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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. 



The conditions in the United States 

 have been favorable to the development 

 of geology. The varied forms of the land 

 have offered abundant opportunities for 

 research, whereas the practical value of 

 the work has led to the establishment 

 of surveys, the magnitude of whose con- 

 tribution to geology is only known to 

 special students. The Geological So- 

 ciety of America has about two hundred 

 and fifty members, nearly all of whom 

 are actively engaged in geological re- 

 search, perhaps a larger number than in 

 any other science. The U. S. Geological 

 Survey is the center of this movement, 

 and its great efficiency is in large meas- 

 ure due to Mr. G. K. Gilbert, now presi- 

 dent of the American Association for 

 the Advancement of Science. He was 

 born in Rochester, N. Y., in 1843, and 

 after graduating from the university in 

 that city, acted for five years as assis- 

 tant in the Ward Museum, where a 

 number of eminent naturalists have 

 been trained. He then became geolo- 

 gist in the Ohio Survey under Newberry, 

 was engaged in the Wheeler and Powell 

 Surveys, and has been geologist in the 

 U. S. Geological Survey since its es- 

 tablishment in 1879. In the arid west, 

 where the face of the earth is bare, Mr. 

 Gilbert made the observations and dis- 

 coveries in dynamical and physical geol- 

 ogy which have done so much toward 

 the making of the science of physiog- 

 raphy. His monographs on the Henry 

 Mountains and on Lake Bonneville, the 

 name he gave to the ancient lake that 

 once filled the Utah basin, are models, 

 both in regard to their original discover- 

 ies and the methods of presentation. He 

 has extended his studies to the basins 

 of the Laurentian Lakes and to other 

 regions, always with important results. 

 Mr. Gilbert has been president of the 

 American Society of Naturalists, the 



Geological Society of America and the 

 Philosophical Society of Washington, 

 and has received the Wollaston Medal 

 of the Geological Society of London. 

 His presidential addi'ess. before the 

 American Association will be given at 

 the American Museum of Natural His- 

 tory, New York City, on the evening 

 of June 26, his subject being 'Geologi- 

 cal Rhythm.' 



The meeting of the American Asso- 

 ciation in New York City, opening as 

 this issue of the Monthly is published, 

 promises to be of more than usual im- 

 portance. The preliminary programs 

 of the different sections show long lists 

 of valuable papers and promise the at- 

 tendance of leading men of science from 

 all parts of the country. A movement 

 of interest is the increasing tendency of 

 special scientific societies to meet in 

 conjunction with the Association. No 

 less than fifteen societies will this year 

 hold their sessions at Columbia Uni- 

 versity, some of them joining with the 

 sections of the Association, and others 

 holding independent meetings. The 

 members of these different societies 

 have the advantage of the reduced rail- 

 way rates and other arrangements 

 which can be made once for all, and the 

 still greater advantage of meeting scien- 

 tific men in other departments. As 

 science grows in details and in range, 

 there is on the one hand an increased 

 specialization, making it desirable for 

 small groups of experts to meet to- 

 gether to discuss their special problems, 

 while, on the other hand, almost every 

 scientific question has ramifications ex- 

 tending to many sciences. Hence, the 

 need of many separate societies and at 

 the same time of a common meeting 

 ground. When the American Associa- 

 tion was organized, in 1848, its members 

 could meet in one body; later they 



