EVENING SESSION. First William Ellery Hale lecture, by Henry Fairfield Osborn, president of the American Museum of Natural History. Subject: The origin and evolution of life on the earth. (Illustrated.) The lecture was followed by a conversazione in the art gallery of the museum. Tuesday, April 18. MORNING SESSION. GEORGE E. HALE: Some recent results of solar research. (10 minutes.) CHARLES E. ST. JOHN (introduced by G. E. Hale): An investigation of the suggested mutual repulsion of Fraunhofer lines. (10 minutes.) ARTHUR S. KING (introduced by G. E. Hale): Anomalous dispersion phenomena in electric furnace spectra. (10 minutes.) WALTER S. ADAMS (introduced by G. E. Hale): Illustrations of the new spectroscopic method of measuring stellar distances. (10 minutes.) HARLOW SHAPLEY (introduced by G. E. Hale): Some results with the new 10-inch photographic telescope. (10 minutes.) C. G. ABBOTT and L. B. ALDRICH: The pyranometer, an instrument for the measurement of sky radiation. (10 minutes.) G. C. COMSTOCK: Invisible companions of binary stars. (10 minutes.) F. R. MOULTON: The evolution of the stars. (30 minutes.) (10 minutes.) A. O. LEUSCHNER, Watson medallist: The minor planets discovered by James C. Watson. (20 minutes.) AFTERNOON SESSION. WM. H. DALL: Biography of Prof. Theodore Nicholas Gill (by title). W. W. CAMPBELL: Biography of Prof. Edward Singleton Holden (by title). W. W. CAMPBELL: Biography of Prof. Simon Newcomb (by title). Report of the work of the committee upon the Panama Canal slides, by CHARLES R. VAN HISE, chairman. (30 minutes.) H. FIELDING REID: The mechanics of the Panama slides. (20 minutes.) THEODORE LYMAN, director Jefferson Physical Laboratory, Harvard University: The present state of knowledge of the extreme ultra-violet. (30 minutes.) (By invitation of the program committee.) ROBERT A. MILLIKAN: A redetermination of e and N. (20 minutes.) CARL L. ALSBERG, Chief of the Bureau of Chemistry, United States Department of Agriculture: The relation of investigational work to the enforcement of the food and drugs act. (30 minutes.) (By invitation of the program committee.) J. WALTER FEWKES: Recent exploration of the Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado. (20 minutes.) ERWIN F. SMITH: Further evidence on the nature of crown gall and cancer and that cancer in plants offers strong presumptive evidence both of the parasitic origin and of the essential unity of the various forms of cancer in man and animals. (60 minutes.) Wednesday, April 19. AFTERNOON SESSION. Second William Ellery Hale lecture, by Henry Fairfield Osborn, president of the American Museum of Natural History. Subject: The origin and evolution of life on the earth. (Illustrated.) AUTUMN MEETING. The autumn meeting of the academy was held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass., on November 13, 14, 15, 1916. Seventy-one members were present as follows: Abbot (C. G.), Abbot (H. L.), Barus, Baxter, Becker, Boas, Bogert, Boltwood, Bumstead, Cannon, Castle, Cattell, Chittenden, Clark (W. B.), Clarke (J. M.), Comstock, Conklin, Councilman, Crafts, Crew, Cross, Davenport, Davis, Day, Farlow, Fewkes, Folin, Goodale, Hale, Hall, Harper, Harrison, Hayford, Holmes, Howard, Howell, Iddings, Jackson, Leuschner, Lewis, Lindgren, Lusk, Mall, Mark, Mayer, Meltzer, Mendel, Michelson, Morley, Morse, Noyes, Osborn, Osborne, Parker, Pearl, Pickering, Prudden, Reid, Richards, Rosa, Scott, Story, Thomson, Van Hise, Walcott, Webster, Welch, Wheeler, White (David), Wilson, Wood (R. W.). BUSINESS SESSION. The home secretary made the following announcements: DEATHS SINCE THE ANNUAL MEETING. Members.-Cleveland Abbe, elected 1879, died October 28, 1916; Josiah Royce, elected 1906, died September 14, 1916. Foreign Associate.-Sir William Ramsay, elected 1904, died July 24, 1916. PUBLICATIONS ISSUED SINCE THE LAST ANNUAL MEETING. Proceedings, volume 2, numbers 5-11. Memoirs, volume 14, first memoir: George P. Merrill: Report on researches on the chemical and mineralogical composition of meteorites, with especial reference to their minor constituents. Biographical Memoirs: George William Hill, by Ernest W. Brown; Theodore N. Gill, by William H. Dall. CHANGES IN THE EDITORIAL BOARD OF THE PROCEEDINGS. Raymond Pearl, chairman, in place of A. A. Noyes. Retiring December 1, 1916: W. B. Cannon, J. McK. Cattell, J. M. Coulter, Simon Flexner, R. G. Harrison. Appointed in 1916: A. G. Mayer, H. H. Donaldson, Graham Lusk, R. A. Harper, A. A. Noyes. E. B. Wilson, managing editor, reappointed. COMMITTEE ANNOUNCEMENTS. Auditing Committee.-William H. Dall, F. W. Clarke, Arthur L. Day. Committee on the Organization of the Scientific Resources of the Country for National Service.-G. E. Hale, chairman; E. G. Conklin, Simon Flexner, R. A. Millikan, A. A. Noyes. Joint Committee with American Chemical Society on Synthetic Organic Chemistry.-M. T. Bogert, chairman. Committee on Nitric Acid Supply.-Arthur A. Noyes, chairman; Gano Dunn, Warren K. Lewis, Theodore W. Richards, Leo H. Baekeland, Charles N. Herty,' Michael I. Pupin, Elihu Thomson, Willis R. Whitney.1 NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL. The president announced that he had forwarded a preliminary report on the National Research Council to the President of the United States. NEW MEMBERS. The following new members were presented to the academy: Marston Bogert, L. O. Howard, A. G. Mayer, Raymond Pearl. MARSH FUND. The treasurer reported that notice had been received from the attorneys for Mr. W. W. Farnam, the executor of the estate of Othniel C. Marsh, that he had filed in the New Haven probate court a supplemental account as executor which showed a balance of interest due the academy of $6,921.84. SECTION OF ENGINEERING. The following resolution presented by the council and adopted at the business session of the academy on April 17, 1916, was considered: That the council express to the academy the opinion that it is desirable that a section of engineering be developed which shall include men who have made original contributions to the science or art of engineering; that to this end the council suggests to the academy that the present section of physics and engineering be designated the section of physics, and that the council, under the authority granted by section 4, article 4, of the constitution, nominate to the academy, after inviting suggestions from the members of the academy, two or three engineers each year until such time as it shall seemn advisable to establish a separate section of engineering, any engineers elected as the result of such nominations being in the meantime assigned to that one of the existing sections to which their work is most closely related. The home secretary was authorized to send a copy of the above resolution to each member. 1 Named by the American Chemical Society. AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION. The following amendments to the constitution, reported from the council and returned to the academy from the committee of the whole with favorable recommendation, were considered: That article 3, section 1, line 3, of the constitution be amended by substituting the word "fourth" for "third" in the phrase "beginning on the third Monday in April." Amendment lost. That the last sentence of section 5, article 4, of the constitution be stricken out. Amendment adopted. The following new amendment to the constitution was offered: Moved: That Article III, section 1, be amended by striking out the words "beginning on the third Monday in April" and inserting after the word "meeting" in the third line the word "both" and adding at the end of the section the words "Provided, That the annual meeting shall be held in April" so as to read: "ARTICLE III, SECTION 1. The academy shall hold one stated meeting in each year, called the annual meeting, in the city of Washington, and another, called the autumn meeting, both to be held at such place and time as the council shall determine, provided that the annual meeting shall be held in April." CHARLES R. VAN HISE. Amendment referred to the council. REPORT OF THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL. On April 19, 1916, at the closing session of the annual meeting, the academy voted unanimously to offer its services to the President of the United States in the interest of national preparedness. The council of the academy was authorized to execute the work in the event of the President's acceptance. On April 26 the President of the Academy, accompanied by Messrs. Conklin, Hale, Walcott, and Woodward, was received at the White House by the President of the United States. In presenting the resolution adopted at the annual meeting, it was suggested that the academy might advantageously organize the scientific resources of educational and research institutions in the interest of national security and welfare. The President accepted this offer, and requested the academy to proceed at once to carry it into effect. Immediately following this visit, the President of the Academy, in harmony with resolutions adopted by the council on April 19, appointed the following organizing committee: Messrs. Edwin G. Conklin, Simon Flexner, Robert A. Millikan, Arthur A. Noyes, and George E. Hale (chairman). This committee, after obtaining assurances of cooperation from members of the Cabinet, national scientific and engineering societies, the committee of physicians, scientific bureaus of the Government, research foundations, educational institutions, industrial research laboratories, and many leading investigators, and after organizing a committee on nitrate supply (A. A. Noyes, chairman) at the request of the Secretary of War, prepared a general plan of procedure, which was presented to the council of the academy on June 19. It was recognized from the outset that the work to be undertaken should not be confined to the promotion of researches bearing directly upon military problems, but that true preparedness would best result from the encouragement of every form of investigation, whether for military and industrial application or for the advancement of knowledge without regard to its immediate practical bearing. The scheme of organization must be broad enough to secure the cooperation of all important agencies in accomplishing this result. The plan submitted, which has been published in full in the Proceedings of the academy (vol. 2, p. 508), called for the formation of a National Research Council, the purpose of which shall be to bring into cooperation governmental, educational, industrial, and other research organizations with the object of encouraging the investigation of natural phenomena, the increased use of scientific research in the development of American industries, the employment of scientific methods in strengthening the national defense, and such other applications of science as will promote the national security and welfare. It was also recommended that the council be composed of leading American investigators and engineers, representing the Army, Navy, Smithsonian Institution, and various scientific bureaus of the Government, educational institutions and research endowments, and the research divisions of industrial and manufacturing establishments. The council of the academy voted to accept the proposals of the organizing committee, and instructed it to proceed with the formation of the National Research Council in accordance with the plan recommended by the committee. The indorsement of the President of the United States and his willingness to appoint Government representatives was expressed in the following letter to the President of the Academy: "President of the National Academy of Sciences, Baltimore, Md. "MY DEAR DR. WELCH: I want to tell you with what gratification I have received the preliminary report of the National Research Council, which was formed at my request under the National Academy of Sciences. The outline of work there set forth and the evidences of remarkable progress toward the accomplishment of the object of the council are indeed gratifying. May I not take this occasion to say that the departments of the Government are ready to cooperate in every way that may be required, and that the heads of the departments most immediately concerned are now, at my request, actively engaged in considering the best methods of cooperation? 66 Representatives of Government bureaus will be appointed as members of the Research Council as the council desires. "Cordially and sincerely yours, "WOODROW WILSON." On August 5, with the assent of the heads of the several executive departments, the President appointed certain representatives of the Army and Navy and of various scientific bureaus of the Government as members of the National Research Council, with the understanding that others would be appointed as the development of the work might require. The remaining members of the council were appointed by the President of the National Academy, after consultation with the presidents of various national scientific and engineering societies (enumerated in the Proceedings, 607, loc. cit.). The President of the Academy and the chairman of the organizing committee then sailed for Europe for the purpose of studying the organization and applications of science in field and laboratory under war conditions. The informa |