Fall Meetings

Abstract

The plan to hold Fall Meetings separately from the other societies of the Federation was first tried by the American Physiological Society. The author has always given himself credit for initiating this idea but it may well have originated in many minds at the same time. It was proposed, however, to the Council when it met in Rochester, New York in 1945 and was accepted by the Society during the author’s term as President. The first Fall Meeting was held under the presidency and the local chairmanship of Dr. Maurice B. Visscher in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The whole idea, of course, grew out of the pressures to find time for all the 10-minute papers offered for the Spring Meetings. It was hoped that the Fall Meeting would drain off some of the papers and reduce the pressure but the effect did not seem to be very evident. Even so the Fall Meetings have been eminently successful in providing an opportunity for a Society banquet once a year in an atmosphere which is somewhat more relaxed than that of the Federation Meetings. These Fall Meetings are not regional meetings but they are regular semi-annual meetings of the whole Society at which business can legally be done.