42 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XV. No. 367. 



by its action in making its council tlie rep- 

 resentative body for all our scientific socie- 

 ties. Equally important in this direction 

 was the decision to meet next year at 

 Washington in midwinter, making it pos- 

 sible for all the scientific societies to come 

 together in a great national congress. The 

 success of the Association in securing the 

 adhesion of our leading institutions of 

 learning to convocation week, thus obtain- 

 ing an excellent time for the meetings, miist 

 also be regarded as an event of great 

 moment. 



As the American Association met for the 

 first time in the western half of the coun- 

 try, so the American Society of Naturalists 

 met this year for the first time Avest of the 

 eastern seaboard. Joining with the natural- 

 ists of the Central and Western States the 

 society became truly national in character. 

 Equally important was the decision of the 

 society to meet next winter at Washington 

 in conjunction with the American Associa- 

 tion — a step taken not only by eastern 

 naturalists, but also by those of the Central 

 and Western States. The congress next 

 year at Washington will bring together the 

 societies that have hitherto been divided 

 between summer and winter meetings, and 

 will thus represent the entire domain of 

 science, as well as the whole country. It 

 will be a meeting from which no scientific 

 man can afford to absent himself, while its 

 magnitude will give science a position be- 

 fore the national government, before our 

 educational institutions and before the 

 general public that it has never hitherto 

 obtained. 



The subject chosen for discussion at Chi- 



cago was ' The Eelation of the American 

 Society of Naturalists to other Scientific 

 Societies'— a topic obviously fitted to the 

 occasion. The result of the discussion was 

 most satisfactory in demonstrating the de- 

 sire of those representing different sciences, 

 and different regions of the country to co- 

 operate for the common good. The speak- 

 ers from the Eastern States, Professors 

 Minot, McGee and Cattell, tended to em- 

 phasize the importance of national union, 

 Avhereas the speakers from the Central 

 States, Professors Davenport, Trelease, 

 Birge and Forbes, laid special weight on 

 the need for local centers; but all agreed 

 that we must have a strong central organ- 

 ization mth a great annual meeting, while 

 at the same time we must provide local and 

 sectional meetings for those unable to at- 

 tend the general congress, and also for the 

 purpose of having groups not too large for 

 adequate discussion. There was a unani- 

 mous sentiment that arrangements should 

 be made by which the more local societies 

 and meetings should not rival, but support 

 the central organization. Committees were 

 appointed by the American Society of 

 Naturalists, and the Naturalists of the Cen- 

 tral and Western States to cooperate in 

 formulating plans for future meetings, 

 and, as has been stated, the western natur- 

 alists decided to meet next year in Wash- 

 ington. 



No less timely than the annual discus- 

 sion, was the address of the president, 

 Professor Sedgwick, on ' The Modern Sub- 

 jection of Science and Education to Prop- 

 aganda, printed in the present issue of 

 Science. The usefulness of a society such 



