ASSOCIATIONS FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. (AMERICAN.) 



ASSOCIATIONS FOR THE ADVANCEMENT 

 OF SCIENCE. American. The fiftieth meeting 

 of the American Association was held in Boston, 

 Mass.. during A up. ^-27. 1898. The officers of the 

 meeting were : President, Frederick W. Putnam, of 



FREDERICK W. PUTNAM. 



Cambridge Mass. Vice-presidents of the sections : 

 A, Edward E. Barnard, Williams Bay, Wis. ; B, Frank 

 P. Whitman, Cleveland, Ohio ; C, Edgar F. Smith, 

 Philadelphia, Pa. ; D, John Galbraith, Toronto, Cana- 

 da, acting in place of Mortimer E. Cooley, Ann Ar- 

 bor, Mich., absent owing to service in the navy ; E, 

 Herman L. Fairchild, Rochester, N. Y. ; F, Alpheus 

 S. Packard, Providence, R. I. ; G, William G. Farlow, 

 Cambridge, Mass. ; H, J. McKeen Cattell, New York 

 city ; and I, Archibald Blue, Toronto, Canada. Per- 

 manent secretary, Leland O. Howard, Washington 

 city. General secretary, James McMahon, Ithaca, 

 N. Y. Secretary of the council, Frederick Bedell, 

 Ithaca, N. Y. Secretaries of the sections : A. Wins- 

 low Upton, Providence, R. I. ; B, William S. Frank- 

 lin, South Bethlehem, Pa. ; C, Charles Baskerville, 

 Chapel Hill, N. C. ; D, John J. Flather, Lafayette, 

 Ind., acting in place of William S. Aldrich, Morgan- 

 town, W. Va., absent owing to service in the war ; 

 K. Warren I'pham, Minneapolis, Minn.; F, Robert 

 T. .Jackson, Boston, Mass.; G, Erwin F. Smith, 

 Washington citv ; H, Marshall H. Saville, New York 

 city ; and I, Wfarcus Benjamin, Washington city. 

 Treasurer, Robert S. Woodward, New York city. 



Opening Proceedings. The usual regular pre- 

 liminary meeting of the council with which the 

 association begins its sessions was held in the coun- 

 cil room at the Technology Club, 71 Newbury Street, 

 on Aug. 20, at noon. At this session the final de- 

 tails pertaining t<> I lie arrangements of the meeting 

 were settled and the reports of the local committees 

 acted on. The names of 162 applicants for mem- 

 bership were favorably considered, which number, 

 together with 37 names acted on at an extra meet- 

 ing of the council held in Washington on April 'JO, 

 1898, brought the total membership up to 1,843, 

 The general session with which the public meetings 

 begin wa< held in Huntington Hail of the Massa- 

 chusetts Institute of Technology at 10 A. M., Aug. 

 22. The meet ing was called to order by the retiring 

 president. Oliver Wolcott Gibbs, of Newport, R. I., 

 at whose request liishop William Lawrence offered 

 prayer. < ;<>v. Uoger Wolcott. of Massachusetts, then 



welcomed the association. He said in part : " It is 

 for you, little by little, as the years and centuries 

 go on, with faithful and painstaking search, to learn 

 a little more of that great ocean of truth and to 

 launch your barks a little farther on the sea of 

 science, and to know more about the stars, the 

 plants, the pebbles, and the shells. The truth is 

 that Science is still sweeping beyond you, and is 

 beckoning you to follow her. Science would be less 

 worthy of our regard if its benefits should be limited 

 to any class, but it is open to all. 



" It is as men of science that the Commonwealth 

 welcomes you to-day. May you bear away from 

 this meeting pleasant memories of the State, rich in 

 the valor and achievements of her sons. And may 

 you leave behind you that inspiration which is fos- 

 tered and cherished by men who are brought to- 

 gether to compare notes and clasp hands, and carry 

 back memories of this meeting. The Commonwealth 

 greets you, and expresses to you her recognition, 

 and bids you welcome to the old Bay State." 



Mayor Josiah Quincy, as the representative of the 

 municipality, welcomed the association to Boston 

 in a few remarks, among which were references to 

 the aid given by scientists to the working out of 

 practical problems in the city. He said : " I am 

 proud to say that we are commanding the interest 

 and the services, and the hearty co-operation, with- 

 out price and without reward, of men who are en- 

 deavoring to give in some measure a practical social 

 science, and, while this may be a far less exact 

 science than many others, I firmly believe that 

 there is a social science and a political science, and 

 that the domains which come within its knowledge 

 are constantly widening, both as regards the body 

 social and its evolution, and the body politic, and 

 how to secure its best application, I heartily con- 

 gratulate the American Association and welcome it 

 back, after fifty years, to the scene of its birth and 

 extend thanks and welcome on behalf of the city of 

 Boston to each and every one of its members in 

 view of this meeting here and the work which the 

 association is yet to do in the first half of the cen- 

 tury to come. 



President James M. Crafts, of the Massachusetts 

 Institute of Technology, likewise welcomed the 

 members. He said : " Scholars who have walked in 

 the fields with Gray and Agassiz, who have learned 

 their mathematics from Peirce, their anatomy from 

 Wyman, or their chemistry from your retiring presi- 

 dent, might look the world over without finding 

 leaders better fitted to guide them to the innermost 

 chambers of scientific knowledge. In this place it 

 is most fitting to mention the chairman of the first 

 meeting of this association, William B. Rogers, who 

 was a born educator. He loved science for its own 

 sake. His later years were devoted to the institute 

 which he built up, and which, now largely grown 

 from small beginnings, has the honor of welcoming 

 you this day ; and it was on this 'stage that he fell, 

 an unfinished sentence on his lips, giving his life to 

 the cause which overtaxed his strength." 



President Gibbs then presented his successor, 

 President Putnam, who acknowledged the addresses 

 of welcome on behalf of the association, and then 

 declared the meeting open. A short address was 

 then made in French by M. Desire Charnay, the 

 official representative of the French Government, 

 and after the usual announcements the meeting was 

 adjourned. 



Address of the Retiring President. The asso- 

 ciation met again in Huntington Hall, on Monday 

 evening, to listen to the retiring address of Presi- 

 dent Gibbs. This distinguished scientist, who still 

 follows his chosen study of chemistry in his private 

 laboratory in Newport, was for nearly a quarter of 

 a century Rumford professoi in Harvard Univer- 



