658 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIV. No. 356. 



according to the original plan, but with some 

 modifications intended to meet more immedi- 

 ately the needs of the hospitals. Original re- 

 search in the various sciences having a bearing 

 upon the subject of insanity will go on as before, 

 but in addition the Institute will be utilized to 

 give special instruction in clinical psychiatry, as 

 well as methods of scientific research to the 

 physicians on the staffs of the hospitals for the 

 insane and to young men about to take up an 

 asylum career. In order to obtain this clinical 

 experience the Institution needs to be com- 

 bined with a hospital for the insane, and to 

 bring this about it is for the present to be con- 

 nected with one of the asylums on Ward's 

 Island, and until such time as a reception hos- 

 pital for the insane can be established in Man- 

 hattan. In selecting the members of the Ad- 

 visory Board, the Lunacy Commission deemed 

 it expedient to have the three University Med- 

 ical Schools of New York City represented, viz.: 

 Columbia, Cornell and Bellevue-University. 

 Furthermore it was decided to accord to the 

 chief sciences correlated with psychiatry repre- 

 sentations upon the Advisory Board. These sci- 

 ences are pathology, chemistry, psychology and 

 general biology. Inasmuch as the Pathological 

 Institute was created for the utilization of the ma- 

 terial of all the State hospitals, and for the pur- 

 pose of raising the standard of scientific study, 

 treatment and care of the insane under State care, 

 it was thought best that these institutions should 

 also have a voice upon the Advisory Board. A 

 member to represent general clinical medicine 

 and neurology was likewise selected. Accord- 

 ingly the Commission in Lunacy has established 

 an advisory board consisting of the following 

 men : James Ewing, Professor of Pathology, 

 Medical Department of Cornell University ; Dr. 

 Christian A. Herter, Professor of Pathological 

 Chemistry, Bellevue and University Medical 

 College ; Dr. J. McKeen Cattell, Professor of 

 Psychology, Columbia University ; Dr. Hermon 

 C. Bumpus, Assistant to the President of the 

 American Museum of Natural Historj'^, to rep- 

 resent the department of General Biology ; 

 Dr. Henry Hun, Professor of the Diseases of 

 the Nervous System, Albany Medical College, 

 to represent Neurology and Genei'al Clinical 

 Medicine ; Dr. Charles W. Pilgrim, superin- 



tendent of the Hudson River State Hospital, 

 at Poughkeepsie, and Dr. A. E. Macdonald, 

 superintendent of the Manhattan State Hospital, 

 East, to represent the State Hospitals ; Dr. 

 Frederick Peterson, President of the Lunacy 

 Commission, a member ex oflicio. All ap- 

 pointments to the advisory board are permanent 

 except two. The two superintendents of asyl- 

 ums on the board were elected by the fourteen 

 asylum superintendents of the State at a meet- 

 ing held in Buffalo, September 28, for a term 

 of two years only, thus permitting all the 

 asylums to be represented in rotation on the 

 board. 



TSE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. 

 A COMMITTEE of the American Philosophical 

 Society has sent to members the following 

 letter in regard to an annual general meeting 

 of the Society in Easter week : 



The American Philosophical Society, animated by 

 the desire which led its founder, the illustrious Frank- 

 lin, to issue his ' Proposals for promoting Useful 

 Knowledge among the British Plantations in North 

 America,' and which in 1743 resulted in the forma- 

 tion of this Society on a national basis, and in the 

 selection of Philadelphia as its seat, because of its 

 ' being the city nearest the centre of the continent 

 colonies,' has for some time recognized the fact that 

 the changes which the lapse of 158 years have 

 wrought, demand modified conditions to meet ex- 

 isting requirements. 



Ever since its foundation the national character of 

 the Society has been maintained. In consequence 

 there has latterly arisen among its members a con- 

 viction that the time has come when the interests of 

 useful knowledge in the United States can be greatly 

 promoted by the holding, in addition to its usual 

 semi-monthly meetings, of at least one general meet- 

 ing in each year, which from the information to be 

 derived from the papers presented and their discus- 

 sion by those most competent to add to our knowl- 

 edge, shall attract the members of the Society from 

 all parts of the country to their mutual advantage as 

 well as to that of this, the first and oldest scientific 

 society in America, and one of the oldest in the world. 



With this view the Society has authorized the hold- 

 ing of a general meeting which for the ensuing year 

 has been fixed in Easter week and the undersigned 

 have been appointed a committee to make the neces- 

 sary arrangements. 



Members desiring to present papers, either for them- 

 selves or others, are requested to send to the secre- 



