January 14, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



65 



Vice-President — Kegierungsrath Dr. Josef 

 Maria Eder, Director of the Royal Imperial 

 Graphic School in Vienna. 



Secretary — Professor Dr. F. Strohmer, Di- 

 rector of the Experiment Station for Beet Sugar 

 Industry, Vienna. 



Respectfully, 



H. W. Wiley, Department of Agriculture, 

 Washington, D. C, Chairman. 



W. O. Atwater, Middletown, Conn. 



Petee T. Austen, 11 Broadway, New York, 

 N. Y. 



C. F. Chandler, Columbia University, New 

 York, N. Y. 



B. F. Davenport, 161 Tremont street, Bos- 

 ton, Mass. 



C. A. Doremus, 17 Lexington avenue, New 

 York, N. Y. 



C. B. Dudley, Altoona, Pa. 



W. L. Dudley, Nashville, Tenn. 



Wm. p. Mason, Rensselaer Polytechnic In- 

 stitute, Troy, N. Y. 



Wm. McMurteie, 100 William street. New 

 York, N. Y. 



C. E. MuNROE, Columbian University, Wash- 

 ington, D. C. 



A. A. Notes, Massachusetts Institute Tech- 

 nology, Boston, Mass. 



T. B. Osborne, New Haven, Conn. 



Ira Eemsen, Johns Hopkins University, 

 Baltimore, Md. 



W. B. Rising, Berkeley, Cal. 



Edgar F. Smith, University of Pennsylvania, 

 Philadelphia, Pa. 



F. G. WiECHMANN, 771 West End avenue. 

 New York, N. Y. 



Francis Wyatt, 39 South William street, 

 New York, N. Y. 



PROPOSED SYLVESTER MEMORIAL. 



To THE Editor of Science— May I be per- 

 mitted to appeal through your columns to all 

 friends and admirers of the late Professor J. 

 J. Sylvester to assist in founding a suitable 

 memorial in honor of his name and for the 

 encouragement of mathematical science. A 

 movement was inaugurated on this side of the 

 Atlantic soon after his death, and it was resolved 

 by the promoters that a fund should be raised for 



the purpose of establishing a Sylvester Medal, to 

 be awarded at certain intervals for mathematical 

 research to any worker irrespective of national- 

 ity. For the purpose of carrying out the scheme, 

 a strongly representative International Commit- 

 tee has been formed, and I should like to take ad- 

 vantage of this opportunity of expressing the 

 great satisfaction which it has given to the pro- 

 moters to be enabled to include in this Com- 

 mittee so many great and distinguished names 

 from the American universities. In every case 

 our invitation to join the Committee has been 

 most cordially responded to, and the consent has 

 in many instances been accompanied by expres- 

 sions of the greatest sympathy and encourage- 

 ment. The list as it stands practically includes 

 the leading mathematicians of the whole world. 



It has heen estimated that a capital sum of 

 $5,000 will be sufficient for the proposed 

 endowment, and of this about one-half has 

 already been subscribed here. In appealing to 

 the American public to enable us to complete 

 the desired sum I am in the first place prompted 

 by the consideration that Sylvester's associa- 

 tion with the Johns Hopkins University and 

 the leading part which he took in advancing 

 mathematical science in America renders his 

 claim to estimation on the part of the citizens 

 of your country quite a special one. It is but 

 a modest endowment that we are asking for, 

 and I am sure that all those who were per- 

 sonally acquainted with him and who realize 

 the great influence which he exerted in raising 

 the intellectual level of every institution with 

 which he was associated will be glad of this 

 opportunity of cooperating in the movement. 



It is proposed that the fund when complete 

 shall be transferred to the Council of the Royal 

 Society of London, that body having undertaken 

 to accept the trust and to award the medal tri- 

 ennially to mathematicians of all countries. I 

 can hardly venture to trespass upon your 

 courtesy to the extent of asking you to print 

 the complete list of our Committee, but for 

 your own information I beg to send a copy 

 herewith. It will be sufficient to state that it 

 comprises the names of President Gilman, of 

 the Johns Hopkins University ; of Professor 

 Simon Newcomb, of Washington ; of Professor 

 Willard Gibbs, of Yale ; of Professor Pierce, 



