10 Kansas Academy of Science. 



giving* in regard to it > very existence. Public attention was often called, through the press, to the im- 

 portance of sustaining it, and wherever we lectured in the State we always presented the claims of the 

 Society. 



The first annual meeting was held in the First Presbyterian church, at Topeka; but there was a 

 very small attendance, and little enthusiasm. It was in tact a very gloomy time with the Society. 

 There was little or nothing in the treasury, and none seemed to care for science. But Prof. Mudge was 

 full of faith in our final success, and said we "must not despise the day of small things." We agreed to 

 go on notwithstanding the discouragements, and determined that we would not say " fail" until we actu- 

 ally did fail. The officers were unanimously reelected — for there was great unanimity in those days, 

 where two or three votes sell led I he whole matter. 



Duringthe following year we worked faithfully in trying to establish the Society, but with very 

 little encouragement from the public. Everybody was busy about something else, and science was left 

 to take care of itself. At the end of two years, we received an invitation from Prof. Snow, indorsed by 

 the three professors of the State University, to hold the annual meeting at Lawrence. We gladly ac- 

 cepted the invitation, and the meeting was so well attended, ami such a desire expressed to enlarge the 

 scope of the Society so as to include every line of scientific investigation, that it was so ordered. The 

 name was changed, at a subsequent meeting, to the Kansas Academy of Science. Several excellent pa- 

 pers were read at that meeting by Profs. Mudge, Snow, Bardwell, and others, which wen/ worthy of any 

 veteran society. The meeting was one of joyful interest on the part of those who had labored amidst so 

 many discouragements, for we believed that the permanency of the organization was now fully assured. 

 The growth of the Society has, in fact, outrun all our early anticipations, and from this time the history 

 of the Academy has been very generally known by the people of the State. Students of science, in al- 

 most every line of investigation, have come forward, and gladly carried on the work of the Academy, 

 making original contributions in almost every department of science. But while we greet this ever- 

 important work of scientists, and give them all honor for their invaluable contributions, we must not 

 forget the importance of the work wrought by Profs. Mudge and Snow in the early history of the Society. 



The subsequent action of the Legislature in making the Society a State institution, and giving it a 

 room in the Capitol building, was unsolicited, but was a well-deserved recognition by the State, of science 

 and the Academy. 



In this connection, will you pardon me for saying, that the ultimate success attending the organiza- 

 tion of the Kansas Academy gave me encouragement, when I moved to Kansas <ity, to try aud repeat 

 the work there. For seven years I was permitted to work on amidst the whirl of a large and growing 

 city, in discouragements, in trying to lay the foundations of the Kansas City Academy of Science, whose 

 interests are so intimately interwoven with that of the Kansas Academy. If the people of Kansas and 

 of Kansas City will continue to cherish their Academies so that they shall become a blessing in coming 

 years, and if these Academics will remember that they are closely related in origin, interest and work, 

 and ever have towards each other those fraternal relations which should characterize scientific societies, 

 I shall be amply repaid for my efforts. Fraternally yours, John 1>. Parker, Post Chaplain. 



"Prof. Parker's location at the State capital favored the idea which Prof. Mudge had 

 long cherished, of a central organization, and the result was a call for a meeting at To- 

 peka." The following "call" was issued July 6, 1868. It reads: "State Natural History 

 Society. — We, the undersigned, desirous of securing the advantages arising from associa- 

 tion in scientific pursuits, and of giving a more systematic direction to scientific research 

 in our State, hereby invite all persons interested in natural science to meet at Topeka on 

 the first Tuesday of September next, at 3 p. M., at the college building, for the purpose of 

 organizing a State Natural History Society. Signed by John Fraser, S. F. Chapin, D. H. 

 Kobinson, B. F. Mudge, J. A. Banfield, J. D. Parker, D. Brockway, J. E. Swallow, J. H. 

 ( larruth, R. D. Parker, Jeff. Robinson, Peter Mc Vicar, F. H. Snow, Prof. Whitman, Rich- 

 ard ( ordley." 



The meeting was held pursuant to the call, as described by Prof. Parker. In a recent 

 letter from him (from Fort Hays, where he now is), in reply to the inquiry as to the 

 names of those in attendance at the first meeting, he says: " Very few were present at 

 the first meeting. Prof. Mudge was the only person who did not belong at Topeka. 

 Prof..). A. Banfield was our first curator. Two or three students of Lincoln College 

 were present, Mr. Billard and Mr. W. J. Stringham, the latter a mathematician of fine 

 promise, and now professor of mathematics in the University of California. The few 

 others 1 cannot remember." It is probable that Mr. Brockway was present. They were 

 few in attendance, but the Society of Natural History — later the Academy of Science — 

 was organized, and lias increased in interest and good works until it now holds a position 



