386 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIX. No. 479. 



eially if tlie paper in course of reading and 

 the paper next to be read are posted outside 

 each section room during the sessions, then it 

 will be possible for any one at least to choose 

 intelligently between papers appearing siiiiul- 

 taneously, instead of leaving this largely to 

 chance, as was too often the case at Wash- 

 ington. 



That some such plan is not impracticable 

 is shown by the very recent history at the St. 

 Louis meetings, as illustrated by the program 

 in zoology. Section F and the Central Branch 

 of the American Society of Zoologists, by 

 previous arrangement of their executive com- 

 mittees (these societies, by the way, not even 

 being affiliated), combined for program pur- 

 poses. This arrangement provided that all of 

 the papers submitted and approved by the re- 

 spective program committees should be con- 

 sidered by a joint program committee just 

 before the meeting and that all papers ap- 

 proved by this joint committee should be 

 pooled and arranged in a single program 

 classified by subjects, with the proviso that if 

 this made too long a program they should be 

 divided into two groups on the basis of sub- 

 ject matter, not on the basis of the societies 

 presenting them, and that simultaneous ses- 

 sions should be held for such time as might be 

 necessary. Conference with the executive 

 officers of both societies after the meeting 

 shows that this plan worked out to the satis- 

 faction of all concerned with no friction or 

 other unpleasant features save for some in- 

 convenience to the secretaries growing out of 

 a tardy beginning of the negotiations. A 

 critical examination of the joint program 

 shows, as it happens, that the two societies 

 represented were very evenly balanced, both 

 in number of papers submitted and in their 

 scientific worth. 



The plan here outlined is not recommended 

 as an ideal, nor even a practicable, solution 

 of the problem for every case, but it is men- 

 tioned as another illustration of the fact that 

 the problem can be solved in a concrete case. 

 Doubtless a different solution would have to 

 be worked out for some other case. 



In view of this history, the present writer, 

 who is a loyal member of both Section F and 



the American Society of Zoologists, fails to 

 see any reason why the societies should not 

 have the advantages which would accrue to 

 both by such an affiliation as was referred to 

 above, uniting their forces for certain execu- 

 tive functions of national import, but leaving 

 each free to work out the details of its organ- 

 ization in its own way. Either branch of the 

 professional society would be able to meet in- 

 dependently at any time, but when the Amer- 

 ican Association meets in its region it should, 

 as a rule, secure the advantages of joint ses- 

 sions. 



For my part, to be perfectly frank, I do not 

 go to the national meetings primarily to hear 

 papers read, much as I enjoy that feature, for 

 these can generally be studied at leisure after- 

 wards. As a comparative neurologist I, of 

 course, want to get the first word of every 

 advance movement in my specialty in this 

 way; but I prize not less highly the oppor- 

 tunity possible only in a gathering of many 

 different societies, of meeting my colleagues 

 in related fields, by attending the Physiolo- 

 gists' and Anatomists' smokers, the Natural- 

 ists' dinner, and in other ways keeping in 

 closer personal touch with the men who are 

 doing the work in related departments of re- 

 search on which I must so largely build. This 

 is for me one of the most important gains 

 that I win at the national meetings and one 

 that can not be fully realized in any meeting 

 of a single professional society, no matter how 

 high the scientific standard or how wide a 

 territory may be represented. 



To secure this gain I, for one, am willing 

 to make considerable sacrifices, though, as 

 indicated above, these sacrifices do not neces- 

 sarily include any loss in the efficiency or 

 interest of the programs of convocation week. 

 My own feeling is that in the final adjustment 

 we shall probably come to a summer meeting 

 of the association, with field excursions made 

 prominent, some of the sections perhaps meet- 

 ing in different places, and a convocation meet- 

 ing in the winter devoted mainly to the read- 

 ing of technical papers, with a due proportion 

 of the time devoted to public discussions and 

 lectures on themes of general scientific inter- 

 est and to social intercourse. There should 



