Januabt 5, 1917] 



SCIENCE 



of tile world this interest may be main- 

 tained. A meeting such as this should have 

 as one of its principal functions to impress 

 on the general public the importance of 

 scientific research, for it is only from the 

 people at large that new recruits for sci- 

 ence can be obtained and means provided 

 for the support of research. 



The council discussed business of impor- 

 tance. Two general resolutions were 

 adopted. One advocated a greater use of 

 the metric system of weights and measures 

 in the United States, "so as to increase the 

 usefulness of our publications and to aid 

 our foreign relations with the many coun- 

 tries where these units are official and in 

 use." The other extended to the secre- 

 taries and bureau chiefs of the United 

 States government the appreciation of the 

 association of the fact that through their 

 encouragement the important scientific 

 work under their direction has been well 

 represented at the meetings of the associa- 

 tion. "This representation has greatly 

 promoted the influence and usefulness of 

 the bureaus, both by making their work 

 more widely known, and by the stimulus 

 imparted to and gained from other workers 

 in similar fields. The association is so 

 keenly interested in the work of the gov- 

 ernment bureaus that it ventures to ex- 

 press the hope that members of their staffs 

 who are engaged in research be given all 

 practicable encouragement to attend the 

 meetings of the association and other na- 

 tional and international organizations de- 

 voted to the advancement of scien-ce. " 



Thanks to the Colburn bequest, the re- 

 search funds of the Association have been 



greatly increased and now amount to about 

 $110,000. During the year careful invest- 

 ments have been made by a committee con- 

 sisting of the treasurer. Dr. R. S. Wood- 

 ward, president of the Carnegie Institu- 

 tion, Mr. A. S. Frissell, president of the 

 Fifth Avenue Bank, and Mr. John Tat- 

 loek, of New York City. Some part of 

 this fund is reserved for specific purposes, 

 but the balance of the income, amounting 

 to about $4,000, was appropriated for al- 

 lotment for scientific research, and a com- 

 mittee on grants of seven was appointed, 

 representing the principal sciences and 

 groups of sciences. This committee con- 

 sists of Professor B. C. Pickering, chair- 

 man, mathematics and astronomy. Profes- 

 sor Henry Crew, physics, Professor E. 

 C. Franklin, chemistry. Professor W. B. 

 Cannon, zoology and physiology. Professor 

 N. L. Britton, botany, and Professor J. Mc- 

 Keen Cattell, anthropology and psychol- 

 ogy, leaving one vacancy to be filled by a 

 geologist. The committee plans to make a 

 careful study of the conditions in order to 

 determine how the money can be expended 

 to best advantag-e. Applications for grants 

 will,. however, be welcomed; these can be 

 made to the chairman of the committee or 

 to the member in charge of the subject con- 

 cerned. 



An appropriation was made for the work 

 of the Pacific branch of the association, 

 amounting to the entire dues paid by the 

 members within the division except that 

 required to pay for the journals that the 

 members receive. The entrance fees col- 

 lected by the branch were also allotted to 

 it. There was recently established through 



