APPENDIX A. CONSTITUTION OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY. [As amended and adopted April 17, 1872, and further amended April 20, 1875; April 21, 1881; April 19, 1882; April 18, 1883; April 19, 1888; April 18, 1895; April 20, 1899; April 17, 1902; April 18, 1906; November 20, 1906; April 17, 1907; November 20, 1907; April 20, 1911; Apr. 16, 1912; Apr. 21, 1915.] PREAMBLE. Empowered by the act of incorporation enacted by Congress, and approved by the President of the United States on the 3d day of March, A. D. 1863, and in conformity with amendments to said act approved July 14, 1870, June 20, 1884, and May 27, 1914, the National Academy of Sciences adopts the following amended constitution and rules: ARTICLE I.-OF MEMBERS. SECTION 1. The academy shall consist of members, honorary members, and foreign associates. Members must be citizens of the United States. SEC. 2. Members who, from age or inability to attend the meetings of the academy, wish to resign the duties of active membership, may, at their own request, be transferred to the roll of honorary members by a vote of the academy. SEC. 3. The academy may elect 50 foreign associates. SEC. 4. Honorary members and foreign associates shall have the privilege of attending the meetings and of reading and communicating papers to the academy, but shall take no part in its business, shall not be subject to its assessments, and shall be entitled to a copy of the publications of the academy. ARTICLE II. OF THE OFFICERS. SECTION 1. The officers of the academy shall be a president, a vice president, a foreign secretary, a home secretary, and a treasurer, all of whom shall be elected for a term of four years, by a majority of votes present, at the first stated meeting after the expiration of the current terms, provided that existing officers retain their places until their successors are elected. In case of a vacancy, the election for four years shall be held in the same manner at the meeting when such vacancy occurs, or at the next stated meeting thereafter, as the academy may direct. A vacancy in the office of treasurer or home secretary may, however, be filled by appointment of the president of the academy until the next stated meeting of the academy. SEC. 2. The officers of the academy, together with six members to be elected by the academy, shall constitute a council for the transaction of such business as may be assigned to them by the constitution or the academy. SEC. 3. The president of the academy, or, in case of his absence or inability to act, the vice president, shall preside at the meetings of the academy and of the council; shall name all committees except such as are otherwise especially provided for; shall refer investigations required by the Government of the United States to members especially conversant with the subjects and report thereon to the academy at its meeting next ensuing; and, with the council, shall direct the general business of the academy. It shall be competent for the president, in special cases, to call in the aid, upon committees, of experts or men of special attainments not members of the academy. The president shall be, ex officio, a member of all committees empowered to consider questions referred to the academy by the Government of the United States. SEC. 4. The foreign and home secretaries shall conduct the correspondence proper to their respective departments, advising with the president and council in cases of doubt, and reporting their action to the academy at one of the stated meetings in each year. It shall be the duty of the home secretary to give notice to the members of the place and time of all meetings, of all nominations for membership, and of all proposed amendments to the constitution. It shall be the duty of the home secretary to keep the minutes of each business and scientific session, and after approval to enter these upon the permanent records of the academy. SEC. 5. The treasurer shall attend to all receipts and disbursements of the academy, giving such bond and furnishing such vouchers as the council may require. He shall collect all dues, assessments, and subscriptions, and keep a set of books showing a full account of receipts and disbursements and the condition of all funds of the academy. He shall be the custodian of the corporate seal of the academy. ARTICLE III. -OF THE MEETINGS. SECTION 1. The academy shall hold one stated meeting, called the annual meeting, in April of each year in the city of Washington, and another stated meeting, called the autumn meeting, at a place to be determined by the council. The council shall also have power to fix the date of each meeting. Special business meetings of the academy may be called, by order of eight members of the council, at such place and time as may be designated in the call. Special scientific meetings of the academy may be held at times and places to be designated by a majority of the council. SEC. 2. The names of the members present at each session of a meeting shall be recorded in the minutes, and 20 members shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. SEC. 3. Scientific sessions of the academy, unless otherwise ordered by a majority of the members present, shall be open to the public; sessions for the transaction of business shall be closed. SEC. 4. Stated meetings of the council shall be held during the stated or special meetings of the academy, and four members shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. Special meetings of the council may be convened at the call of the president and two members of the council, or of four members of the council. SEC. 5. No member whose dues are in arrears shall vote at any business meeting of the academy. ARTICLE IV.- OF ELECTIONS AND REGULATIONS. SECTION 1. All elections of officers and members shall be by ballot, and each election shall be held separately. SEC. 2. The time for holding an election of officers shall be fixed by the academy at least one day before the election is held. SEC. 3. The election of six members of the council shall be as follows: At the annual meeting in April, 1907, six members of the council to be elected, of whom two shall serve for three years, two for two years, and two for one year, their respective terms to be determined by lot. Each year thereafter the terms of two members shall expire, and their successors, to serve for three years, shall be elected at the annual meeting in each year. SEC. 4. The academy shall be divided by the council into sections representing the principal branches of scientific research. Each section shall elect its own chairman, who shall serve for three years. the chairman shall be responsible to the academy for the work of his section. Nominations to membership in the academy shall be made in writing and approved by a majority of the members of the section on the branch of research in which the person nominated is eminent, or by a majority of the council in case there is no section on the subject. The nomination shall be sent to the home secretary by the chairman of the section before January 1 of the year in which the election is to be held, and each nomination shall be accompanied by a list of the principal contributions of the nominee to science. This list shall be printed by the home secretary for distribution among the members of the academy. SEC. 5. Election of members shall be held at the annual meeting in Washington in the following manner: There shall be two ballotsa preference ballot, which may be prepared either before or at the annual meeting, and must be transmitted to the home secretary, and a final ballot, to be taken at the meeting. Preference ballot.-Each member may inscribe on a ballot not more than 15 names of nominees selected from the submitted list. A list of the nominees shall then be prepared, on which the names shall be entered in the order of the number of votes received by each. In case two or more nominees have the same number of votes on this preference list, the order in which they shall be placed on the list shall be determined by a majority vote of members present. Final ballot.-A vote shall first be taken on the nominee who appears first on the preference list, and he shall be declared elected if he receive two-thirds of the votes cast and not less than 25 votes in all. A vote shall then be taken in similar manner on the nominee standing second on the preference list, and so on until all the nominees on the preference list shall have been acted on, or until 15 nominees shall have been elected, or until the total membership of the academy shall have reached 250. Not more than 15 members shall be elected at one annual meeting. Before and during elections a discussion of the merits of nominees will be in order. SEC. 6. Every member elect shall accept his membership, personally or in writing, before the close of the next stated meeting after the date of his election. Otherwise, on proof that the secretary has formally notified him of his election, his name shall not be entered on the roll of members. SEC. 7. Foreign associates may be nominated by the council and may be elected at the annual meeting by a two-thirds vote of the members present. SEC. 8. A diploma, with the corporate seal of the academy and the signatures of the officers, shall be sent by the appropriate secretary to each member on his acceptance of membership, and to foreign associates on their election. SEC. 9. Resignations shall be addressed to the president and acted on by the academy. SEC. 10. Whenever a member has not paid his dues for four successive years, the treasurer shall report the fact to the council, which may report the case to the academy with the recommendation that the person thus in arrears be declared to have forfeited his membership. If this recommendation be approved by two-thirds of the members present, the said person shall no longer be a member of the academy and his name shall be dropped from the roll. |