436 
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 
Mr. F. H. King and Mr. C. M. Hall were transferred to the 
absent list. 
Mr. George C. Maynard resigned. 
The General Committee met three times during the year. 
The Executive Committee held fifteen meetings, with an average 
attendance of six out of nine. 
' The Society held 17 meetings, 1 of which was devoted to the 
annual reports and the election of officers, and 16 to the reading 
and discussion of papers. The average attendance at the scien¬ 
tific meetings was 30, the greatest number being at the joint 
meeting with the American Physical Society, Friday, April 22, 
when a paper was read by Dr. A. Graham Bell on “Tetrahedral 
Kites.” 
Thirty-five papers were presented by 29 persons, 6 of whom 
appeared by invitation. The subject-matter of the regular 
papers may be roughly classified as follows: Pertaining to Geod¬ 
esy and Hydrography, 7; Aeronautics, 5; Meteorology and Astro¬ 
physics, 5; Electricity and Magnetism, 7; other physical sub¬ 
jects, 3; miscellaneous, 8. These papers have generally been dis¬ 
cussed as freely as the time permitted. 
Volume xiv of the Bulletin has been increased by 29 pages, 
numbered 247-276, which have been published and distributed 
as a separate. 
The distribution of the publications of the Society and the re¬ 
ceipt of publications in exchange, and their distribution to 
various organizations in this city, has continued steadily in the 
manner set forth in detail in the annual report of the Secretaries 
for 1901. Eight hundred and seventy-seven volumes and 
pamphlets were received in exchange for the publications of the 
Society during 1904, a decided increase over the number, 774, 
in 1903. There is appended to this report the following lists: 
1. Of the Bulletins of the Philosophical Society distributed 
from, and received at, the depository in the Smithsonian Institu¬ 
tion during the year. 
2. Of the Bulletins on hand. 
3. Of the separates of Bulletins xi, xii, xiii, and xiv on hand. 
4. A statement of the number of publications received in ex- 
