KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



each other. Scientific men are, therefore, willing to follow whither- 

 soever truth may lead them. The most venerable errors of the past, 

 however cherished and embalmed in the human heart, are to be 

 destroyed. The most sacred shrines of the old world are to be 

 desecrated, the idols of the temple of science to be thrown down, 

 and the foundations of the temple itself to be removed. Science 

 lays its fearless hand even on revelation itself, and gives it a new 

 interpretation. 



The results of inductive scientific investigation are almost beyond 

 belief. Our respected ancestors, only three or four centuries ago, 

 were little better than barbarians. The darkness of that period is 

 profound and painful. "Out of that darkness and chaos," says a 

 recent writer, " have come all our civil and religious freedom, all our 

 philanthropy and benevolence, all our diffused comfort and luxury, 

 most of our good manners and morals, and all the splendid achieve- 

 ments of our modern scientific investigation." As the inductive 

 philosopher seated himself before the chaff heaps of antiquity to 

 winnow out the grains of truth, a mighty task was laid upon him. 

 Every premise must be thoroughly established, every observation 

 re-observed, every experiment reconducted, and every comparison 

 recollected. Nothing less than a new creation lay before him. Well 

 may the works of the great founder of the inductive philosophy be 

 christened Novum Organum and Instantafis Magna. 



Moved by the impulses of the age, a few naturalists in 1867 re- 

 solved if possible to effect an organization for the cultivation of 

 science, particularly in its relation to the State of Kansas. Kansas 

 occupies an important field in its scientific aspects. The scientific 

 marvels of our age flow out of associated effort. Scientists need 

 opportunity to compare results and effect exchanges. They need 

 to be inspired to go forth into the fields of nature by the presence 

 of other explorers. 



After considerable correspondence among the naturalists of the 

 State in reference to the possibility of effecting such an organization, 

 a letter was published in the K.dins2iS Journal of Edt/cation for March, 

 1868, calling attention to the benefits of such a society and the ne- 

 cessity of effecting an organization at an early day. The publica- 

 tion of this letter met with such favor and called forth so man}' 

 responses from the friends of science throughout the State, that the 

 following "call" was issued in July of the same year : 



"STATE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 



" We, the undersigned, desirous of securing the advantages arising from asso- 

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



