60 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXI. Xo. 524. 



anthropometric work during the past year. It 

 was not feasible to arrange an anthropometric 

 laboratory last year at St. Louis, but this year 

 excellent arrangements have been made in con- 

 nection with the psychological laboratory of the 

 University of Pennsylvania. Measurements of 

 the members of the association are being made by 

 Messrs. V. A. C. Henmon, F. Bruner and G. C. 

 Fracker, with the cooperation of Professor Thorn- 

 dike, Dr. Woodworth and members of the com- 

 mittee. The chairman of the committee is ma- 

 king an extended study of American men of 

 science; two papers have been published on the 

 subject and there is now in press a ' Biographical 

 Directory of American Men of Science,' containing 

 much material that can be used. We may call 

 special attention to the Anthropometric and 

 Psychometric Laboratory of the Louisiana Pur- 

 chase Exposition, arranged by Dr. McGee, head 

 of the Department of Anthropology. The labo- 

 ratory, under the direction of Dr. Woodworth, as- 

 sisted by Mr. Bruner, made measurements of 

 about 1,000 representatives of different races, 

 especial attention being paid to the native races 

 of the Philippine Islands. 



We ask that the committee be continued and 

 that an appropriation of fifty dollars be made 

 for the expenses of an anthropometric laboratory 

 at the next meeting of the association. 



J. McKeen Cattell, 



Chairman. 



On the Atomic Weight of Thorium. 

 The work on the ' Complexity of Thorium ' by 

 Chas. Baskerville and R. 0. E. Davis,' referred to 

 in our last report, has been repeated, verified and 

 extended by Fritz Zerban. The investigation was 

 prosecuted partly in the laboratory of the Uni- 

 versity of North Carolina and is continuing in the 

 College of the City of Xew York. Larger amounts 

 of the pure thorium compounds have been frac- 

 tioncd. Baskerville and Zerban are at present 

 bus^ied with removing entirely from the new 

 thorium the contaminating constituents prelimi- 

 nary to a determination of its ])hysical constants. 

 Coincident with this work they are studying the 

 properties of the novel impurities, which have 

 been designated ' carolinium ' and ' berzelium.' 

 The research is being aided by the Carnegie Insti- 

 tution. 



Concerning the second problem assigned your 

 committee for supervision, namely, the work of 

 pra-seodymium, it would make the following re- 

 port: Baskerville and G. MacNidcr did not suc- 

 ceed in proving the complexity of that constituent 



of the old didymium. The methods of attack 

 were: (1) Production of higher oxides by fusion 

 with sodium dioxide; (2) fractional solution of 

 the well known black oxide in hydrochloric acid 

 at variable temperatures; and (3) fractional pre- 

 cipitation of the oxalate at different temperatures 

 — zero, 20°, and 100° C. A Zeiss comparison spec- 

 trometer, purchased by a grant from the council, 

 was used for controlling the progress of the work, 

 which will be continued. 



We, therefore, beg leave to report progress. 

 Respectfully submitted, 



Chas. Baskerville, 

 Capt. Sins Honz, 

 F. P. Venable. 



On Cave Fauna. 



Owing to the absence of the secretary of your 

 committee in the caves of Cuba during the last 

 meeting of the association, a report on progress 

 was omitted at the St. Louis meeting. 



Since the last report the following papers based 

 in part at least on material collected with the 

 grant of three years ago have been published: 



1. 'Report on the Fresh-water Fishes at West- 

 ern Cuba.' Bull. U. 8. Fish Comm. for 1902, 

 211-136. 



2. 'The Water Supply of Havana, Cuba,' 

 Science, N. S., XVII., 281-282. 



3. 'The Eyes of Typhlops lumiricalis, a Blind 

 Snake from Cuba.' Biol. Bull., V., 261-270, by 

 Mrs. E. F. Muhse. 



4. ' The Ovarian Structures of the Viviparous 

 Blind Fishes Lucifuga and Stygicola.' Biol. Bull., 

 VI., 31-54, by H. H. Lane. 



5. 'The History of the Eye of Amblyopsis from 

 the Beginning of its Development to its Integra- 

 tion in Old Age.' Mark Anniversary Volume, 

 167-204. 



6. ' Divergence and Convergence in Fishes.' In 

 the press of the Biol. Bull. 



Number five is the most important of these and 

 gives a complete account of the eyes of the largest 

 of our blind fishes. Further work on this form 

 should consist in noting the changes of the eyes 

 in individuals reared in the light. 



Several papers are in preparation. 



Several years ago a Mr. Donaldson died in Scot- 

 land, owner of a farm of somewhat over 182 acres 

 of land near Mitchell, Ind. He was apparently 

 without legal heirs. Suit was brought by the 

 state of Indiana to have this farm escheat to the 

 state. The suit was contested by Scottish heirs 

 of Mr. Donaldson, but was won by the state. This 

 farm is in the midst of the cave region of the 



