This article was downloaded by: [UQ Library]On: 02 November 2014, At: 10:16Publisher: Taylor & FrancisInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House,37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Journal of Vertebrate PaleontologyPublication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ujvp20

George Gaylord Simpson's “History of the Section ofVertebrate Paleontology in the Paleontological Society”Joseph Allen Cain aa Program in History of Science and Technology , University of Minnesota-Twin Cities , 109Zoology Building, 318 Church Street S.E., Minneapolis, Minnesota, 55455Published online: 24 Aug 2010.

To cite this article: Joseph Allen Cain (1990) George Gaylord Simpson's “History of the Section of Vertebrate Paleontology inthe Paleontological Society”, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 10:1, 40-48, DOI: 10.1080/02724634.1990.10011788

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02724634.1990.10011788

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) containedin the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make norepresentations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of theContent. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, andare not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon andshould be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable forany losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoeveror howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use ofthe Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematicreproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in anyform to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 10(1):40-48, March 1990© 1990 by the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology

GEORGE GAYLORD SIMPSON'S "HISTORY OF THE SECTION OFVERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY IN THE PALEONTOLOGICAL SOCIETY"

JOSEPH ALLEN CAIN (editor)Program in History of Science and Technology, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities,

109 Zoology Building, 318 Church Street S.E., Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455

ABSTRACT- In December 1940, vertebrate paleontologists dissolved the Paleontological Society'sSection of Vertebrate Paleontology and formed the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology as the principalprofessional organization of their discipline. During the months leading to this founding meeting,Simpson wrote a manuscript about the former Section. That manuscript, which Simpson never pub­lished, had two purposes: (I) to justify the dissolution of the Section and the formation of the separateSociety, and (2) to describe the Section's administrative practices. Presented here in its entirety, withhistorical notes added by Cain, this manuscript provides insight into the relation between vertebratepaleontologists and the Paleontological Society during the 1930s. Simpson's manuscript also illustratesthe extent to which vertebrate paleontologists expressed disciplinary independence during this period.

INTRODUCTION TO SIMPSON'S"HISTORY" MANUSCRIPT

The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (SVP) wasformally constituted in December 1940, immediatelyfollowing the adjournment sine die of the Paleonto­logical Society's (PS) Section of Vertebrate Paleontol­ogy (Simpson, 1939-1940). The historical connectionbetween this Section and the SVP was intimate anddirect. Indeed, the formation of the SVP is best under­stood as an organizational split from the PS, despitethe repeated assertions by Romer and Simpson thatthe SVP was "not a reorganization of the former Sec­tion nor in any other wayan outgrowth of a split-offfrom the Paleontological Society, but a wholly neworganization" (Simpson, 1956; see also Romer andSimpson, circa 1941).

As is well known, the Section of Vertebrate Paleon­tology was organized in 1934, and it functioned au­tonomously within the PS as the only existing settingwhere vertebrate paleontologists gathered for profes­sional annual meetings. The formation of this Sectionwas intended to solve several problems that increas­ingly disturbed specialists of vertebrate fossils . As the1934 Organization Committee explained in the ir finalreport, "It has become increasingly apparent in recentyears that the [PS] has ceased to function properly asa meeting place for vertebrate paleontologists" (Loo­mis et aI., 1934: 1; see also Romer, 1944:20). The com­mittee identified several key complaints: (1) PS meet­ings, dominated by stratigraphical and sedimentarystudies, offered little ofinterest for vertebrate research­ers; (2) the PS was unsympathetic and unresponsiveto the desires of vertebrate workers, and (3) the bio­logical emphasis of vertebrate paleontology was notrecognized by the geologically oriented PS and Geo­logical Society of America (GSA).

40

In addition, the committee complained that duringPS meetings, sessions served as "overflow meeting[s]for geologists ." This resulted from a unique affiliationagreement between the PS and the GSA that allowedGSA members to become "fellows" of the PS. Thesefellows enjoyed senior status within the PS: receivingfree publications, monopolizing PS offices, paying nodues, and holding responsibility for membership nom­inations. The members ofthe Organization Committeebelieved that paleontologists were being treated as sec­ond-class researchers within the PS, and they suggestedconstitutional reforms to remedy that situation. Thesecomplaints show much stronger unrest within the PSthan Yochelson (1983: 1133) perceived when he sug­gested that the Society's continued election during the1930s of presidents who specialized in Paleozoic in­vertebrates "contributed to a foundation of discon­tent."

In order to solve the problems associated with theminority status of vertebrate workers within the PS,the 1934 Organization Committee, in accord with theresults ofa poll of vertebrate members, recommendedthat a Section within the PS be organized to focusspecifically on the study of vertebrate fossils (Loomiset aI., 1934). The committee proposed this action as acompromise between the expressed desire ofthe votingmembers both to meet with professionals within theirspecialty and to remain within the PS. Thus, they rec­ommended the following: that a Section of VertebratePaleontology be established, Section membership beopen to any PS member who "declares his [!] intereststo lie to a considerable extent in the field of vertebratepaleontology," the Section chairman (elected by Sec­tion members only) be seated as a Vice President ofthe PS, and the distinction between fellows and mem­bers be eliminated (Loomis et al., 1934). Little is known

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

UQ

Lib

rary

] at

10:

16 0

2 N

ovem

ber

2014

CAIN-HISTORY OF VERTEBRATE SECTION 41

ofthe PS Council's reaction to the Committee's report;however, the Section of Vertebrate Paleontology con­vened its first session at the Rochester meeting in 1934.

Vertebrate workers were not the only specialists toexpress their strong discontent with the running of thePS during the late 1920s and 1930s; however, amongthese specialists, vertebrate paleontologists took theleast radical action in rectifying their situation. In thesecond half of the 1920s, paleontologists generally as­sociated with the petroleum industry split from boththe PS and the American Association of PetroleumGeologists to form the Society of Economic Paleon­tologists and Mineralogists (SEPM), noting the ad­vantages of concentrating common interests outsidethese larger organizations (Hanna, 1927). Foundingmembers ofthe SEPM also moved quickly to establishthe Journal ofPaleontology as an outlet for their strati­graphical research (Cushman, 1927). Late in 1936, pa­leobotanists followed the lead of vertebrate workersand initiated an organizational effort. Significantly, thiseffort was channelled through the Botanical Society ofAmerica and not through the PS (Botanical Society ofAmerica, 1937; Trelease et aI., 1937; Just, 1958). Thegrowing independence of these three specialties duringthe 1920s and 1930s represents one of several keyexpansions ofAmerican paleontology in the twentiethcentury.

As Simpson wrote in his "History" manuscript, theSection of Vertebrate Paleontology provided a fertileforum for vertebrate specialists to concentrate theircommon interests. Attendance at Section meetings washigh , and participants expressed pleasure with the in­formal and congenial nature of both the sessions andthe social gatherings. Two features of these meetingswere responsible directly for the success ofthe Section.First, by focusing on vertebrate paleontology, special­ists within the field concentrated specifically on theirarea of interest, and the Section meetings concentratedmembers of the profession. As a self-contained profes­sional group, the Section provided the social settingfor American vertebrate paleontologists during the1930s. Second, organizers of Section meetings went togreat efforts to arrange their gatherings in cities wheresignificant collections ofvertebrate fossils were housed.In several cases (discussed in Simpson's manuscriptbelow), the officers of the Section chose not to meet inconjunction with the remainder of the PS for exactlythis reason. The availability of research material pro­vided both an incentive and a reward for participationin Section conferences.

As the Section's autonomy expanded during the late1930s, its anomalous status within the PS grew in­creasingly problematical for Section leaders. In addi­tion, a growing number of Section members believedthat the PS was irrelevant for their needs. Romer andSimpson (1940) reported 30% of Section members be­longed neither to the GSA nor the PS, although thesemembers participated actively in the Section.

In their strongly slanted "Information Bulletin," Ro ­mer and Simpson put forward their case for abandon-

ing the PS and forming a separate society. They arguedthat although the PS had become irrelevant to the needsof the Section (at best, it was tangential as only 15%ofSection members also were members of the PS), theGSA had not, as many vertebrate workers receivedfinancial and other assistance from it. The "vague sta­tus" of the Section within the PS had to change, theycontinued, but the prospects of reaching a tolerablesolution within the PS was unlikely. Further, the for­mation of a separate society would acknowledge thebroader disciplinary appeal that vertebrate paleontol­ogy offered (Romer and Simpson, 1940:3):

There are a number of recent zoologists, biologists , com­parative anatomists, etc., who have an interest in verte­brate paleontology but not in geology , stratigraphy, etc .,who would probably come into a separate vertebrate or­ganization but who have no particular interest in the PSas such.

Their emphasis on attracting zoologists needs to bestressed, as it represents Romer and Simpson's sepa­rate interests in encouraging zoological and biologicalstudies of fossils. As is well known, vertebrate paleon­tology is a discipline with strong groundings in zoologyand biology, and during the late 1930s, both Romerand Simpson emphasized different aspects of this her­itage. Romer's interest in comparative anatomy andfunctional morphology epitomized Cuvierian paleon­tology (e.g., Romer, 1937, 1941; Romer and Price ,1940). During this period Simpson was at work notonly on his classification of mammals, which mergedfossil and living taxa into a single taxonomic scheme(Simpson, 1945), but also on Tempo and Mode in Evo­lution, which produced an evolutionary theory unify­ing genetics, paleontology, and field biology (Simpson,1944). In addition, Simpson, along with Glenn Jepsenand Walter Buchner, used the institutional networkprovided by the National Research Council to formthe Committee on Common Problems ofGenetics andPaleontology. In lobbying for this committee, theyhoped to gain prominence for their view (contra manygeneticists) that paleontological studies were funda­mental to and essential for solving questions aboutevolution (Committee on Common Problems, 1943;Jepsen et aI., 1949; Cain, 1989: 17-20).

Simpson's "History" manuscript was written beforethe founding meeting of the SVP in December 1940,and it most likely was written following his collabo­ration with Romer on the 1940 "Information Bulle­tin." Apparently, Simpson had two goals in mind whenproducing the extant draft. First, he argued for theformation of a separate society within the GSA exclu­sively for vertebrate workers. Second, he sketched theadministrative practices of the former Section, pre­sumably as a guide during constitutional proceedings.Exactly why Simpson provided this information as amanuscript is unclear, neither is his intended desti­nation for this effort. One plausible suggestion is that,as Secretary of the Section for that year, Simpsonplanned an additional " Inform ation Bulletin," but the

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

UQ

Lib

rary

] at

10:

16 0

2 N

ovem

ber

2014

42 JOURNAL OF VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY, VOL. 10. NO .1. 1990

need for this particular manuscript evaporated whenplans for the 1940 Section meeting transformed intoplans for the founding session for the SVP. Simpson's"History" provides insight into that critical period; italso reconstructs the sense of independence that ver­tebrate paleontologists felt during this period.

Further research is needed to explain why the defacto and de jure splits from the PS occurred separatelyand six years apart. Indeed, a persistent historical issueconcerns the strong expression oflinkage to the PS thatwas present in 1934 but had disappeared by 1940.Further, as is discussed in the notes below, detailedstudies are needed regarding the relation between ver­tebrate and other paleontologists within the PS priorto the 1934 separation. Also, little is known about theorganization of vertebrate paleontologists prior to theformation ofthe PS in 1909. One such society operatedduring the first decade of the twentieth century; how­ever, information beyond what can be gathered fromits published minutes has yet to be collected (see notesbelow; Wilson, 1990; Simpson, 1941) .

In the following manuscript, material deleted bySimpson is indicated by italics, and additions by Cainare enclosed in brackets []; numbered footnotes havebeen added by Cain.

HISTORY OF THE SECTION OFV[ERTEBRATE] P[ALEONTOLOGY] IN

THE P[ALEONTOLOGICAL] S[OCIETY],BY GEORGE GAYLORD SIMPSONI

The first exclusively paleontological organization inthe United States (or, probably, in the Western Hemi­sphere) was the Society of American Vertebrate Pa­leontologists [SAVP]. 2 In 1907 this group discussedthe possibility offorming a general paleontological so­ciety and a tentative constitution was drawn up. In1908 a group, not officially part of the SAVP but in­cluding members of this society among its leaders andacting on the proposal of the society, began the orga­nization of the present Paleontological Society [PS].3Although affiliation with the Geological Society ofAmerica [GSA] was soon accomplished, Fairchild'shistory of that organization" is not entirely fair to thevertebrate paleontologists, whose progeny the Paleon­tological Society really was , in considering the PS as ifit were simply an offshoot of the GSA. The first Pa­leontological Society meeting was held in 1909 and themembership of the SAVP was then invited to mergewith this society." During 1910 most ofthese membersaccepted the invitation, the SAVP treasury was turnedover to the PS, and the vertebrate society disbanded.At that time about 35% ofthe members of the PS wereformer members of the SAVP.6 Although the mechan­ics of reorganization were difficult, essentially whathappened was that the vertebrate society expanded toinclude invertebrate and plant paleontologists.

For 24 years, until 1934, the arrangement remainedthe same, but important changes had occurred within

the organization. [page 2] With 428 members, the So­ciety had grown to almost unwieldy proportions andnow less than 15% of its membership had much directinterest in vertebrate paleontology." Anyone reading avertebrate paper was likely to be faced by empty seatsor by apathy, and vertebrate papers were often so sand­wiched between widely disparate subjects and the timeschedule so disrupted that many of those who wereinterested in them missed them." It was also apparentthat while the vertebrate students enjoyed the informalsociety of their friends and colleagues among the in­vertebrate and plant specialists, they found almostnothing to interest them in the programs presented anddominated by the latter [see Tables 2 and 3].

Both to relieve the congestion ofthe program and toanswer the legitimate complaints of the vertebrate pa­leontologists, it was arrangedfor the 1934 meeting thatthe vertebrate papers should all be segregated and pre­sented in a separate room on their own schedule withvertebrate paleontologists as informal chairman andsecretary of this subdivision of the Society sessions.9

This arrangement proved so satisfactory to all con­cerned that it has been retained ever since.

It was not expected that the vertebrate division thusformed would be an autonomous unit or that it wouldhave a definitely separate organization. It proceeded.however. to act and speak for itself and to assume adegree of self-government that was not planned for itand has never been officially given to it. There was nothought offormal secession from the PaleontologicalSociety. but [page 3} since 1934 the vertebrate pale­ontologists have followed voting and other proceduresillegal for the Society as a whole, have selected theirown place and time of meeting, have arranged theirown programs. and have transacted whatever businessthey chose to make their concern without reference tothe rest ofthe Society.

There was no stated provision for sectional organi­zation in the original constitution of the Paleontolog­ical Society. 10 In 1910, however, the Council officiallyauthorized the formation ofa Pacific Coast Section (orBranch as it has also been called) and this has eversince been recognized as an essentially autonomous,legally constituted part ofthe Society. I I No such actionwas taken as regards a Section of Vertebrate Paleon­tology when this came into real existence in 1934,12Under the new constitution adopted in 1937, ArticleVIII provides for the establishment ofa Section by theCouncil on petition by twenty or more fellows andmembers. One of the stated reasons for the proposalof a new constitution and presumably one of the rea­sons for the insertion of Section VIII was the need fordefining the relations of the Section of Vertebrate Pa­leontology with the Society, but in fact no such defi­nition has resulted. No petition has been presented oracted upon as regards the Section. This Section there­fore exists de facto but not de jure. It does exist and,indeed, is decidedly the most active part of the Pa­leontological Society in proportion to its membership,but it has no legal existence under the constitution of

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

UQ

Lib

rary

] at

10:

16 0

2 N

ovem

ber

2014

CAIN-HISTORY OF VERTEBRATE SECTION 43

TABLE 1. Summary of annual meetings and officers for the Section of Vertebrate Paleontology, 1934-1940. Page 8 ofSimpson's manuscript.

Annual meet ing

No . Year City Chairman Secretary Location relative to PS

1. 1934 Rochester Chester Stock Alfred Romer adjacent rooms2. 1935 New York Elmer Riggs Alfred Romer different place in same city3. 1936 Washington Remington Kellogg Alfred Romer different cities4. 1937 Washington Walter Granger* Alfred Romer different place in same city5. 1938 New York Barnum Brown Alfred Romer first session in adjacent rooms,

others elsewhere in same city6. 1939 Pittsburgh Leroy Kay G. G . Simpson different cities7. 1940 [Cambridge] Alfred Romer G. G. Simpson [different cities]

*F. B. Loomis, chairman-elect for 1937, died before the meeting.

that society nor has it a constitution or any other de­fined basis of organization of its own. [page 4]

The Section has been informally recognized as suchby the personal, extra-legal action of the officers of thePaleontological Society. Vertebrate papers presentedto the society have been assigned to the Section. Pre­sentation ofpapers to the Section, even when this metin a different city and at a different time from theSociety as a whole, has been accepted as presentationto the Society. Minutes of the Section have been pub­lished as such each year in the proceedings of the So­ciety, with the Section secretary usually named and sodesignated, although he and the Section chairman havenot been otherwise recognized as officers of or withinthe Society.

The Section has discussed its unusually informal sta­tus but has purposely refrained from any attempt atdefining its own position and from seeking any officialrecognition of this. It has no set rules and does notfollow those of the Society, but in the course of fiveyears custom, precedent, and occasional votes on mat­ters of business have formed a sort of unwritten orcommon-law code. The following paragraphs outlinewhat the Section actually does, by custom, althoughof course any of these points may be modified at anytime.

All voting for elections and for business, has beenby plurality in a show ofhands ofthose actually presentat any session, without provision as to a quorum andwithout any canvas ofmembership as a whole (indeed,as will be shown, there is no membership). [page 5]Non-members ofthe Paleontological Society have vot­ed and have been elected to office, the technical ques­tion of their right to do so never having been raised.

Two officers have been elected at each meeting forservice until and during the following meeting, a chair­man and a secretary. There is no vice-chairman andin the one case when an elected chairman could notserve another was elected to replace him. The chairmanhas presided at meetings and the secretary has preparedand sent out notices of meetings, gathered titles ofpapers, etc., and, whether alone or in consultation withthe chairman, arranged programs. He also supplies asummary of Section activities to the Secretary of the

Paleontological Society for publication in the proceed­ings of the latter. In 1934 and 1935 one of the threeVice-Presidents of the PS under the old constitutionwas a vertebrate paleontologist and this officer wastaken to be the chairman of this Section.'? In 1936there were only two Vice-Presidents and since thenthere has been only one. Since 1935 the vertebratepaleontologists have not been regularly represented onthe Council of the Society, although for 1938 the Pres­ident and for 1939 the Vice-President have happenedto be vertebrate paleontologists.14 There is a provisionin the new constitution that Section chairmen shall bemembers of the Council, but this has not been oper­ative, presumably because this Section is not legallyorganized under that constitution. Since 1935, withone exception, the Section has chosen for each meetinga local paleontologist [page 6] at the place of the meet­ing [to serve as Section chairman], regardless of hisstatus in the PS. A new chairman has been elected foreach year, but the same secretary was retained for thefirst five years and a new one elected for the sixth.

The Section has twice elected to meet in a differentcity from the Paleontological Society and on other oc­casions has affirmed its intention of doing so when thePS meets in places unsatisfactory to the Section.'> Inthe debate incidental to these votes, and in other oc­casions, there has been a clear consensus in favor ofthe Section's right and intention of scheduling its ownmeetings where and when it wishes. It has, however,been the desire of the majority to meet in the samecity as the PS unless this meeting was in a place wherethere is little to interest the Section and where a rea­sonable Section attendance is not assured. Whether ornot in the same city as the PS, it has been customaryto schedule the time of Section meetings as far as pos­sible so that attendance at PS meetings would not se­riously conflict.

Under Article VIII of the [1937] PS constitution, aSection is to elect its members from the fellows andmembers of the PS. This Section has never elected anymembers. In some of its voted business reference hasbeen made to its "members:' but this has been con­strued in action as meaning either all those present,including non-members of the PS, or all those on the

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

UQ

Lib

rary

] at

10:

16 0

2 N

ovem

ber

2014

44 JOURNAL OF VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY, VOL. 10, NO.1 , 1990

TABLE 2. Content of papers and reports presented in ses­sions of Paleontological Society annual meetings, 1931-1939.Page 12 in Simpson's manuscript.

-Numbers in brackets give Cain's count for the number ofpapers and informal presentations listed in the "Minutes"for the PS and Section meetings.bT he effect of the discrepancies identified above for columns[D] and [E] is to increase [J] for 1934-1936, which representsa sharper increase than shown by Simpson.

E

[lY

13%28%

[I]

716

DcB

In general sessions In vertebrate section

[F] [G] [H]

Total A*Year

Three year averages and percentages-

1931 47 35 11 Vertebrate sectionnot formed

1932 41 32 8 Vertebrate sectionnot formed

1933 80 69 8 3 Vertebrate sectionnot formed

1934 58 43 3 0 12[13] o [o]a1935 67 35 8 0 24 [29] 28 [28]1936 48 31 4 1 12[12] 24[24]1937 53 40 4 0 9 [8] 26 [27]1938 36 19 1 0 16[18] 0[0]1939 [no data given for PSI 6 [8] 24 [25]

A*-Papers of no possible interest to vertebrate paleontolo­gists .

B-Papers not relating to vertebrate paleontologists but ofconceivable or potential interest to vertebrate paleon­tologists.

C-Papers on vertebrate paleontology presented in generalsessions.

D- Papers on vertebrate paleontology presented in Sectionsessions.

E-Research reports in Section sessions.

1931-1933 56 49 87%1934-1936 58 41 72%

[F-Average number of papers per year .][O-Average number of non-vertebrate papers.][H-Percentage of non-vertebrate papers.][I - Average number of vertebrate papers (research reports,

column E, omitted).][J - Percentage of vertebrate papers.]

ports were given precedence and formal papers reducedto a minimum}? [page 10]

Aside from the presentation of papers and informalreports, some data on which will be given below [Table2], the Section has held informal symposia, voted var­ious resolutions and authorized committees, the moreimportant of which may be summarized as follows. In1934 a resolution was adopted recommending to theCouncil that the PS have only one class of members.The recommendation was rejected by the Council indrawing up the new constitution. In 1935 there wereinformal symposia on osteological nomenclature andPliocene faunal succession and resolutions were adopt­ed to indicate the wish ofthe Society to cooperate withthe GSA in marking type localities and to express the

mailing list, also including non-members ofthe PS. Allparticipants have [page 7] been accepted on an equalfooting with no membership restrictions and the Sec­tion has urged the participation of anyone who wishesto do so, with or without invitation and without anyelection to membership. There is no official list ofpar­ticipants or members, but only a mailing list for no­tices, compiled by the secretary on his own accountwithout permission or advice from the Section as suchor from the PS.

The Section has no dues, no funds, and no treasurer.It publishes nothing on its own account. Its only ex­pense is the relatively small one ofmimeographing andmailing two or three notices a year to those believedby the secretary to be interested, and this expense has,for the most part, been unofficially accepted by theofficers of the PS and refunded on their vouchers fromthe PS treasury. Meetings have been held either inrooms engaged by the PS and assigned to the Sectionor, more commonly, in rooms apart from those ofthePS and provided without charge by some public in­stitution. The Section as such has provided no enter­tainment although when it has met apart from the PS,institution and local individuals have given entertain­ment to the Section.

Some of the features of the history of the Sectionmay be summarized as follows. [page 8] [Simpson'ssummary list of meetings and officers of the Section ofVertebrate Paleontology is reproduced as Table 1][page 9]

Regular sessions at the meetings have commonlyoccupied one afternoon and all of the following day.In 1934 the meeting consumed only one afternoon andthe following morning. At this meeting a resolution thatthe Paleontological Society should have only one rankofmembership was adopted for presentation to the PSCouncil, which it did not follow in drawing up the con­stitutionftnally adopted in 1937. 16 At the 1935 meetinga new feature was introduced by having all those pres­ent give brief, informal reports on current work. Thesessions occupied half of the first day, all of the fol­lowing day, and over half of the third, with formalpapers taking two half-days and informal reports andbusiness the rest of the time. The 1936 meeting hadthree half-day sessions, with formal papers occupyingthe first and part ofthe second sessions. At that meetingthe presentation of informal reports was endorsed asa valuable feature of the Section meetings. Those plan­ning to take part were requested to inform the secretaryof the topics to be covered and the secretary was in­structed to send a list of these topics to the "members"(i.e. , to his mailing list, as the Section technically hasno membership). The 1937 meeting again had threehalf days, with formal papers occupying only the firstafternoon, but in 1938 formal papers virtually crowdedout all other activities, except a committee report anddiscussions and adoption of several resolutions, andoccupied almost the entire meeting, which again ex­tended over one afternoon and all of the following day.In the 1939 meeting, again of a day and a half (plusanother day and a half of informal meetings), the re-

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

UQ

Lib

rary

] at

10:

16 0

2 N

ovem

ber

2014

CAIN-HISTORY OF VERTEBRATE SECTION 45

Discussion of papers-

-Numbers derived from "Minutes" ofthe Society and Sectionmeetings. Lists of discussants of papers are not provided inthese minutes for 1937-1939.

Percentagesof papers discussed:

Non-vertebrate Vertebrate

TABLE 3. Comparison of number of papers presented anddiscussed by vertebrate paleontologists during general ses­sions of the PS (between 1931-1936) versus the Section ofVertebrate Paleontology (between 1934-1936). Page 16 ofSimpson's manuscript.

formation ofthe Section are also included. Only papersthat were actually read or summarized, and not thoseread by title only, are taken into consideration. [page12 is Table 2] [page 13]

The success and value of a meeting is not well ex­pressed by the number offormal papers presented, butthese numbers do have a bearing on the activity of thevarious groups. The increase in vertebrate papers fol­lowing the formation of this Section is obvious. Theaverage for the first three years of the Section was overtwice that of the last three years before it. The latermoderate decline, from an average of 16 papers for thefirst three years to one of 10 for the next three years,was deliberately fostered by the Section members andthe officers (except for 1938), who have tended to de­velop an informal type of meeting and some of whomwish to bar formal papers entirely.

One of the few arguments advanced against the sep­arationist tendency of the Section by the one or twoparticipants openly opposed to this has been the state­ment that even the withdrawal ofthe vertebrate papersleaves many discussions in the general section thatwould be ofinterest to the Section members and shouldbe attended by them. Granting the premise, Sectionmeetings have been arranged to permit such atten­dance. It seems, however, worth while to examine thepremise and, aside from their own interest, columnsof A and B of the tabulation [in Table 2] were distin­guished for this reason. It seems a fair assumption thatthe reading of papers on details of invertebrate andplant morphology and taxonomy and similar subjectsis of no possible interest to Section members, eventhough a few of them might have occasion to refer tosuch papers when published. On the other hand it hasbeen assumed that anything bearing on general prin­ciples and methods of paleontology, on modes ofevo­lution, on correlation of vertebrate-bearing or associ­ated horizons, on environments and ecology, [page 14]on some phases of sedimentation, and the like, mightconceivably interest some Section members and allsuch papers have been counted in column B [of Table2]. This is the most liberal possible estimate of thepotential interest of Section members in the generalsessions. In fact , as attendance at representative meet­ings showed, there was almost no actual interest evenin these items. That this is so is suggested by the factthat of the 25 such papers tabulated for 1931-1936(data later than 1936 not being available), only 4 werediscussed by anyone interested in vertebrate paleon­tology. Two ofthose were discussed only by one of thevery few paleontologists as much interested in inver­tebrates as in vertebrates and discussed only from aninvertebrate standpoint, and another was discussed byvertebrate paleontologists only to disdain any concernin its subject (conodonts). Actually as far as partici­pation in discussion shows, only one ofthese 25 papersaroused any active interest in a vertebrate paleontolo­gist, and this was out ofa total of90 papers not directlydealing with vertebrates.

Most of those who attend the meetings agree thatthere is little reason to hear papers read unless they

18%71%

43%49%

Non-ver-tebrate

Non-vertebrate [papers Vertebrate[papers delivered] [papers

delivered] discussed delivered]by a

Dis- vertebrate Dis-Year Total cussed worker Total cussed

1931 36 17 0 11 I1932 33 18 0 8 11933 77 28 1 3 21934 46 24 2 12 111935 43 16 1 24 141936 36 21 0 12 91937 Data on discussions [8]a [1]

not recorded1938 Data on discussions [18] [1]

not recorded1939 Data on discussions [8] [1]

not recorded

1931-19331934-1936

desire of the Section to arrange its own program andempowering its officials to do so. In 1936 the Chairmanwas empowered to appoint a committee to draw up alist ofnomina conservanda. In 1937, the Section againresolved to request cooperation from the GSA andvarious surveys in marking type localities, and a com­mittee was appointed to draw up a provisional Tertiarytime scale. This committee was appointed, reported in1938, and was then continued for another year to re­port in 1939. The 1938 meeting also passed resolutionsasking for a ruling on the Miocene-Pliocene boundaryfrom the GSA Committee (which apparently has notbeen given), congratulating the State of South Dakotafor the School of Mines Collection [Rapid City, SouthDakota] and urging the erection of a museum for it ,and expressing sympathy with the suggestion of erect­ing a museum at the Fossil Cycad National Monument[South Dakota]. 18 At the 1939 meeting the final reportof the time-scale committee was accepted and a com­mittee was appointed to prepare a compilation oflawsrelating to fossil collecting. [page 11]

The following tabulation [Table 2] shows the num­bers of papers and reports presented in the Section, aswell as those in the general sessions of the Society. Forpurposes of comparison the three years preceding the

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

UQ

Lib

rary

] at

10:

16 0

2 N

ovem

ber

2014

46 JOURNAL OF VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY. VOL. 10. NO.1, 1990

are discussed, since subsequent reading of the pub­lished text or prior reading of the abstract is preferablein almost every respect except the lack of opportunityfor discussion. Some idea of the value of formal [page15] programs can thus be gained from the number ofpapers that are discussed, and these are tabulated forthe same groups in the same years [Table 3 is page 16].[page 17]

Probably no statistics could more clearly show thevalue ofthe Section than the immediate and enormousincrease in percentage of vertebrate papers discussedafter the Section was formed. Before that the discussionof such papers was far below the non-vertebrate av­erage, showing that the arrangements then currentmeant reading vertebrate papers to an uninterestedaudience. In the Section the discussion of vertebratepapers has been well above the average of the remain­der of the society.

Informal discussion and social conversation outsideofset sessions are at least as important phases ofmeet­ings [sic]. These can not be tabulated in numbers, butparticipants in the Section know that its meetings haveprovided distinctly more such opportunities with thecircle of their colleagues without lessening the oppor­tunities outside this circle. [page 18]

The available records give no good data on atten­dance. The register gives an imperfect idea ofthis andhas not been published since 1935. The place of meet­ing has so strong an influence that the effect of otherfactors is difficult to judge. For instance, at the 1931meeting, before the Section was formed, the registerincludes only 3 persons who can be said to have anyreal interest in vertebrate paleontology and in 1935,after the Section was operating it includes 35 members.But the 1931 meeting was in Tulsa [Oklahoma], wherethere where no vertebrate paleontologists and few near,and the 1935 meeting in New York [at the AmericanMuseum of Natural History], where there were nu­merous paleontologists and many nearby. Although nofigures can be properly adduced to prove it, partici­pants in the Section do know that its attendance hasbeen consistently and decidedly higher than was ver­tebrate paleontological attendance at the sessions be­fore the Section was formed. This has been due mainlyto increased interest in the vertebrate section and inpart (for 1936 meeting) to its refusal to meet where itwas obvious that attendance would be poor.!? Atten­dance at Section sessions has seldom or never beenbelow 30 and has been as high as 55, an excellentshowing on a mailing list of 110 to 115 for the wholeU.S. and Canada, ofwhom only about 55 can be classedas professional paleontologists and at least 30 havenever shown any active interest in the [Paleontological]Society and presumably would not have joined theSection on their own account if this were required.[end of manuscript]

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Cain would like to note the critical assistance andsupport of the following researchers: Elizabeth Napier

Cain, Pam Henson, Clayton Ray, Nathan Reingold,and especially John A. Wilson, Nicholas Hotton IIIand Frank Whitmore Jr. This project was supportedby a Graduate Student Fellowship from the Smithson­ian Institution. Simpson's manuscript is reproducedwith permission by the American Philosophical So­ciety.

LITERATURE CITED

Botanical Society ofAmerica. 1937. Yearbook 1936-1937.Office of the Secretary, New London, Connecticut. pp.13, 17.

Cain, J. A. 1989. Moving beyond consistency: the historicalsignificance ofSimpson's Temp o and Mode in Evolution .M.A. thesis, University of Maryland, College Park.

Clark, W. B. 1910. Report of the Committee on the For­mation of the Paleontological Society . Bulletin of theGeological Society of America 21:16-17.

Cleland, H. 1910. Proceedings of the preliminary meetingofthe Paleontological Society. Bulletin of the GeologicalSociety of America 21:69-86.

Committee on Common Problems of Genetics and Paleon­tology. 1943. Annual report. National Academy ofSci­ences Archives. Division of Geology and Geography.Folder: Committee on Common Problems, 1943.

Cordilleran Section. 1900. Minutes of the Cordilleran Sec­tion of the GSA. Bulletin of the Geological Society ofAmerica 11:606-616.

Cushman, J. A. 1927. Foreward. Journal of PaleontologyI : I.

Fairchild, H. L. R. 1932. The Geological Society ofAmer­ica, 1888-1930. A Chapter in Earth Science History.Geological Society of America, New York, 232 pp.

FaIT, M. 1907. The American Society of Vertebrate Pale­ontologists. Science 25:98-99.

Hanna, M. A. 1927. Society of Economic Paleontologistsand Mineralogists. Journal of Paleontology 1:3-9.

Hay, O. P. 1904. Society of the Vertebrate Paleontologistsof America. Science 19:253-257.

-- 1905a. The American Paleontological Society. Sec­tion A-Vertebrata. Science 21:294-300.

-- 1905b . Meeting of Section A of the American Pa­leontological Society . American Geologist 35:124-126.

Jepsen, G ., E. Mayr, and G. G. Simpson. 1949. Genetics,Paleontology, and Evolution. Princeton University Press,Princeton, New Jersey, 474 pp.

Just, T. 1958. Fifty years of paleobotany 1906-1956; pp.590-605 in W. C. Steere (ed.), Fifty Years of Botany .McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York.

Loomis, F. B. 1908. The American Society of VertebratePaleontology. Science 27:254-256.

--, A. S. Romer, and C. Stock . 1934. Report of Com­mittee on Organization of Vertebrate Paleontologists.unpublished.

Matthew, W. D. 1909. Seventh annual meeting of theAmerican Society of Vertebrate Paleontologists. Science29: 194-198.

Paleontological Society. 19lOa. Officers and members ofthe Paleontological Society. Bulletin of the GeologicalSociety of America 21:83-86.

-- 1910b. 1909 Constitution. Bulletin of the Geolog­ical Society of America 21:77- 82.

-- 1911. Report of the Secretary. Bulletin of the Geo­logical Society of America 22:85-88.

-- 1934a. Proceedings of the Paleontological Society.

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

UQ

Lib

rary

] at

10:

16 0

2 N

ovem

ber

2014

CAIN-HISTORY OF VERTEBRATE SECTION 47

Proceedings of the Geological Society ofAmerica 1933:395-406.

--- 1934b. New business. Proceedings ofthe GeologicalSociety of America 1934 :374-375.

--- 1934c. Unfinished business. Proceedings of theGeological Society of America 1934 :377.

Romer, A. S. 1934-1938. Minutes of the Section of Ver­tebrate Paleontology. Proceedings of the Geological So­ciety of America 1934:374-380; 1935:392-405; 1936 :374-380; 1937:266-267; 1938:226-228.

--- 1937. Man and the Vertebrates. University of Chi­cago Press, Chicago, 434 pp.

-- 1941. Vertebrate Paleontology; pp. 107-135 in C.P. Berkey (ed.), Geology 1888-1938. Geological Societyof America, Boulder.

--- 1944. The pre-natal ontogenesis ofthe SVP. Societyof Vertebrate Paleontology News Bulletin 13:20-22.

---, and L. I. Price. 1940. Review of the Pelycosauria.Geological Society ofAmerica Special Paper 28,538 pp.

---, and G. G . Simpson. 1940. Section of VertebratePaleontology Information Bulletin September 15, 1940.unpublished.

--- and G. G. Simpson. circa early 1941. The Societyof Vertebrate Paleontology [organizational announce­ment] . Unpublished.

Simpson, G. G. 1939-1940. Minutes of the Section ofVer­tebrate Paleontology. Proceedings of the Geological So­ciety of America 1939:268-269; 1940 :268-27 I.

--- 1941. History of the Society and Its Predecessors.Society of Vertebrate Paleontology News Bulletin 1:1-3.

--- 1944. Tempo and Mode in Evolution. ColumbiaUniversity Press, New York, 237 pp.

--- 1945. The principles of classification and a classi­fication of mammals. Bulletin of the American Museumof Natural History 85: 1-350.

--- 1956 . Letter to Douglas Johnson, January 16, 1956,in American Philosophical Society. George GaylordSimpson Papers. Series I. Folder: Johnson, Douglas.

--- 1978 . Concession to the Improbable. An Uncon­ventional Autobiography. Yale University Press, NewHaven, 291 pp .

Stanton, T . W. 1909 . The Paleontological Society. Science29:376.

Trelease, S. F. et aI. 1937. Section on botanical sciences.Science 85:144-145 .

Williston, S. W. , and O. P. Hay. 1903. The Society of theVertebrate Paleontologists of America. Science 18:827­828 .

Wilson, J. A. 1990 . The Society ofVertebrate Paleontology1940-1990, A fifty year retrospective. Journal of Ver­tebrate Paleontology 10:1-39.

Yochelson, E. L. 1983. The Paleontological Society: 75years of presidents and presidential addresses. Journalof Paleontology 57: 1128-1134.

Received 3 October 1989; accepted 22 November 1989.

APPENDIX: EDITORIAL NOTES FORSIMPSON'S MANUSCRIPT

I. This is a previously unpublished manuscript written byGeorge Simpson. The original is deposited in Series 3 of theGeorge Gaylord Simpson Papers at the American Philo­sophical Society Library, Philadelphia. The title was addedby Simpson probably during a sorting of files, when he also

wrote, "written about 1940 , before S[ociety of] V[ertebrate]P[aleontology] was formed."

2. The title of this group varied; the reports of their sevenannual meetings can be located as follows: first meeting, 1902,in Williston and Hay (1903); second meeting, 1903, in Hay(1904); third meeting, 1904 , in Hay (1905a, b); no recordwas found for the fourth meeting, 1905 ; fifth meeting, 1906,in Farr (1907); sixth meeting, 1907, in Loomis (1908); andseventh meeting, 1908 , in Matthew (1909).

3. For original reports of the formation of the Paleonto­logical Society, see Stanton (1909) and Clark (1910).

4. Fairchild (1932:185-186). Simpson (1978:118-119)again raised this point.

5. Cleland (1910).6. The PS founding members list was provided in Pa­

leontological Society (191 Oa).7. For the 1934 PS membership list , see Paleontological

Society (1934a).8. This statement by Simpson appears to be true only for

some of the meetings immediately prior to the formation ofthe Section of Vertebrate Paleontology in 1934. Separatesessions on vertebrate paleontology were provided at manyof the annual meetings between the first (1909) and the thir­teenth (1921) meetings; indeed, a separate "Section of Ver­tebrate Paleontology" functioned autonomously during thisperiod, sometimes holding sessions separate from the Societyitself(e.g., in 1916, the Section held its meeting at the Amer­ican Museum ofNatural History, while the Society's meetingwas held in Albany, New York). The Sect ion dissolved afterthe 1921 meeting, and the distinct separation of vertebratepapers did not occur during the annual meetings until theregeneration of the Section in 1934. During the interval be­tween Sections, sessions at the annual meeting were notgrouped by subject; however, clusters of three to five paperson similar topics often are found in single sessions.

9. See "Minutes of the Section of Vertebrate Paleontol­ogy" in the Proceedings of the Geological Society ofAmericabetween 1934 and 1940 (Romer, 1934-1938; Simpson, 1939­1940).

10. Original 1909 Constitution of PS was published bythe Paleontological Society (19 lOb).

II . The Pacific Coast Section of the PS was constitutedin 1910 by a vote of the PS Council, and named this sectionthe "Cordilleran Section" (Paleontological Society, 1911).This Section paralleled the Cordilleran Section of the GSAformed in 1899 for precisely the same reason: transportationcosts to meetings in the East were too high (Cordilleran Sec­tion, 1900).

12. The 1934 separation of a section for vertebrate pa­leontology was not the first time this occurred within the PS.An informal but separate " Section of Vertebrate Paleontol­ogy" functioned autonomously within the PS between 1910and about 1922 . See: " Proceedings of the PaleontologicalSociety" for these years in the Bulletin of the GeologicalSociety of America.

13. Chester Stock was First Vice President of the PS in1934 , and Elmer Riggs was Second Vice President in 1935.

14. C. W. Gilmore was President of the PS in 1938; A. S.Romer was Vice President in 1939.

15. Key to the decision to meeting with the rest of the PSwas the presence of a museum with good vertebrate collec­tions in the host city. The earlier Section of Vertebrate Pa­leontology also emphasized this concern. In 1916 , the Sectionheld its meeting at the American Museum ofNatural Historyin New York City , while the PS met in Albany, New York.

16. See both the new and unfinished business reports in

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

UQ

Lib

rary

] at

10:

16 0

2 N

ovem

ber

2014

48 JOURNAL OF VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY, VOL. JO, NO. J, J990

the minutes of the 1934 meetings (Paleontological Society,1934b, c).

17. Simpson apparently derived this summary of pro­ceedings directly from the published minutes of the section.

18. Just (1958:591) reported that the U .S. Department ofthe Interior abolished the Fossil Cycad National Monumentin 1957.

19. In 1936, the PS meeting was held in Cincinnati; theSection of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting was held inWashington, D.C., at the United States National Museum.Attendance also was the issue affecting the placement of the1939 meeting. In that year, the PS met in Minneapolis; theSection of Vertebrate Paleontology met in Pittsburgh at theCarnegie Museum.

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

UQ

Lib

rary

] at

10:

16 0

2 N

ovem

ber

2014