SPECIAL AMERICAN ASSOCIATION ISSUE CONTAINING THE REPORTS OF THE FIFTHWASHINGTON MEETING OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT

OF SCIENCE. EDITED BY BURTON E. LIVINGSTON, PERMANENT SECRETARY

SCIENCEFEBRUARY 6, 1925

CONTENTS

THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THEADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE

The Fifth Washington Meeting, December 29, 1924, toJanuary 3, 1925

The Permanent Secretary's Report on the Washing-ton Meeting: PROFESSOR BURTON E. LIvINGSTON ...... 121

General Officers for the Washington Meeting .................. 131

TheCouncil Boll ......... ................................ 131

Legislative and Executive Proceedings .................................... 133

ResolutionsonGeneral Welfare.........................................

Financial Reports of the Trea'surer's Office and ofthePermanent Secretary ................. ........................ 136

OfficersElected ................................. 138

The President-elect: A Biographical Note ........................ 140

Sessions of the Sections and Societies ................................. 143

Exhibitions .................................

Organization, Work and Purposes ................................. 163

Membership ................................. 167

Future Meetings ................................. 167

Special Notices to Members and Prospective Members 168

Science News.xxvi

SCIENCE: A Weekly Journal devoted to the Ad-vancement of Science, edited by J. McKeen Cattelland published every Friday by

THE SCIENCE PRESS

Lancaster, Pa. Garrison, N. Y.New York City: Grand Central Terminal.

Annual Subscription, $6.oo. Single Copies, I5 Cts.

SCIlENCE is the official organ of the American Associa-tion for the Advancement of Science. Information regard-ing membership in the association may be secured fromthe office of the permanent secretary, in the SmithsonianInstitution Building, Washington, D. C.

Entered as second-class matter July 18, 1923, at tl~4 PostOffice at Lancaster, Pa., under the Act of March 3, 1879.

THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FORTHE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE

THE PERMANENT SECRETARY'S REPORTON THE FIFTH WASHINGTON MEETING

GENERAL FEATURES

The fifth Washington meeting of the AmericanAssociation for the Advancement of Science closedon Saturday, January 3rd. This was the seventy-ninth meeting of the association and the annual meet-ing for the association year 1924-25. Meeting withthe association at Washington were 35 associated so-cieties, of which number 24 are officially affiliated,and also 11 other societies that met with the associa-tion by invitation. All the fifteen sections of the as-sociation itself were well represented in the programs.The meeting was by far the largest in the history

of the association and it excelled in many other ways.It is probably safe to assert that it was the largestgathering of all kinds of scientists in the history ofthe whole world. The total registration was 4,206.The largest registration record for earlier meetingswas 2,413 (the last quadrennial meeting, at Chicago,1920-21), and the registration for the meeting justended was consequently 74 per cent. larger than theprevious maximum record. The registration recordfor the fifth Washington meeting is probably notnearly complete, nor is it presumably as complete asare the records for the preceding meetings mentionedabove. It is safe to estimate that the actual attend-ance was over 4,700. The Washington registration isshown in column 3 of Table 2.A full week was fortunately available for this meet-

ing. The first session of the executive committee ofthe association council and the secretaries' conferencewere held on Sunday, December 28th, a large numberof societies held regular sessions on the followingMonday and numerous sessions occurred every daythroughout the week, the meeting not really closingtill Saturday afternoon. Altogether, there were 252sessions for the reading of papers and addresses.These sessions were distributed in the week as shownin second line of Table 1, which also presents a varietyof comparative data on the fourth Washington meet-ing (December, 1911) and on the last five annualmeetings. The first column gives the registrationfigures, the second the total membership at the closeof each meeting, the third the total number of sessionsin each meeting and the fourth the total number of

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TABLE 1

MembershipMeeting Registration on

Dec. 31

1,306

4206 I

2,211 1

2,339 1

1,832 1

2,413

8,041

13,695

12,015

11,537

L1,414

No. of

Sessions

163

No. ofPapers

979

252 1,781

190 1,140

159 1,019

123

184

Sessions each day

Mon. TU. Wed. Th. Fri. Sat.49 71 69 42 16 5

Wed. Th. Fri. Sat. Sun. Mon. Tu. Wed.2 29 62 56 4 22 11 4

Tu. Wed. Th. Fri. Sat.2 45 54 52 6

Tu. Wed. Th. Fri. Sat.13 34 44 30 2

Mon. Tu. Wed. Th. Fri.9 53 59 53 8

Sat.2

papers read in each case. The distribution of sessionsthroughout the period of each of the last five meetings,shown at the right of the tabulation, is set forth herelargely as a matter of record. They have beenbrought together by Dr. Francis D. Murnaghan, as-sistant secretary.

Perhaps the number of scientific papers presentedat the Washington convention may be a better indexof its magnitude and importance than is the numberof persons in attendance. There were approximately1,781 papers and addresses given. The residentialdistribution of the authors of these is of eonsiderableinterest and it is shown in Table 2, along with someother interesting numerical data, which have been sup-plied by Dr. Murnaghan. It is interesting to notethat the registration in the District of Columbia wasmarkedly larger than the membership and that thenumber of papers presented from the district was36 per cent. of the membership and 33 per cent. ofthe registration. Other suggestive or significantpoints may be noted, but they can not be consideredhere.Most of the sessions were held either in the George

Washington University or in the Central High SchoolBuilding, though a goodly number were held else-where. The biological groups were all eared for inthe Central High School Building.The hotel accommodations at Washington are ex-

cellent and were easily adequate for this enormousgathering. The hotel headquarters of the AmericanAssociation were in the New Willard Hotel, which

placed a number of complimentary rooms at the dis-posal of the association. The registration and pub-licity offices, respectively in charge of Mr. SamWoodley, executive assistant, and MIr. Austin H.Clark, chairman of the subcommittee on publicity,were in that hotel. To the management of the NewWillard Hotel the association is very grateful indeed.The various societies had their headquarters at dif-ferent hotels, mostly not far from the New Willard.The lanterns used at the sessions were supplied

gratis, mainly by the Bausch and Lomb Optical Com-pany, who thus loaned twenty-five of their balopti-cons. The Trans-lux Daylight Picture Screen Com-pany loaned 18 of their excellent daylight screens.The Spencer Lens Company and the Scientific Cinemaand Supply Company also loaned projection appara-tus and screens. The Bausch and Lomb OpticalCompany also furnished gratis twenty-five micro-scopes for demonstrations. To these firms the asso-ciation is deeply and appreciatively grateful. Thiswas the first association meeting at which daylightscreens were generally used in the session rooms andthey proved wonderfully satisfactory.The arrangements for the fifth Washington meet-

ing were made by the local committee and the localrepresentatives for the sections, to each member ofwhich the association and the societies owe a debt ofgratitude. The preliminary preparations, which arealways difficult enough, were doubly so this year,because of the lack in Washington of any group ofbuildings suitable for housing such a meeting. Those

FourthWashington(Dec., 1911)

FifthWashington(Dec., 1924)

ThirdCincinnati(Dec., 1923)

FourthBoston(Dec., 1922)

SecondToronto(Dec., 1921)

ThirdChicago(Dec., 1920)

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in attendance spoke very highly of the efficiency withwhich the difficult task had been accomplished. Themembership of the local committees and the localsection representatives are shown below.

The Local Commnittee for the MeetingWilliam Mather Lewis, chairman, president of the

George Washington University.

C. G. Abbot, assistant secretary of the SmithsonianInstitution.

Gilbert H. Grosvenor, president of the National Geo-graphic Society.Vernon Kellogg, permanent secretary of the National

Research Council.John C. Merriam, president of the Carnegie Institu-

tion of Washington.

TABLE 2

Total Registration Papers presentedState Membership Percentage of Percentage of Percentage of

Actual Membership Actual Membership RegistrationAlabama ............................................Alaska ...................................................Arizona ................................................Arkansas .............................................California ..........................................Colorado .............................................Connecticut .......................................Delaware .............................................District of Columbia...............Florida ...................................................Georgia ................................................Idaho ......................................................Illinois .....Indiana ................................................Towa ........................................................Kansas ...................................................Kentucky .............................................Louisiana .............................................Maine ....................................................Maryland ............................................Massachusetts ................................Michigan .............................................Minnesota ..........................................Mississippi ..........................................Missouri ................................................Montana .............................................Nebraska .............................................Nevada ...................................................New Hampshire ...........................New Jersey .......................................New Mexico ....................................New York ..........................................North Carolina ..............................North Dakota ................................Ohio .........................................................Oklahom a ..........................................Oregon ...................................................Pennsylvania ....................................Rhode Island ....................................South Carolina ..............................South Dakota .................................Tennessee ..........................................Texas ......................................................Utah .........................................................Vermont ................................................Virginia ................................................Washington ......................................West Virginia .................................Wisconsin ..........................................

W yoming .............................................Canada ...................................................Porto Rico .........................................Other countries ...........................

Total ..........................................

584

7841

1,03613628344666659632

919212263146110111

7134389637926030

288451262566

41924

2,36512035

7008996

97683534067

22766491691388127723

32724

292

13,509

100

10125411

11524

74016232

178544741252029

238276136648

523

171

29135

0

684586

194115

37132175

33186

13121

748784

842

33

4,200

170

132958

4054

111

25231

192518282318416931362527187

13444320

29481728125

383932124989

27715

592817258

11

31

20

45

568

501

242351

9519234568

1579

13563484377

180

17480

243156

8254

928218

2334325

10633

414

12

3.50.05.16.25.45.9

21.22.3

36.34.65.23.1

10.39.08.8

30.85.57.2

21.123.015.116.618.513.312.916.014.30.0

25.811.50.0

10.212.517.111.75.64.29.49.63.82.5

11.910.14.58.1

18.93.6

12.422.713.012.516.74.1

20.0

40.041.7

103.772.743.54.2

32.718.821.750.053.435.248.9

109.824.040.051.733.248.946.371.250.071.2

233.3105.9

0.058.635.6

35.525.9

100.042.345.580.024.825.011.820.024.2

127.850.030.826.471.420.880.875.048.8

200.036.4

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David White, home secretary of the National Academyof Sciences, and senior geologist, Geological Survey,UT. S. Department of the Interior.

The Committee on Special ArrangementsWalter M. Gilbert, chairman, Carnegie Institution of

Washington.Albert L. Barrows, National Research Council.Paul Brockett, National Academy of Sciences.Austin H. Clark, U. S. National Museum.Hugh Miller, George Washington University.W. J. Showalter, National Geographic Society.Henry F. Haase, committee secretary, Carnegie Insti-

tution of Washington.

The SubcommitteesFinances: Walter M. Gilbert, chairman; John L. Wirt,

E. A. Varela (all of the Carnegie Institution of Wash-ington).Meeting Places: Hugh Miller, chairman; Arthur F.

Johnson (George Washington University); W. E. Tis-dale (National Research Council).

Hotels: Albert L. Barrows, chairman; Effie A. Reed,W. L. Schmidt (all of the National Research Council).

Transportation: Paul Brockett, chairman (NationalAcademy of Sciences).

Exhibition: W. J. Showalter, chairman; W. D. Bond-well, Arthur H. Bumstead, George Diffenderfer, Jr. (allof the National Geographic Society).

Publicity: Austin H. Clark, chairman; W. N. Mann,W. P. True (all of the Smithsonian Institution).

The Local Representatives for SectionsSection A (Mathematics), Howard L. Hodgkins

(George Washington University); Section B. (Physics),Lyman J. Briggs (U. S. Bureau of Standards); SectionC (Chemistry), R. S. McBride (Chemical Engineer,Colorado Building); Section D (Astronomy), W. S.Eichelberger (U. S. Naval Observatory); Section E(Geology and Geography), WV. C. Mendenhall (U. S.Geological Survey); Section F (Zoological Sciences),Paul Bartsch (U. S. National Museum); Section G(Botanical Sciences), R. F. Griggs (George WashingtonUniversity); Section H (Anthropology), J. WalterFewkes (Smithsonian Institution); Section I (Psy-chology), William C. Ruediger (George WashingtonUniversity); Section K (Social and Economic Sciences),Frederick L. Hoffman (Babson Institute, Wellesley Hills,Mass.); Section L (Historical and Philological Sciences),Frederick E. Brasch (Smithsonian Division, Library ofCongress); Section M (Engineering), William Bowie(U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey); Section (Med-ical Sciences), M. X. Sullivan and Carl Voegtlin (Hy-gienic Laboratory); Section 0 (Agriculture), Karl F.Kellerman (Bureau of Plant Industry); Section Q(Education), C. R. Mann (American Council of Edu-cation).

The preliminary announcement of the Washingtonmeeting was somewhat larger than ever before, con-taining 90 pages. It was sent to all members of theassociation December 1. The General Program, a

book of 247 pages, including a summary of eventsby days, was printed, as has to be done, within thelast ten days before the opening of the meeting. Itwas ably edited by Dr. Sam F. Trelease, secretary ofthe council, who was assisted by Mrs. Trelease. Thisvery difficult job of printing was efficiently carriedout by the Williams and Wilkins Co., of Baltimore.To the society and section secretaries the permanentsecretary wishes to express his thanks, for their finespirit of cooperation in furnishing the program manu-scripts in time to be printed. Programs of all theorganizations taking part in the Washington con-vention were included in the General Program; nonehad to be omitted because received too late.Two program supplements were printed and made

available on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, re-spectively. Supplement No. 1 consisted mainly ofa very useful catalog of the exhibitions, which wasvery kindly prepared by Dr. Earl S. Johnston, of theUniversity of Maryland.Probably the most disappointing feature of this

meeting was the fact that not nearly enough programshad been printed, as became evident Monday. Thesupply was exhausted early Tuesday forenoon andthose who registered on Tuesday or later in the weekcould not be supplied. To care, in a measure, forthis unforeseen difficulty, the summary of events wasreprinted Tuesday night and given out as SupplementNo. 2.

THE SECOND ANNUAL PRIZE OP ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS

The same member who made it possible for theAmerican Association to award the prize at Cincin-nati has given the sum of five thousand dollars to bedevoted to five annual thousand-dollar prizes, one tobe awarded at each of the five annual meetings be-ginning with the meeting just closed. The donorwishes his name withheld. According to the terms ofthe gift and the rules adopted by the association coun-cil, the prize is to be awarded to some person present-ing at the annual meeting a notable contribution to theadvancement of science. All papers presented on theprograms of the Washington meeting were eligiblefor consideration, whether or not their authors weremembers of the association. The secretary of eachsection and society that met at Washington was askedto consult others and submit titles of papers pre-sented in the sessions of his organization, for con-sideration in the making of the award. These nomi-nations are being thoroughly investigated by the spe-cial Committee on Prize Award and the name of thewinner will be announced in due time.

THE WASHINGTON FUND

To care for the extra expenses of the fifth Wash-ington meeting, a Washington Fund was established.

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This was partly made up by collecting a fee of fiftycents from each person who had a railway certificateto be endorsed and validated, about $1,200 beingcollected in that way. Also, requests were sent earlyin the fall to all association members resident in ornear Washington, asking that they make contributionsto the Washington Fund. Two renewals of thisrequest were sent out later. About 700 local mem-bers were thus asked to make contributions and about450 responded to one or another of the requests.Altogether about $2,700 was given by the localmembers. In addition, nearly $300 was contributedby Washington societies and friends of the associa-tion. The total amount received for the WashingtonFund was $4,140.90, which sufficed to cover perhapstwo thirds of the extra expense connected with themeeting. The balance was covered by disbursementsfrom the current funds in the permanent secretary'shands, derived from membership dues and the en-trance fees of new members.The fifth Washington meeting was naturally the

most expensive meeting the association has ever held,and the portion of its cost paid from the currentfunds was larger than ever before. The associationis to be congratulated on the fine and helpful spiritevidenced by so many of the local members in thisconnection and the permanent secretary wishes hereto express the cordial and appreciative thanks of theorganization to all who made donations to the Wash-ington Fund, including friends of the association andthe Washington societies that made appropriationsfor the fund. Those who attended the meeting fromaway are also to be heartily thanked for the finespirit with which the payment of the fifty-cent vali-dation fee was received. Only two or three out ofseveral thousand who had railway certificates vali-dated expressed any disapproval of the validation fee.

THE EXHIBITION AT WASHINGTON

The Washington exhibition of research apparatus,scientific books and laboratory supplies was the mostextensive ever held by the American Association, andthe most successful. The preliminary work of ar-ranging for exhibits was very ably carried out by Dr.Charles A. Shull, of the University of Chicago, man-ager of the exhibition, who began by sending out sev-eral hundred letters of invitation to as many firms,asking them to enter exhibits. Dr. Shull carried onfor weeks prior to the meeting a voluminous corre-spondence in this connection. As soon as generalarrangements for each exhibit had been completed,data thereon were sent to the local subcommittee onexhibits, who took full charge of the local arrange-ments. This subcommittee consisted of W. J. Sho-walter (chairman), W. D. Bondwell, Albert H. Bum-

stead and George M. Diffenderfer, Jr., all of the Na-tional Geographic Society. The actual work of in-stalling the numerous exhibits had almost entirely tobe accomplished in two or three days, for the exhibi-tion rooms did not become available till the Saturdaypreceding the meeting. The general exhibition openedon Tuesday afternoon and a supply of the catalogof the exhibitions was available at that time andthroughout the rest of the week.

Exhibits by firms and some of the prominent so-ciety exhibits were housed in the gymnasium of theGeorge Washington University, where there werealso a few exhibits by individuals and some verystriking ones from branches of the government ser-vice. The exhibits of individual scientists and someof the society exhibits were in other places, near themeeting places of the various societies. The biologi-cal groups were housed in the Central High SchoolBuilding. This unavoidable scattering of exhibitswas necessitated by the lack of any single group ofbuildings in Washington adequate for arranging themeetings all in one place. The subcommittee on ex-hibits is to be greatly complimented on securing anexcellent and generally satisfactory arrangementunder very difficult circumstances. The exhibitingfirms contributed almost the whole of the expenseconnected with the general exhibition. A few of theexhibitors found the separation of the general ex-hibition hall from the meeting places of great disad-vantage, but most of them were pleased, even inspite of the isolation of the general exhibition.The following statements are excerpts from a re-

port prepared by Mr. Showalter, chairman of theSubcommittee on Exhibits.In spite of the bad weather, with the attendant snow,

and further in spite of the two miles that separated thegeneral exhibition from the meeting places of all the bio-logical, and some of the other societies, we had excellentattendance. On Tuesday afternoon and evening therewere about a thousand visitors. On Wednesday the atten-dance was even larger. On Thursday, New Year's Day,it was about 500, and on Friday as many more. Most ofthe visitors were local and visiting scientists. A singleorganization, the E. Leitz Company, set up a $30,000 ex-hibit. The Bausch and Lomb Optical Company's exhibit,and those of the Eastman Kodak Company, James G.Biddle, the Cambridge Instrument Company, the SpencerLens Company, the Leeds and Northrup Company andthe General Biological Supply House were also speciallynotable. It is estimated that the total value of the mate-rials exhibited ran well beyond $100,000. How success-ful the exhibition was from the standpoint of the averageexhibitor may be gathered from the fact that one manexhibiting a little scientific novelty booked more than 500orders during his stay. With some 12,000 square feetof space asked for, there was less than 7,000 square feetto assign, and yet every exhibitor was pleased with his

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allotment, his location and the plans for routing the vis-itors through the exhibition hall. One of the interestingsidelights on the exhibition was the interest the visitorstook in the book exhibits. I found that these exhibitswere a constant source of interest.kThe catalog of the exhibitions was prepared by

Dr. Earl S. Johnston, of the University of Maryland,who thus gave a very valuable service to the associa-tion and the assembled scientists. The catalog waspublished as a supplement to the general program,being printed Monday night. Dr. Sam F. Treleaseand Mrs. Trelease edited the manuscript and caredfor the proofreading, which had to be done in thesmall hours of Tuesday morning.

Besides the general exhibition and the society ex-hibitions, there were a number of important exhibi-tions in the laboratories and offices of the variousbranches of the government service, and the elaborateexhibition of recent researches by the Carnegie Insti-tution of Washington, installed in the Administra-tion Building of the institution, was a very impor-tant feature of this aspect of the Washington meet-ing.A fuller account of the Washington Exhibitions,

prepared by Dr. Charles A. Shull, appears on page159 of this issue of SCIENCE.

SOCIAL AND ENTERTAINMENT FEATURES AT WASHINGTON(Report by Francis D. Murnaghan)

On Wednesday, December 31st, at 12: 30 o'clock,President Coolidge received members and guests ofthe association at the East Entrance of the WhiteHouse and gave a short address of welcome, in whichhe spoke highly of the scientific progress at presentbeing achieved in the United States. President Cool-idge's address appears in full on page 23 of the issueof SCIENCE for January 9. About fifteen hundredpersons attended this reception and two panoramicphotographs were taken of the group. One of theseshows President Coolidge in front of the group andthe other is a side view showing the President deliv-ering his address from the steps of the White House.Copies of the photographs may be obtained fromF. A. Schutz, Photographer, 1405 F St., N. W., Wash-ington, D. C., the prices being $2.00 and $1.50, re-spectively.On Monday evening, December 29th, the annual re-

ception of the association, given by the local mem-bers, was held in the New National Museum immedi-ately after the opening session. Over fifteen hun-dred members and guests attended this reception.The United States Marine Band furnished inspiringmusic, refreshments were served and the entire mu-seum was open. In the same building and at the

same time was held the annual biological smokerunder the joint auspices of the association and theUnion of American Biological Societies.On Tuesday evening, December 30th, at 9 o'clock,

a very enjoyable reception and dance was given bythe Columbian Women of George Washington Uni-versity to President and Mrs. Lewis of the universityand to the visiting scientists and their guests. Thereception was held at the Washington Club and waswell attended.A concert and dance was given by the Cornell

Musical Clubs at the New Willard Hotel on the eve-ning of January 1st at 8: 30. All those in attend-ance at the meeting of the association were cordiallyinvited to attend.The National Geographic Society entertained about

two hundred geographers, geologists and teachers ofgeography at the Hubbard Memorial Building, theheadquarters of the society. A very enjoyable lunch-eon was provided on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesdayand Thursday and the hospitality of the society wasmuch appreciated.On the afternoon of Monday, December 29th, the

College Women's Club was at home to women attend-ing the meeting. Dr. Emmeline Moore gave a mostinteresting talk on her experiences in South Africaas an exchange professor from Cornell University.Dr. Moore, whose specialty is fish culture, is a mem-ber of the State Conservation Committee, of Albany,N. Y.To those in attendance at the meeting was extended

the hospitality of the American Association of Uni-versity Women through its national headquartersand club at 1634 I St., N. W. Many of the womenvisitors enjoyed the use of the public rooms of theclub and enjoyed many courtesies from the na-tional officers of the association. The club held areception on the afternoon of New Year's day andthis was well attended by the visiting women ofscience.On Tuesday evening, December 30th, the Washing-

ton section of the Society of American Foresters en-tertained informally at the Cosmos Club at 8:30o'clock.

LUNCHEONS AND DINNERSThe various luncheons and dinners of the meeting

were generally very well attended and were unusuallysuccessful. A list of these follows.Monday noon, December 29:Luncheon of the Phi Sigma Biological Research

Society.Monday evening, December 29:

Dinner of the Pi Mu Epsilon Mathematical Fra-ternity.

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Dinner of the American Physical Society.Dinner of the National Council of Geography

Teachers.Dinner session of the American Society of Zoolo-

gists.

Tuesday evening, December 30:Dinner for geologists and geographers.Dinner for all botanists.Dinner of the American Psychological Association.Dinner of the Metric Association.Dinner of the Society of American Bacteriologists.Dinner of the American Physiological Society.Sigma Xi dinner.

Wednesday morning, December 31:Luncheon of the American Astronomical Society.Breakfast of the Sigma Delta Epsilon Graduate

Women's Scientific Fraternity.

Wednesday evening, December 31:Dinner for all zoologists.Dinner for all physiologists.Dinner for Section 0 (Agriculture).Dinner of the Crop Protection Institute.Dinner of Section Q (Education) and the Phi

Delta Kappa Fraternity.Thursday noon, January 1:Luncheon of the Ecological Society of America.

Thursday evening, January 1:Dinner for all mathematicians.Dinner of the American Astronomical Society.Dinner of the American Phytopathological Society.Dinner of the American Society of Naturalists.Dinner of the Association of Official Seed Analysts.Dinner of the Gamma Alpha Graduate Scientific

Fraternity.Friday noon, January 2:Luncheon for all philologists.

Friday evening, January 2:Entomologists' dinner.Anthropologists' dinner.

ARRANGEMENTS FOR NEWSPAPER PUBLICITY AT THE

WASHINGTON MEETING

A special effort was made this year to provide im-proved facilities by which the scientific material pre-sented at the sessions might be made readily availableto the representatives of the daily press. One of theprime aims of the association is to aid in the popu-larization and humanization of science, and the news-papers have become exceedingly helpful in this direc-tion. The Washington meeting was given a largeand a very widespread publicity of a very satisfac-tory character.The press representatives are nowadays very glad

to make good use of any scientific material that can

be made understandable to the non-technical mindand there is a growing willingness on the part of ourscientific workers to meet these representatives atleast half way. In the long run, and especially fromnow on, the main burden of bringing science to thepeople at large rests on the shoulders of the scientiststhemselves. Some of the manuscripts sent in for thispurpose were adversely criticized because they dwelttoo exclusively on minor details of research resultsor because they presented merely topics that wouldbe considered in the papers, without giving informa-tion as to what would be said on these topics. Scien-tific workers need to be reminded that the intelligentpublic, which is to be addressed in our efforts atpublicity, are naturally lacking in background ofscientific knowledge. Each presentation needs to be-gin with elementary considerations and such consid-erations are necessarily as far as it is possible to goin many instances.

The publicity arrangements at the meeting werein charge of the local subcommittee on publicity,which included Austin H. Clark as chairman, WilliamM. Mann and Webster P. True. They served theassociation and the public very well indeed. As themanuscripts for the program came in at the Wash-ington office, the permanent secretary sent a requestto each person who was to give a paper, asking himto send an abstract and, if possible, a complete copyof his paper to the chairman of the subcommittee,and a duplicate of each to Science Service. About1,200 abstracts, many accompanied by complete copiesof the papers to be read, were received, the first com-ing in early in December. By the middle of themonth so much material was coming in that fromthat time until the end of the meeting the chairmanof the subcommittee had to devote all his time to thework of preparing it for presentation to the repre-sentatives of the press.As soon as the abstracts began to arrive in large

numbers contacts were established with the local news-papers and the press agencies, and their representa-tives were allowed to examine the material as it camein, so that they might form in advance definite ideasof what was to take place at the meeting. All thematerial was made available to Science Service andto the press representatives, and the responsibilityof passing over such papers as contained matter thatmight possibly prejudice the public against sciencein any way was placed upon the shoulders of thelatter. Those who have had the privilege of associa-tion with the Washington newspaper fraternity wellunderstand that in covering a meeting of this char-acter these men would keep constantly in mind thehigh mission of science and the prestige of the asso-ciation, releasing for publication only material digni-fied in tone and devoid of purely sensational appeal.

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It had been intended to prepare mimeographedpress releases of many of the papers not accompaniedby abstracts; but so much material came in that thiswas not practicable. It would have occupied the fulltime of several expert writers for several weeks.About seventy-five of the abstracts and a few of thecomplete addresses were mimeographed, and the re-mainder were classified according to the date uponwhich they were to be delivered and were then madeavailable for examination by the representatives ofthe press. Most of this material had already beengone over and studied by them before the meetingsbegan. This enabled them to spend the week ofthe meeting in securing interviews and in attendingsessions which promised something of special interest.

Science Service cooperated cordially with the sub-committee on publicity, as in previous years. Thematerial came in so well that Science Service wasable to issue more complete and more timely reportsthan at any earlier meeting. In the Daily ScienceNews Bulletin, sent to about 60 newspapers in allparts of the country and reaching some three mil-lion readers daily, there were 131 advance news storiesabout the meeting, of about 40,000 words in all.Many manuscripts received too late for use in thatway are being used as the basis for later articles.Heretofore Science Service has never had more thantwo wire services for the association meeting, butthis year five wire services were used. The dailywire stories were used more consistently and in betterpositions than ever before. The staff of ScienceService covering the meeting numbered seven.The publicity given to the Washington meeting by

the newspapers, both of Washington and throughoutthe country, was very great and of a very high type.The association is very grateful to Mr. Clark and theother members of the publicity committee for theirvery great service in this connection. It is also verygrateful to the staff of Science Service and the news-paper men for their very efficient and cordial help inthis prime educational work.

ARRANGEMENTS FOR RADIO PUBLICITY AT WASHINGTON

A new departure was this year made in the pub-licity service of the association. Those who attendedthe last Chicago meeting, in December, 1920, willremember that an important feature of that meetingwas an exhibit of apparatus showing the principlesand operation of radio-telephony, the exhibit havingbeen installed in the Chicago Art Institute for theperiod of the meeting, through the helpful cooperationof the National Research Council, the American Tele-phone and Telegraph Company, and the WesternElectric Company. During the four years that haveelapsed since the Chicago meeting, the science and

art of radio broadcasting and receiving have grownby leaps and bounds, as every one knows, and theradio now furnishes a very feasible and satisfactoryway for bringing information to a vast number ofpeople not otherwise easily reached. It was veryfitting that the systematic use of radio broadcastingshould be first introduced as an integral part of thepublicity work of the association at the Fifth Wash-ington Meeting, the next quadrennial meeting tofollow the Chicago meeting of 1920-21.

In June the Smithsonian Institution, which hadbeen presenting a weekly program of scientific talksthrough the Radio Corporation of America, StationWRC, discussed with that station the practicabilityof giving a talk on each day the station was in opera-tion during the Washington meeting. The RadioCorporation not only agreed to this but further sug-gested that, when practicable, these talks be broad-casted simultaneously from its Washington stationarid from its station in New York. Four talks in allwere broadcasted by the Radio Corporation, threeunder the joint auspices of the American Associa-tion and the Smithsonian Institution and one underthe special auspices of the Metric Association.

Through the fine cooperation of Dr. W. E. Tisdale,representing the National Research Council andScience Service, the Chesapeake and Potomac Tele-phone Company also agreed to broadcast from itsWashington station a scientific talk on each of theevenings when that station was in operation, duringthe week of the meeting.

There were in all seven scientific talks sent outfrom the meeting by radio. These represented verywell the broad field of science and, given by prominentscientists, they attracted much attention. Many grati-fying responses of approval, by means of long-dis-tance telephone and by mail, were received by thestations and speakers and these radio talks also aideddistant newspaper publicity regarding the meeting.The radio talks broadcasted from the Fifth Wash-

ington Meeting are listed below.Monday evening, December 29, Station WCAP (Wash-

ington). Subject, "Scientific discoveries," by Dr.Ernest Merritt, Cornell University.

Tuesday evening, December 30, Stations WRC (Wash-ington) and WJY (New York). Subject, "How treesgrow," by Dr. D. T. MacDougal, Desert Laboratory ofthe Carnegie Institution of Washington.

Tuesday evening, December 30, Station WRC (Wash-ington). Subject, "Metric weights and measures," byDr. A. E. Kennellv, Massachusetts Institute of Tech-nology and Harvard University.Wednesday evening, December 31, Station WRC

(Washington). Subject, "Why the earth is a mag-net," by Professor W. F. G. Swann, Yale University.Thursday evening, January 1, Station WCAP (Wash-

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ington). Subject, "I Is the universe finite, "I by Dr.Archibald Henderson, University of North Carolina.Friday evening, January 2, Station WCAP (Washing-

ton). Subject, "The evolution of the stars," by Dr.Henry N. Russell, Princeton University.

Saturday evening, January 3, Stations WRC (Wash-ington) and WJZ (New York). Subject, "Tree ringsand climate," by Dr. A. E. Douglass, University ofArizona.

For the great and far-reaching success of the Wash-ington radio program the association owes a debt ofgratitude to Mr. Clark and Dr. Tisdale, to the Smith-sonian Institution, the National Research Council,Science Seirvice and the Metric Association, and tothe National Radio Corporation and the Chesapeakeand Potomic Telephone Company.

It is hoped that radio talks on scientific subjectsmay be arranged for future meetings of the associa-tion and that this feature of its work, introducedthis year at Washington, may become increasinglyimportant and influential.

THE WASHINGTON GENERE SESSIONSThere were eight general sessions of the asso-

ciation at Washington. The meeting was formallyopened on the evening of Monday, December 29th,in Memorial Continental Hall. The president of theassociation, Dr. J. MeKeen Cattell, presided at theopening session and introduced President W. M.Lewis, of George W ashington University, andCharles Evans Hughes, Secretary of State. Presi-dent Lewis, on behalf of the Washington scientificinstitutions, extended a cordial welcome to the asso-ciation and Secretary Hughes spoke on "Someaspects of international cooperation." This addressappeared in SCIENCE for January 9. President Cattellthen introduced Dr. Charles D. Walcott, the retiringpresident of the association, who chose as the subjectof his address "Science and service." Dr. Walcott'saddress has already appeared in full in the issue ofSCIENCE for January 2, 1925. The opening sessionwas very well attended, with about 1,850 membersand guests of the association present.The second general session of the meeting was held

in the auditorium of the New National Museum onthe afternoon of Tuesday, December 30th. At thissession Mr. Austin H. Clark, of the Smithsonian In-stitution, spoke on the Navy's oceanographic pro-gram. Mr. Clark described the work done by theUnited States Navy in investigating tides and cur-rents, erosion of shore lines and the relationships be-tween the plants and animals of the sea, ever sincethe first American achievement in oceanographic re-search, a chart by Benjamin Franklin, published in1770, which showed the course of the Gulf Stream.

The recent development of H. C. Hayes's ingenioussounding device, by which the depth of water under-neath a ship is found by means of a sound waveechoed from the ocean bottom, has greatly facilitatedoceanographic research. A general conference onoceanography was held in the Navy Department onJuly 1st, 1924, and a comprehensive program of re-search was unanimously adopted. Results of muchpractical and scientific value are confidently expected.An. audience of over 300 showed great interest inMr. Clark's address, which was finely illustrated.The third general session at Washington was held

in Memorial Continental Hall on the evening ofTuesday, December 30th. This session was underthe joint auspices of the Society of Sigma Xi andthe American Association. The address of the eve-ning was the third annual Sigma Xi lecture, givenby Dr. F. F. Russell, general director of the Inter-national Health Board, whose subject was "War ondiseases, with special reference to malaria and yel-low fever." Dr. Russell described the successful workof the International Health Board Commission inpractically driving yellow fever out of existence. Heexplained how the source of the infection was discov-ered and how the disease itself soon- disappeared,once the source was removed. A description wasgiven of the war now being waged, along similarlines, against malaria. The third general session wasattended by over 350 persons.The fourth general session of the meeting was held

in the auditorium of the New National Museum onthe afternoon of Wednesday, December 31st. Dr.Charles D. Walcott, retiring president of the asso-ciation, gave a lecture on "Geological explorations inthe Canadian Rockies," beautifully illustrated byninety colored lantern slides. This session provedvery popular and the large auditorium was filled tooverflowing. Dr. Walcott told of the formation, mil-lions of years ago, of the great Cordilleran Troughextending, with a breadth of from 100 to 200 miles,from the Arctic Ocean to Southern California. Inthis trough the animal life of both the Arctic andPacific oceans mingled and as ages passed there wasa deposit of sediment which in the deeper sections ofthe trough reached a thickness of over 18 miles. Inlater ages the sandstones, shales and limestone forma-tions of the Cordilleran Trough were folded, brokenand often pushed up into mountain ridges in whichmay be studied the records of the development of theplant and animal life from the tree ferns to the greatsequoias and from the cold-blooded fishes and reptilesto the warm-blooded mammals and finally man.

The fifth general session of the meeting was heldin the auditorium of the New National Museum onthe evening of Wednesday, December 31st. Dr. Ed-

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win E. Slosson, director of Science Service, describedthe meeting of the British Association for the Ad-vancement of Science that took place in Toronto lastAugust and gave a very enjoyable running commenton a series of motion pictures taken on the westerntrip that immediately followed that meeting. Despitethe unfavorable weather an audience of about 550heartily enjoyed this session. Dr. Slosson commentedon the differences between the meetings of the BritishAssociation and those of the American Association,one of the most striking of which is the smaller num-ber of scientific sessions and papers and the greaternumber of popular and instructive yet entertainingsessions at the meetings of the British organization.Another point brought out was the keen desire ofthe local community to have the British Associationmeet with them as evidenced by the generous provi-sions made by the government and city, as well as byprivate contributions, towards the expenses of themeeting.At the sixth general session, held in the New Na-

tional Museum on Thursday afternoon, Professor A.E. Douglass, director of the Observatory of the Uni-versity of Arizona, gave an interesting and inspiringaecount of the "University of Arizona eclipse expedi-tion of September, 1923." He showed a number ofstriking lantern slides made from photographs. Theinterest of the large audience was divided betweenthe difficult arrangements that were made for precisescientific work in the desert and the astronomical re-sults themselves.The seventh general session was held in the New

National Museum on the evening of Thursday, Janu-ary Ist, with Dr. Willis T. Lee, of the U. S. Geologi-cal Survey, as the speaker. Dr. Lee showed a seriesof truly wonderful photographs and motion picturesfrom the Carlsbad Caverns of New Mexico. Dr. Gil-bert H. Grosvenor, president of the National Geo-graphic Society, under the auspices of which this firstexploration of these great caverns was carried out,introduced the speaker. These are the largest andmost interesting and instructive eaves thus far knownanywhere in the world.

The eighth general session was also held in theNew National Museum, on the afternoon of Friday,January 2nd. The speaker was Dr. John Mills, ofthe Western Electric Company, who showed severalreels of motion pictures specially prepared to illus-trate the principles and operation of the telephone,human speech and audition. On account of the snow,this lecture was attended by only a small audience,but those who were present were amply repaid fortheir trouble and were very grateful to Dr. Mills forhis clear and interesting explanations of these com-mon but not generally understood phenomena.

THE COMMITTEE ON THE STATE OP THE SCIENCESIN EDUCATION

The American Association has undertaken a thor-ough study of the role played and to be played bythe sciences in education in general, this project hav-ing been authorized at the last annual meeting, atCincinnati. A special committee on this very impor-tant work has been organized with Dr. Otis W. Cald-well, of Columbia University, as chairman and withabout twenty members. Financial support for thework has been given to the association by the Com-monwealth Fund, of New York City. The proposedplans have been discussed in a preliminary way inScIENCE for December 12, 1924.A meeting of the committee was held in Washing-

ton on January 1st, taking advantage of the greatgathering of men of science. The committee chair-man had presented the project in an address givenat the Phi Delta Kappa Educational Fraternity'sdinner on Wednesday evening, December 31st. Dr.Caldwell reports that the plans, as thus far workedout, include the following lines of activity: (1) Thecommittee is to collect data on science instruction inall grades of educational institutions, numerous work-ers being asked to cooperate in this large task. (2)The committee is to secure as truthful and represen-tative a summary as is possible of present thoughton the nature and functions of the sciences in educa-tional programs and on the philosophy of science ineducation. (3) The committee is to make sugges-tions and render assistance whenever possible in thecarrying out of specific researches on the use of thesciences in general education. (4) The committee isto cooperate with others interested in having newtypes of subject-matter tried out in educational in-stitutions, with careful studies of the results. (5)The committee is to aid and encourage the properpublic presentation of real science knowledge and itsinterpretation. (6) The committee adopted a gen-eral plan for holding local conferences at educationcenters, and it invited all who are interested in thiswhole subject to write to the chairman, making con-structive suggestions.

Real progress and tangible results should eventuallycome from the work of this special committee. It isinevitable that scientific knowledge should play a con-stantly increasing part in the life of civilized com-munities and in the social philosophy of individuals,and the time is ripe for a more serious study thanhas yet been made of the part the sciences shouldtake in general education. The organization of thisspecial committee of the American Association forthe Advancement of Science may well mark a verygreat forward step toward bringing the true aims

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of science and its methods of thought into the livesof the people.

THE SECRETARIES' CONFERENCE

(Report by Francis D. Murnaghan)The members of the executive committee of the

association council and the secretaries of the varioussections of the association assembled for a conferenceat the Cosmos Club on Sunday evening, December28th. They dined together at 6: 30 and many aspectsof the affairs of the association were informally dis-cussed during and after the dinner. In particular,the question of fellowship was considered in somedetail and it is felt that the discussion provoked willbe of great help to the section secretaries in passingupon fellowship nominations. These conferences,which have been held at recent annual meetings ofthe association, are proving to be very helpful andstimulating. With the continual growth of the as-sociation's activities close cooperation among the sec-tion secretaries and the members of the executivecommittee is becoming increasingly necessary. Gath-erings of this kind help greatly in furthering thiskind of cooperation.

GENERAL OFFICERS FOR THEWASHINGTON MEETING

PresidentJ. MeKeen Cattell, Garrison-on-Hudson, N. Y.

Retiring PresidentCharles D. Walcott, Smithsonian Institution, Wash-

ington, D. C.Permnanent Secretary

Burton E. Livingston, Johns Hopkins University,Baltimore, Md. (Association mail address: SmithsonianInstitution Building, Washington, D. C.)

General SecretaryD. T. MacDougal, Desert Laboratory, Tucson, Arizona.

TreasurerR. S. Woodward, deceased.

Assistant SecretaryFrancis D. Murnaghan, Johns Hopkins University,

Baltimore, Md.Assistant Treasurer

John L. Wirt, Carnegie Institution of Washington,Washington, D. C.

Secretary of the CouncilSam F. Trelease, University of Louisville, Louisville,

Kentucky.Executive Assistant

Sam Woodley, Smnithsonian Institution Building, Wash-ington, D. C.

AuditorR. B. Sosman, Geophysical Laboratory, Washington,

D. C.

Members of the Executive Committee(Parenthesis indicates year at end of which member's term

expires.)Simon Flexner (1925), Chairman; Rockefeller Insti-

tute for Medical Researeh, New York, N. Y.J. McEKeen Cattell (1924), President of the Associa-

tion; Garrison-on-Hudson, N. Y.D. T. MaeDougal (1924), General Secretary of the

Association; Desert Laboratory, Tucson, Ariz.Burton E. Livingston (1924), Permanent Secretary of

the Association; Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore,Maryland.H. L. Fairchild (1927); University of Rochester,

Rochester, N. Y.L. 0. Howard (1924); Bureau of Entomology, U. S.

Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C.W. J. Humphreys (1925); U. S. Weather Bureau,

Washington, D. C.G. A. Miller (1924); University of Illinois, Urbana,

Ill.W. A. Noyes (1927); University of Illinois, Urbana,

Ill.Herbert Osborn (1924); Ohio State University, Co-

lumbus, Ohio.Henry B. Ward (1926); University of Illinois, Urbana,

Ill.

THE COUNCIL ROLL AT WASHINGTONThe affairs of the association are wholly in the

charge of the council, which consists of the presi-dent, the vice-presidents, the treasurer, the secretaries,the council representatives of the affiliated societiesand academies and eight members elected by thecouncil itself. The list of council members for theseventy-ninth meeting is shown below, arranged al-phabetically. Each member's name is followed by anitalic phrase, showing his status in the council. Pastpresidents and the presidents of the divisions andlocal branch are officially invited to attend councilsessions. Members of the executive committee whoare not otherwise council members are ex-officio mem-bers. The attendance at the five Washington ses-sions is shown by the numerals that precede the mem-bers' names, the five numerals corresponding tothe five sessions, respectively, on Monday, Tuesday,Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, December 29 toJanuary 2. Thus, the numerals 2 and 3 before aname indicate that the member whose name is somarked was present at the Tuesday and Wednesdaysessions but was absent from the other sessions.Every council member receives an official notice

calling his attention to his responsibility, just beforeeach annual meeting, with the urgent request that heattend the council sessions and take part in the direc-

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THE PERMANENT SECRETARY'S REPORT ON THE FIFTH WASHINGTON MEETING

DOI: 10.1126/science.61.1571.121 (1571), 121-131.61Science

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No claim to original U.S. Government Works.Copyright © 1925 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science.

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