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SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XV. No. 372. 



the flag to whieli we owe allegiance and we 

 don't want to change more than possible 

 our scientific comradeship. "We of the 

 Mississippi Valley, if called east at Christ- 

 mas time, would like to be able to attend 

 the eastern meeting of naturalists as right- 

 ful members ; and if any eastern naturalist 

 (pro tempore) were in Chicago or vicinity 

 at the time of our meeting, it would give 

 us pleasure to realize that it would be his 

 meeting also. We don't want to have the 

 naturalists of the country artificially sepa- 

 rated by geographical boundaries. 



The fourth proposition is based on the 

 national political principle. It suggests 

 the organization of local, self-governing 

 branches bound together by a central or- 

 ganization. For the present two of these 

 branches seem necessary — one meeting in 

 the east; the other at Chicago. It is pro- 

 posed, further, that the two branches should 

 meet together every third year, that is, once 

 in six years we in the west will go east, 

 and once in six years the east will come to 

 the west. We should all try to attend 

 these joint meetings, thus to renew old ac- 

 quaintances and to make new ones. It may, 

 however, appear better to try to meet to- 

 gether every other year; I trust we shall 

 have a discussion of that point. 



I have assumed above that the central 

 naturalists will meet in Chicago. This is a 

 local matter, but I take this occasion to 

 refer to the fact that if we draw a circle of 

 500 miles radius, ha^'ing Chicago as a 

 center, it includes 99 per cent, of the natu- 

 ralists who have met here in the past and it 

 is generally agreed, I think, that no other 

 point in the Central States woiild be so con- 

 venient to so many. 



The plan here proposed has been opposed 

 on the ground that it means disunion and 

 tends towards the breaking up of the 

 American Society. Precisely the opposite 

 will be the effect. By this plan some hun- 

 dred or more naturalists of high rank in 



the Central States will be added at once to 

 the membership of the Central Society 

 which will then become truly an American 

 Society of Naturalists. At the same time 

 that continuity of work that depends on a 

 regular attendance of members will be 

 gained. 



C. B. Davenpoet. 

 Univeksity op Chicago. 



In viewing the relations of American 

 scientific societies in general, and of the 

 American Society of Naturalists in par- 

 ticular, it is needful to occupy some plat- 

 form ; and since the limitations of time will 

 permit no more than a hasty glance, a plat- 

 form of two planks may suffice. The first 

 of these has to do with the rate of progress 

 of American science, and the second is con- 

 nected with the trend of this progress ; for 

 it is not to be forgotten that while the 

 maker of things moving begins with direc- 

 tion and proceeds toward rate, the inter- 

 preter of natural movement begins with 

 rate and then proceeds to ascertain trend or 

 direction— nor is it to be forgotten that the 

 study of institutions is still in the inter- 

 pretative stage. So the first plank may be 

 defined as Advancement, while the second 

 may be called Coordination. 



To one in the thick of the turmoil it is 

 not easy to keep note of the tremendous 

 rate of scientific progress in America diu*- 

 ing recent years; for no adequate units of 

 measure of intellectual activity and attain- 

 ment have yet been devised. A suggestion 

 may be found in the development of uni- 

 versity facilities, since our universities 

 partly lead and partly reflect our progress 

 in science. Without tabulating the statis- 

 tics in detail, it would seem safe to say 

 that during the first half of the nineteenth 

 century— i. e., from. 1800 to 1850— the uni- 

 versity facilities of the United States were 

 doubled ; that during the next quarter-cen- 

 tury, from 1850 to 1875 (despite the shock 



