342 



NA TURE 



[Januakv 20, 1 9 10 



which have long" figured in school "readers," and the 

 others, though less familiar in this role, are none the 

 less fitted for it. The book is nicely illustrated, and 

 concludes with a short glossary of the rarer words and 

 phrases found in the extracts. It may be recom- 

 mended for class purposes. 



THE BOSTON MEETING OF THE AMERICAN 

 ASSOCIATION. 



THE sixty-first meeting of the American Asso- 

 ciation for the Advancement of Science and of its 

 affiliated societies was held in Boston, Mass., Decem- 

 ber 27, 1909, to January i, 19 10, under the presidency 

 of Dr. David Starr Jordan, of Leland-Stanford Univer- 

 sity, California. The meeting was a large one, 

 nearly iioo members of the association being regis- 

 tered, and the total number of men and women of 

 science in attendance was not far from 2000. The 

 number of affiliated societies was larger than usual, 

 numbering thirty in all. The meetings were held in 

 the buildings of the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- 

 nology, in certain of the buildings of Harvard Univer- 

 sity, Cambridge, and the new Harvard Medical School 

 in Boston. These three groups of buildings are rather 

 widely separated, and for this reason it was difficult 

 to bring together the exact registration. 



The opening session was held in Huntington Hall, 

 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, on Monday 

 morning, December 27. Addresses of welcome were 

 given by President McLaurin, of the Institute of 

 Technology, and by Dean W. C. Sabine, of the 

 Graduate Scientific School of Harvard, representing 

 the president of Harvard University. On Monday 

 night the address of the retiring president. Prof. T. C. 

 Chamberlin, of the University of Chicago, was 

 delivered in Sanders Theatre, Harvard University. 

 His subject was a geologic forecast of the future 

 opportunities of our race. The address was preceded 

 by an address of welcome at Harvard University by 

 Prof. F. W. Putnam, a past-president of the asso- 

 ciation, and who, from 1873 to 1898, w-as its per- 

 manent secretar}^ After the address a reception was 

 held by the corporation of Harvard University in 

 Memorial Hall. During the week the addresses of 

 the vice-presidents (or cfiairmen) of the sections were 

 given on the different afternoons as follows : — 



Vice-President Keyser, before the Section of Mathe- 

 matics and Astronomy, the thesis of modern logistic ; 

 Vice-President Guthe, before the Section of Physics, 

 some reforms needed ip the teaching of physics ; Vice- 

 President Kahlenberg, before the Section of Chem- 

 istry, the past and future of the study of solutions ; 

 Vice-President Swain, before the Section of Mechan- 

 ical Science and Engineering, the profession of 

 engineering and its relation to the American Asso- 

 ciation for the Advancement of Science ; Vice-Presi- 

 dent Willis, before the Section of Geology and 

 Geography, the principles of paleogeograph}- ; Vice- 

 President Herrick, before the Section of Zoology, 

 evolution of intelligence and its organs ; Vice-President 

 Richards, before the Section of Botany, the nature of 

 response to chemical stimulation ; Vice-President 

 Woodw^orth, before the Section of Anthropology and 

 Psychology, racial differences in mental traits; Vice- 

 President Holt, before the Section of Social and 

 Economic Science, the gold question ; Vice-President 

 Howell, before the Section of Physiology and Experi- 

 mental Medicine, chemical regulation in the animal 

 body by means of activators, kinases, and hormones; 

 Vice-President Dewey, before the Section of Educa- 

 tion, science as a method of thinking and science as 

 information in education. 

 NO. 2099, VOL. 82] 



The meeting was marked by a series of joint meet- 

 ings between sections of the association and corre- 

 sponding affiliated societies. By virtue of a resolu- 

 tion adopted by the council at its April meeting, sec- 

 tional committees arranged in almost every case one 

 or more sessions of general interest, conducted under 

 the auspices of the sectional otficers, while pro- 

 grammes of papers of a strictly technical character 

 and of interest limited to specialists were read under 

 the auspices of the affiliated societies. This arrange- 

 ment was particularly happy in the cases of Section A 

 and the American Mathematical Society ; Section B 

 and the American Physical Society ; Section C and 

 the American Chemical Society ; Section E and the 

 Geological Societ}' of America ; Section F and the 

 American Society of Zoologists ; Section G and the 

 Botanical Society of America ; and Section H and the 

 American Anthropological Asaceiation. Under Sec- 

 tion K an important symposium on the subject of 

 internal secretion was held, at which the following 

 papers were presented : — .\ general review of the 

 chemical aspect of internal secretion, by R. H. Chit- 

 tenden; the internal secretion of the pancreas, by 

 W. G. McCallum ; our present knowledge of the 

 thyroid function, by S. P. Beebe ; metabolism after 

 parathvroidectomy, by J. V. Cook ; and physiological 

 consequences of total and of partial hypophysectomy, 

 by H. Cushing. 



On Tuesday evening, December 28, a public lecture 

 complimentary to the citizens of Boston was given bv 

 Dr. C. W. Stiles, of the United States Public Health 

 and Marine Hospital Service, on the subject of the hook- 

 worm problem in the United States in reference to 

 public health. This lecture, the subject of which is 

 brought prominently into the public eye at this time 

 on account of Mr. Rockefeller's gift of 1,000,000 

 dollars to be devoted to an effort to stamp out the 

 hookworm in the south, was attended by a large audi- 

 ence. 



On Thursday' evening, December 30, an interesting 

 lecture was given by Dr. John B. Smith, on the 

 subject of insects and entomologists, their relation to 

 the community' at large. 



On Wednesday evening, December 29, the Society of 

 American Naturalists and the biologists in attendance 

 at the meeting held their annual dinner, at which 

 the address of the retiring president of the naturalists. 

 Prof. T. H. Morgan, was given. His subject was 

 "Chance or Purpose in the Evolution of Adaptation." 

 The American Chemical Society gave its annual 

 dinner on the Thursday evening. Other dinners of 

 special organisations w'ere scattered through the week. 



At the meeting of the general committee, Minneapolis 

 was chosen as the place of the next meeting, begin- 

 ning December 27, 1910. The following officers were 

 elected : — 



President : — Prof. A. A. Michelson, University of 

 Chicago. Vice-Presidents (or presidents of sections) : — 

 Section A, Prof. E. H. Moore, University of Chicago; 

 Section B, Dr. E. B. Rosa, Bureau of Standards, 

 Washington ; Section C, Prof. G. B. Frankforter, 

 University of Minnesota; Section D, Prof. A. L. 

 Rotch, Blue Hill Observatory, Boston, Mass. ; Section 

 E, Dr. J. M. Clarke, State Geologist, Albany, N.Y. ; 

 Section F, Prof. J. Reighard, University of Michigan; 

 Section G, Prof. R. A. Harper, Universit}' of Wiscon- 

 sin ; Section H, Prof. R. B. Dixon, Harvard Univer- 

 sity; Section I, Dr. T. E. Burton, Cleveland, Ohio; 

 Section K, Prof. F. G. Novy, University of 

 Michigan ; Section L, the Hon. A. Ross Hill, 

 president. University of Missouri. Secretary, Section 

 I., Fred C. Croxton, Washington, D.C. ; permanent 

 secretary. Dr. L. O. Howard, Smithsonian Insti- 



