31 8 DAVENPORT ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



us all by the beauty and elegance of his works, all too early ended, until 

 the present hour, in the world's Council of National History, the voice of 

 Davenport has never once been silent. The Davenport Academy, may it 

 nourish forever, growing in usefulness and in the good esteem of all intelli- 

 gent men. Very sincerely yours, 



Iowa City, Iowa, Dec. 10, 1900. Thomas H. McBride. 



December 28, iqoo — Regular Meeting. 



Vice-President C. A. Ficke in the chair; seven members present. 



The Curator reported the following additions to the museum : 



From C. E. Harrispn, the skull of a woodchuck ; two large, framed 

 photographs, the first, of Scott County's first court house, the second, 

 of the ruins of Hill's block, northwest corner of Brady and Third 

 streets, destroyed by fire on the night of February 22, 1876. This is 

 of special interest, as upon that night the Ladies' Centennial Associ- 

 ation was having a fair and festival in Hill's Oper House for the 

 purpose of raising funds to publish Vol. I. of the Proceedings of the 

 Academy. From Capt. W. P. Hall, a box containing two hundred 

 flint instruments of various shapes and sizes, and twelve grooved axes, 

 some worn with age or use. From Jacob Shibe, Rapids City, 111., a 

 large Scotch curling stone, highly polished, weighing 37^3 pounds, 

 and made of Scotch granite. Through favor of Bishop Morrison and 

 the Board of Trustees, the Griswold College cabinet has been presented 

 to the Academy, and the gift deserves grateful recognition. It com- 

 prises several distinct collections, among which are the fresh water 

 shells of the immediate vicinity. As early as 1866, Agassiz visited 

 Davenport, called on Prof. Sheldon and expressed his astonishment at 

 the range of the collection, saying that it seemed to him the richest 

 conchological section between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. With 

 that thoroughness and system which characterized all his work, Prof. 

 Sheldon arranged the shells so as to facilitate their study. They were 

 so placed on the shelves that the different sizes, forms and their inter- 

 nal structure might be taken in at one view. Prof. Sheldon furnished 

 a similar collection for the cabinet at Harvard. There are over seven 

 hundred marine shells, some collected and some obtained by exchange. 

 They are from China, Japan, West Indies, Sandwich Islands, the Med- 

 iterranean, the waters of the American coast, and from the depths of 

 the ocean. The collection of minerals is of wide range, including 

 calcedony from India, volcanic rock from Iceland, silver and gold 

 from the Rockies, crystals of quartz and lime from different parts of 

 the United States. A mass of meteoric iron from Dakota, so pure 

 that it is malleable. From the quarries around Davenport, a valuable 

 collection of fossils, arranged for college class-work. Foreign fossils 

 were added for the purpose of comparison. The cabinet of Rev. Dr. 

 Peet, of great extent and value, was gathered by extensive travel in 

 foreign countries. The collection of crystals is the most interesting 



