50 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIV. No. 341. 



student body. On reflection, however, it 

 appeared that this would require far-reach- 

 ing amendments to the law governing the 

 bureau, that these might be difiBcult or im- 

 possible to obtain, and that the matter 

 might become complicated with wholly ex- 

 traneous considerations relating to the 

 status of the Bureau of Education and the 

 extension of its authority in other direc- 

 tions. 



It has, therefore, seemed best to the 

 committee not to propose either of the 

 plans above mentioned. 



The committee have been advised, how- 

 ever, of a plan for a non-governmental in- 

 stitution at Washington, which may be 

 able to supply all that is desired. This 

 plan is the outcome of action taken by the 

 Washington Academy of Sciences and by 

 the George Washington Memorial Associa- 

 tion. 



WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



The Washington Academy of Sciences 

 includes in its membership all, or nearly 

 all, the directors and officers of the scien- 

 tific bureaus of the government. It was 

 organized in 1898 and grew out of the 

 affiliation which had previously existed be- 

 tween the local scientific societies. It is 

 an incorporated body having for its main 

 object to bring within a single organization 

 the representatives of the varied scientific 

 work being carried on at the capital. The 

 academy has power to acquire and to hold 

 real estate, to publish, to conduct or to 

 assist investigation in any department of 

 science, to maintain a library, and in gen- 

 eral to transact any business pertinent to 

 . an academy of sciences. The list of mem- 

 bers, resident and non-resident, of the 

 Washington Academy of Sciences shows 

 that it is national in its scope and in- 

 fluence, and that representatives of philos- 

 ophy, history, education and political 

 economy are included. 



GEORGE WASHINGTON MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION. 



The George Washington Memorial Asso- 

 ciation is an organization of women, incor- 

 porated in the District of Columbia in 1898, 

 " to advance and secure the establishment 

 in the city of Washington, D. C, of a uni- 

 versity, for the purposes, and with the ob- 

 jects, substantially as contemplated and set 

 forth in, and by, the last will of George 

 Washington, the first President of the 

 United States of America, and to increase 

 the opportunities for the higher education 

 of the youth of the said United States, and 

 to this end to collect, take and hold moneys, 

 gifts and endowments, to take and to hold 

 by purchase, donations, or devise, real es- 

 tate, to erect and furnish buildings to be 

 used by said university, when legally estab- 

 lished," and so forth. 



In the year 1901 the certificate of incor- 

 poration of the George Washington Me- 

 morial Association was amended in due 

 legal form, and all mention of a university 

 was omitted from the statement of its pur- 

 poses. The object of the Association is 

 now declared to be ' •' to aid in securing in 

 the city of Washington, D. C, the increase 

 of opportunities for higher education, as 

 recommended by George Washington, the 

 first President of the United States of Amer- 

 ica, in his various messages to Congress, 

 notably in the first, in favor of ' the promo- 

 tion of science and literature,' and sub- 

 stantially as contemplated and set forth in 

 the last will of George Washington, and by 

 and through such other plans and methods 

 as may be necessary and suitable for the 

 objects and purposes herein set forth, and 

 to this end to collect, take and hold moneys, 

 gifts and endowments, to take by purchase, 

 donation, or devise, real estate, and hold 

 the same, to erect and furnish buildings to 

 be used for the purposes herein set forth, 

 and, when necessary for the said purposes, 

 to sell, convey, mortgage and exchange 

 any real and personal estate which the As- 



