5So Scientific Intelligence. 



The present work is the fourth on South Africa by the same 

 author, three of which are archeological. His right, therefore, 

 to be classed as an authority in this field can hardly be questioned. 



G. G. MACCURDY. 



3. Field Museum of Natural History : Annual Report of lite 

 Director for the year 1910. Pp. 100, with 15 plates. Chicago, 

 1911. — The Annual Report of Dr. F. J. V. Skiff shows the pro- 

 gress made by the Field Columbian Museum during the past year. 

 This was particularly marked in anthropology through the collec- 

 tions made by Dr. Laufer in China and Tibet. Several import- 

 ant expeditions in the same line are now in the field in New 

 Guinea, Borneo, the Philippines, Venezuela, and elsewhere. The 

 total amount expended in 1910 from Museum funds was about 

 $200,000, and nearly $21,000 in addition were subscribed by 

 friends of the Museum for special purposes. The excellent plates 

 show a number of interesting natural history groups recently 

 installed. 



The Field Museum has also issued the following : Meteorite 

 Studies III ; by Oliver Cummings Farrington. Pp. 165-193, 

 plates LV-LIX. Dr. Farrington gives here an account of the 

 meteoric stone which fell at Leighton, Alabama, on January 12th, 

 1907, weighing 850 grams; also of the remarkable Quinn Canon 

 iron, weighing 3,275 lbs., acquired by the Museum in April, 1909. 

 A description of this iron was given by W. P. Jenney in this 

 Journal (vol. xxviii, p. 431). Dr. Farrington also discusses 

 further the subject of the times of fall of meteorites, earlier taken 

 up by him in this Journal (vol. xxix, p. 211). A complete list of 

 the meteorites of the United States, geographically arranged, 

 closes the number. 



4. Publications of the Astronomical and Aslrophysical 

 Society of America, Vol. I. Organization, Membership and 

 abstract of papers, 1897-1909. Pp. xxvii, 347, 4to, 1910.— 

 The dedication of the Yerkes Observatory in 1897 was the occasion 

 for a conference of scientists which led to the establishment of 

 this society. The present volume is the complete record of 

 its activities since its beginning, expressed in discussions and 

 memoirs. Their range is wide and their number great. Many 

 are of general interest. For example, a short article on the 

 duration of twilight in the tropics, by S. I. Bailey, shows con- 

 clusively from observations at Arequipa (altitude 8,000 feet) and 

 at Vincocaya (altitude 14,000 feet) that the statements contained 

 in text-books generally (even Young's) as to the brevity of tropical 

 twilight are as inaccurate as that of the ancient Mariner ("The 

 sun's rim dips, the stars rush out, at one stride comes the dark"). 

 He says: "While the tropical twilight is somewhat shorter than 

 occurs elsewhere and is still further lessened by favorable circum- 

 tances, such as great altitude and a specially pure air, it is never 

 less, and generally much longer, than an hour." 



Simon Newcomb, it goes without saying, was the leading spirit 

 in the society until his death, and an excellent portrait of him 

 appropriately faces the title-page, followed by one of Charles 

 Young'. w. b. 



