212 



THE MUSEUM. 



PB^FOUATOKS (J-). 



The National Academy of Sciences. 



The meeting of the National Acad- 

 emy of Sciences that was held in 

 Washington recently was of more than 

 usual interest, owing to the special 

 character of the business transacted. 



The Academy, as many of our readers 

 know, but of which fact the general pub- 

 lic persists in remaining very ignorant, 

 is the highest scientific body in theUnit- 

 ed States, and an election to its mem- 

 bership is the greatest honor that an 

 American can expect to receive at the 

 hands of his countrymen. To this 

 Academy all questions of scientific im- 

 portance that come up in the adminis- 

 tration of the government are referred 

 for final decision. Even matters of 

 the utmost delicacy, such as one in • 

 volving the life or death of a geologi- 

 cal survey, have been passed upon by 

 them and their decision accepted 

 without an appeal. Its membership 

 is limited by law to lOO members, and 

 it is never full. Indeed, in recent 

 years, owing to the large number of 

 candidates proposed, no choice was 

 possible, and the number of members 

 had been reduced by death to below 

 ninety. 



Two meetings are held each year. 



One on the third Tuesday in April, 

 always in Washington, D. C, and the 

 other, usually elsewhere, about the 

 ist of November. The stated meet- 

 ing, as the one held in the spring is 

 called, was convened on April i6 in the 

 ence room of the United States Na- 

 tional Museum, and continued its ses- 

 sions until April 19. 



Among the features of this year's 

 meeting that gave it unusual promi- 

 nence was the election of a new presi- 

 dent. In the more than thirty years 

 of its existence, for it was founded in 

 1863, by an act of Congress, the 

 Academy has had but few presiding 

 officers. Alexander D. Bache, who 

 for so long a time filled the high office 

 of superintendent of the United States 

 Coast Survey, was the first to receive 

 the presidency from the hands of hisjas- 

 sociates. From the inception of the 

 Academy until his death in 1868 he 

 filled that place. His able colleague in 

 Washington, Joseph Henry, the first sec- 

 retary of the Smithsonian Institution, 

 came next, and for ten years, with 

 courtly grace, he presided over the 

 meetings of the Academy. He died 

 ir. 1878, and William B. Rogers, the 

 founder and president of the Massa- 



