Celebration of the Fifiieth Anniversary. xxxv 



toward a library came, when Dr. B. F. Shumard presented 

 Decade VI of the Memoirs of the Geological Survey of the 

 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Dr. Engelmann a num- 

 ber of monographs on various scientific subjects. 



The first society to recognize the new organization was the 

 Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, which donated 

 to the Library a set of its "Proceedings" and the second 

 series of its "Journal." 



At a special meeting called by the President, August 4, 

 1856, the library, belonging to the Western Academy of 

 Natural Sciences, consisting of 120 volumes, the mineralogi- 

 cal and geological collections, cases and apparatus, were do- 

 nated to the Academy. The Western Academy of Natural 

 Sciences had been organized in 1837 by two men, destined to 

 play important roles in the future Academy of Science, Dr. 

 George Engelmann and Dr. Adolphus Wislizenus. This was, 

 so far as is known, the first scientific association established 

 west of the Alleghany Mountains. 



During the first year of its existence the progress of our 

 Museum had been so encouraging that standing committees 

 were appointed in the following subjects : — Ethnology, 

 Comparative Anatomy, Mammalogy, Ornithology, Herpet- 

 ology and Ichthyology, Chemical Geology and Malacology, 

 Entomology, Botany, Palaeontology and Geology, Mineral- 

 ogy, Chemistry, Physics, Embryology and Monstrosities. 

 At the end of the second year Astronomy and Meteorology 

 were added. The fostering of these various branches was an 

 immense undertaking for this young society, but fortunately 

 it had among its members, men, not only deeply interested in 

 science and its progress, but also possessing the necessary 

 qualifications to perform the duties assigned to them. 



Prominent among the donors appears, again and again, the 

 name of Mr. Charles P. Chouteau, who was ever mindful 

 of the Academy's needs when on his expeditions into the far 

 West in the interests of the fur trade. On one occasion he 

 requested the Academy ' ' to name some naturalist to accom- 

 pany him on his expedition to the Upper Missouri free of ex- 

 pense to the society." At another time we find recorded in 



