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About Yale Alumni Magazine | View Entire Issue (Jan. 3, 1900)
136 YATLH ° ALUMnNs. Weta Le At Prof. Atwater’s invitation, forty members made the trip to Middletown to inspect his calorimeter. Another theme of interest was the - new anzesthetic, chloretone, described by Prof T. B. Aldrich of the University of Michigan. It is a solid and taken internally. Its properties and the best method of administering it are not yet known. : Most of the papers were quite techni- cal, such as “On the phenylcarbamic esters of epinephrin. -Those who _pre- sented papers were: Prof. L. B. Men- del, ’91, of Yale, and H. C. Jackson, Yale 96 S.; Prof. W. J. Gies, Yale ‘94, the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, and A. N. Richards, Yale ’97; Prof. Gies and W. D. Cutler, Yale ’°99; Prof. T. Hough, Massachusetts In- stitute of Technology, Boston; Prof. J. Loeb, Chicago University; Prof. S. J. Meltzer, the College of the City of New York; Prof. W. T. Porter, Harvard Medical School; Prof. E. T. Reichert, the University of Pennsylvania; Prof. B. Moore, Yale Medical School; Prof. R. Hunt, Johns Hopkins; Prof. J. J. Abel, Johns Hopkins; Prof. C. S. Minot, Harvard Medical School; Prof W. H. Howell, Johns Hopkins; Prof. R. H. Chittenden, Director of the Sheffield Scientific School, and Yandel Hender- son, Yale ’95, and Prof. Chittenden and A. C. Eustis, Yale ’99 S. THE PSYCHOLOGISTS——A PRODIGY. The most interesting feature of the meetings of the American Psychological Association, which met in the Psychologi- cal Laboratory and Osborn Hall, was the exhibition, by Profs. Lindley and Bryan of Indiana University, of a new arithmet- ical prodigy, William Griffith, a young man, 19 years old. He was heard of recently by these professors in a small Indiana town, and, though having had only a common school education, is found to be the most rapid arithmetical calculator living. In fact he is one of the most wonderful persons of his kind, because, unlike others, he-is able to de- scribe the processes through which his mind acts. He has carried further for himself the same development which arithmetical science has passed through in its history, viz., an abridgement of operations. For instance, the multipli- cation of a number of three figures by another similar number required over 300 operations in the system of Roman numerals. It requires about 25 distinct operations in the system of Arabic numerals. Griffith does it in 2 or 3 operations. Some of his methods are well known in algebra, but he never studied that subject. Some of them are improvements of the methods described in books on “Lighting Calculation.” Many of them are unique. His enor- mous memory helps him greatly. He knows the multiplication table up to 130, and the powers and roots of many num- - bers. All these facts were the more readily believed when the young man was presented in person and questioned by the audience, including two profes- sors of mathematics, who were greatly delighted. Except for one or two failures, due doubtless to his effort to be rapid, which were corrected directly, all his re- sults were correct, whether they involved quintillions and sextillions, or the days of the week in the early part of the century, all of which seemed easier to him than the multiplication table does to some people. Prof. Scripture of Yale, in his paper on “Some New Apparatus Used at Yale,” described one which induces anesthesia by electricity. It has not been sufficiently perfected yet to render teeth-extraction painless, but it can render any portion of the skin numb for a time. Afterwards Prof. Scripture showed many of the members of the Association through the Psychological ~ Laboratory. In the set papers in this section psy- chology as a science of mental life, rather than as an abstract science, the ‘teaching of psychology and the physical basis of mental activity, to be understood _by physiological and experimental psy- chology, were emphasized. PROFESSORS LADD AND JAMES CHOSEN. The American Psychological Associa- tion elected Professors G. T. Ladd of Yale and William James of Harvard to be its representatives at the meeting of the International Psychological Associa- tion to be held at Paris during the Ex- position next Summer. Among the speakers were the follow- ing professors: E. F. Buchner, Yale ’93, School of Pedagogy, New York Uni- versity; G. S. Fullerton, University of Pennsylvania; John Dewey, Chicago University; Max Meyer, Clark Univer- sity; A. H. Pierce, Amherst; E. ; Griffin, Johns Hopkins; J. H. Hyslop, Columbia; William Caldwell, Chicago; J. A. Leighton, Hobart College; Alexan- der Meiklejohn, Brown; Albert Schinz, the University of Wisconsin; J. E. Creighton, Cornell; E. B. McGivalry, Cornell; J. G. Hibben, Princeton; Miss Mary Calkins, Wellesley; Miss -Ellen. Talbot, Chicago; Joseph Jastrow, Wis- consin; W. G. Everett, Harvard, and E. H. Sneath, Yale. THE ANATOMISTS. At the Association of American Anato- mists, which assembled in the Medical School, nothing especially new was an- nounced other than “A Hitherto Un- recognized Form of Vertebrate Blood Circulation in Organs Without Capil- laries,’ by Prof. Minot of the Harvard Medical School. A knowledge of human anatomy seems fairly well on towards completion. Investigations on the anatomy of the brain were the import- ant ones reported. The nomenclature of the nervous system is. being revised, on the basis of the nomenclature adopted by the German Anatomical Society in 1895. A committee on this subject, in- cluding Prof. Ferris of the Yale Medical School, was appointed. A paper on the fatigue caused by ath- letic contests was illustrated by numer- ous instantaneous photographs taken of men in various stages of the mile run. The facial expressions and general pose of the body gave good indications of the degree of exhaustion in the runner. The newly-elected President of the Association, Prof. Burt G. Wilder of Cornell, read a paper on “If an Isthmus Rhombencephali, why not an Isthmus Prosencephali?” Other papers were by Dt DD: -S. ‘Lamp, Washitieton, 3. 2c: Prof. E. W. Holmes, University of Pennsylvania ; Hopkins; Prof G. C. Huber, Michigan University; ,Dr. J. P. Foster, Lecturer on Anatomy at Yale; Prof G. S. Hunt- ington, Columbia; Prof. Gerrish, Bow- doin Medical School; Dr. William Keil- ler, Galveston, Texas; Prof. J. F. Shep- herd, McGill University, Montreal; Prof. Thomas Dwight, Harvard Medi- cal School; Prof. J. A. Blake, Columbia Medical School; Dr. D. S. Lamb, Pathol- ogist in the Army Medical Museum, Washington, and Professor in Howard University, and Prof. G. A. Piersol, Uni- versity of Pennsylvania. The Association has 150 members, several new ones being elected at this session. THE MORPHOLOGISTS—PARTHENOGENESIS. The American Morphological Society ‘met in the Peabody Museum. Practi- cally all the facts presented here were new, but generally meaningful only for the student of Zodlogy or Natural History. Reports were made on the in- vestigations which have seemed to show that in certain forms of animal life the union of the male and female cells is not necessary for the production of life. It was shown that it is only a very little way that unfertilized ova will develop under the influence of strychnine and of certain compounds of magnesium. The female cells may be made to segment, but they will not form an embryo. An interesting case of regeneration of the end of a human finger was described. Papers were read among others by J. S. Kingsbury, Cornell; C. S. Minot, Harvard, who received an honorary de- gree from Yale last June; Maynard Metcalf, Woman’s College, Baltimore; Prof F. P. Mall, Johns G. H. Parker and C. Bullard, Harvard: Bashford Dean, Columbia; C. L. Bristol and F. W. Carpenter, New York Uni- versity; Miss Wilcox, Wellesley; John H. Gerould, Dartmouth; Charles B. Wil- son of the Normal High School, West- field, Mass.; William L. Tower o Brown; G. C. Scott, Princeton: Thomas H. Montgomery, the University of Penn- sylvania; William E. Ritter, University of California; Charles L. Edwards, Cin- cinnati; Frank R. Lillie, Vassar: T. H. Morgan, Bryn Mawr, and Prof. R. H. joes Yale, and Robert W. Hall, Yale 95 8. PLANT MORPHOLOGY. TheSociety for Plant Morphology and Physiology met in the Sheffield Botani- cal Laboratory. Mr. H. J. Webber of the U. S. Department of Agriculture advanced a new theory explaining why the crossing of two different species of orange trees does not produce a hybrid. It is because more than one embryo is formed from the pistils, the one which produces the non-hybrid being developed vegetatively, not fertilized sexually. All the papers were extremely techni- cal. They were by Dr. G. E. Stone, Massachusetts Agricultural College; Prof. J. M. Coulter, University of Chicago; Prof. W. G. Farlow, Harvard; Mr. R. E. Smith, Massachusetts Agri- cultural College; Mr. Henry S. Conard, University of Pennsylvania; Mr. F. C. Stewart, New York Experiment Sta- tion; Mr. G. T. Moore, Dartmouth; Prof. D. T. MacDougal, New York Botanical- Garden; Prof. fF. i. Lleyd, New York Teachers’ College; Dr. Ro- land Thaxter, Shaw School of Botany; Mr. Frederick H. Blodgett, New York Experiment Station; Prof. L. M. Under- wood, Columbia; Dr. Henry Kraemer, Philadelphia College of Pharmacy; Dr. Henry H. True; Cambridge, Mass. ; Dr. J. B. Pollock, University of Michigan; Mr. W. C. Coker, Johns Hopkins; Dr. A. W. Evans, Yale: Dr. CoO. Town- send, Maryland Agricultural College; Dr. E. B. Copeland, University of West Virginia; Miss Harriet B. Winsor, Springfield, Mass.; Dr. W. F. Ganong, Smith College; Dr. J. M. Macfarlane, University of Pennslyvania; Dr. Erwin F. Smith, United States Department of Agriculture. Abstracts of the proceed- ings will be published in the Botanical Gazette. FOLK-LORE STUDIES. The American Folk-Lore Society met in Osborn Hall. The Society is some- what recent. Its object is to collect the myths, legends, superstitions, art, history, language, music and other inter- esting lore of various peoples, especially primitive ones. The North American In- dians have been the special object of their study. Their myths have been found to contain some close parallels to the Biblical stories of creation, the de- luge, Jonah, and other early Hebrew legends. The Council of the Society urged that energetic steps be taken to collect data concerning the earliest inhabitants of this country and that for this purpose the legislatures of the several western states, in which archeological remains and remnants of the aboriginal popula- tion still exist, be requested to appro- priate funds for the desired investiga- tions. A collection and scientific study of the music of the southern negroes is be- ing made. Miss Alice M. Brown, of Hampton Institute, illustrated her paper on this subject by phonographic repro- ductions of several “conn songs.” Mrs. Isabel C. Chamberlain, of Wor- cester, narrated the Indian legend of $’The Devil’s Grandmother’ and Mr. Stewart Culin, of Philadelphia, described “American Indian Evening Games.” Other papers and speakers were: “Amer- ican Sun Myths,” Mr. Frank Boas, New York; “The Countingout Rhymes of Children,” Mr. William S. Monroe; “Star-Lore of the Mimacs,” Mr. Stans- bury Hagar, Brooklyn; “Taboos of Tale- Telling,’ Mr. Alexander F. Chamber- lain, Worcester. Not: AT THE Eleventh Hour, But with plenty of time, prepare for the social engagements of January and February. You may be coming to the Prom. It is really quite time to get ready. We can equip you, wherever you are. CHASE & CO.., New Haven House Block. ENRY HEATH Harts. THE BACTERIOLOGISTS. ~ The Society of American Bacteriolo- gists was assembled in the Medical School for its first annual meeting. The Society was organized only this year by Prof. H. W. Conn of Wesleyan University, and Prof. A. C. Abbott of the Univer- sity of Pennsylvania. No new theories were advanced, but several hypotheses concerning the pro- pagation and destruction of bacilli were confirmed. All the papers were of a highly technical character, giving the results of original research, by Edwin F. Smith, United States Department of Agriculture; Prof. H. W. Conn, Wes- leyan University; F. D. Chester, Dela- ware College Agricultural Experiment station; Prof. H: @) #2nst, Harvard ; H. A. Harding, New York Agricultural Experiment Station; Professors W. T. Sedgewick and C. E. A. Winslow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology ; M. O. Leighton, Board of Health, Mont- clair, N.-J.;°S2 (> Mem, Jr. Boston; Archibald K. Ward, Cornell Agricultural Experiment Station; H. W. Clark and Ss. D. Gage, Lawrence Experiment Sta- tion of Harvar; Prof. E. O. Jordan, Uni- versity of Chicago; Professors V. A. Moore and Floyd R. Wright, Cornell : H. W. Clark, Massachusetts State Board of Health; Pron: Ls 2. Kinnicut,.Wor- cester Polytechnic Institute; Adolf Gehrman, Chicago; Oscar Loew, United States Department of Agriculture; Lud- wig Hektaen, Rush Medical College, Chicago; William H. Park, Laboratory of the New York Board of Health. THE CHEMISTS. The American Chemical Society held its twentieth general meeting in the Kent Chemical Laboratory and the Shefheld Chemical Laboratory. The papers ‘in this department also were of a strictly technical character. The retiring President, Prof. Edward W. Morley, of Adelbert College, dis- cussed whether new processes are needed for the determination of the atomic weight of oxygen. Mr. Morley is the chemist who has made the most ex- haustive investigations on the atomic weights of oxygen and hydrogen, so that the possibility of error in the case of hydrogen is now reduced to one five- thousandth part. He is the most famous chemist of the world in his line, Physical Chemistry. } The new President is Mr. William McMurtrie, of New York City. He is the head chemist of the Royal Baking Powder Co. Prof. James Locke, of Yale, an- nounced his recent discovery of the [Continued on r4oth page.] For 1900 and all years-the KNOX.
