December 22, 1916] 



SCIENCE 



883 



men have thought so long and so effectively on 

 the problems in which they are interested and 

 have observed so accurately that an under- 

 standing of the fundamental phenomena has 

 become part of their very being. Their in- 

 stinct is like the instinct of an experienced 

 helmsman, the result of long training and 

 practise. It has sometimes seemed to me that 

 not the least significant fact in regard to Pro- 

 fessor Thomson's work is the fact, known to 

 those who have had the pleasure of seeing him 

 in his home, that his laboratory is built right 

 into the home and is an integral part of it. 

 Probably thoughts on scientific problems are 

 never wholly absent from his mind, although 

 he may be consciously thinking of quite other 

 matters. It can hardly be necessary to say 

 that a man who has achieved what Thomson 

 has done must be more than I have pictured, 

 an unselfish, generous, well-trained, well- 

 rounded, well-balanced man of science. Above 

 all and pervading all must be imagination, not 

 necessarily the imagination of a poet, but 

 something akin to that in quality and in 

 power, and it is of course mainly because 

 Thomson is a man of imagination in the high- 

 est sense that he has achieved so much suc- 

 cess and earned so much respect not only in 

 this country, hut throughout the scientific 

 world. He has been literally showered with 

 honors and it must be almost a unique thing 

 to obtain two great national medals within al- 

 most a week, one from the Royal Society of 

 London, and the other the great honor of the 

 Fritz medal that is now to be awarded. I 

 heartily congratulate the board of award on 

 having found a man worthy to be placed be- 

 side the greatest whose names have already 

 given distinction to their selections, like 

 Graham Bell, Edison and Kelvin. Such a one 

 undoubtedly is Elihu Thomson. Long may. 

 he be preserved to us. 



elchaed c. maclauein 

 Massachusetts Institute op Technology 



THE CONVOCATION-WEEK MEETINGS 

 OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES 



The American Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science and the national scientific 



societies named below will meet at New York 

 City, during convocation week, beginning on 

 Tuesday, December 26, 1916: 



American Association for the Advancement 

 op Science. — President, Charles R. Van Hise, 

 president of the University of Wisconsin; retiring 

 president, Dr. W. W. Campbell, director of the 

 Lick Observatory; permanent secretary, Dr. L. O. 

 Howard, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. 

 C. ; general secretary, Professor W. E. Henderson, 

 Ohio State University; secretary of the council, Dr. 

 C. Stuart Oager, Brooklyn Botanical Garden. 



Section A — Mathematics and Astronomy. — Vice- 

 president, Professor L. P. Eisenhart, Princeton 

 University; secretary, P. R. Monlton, University 

 of Chicago, Chicago, 111. 



Section B — Physics. — Vice-president, Professor 

 H. A. Bumstead, Yale University; secretary, Dr. 

 W. J. Humphreys, U. S. Weather Bureau, Wash- 

 ington, D. 0. 



Section C — Chemistry. — Vice-president, Pro- 

 fessor Julius Stieglitz, University of Chicago; 

 secretary, Dr. John Johnston, Geophysical Labora- 

 tory, Washington, D. C. 



Section D — Mechanical Science and Engineering. 

 — Vice-president, Dr. H. M. Howe, Columbia Uni- 

 versity; secretary, Professor Arthur H. Blanch- 

 ard, Columbia University, New York City. 



Section E — Geology and Geography. — Vice-presi- 

 dent, Professor B. D. Salisbury, University of Chi- 

 cago; secretary, Professor George E. Kay, Uni- 

 versity of Iowa. 



Section F — Zoology. — Vice-president, Professor 

 G. H. Parker, Harvard University; secretary, Pro- 

 fessor Herbert V. Neal, Tufts College, Mass. 



Section G — Botany. — Vice-president, Dr. C 

 Stuart Gager, Brooklyn Botanical Garden; secre- 

 tary, Dr. A. E. Blakeslee, Cold Spring Harbor, 



n! y. 



Section S — Anthropology and Psychology. — 

 Vice-president, Dr. P. W. Hodge, Bureau of Amer- 

 ican Ethnology; secretary, Professor George Grant 

 MacCurdy, Yale University, New Haven, Conn. 



Section I — Social and Economic Science. — Vice- 

 president, Louis P. Dublin, Metropolitan Life In- 

 surance Company; secretary, Seymour C. Loomis, 

 69 Church Street, New Haven, Conn. 



Section K — Physiology and Experimental Medi- 

 cine. — Vice-president, Professor Edwin 0. Jordan, 

 University of Chicago; secretary, Professor C.-E. 

 A. Winslow, Yale University. 



