Dr. Henry C. Cowles,
Vice-president for the Section of Botany, professor of botany in the University of Chicago.
under the government provides it with scientific men in its employ competent to give advice, and the constitution and traditions of an academy composed ot a small number of life members selected for distinction in research do not lead to great activity or efficiency. Thus several years ago a resolution endorsing the use of the metric system was defeated on the ground that the advice of the academy had not been asked.
The council of the American Association being an elected body representing all the scientific men and scientific activities of the country is in a better position to assume active leadership in movements for the advancement of science and the applications of science for the public welfare. Several such actions taken during the past years may be noted. At the spring meeting of the council a committee was appointed to confer with the president of the United States in regard to the heads of the scientific bureaus of the government and especially the chief of the Weather Bureau. The president received the committee courteously and the secretary of agriculture held a conference with the committee on policy of the association. This committee made subsequently certain recommendations in regard to the qualifications of heads of the scientific bureaus of the government and recommended that the National Academy of Sciences be requested
