44 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXIX. No. 732 



public services extend far beyond the 

 bounds of his science. The admirable ad- 

 dress of the retiring president, printed 

 last week in Science, deserves to be read 

 by every intelligent citizen. It is un- 

 fortunate that our daily papers will not 

 follow the example set in Great Britain 

 and print in full an address of this char- 

 acter. Several of the vice-presidential 

 addresses before the sections of the associa- 

 tion and several of the presidential ad- 

 dresses before the special societies were of 

 great general interest, while others equally 

 important were technical in character. It 

 would perhaps be desirable if the vice- 

 presidential addresses were always ad- 

 dressed to an intelligent audience rather 

 than to specialists, or at all events if the 

 program would indicate the class for 

 whom each is intended. Among the inter- 

 esting public lectures may be noted the 

 following: Professor Poulton, of Oxford, 

 on "Mimicry in the butterflies of North 

 America"; Professor Penck, of Berlin, on 

 "Man, climate and soil"; Professor Miin- 

 sterberg, of Harvard, on "The problem of 

 beauty"; Mr. Bryan, of Honolulu, on "A 

 visit to Mount Kilauea"; Major Squier, 

 U.S.A., on "Recent progress in aero- 

 nautics," and Mr. G. K. Gilbert, of the 

 U. S. Geological Survey, on "Earthquake 

 forecasts. ' ' 



It seems to be scarcely credible, but it is 

 the case, that there were on the program 

 published by the association the titles of 

 more than one thousand papers to be read 

 at the meeting. The great majority of the 

 papers represent research work of a high 

 order. It is sometimes said that the 



United States is not doing its part in the 

 advancement of science, but this program 

 is a conclusive answer to such criticism. 

 No other country except Germany could 

 hold a meeting in which so many scientific 

 researches maintaining such high standards 

 could be presented as the result of a year's 

 work, and Germany has never held such a 

 meeting. 



These papers were in the main special 

 and technical in character, but there were 

 in each science papers containing results 

 of interest to a wide group of scientific 

 men, and in many cases papers and dis- 

 cussions of broad interest to the general 

 public. Among these were the series of 

 addresses before the American Chemical 

 Society, the symposium on correlation in 

 which sixteen leading geologists took part, 

 three general discussions arranged by the 

 botanists, the symposia on college educa- 

 tion and life, on physical instruction in 

 schools and colleges, and on public health. 

 Most important of all — perhaps the most 

 significant scientific celebration hitherto 

 held in this country — was the Darwin 

 centenary memorial. Professor E. B. 

 Poulton, the leading exponent of natural 

 selection, came from England to take part, 

 and after his address a series of papers 

 was presented by our leading workers in 

 problems bearing on evolution. The day's 

 proceedings closed with a dinner, at which 

 speeches were made by President Cham- 

 berlin, Professor Osborn, Professor 

 Welch, Professor Penck and Professor 

 Poulton. 



The meeting next year will be held at 

 Boston under the presidency of Dr. David 



