^^ %^ i d Jl% \^ 



A Weekly Journal devoted to the Advancement 

 of Science, publishing the official notices and 

 proceedings of the American Association for the 

 Advancement of Science, edited by J. McKeen 

 Cattell and published every Friday by 



THE SCIENCE PRESS 



I I Liberty St., Utica, N. Y. Garrison, N. Y, 



New York City: Grand Central Terminal 

 Single Copies, 15 Cts. Annual Subscription, $6.00 



Entered as second-class matter January 21. 1922, at the Post 

 OlSce at Utica, N. Y., under the Act of March 3, 1879. 



Vol. LV, Febeuart 10, 1922 No. 1415 



The American Association for the Advance- 

 of Science: 

 The Past and the Future of the Medical 

 Sciences in the United States: Professor 

 Joseph Eblanger 135 



Subsidy Funds for Mathematical Projects: 

 Professor H. E. Slaught 146 



Scientific Events: 



British Research on Cement; The Gorgas 

 Memorial Institute; The Teaching of Evo- 

 lution in the KentucTcy Schools ; Cardinal 

 Dougherty on Vivisection 148 



Scientific Notes and News 150 



University and Educational Notes 154 



Discussion and Correspondence: 



Professor Sudhoff's Paracelsus: Dr. F. H. 

 Garrison. The Value of Tilth: Dr. 

 Jerome Alexander. Casts of Fossil Ver- 

 tebrates at Stuttgart: Dr. W. D. Mat- 

 thew. The May Society: Dr. W. T. 

 Calman 155 



Quotations : 



The New Chemistry 157 



Special Articles: 



A Convenient Method of Determining the 

 Brightness of Luminescence: Professor 

 E. L. Nichols 157 



The American Society of Zoologists: Dr. 

 "W. C. Allee 159 



THE PAST AND THE FUTURE OF 



THE MEDICAL SCIENCES IN 



THE UNITED STATESi 



At the 1919' meeting of the American Asso- 

 ciation for the Advancement of Science, held 

 in St. Louis, the association adopted a new 

 constitution which included among other mod- 

 ifications a change in the name of this section 

 from "Physiology and Experimental Medi- 

 cine" to "Medical Sciences." In the same 

 year, the National Research Council of the 

 United States in effecting its "permanent 

 organization" on a peace time hasis changed 

 the name of its "Medical Division" to "Divi- 

 sion of the Medical Sciences." Thus in a 

 single year the term "Medicine" disappears as 

 the substantive from the titles of what may 

 fairly be regarded as the two most important 

 organizations on the continent whose main 

 function it is to further the interests of sci- 

 ence in general and to stimulate research, to 

 yield up its primary position to one secondary 

 in importance to the term science. There 

 can be no doubt but that these changed desig- 

 nations are indicative of a changed attitude 

 in the United States toward medicine as a 

 science, and it therefore seemed fitting that the 

 first chairman of the section thus newly desig- 

 nated upon retiring from office should essay 

 an analysis of the factors that seem to him to 

 be responsible for the change, in an effort to 

 ascertain the significance of the implied trend. 

 An additional reason for selecting this general 

 topic for discussion is the rather unusual and 

 intimate insight into the conditions at present 

 prevailing in the departments of the medical 

 sciences in the United States which the speaker 

 was enabled to gain through his connection 

 with a study of the supply of assistants in pre- 



1 Address of the vice-president and chairman 

 of Section N — Medical Sciences, American Asso- 

 ciation for the Advancement of Science, Toronto, 

 December, 1921. 



