For the first time social and economic science was recognized in the election to the presidency, whereas the place of meeting acknowledged the middle west as coordinate with the east in its scientific activity.
THE RECOGNITION OF THE IMPORTANCE OF PREVENTIVE MEDICINE.
While it is quite impossible to give an account of the multifarious activities of the association, what may be accomplished by organized science may be illustrated by two resolutions passed by the council. One of these recognized the service of the late Major Walter Reed in exterminating yellow fever at Havana, the other emphasized the need of expert medical supervision in the construction of the Isthmian Canal. The first resolution reads:
Resolved, That the American Association for the Advancement of Science hereby records its sense of the great loss sustained by science in the death of Major Walter Reed, surgeon in the United States Army, and its appreciation of the far-reaching and invaluable services which he has rendered to humanity. By solving the problem of the mode of spread of yellow fever, Major Reed not only made a great contribution to science, but at the same time conferred inestimable benefits upon his country and upon mankind. To have discovered and demonstrated the methods, which have already been successfully tested in Cuba, of eradicating a wide-spread and terrible pestilence, is a benefaction of imperishable renown, of incalculable value in the saving of human lives, of vast importance to commercial interests, and deserving of the highest rewards in the power of his countrymen to bestow. This association earnestly urges upon the attention of Congress the duty of making full provision for the support of his family.
Resolved, That the President designate a committee of nine members of this Association, with power to increase its number, which shall be authorized and requested to devise and carry out a plan, or aid in similar efforts elsewhere instituted, by which a suitable and permanent memorial of this great benefactor of his race may be secured. This committee shall be authorized to prepare and publish a statement of the services of the late Major Reed in discovering the mode by which yellow fever may be exterminated.
The members appointed to serve as such committee are: Dr. D. C. Gilman, Dr. A. Graham Bell, General George M. Sternberg, Mayor Seth Low, Hon. Abram S. Hewitt, President J. G. Schurman, Dr. S. E. Chaillé, Dr. W. H. Welch, Dr. Charles S. Minot.
The second resolution was as follows:
Inasmuch as the construction of the Isthmian Canal is through a region in which without energetic sanitary control there is sure to be enormous loss of human life from preventable diseases, particularly from pernicious malaria and yellow fever, as well as great waste of energy and of money from disabilities caused by such diseases, and
Inasmuch as the measures for the restraint of these diseases, which have already achieved even their extermination in Cuba under American administration, require expert knowledge based upon practical familiarity with tropical diseases, experience in the application of these measures, and large authority in their administration,
Resolved, That the American Association for the Advancement of Science begs most respectfully and earnestly to call to the attention of the President of the United States the importance of appointing as a member of the Isthmian Canal Commission a medical man possessed of the qualifications indicated. The association is convinced that the mere employment of such a sanitary expert by the commission will not be likely to secure the desired results.
Resolved, That the permanent secretary of the association transmit a copy of these resolutions to the President of the United States.
A NEWLY RECOGNIZED FACTOR IN AMERICAN ANEMIAS—'THE GERM OF LAZINESS.'
Under the sensational heading of 'the germ of laziness,' the daily press has been endeavoring to tell the public something about a new discovery made by the U. S. Public Health and Marine Hospital Service. Owing to the wording of the first report, by the New York Sun, many newspapers have not known whether this alleged discovery should
