2l8 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



tional Association of Academies was 

 holding its first regular session at Paris. 

 This association was organized at Wies- 

 baden two years ago and held a prelimi- 

 nary meeting at Paris last year. It is 

 composed of representatives of the great 

 academies of the world — eighteen in all 

 — and includes in its scope literature as 

 well as science. The object of the As- 

 sociation is to promote international co- 

 operation in scientific work; it repre- 

 sents a movement the importance of 

 which is very great and the accomplish- 

 ment of which is very difficult. It is 

 probable that a more representative 

 congress would better forward the ends 

 in view, but it may be that such a con- 

 gress can best be developed by begin- 

 ning with a small meeting of eminent 

 men. There seems, however, to be good 

 reason to protest against the star cham- 

 ber methods which the Association 

 seems inclined to adopt. We are told 

 of a dinner given by the municipal coun- 

 cil of Paris, a reception by the presi- 

 dent of the French Kepublic and a theat- 

 rical performance at the Comedie Fran- 

 gaise, but not the slightest information 

 can be obtained regarding the secret 

 sessions of the Academy, at which scien- 

 tific plans were presumably considered. 

 Questions to be taken up should be 

 announced well in advance, and they 

 should be carefully considered by scien- 

 tific men and discussed in the scientific 

 press. M. Darboux was acting-president 

 for the meeting, and the honorary presi- 

 dents were Dr. Mommsen, Dr. de Goeje, 

 Sir Michael Foster, M. Berthelot and M. 

 Gaston Boissier. We regret to learn 

 that the delegate from the National 

 Academy of Sciences, Prof. G. L. Good- 

 ale, was detained by illness at Ge- 

 neva; otherwise all the academies were 

 represented. The next meeting will be 

 in London in 1904. 



The Council of the American As- 

 sociation for the Advancement of 

 Science held its spring meeting at Wash- 

 ington at the time of the sessions of 

 the National Academy of Sciences. The 

 report made by the permanent secretary 



was very gratifying. Over seven hun- 

 dred new members have been elected 

 within the past year; the membership is 

 now larger than ever before and includes 

 almost the whole body of scientific 

 workers in this country. The sum of 

 $1,300 has been saved from current re- 

 ceipts and turned over to the permanent 

 fund for the encouragement of research. 

 The arrangement by which the weekly 

 journal 'Science' is sent free of charge to 

 members is apparently giving perfect 

 satisfaction and is helping the Associa- 

 tion in many ways. Progress has been 

 made towards securing an agreement 

 among universities and other institu- 

 tions to set aside a week after the 

 Christmas holidays for the meetings of 

 scientific and learned societies. The 

 plan was unanimously approved by the 

 Association of American Universities, 

 and Columbia and Cornell have already 

 taken action lengthening their vacations 

 for this purpose. Progress was reported 

 in the arrangements for the Denver 

 meeting, a single fare on the railways 

 west of Chicago having been secured. 

 The meeting, the first to be held so 

 far toward the West, promises to be of 

 unusual importance. Readers of this 

 journal who are not members of the 

 Association may obtain information as 

 to the conditions of membership by ad- 

 dressing the permanent secretary. Dr. 

 L. O. Howard, the Cosmos Club, Wash- 

 ington, D. C. 



THE HARVARD COLLEGE 

 OBSERVATORY. 



The fifty-fourth annual report of the 

 director of the Harvard College Observ- 

 atory gives a clear idea of the activity 

 which prevails at that institution. As 

 the present year marks the beginning 

 of a new century. Professor Pickering 

 finds the time opportune for describing 

 the present condition and needs of the 

 Observatory. As stated in the previous 

 annual report, the invested funds 

 amount to something over $800,000. 

 The annual income is about $50,000, 

 but, oAving to the continued diminution 



