Decembeb 14, 1906.] 



SCIENCE. 



755 



they are engaged. The committee of the 

 American Association which had charge 

 of the arrangements for convocation week 

 secured assent to the plan from over sixty- 

 institutions, including all our larger uni- 

 versities, but in many cases the assent ex- 

 tended only so far as to give leave of ab- 

 sence to those who wished to attend the 

 meetings. It is, of course, impossible for 

 classes to be continued if all the officers of 

 the institutions are absent, and it appeared 

 to be necessary this year to hold the meet- 

 ing in Christmas week, owing to the fact 

 that New Year's day comes as early in the 

 week as Tuesday. It is to be hoped that 

 some joint effort can be made in coopera- 

 tion with the societies devoted to history, 

 economics, philology, art and other subjects 

 that will ultimately establish a convocation 

 week at some time in the year as part of 

 the regular academic program. 



It is to be feared that owing to the inci- 

 dence of Sunday most of the program this 

 year will be crowded into Thursday, Fri- 

 day and Saturday, although some of the 

 sessions will extend into the following 

 week, and the meeting of the nominating 

 committee of the association will be on 

 Monday evening. The main features of 

 the program, some of which have already 

 been printed in Science, are as follows: 

 The executive committee of the council of 

 the American Association will meet at the 

 Hotel Belmont on December 26 at noon 

 and the register for the meeting will be 

 open at two o 'clock. On Wednesday even- 

 ing there will be informal smokers and 

 gatherings of members arriving in New 

 York City at the Hotel Belmont and else- 

 where. The council of the association will 

 meet at nine o'clock on Thursday morning. 

 At ten o'clock there will be a general ses- 

 sion of the association and affiliated socie- 

 ties, when the retiring president. Dr. C. M. 

 Woodward, will introduce the president of 

 the meeting. Dr. W. H. Welch, and Presi- 



dent Butler will welcome the members to 

 Columbia University. The usual announce- 

 ments will then be made. The sections of 

 the association will hold at 11 o'clock their 

 meetings for organization, followed in sev- 

 eral cases by the address of the chairman. 

 Most of the sections of the association and 

 the national societies will meet at Columbia 

 University on December 27 at 2 p.m. Sev- 

 eral of the sections of the association will 

 hold sessions in which topics of general 

 interest will be discussed. At 8 o 'clock the 

 retiring president will give his address in 

 Horace Mann Hall, his subject being 'Sci- 

 ence and Education. ' The addresses by the 

 vice-presidents, in so far as the subjects 

 have been announced, are : Professor C. F. 

 Mabery, of the Case School of Applied 

 Science, 'The Education of the Professional 

 Chemist'; Professor Henry B. Ward, of 

 the University of Nebraska, 'The Influence 

 of Parasitism on the Host'; Professor 

 Henry Crew, Northwestern University, 

 'Fact and Theory in Spectroscopy'; Dr. 

 Erwin F. Smith, of the U. S. Department 

 of Agriculture, 'Problems in Plant Pathol- 

 ogy'; Professor Wm. T, Sedgwick, of the 

 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 

 'The Expansion of Physiology'; Dr, George 

 Grant MacCurdy, of Yale University, 

 'Some Phases of Prehistoric Archeology.' 

 Other vice-presidential addresses, the sub- 

 jects of which are not yet announced, will 

 be given by Dr, W. S. Eichelberger, of 

 the U. S. Naval Observatory; Professor 

 William North Rice, of Wesleyan Univer- 

 sity ; Professor Irving Fisher, of Yale Uni- 

 versity, and by President F. W. McNair, 

 of the School of Mines, Houghton, Mich. 

 The presidents of most of the national 

 societies meeting at the same time will give 

 addresses, many of which will be of gen- 

 eral interest. The presidents of these so- 

 cieties are: The Astronomical and Astro- 

 physical Society of America, Professor E. 

 C. Pickering, of Harvard College Observa- 



