St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1894-09-06
Correspondence.
SCIENTISTS IN SESSION.
The Brooklyn Meeting of the 4 merican
Association for the Advancement of
Science,
written for the CALEDoN1AN.l

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The forty-third meeting of the A.
A. A. S. at Brooklyn, n. Y, Aug. Is
to "a, was an average meeting as
those gatherings are wont to go,
whether we consider the number in
attendance, the special interest and
character of the work done, or the
men who represented the advanced
work of science The raison d'etre
of this large society is probably in n o
wise different from the usual one.
People of almost any pursuit not
only find it a pleasure to see each
other and compare views and results /;
but like also to combine general re-
creation with these occasions of in
tercbange Of ideas. These scientific
meetings are not easy to report, as
the city papers find, even those who
aim to do good and correct work
in a scientific line. The ready re-
porter may on many occasions
write up very plausible account of
what he knows very little about,
but when it comes to giving the pub
lie an idea OLA con6guration Of So
points, 27 lines, SO planes, special
case of which leads to Klein's hyper
elliptic confguration of 40 points,
90 lines, 40 planes" or ION the be-
havior Of a1lylmalonic, allylacetic
and neutrality-suspicious. acids when
boiled with caustic soda solutions"
to say nothing Of '1ophopappus, a
new genus of mutisiaceous compost
ta," or 1.-The Glyphs of Copau and
Quirigua," even a sophomore IN col
lege trying to report for prominent
city paper may be in a pardonable
perturbation as he hustles about try
ing to get ghost of an idea from
writers of papers.
The recognition of this difficulty
led to the appointment of special
reporters from members Of the asso- |
citation from each section at the |
Brooklyn meeting, who should en-
deavor to make out such state
ment of work as would be suitable
for the papers.
There are at present nine sections
of the association, virtually so many
separate societies, and there is much |
said about still further division, such
as separating section E, geology and
geography, and section A, mathe-
MATES and astronomy. Each sec
ton has its sectional committee to
receive papers and arrange work for
the section, while it also has a coun-
cillor, who, with past presidents,
last year vice presidents, and present
officers of the general association,
constitute a council who have the
planning of the general work. The
council meets each morning at 9
O'Clock, then comes the general ses-
sion for matters of business or COM
mon interest, and then meetings of
the sections for reading of papers oc-
cupy the main part of the day.
Evenings are usually devoted to lee
lures, which are meant to be COM
bination Of eminent talent and popu-
lar interest, and are comp limentary
to the citizens of the place. The first
evening address is by the retiring
president of the association, and is
usually devoted to the main topics of
special advance in the branch of sci
ence in which he has most to do, the
president being chosen from different
departments in a kind of rotation.
This year it was by the astronomer,
Prof. William Hardness of Washing
ton, delivered in the Academy of
Music to very large and mostly at
tentive audience, though the abstract
nature of the address, and the COM
ing events of the reception which fol-
lowed, detraeted somewhat from
general interest. At these receptions
science puts on its most social and
agreeable aspect, while society =
nothing if not scientific, and some
times the effort to find common
ground of conventional courtesy be-
come somewhat amusing.
On another evening, Paul Du
Chaillu gave, in an offhand way, in
teresting results of his research
among the Norsemen, and what he
believes they have done in discovery.
He believes the Anglo Saxon to be
myth, and the Nofset11an the trhe
ancestor of the English. He gave us