MEETING OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION. 835 



every meeting. Professor Putnam, in opening, paid an especial 

 tribute to the late Dr. D. G. Brinton, of Philadelpliia, a former 

 president and leading member of tbe association, devoted to tb" 

 same branch of research with himself — North American ethnol- 

 ogy — although holding different theories therein. Professor Put- 

 nam dealt with the prehistoric peoples of this continent, and ar- 

 gued for distinct racial types as expressed in the remains that 

 they have left, and for resemblances as due to intercourse and 

 mingling of tribes, and not to autochthonous development of arts 

 and customs as the result of corresponding stages of evolution 

 without contact or outside influence — the view maintained by Dr. 

 Brinton. 



There is not space here to dwell further upon many valuable 

 papers and discussions. The Section of Geology had a full and 

 interesting session, in which glacial phenomena, especially as dis- 

 played in Ohio, bore a considerable part. One of the papers had 

 a very wide and painful interest for all Americans — that of Mr. 

 E. H. Barbour, on the Rapid Decliiie of Geyser Activity in the 

 Yellowstone Basin. Careful and extended comparison of the 

 present state of the geysers and hot springs with that to be seen a 

 few years ago shows that these wonderful and impressive phenom- 

 ena have greatly decreased in both the amount and the frequency 

 of their manifestations, and Mr. Barbour warned all who desire to 

 witness anything of their grandeur to visit the region without 

 delay, as the indications point to their speedy cessation as probable 

 if not ine\dtable. 



In reference to the future of the association, it is gratifying 

 to observe that the various special societies, whose relations to 

 the association were considered in the article by the present 

 writer a year ago, have not only continued to hold their summer 

 sessions in connection with that of the association, but have shown 

 a very cordial spirit of co-operation, and that some others are pro- 

 posing to affiliate in a similar way. This is as it should be; but 

 there is in it also the suggestion of a broader and more definite 

 relationship of all these special societies to each other through the 

 medium of the association. The tendency is apparently toward 

 affiliation and co-operation among them, and the American Asso- 

 ciation for the Advancement of Science could have no more fitting 

 or useful function than as a sort of federative or representative 

 body for all the others. 



The next meeting is to be held in Xew York, two months ear- 

 lier than usual — at the end of June. Both the place and the 

 time were determined by the P*aris Exposition. It was thought 

 best to arrange the meeting so that it might easily be attended 



