celebrated United States Exploring Expedition under Captain Wilkes, with young Dana as its naturalist, had extended interest into the study of regions hitherto almost unknown or inaccessible.
But some organization for personal intercourse and contact between the workers in varied fields and at widely separated points was becoming plainly necessary. The societies and colleges and surveys were doing good work and gathering about them able men; but they were local and disconnected in their scope, and could accomplish far less for the development of American science than would be possible if a definite system of communication could be established among them all. Such a work was that of the association; the early founders saw the need, and planned well and wisely to meet it; and for fifty years the organization has held on its way and fulfilled its work in excellent measure. But it has had its vicissitudes and its modifications; and it may be well to refer to some of these, and to consider certain aspects in relation to its future usefulness and power.
At the first meeting there were recorded four hundred and sixty-one members, sixty-one being from Boston and vicinity, and fifty-six each from Philadelphia and New York; the number actually present is not on record. The original plan was to hold two meetings each year, one in a Northern city in the summer, and one in the South or West in the winter or spring; this plan was only carried out for two years, 1850 (Charleston and New Haven) and 1851 (Cincinnati and Albany). In 1854 the association met in Washington, with Prof. James D. Dana as its president, while the membership had risen steadily to a total at that time of one thousand and four. It then fell off to six hundred and five, but again rose year by year to nearly a thousand in 1858, when Baltimore was the place and Prof. Alexis Caswell the president. For two years it fell again, and then came the civil war. The place chosen for 1861 was Nashville, but the meeting was given up on account of the condition of the country, and the association did not convene again until 1866. After 1867, when the membership was but little over four hundred, it began again to increase by one or two hundred yearly, though irregularly, until it again passed the thousand mark in 1879 (Saratoga meeting. Prof. George F. Barker presiding), and then leaped to fifteen hundred and fifty-five at the great Boston meeting of 1880. From that time it has varied from sixteen hundred to two thousand and over, the meetings at Minneapolis, 1883, Washington, 1891, and Rochester, 1892, having recorded a total of 2,033, 2,054, and 2,037 respectively.
The attendance at the meetings has varied even more than the membership itself, very rarely reaching or surpassing one half or, in
