THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION. 829 



by some, that the association is losing ground, or failing to meet 

 the objects for which it was designed. At the same time it might, 

 and doubtless should, attain larger growth and wider influence 

 in its new half century, proportionately as well as actually, than 

 it has, and some suggestions to that end will be presently re- 

 ferred to. 



Several causes have operated to produce the impression, or the 

 fear, that has been spoken of. We have said that, when founded, 

 it was the only national body of its kind, and also that it is so still. 

 But the developments of science during the last half century have 

 altered the conditions of its existence and its work in some important 

 respects. These marvelous advances have been strikingly presented 

 in the September issue of the Atlantic Monthly, by Prof. W J 

 McGee, under the title Fifty Years of American Science, in which 

 a comprehensive survey is given of the progress of science in its 

 various fields during this remarkable period, with the philosophic 

 breadth that marks Professor McGee's work. He states the share 

 and the function of the association very happily in the following 

 words : 



" Since American science was young, the course of research and 

 conclusion has been guided by an association of science-builders, who 

 have freely contributed their mental and moral riches to their 

 younger and poorer fellows. This association has shaped the progress 

 of American science, and its semicentennial anniversary is America's 

 jubilee of Science." 



As was said above, however, new phases have developed in the 

 work of the association, some within it and some without, from this 

 very growth of science. The increase of specialism has led not only 

 to a division of the association into nine sections, in place of the 

 two or three of its early years, but to the formation of several sepa- 

 rate organizations of specialists, which have been looked upon as 

 tending to weaken, or even disintegrate, the main body. The Ameri- 

 can Chemical Society, the American Mathematical Society, and the 

 Geological Society of America may be cited as leading examples, 

 while less directly in such possible rivalry stand the American For- 

 estry Association, the American Folklore Society, and the Associa- 

 tion of Economic Entomologists. For the most part, however, there 

 is no cause for apprehension from these sources. Most of these soci- 

 eties hold their meetings at the same time and place with that of 

 the association, or on the days immediately preceding, and thus con- 

 tribute quite as much as they might detract in the matter of attend- 

 ance and interest. Some of them also pursue the original plan of the 

 association, and hold another meeting at a different season of the 

 year; this is the case with the Geological Society, of which the col- 



