EDITOR'S TABLE. 



845 



ning betimes is that the mind early 

 accustomed to view the universe as 

 an infinite field of knowledge, and 

 science simply as a method tested 

 and proved by experience for ac- 

 quiring knowledge, is placed once 

 for all in the right relation and atti- 

 tude to all questions demanding the 

 exercise of thought. Many men of 

 eminence in letters have expressed 

 regret that they did not enjoy this 

 advantage in early life ; and on every 

 hand we see proofs that the lack 

 which they have deplored is precise- 

 ly the lack under which others are 

 laboring, without, however, a saving 

 consciousness of their deficiency. 

 We want more science, not less, in 

 education, but the science must itself 

 be scientific. 



THE FOJJRTE BUFFALO MEETING OF 

 THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION. 



The meeting of the American 

 Association in Buffalo its fourth 

 meeting in that city was eminently 

 satisfactory from a scientific point 

 of view, and was marked by many 

 features of interest About four 

 hundred members were present 

 Among them were two of the six 

 founders of the association still liv- 

 ing Dr. James Hall, and Prof. 

 Charles West, of Brooklyn whose 

 presence was fittingly mentioned by 

 President Morley in opening the 

 meeting. Later in the sessions a 

 kind of jubilee meeting was held in 

 the Geological Section in commemo- 

 ration of the sixtieth anniversary of 

 Prof. Hall's work in connection with 

 the New York Geological Survey, 

 when addresses were made by Prof. 

 Joseph Le Conte, W J McGee, and 

 others, in which special features of 

 the survey were presented. The ad- 

 dress of welcome by the mayor of the 

 city was supplemented by a greeting 

 from Dr. Eos well Park, of the Buffalo 

 Academy of Natural Sciences, on be- 

 half of the scientific life of the place. 



Buffalo a commercial city has no 

 great scientific institutions, but sev- 

 eral of modest pretensions, including 

 its university of five professional 

 schools, which has just celebrated its 

 semi-centennial; a second medical 

 school; several libraries; the acad- 

 emy, which boasts of its special col- 

 lection relating to the American 

 bison; and a number of smaller 

 affiliated clubs, each devoted to some 

 particular form of the study of Na- 

 ture. 



President E. D. Cope, replying to 

 these addresses, spoke of the insig- 

 nificance of our knowledge as com- 

 pared with what we do not know, of 

 the value of original research, the 

 nature of scientific investigation, and 

 the objects of the association. The 

 address of retiring President Morley 

 was on the subject of A Completed 

 Chapter in the History of the Atomic 

 Theory. The addresses of the sec- 

 tional vice-presidents were mostly 

 technical discussions of special top- 

 ics in their several fields, but some, 

 which we shall mention in another 

 place, offered points of considerable 

 general interest. A similar remark 

 may be applied to the papers in the 

 sections, which offered great variety 

 in character. The proceedings of 

 the Economic Section were marked 

 by the discussion of monetary ques- 

 tions in papers by Mr. William H. 

 Hale and Edward Atkinson; Mr. 

 Stillman Kneeland's paper on Citi- 

 zenship, its Privileges and Duties; 

 and papers bearing on the " woman 

 question." Studies of Indian life 

 were presented in the Anthropo- 

 logical Section, and an air of realism 

 was imparted to the matter by the 

 opening of an Indian burial chest, 

 found in Michigan, and the exhibi- 

 tion of other specimens. The Geo- 

 logical Section paid much attention 

 to caves. The results of cave explo- 

 ration in the United States and their 

 bearing on the antiquity of man 



