Wood.] j^28 ' [June. 



as he. A record of attendance has been kept by the Treasurer since 

 the beginning of 1850; and from that year, inclusive, to 18()4, which 

 was the last of Dr. Baehe's life, his average yearly attendance, not- 

 withstanding an absence from the country on one occasion of five or 

 six months, was fifteen meetings, the whole annual number being 

 twenty. The only other member who, during this period, exhibited 

 so fair a record, or even an approach to it, was our worthy Treasurer 

 himself, whose favorable line of marks for most of the time was 

 almost without a flaw. 



In January, 1826, Dr. Bache was elected one of the Secretaries, 

 and he continued to serve the Society faithfully in this capacity until 

 January, 1843, having been the senior Secretary for eleven years. 

 For a considerable portion of the same time he was one of the Stand- 

 ing Committee of Publication, having been appointed a member of 

 the Committee in 1826, and its chairman in 1829; and he continued 

 to act in the latter capacity until January, 1835, when he declined a 

 reappointment. They who knew Dr. Bache do not require to be 

 informed how sedulously he fulfilled the duties of this laborious 

 Committee, not only taking care that everything should be done in 

 its proper time and place, but also that it should be correctly done; 

 and I do not venture much in saying that, through the long series 

 of our Transactions, none will be found more free from errors of the 

 press, or any other errors which fall within the scope of the Com- 

 mittee's oversight, than the volumes published under his superinten- 

 dence. 



At the election of January, 1843, he was chosen one of the Vice- 

 Presidents of the Society, and, being re-elected annually, became senior 

 Vice-President in 1849. This relative position he continued to hold 

 until January, 1853, when. Dr. R. M. Patterson having on account of 

 his failing health declined a re-election, he was chosen President; thus 

 having risen regularly through the successive grades of office to the 

 highest, as if the Society, in its relations with him, had participated in 

 that spirit of order by which he was himself so strongly characterized. 

 During the first year of his presidency, he paid, with myself, a visit of 

 five or six months to Europe. On this occasion the Society furnished 

 him with a circular to its correspondents abroad, which facilitated 

 his intercourse with scientific men, and would have been still more 

 useful, had not the necessary rapidity of our movements very much 

 curtailed his opportunities for such intercourse. But throughout 

 the journey he kept the good of the Society in view, searching for 

 information about its foreign members, endeavoring to awaken an in- 



