EDITOR'S TABLE. 



56, 



quests, and the like, the institute is in 

 receipt of annual revenue of at least 

 five million francs ($100,000), which 

 it distributes annually in the form of 

 prizes for merit in respect to literary 

 work, inventions, scientific discover- 

 ies or researches, and also for ex- 

 amples of what are termed " impe- 

 cunious " virtue. 



The institute, comprising the 

 above five academies, is primarily 

 composed of forty members, who by 

 rule or custom are always and ex- 

 clusively natives of France, and who, 

 on the assumption that their achieve- 

 ments in the various departments of 

 learning have assured to them per- 

 manent reputation, are popularly 

 designated as the Immortels. Each 

 one of these receives an annual life 

 salary from the state of twelve hun- 

 dred francs, and a small additional 

 sum contingent on personal attend- 

 ance at the regular meetings of the 

 academies and Institute. 



Besides the primary or permanent 

 members, the institute is made up 

 of two other classes of members 

 namely, Associes Etrangers (for- 

 eign associates) and Correspondants. 

 The number of the former is lim- 

 ited to thirty-two persons of for- 

 eign birth and residence, and com- 

 prises such names as Gladstone, 

 Alma Tadema, Sir Frederick Leigh- 

 ton, President of the British Royal 

 Academy, Max Mtiller, Sir William 

 Thomson (Lord Kelvin), Sir John 

 Millais, and Verdi, the Italian com- 

 poser. Of the names of members of 

 this class deceased within a compar- 

 atively recent period may be men- 

 tioned those of Agassiz, Helmholtz, 

 De Candolle, Richard Owen, Curtius, 

 the German historian, and Bunsen 

 and Wohler, the celebrated German 

 chemists. As yet the name of no 

 citizen of the United States has been 

 inscribed on the roll of the foreign 

 associates of the institute, although 

 it is understood that in a recent elec- 

 VOL. XLVIII. 40 



tion to fill the vacancy occasioned by 

 the death of a member, the name of 

 Prof. Simon Newcomb, of Washing- 

 ton, lacked but a few votes of receiv- 

 ing this honor. 



Next in order In the organization 

 of the institute is the class of corre- 

 sponding members, an election to 

 which, irrespective of nationality, is 

 regarded as a very high honor, 

 though not as great as a membership 

 among the thirty-two foreign asso- 

 ciates. The number of correspond- 

 ents reported in the Annuaire of 

 the institute for 1893 was two hun- 

 dred and fifty-six, about one third of 

 whom were French citizens. The 

 following list exhibits the names and 

 the date of the election of the corre- 

 spondents, including those recently 

 deceased, who have been elected from 

 the United States : 



Prof. James D. Dana, zoologist, 

 New Haven, Conn., 1873, deceased; 

 David A. Wells, economist, Norwich, 

 Conn., 1874, elected to fill the va- 

 cancy occasioned by the death of 

 John Stuart Mill ; Prof. Simon New- 

 comb, astronomer, Washington, D. 

 C., 1874; Prof. William Whitney, 

 linguist, New Haven, 1877, deceased; 

 George Bancroft, historian, 1877, 

 deceased ; Asaph Hall, astronomer, 

 Washington, D. C., 1879; Benjamin 

 Apthorpe Gould, astronomer, Cam- 

 bridge, Mass., 1881; Richard Morris 

 Hunt, artist, 1882, deceased ; James 

 Hall, geologist, Albany, N. Y., 1884; 

 Alexander Agassiz, naturalist, Cam- 

 bridge, Mass., 1887; Prof. Samuel 

 Langley, Superintendent Smithso- 

 nian Institution, astronomer, 1888 

 seven living members, none of whom 

 were present at the centennial cele- 

 bration. Among some of the present 

 or recent correspondents from coun- 

 tries other than France and the 

 United States may be mentioned the 

 names of Momsen, the distinguished 

 German historian ; Struve, the Rus- 

 sian astronomer; Lockyer, Huggins, 



