In the last number of Science it is urged that the great obstacle to the advancement of scientific studies in Boston is difficulty in obtaining a full attendance at the meetings of the scientific societies. As a remedy, it is proposed to concentrate the principal scholarly institutions of the city in the " Back Bay" district. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology with its Society of Arts, the Boston Society of Natural History, and the Medical School of Harvard College, are already there. Here, too, is the Museum of Fine Arts; and, most important of all, to it will shortly be removed the Public Library.

At this place it is proposed to construct a fireproof building, of which each floor could be devoted to a single institution, or shared by two or more of the smaller societies. The concentration of the libraries of the various societies in one building, and, perhaps, under one general administration, would make each separate library more attractive and useful. Under the hospitable roof should be gathered the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Mass. Historical Society, The Archxological Institute of America, and a large number of other flourishing societies.