854 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVII. No. 700 



THE TOEREY BOTANICAL CLUB 



The club was called to order on April 14, 

 1908, at 8:30 o'clock, by Vice-president John 

 Hendley Barnhart. Seven persons were 

 present. 



The scientific program consisted of two 

 papers, as follows : 

 The Relation of Chemical Stimulation to 



Nitrogen Fixation in Sterigmatocystis : 



Maeion E. Latham. 



This paper will appear in full in a future 

 number of the Bulletin of the club. 

 Some Forms of Protoplasmic Reaction : H. M. 



Eichaeds. 



The speaker reviewed the more recent lit- 

 erature and theories bearing on the subject 

 of the stimulus and response of protoplasm. 



Both of these papers were followed by an 

 interesting discussion, and the meeting ad- 

 journed at ten o'clock. 



C. Stuaet Gagek, 

 Secretary 



the AMEEICAN chemical society, new YORK 

 SECTION 



The eighth regular meeting of the session 

 of 1907-8 was held at the Chemists' Club, 

 108 West 55th Street, on May 8. 



Professor Charles E. Munroe, of the George 

 Washington University, addressed the Section 

 on, " Explosions in Mines." 



C. M. Joyce, 

 Secretary 



DISGVSSWN AND CORRESPONDENCE 

 THE GEEMAN ANATOMICAL SOCIETY 



To the Editor of Science: During the 

 recent meeting of the Anatomische Gesell- 

 schaft, at Berlin, I noticed several points of 

 management and procedure which seemed to 

 me of value in economy of time, and I send 

 you my notes with the hope that their publica- 

 tion may interest those in charge of the 

 meetings of similar organizations in America 



In the first place, the meetings of our 

 societies often suffer by reason of over- 

 crowded programs. There is not time to pre- 

 sent all the papers presented and the chances 



for discussion of those which are read are 

 reduced to a minimum. 



In the German society the number of papers 

 to be presented at a single session is limited 

 by statute to twenty-five and usually but 

 about that number is printed on the prelimi- 

 nary program. This year, owing to the num- 

 ber of titles sent in at an early date, the num- 

 ber was increased to thirty-nine, those in ex- 

 cess to be read only in case others ahead of 

 them were omitted for one reason or another. 



This restriction of number of papers allows 

 an increase of the time limit for each person 

 to twenty minutes, but one person is allowed 

 only one place on the program, although he 

 may give two or more papers, provided that he 

 do not overrun his allotted third of an hour. 

 Only once did I notice that a speaker over- 

 ran his time and he was called to order by the 

 president. 



As a rule, the speakers went at once straight 

 to the pith of their communications ; wasting 

 no time in historical summaries of previous 

 knowledge of the subject, details of technique 

 or minutiae of diagrams or specimens ex- 

 hibited, which only tire and confuse the 

 listener who only wishes to know the new 

 points and the broadest evidence upon which 

 the conclusions are based. Knowing these, he 

 can wait for details until the complete paper 

 is published. 



The sessions were announced to begin at 9 

 A.M. instead of ten o'clock, as is usual with uS, 

 and they lived up pretty closely to this 

 schedule. This apparently was well under- 

 stood, as when the meeting was called to order 

 a goodly audience was present. Were the 

 Americans ever to live up to their late pro- 

 gram hour, calling the meeting to order at 

 10 o'clock instead of " dawdling " until most 

 of the members had got together, the lesson of 

 punctuality would soon be learned and con- 

 siderable time would be saved. 



With this limitation of the number of 

 papers and the economy of time which has 

 been alluded to, there was abundant time for 

 discussion, and all must admit that discussion 

 is frequently as valuable as, sometimes more 

 valuable than, the paper itself. In these dis- 



