Fortii-seventh Annual Meeting. 31 



the long vacation of 1867, and after thorough discussion of 

 the matter secured Professor Mudge's promise to go into the 

 movement. Several articles w^ere then published urging the 

 importance of such an organization, and in the Journal of 

 Education for March, 1868, Professor Parker published the 

 following notice : 



"We, the undersigned, desirous of securing the advantages arising 

 from the association in scientific pursuits, and of giving a more sys- 

 tematic direction to scientific research in our state, do hereby invite all 

 persons in the state interested in natural science to meet at Topeka on 

 the first Tuesday of September next, at three p. m., at the College build- 

 ing, for the purpose of organizing a State Natural History Society." 



This call was signed by the following seventeen persons : 

 John Fraser, D. H. Robinson, B. F. Mudge, J. A. Banfield, 

 J. S. Hougham, J. D. Parker, R. A. Barker, D. Brockway, G. 

 E. Chapin, J. H. Carruth, R. D. Parker, Jeff. Robinson, Peter 

 McVicar, F. H. Snow, J. S. Whitman, Richard Cordley, J. R. 

 Swallow. The meeting was held at the appointed time, with 

 a very small attendance, and the organization effected. The 

 name chosen, Kansas Natural History Society, was adopted 

 from the Illinois Natural History Society, of which Professor 

 Parker had been a member. The following officers were 

 elected : President, B. F. Mudge ; vice president, J. S. Whit- 

 man; secretary, J. D. Parker; treasurer, F. H. Snow; curator, 

 J. A. Banfield. No papers were read at this meeting. 



The second meeting was held at Topeka September 7, 1869, 

 with a very small attendance. The following papers were 

 read: "On the Internal Heat of the Earth," by B. F. Mudge; 

 "On Solving the Higher Equations," by Edward Cove. A 

 public lecture on "The Moundbuilders" was given by J. D. 

 Parker. The officers of the previous year were reelected. 

 The attendance at this meeting was so small and the state of 

 the treasury so unsatisfactory that a general feeling of gloom 

 and doubt as to the existence of the Society was very evident. 

 Here, as on so many other occasions, the energy and optimism 

 of Professor Mudge came to the rescue. He urged the mem- 

 bers not to despise the day of small things, and to never say 

 fail until they had really failed. The Society was unanimously 

 invited by the three professors of the State University to hold 

 the next meeting in Lawrence, and the invitation was gladly 

 accepted. 



The third meeting was held in the University building at 



