Apeil 26, 1907] 



SCIENCE 



653 



izations by which these stores of knowledge 

 are bound together, we are apt to conclude 

 that where so much has been wrested from 

 the unknown there can be little left for 

 new discoverers. The true view, of course, 

 is that which regards our present knowl- 

 edge as a sphere floating in the infinite of 

 the unknown. As the sphere enlarges so 

 it touches upon more points of the un- 

 known. As our knowledge grows so also 

 does our ignorance increase. 



We have only to consider the chemical 

 processes as carried out by plants and ani- 

 mals to realize how crude and clumsy our 

 own present methods are. There is still 

 plenty for the chemist to do and the pros- 

 pect which lies before us is not only rich in 

 promise for the material welfare of man- 

 kind, but one which in its realization must 

 affect profoundly man's view of the uni- 

 verse and of his relation to it. Few of us 

 can remember the intellectual stimulus 

 which followed .Wohler's discovery that a 

 compound which seemed peculiarly to rep- 

 resent the product of vital forces could be 

 reproduced within the laboratory, but most 

 of us, I firmly believe, will witness the 

 breaking down of the line which now sepa- 

 rates living matter from dead matter. 

 "With it wiU come an intellectual revolution 

 the result of which can only be to bring 

 the whole world closer to 'the God of 

 things as they are.' 



Arthur D. Little 



ANTHROPOLOGY AT THE NEW YORK 

 MEETING 



The joint meeting of Section H of the 

 American Association for the Advancement 

 of Science, the American Anthropological 

 Association and the American Folk-Lore 

 Society held at Columbia University, New 

 York City, December 27, 1906-January 1, 

 1907, was notable for the number of work- 

 ing anthropologists present as weU as for 

 the length and excellence of the program. 



Coming, as it did, so soon after the Inter- 

 national Congress of Americanists in Que- 

 bec, fear had been expressed that the New 

 York program might be but the gleanings 

 of a field already thoroughly harvested. 

 That new fields were entered may be 

 readily seen by a survey of the program, 

 which included fifty-six numbers in addi- 

 tion to the addresses of the president of the 

 Folk-Lore Society and of the retiring vice- 

 president of Section H. 



BUSINESS AND SOCIAL FUNCTIONS 



The Council of the American Anthro- 

 pological Association and the Sectional 

 Committee of Section H held a joint busi- 

 ness meeting on December 27, at which the 

 retiring vice-president of Section H, Dr. 

 George Grant MacCurdy, presided. 



Professor William H. Holmes presented 

 an official communication from the Anthro- 

 pological Society of Cologne, Germany, in- 

 viting the American Anthropological Asso- 

 ciation and members of Section H to take 

 part in the International Congress of An- 

 thropology to be held at Cologne'^ in Au- 

 gust, 1907; and recommended that the 

 chair appoint a committee to further the 

 interests of the Cologne Congress. On 

 formal motion to that effect the chair ap- 

 pointed the following committee: W. H. 

 Holmes (chairman), Franz Boas, Chas. 

 Peabody, W J McGee, F. W. Putnam, A.' 

 L. Kroeber, K. von den Steinen, G. B. 

 Gordon, G. A. Dorsey, C. V. Hartman, J. 

 C. Merriam, G. F. Wright, J. W. Fewkes, 

 S. Culin, David Boyle, A. Hrdlicka, F. M. 

 Palmer, C. A. Peterson, S. Hagar and G. 

 G. MacCurdy {ex officio). 



The question of the advisability of 

 changing the name of Section H, Anthro- 

 pology, so aa to read 'Section H, Anthro- 

 pology and Psychology' came up for dis- 

 cussion. On motion the chair appointed a 



^ Place of meeting has recently been changed to 

 Strasburg; the date is August 4-8. 



