SCIENCE 



A WEEKLY JOURNAL DEVOTEB TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, PUBLISHING THE 



OFFICIAL NOTICES AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION 



FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 



Friday, Febeuart 12, 1909 



CONTENTS 

 The American Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science: — 

 Opsonins and other Antibodies: Professor 

 LuDvie Hektoen 241 



The First Annual Conference of the Gov- 

 ernors in New England: Professor John 

 Ceaio 248 



Dr. Giuseppe Nohili 249 



Darwin Anniversary Addresses at the Uni- 

 versity of Chicago 249 



Scientific Notes and News 250 



University and Educational News 254 



Discussion and Correspondence: — 



Education and the Trades: Dr. W. J. 

 SprLLMAN. The Simple vs. the Complex in 

 Scientific Theories: Professor Fkajstcis 

 NiPHEB 255 



Soientifio Books: — 

 Research in China: Professor Joseph Bar- 

 bell. Davenport's Principles of Breeding: 

 De. Edward M. East. Hard's Mushrooms, 

 Edihle and Otherioise: Dr. Raymond J. 

 Pool 257 



Special Articles: — 

 Hybrid QSnotherw : Anne M. Lutz. Mucor 

 Cultures: Dr. David R. Sumstine 263 



The Botanical Society of America: Professor 

 Duncan S. Johnson 267 



The Association of American Geographers: 

 Professor A. P. Brigham 273 



The Society for Horticultural Science: C. 

 P. Close 274 



Societies and Academies: — 



The Kansas Academy of Science. The Asso- 

 ciation of Teachers of Mathematics in the 

 Middle States and Maryland: Professor 

 Eugene R. Smith. The Biological Society 

 of Washington: M. C. Marsh. The New 

 York Academy of Sciences, Section of 

 Astronomy, Physics and Chemistry: Pro- 

 fessor W. Campbell. Section of Geology 

 and Mineralogy: Professor Charles P. 

 Berket. Tlie American Chemical Society, 

 Northeastern Section: Kenneth L. Mark. 

 The Scientific Association of the Johns 

 Hopkins University : C. K. Swaetz 275 



THE AMERICAN ASSOCIAITION FOR THE 



ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE 



OPSONINS AND OTHER ANTIBODIES^ 



Looking back, we find that only fifty 

 years ago the conception of the nature of 

 the processes that run their courses in the 

 animal body in infectious diseases, gener- 

 ally speaking, were hazy and still often 

 even mystical. Preceded by occasional 

 brilliant anticipations, notably by Breton- 

 neau in regard to the specificness of in- 

 fectious processes and by Henle with 

 respect to the interaction between parasite 

 and host, the tireless, unmeasurably fruit- 

 ful investigation of the modern era, intro- 

 duced by Pasteur and Koch, has brought 

 to light not only the actual causes of many 

 infectious diseases, but a great deal also in 

 regard to the means and reactions in the 

 infected body whereby they are overcome. 

 Of these defensive processes phagocytosis 

 and the action and formation of that re- 

 markable group of bodies known as anti- 

 bodies have received and still receive the 

 greatest amount of attention. Indeed, the 

 discovery of the wonderful power of the 

 animal organism to respond to the effects 

 of certain substances by the production of 

 new antibodies must be reckoned as one of 

 the great events, not only in medicine, but 

 in general biology. We feel best ac- 

 quainted with the antitoxins, the lysins, 

 the agglutinins, the precipitins and the 

 opsonins, but this does not exhaust the 

 list, which is a growing one. The estab- 

 ' Address of the vice-president and chairman of 

 Section K — Physiology and Experimental Medi- 

 cine, American Association for the Advancement 

 of Science, Baltimore, 1908. 



