February 10, 1905.] 



SCIENCE. 



213 



Ihe same time to provide for the new publi- 

 cation ; but it was found possible to secure 

 assistance from ten colleges and universities 

 which promised to join in support of the 

 undertaking. The new publication, known 

 as the Transactions of the American Mathe- 

 matical Society, made its first appearance 

 in January, 1900. 



Simultaneously with the meeting held 

 by the society in October, 1899, was held 

 the first meeting of the newly organized 

 American Physical Society. On this oc- 

 casion the Mathematical Society met with 

 the Physical Society for the purpose of 

 listening to the address of President H. A. 

 EoM'land of the Physical Society. Again, 

 two months later, on the occasion of the 

 annual meeting of the American Mathe- 

 matical Society, the two societies met in 

 joint session for the purpose of listening 

 to the presidential address of Professor R. 

 S. Woodward, of the Mathematical Society. 

 In this connection it may be of interest to 

 recall that the organization of the Ameri- 

 can Physical Society was modelled, in a 

 general way, after that of the Mathematical 

 Society. The two societies have many 

 meinbers in common and have uninter- 

 ruptedly enjoyed the most cordial relations. 



In 1901 the Mathematical Society was 

 compelled to turn its attention to the care 

 of its rapidly growing library. An agree- 

 ment was made with Columbia University 

 whereby that institution undertook to bind 

 and catalogue the books belonging to the 

 society and to make the arrangements 

 necessary for the loan of the books to mem- 

 bers. In return therefor the university is 

 able to make use of the society's collection 

 in the way of a reference library. In Oc- 

 tober, 1901, the American Physical Society 

 met again in joint session with the Mathe- 

 matical Society for the purpose of listening 

 to a paper by Professor Hadamard, who 

 was visiting America as a delegate to 

 Yale's bicentennial celebration. 



In May, 1902, the San Francisco section 

 of the society was established. In Decem- 

 ber of the same year Professor E. H. Moore 

 delivered his address as president of the 

 society. Very largely as a result of this 

 address, the influence of the society was 

 exerted to bring about the organization of 

 associations of teachers of mathematics 

 with a view to improving the methods of 

 mathematical teaching. The Association 

 of Teachers of Mathematics in New Eng- 

 land was organized in April, 1903. The 

 Association of Teachers of Mathematics in 

 the Middle States and Maryland was or- 

 ganized in November of the same year. 

 Several similar associations have been or- 

 ganized more recently in various sections 

 of the country. 



Two events have occurred during the 

 year now closing which are of sufficient im- 

 portance to deserve mention here. One 

 is the determination of the society to pub- 

 lish in book form the mathematical lectures 

 delivered at the colloquium held in Boston 

 in 1903. The other is the meeting held 

 last summer in connection with the Inter- 

 national Scientific Congress at St. Louis. 



In connection with this brief outline of 

 the society's history it is, perhaps, desir- 

 able to indicate in figures the growth of 

 the society and its work. During the past 

 ten years the membership of the society 

 has doubled, rising from about 250 in 1894 

 to almost 500 at the present time. Ten 

 years ago the number of papers presented 

 each year at the meetings of the society 

 was in the neighborhood of 30, of which 

 about a dozen were subsequently published. 

 During the year 1903-04 the number of 

 papers presented at meetings of the society 

 was 154 and the number of papers pub- 

 lished by members after presentation was 

 85. In January, 1902, when the present 

 administration of the society's library be- 

 gan the number of volumes in the library 

 was 121, while at present it is almost 2,000. 



