ASSOCIATIONS FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OP SCIENCE. (AMERICAN.) 21 



it in tin- In-art ami conduct. Science strove to perfect 



06 ima^c in tin- n-alin of abstract trutli. Was 



he not right in .saying that it w as a irivat lionortotake 



a leading place iii an association which embraced all 



liranrln-s ot' science that u- m-aror to the people 



than any other scientific association I 



Al'l cr an invocation by the Rev. Corliss B. 

 (iiiniintT, addresses of welcome were made by 

 Dr. K'lu.-ml M. Momv, 1'ivsident of the Local 

 Committee, Hon. Richard Currun, Mayor of the 

 cit \ . and Dr. David J. Hill, President of the Uni- 

 versity of Rochester; to which a suitable reply 

 \va- made by President Le Conte, who, in the 

 course of his remarks, said : 



I will not dwell too long on the utilitarian feature 

 of tin- subject. We must love science for its own sake. 

 Truth ic its own chief reward. It has been mercifully 

 ordered tor our encouragement that every step in the 

 lii-rher walks of life shall l.e attended with material 

 benefit. While astronomy opens the doors of heaven, 

 . directs our commerce and guides our ships; 

 geol< . L 'y , besides opening the gates of infinite time, also 

 discovers beds ot coal and veins of metals; streams, 

 rushing down mountains or reflecting the blue skies 

 on their plueid bosoms, also turn our mills and float 

 our vessels. Science truth is ite own exceeding great 

 reward. There is an indissoluble connection between 

 truth and good, between truth and utility. It may not 

 be to-day, it may not be in this decade, this century, 

 this millennium, but sooneror later it must bless man- 

 kind. Every community honors itwelf in honoring 

 science. 



The permanent secretary, Prof. Frederick W- 

 Putnam, then made his annual report, in which 

 he announced the decease of some twenty mem- 

 bers, including Edward Burgess, Henry I. Bow- 

 ditch, vVilliam Ferrell, T. Sterry Hunt, and Jo- 

 seph Lover ing. 



A statement of the funds of the association 

 was read. The Research fund contains $5,657.22, 

 and the general fund $2,394.53, making a total 

 of $7.932.85. 



Address of the Retiring President. The 

 subject of President Prescott's retiring address 

 was " The Immediate Work in Chemical Sci- 

 ence." and in the course of it he said : 



" It is well known that chemical labor has not 

 been barren of returns. The products of chem- 

 ical action, numbering thousands of thousands, 

 have been sifted and measured and weighed. If 

 you ask what happens in a common chemical 

 change, you can obtain direct answers. When 

 coal burns in the air, how much oxygen is used 

 up can be stated with a degree of exactness true 

 to the first decimal of mass, perhaps to the sec- 

 ond, but questionable in the third. How much 

 carbonic acid is made can be told in weight and 

 in volume with approaching exactness. How 

 much heat this chemical action is worth, how 

 much light, how much electro-motive force, what 

 train-load of cars it can carry, how long it can 

 make certain wheels go round for these ques- 

 tions chemists and physicists are ready. 



" Chemists are concerned mainly with what 

 can be made out of atoms, not with what atoms 

 can be made of. Whatever they are, and by 

 whatever force or motion it is that they unite 

 with each other, we define them by their effects. 

 Through their effects they are classified in the 

 rank and tile of the periodic system. 



" Knowledge of molecular structure makes 

 chemistry a science, nourishing to the reason, 

 giving dominion over matter, for beneficence to 



life. Studies of structure were never before so 



inviting. In this direction and in that especial 

 i.|i[>nrt unities appear. Moreover, the actual 

 worker here ana there breaks into unexpected 

 paths of promise. Certainly the sugar group is 

 presenting to the chemist ati open way from siin- 

 ple alcohols on through to the cell substances of 

 the vegetable world. 



" I nave spoken of the century of beginning 

 chemical labor, and have referred to the divis- 

 ions and specialties of chemical study. What 

 can I say of the means of uniting the earlier and 

 later years of the past, as well as the separated 

 pursuits of the present, in one mobile working 

 force! Societies of science are among these 

 means, and it becomes us to magnify their office. 

 Most necessary of all the means of unification in 

 science is the use of its literature. To every soli- 

 tary investigator I should desire to say: Get to a 

 library of your subject, learn how to use its lit- 

 erature, and possess yourself of what there is on 

 the theme or your choice, or else determine to 

 give it up altogether. 



" A great deal of indexing is wanted. System- 

 atic bibliography, both of previous and of cur- 

 rent literature, would add a third to the produc- 

 tive power of a large number of workers. Topical 

 bibliographies are of great service. 



" Allied to the much needed service in bibliog- 

 raphy is the service in compilation of the con- 

 stants of nature." 



In closing, he made an appeal for an endow- 

 ment fund, as follows : 



" There are men and women who have been so 

 far rewarded that great means of progress are in 

 their hands. It is inevitable to wealth that it 

 shall be put to some sort of- use, for without in- 

 vestment it dies. The American Association, in 

 the conservative interests of learning, proposes 

 certain effective investments in science. If it be 

 not given to every plodding worker to be a pro- 

 moter of discovery, such, at all events, is the privi- 

 lege of wealth, under the authority of this asso- 

 ciation. If it be not the good fortune of every 

 investigator to reach knowledge that is new, there 

 are in every section of this body workers of whom 

 it is clear that they would reach some discovery of 

 merit if only the means of work could be granted 

 them. Whosoever supplies the means fairly de- 

 serves and will receive a share in the results." 



Proceedings of the Sections. There are 

 eight sections, over each of which a vice-president 

 presides. Subsequent to the first general session 

 the sections are called to order by their officers and 

 proceed to effect their organization by the elec- 

 tion of a sectional committee, whose duty it is to 

 arrange the business for the subsequent meet- 

 ings of the section. Also, each section elects a 

 member of the nominating committee who shall 

 later meet to select officers for the future meet- 

 ing ; and each section likewise elects a sub-com- 

 mittee to nominate officers of the section for the 

 future meeting. Subsequent to these duties, the 

 section adjoins to hear its vice-presidential ad- 

 dress, after which papers are taken up and read. 

 Sections. A. Mathematics and Astronomy. 

 The presiding officer of this section was Prof. 

 John R. Eastman, of the United States Naval 

 Observatory in Washington, D. C. The subject 

 of the vice-presidential address was concerning 

 " The Neglected Field of Fundamental Astron- 



