26 NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



CLASS OF NATURAL HISTORY Number of 



Members 



Sect. I. Mineralogy and Geology 6 



Sect. 2. Zoology 5 



Sect. 3. Botany I 



Sect. 4. Anatomy and Physiology 2 



Sect. 5. Ethnology o 



14 



Total 44 



It will be seen from the foregoing figures that the number of 

 members who joined the sections concerned with the physical 

 sciences was twice as large as the number which joined those 

 concerned with the natural sciences. This was due to the fact 

 that the Academy movement was promoted by the physicists 

 rather than the naturalists. As indicated by certain remarks 

 of Professor Bache and Senator Wilson, the original plan seems 

 to have contemplated the formation of an academy of physical 

 sciences. 



It is interesting to notice that the paleontologists aligned them- 

 selves with geology rather than zoology. The section of botany 

 had but one member, and that of ethnology, none. Half the 

 membership, in so far as it was assigned to sections, assembled 

 in the first three physical sections, mathematics, physics, and 

 astronomy (with geography and geology) . 



The first scientific session of the Academy, following the 

 meeting for organization, was held in Washington on January 

 4 to 9, 1864, in the Capitol, in the rooms of the Pacific Rail- 

 road Committee of the Senate which were placed at the disposal 

 of the Academy. In the interval between these two meetings, 

 however, six committees on technical subjects had been ap- 

 pointed. These reported at the January meeting, and in three 

 cases the reports were adopted and the committees discharged, 

 while in the other three the committees were continued. Four 

 additional committees were appointed before the close of 1864. 

 The work of these committees and of others appointed sub- 

 sequently forms the subject of a later chapter. The importance 

 of the scientific committees was felt by President Bache, who 



