SYNOPSIS OF PROCEEDINGS. 277 



organization, to briefly review some of the history ot our recent past; 

 to consider whether the accompHshed work is commensurate with the 

 opportunities of the term ; the causes, if any, which may have oper- 

 ated to retard our progress; and to hopefully plan anew, that the 

 coming year, in all that pertains to the growth and work of the Acad- 

 emy, may exhibit a fullness of life and zeal which will gladden us a 

 twelve-month hence with its noble record. 



Probably no other year in the life of our society, certainly none in 

 the last decade, has been entered upon, clouded with such discourage- 

 ments or so burdened with doubts and fears as the one just rounding 

 to a close. The inroads which death has made, depriving us of the 

 veriest elements of strength, had brought us to realize our weakened 

 condition, thereby lessening in us that self-confidence which is almost 

 an essential to success, and which before had inspired our earnest 

 efforts. Whether these established feelings of loss and dejection, 

 coupled with the real deprivations which caused them, have most 

 contributed to minimize the interest manifested in x'\cademy work, 

 or whether, as is probable, the showing would have been more gratify- 

 ing but for the inefficiency of your presiding officer, need not now be 

 discussed. 



The fleeting present and swiftly approaching future are all-sufficient 

 to engage our earnest thought ; for never, 1 dare ?ay, in the long pe- 

 riod of humble devotion to our commendable work did we approach a 

 broader and riper field. Let us arise to the necessities of the hour, 

 and at this beginning of the new year repledge ourselves to renewed 

 and greater effort that the measure of the fullness already reached may 

 not only be maintained but increased. 



In the various processes and agencies for the development of the 

 human mind there are ever present (even if not always apparent) evi- 

 dences of the universal law of change and progress. The methods of 

 today are different, in that they are better than the methods of the past. 

 Object teaching, which but awhile ago was scarcely known, has come 

 to be considered essential in almost every department of learning; and 

 the day cannot be far distant when such institutions as the Davenport 

 Academy of Natural Sciences, with their teeming and growing libraries 

 and cabinets, and with memberships alive and devoted to high and 

 noble aims, will be recognized as powerful and necessary factors in the 

 general scheme of education. May we not confidently hope that then, 

 at least, an enlightened public will accord them a fuller appreciation 

 and more generous support? 



The several reports already read in your hearing, while not indica- 

 tive of an active year, yet give assurance that the Academy has at 

 least in some slight degree moved forward in the direction of its higher 

 destiny. 



The publication of proceedings has ever been the most important 

 feature of our work, if it has not in fact been the very life of our or- 

 ganization. The committee in charge of this department have not 



[Proo D. a. N. S., Vol. VI.] 35 [January 23, 1897.] 



