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PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS. 
By C. A. WaALpo. 
INTRODUCTION. 
Of the seven yolumes of Proceedings published by the Academy or 
under its direction, it has been my fortune to be more or less intimately 
connected with the editorial work upon six of them. The general work 
of the Academy has, therefore, come under my notice in a peculiar way. 
This fact has led me to attempt a slight departure from the excellent 
models set by my able predecessors, and to premise the usual discussion 
expected at this time by a brief resumé of the scientific work recently 
done in the State, especially during the year 1898. 
We may congratulate Indiana upon the amount, the character and the 
importance of the scientific activity within her borders. In attempting 
to select a few things for mention we must beforehand pray indulgence. 
Pardon is asked for sins of omission and commission—these will be be- 
cause of ignorance or imperfect vision, and for no other reason. 
In the following mention, the order of our program for this year is fol- 
lowed. 
The mathematicians of the State are showing a commendable zeal 
in the prosecution of pure and applied mathematics in the higher ranges 
of the subject, and are building up several centers in which the work 
done is incomparably beyond that of a generation ago. 
Our physicists have been busy investigating electrical, optical and 
acoustic phenomena and extending our knowledge of these subjects. The 
year has seen completed within the State a great car-testing plant, the 
invention of an integrating dynamometer, the completion of investigations 
on train resistance on straight and curved tracks, and large contributions 
to engineering literature. Two of our engineering instructors have been 
honored with important assignments on committees of international im- 
portance. 
Our chemists have been establishing the value of our coal deposits, 
haye enlarged our knowledge of toxicology, have made special examina- 
tion of alkaloids and have contributed towards the investigation of food 
supplies, the exhaustion and restoration of soils. 
