Record. cxxix 



Mr. H. W. Eliot : — An Alaskan stone club, a salmon killer, used by the 

 native fishermen of Alaska to kill salmon when caught, an Alaskan ad«e 

 from Sitka, an Indian medicine man's mortar and pestle from Kllnkman, 

 Alaska, a map of the coast of Alaska, and a stone adze dug up on a clay 

 field in 1879 at Grand and Chouteau Avenues in this city. 



Ewald Iron Co. : — A large specimen of iron ore from Pilot Knob, Mo. 



Mrs. Edwin Harrison: — Portraits of Mr. Edwin Harrison, late Presi- 

 dent of the Academy, Dr. Wm. M. McPheeters, one of the founders of the 

 Academy, and Prof. Louis Agassiz. 



Judge Warwick Hough : — A Conularia from Carthage, Mo. 



Mr. Julius Hurter: — A bird {Eurystomus orientalis) from the Philippine 

 Islands. 



Mr. August Remmert: — An Indian club and minerals from Leslie, 

 Franklin Co., Mo. 



Societe des Sieaces Physiques et Naturelles de Bordeaux: — A medal 

 struck iu commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the organization of 

 that Society. 



Dr. Chas. D. Stevens: — A photograph of a Colorado Mountain sheep. 



Dr. H. M. Whelpley: — A slab of Dendrites from Lycns, Colorado. 



The most pressing need of the Museum is the means with which to pro- 

 cure cases for the exhibition of the collections we already possess. The 

 time has come when the question of furnishing the Museum and of install- 

 ing the exhibits properly becomes a matter of great importance. Cabinets 

 suitable for displaying specimens must be provided. They should be made 

 practically dust proof of plate glass and metal or hard wood, and should be 

 adapted in every instance to the peculiar character of the collections which 

 are to be displayed. We desire to urge upon the members of the Academy 

 the vital importance of securing these pressing necessities. We hope that 

 this matter will receive the consideration which it deserves to have be- 

 stowed upon it. Cases are as necessary in a museum as shelves in a 

 library. 



As the treasures of science accumulate the treasure house is more and 

 more resorted lo, not merely by the curious, who come to gratify the taste 

 which all men possess for the strange and wonderful, but by those who are 

 engaged in mastering the mysteries of nature and who, by their efforts, 

 are adding to the store of human knowledge. Collections should not 

 only be accessible to the public but should be arranged and supplied with 

 descriptions, guides and references to the books in the Library. Every 

 specimen in a museum should be labeled in such a way that every visitor, 

 who comes to the museum for knowledge and improvement, may gain all 

 the information the museum and library afford. 



Our present collections are only the nuceleus of the permanent museum, 

 the re-establishment of which was auspiciously inaugurated upon our re- 

 moval to our own home. Its maintenance and growth will depend mainly 

 upon the financial support and material encouragement it will receive from 

 the members of the Academy and from public-spirited citizens. But the 

 time may come and let us hope it is not too far distant, when the Academy 

 will be so liberally endowed that it can procure all these necessary things, 

 and be in a position to extend far beyond its present, bounds and to assume 

 a wider scope of great usefulness. 



