Celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary. xxi 



The Prodrome. The Academy of Science of St. Louis did 

 not come into existence de novo but, like many great historic 

 events, its birth followed a long period of necessary prepara- 

 tion during which many well meant efforts brought only 

 disappointment. 



The first stone placed in the foundation for an edifice of 

 science in the Mississippi Valley and probably the first west 

 of the Allegheny Mountains was an informal meeting, held in 

 St. Louis late in 1836. This was a gathering of men, of 

 high intellectual attainments, who possessed an energy which 

 placed them far ahead of their local contemporaries. The 

 conference resulted in the organization of the Western 

 Academy of Natural Sciences. 



The new society obtained a charter from the General As- 

 sembly of Missouri, dated February 6, 1837. The incorpora- 

 tors were: H. King, George Engelmann, B. B. Brown, P. A. 

 Pulte, William Weber, Theodore Engelmann and G. Schuetze. 

 The main promoters of this new society in the far West 

 were Drs. George Engelmann and Adolphus Wislizenus 

 who subsequently became respectively founder and active 

 worker in the more fortunate Academy of Science of 

 St. Louis. 



Through the efforts of these men, the lamp of science was 

 trimmed in the City of Mounds at a time when the population 

 of St. Louis and its suburbs was only 14,253, and it was 

 scarce more than a little frontier town. The newly chartered 

 society issued an address " to the friends of knowledge " in 

 St. Louis and solicited funds for its support, new members, 

 and contributions to the proposed library and museum. It 

 was pointed out that those with a helping hand would " never 

 perhaps find a more appropriate occasion." Little did those 

 men surmise that the same " appropriate occasion " would 

 extend down to the year of our Lord 190G. The address 

 further states that St. Louis is peculiarly situated as a for- 

 tunate place for work in the natural sciences, being on the 

 eastern edge of "that immense tract of country extending 

 fron the western borders of civilization to the Pacific Ocean," 

 a country holding the attention of the entire scientific world 



