xxviii Centennial Anniversary 



em J should own, itself, and make a place, not only for its meet- 

 ings, but for collections which might be of public value. Such a 

 building may yet be its final home. Let us hope that when our 

 successors celebrate its next centennial, it may be in an unbor- 

 rowed hall, that shall perpetuate the name of some friend of learn- - 

 ing and stand as his stately gift to science and the arts, as culti- 

 vated by the people of Connecticut. 



In December, 1863, at the instance of Professor Gilman, now 

 President of John Hopkins University, the Academy voted to 

 recommence the publication of its transactions, but to aim espec- 

 ially at printing such papers as " on account of their lengthy their 

 technical or special character, or their local interest, would be 

 inappropriate to the American Journal of Science ; " particularly 

 disclaiming any desire to interfere with " the field which the Jour- 

 nal occupies with so much credit to the country and the College." 



Collection of the annual dues of the Academy had been resumed, 

 and with the aid of some special subscriptions to the publication 

 fund, the first part of the first volume of the current series of our 

 Transactions was carried through the press in 1865. In 1867 a 

 further contribution of nearly $400 was received from the treasury 

 of the " Yale Natural History Society," which liad become prac- 

 tically defunct, to be devoted to the publication of papers on the 

 branches of science which that Society had been formed to pro- 

 mote. In 1871 the second part of the volume appeared, and since 

 then parts of volumes have been issued every few years, the tenth 

 volume being now half through the press. 



The general character of their contents is such as was indicated 

 by the vote of the Academy in 1863. There is little in them of a 

 popular character ; but it may fairly be said that there has been 

 much to interest and to inform the scientific reader. An occa- 

 sional contribution will be found by students of philology, and 

 one pertains to the general history of letters and the drama, but 

 the subjects considered have generally been such as relate to Nat- 

 ural History, Physiology or Mathematics, and the papers mainly 

 of the kind that are originally submitted by title, and are known 

 only to the committee on publication before they appear in print. 



While this is true of them, in the shape in which they appear 

 in our Transactions, it is, however, no less true that in many 

 instances the subject considered has been less formally presented 



