Dr. G. Engelmann, the retiring President, made the following- 

 ANNUAL ADDRESS. 



Gentlemen : — The history of our Academy for the past year is very 

 nearly a repetition of that of the preceding ones. Our home is, on suffer- 

 ance, in this hall, by the courtesy of the Board of Public Schools. Our 

 library is stowed away in some corner of this building, and our poor col- 

 lections are preserved in a few cases up-stairs. 



The meetings have been regularly attended and a number of interest- 

 ing papers have been read, and interesting discussions on various subjects 

 within the scope of our pursuits have been had. A new number of our 

 Transactions was published in the beginning of the year, completing our 

 third volume, and the first number of the fourth volume has been com- 

 menced. Our Archaeological Section has already amassed an important 

 collection, and is actively engaged in the preparation of a valuable publi- 

 cation, a number of plates for which are already finished, and will, with 

 the aid of the Academy, it is expected, soon see the light. 



A number of volumes have been added to our library by the liberality 

 of the numerous foreign and domestic institutions with which we exchange, 

 as the Corresponding Secretary's report will exhibit. 



The Treasurer will give you an account of our financial condition, 

 showing that we are, if not rich, at least free from debt, and that a sur- 

 plus of over $200 has been paid over to us from the contributions for the 

 entertainment of the American Association in August last. 



And such will be the modest history of our Academy for the next years, 

 unless we take a new departure and by united efforts — efforts of our mem- 

 bers as well as of our citizens — raise our institution to the position which 

 the Academy of Science of the third city in the United States ought to 

 and will occupy. The present moment is particularly adapted for such a 

 fresh start. 



The American Association for the Advancement of Science, which 

 honored and gratified us last August with its presence, has brought the 

 matter more immediately and forcibly home to us, and has produced 

 among our citizens a higher appreciation of science, and has created and 

 stimulated among us a spirit which, it is hoped, will help us to build up 

 an institution worthy of our great city and State. 



Another most favorable circumstance comes to the aid of this newly- 

 awakened spirit. The building of the female branch of the Washington 

 University, known as the Mary Institute, on Lucas place near Fourteenth 

 street, has been vacated for other more extensive quarters, and, as the 

 authorities of the University permit me to state, can be procured for our 

 Academy for the sum of $25,000. The building is situated in a very 

 desirable part of the city, and in a neighborhood in which considerable 

 influence may be expected to develope in order to have such an institution 

 as ours among them, and not the possible alternative of a hospital or a 



