TEE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE 



205 



THE PROGEESS OF SCIENCE 



THE CONVOCATION WEEK MEET- 

 INGS 



The American Association for the 

 Advancement of Science together ^Yith 

 a large number of national scientific 

 societies affiliated with it held at Phil- 

 adelphia, as had been anticipated, a 

 meeting of more than usual magnitude 

 and interest. The University of Penn- 

 slvania is always a generous host, and 

 not only placed at the disposal of the 

 visiting scientific men its laboratories 

 and lecture halls, but was able to pro- 

 vide in Houston Hall an admirable 

 headquarters for registration, council 

 meetings and informal gatherings, while 

 the luncheon served daily in the gym- 

 nasium and the evening reception given 

 by Provost and Mrs. Smith in the Mu- 

 seum, offered further opportunities '0 

 meet old acquaintances and to form 

 new ones. 



Dr. Charles W. Eliot, president emer- 

 itus of Harvard University, gives dis- 

 tinction to any meeting over which he 

 presides, and the address of the retir- 

 ing president, I>r. Edmund B. Wilson, 

 professor of zoology in Columbia Uni- 

 versity, supported the thesis that sci- 

 entific eminence is likely to be associ- 

 ated with literary and artistic skill. 

 The program of the meeting, consist- 

 ing mainly of titles of addresses and 

 papers, filled a volume not much 

 smaller in size than a number of The 

 Popular Science Monthly, and it Is 

 obviously impossible to refer even by 

 title to such a series of papers, sum- 

 ming up a great part of the scientific 

 work accomplished in this country dur- 

 ing the past year. As there were some 

 two thousand scientific men in attend- 

 ance and a considerable number of 

 visitors from the city, good audiences 

 were provided even when twenty or 

 thirty meetings were being held simul- 

 taneously. 



A new feature of the meeting was a 

 session of the Committee of One Hun- 

 dred on Scientific Research appointed 

 a year ago. Professor E. C. Pickering 



presided, and reports were presented 

 by subcommittees on research funds, 

 the attitude of colleges and universi- 

 ties to research, the better recognition 

 and greater encouragement of re- 

 search, the selection and training of 

 men for research, and the research 

 work of industrial laboratories. Com- 

 mittees were appointed on research 

 work under the government, research 

 work on the Pacific coast and the use 

 of the research funds of the association, 

 which latter committee is timely, in 

 view of the fact that Mr. Colburn, one 

 of the fellows of the association, last 

 year made to it a bequest which may 

 amount to over one hundred thousand 

 dollars. 



The association will meet next sum- 

 mer in San Francisco and the neigh- 

 boring universities and next winter at 

 Columbus. Dr. W. W. Campbell, di- 

 rector of the Lick Observatory, was 

 elected president, and most of the vice- 

 presidents were elected from among 

 the scientific men residing on the Pa- 

 cific coast, their names and work indi- 

 cating how actively that region is 

 engaged in important scientific re- 

 search. 



The societies devoted to physiology, 

 anatomy and biological chemistry met 

 this year at St. Louis, the geographers, 

 historians and philosophers at Chicago, 

 and the economists and sociologists at 

 Princeton. It is planned to have once 

 in four years a special convocational 

 week meeting in which all scientific 

 men and scientific societies will be in- 

 vited to join, the first to be in New 

 j York two years hence. 

 ' After the close of the other meet- 

 i ings, there was held in New York City 

 on January 1 and 2 a gathering of 

 university professors, who organized a 

 new society to be known as the Amer- 

 ican Association .of University Pro- 

 fessors, intended to accomplisli for 

 teachers in our higher institutions of 

 learning the objects attained in kin- 

 dred professions by the American Med- 



