566 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIX. No. 1007 



the thought that what is indeed most vital 

 about the world is that which also charac- 

 terizes the highest life of the spirit, namely, 

 the fecundity of whatever unites either 

 electrons or souls or stars into streams or 

 into other aggregations that, amid all 

 chances, illustrate some tendency to orderly 

 cooperation. 



If this view of nature has any founda- 

 tion, gentlemen, then, as the whole progress 

 of inductive science illustrates, the way to 

 further such scientific evolution is to get 

 together, and to leave the rest to the statis- 

 tically definable tendencies of nature. 

 These are tendencies away from the chance 

 distributions which the bell-shaped curve 

 of random distribution illustrates, towards 

 the orderliness of which the mechanical 

 view of nature gives us one illustration, 

 and by no means the most probably true 

 illustration. 



I should suppose, then, that whatever 

 notes you may compare in these meetings, 

 you will probably frequently and vari- 

 ously illustrate the statistical view of na- 

 ture. This view is ill understood by those 

 who think only how dry statistical tables 

 and averages may seem. Mechanism is 

 rigid, but probably never exactly realized 

 in nature. But life, although it has its his- 

 tory, has also its statistics. And averages 

 cease to be dry when they are averages that 

 express the unities and the mutual assimi- 

 lations in which the common ideals and in- 

 terests, the common hopes and destinies of 

 the men, of the social orders, of the deeds — 

 yes, and perhaps of the stars and of all the 

 spiritual world are bound up and are ex- 

 pressed. 



Do you wish to experiment upon some 

 new processes of social aggregation, of mu- 

 tual assimilation, and of the study of photo- 

 graphs of your various spiritual spectra ? 



This practical question is for you to con- 

 sider. JOSIAH ROTCE 



Haevard Universitt 



THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 

 The annual meeting of the Academy will 

 be held in Washington on April 21, 22 and 23, 

 1914. Following is the tentative program: 



MONDAY EVENING, APRIL 20 



7:30 P.M. — Meeting of the council in the pri' 

 vate dining-room of the Cosmos Club. 



TUESDAY, APRIL 21 



10 :00 A.M. — Business meeting of the Academy 

 in the Oak Eoom of the Hotel Ealeigh. 



1 :30 P.M. — Luncheon in the private dining- 

 room of the Hotel Ealeigh. (In the event 

 of unfinished business, an adjourned busi- 

 ness session may be held in the Oak Eoom 

 following the luncheon.) 



4:00 P.M. — Auditorium, National Museum. 

 Inauguration of the William Ellery Hale 

 Lectures by Sir Ernest Eutherford, of the 

 University of Manchester. (Open to the 

 public.) Subject : " The Constitution of 

 Matter and the Evolution of the Elements." 

 (Illustrated.) 



9 :30 P.M. — ^Eeception to the members of the 

 Academy and their guests, at the home of 

 Alexander Graham Bell. 



WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22 



10 :00 A.M. — Auditorium, National Museum. 



Public scientific session for the reading of 



papers. 

 1 :00 P.M. — Luncheon in the Oak Eoom of the 



Hotel Ealeigh. 

 2:30 P.M. — Auditorium, National Museum. 



Public scientific session for the reading of 



papers. 

 8:00 P.M. — Annual dinner of the members of 



the Academy and their guests in the Oak 



Eoom of the Hotel Ealeigh. 



At the annual dinner of the Academy will 

 occur the first presentation of the medal for 

 " Eminence in the Application of Science to 

 the Public Welfare " to George Washington 

 Goethals and William Crawford Gorgas for 

 distinguished service in building the Panama 

 Canal. (Presentation private.) 



THURSDAY,, APRIL 23 



10:00 A.M. — Oak Eoom, Hotel Ealeigh. Busi- 

 ness meeting of the Academy for the election 



