SCIENCE. 



1^.S Vol. XV. No. 386. 



American Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science has performed the func- 

 tions of a national society. During the last 

 few years the Section has assembled every 

 winter at the same time and place as the 

 American Naturalists, and has tried to 

 hold a meeting- which was intended to be 

 more strictly technical than the summer 

 meeting. These meetings have decidedly 

 grown in interest and in importance. 



Recently the question has been raised 

 -whether Section H is the most efficient 

 medium of bringing together all those scat- 

 tered individuals who take an interest in 

 anthropological matters. I thoroughly be- 

 lieve that this can be done. 



It should be borne in mind that the effort 

 to bring together from all over the country 

 those interested in the advancement of any 

 special branch of science has an intimate 

 relation to the more general objects of 

 creating an organization in which the 

 whole interest in science centers. This is 

 the function of the American Association 

 for the Advancement of Science; and if 

 this aim is borne in mind, the Association 

 is bound to become a factor of great impor- 

 tance in molding the development of 

 scientific interests in our country. It seems 

 to my mind that the general scientific in- 

 terests would suffer if any new popular 

 scientific societies were created that are 

 not affiliated as intimately as possible mth 

 the American Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science. If we endeavor to ob- 

 tain, from all over the country, lay mem- 

 bers for an anthropological society, we 

 should endeavor at the same time to make 

 them members of the American Association 

 for the Advancement of Science. It might 

 perhaps seem that the necessity of contrib- 

 uting the amount of the membership fee 

 for each member of a special society to the 

 American Association would not be in the 

 interest of the special society, but I am 

 inclined to believe that this would be a 



narrow point of view to take. ^The large 

 increase in membership of the Amei'ican 

 Association which could be eft'eeted by 

 bringing the members of all special so- 

 cieties into the Association could not fail 

 to give such a tremendous impulse to the 

 Association, and to make it so much more 

 powerful, that it would retroact upon the 

 single societies, and that it would facilitate 

 their growth. 



It seems to my mind that this point of 

 view should determine our further actions 

 in regard to the organization of anthropo- 

 logical interests. I should advocate a move- 

 ment originating in the American Associa- 

 tion for the Advancement of Science, by 

 which the Section of Anthropology should 

 be authorized to take the name of a na- 

 tional anthropological society, and to levy 

 assessments for their own particular pui'- 

 poses, and by which only such members of 

 the American Association should become 

 members of the Section as fulfill the re- 

 quirements set by a special council selected 

 by the Section. This would lead to' a dis- 

 tinction between members at large and 

 members united in special societies— a pro- 

 cess which I believe -would be wholesome 

 for the advancement of the best interests 

 of science./' 



It seems to me that we should not be 

 misled under present conditions by the 

 mere desire to obtain as rapidly as possible 

 as much financial aid to anthropology as 

 we can secure, but should in all our move- 

 ments be controlled by what seems to be 

 for the best permanent scientific interests 

 of the country. 



The reasons for our desire to bring to- 

 gether all those who are interested in an- 

 thropology are twofold. The work of a 

 national society will be beneficial to them 

 by stimulating their interest and bringing 

 them into contact with their co-workers all 

 over the country. On the other hand, 

 every new member will help the society 



