116 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. II. No. 31. 



and which they can well see before or after 

 the regular session of the Association. 

 Those residents of New England who are 

 members of the Association and those 

 who ought to be members of it cannot, this 

 year, have the excuse of inconvenience and 

 difficulty in attending its meetings. The 

 place of meeting is so convenient that in 

 many cases only an hour or two at most 

 will be required to reach it, and certainly 

 this expenditui'e of time and energy, even 

 in August, ought not to stand in the way 

 of such attendance. Indeed, New England 

 members should not forget that a very large 

 number of their colleagues in this Associa- 

 tion travel several hundreds, and a consid- 

 erable number of them several thousands, of 

 miles in order to attend its meetings, and it 

 ought to be a matter of pride with them to 

 furnish a respectable quota, of membership 

 when the distance is comparatively trifling. 

 In short, it is greatly to be hoped that New 

 England colleges and New England insti- 

 tutions of learning of all classes will furnish 

 a large contribution to the membership of 

 the Association at the meeting in Spring- 

 field. It is anticipated that a very large 

 number of members will be present from 

 the West and South, and as the meeting 

 will be distinctively a New England meet- 

 ing, it is sincerely hoped that New England 

 may be largely and ably represented in the 

 membership. 



Very considerable preparations have been 

 made locally for the reception and enter- 

 tainment of the Association. A number of 

 excursions have been planned, which will 

 be of great interest to those who are inter- 

 ested in different departments of natural 

 science, and, altogether, the preparations 



for the meeting are quite as forward and 

 promising as ever before in the history of 

 the Association. 



It is particularly desu-ed that a large 

 number of good papers shall be ready for 

 the consideration of the committee before 

 the opening of the meeting. The Vice- 

 Presidents of sevei-al of the sections have 

 ab'eady indicated their wish that papers 

 might be prepared in advance and forwarded 

 to the committee, that they might be con- 

 sidered and reported upon so as to be put 

 upon the programme early, and they desire 

 that those who are contemplating the pre- 

 sentation of papers at this meeting should 

 act upon this suggestion and forward to 

 their address, that is, the address of the 

 Vice-Presidents shown in the circular of in- 

 formation, as earlj' as possible, a list of titles 

 and subjects for discussion, which will be 

 submitted to the committees for recom- 

 mendation. Special effort has been made, 

 and a special desire has been expressed by 

 the Vice-Presidents of the sections relating 

 to mathematics, physics, chemistry and 

 mechanics. There are doubtless many per- 

 sons interested in these subjects who have 

 material which would be of great interest 

 to the Association and which they have con- 

 templated presenting on the occasion of the 

 meeting. From all such these oificers hope 

 to receive titles as earlj' as possible, and 

 from others who may possibly be prevented 

 from attending the meeting they would be 

 very glad to receive papers for presentation, 

 which maj' be read bj' other members of the 

 section after approval by the proper com- 

 mittee. It is especially to be remembered 

 that membership in the Association is not a 

 necessary preliminary to the presentation 



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