REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 15 



by persons who are not of their membership. Other societies do 

 not extend this privilege. So far as the Secretary is aware this 

 Academy has never taken any definite action on this subject. 

 When the membership was small the number of papers present- 

 ed was correspondingly small. There was no urgent necessity 

 for raising the question, perhaps. Today our membership is 

 well over three hundred, the number of papers presented for 

 publication will be seventy or the?;eabouts, and the question of 

 what to include and what to exclude is of some importance, in 

 the mind of the editor at least. It is true, on one hand, that 

 there is no limit placed on the size of our Proceedings, that they 

 are published without cost to the Academy and that we are left 

 free to publish vrhatever we see fit. It is equally true, on the 

 other hand, that all of these liberties carry with them an equal 

 responsibility for extreme carefulness and appreciation of our 

 favored position. It seems also that no one who has scientific 

 inclinations, and who has scientific achievements to make known 

 to a scientific public would regret the investment of the small 

 amount represented by the annual dues of such a scientific 

 association as ours. Some definite statement on the part of the 

 Academy would help the editor in the settlement of this question 

 when it arises. 



At the time of revising the sections of the constitution relating 

 to classes of members and dues provision was made for annual 

 dues from Corresponding Fellows and a committee was selected 

 to write to our Corresponding Fellows informing them of the 

 action of- the Academy and asking if they wished to continue 

 their relation to it under the new provision. The class of Hon- 

 orary Fellow was instituted in part to provide for those Corres- 

 ponding Fellows who had been elected as such as an honor to 

 them and to the Academy alike. Three men have been trans- 

 ferred from the class of Corresponding Fellows to that of Hon- 

 orary Fellows. Otherwise the list of corresponding Fellows has 

 not changed. Is it desirable to carry out the provisions of the 

 constitution or is it better to let the matter stand as it has for 

 years past? This quesion arises also in connection with the dis- 

 tribution of the all-too-limited cloth bound edition of our Pro- 

 ceedings, as well as with the all-too-limited condition of our 

 bank account. 



The Treasurer calls attention to the fact that a number of our 

 members are at present enlisted in the army and raises the ques- 



