470 Memorial of George Bro7(>n Coode. 



origin. Besides these two there were no others which at that time 

 aspired to national influence. The American Philosophical Society and 

 the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, in earlier days more far- 

 reaching, were already limited by local bonds. The United States 

 Military Philosophical Society, organized in 1803, the first in America 

 to hold meetings from city to city, had disbanded soon after 18 10. The 

 American Geological Society', organized in New Haven in 18 19, endured 

 only until 1826. Others, like the Academy of Natural Sciences of 

 Philadelphia and the New York Lyceum of Natural History, while not 

 strictly local, were essentiall}^ professional societies, with interests 

 already intentionally restricted. 



The American Association was undoubtedly a direct outgrowth of the 

 Association of Geologists and Naturalists, but it was not strictl)' a con- 

 tinuation. The older society was an assemblage of professional men. 

 They were all geologists, for in those days every naturalist was to some 

 extent a geologist, and the alread}' extensive system of State geological 

 surveys offered many opportunities for research. There was not an 

 astronomer, mathematician, physician, anthropologist, or political econo- 

 mist among them. Their object was described in the constitution to be 

 "the advancement of geolog)^ and the collateral branches of science," 

 and geology remained always the paramount and controlling interest. 

 The few papers on biological, chemical, and meteorological subjects 

 which were presented were written with geological problems in mind, and 

 in the discussions geological considerations always received the chief at- 

 tention. This tendency was especially pronounced previous to 1844, when 

 a change of policy began to take place. It is evident to whomsoever may 

 stud}^ the records that the American Association of Geologists was the 

 legitimate successor of the American Geological Society, more closely 

 akin to it (though separated b}' a period of fourteen 3'ears of lifelessness) 

 than to its administrative offspring, the American Association. The 

 Geological Society of America, separated from it by a gap of over forty 

 years, is also more closely akin to it than was its outgrowth, the American 

 Association. 



The Association of Geologists was only one of the parents of the Ameri- 

 can Association. For the other we must look to the National Institution; 

 and since the achievements of this organization have hitherto received 

 but slight consideration it seems appropriate on this occasion to call atten- 

 tion to the principal facts in its history. 



This society was from its start extremely comprehensive in its scope — 

 even more so, it may be, than the American Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science has been at any period in its existence. Although its 

 meetings, like those of the already venerable sister societies of similar pur- 

 pose, the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy 

 of Arts and Sciences, were always held in one city, its scope was essen- 



