EXTRACTS FROM THE CHARTER. 
An Act to incorporate the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and. 
Letters. 
The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assem • 
t)ly, do enact as follows: 
Section 1. Lucius Fairchild, Nelson Dewey, John W. Hoyt, Increase 
A. Lapham, * * * * x at present being members and officers of an 
association known as “The Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and 
Letters,” located at the city of Madison, together with their future as¬ 
sociates and successors forever, are hereby created a body corporate 
by the name and style of the “Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, 
and Letters,” and by that name shall have perpetual succession; shall 
be capable in law of contracting and being contracted with, of suing 
and being sued, of pleading and being impleaded in all courts of com¬ 
petent jurisdiction; and may do and perform such acts as are usually 
performed by like corporate bodies. 
Section 2. The general objects of the Academy shall be to encour¬ 
age investigation and disseminate correct views in the various depart¬ 
ments of science, literature, and the arts. Among the specific objects 
of the Academy shall be embraced the following: 
1. Researches and investigations in the various departments of the 
material, metaphysical, ethical, ethnological, and social sciences. 
2. A progressive and thorough scientific survey of the state with a 
view of determining its mineral, agricultural, and other resources. 
3. The advancement of the useful arts, through the applications of 
science, and by the encouragement of original invention. 
4. The encouragement of the fine arts, by means of honors and prizes 
awarded to artists for original works of superior merit. 
5. The formation of scientific, economic, and art museums. 
6. The encouragement of philological and historical research, the 
collection and preservation of historic records, and the formation of a 
general library. 
7. The diffusion of knowledge by the publication of original con¬ 
tributions to science, literature, and the arts. 
i Here follow the names of forty others. Sections 5, 6, 8, and 9 are omitted here as 
of no present interest. For the charter in full see Transactions, vol. viii, p. xi, or 
earlier volumes. 
