Decembek 18, 1914] 



SCIENCE 



885 



discussions whicli took place afterward around 

 the refreshment tables in the library augured 

 well for the success of the new series of 

 lectures. 



It is the plan of the committee in charge 

 to hold these gatherings on the first and third 

 Wednesdays of each month until the middle 

 of May. A large number of important com- 

 munications have been promised by many 

 officers of the various scientific establishments 

 about Boston and Cambridge. Among these 

 may be mentioned especially Professor M. L. 

 Fernald who at the next meeting will speak 

 upon the Flora of Block Island in Eelation to 

 that of Cape Cod. At the third meeting Pro- 

 fessor Wallace W. Atwood will address the 

 society on Mesa Verde, with remarks upon the 

 ancient cliff dwellings in that region. Papers 

 have also been promised by Professor W. M. 

 Davis, on his recent researches on the Eeefs 

 of the South Pacific, by Professors J. B. Wood- 

 worth, P. E. Eaymond, E. A. Daly, C. T. 

 Brues, G. H. Parker, E. T. Jackson, H. W. 

 Shimer, C. Palaehe, as well as by Dr. H. B. 

 Bigelow and Mr. C. W. Johnson, the curator 

 of the society's museum. 



Many changes have been made in the Mu- 

 seum building since the lectures were discon- 

 tinued five years ago. The lecture hall has 

 been completely renovated and reequipped 

 throughout, so that it is now an attractive 

 and cheerful meeting place. Even greater 

 changes may be seen in the other parts of the 

 building. The museum has definitely decided 

 to lay special emphasis on exhibits of New 

 England natural history and with this end 

 in view has entered into a scheme of coopera- 

 tion with the University Museum in Cam- 

 bridge. The long unused collections of foreign 

 material are being sent there and the space 

 devoted to exhibits of modern groups of New 

 England mammals and birds. The other 

 branches of New England natural history are 

 also being appropriately displayed. 



THE PROPOSED TORONTO MEETING OF 

 THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION 

 The University of Toronto and the scien- 

 tific men of the city had extended a cordial 



invitation to the American Association for the 

 Advancement of Science and the Affiliated 

 Societies to meet in Toronto a year hence. 

 The circumstances which will make this im- 

 possible are explained in the following letters, 

 addressed to Dr. L. O. Howard, permanent 

 secretary of the association. Dr. Eobert W. 

 Falconer, president of the university, writes: 



I have had a meeting of the committee whieh 

 the university appointed to make arrangements 

 for the reception of the American Association for 

 the Advancement of Science, which accepted our 

 invitation to meet here a year ago from next De- 

 cember. Our committee had been intending to use 

 every effort to make the meeting a highly success- 

 ful one, and we were hoping to create a widespread 

 interest in the association. However, the outbreak 

 of this terrible war has made an entirely new situ- 

 ation. At present the war hangs over us like a 

 cloud so heavily that it would be very hard indeed 

 for us to arouse interest in a scientific meeting. 

 Also, the financial situation is anything but prom- 

 ising. We can not hazard any conjecture as to the 

 length of the war, though we are making prepara- 

 tions on the assumption that it may last for 

 another year at least. What condition we shall 

 be in then no one can tell. Our committee thought 

 that it was only right that I should thus place our 

 conditions before you at this early stage on the 

 chance that you might be able to change the place 

 of meeting and come to us later, at a time when 

 we shall be able to give you a welcome that we 

 would be anxious to accord the association. 



Professor J. C. Fields writes on behalf of 

 the local committee: 



At a meeting of the local executive committee 

 we had an extended discussion on the prospects of 

 the meeting of the American Association for the 

 Advancement of Science to which we folks up here 

 were all looking forward with so much interest. 

 In view of the conditions already induced by the 

 war and the uncertainty of the future it was the 

 general disappointed sense of the members that 

 we might not be in a position to arouse sufficient 

 local interest or otherwise be able to assure such a 

 success as we should wish for the meeting. Here 

 everything is disorganized by the war and its issues 

 overshadow everything else. Students and mem- 

 bers of the faculty are drilling and many are 

 likely to go to the front, so that we hardly know 

 what will be the position of afEairs here by this 

 time next year. The members of the committee 



