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An Act to Incorporate the National Academy of Sciences

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That Louis Agassiz, Massachusetts; J.H. Alexander, Maryland; S. Alexander, New Jersey; A.D. Bache, at large; F.B. Barnard,¹ at large; J.G. Barnard, United States Army, Massachusetts; W.H.C. Bartlett, United States Military Academy, Missouri; U.A. Boyden,² Massachusetts; Alexis Caswell, Rhode Island; William Chauvenet, Missouri; J.H.C. Coffin, United States Naval Academy, Maine; J.A. Dahlgren,² United States Navy, Pennsylvania; J.D. Dana, Connecticut; Charles H. Davis, United States Navy, Massachusetts; George Englemann, Saint Louis, Missouri; J.F. Frazer, Pennsylvania; Wolcott Gibbs, New York; J.M. Giles,³ United States Navy, District of Columbia; A.A. Gould, Massachusetts; B.A. Gould, Massachusetts; Asa Gray, Massachusetts; A. Guyot, New Jersey; James Hall, New York; Joseph Henry, at large; J.E. Hilgard, at large, Illinois; Edward Hitchcock, Massachusetts; J.S. Hubbard, United States Naval Observatory, Connecticnt; A.A. Humphreys, United States Army, Pennsylvania; J.L. Le Conte, United States Army, Pennsylvania; J. Leidy, Pennsylvania; J.P. Lesley, Pennsylvania; M.F. Longstreth, Pennsylvania; D.H. Mahan, United States Military Academy, Virginia; J.S. Newberry, Ohio. H.A. Newton, Connecticut; Benjamin Peirce, Massachusetts; John Rodgers, United States Navy, Indiana; Fairman Rogers, Pennsylvania; R.E. Rogers, Pennsylvania; W.B. Rogers, Massachusetts; L.M. Rutherfurd, New York; Joseph Saxton, at large; Benjamin Silliman, Connecticut; Benjamin Silliman, junior, Connecticut; Theodore Strong, New Jersey; John Torrey, New York; J.G. Totten, United States Army, Connecticut; Joseph Winlock, United States Nautical Almanac, Kentucky; Jeffries Wyman, Massachusetts; J.D. Whitney, California; their associates and successors duly chosen, are hereby incorporated, constituted, and declared to be a body corporate, by the name of the National Academy of Sciences.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the National Academy of Sciences shall consist of not more than fifty ordinary members, and the said corporation hereby constituted shall have power to make its own organization, including its constitution, bylaws, and rules and regulations; to fill all vacancies created by death, resignation, or otherwise; to provide for the election of foreign and domestic members, the division into classes, and all other matters needful or usual in such institution, and to report the same to Congress.

Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That the National Academy of Sciences shall hold an annual meeting at such place in the United States as may be designated, and the Academy shall, whenever called upon by any department of the Government, investigate, examine, experiment, and report upon any subject of science or art, the actual expense of such investigations, examinations, experiments, and reports to be paid from appropriations which may be made for the purpose, but the Academy shall receive no compensation whatever for any services to the Government of the United States.

Galusha A. Grow,
Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Solomon Foote,
President of the Senate pro tempore.

Approved, March 3, 1863.
Abraham Lincoln, President. 

¹The correct name of this charter member was F.A.P. Barnard.

²Declined.

³The correct name of this charter member was J.M. Gilliss.