436 ASSOCIATED SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTIONS

WISCONSIN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, ARTS,
AND LETTERS

CHANCEY. JUDAY, SECRETARY, LECTURER IN ZOOLOGY

The act incorporating the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and
Letters was approved by the State Legislature on March 16, 1870. The
charter states that the general objects shall be to encourage investigation
and to disseminate correct views in the various departments of science,
literature, and the arts.

Among the various special objects mentioned in the charter and in the
constitution of the Academy are the publication of the results of investiga-
tions and the formation of a library. The former object is attained through
a regular publication known as the Transactions; in the sixty years of its
existence the Academy has published thirty-one volumes of its Transactions.
This publication is sent to all. active members gratis, and it is also sent to
similar societies in all parts of the world in exchange for the publications
issued by them; in this manner a large, valuable, and rapidly growing li-
brary has been secured. This library is deposited in the university library
and its books are loaned on the same terms as those of the latter.

Throughout its existence the Academy has been closely associated with
the University in various ways. Several of the leading charter members
belonged to the university faculty and a large percentage of the past and
present active members have come from the faculty of the University. Nine
of. the twenty individuals who have served as presidents of the Academy
were members of the university faculty at the time of their election.

. Meetings are held annually, ordinarily during the spring recess of the
University. The Academy is affiliated with the American Association for
the Advancement of Science.

MUSEUMS

The museums of the University are principally illustrative collections
for use in connection with the work of instruction in the various depart-
ments. Worthy of special mention are the collection of chemical products;
the extensive drug collection of the Pharmacy Department; the herbarium,
containing a rich array of Wisconsin flowering plants, fleshy fungi, and
mosses; the geological museum, containing very extensive collections of
minerals, rocks, ores, and fossils, including thin sections; and the valuable
collections of the Department of Art History and Criticism, which embraces
a series of prints illustrating the development of the graphic arts and a
very large number of facsimile and photographic reproducts of paintings
and drawings by artists of all periods.

The museum of the State Historical Society which, though not admin-
istered by the University, is open to the use of its students for purposes of
study and research, makes a specialty of the archaeology and social history
of the western Indians and of the western pioneer life, especially in Wis-
consin, and is notable for its collections illustrating the early history of the
upper Mississippi valley. The art museum of the Historical Society con-
tains a number of modern pictures of merit, a collection of Piranesi etchings
of classical ruins, and a number of good prints and reproductions valuable
for study.