BUSINESS SESSIONS.

ANNOUNCEMENT OF DEATHS.

The president announced the following deaths since the last annual meeting of the academy:

Arnold Hague, elected 1885, died May 15, 1917.

J. M. Crafts, elected 1872, died June 21, 1917.

William B. Clark, elected 1908, died July 27, 1917.

Franklin P. Mall, elected 1907, died November 17, 1917.

Adolf von Baeyer, foreign associate, elected 1898, died August, 1917.

BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS.

The president also announced the assignment of the following biographical memoirs: Arnold Hague, to J. P. Iddings; William Bullock Clark, to John M. Clarke; and Franklin P. Mall, to R. G. Harrison.

EDITORIAL BOARD.

Under the rules of the academy the following members of the editorial board of the Proceedings retire December 1, 1917: E. G. Conklin, C. B. Davenport, E. B. Frost, W. H. Holmes, and E. H. Moore. The home secretary announced that the following members had been appointed by the council to serve in their places until December 1, 1920: Jacques Loeb, W. M. Wheeler, E. B. Frost, E. L. Thorndike, and E. H. Moore. E. B. Wilson was reappointed managing

editor for one year.

SECTION AND COMMITTEE ANNOUNCEMENTS.

Section of Anthropology and Psychology: J. Walter Fewkes, to succeed J. McKeen Cabbell.

Program committee: Edward L. Thorndike, to succeed J. McKeen Cabbell.

REPORT OF THE EDITORIAL BOARD.

As we have now completed the third volume of our Proceedings it seems to me opportune to circulate some statistics relative to the Proceedings and covering its whole existence. You will notice in the summary of articles according to subjects that mathematics and astronomy have recently dropped off a little, although their totals remain satisfactory. Physics has come to a satisfactory total, mainly by the large number of articles last year. Chemistry, considering the amount of chemical work in this country relative to work in other lines, has not a satisfactory total, nor has the number of articles been satisfactory in either of the last two years. Two of the articles in 1915 in chemistry might have been called agriculture. It has seemed best to introduce agriculture as a special topic, although it is clear that the make-up of the academy is such that we can hardly expect a very large number of articles in agriculture, except on general grounds. Geology, though having a bad start, has satisfactory totals, and the same is true of zoology and genetics. Botany, however, has always been low, perhaps because of a relatively smaller output in botany in this country. Physiology and pathology seem to me hardly satisfactory in their totals, pathology in particular having very few articles in comparison with the great activity in that subject in this country. Anthropology

has perhaps been particularly hard hit by the war, and psychology has always been small in the Proceedings, possibly because there is not a proportionate degree of activity in scientific psychology in this country.

I should be glad if this summary may be of some help to the editors in pointing out those branches in which special effort should be made to have the Proceedings properly representative of American research. The war period is one in which research will probably suffer seriously, and for that reason is a period in which more than ordinary discrimination and effort must be used to keep the Proceedings up to standard and truly representative. The action of this board in voting that the size of the Proceedings should not be materially diminished is an indication that the board feels that particularly during the war period the Proceedings should be kept up. Indeed, if the Proceedings is carefully and conscientiously maintained in standard and size during the period of the war, it would almost seem as though no efforts after the war would be necessary other than those of eliminating superabundant material and thus automatically raising the standard.

You will see from the summary of institutions which have contributed more than three articles that there has been a great diminution in receipts from the University of Chicago, University of California, Johns Hopkins University, and the Rockefeller Institute. As the number of articles has not varied greatly from year to year, this diminution has been made up in the main by straggling articles from all sorts of places. The Proceedings certainly should welcome this increase in the distribution of its articles. It shows for one thing that the Proceedings is becoming representative of American research. It does seem, however, as though the number of articles received from the University of Chicago, University of California (including the Lick Observatory), and from the Rockefeller Institute are disproportionately small this year, and it may be feared that unless these leading institutions do better in the future we must infer that while the Proceedings is growing in representative character the country over, it is losing sadly in obtaining the best work of the best men in the best institutions and is thus in one way becoming far less representative than it should be.

The statistics of articles by members of the academy as compared with articles by nonmembers are interesting mainly in showing a progressive diminution in the percentage of articles by members, despite the increase in membership of the academy. If there are obstacles which can be removed and which hinder members of the academy from printing in the Proceedings, would it not be well to make efforts to remove them? The academy represents the highest point in American research, and if the Proceedings should actually contain articles representing the totality of the investigations of members of the academy it would thereby become largely representative of all American research and of very high grade, and furthermore it would be more truly the Proceedings of the academy in the sense that corresponding publications of foreign academies are representative of their research.

The average length of articles has varied very little and is satisfactory. The vote in regard to changing the style of headings for articles and the size of the type in the Proceedings was almost unanimous in favor-as a wareconomy measure-of printing the Proceedings in 10-point type and of using the text type instead of Cheltenham for the headings, consequently your chairman and managing editor have ordered the changes made beginning with the January issue.

E. B. WILSON, Managing Editor.

INSTITUTIONS

WHICH

HAVE

CONTRIBUTED THREE OR
ARTICLES TO THE PROCEEDINGS EACH YEAR.

MORE

SUMMARY OF THE ARTICLES WHICH HAVE APPEARED IN THE FIRST THREE VOLUMES OF THE PROCEEDINGS.

Mathematics..

Astronomy..

Physics and engineering..

Chemistry..

Agriculture.

Subject.

Geology and paleontology, including oceanography, mineralogy, and petrology.

Botany..

Zoology

Genetics.

Physiology and pathology..

Anthropology and psychology..

Total...

Articles by members.

Articles by nonmembers..

AUDITING COMMITTEE.

The president appointed an auditing committee consisting of C. G. Abbot (chairman), W. F. Durand, and A. L. Day.

ANNUAL TABLES OF CONSTANTS.

Considering the request of Mr. Julius Stieglitz, member for the United States of the International Commission on Annual Tables of Constants and Numerical Data, asking on behalf of the commisison for a continuation of the support of the academy in the publication

of the tables under the patronage of the International Association of Academies, the following grant was approved:

That a grant of $200, or such portion of it as may be approved by the president and foreign secretary, be made from the general funds of the academy as a subvention in support of the annual tables of constants published under the patronage of the International Association of Academies.

ENGINEERING SECTION.

The following minute from the council relating to the development of a section of engineering was approved:

It is the sense of the council that the home secretary be requested to obtain suggestions from members of the academy of names of engineers to be considered by the council for nomination at the next annual meeting.

CLASSIFICATION OF SCIENTIFIC MEN FOR WAR SERVICE.

Considering a communication from the American Association of University Professors, requesting cooperation in the classification of scientific men for war service, the following recommendations were adopted by the academy and forwarded to the Secretary of War:

The National Academy of Sciences, being convinced that such action is absolutely necessary for the successful prosecution of the war, urges that the privilege of enlistment granted to the medical profession, including students and internes, under orders of the War Department, office of the Surgeon General, dated September 4, 1917, if not already provided for by the intended interpretation of the new classification of drafted men, be expanded to embrace men in the following scientific professions, including junior, senior, and graduate students in educational or research institutions, so that all such men may be privileged to enroll in the appropriate reserve corps or in such branch of the service as in your judgment will enable them to make their special knowledge and training of greatest use to their country.

Agriculturists.

Anatomists.

Astronomers.

Bacteriologists.

Biologists.

Botanists.

Chemists.

Chemical engineers.

Civil engineers.

Electrical engineers.
Geologists.

Mechanical engineers.
Metallurgical engineers.
Meteorologists.

Mining engineers.
Pathologists.

Physicists.

Physiologists.

Psychologists.

Zoologists.

Experts in public health, hygiene, and sanitation.

The academy recommends that, pending the working out of the details requisite for the establishment of these privileges, the pro

fessional men affected by the same be placed in Class III of the new classification of drafted men.

The purpose of the establishment of the academy by special act of Congress, as stated in its charter, was to create an organization whose duty it should be to advise the Government on scientific matters. It would be recreant to this duty, therefore, if it failed to point out the urgent need of the action recommended above, and to express its firm conviction that to win this war our scientifically trained men must be used to do the work which they alone can do. The inclusion of such men in Class I of the new draft classification would result in a wholly disproportionate loss of national efficiency in comparison with the size of the army so created. Of the many grievous losses sustained by our allies, the one felt most keenly, according to their own oft-repeated statements, is that of the scientific men who went to the front at the first call, and laid down their lives there.

These recommendations are prompted by the following further considerations:

1. The failure of many of the district boards created by the selective-draft legislation, to recognize the necessity of retaining these scientific men for the kind of work for which they have been especially trained.

2. The retention of many scientific men as privates in the training camps of the National Army, who it is believed could render much more valuable service to their country if employed in the lines of their special profession.

3. The eager patriotism of our university men has led large numbers to enlist in the rank and file of our Army and Navy, and has correspondingly thinned the ranks of students, teachers, and investigators. There is immediate danger that without specific provision to the contrary, the universities will lack the teachers and students necessary to insure a steady flow of new effectives to the industrial and military fronts.

4. Many industrial establishments now of the utmost importance for the security and defense of our country are seriously impeded in their work by the fact that numbers of their highly trained scientists already have either been drafted or have volunteered for service and sought commissions for fear that they would be drafted and assigned to military duties of such a character as would not enable them to render to their country the greatest service of which they were capable. The result of this has been to reduce the working force of scientists in such establishments to the point where, unless further withdrawals are made with the greatest care, many of these plants will have to close their doors and go out of business.

It is respectfully urged that professional students be instructed to enlist in the appropriate reserve corps of the service, with the