SHORTER ARTICLES 



2Sr 



SHORTER ARTICLES 



SIGMA XI 



Conspicuous among the events that 

 attended the recent Ithaca meeting of 

 the American Association for the Ad- 

 vancement of Science, was the twentieth 

 celebration of the founding of the Sigma 

 Xi, and, as so little is known .about 

 this organization, I venture to give a 

 brief description of its history. 



The career of the Phi Beta Kappa 

 Society has been a long and honorable 

 one, having been founded at William 

 and Mary College in Williamsburg, Va., 

 on December 5, 1776, and it is, there- 

 fore, the oldest of the so-called Greek 

 letter societies. This organization, as 

 is well known, admits to membership 

 honor students in the humanities who 

 are about to graduate, and the lack of 

 any organization that should similarly 

 recognize distinction in the study of 

 the scientific branches led in 18S6 to 

 the organization in Ithaca of the So- 

 ciety of the Sigma Xi, which has as its 

 objects to encourage original investiga- 

 tion in science, pure and applied, and 

 by meeting for the discussion of scien- 

 tific subjects, as well as for the publi- 

 cation of such scientific material as 

 might be deemed desirable; and also to 

 establish fraternal relations among in- 

 vestigators in scientific centers. Its 

 name is derived from its motto %irov6ov 

 Swuveg, signifying Companions in 

 Zealous Research. 



The success of the organization led 

 to the establishment of a chapter in 

 the Rensselaer Polytechnic in Troy and 

 in Union University in Schenectady a 

 year later. A chapter in the Univer- 

 sity of Kansas in 1S90 and one at 

 Yale University in 1895 followed. In 

 1S96 a chapter was established at the 

 University of Minnesota and one at the 

 University of Nebraska in 1S97. The 

 Ohio State University came next in 



1898, and the University of Pennsyl- 

 vania in 1S99. With the opening of 

 the new century came chapters at 

 Brown and the University of Iowa, and 

 then Stanford University and the Uni- 

 versity of California, and Columbia 

 University in 1901 and 1902. Three 

 chapters were established in 1903, 

 namely, at the University of Michigan, 

 the University of Illinois, and the Uni- 

 versity of Chicago, and a year later 

 organizations were effected at the Case 

 School and in the University of Indiana. 



Application for a chapter is now be- 

 fore the council for the University of 

 Wisconsin. Thus it will be seen that 

 this organization has already secured a 

 good foothold and has been established 

 at nearly all of the larger universities. 



The first president was Henry S. 

 Williams, of Cornell, one of the found- 

 ers, who was succeeded by S. W. Willis- 

 ton, of the University of Chicago, who 

 two years ago gave place to E. L. 

 Nichols, of Cornell. Biennial conven- 

 tions are usually held in connection 

 with the meeting of the American Asso- 

 ciation for the Advancement of Sci- 

 ence, the next of which will be held 

 in December, 1906, many of its members 

 being prominently connected with that 

 organization. The membership is al- 

 ready a large one, numbering more 

 than a thousand persons, most of 

 whom are either teachers of or ad- 

 vanced students of science. 



The different chapters hold public 

 meetings at which speakers of eminence 

 are invited to address the organization. 

 The badge or insignia is a watch charm 

 or pendant consisting of the mono- 

 gram formed in gold of the Greek letter 

 Sigma superimposed on the greek letter 

 Xi, the former being somwhat smaller 

 than the latter. On the reverse side 

 of the badge is engraved on the upper 



