494 The American Naturalist. [June, 
EDITORIALS. 
—Tue U.S. National Academy of Sciences has been in a state of par- 
alysis for now two years in the matter of electing nembers, after hav- 
ing been unable to fill its vacancies for a considerably longer period. 
This is not due to the lack of suitable candidates, but rather owing to 
the impossibility of concentrating a sufficient number of votes on any 
one candidate to elect him. This is in turn due to the fact that there 
is a disproportionate number of members devoted to the physical 
sciences, as compared with those devoted to the natural sciences. In 
the present membership there are, according to a committee of the 
society, fifty-eight members devoted to the physical, and thirty-one 
members who represent the natural sciences. It is natural that under. 
such circumstances, the members of the latter class should refuse to 
add to the members of the former class. It is true that of the seven 
candidates presented at the election which has just failed, four repre- 
sented the natural, and three the physical sciences. But the gentle- 
men present who represent the physical sciences could not be prevailed 
on to elect an additional member of the division of natural sciences. 
This result is probably due to a want of concerted action, rather than 
to an intentional desire to continue the present disproportion between 
the classes. It is also due in part to the vote of members who do not 
attend the meetings, and who thus fail to receive information as to 
various points at issue. The preponderance of any one class naturally 
tends to perpetuate itself, and its effect is now so conspicuous that the 
necessity for some change in the mode of elections is obvious. i 
It is proposed to meet the difficulty by dividing the Academy e 
classes, each of which is to have a fixed membership, so that deficien- 
cies may be known and filled. Such a system exists in the academies 
of most countries, and it materially aids in securing a just representa- 
tion. The system should not, however, be too complex, since it is 1m- 
possible to fix the correct proportion of membership of any of the 
special branches of science, which shall, be always applicable. A few 
large divisions, whose cultivators for obvious reasons stand in a gener- 
ally definite proportion to each other, or to the Academy, is about as 
much as is practicable in this direction. ‘The committee already "° 
ferred to, proposes that the Academy be divided into six classes, three 
of which embrace physical sciences, and two natural sciences, and oa 
includes sciences which cannot be classed under either head. This 
