September 19, 1884.] 



SCIENCE 



271 



quartz ones, while officers of the second and third 

 rank wear gold ones. These buttons are secured to 

 the customary band made of hair and not of velvet. 



The reason given for leaving the wife at home — 

 namely, that her clothes would not have stood the 

 wear of the journey — was a polite excuse only. So- 

 cial custom would have rendered it impossible for any 

 of them to bring their wives with them. 



In regard to the extraordinary crystals, my inform- 

 ant's brother has seen the region where they occur, 

 and says the wonders of it are beyond description. 

 He describes it as bordering the shore for a distance, 

 in one measurement, of fifteen miles. 



Mr. Kunz is quite right in regarding tbem as crys- 

 tals of quartz ; for Mr. Yu says they are white, and 

 also like glass, and assume branching forms like trees, 

 columns, etc., and tower at greater heights even than 

 the dimensions given by Mr. Kunz. This region is 

 on the eastern coast of Korea, and has never been 

 visited by foreigners. The Chinese have in vain 

 tried to get permission to visit this place. 



Edwaed S. Morse. 



A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE 

 ^ A SSOCIA TIONS. 



To us on this side of the Atlantic, the op- 

 portunity to profit by the contrast of the two 

 association meetings just closed ought not to 

 be lost ; and the desire to take advantage of it 

 may justify a somewhat extended comparison 

 of the two associations. 



Concerning what may be called the ' phys- 

 ical features ' of the two meetings, their rela- 

 tion to each other may be readily seen b} T an 

 inspection of the following statistics : At the 

 Montreal meeting, the total registered attend- 

 ance was 1,773, of which nearly half crossed 

 the ocean, and about six hundred were classed 

 as 'old' members. The total number regis- 

 tered was somewhat below the average of the 

 past ten years, which was 1,889, not including 

 last year's meeting. The largest meeting ever 

 held by the British association was at Manches- 

 ter, in 1861, when the registry was 3,944 ; the 

 smallest, in recent years, at Swansea, in 1880, 

 the number being 899 . The number of registered 

 members at Philadelphia was 1,261, the great- 

 est number ever on the rolls of the American 

 association at one meeting. It is not unlikely 

 that the excess of more than five hundred in 

 the membership of the British association over 

 that of the American is to be partially attrib- 

 uted to the rule of the British association, which 

 confines the privileges of attendance to members 



of one class or another ; while the policy of the 

 American association has been to invite and 

 to welcome all who are interested in the pro- 

 ceedings, regardless of membership. 



At the Montreal meeting, the total number 

 of papers read was 327. At Philadelphia, 304 

 papers were read. The number of papers on 

 mathematical and physical science was ten 

 greater in the American than in the British 

 association. In the latter, however, the num- 

 ber of physical papers was greatly in excess, as 

 those concerning pure mathematics were dis- 

 posed of by a sub-section in a single day. 



In addition to the regular papers, there were, 

 in the various sections of the British associa- 

 tion, more than fifty reports presented, coming 

 from committees appointed at previous meet- 

 ings for the consideration of special subjects. 

 Of similar reports in the American association, 

 it can hardly be said that there were any, such 

 as were offered being mostly confined to a 

 few words declaring ' progress,' asking for 

 continuation, and promising something in the 

 future ; and even this much was only obtained 

 after much labor on the part of the presiding 

 officer. 



As to the general character of the meetings, 

 it may be said that both were above the aver- 

 age. Sir William Thomson declared, at the 

 closing session of the British association, that 

 it was one of the most satisfactory ever held ; 

 and both he and Lord Rayleigh declared that 

 the meetings of section A were far above the 

 average. 



It can be affirmed without boasting, that 

 Americans (citizens of the United States) 

 contributed in no small degree to insure this 

 success. At least forty, or about one-eighth, 

 of the entire number of papers read, came 

 from them. They joined in several of the im- 

 portant discussions, and generally with credit ; 

 and some of them — Newcomb, Rowland, and 

 possibly others — presided over sections at 

 various times. It is well worthy of note, that, 

 of the five papers recommended to be published 

 in exkenso, one was from Professor Gra3 T , and 

 another from Professor Thurston. 



The Philadelphia meeting of the American 



