298 EXPERIMENT STATION RECOED. 



December 31, in conjunction with the American Health League, and on Jan- 

 uary 1, under the general auspices of the association and the American Society 

 of Naturalists there will be a celebration of the one hundredth anniversary 

 of the birth uf Charles Darwin and of the fiftieth anniversary of the publication 

 of the first edition of the Origin of Species. 



The affiliated societies of the association which have thus far indicated thoir 

 intention to meet during convocation week include the American Society of 

 Naturalists, American Mathematical Society, Association of American Geog- 

 raphers, Geological Society of America, Association of Economic Entomologists, 

 American Nature-Study Society, Association of American Anatomists, American 

 Chemical Society, American Society of Vertebrate Paleontologists, American 

 Society of Zoologists, American Physical Society, American Psychological So- 

 ciety, American Physiological Society, American Philosophical Association, 

 Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology, American Anthropological 

 Association, Entomological Society of America, American Folk-Lore Society, 

 American Federation of Teachers of the Mathematical and the Natural Sciences, 

 American Society of Biological Chemists, Sullivant Moss Society, P>otanieal 

 Society of America, Society of American P.acteriologists, and Wild Flower 

 Preservation Society of America. 



First International Congress of Agricultural Associations and Vital Sta- 

 tistics. — The Office is in receipt of an announcement and a preliminary programme 

 of this assembly, to be held at Brussels, Belgium, in September, .1910. The 

 congress is to be divided into 10 sections for the consideration of topics relating 

 to the economic and social organizations of farmers and farm laborers; societies 

 for animal and plant prodiiction ; associations for the manufacture, purchase, 

 exportation, sale, and consumption of farm products; mutual agricultural 

 credit and insurance societies; vital statistics and sanitation in rural districts; 

 the promotion of the welfare of agricultural laborers; the transportation of 

 agricultural products ; measures for the improvement of country life in general ; 

 and organizations dealing with agricultural education, agricultural expo- 

 sitions, etc. 



Those interested in the objects of this congress may obtain more complete 

 information by communicating with P. De Vuyst, 22 avenue des Germains, 

 Brussels, Belgium. 



Agriculture at the British Association. — At the meeting of the British Asso- 

 ciation for the Advancement of Science, held in Dublin, September 2-9, the 

 subsection of agriculture was reestablished after a lapse of several years, 

 becoming a branch of the section of economics. 



Sir Horace Plunkett served as president and in his address called attention 

 to the marked disparity accorded to urban and rural life by those engaged in 

 the application of science to the advancement of mankind, and advocated a more 

 adequate recognition of agriculture by the association. He summarized the 

 three-fold character of the construction work needed in rural life as embodying 

 better farming, better business, and better living. The sciences were deemed 

 most valuable to each of these three divisions, the natural sciences, especially 

 to the first, economic science to the second and third, and educational science to 

 all three; in other words, for rural reconstruction, research, economic investi- 

 gations, and education were necessary. 



Sir Oliver Lodge and J. H. Priestley presented an account of some experi- 

 ments which are being made on a large scale near Worcester, England, on the 

 effects of a high-tension electrical discharge over a growing crop. J. R. 

 Campbell, of the Irish Department of Agriculture, explained the educational 

 work of that department, and Dr. Carroll Dunham of Harvard University, 

 discussed the systems of agricultural education prevailing in this country. 



