PROCEEDINGS. 
469 
The General Committee held 15 meetings; average attend¬ 
ance, 10. 
The Society held 16 meetings, of which 15 were for the read¬ 
ing and discussion of papers and one was the annual meeting 
for reports and election of officers. The average attendance was 
29. Thirty-five papers were read by 24 members. Also bio¬ 
graphical notices were read of— 
George Edward Curtis. Joseph Meredith Toner. 
William Crawford Winlock. 
All meetings were held in the Assembly Hall of the Cosmos 
Club, 1518 H street. 
Two papers were published during the year, viz., Chemistry 
in the United States, by F. W. Clarke; The transcontinental 
arc, by E. D. Preston. 
Bernard R. Green, 
J. Elfreth Watkins, 
Secretaries. 
The report of the Treasurer was read and referred to an 
auditing committee, consisting of Messrs. McGee, Winston, and 
Martin. The following is the 
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE TREASURER FOR 1S97. 
Washington, D. C., December 11, 1897. 
To the Philosophical Society of Washington, D. C.: 
This report covers the yearly period from December 26, 1896, 
to December 11, 1897. 
The income and expenses of the year 1897, aside from the 
redemption, sale, and purchase of bonds, are as follows : Income, 
$826.46 ; expenses, $284.61, leaving a surplus of $542.05 on ordi¬ 
nary transactions for the year. 
On February 6, 1897, acting upon a report of the same date, 
submitted by a subcommittee composed of Messrs. Baker, East¬ 
man, and Birnie, that had been appointed to consider the matter 
of investment of funds of the Society, the General Committee 
directed the Treasurer to purchase one $1,000 6 per cent, bond 
of the Columbia Street Railway Company, and at the same time 
