THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY 
275 
are recognized, but is somewhat out of 
place in a republic like the United States. 
Another plan is now working itself 
out which I think will afford the final 
solution of the problem. All large bodies 
act through committees, and we have in 
the Society a Committee on Research, 
which guides us in our appropriations of 
money for that purpose. There is no 
reason why that committee should not be 
enlarged, and it is now proposed to meet 
the question of scientific discussion in the 
Society by the enlargement of the Re- 
search Committee into a. small society 
within the Society, which can meet in 
the Hubbard Memorial Hall to discuss 
scientific matters. 
In relation to our contributions to 
science we are now able to do what has 
not been possible for us before — con- 
tribute substantially to the support of 
geographic research, under the direction 
of our Research Committee. 
We have not done very much in this 
respect in the past. We thought, while 
we had the opportunity, we had better 
look out for the Society itself first, and 
form a sinking fund in case of an 
emergency. We have over $100,000 in 
that fund now and are beginning to de- 
vote a larger and larger amount each 
year for research. 
We commenced by sending small ex- 
peditions to study the volcanoes of 
Mont Pelee and La Soufriere. We also 
sent representatives to the Arctic re- 
gions, and did what we could, in a small 
v/ay, to help Peary's last expedition 
which discovered the North Pole. 
There is one subject that is of pro- 
found interest to us all, the glacial 
period in America, the time about when 
man made his first appearance on the 
earth. How can we study that glacial 
period ? Surely it would be best to begin 
by studying the living glaciers of the 
world. A great deal is being done in 
this direction in Europe, and especially 
in Norway ; but we have in Alaska a 
glacier system unrivalled by the rest of 
the world, the study of which may throw 
great light upon the explanation of the 
glacial period itself. 
The National Geographic Society has 
supported for three years past a special 
expedition in Alaska, to study the gla- 
ciers of that country, under the leader- 
ship of Prof. Ralph S. Tarr, of Cornell 
University, and Prof. Lawrence Martin, 
of the University of Wisconsin. A 
popular account of these explorations 
has been printed in the National Geo- 
graphic Magazine ; and the great vol- 
ume, giving the scientific results of this 
work, upon which we have already ex- 
pended over $18,000, is expected to be 
published this year, in October. It will 
be one of the first contributions to geo- 
graphic knowledge published by the So- 
ciety. 
We have been amply able to encour- 
age the researches of individual members 
by publishing the results in the Na- 
tional, Geographic Magazine, but this 
will be the first great work showing the 
activity of the Society itself in the field 
of geographic research. 
ELECTION OE ^IR. BRYCE TO HONORARY 
MEMBERSHIP 
We are honored tonight by the pres- 
ence of one the world always delights to 
honor. His Excellency the British Am- 
bassador. 
The members of the Geographic So- 
ciety are especially interested in James 
Bryce and his career, from the fact that 
his inherent bent since boyhood has been 
geography. When he was only twenty 
years of age he made a special examina- 
tion of the flora of the Island of Arran 
and at twenty-one published an account 
of his studies. We probably all of us 
know something of his well-known work 
on "Trans-Caucasia and Ararat." I be- 
lieve he was the first, or one of the first,, 
since Biblical times, to reach the sum- 
mit of Mount Ararat. I do not know 
whether he has been in the habit of 
climbing mountains ever since, but I no- 
tice that in 1899 he was president of the 
Alpine Club. 
However, that has not been the sub- 
ject that has especially interested us in 
his career. It is his profound study of 
peoples and countries and customs. We 
have learned more about our own insti- 
tutions from Mr. Bryce's book on "The 
American Commonwealth" than we ever 
knew before. I do not think the British 
