332 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVII. No. 687 



society had gained several hundred new 

 members this last year and was on a con- 

 tinued upward growth was pleasing to all. 



The most important action taken at the 

 meeting' was the decision to organize a 

 Division of Industrial Chemists and Chem- 

 ical Engineers who shall elect their own 

 officers, and to begin the publication of the 

 Journal of Industrial and Engineering 

 Chemistry with a board of editors carefully 

 picked as experts in the several lines of 

 chemical industry. 



The publication of Chemical Abstracts, 

 Avhich is now beginning its second volume, 

 has been a very great benefit to the society 

 and I'emarks of approval were heard on all 

 sides. It has published this last year 7,975 

 abstracts, covering 3,047 pages, and ab- 

 stracting over four hundred journals. Its 

 influence is widely felt in the present pros- 

 perity of the society. 



It is hoped that by this large union of 

 American chemists the great duplication of 

 effort which has been characteristic of for- 

 eign journals will be avoided in America 

 and that the members of the American 

 Chemical Society can be given for a 

 minimum cost literature which will cover 

 almost the entire field of chemistry. 



Excursions, banquet, smoker and social 

 functions were largely attended and every 

 member present went home with the de- 

 termination that he would be at the next 

 meeting. 



Charles L. Parsons, 



Secretary 



TEE BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA^ 

 The second annual meeting of the fed- 

 erated societies (the fourteenth of the Bo- 

 tanical Society of America) was held in 

 Hull Botanical Laboratory, at the Univer- 

 sity of Chicago, December 31, 1907, to 

 ^ A union of the Botanical Society of America, 

 the Society for Plant IMorphology and Physiology 

 and the American Mycological Society. 



January 3, 1908, under the presidency of 

 Professor G. F. Atkinson. About fifty 

 members were in attendance at the meet- 

 ing, which was thoroughly interesting 

 throughout. The excellent arrangements 

 made by the members of the local commit- 

 tee and by the staif of the department of 

 botany of the University of Chicago, con- 

 tributed largely to the success of the meet- 

 ing. 



The officers elected for 1908 were: 



President — Professor W. F. Ganong, Smith Col- 

 lege. 



Vice-president — Dr. C. L. Shear, Bureau of 

 Plant Industry. 



Treasurer — Dr. Arthur Holliek, New York Bo- 

 tanical Garden. 



Secretary — Professor D. S. Johnson, Johns Hop- 

 kins University. 



Councilors — Professor W. G. Farlow, Harvard 

 University (one year) ; Professor J. M. Coulter, 

 University of Chicago (two years), and Professor 

 W. Trelease, Missouri Botanical Garden (three 

 years ) . 



Three associate members were elected tc 

 fuU membership and three botanists were 

 elected to associate membership. 



The Committee on the College Entrance 

 Option, Professor W. F. Ganong and F. E. 

 Lloyd, made a report, of which, because of 

 its general interest, an abstract is printed 

 here: 



The report outlines the work of the com- 

 mittee from its appointment in December, 

 1900, to the present. The high school 

 course formulated by the committee, on the 

 basis of the reports of the National Educa- 

 tional Association and after wide consulta- 

 tion with prominent teachers throughout 

 the country, is now used as a basis for its 

 examinations by the College Entrance Ex- 

 amination Board, and is given by a con- 

 siderable number of preparatory schools. 

 The committee recommended (a) that it 

 be enlarged somewhat in numbers and 

 scope, to become a standing committee on 

 education, of three members, having charge 

 of this option and such other educational 



