May, ipd5] PRoirzEDrN^s s. r. assx. arts a\d sciencss. 57 



formulate a program to celebrate and commemorate the organization 

 on November 12th, 1881, of the Natural Science Association of Staten 

 Island. 



The President then delivered his annual address as follows : 

 Annual Address of the President. 



The By-Laws of this Association require that the President shall de- 

 liver an address at the annual meeting following" his election to office. 

 The subject and scope of such an address are not designated, but it 

 may be assumed that it has to deal with the transactions and progress 

 of the Association during the past year and occurrences in the com- 

 munity which it serves and with which it has a deep concern. 



The past year witnessed the dissolution of the Natural Science Asso- 

 ciation of Staten Island, and it became my duty under the law to ad- 

 minister those legal formalities wdiich put an end to its long and hon- 

 orable career. I feel no qualms of conscience at my participation in 

 these transactions, nor have I a sense of blood guiltiness in consumma- 

 ting this process of dissolution. All that was best in the old Associa- 

 tion was transferred into the new, stronger, more influential body, which 

 I trust is now entering upon a career even more lengthy, honorable 

 and useful than that of its predecessor. * 



The Staten Island Association of Arts and Sciences was incorporated 

 on May 17th, 1905, by an Act of the Legislature of this State. The Act 

 of Incorporation is Chapter 526 of the Laws of 1905. It is found in the 

 printed Acts of the Assembly of the 128th Session in Vol. 2 at page 1 190. 

 The Charter thus grante:! was formally accepted at a general meeting 

 of the incorporators on June 3d, 1905. A transfer of the property from 

 the old to the new corporation as provided by law. was effected on 

 June 6th, 1905. The affidavit to that effect was made by the President 

 of the old Association before Mr. Justice Kelly of the Supreme Court, 

 was filed in the office of the Secretary of State on the 27th day of June. 

 1905, and under Section 6 of the Act of Incorporation the corporate 

 existence of the old body ceased on that day. 



The Proceedings of the Natural Science Association of Staten Island, 

 therefore, ended June 3d, 1905, with Volume ix. which contained its 

 proceedings from November 14th. 1903, to June 3d. 1905. Volume i of 

 the Proceedings of the Staten Islatid Association of Arts and Sciences be- 

 gins, therefore, with the meeting of June 3d, 1905. 



This Corporation was duly organized under the law and has been in 

 active operation ever since. Its publications up to this time have con- 

 sisted of a brief historical statement, the Act of Incorporation, Consti- 



