Januaet 11, 1907] 



SCIENCE 



45 



devoted to him. The Sun reported in de- 

 tail the alleged discovery of a method to do 

 away with old age and death, cabled from 

 France, while almost ignoring the scientific 

 discoveries and advances of the meeting. 

 A newspaper which would discharge an 

 editor for making a 'break' in literature 

 or art will expose its scientific nakedness 

 without shame. But it must be remem- 

 bered that it is our scientific men and our 

 scientific organizations, rather than the 

 newspapers themselves, on which the ulti- 

 mate responsibility rests. 



The principal events of the meeting are 

 briefly recorded in the report of the gen- 

 eral secretary, which follows, and accounts 

 of the scientific sessions will be printed 

 in subsequent issues. Probably the most 

 important action taken was the establish- 

 ment of a section on education. An amend- 

 ment to the constitution to this effect had 

 been proposed at the New Orleans meeting 

 and was supported by a petition signed by 

 171 of those interested, including many 

 leading educators. Such a section will 

 have two somewhat distinct functions. It 

 will be concerned, on the one hand, with 

 education as a science and, on the other, 

 with the teaching of the sciences. In both 

 cases the alliance with the association is 

 fortunate. Those who are aiming to. make 

 education a science can profit by associa- 

 tion with those who are following sciences 

 that are more exact, while a majority of 

 the fellows of the association are engaged 

 in teaching. There are also important 

 questions of educational administration 

 which can properly be brought before the 

 section. Lastly, it is desirable on both 

 sides that those who are engaged in the 



teaching of the sciences in the schools and 

 colleges should be brought in contact with 

 those who are carrying on research work. 

 It may further be noted that steps were 

 taken at the New York meeting to form a 

 federation of the local societies of teachers 

 of the mathematical and natural sciences. 

 The constitution of the association was also 

 amended so that psychology should be offi- 

 cially recognized in its scope. The Psy- 

 chological Association, one of the strongest 

 of our special societies, has long been affili- 

 ated with the association, and to it wiU 

 doiibtless be left the psychological program 

 of the section of anthropology and psy- 

 chology. 



New committees were formed on seismol- 

 ogy, on the bibliography of science and on 

 the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary 

 of the publication of the 'Origin of Spe- 

 cies' in 1909. In that year the British 

 Association will meet in Canada, and a 

 cordial invitation was presented to take 

 part in that meeting. A letter was read 

 announcing that the Walter Eeed memorial 

 fund, the movement for which originated 

 at the Washington meeting, now amounts 

 to over $24,000, and toward completing the 

 fund of $25,000, the sum of $100 was ap- 

 propriated from funds in the hands of the 

 permanent secretary, as a mark of appre- 

 ciation by the association of Reed's great 

 services in the suppression of yellow fever. 

 A resolution was passed urging the passage 

 of bills creating forest reserves in the Ap- 

 palachians and the White Mountains. 



Space permits no reference here to the 

 scientific meetings, before which about 800 

 papers were presented, but these will be 

 subsequently reported. A few words 



