164 
tered and paid fees, 1,985 were associates, 
493 were ladies and 92 were foreigners, 
making a total of 2,570, and. leaving but 
As- 
suming the total membership to have been 
1,268 actual members of all sections. 
5,000 the attendance at the largest meeting 
was only about 25 per cent. of the member- 
ship, which brings it to about the average 
attendance at the meetings of the American 
Association. 
This, however, does not bear seriously 
upon the main question, except as showing 
that the American Association by compari- 
son is not in such bad condition as might 
be supposed. Moreover, it might be indi- 
cated that there is a very large fluctuation 
in the attendance at the meetings of the 
British Association, as, for example, take 
the four years prior to 1898: At Oxford, in 
1894, 2,321; at Ipswich, in 1895, 1,324; at 
Liverpool, in 1896, 3,181; at Toronto, in 
1897, 1,362. 
tendance, in fact, it seems plain that there 
Glancing over the table of at- 
is a fairly constant attendance of actual 
members; that the fluctuations are due 
to the associate class, and that the large 
numbers and the large sums of money are 
gained by meeting in large centers of popu- 
lation. The financial support of the Brit- 
ish Association, therefore, depends not only 
upon its prestige, but upon the work of the 
Local Committees in charge of the indi- 
vidual meetings and upon the custom of 
inviting contributions by way of associate 
memberships. 
As to the minor and detailed suggestions 
in the Naturalist’s editorial, the reports of 
the Permanent Secretary submitted to the 
Council meetings of the American Associa- 
tion in December, 1898, and April, 1899, 
SCIENCE. 
[N.S. Von. X. No. 241. 
indicated that all the points mentioned 
are receiving proper consideration and that 
reforms have been inaugurated which will 
result in a very considerable saving of the 
For 
example, a new printing contract has been 
annual expenses of the Association. 
made whereby the cost of printing will be 
reduced about one-third, and the items of 
office hire and janitor’s salary have been 
done away with. 
Two points connected with the meetings 
which have been frequently criticised, and 
which have been instrumental in preventing 
the attendance of a considerable number of 
men who ought to attend, are (1) the in- 
terruption of the scientific work of the Sec- 
tions by excursions and social features, and 
(2) the time of the year when the Associ- 
ation meets. A well known member of the 
Association says in a recent letter: ‘ For 
those who are really in earnest about the 
work of the Association I believe another 
great defect is the prominence given to 
junketing. To busy men, and men es- 
pecially anxious to present the results of a 
long investigation, it seems trivial to break 
up a session of the Association to go off on 
a clam bake or something.”’ This criticism 
is a well founded one and is appreciated by 
the Council, and, in fact, at the spring 
meeting a resolution was adopted request- 
ing the Local Committee at the Columbus 
meeting to arrange that no excursions or 
social features should be planned to begin 
before 4 o’clock in the afternoon, the all- 
day excursion being relegated to Saturday 
at the end of the meeting, thus leaving five 
solid working days for the sessions of the 
sections. The other criticism, concerning 
the time of year when the meeting is held, 
