THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE OF ST. LOUIS. ,127 



dropped from the active workers. Even the places of their successors 

 had been taken by a younger generation, and the number of non- 

 professional members had been very greatly increased. 



These are some of the causes which led to a serious consideration, 

 in 1893, of means for further widening the academy's influence and 

 usefulness, a first step toward which was the appointment of a com- 

 mittee to report on the desirability of a revision of the constitution. 

 On the report of this committee, the constitution was considerably 

 changed, not in essentials, but radically by the adoption of a letter 

 ballot for elections, amendments and the like, in place of the vote 

 formerly taken at a regular meeting after due notice of the business 

 to be done; and by provision for the election of a non-office-holding 

 committee each winter to nominate officers for the ensuing year, with 

 the privilege of additional nominations from the floor when the com- 

 mittee reported. 



Direct effects of these provisions were to check a perfunctory re- 

 nomination of officers to which informal nomination on the spur of 

 the moment may lead along the line of least resistance and to place the 

 franchise in the hands of the entire membership instead of leaving it 

 through non-attendance to the few members who might be at the 

 meeting when a vote was taken. Current matters of administrative 

 business were also taken out of the hands of the membership and 

 directly vested in a council, consisting of the principal officers. No 

 doubt the general result of the innovations was good. 



Some notable changes in the life of the academy showed themselves 

 very soon after the revision of the constitution and the removal of the 

 meeting-place from Washington University to the building of the Mis- 

 souri Historical Society. For instance, the provision of a nominating 

 committee having time for reflection and compelled to hold a meeting 

 for the preparation of a list of nominees has led to a more frequent 

 nomination of men of affairs for the offices of president and vice- 

 presidents, as a means of identifpng the non-professional majority of 

 the members with the life of the academy, in place of the customary 

 election to those offices of the most distinguished scientific men on the 

 roll, or of those whose attendance was most constant; and the removal 

 of business details from the meetings has cut out many spicy dis- 

 cussions on the financial standing and intentions of members in 

 arrears and other non-technical matters, leaving the sessions free for 

 the strictly scientific purposes of the academy. 



Perhaps the most noticeable change of this period has been in the 

 character of the program. In its new quarters, the academy met 

 in a formal lecture room, with a platform for the presiding officers 

 and regularly placed seats for the audience, the exchanges being dis- 

 played in a separate room, for inspection before the meeting. Attend- 

 ance was made easier and the presence of ladies was more frequently 



