THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. 



507 



The Association is this year particu- 

 larly fortunate in its retiring and in 

 its incoming presidents. Other emi- 

 nent men have presided over the Asso- 

 ciation, but perhaps not before have 

 they united scientific eminence with 

 such great services to the Association 

 and the organization of science in 

 America. Those who have heard or 

 read the presidential addresses which 

 Professor Woodward gave last year be- 

 fore the American Mathematical So- 

 ciety and before the New York Acad- 

 emy of Sciences will look forward 

 with great interest to the Denver ad- 

 dress, which we hope to publish in the 

 next issue of this journal. Professor 

 Minot, the incoming president of the 

 Association — whose portrait is given as 

 frontispiece — is known here and 

 abroad for his important contributions 

 to embryology, physiology, animal 

 morphology and zoology. As a boy 

 Minot collected insects, and his earliest 

 publications were on entomological 

 topics. Graduating at the age of 

 twenty from the Massachusetts insti- 

 tute of Technology in 1872, he could at 

 that time find in America no good op- 

 portunity to carry on advanced studies 

 and consequently went abroad and 

 spent three years in Germany and 

 France. He was given the S.D. by Har- 

 vard in 1878 and appointed lecturer 

 in the medical school in 1880, being 

 promoted to an assistant professorship 

 in 1887 and to the full professorship 

 of histology and embryology in 1892. 

 At first Minot's work was chiefly 

 physiological — while a student under 

 Ludwig at Leipzig he published an 

 article shovping that muscles can main- 

 tain their contraction without forming 

 carbonic acid — and in the direction of 

 experimental biology, his investiga- 

 tions covering topics such as growth, 

 heredity and the differentiation of 

 tissues. This work led to two impor- 

 tant laws, namely, that, aside from 

 minor fluctuations, the power of 

 growth diminishes from birth onwards, 

 there being really in animals no period 



of development as opposed to decline; 

 and that the decline in the rate of 

 growth is correlated with the increase 

 and differentiation of the protoplasm 

 of the cells. Another field of early 

 study was the structure of worms. 

 Here his most important result was the 

 demonstration that the Nemertean 

 worms, which had always been classed 

 with the Plathelminths, form a dis- 

 tinct class. The microscopic anatomy 

 of insects and vertebrates was the sub- 

 ject of a number of investigations, 

 among them an extended essay on the 

 histology of the locust, which con- 

 tains many new observations on insect 

 anatomy. 



Owing to the claims of his professor- 

 ship, strictly embryological work has 

 steadily grown more predominant dur- 

 ing the last twenty years. His first 

 important embryological paper was a 

 comparative study of the uterus and 

 placenta, being the first comprehensive 

 account of the microscopic anatomy of 

 the human uterus during pregnancy, 

 and containing many additions to 

 knowledge. During recent years his 

 vsrritings — which in all number over 

 one hundred and fifty titles — have 

 chiefly presented the results of various 

 embryological investigations. The book 

 on 'Human Embryology,' first pub- 

 lished in 1892, is a standard work here 

 and in Europe. 



As has been indicated, Professor 

 Minot, while making these important 

 contributions to science and conducting 

 a department in a great medical 

 school, has found time to take a lead- 

 ing part in what may be called the or- 

 ganization of science. He has written 

 admirable articles and addresses of a 

 general character, published in this and 

 in other journals; he has by his pub- 

 lications and personal efforts done 

 much to advance medical education and 

 to unite it with biological research; 

 he has accomplished much for bibliog- 

 raphy, for the building and equip- 

 ment of laboratories and in other di- 

 rections. Following the suggestion of 



