ANNALS OF THE ACADEMY 73 



" I therefore propose that the fund raised for endowment sliall be (^iven to 

 the National Academy of Sciences, to hold the same in trust and to invest and 

 reinvest as may be necessary or advisable. The income or interest of tiie fund 

 shall be administered by a board of directors consisting of three persons, of whom 



at least two shall be members of the Academy 



" Sincerely yours, 



" WOLCOTT GiBBS. 



"Newport, March i, 1892." 



It will be recalled that the number of members of the 

 Academy was originally restricted to 50, and that in 1870, by 

 an unanimous vote, Congress was petitioned to amend the charter 

 and remove this restriction. Favorable action was taken by Con- 

 gress, and the limitation was removed by an Act approved July 

 14, 1870. 



In 1892 Professor B. A. Gould wrote a letter to the Presi- 

 dent of the Academy informing him that a fund which would 

 yield an annual income of $1,500 could be procured for the 

 Academy, provided the membership should be reduced to 50, or 

 at most to 70, the idea of the person offering to present the fund 

 being that the income should be used to defray a part of the 

 expenses of members attending the meetings of the Academy. 

 The matter was referred to the Council, apparently without 

 discussion, and seems never to have been further acted upon, 

 but at the November meeting of the same year the committee on 

 amendments to the constitution reported: "There is divided 

 opinion upon the desirability of decrease in membership, with a 

 preponderance of belief on the whole that the present limit, 

 which is practically one hundred, is about right." " While no 

 reduction was regularly recommended, the committee proposed 

 a plan of election which in its opinion, would " satisfy the de- 

 mands of those who are desirous of placing greater restrictions 

 around admission to membership in the Academy, as well as those 

 who believe that the limiting number of members cannot be 

 placed below one hundred without doing injustice to many scien- 

 tific men who by reason of their accomplishments are fairly 



"' Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., vol. i, p. 373. 



