PROCEEDINGS. 
479 
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SECRETARIES FOR 1898. 
Washington, D. C., December 22, 1898. 
To the Philosophical Society of Washington: 
The Secretaries have the honor to submit the following annual 
report for the year 1898: 
The number of active members at date of last annual report 
was 121. Of this number 6 have resigned, and 1 was dropped 
for non-payment of dues. Thus there has been a loss of 7. The 
membership has been increased by the election of 4 new mem¬ 
bers. The net loss is 3, and the present active membership 
is 118. 
The number of members on the absent list at date of last 
report was 79. So far as known this number remains unchanged. 
No deaths have occurred among the active members. 
The new members are : 
Lyman James Briggs. William Candler Hodgkins. 
Frank Milton Little. Frank Gustav Radelfinger. 
The members who resigned are : 
Edward Farquhar. Bernhard Eduard Fernow. 
John Nelson James. Ainsworth Rand Spofford. 
Joseph Stanley-Brown. Gilbert Thompson. 
The General Committee held 15 regular and 2 special meet¬ 
ings. 
The first special meeting was held December 18, 1897, “ to 
consider the report of a conference committee upon a joint 
organization of the Scientific Socities of Washington.” The 
second special meeting was held July 23, 1898, to electa Treas¬ 
urer to serve during the absence from Washington of Mr. Birnie. 
The average attendance at the meetings of the General Com¬ 
mittee was 11. 
The Society held 16 meetings, 13 of which were devoted to 
the reading and discussion of papers, one to the President’s 
annual address, one to a discussion of the work of the Society, 
and one to the annual meeting for reports and election of offi¬ 
cers. The average attendance at the 15 meetings was 22. 
Thirty-two papers were presented by 24 members and one 
