Miscellaneous Intelligence. 235 



followed by a prolonged and interesting discussion, as for exam- 

 ple those devoted to the food question before Section I. The 

 Geologists gave up the working part of Friday to a consideration 

 of the Report of the American Committee of the International 

 Congress of Geologists. The whole ground was gone over with 

 care and it may be hoped that the discussion will lead to good re- 

 sults ; the same topic had formed the subject of Mr. Gilbert's 

 address before Section E, as noted above. 



The following committees were appointed at the last day of the 

 meeting : E. D. Cope, J. R. Eastman and G. K. Gilbert, a com- 

 mittee to devise methods of obtaining from Congress a reduction 

 of the tariff on scientific books ; Miss A. C. Fletcher and Mrs. T. 

 Stephenson, a committee to petition Congress to take the necessary 

 steps to preserve the archreological monuments on the public 

 lands of the United States. A resolution was passed recommend- 

 ing the publication by the Government of an index to the litera- 

 ture of meteorology, now being prepared by Prof. Cleveland Abbe. 

 Another resolution urged President Cleveland to appoint at once 

 a permanent Superintendent of the United States Coast and 

 Geodetic Survey. A third petitioned Congress to provide a 

 Bureau of Standards, by which accurate standards of measure 

 should be established for electricity, heat and light, and arrange- 

 ments made for the issue of authenticated copies of the same. 



The entertainment of visitors was under the charge of several 

 local committees, to whose activity the success of the meeting 

 was largely due. There was a general reception to the Associa- 

 tion by the Ladies' Committee in the Metropolitan Opera House 

 on Thursday evening ; another reception was given by the Acad- 

 emy of Sciences and several others of less general nature. There 

 were a number of excursions : around New York harbor, to Long 

 Branch by boat, to West Point, and others which need not be 

 particularized. 



The next meeting of the Association was appointed for the 

 fourth Wednesday of August, 1888, at Cleveland, Ohio. The 

 President elected for this meeting is Major J. W. Powell ; 

 and the Vice-Presidents by sections — Mathematics and Astron- 

 omy, Ormond Stone ; Physics, A. A. Michelson ; Chemistry, C. 

 E. Monroe ; Mechanical Science, C. M. Woodward ; Geology and 

 Geography, G. H. Cook ; Biology, C. V. Riley ; Anthropology, 

 Charles C. Abbott; Economic Science and Statistics, C. W. 



Smiley. 



List of Papers accepted for Heading. 

 Section A.- — Mathematics and Astronomy. 



F. 3sT. Willson : A completed nomenclature for the principal roulettes. 



J. E. Kershner : Coefficients of collimation and flexure of transit instruments 

 with broken tubes. 



J. R. Eastman : The effect of some peculiarities of personal equation. 



Henry Farquhar: Variation of personal equation ; a criticism. 



Henry B. Fine : The geometric meaning of singular solutions of differential 

 equations of the second and higher orders. 



William Harkness : The visibility of objects as conditioned by their magni- 

 tude and brightness, with application to the theory of telescopes. 



