ACT OF INCORPORATION.

AN ACT To incorporate the National Academy of Sciences.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That Louis Agassiz, Massachusetts; J. H. Alexander, Maryland; S. Alexander, New Jersey; A. D. Bache, at large; F. B. Barnard,1 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. Dahlgren, United States Navy, Pennsylvania; J. D. Dana, Connecticut; Charles H. Davis, United States Navy, Massachusetts; George Engelmann, Saint Louis, Missouri; J. F. Frazer, Pennsylvania; Wolcott Gibbs, New York; J. M. Gilless, United States Navy, District of Columbia; A. A. Gould, Massachusetts; B. A. Gould, Massachusetts; Asa Gray, Massachusetts; A. Guyot, New Jersey; James Hall, New York; Joseph Henry, at large; J. E. Hilgard, at large, Illinois; Edward Hitchcock, Massachusetts; J. S. Hubbard, United States Naval Observatory, Connecticut; A. A. Humphreys, United States Army, Pennsylvania; J. L. Le Conte, United States Army, Pennsylvania; J. Leidy, Pennsylvania; J. P. Lesley, Pennsylvania; M. F. Longstreth, Pennsylvania; D. H. Mahan, United States Military Academy, Virginia; J. S. Newberry, Ohio; H. A. Newton, Connecticut; Benjamin Peirce, Massachusetts; John Rodgers, United States Navy, Indiana; Fairman Rogers, Pennsylvania; R. E. Rogers, Pennsylvania; W. B. Rogers, Massachusetts; L. M. Rutherford, New York; Joseph Saxton, at large; Benjamin Silliman, Connecticut; Benjamin Silliman, junior, Connecticut; Theodore Strong, New Jersey; John Torrey, New York; J. G. Totten, United States Army, Connecticut; Joseph Winlock, United States Nautical Almanac, Kentucky; Jeffries Wyman, Massachusetts; J. D. Whitney, California; their associates and successors duly chosen, are hereby incorporated, constituted, and declared to be a body corporate, by the name of the National Academy of Sciences.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the National Academy of Sciences shall consist of not more than fifty ordinary members, and the said corporation hereby constituted shall have power to make its

The official list of members gives the name of F. A. P. Barnard.

* The official list of members gives the name of J. M. Gilliss.

own organization, including its constitution, by-laws, and rules and regulations; to fill all vacancies created by death, resignation, or otherwise; to provide for the election of foreign and domestic members, the division into classes, and all other matters needful or usual in such institution, and to report the same to Congress.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the National Academy of Sciences shall hold an annual meeting at such place in the United States as may be designated, and the academy shall, whenever called upon by any department of the Government, investigate, examine, experiment, and report upon any subject of science or art, the actual expense of such investigations, examinations, experiments, and reports to be paid from appropriations which may be made for the purpose, but the academy shall receive no compensation whatever for any services to the Government of the United States. Approved, March 3, 1863.

AMENDMENTS.

AN ACT To amend the act to incorporate the National Academy of Sciences.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the act to incorporate the National Academy of Sciences, approved March third, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, be, and the same is hereby, so amended as to remove the limitation of the number of ordinary members of said academy as provided in said act.

Approved, July 14, 1870.

AN ACT To authorize the National Academy of Sciences to receive and hold trust funds for the promotion of science, and for other purposes

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the National Academy of Sciences, incorporated by the act of Congress approved March third, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, and its several supplements, be, and the same is hereby, authorized and empowered to receive bequests and donations and hold the same in trust, to be applied by the said academy in aid of scientific investigations and according to the will of the donors.

Approved, June 20, 1884.

AN ACT To amend the act authorizing the National Academy of Sciences to receive and hold trust funds for the promotion of science, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Repersentatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the act to authorize the National Academy of Sciences to receive and hold trust funds for the promotion of science, and for other purposes, approved June twentieth, eighteen hundred and eighty-four, be, and the same is hereby, amended to read as follows:

"That the National Academy of Sciences, incorporated by the act of Congress approved March third, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, be, and the same is hereby, authorized and empowered to receive, by devise, bequest, donation, or otherwise, either real or personal property, and to hold the same absolutely or in trust, and to invest, reinvest, and manage the same in accordance with the provisions of its constitution, and to apply said property and the income arising therefrom to the objects of its creation and according to the instructions of the donors: Provided, however, That the Congress may at any time limit the amount of real estate which may be acquired and the length of time the same may be held by said National Academy of Sciences."

SEC. 2. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this act is hereby expressly reserved.

Approved, May 27, 1914.

ANNUAL REPORT

OF THE

NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES.

The year 1915 is conspicuous in the record of the activities of the academy because of the establishment at the beginning of the year of a monthly scientific journal called the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The undertaking was entered upon without the aid either of an endowment or of a government subvention, but through voluntary subscription by members and friends under the pressure of an acute need for a publication broad enough in scope to include all the interests of the academy, and one which should offer an opportunity for the prompt and accurate announcement of the scientific discoveries of members and others.

It is not the purpose of the proceedings to include long or detailed papers which appear more appropriately in the special journals conducted by scientific societies, but rather to supplement this detailed record, which is prepared usually for restricted circulation within the branch of science in which it originates, with an early general announcement of the essential features and results of important. investigations both in the interest of scientific progress and of general knowledge.

It is particularly important, for example, that the results of American research should be brought to the attention of foreign investigators both in Europe and in South America, partly for the purpose of avoiding duplication of effort and partly in order to secure appropriate recognition of the great increase in the productiveness of American research during recent years. The National Academy, through its official affiliation with the representative scientific organizations of other nations and its close relations with a great number of unofficial foreign societies, is obviously in a peculiarly favorable position to disseminate the results of American scientific work, if indeed it is not definitely the duty of the academy to do so. No appropriate organ for the distribution of concise, authentic reports covering the whole broad field of American scientific studies has existed in the United States hitherto, and American research in consequence is much less well known abroad to-day than it is entitled to be.