January io, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



87 



iiig membei"s of that society have been men 

 of broad views, unusually free from per- 

 sonal i)rejudit'e and (luick to recognize 

 talent wherever displayed. "We maj' al- 

 most conclude from the history of that 

 society that proficiency in the science of 

 mathematics is distinct evidence of a well- 

 balanced mind. It may be doubted whether 

 an equally numerous body of poets or mu- 

 sicians could have held so successfully on 

 its course during half ;i centurj-. It is of 

 course impossible to predict that the man- 

 agement of our own Society will be equally 

 prudent, energetic and successful during a 

 half century to come. All that can be 

 said at present is that not a trace of per- 

 sonal self-seeking on the one hand or of 

 personal prejudice on tlie other hand has as 

 yet become visible in our counsels. One 

 single motive has thus far been conspicuous 

 among all who have interested themselves 

 in the Society : a strong belief in its pros- 

 pective usefulness combined with an earn- 

 est desire to further its success. 



Thus far I have spoken only of the pro- 

 gress of the organization as such. Tlie or- 

 ganization, however, is merely the frame- 

 work. It has certain living objects, and 

 even during its period of formation and 

 growth it lias been distinctly successful in 

 promoting those objects. I have spoken of 

 ol>jects ; the Constitution, however, reminds 

 me tliat there is but one object : to encourage 

 and maintain an active interest in mathe- 

 matical science. It is, however, possible to 

 subdivide this very general statement of the 

 aims of the Society. In order to encourage 

 and maintain an interest in mathematical 

 science, we may say, then, (1) that mathe- 

 maticians must be brought to know more 

 about each other and concerning each 

 other's work ; (2) tliat the number must 

 be increased by the encouragement of the 

 study of the higher mathematics among the 

 young : (."5) that information should be dis- 

 seminated fully and .speedily concerning 



mathematical publications abroad as well 

 as at home ; (4) tliat, as regards the more 

 important of such publications, competent 

 critics should lie induced to write and pub- 

 lish papei-s descriptive of their conttmts and 

 indicating their merits or defects : (.5) and 

 that every member of the Society should lie 

 stimulated to the most successful effort jios- 

 sible in his own line of mathematical labor, 

 whatever it may be. This .subdivision is 

 not presented as scientific and exhaustive. 

 Others would doubtless make variations of 

 their own ; and it is certain that the sepa- 

 rate points I have indicated are not mutu- 

 ally exclusive. I mention these several ob- 

 jects merelj- as they occur to me for the 

 purposes of this occa.sion. 



That by entering the Societj- and receiv- 

 ing its monthly Biillrfin the mathematicians 

 of the United States and Canada have been 

 and are brought to know far more about 

 each other and concerning each other's work 

 than they ever knew before or could possi- 

 bly have known otherwise is obvious to all. 

 The mere list of members, which conveys 

 to each of us the names, addresses and oc- 

 cupations of all the rest, would alone justify 

 this statement. Tlie BuUefui, with its lists 

 and reviews of new books, together with 

 many notes concerning the higher matlie- 

 matical work of ditterent institutions, has 

 aflbrded much additional information, and 

 it may be expected that further experience 

 will enable its conductors fi-om time to time 

 to add to its usefulness in this direction. 



While the Society is not directly con- 

 cerned in encouraging the study of the 

 higher mathematics among the young, its 

 indirect influence in that direction has un- 

 doubtedly been felt, and must be felt in- 

 creasingly as time goes on. Years ago, 

 when tlie present centurj' was much 

 younger, the course of study in our colleges 

 was so arranged as to give a large propor- 

 tion of the time of the undergraduates to 

 the study of mathematics. Subsequently 



