Mat 5, 1916] 



SCIENCE 



637 



efficient organizations, equipments and 

 corps of instructors for the preparation of 

 the one type of chemist, but this very suc- 

 cess seems frequently to make impracticable 

 the training of men for research. The con- 

 scientious American professor has usually 

 devoted his life to bringing his students up 

 to a certain promising stage of interest in 

 science and experiment, only to see them 

 scatter before they have had any experience 

 with questioning nature, or have tried any 

 unbeaten chemical byway. 



While I am greatly interested in what 

 might be done for science by technical re- 

 search laboratories in the industries, I am 

 sure that the university must be the impor- 

 tant factor in guiding the pioneer work if 

 we are to be a sufficiently advancing nation. 



Let me recall recent words of President 

 Wilson : 



I know I reflect your feeling and the feeling of 

 all our citizens when I say the only thing I am 

 afraid of is not being ready to perform our dTity. 

 I am afraid of the danger of shame. I am afraid 

 of the danger of inadequacy. I am afraid of the 

 danger of not being able to express the correct 

 character of the country with tremendous might 

 and effectiveness whenever we are called upon to 

 act in the field of the world's affairs. 



These words ring true. The American 

 spirit is characterized by them. But think 

 further a moment. They refer to a fear 

 based upon an entirely corrigible defect. 

 The cure is in our hands. The time when 

 we are called upon to act in the field of the 

 world 's affairs is now ; but it was yesterday, 

 and it will be to-morrow. I maintain that 

 no nation can effectively act in that field at 

 odd or selected moments. It is either doing 

 it much of the time, or it is likely to be 

 unable to do it any of the time. 



Willis R. Whitney 

 General Electric Company, 

 Schenectady, N. Y. 



THE COMMITTEE ON POLICY OF THE 



AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE 



ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE 



The Committee on the Policy of the Amer- 

 ican Association for the Advancement of Sci- 

 ence met on April 17, 1916, in Washington. 

 Messrs. E. L. Nichols, chairman; Charles E. 

 Van Hise, president ; K. S. Woodward, treas- 

 urer, J. McK. Cattell, W. J. Humphreys, A. 

 A. Noyes, Stewart Paton, E. C. Pickering and 

 L. O. Howard, permanent secretary, were 

 present. 



The committee on delegates to the meetings 

 was instructed to make an especial effort to 

 secure delegates from the educational and 

 other scientific institutions to the New York 

 meeting, as this will be the first of the large 

 four-year meetings. 



The treasurer and the permanent secretary 

 presented financial reports which were ordered 

 printed in Science. 



The committee on new affiliated societies re- 

 ported that the following societies had been 

 admitted to affiliation : American Genetic 

 Association, Eugenics Research Association, 

 Illuminating Engineering Society, Wilson 

 Ornithological Club, and the Mid- West For- 

 estry Association. The American Institute of 

 Chemical Engineers and the American Soci- 

 ety of Heating and Ventilating Engineers 

 were invited to become affiliated. 



The treasurer reported with regard to the 

 Colburn bequest and stated that approxi- 

 mately seventy-eight thousand dollars ($78, 

 000) in cash and bonds had been turned over 

 to him by the executors. On motion, the 

 treasurer was authorized to convert cash to the 

 amount of eighty thousand dollars ($80,000) 

 into securities approved by the state laws of 

 New York and Massachusetts for savings 

 banks and trust funds. On motion, it was 

 directed that these investments be made with 

 the advice of a committee of three, of which 

 the treasurer and Mr. A. S. Frissell shall be 

 members, they to select the third member. 



The permanent secretary announced the 

 death of Professor Thomas J. Burrill, the 

 chairman of Section G, stating that he had 

 sent, in the name of the committee, a tele- 



