344 



NA TURE 



[January 21, 190Q 



tion in which to carry on their work, w-hich, though 

 entirely different in character in the two cases, is of 

 great "importance to the nation, the situation will 

 before long require reconsideration, as new con- 

 ditions have arisen since the arrangement was entered 

 into in 1905. 



BALTIMORE MEETING OF THE AMERICAN 

 ASSOCIATION. 



THE sixtieth annual meeting of the American As- 

 sociation for the Advancement of Science and 

 of the several affiliated societies was held at Balti- 

 more, Md., on December 28, 190S, to January 2, 1909. 

 In practically all respects the meeting was the most 

 successful in the history of the association. It was 

 the largest meeting ever held, and the total attend- 

 ance is estimated at about 1800. In addition to the 

 several sections of the association, important meetings 

 were held by the following bodies : — 



The American Society of Naturalists, the American 

 Society of Biological Chemists, the American Anthropo- 

 logical Association, the American Folk-lore Society, the 

 American Philosophical Association, the American Physical 

 Society, American Psychological Association, American 

 Physiological Society, American Society of Vertebrate 

 Pateontologists, the American Chemical Society, American 

 Society of Zoologists, American Nature-study Society, 

 American Mathematical Society, the American Federation 

 of Teachers of the Mathematical and the Natural Sciences, 

 American Institute of Electrical Engineers, American Alpine 

 Club, Association of American Geographers, Association 

 of Economic Entomologists, the Botanical Society of 

 America, the Entomological Society of America, Geological 

 Society of America, Society of American Bacteriologists, 

 Association of American Anatomists, Southern Society for 

 Philosophy and Psychology, the Sullivant Moss Society, 

 .Hid the Wild Flower Preservation Sociery. 



The address of the retiring president of the asso- 

 ciation, Prof. E. L. Nichols, of Cornell, was entitled 

 " .Science and the Practical Problems of the Future," 

 and was printed in an abridged form in last week's 

 Nature. It was an address of very broad bearing, 

 written by an eminent physicist and at the same time 

 by one engaged in university work. It contained a 

 strong plea for research work in pure science at the 

 universities. The addresses of the vice-presidents, 

 that is, presidents of sections, were all upon important 

 topics. Vice-president Wilson, before the section of 

 •/oology, spoke on recent researches on the determina- 

 tion and heredity of se.\ ; Vice-president Talbot, before 

 the section of chemistry, spoke of science teaching as 

 a career; Vice-president Crowell, before the section of 

 social and economic science, spoke on the influence of 

 science on investments ; Vice-president Lovett, in 

 mathematics and astronomy, had for a title " The 

 Problem of Several Bodies': Recent Progress in its 

 Solution"; Vice-president Miller, before the section 

 of physics, spoke on the influence of the material of 

 wind instruments on the tone quality; Vice-president 

 Bessey addressed the botanists on the subject of the 

 phvletic idea in taxonomy; Vice-president Hektoen, 

 before the section of physiology and experimental 

 medicine, spoke of opsonins and other anti-bodies ; 

 \'ice-president Boas addressed the section of anthro- 

 pology and psychology upon the important topic of 

 race problems in .America; and Vice-president 

 Landreth, before the section of mechanical science 

 rind engineering, spoke of governmental control of 

 public waters. 



The addresses all through the meeting assumed in 

 general an aspect of great interest. Dr. Bogert's ad- 

 dress as retiring president of the American Chemical 

 Society was on the subject of the function of 

 chemistry in the conservation of natural resources ; 



Prof. Muensterberg, as president of the American 

 Philosophical Association, spoke on the problem of 

 beauty; the address of the president of the .-Vmerican 

 Society of Naturalists, Prof. Penhallow, of McGill 

 University, was entitled " The Functions of the .Ameri- 

 can Society of Naturalists"; Vice-president Brown, 

 before the section of education, dealt with world 

 standards of education. 



The public addresses were of extreme interest. Prof. 

 E. B. Poulton, F.R.S., of the University of Oxford, 

 addressed a large audience on the subject of mimicry in 

 the butterflies of North .America ; Dr. .Albrecht Penck, 

 of the University of Berlin, spoke on the same night 

 before an equally large audience on man, climate, and 

 soil; Mr. W. A. Bryan, of Honolulu, gave a public 

 lecture on a visit to Mount Kilauea, illustrated by 

 moving pictures — this address was appropriate in 

 view of the proposed visit of the association to 

 Hawaii in 1910. .\n important feature of the meeting 

 was an address bv Major Geo. A. Squier, of the 

 I'nited States .\rmv, before the section on mechanical 

 science and engineering, on the subject of recent 

 progress in aeronautics, which was followed by the 

 decision of the section to devote special attention to the 

 field of aeronautics in its future work. 



Several symposia of great interest were held during 

 the meeting. That given under the auspices of the 

 section on social and economic science, on the subject 

 of public health, was listened to by a large audience, 

 and included papers by Dr. Wiley, on the nation's 

 pure food problem; by Dr. Howard, on the economic 

 loss to the people of the L'nited States through insects 

 that carry disease ; by Mr. Horace Fletcher, on vital 

 economics; by Prof. Irving Fisher, on the movement 

 for health reform ; and by Surgeon-General Wyman, 

 on public health administration. The same section 

 held symposia on tarifl' reform and on stock exchange 

 regulation. .An important symposium was held under 

 the section of physiology and experimental medicine 

 on the regulation of physical instruction in schools 

 and colleges from the standpoint of hygiene. The 

 section on geology held a symposium on the subject 

 of correlation, in which the most eminent geologists 

 of the United States took part, and the section on 

 physics held a session at which papers of general 

 interest to scientific men of other specialities were 

 presented. 



Possibly the event of greatest general interest was 

 the Darwin memorial day progranmie, held on 

 Friday, January i. Prof. E. B. Poulton, F.R.S., 

 was present from England at the invitation of the 

 association to take part in the exerci.ses of the day. 

 Introductory remarks were made by the president of 

 che association, Prof. T. C. Chamberlin, of the 

 University of Chicago, and the following addresses 

 were given : — 



The theory of natural selection from the point of view of 

 botanv, by Dr. John M. Coulter, of the University of 

 Chicago ; fifty years of Darwinism : past and future ex- 

 perimental work bearing on natural selection, by Prof. 

 E. B. Poulton, of Oxford University ; the cell in rela- 

 tion to heredity and evolution, by Dr. E. B. Wilson, of 

 Columbia University ; the direct effect on environment, 

 by Dr. D. T. MacDougal, of the Carnegie Institution of 

 Washington ; the behaviour of unit characters in heredity, 

 bv Dr. S. W. E. Castle, of Harvard University ; mutation, 

 by Dr. Chas. B. Davenport, of the Carnegie Institution of 

 Washington ; adaptation, by Dr. Carl H. Eigenmann, of 

 the Indiana University ; recent paUcontological evidence of 

 evolution, by Prof. H.' F. Osborn, of Columbia University. 



These addresses will be published in a memot^ial 

 volume, together with the following addresses, which 

 were on the programme, but were not read owing to 

 the necessary absence of the authors : — 



NO. 2047, VOL. 79] 



