Address by Professoi' Bcddioin. xxiii 



On Philology and Criticism : Professor Kingsley, chairman. 



On Belles-Lettres : Professor Goodrich, chairman. 



On the Fine Arts : H. Augur (the sculptor), chairman. 



On Education : Professor Woolsey, chairman. 



On these committees appeared the names of a number of non- 

 resident members, including Professors Lathrop of Hamilton Col- 

 lege, New York, Fowler of Middlebury College, Vermont, and 

 Mitchell of Chapel Hill College, North Carolina, Rev. J. P. 

 Cowles of Princeton, Massachusetts, and Professor Ethan A. 

 Andrews of Boston. 



The scheme was too ambitious, and little was accomplished 



ty it. 



A specialization of research of another character was commenc- 

 ing at Yale, which was perhaps more in accordance with the spirit 

 of modern scholarship, but was destined to exert an unfavorable 

 influence on the fortunes of the Academy. I refer to the forma- 

 tion of particular societies for the promotion of particular sciences. 

 One of the earliest was the Yale Natural History Society, which 

 achieved considerable results, particularly through the investiga- 

 tions of James Harvey Linsley of Stratford, whose catalogue of 

 the Mammalia of Connecticut, and of the Shells of Connecticut, 

 prepared for its service, were afterwards published in the Ameri- 

 can Journal of Science and Arts. Other organizations of a simi- 

 lar kind followed later, and one by one, especially of late years, 

 the Classical Club, the Political Science Club, the Mathematical 

 Club, and others at Yale have seized upon almost every field 

 originally appropriated by the Academy, pursuing their studies 

 with the ardor of youth, and the enthusiasm that is best kindled 

 by daily intercourse between men engaged in the same pursuits, 

 and acting under the lead of a trained scholar, eager to share 

 with them the latest word of the best man on the subject in hand. 



In 1836 President Day declined a re-election to the Presidency 

 of the Academy, and that position passed into the hands of Pro- 

 fessor Silliman. 



In every association, whatever its form or purpose, the presiding 

 officer holds a great power in the matter of shaping its general 

 policy. It is the greater because it is largely undefined and, so to 

 speak, unexpressed. He inspires resolutions which others offer ; 



