benevolent society founded in New Haven in 1882, had, on July 1, 1914, 326,858 members.
The
membership of the Greek-letter fraternities of the universities and
colleges in the United States is enormous. In 1914 there were 38
leading fraternities distributed in 1228 active chapters and counting
2,656,-817 members, with 979 fraternity houses. The oldest Greek-letter
society, Phi Beta Kappa, was organized at William and Mary College,
Virginia, in 1776; Kappa Alpha was founded at Union College, in 1827,
this being the first fraternity to be organized according to the system
at present prevailing. The first sorority was Kappa Alpha Theta,
established at De Pauw in 1870. The sororities now have about 50,000
members in 395 chapters.
A
gem representing one of the States is often set in a talismanic ring.
The following is a list of the stones of the various States in the
United States,—a precious or semi-precious stone having been found in
every State:
