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ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE parties to the act is married and the other is not, it is adultery in the married one, whether man or woman, and only fornication in the other. From this rule results as the best defi- nition that can be given of the offence, that criminal adultery is the voluntary sexual inter- course of a married person with another than the husband or wife ; and this is the position taken by Mr. Bishop, the highest American au- thority on this and the cognate topics of the law. Even though the single private act of adultery is not criminal or indictable at com- mon law, yet within the principle that the gen- eral law will punish all acts which offend against public morality, adultery may take so gross and openly indecent a form as to be regarded as criminal at common law. But offences of this Character are in general made the subject of special statutes. Such crimes, especially the living together in adultery, are not ordinarily regarded by the law as having been committed by mere occasional acts of private intercourse, but there must be proof of a general course of misbehavior, an habitual living or lodging to- gether, though it is not impossible that the complete offence may be committed in a single day. In several of the states it is provided that no criminal prosecution for adultery shall be commenced except on the complaint of the husband or wife of a guilty party. ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, Associations for the. The British association for the advance- ment of science was formed in 1831, principally through the energy of Sir David Brewster, sup- g>rted by Sir Humphry Davy, Sir John F. W. erschel, Mr. Charles Babbage, Messrs. Forbes, Johnston, and Robison of Edinburgh, and Mr. Murchison of London. The main feature which distinguishes it is an annual gathering of its members, at which each one who has made what he supposes a real advance reads his pa- per for the criticism of laborers in the same de- partment of science. The association also pro- cures reports upon the state of each particular science, its progress, and its needs, as a guide to inquiry. The effect of the formation of this society upon the state of science in England has been very marked. The first meeting, in September, 1831, consisted of about 200 mem- bers; the second, June, 1832, numbered 700; the third, 900 ; and the fourth, in September, 1834, 1,390. The transactions are annually pub- lished in octavo volumes of about 500 pages, and these contain a record of nearly every im- portant step taken in British science during the past 40 years. In the reports included in these transactions are also found the discoveries of continental and American men of science. The American association for the advancement of science was formed in September, 1847, by the association of American geologists and natural- ists. The first meeting of the new association was held in Philadelphia in September, 1848, and although the original association of geolo- gists consisted of only 21 members, 461 names were enrolled in the first list of members of ADVERTISEMENT 137 the new society, which now embraces nearly every scientific man in the United States. The 2d meeting was held at Cambridge in Au- gust, 1849; the 3d at Charleston, March, 1850; the 4th at New Haven, August, 1850; the 5th at Cincinnati, May, 1851 ; the 6th at Albany, August, 1851 ; the 7th at Cleveland, July, 1853; the 8th at Washington, April, 1854; the 9th at Providence, August, 1855 ; the 10th at Albany, August, 1856; the llth at Montreal, August, 1857; the 12th at Baltimore, May, 1858; the 13th at Springfield, Mass., August, 1859; the 14th at Newport, R. L, August, 1860. The 15th was appointed for April 17, 1861, at Nashville, Tenn., but was postponed in consequence of the civil war, and after an inter- val of several years was finally held at Buffalo in August, 1866. The 16th was held at Burling- ton, Vt., in August, 1867; the 17th at Chicago, August, 1868 ; the 18th at Salem, Mass., August, 1869; the 19th at Troy, N. Y., August, 1870; the 20th at Indianapolis, August, 1871 ; the 21st at Dubuque, Iowa (substituted for San Fran- cisco), August, 1872. The objects and methods of the association are identical with those of the British society. The proceedings of each meeting form an octavo volume of about 300 pages, and this series of volumes contains the most valuable results of American scientific in- quiry during the last 25 years. The mathe- matical papers are not usually published in de- tail, but the titles of all papers offered at the meeting are published, and thus the volumes furnish at least a record of the growth of American science, a growth partly due, as it is well known, to the influence of this association. The usual number of members is about 700. ADVENT, the period of four weeks preced- ing Christmas, appointed by several Christian churches to be observed in honor of the ap- proach of the anniversary of Christ's nativity. It formerly occupied six weeks, and that is still the case in the Greek church. It commences with the Sunday nearest to St. Andrew's day (Nov. 30). In England and some parts of the European continent, marriages can be performed only by special license during this period. ADVERTISEMENT, a public notification. An- nouncements in the public journals known as advertisements appeared while journalism was in its infancy. The Acta Diurna of the Ro- mans, the Gassetta of the Venetians, and the affiche* of the French belong rather to the crude devices which led to the creation of journalism than to the history of advertising ; while the stamping and bill-posting processes of ancient times, and the fence and rock deco- rations of to-day, sometimes considered in connection with advertising, are little else than ingenious sign-painting. The advertisement proper arose with periodical literature, and must be considered in connection with its de- velopment. The first regular newspaper, " The Certain Newes of this Present Week," pub- lished in England in 1622, did not contain any advertisements; but they appeared in some-