mond, Va. A large sum was subscribed by the planters of Virginia and by the citizens of Richmond; a building was erected; one professor was appointed, who was commissioned mineralogist in chief and instructed to make natural history collections in Europe and America. The academy was to be national and international, for branches were o be established in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York; the academy was to be affiliated with the royal societies of London, Paris, and Brussels, and with other learned bodies in Europe. It was to be composed of a president, a vice-president, 6 counselors, a treasurer-general, a secretary, a recorder, an agent for taking European subscriptions, French professors, masters, artists in chief attached to the academy, 25 resident and 175 nonresident associates. It promised to communicate a knowledge of the natural products of North America to the Old World and to enrich its collections with specimens of the fauna and flora of the New. It also promised to publish an almanac yearly from its own press in Paris. But the population of Virginia was too scattering for such a project, and the proposed academy died almost before it was born. The French Revolution crushed also any hopes that its promoters might have had of getting aid from France. The building in Richmond was used as a meeting place for the Virginia convention of 1788 and became, at a later period, a theater. From the beginning of the century to the time of the civil war there was a slow but steady increase in the number of societies that were founded and lived through the period of infancy. It will be noted that the proportion of these that were national in their design is relatively larger than of the State societies. Among the national societies founded during this period are the American Antiquarian Society, founded in 1812; the National Academy of Design, 1826; the American Statistical Association, 1839; the American Ethnological Society, 1842; the American Oriental Society, 1843; the American Medical Association, 1847; the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1848; the American Geographical Society, and the American Society of Civil Engineers, both founded in 1852. There were, however, a few State societies older than any of the above. Sources of information: Encyclopædia Britannica, article, Academy, Societies, and Royal Society; American Cyclopædia, article, Academy, Societies; John Addington Symonds, The Renaissance in Italy; Bureau of Education, Report on Public Libraries in the United States; Odd Phases of Literature, article in Irish Quarterly, 6:439,647; English Scientific Societies, article by W. Winwood Reade in Galaxy, 3: 732; Scientific Societies, in British Quarterly, 39:86; Works of John Adams; Works of Benjamin Franklin; G. Brown Goode, Origin of Scientific Institutions, in Report of American Historical Association for 1889. [The Commissioner of Education expresses his thanks to Mr. Appleton Morgan, President of the New York Shakespeare Society, who called his attention to the importance and value of a review of the work of learned and educational societies and collected much of the material found in the following list.] [Societies occupying themselves with several branches of science, or with science and literature jointly.] NATIONAL. AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. BOSTON, MASS. First meeting, May 30, 1780; chartered May 3, 1780. Object. "To promote and encourage the knowledge of the antiquities of America and of the natural history of the country, and to determine the uses to which the various natural productions of the country may be applied; to promote and encourage medical discoveries, mathematical disquisitions, philosophical inquiries and experiments; astronomical, meteorological, and geographical observations, and improvements in agriculture, arts, manufactures, and commerce, and, in fine, to cultivate every art and science which may tend to advance the interest, honor, dignity, and happiness of a free, independent, and virtuous people." The founders were 62 persons, including the following officers: James Bowdoin, president; Samuel Cooper, vice-president; Joseph Willard, corresponding secretary; Caleb Gannett, recording secretary; Ebenezer Storer, treasurer; Stephen Sewall, vice-treasurer; James Winthrop, cabinet keeper; councillors: Thomas Cushing, Henry Gardner, John Hancock, Samuel Langdon, John Lowell, Robert Treat Paine, Phillips Payson, James Warren, Edward Wigglesworth, Samuel Williams. Officers for 1894-95.-Alexander Agassiz, president; Augustus Lowell, vice-president; Charles L. Jackson, corresponding secretary; William Watson, recording secretary; Eliot C. Clarke, treasurer; Henry W. Haynes, librarian. Councillors: William R. Livermore, Benjamin O. Peirce, Benjamin A. Gould, of Class I; Henry P. Walcott, Benjamin L. Robinson, Henry W. Williams, of Class II; Andrew M. Davis, Thomas W. Higginson, James B. Thayer, of Class III. Member of the committee of finance: Augustus Lowell. Rumford committee: John Trowbridge, Erasmus D. Leavitt, Benjamin O. Peirce, Edward C. Pickering, Charles R. Cross, Amos E. Dolbear, Benjamin A. Gould. C. M. Warren committee: Francis H. Storer, Thomas M. Drown, Charles L. Jackson, Samuel Cabot, Henry B. Hill, Leonard P. Kinnicutt, Arthur M. Comey. Committee of publication: Charles L. Jackson, William G. Farlow, Charles G. Loring. Committee on the library: Henry P. Bowditch, Amos E. Dolbear, William R. Livermore. Auditing committee: Henry G. Denny, John C. Ropes. PUBLICATIONS. 4to. Memoirs, Vols. I-IV, 4 vols., Boston [Charleston, Cambridge], 1785-1821. Complete works of Count Rumford, 4 vols., Boston, 1870-1875. 8vo. AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. SALEM, MASS. First meeting held in Philadelphia, September 20, 1848; incorporated under the laws of Massachusetts, April 3, 1874. "The objects of the association are, by periodical and migratory meetings, to promote intercourse between those who are cultivating science in different parts of America, to give a stronger and more general impulse and more systematic direction to scientific research, and to procure for the labors of scientific men increased facilities and a wider usefulness." (Constitution.) Incorporators, 1874.-Joseph Henry, of Washington; Benjamin Pierce, of Cambridge; James D. Dana, of New Haven; James Hall, of Albany; Alexis Caswell, of Providence; Stephen Alexander, of Princeton; Isaac Lea, of Philadelphia; F. A. P. Barnard, of New York; John S. Newberry, of Cleveland; B. A. Gould, of Cambridge; T. Sterry Hunt, of Boston; Asa Gray, of Cambridge; J. Lawrence Smith, of Louisville; Joseph Lovering, of Cambridge, and John Le Conte, of Philadelphia. First officers, 1848.-President, W. C. Redfield; Walter R. Johnson, secretary; Jeffries Wyman, treasurer. Officers for 1895. -President: E. W. Morley, Cleveland, Ohio. Vice-presidents: A. Mathematics and astronomy-E. S. Holden, Mount Hamilton, Cal.; B. Physics-W. Le Conte Stevens, Troy, N. Y.; C. Chemistry-William McMurtrie, Brooklyn, N. Y.; D. Mechanical science and engineering-William Kent, Passaic, N. J.; E. Geology and geography-Jed. Hotchkiss, Staunton, Va.; F. Zoology-D. S. Jordan, Palo Alto, Cal.; G. Botany-J. C. Arthur, Lafayette, Ind.; H. Anthropology-F. H. Cushing, Washington, D. C.; I. Economic science and statistics-B. E. Fernow, Washington, D. C. Permanent secretary: F. W. Putnam, Cambridge, Mass. General secretary: Jas. Lewis Howe, Louisville, Ky. Secretary of the council: Charles R. Barnes, Madison, Wis. Secretaries of the sections: A. Mathematics and astronomyE. H. Moore, Chicago, III.; B. Physics-E. Merritt, Ithaca, N. Y.; C. Chemistry-W. P. Mason, Troy, N. Y.; D. Mechanical science and engineering-H. S. Jacoby, Ithaca, N. Y.; E. Geology and geography-J. Perrin Smith, Palo Alto, Cal.; F. Zoology-S. A. Forbes, Champaign, Ill.; G. Botany-B. T. Galloway, Washington, D. C.; H. Anthropology-Anita Newcomb McGee, Washington, D. C.; I. Economic science and statistics-E. A. Ross, Palo Alto, Cal. Treasurer: R. S. Woodward, New York, N. Y. PUBLICATIONS. Transactions of the Association of American Geologists and Naturalists, first, second and third meetings, 1840-1842, 1 vol., 1843. 8vo, pp. 544, pls. 21. Memoirs of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. 4to. No. 1, Fossil Butterflies. By S. H. Scudder. 1875. pp. 100, pls. 3. Presidential Addresses. 8vo. Report of the Committee on Zoological Nomenclature. 8vo, pp. 56. Nashville meeting, 1877. Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Vols. I-XLIII, 1848-1895, 8vo, averaging about 500 pages each. THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY HELD AT PHILADELPHIA FOR PROMOTING USEFUL KNOWLEDGE. PHILADELPHIA, PA. Organized 1743; incorporated 1780. Object. For the advancement of useful knowledge. jamin Franklin, secretary. Officers, 1894.-Frederick Fraley, president; vice-presidents, E. Otis Kendall, W. S. W. Ruschenberger, J. P. Lesley; secretaries, George F. Barker, Daniel G. Brinton, Henry Phillips, George H. Horn; curators, Patterson Du Bois, J. Cheston Morris, Richard Meade Bache; treasurer, J. Sergeant Price. Transactions, Vols. I-VI, 1759-1809. PUBLICATIONS. -, new series, Vols. I-XVII, 1818-1893. Vol. XVIII, . Proceedings, Vols. I-XXXII, 1838-1894, issued in 143 numbers, or parts. AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION. COLUMBIA COLLEGE, NEW YORK, N. Y. Organized July 8, 1892. Object. To advance the science of psychology. First officers.-President, Dr. G. Stanley Hall; vice-president, Prof. Geo. T. Ladd; secretary and treasurer, Prof. Joseph Jastrow. Officers, 1896.-President, Prof. G. S. Fullerton; secretary and treasurer, Dr. Livingston Farrand. Proceedings. 8vo. PUBLICATIONS. NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. WASHINGTON, D. C. Incorporated by act of Congress March 3, 1863. Object. To promote the cause of science. Incorporators.-Louis Agassiz, Massachusetts; J. H. Alexander, Maryland; S. Alexander, New Jersey; A. D. Bache, at large; F. B. Barnard, at large; J. G. Barnard, United States Army, Massachusetts; W. H. C. Bartlett, United States Military Academy, Missouri; U. A. Boyden, Massachusetts; Alexis Caswell, Rhode Island; William Chauvenet, Missouri; J. H. C. Coffin, United States Naval Academy, Maine; J. A. Officers, 1894-95.-O. C. Marsh, president; F. A. Walker, vice-president; Wolcott PUBLICATIONS. Memoirs, 4to, issued by United States Government. Vol. VI was published in 1893. THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. WASHINGTON, D. C. The Smithsonian Institution, with its dependencies and affiliations, is unique and unparalleled in its relations to the Government. It corresponds more closely at the present time to Barlow's proposed "National Institution" than any organization existing elsewhere in the world. Itshistory is a remarkable one. James Lewis Macie, afterwards called Smithson, was a natural son of Hugh Smithson, Duke of Northumberland. He was a graduate of the University of Oxford, a fellow of the Royal Society, a chemist and mineralogist of well-recognized position. He was the friend and associate of many of the leading scientific men in England, but found it advisable to spend most of his life on the Continent. He died in 1829, and left in trust to the United States property amounting on September 1, 1838, to $515,169, to establish in Washington "an institution for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men." The institution was organized under a law passed in August, 1846, which vested the management in a Board of Regents, to be composed of the Vice-President of the United States, the Chief Justice, [the governor of Washington], 3 members of the Senate, 3 Members of the House of Representatives, and 6 other persons. This Board elects one of its number as presiding officer, and he is styled chancellor. It also elects the secretary of the Institution. In December, 1846, it chose Prof. Joseph Henry, then of Princeton College, as secretary. He served until his death in 1878, when he was succeeded by Prof. Spencer Fullerton Baird, who had been assistant secretary since 1850. He died in 1887, and Prof. Samuel Pierpont Langley became the third secretary. Prof. George Brown Goode is the assistant secretary. The programme of organization submitted by Professor Henry still constitutes the basis of management. He insisted that it ought to be a rule of the Institution to do nothing which could be equally well done by any organization or instrumentality already in action; but that men of talent and learning should be afforded means for conducting and publishing their researches. In the matter of research the countenance and aid of the Institution has been given to matters of widest influence and benefit to the race. It issues three series of publications: (1) The Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, 4to, consisting of original scientific investigations, in many cases expensively illustrated; (2) The Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, 8vo, comprising meteorological and physical tables, treatises on subjects of practical or scientific interest, manuals for the collection and preservation of objects of natural history, methods of various physical observations, etc.; (3) Annual Reports, 8vo, containing reports of proceedings, summaries of progress, bibliographies, and papers on scientific subjects, usually reprints. The Institution also conducts a system of international exchange, and in this way has become the exclusive means of communication between the literary and scientific ין institutions of the Old World and the New. It also carries on a scientific correspondence extending to all parts of the world. It directs the work of the Bureau of Ethnology of the National Museum, of the National Zoological Park, and of the Astrophysical Observatory. It receives also the annual reports of the secretary of the American Historical Association. The funds of the Institution are deposited permanently in the Treasury of the United States and draw 6 per cent interest. In 1891 it received a bequest of $200,000 from Thomas G. Hodgkins, of New York, one-half of which was to be devoted to the investigation and spread of knowledge concerning all the phenomena of atmospheric air. Its total funds now amount to about $1,000,000. STATE. ALABAMA INDUSTRIAL AND SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY. UNIVERSITY, ALA. Organized at the University of Alabama, at Tuscaloosa, December 11, 1890. Objects. The promotion of scientific examination and the discussion of various questions of interest to the material progress of the State. First officers.-President, Cornelius Cadle, Blocton; vice-presidents, Thomas Seddon, Birmingham; W. E. Robertson, Anniston; C. P. Williamson, Birmingham; M. C. Wilson, Florence; J. W. Burke, Jacksonville; Horace Harding, Tuscaloosa; secretary, William B. Phillips, University; treasurer, Henry McCalley, University. Officers, 1895.-President, William B. Phillips, Birmingham; vice-presidents, T. H. Aldrich, Birmingham; L. C. Harrison, Warrior; F. M. Jackson, Brookwood; George B. McCormack, Pratt City; Ernst Prochaska, Birmingham; secretary, Eugene A. Smith, University; treasurer, Henry McCalley, University. PUBLICATIONS. Proceedings, annual, 12mo, averaging about 75 pages, with plates and figures. The second part of Vol. IV is now in press. SOCIETY OF ALASKAN NATURAL HISTORY AND ETHNOLOGY. SITKA, ALASKA. Organized October 24, 1887; incorporated April 11, 1888. Object. To collect and preserve, in connection with the Sitka Industrial Training School, specimens illustrative of the natural history and ethnology of Alaska, and the publications relating thereto; also to form a museum of Alaskan natural history and ethnology and a consulting library for the Territory. Founder. Rev. Sheldon Jackson, D. D. First officers.-President, William Millmore; secretary and ex officio treasurer, Ida M. Rodgers. Officers, 1891.-President, John G. Brady; secretary and ex officio treasurer, Cassia Patton. PUBLICATIONS. Bulletin, of which three have been issued. CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. Organized April 4, 1853; incorporated, Object. The advancement of science. Founders.-Henry Gibbons, M. D.; Albert Kellogg, M. D.; T. J. Nevins, Andrew Randall, M. D.; Lewis W. Sloat, John B. Trask, M. D. Officers, 1895.-President, H. W. Harkness; first vice-president, H. H. Behr; second vice-president, J. G. Cooper; corresponding secretary, George A. Moore; recording secretary, Gulian P. Rixford; treasurer, L. H. Foote; librarian, Carlos Troyer; director of museum, J. Z. Davis: trustees, W. C. Burnett, Charles F. Crocker, D, E. Hayes, E. J. Molera, George C. Perkins, W. S. Chapman, John Taylor. |