262 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Christian sjTnbol wliicli can properly bear ornamental devices, ac- 

 cording to the canons of artists and architects, and this was to be 

 covered with reliefs of the birds, quadruiJeds, and flowers that Audu- 

 bon so loved and studied, and that have given him his fame as the 

 artist-naturalist of America. The general design being approved, 

 the selection and arrangement of the animals and birds was given 

 to a subcommittee of specialists, consisting of Dr. J. A. Allen, Mr. 

 G. B. Sennett, and Dr. N. L. Britton, whose duty was to secure 

 accurate representation and artistic grouping of the forms. 



In all these combined aspects this monument is doubtless unique. 

 As it stands to-day over the grave of him whom it commemorates — 

 graceful, dignified, and altogether peculiar — it is an honor to our 

 city, as well as a fitting tribute to the memory of Audubon, the 

 Kature-lover, the artist, and the Christian believer. For this beau- 

 tiful thought, so nobly carried out, both American science and the 

 city of New York are indebted to Thomas Egleston. 



Tlie progress of the eftbrt was slow; it was not until 1891 that suf- 

 ficient subscriptions were secured, and not until the spring of 1893 

 that all was ready for the formal ceremonies. During all this time 

 Professor Egleston and Dr. Britton were untiring in their endeavors 

 and unfaltering in their purpose to succeed. On April 26, 1893, the 

 monument was dedicated with suitable exercises, of great interest, at 

 Trinity Cemetery, and a memorial address upon the life and work 

 of Audubon was delivered by Mr. Daniel G. Elliott, F. R. S. E., of 

 the Ornithologists' Union, at a public meeting at the American Mu- 

 seum of Natural History. 



Professor Egleston has also laid the citizens of New York under 

 enduring obligation to him in another and even more important mat- 

 ter, the preservation of one of the most valuable of our smaller parks 

 from the clutches of the speculator and spoiler. It is known to but 

 few of the residents of the city that a series of determined attempts 

 was made, some years ago, to destroy and obliterate Washington 

 Square, in the same way in which the St. John's Park outrage was 

 perpetrated ten years before. The method pursued in that case was 

 by interested parties buying up property around the park and 

 " colonizing " the houses with tenants who would either favor or 

 consent to the vandal obliteration of that beautiful spot of rest and 

 shade for the erection thereon of the Hudson Biver Bailroad freight 

 depot. St. John's Park, however, was the property partly of a cor- 

 poration, partly of individuals, and the job was comparatively easy. 

 Washington Square belonged to the city; but the same process was 

 begun by a great real-estate magnate, and was going on toward a 

 similar result, when the death of the arch-conspirator checked the 

 scheme for a time. A little later, however, it was revived, under 



