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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Leonaed P. Kinnicutt, 

 Professor of Chemistry, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Vice-President for Chemistry. 



THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION. 



The fifty-fourth meeting of the 

 American Association was presided 

 over by Professor William G. Farlow, 

 the eminent botanist of Harvard Uni- 

 versity, who responded to the address 

 of welcome tendered by Provost Har- 

 rison of the University of Pennsylvania. 

 We are pleased that we are able to 

 give here portraits of the vice-presi- 

 dents who presided over the sections 

 and of the permanent secretary and the 

 secretary of the council. No report 

 of the sectional meetings can be at- 

 tempted, and only a brief account of 

 the more important business proceed- 

 ings. In some respects this is a crit- 

 ical period in the development of the 



association. With the increasing 



specialization of methods and of the 

 sciences, a number of special societies 

 of experts have arisen, which tend to 

 replace, in a way, the older and more 

 general association. Just what rela- 

 tion the latter should bear to the sev- 

 eral societies affiliated with it is an 

 important question of policy awaiting 

 early solution. It is thought by some 

 that the association should aim to 

 serve as a central legislative body and 

 to coordinate and represent to the 

 public at large the common interests 

 of the several special bodies, while 

 yielding to these the sessions for the 

 reading of technical papers. The 

 Philadelphia convocation was notable 



