NOTES. 495 



Several of these societies are primarily interested in science as applied to 

 jigriculture, and included in tlie programmes of nearly all of tlie sections and so- 

 cieties were papers of direct interest to agricultural science, indicating a rapidly 

 growing realization of the interest and importance of such problems as subjects 

 of scientific research. Of the more than 1,000 papers presented, at least 150 

 were of this class, many being by workers in this Department and the agricul- 

 tural colleges and experiment stations. 



Especial!}' important and interesting features of this meeting of the associa- 

 tion were the celebration of the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Charles 

 Darwin and tLe fiftieth of the publication of Origin of Species, and a sym- 

 posium on public health, at both of which addresses of the highest interest were 

 delivered. 



In the address of the retiring president, E. L. Nichols, of Cornell University, 

 on Science and the Practical Problems of the Future, attention was called to 

 the approaching end of many of our available resources, and it was pointed out 

 that in obtaining the power necessary for material advancement the inventor 

 and the engineer can but utilize and apply the knowledge which the man of 

 science can sui)ply. The endowment of universities purely for research was 

 advocated as essential to the work of conservation. 



American Clicmical Society. — The presidential address, by M. T. Bogert, 

 touched upon the same ground as that of Professor Nichols, the sub.)ect being 

 The Function of Chemistry in the Conservation of Our Natural Resources. 

 H. J. ^Yheeler, director of the Rhode Island Station, as chairman of the section 

 on agricultural and food chemistry, made a thoughtful and suggestive addi-ess 

 en The Future of Agricultural Chemistry, in which he pointed out the need of 

 better provision for the advanced and systematic training of agricultural chem- 

 ists and urged that such training should be provided in the larger universities, 

 believing that such institutions are at the present time better prepared to give 

 such training than the agricultural colleges. He laid particular stress upon the 

 importance of broad and thorough fundamental scientific training for agricul- 

 tural research. 



A large proiiortion of the papers presented before the society were related di- 

 rectly to subjects of agricultural importance. In two sections, namely, that 

 of agricultural and food chemistry, which was raised to the grade of a division 

 of the society at this meeting, and that of the recently established section of 

 fertilizer chemistry, the programme was devoted exclusively to such subjects, 

 about 31 papers being presented ; and there were also several in the division of 

 industrial chemistry and chemical engineering and the section of physical 

 chemistr}'. 



The character of the proceedings and papers of this meeting give evidence of 

 a marked tendency toward the development of applied chemistry not only with 

 reference to agriculture, but also to other technical industries. 



Society of Amciicdn Bacteriologisls. — The opening address was by H. L. Rus- 

 sell, director of the Wisconsin Station, on the ecology of micro-organisms. The 

 sjieaker advocated a broader treatment in elementary coui'ses in bacteriology, 

 believing that more attention should be paid to the environmental conditions 

 and less to a discussion of species. 



A number of the papers dealt with the bacteriology of dairy products. H. A. 

 Harding, of the New York State Station, explained the advantage of using the 

 society's card in classifying and identifying species of bacteria in cheese. W. M. 

 Esten, of the Connecticut College and Station, exhibited charts sliowing great 

 variation in the acidity of milk from .Jersey cows as compared witli Holstein 

 milk. Dr. Otto Rahn, of the Michigan College and Station, reported results of 

 investigations on the keeping qualities of butter. 



