Orton Hall at the Ohio State University. The library of the Society, which numbers several hundred volumes of considerable value, is being constantly augmented by exchanges and otherwise, is now placed in an alcove of the State Library. The Museum in Orton Hall is accessible to visitors on each week day, between the hours of 9:00 a. m. and 5:00 p. m.

The Society's archæological collection was placed on exhibition at the Centennial Exposition of the Ohio Valley, 1888, and also at the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago, 1893, where it was acknowledged the finest and most complete display of the kind made by any of the States.

MEMBERSHIP.

Article II, of the Constitution, provides for membership to this Society as follows:

SECTION 1. The membership of this Society shall be divided into four classes, designated as follows: Life Members, Active Members, Corresponding Members, and Honorary Members. Application for membership shall be made to the Secretary of the Society and by him referred to the Executive Committee. Upon the approval of the Executive Committee, such applicants shall be declared members.

SEC. 2. The payment at any one time of twenty-five dollars ($25.00) to the Society shall constitute the person so paying a life member. Life members shall be exempt from all further dues, and shall be entitled to all the privileges of active membership. Any person who shall make a donation to the Society, the value of which shall be determined by the Trustees, to be not less than twenty-five dollars ($25.00), shall be entitled to life membership. Said life membership payments shall constitute a permanent fund to be invested at the discretion of the Executive Committee. The income only of this fund shall be used by the Society for such purposes as the Executive Committee may direct.

SEC. 3. Active members shall be residents of Ohio and shall pay in advance an annual fee of three dollars ($3.00). They shall be entitled to vote and hold office. They shall receive free

all publications of the Society and have free access to the museum and library.

SEC. 4. Corresponding members may be residents of any locality and shall be persons who take an interest in the Society, and its objects, and are willing to aid it by representing its interests and securing donations for its museum and library. Secretaries of historical or kindred societies whose publications are furnished to this Society, may be constituted corresponding members.

SEC. 5. Honorary members shall be persons distinguished for scientific and literary attainments, particularly in the department of archæology and history.

About one hundred and twenty-five persons have become life members of the Society and some three hundred have at various times been enrolled as active members.

GOVERNMENT OF THE SOCIETY.

The government of the Society is vested in a board of twentyone (21) trustees, fifteen of whom are elected by ballot by the Society at its annual meetings. They are divided into three classes, five only being elected each year to serve for three years each from the time of their election, or until their successors are elected and qualified. The other six trustees necessary to complete the number of twenty-one (21), are appointed by the Governor of Ohio, as provided by the legislative enactment of April 16, 1891, two to be appointed each year to serve for the period of three years, or until their successors are appointed and qualified.

ARCHEOLOGICAL DEPARTMENT.

Particularly is the Society strong in archæological research. No State in the Union is so rich in archæological resources, consisting of mounds, forts, graves and monuments of prehistoric periods.

This department of the Society is under the direction of Prof. Warren K. Moorehead. Mr. Moorehead is Professor of Archæology in the Ohio State University, Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and is a most

accomplished scholar on this subject, being the author of "Primitive Man in Ohio," and a complete work on "Fort Ancient."

The Society is the custodian of Fort Ancient, the largest, best preserved and most interesting remains of its character now extant. Models of this fort are in some of the leading museums of Europe, and it is often visited and studied by distinguished scholars, not only of other states but of foreign countries.

The Society, through a corps of explorers, is doing splendid and valuable work in examining and making permanent record of the innumerable points of archæological interest in the State. An archæological map is being prepared, which will designate the location of all important mounds, monuments, graves, etc., within Ohio. It is estimated that these places of interest number no less than fifteen thousand.

THE EVOLUTION OF OHIO COUNTIES.

By J. F. LANING.

It is probable that the people who read this article will all know that the State of Ohio was not always divided into the number of counties there now are, and that to evolve the present map, a long period of time and many mutations of county outlines were necessary. But few people, however, know the extent of the evolution that has been going on, in bringing Ohio counties within their present environments. From the erection of the first county, in 1788, the number has been made to grow each year, by cutting down the size of those previously formed, until, by the limits of the constitution of 1851, requiring each of them to contain four hundred square miles, it is scarcely possible to now find a locality where the existing counties could let territory enough go to form a new one.

The importance of the county as a political unit varies in different parts of the United States. In New England it takes a secondary rank, that of the townships being first. In the Southern States the position is reversed, the county, or parish as it is called, being the leading agency for local government. In the State of Ohio, as also in the other Western States, the county and the township each has its special features in the frame. of government, and they do not vary much in their importance. The structure of government here existing is of such a character, that it may be appropriately called a mixed or dual system, as it properly has a double unit in the township and county, for each of these divisions has its primary functions to perform, and neither outranks the other to any great extent. Each is a unit in making up the united whole represented collectively in the State govern

ment.

As it is possible that there may be some who, in this day of our fully formed State and perfected plan of government, may not be aware that the soil of Ohio was once a part of a territory of the United States, as Alaska, Utah and Oklahoma are now

territories, it is proper to refer to the fact, that at one time it was in an unorganized civil condition, and that, later, its first chief magistrate was a territorial governor, appointed by the authorities at Washington, as the governors of Western territories are now selected. The country embracing what are now the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin, first came to be known as a part of our nation, under the name of the Northwest Territory, and provision for its government was made by Congress, through a law known as the Ordinance of 1787. Arthur St. Clair was appointed as the first governor of the Territory, and through his action the first counties were established.

Historically speaking, county government here came into existence before that of townships. Counties were organized for the purpose of establishing court districts, and county areas were defined about as soon as the work of governing the Territory began. The first law for this domain was for the purpose of regulating the militia, and the second for organizing the courts. Those providing for the officers and affairs of townships came later.

In their original creation and .formation, county and township divisions were independent of each other, the townships not being required to first exist as a basic factor in forming the counties, nor the county to be, as it now appears, the aggregation of a number of pre-existing townships. County lines were not, at first, concurrent with township lines, and it was often necessary for the county area to be made up without regard to the confines of townships, because, in some cases, counties were created before the township surveys had been commenced. The Ordinance of 1787 was preceded by what was known as the Ordinance of 1785, sometimes called the Land Ordinance. This made provision for the survey of the western lands, and their division into townships. This however, was for the purpose of getting them into farms, and making them ready for market and occupancy, and not for government. The Ordinance of 1785 applied only to government lands, and made provision that they should be surveyed into townships six miles square, but no rule was ever enacted for laying out the tracts disposed of by the government to land companies. Their proprietors cut them up into farms to