204 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVIII. No. 450. 



between the steady increase in member- 

 ship and the absence of any marked de- 

 viation in the number of members who 

 have contributed to the material of the 

 association, excepting at the eighth annual 

 meeting. This is all the more striking in 

 view of the fact that the association re- 

 ceives communications 'by title,' and these 

 are relatively few in number. The average 

 attendance at the annual meetings is al- 

 most thirty-five. The average number 

 annually elected to membership is almost 

 twelve. But the average number of con- 

 tributing members is only about twenty, a 

 number which remains well-nigh constant. 

 A more forceful, and thus a more inter- 

 esting, way of showing the aggregate indi- 

 vidual distribution of the industry that has 

 found place among us annually is given in 

 the following summary, which includes 

 two or three instances of joint authorship. 

 Eighty-nine members have been the total 

 contributors, of whom thirty-four have pre- 

 sented one unit, as paper, report, etc., each; 

 twenty-three have presented two units 

 each; ten have presented three each; eight 

 have presented four each; five have pre- 

 sented five each; three have presented six 

 each; two have presented seven each; one 

 member has presented fourteen, one seven- 

 teen, one nineteen and one twenty-three 

 units. 



The remaining fifty-nine members have 

 been inactive, silently paying their annual 

 dues. It is, indeed, a serious question 

 whether the association can hasten its real- 

 izations by carrying forty per cent, empty 

 baggage, or whether this phase of the 

 situation should not be radically changed. 

 Almost twenty-six per cent, of the total 

 contributions offered has been the work 

 of four members, who are laboratory men. 

 It will not be overlooked that they have 

 simply stood as sponsors mostly for the 



work done by the student body of research- 

 ers working under their direction. No 

 one would, of course, give an unequivocal 

 sanction to much speaking as a psycholog- 

 ical test. But such a summary shows the 

 lines of inevitable fruitfuLness. 



Again the inevitable query bears in upon 

 us: What of the value of the material 

 which has been thus variously presented 

 from time to time 1 But we must continue 

 to set it aside. If one attempts to judge 

 its worth, and the advance of science 

 through its worth, he runs into the danger 

 of maintaining that the field over which 

 we have trod remains sub jiidice. And, 

 moreover, it might reveal an immodest im- 

 maturity, to say the least, should one at- 

 tempt to anticipate our psychological pos- 

 terity in its function of judging of the 

 offerings which have been brought hither 

 year by year. 



There is one function which the associa- 

 tion can properly undertake more seriously, 

 which would tend to secure a steady ad- 

 vance in the value of the newer material 

 psychological researches may bring forth. 

 At present the indefinite and uncertain 

 method of 'natural selection' or mere sur- 

 vival of interest in individual cases is the 

 only mode of checking off results. An 

 improvement over this method would be a 

 planful arrangement whereby the associa- 

 tion could see to it that the annual output 

 of new conclusions and formula is intel- 

 ligently and critically evaluated. This 

 would effect a great saving of individual 

 labor on the part of each psychologist. 

 Edwaed Franklin Buchnee. 



Uniyeksity of Alabama. 



(To 6e continued.) 



> PROFESSOR ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL 

 ON KITE-CONSTRUCTION. 



It is fortunate for those interested in 

 aeronautics and the exploration of the air 



