2IO DAVENPORT ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 



LIBRARIAN'S REPORT. 



Additions to the Librar) during 1885 3,196 



Dr Jennie McCowen, Librarian. 



REPORT OF PUBLICATION COMMITTEE. 



Receipts $5 2 5 2 5 



Expenditures S') n 60 



Volume IV. nearly completed. Funds necessary for completion of the vol- 

 ume, $300. Mrs. M. L. D. Putnam, Chairman. 



CURATOR'S REPORT. 



The additions to the Museum for 1885 included a large number of 

 archaeological relics presented by Captain Hall, a small prehistoric 

 vessel made of steatite from California; an earthen pipe, and another 

 of red pipestone, both apparently Indian pipes, a stone relic inscribed 

 with some very curious characters, all found in this vicinity; several 

 historical relics, a few mineralogical specimens; mastodon bones and 

 teeth; a Japanese book of thin sections of the Japanese woods — one 

 hundred species and three sections of each; three live rattlesnakes; a 

 collection of southern shells, including some new species; and other 

 less important articles, too numerous to mention. The Academy needs 

 a cabinet, illustrating our local geology as fully as possible, and also a 

 systematic collection in geology and mineralogy, both properly classi- 

 fied for reference and study, as they would render valuable aid to 

 members and young societies, and to classes who' might visit them from 



the public schools. „. TT _, _ 



1 W. H. Pratt, Curator. 



PRESIDENT'S ANNUAL ADDRESS. 

 By C. E. Putnam. 

 Ladies and Gentlemen : 



In the performance of the duty which devolves upon the President, 

 it has been the almost uniform practice with those who have preceded 

 me to embrace in the annual address a synopsis of the reports of the 

 several officers of the Academy; but, as the condition and progress of 

 the various departments are set forth in these reports, I shall upon this 

 occasion depart from the usual custom, and omit any reference to 

 these details. 



When, at the last annual meeting of the Academy, I yielded to the 

 urgent solicitation of its life members, and accepted the position I 

 now hold, it was with many misgivings whether the absorbing cares 

 of a professional life would afford me sufficient leisure to properly 

 perform its duties. The delightful studies, the intricate researches, 

 the profound and thoughtful discussions which make up the life 

 of a scientific association, are so exacting in their requirements as 

 to almost exclude the ordinary men of business, and limit its active 



