Am'ji°ne?i9(!7frm'}         American  Chemical  Society.      .  259 
the  society.  The  general  governing  body  of  the  society  is  the 
Council,  which  consists,  ex-officio,  of  the  president,  all  past-presi- 
dents, secretary,  and  treasurer  ;  twelve  elected  councillors-at-large, 
four  of  whom  are  elected  each  year,  and  one  councillor  elected  by 
each  duly  chartered  local  section  for  each  hundred  members,  or 
fraction  thereof,  it  may  have. 
The  president  and  councillors-at-large  are  nominated  and  elected 
by  ballot,  the  nominations  and  elections  both  occurring  entirely  by 
mail  before  the  annual  meeting  of  the  society. 
As  the  society  is  an  incorporated  one,  a  board  of  directors,  con- 
sisting, ex-officio,  of  the  president,  secretary  and  treasurer — and 
four  directors  elected  by  the  Council,  look  after  the  legal  matters  of 
the  society  and  hold  and  administer  all  the  property  in  trust  for  its 
uses. 
The  standing  committees  of  the  society,  appointed  by  the  Council, 
are  three  in  number,  viz.,  the  committees  on  membership,  finance, 
and  papers  and  publications.  The  last  named  committee  is  an  ex- 
ceedingly important  one  in  the  work  of  the  American  Chemical 
Society,  since  to  it  is  entrusted  the  monthly  publication  of  the 
Journal  of  the  American  Chemical  Society \  and,  since  January  r,  1907, 
the  bi-monthly  publication  of  the  Abstract  Journal.  The  chairman 
of  this  committee  is  also  editor  of  the  Journal,  and  happens  to  be 
also  the  General  Secretary  of  the  society,  a  very  convenient  arrange- 
ment, though  not  specifically  required  by  the  constitution. 
The  annual  dues  for  members  until  this  year  were  $5,  but  with  the 
inauguration  of  the  Abstract  Journal  the  dues  were  raised  to  $8  per 
annum.  The  publication  of  the  Abstract  Journal  is  by  far  the  most 
important  advance  made  by  the  society  since  its  reorganization  in 
1890.  This  step  was  not  taken  without  some  trepidation,  as  it  was 
feared  that  the  increasing  of  the  dues  might  cause  some  loss  of 
membership.  These  fears  proved  to  be  without  foundation,  how- 
ever, for  our  membership  has  materially  increased  instead  of  decreased 
since  the  advent  of  the  new  Journal,  and  the  expense  of  this  vast 
undertaking  is  being  readily  met. 
According  to  the  last  official  roster,  the  membership  amounted 
to  3,035,  and  is  now  probably  considerably  in  excess  of  that  number, 
as  very  many  new  members  are  being  received,  and  very  few  are 
dropping  out.  That  so  few  members,  once  gained,  are  lost,  is  a 
source  of  gratification  to  our  society.    Thus,  of  a  membership  of 
