150 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol.. XXI. Nc. .-.20. 



owed its selection to the occurrence in the 

 title of the phrase ' cold-blooded animals.' 



It would require undue space to demonstrate 

 here what the individual observer can easily 

 verify, namely, that there are characteristic 

 differences in the method of treatment given 

 the material by different national bureaus. 

 Some have clearly over indexed, others have 

 been as distinctly deficient. Among German 

 references it was difficult to find errors in 

 classification, while among those of some other 

 nations they were all too frequent. 



As a result of a most careful study of this 

 work one is forced to conclude : 



1. With respect to j)romptness, completeness 

 and accuracy the results are distinctly inferior 

 to those already achieved for zoology by sev- 

 eral bibliographic agencies. 



2. A subsidy for any one of the existing 

 agencies equal to a fraction of the amount 

 spent on this part of the ' International Cata- 

 logue ' would yield much greater results in 

 giving the investigator actual control of the 

 literature in zoology. 



3. The effort to construct a bibliography 

 from materials furnished by numerous na- 

 tional bureaus will not result in the production 

 of a consistent work. 



4. A useful bibliography in this field can 

 not be prepared by mere cataloguers, however 

 expert they may be, and however great the 

 means at their disposal for the prosecution of 

 the work. 



5. The contention of Weltner and others is 

 abundantly justified that only the specialist 

 in zoology can make a satisfactory analysis of 

 zoological publications, and only he should be 

 allowed to control such work. 



6. It is most important to add to the mere 

 record of titles a brief critical annotation re- 

 garding the subject matter of eacli paper. Ad- 

 ditional subsidies should be devoted to the 

 improvement of existing agencies rather than 

 to the creation of new organizations. 



IIkxry B. Ward. 



U.MVKii.siTY OF Nebraska. 



SCIENTir/C JOVIi^ALH AN/) ARTICLES. 



The. Museums Journal of Great Britain for 

 December has an excellent article ' On Colors 



in Museums,' by Hans Dedekani, dealing at 

 some length with the question of what are the 

 best colors for backgrounds for various ex- 

 hibits. The balance of the number is devoted 

 to reviews and notes, and includes a good re- 

 view of Dr. Meyer's recent memoir. 



The contents of the January number of 

 the American Journal of Maihematics is as 

 follows : 



' Some Properties of a Generalized Hvpeigeo- 

 metric Function.' by F. H. Jackson. 



' Relation between Real and Complex Groups 

 with Respect to their Structure and Contiiniity,' 

 by Dr. S. E. Slocuni. 



' Determination of all the Characteristic Sub- 

 groups of any Abelian Group,' by G. A. Miller. 



' Collineations whose Cliaracteristic Determi- 

 nants have Linear Elementary Divisors with an 

 Application to Quadratic Forms,' by A. B. Coble. 



' Concerning Certain Elliptic Modular Functions- 

 of Square Rank,' by John A. Miller. 



■ ^Minors of Axi-symmetrie Determinants,' hy E, 

 .1. Nanson. 



' On the Forms of Sextie Scrolls having a 

 Rectilinear Directrix," by Virgil Snyder. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



THE NKW YORK SECTIOX OF THE AJIERICAN 

 CHEMICAL SOCIETY. 



A REGULAR meeting of the New York Sec- 

 tion of the American Chemical Society was 

 held at the Chemists' Club, Friday night, De- 

 cember 9. The following councilors were 

 elected from the New York Section: Messrs. 

 Leo Baekeland, F. D. Dodge, T. J. Parker, 

 W. J. Schieffelin and Hugo Schweitzer. 



The regular program of the evening was 

 then taken up and the following papers pre- 

 sented : 



The Art of Sizing Paper with Rosin Soaps. 

 Martin L. Griffin. 



The subject is introduced by some general 

 considerations pertaining to sizing paper, but 

 deals principally with the claims frequently 

 made, that acid or free rosin sizes are most 

 desired, and that it is the free rosin that is 

 the effective sizing agent in paper. 



The author has made a large number of 

 experiments, sizing paper stock in different 

 ways with different reagents, showing conclu- 

 sively that this is not the case, that free rosin 



