996 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXV. No. 652 



college for millionaires. Now this is the 

 very worst scheme of divison that could 

 possibly be devised. It would accentuate 

 and intensify the unfortunate lines of 

 cleavage in the student body that are now 

 beginning to appear. It would stereotype 

 and perpetuate them. It would erect bar- 

 riers, to prevent a student from associating 

 readily with the very men that he ought 

 to be thrown with. "What we need, on the 

 contrary, is a system of grouping that will 

 bring into each group men from different 

 parts of the country, men with different 

 experience, and as far as possible social 

 condition. In short, what we want is a 

 group of colleges each of which will be 

 national and democratic, a microcosm of 

 the whole university. This may not be an 

 easy feat to accomplish, but I believe it can 

 be done. Perhaps the freshman year, which 

 is in any case a period of transition, could 

 be advantageously used as a time for mix- 

 . ing the students together, and bringing out 

 their natural sympathies and affinities be- 

 fore they make their final selection of a 

 college. But whether this solution be 

 adopted or not, the problem is one that is, 

 or shortly will be, common to the leading 

 endowed universities in the eastern states, 

 and they must all solve it sooner or later in 

 some way if they are to maintain their 

 undergraduate departments, and make them 

 of the highest value to the nation. 



A. Lawrence Lowell 

 Harvard University 



THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE AMERICAN 

 ASSOCIATION OF MUSEUMS 



The second annual meeting of the Amer- 

 ican Association of Museums was held at 

 the Carnegie Institute in the city of Pitts- 

 burg June 4-6, in pursuance of an invita- 

 tion which had been extended to the asso- 

 ciation in May, 1906, by the trustees of 

 that institution. The local committee of 

 arrangements consisted of the trustees of 



the Carnegie Institute and a number of 

 distinguished gentlemen representing vari- 

 ous educational and commercial organiza- 

 tions in the city of Pittsburg, including 

 the chancellor of the Western University 

 of Pennsylvania, the president of the 

 Chamber of Commerce, the president of 

 the Pittsburg Stock Exchange and the 

 presidents of the Academy of Science and 

 Art of Pittsburg and the Botanical Society 

 of Western Pennsylvania and the heads of 

 various schools and colleges. An executive 

 committee, presided over by Hon. James 

 Macfarlane with Mr. C. C. Mellor as sec- 

 retary, attended to all details. 



Although the time fixed for the meeting 

 unfortunately coincided with the com- 

 mencement season in many institutions, 

 and many members of the association were 

 also compelled to be absent because al- 

 ready the work of exploration in distant 

 regions had been begun by the museums 

 which they represented, there were over 

 sixty members of the association present, 

 and almost all of the leading museums and 

 art galleries of America were represented 

 by one or more delegates. 



The council convened in advance of the 

 meeting of the association at the Hotel 

 Schenley on the evening of June 3, and 

 after dining, as the guests of Dr. Holland, 

 the director of the Carnegie Museum, 

 transacted the routine business which came 

 before them in connection with the coming 

 meeting. 



The sessions were held in the lecture hall 

 of science in the institute. President Her- 

 mon C. Bumpus, the director of the Amer- 

 ican Miiseum of Natural History, presided 

 until the morning of Thursday, when the 

 chair was taken by Dr. W. J. Holland, the 

 second vice-president. Dr. George A. 

 Dorsey was the secretary. 



At the opening on the first day, June 4, 

 at 10 A.M., an address of welcome was de- 



