SYNOPSIS 01 PROCEEDINGS. 307 



exchanges brought in by its own Proceedings and by the gift of sev- 

 eral collections of books by its members, the Academy library is well 

 adapted to the needs of the special student. But there are scores of 

 handbooks, manuals and more or less popular treatises which are not 

 on our shelves and which should be secured either by gift or pur- 

 chase. Then, too, to make it more accessible, the library needs to be 

 catalogued, a large undertaking of which a beginning has already been 

 made. 



The Academy library should be enriched by thousands of historical 

 documents, which, unless they are deposited in some such place, will 

 eventually become destroyed. Old manuscripts, old letters, old maps, 

 everything that throws light on the early life in Davenport, in the 

 three cities, or in the West, should be collected and preserved, to be 

 looked at by the curious and made use of by the historian. 



The Academy library and the public library, which the city of Dav- 

 enport is to have, thanks to the generosity of Andrew Carnegie, are 

 very different in nature, the one specialized and technical, the other 

 more general and popular. Each supplements the other. The Acad- 

 emy may well congratulate itself on this new addition to the forces of 

 culture in the city, for as the community becomes more enlightened 

 through the reading of books from the public library it is bound to 

 appreciate to a higher degree the opportunities of the Academy of 

 Sciences. So far as possible the two institutions should cooperate. 



TO POPULARIZE MEETINGS. 



The regular monthly meetings of the Academy should be made of 

 such interest that they will attract not only the members but outsiders. 

 The meetings should be freed from petty business matters, which 

 should be attended to by committees. Rather they should furnish an 

 opportunity for the thinking people of the three cities to gather, to 

 exchange thoughts in discussion, or to listen to papers or addresses on 

 subjects of interest. A paper or address before a meeting of the 

 Academy need not be the result of life-long research and investiga- 

 tion. It need not bristle with scientific names, with technical terms, 

 with unintelligible references. Such papers are to be read rather than 

 listened to. What are wanted for the meetings of the Academy are 

 papers that are somewhat more popular in nature, expositions in terms 

 that all can understand of the discoveries made by scientists or on any 

 subject to which the interest of the day is drawn. The Academy has 

 had in recent years a number of such addresses. Returning travelers, 

 for instance, have spoken of Egypt and Alaska. Similar talks, whether 

 by travelers or not, should be given on the Philippines, or Hawaii, or 

 South Africa. These are subjects not only of scientific but of popu- 

 ular interest. Near at home extremely interesting talks could be given 

 on the engineering problems involved in the Hennepin canal, the 

 improvement of the Rock Island rapids, the Moline water power and 

 its adaptability for furnishing electrical power, the cause and effect of 



