September 4, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



279 



objects of the Association will be accom- 

 plisbed. 



It must be accepted as a fact that the 

 attendance at the meetings (as shown in 

 the accompanying curve) after reaching its 

 maximum from 1880 to 1884 has steadily- 

 declined. It is also true that with some 

 noteworthy exceptions, leaders in science 

 have in recent years very generally absented 

 themselves from the meetings. We think this 

 is from no lack of interest in the aims of the 

 Association, but from inertia and habit. It 

 is true in psychology as well as in physics 

 that a body at rest will remain at rest until 

 moved by some external force. Fortunately 

 when once in motion it will continue to 

 move in a straight line. The time has come 

 to apply the force. 



The election of Prof. Wolcott Gibbs as 

 president df the Association, and men such 

 as Dr. G. Brown Goode as vice-presidents for 

 some of the Sections, was a courageous act, 

 the value of which cannot be overestimated. 

 A majority of the nominating committee 

 believed that present conditions offered an 

 opportunity for further courageous action 

 of much importance. It was recommended 

 that the Association meet next year at To- 

 ronto to welcome the British j!^.ssociation to 

 American territory and to join with them 

 in the scientific work of their sections. The 

 Toronto committee sent a delegate to Buf- 

 falo with a cordial invitation, and we could 

 have welcomed the British Association 

 through a retiring president and a presi- 

 dent-elect equal in accomplishment to any 

 delegate from Great Britain. The follow- 

 ing year will be the fiftieth anniversary of 

 the foundation of the Association, and in 

 Boston or New York, with the same officers. 



we might have held a meeting far surpass- 

 ing any in the history of the Association. 



The recommendation of the nominating 

 committee was not accepted in the general 

 session . The question was nicely balanced, 

 and there was room for difference of opin- 

 ion among those interested in the welfare 

 of the Association. It seems, however, 

 evident that the Association should be 

 a true democracy. Having chosen its 

 delegates, their deliberative action should 

 not be reversed by inconsiderate im- 

 pulse. As Huxley has said, " there may 

 be wisdom in a multitude of counselors, 

 but it is usually in one or two of them.' 

 Folly is also likely to be concentrated in 

 one or two of a crowd, and unfortunately 

 folly is more contagious than wisdom. 

 Whatever may have been the merits of the 

 present question when it was before the 

 nominating committee*, the action of the 

 general session has given a warning that 

 should be heeded. 



If a meeting apart from the British Asso- 

 ciation were to be held, Detroit seems to be 

 the best place, and it was of course desira- 

 ble to choose a time not conflicting with 

 that of the meeting of the British Associa- 

 tion. The curve of attendance demon 

 strates that the meetings at Cincinnati, 

 Minneapolis, Ann Arbor, Cleveland, Indian- 

 apolis and Madison have always been step- 

 ping stones in a downward path, and we 

 fear that a meeting at Detroit, beginning 

 on August 9th, will be no exception. For 

 this very reason we must use our best efforts 

 to make the Detroit meeting creditable, and 

 begin at once to plan for a notable meeting 

 in Boston or New York on the occasion of 

 our fiftieth anniversary. 



