The permanent secretary read a tabulated list covering the accessions of new members during the past year under the Columbus resolution waiving the entrance fee to members of affiliated societies. The permanent secretary presented his financial report for the fiscal year, November 1, 1915, to October 31, 1916, which, on motion, was accepted and ordered printed in SCIENCE. Through its secretary, the committee on grants made an informal report covering the recommendations of the committee for the disposal of the $4,000 currently available, with the understanding that the full report will be published in an early issue of SCIENCE. Pickering, chairman of the above committee, stated that the committee favored the expenditure each year of the entire amount available. Mr. A letter from the Pacific Division with regard to the activities of that division in connection with matters of preparedness policy on the Pacific coast, was read by the permanent secretary. On motion the permanent secretary was instructed to inform the Pacific Division of the appreciation of the council of the important work which that division is accomplishing. At 5:20 P.M., the council adjourned. L. O. HOWARD, Permanent Secretary FINANCIAL REPORT OF THE PERMA NENT SECRETARY L. O. HOWARD, PERMANENT SECRETARY, IN FROM NOVEMBER 1, 1915, TO OCTOBER 31, 1916 Dr. To balance from last account To receipts from members: Annual dues, 1916 Annual dues, 1917 Annual dues, previous years Admission fees Associate membership fees To other receipts: Sale of publications Miscellaneous receipts, as follows: .$30,856.00 170.00 320.00 1,255.00 12.00 1,000.00 $33,613.00 52.52 SCIENCE SOME OF THE SCIENTIFIC PROBLEMS AND DUTIES AT OUR DOORS1 WE are here at the second meeting of a new endeavor on the part of the American Association to foster an interest in scientific work and in scientific research, and it is sincerely hoped that we shall worthily do for and in this portion of our country what the parent association has done for the country at large, and what the British Association has so long been doing for Great Britain. It is for us not only to keep alive the interest in the good work of the general organization, but to widen its scope, to extend its influence and to bring it to a higher degree of usefulness. Our national association has been a power for good in this country from its inception in 1848, for it has helped to awaken and has kept alive a widespread interest in science throughout our country, and it has brought together and kept in touch with each other persons interested in the various branches of science. Since 1831 the British Association for the Advancement of Science has been a powerful and even a remarkable agency in the encouragement of local workers in Great Britain, and in the quickening of interest in every branch of science. But while the British Association has of late years visited Australia, Canada and South Africa, from the outset most of its activities have been confined to England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, an area (121,112 sq. ms.) smaller than that of the state of 1 Presidential address before the Pacific Division of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, at Stanford University, California, April 5, 1917. California alone (158,360 sq. ms.), and having a population of forty-five millions as compared with California's one and a half millions at about the same period. But when we consider that we are expected to hatch out the eggs of science over the area extending from the Rocky Mountains to the Philippine Islands, and from the polar regions in northern Alaska to the torrid zone, we must realize that we have entered upon no trifling undertaking. These facts are mentioned in order that we may not have false ideas of the relations of our population to the area of our operations a factor in the problem that can not be overlooked. In a denser population where interest in any one subject has a large following it is comparatively easy to keep that interest alive and active. With our smaller population scattered over a vast area, and that population but indifferently provided with educational facilities, we must expect to meet obstacles that are inseparable from a country as new as this of ours, and to find it necessary to make extraordinary efforts if we would look forward to extraordinary results. Many of the people about us here on the Pacific coast are quite as well prepared to do scientific work as any in the world, but we can not shut our eyes to the fact that the great bulk of our population are engaged in the work of pioneers whether they live in cities, villages, on farms, in the forests, or in the mines. Our educational Our educational institutions are manned by as able scholars as can be found anywhere, but the number of such scholars is small, while the library and laboratory equipments at their service are more or less defective. We must huddle together, as it were, to keep warm and to keep up our courage. But even if we are still living in the pioneer days of science on this coast, we have the rewards of pioneers for whatever we may do: : we live in the open, we have a certain independence that is worth much to the student of science in the way of encouragement of originality, while the fact that we are thrown on our own resources in many respects has decided advantages for young workers, and even for the older ones. Our Duty to the Public.-We may well ask ourselves what duties devolve upon us as live and active members of this lately formed organization of scientific men with its center of activities right here about the Bay of San Francisco. My experience with the work of the American Association and with the British Association cover a period of thirty-five years, so that in making a few suggestions in regard to what seems to be the legitimate scope of our future operations, I shall not be drawing entirely upon my imagination. The benefits to be derived from such an organization are, or should be, vastly more than what is to be expected from the simple conferring together of those who are interested in similar kinds of scientific work. What of our relations to the public? In my opinion we have no more serious duties than to have and to cultivate a broad and intelligent interest in science as it is related to society at large. If we do not have such an interest we fail in one of our most obvious opportunities as men of science and as public-spirited citizens. Scientific questions often arise in the discharge of the duties of our public executive officers. Our presidents, governors, judges, mayors and others in public office need the services of men of science, while legislators who have to legislate upon matters that involve scientific problems are equally in need of the advice of competent and unbiased men. It is clearly our duty to place our knowledge, our training, and our best judgment at the service of such men, and thus at the service of the public, and to stand together in whatever is right in connection with matters relating to or involving a knowledge of science. Legislation. In any and every state a glance at a list of the bills introduced in the legislature can not fail to impress us with the need and the importance of a knowledge of various branches of science on the part of our legislative and executive officers. Legislative support for our scientific bureaus and for higher education must come from the backing given them either directly or indirectly by men of science. But when executive and legislative officers are chosen as ours are it would be a mere accident if they had the special knowledge necessary to legislate about matters that require such knowledge. Indeed it not infrequently happens that our public officials have their judgment biased by hearsay information and prejudices that are difficult to deal with. Take as an example the case of legislation upon vivisection that has lately been up right here in our own state. We are impelled to ask what is to be expected from legislation on such a subject unless the men of science in the state make themselves heard and felt. Not that most of us really know anything about vivisection; we do not. But we do know what scientific methods are and where they lead, and as men of science we are bound to use our influence in support of such methods. Physiologists-not sentimentalists-are the ones to determine whether or not vivisection should or should not be allowed, and our voices should be heard in support of the physiologists and in favor of right methods in that as in anything else. The new kelp industry of our coast already has problems in our state legislature. Surely the questions involved in this and in all similar cases should not be left to haphazard legislation dictated by selfish interests of any kind whatever, but should be settled by scientific men as scientific problems that concern the community at large. I might well add the importance of scientific knowledge in the drafting and passing of fish and game laws, laws relating to the seal fisheries, to insect pests, to smelter fumes, to the conservation of timber, and to rational methods of mining and the conservation of our mineral resources, all of them problems closely related to our industries and to our future. I have heard it objected that we have no call to offer our advice where it is not sought. This raises a point in ethics which puzzles some persons unnecessarily. We have also heard of a person who would not rescue a drowning man because he had not been introduced to him. We do not hesitate to cast our ballots and to lift our voices in favor of what we regard as right methods in public affairs. Nor should we hesitate to do any other act that we know to be for the public good, whether that act be formally called for or not. I merely mention these instances in passing and as examples of some of the public duties of scientific men which we too often overlook. too often overlook. Such problems confront men of science everywhere, and it is to be hoped that we shall not evade them in this the newer part of our country. SCIENTIFIC PROBLEMS If I were asked by this association to suggest problems that the scientific world has a right to expect us to solve, or at least to attack seriously, it would bring to mind first of all the most scathing criticism I ever heard of any scientific man-a criticism made on the ground that he had spent a lifetime in a certain field where he had a unique opportunity for solving certain problems that he never solved, and that he never made any serious effort to solve. Evidently the man had no powers of imagination, and no comprehension of the importance or bearing of the problems under his feet, and he seemed to stare and blink at them like a dazed owl. What little he did lacked purpose enough to keep him awake and at work, while ordinary professional courtesy prevented others from going into the field that accident had placed in his incompetent hands. And what has that to do with us? One's life as a scientific man is like his life as an individual in this, that he has the hope of rounding it out satisfactorily and of leaving his work well and conscientiously done. We can not conceive, therefore, of anything more humiliating to us in our professional capacities than a failure to attack the problems that nature or opportunity has placed under our hands. I can imagine some one objecting to local problems as not being big enough for fullgrown men. It is true that the laws of science are world-wide, they are even as wide as the universe itself. None the less some of these problems have been solved right here on this humble little earth of ours, and, if we are big enough, we may yet solve more of them right here in the state of California. Some problems are necessarily localized; and nowadays when one wants to study a thing he goes where the thing is. And that is just another way of saying that laboratory work is best done in a laboratory, while field work is best done in the field where one can see his materials in abundance. What have we here that they have not everywhere else in the world? What local problems have we that are well worthy of our attention and of our best efforts? I can only mention two or three of them, and these must be accepted simply as examples. Chemistry. For the chemists we have one of the great oil, gas and asphaltum regions of the world with all of the complex problems connected with the origin of petroleum and with the vast number of products derived and derivable from it. We have here too a great number of lakes of concentrated waters: soda lakes, borax lakes, and salt lakes, with an infinite number of interesting problems that call for solution, and offer substantial rewards for it. The availability of a cheap and abundant supply of electricity affords unusual opportunities for studying and investigating electro-chemical subjects. In the presence of these subjects and opportunities the chemists seem to stand on the shores of a vast and uncharted ocean that they hardly dare embark upon. Tropical Diseases.-The territory allotted to the Pacific Division of the American Association includes large areas in the tropics-Mexico and the Sandwich Islands, and the Philippine Islands. These facts, and the opening of the Panama Canal and the growth of trade, and the development of commercial intercourse between our western ports and tropical countries, and especially between us and Asiatic countries, ought to impress us with the importance of our study of tropical diseases. Soon or late we shall have to deal with such diseases, and unless we undertake the work promptly and with thoroughness we shall pay dearly for it later on. If we are not willing to do this from our interest in science, we shall have to do it as a matter of self-protection. The port of San Francisco is close to every town on this coast, and it is at San Francisco that tropical diseases are most likely to land. Geology.-As I have said, these cases are cited merely as examples, for I find that there is hardly a branch of science that has not here, within our province, an em |