110 JoUElSrAL OF THE MiTCHELL SoCIETY \^April 



papers wliicli aroused most interest and discussion was one by 

 Dr. Oscar Riddle, of tlie Carnegie Institution, dealing witli the 

 determination of sex tlirough agencies apparently not connected 

 with the chromosomes. 



The meeting of the ^Naturalists included a morning and an 

 afternoon session on. December 31 and a dinner at night with the 

 presidential address (by Prof. R. G. Harrison, of Yale). At 

 the morning session several addresses, by invitation of the so- 

 ciety, were given dealing with heredity and development. Among 

 these Prof. F. R. Lillie's (University of Chicago) excited 

 especial interest. Professor Lillie described experiments show- 

 ing that the egg and sperm secrete substances intimately con- 

 cerned in the j)rocess of fertilization. The afternoon was de- 

 voted to a discussion of teaching methods. It was brought out 

 that a widespread desire exists to curtail the amount of time 

 given to the study of structure (morphology) and to introduce 

 more experimentation. This is a natural result of the progress 

 of biological science during the past twenty years, and admirably 

 illustrates the close connection between teaching and research, 

 the latter, as it opens up new fields, influencing those con- 

 spectuses of phenomena which we call courses of instruction. 



H. V. Wilson. 



THE FEDERATION OF AMERICAN SOCIETIES FOR EXPERIMENTAL 



BIOLOGY 



For a number of years it has been the feeling of the members 

 of the several scientific societies that are interested in closely 

 related biological problems, that a closer cooperation of these 

 societies was highly desirable. 



At the Cleveland meeting in 1912 of the Physiological, Bio- 

 chemical and Pharmacological societies, committees from these 

 organizations were appointed to consider a plan for the afiilia- 

 tion of the different societies. 



The committee consisted of three members from each or- 

 ganization. This committee submitted a plan of affiliation 

 which was adopted at the meeting of the various societies in 

 Philadelphia in December. 



