April 4, 1902. J 



SCIENCE. 



549 



Snyder; Secretary and Treasurer, Will. C. Perril; 

 Executive Committee, George L. Cannon, Ells- 

 worth Bethel, Charles I. Hays, and ex officio, A. 

 M. Collett and Will C. Ferril. 



Sections and chairman of each, as follows: 

 Botany, Ellsworth Bethel; Zoology, Alva H. 

 Felger; Geology, George L. Cannon; Microscopy, 

 Dr. J. B. Kinley; Meteorology and Physical Sci- 

 ence, N. M. Fenneman; Nature Study, S. Arthur 

 Johnson; Anthropology and Ethnology, Dr. A. L. 

 Bennett. 



The Colorado Academy of Science is lim- 

 ited in its membership to those of the State 

 Historical and Natural History Society, who 

 may be engaged in scientific work and study. 

 Will. C. Ferril, 



Secretary. 



THE ELISHA MITCHELL SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY. 



The 140th meeting of the Society was held 

 on March 11 at the University of North Caro- 

 lina. 



The following papers were read : 



• Enzymes ' : Dr. A. S. Wheeler. 



' Reversible Action of Enzymes ' : Dr. R. H. 

 Whitehead. 



' Molecular Attraction ' : Dr. J. E. Mills. 

 Chas. Baskerville, 



Secretary. 



NEW YORK ASSOCIATION OF BIOLOGY TEACHERS. 



The first meeting for the current year of 

 the New York Association of Biology Teach- 

 ers was held at 43 Hancock Street, Brooklyn, 

 N. Y., on January 31, 1902. 



The following officers were elected for the 

 year: 



President, Dr. H. E. Linville, DeWitt Clinton 

 High School; Vice-President, Dr. E. F. Byrnes, 

 Girls' High School; Secretary, George W. Hunter, 

 Jr., DeWitt Clinton High School; Treasurer, Mlas 

 M. F. Goddard, Peter Cooper High School. 



Two papers were read, entitled, 'The Peda- 

 gogical and Ethical Content of Biology,' by 

 Miss E. F. Byrnes, and 'The History of Zool- 

 ogy in the Secondary Schools of the United 

 States,' by Miss Marion R. Brown, of the 

 Erasmus Hall High School. 



The purpose of the club is to discuss and, if 

 possible, to determine, the best methods of 

 teaching biology in the secondary schools. 

 The club is now entering upon the third year 



of a very successful existence with a much 

 increased membership. 



6. W. Hunter, Jr., 



Secretary. 



DISCUSSION AND 00RBE8P0NDENCE. 



movements toward union among 



geographers. 



The recent publication in Science of letters 

 from Professor Russell, Professor Davis, and 

 Mr. Stanley Brown recalls various other move- 

 ments toward union among geographers. Ona 

 of the earlier of these led to the founding of 

 the American Geographical Society n New 

 York; another to the institution of the Na- 

 tional Geographic Society, with heado . 3rs 

 in Washington; others to the establish .rent of 

 geographic clubs or societies in several cen- 

 ters; and still others to the enlargement of 

 the geographic organization in Philadelphia 

 first from a club to a society, then to a geo- 

 graphic institute. At least two of these organ- 

 izations (those headquartered in New York 

 and Washington, respectively) were originally 

 designed to meet precisely such needs as those 

 outlined by Professors Russell and Davis, to- 

 gether with the equally obvious need of dif- 

 fusing the elements of geographic knowledge 

 through public meetings and periodical publi- 

 eatioiis; yet in both cases the latter function 

 assumed such prominence as measurably to 

 divert attention from the primary purpose. In 

 both societies the modification in plan came 

 about gradually — and it is probable that in 

 both the changes grew out of the natural 

 eifort to balance income and expenditure in 

 such wise as to please the majority of the 

 members at each stage of progress. It is true, 

 as the recent correspondents have pointed out,, 

 that the present organization of American 

 geographers in a number of societies fails to 

 meet all professional requirements; but it 

 would seem to be an open question whether 

 the needs might not be met more effectively 

 and economically in some existing organiza- 

 tion than by adding another to the already 

 overwhelming list of American scientific socie- 

 ties. 



Some of the events in the history of the 

 National Geographic Society seem peculiarly 



