146 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIX. No. 995 



Additional members of the council — ^Dr. John. 

 J. Abel, Dr. A. L. Loevenhart. 



Membership committee — Dr. Eeid Hunt (term 

 expires 1916). 



Election of New Members. — The names of the 

 following candidates were sent to the council by 

 the membership committee, recommended for elec- 

 tion by the council and elected by the society: 

 Dr. A. E. Cohn, Eookefeller Institute, New York 

 City; Dr. H. F. Helmholtz, Sprague Memorial 

 Institute, Chicago, 111.; Dr. W. A. Jacobs, Rocke- 

 feller Institute, New York City; Dr. Hugh Mao- 

 Guigan, Northwestern Medical School, Chicago, 

 HI. 



Federation News. — A detailed statement of the 

 developmental effect which this first meeting of 

 the three societies has exerted upon the federation 

 formed at present by these societies, will be given 

 by the general secretary of the federation for the 

 year 1913, Dr. A. J. Carlson. Only one action, that 

 of the Pharmacological Society, need be reported 

 here. It will be remembered that delegates from 

 the Physiological, Biochemical and Pharmacolog- 

 ical societies met in Cleveland last year (1912) to 

 establish a federation of the American societies 

 for experimental biology. Among the motions 

 passed unanimously was one which provided for 

 the shifting of papers, with the author's consent, 

 from the program of one society to that of 

 another, if it were considered advisable by the 

 secretaries. In order to prevent a possible con- 

 flict with the spirit of Section 2, Article III, of the 

 constitution of the Pharmacological Society, which 

 states that no one shall be admitted to member- 

 ship who is in the permanent employ of any 

 drug firm, a motion was put and carried unani- 

 mously by the Pharmacological Society in its execu- 

 tive session, recommending that no paper should 

 be transferred to the program of the Pharmacolog- 

 ical Society without the explicit consent of its 

 secretary. This was done in order to prevent as 

 far as possible the appearance of any paper of a 

 commercial nature on the programs of the Phar- 

 macological Society, for the other two members of 

 the federation do not have this clause which ex- 

 cludes from membership those in the employ of 

 business concerns. It may be stated that 1*ie 

 Pharmacological Society did not take this action 

 because of any specific occurrence, but because the 

 society deemed it proper at this time to again 

 emphasize its individual position in the matter. 



Dinners and SmoTcers. — Excellent subscription 

 dinners of very moderate cost formed an enjoyable 

 feature of the Philadelphia meetings and were at- 



tended not only by the members of the federation, 

 but also by the Naturalists, Zoologists and 

 Pathologists. They were held on the evenings of 

 December 29 and 30 at the Walton Hotel and 

 Kugler 's restaurant, respectively. There were only 

 a few speeches; at the first dinner Drs. W. W. 

 Keen and S. J. Meltzer spoke; at the second din- 

 ner the Naturalists presided and Dr. Raymond 

 Pearl delivered a short address. 



At the last executive session of the society a 

 motion was passed unanimously to thank the local 

 committee representing the University of Pennsyl- 

 vania and Jefferson Medical College for the com- 

 prehensive and efficient way with which all ar- 

 rangements for the meetings and the visitors' com- 

 fort were made. No names are mentioned in this 

 expression of appreciation because the secretary is 

 informed that practically every Philadelphia mem- 

 ber of the three constituent societies labored on 

 the local committee to make the first meeting of 

 the federation as enjoyable as possible. It wUl 

 be the opinion of every one present that their 

 efforts were entirely successful, that the visitors 

 attended with pleasure and left with regret. 

 John Auer, 

 Secretary 



The Rockefellek Institute 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



THE ANTHKOPOLOGICAIi SOCIETT OP "WASHINGTON 



At a special meeting of the Society held on No- 

 vember 4, at the National Museum, Dr. John E. 

 Swanton read a paper entitled, "The Indian Vil- 

 lage." He stated that while it is a common no- 

 tion that country life preceded urban life, this 

 view is not absolutely correct, urban life in its 

 germs going back almost as far as man him- 

 self. He then took up the various factors tending 

 to produce the village, determine its character, 

 and subsequently knit it together. These he found 

 to be of three orders, material, social and religious. 

 Among the first he enumerated material available 

 for the construction of houses, position with refer- 

 ence to the food supply and fresh water, and oc- 

 casionally also position with reference to the sun. 

 Among social factors he treated trade, desire for 

 exchange of ideas, need of mutual protection and 

 relationship, especially in the peculiar form it as- 

 sumed under totemism. Finally the growth of a 

 village or town cult was traced from the practical 

 independence of shamanism pure and simple to 

 the complete town ritual, sometimes directly, 

 sometimes through the fusion of clan ceremonies 



