270 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VIII. No. 192. 



The other States were represented as fol- 

 lows : Pennsylvania by 55 ; Ohio by 53 ; 

 Connecticut, 29 ; New Hampshire, 23 ; 

 Michigan, 23 ; New Jersey, 20 ; Maryland, 

 19 ; Wisconsin, 18 ; Missouri, 17 : Illinois, 

 15 ; Rhode Island, 14 ; Indiana, 12 ; Maine, 

 10 ; Virginia, 10 ; Iowa, 10 ; Vermont, 

 7 ; Minnesota, 7 ; North Carolina, 6 ; 

 Florida, 6 ; Kansas, 5 ; Mississipj^i, 5 ; 

 Kentucky, 5 ; "West Virginia, 4 ; Georgia, 

 4 ; Louisiana, 3 ; Tennessee, 3 ; Texas, 3 ; 

 Colorado, 3 ; South Carolina, 2 ; Nebraska, 

 2 ; and Montana, North Dakota and Cali- 

 fornia, 1 each. 



The term American has always been held 

 by the Association to include not only citi- 

 zens of the United States, but of other 

 American countries, and members from 

 Canada have always been present at the 

 meetings. At this session there were pres- 

 ent 16 members from British North Amer- 

 ica. There were representatives from other 

 countries in attendance. The Republic of 

 France sent an official representative, who, 

 with his wife, appears upon the registration 

 list of the meeting. Moreover, three persons 

 have registered from Great Britain ; one 

 from New South Wales ; one from Brazil, 

 and one from Japan. 



Not alone in point of the numbers in at- 

 tendance was the meeting remarkably suc- 

 cessful. More papers than usual were read 

 before the different sections, and it is un- 

 necessary to make the statement that the 

 character of these papers as a whole was of 

 the highest order. Considering that during 

 the week an entire day was spent at Salem 

 at which no papers were read, and that an- 

 other day was spent at Cambridge during 

 which but few papers were read, and that 

 the first day, Monday, was entirely occu- 

 pied by the general session and the delivery 

 of the addresses of the Vice-Presidents, it 

 is remarkable that the Association should 

 have completed the reading and discussion 

 of so many different papers. In all 443 



papers were considered during the week. 

 Of these 39 were presented to Section A ; 

 51 to Section B ; 90 to Section C ; 20 to 

 Section D ; 54 to Section E ; 35 to Section 

 F ; 56 to Section G ; 10 to the Botanists' 

 Club ; 55 to Section H ; 33 to Section I. 



The success of the Boston meeting was 

 further very marked in the attendance of 

 so many of the older and more prominent 

 men of the United States. No less than 

 nine past Presidents of the Association 

 took part in the discussions of the week, 

 and in this fact, no less than in the greatly 

 increased attendance over that of the last 

 meeting, is to be seen most encouraging 

 signs of the future of the Association. 



The first general session of the Associa- 

 tion was called to order by the retiring 

 President, Professor Wolcott Gibbs, at 10 

 o'clock on the morning of August 22d. Ad- 

 dresses of welcome were made by His Ex- 

 cellency, Roger Wolcott, Governor of Mas- 

 sachusetts; His Honor, Josiah Quincy, 

 Mayor of Boston; and President James M. 

 Crafts, of the Massachusetts Institute of 

 Technology, to which a reply was made by 

 President Putnam. 



The address of Governor Wolcott, as re- 

 ported in the Transcript, was in part as fol- 

 lows: It is with far more than ordinary 

 pleasure that, on behalf of the Common- 

 wealth, I extend a most cordial greeting to 

 those who are present here to-day. The 

 American Association for the Advancement 

 of Science on this, its fiftieth anniversary, 

 has done well to return to the soil of the 

 Commonwealth Avhich was the place of its 

 birth and which gave to it its charter. I 

 welcome you all — those who come from the 

 many cities of our country and those who 

 come from foreign lands. The Common- 

 wealth is honored by your presence. As 

 seekers after truth, you have devoted your 

 lives to following the footsteps of science, 

 whether her majestic way is across conti- 



