 A call was issued August 10, 1878 by Judge George V. Metzel, John W. Cruett, James Watkins, the Hon.John G. Mitchell, W. F. C. Gerhardt and Herbert J. Thurn, all of Maryland, for a convention to found a new society.It was addressed to fourteen other Heptasophs, six each from Maryland and Pennsylvania and one each from Virginia and Kentucky.