284 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVII. No. 425 



to advantage be organized in branches, an 

 annixal meeting of national character 

 should be held. There is much to be said 

 for holding the national meetings in convo- 

 cation week and in selecting other times 

 for the meetings of the branches and more 

 local societies and academies. There are 

 also good reasons for holding the meetings 

 of all national societies at the same place. 

 Local arrangements can be made once for 

 all, reduced railway rates can be obtained, 

 provision can be made for joint meetings 

 of overlapping sciences, and men of sci- 

 ence in different departments can make 

 and renew acquaintance. The national so- 

 cieties do not relinquish in the slightest 

 degree their individuality and autonomy by 

 meeting with the American Association. 

 The association has indeed proved itself 

 ready to leave to the special societies the 

 special programs. The American Chem- 

 ical Society and the section for chemistry 

 have for years held joint meetings without 

 friction. When the new section of physiol- 

 ogy and experimental medicine was organ- 

 ized the special programs were explicitly 

 left to the special societies, the section pro- 

 posing to confine itself to addresses and 

 discussions which concern more than one 

 science. At the recent Washington meet- 

 ing action was taken by which all special 

 papers in geology may be presented before 

 the Geological Society of America. Sim- 

 ilar plans for union have been arranged in 

 the cases of other sciences, and a natural 

 evolution will leave to the national societies 

 the presentation and discussion of special 

 research, while the sections of the associa- 

 tion will aim to coordinate the sciences and 



present their advances in a form intelli- 

 gible to all. 



The center of scientific population and 

 of scientific activity is no longer on the At- 

 lantic seaboard. If we have national meet- 

 ings they must sometimes be held in the 

 central and western states. There is a 

 general sentiment that the association and 

 the national scientific societies might with 

 advantage meet once in three years at 

 Washington, once in three years in an east- 

 ern city and once in three years in a central 

 or western city. The recent meeting at 

 Washington was certainly successful from 

 every point of view. It is to be hoped that 

 all men of science will unite in making the 

 meetings next year at St. Louis and the 

 following year at Philadelphia equally 

 representative of the scientific work and 

 interests of the whole countiy. 



THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 

 The board of regents of the Smithsonian 

 Institution held their annual meeting on 

 January 28. The time was so fully occu- 

 pied with routine business that there was 

 no opportunity for adequate discussion of 

 important questions concerned with the 

 policy of the institution. An adjourned 

 meeting was consequently called for March 

 11, when questions of administration will 

 be considered. There is undoubtedly a 

 widespread impression that the Smith- 

 sonian Institution is not accomplishing as 

 much for the diffusion and increase of 

 knowledge as it did in its earlier years. 

 It is easier to criticize than to outline a 

 constructive policy; but scientific men 

 should certainly unite in the latter course. 



