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gress, condition and general affairs of the Society, — with sug- 

 gestions relative to the measures which, in his opinion, will 

 conduce to the future improvement and efficiency of its scien- 

 tific and business operations. 



He remarked that since the delivery of his discourse in December 

 last, the Society has pursued its usual quiet and useful career. The 

 number of members on the first of January, 1854, was 362, of 

 whom 261 are resident in the United States, and 101 in foreign coun- 

 tries. Since that time 21 resident and 7 foreign members have been 

 elected, and in the same time the decease of 10 resident and 2 foreign 

 members has been announced. According to a classification made 

 by him of the resident members, as supposed to prefer the cultivation 

 of science and the arts, literature, or natural history, — it appears 

 that we have 158 scientific men and artists, 83 literary men, and 20 

 naturalists. He mentioned, as a source of regret, that our members 

 of the literary class, comprising, for the most part, gentlemen of the 

 legal and clerical professions, have seldom favoured us with any 

 communications, as if they considered the object of the Society to be 

 exclusively the cultivation of science. 



The foreign members reported as deceased during the year, are 

 Gotthelf Fischer von Waldheim, of Moscow, and Sir James Wylie, 

 of St. Petersburg. Both these gentlemen were visited by the Presi- 

 dent during his tour in Europe, in the summer of 1853, and he bore 

 testimony as to the cordiality with which he was received by them 

 as a representative of the Society ; — briefly commenting on the life 

 and character of each. 



He then proceeded to notice the resident members who have died 

 within the year, and alluded particularly to Dr. Robert M. Patterson, 

 late President of the Society, and also to the melancholy disaster 

 which befel the steamer Arctic, in September last, by which the 

 Society was deprived of two of its members, Mr. Jacob G. Morris 

 and Prof. Henry Reed. He suggested that the consideration whether 

 any means can be devised to prevent the increasing liability to dan- 

 ger from collisions at sea, might appropriately engage the attention 

 of this Society, expressly established for the promotion of useful 

 knowledge. 



After some remarks in relation to the obituary notices of deceased 

 members, he spoke of the improvement of the Society's library, and 

 of the necessity for more extended accommodations for so numerous 

 and valuable a collection of books and documents; — referring also 



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