112 EEPOET OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1913. 



MEETINGS AND CONGRESSES. 



The accommodations afforded by the new building were extensively 

 utihzed during the year for meetings, congresses and other important 

 functions. The Anthropological Society of Washington held its regu- 

 lar meetings, of which there were 14 during the season, in the larger 

 committee room, while the auditorium was used by the Washington 

 Societ37^ of the Fine Arts for two courses of 6 lectures each and one 

 course of 5 lectm'es, the latter devoted to the great masters of music ; 

 by the Spanish- American Atheneum, which is organized to encourage 

 the study of the hterature and history of Spain and Spanish America, 

 for 5 meetings ; and by the Naval War College Extension for a series 

 of weekly lectures for the benefit of ojfficers of the Navy and Army, 

 which extended from the middle of January to the middle of April. 



Of three notable congresses which assembled in this country during 

 September, 1912, two held brief sessions in Washington, while the 

 third met only here. The former were the Eighth International 

 Congress of AppHed Chemistry and the Sixth International Congress 

 for Testing Materials, to the members of each of which a reception 

 was given, by invitation of the Eegents and Secretary of the Insti- 

 tution, in the exhibition haUs of the new building on the evenings of 

 September 4 and 9, respectively. The Fifteenth International Con- 

 gress on Hygiene and Demography met from September 23 to 27, 

 inclusive, and of its 9 sections 4 were accommodated in the Museum 

 building, namely: Dietetic hygiene and hygienic physiology; Hygiene 

 of occupations; Mihtary, naval and tropical (colonial) hygiene; and 

 Demography. Two joint sessions and 3 of the 4 plenary sessions 

 were also held in the same building, the latter in the auditorium on 

 the evenings of September 23, 24 and 25, at which the speakers were, 

 successively. Sir Thomas Ohver, of Newcastle, England; Dr. Jacques 

 Bertillon, of Paris, France; and Ministeriahat Dr. Zahn, of Munich, 

 Bavaria. On the evening of the 26th a reception to the delegates and 

 members was given in the exhibition halls, in the name of the citizens 

 of the District of Columbia, by the District committee for the congress. 



Other important meetings were as follows: By the American Phil- 

 ological Association, the Archaeological Institute of America and the 

 Society of Bibhcal Literature and Exegesis, in joint session from De- 

 cember 27 to 30, 1912; by the American Farm-Management Associ- 

 ation, on January 21 and 22, 1913; by the National Academy of 

 Sciences, which held its annual meeting on April 15, followed by a 

 celebration of its semi-centennial anniversary, continuing 3 days 

 from April 22, with a reception in the exhibition halls on the first 

 evening; by the General Federation of Women's Clubs, on April 21 

 and 22; by the International Kindergarten Union, which held its 

 twentieth annual convention, accompanied by an exhibition of kinder- 



