representatives of all leading scientific academies may be held for the purpose of discussing scientific matters calling for international cooperation, and by this means preparing the way for international action. The Council of the Royal Society regards this question as one of great importance, and I am to request you to bring it before your Academy, and to ask whether that body would be prepared to join such an organization if established, and to cooperate in arranging the details for inaugurating it upon a practical working basis. I have the honor to be, very faithfully, yours, The PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, LISTER, President Royal Society. Washington, D. C., U. S. A. THE ROYAL SOCIETY, BURLINGTON HOUSE, SIR: On the 17th November of last year the president of the Royal Society addressed a letter to the Académie des Sciences, of Paris, the Reale Accademia dei Lincei, of Rome, and the Académie Imperiale des Sciences, of St. Petersburg, in reference to a proposal that the leading academies should meet at intervals to discuss matters which might demand international cooperation; and a similar letter was subsequently addressed to the National Academy of Sciences, of Washington. The letter was written in consequence of what had taken place at a meeting of German academies at Göttingen in June of that year, at which representatives of the Royal Society were present; and we have communicated to a meeting of the same academies which has just been held at Munich the favorable replies which we have received from each of the academies whom we had addressed. We now have the pleasure to inform you that the invitation to a meeting at Wiesbaden on October 9 and 10, which this letter accompanies, is a step toward carrying out the proposal in question, and we sincerely hope that your Academy will be able to take part in the meeting, which is intended to be a preliminary one for the purpose of discussing the mode in which such an association of academies can be best organized. The Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin is commissioned by the German academies assembled in Munich on the 23d of May of the present year, and also by an agreement with the Royal Society (of London), whose rules of procedure are here added, to invite the National Academy at Washington, for the purpose of tounding an international association of learned societies to meet at Wiesbaden on the 9th and 10th of October of the present year for a constructive conference. This invitation is extended at the same time to the royal societies of science in Göttingen and Leipzig; the Royal Academy of Sciences in Munich; the Academy of Sciences in Paris; the Imperial Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg; the Reale Accademia dei Lincei in Rome; the National Academy of Sciences in Washington; and the Imperial Academy of Sciences in Vienna. The object of the association is to support scientific undertakings which have been begun or recommended either by the assemblage of the united scientific bodies, or by a group of them, or by a single one of them, and to render mutually intelligible arrangements to facilitate scientific intercourse. The decision as to participation shall be left to each single body, as well as the ways and means for each particular case. It will be the problem of the Wiesbaden conference to consult about the organization and business arrangement of this association and to decide upon the admission of other learned societies. A more precise programme will shortly be laid before the academies invited. It must be stated in advance that it is decided that for the Wiesbaden conference every academy may send at its pleasure a number of delegates to be decided by its own judgment, but the selections must be made according to academies. The language to be used in the proceedings is arbitrary. The protocols will be in German, English, or French. It is proposed at this formative conference at Wiesbaden to allow the first working conference to follow in the year 1900, and that at Paris. After the reception of the decisions and proposals in view, we beg for a definite statement as to the sending to the Wiesbaden conference, with the names of the delegates to be communicated to our bureau as above. The Secretary, DIELS. [Translation.] ROYAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, The Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin has the honor, in continuation of its letter of invitation of the 1st of the present month, to a conference in Wiesbaden on the 9th and 10th of October of the present year in behalf of the formation of an international association of learned societies, to ask your attention respectfully to a plan preliminarily formulated by the Academies of Berlin, Göttingen, Leipzig, Munich, and Vienna for its establishment. Our academy will in the shortest possible time send further suggestions on the details of the organization and conduct of business, which shall serve as introductions to the discussion at the Wiesbaden conference. But we beg you kindly to inform us at once whether the National Academy at Washington is disposed in principle to take part in the conference by sending repre sentatives, and as soon as possible to give us their names and addresses. The Secretary, DIELS. [Translation.] ROYAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, To the National Academy of Sciences at Washington: The Royal Academy of Sciences, which hopes to greet the delegates of your academy on the 9th and 10th of October at the conference at Wiesbaden, sends with this a proposal for the organization and conduct of business which may serve as a foundation for business. More precise information as to place and time of meeting will be communicated later to the delegates. For this purpose the academy asks for the names and addresses of the delegates, which you will please to send until, at latest, the end of September, to the bureau of the Royal Academy of Sciences, Berlin N. W., Universitätsstrasse. In conclusion, the academy has the honor to inform you that, on its part, it has appointed as delegate its members, Messrs. Auwers, Virchow, and Diels. The Secretary, The NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, DIELS. Washington, D. C., U. S. A. PLAN FOR THE FOUNDATION OF AN INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. 1. The formation of an international association of the larger learned societies of the world is regarded as expedient and as likely to prove of service to the advancement of science. 2. The object of this association is to support scientific enterprises undertaken or recommended by the united societies in common, or by a group of the same, or by any individual society, and, further, to make arrangements for facilitating international scientific intercourse. Each society shall, as regards any particular undertaking, reserve to itself the right of deciding whether it will participate or not. 3. At the conference to be held at Wiesbaden the organization of the association and its business details will be more fully discussed, deciding at the same time whether periodical meetings, say every three or five years, shall be held, or whether such meetings shall take place at irregular intervals as occasion requires. 4. The resolutions of the Wiesbaden Conference will be submitted to the individual societies for their approval and sanction. The societies will then, by the end of the year 1899, definitely inform some central authority appointed by the conference whether they intend or not to join. 5. Each society is free to withdraw from the association at any time. 6. The Royal Academy of Sciences (Berlin), in conjunction with the Royal Society (London), has invited the following bodies (here arranged in alphabetical order) to attend the Wiesbaden Conference: 1. Königliche Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften at Göttingen. 2. Königliche Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften at Leipzig. 3. Königliche Akademie der Wissenschaften at Munich. 4. Académie des Sciences at Paris. 5. Académie Impériale des Sciences at St. Petersburg. 6. Reale Accademia dei Lincei at Rome. 7. Kaiserliche Akademie der Wissenschaften at Vienna. 8. National Academy at Washington. 7. The question of the eventual admission of other societies will be discussed at the Wiesbaden meeting. 8. Each body will exercise its own judgment concerning the number of representatives to be sent to Wiesbaden. At the voting the representatives of each society will have but a joint vote. 9. The language to be used at the conference will be optional. The minutes will be drawn up in English, French, and German. 10. The Royal Society proposes that the first official meeting of the association be held in the year 1900 in Paris. All communications referring to the Wiesbaden Conference are to be directed to the "Bureau der Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften," Berlin N. W., Universitätsstrasse 8. CONFERENCE AT WIESBADEN. OCTOBER 9, 10, 1899. LIST OF DELEGATES. 1. Königliche Preussische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Berlin, Auwers, Virchow, Diels. 2. Königliche Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften, Göttingen, Ehlers, Leo. 3. Königliche Sächsische Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften, Leipzig, Windisch, Wislicenus. 4. Royal Society, London, Sir M. Foster, Rücker, Armstrong, Schuster. S. Doc. 117-2 5. Königliche Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, München, von Zittel, Bechmann, Dyck, von Sicherer. 6. Académie des Sciences, Paris, Darboux, Moissan. 7. Kaiserliche Akademie der Wissenschaften, St. Petersburg, Famintzine, Sale mann. 8. National Academy of Sciences, Washington, Newcomb, Billings, Remsen, Bowditch, Bell. 9. Kaiserliche Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien, von Hartel, Mussafia, von Lang, Lieben. Substitutes: Gomperz, Toldt. Messrs. Bell and Billings were unable to attend the meeting. PLAN FOR THE ORGANIZATION OF AN INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATION ADOPTED AT THE WIESBADEN CONFERENCE. 1. The members of the national academies mentioned in the "Plan for the foundation of an international association of learned societies" (Berlin, June, 1899), together with those of such other academies as may be chosen by a majority vote of the academies represented at the preliminary conference in Wiesbaden in October, 1899, shall constitute an international scientific association. 2. The first meeting of the association shall be held in Paris, in 1900, and its subsequent meetings shall be held at such times and places as may be then or thereafter determined. 3. By a two-thirds vote of the association, each academy voting as a unit, representative academies of other nations may be admitted to membership in the associa tion. 4. The objects of the association are: (a) To promote and make preliminary preparations for work requiring international cooperation for its prosecution. (b) To facilitate intercourse, both professional and social, between scientific men of all countries. 5. The governing body of the association shall be an international council composed of one representative from each constituent academy. 6. The council shall hold its first meeting at such time and place as may be determined at the meeting of the association in 1900 and shall make rules for its own organization and guidance, including the transaction of business by correspondence. 7. For the purpose of considering and framing recommendations concerning scientific inquiries calling for international cooperation, special international committees shall, upon recommendation of one or more constituent academies, be instituted either at a general meeting of the association or, when necessary during the intervals between such meetings, by the international council. 8. Such international committees shall consist of delegates appointed by the constituent academies with special reference to their qualification to deal with the questions under consideration. 9. The first meeting of such a committee shall be called by the president of the international association, or by the president of the council, and at this meeting each committee shall adopt rules for its own guidance. 10. Each international committee shall make a report, embodying such recommendations as it may think advisable, to the president of the international council, who shall transmit the same to the constituent academies. 11. The president of the council shall, however, have power, if he see fit, before transmitting such reports to the constituent academies, to submit the same to the council, and this body shall have power to refer back the report to the committee for further consideration. 12. For the transaction of business the president of the council shall be authorized to employ a secretary, whose compensation, as well as other necessary office expenses, shall be provided for by contributions from the constituent academies. |