754 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol, XXIV. No. 624. 



societies to meet in two main groups, those 

 devoted to the exact sciences holding their 

 principal meetings with the American 

 Association in the summer and those de- 

 voted to the natural sciences holding their 

 principal meeting with the American So- 

 ciety of Naturalists in the winter. But 

 it seems in many ways desirable that these 

 two groups should not become separated, 

 and in any case each group is so large as 

 to interfere with the real advantages of 

 compact and isolated meetings. Thus sev- 

 eral years ago the president of Princeton 

 University wrote that the university town 

 could not accommodate the Naturalists and 

 the affiliated societies. It has thus in any 

 case become necessary to select a large city 

 for the meetings, and when this is done it 

 certainly seems desirable for the two prin- 

 cipal groups of scientific men to meet to- 

 gether rather than apart. 



The advantages and dangers of central- 

 ization as compared with local autonomy 

 are similar to those which confront us in 

 civil government. We must make as good 

 a compromise as we can. The fundamental 

 unit for scientific organization is obviously 

 a group of men in the same neighborhood 

 and interested in the same kind of work. 

 The men of science in the same neighbor- 

 hood should unite in so far as it serves their 

 common interests into an academy for the 

 city or state, and those pursuing the same 

 science should unite in a national society. 

 This organization has to a certain extent 

 taken place. We have numerous local and 

 state academies, often divided into sections 

 or consisting of affiliated societies, and we 

 have national societies for each of the sci- 

 ences, often divided into local sections. 



Probably many men of science regard 

 an organization that would include these 

 groups as too cumbersome to be workable, 

 and it must be admitted that an annual 

 plebiscite of all American men of science 

 is out of the question. But the different 



sciences and the separate local groups have 

 interests in common. It may be Utopian 

 to fancy that scientific men will some day 

 have control of the scientific interests of 

 the country, but even under existing con- 

 ditions they have real influence and serious 

 responsibilities which require proper or- 

 ganization. 



It is probable that the American Asso- 

 ciation will ultimately become an associa- 

 tion of societies rather than of individuals, 

 and that its work for the advancement and 

 diffusion of science will in the main be 

 performed by a house of delegates. We 

 should perhaps consider the organization 

 effected by the American Medical Associa- 

 tion and the possibility of reorganizing the 

 association to let it represent state acad- 

 emies, on the one hand, and national socie- 

 ties, on the other. It might be wise for 

 the association to meet even now in three 

 main sections: one for the eastern, one for 

 the central and one for the western states, 

 letting the council only migrate from one 

 section to the other. 



But whatever may happen in the fu- 

 ture, it is just now the business of scien- 

 tific men to make the approaching meeting 

 as useful and profitable as possible, and 

 each can accomplish the most by being 

 present and taking part in the scientific 

 sessions and social gatherings. This will 

 require some sacrifice of convenience, espe- 

 cially for those living at a distance from 

 the Atlantic seaboard. The holidays are 

 short and the meetings follow closely on 

 Christmas day. It is unfortunate that 

 convocation week has not been completely 

 established. It was hoped that our educa- 

 tional institutions and government offices 

 would set aside the week in which New 

 Year's day falls, or even the week follow- 

 ing New Year's day, for scientific meetings. 

 It should be recognized that attendance on 

 these meetings is as important a part of 

 the duties of scientific men as any in which 



