22 Kansas Academy of Science. 



it has been to scientific research, both within and beyond the boundaries 

 of Kansas. 



As a life member of the Kansas Academy of Science, I am glad to re- 

 port that I am still engaged in scientific research, although chiefly in 

 geography and archeology as related to the early western history, on 

 which I have, nearing completion, three volumes, whose rigorous pressure 

 on my time and means has been the cause of my inability to attend this 

 Academy meeting. But my heart is with you. 



Last August, in Phoenix, I met the son and daughter of an early and 

 beloved officer of the Academy, who gave me a most hearty welcome, 

 simply because I had been in academic association with their lamented 

 father, good old Doc Brown, of Leavenworth. 



When shall we older members ever forget such men as Snow, Parker, 

 Savage, Thompson, Popenoe, Dyche, Goss, Kellerman, Smyth, Meade, and 

 other departed ones who used to keep the Academy pot boiling? 



And who can measure the momentum given to the Academy by such 

 men as Mudge? The latter I never saw, but I knew of him in '75-76, 

 when receiving (under the friendly tutelage of Popenoe and the encou- 

 ragement of Professors Merril and Dunbar of Washburn College I 

 "prep'd" in from '72) my first really scientific initiation into natural 

 history, a love for which I had inherited from a Granite State sire of my 

 name, a Dartmouth M. D., 1830 — who had practiced medicine in Surinam 

 from 1830 to 1857, being consul at Paramaribo pa7-t of that time, and 

 sending creatures of all sorts thence nearly all of that time, to the 

 Boston Society of Natural History. 



And who can be grateful enough to Secretary Gray, of that board, 

 for taking the Academy, in its downy days, under the sheltering wing of 

 the Kansas State Board of Agriculture? Few of the "old guard" are 

 left. 



Long live the memory of these men, and as they are followed by zealous 

 successors, Long live the Kansas Academy of Science! 



Fraternally yours, Francis W. Cragin. 



Ithaca, N. Y., March 5, 1918. 

 Mr. Guy West Wilson, Secretary of the Kansas Academy of Science, 

 Lawrence, Kan.: 

 Dear Sir — It is a great regret that I shall be unable to attend the 

 fiftieth annual meeting of the Kansas Academy. Pray extend my con- 

 gratulations upon its semicentennial occasion to the members of the 

 Academy, my active connection with which afforded me great pleasure 

 during my residence as a member of the faculty of the State University. 

 Yours very truly, Edw. L. Nichols. 



Madison, Wis., March 14, 1918. 

 Giiy West Wilson, Lawrence, Kan.: 



Extend my congratulations and best wishes to Academy on its fiftieth 

 anniversary. Would enjoy being with you among old-time colleagues and 

 friends, but duties in state war service make it impossible. 



Geo. Wagner. 



Tallulah, La., March 13, 1918. 



Dear Sir — My congratulations for the fiftieth anniversary of the 

 Academy! May it endure! Regretting that I cannot attend, I remain, 



Sincerely, E. S. Tucker. 



