778 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVI. No. 936 



and disguises be hereafter hissed from the 



The next meeting was held for a week dur- 

 ing the latter portion of August, 1850, at New 

 Haven. The quiet and beautiful city of elms 

 extended a cordial greeting to the scientific 

 soldiers who responded at the yearly roll call. 

 The communications read were numerous and 

 of marked interest, especially in the depart- 

 ment of general physics. A semi-annual 

 meeting was then appointed and in due time 

 held at Cincinnati, during the second week of 

 May, 1851; at which communications on geo- 

 logical subjects predominated. The total 

 number of papers was about one half of that 

 at New Haven. The most striking incident 

 was the triumph of Professor Mitchell's 

 method of recording astronomical observa- 

 tions. 



The succeeding annual meeting was held at 

 Albany, and was probably the most interesting 

 of the series. The number of members in at- 

 tendance (doubtless exceeding 300), the va- 

 riety, interest and scope of the papers pre- 

 sented (being 134 in number), and the inde- 

 fatigable hospitality of the Albanians, made 

 up a week of continuous mental vitality and 

 social ovation. The subdivision into sections 

 was more complete than it had been before, 

 and each section had full occupation. 



It was there resolved to accept the invita- 

 tion by the corporation of Cleveland to hold 

 the next meeting in that city, commencing on 

 the third Wednesday of August, 1852. The 

 prevalence of cholera and other diseases in the 

 west just prior to this date induced the stand- 

 ing committee to postpone the proposed meet- 

 ing, so that no assembling of the association 

 occurred until that which is just concluded. 

 After fully canvassing the convenience of all 

 concerned, it was decided to meet in Cleveland 

 for the week following July 28, 1853. This 

 meeting lasted five working days, and pro- 

 gressed with increasing interest, the number 

 of papers being over eighty. A very decided 

 preponderance of physical subjects was found 

 to prevail, the departments of natural history 

 and geology not being as strongly represented 

 as usual. The non-attendance of Professor 



Agassiz, the Rogers, Dana, Hitchcock, Foster 

 and other leading spirits, who always have 

 ample contributions, was a deficiency seriously 

 felt, and gave a too partial character to this 

 meeting, which was much regretted. We 

 trust that this is not to be construed into a 

 lack of interest or of fealty on the part of the 

 geologists and naturalists, and we hope that 

 this association, their own foster-child, is not 

 through their defection to become lop-sided 

 and incomplete. That some disafPection exists 

 we are well aware, but we would say in all 

 earnestness, let not this be the means of dis- 

 severing this natural unit; rather let the next 

 meeting be entered into with the hearty con- 

 currence of all, and with the thorough resolu- 

 tion to waive all discordant memories, and at 

 least to try again fairly to execute the funda- 

 mental idea of this association. We believe 

 such an effort will be made, and that it will 

 fully succeed. The Cleveland meeting came 

 at a time inconvenient for many, nor was the 

 place central; which, with the loss of interest 

 consequent on the two years' interval, will ex- 

 plain the inferiority of this meeting to that 

 held in Albany, without supposing any posi- 

 tive secession. Washington, the next point of 

 meeting, is a place where all sections of the 

 association should array their full strength 

 and present the complete federation of the 

 sciences in a representative congress. The 

 last Wednesday in April, the soft, delightful 

 month of flowers and foliage, is the appointed 

 day of convocation. With congress in session, 

 and nature in gala array, with a certainty of 

 welcome and hospitality, with our capitol lions 

 to be seen and our capitol orators to be heard 

 and to hear, there would seem to be enough to 

 insure a full and fruit-bearing meeting. 



The election of officers at the Cleveland 

 meetitig resulted in the choice of Professor 

 Dana, for president; Professor J. Lawrence 

 Smith, for general secretary; Professor Joseph 

 Levering, of Cambridge, for permanent secre- 

 tary, and Dr. EIvitti, for treasurer. These 

 officers elect will enter on their duties at the 

 next meeting. 



The six volumes of proceedings of this as- 

 sociation at the six meetings first held ex- 



