Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 53.djvu/868

844 hand at the phenomenal success of the meeting.

In view of this general satisfaction at the manner in which the members had been received and taken care of, and also at the amount and quality of the work done, it may appear a little ungracious to call attention to what seems to us an unfortunate omission in the management cf the meeting; and we certainly should not allude to it were it not that, in our opinion, it betrays a growing tendency to abandon, or at least to dwarf, one of the principal objects of the organization.

What we refer to is the lack of provision on the part of the association for the popular evening lectures that were instituted by its founders as a part of its educational work, and that for a good many years formed one of the most attractive features of its meetings.

In the earlier days of the association, and always in the British Association to the present time, popular lectures on subjects of public interest have had a prominent place in the proceedings. Usually given in the evening, they need not interfere with the daily routine, and always, when provided for, they have drawn crowded and intelligent audiences from among the people of the neighborhood, arousing interest in scientific matters that came near being enthusiasm, and so contributing directly and effectually to the object we have specified.

What was done in furtherance of this purpose at the Boston meeting can hardly be said to have been the work of the association. There were, to be sure, two interesting lectures in Huntington Hall the same evening on the value of scientific applications in municipal public works, as illustrated by what had been done in Boston; but these were delivered for Boston, and by two citizens of Boston, the Hon. H. H. Sprague and the Hon. George G. Crocker, and should properly be placed to the credit of Boston, thus increasing rather than diminishing the indebtedness of the association. The same may be said of President Eliot's instructive address before the association at Cambridge, which was indeed a type of what these evening lectures should be, and, in our opinion, was one of the most valuable contributions, at least so far as the public is concerned, to the proceedings of the entire meeting; but it was a part of the entertainment offered by Boston.

The tendency of the association away from its important educative purpose is further indicated by the abolition of the general sessions at the opening of the daily proceedings. These often became occasions for exceedingly entertaining discussions of subjects of general scientific interest, in which the more prominent and experienced members were expected to and habitually did take part. Even the strongest advocates of more room for technical papers acknowledge that the work of the association has of late attracted less and less of popular attention. Whatever force may be given to the plea that many of its most eminent members have been drawn away to the American Academy of Sciences, the fact remains that the time was when, with not half its present membership, the meetings were of far greater public interest than they are to-day; and there was never any difficulty, when they were sought, in finding men abundantly equipped to interest and instruct an intelligent popular gathering. As scientific investigators multiply and research is extended, the number of technical papers presented to the association may be fairly expected to increase; but the number of topics the public will