THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE 



203 



THE PROGEESS OF SCIENCE 



THE SCIEXTIFIC MEETINGS AT 

 BALTIMORE 



The meetings of tlie American Asso- 

 ciation for tlie Advancement of Science 

 and the affiliated national scientific 

 societies held at the Johns Hopkins 

 University during con\-ocation week 

 brought together more than two thou- 

 sand scientific men and their programs 

 contained the titles of more than one 

 thousand scientific papers. Such a 

 gathering has not occurred elsewhere 

 or hitherto, and it is encouraging to 

 see demonstrated in this public way 

 the fact that this country is now ^ 

 taking the place in scientific research 

 warranted by its population and its 

 wealth. The meeting is not only an 

 exhibition of what has been accom- 

 plished; it is also a stimulus in fur- 

 ther efi'orts. The scientific men who 

 come together from all parts of the j 

 country to present and discuss the re- 

 sults of the year's work return to their 

 institutions with more knowledge and 

 renewed zeal. It would be worth the 

 while for each of our thousand colleges j 

 — and the smaller and more remote ' 

 they are the more worth the while — 

 to pay the expenses of delegates to a 

 meeting of this kind. This would be 

 no less useful or profitable than to 

 supply books or apparatus. Dartmouth , 

 College set this year a precedent, ma- 

 king an appropriation of $300 to send 

 nine representatives to the meeting. 



The arrangements by the local com- 

 mittee worked so smoothly and the 

 meeting places of the groups were so 

 separated that it was difficult to realize 

 fully the magnitude of the meeting 

 except by reference to the progi'am. 

 In it one found some seventy pages 

 devoted to a mere list of the papers 

 to be presented and a great array of 



general meetings, public lectures, din- 

 ners, smokers, etc. From this vast 

 mass of material only a few events can 

 be selected for mention. 



At the opening meeting on the morn- 

 ing of December 28, the retiring presi- 

 dent. Dr. E. L. Nichols, professor of 

 physics at Cornell University, intro- 

 duced the president of the meeting, 

 Dr. T. C. Chamberlin, professor of 

 geology at the University of Chicago, 

 and the association was welcomed to 

 Baltimore by the maj'or of the city, 

 by Dr. Ira Remsen, president of the 

 Johns Hopkins University, who pre- 

 sided at the first convocation week 

 meeting in Washington six years ago, 

 and by Dr. William H. Welch, chair- 

 man of the local committee and pro- 

 fessor of pathology in the Johns Hop- 

 kins University, who presided at the 

 New York meeting two years ago. 



In the evening the retiring president 

 gave his address, which was an ad- 

 mirable survey of the place of science 

 in modern civilization and an impres- 

 sive plea for more research work and 

 greater freedom in our universities. 

 All the vice-presidential addresses be- 

 fore the sections of the association and 

 the presidential addresses before the 

 special societies maintained high scien- 

 tific standards, and some of them were 

 of broad general interest. Among the 

 lectures may perhaps be selected for 

 mention the addresses by ]Mr. G. K. 

 Gilbert, of the U. S. Geological Survey, 

 on earthquake forecasts, which had a 

 sad and dramatic timeliness; by Major 

 Squier. U.S.A., on the remarkable re- 

 cent progress in navigating the air by 

 means of dirigible balloons and aero- 

 planes; by Mr. Bryan, 07i ilt. Kilauea, 

 whose address was beautifully illus- 

 trated and of special interest in \iew 



