REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT. 



His Excellency, William E. Taylor, 



Governor of Wisconsin : 



Sir — I have the honor to submit the following report of 

 the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters for the 

 period commencing September 13, 1872, and ending February 

 12, 1874 : 



The work of the Academy, since the date of my last report, 

 has steadily progressed, although the number of active mem- 

 bers has not very considerably increased. 



The publication of the first volume of Transactions, by order 

 of the legislature, inspired confidence in the permanency of the 

 institution, and has encouraged members to bestow much 

 laborious effort upon their investigations. It also had the 

 •effect to gain for the Academy an honorable standing among 

 organizations of like character throughout the country, and 

 has even secured to its objects and early labors the attention 

 and favor of a large number of the learned societies of 

 Europe. 



Since the success of every organization of this kind must 

 depend upon the extent to which it is able to enlist the services 

 ■of the best cultured and most original minds in the com* 

 munity, and since the cooperation of such persons cannot reason- 

 ably be asked for unless the fruits of their investigations are 

 sure of being published to the world, it is an occasion for con- 

 gratulation that the legislature has shown a disposition to 



