SYNOPSIS OP^ PROCEEDINGS. 219 



else the museum which is and should be an organism, attractive and 

 growing, will lie here dead, a mere disintegrating heap. 

 The report of the 



CORRESPONDING SECRETARY 



shows about the usual number of letters received and written. It 

 seems hardly fair to add the duties of this office, which require a large 

 aggregate of labor, to the already onerous duties of the Curator, but 

 their proper discharge by any one not constantly on hand and de- 

 voting himself to the affairs of the Academy is next to impossible. For 

 the present, at least, our interests will, I think, be best subserved by 

 continuing the two offices under one head. 

 The books of the 



RECORDING SECRETARY 



show about the usual number of regular and called meetings, with per- 

 haps fewer meetings of the Board of Trustees than heretofore. It is 

 difficult to secure the attendance of a majority of our fifteen Trustees, 

 but the necessity for doing so does not, fortunately, very often occur. 

 Our actual resident member.ship has been increased by the addition of 

 eleven new members, less one deceased and three withdrawn, so that 

 it numbers now one hundred and sixty-six, against one hundred and 

 fifty-nine at the beginning of the year. The number of corresponding 

 members has been increased by seven, and the average attendance at 

 regular meetings has been eleven. With our membership it would 

 seem that the attendance should be much larger; but, small as it is, it 

 compares favorably with that of other similar organizations. Science 

 has rightly many friends who are not themselves scientists; and we 

 must remember, too, that those who meet here do so, often, at the ex- 

 pense of no small personal inconvenience, and wdth no regard to divi- 

 iiends, either in this world or the next. It is important, however, that 

 our actual, interested working force should be as large and enthusiastic 

 as possible, and we should seek to interest and enlist the many bright 

 young minds just unfolding into activity around us. One really earnest 

 new member each year would be a great acquisition. If the commu- 

 nity could only be made to see the importance of devoting more atten- 

 tion to natural and industrial science in the schools, the latter and the 

 Academy would become more mutually helpful. I have faith to be- 

 lieve that such a change toward practicality in our common school 

 system will be one of the great forward strides of a not distant future. 

 When that time comes we shall not lack for workers. 



THE librarian's REPORT 



shows an addition of one hundred bound and over twelve hundred un- 

 bound volumes and pamphlets; making, with the more than six thousand 

 separate works at the beginning of the year, a total of about seven thcni- 

 sand f-ve hundred scientific treatises and reports, exclusive of daily and 

 weekly exchanges. A library like this, devoted to one field, is of rela- 

 tively far greater value than a miscellaneous collection of equal size, 

 and its importance to the community will rapidly increase with its 



