SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXI. Xo. 539. 



detection, were exjalained by the speaker, and a 

 large array of choice specimens of adulterated 

 goods were shown which furnished strong tes- 

 timony to the cupidity of some manufacturers 

 of food articles and, in many cases, to their 

 lack of regard for human health. 



The second paper of the evening, by Dr. C. 

 A. Fuller, was on the subject, ' The Dissemi- 

 nation of Typhoid Fever by Oysters.' Out- 

 breaks of this disease have occasionally been 

 traced to infected oysters. Bacteriological 

 examinations of these shell-fish usually demon- 

 strate the presence of bacterium coli. The 

 survey of 3,000 acres of oyster ground in 

 Khode Island waters showed that both water 

 and oysters from sections within six miles of 

 the outlet of. the capital city sewer contained 

 sewage bacteria, while samples taken at a 

 greater distance from the source of contami- 

 nation were not infected; similar conditions 

 were observed to prevail in a number of the 

 oyster beds on the east coast of the United 

 States. F. W. Woll, 



Secretary. 



MEETING OF EXPERIJIEXTAL PSYCHOLOGISTS AT 

 CLARK UNIVERSITY. 

 The second yearly meeting of teachers and 

 students of experimental psychology was held 

 in the Clark University laboratory, at the in- 

 vitation of Professor E. C. Sanford, on Fri- 

 day and Saturday, March 31 and April 1. 

 At the first session, on Friday afternoon, 

 papers were read by Mr. L. M. Terman, on 

 ' Tests of Bright and Dull Boys ' ; by Mr. A. 

 L. Gesell, on 'Handwriting and Scholarship'; 

 and by Mr. W. F. Book, on the ' Learning of 

 Typewriting.' The visitors then inspected the 

 laboratory, under the guidance of Professor 

 Sanford, who demonstrated, 'among other in- 

 struments, two devices for the determination 

 of the temporal limen of disparate sense im- 

 pressions, a rotating-prism color mixer, and 

 an apparatus for investigating the sensible 

 discrimination of purple. Professor A. H. 

 Pierce, of Smith College, next described three 

 researches now in progress in his laboratory; 

 and a paper by Professor Max Meyer (' Au- 

 ditory Sensations in an Elementary Labora- 

 tory Course ') was read by Mr. H. C. Stevens, 



of Cornell University. A discussion followed, 

 in which Professors Pierce, Sanford and 

 Titchener took part. In the evening the visit- 

 ing psychologists were entertained at dinner 

 by Professor Sanford. 



The session of Saturday morning was 

 opened by President Hall, with a paper on 

 ' Some Tendencies and Dangers of Experi- 

 mental Psychology.' The paper was discussed 

 by Dr. Hylan and Professor Titchener. Ad- 

 journment was then made to the physical 

 laboratory, where Professor A. G. Webster 

 demonstrated his apparatus for the measure- 

 ment of the objective intensity of sound. The 

 last hour of the morning was spent in further 

 inspection of the psychological laboratory, 

 after which the guests enjoyed the oppor- 

 tunity of meeting the Clark University stu- 

 dents at a luncheon given by President Hall. 



At the afternoon session Professor Bentley, 

 of Cornell University, read a paper on the 

 ' Analysis of Tones,' and afterwards demon- 

 strated his method and certain of his results. 

 The meeting was fittingly concluded by an 

 inspection of the new library building, ar- 

 ranged by Mr. L. N. Wilson. All psychol- 

 ogists know the treasures of the Clark Univer- 

 sity library, and the willing courtesy of their 

 custodian; and all present on this occasion 

 were delighted with the disposition and con- 

 veniences of the library. 



It was decided to accept Professor Judd's 

 invitation to hold the meeting of lOOG in the 

 Yale University laboratory. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 



ALTERNATION OF GENERATIONS IN ANIMALS. 



In the February number of the Botanical 

 Gazette, Dr. C. J. Chamberlain writes, " After 

 hesitating for several years I have decided to 

 publish my belief that animals exhibit an 

 alternation of generations comparable with 

 the alternation so well known in plants. In 

 short, the theory is this : the egg with the 

 three polar bodies constitutes a generation 

 comparable with the female gametophyte in 

 plants ; similarly, the primary spermatocyte 

 with the four spermatozoa constitutes a gen- 

 eration comparable with the male gametophyte 



