y6 The Sections 



Executive Committee holds two interim meetings each year, one in April 

 and one in October. An example of the problems that the Council refers to 

 the Executive Committee with full power of decision is that of determining" 

 which of the symposia presented at meetings of the Association and offered 

 for publication shall be accepted. In nearly all cases the Executive Com- 

 mittee refers to the Council the questions it has studied, with recommenda- 

 tions ; in exceptional cases in which prompt decisions are necessary the 

 Executive Committee acts and reports its actions to the Council. 



The Sections 



The scientific programs of the meetings of the Association are largely 

 organized under 15 sections in cooperation with the affiliated and associated 

 societies. Each section has a Chairman, who is a vice president of the Asso- 

 ciation for the section, with a term of office of one year, a Secretary, with a 

 term of office of four years, and a Section Committee, consisting of four 

 fellows, one of whom is elected each year by the section committee for a 

 term of four years, and the representatives on the Council from the affiliated 

 societies whose chief interests are in the field of the section. 



The vice president for each section delivers a formal vice presidential 

 address, usually at the meeting at which his term of office expires, on some 

 subject of wide interest in the held of the section. The addresses of the vice 

 presidents are generally published in Science and are referred to with titles 

 and places of publication in the Summarized Proceedings. 



The secretaries as chief administrative officers of the sections have burden- 

 some and important responsibilities, among which are the planning of pro- 

 grams at the meetings of the Association, generally in cooperation with the 

 officers of several affiliated societies. Many of the programs of sections and 

 their cooperating affiliated societies contain more papers than an)- entire 

 program of the Association for the first 50 years of its existence. The section 

 secretaries also arrange for the voting of the section committees, or the mem- 

 bers of the sections, on nominations of vice presidents, nominations of 

 section committeemen, nominations of fellows, election of committees and 

 other special representatives. In order to provide an easy opportunity for 

 interchanges of ideas between secretaries and for conferences respecting the 

 problems arising in the operations of the sections, a Secretaries Conference 

 is held at each annual meeting of the Association. This conference follows a 

 dinner and is attended by the members of the Executive Committee. 



Divisions oe the Association 



It is costly for members of the Association living on the Pacific Slope or 

 in the southwestern mountain states to attend meetings of the Association 

 held on the Eastern Seaboard or even in the Mississippi Valley. Yet meet- 



