SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVII. No. 703 



sociation to be held on the invitation of Dart- 

 mouth College, at Hanover, N. H., from June 

 29 to July 3. The American Physical Society 

 and the Geological Society of America meet in 

 affiliation with the association, and good pro- 

 grams of scientific papers may be expected 

 in physics and in geology. In the other sci- 

 ences there will be no regular programs, 

 though there may be informal conferences. 

 The special feature of the meeting will be 

 the opportunity of meeting colleagues and 

 friends amid the pleasant surroundings of a 

 New England College and the interesting 

 excursions that have been arranged. Those 

 who were able to attend the summer meeting 

 at Cornell University two years ago remember 

 it with special pleasure, and there is every 

 reason to believe that the meeting at Dart- 

 mouth College this year will prove equally 

 attractive. 



The association is performing an important 

 service for scientific men and for those in- 

 terested in science by arranging not only 

 great winter meetings in our cities where the 

 attendance runs into the thousands and where 

 the collective strength of the science of the, 

 country is exhibited, but also in providing less 

 formal meetings in the summer for those able 

 to attend them. Our scientific men are so 

 many, the country is so large and interests are 

 so diversified that there is ample room for two 

 meetings in different regions and of different 

 character. There is indeed nothing quixotic 

 in looking forward to the time when the asso- 

 ciation will make arrangements for a dozen 

 meetings in the course of a year. It is an 

 advantage to have a well-organized central 

 office which will serve scientific men and 

 scientific interests whenever and wherever this 

 is possible. Our national societies devoted to 

 the different sciences, and our local academies 

 must be the units of organization; and their 



complete autonomy must be respected. But 

 each of these societies can not maintain 

 salaried officers and have at its disposal the 

 information and the experience which are 

 needed to arrange a meeting efficiently and 

 economically. 



In arranging the Hanover meeting the 

 officers of the association have served the phys- 

 icists and the geologists, who wish to hold 

 sessions, and have provided a center where 

 scientific men can meet individually and in 

 conferences and committees. They have also 

 performed a function which has been some- 

 what neglected in recent years, and which has 

 never been so well performed here as in Great 

 Britain, namely, the diffusion of science and 

 the awakening of the interest of those not pro- 

 fessionally engaged in scientific work. It 

 should always be remembered that science de- 

 pends on the intelligent public for recruits 

 and for support, and scientific men should 

 encourage general interest in science in so far 

 as this can be done without sacrifice of their 

 research work. A meeting such as this at 

 Hanover should attract men and women who 

 wish to become acquainted with the work of 

 scientific men. Relatively more attention can 

 and should be paid to their interests than is 

 possible in the crowded winter meetings. 

 Lectures, meetings and excursions have been 

 arranged at Hanover which are of general in- 

 terest, and this fact should be brought by 

 scientific men to the attention of others. 



While the Hanover meeting may interest 

 directly only a small proportion of the scien- 

 tific men of the country, it certainly does not 

 interfere with those who do not attend. On 

 the contrary, it is of some service to all by 

 what it does accomplish. Next summer the 

 British Association meets in Winnipeg, and 

 has courteously invited all members of the 

 American Association to become members for 



