56 



NATURE 



[March io, 192 i 



The Chicago Meeting of the American Association. 



THE annual meeting of the American Association 

 for the Advancement of Science and of the 

 scientific societies associated with it, which was held 

 in Chicago from December 27, 1920, to January i, 

 was the seventy-third meeting of the Association. 

 The attendance was very large, more than 2400 persons 

 being registered, and the programmes were correspond- 

 ingly full and of broad scope. Fourteen Sections of 

 the Association met on this occasion, together with 

 fortv-one national scientific societies. The official 

 general programme required 112 pages. The meeting 

 was very successful in every way, reflecting the 

 marked renewal of scientific activity that has fol- 

 lowed the war. The American Central West was, 

 naturally, most strongly represented at this meeting. 

 Thirteen hundred and eighty-three members were 

 registered, of whom 856 were from Illinois, 98 from 

 Indiana, 121 from Ohio, 125 from Michigan, 181 from 

 Wisconsin, 72 from Minnesota, 90 from Iowa, and 

 70 from Missouri. On the other hand, the attend- 

 ance was of wide geographic distribution ; there were 

 27 registrants from California, 5 from Washington, 

 7 from Arizona, 22 from Colorado, 50 from Massa- 

 chusetts, 81 from the District of Columbia, 4 from 

 Florida, 48 from Canada, 10 from the Philippine 

 Islands, and 20 from China. 



The address of the retiring president, Dr. Simon 

 Flexner, director of the laboratories of the Rockefeller 

 Institute for Medical Research, on "Twenty-five 

 Years of Bacteriology" (Science, December 31, 1920) 

 gave to the 713 persons who attended the opening 

 session a clear and inspiring presentation of this very 

 important subject from one who has been a leader in 

 the progress of bacteriological science. Dr. L. O. 

 Howard, Chief of the Bureau of Entomology of the 

 United States Department of Agriculture, presided at 

 the meeting as president-elect. The Association has 

 benefited immeasurably by Dr. Howard's enthusiasm 

 and skill as permanent secretary during the last 

 twenty-two years. The roll of the Association is now 

 about nine times as great as it was when he became 

 the chief executive officer. 



The various sessions were held mainly in the build- 

 ings of the University of Chicago, which are admir- 

 ably suited for such gatherings. The local arrange- 

 ments for the meeting, to which its marked success 

 was due in the main, were in charge of the local 

 committee for the Chicago meeting. The personnel 

 of this committee was as follows : — J. Paul Goode, 

 general chairman ; Gilbert A. Bliss, publicity ; Henry 

 C. Cowles, membership; Henry G. Gale, meeting- 

 places ; Frank R. Lillie, finance ; and William D. 

 M'acMillan, hotel accommodations. 



The printing of the general programme — a very 

 difficult task on account of the very limited time avail- 

 able after the manuscript was in hand — was accom- 

 plished with a very high degree of efficiency by the 

 University of Chicago Press. The final editing and 

 proof-reading was in charge of Dr. Goode, who, 

 together with the other members of the local com- 

 mittee, served the Association at great self-sacrifice 

 during- the trying days just preceding and during the 

 meeting. 



Besides the opening session, there were two other 

 sessions of general interest. At one of these Dr. 

 Robert F. Griggs gave a beautifully illustrated lecture 

 on the region of Mount Katmai, Alaska, and " the 

 Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes." At the other of 

 these sessions Prof. Robert W. Wood gave a lecture 

 on " High-power Fluorescence and Phosphorescence," 

 with ingenious and spectacular experimental demon- 

 strations. The attendance at these two sessions was 

 NO. 2680, VOL. 107] 



519 and 710 respectively. Admission to the opening 

 session and to these "general interest" sessions was 

 by ticket, a set of tickets being given to each regis- 

 trant. By this new feature it became possible to deter- 

 mine the attendance and to show its distribution 

 among members, guests, students in the University, 

 etc. 



A visible directory of those registering, kept currently 

 corrected by several typists and attendants, proved to 

 be a generally appreciated feature of the Chicago 

 meeting. Panels bearing the directory slips were hung 

 along a wall of the registration-room, so that the 

 directory was readily consulted by everyone. 



Prof. E. H, Moore, of the University of Chicago, 

 was elected president of the Association for 1921. He 

 will preside at the Toronto meeting next December, 

 and will give his address as retiring president at the 

 Boston meeting a year later. Prof. Moore is the 

 acknowledged leader of American mathematicians, and 

 the Association is particularly fortunate in having for 

 its president a man of such wide interests and great 

 accomplishments, and one representing the branch of 

 science that is fundamental to all others as is mathe- 

 matics. 



Dr. D. T. McDougal, director of the department 

 of botanical research of the Carnegie Institution of 

 Washington, was elected general secretary of the 

 Association in succession to Prof. E. L. Nichols, of 

 Cornell University. Dr. MacDougal has already been 

 active in the organisation of the Association's work, 

 especially in the Pacific and South-Western Divisions, 

 and his election as general secretary is especially for- 

 tunate. This officer is constitutionally entrusted with 

 the various aspects of general organisation, particu- 

 larly with reference to the affiliation of scientific 

 societies. The Association aims to become an affilia- 

 tion of all the larger and more influential societies of 

 America, and with the progress of this kind of affilia- 

 tion the Association becomes the only organisation 

 through which the influence of all these societies may 

 be united for the advancement of science as a whole. 



Another step that will increase the efficiency of the 

 work of the Association was the authorisation of the 

 appointment of an assistant secretary, to assist the 

 permanent secretary in the scientific work of his 

 office, as he has thus far been assisted in the clerical 

 management of his office by the efficient executive 

 assistant, Mr. Sam Woodley. Dr. Sam F. Trelease, 

 of the Johns Hopkins University, who is conveniently 

 located to devote part time to this work, has been 

 appointed secretary. He has recently returned to the 

 United States after several years of excellent service 

 in the school of agriculture of the University of the 

 Philippines at Los Bafios, P.I. 



One of the main concrete projects before the per- 

 manent secretary's office for the ensuing months is 

 the publication of the summarised proceedings for 

 the years 19 16-21, together with the revised member- 

 ship list of the Association. It is hoped to publish 

 this volume in the early spring, and it is to be sold by 

 subscription, payment laeing made in advance of pub- 

 lication. The price is 1.50 dollars to members and 

 2 dollars to others, and orders should be addressed 

 to the permanent secretary's office in the Smith- 

 sonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 



The Toronto meeting of the Association will be 

 held from Tuesday, December 27, to Saturday, 

 December 31 next. The opening session, at which 

 Dr. Howard will deliver an address as retiring- presi- 

 dent, will be on the evening of Tuesday, December 27. 

 The annual meeting for 1922-23 will be held in 

 Boston, and that for i()2y^2^ in Cincinnati. The 



