834 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVII. No. 961 



porate members. The academy is endowed 

 with property approximating a million dollars 

 in value, with the income of which collections 

 and expeditions are maintained, and curators 

 and other scientific and administrative em- 

 ployees are engaged. The members elect an- 

 ually a board of seven non-salaried trustees, 

 who fix the salaries of employees and other- 

 wise administer the business affairs of the 

 institution; and a non-salaried council, con- 

 sisting of the president, two vice-presidents, 

 two secretaries, the treasurer, the librarian 

 and the director of the museum of the acad- 

 emy. The council plans the scientific work 

 of the academy, appoints the curators, and 

 recommends their salaries to the trustees. 



Leverett Mills Loomis became curator of 

 ornithology in the academy June 12, 1894, 

 and has held the position continuously since 

 that time. At the annual election in Jan- 

 uary, 1902, he was elected director of the 

 museum, and was reelected to this ofiice each 

 year until and including 1912. In December 

 of 1912 the nominating committee of the 

 academy, regularly selected by the council 

 and trustees in joint meeting, presented for 

 1913 a ticket of ofiieers the same as the in- 

 cumbents during 1912, with the sole exception 

 that another candidate was nominated for 

 director of the museum in place of Mr. 

 Loomis. Although there is constitutional 

 provision for contesting elections, no such con- 

 test was made, and Mr. Loomis's tenure of the 

 directorship thereby came to an end with 1912. 



During January and the first half of Feb- 

 ruary, 1913, the council reappointed — and the 

 trustees subsequently voted salaries for — all 

 curators and assistants who had served during 

 1912, excepting Mr. Loomis, who was not re- 

 appointed as curator of ornithology. 



At the stated meeting of the academy, that 

 is to say, of the corporate members, on Feb- 

 ruary 17, 1913, notice was given that the fol- 

 lowing resolution would be offered at the next 

 stated meeting, and notice thereof was ordered 

 sent to all members : 



That the academy regrets the action of the 

 council in not recommending to the trustees the 



appointment of L. M. Loomis as curator of orni- 

 thology, for the year 1913. Mr. Loomis has held 

 this office for more than eighteen years, has twice 

 built up a unique collection of birds for the acad- 

 emy, and his integrity, scientific competence and 

 executive ability are unquestioned. The director- 

 ship of the museum is an elective office; the execu- 

 tive curatorship of the academy, though appoint- 

 ive, is an adjunct to the directorship, and may 

 therefore justifiably go with it; but the curator- 

 ship of ornithology, like all other departmental 

 curatorships, should be bestowed and reawarded 

 only on the basis of merit and service. The failure 

 to reappoint Mr. Loomis would therefore be a 

 breach of fairness on a point of policy in which 

 all reputable scientific institutions are in accord. 

 It could be construed only as the intrusion of 

 personal jealousies or political enmities into the 

 field of scientific service, and would accordingly 

 bring the academy into bad repute as to its equity 

 in dealing with scientific employees. The academy 

 therefore earnestly requests its council to appoint 

 Mr. Loomis curator of ornithology for 1913, and 

 urges upon its trustees to engage Mr. Loomis to 

 take charge of the department which he has so 

 long, so faithfully and so successfully adminis- 

 tered, at the salary which it has been and is the 

 practise to pay to academy curators giving full 

 time to their duties. 



At the stated meeting of March 3 a substi- 

 tute for this resolution was offered by the 

 original proponent, and adopted as follows by 

 the academy: 



As the council at recent meetings has failed to 

 recommend the reappointment of L. M. Loomis to 

 the curatorship of ornithology, and as it seems 

 that said action could not have been made with all 

 bearings of the question in mind, the academy 

 herewith respectfully requests the council to ap- 

 point Mr. Loomis curator of the department of 

 ornithology, and urges upon its trustees to engage 

 him to take charge of this department, at the 

 salary which is customarily paid by the academy 

 to curators giving full time, with the following 

 considerations in view: the long service of Mr. 

 Loomis as a curator in the academy; the success 

 achieved by him in accumulating large and val- 

 uable collections of birds; and the moral basis of 

 the relation of an institution to employees of long 

 standing. 



At the next stated meeting of the academy, 

 on March 17, 1913, the following communica- 

 tion from the council was read: 



