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SCIENCE. 



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



family bound by ties of common interest; 

 and its analogue in scientific organization 

 is the group of kindred spirits working to 

 a common end, like the half-dozen geolo- 

 gists who later formed the American Society 

 of Geologists, the precursor of the Amer- 

 ican Association for the Advancement of 

 Science. The clan itself is an enlarged 

 family, comparable to the same half-dozen 

 geologists and their fellows when the mag- 

 net of knowledge-maldng drew them into 

 the closer union of definite organization; 

 while the tribe may be likened to the per- 

 manent association defined and bound by 

 a.rticles and constitutions and by-laws. 

 The likeness between the primitive tribe 

 and the society of specialists is much 

 more than a fanciful parallel— indeed the 

 analogies are many and close, too many for 

 counting and too close for discussing in 

 brief space; it must suffice to accept the 

 analogy and pass to the application. The 

 significant point is that the tribe, after 

 reaching a certain {i. e., uncertain) magni- 

 tude, either multiplies by fission (breaks 

 down beneath its own weight, in other 

 words) and so forms sub tribes which are 

 eventually confederated on the basis of 

 higher laws, or else passes directly into 

 more or less definite confederation with 

 alien tribes. It is no less significant that 

 the confederated tribes long retain their 

 integrity, just as do the component clans 

 in many instances and the constituent 

 families in all; so that the confederacy 

 becomes a sort of hierarchy of interdepend- 

 ent groiips, presaging the interdependent 

 townships, counties, wards, municipalities, 

 judicial districts, representative districts, 

 States, and other collective units of en- 

 lightened society. Now accepting the anal- 

 ogy between the tribe and the voluntary 

 scientific association, the application is 

 simple; the association may either multiply 

 itself by fission (e. g., into sections), or in 

 some other way prepare for reorganization 



on a more comprehensive plan; yet the 

 broader organization need not interfere 

 with the original affinities and affiliations, 

 any more than the Seneka Indian was made 

 less a Seneka by the Iroquois confedera- 

 tion, or the citizen of Chicago is less a Chi- 

 cagoan because he is a native of Illinois and 

 a citizen of the United States— as well as a 

 Mason, a Presbyterian, and a free-trade 

 Republican. The plank of social integra- 

 tion is too broad and too long for easy trim- 

 ming into a three-minute platform; but 

 fortunately it tells half the story in itself. 



Such are the great fact and the funda- 

 mental principle to be borne in mind in our 

 search for the best way of future progress 

 for the American Society of Naturalists— 

 the fact of unparalleled Advancement, and 

 the principle of institutional Coordination. 



The Society of Naturalists is conspicuous 

 among American scientific societies in many 

 ways, notably for its habitual exaltation of 

 the scientific spirit above the letter of 

 organic law and hence for unpreeedentedly 

 rapid and vigorous growth — indeed this 

 Society, more than any other, may be re- 

 garded as the type and expression of mod- 

 ern scientific activity in America. Founded 

 primarily to meet the needs of serious stu- 

 dents of science, incidentally as a foil if 

 not an antidote for the peripatetic pleasur- 

 ing and jocose junketing charged against 

 an older organization, it has kept even 

 pace with the tremendous scientific prog- 

 ress of the last two decades, and has be- 

 come a leading power in guiding scientific 

 thought and shaping scientific policy. 

 Naturally, in view of its phenomenal 

 growth, it reveals signs of that fission 

 whereby all social institutions prepare for 

 reintegration on a higher plane. True, the 

 laxity of the law is such that the original 

 organization is not unduly constrained; 

 yet, as a nucleus for a group of affiliated 

 societies, its vitality is diffused to the 

 benefit of the group rather than concen- 



