Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1854,

BY GOULD AND LINCOLN,

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

G. C. RAND, Printer, 3 Cornhill, Boston.

NOTES BY THE EDITOR

ON THE

PROGRESS OF SCIENCE IN 1853.

The fifth annual meeting, and seventh regular session of the American Association for the Promotion of Science, was held at Cleveland, Ohio, commencing Thursday, July 28, 1853. A fair number of members and strangers were in attendance, representing principally the southern and western sections of the country. From New England and the Northern States comparatively few were present. The President, elected at the Albany meeting, in 1851, was Prof. Benjamin Peirce, of Harvard University.

Among the papers presented, those in the Departments of Physics and Mathematics were much the most numerous, and were of high merit. In Chemistry and Geology, there were few contributions. The number of papers presented in the several departments was as follows. Physics, Mathematics, Astronomy and Meteorology, 40; Geology, Chemistry and Physical Geography, 12; Zoology and Botany, 12; Miscellaneous, 13.

A Committee for revising the Constitution of the Association was appointed, consisting of Prof. Bache, Dr. J. Lawrence Smith, Dr. Le Conte, of Georgia; Dr. Gibbs, of New York; Dr. B. A. Gould, of Cambridge; Prof. W. B. Rogers; Prof. J. D. Dana, New Haven; Dr. J. Leidy, Philadelphia; Prof. Haldeman, and Dr. A. A. Gould, Boston.

Resolutions were adopted reducing the Annual Assessment from $3 to $1, and requiring that the Proceedings should be furnished to members at cost; or free of expense, when the Proceedings are published by the public liberality of the city where the meeting may be held. The Secretary was

authorized to forward copies of the Proceedings to the learned societies Europe and the United States. The whole number of members at presen belonging to the Association, is upwards of 600.

The Association adjourned on Tuesday, the 2d of August, to meet i Washington, on the last Wednesday of April, 1854. The following officer were elected for the ensuing year. Prof. Jas. D. Dana, of New Haven President; Prof. J. Lovering, of Cambridge, General Secretary; Prof. J Lawrence Smith, Permanent Secretary; Dr. Elwyn, of Philadelphia Treasurer. Prof. S. F. Baird, Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, who for the past three years has so ably managed the affairs of the Association, declined a re-election to the office of Secretary. The following gentlemen were appointed to report on the following topics at the (nsuing meeting. Prof. Henry, “On our knowledge of the laws of Atmospheric Electricity;" Prof. Jas. Hall, "On the recent additions to our knowledge of the Paleozoic Rocks;” Prof. H. L. Smith, "On Micro-Chemistry;" Dr. Wolcott Gibbs, " On the recent progress of Organic Chemistry;" Dr. B. A. Gould, "On the progress and development of the Electrochronographical method of Observation;” Prof. Leidy, “On the remains of Extinct Mammalia and Reptilia of North America;" Prof. B. Peirce, "On the present state of the Theory of the Planetary Perturbations;" Dr. Burnett, "On the recent advances in Anatomy and Physiology;" Prof. Agassiz, "On the history of our knowledge of Alternation of Generation in Animals;" Prof. J. D. Dana, "On the Geographical Distribution of the Lower Animals." It was also voted that at the Washington meeting of the Association, a general session be devoted to the consideration of the expediency of a change in the present standards of weights and measures in the United States.

The twenty-third annual meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, was held at Hull, September 7th, Prof. William Hopkins in the Chair. The attendance was less numerous than usual, and no communications of especial interest or novelty were presented. The Committee on the establishment of an Observatory and telescope of large optical power in the Southern Hemisphere, reported through their chairman, Lord Rosse, that an application had been made to the Government, and that the necessary funds would most probably be granted. A recommendation of the Association, that in the event of a survey of the Gulf Stream being undertaken, provision should be made for investigating its Zoology and Botany, has been communicated to the Admiralty, and favorably received. A proposition from Dr. Bache, Director of the Coast Survey of the United States, for a joint survey of the Gulf Stream by the United States and Great Britain, addressed to the President of the British Association since the Belfast meeting, has been forwarded to the hydro

grapher of the Admiralty. It was voted to hold the next meeting of the Association at Liverpool, the Earl of Harrowby having been elected President for the ensuing year.

The annual meeting of the German Association for the Promotion of Science, was held at Tubingen, on the 18th of September. It was attended by about 580 members, including a moderate sprinkling of French and Russians, two Americans, and a few English.

The President, Prof. Von Mohl, having for some reason absented himself, the chair was taken by M. Bruhns, Professor of Medicine at Tubingen.— Receptions by the various neighboring towns and cities were given to the Association, and public and private hospitality was displayed to an unlimited extent. The scientific part of the meeting was equally satisfactory. In the three general or public sittings none but subjects treated in a popular manner were this time admitted, and all papers that could in the least offend the ear of ladies had been strictly rejected,- a laudable restriction, probably adopted in consequence of the complaints made by the press that medical subjects, not intended for any but medical men, had been brought forward.

M. Schultz read an interesting paper "On the Development of the Natural Sciences from the Middle of the Sixteenth Century until the Middle of the Nineteenth." He assumed three periods: 1st, The period when knowledge was handed down by oral tradition. 2nd, When it was propagated by writing; and, 3rd, When perpetuated by printing. The present time he looks upon as the commencement of a fourth period, when, by the intimate international intercourse and the power of steam, knowledge is rapidly diffused. Dove, of Berlin, gave a comprehensive account of the present state of meteorology, and a very clear explanation of the causes which determine the weather of Europe. Carnal spoke on the importance of salt, gold, and coal,- three monosyllables playing an important part in the affairs of the world. He complained of the ignorance prevailing in England on the subject of German coal, and quoted a conversation he had with an Englishman of some scientific standing, who asked him whether there were any coal in Germany?—a question he answered by stating that not only had Germany enough coal for its own demand, but it could supply England and all the world, at the rate coal is now used, for 500 years to Fraas gave an account of the oldest inhabitants of the Swabian Alps. It appears that a few years ago, fossil teeth were found, which some at once declared to be those of man. This determination, however, was called in question, as no human teeth of the mammoth period had ever been found in any part of the globe. Again, these teeth were exhibited last year in Wiesbaden, by Jaeger, when they were generally admitted to be human teeth; one was even sent to Owen, who agreed with the Wiesba

come.