3^6 ROCHESTER ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. [Jan. I4, 



The Present AcadeiJiy. 

 Ideas and Plan of Reorganization. 

 The dominant ideas in the new rules were as follows : 

 (i) The Society to be conducted primarily in the interest of the 

 scientific members ; not as a school of science but more as a scientific 

 club. 



(2) The control of the Society to be kept in the hands of those 



having a permanent or professional interest in science. To secure 

 this the class " Fellows " was created, ]which must include most of the 

 officers. 



(3) Concentration of interest upon the general meetings of the 

 Society. These to ■ be more frequent, at least twice each month, 

 instead of monthly as in the earlier plan. 



(4) Sections to be formed only as demanded, and their meet- 

 ings to be restricted to the members of the Society ; not open to the 

 public. 



(5) The business of the administration to be left for details in 

 the hands of an executive committee, called the Council. 



(6) The "Collections" to be restricted to the local natural 

 history. 



(7) The income to be increased by higher charges. 



(8) Publication of the proceedings of the meetings. This last 

 item was regarded by the writer as the most important change. 

 Without publication a scientific society is likely to accomplish little. 

 Its work is liable to be aimless, the results ephemeral and invisible, 

 and its existence unknown outside the town. A publication is an 

 object of proper pride, a source of strength within the society and of 

 respect from without. 



The function of a local society, as ours, is somewhat different 

 from that of a national society or of one not including so-called 

 " natural history." The local society has the advantage of a special 

 field or limited territory, which gives definiteness of purpose and 

 opportunity for home research of most fascinating character to many 

 workers. It has also the advantage that the objects of the society and 

 the subjects of study are under the cognizance of the members while 

 the results belong to them immediately. 



Having thus briefly outlined the plan of organization and the 

 proper function of our Society, let us see how well the Society has ful- 

 filled its purpose and what results it has accomplished. 



