124 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



early in 1869, and wiped out the collections of Dr. Pope, and with 

 them nearly all of the academy's museum. The library, then number- 

 ing not far from 3,000 volumes, fortunately was saved, through the 

 activity of a few members, and most of the reserve copies of the 

 academy's transactions, which had been covered by a falling floor, were 

 included in this salvage. 



Even before the fire, the academy had outgrown the accommodations 

 that had been given it by Dr. Pope, as is shown by the appointment, 

 some time before, of a committee to try to secure new and more 

 ample quarters. Without the check of this fire, cramped surroundings 

 might perhaps have caused stagnation in the material growth of the 

 academy: but the loss of the museum effected lasting and at the time 

 all but complete paralysis of this side of its activity. Still, out of the 

 fire came sympathy, encouragement and some help. New quarters were 

 offered in the public school board's building, and the public school 

 library shelved its books; but the academy was a tenant-at-will, re- 

 stricted in its powers, without funds for amplifying its collections or 

 properly caring for them, and the need of putting it on a safer basis 

 was so unmistakable that in 1872 a serious effort was again made to 

 secure endowment funds. As a result of this effort, which was shared 

 by the Missouri Historical Society, the academy was made the recipient, 

 through the generosity of Mr. James H. Lucas, of a building site on 

 which a home for the two societies was to be erected. Only $50,000 

 was considered necessary for the construction and maintenance of an 

 adequate building; but even this sum was not forthcoming, so that 

 ultimately the academy sold its share in the building site and put the 

 money out at interest, and still has it, with some additions, safely 

 invested. 



For another dozen years the academy continued to meet in the 

 quarters to which it moved after the fire. Another effort to secure a 

 home was made and failed. Then for a like period it enjoyed the 

 hospitality of Washington University. When the rooms that it occu- 

 pied there were needed for university purposes, more than a decade 

 since, it became a tenant of the Missouri Historical Society, which, 

 unlike the academy, had at last secured a home of its own. There was 

 thus secured a meeting room and limited shelving for the library, but 

 such museum material as the academy possessed has been stored, for 

 the most part, in basements and out-of-the-way places, where it has 

 been of little use to members or to the public. 



The interest felt by the early members in scientific effort at the 

 great centers of such activity, as has been said, led to early associa- 

 tion with prominent workers abroad, from whom publications and 

 communications were received. The prompt establishment of such 

 relations, fortified by the commencement of the academy's own activity 

 as a publishing body, quickly resulted in the formation of a valuable 



