ruled that the first description of a newly discovered plant, to be considered valid, must be couched in Latin. The anatomists, after wandering into a bewildering jungle of technical terminology, simplified it some thirty years ago by turning every designation into Latin, to be used in all lands, whatever the language. The physician writes his prescriptions for the pharmacist in Latin, to guard against errors in the less objectively expressed national tongue. The chemist ex. presses his chemical reactions in algebraic formulas which draw their significant letters from the Latin names of the elements. Even where the use of Latin is less apparent, it is none the less real; for every branch of learning makes its new technical terms from the stock of roots and words preserved to us in Latin and in Greek-and every Greek word, as we have said, is usable in Latin by a simple transliteration. In view of this, it is a quite untenable stand that some have taken, that Latin is not capable of expressing the needs and the ideas of a modern civilization, altering and progressing almost day by day. Latin has moreover the advantage of a reasonably phonetic system of writing, which it shares on approximately even terms with German and with Esperanto and other artificial languages, while English and French show very imperfect correspondence between the written and the spoken forms of the language.1 Thus Latin has, as the International Language for the Scientist, manifold qualifications: a vocabulary which is essentially international; a technical terminology which is already extremely wide and is capable of easy and indefinite extension; an objective standard of word-meaning; complete precision in indicating the relations of the words to one another; a phonetic alphabet; a career of international use which has even to-day not come to an end. Besides this, Latin is, of all non-native languages, that language which is most studied in the schools of Europe and of America; and its use would not inflame international jealousies. For scientific use, as for all general international use, some limitations might be laid. It is not to be expected nor to be desired that 1 1On this point, and other features of the problem, I have expressed my views more fully than would be relevant in the present paper, in my pamphlet "Latin as the International Auxiliary Language," pp. 31, published in 1923 by the American Classical League, Princeton, N. J. an international language should be couched in complicated sentences, imitating for example the periodic structure of Cicero's writings; but there is no inherent reason why Latin has to be written in this fashion. The writings of scholars in the Middle Ages often show a simpler form, with shorter sentences and fewer clauses; simpler Latin, but not for that reason other than good Latin. A slight increase in the use of the prepositions, where usage is more or less optional, might be urged also. In this fashion Latin stands supreme as a means of conveying scientific thought to an international public. To what extent, finally, are we to expect the use of an international medium for scientific publication? After all, it is unthinkable that all scientific writing should be couched in the language chosen for this purpose, be it Latin or English or Esperanto; would not be worth while. Comparatively little technical writing in any field, whether natural scientific, or historical, or linguistic, has a permanent value or changes the course of human thought. Most scholars, in any case, would prefer to assure themselves of an immediate audience among their own compatriots, rather than risk losing that audience in part for the doubtful favor of a hearing in other lands. And so I am not those who would catch a vision of an International Language which is designed as an Auxiliary to the native tongue, but will in time spread so widely that fond parents will speak it to their infants in the cradle rather than use the déclassé vernacular. No; the International Language will not reach this point. But, for the Scientist, it may well and advantageously serve as the language of international journals, presenting in abstract the results of studies and investigations in all lands, with occasional longer articles of truly lasting worth; it may serve as the language of those epoch-making books which from time to time appear and change the aspect of the field which they treat. Such use would, I am sure, be a boon to all scholars who are now victims of a modern Babel. UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. General Meeting-April 23-25, 1925 The Annual General Meeting of The American Philosophical Society will be held on April 23d, 24th, and 25th, 1925, beginning at 2 P. M. on Thursday, April 23d. Members are requested to send to the Secretaries, at as early a date as practicable and before March 18, 1925, the titles of papers which they intend to present so that they may be announced in the preliminary programme which will be issued immediately after that date and which will give in detail the arrangements for the Meeting. It is understood that papers offered are original contributions which have not been theretofore presented. All papers presented which are favorably acted on by the Publication Committee will, in accordance with the rules of the Society, be published as soon as practicable in either the Proceedings or the Transactions as may seem best. ARTHUR W. GOODSPEED Secretaries Members who have not as yet sent their photographs to the Society will confer a favor by so doing; cabinet size preferred. It is requested that all correspondence be addressed TO THE SECRETARIES OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY 104 SOUTH FIFTH STREET PHILADELPHIA, U. S. A. SOME PROPERTIES OF SIMPLE ELECTRIC CONDUCTING NETWORKS. By A. E. KENNELLY. (Read April 26, 1924.) It is known that if in any alternating-current network of electric conductors, such as that shown in Fig. 1 (with or without transformers in the meshes), two pairs of terminals are selected, FIG. 1. Diagram representing a network of alternating-current elements. such as a, g and b, h; then, at any given frequency, the system may be regarded as possessing, and as being defined by: (1) a hyperbolic angle 0, in general complex (hyperbolic radians or hyps. <); (2) a "geomean" surge impedance zab (ohms ); (3) an "inequality ratio" q (numeric ). Moreover, the system may be regarded as being reducible, either to the dissymmetrical T of Fig. 2, or to the equivalent dissymmetrical II of Fig. 3, with respect to the two pairs of selected terminals, and the selected impressed frequency. The numerical values of 0, Zab, and q are obtainable theoretically from three |