ANNIYEESAEY ADDRESS 



OF THE 



PRESIDENT OF THE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY 

 OF WASHINGTON, 



PROF. JOSEPH HENRY. 



(Delivered November 18, 1871.) 



Gentlemen: 



I have been requested to make some remarks on 

 the character and object of this Society which may serve 

 to introduce it to the world through the pages of a Bulletin 

 of its proceedings or the public journals of the day, and 

 in compliance with this request I beg leave to submit the 

 following. , 



This Society was formed by the call for a meeting of a 

 number of gentlemen impressed with the importance of an 

 association of a strictly scientific character in the city of 

 Washington. At the meeting which resulted from this call 

 a name and a constitution were adopted for the Society, 

 and without delay, in a series of subsequent meetings, the 

 objects of the association were prosecuted with such marked 

 success as to fully realize the anticipations which had been 

 entertained with regard to the enterprise. This is mani- 

 fest from the number, character, and variety of the com- 

 munications presented and discussed. 



In regard to the name which has been chosen, " The 

 Philosophical Society of Washington," it is proper 

 to remark that it was adopted not without considerable 



(V) 



