Section 2. It shall furthermore be the object of this academy to collect and treasure specimens illustrative of the various departments of science above enumerated; to procure a library of works relating to the same, with the instruments necessary to facilitate their study, and to procure original papers on them.
Section 3. It shall also be the object of this academy to establish correspondence with scientific men, both in America and other parts of the world.Membership was divided into associate and corresponding classes, the former, constituting the main body of the academy and exclusively entrusted with the conduct of its affairs, to include 'men desirous of cultivating one or more branches of science above enumerated,' while corresponding membership, as is usual in such cases, was intended for eminent men of science and other persons not residing in or near the city, but disposed to further the objects of the academy by original researches, contributions of specimens or otherwise. The customary provisions were made for election, lapsing of membership and expulsion for cause, no person expelled being under any circumstances admissible to reelection. The provisions referring to officers, meetings and constitutional amendments are such as are usually adopted.
The original by-laws likewise contained six articles, referring respectively to committees, library, museum, communications, meetings, and authority. Apparently provision for amendments was not thought of, or was considered unnecessary.
The scope of live interest of the original members may be inferred from the section providing for standing committees, which were to represent ethnology, comparative anatomy, mammalogy, ornithology, herpetology and ichthyology, malacology and chemical geology, entomology, botany, paleontology and geology, mineralogy, chemistry, physics, embryology and monstrosities—in addition to library and publication committees. These standing appointive committees, in conjunction with a board of curators provided for in the constitution as elective officers, were charged with the care of their respective departments and expected to make exchanges of duplicates, to arrange, label, catalogue and keep in order all donations and deposits, and to report in writing at a specified meeting each year. The somewhat quaint by-laws referring to the library and museum contain such provisions as were thought desirable to ensure the greatest good to the greatest number in their use. The article on communications provides for the reference of those designed for publication to special committees, for the preservation in the archives of all, whether published or not, and for discussion of original papers on the subjects before enumerated. Fortnightly meetings were arranged for, with an adequate order of business, and current rules of order under the heading 'authority.'
