ent and responded by letters or telegrams: Dean C. H. Eigenmann, Bloomington, Indiana Academy of Science; Dr. J. B. Shaw, Urbana, Mathematics Club, University of Illinois.

In addition to the greetings brought by these delegates, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the California Academy of Sciences and the Ohio Academy of Sciences presented their felicitations by letter regretting that these could not be offered personally.

Dean Eigenmann's message was in the form of an eight-page telegram in which he reported a dream which he had lately experienced. He dreamed that he and his neighbor, Billy Sunday, had died and presented their credentials to his Satanic Majesty at the same time. It appeared that Billy's credentials were not good for permanent admission to the place, but he was allowed to look in and was greatly amazed to find that the numerous men of science whom he had condemned to the place were all there and having a thoroughly good time. They were carrying on all kinds of scientific experiments for which the high temperature was especially suitable, and had so improved the place that Billy longed for permission to remain.

This program lasted until a late hour, and President William Trelease was compelled to forego the reading of the presidential address which he had prepared on the suggestive title: The Producer, the Distributer and the Consumer.

The program for Saturday morning consisted of a symposium on the topic Public Health Problems. The following were the speakers and topics of this program:

Opening of the Symposium, by Dr. J. H. Beard. "Infant Mortality as a Public Health Problem," by Miss Emma Duke.

"The Control of Infectious Disease," by Dr. C. W. East.

"Rural Sanitation," by Surgeon M. J. White. "Relation of Water Supplies and Sewage Disposal to Public Health," by Mr. Paul Hansen.

"Cancer, as a Public Health Problem," by Dr. J. F. Percy.

The symposium was followed by a special lecture, complimentary to the people of Galesburg, on the topic "Earth Genesis," by Dr. T. C. Chamberlin, of Chicago University.

On Saturday afternoon, the academy was divided into three sections for the presentation of papers as follows:

SECTIONI

Papers on Botany and Allied Subjects "The Chestnut in Illinois," by William Trelease.

"Dwarf Shore Floras," by H. Walton Clark. "The Primrose Rocks of Illinois," by H. S. Pepoon (lantern).

"A Dipterocarp Forest," by Frank C. Gates. "Elementary Teaching of Stem Structure," by Henry S. Conard.

"A Contribution of Knowledge of Porto Rican Fungi," by F. L. Stevens.

"Phyllachora on Corn and a General Consideration of the Genus Phyllachora," by Nora E. Dalbey.

"Alternaria in Apple Spots, an Apple Rot caused by Gliocladium viride," by Frances Jean MacInnes.

"Notes on Cephaleuros Virescens," by Ruth Higley.

"New or Noteworthy Fungi from Porto Rico," by Ernest M. R. Lamkey.

"Two Porto Rican Plant Diseases," by L. E. Miles.

SECTION II

Papers on Zoology, Physiology and Allied Subjects "Selection, Regression and Parent-Progeny Correlation in Aphis avenae Fab.,'' by H. E. Ewing. 'Collecting Snails in the Southwest," by James H. Ferriss.

"Amphibians and Reptiles of the Charleston Region," by T. L. Hankinson.

"Crane Town on the Spoon," by Dr. W. S. Strode.

"Mechanism regulating the Laying on and Loss of Flesh."'

"The Cause of Exophthalmic Goiter," by W. E. Burge.

"The Effect of Starvation on the Catalase Content of Tissues," by Alma J. Neill.

"Recent Research in the Department of Household Science, University of Illinois," by Ruth Wheeler.

"The Content of a General Science Course," by J. F. Groves.

SECTION III

Papers on Physics, Chemistry, Geology and Allied Subjects

"The Origin of Desert Depression,'' by William Herbert Hobbs.

"The Thebes Sandstone and Orchard Creek Shale, and their Faunas," by T. E. Savage.

"Visible Color Effects in a Positive Ray Tube Containing Helium" (demonstration, lantern), by Chas. T. Knipp.

"A Study of Indoor Humidity" (lantern).

"The Rate of Combustion of Some Illinois Coals" (lantern), by F. D. Barber.

"Derivatives of Iso-Camphoric Acid," by Glen S. Skinner.

The officers elected for the ensuing year are as follows: Dr. J. C. Hessler, James Millikin University, Decatur, President; James H. Ferris, Joliet Vice-president; Professor T. L. Hankinson, State Normal School, Charleston, Treasurer; Professor J. L. Pricer, State Normal University, Normal, Secretary. J. L. PRICER, Secretary

NORMAL, ILL.

SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON THE 564th meeting of the society was held in the assembly hall of the Cosmos Club, Saturday, January 27, 1917, called to order at 8 P.M. by President Hay with 45 persons present.

Under the heading of brief notes, Messrs. W. L. McAtee and A. Wetmore made remarks on certain misconceptions as to the notes of some common species of birds and as to a theory of the migration of birds.

Under the heading exhibition of specimens, Dr. O. P. Hay showed a metacarpal of a horse with well-developed lateral metacarpals, and three fused metacarpals of a cow each with well-developed digits.

Dr. L. O. Howard commented on an enthusiastic antimosquito convention, which he had lately attended in New Jersey.

The regular program consisted of two communications:

Exploitation of Neglected Aquatic Resources: H. M. SMITH.

Dr. Smith called attention to many forms of

fishes not used as food by the American public, but which are of pleasing taste and good food value. Many of these have long been used for food by Europeans, especially about the North Sea. He gave a brief résumé of the discovery, disappearance, rediscovery of the tilefish and of its successful introduction to the consumer through exploitation by the Bureau of Fisheries. He then described the dogfish and its habits destructive to other fish and the losses caused by it to fishermen. He told of the efforts now being made by the Bureau of Fisheries to market the dogfish as a food. Under the name of grayfish it is now being successfully canned and marketed by some of the New England fisheries and by some of the salmon canneries on the Pacific coast during the winter months when salmon are unattainable. The canned meat not only constitutes one of the cheapest forms of protein now available, but the livers of the dogfish yield a valuable oil; the oviducts, eggs; and the skin a leather which has many possibilities. Discussion by Messrs. Ames, Bean and Doolittle. Showers of Organic Matter: W. L. MCATEE.

Under this heading Mr. McAtee gave a review of the various apocryphal and authentic instances in which hay, grain, various insects, encysted animalcules, worms, frogs, toads, fishes and birds had fallen from the sky. The explanation was offered that the objects had been carried aloft by violent currents of air.

THE 565th meeting of the society was held in the assembly hall of the Cosmos Club, Saturday, February 10, 1917, called to order at 8 P.M., by President Hay with 30 persons present.

Two formal communications were presented:

A Mortality of Fishes on the West Coast of Florida: H. F. TAYLOR.

It ap

During the months of October and November, 1916, vast numbers of fishes were killed in the region mentioned, by some obscure cause. pears to be a recurrence of the phenomenon observed in 1844, 1854, 1878, 1880, 1882, 1883, 1908. Of the dead fishes 63 species, representing 37 families, were identified. The animals killed were confined, with the exception of king crabs, sea urchins and sponges to the class Pisces. Various suggested causes were examined; foul Everglade water, diseases and volcanic eruptions are inadequate explanations. Evidence at hand seems rather to show that the cause of mortality was the release of occluded bottom gases by small seismic disturbances, or possibly by abnormally large numbers of Peridinii. Mr. Taylor's paper was illustrated by lan

tern-slide views of the region involved and of strips of shore showing the large numbers of stricken fishes. His paper was discussed by Messrs. Hay, Bartsch, Goldman, Radcliffe and others.

Changes in the Avifauna about Burlington, Iowa, 1885 to 1917: PAUL BARTSCH.

From 1885 to 1893 Dr. Bartsch was resident of Burlington and an enthusiastic bird collector. In the ideal conditions found for birds at Burlington he had recorded 275 species. Since 1893 he has been a sporadic visitor to Burlington, but has always retained his interest in the local avifauna. Passenger pigeons, Carolina parakeets, whooping and sandhill cranes, trumpeter swans were found about Burlington, but are no longer seen. The same is true of the Mississippi kite, the swallowtailed kite, wild turkey and prairie chickens, the latter having been shot in times past from the speaker's porch. The prothonotary warbler, once common, appears to have gone northward. New birds now found at Burlington have come from the west, such as western meadowlark, red-shafted flicker. Other newcomers are the tufted tit and Carolina wren. Many of these changes are due to human agencies, some Dr. are unexplainable. Bartch's paper was discussed by Messrs. Hay, McAtee, Wilcox, Goldman, Jackson and others.

M. W. LYON, JR., Recording Secretary

ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

THE 507th meeting of the society was held at the New National Museum on February 20. The speaker of the afternoon was Dr. I. M. Casanowicz, of the New National Museum, who presented a paper on "The Fish in Cult, Myth and Symbol.''

Dr. Casanowicz said: "The fish, as the inhabitant of the mysterious, indestructible, never-resting water, early impressed man deeply and was regarded by him as the genius and representative of the life-producing element." The speaker stated that one of the principal centers of ichthyolatry in antiquity was Syria, where a fish goddess named Derketo-Atargatios was worshipped as the personification of the fructifying power of the water. Belief in the fish as a medium of transformation and incarnation of spirits was noted among the ancients, while in later times the fish, next to the bird, seems to have been a symbol of the departed human soul. The fish as carrier of man across the water was illustrated by quotations from Herodotus and the Bible; and parallel narratives of a man being swallowed by a sea monster were quoted from Greek, Polynesian and Cherokee lore.

Dr. Swanton introduced the discussion by stating that the subject divided itself into a consideration of the distribution of aboriginal population in America quantitatively and qualitatively. "Populations," said Dr. Swanton, "may be classified qualitatively according to their physical characteristics, languages, cultural features, social organization and so on. Archeology has a bearing on all these.'' He gave as one of the principal problems to be considered the bearing of the data of each class on the generally admitted Asiatic origin of the American Indians and their diffusion from the northwest.

Dr. Hrdlička, speaking from the standpoint of physical anthropology, stated that the distribution of different physical types on the American continent has always been one of the main problems of his branch of science in this country. Dr. Michelson, speaking on the linguistics of the Indians, said: "There is no single type of language, no fundamental structure that is the same in all linguistic stocks, though we find resemblances between them." Dr. Holmes spoke briefly on the changes in the culture of the Indian which have been produced by environment; and Dr. Hough noted that transportation and artificial fire-making were essential to the early inhabitants of this continent. Dr. Fewkes called attention to the fact that early migrations in North and South America were determined in large measure by the mountain ranges and rivers, and by the food supply. Mr. LaFlesche stated that the ancient rites of the Siouan stock show that the migrations of the people were influenced by the search for food. The first animal mentioned in these rites is the elk, succeeded by the deer, and later by the buffalo, at which period the mention of corn appears for the first time. FRANCES DENSMORE, Secretary

and the significance of public education, is being prepared and sent out. Numerous summer sessions of our leading colleges and universities are contributing much to the dissemination of this newly organized knowledge of administrative principles and procedure among those actively engaged in the educational service. Despite all these recent advances, though, in educational theory and in the organization of our knowledge of proper administrative action, in actual practise throughout the nation our progress at times seems most discouragingly slow. Only in city-school administration have we been able to make real advances, and these only in certain cities and certain sections of the country.

Another recent statement that has already become almost a commonplace is that public education, after the close of the present Great War, will of necessity become a much more important state service than it has ever been up to the present time. The great world changes which will follow in the decade or two after its close -social, industrial and political-are almost certain to be far-reaching and vast in extent, and probably will greatly modify many of our present educational conceptions, as well as many of our methods and practices in hitherto undreamed of ways. A much more fundamental education of our people, especially along industrial and technical and political lines, is almost certain to follow. Our present traditional practises and provincialism in the organization and administration of public education will have to be superseded by a larger and a more forward, as well as a more national outlook. If we are to play our proper part in world affairs in the future-politically, commercially, or industrially-our educational systems must be unified in aims and practises much more than is now the case, world and life needs must enter more largely than at present into the education

provided for the masses of our children, and a better-informed intelligence than the local democratic mass must direct our educational efforts, while a much larger nationalism in education must take the place of our present provincialism in school affairs.

We have then to-day a new interest in proper educational organization and administration on the part of a small but an increasing number of selected men and women, and we are facing new national and international needs opening up ahead of us which will make heavy demands on those who possess training and competency for the educational service which will be called for. The number who see these rapidly enlarging educational needs and are securing training to meet the future demands is still far too small to supply the trained and competent educational leadership that will be needed, but this number may be expected to increase slowly as communities offer larger opportunities to such men and women to be of real service. The thesis I want to lay down this afternoon, then, is that it is the lack of opportunity to be of real service which has kept and is still keeping many competent men and women from entering upon or properly preparing for the public educational service; that this lack of opportunity for real service still is, and until the conditions are changed will continue to be, the greatest obstacle we have to face in securing rational educational progress for our country; and that satisfactory educational progress can not be expected until the obstructions created by present laws and practises in educational organization and administration are removed by new legis. lation. Let us see what are some of the more important of these obstacles.

With us everywhere public education is still largely a local affair. The unit of organization is the school district-city,

ganization is the