With the great growth of the courses in History, the Historical Society has been brought more or less into prominence. This society, however, has never been placed on a firm permanent basis. It has varied in its work from year to year. Public lectures by prominent visitors and by the instructors have been the outward signs of its life. This year, a new plan is to be inaugurated, which, if successful, will give the society a somewhat different scope. It is now designed to have most of the work at its meetings done by the members, to give each one an opportunity to look up some subject of present interest and have him give the result of his investigations to his fellow members. The meetings will not be exactly historical seminars, but they will have the same improving influence. The society in this way will supply that deficiency felt in the historical department, and indeed in every department conducted on the lecture system, viz., the absence of opportunities for the students to give abstracts of their own reading and ideas.