174 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXI. No. 527. 



also to serve in many ways the larger gen- 

 eral public. 



It is a peculiar pleasure to me to be 

 present to-day. at the dedication of the 

 John Bell Scott Physical Laboratory. It 

 is a beautiful building, a fit representative 

 of the splendid science to which it is dedi- 

 cated ; a notable addition to the equipment 

 of Wesleyan, testifying eloquently to the 

 generosity and loyalty of the donors; a 

 worthy memorial to the unselfish life of 

 the noble young man after whom it is 

 named. The good it will do in the future 

 years is immeasurable. 



Edward B. Rosa. 

 National Bureau of Standards. 



THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE 

 ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 

 SECTION A, MATHEMATICS AND 

 ASTRONOMY. 

 Vice-President — Professor Alexander Ziwet, Uni- 

 versity of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan. 



Secretary — Professor Laenas G. Weld, Univer- 

 sity of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa. 



Member of the Council — Professor .1. E. East- 

 man. 



Sectional Committee — Superintendent 0. H. 

 Tittmann, Vice-President, 1904; Professor Alex- 

 ander Ziwet, Vice-President, 1905; Professor L. 

 G. Weld, Secretary, 1904-1908; Dr. J. A. 

 Brashear, one year; Professor J. R. Eastman, 

 two j^ears; Professor Orniond Stone, three years; 

 Professor E. B. Frost, four years; Professor E. O. 

 Lovett, five years. 



Member of the (loicrtil Committee — Professor 

 G. B. Halsted. 



Press Secretary — Professor J. F. Hayford. 



Dr. W. S. Eichelberger, of the U. S. 

 Naval Observatory, was elected vice-presi- 

 dent for the next meeting. 



The Astronomical and Astrophysical So- 

 ciety of America met in affiliation with 

 Section A, the two organizations holding 

 alternate sessions on December 28, 29 and 

 30. 



The vice-presidential program was pre- 

 sented on tlie, afternoon of Wednesday, 

 December 28. In accordance with the 



recommendations of the Committee on the 

 Policy of the Association this program was 

 given a broader scope than heretofore and 

 included the address of the retiring vice- - 

 president, Superintendent 0. H. Tittmann, 

 upon the subject 'The Present State of 

 Geodesy,' and a paper by Professor Josiah 

 Royce, of Harvard University, entitled 

 ' Symmetrical and Unsymmetrical Relations 

 in the Exact Sciences.' The former of 

 these has been published in Science for 

 January .13, and the latter will appear in 

 an early number of the same journal. 



The following papers were presented at 

 the regular meetings of the section : 



Synchronous Variations in Solar and Me- 

 teorological Phenomena: Mr. II. W. 

 Clough, U. S. Weather Bureau, Wash- 

 ington, D. C. 



The portion of the paper relating to 

 meteorological phenomena is essentially 

 an extension of Professor Briickner 's re- 

 searches on the 35-year cycle of variation 

 in terrestrial climates. Definite epochs 

 have been assigned for the variations of 

 the several meteorological elements and the 

 results of Briickner have been supplement- 

 ed by investigations of various minor me- 

 teorological relations and the prices of 

 grain. The probable value of the period 

 length is found to be 36.2 years, instead of 

 34.8 years, Briickner having used in cal- 

 culating the latter value an extra oscilla- 

 tion in the sixteenth century, which should 

 be regarded as a secondary variation. 

 Briickner traced the cycle as far back as 

 1000 A. D. by means of historical accounts 

 of several winters. Comparison of the 

 epochs in different latitudes discloses an 

 apparent retardation in low latitudes. 

 This may indicate that the influence effi- 

 cient in producing these variations is 

 experienced mainly in high latitudes. 

 Periods of excessive precipitation follow 

 by about five years those of deficient tem- 



