74 NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 
entitled to the honor of an election.”“* This plan was not 
adopted, but though various changes in the method of electing 
members were introduced subsequently, the number of members 
has remained about one hundred. 
The Home Secretary reported in 1890 that the fourth volume 
of the Memoirs of the Academy had been completed “ after 
long delays.” ‘The first part of this volume was printed in 1889, 
but only 177 copies were distributed that year owing to a 
difficulty in obtaining the plates for the whole edition. The sth 
and 6th volumes were printed and distributed in 1892 and 1893.” 
The delays in publication during these years caused much 
dissatisfaction. The committee on amendments to the consti- 
tution which reported in November, 1892, took occasion to com- 
ment in quite emphatic language on the subject. They remarked 
with much truth: 
“A scientific society usually is esteemed, both at home and abroad, in propor- 
tion to the number and value of its publications. 
“ Under existing conditions few members of the Academy use it as a medium 
for reaching the public. Life is too short. Yet it is evident that it cannot rank 
with similar societies in other countries until its publications represent the best 
work of its members.” 7° 
The suggestion was made that a semi-annual publication 
issued soon after each meeting of the Academy, and containing 
at least abstracts of the various papers presented, might serve 
to make the work of the Academy known to the scientific world, 
but this idea has never been followed out. 
1893-1897 
Awards of the Draper and Watson medals were again made 
in 1893 and 1894, the fourth Draper Medal being awarded to 
® Loc. cit., p. 375. 
"Tn his report for 1894, the Home Secretary remarked, “The bill providing for the 
printing of all reports and memoirs of the Academy passed the House last year, and is now 
(April 17, 1894) in the hands of the Senate.” (Rep. Nat. Acad. Sci. for 1894, p. 7.) 
The Act of Congress, approved January 12, 1895, providing for the public printing and 
binding and the distribution of public documents contains the following item: “Of the 
Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences, two thousand five hundred copies: five hun- 
dred for the Senate, one thousand for the House, and one thousand for distribution by the 
Academy of Sciences.” (Stat. at Large, vol. 28, p. 616, 53d Congress, 3d Session, chap. 23.) 
See Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., vol. 1, pp. 375, 377, where the report is given in full. 
