THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. 



283 



THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. 



THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION. 

 The American Association for the 

 Advancement of Science will hold its 

 fifty-first annual meeting at Pitts- 

 burgh, beginning with a session of the 

 council on June 28 and with the first 

 regular session of the Association on 

 June 30. The time and place of meet- 

 ing seem to be favorable to a large 

 attendance and a good program. There 

 is reason to suppose that the first of 

 July is more satisfactory than the 

 usual date, the middle of August, as 

 men of science are then so widely scat- 

 tered that it is difficult for them to 

 come together. Pittsburgh is certainly 

 a central point, as easily reached by 

 railways from all parts of the country 

 as any in America. An unusual con- 

 cession has been made by some of the 

 railways in extending the return limit 

 of tickets until the end of August, 

 thus accommodating those who wish 

 to make the meeting at Pittsburgh the 

 opening of their summer holidays. 

 Under the direction of the chairman of 

 the local committee, Dr. W. J. Holland, 

 and the local secretary, Mr. George 



A. Wardlaw, an elaborate announce- 

 ment has been published; and it ap- 

 pears that excellent arrangements have 

 been made for the success of the meet- 

 ing. 



The address of the retiring presi- 

 dent, Professor C. S. Minot, of the 

 Harvard Medical School, which we 

 hope to have the privilege of publish- 

 ing in this journal, will set a high 

 standard for the addresses of the vice- 

 presidents which they will undoubtedly 

 meet, for they are among our leading 

 men of science — Professor James Mac- 

 Mahon in mathematics; Professor D. 



B. Brace in physics; Professor H. S. 

 Jacoby in engineering; Professor C. R. 



Van Hise in geology; President David 

 Starr Jordan in zoology; Mr. B. T. 

 Galloway in botany; Dr. J. Walter 

 Fewkes in anthropology, and Mr. John 

 Hyde in social science. 



The American Association has be- 

 come a center of affiliation for a large 

 number of special scientific societies. 

 Thus it is expected that there will 

 meet at Pittsburgh, either at the same 

 time as the association, or just before 

 or after, the national societies devoted 

 to chemistry, geology, botany, agricul- 

 tural science, microscopy, entomology, 

 folk-lore, engineering education and 

 physics. These and other societies that 

 will join with the association at its 

 next meeting are represented on its 

 council, which thus becomes a repre- 

 sentative body competent to legislate 

 on behalf of the interests of science 

 and scientific men. The special papers 

 tend increasingly to be presented be- 

 fore the societies affiliated with the as- 

 sociation, while the association itself 

 retains the function of representing 

 science before the general public. 

 Only men of science belong to the spe- 

 cial societies, but all those interested 

 in science are eligible for membership 

 in the association. As a matter of 

 fact, its three thousand members are 

 nearly equally divided between those 

 who are professionally engaged in sci- 

 entific work and those who take an 

 interest in and wish to assist in such 

 work. Members have the privilege of 

 attending the meetings of the associa- 

 tion and of its affiliated societies, en- 

 joying the reduced fares on the rail- 

 ways and the arrangements for enter- 

 tainment, this being much more than 

 a return for the small annual member- 

 ship fee ( $3 ) . Even those unable to 

 attend the meetings have now a full 



