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ANNUAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY

OF SCIENCES.

REVIEW OF THE YEAR.

In the report of last year a brief outline was given of the early history of the academy and the establishment on a permanent basis of the National Research Council, which was first organized to perform the war services of the academy, and was then continued to promote research in time of peace. Also there were briefly sketched the design and proportions of the new building, to be provided as a permanent home for the National Academy of Sciences and the National Research Council. The ground embracing the square on B Street, between Twenty-first and Twenty-second Streets, and facing the Lincoln Memorial, was purchased by the academy through the generosity of public-spirited citizens and patrons of science at a cost of approximately $185,000, and the cost of the building, about one and a half million dollars, was supplemented by an endowment, for the maintenance of the building and the work of the Research Council, represented by the balance of the $5,000,000 donated by the Carnegie Corporation. The chairman of the building committee reports that the new building is progressing satisfactorily and will be ready for occupation within the coming year.

During the closing year the National Academy of Sciences has grown in numbers, in performance, and in strength. The net gain in membership has been small, the addition of 15 new members being offset by the loss through death of 8. The number of active members now stands at 217, including one honorary member. There are 34 foreign associates.

In the notable advance of science, in all its branches, members of the academy have taken creditable and in many cases distinguished parts. The autumn meeting, held in New York under the auspices of Columbia University and the Engineering Foundation, was remarkable for the unusually wide range and quality of the subject matter presented, as well as for the large attendance and interest manifested by members and the public.

Ten memoirs have been issued during the year and nine are at the Government Printing Office. The Proceedings, under the conduct of an able and effective staff, has grown in size, and in the number,

scope, and character of the papers. It is occupying a larger field in scientific literature and is indispensable to the scientific library. Due to increasing merit and good management, this monthly is now established on a sound and successful financial basis. Greater interest and pains on the part of the members of the academy to communicate advance statements of the results of their researches in form suitable for printing in the Proceedings, and closer attention by the division and committee chairmen of the National Research Council to insure the inclusion of advance announcements or abstracts of the results of more of the investigations prosecuted under the auspices of the National Research Council would further increase the importance and intrinsic value of the journal.

Great interest on the part of all members of the academy is bound to be aroused by the remarkable results in the promotion of scientific research accomplished by the offspring of the academy, the National Research Council. The account of the success of the council in initiating, assisting, cooperating with, or efficiently directing scientific investigations in many fields under the leadership of its able, zealous, and indefatigable officers, aided by a staff of well-chosen division chiefs, given on page 27 of this report, is most gratifying to the academy, many of whose members are intimately associated in the work of the divisions. The council not only promotes scientific researches; it finds the most promising raw material and creates research investigators. This growth in influence, scope of activities, and actual volume of work accomplished by the Research Council naturally increases the administrative responsibility of the council of the academy and is receiving greater attention from the latter, in order that its duties in the exercise of its power of approval of projects and of budgets, in the fulfillment of its financial obligations as trustee for this great agency organized under its charter, and in strengthening the Research Council may be wisely and efficiently performed with the least delay and with no unnecessary restrictions.

Attention is called to the excellent report of the treasurer, in which it appears that a more complete investment of the different balances in absolutely conservative securities has led to appreciable, and in some cases, most satisfactory increases of income.

MEETINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY.

AUTUMN MEETING.

The autumn meeting of the academy was held in New York City, November 14, 15, and 16, 1922.

BUSINESS SESSION.

Seventy-five members responded to roll call, as follows:

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Nichols, E. L.

Osborn, H. F.

Osborne, T. B.

Osterhout, W. J. V. Pearl, Raymond. Prudden, T. M. Pupin, M. I.

Russell, H. N.
Schuchert, Charles.
Seashore, C. E.
Smith, Theobald.
Squier, George O.
Stockard, C. R.
Swasey, Ambrose.
Thorndike, E. L.
Veblen, Oswald.
Verrill, A. E.

Washington, H. S.
Webster, A. G.

Welch, William H.

Wheeler, W. M.
White, H. S.

Wilson, Edmund B.

Wilson, Edwin B.

Woodworth, R. S.

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The appointment of the following delegates was announced:

R. A. Millikan to the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Académie Royale de Belgique, Brussels, May 24, 1922.

E. B. Mathews to the Congrés International Géologique, Brussels, May 19, 1922.

T. C. Mendenhall to the World Standardization Congress, Pittsburgh, September 6, 1922.

Gano Dunn and Barton W. Evermann to the Pan Pacific Scientific Congress, Honolulu, October 25 to November 7, 1922.

H. H. Donaldson to the inauguration of the president of Bryn Mawr College, October 17, 1922.

E. L. Nichols to the inauguration of the chancellor of Syracuse University, November 17, 1922.

Committee appointments were announced as follows:

S. W. Stratton to succeed T. C. Mendenhall, resigned, as chairman of the committee on weights, measures, and coinage.

L. R. Jones, acting chairman of the section of botany, to succeed L. H. Bailey, resigned.

T. Wayland Vaughan, member of the committee on the Murray fund, to succeed Alfred G. Mayor, deceased.

AMENDMENTS TO CONSTITUTION.

The following amendment to the constitution, presented from the committee of the whole, was adopted:

That Article V, section 3 of the constitution of the academy be amended by the striking out of the following sentence:

The proceedings shall include the transactions of the academy, brief original announcements of the results of scientific investigations made by members of the academy or others, together with short original articles giving a comprehensive survey of the more important scientific matters of general scientific interest.

and inserting in place thereof:

The Proceedings shall be primarily a medium of first publication for original articles in brief form of permanent scientific value.

NEW BUILDING.

Mr. Dunn presented a very full statement to the academy of the progress that is being made on the construction of the new building. He expressed how essential the committee felt it was that all matters such as improvement of the acoustics in the hall be given every consideration, in order that the building may be as perfect in every way as should be expected of a building for the National Academy of Sciences and the National Research Council.

COMSTOCK FUND.

The committee in charge of the Comstock fund recommends unanimously that the Comstock prize for 1923 be awarded to Dr. William Duane.

As the result of his researches in the domain of X rays, Doctor Duane has established relations which are of fundamental significance, particularly in their bearings upon modern theories of the structure of matter and of the mechanism of radiation.

Award approved.

EDWARD L. NICHOLS, Chairman.

AUTUMN MEETING, 1923.

An invitation was presented through Mr. Nichols, from the trustees and faculty of Cornell University, to hold the autumn meeting in 1923 of the academy at Ithaca, N. Y. The matter was referred to the council, and the home secretary was requested to transmit the thanks of the academy for the invitation.

SCIENTIFIC SESSIONS.

The scientific sessions of the academy were held November 14, 15, and 16, 1922, in Schermerhorn Hall, Columbia University, Rockefeller Institute, and the United Engineering Societies Building, New York City.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 14.

Ira Remsen: Biographical memoir of Harmon Northrup Morse. (By title.) Frank Schlesinger: A catalogue of bright stars. A compilation of all the known data concerning the 9,110 brightest stars. (By title.)

Armin O. Leuschner: The status of research on the perturbations of minor planets with special reference to its ultimate significance.

Emanuel de Margerie (introduced by J. F. Kemp): The structure of the Jura Mountains in France. Lantern.

John C. Merriam, R. W. Chaney, and C. Stock: Recently discovered evidence bearing on the age of the Sierra Nevada. Lantern.

Henry S. Washington: American jade and its archæological bearing. Lantern. William M. Davis: Drowned coral reefs of the Liu Kiu Islands, Japan. Douglas W. Johnson (introduced by J. F. Kemp): A genetic description of some New England-Acadian shorelines. Lantern.

Charles P. Berkey (introduced by J. F. Kemp): A tentative geological column for central Mongolia.

James F. Kemp: Xenoliths in the Stony Creek granite, Connecticut. Lantern. Henry C. Sherman (introduced by M. T. Bogert): A chemical investigation of two typical enzymes: pancreatic and malt amylases.

Hal T. Beans and S. J. Kiehl (introduced by M. T. Bogert): The hydration of sodium monometaphosphate to orthophosphate in varying concentrations of hydrogen ion.

Hal T. Beans and L. B. Miller (introduced by M. T. Bogert): Saturated Bredig gold sols.

Hal T. Beans and L. P. Hammett (introduced by M. T. Bogert): Experimental studies on the hydrogen electrode.

James Kendall and M. M. Haring (introduced by M. T. Bogert): The interdependence of solvent and solute in ionization phenomena.

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