5o6 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



THE PEOCtEESS OF SCIENCE. 



THE DENVER MEETING OF THE 

 AMERICAN ASSOCIATION. 



The chief scientific event of August 

 is the annual meeting of the American 

 Association for the Advancement of 

 Science, and the present meeting is of 

 more than usual significance. It is 

 doubtless a mere coincidence that the 

 fiftieth meeting of the Association and 

 the first meeting of the twentieth cen- 

 tury should be the first to be held in 

 the western states. The meeting itself 

 is, however, nearly as important an 

 event for science in the west as was 

 the original foundation of the Asso- 

 ciation for science in the east. It 

 means that the scientific men of the 

 western states have now become suffi- 

 ciently numerous and influential to 

 meet on terms of equality with those 

 of the east. The development of 

 scientific work in the central and 

 western states during the past ten 

 years has perhaps never been rivaled 

 in the history of ci\'ilization. Of the 

 twelve American universities having in 

 their faculties the largest number of 

 scientific men, seven are in this 

 region — Chicago, California, Michigan, 

 Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois and 

 Stanford. Each of these universities 

 has on its faculties twenty-five or more 

 scientific men, apart from medicine 

 and engineering, and other institutions 

 — Nebraska, Kansas, jMissouri, Iowa, 

 Indiana, Texas, Washington and more 

 — will soon be of the same rank. With 

 a prejudice that is not unreasonable, 

 we assume that the scientific intelli- 

 gence of the country may be measured 

 by the percentage of people that sub- 

 scribe to this journal. Massachusetts 

 would, by this criterion, stand first, 

 but Colorado would have twice the in- 

 telligence of New Jersey, California 



nearly three times the intelligence of 

 Pennsylvania and Arizona ten times 

 the intelligence of Maryland. During 

 the past ten years the population of 

 the western half of the country has not 

 increased appreciably more rapidly 

 than that of the eastern half, but its 

 educational and scientific development 

 has been truly marvelous. 



The meeting of the American Asso- 

 ciation at Denver, midway between 

 Chicago and the Pacific coast, will be 

 largely attended by those scientific men 

 for whom it is the geographical cen- 

 ter, and the excursion to Colorado is 

 so attractive that the eastern states 

 are certain to be well represented. The 

 council holds a preliminary meeting on 

 August 24, but the meeting really 

 opens on the twenty-sixth. In the 

 morning there is the usual formal wel- 

 come by the governor of the state, the 

 mayor of the city and other officers, 

 and the presidency is transferred by 

 Professor Woodward, of Columbia, to 

 Professor Minot, of Harvard. On 

 Monday afternoon the addresses of the 

 vice-presidents are delivered, and on 

 Tuesday the retiring president gives 

 Ms address, the subject being 'The 

 Progress of Science.' During the week 

 the Association meets in nine sections, 

 and more or less closely affiliated with 

 them are the meetings of nine special 

 societies. The usual entertainments 

 are offered by the citizens of Denver, 

 and excursions of more than usual 

 interest are planned to precede and fol- 

 low the meeting. The geology, paleon- 

 tology, flora, archeology and mining re- 

 sources of the region are of peculiar 

 interest to scientific men, and the 

 scenic beauty of the state and of the 

 surrounding states is known through- 

 out the world. 



