April 4, 1919] 



SCIENCE 



331 



will change not only political history but science to 

 such an extent, that a genetic and historical survey 

 ia imperative. Therefore, in my opinion, the period 

 to be dealt with should begin with tlie earliest 

 original contributions of American men of science 

 to the different fields of knowledge and close with 

 the beg^ning of the world war. What is achieved 

 during the world war marks a beginning of a new 

 epoch in our national scientific life and should be 

 treated later on. 



As the American Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science is the representative scientific body 

 of the United States, it is only proper that the 

 history of sciences in the United States should be 

 undertakesn and edited under the auspices of the 

 association. 



Therefore, I beg to ask you as permanent secre- 

 tary of the association to submit this proposition 

 at the next meeting of the association and have it 

 voted upon. 



If the association should vote in favor of the 

 motion the next step would be to consider how to 

 proceed in this matter. In regard to this I wish 

 to make the following suggestions, either of which 

 should be carried out. 



The first one would be to appoint a historical 

 committee for this special purpose, in which each 

 section of the association should be represented by 

 one member, in addition to which three members at 

 large should be appointed by the president. The 

 president and the permanent secretary should be 

 members of this committee ex-officio. The presi- 

 dent acts as presiding officer of the committee, but 

 might delegate any member of the committee as 

 acting chairman. 



The second suggestion would be to add a new 

 section called "The Historical Section," and let 

 them formulate a plan and submit it to the asso- 

 ciation. This section should be a permanent one, 

 having the same organization as the other sections. 

 Its purpose should be to promote the study of the 

 history of sciences in the United States. 



This second suggestion should be voted on even 

 if my plan for a history of sciences in the United 

 States undertaken under the auspices of the Asso- 

 ciation should be vetoed. 



In a personal interview Dr. Howard kindly 

 informed me that he would submit my letter 

 to the committee on policy which was to 

 meet in November in Baltimore. As several 

 members of the committee were unable to 

 attend, the meeting was not held and the 

 question came up before the committee on 



policy during the recent meeting of the asso- 

 ciation. At this meeting of the committee 

 it was decided to propose, among others, the 

 following change in the constitution : that a 

 new section, called section K :* " Historical 

 Science " be formed. This proposed change 

 is to be voted on at the next meeting of the 

 association in St. Louis, December, 1919. 



I sincerely hope that the association will 

 vote in favor of it. I want to raise only one 

 objection, and that is the designation of the 

 proposed section. " Historical science " seems 

 to me not very appropriate and really covers 

 an entirely different subject, or is at least 

 open to doubt. In my opinion the wording 

 " historical science " would rather refer to 

 history as science, which is a cultural science, 

 while the new section " K " should deal with 

 the history of the different branches of exact 

 sciences. In my suggestion submitted to the 

 association I proposed as the name of the 

 new section : " Historical Section." An after- 

 thought shows me that this designation may 

 be subjected to the same criticism. There- 

 fore, I propose now as the proper designation 

 of section " K " the name : " History of Sci- 

 ence," which would express the contemplated 

 work of the section without any doubt : " To 

 promote the study of the history of sciences 

 in the United States." 



On the main point of my suggestion in re- 

 gard to a " history of sciences in the United 

 States undertaken and edited under the 

 auspices of the American Association for the 

 Advancement of Science," the committee has 

 taken no action. 



This gives me a certain liberty of action. 

 I hoi>e that this question may be aired at the 

 next meeting at St. Louis; meanwhile I would 

 like to bring the matter to the attention of 

 our scientific men and institutions, and a 

 discussion of the project in the columns of 

 Science would be very welcome to me. 



Felix Neumann 



Army Medical Museum and Library, 

 Washington, D. C. 



1 Owing bo a division of several sections a new 

 lettering of the sections has to be adopted. 



