h, 
Fepruary 8, 1917] 
NATURE 
449 
. Dr. G, F. Kunz, before Section I, on “Scientific 
Efficiency and Industrial Museums: Our Safe- 
guard in Peace and War.” 
_ Prof. W. McPherson, of the Ohio State Uni- 
versity, before Section C, on “Asymmetric Syn- 
theses and their Bearing upon the Doctrine of 
Vitalism.” 
Prof. E. P. Cubberly, of Stanford University, 
before Section L, on “Some Obstacles in Educa- 
tional Programme.” 
Prof. Lillian J. Martin, of Stanford University, 
on “Personality as Revealed by the Content of 
Images.” 
Mr. B. J. Arnold, of Chicago, before Section E, 
on “The Inter-relationship of Engineering and 
Pure Science.” 
During the week two public lectures, compli- 
mentary to the citizens of New York, were held. 
The first was by Dr. Simon Flexner, director of 
the scientific laboratories of the Rockefeller In- 
stitute for Medical Research, on “Infantile Para- 
lysis and the Public Health.”” The second was 
given by Prof. A. A. Noyes, of the Massachusetts 
Institute of Technology, on “Nitrogen and Pre- 
paredness.” 
A number of important symposia were held in 
addition to those mentioned in connection with 
two of the vice-presidential addresses. Section K 
(physiology and experimental medicine) and the 
American Society of Bacteriologists held a sym- 
posium on ‘‘Cancer and its Control.” The papers 
presented at this symposium were as follows :— 
Prof. G. N. Calkins, of Columbia University, 
on “The Stimulating Effects of Protoplasmic 
Substances on Cell Division.” 
Prof. Leo Loeb, of the Washington University 
Medical School, on ‘Tissue Growth and Tumour 
Growth,” 
Dr. J. C. Bloodgood, of Johns Hopkins Uni- 
versity, on “Cancer in the Human Being.” 
Prof. James Ewing, of the Cornell Medical 
School, on “Radium and Cancer.” 
_ Mr. C. E. Lakeman, of the American Society 
for the Control of Cancer, on ‘“‘Past and Present 
Efforts to Control Cancer through the Education 
of the Public.” 
A conference on the metric system was held 
under the auspices of Section I, at which delegates 
from the National Wholesale Grocers’ Associa- 
tion, the American Institute of Mining Engineers, 
the American Pharmaceutical Association, the 
American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the 
American Chemical Society, the National Whole- 
sale Druggists’ Association, the National Associa- 
tion of Retail Druggists, the Philadelphia Bourse, 
the Philadelphia Commercial Museum, and the 
American Institute of Chemical Engineers were 
in attendance. The council of the American Asso- 
ciation for the Advancement of Science, at its final 
session on December 29, passed a resolution 
urging the general adoption of the metric system 
in the United States. The association has always 
favoured this move, and has passed similar reso- 
lutions at previous meetings. 
A symposium on “The Structure of Matter” 
was held at a joint meeting of Sections B and C, 
NO. 2467, VOL. 98] 
‘the American Physical Society, and the American 
Chemical Society, in which Prof. R. A. Millikan, 
of the University of Chicago, Prof. G. N. Lewis, 
of the University of Chicago, Prof. R. W. Wood, 
of Johns Hopkins University, and Prof. W. B. 
Harkins, of the University of Chicago, were the 
principal speakers. 
A symposium on “Biology and the National 
Existence ” was held by Section F and the Ameri- 
can Society of Naturalists, the principal speakers 
being Dr. S. Paton, of Princeton University, Mr. 
W. J. Spillman, of the U.S. Department of Agri- 
culture, Prof. J. Loeb, of Columbia University, 
and Prof. E. G, Conklin, of Princeton University. 
The American Genetic Association held meetings 
throughout the week, joining the American Asso- 
ciation for the Advancement of Science for the 
first time; as also did the newly organised Eco- 
logical Society of America. 
Another important series of meetings was held 
by the newly founded Federation of American 
Societies for Experimental Biology, formed by the 
Physiological Society, the Society of Biological 
Chemists, the Society for Pharmacology and Ex- 
perimental Therapeutics, and the Society for Ex- 
perimental Pathology. 
The principal social events of the week, apart 
from the opening reception at the American 
Museum of Natural History, included a smoker 
at the Aquarium, given by the New York Zoo- 
logical Society, and a reception by the United 
Engineering Societies in their beautiful clubhouse. 
There were many dinners, including an especially 
interesting one given in honour of Prof. E. B. 
Wilson, of Columbia University, by his former 
students. 
The Committee of One Hundred on Scientific 
Research held an important meeting on the first 
afternoon, at which reports from a large number 
of sub-committees having charge of special aspects 
of scientific research questions were presented. 
The most important action taken by the council 
of the association was to authorise a thorough 
revision of the constitution of the association, in 
the hope of increasing the efficiency of the associa- 
tion and to permit possibly more intimate relation- 
ships with the national scientific societies of specific 
scope. 
The general committee, at its meeting on the 
final evening, accepted an invitation to meet at 
Pittsburgh in the winter of 1917-18, and elected 
the following officers :— 
President: Prof. T. W. Richards, of Harvard 
University. Presidents of Sections: B, Dr. W. J. 
Humphreys, U.S. Weather Bureau; C, Prof. 
W. A. Noyes, University of Illinois; E, Prof. 
G. H. Perkins, University of Vermont; F, Prof. 
Herbert Osborn, Ohio State University; G, Dr. 
B. E. Livingston, Johns Hopkins University; 
H, Prof. E. B. Titchener, Cornell University ; 
I, Mr. G. W. Perkins, New York City; K, Dr. 
C. E. A. Winslow, Yale University; L, Prof. 
E. F. Buchner, Baltimore; M, Prof. H. J. Waters, 
University of Kansas. Secretary of Council: 
Prof. W. V. Bingham, University of Pittsburgh. 
General Secretary: Prof. J. McK. Cattell, Colum- 
