JUH 19 1905 



SCIENCE 



A WEEKLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, PUBLISHING THE 

 OFFICIAL NOTICES AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION 

 FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 



Friday, June 16, 1905. 



CONTENTS. 

 The Relations of Public Health Science to 

 Other Sciences: Professor William T. 

 Sedgwick 905 



Scientific Books: — 



Sargent's Manual of the Trees of North 

 America: Professor Charles E. Bessey. . 914 



Scientific Journals and Articles 915 



Societies and Academies: — 



The Geological Society of Washington: Dr. 

 Geo. Otis Smith. The Chemical Society 

 of Washington: Dr. A. Seidel. The New 

 York Academy of Sciences, Section of As- 

 tronomy, Physics and Chemistry: Pro- 

 fessor C. C. Trowbridge. The New York 

 Section of the American Chemical Society: 

 Dr. F. H. Pough. The Torrey Botanical 

 Club: Dr. Marshall A. Howe 91G 



Discussion and Correspondence : — 



The Metric Error: S. S. Dale. Will the 

 Metric System Save Time in Education? 

 Wm. H. Seaman 922 



Special Articles: — 



The Pelc Obelisk Once More: Professor 

 Israel C. Russell 92 i 



Recent Vertebrate Paleontology : — 



Fossil Mammals of Mexico: H. F. C 931 



Museum Publications : F. A. L y32 



Scientific Notes and News 933 



University and Educational News 935 



MSB. Intended for publicatiou aud books, etc., intended 

 for review should be sent to tbe Editor of Science, Garri- 

 80n-on-Hud8on, N. Y. 



THE RELATIONS OF PUBLIC HEALTH 

 SCIENCE TO OTHER SCIENCES* 



" Physical science is one and indivisible. Al- 

 though for practical purposes it is convenient to 

 mark it out into the primary regions of physics, 

 chemistry and biology, and to subdivide these into 

 subordinate provinces, yet the method of investi- 

 gation and the ultimate object of the physical in- 

 quirer are everywhere the same." — Huxley. 



Physical science is one and indivisible; 

 that, as I understand it, is the key note of 

 this great congress, of which public health 

 science forms one section, and as I am in- 

 vited to consider, in the brief space of 

 forty-five minutes, the relations of public 

 health science to other sciences, I shall take 

 the liberty of selecting from the whole 

 number of 'other sciences' only a few, the 

 relations of which to public health science 

 seem to me for one reason or another espe- 

 cially important at the present time. I 

 accept the term public health science with- 

 out hesitation, for any division of human 

 knowledge which has worked out its own 

 laws with strict adherence to the rules of 

 inductive and deductive reasoning, as 

 public health science has done, and which 

 has reached results enabling it to predict 

 with accuracy, as public health science can 

 now predict, is entitled to a place and an 

 honorable place among the physical sci- 

 ences. 



Public health science had its rise and a 

 considerable development in the eighteenth 

 century. Before that time numerous pro- 

 cedures tending to protect or promote the 

 public health had, indeed, at one time or 



* Address before the International Congress of 

 Arts and Science, St. Louis Exposition. 



