162 SCIENCE. 
Association embodied in its name and which 
concerns itself with the advance of science 
in different parts of the country seemed to 
be the deciding argument. From present 
prospects those who feared that to meet at 
Columbus would mean a small and unen- 
thusiastic attendance are likely to be 
agreeably surprised. The preliminary pro- 
grams of Sections A, B, F, Gand I, all that 
have been published in advance, show suf- 
ficiently long lists of important papers ; the 
announcements from the Local Committee 
show great interest and good organization, 
and we are informed by the Permanent 
Secretary that the nominations of new mem- 
bers are rapidly coming in and that the ad- 
vance payments of dues are much more 
numerous than in previous years. An 
organized effort has been made by the 
Local Committee, comprising all the teach- 
ers in scientific branches in the State 
University and other prominent persons in 
Ohio, to interest and attract especially the 
scientific workers of the Central States. 
This is a region filled with universities, 
colleges and other institutions of learning, 
yet in the past it has not been properly rep- © 
resented in the Association. In point of 
membership Massachusetts takes the lead, 
followed by New York, District of Columbia 
and Pennsylvania, Ohio ranking as fifth 
with only 99 members as against nearly 
400 resident in the State of Massachusetts. 
That a national association of the broad 
scope and aims of the A. A. A.S., should 
draw one-fifth of its membership from the 
State of Massachusetts seems paradoxical at 
this time, although 25 years ago it was 
quite to be expected. It is greatly hoped 
that the present movement to interest the 
(N.S. Von. X. No. 241. 
Central States to a much more marked de- 
gree will be successful and will have a 
permanent effect. 
In a similar editorial published a year 
ago we sketched briefly the career of the 
Association, showing that beyond doubt it 
has been of incalculable value to American 
science, and considering briefly some of the 
causes of the change in its relation to the 
science of the United States during the past 
15 or 20 years. The greatest of these causes 
has been, without doubt, the organization of 
so many special societies which have dimin- 
ished the interest in the old Association. 
Times and conditions have a habit (and it 
is generally a good habit) of changing. 
The American Association of 80 years ago 
did its work and did it well, but it must 
accommodate itself more and more to 
changing conditions. It has attempted to 
do this, as we showed last year, by an in- 
crease in the number of its Sections, and 
very lately by its effort to attract to it as 
affiliated societies the larger and stronger 
of the new organizations of special charac- 
ter. Does not the experience of the past 
few years bring us to the logical conclusion 
that the Association is bound in future to 
become more and more a central organiza- , 
tion around which will rally annually the 
That abso- 
lute harmony may exist under these condi- 
best of the special societies ? 
tions is shown conclusively by the experi- 
ence of the American Chemical Society and 
the Geological Society of America, both of 
which have the custom (prescribed in the 
by-laws of one of the societies and becom- 
ing a permanent fixture with the other) of 
holding a summer meeting with the Asso- 
ciation. Nothing could be more harmoni- 
SE een Sete 
or 
