ANNUAL REPORT OF SECRETARY 5 



common interest, and this movement was successful. The Joint 

 Commission was created, a permanent body consisting of three 

 members each from the Anthropological, Biological, Chemical, 

 Geographic, and Philosophical Societies. The functions of the 

 Commission were advisory, except that it might "execute in- 

 structions on general subjects and in special cases from two or 

 more of the societies participating ;" but it was provided that no 

 society should be bound by the Commission to an act as to which 

 it had not given instructions. 



Through this Commission a joint directory of the scientific 

 societies was issued annually, beginning with 1889. The local 

 arrangements for the Washington meeting of the American As- 

 sociation for the Advancement of Science (1891) were made, 

 and the surplus of money acquired through subscriptions for 

 that purpose was afterward expended in the purchase of furni- 

 ture for rooms at the Cosmos Club in which meetings of the 

 societies and their governing boards were held. In 1889 and 

 1890 the Commission conducted the Saturday lectures, but it 

 afterward neglected this function, which was taken up in an 

 irregular way by individual societies. 



In 1893 the Entomological Society was added to the cooper- 

 ating group, with the privilege of a single representative in the 

 Joint Commission, and the following year the Geological was 

 admitted with two representatives. 



Early in the year 1895, a further measure of integration was 

 adopted by enlarging the functions of the Joint Commission. 

 It was empowered: "(«) to provide for joint meetings of the 

 Societies, (3) to conduct courses of popular lectures, (c) to pre- 

 pare a Joint Directory of the members of the Societies, (^) to 

 distribute to all members of the Societies periodic advance no- 

 tices of the meetings of the several Societies, and (e^ to act in 

 the interest of the component Societies at the instance of any of 

 them." The expenses were borne by the several societies in the 

 ratio of their membership. The new Commission was composed 

 of the officers and administrative boards of the several societies, 

 and despite extensive overlapping in the membership it included 

 about ninety persons. The details of its work were entrusted to 

 an Executive Committee comprising the four officers of the Com- 

 mission and one member- at-large from each society represented. 



