May 23, 1902.] 



SCIENCE. 



807 



the smaller journals miglit be combined, 

 and might become of such importance that 

 libraries would have to subscribe to them. 

 It is perhaps too much to hope for a realiza- 

 tion of such a plan in the near future, be- 

 cause it might seem to encroach too much 

 upon the individuality of each society. 



There is however one case in which the 

 advantage of a proceeding of this sort 

 seems so obvious that I wish to mention it. 



Our local academies of science were or- 

 ganized at a time when men of scientific 

 interest were few and far between, and 

 when it was necessary for all of them to 

 come together and to work together. The 

 publications which have developed from 

 these sources are miscellaneous in charac- 

 ter. An astronomical paper may be fol- 

 lowed by one on geology, which in turn 

 may be followed by one on anthropology, 

 botany, or even philology. For this reason 

 the papers published in such miscellaneous 

 collections are hardly noticed, and, if no- 

 ticed at all, are quickly forgotten. The 

 publications of our local academies are an 

 excellent medium for burying good work. 

 It would seem that, if our academies could 

 disregard the sentimental interest in the 

 continuance of their series of publications, 

 and could give their support to existing 

 special journals, or if several academies 

 would combine in such a manner as to make 

 it feasible to publish series relating to vari- 

 ous sciences, the effectiveness of the scien- 

 tific work accomplished would be im- 

 mensely increased, and I venture to say 

 that in this manner much of our scientific 

 publication could be made nearly self-sup- 

 porting. 



In order to bring this about, cooperation 

 between the various academies would be 

 necessary. In fact, the local academy 

 would assume a function entirely different 

 from what it is at the present time. It 

 would become what the Washington Acad- 

 emy of Sciences was intended to be, and 



what the Scientific Alliance of New York is 

 trjdng to be— a clearing-house between the 

 various local societies. Evidently a develop- 

 ment of this kind would lead to the estab- 

 lishment of a number of national societies, 

 each with its local branches of greater or 

 less independence; and the local branches, 

 representing various sciences, together 

 would form a local academy. It would 

 seem that in this manner the national as 

 well as the local interests of each science 

 might be fully guarded. 



I believe that to a certain extent our so- 

 cieties are developing in this direction. 

 The establishment of the national, purely 

 scientific societies to which I alluded be- 

 fore, and their relation to the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Sci- 

 ence, are in line with a movement of this 

 kind. If the general interests in any 

 science were concentrated in one national 

 society, it might be considered advan- 

 tageous for such a society either to take the 

 place of, or to affiliate itself closely with, 

 the corresponding section of the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Sci- 

 ence, and for the Association to assume the 

 same function in relation to all the 

 national societies that the local academy 

 assumes in relation to the. local societies. 

 These ideas were well outlined by Professor 

 Cattell in the annual discussion before the 

 American Society of Naturalists at their 

 meeting in Chicago, 1901. 



Anthropology is in one respect better 

 situated than most of the older sciences, 

 because, comparatively speaking, little has 

 been done. The interests that will arise 

 during the coming twenty years are cer- 

 tainly immeasurably greater than the in- 

 terests which have become organized dur- 

 ing the past twenty years. It might there- 

 fore seem feasible to direct, to a certain 

 extent, the growth of our societies in lines 

 that may seem desirable. /Up to the pres- 

 ent time the Anthropological Section of the 



