August 16, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



173 



Dawson, Young, Lesley, Newton, Morse, 

 Langley, Powell, Mendenhall, Goodale, 

 Prescott, Joseph LeConte, Harkness, Brin- 

 ton, Morley. 



In 1874 the Association was incorporated 

 by a special act of the Legislature of Massa- 

 chussetts, and it has authority to hold both 

 personal property and real estate. The of- 

 ficial home of the Association is in Salem, 

 Mass., where there is an office in charge of 

 the Assistant Secretary, where are kept the 

 pubUcations of the Association and a scien- 

 tific library of considerable importance. 

 The proceedings of each meeting are pub- 

 lished in an octavo volume of several 

 hundred pages, containing the addresses of 

 the President and Vice-Presidents, reports 

 of special committees, and more or less ex- 

 tended abstracts of the two or three hundred 

 papers I'ead at the meeting. Besides the 

 annual volume of proceedings, a quarto 

 number of the memoirs has been published 

 by the generous gift of Mrs. Elizabeth 

 Thompson, the first Patron of the Associa- 

 tion. Several volumes of the Association 

 have been reprinted by the liberality of 

 Mrs. Esther Herrman, General William 

 Lilly and Mrs. Thompson, the three Pa- 

 trons of the Association. 



Members of the Association are elected 

 by the Council after nomination by two 

 members of the Association. Upon elec- 

 tion members pay $5 admission fee. There 

 is an annual assessment of |3 which entitles 

 members to all the privileges of the meet- 

 ings and to the annual volume of proceed- 

 ings. From such members as are engaged 

 professionally in scientific work, or have 

 by their labors advanced scien ce in any of 

 its departments, the Council elects the Fel- 

 lows on nomination from the sections. It 

 is from the Fellows that all officers of the 

 Association are chosen, and thus the man- 

 agement of the Association is kept in the 

 hands of professional scientists, while its 

 doors are open wide to all who are inter- 



ested in its objects and wish to be benefited 

 by participation in its meetings. 



Any individual who may give $1000 or 

 more becomes a Patron of the Association. 

 Any member may become a life member by 

 the payment of $50 at one time which ex- 

 empts him from the annual assessment. 

 The income of the $50 is used for current 

 expenses of the Association during the life 

 of the member; afterward the principal is 

 added to the Research Fund. The interest 

 of this fund is devoted to encourage origi- 

 nal research. The Research Fund now 

 amounts to nearly $6000. The first grant 

 from this fund was made at the ISTew York 

 meeting in 1887 to Professors Michelson and 

 Morley to aid them in .their important re- 

 searches for the establishment of a stand- 

 ard of length. From this fund, secured by 

 small savings, the Association has already 

 in eight years been able to make grants 

 amounting to $2200 in aid of important 

 scientific research. The time will undoubt- 

 edly come when this fund will be greatly 

 increased by the Association being made 

 the almoner of patrons of science. 



At the present time the Association is 

 divided into nine sections as follows : A. 

 Mathematics and Astronomy ; B. Physics ; 

 C. Chemistry; D. Mechanical Science and 

 Engineering ; E. Geology and Geography ; 

 F. Zoology; G. Botany; H. Anthropology; 

 I. Economic Science and Statistics. Each 

 of these sections is presided over by a Vice- 

 President of the Association, and each has 

 its secretary and special committees. 



During the week of the Association meet- 

 ing, in any city, two free evening lectures 

 are generally given by the Association com- 

 plimentary to the citizens. The general 

 sessions, the presidential address and the 

 addresses of the nine vice-presidents, and 

 all the meetings of the sections, are free to 

 all who wish to attend. 



The triumphs of science have been many 

 and great. By it mankind has been bene- 



