xxvi Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis, 



1864, which organized the St. Louis College of Pharmacy. 

 The Academy museum prior to the fire of 1869 contained 

 much medical material. The Dr. Joseph Nash McDowell 

 Museum of Natural History which was turned over to the 

 Academy when the Missouri Medical College was made the 

 Gratiot street Military Prison in 1862 was one of the finest 

 collections of anatomical material in America. 



Medicine touches elbows with all the converging sciences 

 which form the foundation upon which is built our knowledge 

 of things material and immaterial. Among the men of 

 science in every age, we find doctors of medicine who have 

 contributed much to sister sciences. It is not surprising to 

 learn that medical men have been and are now prominent in 

 the history of the St. Louis Academy of Science, but it is 

 remarkable that so few contributions of a medical nature have 

 been made to the volumes of proceedings. The medical men, 

 many of them eminent in their own profession, have taken 

 their medical work to the local and national medical bodies, 

 thus giving the Academy the scientific contributions from 

 their hours of pastime rather than the fruit of their profes- 

 sional work. 



The regular fortnightly meetings from the very beginning 

 have been harmonious as well as instructive and interesting. 

 No internal strife of a serious nature has ever occurred. 

 Since the revision of the constitution in 1893, the business 

 has all been transacted by the Council, thus leaving the meet- 

 ings free for scientific work. Many lectures of a popular 

 nature and papers not intended for publication in the pro- 

 ceedings give variety to the meetings and interest the gen- 

 eral public. The average attendance during the past year has 

 been twenty-seven, or about ten per cent of the membership. 

 The Museum. The Academy was organized by men who 

 had the collecting and historical instinct well developed. They 

 were not, as Shakespeare says, " Snappers up of unconsidered 

 trifles," but students who by industry and judgment were 

 able to build up a large and interesting museum. This col- 

 lection was wiped out by the unfortunate fire of 1869 and for 



