TEE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. 



283 



THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. 



WINTER MEETINGS OF SCIEN- 

 TIFIC SOCIETIES. 

 The efforts to secure a convocation 

 week for the meetings of scientific and 

 learned societies have met with gratify- 

 ing success. It may be remembered 

 that a note in a former issue of this 

 magazine called attention to the ap- 

 pointment of a committee of the Amer- 

 ican Association for the Advancement 

 of Science which secured the coopera- 

 tion of the Association of American 

 Universities. Most of our leading in- 

 stitutions have now decided to set 

 apart for these meetings the week in 

 which the first of January falls. In 

 some cases no change in the calendar 

 was required, in others it has only been 

 decided that officers may have leave of 

 absence, but in many the Christmas 

 holidays have been lengthened by a few 

 days. The movement has met with 

 practically universal approval, both on 

 the part of institutions of learning and 

 on the part of scientific societies, and 

 represents a gain for science, the im- 

 portance of which can scarcely be over- 

 stated. The advancement and the 

 diffusion of science depend largely on 

 the meetings of our societies. It is of 

 the utmost importance for scientific 

 men to come together and discuss their 

 common interests. Only so can a high 

 and uniform standard be maintained 

 throughout the country, only so will 

 an eager interest in advanced work 

 and research be maintained, only so 

 will men find their proper places and 

 the work they are best able to do, only 

 so will science be adequately recognized 

 and supported by the community. 

 Hitherto the scientific meetings have 

 been divided between summer and win- 

 ter. The American Association has 

 met in the summer holidays and with 



it the societies devoted to the physical 

 sciences. In midsummer it is impos- 

 sible for many to attend the meetings, 

 and those who do suffer great person- 

 al inconvenience; the week between 

 Christmas and New Year's Day is too 

 short, breaking into Christmas time 

 and being interrupted by Sunday. This 

 year, for the first time, the week after 

 that in which Christmas falls has been 

 recognized as convocation week, and 

 affords a convenient time for the meet- 

 ings. 



The council of the American Associa- 

 tion for the Advancement of Science 

 meets at Chicago on January 1, and 

 the Section of Anthropology of the 

 Association holds a winter meeting at 

 Chicago. The Association will hold a 

 summer meeting at Pittsburgh next 

 year, but will hold a winter meeting 

 in Washington in the following convo- 

 cation week. The American Society of 

 Naturalists meets at Chicago on De- 

 cember 31 and January 1, in conjunc- 

 tion with the Western Naturalists, and 

 the national societies devoted to mor- 

 phology, bacteriology, anatomy, physi- 

 ology and psychology will meet at the 

 same place and on the same days and 

 on the days immediately preceding and 

 following. Other societies meet else- 

 where this winter; but it is expected 

 that they will all meet at Washington 

 next year, and that it will be possible 

 hereafter to bring together at least 

 once in three years the great majority 

 of those engaged in scientific work in 

 America. 



THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE. 



President Roosevelt's message to 

 the Congress has been more widely 

 read and more generally approved than 

 any other recent document of this kind. 



