670 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. V. No. 122. 



by Dr. S. C. Chandler ; ' On Recent Bor- 

 ings in Coral Eeefs,' by Professor Agassiz ; 

 and ' Notes on Experiments upon the Eont- 

 gen Eaj's,' by Professor Arthur W. Wright. 



Biographical memoirs were read as fol- 

 lows : Of Dr. Gr. Brown Goode, by Professor 

 Langley ; of General Thos. L. Casey, by 

 General Abbott; of Dr. Brown-Sequard, 

 by Dr. Bowditch ; of Professor H. A. Ifew- 

 ton, prepared by Professor J. W. Gibbs and 

 read by Professor A. W. Wright ; and of 

 Professor George H. Cook, by Mr. G. K. 

 Gilbert. 



Formal announcement was made of the 

 death, since the last meeting of the 

 Academy, of four of its members, including 

 several of those most eminent and most 

 widely known, namely, Dr. B. A. Gould, 

 General F. A. Walker, Professor E. D. Cope 

 and Professor M. Carey Lea. 



Four new members were elected: Profes- 

 sor Morley, of Cleveland; Dr. Minot, of 

 Boston; Dr. Dall, of Washington, and Pro- 

 fessor Gooch, of New Haven. 



On Wednesday Professor Asaph Hall 

 was elected as Vice-President, to succeed 

 General Francis A. Walker, who filled that 

 ofiice at the time of his death. Professor 

 Remsen was elected to succeed Professor 

 Hall as Home Secretary, and Professor A. 

 Graham Bell was chosen as Treasurer of 

 the Academy, to succeed Dr. Billings, who 

 resigned that office, owing to his removal 

 to New York. 



Sir Archibald Geikie, Director of the 

 Geological Survey of Great Britain, who is 

 giving a course of lectures at the Johns 

 Hopkins University, was the guest of the 

 Academy at luncheon on Thursday, and 

 was formally presented to the Academy at 

 the session immediately following. 



The plan agreed upon a year ago, of hav- 

 ing the reading of papers begin at 2 p. m. 

 and not attempting scientific work in the 

 morning, was followed this year and will be 

 productive of good results as soon as it is 



generally understood. It may be assumed 

 that the Academy is indifferent as to 

 whether it has an audience or not, and it is 

 becoming quite evident that those who do 

 not belong to it are pretty much of the 

 same mind ; but it is none the less a fact 

 that there are always many people in 

 Washington at the time of its annual 

 meeting, including many residents and 

 many temporary visitors, who would be 

 glad to listen to the papers and discussions, 

 and as long as the so-called ' scientific ses- 

 sions ' are avowedly open to the public, an 

 invitation to attend being in some sense 

 offered, some consideration ought to be 

 given to those who often put themselves to 

 much trouble to be present. The new plan 

 of having a definite hour for beginning the 

 ' scientific session ' is an important step in 

 this direction, and it ought to be followed 

 by a rigid adherence to the order of the 

 printed program in the presentation of 

 papers. Often a member will invite those 

 specially interested to be present at the 

 reading of a particular paper, only to be 

 disappointed by a change in the order to 

 accommodate one whose title is lower down 

 on the list. The Council has full power, it 

 is assumed, to arrange the list as it deems 

 best, but when once printed it should be 

 adhered to, certainly, unless departure from 

 it is by common consent. 



The Academy is not only indifierent to 

 the presence or absence of listeners, but it 

 is probably equally indifierent to criticism 

 from the outside ; but having already ven- 

 tured a word of critical comment, it wiU 

 do no harm to add another and remark 

 that if the formal introduction of a dis- 

 tinguished foreigner is an event likely to 

 occur again it would be well to have some 

 understanding among the few members 

 who may accidentally be present at the 

 time as to whether they are or are not ex- 

 pected to share in any way in the bestowal 

 of this pleasant compliment. 



