stars may be sighted. It appears that captains have been aware of these systematic errors and have learned how to make allowance for them, but their precise cause has not been known until this work of the Carnegie.
Another feature in which considerable interest attaches is the development of the producer-gas engine for t he purposes of auxiliary marine propulsion. The Carnegie is said to be the first sea-going vessel equipped with such a plant. Her engine is of 150 horse-power, sufficient to drive her six; knots in calm weather and give her a cruising radius of 2.000 miles with a coal consumption of but 25 tons, or at a cost of about $100.
THE CONVOCATION WEEK MEETINGS AT BOSTON
The American Asociation for the Advancement of Science and the national scientific societies affiliated with it will meet at Boston, beginning on December 27. There is good reason to look forward to a meeting of unusual interest, perhaps to the largest and most important scientific gathering in the history of the country. In the summer of 1898 the American Association celebrated at Boston the fiftieth anniversary of its foundation with 903 members in attendance, almost the largest meeting up to that time, the largest having also been held in Boston—in 1880—with an attendance of 997. In 1898 the membership of the association was 1,729; it is now over 8,000. In the meanwhile, beginning with the Washington meeting of 1902-3, the convocation week meetings have been organized, and the national scientific societies devoted to the natural and exact sciences meet together during the week following Christmas. The attendance of scientific men at these meetings has been in the neighborhood of two thousand, and the number of scientific papers presented has approached a thousand. The meeting has become more technical in character, and it seems that the interests of those not professionally engaged in scientific work have been somewhat neglected. At the Boston meeting, however, it is proposed to leave the special papers to the special societies, while the association and its twelve sections will present programs of general interest.
Dr. T. C. Chamberlin, of the University of Chicago, eminent as a geologist and for his services to education, will, as retiring president, give the annual address on the evening of Monday, December 27. The address will be at the Sanders Theater, Harvard University, and will be followed by a reception in Memorial Hall. The vice-presidential addresses will be given by Professor Keyser, of Columbia University; Professor Sumner, of Yale University; Professor Herrick, of the University of Chicago; Professor Guthe, of the University of Michigan; Professor Richards, of Columbia University; Professor Kahlenberg, of the University of Wisconsin; Professor Howell, of the Johns Hopkins University; Professor Swain, of Harvard University; Professors Dewey and Woodworth, of Columbia University. All these addresses should be of interest to a wide audience, and each section is expected to arrange a discussion or series of papers that will not be technical in character.
The special societies meeting at Boston cover practically the whole range of the natural and exact sciences. The American Society of Naturalists has this year arranged a program devoted to problems of experimental evolution, which includes papers by the leading workers in this subject. The address of the president, Professor T. H. Morgan, of Columbia University, is on "Cause or Purpose in the Evolution of Adaptations." The American Chemical Society, which is the largest of the special societies, must be divided into numerous sections for the reading of papers. There are, however, general sessions, before one of which Dr. Whit-
