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SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XV. No. 372. 



Society. It was founded in 1883 under the 

 title of the Society of Naturalists of the 

 Eastern United States. It owes its birth 

 to the action of Professor Hyatt in formu- 

 lating and proposing the plan, in accord- 

 ance with which the Society was actually 

 organized, and in interesting others in its 

 establishment. The first secretary was 

 Professor S. F. Clark, now of Williams 

 College. The first meeting was a small 

 gathering at Springfield, Mass., on the 10th 

 of April, 1883. Unfortunately Professor 

 Clark was obliged to resign his office as he 

 was going abroad. For some time it seemed 

 doubtful whether the Society would get 

 beyond its first meeting. I was then asked 

 by Professor Hyatt to act as secretary, and 

 during the remainder of that year I carried 

 on an extensive correspondence with the 

 professional naturalists of the country and 

 nearly all of those who were invited ac- 

 cepted membership. 



It was then decided to hold a meeting in 

 New York, December 27 and 28 of that 

 same year. We started with 109 original 

 members, of whom there still remain in the 

 Society not less than 39. At the close of 

 the first meeting the membership had risen 

 to 133 and we have now nearly 250. The 

 original scope of the Society was to have 

 papers on methods of investigation, on 

 technique, on museum administration and 

 devices and on methods of instruction ; and 

 in fact at our early meetings many such 

 papers, both of value and of interest, were 

 presented. In 1886 the name was altered 

 to 'The American Society of Naturalists.' 

 You are all familiar with the gradual 

 change which has come about and know 

 that at present our functions at our annual 

 gatherings are confined to a discussion on 

 some topic of general interest, to a social 

 dinner and to the presidential address. 

 Many of these addresses in the past have 

 been of a noteworthy character, and we are 

 anticipating an address from our president 



this year which will well sustain the high 

 standard set by even his most distinguished 

 predecessors. 



The most important achievements of the 

 Society have been somewhat different from 

 what was foreseen at the time of its or- 

 ganization. It has, of course, accomplished 

 a great deal in the general promotion- of 

 natural science. Its meetings have done 

 that. But perhaps more important than 

 this somewhat general fact have been cer- 

 tain specific results which have been at- 

 tained by the Society. It was, I think, the 

 very first society of national scope which 

 confined its membership strictly to profes- 

 sional scientific investigators, and the rule 

 adopted by the Society for determining 

 what constituted a professional naturalist 

 was very strict and has been well enforced. 

 Many other societies have this same quality 

 of membership, having, in many different 

 branches of science, been formed from our 

 example. Collectively they represent the 

 very best that there is at the present time 

 in American productive scholarship. We 

 may, therefore, claim as one of our most 

 essential and significant achievements the 

 generation of our affiliated daughter so- 

 cieties. They are all characterized by a 

 seriousness of purpose and intensity of 

 scientific work, which can not by any 

 means be always matched by what one en- 

 counters in the meetings of foreign socie- 

 ties. Our American societies to which I 

 have referred meet for earnest, scientific 

 discussion. They take but little time for 

 anything else. How strildng a contrast 

 there is between the meetings now being 

 held, -wdth each day filled by a long series 

 of valuable papers before each society, and 

 the gatherings, such as many of us have 

 attended in Europe, where a few hours only 

 are kept for the strictly scientific meeting, 

 and many for excursions, picnics and balls. 

 I remember attending an anniversary of 

 one of the oldest scientific societies on the 



