260 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLI. No. 1050 



Oscillator," by B. Liebowitz. (Introduced by M. 

 I. Pupin.) 



On Tuesday evening a public lecture, complimen- 

 tary to the citizens of Philadelphia and illustrated 

 by experiments and the lantern, was given by Day- 

 ton C. Miller. On Wednesday evening a success- 

 ful dinner for physicists was arranged by Pro- 

 fessor II. C. Richards at the Hotel Normandie. 

 This was enjoyed by about seventy members. 

 The members of the society were the guests of 

 tlie University of Pennsylvania at lunch each day 

 of the meeting. The registration of the meeting 

 was 117. The attendance at the various sessions 

 was exceptionally uniform and varied between 100 

 and 150. A. I). Cole, 



Secretnry 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



THE BOTANICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON 



The one-hundredth regular meeting of the Bo- 

 tanical Society of Washington was held in the 

 Crystal dining room of the new Ebbitt Hotel, at 

 6 P.M., December 1, 1914. One hundred and four 

 members and eight guests were present. A dinner 

 was served at which were featured several dishes 

 made from plants which have been introduced to 

 this country by the U. S. Department of Agricul- 

 ture. Drs. W. Ralph Jones, J. S. Cooley, H. V. 

 Harlan and Messrs. G. P. Gravatt, G. H. Godfrey, 

 L. M. Hutchins, Paul Popenoe and E. G. Pierce 

 were unanimously elected to membership. The re- 

 mainder of the evening was given to a special pro- 

 gram dealing with the early history and growth 

 of the society with the following papers: 



ilr. M. B. Waite, ' ' The Botanical Seminar and 

 the Early Development of Plant Pathology in 

 Washington. ' ' 



The Botanical Seminar was founded in 1893. 

 The purpose of the members was to make the 

 meetings as informal as possible. The monthly 

 meetings were held at the rooms of the various 

 members. There were no officers other than the 

 speaker of the evening, who usually was the per- 

 son entertaining the Seminar. There was no con- 

 stitution or by-laws. Refreshments were served 

 and very frank discussion and criticism was en- 

 couraged. In 1901 the number of candidates for 

 membership became so great that this method of 

 holding meetings became impossible and the Bo- 

 tanical Seminar was merged with the Washington 

 Botanical Club to form the present Botanical So- 

 ciety of Washington. The speaker sketched briefly 

 the development of the work in plant pathology 



in Washington from the early beginning when the 



pathological work was a very small branch of the 



botanist's duties, up to the present large body of 



investigators. 



Letters from the Boys in Washington: Mr. David 



Faibchild. 



This consisted in the reading of actual letters 

 from various early workers in plant pathology and 

 physiology and brought home to those present the 

 actual condition of things at that time more 

 vividly than could have been done in any other 

 way. 

 The Washington Botanical Chib : Dr. Edward L. 



Greene. 



The Washington Botanical Club was founded in 

 1898 with a very informal organization quite simi- 

 lar to that of the Botanical Seminar. The Botan- 

 ical Club included more especially the workers in 

 systematic botany. Dr. Greene was the first and 

 onij president. In 1901 it was merged with the 

 Botanical -Seminar to form the Botanical Society 

 of Washington. 

 Systematic Botany: Mr. P. V. Coville. 



Mr. Ooville gave briefly some of the more im- 

 portant features of systematic botany in Wash- 

 ington from the early days up to the present time, 

 emphasizing the use of types of species which was 

 a direct contribution of the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture. 

 Early History of Physiological and Plant Breeding 



Work in the Department of Agriculture: Mr. 



Walter T. Swingle. 



This briefly sketched the beginning of the now 

 extensive work in plant pathology and plant breed- 

 ing in the U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



On Tuesday, January 5, 1915, at 8:30 p.m., the 

 Botanical Society of Washington met in joint ses- 

 sion with the Washington Academy of Sciences in 

 the Assembly Hall of the Cosmos Club. Professor 

 .J. C. Bose gave an illustrated lecture on ' ' The Re- 

 sponse of Plants." 



The one-hundred-and-first regular meeting of 

 the Botanical Society of Washington was held 

 January 9, 1915, at 1:30 p.m., in the west wing 

 of the new Department of Agriculture building. 

 Thirty-four members were present. Messrs. F. 

 Tracy Hubbard^ Howard S. Coe, Luther P. Byars 

 and Dr. L. O. Kunkel were unanimously elected to 

 membership. The resignation of Mr. H. C. Gore, 

 as treasurer of the society, was accepted and Mr, 

 C. E. Leighty was elected to that office. No scien- 

 tific program was presented. 



Perlet Spaulding, 

 Corresponding Secretary 



