SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 29 



Trarvsa-ctions. 



ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



The regular meeting of the Academj- was held at Ebell Hall Feb. 11, 

 1902. President Wm. H. Knight called the meeting to order. In the 

 absence of Secretary B. R. Baumgardt, Mr. G. Major Taber acted as secre- 

 tary pro tem. 



The following persons were elected to membership in the Academy: 

 Dean William T. Randall, Prof. James H. Hoose, and Paul Arnold, of the 

 University of Southern California; Miss Alice G. Cooper, Miss Louise Lyde, 

 Dr. D. L. Tasker, and Dr. Fred L Brown. 



A paper contributed by Mr. A. L. Bancroft, was read by Prof. Mel- 

 ville Dozier. Subject: "Modern English from the Standpoint of Useful- 

 ness." The author proposed a revision, enumerating the advantages that 

 would result from the adoption by all the English speaking nations of the 

 phonetic system. Prof. Dozier moved that the paper be referred to a Com- 

 mittee of Three for further consideration by the Academy. 



The President then introduced Miss Mary L. Jones, City Librarian, 

 who addressed the meeting, her subject being "Libraries, Historically and 

 Locally Considered." Miss Jones gave account of some of the first libraries 

 established in this country, stating that Benjamin Franklin organized the 

 first subscription library at Philadelphia in I73i,and from that effort public 

 libraries had been established all over the country. The speaker explained 

 the decimal system of classifying books and other interesting features of 

 modern library work. She stated that more books were read from the 

 Los Angeles Library in proportion to its population, than is the case in any 

 other city in the United States. She favored locating the newspaper read- 

 ing rooms in the new Chamber of Commerce building, thus making more 

 table room at the Public Library for book users The speaker deprecated 

 the too frequent changes in the personel of the library board as detrimental 

 to the best interests of the institution. 



G. Major Taber, Secretary pro tem. 



ASTRONOMICAL SECTION. 



The meeting was called to order by Chairman Baumgardt, and the min- 

 utes of the last meeting were read and approved. The Chairman again 

 called attention to the approaching transition of Venus from an evening to 

 a morning star, and to the proximity of its conjunction with the Sun. 



