THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 5 



Botanical Society of America. The matter was generally discussed, in con- 

 nection with the possibility of a winter meeting of the Society." ^^ The new 

 Botanical Society of America, hardly established, was already being subjected 

 to criticism, especially by certain eastern botanists who favored winter meet- 

 ings over summer meetings (a difference of opinion continuing to the present 

 day, it might be added). Many botanists objected to the high annual dues 

 and admission fee. Some preferred to meet with the American Society of 

 Naturalists, rather than the A.A.A.S. (another dichotomy which has per- 

 sisted to the present day). The sharpest criticism, however, was leveled at the 

 exclusive nature of the Botanical Society, for many felt that membership 

 should be open to anyone interested in Botany. 



On December, 1895, at the Philadelphia meetings of the American Society 

 of Naturalists, a group of botanists met to consider the question of the 

 formation of a botanical organization to meet with the American Society of 

 Naturalists. A committee of five, including L. H. Bailey and C. E. Bessey, 

 was appointed to canvass the situation. The committee explained, "This 

 movement has originated in the feeling that the winter meetings are quite as 

 valuable as any in the year. . . . Since no existing organization attempts to 

 occupy the field here open, it has been suggested that a simple form of asso- 

 ciation to afford a centre of attraction to botanists might be planned without 

 antagonism to the older bodies. The restriction of the winter meetings to the 

 eastern seaboard would in some degree limit the active membership of the 

 proposed organization. . . ." ^*^ At the December 30, 1896, Boston meeting 

 of the American Society of Naturalists, this committee, augmented by other 

 botanists in attendance, gave further consideration to the formation of a 

 Botanical Society. The group decided that there were a sufficient number of 

 botanists interested in such an organization to make a winter meeting pos- 

 sible. It was stated: "Eight or ten members would suffice; more would be 

 better." ^^ Further, "Membership in the new Society should accord geo- 

 graphically with that of the American Society of Naturalists; residence in 

 the Eastern States should not be essential to membership, but conditions of 

 time and distance are such that practically only those within that range are 

 likely to attend, and for the present year no botanists outside of the Eastern 

 States shall be invited to cooperate." ^^ Finally, a committee on the organi- 

 zation of the Society for Vegetable Morphology and Physiology was organized 

 with instructions to report to the next annual meeting of the group. On 

 December 20, 1897, this committee met at Sage College, Ithaca, New York. 

 The committee decided that it would establish a Society for Plant Morphol- 



^'> Ibid., p. 16. 



^^ Soc. for Plant Morphology ajid Physiology, Records and Accounts, 1897-1906, 

 p. 59. 



1^ Ibid., p. 63. 

 18 Ibid., p. 64. 



