xxviii Trans. Acad. Set. of St. Louis. 



received during the year from the dues of members. Since we do not 

 consider it desirable to curtail the publications of the Academy, it would 

 appear that it is very desirable to increase the membership. 



There has been no material change in the membership of the Academy 

 during the year. At the close of last year we had 251 active members, and 

 now we have enrolled 248 active members. We have lost 5 by death and 19 

 from other causes, making 24 in all. We have elected 15 resident and 6 

 non-resident active members, making 21, thus nominally decreasing the 

 membership by 3; but as the losses include a considerable number of persons 

 delinquent for many years, who have been dropped for non-payment of dues, 

 and who were counted in last year's total, it would appear that the Academy 

 has actually made a small gain in membership. 



The same motives for effort on the part of the members of the Academy 

 for the extension of its work in legitimate fields, for the increase of funds 

 which will enable the Academy to carry out its purposes in the accumula- 

 tion of a library and in securing a permanent home, the establishment of a 

 museum, and the publication of good scientific matter, remain before us 

 as prominently as last year. While some progress in this direction has been 

 made and we have no reason to be discouraged, a careful consideration of 

 the situation points to the necessity of active and earnest effort. Perhaps 

 the best purpose to which this effort can be directed will be to increasing 

 the active membership. There is no doubt that the larger the number of 

 persons whom we can interest in the active work of the Academy, the greater 

 will be our prospects for the early attainment of our desires, not to speak 

 of the fact that we are dependent upon the income from the members for 

 our actual living. This can be best seen by a consideration of the member- 

 ship roll of the Academy, which shows the accessions of members from its 

 organization. 



From the reports received from the Secretary, to whom I am indebted for 

 the information here presented, diagrams have been prepared which con- 

 tain considerable information for those who study them. 



Fig. 1 shows the total number of members who have been elected to m'im- 

 bership previous to any date shown. The ordinate of the curve shows the 

 total number of members who have been elected to membership previous 

 to the year indicated at the foot of the ordinate. There is a general rise 

 to the curve, and the curve is steeper in later years. The ordinate for the 

 year 1899 shows that 845 different persons have been elected active members 

 since the foundation of the Academy. 



Fig. 2 shows the total number of members belonging at any one time. 

 The curve is incomplete, and the incompleteness is shown on the drawing by 

 the dashed portion of the line, owing to the fact that it was not thought 

 of sufllcient importance to make a very thorough search of the records of 

 the Academy during those early years, and the general run of the curve was 

 ascertained without the necessity of scrutinizing every line that had been 

 written or printed; and since we are studying only general results, it is 

 suflSciently accurate. The points are derived from the record. The straight 

 line running over a period of years is equivalent to making the assumption 

 that the change during that period was gradual; as a matter of fact, we know 

 that it was not actually so. Near the beginning the Academy bad 151 mem- 

 bers. That was in 1860. The record previous to that time is in obscurity. 

 The membership then dropped, up to the end of 1864. Probably the prin- 



