EA 
806 Editors’ Table. [August, 
serves especially to keep alive an esprit du corps, which may 
counteract the effect of the isolation in which the worker in ste 
ence finds himself in many communities. The associations also 
impress the public with the active existence of the scientific — 
workers, in a prompt and efficient manner. And more maybe — 
learned by a few hours of personal intercourse between special- 
ists, than in many weeks or months of exploration among books. d 
If the associations are under proper management, they have the 
especial advantage of impressing the dignity and importance of — 
the objects of scientific labor on all concerned. These are the — 
advantages of such bodies. 4 
The disadvantages of course would flow from bad management q 
If the amateur or dilettante element enter largely into such an | 
association, its life will be feeble and its influence small. fhe — 
time necessarily involved in its material support and conduct wil l 
be largely wasted. So will be the time occupied in attending 16 | 
sessions. Such a body would become the prey of the advertiser d 
of themselves or of their wares, and a field for the exercise l 
political manipulation. 
An international association of the actual workers in 
ence would have our support, should it prove to be practical — 
And here we make a suggestion. An International Association 
of Geologists already exists. It originated in a movement 1B 
Philadelphia at the time of the Centennial Exposition. Its first 
meeting was held in Paris at the time of the French . 
of 1878. Its second meeting was held at Bologna in 7 
the third meeting will be held in Berlin on the 25th of Septet 
ber of the present year. The congress has been so tar & ? a 
Why should not this body be developed into the Iotama | 
Association of Science? It often is easier to expand 4 
build anew. It is less expensive. The members of the Geolog" | 
cal Congress cannot be spared from the more comprehensi 
association, and they cannot attend the meetings of two *” 
bodies.— C. : gär 
The tercentenary celebration of the University of n 
burgh was notable not only from the inherent interest m 
occasion, drawing together some of the most disting" te 
versity men of Great Britain and the continent, but #0! 
scientific flavor pervading this popular and na a theol 
According to a correspondent of the ation, “ $0 cael 
pure scr 
