8 TIPPO 



there is a woeful lack of proper unification and coordination were shown 

 at the last Washington meeting, where the number of papers presented was 

 so great that it was impossible for visiting botanists to take anything like 

 advantage of them. [Forty papers were given at the Washington meeting.] 

 In the future it is hoped and believed that existing botanical organizations 

 can be continued and their integrity and independence maintained, but at 

 the same time it would seem highly important that some steps be taken 

 toward unification. There would seem no reason why the Botanical Society 

 of America should not be the medium for bringing this about, and why, 

 through its efforts, there should not be effected an organization representing 

 the various botanical societies throughout the country which would affiliate 

 with the Society and assist in shaping a general policy on all matters affecting 

 the welfare of the science. The time seems ripe for bringing about this result. 

 Never was Botany more prosperous, never more aggressive. On the threshold 

 of the twentieth century we stand, knowing our strength and only needing to 

 weld it into harmonious action to make it vital and lasting. Let us join hands 

 and do our best to bring this about." -^ 



At the 11th annual meeting held in Philadelphia in December, 1904, the 

 committee on relations reported that it had conferred with committees ap- 

 pointed by the Society for Plant Morphology and Physiology and by the 

 American Mycological Society. As a result of these conferences and a canvass 

 of botanists in the country, the committee recommended that the Botanical 

 Society merge with the other two societies, under the name of the Botanical 

 Society of America. The Council adopted the committee report and named 

 another committee to negotiate with the other two societies. At the next 

 annual meeting, the 12th, held in New Orleans, January, 1906, the com- 

 mittee on the federation of botanical societies recommended that the Botani- 

 cal Society merge with the Society for Plant Morphology and Physiology and 

 the American Mycological Society. A new constitution was presented. The 

 report and constitution were approved by the Society. The official union of 

 the three societies, the Botanical Society of America (founded in 1893), the 

 Society for Plant Morphology and Physiology (founded in 1896), and the 

 American Mycological Society (founded in 1903), occurred in New York 

 City, December 27, 1906,^* at the meetings of the American Association for 

 the Advancement of Science. Some sixty members from the three societies 

 were present, and thirty botanical papers were given. The three societies 

 combined their membership lists, making a total of 119 members. They also 

 merged their funds. The Botanical Society provided $3,566, the Society for 

 Plant Morphology and Physiology furnished $64.38, and the American 

 Mycological Society contributed $38.45. And so the present Botanical Society 

 of America came into being fifty years ago. 



^^Bot. Soc. Amer. Pub. No. 23, p. 11-12. 



-* Bot. Soc. Amer. Minutes, 1894-1926, p. 95. 



