1897.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 505 



I 



PROCEEDINGS OF A MEETING HELD IN COMMEMORATION OF 

 HARRISON ALLEN, M. D., AND GEORGE HENRY HORN, M. D. 



In compliance with a resolution adopted by the Academy of 

 Natural Sciences of Philadelphia a meeting was held December 31, 

 1897, in conjunction with kindred societies, to commemorate the 

 services rendered to science by Dr. Harrison Allen and Dr. George 

 H. Horn. The Chair having been taken by Dr. Henry Skinner, 

 Chairman of the Committee of Arrangements, the following papers 

 were read : — 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES OF HARRISON ALLEN AND 

 GEORGE HENRY HORN. 



BY EDWARD J. NOLAN, M. D. 



The period of the Academy's history with which Doctors Allen 

 and Horn are first identified, the years of the early '60's, was bright 

 with both accomplishment and promise. Made notable by the work 

 of the illustrious veterans who were still active and by that which 

 might be hoped for from those who were just beginning their careers, 

 it was probably the most brilliant epoch in the history of the so- 

 ciety. But few of the great collections which have since come into 

 prominence were in existence. The Smithsonian Institution was then 

 rather a distributing agency than a store-house of scientific material, 

 and museums everywhere were benefited by its activity. The United 

 States Government had not become, through the Agricultural De- 

 partment, the National Museum, and the Geological Surveys, a 

 formidable rival in the publication of scientific papers, and the 

 work of Gill, Meek, Hayden, Cones, Stimpson, Kennicott, Yarrow 

 and others was made known to the scientific world most promptly 

 and accurately through the Proceedings of this Academy. 



In the old building at the corner of Broad and Sansom Streets, 

 Leidy, easily first amoug equals, pursued his paleontological studies 

 in a little, dark and dusty room on the first floor of the museum, 

 his brilliant microscopical investigations being carried on more 

 comfortably at home. The results were reported in either case to 

 the meetings of the Academy, and could generally be depended on 

 to render them interestiug, even though nothing else were forth- 

 coming. 



