296 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. V. No. 112. 



Dr. Mendenhall remarked : 



" Mr. Chairman : In seconding the reso- 

 lution offered by Professor Van Amringe, I 

 beg to offer very briefly my own testimony 

 as to the great efficiency of our Secretary, 

 who now insists upon retiring from that 

 important office. It will be remembered 

 that a year ago Professor Eees urged upon 

 the Society the acceptance of his resigna- 

 tion, but finally yielded to the urgent de- 

 sire of our lamented President, Dr. Gould, 

 and to that of every member of the So- 

 ciety, that he might continue at least for 

 another year, as it was believed that the 

 affairs of metrological reform in this coun- 

 try were in rather a critical condition and 

 no one so well as he could direct the affairs 

 of the Society during that period. His en- 

 ergy and industry in the administration of 

 the laborious duties of his office are well 

 known to us all. The Metrological Society, 

 although not large in numbers, is great in 

 its performances, and we all recognize the 

 fact that in a large measure the success of 

 these performances is due to the Secretary. 

 If I may be permitted to refer to this ac- 

 tion of Professor Rees in connection with 

 the fact that I have been by your partiality 

 elected to the Presidency of the Society, I 

 desire to express my personal regret that in 

 the performance of my duties during the 

 coming year I shall be deprived of the ad- 

 vice and cooperation of Professor Rees in 

 an official capacity. 



' ' I may be permitted to remark at this 

 point that I fully appreciate the high honor 

 which has been conferred upon me by your 

 choosing me to succeed the two distin- 

 guished men who have before been Presi- 

 dents of this Society, and, while fully 

 appreciating my own inability to discharge 

 the duties which will come to me as I would 

 like, I at the same time wish to express the 

 sense of loss which I feel in the resignation 

 of Professor Rees, upon whom the most in- 

 experienced might lean with confidence. It 



is a consolation for us to know, however, 

 that we shall not in any degree lose the in- 

 terest and activity of our late Secretary in 

 his separating himself from the onerous 

 duties of the office." 



The Secretary reported that, at the An- 

 nual Convention of the Colleges and Pre- 

 paratory Schools of the Middle States and 

 Maryland, at Philadelphia, November 28, 

 1896, a resolution favoring the adoption of 

 the Metric System was introduced by S. 

 A. Farrand and was adopted with one dis- 

 senting vote. This association comprises 

 about fifty colleges and universities and also 

 eighty preparatory schools. 



The Secretary reported that the Commit- 

 tee on Weights and Measures of the Boston 

 Society of Civil Engineers had obtained 

 the opinions of a majority of its members 

 on the proposed action of Congress with re- 

 lation to the use of the Metric System. 



Postal cards reading as follows were sent to each 

 member : 



"I am in favor of the passage by the present 



Congress of an Act requiring the metric weights and 

 measures to be in use by the government departments 

 generally by the beginning of the Twentieth Century, 

 January 1, 1901." 



"I should be willing to have people gener- 

 ally of their own accord adopt metric weights and 

 measures for their ordinary business transactions, and 

 especially for those in which I am myself concerned, 

 at the same time at which the government depart- 

 ments as a whole actually do adopt them." 



The total number of cards sent out was 404 



The total number of cards returned was 229 



Number in favor of both clauses ot the card 193 



Number against both clauses of the card 21 



Number for first clause and against second 2 



Number against first clause and for second 11 



Members in favor of a decimal system 2^ 



The following interesting letter was read : 



PiCTON House, Thames Ditton, 



Surrey, England, December 11, 1896. 

 J. K. Rees, Secretary — Dear Sir : We beg to ac- 

 knowledge your letter of the 28th ult., and are pro- 

 curing a copy of the Blue Book containing the Report 

 of the Select Committee of the House of Commons on 

 Weights and Measures, before which evidence was 

 given by one of our Directors, Captain H. R. Sankey, 



