The society was organized November 3, 1852, and actively maintained up to March 2, 1855. Eleven only of the present members date from this period. October 2, 1867, the society was reorganized on a wider basis, and from that time to the present it has been constantly increasing in interest and usefulness.
The membership of the society is now as follows:
Honorary members........ 11
Corresponding members... 3
Members................. 491
Associates.............. 21
Juniors................. 57
Fellows................. 53
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Total................... 636
During the last year we have lost six members by death and five by resignation, and fifty-six new members have been elected and qualified.
The most interesting event to the society since the last convention has been the purchase of a house in the City of New York, as a permanent home, at a cost of $30,000. This has been accomplished, so far, without taxing the resources of the society, the required payments having been met by subscription. The sum of $11,900 had been subscribed to the building fund up to the 25th ult., by seventy members and twenty-nine friends of the society who are not members. The subscription is still open, and it is expected that large additions will be made to it by members and their friends to enable the society to make the remaining payments without embarrassment.
Meetings of the society are held twice in each month during ten months in the year, for the reading and discussion of papers and other purposes. The new house affords much better accommodations for these purposes than we have ever had before, and also for the library, which now contains 8,850 books and pamphlets, and is constantly increasing. A catalogue of the library is being prepared. Part I., embracing railroads and the transactions of scientific societies, has been printed and furnished to members.
WATER POWER.
Water power in many of the States is abundant and contributes largely to their prosperity. Its proper development calls for the services of the civil engineer, and as it is the branch of the profession with which I am most familiar, I propose to offer a few remarks on the subject.
The earliest applications were to grist and saw mills; carding and fulling mills soon followed; these were essential to the comfort of the early settlers who relied on home industries for shelter, food, and clothing, but with the progress of the country came other requirements.
The earliest application of water power to general manufacturing purposes appears to have been at Paterson, New Jersey, where "The Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures" was formed in the year 1791. The Passaic River at this point furnishes, when at a minimum, about eleven hundred horse power continuously night and day.