not always secure the best man possible or for a sufficiently long term of years. The director of the Observatory should be appointed by the President, on the recommendation of the Secretary of the Navy, and the latter should select one of two or three candidates nominated by some expert body such as the National Academy of Sciences. If such a plan were properly brought before the Secretary of the Navy, we believe that it would secure his approval and also the support of the officers of the Navy, who take pride in the Observatory. They would also probably agree that it would be more appropriate to change the name from 'Naval' to 'National' Observatory, it being administered by the Navy for the Nation.
The scientific students of the country have two general gatherings in the course of the year. In the summer the American Association for the Advancement of Science holds a migratory meeting, and with it assemble a number of special societies. During the Christmas holidays the American Society of Naturalists serves as a center for societies devoted to the natural sciences—morphology, physiology, anatomy, bacteriology, botany, psychology and anthropology. The meetings of these societies were held this winter at the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, from the 26th to the 29th of December. There was no general registration of members, but the attendance was estimated at about three hundred, and as it consisted exclusively of working men of science, the number of papers presented was nearly equal to the attendance. The scientific work of the Society of Naturalists consists of a discussion on some subject of common interest, a lecture preceding the usual reception, and an address by the president, given at the annual dinner, while the 3pecial papers are presented to the groups of experts who make up the special societies. The discussion this year was on the relations of the Government to scientific research. It was opened by Prof. H. F. Osborn, of Columbia University, the American Museum of Natural History and the U. S. Geological Survey, who was followed by Prof. William B. Clark, of the Johns Hopkins University and the Maryland Geological Survey; Dr. L. O. Howard, Chief of the Division of Entomology of the U. S. Department of Agriculture; Dr. B. T. Galloway, Superintendent of Experimental Gardens and Grounds, U. S. Department of Agriculture, and Prof. William T. Sedgwick, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The evening lecture on 'Indians of the Southwest,' elaborately illustrated, was given by Dr. Frank Russell, of Harvard University. The address of the president, Prof. E. B. Wilson, of Columbia University, was entitled 'Aims and Methods of Study in Natural History.' While the naturalists were meeting at Baltimore, the Geological Society of America held its thirteenth winter meeting at Albany, and the American Chemical Society held its twenty-second general meeting at Chicago. The American Physical Society and the American Mathematical Society held their sessions as usual in New York, while a branch of the latter society met at Chicago. There was also in Chicago a meeting of the Naturalists of the Western and Central States, with an attendance of one hundred members and a program containing about forty papers. The academies of a number of the Central and Western States, including Ohio, Iowa, Kansas, Wisconsin and Nebraska, also held their annual meetings. When it is stated that about five hundred scientific papers were presented before these societies, it will be seen how impossible it is to give a report of their great and far-reaching activity. W T e may, however, illustrate the character of their work by three or four examples.
As an example of the scientific work carried on by morphologists at the present time, we may note two important papers presented by Prof. E. B. Wilson, of Columbia University, at Baltimore. One of the most interesting biological results of recent years is the discovery
