MICHIGAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 
31 
besides saving time and expense of busy men at the college. With meetings 
held at East Lansing the attendance has been good, though by no means 
equal to that of a local circus. What is a good attendance at meetings of 
scientific students, either local, state or national? Depending on where 
the meeting is held, and more or less on the advertised program, it ranges 
from ten, twenty, not to exceed fifty persons, except rarely when it reaches 
a hundred or more. Meetings of the National Academy of Science for pre- 
senting papers meet twice a year. At one session a certain mathematician, 
Professor Pierce, of Harvard, was prepared with a paper. When called on 
he glanced over those in attendance, remarked that there was only one mem- 
ber of the academy who could understand his paper, and as he was not present 
he thought it not worth while to read the paper, and it was not read. 
W. J. Beal. 
