EDITOR'S TABLE. 



845 



Describing the experiments of Prof. 

 Hertz, of Oarlsruhe, and other investi- 

 gators, he declared it certain that all 

 radiant energy is transmitted as electro- 

 magnetic waves in luminiferous ether. 

 In the Chemical Section, Prof. W. L. 

 Dudley, of Vanderbilt University, Nash- 

 ville, chose amalgams as his subject. 

 His treatment was clear and suggestive, 

 but of necessity technical. Mr. E. S. 

 "Woodward, mathematician to the United 

 States Geological Survey, "Washington, 

 presided over the section of Mathemat- 

 ics and Astronomy. His address on 

 mathematical theories of the earth was 

 a successful endeavor to make clear to 

 hearers, scientific and unscientific, the 

 history of a theme usually wrapped up 

 in the rigid mummy-cloths of mathe- 

 matical formulae. 



Among the more noteworthy con- 

 tributions to the various sections we 

 may mention, in Section A, the paper 

 of Prof. J. R. Eastman, of the Washing- 

 ton Observatory, on stellar distances. 

 He argued that no relation exists be- 

 tween the magnitudes, distances, and 

 proper motions of stars. Prof. Charles 

 Carpmael made a plea for numbering 

 the hours of the day from one to twen- 

 ty-four, abolishing the necessity for 

 writing a. m. and p. m. The plan has 

 been adopted by the Canadian Pacific 

 Railway on its "Western and Pacific 

 divisions. In accordance with Prof. 

 Carpmael's suggestion, the Association 

 memorialized the Governments of the 

 United States and Canada, of the vari- 

 ous States of the Union, and provinces 

 of the Dominion. Much interest was 

 developed in the exhibition of the Hast- 

 ings achromatic objective, one of the 

 notable gifts of mathematical and me- 

 chanical science to astronomy. It pro- 

 motes accuracy of definition twenty- 

 three per cent, and eliminates spherical 

 aberration. In Section B, Prof. Thomas 

 Gray, of the Rose Polytechnic Insti- 

 tute, Terre Haute, gave an experimental 

 demonstration of methods of electrical 

 measurement. Dr. George F. Barker, 



of the University of Pennsylvania, re- 

 viewed recent improvements in electri- 

 cal storage batteries. He showed the 

 immense advance in efficiency gained 

 in the newest batteries based on the 

 Plante model. In Section C, Mr. 

 Charles E. Monroe, of Newport, R. I., 

 gave the results of investigation into 

 the explosiveness of celluloids. He had 

 found the opaque variety insensitive to 

 a shock of detonation at ordinary tem- 

 peratures, while translucent celluloids 

 were readily exploded by this means. 

 Mr. O. Chanute, of Chicago, who has 

 made the subject a specialty, gave an ac- 

 count of the best methods for preserving 

 timber. After discussing .the question of 

 weights and measures, Section C passed a 

 resolution urging colleges of pharmacy 

 and medicine to adopt the metric system. 

 Before Section E, the Society of Ameri- 

 can Geologists held a session, at which 

 Prof. James D. Dana, of Tale, took oc- 

 casion, in the light of new geological 

 discoveries, to revise certain of his 

 former teachings respecting areas of 

 continental progress. Among his sug- 

 gestions in nomenclature was that On- 

 tarian be substituted for Silurian in 

 local geological phraseology. In Section 

 E, Rev. H. C. Hovey, of Bridgeport, 

 Conn., described the newly explored 

 pits of remarkable depth in the Mam- 

 moth Cave of Kentucky ; the whole 

 series of pits being connected by a mag- 

 nificent hall several hundred feet in 

 length. Mr. R. T. Hill, of the State 

 Geological Survey of Texas, read sev- 

 eral excellent papers on the general 

 features of Texan geology, on the Eagle 

 Flats of the mountainous region of 

 Texas, the ancient volcanoes and Staked 

 Plains of the State. In Section F a 

 good many papers of value were read 

 — all, however, technical in character. 

 Prof. 0. V. Riley, entomologist to the 

 United States Department of Agricult- 

 ure at "Washington, contributed a paper 

 on the best methods of subduing injuri- 

 ous insects by intentional importation 

 of their natural enemies. Much interest 



