January 31, 19(12.] 



SCIENCE. 



195 



upon the results readied. However, there 

 seems to be a residual effect which cannot thus 

 be accounted for, and it may be due to an 

 ether displacement. This matter is being 

 carefully studied, and it is intended to use 

 more violent explosives." 



William Trelease, 

 Becordincj Secretary. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 



AN AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. 



As has been announced, the next jneeting 

 of the International Geographical Congress is 

 to be held in Washington, D. C.,"in 1904. It 

 must be apparent, I think, to every one fa- 

 miliar with the status of geography in Ameri- 

 ca, that we are not prepared for such an inva- 

 sion, and that a better organization of our 

 geographical ranks is highly desirable. 



There are now at least ten geographical so- 

 cieties in the United States. How many more 

 there are in other parts of the two Americas 

 I am not informed. Each of these societies is 

 a local organization and there is no tangible 

 bond of union between them. It needs no ar- 

 gument to show that some form of coopera- 

 tion or of union between these various socie- 

 ties is much to be wished, not only that we 

 may make a creditable showing at the com- 

 ing meeting of the International Congress, 

 but what is much more important, in order 

 that mutual assistance may be had, and the 

 science of geography advanced in a more effi- 

 cient way than is practicable at present. This 

 matter is not new, and at the risk of seeming 

 to assume undue responsibility, I venture to 

 state a plan of reorganization which em- 

 bodies ideas gathered from various sources. 



My thesis is : There should be an American 

 Geographical Society having for its territorial 

 limits the ISTew World. The aims of this so- 

 ciety should be in the main threefold: 



1st. The holding of a general meeting each 

 year, preferably during convocation week. 



2'd. The publication of an illustrated month- 

 ly magazine, devoted to geography in its wid- 

 est aspects. 



3d. The promotion of geographical explora- 

 tion and research. 



In reference to the first of these aims, I 



need not enlarge on the desirability of an an- 

 nual meeting at which the results reached by 

 various students of geography may be present- 

 ed and discussed, and acquaintances made or 

 renewed, since abundant justification for such 

 a course is known to every one, from the suc- 

 cess that has attended the annual meetings of 

 several national and international scientific 

 organizations during the past decade. Geog- 

 raphers certainly need to know their fellow 

 workers as much as geologists, chemists, etc., 

 need to know each other. This would be one 

 of the chief results of an annual meeting of 

 geographers, held perhaps at the same time 

 and place as the annual winter meeting of the 

 Geological Society of America. 



The greatest gain to be expected from the 

 proposed reorganization lies in the second of 

 the aims to be fostered by the new society, 

 namely, the publication of a strong, attractive, 

 well-illustrated monthly magazine, in the place 

 of the several publications now issued by ex- 

 isting societies. Some of the reasons for this 

 are: The saving of expense in editing, and 

 in duplication, especially of news items, 

 reviews; etc.; concentration and ready ref- 

 erence. The concentration of American geo- 

 graphical literature would be a blessing 

 to future generations, in view of the fact 

 that complete files of the present publi- 

 cations are not readily accessible, and to 

 find all of them in one library is seldom 

 possible. With a central bureau of publica- 

 tion, also, it is to be hoped that the standard 

 of the articles published would be higher. 

 While the expense of a monthly magazine rep- 

 resenting the interests of all classes of geog- 

 raphers, and well edited and well printed, 

 would perhaps be greater than that of any one 

 of the single publications referred to, it would 

 be much less than all of them combined. It 

 would also, I venture to assert, reach a wider 

 audience than all of the publications com- 

 bined which it would replace. Such a maga- 

 zine would place American geography in a 

 far more favorable light than it now enjoys, 

 in the eyes of the geographers of other conti- 

 nents. 



While a few of the existing societies have 

 assisted in geographical research, their efforts 



