age daily attendance, an increase of 14 per cent. The total school population is 463,676. The amount of the annual apportionment to the schools in August was $343,038.10.

The teachers of the State have united with those of Texas and Colorado in the organization of a Chautauqua association, which has purchased 20 acres near Boulder, Col., at the base of the Rocky mountains, for its buildings.

The State University graduated a class of 15 in June, and Ouachita College one of 6 in the regular course and 6 from special departments. From the medical department of the university 19 were graduated in April, and 9 in June from the law department of the Arkansas Industrial University, at Fayetteville.

At the School for the Blind 4 boys were graduated in June with diplomas for piano tuning and 2 from the Industrial Department.

The Deaf-Mute Institute has about 235 inmates. The buildings are on a tract of 90 acres on a high ridge overlooking Arkansas river. With the products of the gardens and shops the institution has become nearly self-supporting.

In accordance with a resolution of the Legislature in 1895, the Representatives of Arkansas in Congress requested that the compact entered into between the United States and the State of Arkansas with regard to the "sections of land No. 16 in every township," or an equivalent section, granting the proceeds of the sale of such lands "for the use of the inhabitants of such township for the use of the schools" be so modified that the funds arising from the sale of the lands shall be placed in the State treasury and applied to school purposes without regard to the townships where the sections sold were situated, but, like other school funds, apportioned according to the number of children of school age. The act of modification was passed by Congress in March.

The Insane.-The Asylum for the Insane comprises buildings with a capacity for 600 patients, and more than 500 are cared for now. It is on a height 2 miles west of the center of the capital city. The annual appropriation for current expenses is about $88,000.

Criminals.-The State Penitentiary has about 990 inmates, of whom 10 are women, 7 colored and 3 white. The life prisoners number 15, and all of them are colored; 66 per cent. of the prison population is colored. A reform farm camp has been established at Palarm, to which prisoners under twenty-one are sent. Eight leased farms are worked by the convicts on the share-crop system, and this is reported to have resulted profitably. A convict farm is to be bought by the State and paid for by the products of its cultivation.

The law requires that the State shall furnish convicts with tobacco, the supply of which in 1897 cost $3,400. This year the tobacco used was raised by the convicts themselves on the farm near Palarm, showing that a fairly good quality of this product can be grown in the State. In 1897 the Governor granted a total of 297 pardons, restorations to citizenship in cases where sentences had been served, and remissions of fines.

Several cases of lynching occurred in the State during the year. A negro accused of assault was hanged by a mob at Fairview, June 3, and soon afterward two negroes were hanged for the same crime by a mob of about 300 farmers in Monroe County. On July 4 a mob took a negro charged with murder from jail at Rison and hanged him. Two other negroes, it appears, had previously been lynched for participation in the same crime. July 14, two negroes charged with a murder in 1894 were shot in jail at Monticello. They had been convicted

in two trials, but were awaiting a third trial, which had been granted by the Supreme Court. The most flagrant case of lawlessness occurred in Clarendon in August, on account of the murder of John P. Orr at his home there, July 30. The coroner's jury charged the crime to a negro, and accused as accessories four other negroes, the murdered man's wife, and a young Jewess. On Aug. 9 four of the negroes, one a woman, were taken from jail and hanged. They confessed to being accomplices. Mrs. Orr, who was also in jail awaiting trial, took poison, said to have been given to her by the mob to save her from the fate of the negroes, and died the next day. The circuit judge had promised to convene an extra session of court and see that the prisoners had a speedy trial.

Much trouble is encountered in the efforts of the authorities to put a stop to illicit distilling. It is difficult to get testimony against the law-breakers, for witnesses are subjected to all sorts of annoyance and loss and are in fear of their lives. One who had given testimony in a case of this kind in Cleburne County asked protection from the Governor in a letter which said: "We have been subjected to every kind of misusage by threats and destruction of property. My hogs died, my dogs were killed, my wagon was torn to pieces in the field, and last Saturday night at eight o'clock my barn was set on fire and burned to the ground with three cows and farming tools, grain, and fodder, my loss being not less than $400. I have been warned that I must move out of my house and get out of the country right away. I have to guard night and day what I have left. I can't gather my crops. People are afraid to come to my house or have anything to do with me." The Governor issued a proclamation offering a reward for the arrest of any person guilty of the acts mentioned in the letter.

Railroads. The figures given out in September by the Board of State Assessors show an increase of $371,628 in the taxable valuation of railroads over that of 1897. The increase of mileage is 65.19; the total mileage, 2,612.17. The total valuation is $22,995,492. This includes the sleeping-car, telegraph, and express companies, amounting to $937,699.

Under a decree of the court back taxes to the amount of $62,477 have been paid by the Pullman Palace Car Company, the Western Union Telegraph Company, and the Pacific Express Company.

The grant of 1,000 acres of State land to the Springfield, Little Rock, and Gulf road, on condition that it be built and equipped from Little Rock to Fourche la Favre river by June 26, 1898, was forfeited by failure to build, although some work was done and the project appears to have been abandoned.

The Mississippi River, Hamburg and Western road was completed in September to Hamburg from Montrose, its junction with the Iron Mountain, a distance of 20 miles only, and contracts were let to carry it on to the Mississippi. The plan is to extend it to Texarkana.

According to the Arkansas "Gazette," charters have been granted for 431 railroads in the State since Dec. 12, 1851, the date of the first charter. Of these, about 400 have been forfeited by failure to construct the proposed roads. Work is in progress on an extension of the Choctaw, Oklahoma and Gulf road from Wister Junction to Little Rock, and at a foreclosure sale of the Little Rock and Memphis in October this road was bought for the former. A line for the capital city, competing with the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern, is thus in prospect. The purchase price of the Little Rock and Memphis was $325,000 above the amount of the mortgage upon it, $3,325,313.

By a Supreme Court decision in April, the rule

ASSOCIATIONS FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. American.-The fiftieth meeting of the American Association was held in Boston, Mass., during Aug. 22-27, 1898. The officers of the meeting were: President, Frederick W. Putnam, of

FREDERICK W. PUTNAM.

Cambridge, Mass. Vice-presidents of the sections: A, Edward E. Barnard, Williams Bay, Wis.; B, Frank P. Whitman, Cleveland, Ohio; C, Edgar F. Smith, Philadelphia, Pa.; D, John Galbraith, Toronto, Canada, acting in place of Mortimer E. Cooley, Ann Arbor, Mich., absent owing to service in the navy; E, Herman L. Fairchild, Rochester, N. Y.; F, Alpheus S. Packard, Providence, R. I.: G, William G. Farlow, Cambridge, Mass.; H. J. McKeen Cattell, New York city; and I, Archibald Blue, Toronto, Canada. Permanent secretary, Leland O. Howard, Washington city. General secretary, James McMahon, Ithaca, N. Y. Secretary of the council, Frederick Bedell, Ithaca, N. Y. Secretaries of the sections: A. Winslow Upton, Providence, R. I.; B, William S. Franklin, South Bethlehem, Pa.; C, Charles Baskerville, Chapel Hill, N. C.; D, John J. Flather, Lafayette, Ind., acting in place of William S. Aldrich, Morgantown, W. Va., absent owing to service in the war; E, Warren Upham, Minneapolis, Minn.; F, Robert T. Jackson, Boston, Mass.: G, Erwin F. Smith, Washington city; H, Marshall H. Saville, New York city; and I, Marcus Benjamin, Washington city. Treasurer, Robert S. Woodward, New York city.

Opening Proceedings.-The usual regular preliminary meeting of the council with which the association begins its sessions was held in the council room at the Technology Club, 71 Newbury Street, on Aug. 20, at noon. At this session the final details pertaining to the arrangements of the meeting were settled and the reports of the local committees acted on. The names of 162 applicants for membership were favorably considered, which number, together with 37 names acted on at an extra meeting of the council held in Washington on April 20, 1898, brought the total membership up to 1,843. The general session with which the public meetings begin was held in Huntington Hall of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at 10 A. M., Aug. 22. The meeting was called to order by the retiring president, Oliver Wolcott Gibbs, of Newport, R. I., at whose request Bishop William Lawrence offered prayer. Gov. Roger Wolcott, of Massachusetts, then

welcomed the association. He said in part: "It is for you, little by little, as the years and centuries go on, with faithful and painstaking search, to learn a little more of that great ocean of truth and to launch your barks a little farther on the sea of science, and to know more about the stars, the plants, the pebbles, and the shells. The truth is that Science is still sweeping beyond you, and is beckoning you to follow her. Science would be less worthy of our regard if its benefits should be limited to any class, but it is open to all.

"It is as men of science that the Commonwealth welcomes you to-day. May you bear away from this meeting pleasant memories of the State, rich in the valor and achievements of her sons. And may you leave behind you that inspiration which is fostered and cherished by men who are brought together to compare notes and clasp hands, and carry back memories of this meeting. The Commonwealth greets you, and expresses to you her recognition, and bids you welcome to the old Bay State."

Mayor Josiah Quincy, as the representative of the municipality, welcomed the association to Boston in a few remarks, among which were references to the aid given by scientists to the working out of practical problems in the city. He said: "I am proud to say that we are commanding the interest and the services, and the hearty co-operation, without price and without reward, of men who are endeavoring to give in some measure a practical social science, and, while this may be a far less exact science than many others, I firmly believe that there is a social science and a political science, and that the domains which come within its knowledge are constantly widening, both as regards the body social and its evolution, and the body politic, and how to secure its best application. I heartily congratulate the American Association and welcome it back, after fifty years, to the scene of its birth and extend thanks and welcome on behalf of the city of Boston to each and every one of its members in view of this meeting here and the work which the association is yet to do in the first half of the century to come."

President James M. Crafts, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, likewise welcomed the members. He said: "Scholars who have walked in the fields with Gray and Agassiz, who have learned their mathematics from Peirce, their anatomy from Wyman, or their chemistry from your retiring president, might look the world over without finding leaders better fitted to guide them to the innermost chambers of scientific knowledge. In this place it is most fitting to mention the chairman of the first meeting of this association, William B. Rogers, who was a born educator. He loved science for its own sake. His later years were devoted to the institute which he built up, and which, now largely grown from small beginnings, has the honor of welcoming you this day; and it was on this stage that he fell, an unfinished sentence on his lips, giving his life to the cause which overtaxed his strength.'

President Gibbs then presented his successor, President Putnam, who acknowledged the addresses of welcome on behalf of the association, and then declared the meeting open. A short address was then made in French by M. Désiré Charnay, the official representative of the French Government, and after the usual announcements the meeting was adjourned.

Address of the Retiring President.-The association met again in Huntington Hall, on Monday evening, to listen to the retiring address of President Gibbs. This distinguished scientist, who still follows his chosen study of chemistry in his private laboratory in Newport, was for nearly a quarter of a century Rumford professor in Harvard Univer

sity, and with Agassiz, Gray, Lovering, and others did much toward inaugurating the great development in science that took place in Harvard subsequent to the arrival of Agassiz in this country. He chose as the subject of his address "Some Points in Theoretical Chemistry." He said: "All chemists are familiar with the terms atom and molecule. The use of these two words, with a clear conception of their meaning, forms an era in the history of the science. Our modern chemistry is built up of atoms and molecules, as we now define them. Our modern physics deals for the most part, and, as I think, too exclusively, with atoms, except, perhaps, in the case of what we now term physical chemistry, the new branch of science, which makes it difficult for us to determine where chemistry leaves off and where physics begins. The old controversy between the advocates of the continuity and those of the discontinuity of matter is not dead, but only sleeps." Continuing, he added: "We owe to Dalton the first clear conception of the chemical atom as distinguished from the atoms of Lucretius and Democritus; to Frankland the conception of valence, which shows us what combinations of atoms can exist consistently with the number of units of affinity possessed by each individual atom, or, in other words, in what manner groups of atoms can form systems which are in stable equilibrium. This conception includes that of the chemistry of space, now so much employed in organic chemistry, as well as that of the motions of atoms within the molecule, as yet without supporters. To the conception of a definite number of units of affinity recent chemistry has added that of direction of action, statical according to one school of chemists, dynamical according to another. Within a comparatively short time attention has been directed to a large class of compounds exhibiting very interesting properties and forming peculiar series, some of which, at least, are made up of homologous terms. This group has been called complex-inorganic, because many of its members form highly complex molecules, of which no analogues are known."

He himself was one of the pioneer workers in certain of these complex-inorganic acids and their salts, and the history of his investigations formed the burden of his address. He called attention to the fact that "the term 'complex-inorganic' was at first intended to embrace all the compounds containing a relatively large number of molecules of tungstic and molybdic oxides as determinates, beginning with the silicotungstates of Marignac. Hittorf, in 1859, appears to have first drawn the distinction between double salts which are decomposed by solution and those which are stable under the same circumstances. Finally, Ostwald proposed to restrict the term 'complex to the salts which are not decomposed by solution and which gave none of the chemical reactions of the constituents. Of these two classes it is difficult to say which is the more interesting and theoretically important. The salts of the first class are comparatively new to chemists and, in spite of all which has been done, offer a very wide field for investigation. Those of the second class present new species of double and even of triple and quadruple salts. It will first be necessary to study the whole subject by physical as well as by the purely chemical methods which all chemists have hitherto employed, so as to define as distinctly as possible the limit, if there be one, which separates the two classes from

each other."

In continuation he said: "I venture now to suggest that, in addition to its valence, each atom and each molecule possesses a special chemical potential, not necessarily a function of its valence. The expression chemical potential' is not wholly new, but

I think the conception has never been clearly defined. I would now define it as bearing the same relation to chemical action which the electric potential bears to electrical action, the two potentials being mutually convertible, all chemical compounds having residual affinities or potentials besides the valencies. If we suppose that the atoms within the molecule are in motion, such motion will be independent of the valencies and the molecule will have a certain amount of free kinetic energy convertible into chemical electrical energy or into heat. In inorganic chemistry four great problems now present themselves for solution. These are: The existence and chemical relations of the gaseous elements, of which five are known to exist in the atmosphere; the separation of the elements forming the rare earths by systematic processes and the determination of their positions in the periodic series; the thorough and, so far as possible, exhaustive study of the complex and double salts; and, finally, the determination of the atomic masses of the elements with all the precision of which the subject admits, and in the spirit of Stas, of Richards, and of Morley."

Proceedings of the Sections.-The association is divided into nine sections, each of which is presided over by an officer having the rank of vicepresident of the association. Subsequent to the opening proceedings each section meets by itself and effects its organization by electing a fellow to represent it in the council, a sectional committee of three fellows, a fellow or member to the nominating committee, and a committee of three members or fellows to nominate officers of the section for the next meeting. As soon as this organization is effected, the secretary of the section reports to the general secretary, who then provides him with a list of papers that, having been considered suitable by the council, may be read and discussed before the section. A press secretary, whose duties are to prepare abstracts of the papers read and to give them to reporters of newspapers, is also commonly chosen.

A. Mathematics and Astronomy.-This section was presided over by Dr. Edward E. Barnard, formerly at the Lick Observatory, and now at the Yerkes Observatory, of the University of Chicago, but perhaps best known by his discovery of the fifth satellite of Jupiter. He chose as the subject of his address "The Development of Astronomical Photography."

He said: The great discovery of taking pictures by the natural light of the sun had just been made when the American Association held its first meeting, and while it then aroused great interest, there yet were few who even dreamed of the future value of photography to the world. One of those who saw the value of Daguerre's discovery was the celebrated astronomer and writer Dr. Dick. The astute Scotchman saw the opportunity to catch the features of the moon by means of the photograph; he thought that the planets would prove easy subjects to the new process, that perhaps there might be something discovered about the nebula, and that objects not visible to the eye might find themselves depicted on the plated disks of Daguerre. It is a little curious to note that while much excellent work has been done on the nebulæ, the photography of the planets seems to-day no nearer realization than in the days of Dr. Dick's predictions. In 1839 the astronomer Arago addressed the French Academy on the subject of photographing the skies, and within a year from that time the elder Draper in New York had succeeded in taking a picture of the moon. Five years later, Harvard Col lege Observatory began its photographic work, when were secured pictures of the moon with the

15-inch equatorial. The speaker rapidly sketched the rise and progress of photography as applied to the moon, the sun, and the heavens, much of the work being done by American investigators. The completion of Lick Observatory marked a decided advance in study, since the large telescope there favored the work. The Paris photographs of Loewy and Puiseux, made with a special form of telescope, excel anything that has yet been done, however. Dr. Barnard followed the progress of work on the sun, which at first sought detail on the surface, next devoted itself to the prominences, then took up the corona, and with the invention of the dry plate has gone back to detail on the surface and within the sun spots. The dry plate has been the most important improvement which has contributed to the advance of astronomical photography. With the old wet processes the time of exposure was limited; it was not so flexible a method, and was most inconvenient. A most important branch of investigation is that of stellar photography, which dates practically from 1882. In an endeavor to catch the great comet of that year, Dr. Gill, at the Cape of Good Hope, secured the assistance of a local photographer, and when his pictures reached Europe the astonishing feature was the number of stars that they showed. The work has been taken up with energy by many observatories, and most excellent results have been accomplished. A portion of Dr. Barnard's paper was devoted to recent work, especially that of Lick and Harvard, and an insight was given into the many different lines of research wherein the camera plays an important part-such as the noting of variable stars, the securing of plates whereupon positions may be measured, the catching of the details of nebulæ and comets, and the discovery of asteroids.

Alexander Ziwet, of the University of Michigan, who was chosen secretary of this section last year, having declined election, his place was filled by the election of Winslow Upton, of Brown University.

The following-named papers were read and discussed before the section: "Making Astronomy Popular," by Miss Mary Proctor; "Correction of Local Error in Stellar Photometry," by Henry M. Parkhurst; "The Parallaxes of 61 and 612 Cygni from a Reduction of the Rutherfurd Measures," by Herman S. Davis; "The Præsepe Group: Measurement and Reduction of the Rutherfurd Photographs," by Frank Schlesinger; "Discordances between the North Polar Distances of Stars derived from Direct and Reflected Observations" and "The Treatment of Results from Reflection Observations at the Greenwich Observatory," by John R. Eastman; "A Summary of Planetary Work at the Lowell Observatory, and the Conditions under which such Work has been performed," by Andrew E. Douglass; "Astronomy in Southern California," by Lewis Swift; "A Description of Instantaneous Azimuth and Altitude Charts of the Heavens," by F. W. Coar; "Instruction in Elementary Astronomy by Means of Observations made by the Student," by W. Maxwell Reed; "Personal Equations during the Past Century: A Brief Summary," by Truman II. Safford; "On Rational Right-Angled Triangles, II," by Dr. Artemus Martin; "Behavior of the Atmospheres of Gas- and Vapor-Generating Globes in Celestial Space," by J. Woodbridge Davis; "Graphical Logic." by Ellen Hayes; "Illustrations of the Comitant Method of constructing the Imaginary Loci of Analytical Geometry, so as to render Their Properties Evident to the Eye," by Frank H. Loud; "On the Operation Groups of Order 48 and those of Order 2p3, p being any Prime Number," by George A. Miller; "The Condition of the Surface of the Planet Jupiter," by George W. Hough; "The Yerkes Observatory and its Work," by George E.

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Hale; "The General Theory of Anharmonics," by Edgar O. Lovett; "On the Aims of the International Society for the Promotion of Quaternions and Allied Branches." by Alexander Macfarlane; · Some Notes on Direction,'" by S. Edward Warren; A Short Method for deriving Riemann's Theta Formula," by Franklin A. Becher; "A Ternary and a Quaternary Linear Congruence Group simply Isomorphic to the Linear Fractional Congruence Group," by Leonard E. Dickson; "Linear Transformations in Four Dimensions," by Arthur S. Hathaway; "The Limitations of the Present Solution of the Tidal Problem," by John S. Hayford; "Variation of Latitude at New York City and the Constant of Aberration from Observations with a Zenith Telescope (Talcott's Method) at Columbia University Observatory during the Years of 18921898," by John K. Rees, Harold Jacoby, and Herman S. Davis; "Fifty Years of American Geodesy," by Edward D. Preston; "On the Duplex Base Apparatus of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey" and "On the Diminution of the Refrac tion of the Atmosphere with Height and its Effect upon Trigonometrically Determined Elevations from Reciprocal Zenith Distances," by William Eimbeck; On a New Application of the Prismatic Camera to Total Eclipse," by David P. Todd; “On Harmonic Functions," "A Proposed Tidal Analyzer," "A Tidal Abacus," and "The Harmonic Analysis of High and Low Waters," by Rollin A. Harris; and "A Description of the Altazimuth Instrument recently constructed for the United States Naval Observatory," by George A. Hill.

Also the following reports were read: On "Theory of Invariants: The Chief Contributions of a Decade," by Henry S. White, and on "The Modern Group Theory," by George A. Miller.

A joint session was held with Section B, on Aug. 25, at which the following reports were read: "Report on the Recent Progress in the Dynamics of Solids and Fluids," by Ernest W. Brown, and "Report on the Recent Progress in the Mathematical Theory of Electricity and Magnetism," by Arthur C. Webster; also the following papers: "The Mass and Moments of Inertia of the Earth's Atmosphere," "Two New Forms of Apparatus for measuring the Acceleration of Gravity," and "The Gravitation Constant and the Mean Density of the Earth," by Robert S. Woodward, and The Limitations of the Present Solution of the Tidal Problem," by John S. Hayford.

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B. Physics.-The presiding officer of this section was Prof. Frank P. Whitman, of Adelbert College, Cleveland, Ohio, who presented an address on "Color Vision." This address was a summary of the progress in the department of the vision of colors, referring to the history of the research and summing up the matter in a statement of its condition at present. With a groundwork of the first definite and intelligible hypothesis, that of Sir Isaac Newton, Prof. Whitman related the story of color vision, noting the improvements to the original hypothesis suggested by Thomas Young, and finally those of his successors in this line of investigation. Color blindness was of course the burden of much of the address, the various ideas that have been advanced to account for the false appreciation of colors being passed in review. Much was said about the "visual purple," the purpose of which has been a puzzle to all anatomists. With reference to our present knowledge, it seems clearly proved that the number of color sensations is small and all hypotheses that a large number are, he said, untenable to-day. The vision of white light is by no means a compound sensation, no matter how complex the light may be physically, but at the same time it is not a purely independent one, for there are some