1877.] Proceedings of Societies. 637 
distance of the place of meeting from the homes of most of the members, 
and to the fact that at this season of great heat the tendency is to- 
ward migration in the direction of the pole rather than the equator. 
The almost unbounded hospitality tendered the association by the au- 
thorities and citizens of Nashville and neighboring cities will make the 
session one long to be remembered by the members whose good fortune 
it was to be present, while the meeting must tend to stimulate scientific 
pursuits in the South and cement more closely the lovers of science and 
learning of all sections. As the president happily remarked in his re- 
sponse to the address of welcome by Judge J. M. Lea (in behalf of the 
governor of Tennessee, who was necessarily absent), nothing of a polit- 
ical nature estranges from each other the lovers of science, and conse- 
quently at this first meeting of the association in a Southern city since 
internal dissensions so sorely rent our country no reconciliations were 
necessary. At the close of the meeting of the association the members, 
by invitation, made an excursion to Chattanooga and Lookout Mountain, 
a portion of them extending the trip to Central Alabama, reaching Nash- 
ville on their return on Saturday, September 8th. 
In the absence of the retiring president, Prof. William B. Rogers, the 
meeting was called to order by Prof. James Hall, who introduced the 
president-elect, Prof. Simon Newcomb. Owing to illness Professor 
Rogers had been unable to prepare the customary address expected from 
the retiring president. The address of the vice-president of Section B 
(geology and natural history), Prof. O. C. Marsh, on the Introduction 
and Succession of Vertebrate Life in America, was, from the nature of 
the subject and the high authority of the author on all matters relating 
to this important question, the event of the natural history section. 
Passing rapidly over the lower groups, Professor Marsh spoke more par- 
ticularly of the higher vertebrates, these being the most important wit- 
nesses of the past, since through their higher organization they were 
more susceptible to the influences of slight climatic changes which 
Would otherwise have remained unrecorded. They further possess inter- 
êst inasmuch as they more closely approach man in their structure, and 
thus throw light upon his probable origin. 
The address of the vice-president of Section A, Prof. E. C. Pickering, 
who was unable to be present, was read by the temporary chairman, 
Professor Thurston, the subject being The Endowment of Research. 
With the man of science there is generally little or no pecuniary reward 
for his success. Consequently he is obliged to engage in some other 
Occupation, generally teaching, which still allows a little time for re- 
Search. If these same men were able to devote their entire energies to 
investigation, and were aided by the necessary appliances, far more 
Would be accomplished. The solution of the matter was organization, 
the carrying out of a plan by which researches should be rendered as 
Systematic as the process of mechanical arts. A plan was proposed 
