June 24, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



961 



tubes. Both of these devices involve, however, 

 some sacrifice of accuracy to rapidity. 

 Whisper as v?ell as conversation records have 

 been used in our trial series. But the con- 

 versation records promise to give a moite 

 delicate measure of hearing than the others, 

 and may eventually supplant the vchisper 

 series, vehich have, after all, been employed 

 heretofore chiefly because they demand less 

 floor space than the more intensive sounds of 

 vocal speech. 



It is vforth noting that the number-vrords of 

 the test disappear, as their intensities are grad- 

 ually diminished by the setting of the reducer, 

 as quite clear and vi'ell-defined sounds and not 

 as blurred masses — an important point in an 

 examination of this kind. The tests thus far 

 carried out have been made with original — not 

 molded — records. Should a sufiicient demand 

 arise, however, permanent mastel" records 

 could be provided. 



A possible objection to the method proposed 

 is that the control of the stimulus words, as 

 regards both their quality and their intensity, 

 falls short of the ideals of pure psychophysical 

 work ; but, in anticipation of this objection, it 

 may be said that anthropometrical tests of 

 capacity demand an entirely different standard 

 of accuracy from psychophysical researches 

 proper. The method suggested offers such evi- 

 dent advantages — in simplicity as well as in 

 accuracy — over traditional methods, that it 

 has seemed worth while to bring it to general 

 notice. 



I. M. Bentley. 



QUOTATIONS. 



THE ATLANTIC CITY SESSION OF THE AMERICAN 

 MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 



The fifty-fifth annual session of the Ameri- 

 can Medical Association, held last week, was 

 the most successful of any held in the history 

 of the Association, not only in the number in 

 attendance, but in the scientific work accom- 

 plished. 



The attendance excelled that expected by 

 the most hopeful. With the exception of one 

 of the international medical congresses, it was 

 probably the largest gathering of medical men 

 ever held anywhere, the registration number- 



ing 2,890. At the meeting in Atlantic City 

 in 1900, 2,019 registered ; at St. Paul in 1901, 

 1,806; at Saratoga Springs in 1902, 1,425; 

 and at New Orleans in 1903, 2,006. Yet in 

 spite of the number in attendance there was 

 no evidence of crowding and no criticism in 

 regard to accommodations. Atlantic City 

 certainly proved herself capable of entertain- 

 ing in a most satisfactory manner. The local 

 committees of arrangement had done their 

 work well, and are to be congratulated on the 

 arrangements made and on the successful out- 

 come of this magnificent meeting. 



From a scientific point of view, no meeting 

 ever surpassed it, whether we consider the 

 meetings of special societies, international 

 congresses, or what not. Every year some 

 sections report having done very superior 

 scientific work. This year from all the sec- 

 tions comes this report. It is not only the 

 section officers and those especially interested 

 in the sections who are saying this, but those 

 who have never before taken an interest in the 

 sections and who are more directly interested 

 in other societies than in the sections of the 

 American Medical Association are also ac- 

 knowledging the superior scientific work at 

 Atlantic City. The section officers deserve 

 great credit for this result of their year's 

 efforts. The officers of each section have vied 

 with each other in trying to outdo what has 

 been done in the past and to produce a pro- 

 gram that should be superior scientifically to 

 that of any preceding year and to that of any 

 other special society. Those who know the 

 amount of labor necessary to get up such a 

 program and to make a section successful will 

 appreciate that all the section officers have 

 worked hard and have done their duty faith- 

 fully. They have all set standards for their 

 successors that will be hard to surpass. 



The symposia following the orations on 

 Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings 

 were something entirely new with this session, 

 and they proved to be valuable as well as at- 

 tractive. Never before have the general meet- 

 ings been so well attended. The symposium 

 on the first evening, which was devoted to a 

 description of the research work that is being 

 done in several institutions in this country. 



