XX 



National Geographic Magazine. 



FIFTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SECRETARIES 



{Presented to the Society December 23, 1892) 



Membership. — The membership of the Society is noAV 693. It 

 is continuing to increase, and by the cooperation of all inter- 

 ested should, it is to be hoped, soon reach 1,000. The rate of 

 progress is shown by the following figures. 



At the end of the first year, 1888, the membership was 209 ; 

 at the end of 1889 it was 228, an increase of 9 per cent; at the 

 end of 1890 it was 392. an increase during the year of 72 per 

 cent ; at the end of 1891 it was 430, an increase of 10 per cent, 

 and at the end of 1892 it is 693, or an increase of 61 per cent. 



Classifying the membership, it is found that there are 478 act- 

 ive, 208 corresponding, and 7 life members. Taking the active 

 members alone, the total number at the end of 1890 was 331 ; at 

 the end of 1891, 333, an increase of 2 only, and at the end of 

 1892, 478, an increase of over 40 per cent. The greatest relative 

 gain is in the corresponding membership, the number increasing 

 from 57 in 1890 to 92 in 1891 and to 208 in 1892, a gain in the 

 last year of over 100 per cent. 



It may be well to note at this point that the corresponding 

 members, being non-resident, are not able to take advantage 

 directly of the meetings of the Society, and that their interest in 

 the organization is sustained mainly by the publications. Con- 

 tinual addition to the membership of this class, therefore, must 

 necessitate greater attention to the demands of readers of geo- 

 graphic literature. 



During the year 323 members have been elected, 23 members 

 have resigned, 5 died, 6 declined membership, 13 failed to qual- 

 ify, and 13 have been dropped for non-payment of dues. The 

 net increase thus has been 263, and the present total membership 

 is 693, as stated above. The deceased members were: E. J. 

 Pond, January 23, 1892 ; Dr J. H. Chapin, March 14, 1892 ; Pro- 

 fessor John Goodison, October 19, 1892 ; Lieutenant Frederick 

 Schwatka, November 2, 1892 and Captain John M. Dow, Novem- 

 ber 4, 1892. 



Meetings. — There have been 30 meetings or assemblies of the 

 members of the Society. Of these 14 were regular meetings and 



