XXXVI PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 
property of the universe, so that one might govern his course from 
star to star by the compass. The succeeding volymes contain sey- 
eral ingenious memoirs by Joseph Priestley, in some of which he 
expounds the theory of phlogiston, which appears to have been 
purely a hypothetical substance for explaining the theory of com- 
bustion. The volume of these memoirs published in 1825 contains 
a letter from Albert Gallatin, Secretary of the Treasury, under 
date of Marcn 25, 1807, and addressed to Mr. F. R. Hassler, of 
Philadelphia, relating to the survey of our coast. There is a long 
and interesting reply by Hassler, who gives.a full account of the 
methods of such a survey, with descriptions of instruments, forms 
for keeping the observations, making maps, and carrying on the 
work generally. Still later these volumes contain the memoirs of 
Joseph Henry on his important researches in electricity and mag- 
netism. ‘These papers were read in January, 1835, and published 
in 1837. The American Philosophical Society has published twenty- 
one volumes of memoirs, which contain papers of enduring interest. 
One feels regret that a society that began so well and which has 
published so much of value should stop the publication of its 
memoirs and seem to flag in its scientific work. Let us hope that 
this may be only a temporary condition. 
The next establishment of a scientific society in our country is 
that of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in Boston. 
This society was chartered in 1780, James Bowdoin being the first 
president. The Boston society does not appear to have started 
under such favorable auspices as its sister society in Philadelphia, 
but on the other hand it has kept up its scientific work better, and 
is still active and efficient. Perhaps this may be owing to its prox- 
imity to a large and flourishing college, which has now developed 
into a university. The American Academy of Arts and Sciences 
has published fifteen volumes of memoirs. Among its distinguished 
members I cannot omit to mention Nathaniel Bowditch, the self- 
taught mathematician, who was probably the first man in our coun- 
try to really grasp the methods of the Mecanique Celeste. It is one 
of the surprises of our prolific country that it produces so many 
men who, it is said, read the Mecanique Celeste before they graduate 
from college, and it is another surprise to meet these same men in 
after life and be convinced from their own lips that they know but 
little about that great work. But Nathaniel Bowditch mastered it. 
These two societies, that of Philadelphia and that of Boston, are 
