INDIANA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



(A Statement Made to the General Assembly, in 1895, of Its Work and Purposes.) 



The Indiana Academy of Science has i)ublished during the last three rears 

 three volumes of proceedings. The first volume appeared in '92. It included 

 many of the i)apers in full or in abstract that were presented at the previous 

 Christmas meeting of the Society, together witli titles and authors of all other 

 papers presented before the Academy since its organization in 1885. Of all the 

 titles appearing in this volume, many of them upon topics of vital importance, 

 not over five per cent, were discussed in full in the publication. All the rest of 

 this valuable literature has been scattered and lost or rendered practicablv inac- 

 cessible. 



The volumes appearing in '93 and '94 give in full or in abstract most of the 

 important papers presented in each case at the previous holiday meeting, while 

 the volume appearing in the summer of '94 is enriched by the reports of a large 

 corjjs of voluntary and unpaid but thoroughly trained workers, who have under- 

 taken and are energetically pushing a systematic biological survey of the State. 

 But the expense attending these publications has been too great for private enter- 

 prise and the treasury of the Academy. Unless the State now takes hold of the 

 matter they must cease for a time, at least, and a serious break in the proceedings 

 must occlir. This would be a lamentable check upon the progress of science in 

 the State. At this crisis the State is asked to join hands with the Academy only 

 in so far as to e.stablish and {)reserve the work to which the latter is dedicated. 

 It is our purpose here to set forth in detail, but briefly, some of the reasons why 

 the State should make this compact. These reasons fall under two general heads: 

 The Workers and Their Work. 



By publishing the proceedings of the Academy the State secures, without fur- 

 ther compensation, the services of over a hundred trained experts working in fields 

 specially chosen and agreeable, spending a large i)ortion of their time upon new 

 problems whose solution is of vital importance to the development of our Com- 

 monwealth. These workers have been trained in the best schools, home and 



