66o 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 



THE MEETINGS OF THE AMERI- 

 CAN ASSOCIATION. 



The American Association for the 

 Advancement of Science has a member- 

 ship ranging from 1,900 to 2,000. Of 

 this number probably at no one time 

 was there an aggregate of 300 persons 

 present at the recent annual meeting in 

 New York. 



When the Association meets in an 

 Eastern city the attendance is gener- 

 ally twice if not three times as large 

 as when it convenes in the West. So 

 little was made of the recent meeting, 

 locally or officially, that an intelligent 

 resident of the city remarked: "Why, 

 I intended to have attended some of 

 the meetings, but seeing no reference in 

 the daily papers, it entirely escaped my 

 mind." 



Of the 2,000 members, about 800 

 are fellows; the 1,200 and more regis- 

 tered as members are, presumably, per- 

 sons devoting little or no time to inde- 

 pendent research along scientific lines, 

 but persons who while not actively so 

 engaged are more than ordinarily inter- 

 ested in the discussion of scientific top- 

 ics. These have in the past paid dues 

 and attended the meetings of the Asso- 

 ciation with more or less regularity. It 

 is a question in the minds of some of 

 the 1,200 if their attendance at the 

 meetings is desired. Their membership, 

 so far as it relates to the five dollars in- 

 itiation fee and three dollars dues, is 

 without question acceptable, and to per- 

 sons reading papers in the various sec- 

 tions their presence is preferable to 

 empty seats, but in view of the fact 

 that during recent years the manage- 

 ment of the Association has eliminated, 

 so far as possible, the popular features 

 of the general programme, the question 

 is reasonably asked: "Does the man- 

 agement desire the attendance of the 



1,200, or is their financial support all 

 that is desired?" 



It was stated some years ago that 

 the purpose of the Association was to 

 furnish not only an occasion for scien- 

 tists to present original papers, but also 

 to interest the public by holding the 

 meetings annually in different parts of 

 the country; but if attendance is not 

 secured (by preparation and publica- 

 tion of interesting features of a pro- 

 gramme) no great interest will be awak- 

 ened by a meeting held in any part of 

 the country. 



I should like to suggest the follow- 

 ing ways of increasing the interest of 

 the meetings: 



The general daily sessions might be 

 made occasions of rare interest by the 

 introduction of prominent men of science 

 who would make at least brief remarks. 

 This would make it possible for those 

 who have limited time to become fa 

 miliar with the faces of those whom 

 they would like to know, and the little 

 'sample' of scientific thought thrown 

 out would doubtless awaken desire for 

 more. 



It will be objected that the meetings 

 of the council immediately preceding 

 the general session prevent holding an 

 official meeting at that hour. The pub- 

 lic and the 1,200 would care little 

 whether the session were official or un- 

 official so it were interesting and in 

 structive. 



The officers of the several sections 

 could easily secure distinguished rep 

 resentatives of their respective sciences 

 to give brief addresses followed by dis- 

 cussion, and thus the morning hour 

 would prove an attraction to citizens 

 and others who might be unable to at- 

 tend the sessions following. 



Again, citizens, where the meetings 

 are held, would be pleased to provide 

 excursions to points of local interest 



