36 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVII. No. 679 



ment of the elevated station at 82d Street. 

 This museum now enjoys the best location of 

 any in the country, so far as ease of access 

 is concerned and not unnaturally stands first 

 in the number of its visitors. 



Museum attendance, as shov?n by the report 

 of the U. S. National Museum, is subject to 

 great fluctuation and, like sun-spots, has its 

 maximum and minimum periods. After each 

 inaugural year there is a drop to below the 

 normal and in the yeare 1905 and 1906 at- 

 tendance was less than in any i)revious year. 

 There is a curious correlation between the 

 loss here and the great falling off in attend- 

 ance at the British Museum, where the 

 Bloomsbury Square institution reports a loss 

 of 122,000 and the Museum of Natural His- 

 tory of 95,000 visitors. It can not be said 

 that this is due to any fault or deterioration 

 of the exhibits or administration of these or 

 other museums. 



The American and Field Museums both 

 offer extended series of lectures on topics akin 

 to the work of the museums and these are 

 fairly well attended. The Field Museum has 

 arranged to have its lectures during the com- 

 ing year given in the Hall of the Art Institute, 

 in which it will not be handicapped by its 

 location. 



After all, the amount of real good effected 

 by lectures is somewhat of a problem. For- 

 merly lectures were given because the speaker 

 had something to impart, but not unnaturally 

 the pictures have come to be regarded as more 

 important than the words, or at least more 

 desired by the public. This is not wholly to 

 be wondered at or deplored, for pictures often 

 give a clearer idea of facts and things than 

 descriptions, illustrations being the equivalent 

 ef the objects on exhibition in a museum. 



It is *ery evident from the lists of material 

 received and papers published that the scien- 

 tific side of museum work is not receiving any 

 less attention than heretofore, simply the pub- 

 lic is very properly getting more. 



F. A. Lucas 



THE GENERAL MEETING OF THE AMER- 

 ICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY 

 A COMMITTEE of the general society has been 

 formed to arrange for a meeting to be held on 



April 23, 24 and 25, 1908. The committee 

 consists of George F. Barker, Philadelphia; 

 John A. Brashear, Pittsburg; William Keith 

 Brooks, Baltimore; Ernest W. Brown, New 

 Haven; Thomas C. Chamberlin, Chicago; 

 Charles F. Chandler, New York ; Edwin Grant 

 Conldin, Philadelphia; Henry H. Donaldson, 

 Philadelphia; Charles L. Doolittle, Upper 

 Darby, Pa. ; Arthur W. Goodspeed, Philadel- 

 phia; I. Minis Hays, Philadelphia; Morris 

 Jastrow, Jr., Philadelphia; David Starr Jor- 

 dan, Stanford University, Cal. ; Charles E. 

 Lanman, Cambridge;- Marion D. Learned, 

 Philadelphia; Simon Newcomb, Washington; 

 Edward L. Nichols, Ithaca; Henry F. Osborn, 

 New York; Edward C. Pickering, Cambridge; 

 Henry A. Pilsbry, Philadelphia; Ira Eemsen, 

 Baltimore; William B. Scott, Princeton; 

 Thomas Day Seymour, New Haven; Edgar F. 

 Smith, Philadelphia; Edward B. Titchener, 

 Ithaca; William Trelease, St. Louis, Charles 

 D. Walcott, Washington; Woodrow Wilson, 

 Princeton; William H. Welch, Baltimore; 

 Robert S. Woodward, Washington. 



This committee has sent out the following 

 letter : 



The American Philosophical Society has satis- 

 factorily shown that the interes-ts of useful knowl- 

 edge in the United States may be greatly pro- 

 moted by the annual general meetings of the 

 society. Such meetings have proved attractive to 

 its members in all parts of the country, not only 

 because of the general interest in the scientific 

 communications offered, but also because of the 

 opportunities afforded of renewing and extending 

 acquaintanceship among workers in the various 

 fields of knowledge, and they have markedly broad- 

 ened the field of usefulness of this, the oldest 

 scientific society in America. 



The general meeting of 1908 will be held on 

 April 23 to 25, beginning at 2 p.m. on Thursday, 

 April 23, and the above committee has been ap- 

 pointed to make the necessary arrangements. 



Members desiring to present papers, either for 

 themselves or others, are requested to send to 

 the secretaries, at as early a date as practicable, 

 and not later than March 25, 1908, the titles of 

 these papers, so that they may be announced on 

 the program which will be issued immediately 

 thereafter, and which will give in detail the ar- 

 rangements for the meeting. 



Papers in any department of science come within 

 the scope of the society, which, as its name indi- 



