and more complex. They possess almost absolutely no utilitarian aspect, yet there is no single group of plants that occupies such a unique position in the plant world. What the comprehensive and heterogeneous group Vermes is to the animal kingdom the Hepatica are to plants, only they are less complicated. The Hepatica have undergone a triple differentiation. Beginning with a simple thallose plant with its unmodified sporogone, it is evident that there are three possible lines of specialization: (1) The development of the thallus as such; (2) the transformation of the thallus into a leafy axis combined with the modification from creeping to ascending or erect habit; and (3) the specialization of the sporogone at the expense of the thallus. Even a cursory acquaintance with the diverse structures that are developed in the group will make it evident that the Hepatica have improved their opportunity in each of these three possible lines, and have carried the differentiation of each line to a high degree of perfection. These three lines of development were discussed in detail. In conclusion he pointed out that the relations of the Hepaticæ might be summarized as follows: (1) The group is not of recent origin. This is shown by the widespread geographic distribution of its major group, its extensive modification into diverse genera, and its relations to higher groups which have a great antiquity. (2) The group is not a compact one, nor is it entirely circumscribed. The present grouping is unsatisfactory and artificial. (3) In such a triple development as exists among the Hepatica no single plant can stand as a type which will fairly represent the entire group. (4) We must recognize at least five families among the Hepaticæ. (5) The Hepatica are especially interesting as constituting the connecting link in the evolution from thallophytes (alga) to the higher plants.

The following-named papers were then read and discussed before the section:

"The Numerical Intensity of Faunas," by Louis P. Gratacap; "The Growth of Radishes as affected by the Size and Weight of the Seed," by Benjamin T. Galloway; "The Work of the Indiana Biological Survey," by Amos W. Butler; "The Movement of Gases in Rhizomes," by Katherine E. Golden; "Some Interesting Conditions in Wood resulting from the Attacks of Insects and Woodpeckers," by A. D. Hopkins; The Sugar Maples of Central Michigan," by William J. Beal; "Some Affinities among Cactaced by John M. Coulter; "Regulatory Growth of Mechanical Tissue," by Frederick C. Newcombe; "Simplification and Degeneration" and Further Studies in the Relationship and Arrangement of the Flowering Plants," by Charles E. Bessey; "The Watermelon Disease of the South," by Erwin F. Smith; "On the Swarm Spores of Pythium and Ceratiomyxa" and "Relation between the Functions of the Vegetative and Reproductive Leaves of Onoclea," by George F. Atkinson; "Lophopappus, a New Genus of Mutisiaceous Compositæ, and Fluckigeria, a New Genus of Gesneriacea," by Henry H. Rusby; "Products of Metamorphosis and Monstrosities," by Albert Mann; “A Hybrid among the Mosses," "Some Notes on the Genus Eucalypta." and "A Revision of the Genus Scouleria," by Elizabeth G. Britton; "Evidence as to the Former Existence of Large Trees on Nantucket Island," by Burt G. Wilder; "On Torreya as a Generic Name" and "Notes on the Primary Foliage and the Leaf Sears in Pinus Rigida," by Nathaniel L. Britton; "Notes upon Chalara Paradoxa" and "Notes

upon a Root Rot of Beets," by Byron D. Halsted; and "Species of Taphrina parastic on Populus," by Mrs. F. W. Patterson.

H. Anthropology.-Franz Boaz, of New York, presided over this section, and he spoke on Human Faculty as determined by Race." At the beginning he said: "Proud of his wonderful achievements, civilized man looks down upon the humbler members of mankind. He has conquered the forces of Nature and compelled them to serve him. He has transformed inhospitable forests into fertile fields. The mountain fastnesses are yielding their treasures to his demands. The fierce animals which were obstructing his progress are being exterminated, while others which are useful to him are made to increase a thousandfold. The waves of the ocean carry him from land to land, and towering mountain ranges set him no bounds. His genius has modeled inert matters into powerful machines, which wait a touch of his hand to serve his manifold demands. What wonder that he pities a people who have not succeeded in subduing Nature; who labor to eke an existence out of the products of the wilderness; who hear with trembling the roar of the wild animals; who remain restricted by ocean, river, or mountains; and who strive to secure the necessaries of life with the help of few and simple instruments! What wonder if civilized man considers himself a being of higher order than primitive man, if it is claimed that the white race represents a higher type than all others!" Then, tracing the history of civilization from its dawn in the far East until now, and showing how ideas and inventions were carried from one nation to another, he took up the civilizations in ancient Peru and Central America, and showed that the general advancement was the same as in Asia and Europe. The various physical characteristics of different races were discussed from the point of view of their mental ability. The psychological characteristics of primitive people were reviewed, and in conclusion he said: "The average faculty of the white race is found to the same degree in a large proportion of individuals of all other races: and although it is probable that some of these races may not produce as large a proportion of great men as our own race, there is no reason to suppose that they are unable to reach the level of civilization represented by the bulk of our own people."

The following-named papers were then read and discussed before the section:

"Primitive Trephining in Peru," by W J McGee; "On Certain Morphologic Traits of American Languages" and " Variations in the Human Skeleton," by Daniel G. Brinton; "Southern Visits of the Eskimo" and "Iroquois Migrations," by William M. Beauchamp; "Anthropological Matters in Michigan," by Harlan I. Smith; The Value of Games in Ethnology" and "Corean Children's Games," by Stewart Culin; "The Seat of Conscimaners," by Paul Carus; "Notes on Child Study," by J. Edward Warren: "Shell Mounds of Nicaragua" and "Prehistoric Man in Nicaragua," by John Crawford; “ Ancient Occupa tion of the Mississippi Valley," by Asa S. Tiffany: "Notes on the Customs and Traditions of the Micmacs" and "Legends of the Magic Wooing and the Piasa," by Stansbury Hagar; "The Child of the Future," by Laura O. Talbott; "On the History of the Meander Pattern and its Connection with the Swastika," by William H. Goodyear; "Modern and Pre

were invited to lunch with Mrs. Hermann and were presented with a silver souvenir pin as a memento of the trip. The other excursion was to Cold Spring Harbor by way of East river, Navy Yard, Hell Gate, Long Island Sound to Laurelton Grove, on the west bank of Cold Spring Harbor. Geologists who took this excursion were enabled to visit the Cretaceous clays of the north coast of Long Island folded by glacial action, while the biologists visited the Biological Laboratory of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences and the New York Fish Commission station.

On Monday, Aug. 20, an excursion to points of interest in New York harbor, presented by the Union Ferry Company through the courtesy of Mrs. J. S. T. Stranahan, was taken up the East river as far as the Navy Yard, then past Governor's Island, Bay Ridge, Fort Hamilton, the Narrows, Fort Wadsworth, Sailors' Snug Harbor, Bartholdi Statue, thence up the North river on the Hoboken side.

On the evening of Aug. 20 a second complimentary lecture to the citizens of Brooklyn was given by Edward D. Cope on "The Relation of Human Structure and Physiognomy to those of the other Mammalia"; while on the evening of Aug. 21 a third lecture, on "The Battle of the Forest," was delivered by Bernhard E. Fernow. On Aug. 23, the day following the final session of the association, an excursion was made up the Hudson river, through the Highlands to West Point, affording opportunity to visit the West Point Military Academy.

Besides the foregoing, the United States steamer “Fishhawk” was placed by the United States Fish Commission at the disposal of the members for dredging excursions. Also special excursions for the botanists, chemists, engineers, geologists, mineralogists, and zoologists were arranged for. Affiliated Organizations.—Various other scientific societies, taking advantage of the gathering of so many of their members at the meeting of the American Association, have in recent years adopted the practice of holding meetings at the same place and contemporaneous with the American Association, but at such hours as not to interfere with the regular sessions of the larger body. The American Microscopical Society met on Aug. 13, 14, and 15. Its president was Dr. Lester Curtis, of Chicago, Ill., and its secretary Dr. William H. Seaman, of Washington, D. C. The sixth summer meeting of the Geological Society of America was held on Aug. 13, 14, and 15. Owing to the absence of its president, Thomas C. Chamberlain, of Chicago, Ill., the vice-president, Nathaniel S. Shaler, of Cambridge, Mass., occupied the chair, and Herman L. Fairchild, of Rochester, N. Y., was secretary, The Society for Promotion of Agricultural Science held sessions on Aug. 14, 15, and 16. Its officers were Lemuel O. Howard, of Washington, D. C.. president, and William Frear, of Center County, Pa., secretary. The Association of Economic Entomologists held sessions on Aug. 14 and 15, under the presidency of Lemuel 0. Howard, of Washington, D. C., and with C. P. Gillette, of Fort Collins, Col., as secretary. The ninth general meeting of the American Chemical Society was held on Aug. 15 and 16, with Harvey W. Wiley, of Washington, D. C.,

as president, and Albert C. Hale, of Brooklyn, N. Y., as secretary. The American Mathematical Society held sessions on Aug. 13, 14, and 15, with Emory McClintock, of New York city, as president, and Thomas S. Fisk, of New York city, as secretary. The Society for Promoting Engineering Education met during Aug. 15-24, under the presidency of De Volsen Wood, of Hoboken, N. J., as president, and John B. Johnson, of St. Louis, Mo., as secretary. The Association of State Weather Service, of which Henry H. C. Dunwoody, of Washington, D. C., and James Berry, of Washington, D. C., were respectively president and secretary, held its third annual meeting on Aug. 17; and the American Forestry Association held sessions on Aug. 2124, with J. Sterling Morton, of Washington, D. C., as president, and J. D. W. French, of Boston, Mass., as secretary. As usual during the meeting, regular sessions of the Botanical Club, with William P. Wilson, of Philadelphia, Pa., as president, and Thomas H. McBride, of Iowa City, Iowa, as secretary, and the Entomological Club, with C. J. S. Bethune, of Port Hope, Ontario, Canada, as president and Charles L. Marlatt, of Washington, D. C., as secretary, were held.

Final Sessions.-The final sessions of the association were held on Aug. 22, and at the morning gathering, on recommendation of the council, the names of Thomas T. Bouré, of Boston, Mass.; James D. Dana, of New Haven, Conn.: Epes D. Dixwell, of Cambridge, Mass.; Traill Green, of Easton, Pa.; James H. Redfield, of Philadelphia, Pa.; and Charles E. West, of Brooklyn, N. Y., all of whom were present, in 1849, at the first meeting of the American Association, were added to the list of life members. Also the names of 48 members, in consideration of their contributions to science, were advanced to the grade of fellows. Notice was given of contemplated changes in the constitution-one to admit libraries to membership on the plane of individuals, and the other to separate the division now devoted to geography and geology. The president of the council has authorized the Committee on Grants to give $100 to the biological laboratory at Wood's Holl, Mass., for the founding of an association table; also a grant of $100 was made to Franklin W. Hooper, of Brooklyn, N. Y., for the purpose of promoting certain original researches in the biological laboratory in Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island. The same committee by the same authority was authorized to give to William A. Rogers and Edward W. Morley, of the department of physics, $100, with which to pursue their studies on inferential comparison, and to Franz Boas, of the anthropological department, $200, to continue his anthropometric measurements of American Indians. There were 202 papers entered, of which 175 were read: 218 new members were elected to the association, and an attendance of 488 members and fellows. The Brooklyn meeting, while not a great meeting, like the Boston (1880) or Washington (1891) meetings, was a most successful one, and perhaps just a little above the average.

somewhere not far from San Francisco, and probably earlier in the summer. The following officers were chosen: President, Edward W. Morley, Cleveland, Ohio. Vice-presidents of Sections: A, E. S. Holden, Mount Hamilton, Cal.; B, W. LeConte Stevens, Troy, N. Y.; C, William McMurtrie, Brooklyn, N. Y.; D, William Kent, Passaic, N. J.; E, Jedediah Hotchkiss, Staunton, Va.; F, David S. Jordan, Palo Alto, Cal.; G, John C. Arthur, Lafayette, Ind.: H, Frank H. Cushing, Washington, D. C.; I, B. E. Fernow, Washington, D. C. Permanent Secretary, Frederick W. Putnam, Cambridge, Mass. General Secretary, James Lewis Howe, Louisville, Ky. Secretary of the Council, Charles R. Barnes, Madison, Wis. Secretaries of the Sections: A, Eliakim H. Moore, Chicago, Ill.; B, Ernest Merritt, Ithaca, N. Y.; C, William P. Mason, Troy, N. Y.; D, Henry S. Jacoby, Ithaca, N. Y.; È, James Perrin Smith, Palo Alto, Cal.; F, S. A. Forbes, Champaign, Ill.; G, Benjamin T. Galloway, Washington, D. C.; H. Anita Newcombe McGee, Washington, D. C.; I, Edward A. Ross, Palo Alto, Cal. Treasurer, R. S. Woodward, New York.

British. The sixty-fourth annual meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science was held in Oxford during Aug. 815. The officers of the association were: President, the Marquis of Salisbury. Section Presidents: A, Mathematics and Physics, Arthur W. Rücker; B, Chemistry, Harold B. Dixon; C, Geology, Lazarus Fletcher; D, Biology, Isaac B. Balfour; E, Geography, W. J. L. Wharton; F, Economic Science and Statistics, C. F. Bastable; G, Mechanical Science, A. B. W. Kennedy; H, Anthropology, William H. Flower; I, Physiology, Edward D. Schaefer. General Secretaries, Sir Douglas Galton and Vernon Harcourt. Assistant Secretary, G. Griffith. General Treasurer, Arthur W. Rücker. For a portrait of the Marquis of Salisbury, see the "Annual Cyclopædia" for 1885, page 448.

General Meeting. The association began its proceedings with a meeting of the general committee on Aug. 8, when the report of the council was received and other business transacted. It was presided over by the retiring president, Dr. J. S. Burdon Sanderson. The report of the council showed that they had received and adopted the following report from their committees: 1. That it is not desirable that the invested funds of the association be increased, and that the floating balance in the hands of the treasurer might be diminished if the bill for printing was paid out of the capital. The committee recommend that this be done. 2. That the treasurer continue the practice, which he began at Nottingham, of presenting an estimate of the receipts and expenses of the association for the current year. 3. That it is not advisable to lay down any rules as to the amount to be expended in grants, but that as far as circumstances permit the following regulations should be adhered to: (a) That £1,000 be at present regarded as the normal annual grant in aid of research: (b) that this sum be annually granted, unless the estimated floating balance in the hands of the treasurer at the end of the current financial year is less than £500 or greater than £1,000; (c) if the estimated balance falls short of £500, it is de

sirable that the grant should be reduced. If it exceeds £1,000, the excess may be regarded as available for increasing the grant above £1,000; (d) in the case of a sudden increase of the floating balance above £1,000, due to an exceptionally large meeting, it is not desirable that the whole of the surplus should be spent at one meeting. 4. That, in view of the large annual expenditure on printing, the committee recommend that the attention of committees to whom grants of money are made be drawn to the importance of economy. The following foreign scientists were elected corresponding members: Prof. Christian Bohr, Copenhagen, Denmark; Prof. W. C. Brögger, Christiania, Sweden; Prof. W. Einthoven, Leyden, Holland; Prof. Paul Heger, Brussels, Belgium; Dr. R. Hertwig, Munich, Germany; Dr. Hans Hildebrand, Stockholm, Sweden; and M. Henri Moissan, Paris, France. It was also recommended that, instead of Section D and Section I as at present constituted, there be three sections-namely, Section D, zoology; Section 1, physiology; and Section K, botany. The council propose that the word "mineralogy" be omitted from the title of Section B, as papers on mineralogy are read not only in this section, but also in the physical section and in the geological section. The treasurer's report showed receipts amounting to £4,600, including the sale of £970 worth of consols and the transfer of £500 in Exchequer bills from investments account. The expenditure included £133 for the Nottingham meeting, £2,182 for the printing of two years and the printing of the index 1861-'90, £633 for grants made at Nottingham, and the balance in hand (including the £500 of Exchequer bills) was £1.094.

The usual vote of thanks to the retiring president was offered by Sir Frederick Bramhall and seconded by Sir Archibald Geikie. The first general gathering of the association was held in the evening in the Sheldonian Theater, when the retiring president performed his last official duty by introducing his successor, who then addressed the association on "Scientific Enigmas."

The President's Address.-The Marquis of Salisbury said, in opening his address: "My functions are of a more complicated character than usually is assigned to the occupants of this chair. As chancellor of the university it is my duty to tender to the British Association a hearty welcome, which it is my duty as president of the association to accept. As president of the association I convey, most unworthily, the voice of English science; but in representing the university I represent far more fittingly the learners who are longing to hear the lessons which the first teachers of English science have come as visitors to teach." Briefly reviewing the relations of the association and the university, he mentioned the previous visits of the association to Oxford in 1832, 1847, and 1860, and showed the differences between the old learning and the new. "Few men are now influenced by the strange idea that questions of religious belief depend on the issues of physical research. Few men, whatever their creed, would now seek their geology in the books of their religion, or, on the other hand, would fancy that the laboratory or the microscope could help them to penetrate the mysteries which hang over

the nature and the destiny of the soul of man. And the old learning no longer contests the share in education which is claimed by the new, or is blind to the supreme influence which natural knowledge is exercising in molding the human mind.' Passing directly to his chosen theme instead of attempting to review in all its interesting detail the history of a particular science, he preferred to call "attention to the condition in which we stand toward three or four of the most important physical questions which it has been the effort of the last century to solve." Of these scientific enigmas he first took up the nature and origin of what are called elements as being the most notable. It is not, perhaps, easy to give a precise logical reason for the feeling that the existence of our 65 elements is a strange anomaly and conceals some much simpler state of facts; but the conviction is irresistible. We can not conceive, on any possible doctrine of cosmogony, how these 65 elements came into existence." Research in laboratories fails to afford the slightest foundation for the theory that the elements consist of hydrogen. Spectral analysis has enabled us to measure the speed with which clouds of hydrogen course across the surface of the sun. Also we have learned from it the pace at which the stars approach or recede from our planet, but it has left us as ignorant as ever as to the nature of the capricious differences which separate the atoms from each other or the cause to which those differences are due." Mendeleeff's discovery of the periodic laws, which is now universally accepted, has rather thickened than dissipated the mystery which hangs over the elements. The boundary of our knowledge in this direction remains where it was many centuries ago. A second of these unsolved riddles concerns ether, which may be described as a half-discovered entity. The brilliant researches of Maxwell, of Herz, and of Lord Kelvin have demonstrated certain relations between ether and electricity, but our knowledge of ether is in a very rudimentary condition. "It has no known qualities except one, and that quality is in the highest degree anomalous and inscrutable. The extended conception which enables us to recognize ethereal waves in the vibrations of electricity has added infinite attraction to the study of those waves, but it carries its own difficulties with it. It is not easy to fit in the theory of electrical ether waves with the phenomena of positive and negative electricity. As to the true significance and cause of those counteracting and complementary forces to which we give the provisional names of negative and positive, we know about as much as Franklin knew a century and a half ago." A more striking but more obvious illustration still of these scientific enigmas is life-animal and vegetable life. Biology has been exceptionally active and successful during the last half century. Its triumphs have been brilliant, and they have been rich enough not only in immediate result, but in the promise of future advance, yet they give at present no hope of penetrating the great central mystery. The advances made in antiseptic surgery by Lister, and the magnificent researches of Pasteur, have added greatly to our knowledge, but "certainly the most conspicuous event in the annals of the last half century has been the publication

of Mr. Darwin's work on the Origin of Species,' which appeared in 1859." The depth of the impression which it made on scientific thought, and even on the general opinion of the world, and its momentous effect can hardly be overestimated. With more special reference to Charles Darwin, he said: "And whatever final value may be assigned to his doctrine, nothing can ever detract from the luster shed upon it by the wealth of his knowledge and the infinite ingenuity of his resource.” In some respects the Darwinian theory has not effected the conquest of scientific opinion. Natural selection can not be accepted as the sole or even the main, agent of whatever modifications may have led up to the existing forms of life. The deepest obscurity still hangs over the origin of the infinite variety of life. Moreover, it has been shown that the amount of time required for working this theory can not be conceded without a totally different set of natural laws from those with which we are acquainted. Until the physical discrepancies are adjusted "the laity may be excused for returning a verdict of 'not proven upon the wider issues the Darwinian school has raised." Quoting from Prof. Weisman, he said: "We accept natural selection not because we are able to demonstrate the process in detail, not even because we can with more or less ease imagne it, but simply because we must-because it is the only possible explanation that we can conceive.' The reason that he gives seems to me instructive of the great danger scientific research is running at the present time-the acceptance of mere conjecture in the name and place of knowledge in preference to making frankly the admission that no certain knowledge can be attained. The cloud of impenetrable mystery hangs over the development, and still more over the origin, of life. If we strain our eyes to pierce it, with the foregone conclusion that some solution is and must be attainable we shall only mistake for discoveries the figments of our imagination." His concluding words were the striking ones used by Lord Kelvin on a similar occasion more than twenty years ago: “I have always felt that the hypothesis of natural selection does not contain the true theory of evolution, if evolution there has been in biology. ... Overpoweringly strong proofs of intelligent and benevolent design lie around us, and if ever perplexities, whether metaphysical or scientific, turn us away from them for a time, they come back upon us with irresistible force, showing to us through Nature the influence of a free will, and teaching us that all living things depend on one everlasting Creator and Ruler.'

Proceedings of the Sections. A. Mathematics and Physics.-The presiding officer of this section was Prof. Arthur W. Rücker, who has been for many years engaged on the Magnetic Survey of the United Kingdom. His address was devoted to problems and conclusions suggested by his work on the survey. He referred at the outset to the inaccuracy of the instruments used at present, notably those for measuring the declination and horizontal force which are affected with errors amounting to five or even ten times that of a single field observation. In 1891, at the meeting of the International Meteorological Conference held in Mu