8 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA 



scientific energy of this coast, and its earnest desire to see so 

 valuable a work brought to fruition — a work which, in Califor- 

 nia more than in any other State in the Union, seems marked 

 out as the most important educational need of the people. 



It appears to me, with reference to a plan for our future work, 

 that the course adopted by the natural history societies in the 

 Atlantic States and Europe, may with advantage be followed 

 here. This is the sectionizing our labors, so as to bring more 

 determined and persistent endeavors to each individual subject, 

 and by concentrating our energies on certain given points, be 

 enabled to accomplish more than we can ever do while our la- 

 bors are so diffused Thus we might have a geological section, 

 a botanical section, an entomological section, and so on, the ob- 

 ject of each of which should be earnest and energetic work in 

 its particular department of study, and the formation of special 

 collections belonging to each branch. No qualifications should 

 be required for membership in these offshoots of the general 

 body, beyond the fact that work will be expected from all, it 

 being of course understood that the workers in all cases shall be 

 members of the Academy. There is abundant strength in organ- 

 ization, and I should suggest that a chairman and secretary 

 should be chosen out of the members of each section, that a 

 faithful record of all proceedings, no matter how trifling they 

 may appear, should be kept; that the members should 

 meet at least once a week, and that all original papers 

 should be then first submitted, and if deemed worthy of 

 acceptance, should be read at the fortnightly meetings, and 

 then find a place in our proceedings. We should thus, 

 if such a course were persistently indulged, secure an 

 interest for the general meetings which they now rarely 

 possess, and should make our labors of more advantage to stu- 

 dents than they can possibly now be. There is nothing in the 

 Constitution to prevent immediate action on this subject on the 

 part of the members, and I think the suggestion will be found to 

 be well worthy the attention of the Academy. It may be deemed 

 necessary, among the several branches, to have a small weekly 

 subscription, if only to the amount of ten cents per week, for the 

 purchase of periodicals, apparatus, etc., without encroaching 

 upon the general fund; but of this I do not speak authorita- 



