THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE 



lOI 



THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE 



THE PHILADELPHIA MEETING 

 OF THE AMEBIC AN ASSOCIA- 

 TION FOPi THE ADVANCE- 

 MENT OF SCIENCE 



The American Associatiou for the 

 Advancement of Science and the na- 

 tional scientific societies alHliated with 

 it meet at the University of Pennsyl- 

 vania, Philadelphia, during the week 

 beginning on December 27. In view of 

 the scientific attractions of Philadel- 

 phia and its central situation for those 

 living on the Atlantic seaboard, with 

 convenient access for those living 

 further west, the meeting is sure to be 

 of outstanding importance. This has 

 been the case with the previous Phila- 

 delphia meetings. The association was 

 organized there in 1848. After an in- 

 terval of 36 years the second Philadel- 

 phia meeting had a registration of 

 1,261, the largest up to that time and 

 until very recently. Like the first meet- 

 ing it marked an epoch in scientific or- 

 ganization in America. Until 1882 

 there had been only two sections of the 

 association, one for the exact sciences 

 and one for the natural sciences. But 

 the advance and specialization of sci- 

 ence led to the division of the asso- 

 ciation into sections and the establish- 

 ment of national societies for the 

 different sciences. The American So- 

 ciety of Naturalists was established in 

 1883 and as special societies were or- 

 ganized in the natural sciences they 

 met with it in the Christmas holidays. 

 National societies in the physical sci- 

 ences were also formed and held sepa- 

 rate meetings. The parent association 

 was thus somewhat weakened, and the 

 summer meetings attracted an attend- 

 ance of only about 300. 



The situation was met by the estab- 

 lishment of convocation week and the 

 affiliation of the national societies for 

 special sciences with the associatiou. 

 The association has aimed to serve as a 

 center of coordination for the special 



sciences and the special societies, and 

 to keep scientific men in touch with the 

 larger public, leaving the special pro- 

 grams of technical j^apers to the sepa- 

 rate societies The third Philadelphia 

 meeting and at the same time the third 

 of the convocation week meetings held 

 in the Christmas holidays of 1904 had 

 a registration of 890, but the registra- 

 tion of members of the association no 

 longer represents the magnitude of the 

 meetings, as it includes only a part of 

 those attending the sessions of the 

 special societies. When the association 

 was organized in 1848 its membershifj 

 was 461, at the second Philadelphia 

 meeting it had increased to 2,000, at the 

 third to 4,000 and it is now after ten 

 years over 8,000. 



We may thus expect a large meeting 

 at Philadelphia. But while the size of 

 the meeting is the fact easiest to give 

 numerically, it clearly is not the one 

 most important. This is the men and 

 the work they do and report. This year 

 the meeting will be presided over by 

 Dr. Charles W. Eliot, president emer- 

 itus of Harvard University, education 

 — a section which was established some 

 eight years ago — being thus for the 

 first time recognized officially in the 

 long list of distinguished men who have 

 filled this office. The address by the 

 retiring president, Dr. Edmund B. Wil- 



; son, of Columbia University, on 

 ' ' Some Aspects of Progress in Modern 

 Zoology," in which progress he is the 

 most eminent leader. The evening ad- 



i dresses arranged for citizens of the 

 city are "On the Science of Musical 

 Sounds," by Dr. Dayton C. Miller, of 

 the Case School of Applied Science, 

 and on ' ' The War and the Chemical 

 Industry, ' ' by Dr. William H. Nichols, 

 each the one competent in the country 

 on the subject in which he speaks. The 



1 general character of the addresses and 



1 papers before the sections can perhaps 

 best be represented by giving the ex- 



