NOTES BY THE EDITOR 



ON THE 



PROGRESS OF SCIENCE DURING THE YEAR 1854. 



THE sixth annual meeting 1 and eighth regular session of the Ameri- 

 can Association for the Promotion of Science was held in Washing- 

 ton, D. C., in the rooms of the Smithsonian Institution, during the 

 week commencing with Wednesday, April 20, 1854. The Presi- 

 dent, elected at the Cleveland meeting, was Prof. Jas. D. Dana. The 

 Association was divided into two sections the physical and the 

 chemical. The whole number of communications presented was 92 : 

 37 in Physics and Astronomy ; 12 in Meteorology ; 25 in Geology 

 and Mineralogy ; 12 in Chemistry ; 6 in Zoology. 



Prof. Bache, from the Committee on the Constitution of the Asso- 

 ciation, reported a series of amendments, guarding more closely the 

 admittance to membership, making the President and General Sec- 

 retary ineligible for reelection, requiring that local committees shall 

 not arrange for excursions during the session before its opening, 

 enlarging the standing committees, and prohibiting the recommenda- 

 tion of books, instruments, institutions, or processes. These and 

 other amendments lie over until the next meeting, when they will be 

 taken up for discussion, acceptance, or rejection. 



The election of officers for the succeeding year resulted in the 

 unanimous choice of the following: For President, Prof. John Tor- 

 rey, of New York ; for General Secretary, Dr. Wolcott Gibbs, of 

 New York ; for Treasurer, Dr. A. L. Elwyn. The Permanent Sec- 

 retary is Prof. Lovering, of Cambridge. The next meeting of the 

 Association, by invitation of Brown University, will be held at Provi- 

 dence, R. I., on the third Wednesday of August, (the 15th,) 1855. 



The twenty-fourth annual meeting of the British Association for the 



