To the Non-resident Members of the Washington Academy of 

 Sciences. 



The editors of the Jotjknal of the Washington Academy' of 

 Sciences are desirous of making the Journal representative of the 

 scientific activities of all of the members of the Academy. To 

 that end they solicit from the non-resident members short original 

 papers which may embody either their own contributions to 

 science, or contributions by other persons, which the members 

 may care to communicate to the Journal. A paper by any one 

 who is not a member of the Academy is published under the 

 author's name followed by the statement that it is communicated 

 by the member submitting it. 



When a paper is to be published in extenso elsewhere a notice 

 to that effect should accompan}' the preliminary paper submitted 

 to the Journal. 



It is believed that the Journal, by the prompt publication of 

 short articles, will perform a service to American men of science 

 similar to that rendered in France by the Comptes Rendus de 

 VAcademie des Sciences and will thus be more widely useful than 

 were the Proceedings, which it replaces. 



THE EDITORS. 



