ANNUAL ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT, 
ASAPH HALL. 
Delivered December 5, 1885. 
AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 
Mr. Chairman and Fellow-Members of the Philosophical Society : 
The termination of the office with which you have honored me 
during the past year brings, in accordance with our custom, the 
duty of addressing you, and I have chosen for my subject American 
Scientific Societies. ‘The Philosophical Society of Washington is the 
first scientific society of which I was a member, and, having still a 
lively recollection of the curiosity and interest with which I watched 
its formation and early progress, I propose to consider briefly the 
history of such societies in our own country, and incidentally, some 
of their benefits. 
Nothing can be more natural than the union of men of similar 
tastes and thought into associations for the investigation and dis- 
cussion of matters that mutually interest them, and thus we see in 
all civilized countries the formation of societies in every branch of 
learning and of art. In the countries of Europe such bodies have 
been a long time in existence, and many of them are still in vigor- 
ous life. Most of these societies owe their establishment to the favor 
of a powerful patron, generally an emperor or a king, who was.wise 
enough to understand that the well-being of his people would be en- 
hanced by the progress of science and art. But whatever may have 
been the motive of their foundation, these academies of scientific men 
have exerted a great influence on the civilization of Europe. Such 
an assertion may seem doubtful to the readers of what is called 
history, but in fact the larger part of our civilization that is good 
and permanent will be found closely connected with the works and 
inventions of scientific men. It is these works that have changed 
our ideas and conception of the world in which we live, and of the 
universe around us. It is these works, also, that slowly but surely 
compel the changes of political and theological theories. History, 
as it is now written, deals mostly with battles and sieges, with the 
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