1914] Paul E. Howe 279 



B 

 John Auer, 



Secretary of the Pharmacological Society 



As the reader probably remembers, the Federation of the Ameri- 

 can Societies for Experimental Biology was formed provisionally 

 in Cleveland, at a meeting of duly appointed delegates from the 

 Physiological, Biochemical and Pharmacological Societies. The 

 recommendations of this Conference committee** were submitted by 

 the delegates to the members of the three societies during the 19 13 

 Session in Philadelphia and the recommendations were adopted in 

 füll : Et f actus est federatio in animam viventem. 



There was some in formal discussion about the necessity of elabo- 

 rating rules for the guidance of Federation affairs, but there was no 

 tendency to act precipitately. It was fully realized that caution was 

 necessary, first, in order to avoid collision with the several constitu- 

 tions of the constituent societies and, secondly, in order that the füllest 

 individual freedom of the component societies might be maintained. 

 No attempt was made, therefore, to constrict the three societies by 

 the hoop of a federal Constitution, but some motions were passed 

 which will tend to preserve and emphasize the unity of the Federa- 

 tion. Thus, not only will the annual programs of the constituent 

 societies of the Federation be published under one cover, but the 

 membership lists and constitutions also. This promises to be a great 

 convenience, for many men are members of at least three of the 

 societies, and now receive at least f our^ separate pamphlets, some of 

 which are sure not to be at hand when wanted. 



Another regulation was one designed to aid in the administra- 

 tion of the Federation affairs if the chairman and secretary of the 

 executive committee^ should be retired. The motion provides that 



* The minutes of this Conference committee were published in füll in the 

 BioCHEM. Bull., 1913, ii, p. 26g. 



5 The Phamacologists, for example, publish their membership list and Con- 

 stitution separately. 



^ The reader may recollect that the President and secretary of the presiding 

 Society are chairman and secretary, respectively, of the executive committee of 

 the Federation. The societies preside regularly in this rotation : Physiological 

 Biochemical, Pharmacological, Pathological. 



