48 



The Celebration by the New York Academy of Sciences 



OF THE Two Hundredth Anniversary of the 



Birth of Linnaeus. 



(ixTY West Wilson. 



The two huudredtb anniversary of the birth of Linnaeus, the great 

 Swedish naturalist whom we regard as the father of modern biology, was 

 fittingly commemorated by the New York Academy of Sciences. For some 

 time the officials of that organization had been perfecting plans for the 

 observance of this anniversary. Perhaps few other societies in America 

 have at their command the resources for a celebration which would parallel 

 this one, as the New York Academy has affiliated with it all the learned 

 societies of the (ireater t'ity and has at its disposal for such an occasion 

 the magnificent museums of the metropolis. It accordingly gave me no 

 small pleasure to receive the honor which the president of the Indiana 

 Academy of Science conferred upon me in asking me to represent this body 

 at these exercises. 



At 9 :30 a. m. of the 23d of May the delegates from numerous American 

 and foreign societies and institutions met in the trustees' room of the 

 American Museum of Natural History, and. in company with the officers 

 of the New York Academy, proceeded in a body to the lecture room where 

 the initial meeting was held. About three-quarters of an hour was devoted 

 to the reading of communications from the societies whose delegates were 

 present, and from a few noted foreign societies which were not represented. 

 These communications covered a wide range of topics, extending from greet- 

 ings from the various societies through outlines of the character of their 

 work and eulogies to the memory of Linnaeus to monographic considerations 

 of some phase of the work of Linnaeus. Of these last may be mentioned 

 the papers presented by the representatives of the Brooklyn Entomological 

 Society and of the INIaryland Academy of Science. The first of these related 

 to the entomological work of Linnaeus and its relation to American ento- 

 mology, while the second was a learned and interesting discussion of 

 Linnaeus and the flora of Maryland. This part of the program was followed 



