986 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIV. No. 365. 



editorial reprinted for its use, and has dis- 

 tributed copies to the governing bodies of 

 numerous universities and colleges. 



At its recent Denver meeting the Amer- 

 ican Association voted to hold its next 

 meeting at Pittsburg, beginning Jane 28, 

 1902, but to hold a special meeting of the 

 Council at Chicago during Convocation 

 Week, 1901-02, and to authorize any sec- 

 tion of the Association to organize a meet- 

 ing at the same time and place. This was 

 the first formal adoption of Convocation 

 Week for scientific meetings. The Associ- 

 ation further voted to recommend to its 

 present Council to hold a regular meeting 

 of the Association during Convocation 

 Week, 1902-3, at Washington. Since then 

 important advances have been made in the 

 development of the plan in two ways : 



First, it is to be reported that Convocation 

 Week this year will be immediately utilized 

 for the meetings of national societies, the 

 following having already voted to hold 

 their meetings during that period : 



The Council of the American Association for the 

 Advancement of Science. 



The American Society of Naturalists. 



The American Morphological Society. 



The Association of American Anatomists. 



The American Physiological Society. 



The American Psychological Association. 



The Western Philosophical Society. 



The Society of American Bacteriologists. 



The Botanists of the Central and Western States. 



The American Folk Lore Society. 



Section H (Anthropology), American Association 

 for the Advancement of Science. 



The American Chemical Society. 



The Astronomical and Astrophysical Society of 

 America . 



The Geological Society of America. 



The Society for Plant Morphology and Physiology. 



The American Historical Society. 



The American Economic Association. 



Second, it is to be reported that the Com- 

 mittee has sent a formal communication to 

 the president of every university, college 

 and technological school included in Min- 

 erva. The total number of these is 50, 



to which must be added the fourteen 

 universities which had been previously com- 

 municated with, making a total of 64 

 institutions. The formal communication 

 was addressed to the president or corre- 

 sponding officer of each institution, and read 

 as follows : 



Boston, September 15, 1901. 

 Dear Sir : 



The American Association for the Advancement of 

 Science has the honor to request the cooperation of 

 your college in setting aside the week in which the 

 first of January falls as ' Convocation Week ' for the 

 meetings of learned societies. 



At the Nev? York meeting the Association ap- 

 pointed a Committee, consisting of its President, E. 

 S. Woodward ; its Permanent Secretary, L. O. How- 

 ard ; of Professors J. McK. Cattell and E. L. Nichols, 

 and of the undersigned as Chairman, to take charge 

 of the matter. The Committee presented the plan to 

 the Associatiou of American Universities, which 

 body, at its recent meeting, voted unanimously to 

 recommend the adoption of the plan by the universi- 

 ties. Since then, the following twelve universities, 

 members of the Association, have acted favorably 

 upon the recommendation : 



The University of California. 



The Catholic University of America. 



Clark University. 



Columbia University. 



Cornell University . 



Johns Hopkins University. 



Leland Stanford Junior University. 



The University of Michigan, 



The University of Pennsylvania. 



Princeton University. 



The University of Wisconsin. 



Yale University. 



For your further information the accompanying 

 documents are enclosed, both reprinted from Science. 

 The first gives the general arguments for the proposed 

 'Convocation Week,' the second indicates the various 

 plans of cooperation adopted by the different univer- 

 sities, all intended to secure the essential point — re- 

 leasing the teachers of the university from their offi- 

 cial duties to enable them to attend the meetings of 

 ' Convocation Week. ' 



It will give me pleasure to furnish any further in- 

 formation in my power, should you desire it. 



Permit me, on behalf of the Committee, to express 

 the hope that your institution will be able to give its 

 support to the project to establish 'Convocation 

 Week,' for we believe that no more Important meas- 



