890 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVI. No. 678 



At the meeting which opened on August 5, 

 1868, thei'e were 259 members in attend- 

 ance. The immediately preceding meet- 

 ings at Burlington and Buffalo had, re- 

 spectively, an attendance of only 73 and 

 79 members. At the time of the Chicago 

 meeting- the membership of the association 

 increased from 415 to 686. The retiring 

 president was Professor J. S. Newberry, 

 the eminent geologist of Columbia Univer- 

 sity, and the president of the meeting was 

 Professor B. A. Gould, the eminent as- 

 tronomer of Harvard University. 



The forty years that have elapsed since 

 the Chicago meeting of the association have 

 witnessed a growth of scientific and educa- 

 tional institutions and an increase in the 

 number of scientific workers unparalleled 

 elsewhere or hitherto. Cornell University 

 was established in the year of the Chicago 

 meeting; one year later the new adminis- 

 tration of Harvard University under Dr. 

 Eliot was inaugurated ; the Johns Hopkins 

 University opened its doors in 1876. Since 

 then our universities have become great 

 centers for research as well as for instruc- 

 tion. Parallel with them have been estab- 

 lished museums and institutions devoted 

 wholly to investigation ; while the national 

 government and the states have undertaken 

 work in economic and pure science to an 

 extent that none could have anticipated a 

 few years ago. 



The state of Illinois and the city of Chi- 

 cago, beginning later, have witnessed a 

 rapid development of their scientific insti- 

 tutions, scarcely rivaled by any other state 

 or city. Nowhere else will there be found 

 a state university and an incorporated uni- 

 versity which have enjoyed a growth so 



great as that of the University of Illinois 

 and the University of Chicago. Twelve 

 years ago there were 500 students in the 

 University of Illinois; there are now 4,000 

 students and 500 teachers. The Univer- 

 sity of Chicago, which has received gifts 

 amounting to $27,000,000, was opened only 

 sixteen years ago. Northwestern Univer- 

 sity and other institutions of the state have 

 developed in nearly equal measure. 



Our societies have aimed to adjust them- 

 selves to this scientific activity, ever in- 

 creasing in range and complexity, and have 

 on the whole succeeded. In 1875 the Amer- 

 ican Association was divided into two sec- 

 tions, one for the exact sciences and one 

 for the physical sciences. In 1882 nine 

 sections were established corresponding in 

 general to the present organization, except 

 that a section of physiology and experi- 

 mental medicine was added five years ago, 

 and a section of education will hold its first 

 meeting next week at Chicago. The Amer- 

 ican Chemical Society was organized in 

 1876 ; the American Society of Naturalists 

 in 1883, the Geological Society of America 

 and the present American Mathematical 

 Society in 1888, and there are now national 

 societies for nearly every science. The 

 interrelations of these societies offered 

 many perplexing problems, and it can not 

 be claimed that they are all solved. But 

 it is undoubtedly true that progress has 

 been made, and that the general spirit of 

 cooperation among scientific men is better 

 than ever before. 



The natural group is those living in the 

 same locality and having common interests. 

 Such a group may unite with others in the 

 same neighborhood to form an academy 



