Janvary 11, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



obtain, if possible, the removal of the duty 

 on scientific instruments reported that al- 

 though they had succeeded in obtaining the 

 cooperation of most of the leading scientific 

 men, yet the inception of the movement 

 had been so delayed that the Gorman Bill 

 was already being considered by the Senate 

 before the petitions could be presented to 

 the House. 



The following resolution recommended 

 by the committee was then adopted: '• In- 

 asmuch as the repeal of the present iniqui- 

 tous dutj- on scientific instruments is im- 

 peratively needed hy the interests of the 

 country, we recommend that a committee 

 be appointed to present our just demands 

 to the President, to the Chairman of the 

 t'ommittee on Finance of the Senate and 

 the Chairman of the Committee of Ways 

 and Means of the House of Representatives, 

 and to take such other steps as may be 

 practicable to secm-e the immediate repeal 

 of the duty." 



The report of the committee on the revi- 

 sion of the Constitution and By-Laws was 

 unanimously adopted. By the new consti- 

 tution The American Society of Naturalists en- 

 courages the formation of other societies 

 of similar name and object in other parts 

 of the country and invites other societies 

 whose chief object is the encouragement 

 of the studj- of Natural History to become 

 affiliated with it. The affiliated societies 

 shall have a common place and time of 

 meeting with the American Society of Nat- 

 uralists, the exi)enses of which are to be 

 paid from a common treasury supplied from 

 a common fee. The records of the secre- 

 taries of the different societies are also to 

 be published at common expense. 



Tlie discussion upon Environment in its 

 Influence upon the Succesitive Stages of Develop- 

 ment and as a Cause of Variation, took place 

 in the Physical Lecture Room, Tiiursday 

 afternoon. It was opened by four papeis 

 and followed by remarks by Professors Cope 



and Hyatt. Di'. J)all, Dr. C. V. Hiley and 

 others. 



Professor Osborn, of Columbia College, in 

 opening the discussion, observed that natu- 

 ralists were reacting fi-oni the discussion of 

 theories towards the renewed inductive and 

 experimental studj- of the factors of Evolu- 

 tion. This was due to the feeling that the 

 prolonged discussion led by Spencer and 

 "Weismanu had assumed a largely deductive 

 character and would not lead to any per- 

 manent results. The inductive reaction 

 had taken two directions : first towards 

 the exact study of Variation, and second 

 towards experimental Evolution. As re- 

 gards Variation we should not expect to 

 form anj' laws so long as variations were 

 considered en masse without regard to the 

 past and present history of the organisms 

 studied. That organisms vary with their en- 

 vironment is a truism. What we need is a 

 clearer conception and interpretation of this 

 relation as a basis for experimental study 

 in the laboratory and in the field. The first 

 misconception to be removed is that which 

 has sprung up from the misuse of the terms 

 Heredity and Variability. Niigeli pointed 

 out many years ago as Weismanu and 

 Hurst have insisted more recently that 

 Heredity includes one phenomenon seen 

 from two sides which maj' convenient Ij" be 

 termed Repetition and Variation. A large 

 number of the variations recorded by Bate- 

 son, for example, are simple repetitions of 

 ancestral structure, and every new variation 

 is to be regarded as the expression of here- 

 ditarj' forces working under new conditions. 

 The first object of investigation is to decide 

 the time of oriijin of a variation, first in race 

 historj-, second in individual history. Vari- 

 ations which arise as practical repetitions 

 of past experience may conveniently be 

 termed ^palingenic,' while those which are 

 new to the organism may be termed -ceno- 

 ijenic' As regards individual history the 

 most important ([uestion is to determine 



