Personal and Scientiiic Neios. 251 
PERSONAL AND SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 
The American Association for the Advance?nent of Science 
held its third Canadian meeting at Toronto commencing 
August 27th. The two previous meetings were those at Mon- 
treal in 1857 and in 1882. The University huildings afforded 
ample space and agreeable surroundings for the meetings. 
There was a free luncheon daily, as well as drives and garden 
parties and excursions to Niagara, Muskoka and Sudbury. 
The attendants of members was not large, but included an 
unusual number of the older and more eminent members, no 
less than eight of the past presidents being present — Dana, 
Hall, Newberry, Barker, Dawson, Young, Newton and Morse. 
Canadian members were well represented, there being twenty- 
nine from various parts of Canada, not reckoning forty-five 
from Toronto. From a scientific point of view the meeting was 
successful, but not remarkable for anything very new or strik- 
ing, though there were many important and useful papers, es- 
pecially in anthropology, geology and biology. The two evening 
lectures of the meeting were on "Niagara," by G. K. Gilbert of 
Washington and "Four weeks in the desert 'of Mount Sinai," 
by Dr. H. Carrington Bolton of New York. Both were inter- 
esting, well illustrated and listened to by large audiences. In 
other respects it was probably one of the most agreeable 
meetings of the thirty-eight which the American association 
can now reckon. The following is a summary of the statis- 
tics as given by the permanent secretary, Prof. Putnam, who 
received the well merited thanks of the association, and was 
re-appointed for five years : — "There were 424 members and 
associates registered ; of these 45 were from Toronto, 29 from 
otherparts of Canada, and the balance from the United States. 
There were 201 new members and seventy-two fellows elected. 
There were 199 papers read and 227 submitted. There was 
placed in the public library at Toronto a full set of the 
publications of the association, and the library has been placed 
upon the list for all future volumes. The invested funds of 
the association now amount to $4,700. The income of this 
sum was devoted to scientific research, and a lady member had 
sent a check for $500 to swell that amount." 
Prof T. C. Mendenhall of Washington was president at the 
Toronto meeting, and Prof Geo. L. Goodale, successor to Dr. 
Asa Gray at Harvard, was elected president for the next 
meeting, which is to be held in Indianapolis. 
Section E was presided over by Dr. C. A. White of Wash- 
ington, who delivered an opening address on "The North 
American Mesozoic." The secretary of the section was Prof. 
J. C. Branner of Little Rock. The following papers were read 
before section E : 
Topographic types of northeastern Iowa. — 25 min. — By "W. J. 
McGee. 
