1 6 NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



by one writer that this provision was included in the bill of 

 incorporation mainly to secure the passage of the bill, by convinc- 

 ing Congress of the practical utility of the Academy. This may 

 be in part true, but it does not explain the fact that the executive 

 branch of the Government immediately took counsel of the 

 Academy on a variety of subjects and has continued to do so 

 up to the present time. 



In this connection, it is interesting to note the attitude of 

 President Lincoln and his Secretary of State, Seward, toward 

 the Academy, as shown by the following letter which was ad- 

 dressed to Professor Bache a few months after its organization : 



" DEPARTMENT OF STATE, 



"WASHINGTON, January 8, 1864. 



" SIR : I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 

 7th instant, tendering to this department the aid of the Academy of Sciences in 

 any investigations that it may be thought proper to institute with a view to the 

 great reform of producing an uniformity of weights and measures among com- 

 mercial nations. Be pleased to express to the academy my sincere thanks for this 

 enlightened and patriotic proceeding, and assure them that, with the authority of 

 the President, I shall be happy to avail myself of the assistance thus tendered to 

 me, and to that end I shall at all times be happy to receive the suggestions of the 

 academy, or of any committee that may be named by it, in conformity with the 

 spirit of the note you have addressed to me. 



" I am, Sir, your obedient servant, 



" WILLIAM H. SEWARD. 

 " PROFESSOR A. D. BACHE, 



"President of the National Academy of Sciences." 2 * 



That the founders of the Academy felt that it owed a duty to 

 the Government is shown by the rather singular provision which 

 was incorporated in the constitution, that each member should 

 upon his admission " take the oath of allegiance prescribed by 

 the Senate of the United States for its own members." This 

 matter of an oath of allegiance was by no means regarded as one 

 of slight importance, as is indicated by the animated discussion to 

 which it gave rise when the report of the committee on the consti- 

 tution was brought before the Academy at the first meeting. 25 



24 Rep. Nat. Acad. Sci. for 1863, p. xi. 



25 See Ames, Mary L. Life of Peter and Susan Lesley, vol. i, p. 419. 



