EDITORIALS 



We present, on pages 276-293 of this issue, a general account of 

 the proceedings of the first annual meeting of the Federation of 

 American Societies for Experimental Biology and Medicine. 

 Federation of Amer. The origin of the influences which led to the 

 Soc. for Exper. Biol. estabHshment of the Federation may be traced 



and Medicine farther back than the meeting of the American 

 Physiological Society, in 1907, to which Professor Carlson refers 

 on page 276. When it was formally proposed by Professor Abel, 

 in the fall of 1906, to organize a biochemical society, the Suggestion 

 was vigorously opposed by a number of leading biological chemists 

 who were also members of the Physiological Society. They urged 

 that instead of organizing a biochemical society, the Physiological 

 Society be reorganized on a foundation to include a biochemical 

 section. A few biological chemists also urged that the idea of 

 establishing a biochemical society be abandoned and that biochem- 

 ists be effectively organized in the Biological Section of the Ameri- 

 can Chemical Society. These counter-proposals were rejected by 

 the large majority of the biological chemists concerned, many of 

 whom, with Professor Abel, were members of the Physiological and 

 Chemical Societies. Their general views were voiced formally by 

 Professor Abel, at the meeting for the Organization of the Biochem- 

 ical Society in New York, in 1906, when he said •} 



I take the liberty of rehearsing briefly the reasons for which this 

 meeting has been called, . . . We have become convinced that there is 

 need in this country for an Organization which shall further the inter- 

 ests and foster the growth of biological chemistry. Biological chemists 

 at present are affiliated with widely differing societies and come little 

 in contact with the great body of men who are interested in biochemical 

 work. Whether we as chemists have as oiir field of work the physio- 

 logical chemistry of our medical schools or deal with the chemical 



^Proceedings of the American Society of Biological Chemists, 1907, i, p. 2; 

 Science, 1907, xxv, p. 140. 



337 



