. G. 



THE REDISCOVERY OF PUERTO RICO 



The acquisition of the island of Puerto Rico as one of Ihe consequences 

 of the recent war with Spain threw at once upon the government the duty 

 of providing for the safe navigation of the waters which wash its shores 

 by supplying to the seafaring community reliable charts of its almost un- 

 known coast. It was a reproach to the Spanish administration that this 

 plain duty was so long neglected, although it is only fair to say that a re- 

 survey of the islands was in progress at the outbreak of hostilities, which 

 of course put an end to the work. Whether the new survey would have 

 been entirely satisfactoiy may be doubted, but it would probably have 

 been an improvement on the previously available information. The war, 

 however, made the results of this work unavailable, as the records were 

 carried to Spain. Since the task of furnishing at an early date trustworthy 

 information in regard to the approaches to this one of our possessions 

 devolved upon the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, the superintendent 

 of that service, Dr Henry S. Pritchett, took immediate steps to meet these 

 new demands upon the resources of the organization. 



The south coast of Puerto Rico, being the least known and having a 

 larger number of ports than any other part of the island, was selected for 

 the beginning of the work. The steamer George S. Blake, so well known 

 to the scientific world from association with the researches of Professor 

 Agassiz and from results achieved by Captain Sigsbee and others, was 



