118 MICHIGAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



A recommendation from the Council was adopted referring to a com- 

 mittee of live the question of tlie advisability of a section of the Academy 

 to be known as the Section of Science Teachers or Section of Science 

 Teaching, and instructing the committee to report at the next meeting. 

 The members were: Prof. Jacob Reighard, Ann Arbor; Prof. Wm. H. 

 Sherzer, Ypsllanti; Dr. W. J. Eeal, Agricultural College; Prof. Chas. 

 A. Davis, Alma; Mr. N. B. Sloan, Flint. To the same committee was 

 referred the question of investigating the status of science teachers 

 throughout the State, and in this matter they were requested to co-operate 

 with a similar committee of the Michigan Schoolmasters' Club. 



A resolution was introduced condemning the English sparrow bounty 

 law and respectfulh^ urging the legislature to repeal the act. Among 

 the reasons urged for this action were the following: 



1. Such bounty laws have been shown conclusively by the U. S. De- 

 partment of Agriculture to be unscientific, expensive, ineffectual, and 

 therefore injudicious and deplorable. 



2. The results of the bounty law in Michigan, as investigated by the 

 zoologist of the Agricultural College, fully sustain the conclusions above, 

 as published by the U. S. Department of Agriculture at Washington. 



.3. Aside from the useless expenditure of money, the law permits 

 and actually accomplishes the destruction of very many valuable native 

 birds. 



4. Michigan stands almost alone among the states in thus persisting 

 in an expensive and utterly futile attempt to exterminate this pest by the 

 bounty system. The presence of this bounty law on our statute books, 

 in the light of all the information at hand, is a serious reflection on the 

 intelligence of our tax payers. 



This resolution Avas adopted and referred to the committee on bird pro 

 tection. 



A committee on a natural history survey of the State was appointed as 

 follows : 



Bryant Walker, Detroit, chairman; Jacob Reighard, Ann Arbor; Chas. 

 A. Davis, Alma; W. J. Beal, Agricultural College; Frederick G. Novy, 

 Ann .Vrbor. 



The following officers were elected for the ensuing year: 



President — Jacob Reighard, Ph. B., Ann Arbor. 



Vice Presidents — Section of Botany, Prof. C. F. Wheeler, Agricultural 

 College; Section of Zoology, Bryant Walker, Detroit: Section of Sani- 

 tary Science, Cressy L. Wilbur, M. D., Lansing; Section of Agriculture, 

 Prof. Clinton D. Smith, Agricultural College. 



Treasurer, Prof. W. H. Munson, Hillsdale. 



Secretary, Prof. Walter B. Barrows, Agricultural College. 



PAPERS PRESENTED AT THE FIFTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE MICHIGAN ACADEMY 

 OF SCIENCE. YPSILANTI. MARCH 29, 30 AND 31, 1899. 



1. The :SIeclical luspectiou of Schools. Trof. Delos Fall, Albion College. Pub- 

 lished in Teachers" Sanitary Bulletin (Lansing) Vol. 2, No. 3, Marc-h. 1899. 



2. Bacteria of Every Day Life, (Stereopticon Lecture). Ernest B. Hoag, Univer- 

 sitv of Wisconsin. 



3. A Plea for Greater Attention to the Sciences, by the Church, the School, by 

 Legislatures, and the people generally— Presidential Address. Dr. Henry B. Baker, 

 Lansing. Printed in full in this report. 



