December 30, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



927 



of the natural sciences. The American Chem- 

 ical Society had been established in 1876; the 

 Geological and Mathematical Societies were 

 organized in 1888. Since that time special 

 societies have been founded for all the leading 

 sciences, and there is a tendency for them to 

 divide into branches for the different sections 

 of the country. 



The establishment of these special societies 

 represents an important advance, but its first 

 effect was to weaken the parent association. 

 Professional men of science found the ama- 

 teur element too prominent in the summer 

 meeting and the time was inconvenient for 

 many of them. In spite of the great increase 

 in the numbers of scientific men in the coun- 

 try, the meetings became smaller and the 

 membership decreased. But this was only a 

 temporary phase. The interests of men of 

 science are not exactly limited by the conven- 

 tional bounds of a single science. A zoologist, 

 for example, may be interested in anatomy, 

 physiology, pathology, paleontology, geog- 

 raphy, botany, psychology, chemistry or some 

 other science. It is also the case that those 

 who attend the annual meetings like to see 

 their friends from other parts of the country 

 who may be working in fields remote from 

 their own. It is advantageous consequently 

 for the special societies to meet in groups at 

 times, even though they may like occasionally 

 to be isolated, and some machinery is neces- 

 sary to make local arrangement to secure re- 

 duced railway fares and the like. 



Then while a small group of experts is the 

 ideal condition for the presentation and dis- 

 cussion of special research, there are wider 

 aspects of science and interrelations between 

 the sciences for the adequate consideration of 

 which workers in different departments must 

 come together. There are also conditions of 

 scientific progress, such as educational meth- 

 ods, scientific institutions, publication, govern- 

 ment activities, etc., that need criticism and 

 control. !N"either trades unions nor corpora- 

 tions meet with universal approval at the 

 present time, but it is obvious that some union 

 among men of science is desirable for the sup- 

 port of their common interests, which in this 

 case are fortunately identical with the inter- 



'■J-. ests of society. Lastly a federation of socie- 

 ties and a large gathering of scientific men is 

 an important factor in keeping scientific work 

 in touch with the outside world and in impres- 

 sing on it the unity and weight of scientific 

 research. 



The complicated conditions appear to have 

 been met by the establishment of ' convocation 

 week ' at the end of the Christmas holidays. 

 Under the general auspices of the American 

 Association arrangements are made at some 

 large center for the meeting of the associa- 

 tion and of the special societies that care to 

 join with it. The special societies have com- 

 plete control of their place and time of meet- 

 ing, of their programs and membership; but 

 without interfering with their autonomy the 

 advantages of a great gathering of scientific 

 men are assured. Thus at Philadelphia, be- 

 ginning the day after Christmas, there will 

 meet the American Association and its ten 

 sections ; the American Society of Naturalists, 

 and some twenty special societies, including 

 those devoted to astronomy, physics, chem- 

 istry, geology, botany, zoology, paleontology, 

 bacteriology, physiology, anatomy, anthropol- 

 ogy, psychology and philosophy. 



The societies are fortunate in their place of 

 meeting this year. Philadelphia is centrally 

 situated, at least for the Atlantic seaboard. 

 The city is noted for its scientific societies 

 and institutions. The University of Pennsyl- 

 vania is one of the great universities which 

 can offer admirable accommodations to all the 

 societies and at the same time much to interest 

 all men of science. Houston Hall, the beauti- 

 ful club house of the students, will be an ad- 

 mirable center for social intercourse. The 

 magnificent new medical laboratories will no't 

 only give excellent places of meeting for the 

 societies devoted to the biological sciences, but 

 a visit to them would I'cpay a trip from Boston 

 or even Chicago. Each group of scientific 

 men will find something- to interest them in the 

 advances made by the university during the 

 ten years of Provost Harrison's administra- 

 tion. These include the laboratories of phys- 

 ics and of chemistry, the engineering hall, 

 the observatory, the botanical garden, the 

 vivarium and the museums, to mention only 



