September 30, 1887.] 



SCIENCE. 



167 



and the line passing through them ; thus showing at periods an 

 excess over the average, maintained for successive years, and at 

 others a deficit of interest equally prolonged. In many instances 

 the average line lies above the serial points for years, its position 

 being secured by intermittent displays of interest, pushing mo- 

 mentarily the point of interest to a place high above it, for the year 

 in which the display occurred. 



For convenience of reference, the number of the meeting and the 

 place of meeting are here brought together : — 



existence, but is pushed down in the second half by the inrushing 

 recruits to other subjects. This is well shown by the fact that at 

 the Boston (29) and Buffalo (35) meetings the actual number of 

 papers assigned to this subject were only one less in each case than 

 the number at the Washington (8) meeting, when the interest 

 reached its highest point. 



Attendance. 



The marked feature of this chart is the striking rise in the last 

 five meetings, the only ones whose percentage is above the average, 

 with the exception of the 9th and loth. These meetings include 

 some remarkable assemblages, such as those that met at Boston in 

 18S0, Montreal in 18S2, and Philadelphia in 1884. The phenome- 

 nal nature of those meetings brought large numbers of the mem- 

 bers together, elicited enthusiasm, and excited public attention. 

 The Ann Arbor and Buffalo meetings did not continue, we believe, 

 this upward movement. 



Astronomy 



The chart of mechanics shows that after comparative apathy and 

 violent fluctuations the points of interest have started upward with 

 probably a significance as yet undetermined. The technical socie- 

 ties, engineering associations, etc., absorb the papers of the me- 

 chanical minds, and the recent accessions of papers may have some 

 reference to the condition of these bodies. 



Natural philosophy and physics has a high percentage of interest, 

 and its points oscillate up and down over the average line with 

 quite even regularity. Its fascinating qualities and intellectual im- 

 portance will assure it a steady flow of support, though the later in- 

 dications would suggest that its percentage will be lowered in suc- 

 ceeding years, as it fails to reach the average for four years. In 

 this subject persona^ judgment and ignorance may have led us into 

 error, and papers assigned to chemistry might almost as justly 

 claim admission with this. 



The papers contributed to the successive meetings, by which is 

 here meant only papers by different authors (except in cases where 

 one author has written in two departments of science), show a syn- 

 chronous rise with the attendance in the last meetings ; but, what 

 is more auspicious, they show an inclination upward from the first, 

 with slight relapses, indicating a prevailing desire among investi- 

 gators to bring, in some shape, their results before the audience of 

 the association. The papers for the eighth and ninth meetings are 

 low, however, though the attendance then is given as above the 

 average. The rise together of attendance and papers is a healthy 

 sign. It is assumed of necessity that the conditions for admission 

 of a paper are no less or more stringent than formerly. 



Mathematics, as might be expected from its diflicult and unpopu- 

 lar nature, has a low percentage of interest, 4.16. We do not know 

 how this compares with the percentage in other countries, but it 

 must be considered in connection with astronomy, and to some ex- 

 tent with mechanics, — studies of a mathematical habit. Mathe- 

 matics maintains itself fairly well near the average, rising and fall- 

 ing about equally, and in one part of the series running almost on 

 the line. 



Astronomy has a high average percentage of interest, keeps 

 above the line of average during the first half of the association's 



Chemistry everywhere claims attention, and each year its domain 

 and its explorers seem increased. Yet its average of interest is kept 

 up by spurts during the earlier life of the association, a settled 

 higher tendency becoming established only from the 23d (Hartford> 

 meeting, onward. The north-eastern cities seem to stimulate its 

 life in the association, and, generally speaking, it drops as the 

 meetings recede from the Atlantic area. This is less noticeable in 

 recent years, and indicates a wider dissemination of its professors. 



Meteorology, which has assumed such first-class prominence in 

 practical affairs, and has attacked new problems formerly un- 

 thought of, shows a falling-away of interest in the later years of the 

 association, its average being held up by the tall developments in the 

 8th to the 13th meetings, when some enthusiastic workers attracted 

 attention to it, unopposed by the widening scope of other branches. 

 It seems to have reached a low ebb, and may show a dangerous 

 facility to disappear altogether. 



The average percentage of interest in zoology is high, as might 

 be expected ; but it seems significant that its points lie beneath the 

 average line in the former part, and above in the latter part, of the 

 association's history. A tendency is discernible, however, toward 

 a lower scale, as from both the 21st (Dubuque) and 29th (Boston) 

 there has been a falling-off, producing the slopes shown in the 

 chart. The sharp ascent in the 3d (Charleston) meeting was given 



