10 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA 



are consequently lost to us; but with a band of workers under the 

 sectionizing system which I have previously suggested, this may 

 be avoided, provided the material for comparison and complete 

 study of individual groups be placed within our reach. Hand- 

 books of the various families in each branch of natural history 

 could then be cheaply published, and throughout the State an 

 impetus would be given to the study of nature which no other 

 means can furnish. A few thousand dollars thus expended 

 would place the givers high upon the pinnacle of fame, and hand 

 their names down to those who shall come after us as worthy of 

 respect and their deeds as worthy of imitation. In a community 

 like our own, where riches seem to fall unsought into the laps of 

 their possessors, it is well to inculcate the thought that not 

 alone upon the battle ground of wealth can the victory of life be 

 won; that there are triumphs purer and more abiding than 

 worldly treasure, more powerful in their influence for humanity, 

 than the grandest display of personal aggrandizement, and more 

 calculated to sink deeply into the character of the coming ages, 

 than the amassing of riches, unprofitably distributed, can ever 

 do. Individuals have done much good in aiding the material 

 progress of our State. . Can some few be found to assist her 

 intellectual advancement, and to make bright the toilsome path 

 of science with the beacons of their kindly succor ? 



HENRY EDWARDS, 



First Vice-President. 



David D. Colton, President of the Board of Trustees, pre- 

 sented his annual report, which was read by the Secretary, as 

 follows: 



To the Trustees and Members of the California Academy of Sci- 

 ences : 



This being the close of the first fiscal year under the new 

 organization of the Academy, it would seem proper for me to 

 give a brief statement of the condition of the "temporalities" 

 of the Academy, which by our new Constitution comes exclu- 

 sively under the control of the Board of Trustees. 



The Treasurer's report shows that at the commencement of 

 the present year we had on hand $2,900, and that the present 

 condition of the treasury shows $1,593.73 now on hand. 



