SCIENCE 



CONTENTS 



Feidat, December 25, 1914 

 National Academies and the Progress of Re- 

 search: Dr. George Ellery Hale 907 



University Registration Statistics: John C. 

 Burg 919 



Charles SedgwicTc Minot: Professor Henry 

 H. Donaldson 926 



The Samuel Franklin Emmons Memorial Fel- 

 lowship 927 



The San Francisco Meeting of the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Sci- 

 ence 928 



Scientific Notes and News 929 



University and Educational News 932 



Discussion and Correspondence : — 



Bate of Continental Denudation: Dr. 

 Charles Keyes. Cladonema: E. Carroll 

 Faust 933 



Scientific Books: — 

 Grove on The British Rust Fungi : Professor 

 J. C. Arthur. Stanley's Text-hook on Wire- 

 less Telegraphy : J. H. M 934 



Botanical Notes: — • 



Tropical Leaves; North American Flora; 

 Perennial Grass Stem.s; Some Temperature 

 Belations of Plants; Short Notes: Pro- 

 fessor Charles E. Bessey 937 



Special Articles: — 

 Hadropterus peltatus in the Delaware: 

 Henry W. Fowler 939 



The Convocation Week Meeting of Scientific 

 Societies 940 



MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended for 

 review should be sent to Professor J. McKeen Cattell, Garrison- 

 On-Hudson, N. Y. 



NATIONAL ACADEMIES AND TSE PMOG- 

 KESS OF BESEABCE 



in. THE FUTURE OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY 

 OF SCIENCES^ 



In previous papers of this series^ we 

 have traced the development of European 

 academies and observed the powerful in- 

 fluence they have exercised on the advance- 

 ment of research; we have watched the 

 beginnings of scientific investigation in the 

 United States, and their public recognition 

 by act of Congress establishing the National 

 Academy of Sciences ; and we have followed 

 the history of the Academy during the half 

 century which has elapsed since its origin. 

 In view of the great part which academies 

 have played in the past, and the fact that 

 the rapid development of original research 

 in this country has carried us out of the 

 pioneer period, the National Academy now 

 faces an exceptional opportunity to impress 

 its influence upon the future scientific 

 work of the United States. But if it enjoys 

 an opportunity, it also faces a duty, im- 

 posed upon it by its national charter and 

 by its position as the sole representative of 



1 This paper Tfas presented at the Baltimore 

 meeting of the National Academy in November, 

 1913. By action of the council, a manuscript 

 copy was subsequently sent by the home secretary 

 to each member of the academy for criticism and 

 comment. In preparing the paper for publica- 

 tion, the author has had the advantage of seeing 

 these replies. Except for a few minor verbal 

 changes, the text is printed in its original form, 

 with the addition of new paragraphs in square 

 brackets. 



2 I. " The Work of European Academies, ' ' 

 Science, 38, 681, 1913. II. "The First Half 

 Century of the National Academy of Sciences," 

 Science, 39, 189, 1914. 



