THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE 



205 



to appoint an official committee to ad- 

 vise the secretary of agriculture in re- 

 gard to the chief of the Weather Bu- 

 reau. This was done and the secretary ! 

 of agriculture appointed Dr. Marvin, 

 one of the three men endorsed by the 

 committee of the academy. The secre- 

 tary of agriculture would probably 

 have made the same appointment with- 

 out official scientific advice, though it is 

 evident that this is a valuable safe- 

 guard. 



Another instance of the usefulness of 

 the council of the association is the 

 committee on expert testimony ap- 

 pointed last year which made a pre- 

 liminary report at Atlanta through Dr. 

 E. C. Pickering and Dr. W. H. Holmes. 

 The committee includes members of the 

 association so eminent in their subjects 

 as Dr. "W. H. Welch in medicine, and 

 Senator Elihu Eoot in law. It is a 



matter of public notoriety that the 

 present methods of expert testimony in 

 courts often defeat the ends of justice 

 and bring science into disrepute. It is 

 fortunate that we have a body so well 

 fitted to attempt the reform of this 

 procedure as the American Association. 



The third action of the council which 

 may be noted is the appointment of a 

 committee of one hundred in research. 

 Two sub-committees have already been 

 organized, one to report on the exist- 

 ing research funds of the country and 

 possible means of cooperation to in- 

 crease their usefulness, the other on 

 research in educational institutions 

 which will make inquiries as to the ex- 

 tent to which research work by pro- 

 fessors and instructors is encouraged in 

 colleges and universities. 



At Atlanta there were also adopted 

 several plans looking to the increased 



Dr. Theodore Hough, 

 Vice-president for rhysiology, professor of physiology, University of Virginia. 



