16 NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 
by one writer that this provision was included in the bill of 
incorporation mainly to secure the passage of the bill, by convinc- 
ing Congress of the practical utility of the Academy. This may 
be in part true, but it does not explain the fact that the executive 
branch of the Government immediately took counsel of the 
Academy on a variety of subjects and has continued to do so 
up to the present time. 
In this connection, it is interesting to note the attitude of 
President Lincoln and his Secretary of State, Seward, toward 
the Academy, as shown by the following letter which was ad- 
dressed to Professor Bache a few months after its organization: 
“DEPARTMENT OF STATE, 
“WASHINGTON, January 8, 1864. 
“Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 
7th instant, tendering to this department the aid of the Academy of Sciences in 
any investigations that it may be thought proper to institute with a view to the 
great reform of producing an uniformity of weights and measures among com- 
mercial nations. Be pleased to express to the academy my sincere thanks for this 
enlightened and patriotic proceeding, and assure them that, with the authority of 
the President, I shall be happy to avail myself of the assistance thus tendered to 
me, and to that end I shall at all times be happy to receive the suggestions of the 
academy, or of any committee that may be named by it, in conformity with the 
spirit of the note you have addressed to me. 
“T am, Sir, your obedient servant, 
“WILLIAM H. SEWARD. 
“ Proressor A. D. BACHE, 
“ President of the National Academy of Sciences.” ** 
That the founders of the Academy felt that it owed a duty to 
the Government is shown by the rather singular provision which 
was incorporated in the constitution, that each member should 
upon his admission “ take the oath of allegiance prescribed by 
the Senate of the United States for its own members.” ‘This 
matter of an oath of allegiance was by no means regarded as one 
of slight importance, as is indicated by the animated discussion to 
which it gave rise when the report of the committee on the consti- 
tution was brought before the Academy at the first meeting.” 
* Rep. Nat. Acad. Sci. for 1863, p. 11. 
* See Ames, Mary L. Life of Peter and Susan Lesley, vol. 1, p. 419. 
