xlviii Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis. 



less to actual work done in that field than to the stimula- 

 tion he inspired in specialists of that department. In 

 1859, he published a paper that concerned itself with the 

 elevation of Saint Louis above sea level, which, aside 

 from its general interest and scientific value, was espe- 

 cially important in that Saint Louis was then the point 

 upon which were based the computations for determining 

 the altitudes of such places in the far west as were vis- 

 ited by the early exploring expeditions of Nicollet, Fre- 

 mont, Owen and Emery. Engelmann, after a series of 

 barometric observations in 1853, determined a directrix 

 of 404.9 feet for the city of Saint Louis— a figure which 

 differed by only 7.8 feet from the later 412.7 feet mark 

 as determined by precise leveling of government depart- 

 ments, and by only 2.2 feet from the original 410.5 of 

 Nicollet, which was made in 1841 by barometric deter- 

 minations based upon data furnished by Engelmann him- 

 self. While the contributions of Engelmann seem slight 

 when compared with masterly authorities in botany and 

 meteorology, they are, nevertheless, a valuable index of 

 the breadth of the man, of the keen interest he took in 

 the natural sciences, and of his mental caliber and scien- 

 tific training. 



Professor Nipher, in a paper, " Engelmann 's Work in 

 Meteorology," told how Engelmann began his meteoro- 

 logical observations when he first settled in Saint Louis, 

 and how he continued them for nearly fifty years. Dr. 

 Nipher explained how this long series of olDservations 

 enables us to determine the normal rainfall and tempera- 

 ture for Saint Louis, and how they, in turn, are useful 

 in fixing extremes of temperature and rainfall. In 1861 

 Engelmann published the results of his rainfall observa- 

 tions, which show that June is by far the month of great- 

 est precipitation; and he pointed out that the June rise 

 in the Mississippi is not due to the melting of snows in 

 the mountains, but to heavy and widespread spring 

 rains. The fact that Engelmann gave attention to the 

 rate of rainfall is noteworthy because that is a quantity 

 which must be considered in the design of bridges and 

 other structures that are to carry flood water. After 

 remarking that Engelmann made an early study of the 



